Brother Jourdain was a civil rights activist and journalist, who was a pioneer who spent his life fighting to open the door for blacks throughout the state. Mr. Jourdain, born in New Bedford, Mass., graduated with honors from Harvard`s Business School in 1921. He later did graduate work at Northwestern University`s Medill School of Journalism. With campaign help from civil rights leader Dr. W.E.B. DuBois and students and faculty members of Northwestern University, Mr. Jourdain was elected in 1931 as alderman of Evanston`s 5th Ward. While on the council, he organized sit-ins and helped to integrate beaches and theaters in Evanston. He remained on the council until 1945. During the 1920s and 1930s, Mr. Jourdain worked as a journalist for several black newspapers in Chicago. He was a reporter at the Chicago Bee and Chicago Whip and managing editor of the Chicago Defender. In 1931, he started the North Shore Guide. In the 1940s, he fought for school desegregation and equal pay for teachers as the state`s first black assistant school superintendent. Mr. Jourdain`s father, Edwin Jourdain Sr., was a lawyer in New Bedford, Mass., and a member of the Niagara Movement, a civil rights organization akin to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. In 1983, the City of Evanston renamed a recreation center, at 2010 Dewey St., Fleetwood-Jourdain Center in his honor. The building is the first in the city to be named for a black man.

Charles Hamilton Houston (‘21)  

Julian David Rainey was at one time the highest paid black man in public service in all of New England. Born April 3, 1888, in Weldon, North Carolina, he was adopted by carpenter David Rainey and his wife, Anna, of Norfolk County, Virginia. He received his early instruction in the public schools of Portsmouth. Rainey also attended Norfolk Mission College — a school for black students, founded in 1883 by the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church. He later spent two years at the College of the City of New York and, in 1915, enrolled at Harvard’s graduate school as a special student. 

That same year, as a Republican from Ward 18 Rainey made an unsuccessful bid to become state representative. At that time, he resided at 60 Windsor Street in Roxbury. After acquiring his bachelor of laws degree from Suffolk Law School in 1917, he enlisted as a private in the National Guard Reserve and served with the 367th U.S. Infantry in France during World War I. Rainey rose to the rank of first lieutenant. He was honorably discharged on May 20, 1919. 

After joining the Massachusetts Bar on November 8, 1919, Rainey established a law practice at 54 Devonshire Street. In 1922, he married 19-year-old Dorothy Esther Akiman of Roxbury, and they moved into an apartment at 552 Massachusetts Avenue in the South End. One daughter, Patricia “Pat” Theresa Rainey, was born of their union on April 27, 1925. A stunning beauty, in the late 1940s she became a famous showgirl, jazz singer and actress, and was said to be romantically involved with King Farouk of Egypt and boxer Joe Louis. 

Rainey joined the Suffolk Law School faculty for one year in 1924. That year, he also successfully represented African American physician Dr. Andrew Berkley Lattimore in a libel suit against the Boston American, a local newspaper that had defamed the doctor. Rainey and W. E. B. Du Bois were friends and corresponded with each other on occasion.

The attorney eventually left the Republican Party to become a Democrat and was named national director of the black division of Alfred E. Smith’s 1928 presidential campaign committee. In 1930, Mayor James Michael Curley, a Democrat, appointed him assistant corporation counsel for the Law Department of the City of Boston, making him the highest paid black man in public service in all of New England. Rainey earned $5,000 a year defending the city against claims for property damage and personal injury. He held that position for four years.

Ferdinand Lucien Rousseve was an architect, professor, housing consultant, president of the Board of Directors of the Urban League of Greater Boston, and State Department delegate on the United States Committee for United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

Ferdinand Lucien Rousseve was born on July 16, 1904, to Barthelemy Abel and Valentine R. (Mansion) Rousseve in New Orleans, Louisiana. He was the great-grandson of Lucien Mansion, militant civic worker and writer during the Civil War and Reconstruction periods, and a great-great-grandson of Dominique Foster, who served under General Andrew Jackson at the Battle of New Orleans in 1815. Rousseve received his early education from St. Louis School. When the school was destroyed in 1915, Rousseve enrolled at Holy Family Boys School, Straight College, and then the Preparatory Department at Xavier University, from which he graduated in 1922. After graduating from the Preparatory Department at Xavier University, he enrolled at Coyne Trade and Engineering School in Chicago, where he received his diploma in Mechanical Drawing and Elementary Machine Design in 1924.

In 1925, Rousseve was awarded a scholarship from the city of Cambridge, which allowed him to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) or Harvard University.   Rousseve decided to attend MIT and in 1930, received a bachelor degree in Architecture. Afterward, Rousseve accepted a teaching position at Howard University in Washington D.C., focused on Architecture and French.

In 1933, Rousseve became a registered architect in Louisiana and the business manager at Southern University in Baton Rouge. In 1934, he served as Associate Professor and Head of the Department of Fine Arts at Xavier University in New Orleans. In 1940, he received his M.A. in History from the University of Chicago, and served as Vice-President of the New Orleans Urban League. In 1946, Rousseve became a registered architect in Alabama, and in 1947, he became provisional chairman of the New Orleans Urban League.

