2011 Men of Color Summit
Mr. Robert D. James
Associate Provost for Opportunity
Programs
SUNY System Administration team
Mr. Robert D. James joined the SUNY System Administration team to serve as Senior
Director of the Office of Student Affairs and Special Programs in 1987. Twenty-four years later,
as Associate Provost, Mr. James is responsible for the administrative oversight of the State
University's undergraduate and graduate access programs for New York State's underprivileged
population. The Office of Opportunity Programs is responsible for providing funding to
SUNY's participating campuses for program operation, provides training for campus directors,
and enforces policy guidelines to ensure compliance with the legislative intent of the program.
Each year, approximately 11, 000 students are served.
While the last twenty-four years have been spent as Associate Provost for Opportunity
Programs, Robert James served the opportunity programs community, across New York State,
for the last thirty-seven years. Mr. James was formerly Director of the Educational Opportunity
Program at SUNY College at Brockport in 1976 and Executive Director of the Rochester
Educational Opportunity Center in 1979, which provided academic and vocational training to
adults. During his service as Senior Director of the Office of Student Affairs and Special
Programs, Robert served as Interim Executive Director of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Institute of
Non-Violence. He has a wealth of experience working within the division of Student Affairs
including Financial Aids, Enrollment Management, Access and Retention Programs.
He has served on many community advisory boards during his career and has received numerous awards for outstanding service to the profession and community including the New York State
Governor's Award and the A.E.E.E. National Schomburg Award for service to the
profession. After serving as Founder and President for ten-years, Mr. James currently serves as
Vice-President of the Tri-State Consortium of Opportunity Programs in Higher Education, which
represents over 400 private and public colleges and universities across New York, New Jersey,
and Pennsylvania. Mr. James is often invited to give speeches on a variety of subjects and has
served as a consultant to Federal Department of Education, New Jersey Commission on Higher
Education and a variety of institutions of higher Education.
Mr. James academic endeavors resulted in a Bachelor Degree in Science and Master of
Science Degree from SUNY Brockport in 1972 and 1975 respectively. He has completed all
coursework for his doctorate in Education Administration at SUNY Albany and will soon
complete his dissertation. He is married to Cheryl Holley James and has three children and five
grandchildren.
John R. Lopez
Beth Israel Medical Center
Clinic Manager
John R. Lopez grew up in Far Rockaway Queens, New York. He received his undergraduate degree in Economics from Brooklyn College, and earned his Master’s in Health Care Policy and Management from Stony Brook University.
He currently works as an Assistant Clinic Manager catering primarily to the opiate addicted population at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City. In addition he works as a Weekend Administrator at Parker Jewish Institute for Health Care and Rehabilitation in New Hyde Park NY, and SUNY-Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn NY. John has several years of service in the health field, and has held positions in a variety of areas; primarily in counseling, supervisory, and managerial roles.
John advises and mentors early careerists through the Greater New York Hospital Association and the Health Care Leaders of New York. He speaks to the youth in schools, and the at risk population in juvenile facilities, and detention centers. He is a member of several professional and development organizations including Toastmaster’s International, American College of Health Executives, NAHSE (National Association of Health Service Executives), and Healthcare Executives Club.
John lives with his wife and two daughters in Brentwood, Long Island.
Ramon Maisonet
Substance Abuse Counselor
Author/Playwright
Ramon Maisonet is an author, playwright and motivational speaker who was born and raised in the Bronx, New York City . Ramon has attended Audrey Cohen College for Human Services, and upon completion has been providing counseling in various modalities of treatment. For the last 10 years Ramon has been working as a clinician in the field of substance abuse.
Ramon has established a company called MTH/IBG which provides consulting services for agencies that provide intervention for young at risk adolescents. Ramon has provided consulting services throughout the Tri-State area. He has also written a book called
“The Process to the Promise” which is also being utilized as an intervention for young at risk adolescents. From the book a curriculum was born which is currently being utilized in New York City in a variety of programs such as Henry Street Settlement, The Dome Project and with several churches in New York City .
Julius Johnson
Family Nurse Practioner
Board Certified
Julius Johnson 3rd, affectionately known as "Jay-Jae", was born on February 27th, 1984 in Brownsville, Brooklyn, NY. Although born into a struggling family and a rugged neighborhood, through the love of his family, hard work, dedication, and persistence he persevered and made it out. As a high school football star, Julius decided to take the path of academics over athletics and eventually graduated from Clara Barton High School with a certification in Nursing Assistant. He then went on to attend Binghamton University was enrolled in Decker School of Nursing, which was and still is the top Nursing school in the state of New York.
