Senior Management Team
Interim President and CEO
Richard Brown
Richard Brown is currently the Interim President and CEO at the Urban League. For the last 7 years at the League, Richard has worn several hats including Senior Vice President of Programs and Operations and Vice President of Human Resources. Richard has also played a pivotal role in helping the League secure funding for some of their fee-for-service initiatives including the Urban League Career Center. This online site helps companies gain direct access to diverse job seekers in their local area.
Prior to joining the Urban League of Greater Hartford, Richards worked in Human Resources for both large and small companies in the corporate sector. His efforts were focused on talent sourcing, development, management and benefit administration.
Richard believes strongly in the power of volunteerism. He currently serves on the board of directors for the Knox Foundation and has previously served as a board member for the Governors Partnership Prevention, Connecticut Council for the Advancement of Diversity and Greater Hartford Legal Aid. He was honored to be the graduation speaker for East Hartford High School’s class of 2008. He is the advisor for the Urban League Young Professionals, and a former Adult Achiever in the Minority Achievement Program administered by the YMCA of Greater Hartford.
Richard holds a BA from the University of Connecticut. He resides in Tolland County with his wife Erika and son Tyler.
Controller
Michael Wagner
Michael joined the Urban League as Controller in June of 2008. Prior to joining the Urban League, Michael served as the Executive Administrator for Hartford’s historic Cedar Hill Cemetery & Foundation and was the Director of Finance for the Hartford Affiliate of Habitat for Humanity for more than 7 years. Michael has more than 10 years of Non-Profit Accounting, Management and Administrative experience, as well as more than 20 years of increasingly responsible accounting experience in the for-profit field including Controllership positions at several major local corporations.
Michael is currently a member of the Finance Committee for Habitat for Humanity and has previously served as a board member for the Immaculate Conception Housing Shelter.
A graduate of Bentley College in Waltham MA with a BS in Accounting, Michael resides in Windsor with his wife Jean, and children Kate and Ryan.
Development Director
Director of Education and Training
Kathy Reilly
Kathy Reilly has worked at the Urban League for 12 years and is currently the Director of Education and Training. In this capacity, Kathy manages workforce development programs serving more than 400 adult and out-of-school youth clients per year, including the Community Education Center, the College/Career Achievement Program, the Read and Rise family literacy program; the Medical Office Administrative Specialist; WIA Youth Pharmacy Technician/Customer Service Programs; and the Town of Manchester Pharmacy Technician/Customer Service occupational skills training programs. During her 12 years at the League Kathy has also served as Director of Education and Youth, serving more than 500 school age and adult clients per year, and as a teacher and lead teacher.
Kathy is a Connecticut certified teacher, and previously taught in elementary school, and in alternative education and adult education programs in the Greater Hartford area.
Kathy lives in Newington with her husband, Richard, and is the mother of three grown children.
Kathy was honored as the recipient of the Urban League of Greater Hartford Suzette Benn Employee of the Year Award in 2009.
Director of Economic Enrichment
Val-Gene Gripes
Val-Gene Gripes has been with the Urban League for 11 years in various positions. She is currently the Director of the Economic Enrichment Center. In this role, Val manages a team that provides education to potential first-time home buyers; counseling to those in foreclosure; and financial literacy classes to residents of the greater Hartford community.
Prior to joining the Urban League Val spent 15 years in the banking industry in trust accounting and commercial lending. Val lives in Bloomfield with her two children.
Director of Youth Programs
Gabriel Boyd
Originally from Philadelphia, PA Gabriel has been involved in positive youth development for the past 9 years. He has been trained and employed in all facets of youth development from detention facilities, residential settings, group homes and afterschool programming. Gabriel started with the Urban League of Greater Hartford as an Engagement Specialist with the Hartford Youth Project in which he not only created working partnerships with local organizations and public service entities but implemented more therapeutic support services for the customers served. He felt that the youth served through this program would also benefit from a life coaching model in addition to the outpatient therapy provided.