In 1948, Rousseve received his Ph.D in Architecture from Harvard University, becoming the first person at the university to complete a Ph.D in four years. After graduating from Harvard, he accepted a position as professor of Fine Arts at Boston College; during the same year he became certified as a registered architect in the state of Massachusetts. In 1953, Rousseve served on the board of directors for the Urban League of Greater Boston and Cambridge Community Services. In 1958, Rousseve became chairman of the Fine Arts Department at Boston University and served on the board of directors of the Catholic Interracial Council of Boston. In 1961, he became a State Department delegate to the United States Committee for United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). 

While a member of Sigma Lambda Chapter, designed the Second Fraternity Shield; this revised Shield is the one that is currently used by the organization.

Brother Alonzo G. Moron (Brown, Spr. '30) was the first black president of Hampton University, influencing the civil rights movement as he worked to upgrade Hampton Institute from a trade school to a college. He proved that a school for African Americans could be successful with a black man in charge. Moron's influence was significant in many fields. An outstanding scholar, effective administrator, and advocator for civil rights, he held many groundbreaking posts, all with distinction. 

"Moron believed in political action to advance civil rights. With the backing of the NAACP and Hampton Institute he opposed a movement among white Virginia legislators to support private schools at taxpayer expense. The measure passed the legislature, but Moron raised an awareness of the power of black political organizations."

Brother Wendell Knox (Harvard, Spr. '66), President and CEO of Abt Associates, is a Harvard University graduate. Brother Knox is active in civic affairs, including board memberships with Brigham and Women's Hospital, The Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, The Partnership, The Biomedical Sciences Career Program, The National Conference for Community and Justice, and the Dimock Community Foundation. He also serves on the boards of Eastern Bank and Allmerica Financial Corporation. 

Brother Antonio Hart (Berklee College of Music, Spr. '87) has long been recognized as one of the most talented instrumentalist of his generation. In recent years he has also been recognized as an important Jazz educator. In his 20 years as a professional musician he has performed and recorded with many jazz greats, from Dizzy Gillespie, Roy Hargrove, Nancy Wilson, Nat Adderley, and McCoy Tyner to Dave Holland. 

A board-certified OB/GYN practicing for nearly 20 years, Dr. Frederick has had the experience of helping thousands of women with childbirth through menopause and everything in between. Trained in the fields of obstetrics, gynecology, bio-identical hormones and bariatrics, he has the unique expertise to help women through life’s many stages.

While he manages several high-risk pregnancies, Dr. Frederick maintains a low c-section rate compared to the national average. He has performed hundreds of gynecological surgeries including hysterectomies, laparoscopies, and routine OB/GYN examinations.

Since establishing Nile in 2006, Dr. Frederick’s practice has grown to be among the largest women’s care practices serving the Alpharetta and Roswell areas. The reason North Fulton women choose Nile is not its size, however, but rather the personal attention and emphasis on patient participation in their own holistic care. Known for his friendly beside manner, Dr. Frederick is most popular for his naturalistic approach to women’s health. Pills and surgery are given as final options not the first suggestion. His philosophy has garnered him many accolades including being voted one of the best doctors in Roswell, GA, best on Kudzu.com and Atlanta Parent Magazine.

In addition to Nile Women’s Health Care, he serves as the medical director for Glow Anti-Aging Center and Medical Spa. For the privacy and convenience of several clients, he offers his bio-identical hormone replacement therapy, novel therapies for vaginal atrophy, urinary leakage and vaginal dryness in this full-service, luxury space.

Dr. Frederick currently serves as Chairman of Women’s and Children’s Services at North Fulton Hospital. He is board certified by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), a Fellow of the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (FACOG), a member of the American Medical Association (AMA) and the National Medical Association (NMA). He is also active in the community, a supporter of the March of Dimes and is a member of the North Fulton Chamber of Commerce. He is married, has two sons and one daughter.

As a first-generation American born to Jamaican immigrants in the 1970s, successful corporate executives were not part of Dale Burnett’s daily interactions, but a strong work ethic certainly was.

Even though he grew up in inner city New York, Burnett’s parents were adamant when steering him away from self-defeating temptations and toward positive opportunities.

“My parents ingrained in me that hard work was non-negotiable,” Burnett says. “They also taught me that education was the key to realizing the American Dream.”

As the head of real estate acquisitions and development for Assurant, a New York-based provider of specialty protection insurance products and services, Burnett oversees the company’s real estate equity investment portfolio, which is part of the company’s $15 billion multi-strategy investment group. He’s completed more than $10 billion in transactions—including acquisitions, restructuring, and asset management in the United States and abroad—but his real estate career began by following his parents’ simple advice to achieve homeownership.

After college, Burnett moved back in with his parents and, saving everything he could, managed to acquire his first property in 2000—a brownstone in Brooklyn. Wisely, he rented out the house rather than moving in, and within five years, he and his wife (his fiancée at the time) had acquired seven multi-family properties.

