Board of Directors
Officers
Yvette C. Caldwell - Chair
Yvette Caldwell, Associate Vice President for Development provides strategic leadership, direction and management for all fundraising programs in the Office of Institutional Advancement at Bowie State University. Caldwell began her tenure at Bowie State as the Director of Corporate and Foundation Relations where she lead a wide range of initiatives aimed at raising funds from corporations, foundations and individual donors. Her efforts support board development, program development, major and principal gift solicitation and strategic fundraising planning for the university.
With decades of experience in business development, fundraising and marketing, her career endeavors have taken her around the globe. She has been successfully involved in fundraising, marketing, strategic planning, new product development, special events, advertising and public relations for both domestic and international corporations and non-profit organizations.
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The Honorable Petrella Robinson - Vice Chair
Mayor Petrella Robinson was raised in North Brentwood by her great aunt and still lives in the same house. After marrying Leon Robinson, they returned to raise their four children, Leon III, Jenessa, Shaleta, and Clinton. She has eleven grandchildren and one great-grandchild. Petrella worked for the federal government as Computer Specialist at Voice of America for 37 years; she received numerous awards and accolades before retiring in 2005. She was also treasurer of the Carl T. Rowan Blacks in Government for four years, and is a lifetime member of the organization. She is committed to improve Prince Georges County, the Town of North Brentwood, and the Gateway Arts District in areas of revitalization, economic development and investing in children for the future.
Loretta Fuller - Treasurer
Loretta Fuller serves as Chief Executive Officer of Insurance Solutions Associates. Insurance Solutions Associates is an independent insurance brokerage and certified Minority Business Enterprise with over 30 years combined experience in the insurance industry. With four generations and two offices located in the District of Columbia and Maryland, Insurance Solutions Associates services the entire Washington Metropolitan region.
She has served businesses and the community with passion and dedication. She has been recognized for her engagement, her tremendous knowledge about the insurance industry and her wide cross-section of experience. Loretta Fuller was selected as one of the 50 Women of Influence and Power on by Minority Enterprise Advocate Magazine (MEA Magazine). MEA is a national bi-monthly publication of the Minority Enterprise Executive Council which recognizes distinguished companies and accomplished women from across the United States. She was one of the Top 100 MBE's for the year of 2010. The Top 100 MBE honors minority and women entrepreneurs. Loretta Fuller was included in The Heritage Registry of Who's Who 2012 edition. Her accomplishments and achievements attained in the field of Commercial, Property and Casualty Insurance warranted inclusion into The Heritage Registry of Who's Who.
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Kenan Langston - Secretary
Kenan Langston is a graphic designer who resides in Prince George’s County, Maryland where she works for the County’s Department of the Environment. Ms. Langston has worked as a graphic designer for 15 years, with her art displayed on recycling bins, posters, and mailings across Prince George’s County. She graduated from the University of Maryland College Park with a BA in journalism. After graduation, Ms. Langston discovered her love for graphic design and chose to make it her mission to use her energy and talent to make the world a more interesting place through art. She also lends her talents to her son’s school PTSA, and her sorority, Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Incorporated, while also exhibiting her personal projects around the DMV. Ms. Langston is a new board member for the Prince George’s Art and Humanities Council.
Members
Ruby Costea
Ruby Costea is the Academic Dean and Chinese Immersion Coordinator at Paint Branch Elementary School in the Prince George’s County Public Schools System in Maryland. In addition, she teaches Online Chinese for Montgomery College. She was also the world language specialist at the Maryland State Department of Education, the coordinator of the TESOL Education: Training for All Teachers Master’s Program and director of the Startalk Arabic and Chinese Teacher Training Program for McDaniel College.When she has free time, she enjoys volunteering for the Prince George Arts and Humanities Council and the Center for Human Services.
