For Media Inquiries Contact:
D. Aileen Dodd
Senior Media and Public Relations Manager, Office of Strategic Communications
(470) 639-0734 (direct)
(404) 735-6736 (cell)
aileen.dodd@morehouse.edu
ATLANTA—The Morehouse College Board of Trustees has four new members who will work with the College to support its growth and its mission to develop men who are committed to leadership, service, and academic excellence.
The new board members are: Allen Chan, executive director of The Robertson Scholars Leadership Program; James L. “Jim” Dinkins, senior vice president of The Coca-Cola Company and President, Coca-Cola North America; Alan H. Fleischmann, chief executive officer, founder, and president of the global firm Laurel Strategies Inc.; and Verdun S. Perry, senior managing director of The Blackstone Group and the global head of Strategic Partners Fund Solutions.
Dinkins joined the board in January 2019. Chan, Fleishmann, and Perry will join the board in April.
James L. “Jim” Dinkins, an Atlanta native, is Senior Vice President of The Coca-Cola Company and President of Coca-Cola North America (CCNA). Dinkins joined The Coca-Cola Company in 1988. He gained diverse experience working in a variety of areas, including senior sales, marketing, operations, strategic planning, sports marketing, franchise leadership, and general management. He previously served as President of the Minute Maid Business Unit and Chief Retail Sales Officer for CCNA. Dinkins serves on the board for the Retail Industry Leaders Association. His past board involvement includes the University of Georgia National Alumni Association, the Urban Atlanta Fellowship of Christian Athletes, the Peak Performance Sports & Development Foundation, and the Coca-Cola Bottler’s Sales & Service Company. Dinkins earned an M.B.A. from Emory
University and a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from the University of Georgia.
Allen Chan has more than 20 years of leadership experience as an advisor to entrepreneurial, educational, corporate, and consulting firms. He joined the staff of The Robertson Scholars Leadership Program in January 2010, and was later named as its Executive Director. Chan previously worked at Booz, Allen & Hamilton, where he conducted studies for large corporations in strategy, operations, and business process redesign. He co-founded Resource Mosaic, an Atlanta consulting, talent identification, and staffing firm in 2006, and also worked for the Notre Dame-based Hesburgh-Yusko Scholars Program, where he served as Executive Director. Chan is a member of the board of directors for several organizations, including the National Advisory Board of the Salvation Army, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta Foundation, Families First, and Imagine It! Children’s Museum of Atlanta, among other nonprofits. He earned an M.B.A. from Stanford University and has a bachelor’s degree in Engineering from Texas A&M.
Alan H. Fleischmann’s firm, Laurel Strategies, designs comprehensive global communications strategies across all levels of implementation, bringing together the disciplines of financial and corporate communications, governmental affairs, crisis management, and investor relations. Fleischmann has an extensive background in strategic communications. He is a former Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer for PSB Associates, and was a member of the Obama Presidential Transition Team in 2008. He was also appointed by the Obama Administration to serve on the Board of Advisors of the Export-Import Bank of the United States, the International Trade Advisory Commission, and the White House Commission on Presidential Scholars. Fleischmann is a member of the Global Philanthropists Circle, founded by David Rockefeller and his daughter, Peggy Dulany. He is an advisory director of the Board of Trustees of Carnegie Hall, a lifetime member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and a board member of the Atlantic Council, the Eisenhower Fellowships, and the Robert F. Kennedy Leadership Council. He has a master’s degree from Johns Hopkins and two bachelor’s degrees from American University.
Verdun S. Perry is a Senior Managing Director at Blackstone and the Global Head of Strategic Partners Fund Solutions, Blackstone’s dedicated secondary fund manager, with over $25 billion of assets under management. Strategic Partners has been one of the market’s most prolific investors, having completed over 1,100 transactions focused on the purchase of private equity limited partnership interests and co-investments in leveraged buyout, real estate, venture capital, and infrastructure assets. Perry joined Strategic Partners when it was founded in 2000 and sits on the investment committee for each of Strategic Partners’ funds. Prior to joining Strategic Partners, Perry worked in the strategic investments group at Bozell, Jacobs, Kenyon, and Eckhardt Inc. and in the Investment Banking Division at Morgan Stanley & Co. He serves on the boards of The Blackstone Charitable Foundation, Sponsors for Educational Opportunity, and the Apollo Theatre. Perry is also a member of the Advisory Board for the National Black MBA Association, and he serves on the Leadership Council for the East Harlem Tutorial Program. Perry earned a bachelor’s degree from Morehouse College and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School, where he was a Robert Toigo Foundation Fellow.
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About Morehouse College
Morehouse College is the nation’s largest liberal arts institution for men. Founded in 1867, the College enrolls approximately 2,200 students and is the nation’s top producer of black men who go on to receive doctorates. Morehouse is also the top producer of Rhodes Scholars among HBCUs with five Morehouse Men receiving the honor. Historically, Morehouse has conferred more bachelor’s degrees on black men than any other institution in the world. Prominent alumni include: Martin Luther King Jr., Nobel Peace Prize Laureate; Dr. David Satcher, former U.S. Surgeon General; Shelton “Spike” Lee, award-winning American filmmaker; Maynard H. Jackson, the first African American mayor of Atlanta; and Jeh Johnson, former U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security. Morehouse currently has more than 17,000 alumni in 40 states and 14 countries. For more information visit www.morehouse.edu.