Burnett flourished in the operational aspects of managing real estate portfolios there, but says he knew he was “a deal-maker at heart.” After completing his MBA at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth, he accepted an offer to join AIG’s global real estate investment practice, which allowed him to make those deals. He helped lead a series of successful transactions in the United States, Europe, and Asia. After working his way up to vice president over a near 10-year period, Burnett played a significant role in restructuring and relaunching the company’s real estate business after the economic downturn.

Mr. Obinna A. Onyeagoro is a business analyst in Accenture’s strategy practice (a global management and IT consulting firm) now working in the firm’s government client group. The group focuses on teaming with the world’s leading government organizations, public organizations and educational institutions to help them reinvent themselves to enhance efficiency, quality convenience and cost effectiveness.

Mr. Onyeagoro has a Bachelors Degree in Electrical Engineering from Boston University and a Masters in Technology and Educational Policy from Harvard Univerity. Obinna is also involved with the B.E.L.L. (Building Enterprises for Learning and Living) Foundation and the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship (N.F.T.E.).

Mr. Onyeagoro is dedicated to the task of economic development particularly by closing the digital divide and helping to develop the IT infrastructure in Nigeria.

Tyreek Moore has over 20 years of management and business experience. He has worked in both the federal and private sector. He specializes in various aspects instructional technology integration and business process management. Tyreek has worked with government agencies, large commercial companies, colleges, K12 schools, and community organizations.

In 2006 Tyreek founded Absolutions IT, LLC, an information technology consulting firm dedicated to providing incredible solutions and customer service to public and private sector clients. In 2011 he officially expanded the firm’s service catalogue to include instructional technology consulting services with the goal of helping learning institutions leverage their technology investment to increase the engagement opportunities for its students.

Tyreek earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from Boston University and his Master of Education degree from Harvard University. As a professor at Monroe College, he has taught courses in Entrepreneurship, Project Management, Principles of Management, Systems Analysis and Design, Social Media Marketing, Website Marketing and Implementation and Sports Management.

Currently working with Handel Group®, one of the leading executive and life coaching firms, he is an executive in their newly established Sports division. They specialize in coaching individuals and teams to produce extraordinary results through their proprietary method.

He believes happiness trumps all things in life. A positive perspective and dedication to embracing the journey more than the destination, is paramount to achieving fulfillment.

Brian Dixon focuses on identifying and evaluating early-stage investments along with helping portfolio companies grow effectively. Brian joined Kapor Capital in 2011 after spending two summers as an MBA intern, and was promoted to partner in November 2015. He is committed to making sure entrepreneurs of all backgrounds have access to advice and capital in order to make their business succeed.

Brian holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer and Information Science from Northeastern University and an MBA from F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business at Babson College and has been selected as a Management Leadership for Tomorrow (MLT) Fellow, Babson Fellow, and Springworks Scholar.

Prior to business school, Brian started his career as a software engineer at Citigroup through their selective IT analyst training program and has worked as a product and project manager at Education First and Babyzone (Acquired by Disney Inc.). He has founded multiple technology start-up companies and enjoys working with founders and accelerator programs.

 At 15, I was selling sneakers on eBay. I ended up getting my own website and realized that buying shoes and selling them on eBay was great, but what if you could create your own custom sneakers? By 17, I started creating my own custom sneakers called Blak-Out.

I would remove all the sealant on the shoe, have them painted, and sell them on eBay for a profit. I started to get more and more requests. And I got lucky because a gentleman by the name of Lebron James (when he was a rookie) ended up wanting sneakers. I made a pair for him and that’s when things got a little bit out of control, but it was a good lesson of entrepreneurship at a young age. I ended up shutting down the site just because you can’t really grow a huge business with all the supply issues, but it was important for setting me on the path to entrepreneurship, which ultimately led to venture capital.

I went to Northeastern University after high school and purused computer science and a business minor. That was interesting because I wanted to be able to build products and build things I could think of or friends would think of. Then I got a developer job right out of undergrad at Citibank focused on building municipal bond systems, so not that interesting. But all those things led me back to entrepreneurship. I had a chance to create two more startups after that point which was really interesting. And then most recently I went to Babson College for my MBA, which I finished up in 2013.

Dexter McCoy knew that going to college was the right decision for his future, but after graduating this spring from Boston University, he has something else on his mind: repaying about $30,000 in student loans.

Far too many American students, like Dexter, and their families are worried about paying for college or are struggling with student loan payments. Over the past five years, the Administration has been listening to students tell their stories and has taken steps to help – including increasing the maximum Pell Grant by about $1,000 and providing loan repayment options like Pay As You Earn, which caps monthly payments at an amount that based on how much you’re making so student loan bills are more manageable.

But we want to do more. That’s why today, Dexter joined more than a dozen recent graduates, education advocates, economists, and college presidents for a discussion with Dr. Jill Biden and Education Secretary Arne Duncan at the White House about college affordability and student loans.

“It’s the story of many people my age across the country,” Dexter said. “It’s really important to me that the White House is taking steps to address this issue.”

Secretary Duncan and Dr. Biden believe that a college education is absolutely critical to strengthening the lives of American families and the country’s economy.