Montré Dupree
Montré is a community organizer, and advocates for underserved populations. With over 20 years of experience in the non-profit sector, Montré is highly motivated, hands-on leader with demonstrated success developing and implementing strategic engagement and outreach plans that support business goals to continuously increase the number of qualified volunteers and funds raised for key initiatives. She is deeply experienced at cultivating meaningful partnerships, engaging key stakeholders, and influencing positive brand recognition.
As the Outreach Coordinator for CASA/Prince George's County, Montré cultivates strategic partnerships through community outreach activities for the dual purpose of recruiting volunteers to serve in the program and to create relationships with potential funders. Montre's efforts contribute to increasing CASA’s capacity to serve foster children in Prince George’s County by advancing its outreach and increasing community support for the organizational mission.
As a Board Member for SheRises, Montré leads the community outreach and engagement efforts to further the organizations impact in the lives of teen mothers in Prince George’s County and neighboring communities.
Montré is the Secretary for the Prince George’s County Commission for Veterans Affairs.
Brenda Makle
Brenda Thompson Makle retired from Prince George’s County Public Schools as the Instructional Supervisor for Visual Arts, supervising approximately 210 art teachers. Mrs. Makle has thirty-nine+ years of experience in visual arts education. During this time, she has taught elementary, middle school, high school and adult art classes. Brenda is currently on the Board of Directors for the Prince George’s African American Museum and Cultural Center and a Member of the Prince George’s Arts and Humanities Council since 2017. She pledged into Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., while an undergraduate and was president of the Zeta Delta Chapter at Bowie State College during her senior year. Brenda received a Master’s Degree of Science, in Human Development, from the University of Maryland College Park.
When asked how she feels about the arts she remarked, “I love the Arts! The Arts have been a part of my life since childhood. I enjoyed writing poems, participating in plays, dancing, taking piano lessons and learning to play the clarinet. Visual arts are my very favorite! I majored in Art Education. The joy that the arts give children is priceless!”
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Cynthia McClendon
An architect for more than 30 years, Cynthia McClendon have extensive experience leading programs and project teams in the design and construction arena for private, municipal and federal entities. She has successfully built and managed a wholly owned subsidiary of her employer to serve the “classified work” community.
Currently, working with the federal judiciary client on a $1B capital construction program to build new courthouses over the next five years. She has lived in the Washington DC area for more 39 years with 22 years in Prince George’s County. She has two sons, a teenager and a puppy. Her favorite pastimes include playing tennis, reading, watching game shows.
Yolanda Muckle
Yolanda was born and raised in Baltimore. Although she was her parents’ only child, she grew up far from alone, surrounded by grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. “I am who I am today because of my strong upbringing and the values instilled by my family,” she says. Among these were a love for reading and learning that earned Yolanda a scholarship to Hampton University in Virginia, where she graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Mass Media. Yolanda then embarked on a long and successful tenure in the broadcasting industry, managing commercial sales and major agency accounts for network affiliates.
Yolanda Muckle has worked as a licensed Realtor in Mitchellville, Maryland since 2003 after concluding a successful 20-year long career as an advertising and marketing sales account executive. Her accolades include being named the Prince George’s Chamber of Commerce’s Entrepreneur of the Year for 2007, and the Maryland Association of Realtors’ Leadership Academy’s Shining Star for 2009. Ms. Muckle also serves on the Board of Directors for the Prince George’s County Association of Realtors.
Ronald Waldo Wilson
Ronald Waldo Wilson is the founder of the Waldo Gallery which opened in 1992. After completing his undergraduate education at Howard University, and his graduate education at Southeastern University, he was encouraged by the former curator and director of the Barnett-Aden Collection, the late Adolphus Ealey, to continue his studies and to create works of art himself. Since then he has had great success in the art field and has been featured in art exhibitions across the Washington DC area. Ronald has been recognized in the Washington Post as a featured artist in the Art of Interpretation exhibition sponsored by his alma mater Howard University and Lexus of Bethesda Maryland, as well as exhibitions at the Washington Gas Corp, Pepco Holdings, Inc. and Central Union Mission's Annual Fundraiser for the homeless. After 30 plus years of attending lectures, exhibitions and studying the history of art, Wilson has become well versed in the fine arts field. He is a virtuoso in creativity that aims to lift the viewer to a higher dimension, and to help facilitate the world's creative, emotional and social growth.
