Nikisha Alcindor is a strategic management leader with experience in organizational change, investing, and fundraising. As the former Executive Director and Developer of the Columbia Girls in STEM Initiative, Nikisha is passionate about leveraging her background in science and academia to transformative change in STEM. Nikisha has worked at Apax Partners, Pfizer Inc., Johnson & Johnson, Goldman Sachs, and Columbia University. She is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Business at Baruch College. She specializes in Strategic Management, and her research area is in mergers and acquisitions. Her research examines the success rates of M&A transactions by applying artificial intelligence and machine learning to decision and risk analysis. Nikisha holds a BA in Chemistry from Emory University and an MBA from Columbia Business School as a Leon Cooperman Scholar.

Frantz L. Alcindor is a senior-level leader with diverse non-profit and higher-education management, training and teaching experience. He is an entrepreneurial and outcomes-focused manager with a superior aptitude for team building and leadership. Motivated to cultivate efficient organizations that generate results through research, creativity and effective problem-solving. Management specialties: Non-profit operations analysis budget management retention strategic planning enrollment management student affairs and academic support services HR Research, Focus Group research grant-writing and fundraising, grant-funded operations management project management learning outcomes data collection, assessment and evaluation creating databases and implementing long-term and short-term goals effectively Training and Academic Specialties: Entrepreneurship education science and technology management education, Career Development and Training, Career Counseling, Leader Development and Coaching, Facilitation, mentoring-related training and program management Curriculum Development Adjunct professorships in American History, Philosophy, and Political Economy. Mr. Alcindor is currently Director and Assistant Professor of Career and Internship Services at the Fashion Institute of Technology.

For the past 14 years, Dia L. Jones has worked as a teacher, Dean of Students, and Assistant Principal of School Culture at Mastery Schools in Philadelphia, PA. As a founding member of Mastery’s Pickett Campus, she co-facilitated an 80% decrease in serious incidents in the first year, helped proficient and advanced math scores increase by 70% and proficient and advanced reading scores increase by 49%. As the former Director of the Columbia Girls in STEM Initiative, Dia's passion for the past seven years have been to introduce students to Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) programs and opportunities throughout Philadelphia.