The Black Professionals in International Affairs (BPIA) is a 501c3 nonprofit organization founded in 1989 on a mission to increase the involvement of African-Americans and those of African descent in international affairs. This year, the BPIA launched its inaugural Power 50 List, celebrating current and future Black leaders in foreign affairs including two Morehouse alumni Charles Carithers '05 and Gerren Keith Gaynor '11.
"Our list-makers represent influencers in business, politics, civil society, and the arts. We must continue to support and elevate our community’s leaders, recognizing their invaluable contributions and empowering them to create lasting impact.” — Statement from President Alexandria J. Maloney.
Carithers, a principal at the Cornerstone Group, is a national security expert with more than a decade of experience serving in the Intelligence Community. He joined Cornerstone in January 2020 from the House Committee on Homeland Security, where he served as Professional Staff advising Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-MS) on various national security and intelligence matters. Before joining the Committee, Charles spent 11 years in the U.S. Intelligence Community (IC), having served in various leadership capacities, including the Associate Deputy Director of Public Affairs for the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) and a Senior Policy Officer developing national level policies governing the IC within the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI). He is 2005 graduate of Morehouse College, a 2007 graduate of Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, and an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University where he teaches a graduate level course on congress and U.S. national security policy.
Gaynor is a Washington, DC-based White House Correspondent and the Managing Editor of Politics at theGrio. Gaynor leads theGrio's political team alongside White House Correspondent and D.C. Bureau Chief April D. Ryan, covering the White House, Capitol Hill, and national politics. As part of the White House press corps and presidential press pool, Gaynor often provides the first on-the-ground reporting of the Biden-Harris administration, asking questions on behalf of Black and LGBTQ communities. As a Black, queer journalist, Gaynor understands the power of diversity and visibility, which is why he counts it as a privilege to represent Black and LGBTQ+ communities in political spaces where diversity has not historically been embraced. A native of Brooklyn, Gaynor earned a B.A. in English from Morehouse and later an M.S. in Magazine Journalism from the Columbia University School of Journalism.