Dr. Benjamin Chavis, President & CEO, NNPA: Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis Jr., entrepreneur, global business leader, educator, chemist, civil rights leader, NAACP Life Member, syndicated columnist, theologian, and author is currently the President and CEO of the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA): The Black Press of America. Dr. Chavis serves on the Board of the National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education (NAFEO). Dr. Chavis is also the former President and Co-Founder of the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network (HSAN), the world’s largest coalition of hip-hop artists and recording industry executives. Dr. Chavis’ award-winning syndicated column for the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) reaches 30 million readers weekly throughout the United States, Africa and the Caribbean. A native of Oxford, North Carolina, Dr. Chavis received the Bachelor of Arts, BA, in Chemistry from University of North Carolina; the Master of Divinity, M.Div., magna cum laude, from Duke University; and the Doctor of Ministry, D.Min., from Howard University. Dr. Chavis has also completed course requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy, Ph.D., in systematic theology, from Union Theological Seminary. Dr. Chavis is an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ. Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr. began his career in 1963, as a statewide youth coordinator in NC for the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). In 1970, Chavis was appointed Southern Regional Program Director of the 1.7-million-member United Church of Christ Commission for Racial Justice (UCC-CRJ) and by 1985 was named the Executive Director and CEO of the UCC-CRJ. In 1988, Dr. Chavis was elected Vice President of the National Council of Churches of the USA. In 1993 and 1994 Dr. Chavis served as the Executive Director and CEO of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and remains an active supporter of the NAACP. In 1995, Dr. Chavis was the National Director and organizer of the Million Man March. From 1995 to 1997 Chavis was the Executive Director and CEO of the National African American Leadership Summit (NAALS). The 2010 theatrical release of the full-length movie “Blood Done Sign My Name” distributed by Paladin, directed by Jeb Stuart, starring Ricky Schroder, Nate Parker, and Lela Rochon depicts a true story from Dr. Chavis’ early days in the Civil Rights Movement during the 1960’s and 1970’s in his hometown of Oxford, NC. Dr Chavis has authored books and other publications including: An American Political Prisoner Appeals for Human Rights, Psalms from Prison, Toxic Waste and Race in the United States of America: A National Report on the Racial and Socioeconomic Characteristics of Communities with Hazardous Waste Sites, Report of Fact Finding Mission of African American Church and Community Leaders to the Republic of Angola, Pastoral Letter on Contemporary Racism and the Role of the Church, The National Agenda: Public Policy Issues, Analyses, And Programmatic Plans of Action (2000-2008), and FUSION: Bridging the Gap between Civil Rights and Hip-Hop with MC Lyte (2015).

Tina C. Williams-Koroma, Esq., CISSP, PMP, is the President and CEO of TCecure, LLC, a cybersecurity risk management services company headquartered in Maryland. She is a Maryland licensed attorney and possesses a BS in Computer Science from the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC), a MS in Management from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and a JD from the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law. This cybersecurity expert is extremely community-minded, partnering with local institutions and contributing to several boards: Technology Development Corporation (TEDCO) Board Member and Officer; UMBC Research Park Board Member; Baltimore County Department of Economic and Workforce Development Board Member; Adjunct Instructor for UMBC’s Graduate Cybersecurity Program Cybersecurity Academic Innovation Officer for the National Cybersecurity FFRDC (sponsored by NIST) from 2017-2019 - Prior to establishing TCecure, Tina Williams-Koroma started her career at Lockheed Martin as a software developer in the Information Systems Leadership Development Program. Her last position at Lockheed was a Corporate Internal Auditor in the Business Leadership Development Program. A driven leader and cybersecurity expert, Tina Williams-Koroma transitioned from Lockheed to Unisys, where she graduated from the Leadership Excellence Acceleration Program (LEAP) and served in several technical, management, and leadership capacities, including her last position as an Engagement Manager in the Justice, Courts, and Corrections practice. Throughout her time at Unisys, Ms. Williams-Koroma provided cybersecurity architecture, engineering, testing, risk management, and several other related services to Federal clients in the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security, and the State of New York.

Perry Carter is the President of National BDPA's Greater Washington, D.C. Chapter and founding publisher of bdpatoday. He has been a member of National BDPA since 1983 when he was the Co-Founder of BDPA's Temple University Chapter. Upon graduation and completion of Naval ROTC requirements, he was commissioned and selected as a U.S. Marine Corps Data Systems Officer. From Quantico, Virginia he served as a Software Quality Assurance Officer and held special assignments which including Deputy Marine Corps Marathon Finish-Line Operations Officer, Enlisted Assignments Computer Model Manager, and War Games opposing force (OPFOR) staff at the Armed Forces Staff College in Norfolk, VA. Carter served as the Chief Judge for National BDPA's High School Computer Competition (HSCC) during BDPACon87 in New Orleans, LA. He also was elected and served as the National Public Affairs Officer for the National Naval Officers Association (NNOA). Mr. Carter was the founding publisher for BDPA's I+Plus Magazine. He served as National BDPA’s very first webmaster for bdpa.org which launched during BDPACon96 in Atlanta, GA with Silicon Graphics, Inc. (SGI) and U.S. Black Online. Carter launched bdpatoday in 2007 to support BDPACon07 in Washington, D.C. and currently serves as the Executive Producer for Popular Technology TV (PTTV) For DOT Federal Highway, Mr. Carter served as MIS Director for ITS America (Intelligent Transportation Systems) and Federal Highway's ITS Room Program Manager. He was an IBM/LOTUS Senior Developer and Subject Matter Expert (SME) for their Lotus Domino platform. Mr. Carter's small business teams won two (2) DOD Mentor-Protégé Nunn-Perry awards while serving as their IS and MIS Directors. He went on to serve as the Small Business Liaison Officer (SBLO) for Perot Systems Government Services and as Vice President, Mid-Atlantic Region CIO for Tec-Masters, Inc. where he co-founded BDPA's Huntsville Chapter. Carter became a Director, for Defense/Intelligence Tech Alliances & Outreach at CSC. For the Defense Department's Office of Small Business Programs (OSBP), he supported and managed DOD's Mentor-Protégé Portfolio Carter is the Founder of BDPA's Tablets-For-Teens Program. In 2020, Mr. Carter successfully captured a $300,000 grant with Microsoft in partnership with Mr. Raymond Bell, Jr. and the H.O.P.E. Project DMV here in Washington, D.C.