TCASN Board of Directors
The Tennessee College Access and Success Network Board of Directors provides leadership for carrying out the TCASN’s mission to remove barriers to higher education for all and foster a college-going culture among underrepresented populations.
Tayo Atanda
Tayo is a highly accomplished legal professional with a diverse background in corporate transactions, regulatory matters, and emerging technologies. Currently, he currently advises Amazon, Inc.’s Finance teams on global business transactions, ensuring compliance with data privacy regulations and navigating cutting-edge areas like Artificial Intelligence and Intellectual Property. Prior to Amazon, Tayo was a partner at Holland & Knight (f/k/a Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis) where he provided regulatory guidance and strategic solutions to clients in the hospitality industry and emerging markets.
Tayo is deeply committed to community engagement, with a particular focus on youth development and education equity. He currently serves on the Board of Tennessee College Access and Success Network (TCASN, Past President), and previously served on the Board of the Oasis Center in Nashville, TN.
Tayo, born and raised in Nigeria, migrated to the United States as a teenager. He received his Juris Doctorate from the University of Tennessee in 2012, and earned his Bachelors of Arts in Political Science from Tennessee State University in 2008. He currently resides in Seattle, WA.
Kathleen Brock
Kathleen Brock is the Associate Vice President of Strategy Advancement in the Office of Business Strategies at the University of Texas at Austin. Katie leads the coordination and advancement of multi-stakeholder, multi-functional university priorities such as life sciences innovation, housing affordability, neighborhood safety, and new campus planning and development opportunities. Katie also serves as the interim Associate Vice President for Discovery to Impact, a university-wide portfolio of UT Austin’s entrepreneurship, technology and research commercialization efforts. Previously at UT Austin, Katie led the coordination of cross-institutional partnerships and projects focused on improving postsecondary preparation, pathways, affordability, and productivity.
Katie also served on the leadership team of the Tennessee Higher Education Commission as the Associate Executive Director of the Office of P-16 Initiatives. In this role she designed and coordinated the state’s Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Program (GEAR UP), College Access Challenge, College Access and Success Network, and Lumina Foundation for Education’s Know How to Go and Latino Student Success grant programs. Katie holds a bachelor’s degree in international relations from Colgate University and a master’s degree in international education policy and management from Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College, and doctorate of education from the University of Tennessee.
Sheila Calloway
Sheila Calloway, a native of Louisville, KY, came to Nashville, Tennessee in 1987 to attend Vanderbilt University Law School. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications in 1991 and her Doctor of Jurisprudence in 1994. After graduating from law school, Sheila Calloway worked at the Metropolitan Defender’s Office in the adult system as well as the juvenile system. In January 2004, she was appointed by Judge Betty Adams Green to the position of Juvenile Court Magistrate and served in that position until November 2013, when she announced her intention to run for the position of Juvenile Court Judge. Sheila was elected Davidson County’s Juvenile Court Judge in 2014 and was sworn into office for her eight year term on August 28, 2014. She was re-elected for another eight-year term in August of 2022. Judge Calloway also serves as an Adjunct Professor at Vanderbilt University Law School where she teaches Trial Advocacy, and an Adjunct Professor Belmont College of Law where she teaches Juvenile Law. Judge Calloway uses her unique combination of humor, passion, and judicial wisdom to change the way we look at justice in the United States.
Adam S. Green (CHAIR)
Dr. Adam S. Green has served as the chief of staff at East Tennessee State University (ETSU) since 2019. He has nearly 20 years of college access and success experience focused on increasing college attainment rates of low-income, underrepresented and first generation students.
Prior to his role at ETSU, he spent 12 years working for the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission. Dr. Green’s tenure with the commission included more than four years as vice chancellor for Student Affairs and an additional four years as senior director of the Division of Student Success and P-20 Initiatives. He earned both his bachelor’s degree in journalism and his master’s degree in educational leadership studies at West Virginia University (WVU). He also holds a post-graduate certificate in education awarded by the Manchester (England) Metropolitan University and doctoral degree in educational leadership studies from WVU.
Jason Hamilton
Hamilton currently serves as senior director, higher ed engagement at Common App. His professional experience spans over 22 years in education, college admission, recruitment, marketing, non-profit work, and student access and success. During his career, he has worked at various higher education institutions including Sewanee: The University of the South, Oglethorpe University, Hollins University, and Lipscomb University in various director, assistant vice president, and vice president roles. He has also served as executive director with the Arkansas Commitment Program, an educational and leadership development non-profit that works with African-American students. Hamilton has served on various regional and national boards and committees, and he has participated in numerous speaking engagements throughout his career.
Vanessa Lazón
Vanessa Lazón works for the Office of English Learners (EL) at Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) as the EL Family & Community Specialist. In this role, she works directly with EL families and schools to solidify the pivotal partnership needed for students to be successful. Vanessa spent a big part of her first year with MNPS helping families overcome the challenges that come with virtual learning due to the pandemic but has since been working to plan and implement initiatives and community partnerships to support EL students and their families.
