Featured Speakers/Performers

SALEEMAH ABDUL-GHAFUR (Event Emcee) 

Saleemah is an accomplished leader with extensive experience in global policy, advocacy, and communications. She was most recently the Director and Chief of Staff in the Office of the Chief Communications Officer at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.  She also recently served as the founding director of the African Leaders Malaria Alliance (ALMA – one of our key advocacy partners), which comprises every sitting African head of state and government. ALMA developed a diplomatic apparatus based on accountability to generate African-owned and African-led ways to accelerate malaria elimination and improve health outcomes for women and children. In this role, Saleemah functioned as a combined chief of staff and chief communications officer. Additionally, Saleemah played a key role as director for the United Nations Secretary General’s Special Envoy for Malaria. 

Saleemah has also been advising African heads of state on the End Malaria Council (EMC) which is co-chaired by Bill and Ray Chambers. This includes briefing leaders on key trends and new data and policy related to the global malaria burden and presenting strategic opportunities to expand access to lifesaving commodities.
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Previously, Saleemah was an associate director of Corporate Volunteerism at Hands on Atlanta and has served as a consultant to non-profits and governmental organizations on projects focused on alleviating poverty through interfaith dialogue and action programs.  
Saleemah is also a community leader with a strong commitment to and passion for civic engagement through activism, volunteerism, and advocating for gender equality in Muslim communities in the U.S. and abroad. In her free time, Saleemah is a writer and speaker who chairs a non-profit, non-partisan organization working to boost civic engagement in the American Muslim Community. 

ELIZABETH "LIZ" BLAKE

Liz Blake served as Habitat for Humanity’s senior vice president, Advocacy, Government Affairs and General Counsel for nine years. Since retiring in late 2014, Liz has continued as a volunteer with a focus on secure tenure, land rights and gender issues impacting development in developing nations. Liz serves as an advisor to C432 on job creation projects in the apparel, social services and tourism sectors in Haiti. In Atlanta, her work is focused on the revitalization of five Westside neighborhoods through her work on the board of the Westside Future Fund. Prior to 2006, Liz was executive vice president and general counsel of US Airways, Trizec Properties and GE Power Systems. She was also vice president and chief of staff of Cinergy Corp., now part of Duke Energy. Prior to that she was a partner with the Frost and Jacobs law firm in Cincinnati, Ohio, and associated with Davis Polk and Wardell in New York.

Additionally, Liz is a director of Green Brick Partners, Inc. (NASDAQ), is chair of Emory & Children’s Pediatric Institute and vice chair of the board of the Westminster Schools, Inc. Liz serves on the boards of the International Women's Forum, Atlanta chapter, and the Marcus Autism Center. She also served ten years on the board of Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta and is a past chair of the Ohio Board of Regents. In December 2016, Liz concluded her term as chair of the Carter Center's Board of Councilors.

Liz is a graduate of Smith College and Columbia University School of Law.

VIRGINIA A. HEPNER

Virginia A. Hepner is active in various corporate and community activities, following five years as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Woodruff Arts Center in Atlanta, Georgia. She currently serves as a Director of Cadence Bank (Audit

Chair, Compensation), National Vision Holdings, Inc. (Nominating & Governance Chair, Audit) and Oxford Industries, Inc. (Chair of Nominating, Governance and Compensation). Virginia continues to serve on several non-profit boards with her main focus being revitalization of the historic Westside Atlanta neighborhood through the Westside Future Fund board and executive committee. Other current civic advisory board service includes the Housing and GoAtl Investment Committees of the Community Foundation, the Penn Institute for Urban Research, and IWF Georgia.

In 2005 she retired from Wachovia Bank as an Executive Vice President after a 25-year career in corporate finance with the firm. Leadership roles included Managing Director of US Corporate Finance, head of Foreign Exchange and Derivatives Trading and Atlanta Commercial Banking Director. She holds a bachelor's degree in finance from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and attended the J.L. Kellogg Graduate Business School of Management at Northwestern University.

Virginia is honored to be a Life Trustee of the Woodruff Arts Center, and Is grateful to be a recipient of the City of Atlanta Phoenix Award, the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Atlanta Business Chronicle, the Governor's Award for arts leadership in Georgia, and the Lettie Pate Whitehead Evans Award honoring exemplary corporate board service by a female director.

Virginia is married to Malcolm Barnes and they have two children.

TINASHE KAJESE-BOLDEN

Tinashe is the Jennings Hertz Artistic Director and is an artistic leader who plants her deep passion for service at the intersection of artistic innovation and civic provocation, mounting innovative and critically acclaimed productions that merge elegant, theatrical designs with complicated human stories. Tinashe is a Princess Grace Award Winner for Directing, and Map Fund Award recipient to develop her devised new work ALL SMILES centering the experience of children on the Autism Spectrum. Recent directing credits include the world premiere of THE PREACHER’S WIFE a new musical by Tituss Burgess, the Opera FORSYTHE COUNTY IS FLOODING with the Atlanta Opera; and most recently THE MOUNTAINTOP by Katori Hall at the Alliance Theater. As a director and actor, she has worked on + off Broadway as well as recurring roles on TV&Film  Strays, Guardians of the Galaxy; Suicide Squad, Marvel’s Hawkeye, CW’s Valor, Dynasty, HBO’s Henrietta Lacks (alongside Oprah Winfrey), Ava Duverney’s Cherish the Day among others.  Her directing work can next be seen at the Geffen Theater in Los Angeles for the West Coast premiere of Furlough’s Paradise. She proudly serves on the ARTS-ATL Artist Advisory Council and several school boards “My mission is the pursuit of what connects our different communities and how we create art that liberates us to imagine a more inclusive future.”

