The Black LEEdership Experience
This virtual program is intended to inspire African American LEE members to grow their leadership and engage with other leaders.
Date and time
Location
Online
About this event
As more African Americans are becoming more engaged civically and/or politically within their communities, it is of value to be connected to other African American leaders who are influencing civic action. LEE acknowledges the power of being in community with these leaders for our members and their collective action.
Join LEE for a discussion with Black elected officials and leaders in the private sector about their experiences engaging in collective action while navigating their identity and civic interests.
The 90-minute virtual session will occur on Thursday, February 29th 2024 at 6PM-7:30PM ET. Members in attendance will also gain an opportunity to participate in breakout conversations with individual panelists with whom they seek to learn more about.
Panelists
Iris Bond Gill (she/her) is CEO of Opportunity Consulting, where she leads the company's growth and impact. As a strategic advisor, she empowers clients by providing guidance and tactical expertise to drive equitable outcomes for students, families, and communities. For over two decades, she has designed and led strategies that drive large-scale improvements through partnership with local organizations and school systems.
Previously, Iris served as the Deputy Executive Director at a civil rights coalition focused on education equity and as an Assistant State Superintendent of Education in Washington, DC. Iris's commitment to bridging opportunity gaps and advancing equity and justice for marginalized communities is rooted in her lived experiences and early career as a seventh-grade social studies teacher in New Orleans through Teach For America.
Iris holds a Bachelor degree from Arizona State University and a Master of Science degree in Public Policy and Management from Carnegie Mellon University. She is currently a doctoral candidate in Education Leadership and Policy at American University. Iris actively contributes to several nonprofit Boards of Directors, furthering their missions with her expertise.
Stefan Lallinger is the executive director of Next100, a think tank that is redefining how policy development is done by putting those closest to and most impacted by policy in the driver’s seat of change. As a senior fellow at The Century Foundation and director of TCF’s Bridges Collaborative, he recruited more than fifty school districts and housing organizations that collectively serve more than 3 million students and families to join the inaugural Bridges cohort of leaders combating segregation in schools and neighborhoods. As a senior fellow, he has written on issues of racial and socioeconomic integration, equity, school governance, and district–charter relations. Dr. Lallinger also teaches courses on policy and desegregation at American University.
Dr. Lallinger previously worked as a special assistant to Chancellor Richard Carranza in the New York City Department of Education working on agency policy and strategy. He earned his doctorate from Harvard University, where he studied integration and school district leadership. At Harvard, he received a fellowship with the Reimagining Integration: Diverse and Equitable Schools (RIDES) Project, coordinated the Education Redesign Lab’s By All Means Initiative in the Mayor’s Office in Providence, Rhode Island, and facilitated professional learning for some of the nation’s largest districts with the Public Education Leadership Project (PELP) held at Harvard Business School.
Prior to graduate school, Dr. Lallinger led Langston Hughes Academy, a Pre-K through eighth grade open-enrollment school in the Recovery School District in post-Katrina New Orleans, where he served as principal, assistant principal and teacher for nine years. Before moving to New Orleans, he coordinated a boys mentoring program in Providence, Rhode Island. Inspired by his grandfather Louis Redding, a civil rights lawyer, Stefan has been a fierce advocate for integration and equity throughout his career. He also serves on the board of Partners in Opportunity, an innovative housing mobility program.
He holds BAs in political science and development studies from Brown University, an MA in history from the University of New Orleans, and a doctorate in education leadership from Harvard University.
Tiara Mack (D-Dist 6, Providence) was born on December 21, 1993.
A 2016 graduate of Brown University, she is currently Youth Organizing Specialist at Planned Parenthood of Southern New England.
She is a board member of the East Side/Mount Hope YMCA and serves on the Women’s Health and Education Fund.
Sen. Mack was elected to the Rhode Island Senate on November 3, 2020. She can be reached via email or at (401) 288-1288.