While at Binghamton, Jay-Jae was the epitome of a Student Leader. He accelerated in both academics and student organization involvement. He was one of 2 people to ever be president of J.U.M.P. Nation for 2 years, which is a major college mentoring program in the Northeast. He eventually graduated and worked at NYU in the Intensive Care Unit for a year before he went into home care. His hard work and campus and community involvement earned him a full scholarship to Binghamton Graduate school in which he graduated as a Family Nurse Practitioner in May 2009. During his graduate studies, he was proudly initiated into Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Incorporated in the spring of 2007 and is a re-chartering member of the Mu Kappa chapter. Julius currently works as a Family Nurse Practitioner in the Bronx, NY for Essen Medical Associates and he also still mentors. His future goal is to open up clinics in housing projects throughout Brooklyn, NY that can serve the community that it is surrounded by. Through these efforts and mentoring, Julius hopes to close the Health care gap and disparities that people of color face in America.
Pastor Greg Johnson
Cornerstone Community Church
Endicott, NY
The Reverend Gregory Johnson is the co-founder and Pastor of Cornerstone Community Church, Endicott, NY. Cornerstone is the result of blending the congregation of Beautiful Plain Baptist Church and Lincoln Avenue Baptist Church together. Pastor Johnson is also the founder of Empower Community Agency, a non-profit agency that endeavors to reach out to the community bridging social and economical gaps.
Reverend Johnson serves a Board member of the Broom County Council of Church, the New York State American Baptist Board of Missions, a member of Family Violence Prevention Council of Broome County and a Member of the Ethics Committee of United Health Care Systems.
Pastor Johnson is a doctoral candidate of Northeastern Seminary, Rochester NY.
Rev. Johnson is a graduate of the Samuel Dewitt Proctor School of Theology Virginia Union, Richmond, VA with a Masters of Divinity. He also holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Civil Engineering and Technology from Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA.
Rev. Johnson’s ministerial experiences also include serving as Chaplain of Sentara Norfolk General Hospital, Norfolk Va., Chaplain for The Children’s Hospital of The King’s Daughters, Norfolk VA; Assistant Pastor of Mount Olive Baptist Church, Virginia Beach, Associate Pastor of New Calvary Baptist Church, Suffolk, Youth Pastor of Metropolitan Baptist Church, Suffolk, VA, and Chaplain Intern at the Hampton Veterans Administration Medical Center, Hampton, VA.
Reverend Johnson was ordained into the Gospel on June 24, 2001, he was licensed in the Ministry 1997. The National Baptist Association 2001 also ecclesiastically endorsed him in 2001.
He is married to Sister Stephanie Johnson and they reside in Vestal, New York.
Reverend Thomas Anderson Jr.
Faith Baptist Fellowship Church
Endicott, NY
Pastor Thomas Anderson Jr. was born and raised in the Bronx NY by his mother Paula Adams and father Thomas Anderson Sr and is the older of two children.
On October of 2000 Pastor Anderson began going to church at the age of 13 and attended New Jerusalem Church of God in Christ. It was at this church that he received his call to the ministry under Pastor Jackson.
After graduating high school in 2004, Pastor Anderson left New York City and attended Binghamton University where he worked with various Christian organizations on campus.
In 2006 he transferred to Davis College, a bible college in the area to pursue ministry full time. The 2007-2008 academic year Pastor Anderson was the Student body president and founded Davis College’s first Christian Fraternity, Lambda Pi Gamma. In 2009 Pastor Anderson graduated Davis College with a Bachelor’s of Religious Education in Pastoral Studies. During his time at Davis College he also interned for the Chairperson of the Pastoral Department, preaching for several churches in the area.
After serving eight faithful years with Greater Harvest Life Changing Ministries located in the Bronx NY, under the leadership of Pastor Jackson, Pastor Anderson was ordained a Minister by the Church and in May of 2009 he was released and commissioned to the Binghamton area.
Throughout his time under Pastor Jackson, Rev. Anderson has served in many capacities such as: Armor-bearer, Administrative Assistant, Trustee, Sunday School Teacher, Youth Coordinator,
Pastor Thomas Anderson Jr. served as the Youth Pastor at Cornerstone Community Church in Endicott NY, and after several months he moved to the Scranton PA area.
