UNCF Executive Leadership Team
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Dr. Michael L. Lomax
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Dr. Tashni-Ann Dubroy
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John Henry
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Maurice E. Jenkins, Jr.
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LaJuan H. Lyles
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Larry A. Griffith
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Dr. Walter M. Kimbrough
Dr. Michael L. Lomax
Dr. Michael Lucius Lomax has served as president and CEO of the United Negro College Fund (UNCF) for more than two decades. UNCF is the nation’s largest and most effective minority education organization and the largest private provider of scholarships and other educational support to underrepresented students.
A native of Los Angeles, California, Lomax entered Morehouse College at the age of 16 and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English as one of the college’s inaugural Phi Beta Kappa graduates in 1968. He earned a Master of Arts degree in English Literature from Columbia University in 1972 and a Doctor of Philosophy degree in American and African American Literature from Emory University in 1984.
In 1969, Dr. Lomax joined the faculty of Morehouse College as an instructor of English. Over the next twenty years, Dr. Lomax subsequently served on the faculties of both Morehouse and Spelman Colleges as a tenured professor.
Lomax began his civic career in Atlanta, Georgia under the city’s first African American mayor, Maynard Holbrook Jackson, where he served as the Director of Research & Special Assistant to the Mayor. During the Jackson Administration, he also helped establish the City of Atlanta’s Office of Cultural Affairs, where he served as its first director.
In 1978, Dr. Lomax was elected to the Fulton County Board of Commissioners and became the first African American to be elected as board chairman, a position he held from 1981 to 1993. In this role, he was responsible for a $500 million annual operating budget and 5,000 county employees. He also founded the Bureau of Cultural Affairs, the Fulton County Arts Council, and the National Black Arts Festival.
To meet the needs of a vibrantly changing community, he oversaw the building of Georgia’s Interstate 400, a major highway on the outskirts of Atlanta; expanding and renovating the historic Grady Hospital; and building the new Fulton County Government Center. In 1988, he co-chaired the Democratic National Convention and was instrumental in bringing the 1996 Olympic Games to Atlanta.
In 1994, Dr. Lomax began his tenure as president of the National Faculty, an Atlanta-based organization dedicated to bringing together arts and sciences higher education scholars with K-12 teachers.
From 1997 to 2004, Dr. Lomax served as the fifth president of Dillard University in New Orleans, Louisiana. During his tenure at Dillard, the student enrollment increased by nearly 50 percent, accompanied by dramatic increases in private funding and alumni giving. Dr. Lomax also led a $60 million campaign that improved the educational and everyday environments for students and faculty.
Since 2004, Lomax has served as president and chief executive officer of UNCF. Under his leadership, UNCF has raised more than $4 billion and helped more than 300,000 students earn college degrees and launch careers. Annually, UNCF’s work enables 50,000 students to go to college with UNCF scholarships and attend its 37 member historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs). At UNCF’s helm, Lomax oversees the organization’s 400-plus scholarship programs, which award more than 10,000 scholarships a year. He also launched UNCF’s Institute for Capacity Building, which supports member HBCUs to become stronger, more effective and self-sustaining.
Under Lomax’s leadership, UNCF has engineered partnerships with reform-focused leaders and organizations and worked to further advance HBCUs with Congress, the administration, and the Department of Education.
Among his many honors, Lomax was appointed to the President’s Board of Advisors on Historically Black Colleges and Universities by President George W. Bush. He serves on the boards of the Special Olympics, KIPP, Cengage and Studio Museum in Harlem. And he formerly served on the board of Teach for America and was the founding director of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C.
A former Emory University trustee, Lomax, in 2004, received the university’s most prestigious alumni honor, the Emory Medal, which honors recipients who are leaders in their field as well as leaders in their local, national, and global communities. Among Lomax’s other awards are the Laurel Crowned Circle Award from Omicron Delta Kappa, Morehouse’s Bennie Achievement Award, and 17 honorary degrees.
He is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. and Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity, Inc.
Dr. Lomax resides in Atlanta, Georgia and is the father of three daughters, Deignan, Michele and Rachel and the grandfather of Chloe, a rising senior at Howard University, who will graduate in the Class of 2026, Averie, Bailey, Ethan and Michael, who is a Morehouse College alum.
Dr. Tashni-Ann Dubroy
Dr. Tashni-Ann Dubroy brings extensive experience to UNCF through a career spanning higher education leadership, corporate strategy, entrepreneurship and scientific research. Most recently, she served as a senior advisor with the DGA Group, a global advisory firm specializing in intelligence, risk and strategic positioning, where she advised organizations and executive leaders on complex strategic, operational and governance challenges.