Gabriel is a graduate of Cheyney University where he majored in Social Relations. He has also successfully completed courses and workshops in youth development provided by the Connecticut State Department of Education, Youth Development Training and Resource Center, Hartford Office for Youth Services, National Afterschool Network, Connecticut Department of Children and Families, Foundations Inc. and The National Urban League. He is a strong advocate for the youth development framework which focuses on providing youth with Services, Opportunities and Support. Gabriel embraces this knowing that it is essential in ensuring that youth leave the program with a sense of self-efficacy as well as being prepared to become productive members and contributors to society.
Gabriel lives in Hartford County with his wife and daughter.
Director of Workforce Development
Bruce R. Sievers
Bruce R. Sievers retired in July 2009 from the State of CT Department of Education following a thirty-three year career in education. He was the principal of Cheney Technical High School in Manchester from 1998-2009, assistant principal and principal of Prince Technical High School in Hartford from 1992-1998, and teacher of History, Social Studies and English from 1976-1992. Upon retirement Mr. Sievers worked at Manchester Community College in the Department of Continuing Education.
Mr. Sievers was honored as the CT Technical High School System’s 2009 Principal of the Year. He oversaw the 48 million dollar expansion and renovation construction project at Cheney Tech, which included a state-of-the-art four sport synthetic turf athletic complex. He is the past president of the Constitution State Conference athletic league.
In December 2009, Mr. Sievers completed a six-year term as a commissioner of the New England Association of Schools & Colleges (NEASC), including serving as a member of the Board of Trustees and president of the Commission on Technical and Career Institutions. He has chaired many accreditation teams throughout New England. In October 2009 he co-chaired an international accreditation team to Hyderabad, India.
Mr. Sievers has been an adjunct lecturer in education at Central Connecticut State University since 2002. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Bucknell University and his Masters of Liberal Studies degree from Wesleyan University. His Masters dissertation for Wesleyan University, Mills Along the River: The History of the Cotton Twine Industry in Moodus, CT, was published in 1985.
Bruce lives in Lebanon with his wife, Dr. Niki Menounos. His son is a Talent Intelligence Consultant at Aetna in Harford and his daughter is a college student.
Executive Assistant
Jackie Oglesby
The Urban League by Department
Economic Enrichment Center
(Includes First Time Home-Buyers Program; Foreclosure Prevention; Financial Literacy)
Val-Gene Gripes – Director
Dawn Davis – Mortgage Assistance Program Coordinator
Tymina Follins – Homeownership Program Coordinator
Ken Hawley – Assistant Housing Counselor, Mortgage Assistance Program
Education and Training
(Includes GED program; Pharmacy Technician Training; Medical Office Administrative Specialist Training; Read and Rise Family Literacy Program; College/Career Achievement Program)
Kathy Reilly – Director
Willona Amoakoh – Read and Rise Coordinator
Andrea Bernard – College/Career Coordinator
Erica Burgio – Pharmacy Technician training instructor
Elizabeth Burke – Program Assistant
Marilyn Daly – Job Developer
Mark Gardner – GED instructor
Yvonne Matthews – Job Developer, WIA Youth Program Coordinator
Marcia Taub – Medical Administrative Specialist training instructor
Monique Young – Program Assistant
Finance
Michael Wagner – Controller
Charese Bozeman – Fiscal Specialist
Mary Judkins – Accounts Payable / Payroll Clerk
Workforce Development
(Includes Employability Skills Training and Hartford Jobs Funnel)
Bruce Sievers – Director
Tonya Foster
Diane Lewis
Youth Development
Gabriel Boyd – Director
Khary Black – Hartford Youth Project Engagement Specialist
Crystal Fernandez – Program Assistant
Steven Hodge – Hartford Youth Project Engagement Specialist
Justin Knight – Program Manager
Priscilla Machado – Coordinator, Urban League Achievement Center/Project Ready
Barbara Muhamad – Coordinator, City of Hartford Internship Program
Mahendra Shah – Coordinator, Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics Club
Intake
Genene Rosa
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