As of October 20, 2010 Pastor Anderson with the support of his beautiful wife Ruth, is serving as the Lead Pastor at Faith Baptist Fellowship Church. He is also currently a graduate student at Bible Baptist Seminary working on his Masters of Divinity.
Gregory Singer
Educational Administrator
Long Island, NY
Gregory Singer, LMSW, SBL, SDL – AKA- (Rage Sinclaire) is currently an Educational Administrator with the Uniondale School District and an instructor of Freshman Studies with the NOAH program at Hofstra University on Long Island, NY and Co- Creator of Poeartistry Inc. His performance and presentation back- ground includes Radio (90.3 FM/ 1991-95 Producer and Host), Theater (American Theater of Actors – Looking For Love in Darkness (1995) and Television (Producer and Host- Strong Island Views and Tough talk with Dale Anthony).Mr. Singer is also a Performance Poet who has been featured at numerous locations such as the Performance Poets Associations weekly gathering, Nell’s and at the Nuyorican Poets Café. Poeartistry has been Featured at Adelphi University, Empire State College (Manhattan Campus) as well as Hofstra University , Bay Shore- Brightwaters Public Library, Suffolk County Community College, National Black Theater Festival 2008, National Association Of Black Social Workers South West Regional Conference.2008, Adelphi University New Performing Arts Center Spring 2010, Bay Shore School District - Ethnic Pen Conference 2011 and the Wyandanch Public Library Summer Young Writers Summer Workshop Series. He is the Vice President of the Board of the both the Bay Shore Arts and Education Fund in addition to the A1 - Universal Care inc.
James Pogue
The College Doctor LLC
Dr. Pogue is the CEO of The College Doctor LLC. He is responsible for setting the vision and mission of the organization. In this role he has developed the three primary components of organization to provide the best possible services. College preparation seminars delivered in both large and small scale to parents and students via schools and school districts, city and county governments, in addition to partnerships with business and industry.
The Institutes for Higher Education was also a brainchild of Dr. Pogue. The Institutes are a series of professional and personal development opportunities developed in coordination with university and community organizations. Examples include The Women’s Wellness Institute and The Men of Color Summit in partnership with The State University of New York at Brockport.
As a consultant Dr. Pogue has worked with several institutions and organizations across the country providing expertise and advice to facilitate institutional growth and development particularly in the areas of enrollment management and student success. A dynamic speaker Dr. Pogue is also a highly sought after speaker for colleges, universities, high schools and other organizations.
Dr. James H. Pogue formerly served as the Director of The Educational Opportunity Program (EOP) at Binghamton University. In this capacity he was responsible for managing the overall planning of activities and program development, including a summer program and orientation. In addition, he was responsible for the development and design of curriculum, tutoring components, academic and career advising with the EOP.
Under his leadership EOP at Binghamton maintained retention numbers in the high 90th percentile and spiked the graduation rate at 77%, the highest in the country compared to similar programs.
Highly respected by his colleagues, he was asked to serve on the State University of New York’s Retention Conference planning committee. His qualities have been recognized nationwide as well; Dr. Pogue was accepted to and attended, the prestigious Harvard Graduate School of Education Management Development Program in 2004.
As a Decorated Veteran of the Armed Forces, Dr. Pogue brings a unique perspective to higher education. His military experience both stateside and abroad, in Desert Strom, informs his direction and focus as he seeks to make a difference in the continued development and education of others.
Dr. Pogue has had significant experience at multiple levels of education. Having served as a Math and Science instructor at the middle school level in Louisiana and as a High School Math and Science Instructor in Arizona, he has a keen understanding of transitional issues faced by parents and students as they navigate the college selection process.
With an earned Ph.D from The University of Arizona, in Higher Education, in addition to a B.S. in Biology from Grambling State University, Dr. Pogue recognizes the importance of education, diversity and leadership and shares his experiences with a variety of organizations across the country.
His fields of expertise include Student Success, Retention and Graduation, Higher Educational Finance Models, Organizational Theory, Behavior and Leadership. Dr. Pogue has also been asked to share his expertise at the graduate level having served as an Adjunct Professor in the School of Education at Binghamton University and the Department of Psychology at The College of St. Elizabeth in New Jersey.
In his community, Dr. Pogue volunteers with the Broome County Urban League where he served on the Board of Directors for six years and as Chairperson for three. He also teaches Martial Arts and is a member of the United States of America Karate Federation. He has been a Black Belt since 1996 and is a 5-time US National Champion, and a Silver and Bronze medalist at the World Championships.
Dr. Pogue resides in Binghamton, New York.