Drawing on a multidisciplinary background that includes executive leadership in higher education, corporate strategy and scientific innovation, Dr. Dubroy brings a distinctive perspective to organizational problem-solving. Throughout her career, she has demonstrated an ability to translate strategy into operational execution, build high-performing teams and guide mission-driven institutions through growth, modernization and organizational change.
Dr. Dubroy previously served as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at Howard University. Her leadership responsibilities included oversight of human resources and services, auxiliary services, information technology, facilities management, environmental and emergency management, public safety, and enrollment management. Under her leadership, Howard University experienced significant growth in enrollment and, in tum, its financial outlook. Dr. Dubroy began her early career as a Research Scientist at BASF, the world’s largest chemical company. She quickly ascended to the position of Global Technology Analyst and, after two years, was appointed to serve as Chemical Procurement Manager, where she oversaw strategic sourcing in the polyolefin division.
She departed corporate America to explore entrepreneurial pursuits and co-founded Tea and Honey Blends, a haircare company that manufactured and retailed natural hair care products, and co-owned downtown Raleigh’s Element Beauty Bar. Her entrepreneurial success landed her on the pages of Money Magazine and Bloomberg Business Week.
Her passion for education led to her becoming a faculty member and later an administrator at her alma mater, Shaw University. The pinnacle of her tenure at Shaw was her installation as the 17th president of Shaw University. Dr. Dubroy’s administration positioned Shaw as a resource to the City of Raleigh through entrepreneurial innovation, civic presence, and support for students and surrounding communities. Prior to her executive appointment as president, the Shaw University alumna served as Special Assistant to the President, Chair of Shaw University’s Department of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, and as an Associate Professor of Chemistry.
Dr. Dubroy serves on multiple advisory committees and boards of directors, including Vital Voices Global Partnership, the international nonprofit founded by former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton that invests in, and advances women leaders around the world, and AJ Dwoskin & Associates, a real estate development and property management company with a diversified portfolio of residential and commercial assets. On August 1, 2024, she was appointed Chair of the National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO) Board of Directors, earning the distinction of being the first Black woman to assume that position in the organization’s history.
Dr. Dubroy earned her Ph.D. in Physical Organic Chemistry from North Carolina State University, an MBA from Rutgers University, and a B.Sc in Chemistry from Shaw University.
John Henry
John Henry is UNCF’s Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer. In this role, Henry leads finance and accounting, internal audit, investments and treasurer functions. He provides strategic thought leadership on financial management and shared services to UNCF-member institutions.
Henry is a results-driven, innovative finance and accounting executive with over 20 years of progressive experience delivering financial strategic approaches in cost-savings and operational and investment management of financial assets including in-depth understanding of accounting processes.
He previously served as deputy chief executive officer, financial and administration at Sound Transit, one of the largest regional transit agencies based in Seattle, WA. There, Henry managed a $900 million budget and $2 billion capital budget. Previously, he served as the chief financial officer for American Public Transportation Association in Washington, DC, and chief financial officer for Jefferson County Commission in Birmingham, AL. He is a certified public accountant and former captain in the U.S. Army.
Henry holds a bachelor of arts degree in accounting from Virginia State University and a master of business administration from Howard University.
Maurice E. Jenkins, Jr.
Maurice E. Jenkins, Jr. was appointed executive vice president for field development of UNCF in 2011, with an annual campaign goal of $40.2 million focusing on fundraising strategy and execution throughout all of UNCF’s field offices across the country. In 2012, he was appointed to lead UNCF’s consolidated development operation. Jenkins is now responsible for UNCF’s total annual campaign goal of $64.6 million.
He began his extensive career with UNCF as a project manager in 1990. In 1993, he was promoted to area development director for Georgia, South Carolina and Tennessee, and in 1997, promoted to vice president, Southeast Field Operations. In May 2006, he became senior vice president, Southern Field Operations, with supervisory responsibility for one of three UNCF regional offices in the U.S., overseeing fundraising activities of nine UNCF offices covering 13 southern U.S. states with an annual goal of $18.8 million.
Jenkins is a native of Washington, DC. He attended Howard University and the University of Maryland in College Park, where he received his bachelor’s degree. He moved to Atlanta to attend Clark Atlanta University Graduate School and later taught in the Atlanta Public Schools System.
