2025 UNCF Masked Ball – Baltimore

White House Correspondent April Ryan has a unique vantage point as the only Black female reporter covering urban issues from the White House – a position she has held for over 28 years, since the Clinton era.  She is now the longest-serving Black member of the press corps.  Her position as a White House Correspondent has afforded her unusual insight into the racial sensitivities, issues, and attendant political struggles of our nation’s past presidents.

April is the Washington D.C. Bureau Chief for Black Press USA. She has been featured in Essence, Vogue, Cosmopolitan, and Elle Magazines to name a few.  April Ryan has served on the board of the prestigious White House Correspondents Association. She is one of only four African Americans in the Association’s over 100-year history to serve on its board.  She is also an esteemed member of the National Press Club and the Gridiron Club. In 2015, Ms. Ryan was nominated for an NAACP Image Award (Outstanding Literary Work-Debut Author) for her first book. 2016 National Council of Negro Women, Mary McCloud Bethune Trailblazer. In 2017 April was the Journalist of the Year for the  National Association of Black Journalists.

In 2019 April Ryan became an honorary member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated, and was recognized as the  2019 Freedom of the Press Award Winner by the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.  April was nominated in 2021 for the NAACP Image Award for Social Justice Impact. April is a Baltimore native and Morgan State University graduate, and she gives back to this community by serving as a mentor to aspiring journalists and assisting with developing  “up and coming” broadcasters. April considers her greatest life’s work raising her two daughters, Ryan and Grace- who are phenomenal young women.

​April Ryan is the author of the award-winning book, The Presidency in Black and White, and At Mama’s Knee: Mothers and Race in Black and White (December 2016), where she looks at race relations through the lessons and wisdom that mothers have given their children. April is also the author of Under Fire: Reporting from the Front Lines of the Trump White House. Her latest book, Black Women Will Save the World, celebrates Black women’s resilience and unheralded strength, reflects on “The Year That Changed Everything” — 2020 — and discusses African-American women’s unprecedented role in upholding democracy.

David L. Heiber, Ed.D., is Chief Executive Officer of Redemption Social Solutions and Founder of Concentric Holdings Incorporated, the parent company of Baltimore-based Concentric Educational Solutions, Concentric Wholeness Solutions, and Concentric Ed Tech. Since 2010, he has built Concentric into a nationally recognized leader in student support, partnering with over 250 schools, 100 districts, and 15 states to transform education through mentoring, tutoring, mental health services, and more than 150,000 home visits. Under his leadership, Concentric secured a $10 million Series A investment from New Markets Venture Partners to scale its impact in student engagement, achievement, and Ed Tech innovation.

Dr. Heiber’s strategic vision has positioned Concentric as a trusted partner for urban districts nationwide and an innovator in real-time services to students. Recognized by Forbes, The New Yorker, and as a 2024 “Black Marylander to Watch,” he is currently writing his memoir, From Prisoner to Principal: Only God Can Judge Me, and is a proud father of five.