NATASHA REID RICE

Natosha is Habitat for Humanity International’s first Global Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer and is leading the development and the execution of Habitat’s global strategy for diversity, equity and inclusion.
 
In her previous role as Associate General Counsel, Natosha initiated and managed financing programs and strategies to generate sources of capital to enable Habitat affiliates to build affordable housing with families throughout the U.S. In addition to her work at Habitat, Natosha served as an Associate Pastor at the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, GA for 11 years before joining All Saints’ Episcopal Church as Minister for Public Life.  
 
Prior to joining Habitat, she practiced law in the commercial real estate practices of Alston & Bird LLP, in Atlanta, Georgia and at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton and Garrison in New York City.  
 
Natosha is passionate about providing a voice to the voiceless and opportunities to communities that have been historically disadvantaged and serves on the boards of the global Harvard Alumni Association’s Awards Committee, the Harvard Alumni Association Executive Committee, Goodwill of North Georgia, the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute, The Redress Movement and Westminster Schools. She has also been actively involved in efforts to pass legislation and policies to protect victims of human sex trafficking in Georgia, such as the passage of the Safe Harbor/Rachel’s Law in 2015.   
 
Additionally, she is a highly regarded keynote speaker and workshop facilitator and delivered her talk  “If We Are More Alike Than Unalike, Then…” for TEDx Centennial Park Women.
 
Natosha received her J.D. from Harvard Law School and her B.A. in Government with honors from Harvard/Radcliffe College. Natosha is married to Corey Rice and they are the proud parents of Kayla, Malachi and Caleb.  

DONATA RUSSELL ROSS

Donata is the Chief Executive Officer of Concessions International and Board Member of Russell Innovation Center for Entrepreneurs (RICE). Following in her father’s and company founder’s business-savvy footsteps, Donata has been a member of Concessions International's leadership team since 1985. It's this stable leadership, along with her involved, committed senior executives which has led to significant growth for the company. She is also a member of the Board of Directors of H. J. Russell & Company, CI’s other family owned and operated sister company.

As President & CEO of one of the country's leading operators of food and beverage concessions throughout major airports in the United States and the Virgin Islands, she ensures that her family-oriented work environment encourages and builds character in addition to unparalleled excellence in performance.

DR. BEVERLY DANIEL TATUM

Dr. Beverly Daniel Tatum, president emerita of Spelman College and recent interim president of Mount Holyoke College, is the author of the best-selling book, Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? And Other Conversations about Race, now in its 20th anniversary edition.

A thought-leader in higher education, she was the 2013 recipient of the Carnegie Academic Leadership Award and the 2014 recipient of the American Psychological Association Award for Outstanding Lifetime Contributions to Psychology. Dr. Tatum holds a B.A. degree in psychology from Wesleyan University, a M.A. and Ph.D. in clinical psychology from University of Michigan, and a M.A. in Religious Studies from Hartford Seminary.

LUZ URRUTIA

Luz Urrutia is CEO of Accion Opportunity Fund, the nation's leading nonprofit providing small businesses with access to capital, networks, and coaching. Luz joined Opportunity Fund as CEO in 2017, with the purpose to continue building a more inclusive financial system. In her role, Luz is helping to scale the non-profit Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) to deepen its impact in California and expand its reach nationwide. Already the nation’s leading nonprofit small business lender – with over $200 million in small business loans under management – Luz is focused on attracting the capital and philanthropic funds to expand nationally with the product offerings that will quadruple the organization’s impact nationally by 2025.  

Under Luz’s leadership, in March 2020, Opportunity Fund and Accion, The US Network, joined forces to establish Accion Opportunity Fund, the first organization focused on a national microlending strategy to meet the credit and business advising needs of small businesses – developing new products, establishing new partnerships, promoting research and financial education, and leveraging digital technologies and data analytics to support mission-driven lending.   

Luz spent her career in banking and financial services, particularly in underserved markets, and has won numerous awards for her leadership in the field. She began her career at Wachovia, where she spent 18 years, before founding El Banco de Nuestra Comunidad, a community bank based in Atlanta, Georgia serving the underbanked Latina/o consumers and small businesses. Luz served as President and Chief Operating Officer from 2001 - 2013. As VP of Retail Sales and Services at Oportun in California, from 2013-2016, Luz’s team expanded Oportun’s footprint across five states. In 2016, Luz joined Dollar Financial Group as CEO for the Americas to help transform the organization into a responsible consumer finance lender for underserved communities.  

Luz served on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s Consumer Advisory Board, the Consumer Advisory Council of the Federal Reserve Bank, and on the Board of the Financial Health Network. Currently, she is a Board member for the Silicon Valley Community Foundation and a member of the Community Advisory Council for the San Francisco Federal Reserve. In 2021, she was named one of 50 over 50: Investments by Forbes. She received the Latino Leadership Award by the Silicon Valley Business Journal. Luz received a B.S., magna cum laude, in Business Administration and Finance and an M.B.A., both from Georgia State University. Luz resides in Mountain View, California.