LaJuan H. Lyles
LaJuan Lyles is a seasoned executive, whose human resources and business operations experience and career spans Fortune 100 and nonprofit organizations. She joined UNCF as director of human resources in 1999. In 2000, she was named vice president of human resources. She was appointed to senior vice president, chief administrative officer and head of human resources in 2005 and is responsible for managing talent and organizational effectiveness through the human resources department; payroll administration; business continuity/disaster recovery; and purchasing, lease negotiations and building management through the administrative services department. In 2021, she was named Executive Vice President, People and Culture.
Prior to joining UNCF, Lyles held several senior management positions in human resources at Fannie Mae, including director of organizational development, in which she was responsible for orchestrating major organizational change initiatives, and director of staffing, in which she managed executive, professional and technical recruitment. Before that, she held senior management positions in human resources at Freddie Mac and Seabury & Smith/Marsh and McLennan.
She began her career as an assistant controller with Marriott Corp. Her strong managerial skills, counseling and training capabilities led her to change careers from accounting to human resources. She was a member of the Marriott executive team and provided leadership over human resources for numerous midsize to large hotels across the country, including starting human resources and payroll departments in new and acquired hotels.
Lyles received a master’s degree in organizational development from American University and a bachelor’s degree in finance from Hampton University. She is an experienced trainer and is certified in Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and Benchmarks 360 Degree Feedback.
She is a member of numerous professional and civic organizations, including the Society of Human Resources Management, National Association of African American Human Resources Professionals, American Management Association, American Society for Training and Development, Chesapeake Bay Organizational Development Network and Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.
Larry A. Griffith
Larry Griffith serves as an executive vice president at UNCF where he is responsible for the strategic management of UNCF’s more than 400 scholarships, programs, internships and fellowships.
Larry joined UNCF in 2007 as vice president for the Gates Millennium Scholars Program, a 20-year, $1.6 billion scholarship initiative funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation that is the nation’s largest scholarship program. Prior to joining UNCF, Larry was an executive director and assistant vice president at the College Board. In these capacities, he was responsible for providing overall leadership and management as well as directing and implementing national outreach initiatives and leading as the College Board’s representative to key national higher education professional organizations and associations.
From 1998 to 2002, Larry was director of undergraduate admissions at the University of Delaware, where he completed his tenure in 2003 as assistant dean in the College of Arts and Science. Before that, he was the associate director of admission at Brown University, director of college counseling at Gonzaga College High School and as an undergraduate admission officer at The College of William and Mary.
He currently serves on the National Commission on Asian American and Pacific Islander Research in Education (CARE) and in 2014 he was appointed by the governor of Virginia to serve on the board of Norfolk State University. His additional board service has included tenure on the boards of the National Association for College Admissions Counseling, the National Scholarship Providers Association and the Collegiate Directions, Inc. He is active in his community through his involvement and membership in civic organizations.
Larry has a bachelor’s degree from The College of William and Mary and a master of education in educational leadership from the University of Delaware.
Dr. Walter M. Kimbrough
A native of Atlanta, Dr. Walter M. Kimbrough was his high school salutatorian and student body president and went on to earn degrees from the University of Georgia, Miami University in Ohio, and a doctorate in higher education from Georgia State University. He has enjoyed a fulfilling career in student affairs, serving at Emory University, Georgia State University, Old Dominion University, and Albany State University. At age 37, he began a seven and a half year tenure as president of Philander Smith College, followed by ten years as president of Dillard University. In addition, he spent a year as the interim president of Talladega College. Kimbrough currently serves as the Executive Vice President for Research and Member Engagement at the United Negro College Fund (UNCF).
Prior to UNCF, Kimbrough served as the inaugural Rutgers University Center for Minority Serving Institutions President-In-Residence, interim executive director of the Black Men’s Research Institute at Morehouse College and as Executive-In-Residence for the University of Southern California Race and Equity Center.
Kimbrough has been recognized for his research and writings on HBCUs and African American men in college. Recently he has emerged as one of the leaders discussing free speech on college campuses. Kimbrough also has been noted for his active use of social media. He was cited by Education Dive as one of 10 college presidents on Twitter who are doing it right (@HipHopPrez) and named by The Best Schools.org as one of the 20 most interesting college presidents. In 2023 College Cliffs named him as one of the 55 Top U.S. College And University Presidents. In early 2022 he was appointed by President Joseph Biden to the President’s Board of Advisors on HBCUs.
Dr. Kimbrough has forged a national reputation as an expert on fraternities and sororities, with specific expertise regarding historically Black, Latin and Asian groups. He is the author of the book, Black Greek 101: The Culture, Customs and Challenges of Black Fraternities and Sororities, and has served as an expert witness in a number if hazing cases.