Ross B. Dickman is a nonprofit executive, U.S. Army veteran, and nationally recognized leader in workforce development and social impact, with more than 21 years of experience driving organizational transformation, enterprise strategy, and measurable outcomes at scale. He currently serves as Chief Executive Officer of NPower. Previously, Ross served as CEO of Hire Heroes USA and was responsible for organizational vision, strategy, fundraising, and enterprise integration across six regional offices and a national remote workforce. Under his leadership, Hire Heroes USA achieved 180% year‑over‑year revenue growth, diversified philanthropic and corporate funding streams, and expanded national service delivery to more than 30,000 clients annually, surpassing $30M in annual revenue. He served as the organization’s primary representative to federal stakeholders, congressional offices, corporate partners, and national media, providing congressional testimony and policy briefings on veterans’ issues and workforce development.

Prior to his role as CEO, he served as Chief Operating Officer and Interim Chief Executive Officer, guiding the organization through executive transition and the COVID‑19 pandemic. During this period, he raised $2.5M in new funding within his first 90 days as Interim CEO, sustained full staffing throughout the recession, improved financial health ratings to the highest level among veteran employment charities, and strengthened unrestricted net assets while reducing operating expenses. As COO, he conceptualized and launched a nationally recognized impact and efficiency model demonstrating a 34x Social Return on Investment, scaled organizational impact year over year, and strengthened governance, HR systems, compliance, and enterprise performance measurement.

Earlier in his career, Ross founded and directed Hire Heroes USA’s Independence Project, a $13M initiative focused on employment outcomes for disabled veterans without bachelor’s degrees. He led program design, research, fundraising, and cross‑sector partnerships with universities, family foundations, and national nonprofits, while pioneering outcome‑driven client payment and tracking systems.

Ross also served as an Executive Officer at the United States Military Academy at West Point, where he managed operations, endowments, and federal budgets while leading large‑scale organizational culture, ethics, and leadership development

Stefanie Boles, mentor, strategist and innovator, brings twenty-three years’ experience as Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer with United Way to her role as Chief Administrative Officer at NPower. In this newly created position, Boles will bring strategic direction and leadership to several areas that underpin NPower’s continued success, including Finance, Human Resources, Data Analytics, and Research, and Technology Infrastructure.

In her leadership roles at United Way of Central and Northeastern Connecticut and United Way of Greater New Haven, Stefanie provided strategic direction and leadership for the Finance and Administration, Development and Fundraising, Operations, Facility and Information Technology teams.

Stefanie chaired the global United Way Worldwide Financial Issues Committee, setting fiscal guidance and direction for the network and was one of twenty founding United Way leaders selected nationally to develop the framework for diversity and inclusion work within the network. Stefanie’s passion for mentoring and reaching back to support others at all levels of their careers led to the founding of the Connecticut Black Professionals Network, which provided opportunities to network and connect formally and informally for many without access.

Stefanie has been named one of New Haven Business Times’ 20 Noteworthy Businesswomen and has received awards from the National Association of Negro Business and Professional Women and the New Haven faith community for her work in the community.

Robert Vaughn serves as Chief Innovation Officer at NPower. In this role Robert oversees our national instructional staff and leads the strategic design, direction, and integration of curriculum. Robert also helps innovate around technical content and ensure the effectiveness of NPower’s proprietary pedagogical approach to teaching.

Robert brings two decades of experience with him having served in various roles such as a Chief Technology Officer, Global Information Security Officer, and Chief Information Security Officer for major corporations such as GM Financial and Globelife. 

Robert has trained thousands of veterans and service members internationally as part of the DOD Cybersecurity Warfare Program. As a national leader in curriculum and IT certifications training, Robert has served as a National Dean for leading global for profit training organizations (New Horizons, NEC, and Global Knowledge).

