Bertina Ceccarelli is the Chief Executive Officer of NPower, a national tech training organization, rooted in community, and on a mission to advance equity in the tech industry. She joined NPower in 2016 with a passion to disrupt the status quo and build a more inclusive workplace. Under her visionary leadership, NPower has grown from $6 million to a $23 million organization, doubling their staff and expanding their proven program to three new cities. 

Bertina’s commitment to helping young adults and military-connected individuals launch tech careers and break social and economic mobility barriers has led to her involvement in strategic alliance organizations including Founding member TechPact; member, CEO Action; steering committee member, American’s Promise YES Project; as well as membership on Forbes Council and Concordia communities.  She was named as one of the Tech Industry’s Brightest Superstars by the US Black Engineer & IT magazine.

An engineer by training, Bertina has worked as a technology leader at Procter & Gamble and NBC before pivoting to the nonprofit sector. Growing up in a working-class family and the first to graduate from high school, she was drawn to a community that once supported her own educational endeavors. After a successful career in the corporate sector, Bertina chose to transition her skills to the nonprofit sector.  Bertina held senior leadership roles at United Way of New York City and the Wildlife Conservation Society where she was responsible for generating over $85 million annually in programmatic and unrestricted funds.   She graduated from the University of California, Berkeley with a B.S. in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research and received an MBA from Harvard Business School. She is an engaged storyteller, who leads with heart, committed to moving the mission of NPower to new heights.

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.

Binta Vann-Joseph is the Vice President of Marketing 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.

Robert Vaughn serves as Vice President, Head of Instructors Institute 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.

Kim Mitchell is the Vice President of Program 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 Diversity & 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 diversity has been a valuable asset in service to the nonprofit sector. As funder and thought partner, Kim has worked with organizations fighting housing, education and economic inequity to help identify solutions at the organizational, policy and systems level.

Tom Sussman is the Vice President of Finance and Business Operations at NPower. He joined the nonprofit organization in 2012. In his capacity, Tom serves as an officer of the organization and is responsible for the accounting and finance functions, payroll processing, information technology and real estate management.

Tom’s leadership experience prior to joining NPower includes roles as Chief Financial Officer, Chief Operating Officer, Corporate Controller, Vice President, Corporate Accounting and management consultant.  His professional experience includes time working for organizations in the following industries: investment banking, telecommunications, food & beverage, home entertainment and various types of professional services.

Melody Brown is the Vice President of Human Resources 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.  

Jonathan serves as Vice President of Field Operations 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.

Béa Tassot is the Vice President of Field Operations and Military Programs for NPower. She is responsible for leading NPower’s programmatic direction and strategic growth agenda for impact and expansion. This includes managing the regional locations across the country and support the Executive Directors to achieve best-in-class outcomes; drive operational excellence and lead the creation and refinement of systems, processes & practices for recruitment, curriculum development, facilitation & training, professional development, placement and governance. Béa joined NPower as the NJ Executive Director in September 2015 to launch the program in Jersey City. Since then, seven classes of young adult and veteran classes graduated under her leadership.

After a career in public relations for Federal Express, Ogilvy & Mather, AT&T France, and Lucent Technologies USA. She pivoted to a role as Corporate Contributions Director at Lucent Technologies Foundation where she led several signature programs globally before becoming the Executive Director of the Alcatel-Lucent Foundation. After Lucent, Bea joined the Verizon Foundation to design and implement their International philanthropic strategy. She was also in charge of Domestic Violence Prevention and Military programs.

Kendra Parlock is the Vice President of Partnership Development and is responsible for strategic partnerships and development.

In 2017 Kendra was appointed Director of the Mayor’s Office of Sustainable Solutions for the City of Baltimore where she was charged with rebuilding and expanding Baltimore’s CitiStat program for issue driven performance management, data analysis and cross agency collaboration for service delivery, public safety and neighborhood revitalization. Prior to this role over a span of two decades, Kendra worked as a global segment manager at Cabot Corporation, led innovation projects in W.R. Grace’s New Business Development Incubator and held various technical, sales and marketing roles at DuPont. 

Kendra is highly engaged with several community and charity organizations. She is a member of the inaugural United Way of Central Maryland Philanthropic Women’s Leadership Development Program, a longtime executive board member of the Bolton Hill Community Association and a business mentor with Innovation Works, an organization working to improve Baltimore’s neighborhood economies. Named The Daily Record’s 2021 Top 100 Women in Maryland, Kendra is recognized for her collaboration and results-driven leadership style and commitment to changing the lives of your people in her community.