Vanessa moved to Nashville from Lima, Perú in the late nineties and got to finish high school locally. Her immigration experience along with her college years and the experiences at the beginning of her professional career in non-profit helped her understand that having the appropriate resources and supports is vital for New Americans/English Learners to successfully face challenges and start their journey towards a thriving and engaged life in their new home. Her vast experiences working with diverse populations helped her become an advocate and in turn fueled her passion to help immigrants and refugees by connecting their needs with appropriate resources, as well as supporting them as they learn how to navigate existing systems, and begin to offer their talents, knowledge, and wisdom to their new community.
Vanessa is a graduate of Lipscomb University and a “MyCity Academy” program graduate. She is part of the inaugural cohort of the Mosaic Fellowship, served as co-chair for the Mayor’s New Americans Advisory Council, led the Mayor’s Office of New Americans for four years, and is a board member for The Nashville Food Project.
Kenyatta Lovett
Kenyatta Lovett currently serves as a Principal at the Education Strategy Group. In this capacity, he advances ESG’s vision and work focused on ensuring that higher education serves as an engine of economic opportunity and mobility, equipping more students with high-value degrees and credentials that lead to well-paying, in-demand careers.
Kenyatta previously served as the Managing Director for Higher Education and Workforce at Educate Texas. In this role, he managed the portfolio of programs to support the organization’s strategic plan to significantly contribute to the attainment goal for Texas. Under his leadership, Kenyatta led statewide initiatives focused on improving outcomes in college access, work-based learning, and transfer and credit mobility.
Prior to joining Educate Texas, Kenyatta served as the Assistant Commissioner for Workforce Services at the Tennessee Department of Labor & Workforce Development. Under his leadership, the agency launched the state’s first apprenticeship office and improved collaboration with the state’s higher education systems. In 2016, Kenyatta helped to launch the nation’s first education advocacy group focused on increasing postsecondary attainment, Complete Tennessee, serving as the Executive Director. Prior to joining Complete Tennessee, Kenyatta served as an Assistant Vice Chancellor at the Tennessee Board of Regents and worked in different leadership roles at Volunteer State Community College. Kenyatta led statewide initiatives for the community college system in Tennessee and played a critical role in the implementation of major higher education reforms, including the Complete College Tennessee Act of 2010 and Governor Haslam’s Drive to 55 Plan. The Tennessean recognized him as one of five key people responsible for the successful launch of Tennessee Promise, the state’s initiative to cover tuition for high school graduates attending a community college.
Kenyatta serves on national advisory boards to advance the growth of credential-to-career strategies and regional collaboration to improve economic mobility. He is an adjunct professor at Tennessee State University and Lipscomb University. Kenyatta has served as a columnist and contributing author for topics related to higher education, public policy, and governance. Kenyatta has a B.F.A. from Howard University, an M.B.A. and a Ph.D. in public administration from Tennessee State University.
Adrian Dexter Samuels
Adrian “Dexter” Samuels, Ph.D., grew up in Shorewood, WI, a suburb located north of the city of Milwaukee. His family was one of the first families of color to live in this small urban village style community. Dr. Samuels attended Michigan State University where he graduated with his Bachelor of Science in Psychology in 1991. In 1993, he received his Master of Science in Health Care Administration from Western Kentucky University before beginning his career in state government administration—first, as Program Director for the Tennessee Department of Mental Health, Division of Mental Health Services; and later as the Director of the Title VI Office in the Division of Civil Rights for the Tennessee Department of Transportation.
He earned his Ph.D. in public administration in 2001 from Tennessee State University where he studied and published his dissertation, The Effects of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 on Tennessee Disadvantaged Business Enterprise. Soon after completing his Ph.D., in 2005, Dr. Samuels moved into academia where he has since served in executive leadership roles. At Tennessee State University, Dr. Samuels served as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Health Administration and Health Sciences, Assistant Dean of the College of Public Service and Urban Affairs, and Vice President for Student Affairs before taking his final position at the University as Associate Vice President for Student Life. In 2014, Dr. Samuels was recruited by Meharry Medical College to serve as the Executive Director of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) Center for Health Policy and Senior Vice President for Student Affairs. He successfully transitioned the RWJF Center for Health Policy into the Health Policy Center at Meharry, aligning Meharry and its students with prestigious academic institutions such as University of Pennsylvania, UCLA, Yale University and Johns Hopkins University.
He is a graduate of the Nashville Health Care Council Fellows Program; a graduate of Leadership Middle Tennessee, and the Tennessee Government Executive Institute. He is a recipient of the Tennessee Center for Performance Excellence Award for the division of student affairs at Meharry, and was named in 2018, 2019, and 2020 to Nashville Medical News' “InCharge” as one of Nashville’s leading healthcare executives.