Robert brings over 42 professional IT certifications and a passion and commitment to developing tech talent in underserved communities. Notable accomplishments include being recognized as a “Global Leadership Forum Superstar” at the 3^rd annual Global Leadership Forum Summit 2019 and award recipient for “Global Influence” at the SABSA World Congress APAC Conference.

Binta Vann is the Chief Marketing Officer at NPower.  In this role, since 2017, she is responsible for brand raising, public relations and both internal and external marketing and communications.

She began her career in publishing, where she sat on the editorial teams at Essence and Glamour magazines.  After graduate school, Binta shifted her focus to marketing and advertising. She worked at Verizon Communication, creating consumer, business-to-business and multicultural advertising campaigns that drove record-breaking sales across products in the company’s portfolio for almost a decade. In 2011, she joined the Verizon Foundation as Director of Marketing, where she was responsible for strategic communications, rebranding of the foundation initiatives, and development of the first-ever corporate responsibility campaign.

After a successful corporate career, Binta transitioned to the nonprofit sector, joining BRIC, a Brooklyn-based nonprofit, as the Director of Marketing and Communications, and overseeing promotions of year-round arts and media programs that reach over 1.9M people a year.

Jonathan serves as Chief Student Success Officer at NPower. He manages and supports programs, operations, and fundraising for new and emerging markets across the United States; including offices in Dayton (OH), Baltimore (MD), St Louis (MO), Detroit (MI), and Raleigh (NC). Prior to serving as Vice President, Jonathan served three years as Executive Director for NPower Texas where he helped launch offices in Dallas, San Antonio, Houston, and Fort Worth. Under his leadership, over 750 veterans and their spouses as well as young adults from underserved communities graduated from NPower Texas and launched digital careers in technology. Jonathan is a former Army Military Intelligence Officer and a combat veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom. He served eight years on active duty and one year in the Virginia National Guard.

Jonathan has many passions in life, but his biggest passion is motivating and inspiring people. His greatest professional accomplishment was helping to promote several individuals into roles with greater responsibility. As such, he authored his first book titled, Caterpillars Don’t Fly, which encourages people to unlock their inner potential and live life to the fullest.

Jonathan has a master’s degree in Business and Organizational Management from Webster University, a bachelor’s degree in Political Science and English from Norwich University, and a Master Certificate in Applied Project Management and Six Sigma-Black Belt from Villanova University.

Jonathan was born and raised in New York City. He is married with three wonderful children, living in Fort Worth, Texas.

Kim Mitchell is the Vice President of Organizational Growth & Strategy at NPower. She is responsible for supporting the CEO and other members of the executive team to drive strategy for NPower programs. This includes driving program and curriculum innovation, manage growth and expansion and refine regional strategic plans as it related to program delivery. She joined NPower in 2018.

Kim is a seasoned professional with decades of leadership experience in Philanthropy, Human Resources, Consulting and Belonging & Inclusion while at JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Xerox Corporation. 

As the former Northeast Region Executive for JPMorgan Chase Foundation, Kim led philanthropic, civic and employee engagement activities and managed a social investment portfolio of over $40 million in grants and strategic sponsorships. Given this unique blend of experience, Kim is recognized for her expertise and proven record in leading high-profile projects, building and leading high performing teams and advising senior business and community leaders on integrating organizational assets to achieve business and community outcomes.  

Her work in corporate America has been a valuable asset in service to the nonprofit sector. As funder and thought partner, Kim has worked with organizations focused on housing, education and economic mobility to help identify solutions at the organizational, policy and systems levels.

Melody Brown is the Vice President, People and Team Engagement at NPower. She has held this role since March 2016. She is responsible for the full scope of HR activities to include HR alignment with business needs, identifying and implementing process improvements, driving positive employee relations, compensation planning, performance management, succession planning, training and development, recruiting and retaining top talent, and driving a high-performance culture.

She has 25 years of experience in the fields of human resources, customer care and corporate social responsibility for Verizon Communications.  During that time, she worked on numerous mergers and acquisitions, managed multi-million-dollar programmatic budgets, and spearheaded award-winning corporate responsibility initiatives.  

