Board of Directors

Nicola Bailey has more than 16 years of experience as an executive advocating and supporting children and families, during which she has worked for Embrace Families and spearheaded Community Based Care (CBC) in Orange County, Florida. Nicola has a background in criminal justice and originally intended to pursue a career in law enforcement; however, inspired by the needs of her community she made a shift into the child welfare field. Some highlights in her successful career including eliminating a $1.4 million deficit in 18 months while at the CBC as well as growing the budget for the Children’s Home Society of Florida from $7 million to $11 million.

James N. Wilkerson, Jr. is an Investment Advisor Representative with Transamerica Financial Advisors, Inc., as a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER. His area of expertise is tax-free retirement strategies, and he provides complimentary services in the form of one on one meetings, seminars and forums. A retired Navy Lieutenant Commander and licensed minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ he resides in Brandon with his wife Valerie where he has operated his own business in financial services since retiring from active military service.

Marcia McKingley-Lewis is a Healthcare Consultant and Executive & Business Coach as well as the principal owner of Kingdom Creative Solutions Inc. A certified business coach, she specializes in advising business leaders on everything from strategy and human capital management to leadership transformation, coaching, career transitions and team performance.

Jeff Goolsby is a Shareholder of Moore Stephens Lovelace, PA, Certified Public Accountants. He has over 15 years of public and private industry auditing and accounting experience, focused on healthcare, senior housing, real estate, employee benefit plans, and not-for-profit organizations. He received his B.S. (summa cum laude) and M.S. Degrees in Accounting from Florida State University and is a C.P.A., Certified Public Accountant, licensed in Florida. He is published in Florida CPA Today and is a frequent presenter on issues impacting not-for-profit organizations. Jeff lives in South Tampa with his wife Crystal, and daughter, Bailey.

Taisha J. Ortiz is a former Central Hillsborough Healthy Start (CHHS) consumer who became part of the Program with her first pregnancy in 2014. She served as a Community Consortium/Peer Support Group translator, breastfeeding support leader, and Community Consortium Co-Chair and alternate co-chair. In 2018, as co-chair of CHHS, Taisha traveled to Washington DC to speak to legislators to request continued funding of REACHUP, Inc./CHHS. She is currently the voice behind Todo Mujer, a podcast that
informs and empowers women in their motherhood journey.
The podcast also provides tools and support to help women achieve their goals as entrepreneurs, mothers, and wives as well as promoting their spiritual growth. Taisha is an active leader at her church, CCI Tampa, and is a wife and mother of 2.

Gloria Walters real estate career started in 2006, she worked at an investment company that rehabbed blighted homes across Tampa Bay. These projects ranged from complete rehabs to cash flow rentals. Gloria expanded her services to provide Buyer and Seller representation for any real estate project ranging from an investment or second home acquisition, corporate relocation, first time home purchase, or home sale. As a Realtor®, Gloria takes pride in helping families and businesses meet their real estate goals and love every aspect of the real estate arena.

Pauline McNeil Rivers, PhD, is an organization development and learning consultant and workforce development coach with over 25 years of experience in consulting, training, and instructional design and development. In addition to serving as administrative pastor of Plant City Christian Center, Dr. Rivers is the president of the Board of Directors for Building Strong Families, Inc., a community-supported nonprofit 501c(3) organization. Dr. Rivers is a Green-Belt certified in Six Sigma, holds a Bachelor of Arts with Honors from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a PhD in Psychology from the University of Florida.

Alberta McKinney provides coaching services through a few programs to individuals and churches that wish to develop community outreach programs. One of these is a signature course she developed called “Understanding the Business of Business.” This financial literacy business program is designed to educate business owners on how to operate a business.

She has also held the position of Director of the Homeless Feeding program provided by a Ministry in Tampa, FL, where she served as the liaison between the church and the Metropolitan Ministry food distribution program, creating a homeless feeding program for the church.

Her additional duties included creating community outreach programs for the low-income housing community. This presented an exciting yet familiar opportunity. I engaged law enforcement, major health insurance companies, churches, musicians, youth ministries, praise team dancers, prayer stations, and church praise teams, among others, all with the goal of bringing communities together as one.

Naazneen Pal is a true public health advocate with many years of public health, clinical research, and health policy experience. Her accolades include publications as well as community outreach within the state of Florida. She is a native to the Tampa Bay area and has attained her Master’s in Public Health with a concentration in Health Education from the University of South Florida. Her career has spanned from academia at USF to public health practice at the Florida Department of Health. Some of her most recent and notable efforts include partaking in the Florida Healthy Communities Workplan with a focus on overcoming food insecurity issues in our community; development of Hillsborough’s Health Equity Plan - outlining health disparities and project implementation to reduce those disparities; and most recently being awarded a large federally funded grant by the CDC to improve the public health infrastructure in our community and nation. During the crisis of the pandemic, she was one of our county’s Epidemiologist, focusing on leading mitigation and prevention efforts in schools and neighboring organizations as well as running infectious disease clinical trials and research at Tampa General Hospital. She strives for continuous collaboration with community organizations to strengthen partnerships and achieve shared public health goals.

Stephen Pearson began his current role at U.S. Marine Corps Forces Central Command on April 17, 2017. He is responsible for managing a multitude of HR and Administrative related topics that resides at a 2-Star General Officer’s, Marine Corps headquarters. Daily, he can be seen coordinating and working alongside active duty service members, Civil Service employees and Contracting personnel as a common practice at the worksite.

He has served our nation with a distinguished 28 year Marine Corps career. Retired at the rank of Chief Warrant Officer 4; with his last assignment as a Manpower /Personnel Planner for the Marine Corps. During his career, he implemented internal control procedures within a local command headquarters that supported the practices of Headquarters Marine Corps Internal Procedures (MICP), was assigned as the first non-active duty service-member to serve as the Security Manager Representative as well a successfully taught more than 500 personnel on the proper techniques of safeguarding and the protection of both sensitive and classified information. He also served as the Director of the HR department stationed overseas.

Stephen enjoys spending quality time socializing with family and friends; and he especially enjoys traveling with his wife, Sandy.

Elana is a Tampa native and the owner of Greenway Law Firm, P.A., a business, intellectual property, and personal injury law firm located in the Tampa Bay Area. She is a graduate of Florida State University, and Howard University School of Law. Elana routinely assists creatives and companies in various transactions, and helps clients protect, manage, and enforce their intellectual property. She also has litigated personal injury and trademark disputes in state and federal courts. Outside of work, Elana enjoys spending time with her husband, daughter, and extended family.

Esau Waters is the founder and Senior Pastor of Zoe International Faith Center in Brandon Florida. He is a passionate leader with a deep commitment to the local church and the international community. He along with his wife, Dr. Venetia Waters have established ministries, led marriage seminars, and conducted educational seminars in various places in the United States, and the world. Additionally, Pastor Esau serves as the chaplain for his local rotary club, and works part-time as a financial literacy educator eradicating financial illiteracy at HowMoneyWorks®. He is a retired Air Force Lieutenant Colonel with over 25 years of service to God and country.