Shari Robinson, (President) is Assistant Vice-Provost of Student Life at the University of New Hampshire. She oversees Psychological and Counseling Services; Health & Wellness; Sexual Assault and Rape Prevention Program; Student Accessibility Services; Military Veteran Services and UNH Chaplain and Spiritual Life Association. She received her doctorate in Counseling Psychology from West Virginia University. She is a licensed psychologist in New Hampshire. Her areas of professional interest include counseling issues related to equity, inclusion, and diversity, working with students of color and first-generation college students, and spirituality in the therapeutic process.
Tanisha Johnson, Vice President has a Bachelor’s Degree in Organizational Psychology and a Master’s Degree in Business Administration. Tanisha is the Child and Family Services Director for the Community Action Partnership of Strafford County. In July 2020, Tanisha co-founded the Black Lives Matter Seacoast Chapter. BLM’s mission is to dismantle anti-Blackness and fight against racial injustices and police brutality. Tanisha serves on various community organization boards along the Seacoast, she is a DEIJ trainer, advocate, and speaker. Tanisha is the Co-Host of the podcast The Conversations We Should Be Having. This podcast is with the Chief of Police of Eliot Maine and discusses new approaches to talk about race and justice.
Katie Merrow (Treasurer) served as Vice President for Community Impact for the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation for 14 years. During her tenure the Foundation doubled its grantmaking, leveraged millions in outside funds for New Hampshire, deepened partnerships with nonprofits and donors, and streamlined its grant application processes. Katie was a primary architect and leader of New Hampshire Tomorrow, a 10-year initiative to increase equity of opportunity for children and youth. Prior to joining the Foundation, Katie served as the first executive director of the New Hampshire Women’s Policy Institute, and before that was Senior Research Associate with the New Hampshire Center for Public Policy Studies. Katie held positions in the state government of Rhode Island and the Massachusetts Senate Ways and Means Committee. She graduated Cum Laude from Middlebury College and holds an M.B.A. from Southern New Hampshire University. She was named Outstanding Women in Business by NH Business Review and is a graduate of the Leadership New Hampshire program.
Anthony Delyani, (Secretary) is the Director of the Corporate Department at McLane Middleton Law Firm. His practice focuses on all aspects of business law, including mergers and acquisitions, entity selection and formation, liquidations, financing, taxation, intellectual property, transition planning, and equity-based compensation planning. He works closely with the tax department, employment law practice group, and intellectual property group to service corporate clients. Tony received his LL.M. from Boston University (1990), J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center (1984), and B.A. from Connecticut College (1981).
Bonita Betters-Reed, Development Committee is a Professor Emerita at Simmons University Business School where she was also formerly a Faculty Affiliate for their Center for Gender in Organizations. Among her numerous past board memberships are A.J. Brugger Foundation in Nicaragua, The Asperger Autism Network, Union Church in Waban, SUNY Potsdam Foundation Trustee, and The Eastern Academy of Management. Bonnie’s scholarship has focused on leadership studies of socially minded organizations and their leaders through a multicultural feminist and inclusive lens (looking at the intersection of race/ethnicity, gender, and social class). She continues to serve as a strategic organizational consultant dedicated to improving leadership effectiveness and sustainability primarily with nonprofit organizations that desire transformational social change. She most recently served as VP of the Board of Directors for the Gender Equality Law Center in Brooklyn, NY, and the Simmons University Advisory Council for the College of Organizational, Computational and Information Sciences. Most recently, Bonnie chaired a Racial Justice Steering Committee for the FCC Wilmot (NH) – UCC, resulting in formal recognition as a Racial Justice Church.
Dennis Britton researches and teaches early modern English literature, with a focus on the history of race, critical race theory, Protestant theology, and the history of emotion. He is the author of “Becoming Christian: Race, Reformation, and Early Modern English Romance” (2014), and has recently co-edited a special issue of the journal Spenser Studies on “Spenser and Race.” He is currently working on two books, Shakespeare and Pity: Feeling Difference on the Early Modern English Stage and Reforming Ethiopia: African-Anglo Relations in Protestant England. Before coming to UBC, he was an Associate Professor of English at the University of New Hampshire. He is also passionate about the public humanities—in New Hampshire, he served on the board of the state humanities council and as the board president of the Black Heritage Trail of New Hampshire.
Selina Choate earned her B.A. in Psychology and later a master’s degree in Public Administration from the University of New Hampshire (UNH). She has worked for the university’s Office of First Year Programs for six years and served as the Liberty Mutual Sponsored Diversity Network Program for five years. Prior to working at UNH, she served as a Staff Assistant and Outreach Representative in Congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter’s constituent services office. Selina brings a wealth of knowledge from the non-profit industry. She served on two state boards and served as the Treasurer for the Manchester NAACP, unit 2009. She is a past co-chair of the President’s Commission on the Status of People of Color, an advisor for NALA, the support group for women of color at UNH, and the advisor for Delta Xi Phi, Multicultural Sorority, Inc.
