Philanthropy Day 2020

Philanthropy Day 2020 was a great success! Thank you to our sponsors, host committee, and everyone who attended!

For information on Philanthropy Day 2021, please check out our page here.

Moderator

Melissa Thomas-Hunt

As Head of Global Diversity and Belonging at Airbnb, Melissa C. Thomas-Hunt leads the strategy and execution of their global internal diversity, inclusion, equity and belonging programs.

An expert on building inclusive, global teams, Thomas-Hunt joined Airbnb from Vanderbilt University, where she served as Vice Provost for Inclusive Excellence. In that role, she was responsible for helping advance equity, diversity and inclusion in Vanderbilt’s academic research and community of students, faculty and staff. Prior to her work at Vanderbilt, Thomas-Hunt served as Global Chief Diversity Officer at the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business, where she was focused on ensuring that the student community was seen, heard, valued and supported.

For 25 years, she has taught MBAs and executives leadership, team dynamics, and negotiations  and conducted research on the factors that unleash, leverage and amplify the contributions made by individuals, particularly women, underrepresented individuals and numerical minorities. Thomas-Hunt received her master’s and doctoral degrees from Northwestern University’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management and her undergraduate degree in chemical engineering from Princeton University.

Panelists

Irène P. Mathieu

Dr. Irène P. Mathieu is a general pediatrician at the University of Virginia, where she serves as director of the pediatric department’s Equity and Inclusion Committee and affiliate faculty in the Center for Health Humanities and Ethics.  She is also the author of three poetry collections – Grand Marronage, which was selected as Editor’s Choice for the Gatewood Prize and runner-up for the Cave Canem/Northwestern book prize; orogeny, which won the Bob Kaufman Book Prize; and the galaxy of origins. She serves as a poetry book reviewer for Muzzle Magazine and an editor for the Journal of General Internal Medicine’s humanities section, and has developed curricula utilizing poetry to teach medical students and residents about social determinants of health, trauma, and resilience. Dr. Mathieu’s creative and advocacy work has been featured on NPR, Washington Post, LA Times, Doctors Who Create, #MedHumChat, Richmond Times-Dispatch, The Philadelphia Inquirer, KevinMD, and many other media outlets and publications. In Charlottesville, she leads a poetry workshop for area high school students at New City Arts with local poet Valencia Robin, and serves on the board of Creciendo Juntos.  Read more…

Juanika Howard

Juanika Howard, MS, LMHP-E, has over 10 years of experience in the mental health profession. A native of Charlottesville, Howard has served the community through Region Ten Community Service Board (CSB) as a Therapeutic Day Treatment specialist (TDT), Mental Health case manager and Student Assistant Program provider (SAP). She is currently a Sister Circle Therapist and Education/Outreach Support Specialist at The Women’s Initiative. In this role, she supports women in our community by creating a safe space for healing from past traumas, grief, loneliness, psychological homelessness, depression, hopelessness, anxiety and other mental health issues. She believes that we all have strengths that are sometimes hidden by life stressors and habits that no longer serve us. She sees client-therapist relationships as an important part of engaging in change, and therapy as a way to support self-awareness and build coping strategies.

Evette Roots

Evette Roots is the Social Enterprise Specialist for Richmond’s Office of Community Wealth Building where she is responsible for leading the city’s social enterprise strategy. Prior to joining the City Of Richmond, she worked for the Greater Richmond Chamber where she managed business councils and advocacy.

In 2015 Evette became one of six influential community leaders that established a partnership with the Community Foundation to form Sisterfund, a giving circle with a mission to transform the lives of Black women and girls in Greater Richmond. The group has awarded $120,000 to area nonprofits and is earmarked to invest $75,000 in 2020. She was named Chair of Sisterfund in 2019. Under her leadership, Sisterfund, Ujima Legacy Fund and Community Foundation has released the study, Giving Black-Greater Richmond that explores the role of philanthropy in the Black community.

Evette is a graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University with a Bachelor of Political Science degree. She currently lives in Richmond, VA

Featuring Jake Zarnegar, Friend of CNE and Chief Business Development Officer at Silverchair, as event emcee!

Our Sponsors

Pillars of Excellence

Katherine Brooks and George Beller

Wendy Brown

Caplin Foundation

Dana and Peter Harris

The Rimora Foundation

Partners of Excellence

John and Josephine Dumm

Kelley MacDougall and Mike Pausic

Leaders of Excellence

Investors of Excellence

David and Carolyn Beach

Pam and Frank Edmonds

Joe and Sally Gieck

Melissa and Brian Hunt

Jamie and Tori Macmillan

St. Anne’s-Belfield School

Friends of Excellence

100 Black Women of the Charlottesville Metropolitan Area

Carter Myers Automotive

Charlottesville Skin & Laser Center

Chaski Global

Focused Ultrasound Foundation

Home Instead Senior Care

Locus Health

Manchester Capital Management

Marcela Foshay REALTOR®

Metcalf Tree Service

Northwestern Mutual | Taylor Associates

Pepsi-Cola Bottling Company of Central Virginia

Quantitative Investment Management

Tim and Margaret Rose

Tech Dynamism

The Curtis Group

Think and Ink Grant Consulting

UVA Foundation

Host Committee