Marcy Singer-Gabella
Marcy Singer-Gabella is a professor in the Department of Teaching and Learning at Vanderbilt, and faculty director of the Nashville Partnership for Educational Equity Research (PEER), a research-practice partnership between Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools and Vanderbilt University. Over the past 30 years, she has collaborated with school, district and university educators to address barriers to equitable educational opportunity and post-secondary success for students, and to build professional learning cultures for teachers. She has served on the provost’s staff to foster partnerships with K-12 and higher education institutions in Tennessee, and led degree programs in curriculum and teacher education. In 2018-19 she served as Chief of Staff of Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools while on leave from the university.
Her scholarship centers on designing inclusive contexts that bring together stakeholders -- from families to non-profits to government agencies -- to investigate and address pressing problems of inequity. Singer-Gabella teaches courses in the Learning, Diversity and Urban Studies program (M.Ed.), Learning, Teaching and Diversity program (Ph.D.), and undergraduate teacher education programs. She also directs “Tutor Nashville”, a partnership between Vanderbilt and MNPS’ Accelerating Scholars program.
Maggie Snyder
Maggie Snyder is an education consultant working to improve economic mobility for underserved and underrepresented Americans. Formerly she was a program officer with ECMC Foundation, where she supported the career readiness portfolio.
Maggie earned her master's in public policy with a focus on K-16 education from Vanderbilt University's Peabody College of Education and Human Development. While at Vanderbilt, Maggie assisted with the implementation of a longitudinal literacy research study sponsored by the National Center for Special Education Research. As a graduate assistant at the Tennessee College Access and Success Network (TCASN), she produced original content and assessments for two online courses geared toward college access professionals and high school students. She also conducted research and analysis projects related to the development of a technological tool to decrease college-student undermatching. Previously, Maggie was an admissions counselor at Beloit College in Beloit, Wisconsin. She holds a BA in sociology/anthropology from Denison University.
Kyle Southern
Dr. Kyle Southern serves as Associate Vice President for Higher Education Quality at The Institute for College Access & Success. In that role, Kyle leads work on higher education accountability at TICAS, with the goal of strengthening protections for students against predatory practices and burdensome loan debt. He collaborates with other members of the TICAS team and with a broad set of organizational partners to advance this work.
Prior to joining TICAS, Kyle served as policy and advocacy director for higher education and workforce at Young Invincibles, a national organization that works to build the economic security of young adults. He previously worked in several policy and research roles for both K-12 and postsecondary advocacy groups based in Nashville, Tennessee.
Originally from Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Kyle holds both a bachelor’s degree in American Studies and Master’s in education policy from Vanderbilt University. He also completed the doctorate in higher education program at the University of Michigan. He lives in Washington, DC.
Eric Stokes
Dr. Eric Stokes is the Assistant Vice Provost for Strategic Enrollment Services and Director of Undergraduate Admissions and Orientation at the University of Memphis. He proudly joined the Tiger family in the summer of 2017. In his 18-year college admissions career he has traveled nationally to inspire students. A few career highlights include directed a summer institute for at-risk college freshmen, coordinated overnight campus visit programs, and mentored students to become college graduates, leaders, and young professionals. Currently, he leads a team of 40 people to recruit and enroll new Tigers. Eric is an enthusiastic educator with a passion to serve his community.
Eric is a native of Knoxville, TN. He is an alumnus of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (2002) and The University of Tennessee Knoxville (2004, 2017). His dissertation title was: The impact of non-cognitive factors on first-year GPA for university eligible students from low-performing high schools. Eric was a 2021-2022 Maxine Smith Fellow, a 2017-2019 board member of SACAC (Southern Association of College Admissions Counselors), as well as the 2015-2018 co-chair for NACAC’s (National Association of College Admissions Counselors) African American Special Interest Group.
Eric has a beautiful and phenomenal wife, Dr. Jamia Stokes, who is the Senior Director of Postsecondary Pathways for TN SCORE. They have been married for sixteen years and have three children. Kendalyn is a sophomore at the University of Memphis, Evan is an energetic 8-year-old and granddaughter, Kylinn, is 3 years old and full of personality. Eric is the son of Douglas and Beverly Stokes, long-time educators in Knoxville, and has an older brother and younger sister, both college graduates as well. In his spare time, Eric enjoys interacting with family and friends, traveling, watching TV and movies, trying to be something-like-a pit master on the grill, playing PlayStation, and coaching sports. He is a second-generation brother of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. Eric is a most proud to be a Christian and a member of Rogers Memorial Baptist Church (Knoxville, TN).
Don Yu
Don Yu joined Scholarship America in July 2022; as Chief Strategy and Project Officer, he is responsible for developing Scholarship America’s strategy, product roadmap, expanding current initiatives and leading the design and execution of new projects, all with the goal of increasing student success and reducing systemic disparities for underserved communities of students.
Prior to joining Scholarship America, Yu served as the Chief Operating Officer for former First Lady Michelle Obama’s Reach Higher initiative, and as the Vice President for Applied Policy & Advancement at Common App. He also served as an appointee to several positions in the Obama Administration, including chief transformation officer at the U.S. Department of Interior’s Bureau of Indian Education and special advisor to U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.