Stanford Cross, (Finance Committee) brings over 20 years of banking experience to his role as Mortgage Loan Officer at Bangor Savings Bank. Stanford attended the University of Michigan, where he received his B.A. in Economics and minored in Sociology. Stanford has financed homes across the U.S. and has closed on over 5,000 loans. He is active in his community, serving as a member of the Portsmouth Rotary Club and both the Greater Portsmouth and Exeter Area Chambers of Commerce. In his free time, Stanford enjoys spending time with his two sons, as well as reading, biking, camping, fishing, skiing, cooking, and participating in 5k races. Stanford is located at the Bangor Savings Bank Portsmouth, NH location and will be serving the NH and Southern Maine regions.
Dwight Davis
John Deziel has worked with the NH State Department of Education, Office of School Approval, overseeing public and private school approvals and accreditations. He also worked on legislative issues and oversaw Charter Schools for the State Department of Education. John worked with the Harvard Office of School Partnerships, was an adjunct faculty member teaching Cultural Anthropology, and is a founder of a private boarding school for “at-risk youth” as well as a founding member of a Charter School. He has worked/traveled in about 45 countries, facilitating cultural educational experiences with host institutions including but not limited to Nepal, China, Guatemala, France, and Slovakia. John is an alum of Harvard University and the University of New Hampshire.
Thaddeus Guldbrandsen is the Dean of the School of Sciences and Humanities at Wentworth Institute of Technology. He previously served as vice provost of research and engagement at Plymouth State University, founding director of two university-based research centers at PSU and the University of New Hampshire, and as a faculty member at both universities. Over the past six years, Guldbrandsen has been a consultant to more than two dozen universities, colleges, and schools in the United States and Asia. Most recently, he has worked at King Abdullah University of Science & Technology (KAUST) in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, helping the university with its goal to attract and support the world’s best scientists and engineers, especially women scientists, and to develop a more diverse and sustainable economy in Saudi Arabia. He received a bachelor’s degree summa cum laude in anthropology from the University of New Hampshire and his doctoral degree in anthropology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Arul Mahadevan is the Medical Director of the Radiation Oncology Department at the Seacoast Cancer Center at Wentworth Douglass Hospital in Dover. Born and raised in Southern India, he built a stellar career there and in Scotland before coming to Northwestern University/Chicago and the Cleveland Clinic. He lives in Madbury with his family and serves on the boards of Berwick Academy and Partners for World Health.
Chris Matthews joined SNHU in 2012 and serves as a professor of Global Business and Leadership, lead of Project AIM, and director of the University Honors Program. He holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Delaware, a Master of Business Administration from Roosevelt University, and a Doctor of Business Administration from Argosy University. During his tenure at SNHU, he has developed unique courses such as Leadership Through Dance, Innovations In Business, and Social Issues in Communities. Prior to Matthews’ time in New Hampshire, he served as director of fundraising events for the AIDS Foundation of Chicago and as an adjunct professor at Roosevelt University. His research interests include organizational culture, global leadership practices, and social justice and equity. He serves in leadership roles for several nonprofit organizations including the Endowment for Health, World Affairs Council of NH, Downtown Manchester YMCA Advisory Board, New England Names Project, Granite State Gay Men’s Association, Hooksett Area Rotary Club, and Queen City Pride
Andres Mejia received his graduate and undergraduate degrees from UNH in Community Development and Social Work and was recently named the first Director of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice (DEIJ) for a New Hampshire K-12 public school district. A current fellow of the Carsey School of Public Policy’s, New Hampshire Listens, where he served as program manager, he continues to guide the civic engagement group on its school and youth-based programs. Mejia has spent the last five years working at UNH implementing diversity initiatives and leading underrepresented students support helping leaders across campus including student organizers, faculty, and administrators. He is currently a member of the President’s Commissions on the Status of People of Color, and the University Commission on Community, Equity & Diversity.
David Watters has served five terms in the New Hampshire Senate, working on various committees, including Education, Energy and Natural Resources, Transportation, Capital Budget, and Executive Departments and Administration. He also serves on policy commissions on environmental, transportation, education, historical resources, and recovery. As a founding member of the Black Heritage Trail of New Hampshire, he was project humanist for the feature-length film, Shadows Fall North, wrote and narrated the Concord Black Heritage Tour film, and was featured in New Hampshire Public Radio’s film series on New Hampshire Black History. He has served on the boards of the New Hampshire Historical Society, New Hampshire Humanities, Dover Adult Learning Center, The Robert Frost Farm Homestead, and Pontine Movement Theatre.