Melody is invested in her community, currently serving on the national board of A Call to Men, and the YWCA of Union County. She was formerly on the board of trustees for the Morris County Urban League, and the advisory board of the Center on Violence Against Women and Children at Rutgers University.  

Patrick Ma is the Vice President of Finance and Business Operations at NPower.  In this role, he oversees the day-to-day operations, responsibilities and projects of the finance, information technology and business operations functions at NPower.  Patrick has spent nearly 20 years in the nonprofit sector in finance and operations leadership roles at the intersection of systems, processes, and people. Before joining NPower, Patrick served as Managing Director of Finance and Operations at COOP Careers, a national workforce development organization based in NYC. In addition, Patrick has held positions as the VP of Business Operations at the United Way of New York City, Chief Operating Officer at AIRnyc and was the founding Senior Director of Operations (AF Accelerate) at Achievement First. Before transitioning to the nonprofit sector Patrick also spent 2 years as an Investment Banking Analyst with Scotia Capital in Toronto, Canada. Patrick holds an HBA degree from the University of Western Ontario (Canada) and an MBA from the Yale School of Management.  He is married and lives in Queens, New York with his wife and two children.

Leah Cullum serves as Vice President of Evidence, Measurement & Learning at NPower, where she leads the work of turning data, insight, and lived experience into stronger programs and deeper impact for the communities NPower serves.

A proud Harlem native, Leah brings two decades of experience across workforce development, human resources, training and talent development, and health information management. Her leadership is shaped by a simple but powerful belief: that we are all one choice, one opportunity, or one circumstance away from being our neighbor. That truth anchors how she leads, how she builds systems, and why she believes compassion must sit at the center of opportunity.

Since joining NPower in 2011 during its expansion to East Harlem, Leah has helped shape the organization’s national growth, contributing to expansion into every market where NPower operates today while strengthening the learning and operational foundations that allow the organization to scale its impact.

A certified executive coach with certification in trauma-informed intervention, Leah is known for creating thoughtful, creative spaces where leaders and teams can reflect, challenge assumptions, and build the organizational resilience needed to adapt, grow, and lead through change. Her work is driven by a deep commitment to building systems where individuals and communities have the opportunity to thrive.

 

Colonel (Ret.) Jarrett A. Thomas II is the Executive Director of SkillBridge at NPower, where he leads national initiatives connecting military-connected individuals to high-demand technology careers. With over thirty years of distinguished service in the United States Army, he brings extensive leadership experience to advancing NPower’s mission of economic mobility and workforce readiness.

Jarrett’s military career encompassed command at every rank and leadership across tactical, operational, and strategic levels. He served as Director of the Army’s Soldier for Life program, leading enterprise-wide initiatives impacting more than one million service members, veterans, and families; Executive Officer to the Army Deputy Chiefs of Staff for Personnel (G-1) and Installations (G-9), advising senior leaders on human capital, infrastructure and quality of life initiatives; Garrison Commander of the Joint Readiness Training Center and Fort Polk, overseeing a complex military installation and diverse workforce; and Headquarters and Headquarters Battalion Commander of the 82nd Airborne Division, supporting one of the Army’s most elite, rapidly deployable formations.

Jarrett’s multiple deployments across Afghanistan, Iraq, Haiti, and Kuwait shaped his expertise in leading complex operations, uniting diverse stakeholders, driving results under pressure, and championing a people-first leadership approach.

In his current role, Jarrett applies a lifelong commitment to service to expand SkillBridge partnerships, enhance employer engagement, and prepare military-connected individuals with the skills, certifications, and professional networks necessary for civilian career success. He is recognized for his strategic vision, disciplined execution, and steadfast dedication to empowering those who have served.

Jarrett holds a Master of Strategic Studies from the U.S. Army War College and a Master of Arts in Organizational Management.