Jose Luis Diaz
Jose Luis Diaz is the WIC Executive Director for CCI Health Services (a Maryland-based Federally Qualified Health Center). He joined the agency in 2013 as the agency’s marketing director. He is an award- winning creative director with a keen ability to convey and transform complex concepts into useful tools. He has led projects for the Smithsonian Institution Center for Latino Initiatives, the Smithsonian Holocaust Museum, the Maryland Society for Sight, Teatro de la Luna, the Latin American Folk Institute, the City College of New York, the Rochester Institute of Technology, and the Harlem Repertory Theater.
Outside the office, Jose Luis is a theatrical producer/designer, and has had the pleasure to be involved with productions in Maryland, New York, Virginia, and Washington D.C. At the height of the pandemic, he launched a popular music live stream on YouTube called The Music Connection.
Denise Mitchell
Denise Mitchell has extensive experience both in the labor sector as well as the association world. She served as executive director of the Howard University Medical Alumni Association, labor relations and compliance programs manager with DC Water and senior labor relations officer at the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA).
Denise Mitchell earned her law degree in Employment and Labor Law from Howard University School of Law and undergraduate degree in Education and Industrial Psychology from the State University of New York–New Paltz. She is a certified Human Resources Professional, a designation of SPHR from the Society of Human Resources Management; a Certified Public Manager through the Metropolitan Council of Governments Executive Leadership Program at George Washington University and a certified EEO investigator.
V. Melissa Holland
V. Melissa Holland is an arts advocate, community volunteer, and federal government retiree. With a Ph.D. in cognitive psychology from Pennsylvania State University, she has studied how people learn and use language and how technology can help. At the nonprofit American Institutes for Research, she explored processes used by effective writers. Moving to federal government, most recently as Chief of U.S. Army Research Lab’s Multilingual Computing Branch, she linked computer scientists with linguists to investigate how computers can support language understanding and translation. During her 30-year federal career, she received awards for scientific advances, for transferring technology into practice, and for promoting diversity in hiring. She also served on President Obama’s Inter-agency Language & Communication Working Group, under the National Science & Technology Council, which developed recommendations for language research across agencies. She has published two books, several journal articles, and papers for national conferences.
In retirement, Melissa joined the City of Laurel Arts Council in 2017. There she has served as chair and vice-chair, championed arts education, and launched partnerships with city organizations and businesses. She also volunteers in Prince George’s County public schools, in a Laurel food pantry, and with Progressive Maryland to advocate for the rights of formerly incarcerated people, where she introduced arts as a path to healing. A native of Mississippi, she sponsors a public school music outreach program at Mississippi State University. She believes that the arts can empower communities and save lives.
Ex-Officio Members
Samuel Iwu
Samuel Iwu is the Director of Multicultural Affairs for the Prince George’s County County Executive Office. He has extensive management experience in business development, public administration, medical informatics systems, commodities, and support operations. Prior to leading the Office of Multicultural Affairs, Samuel previously worked as Senior Advisor at Watts Partners in Washington, D.C., where he was responsible for advising the team on policy and strategic partnerships with African countries and the Middle East.
Shelby L. McRae
Shelby L. McRae is a seasoned communications professional with over 30 years of public relations, marketing, and information technology experience. Currently, in her role as Digital and Online Communication/ Branding Systems Administrator for Prince George's County's Legislative Branch of government, she oversees information technology efforts through the Office of Communications, including website development, digital marketing, branding, and training. Shelby is also the founder and CEO of PremierePR, a full service public relations firm, managing a broad range of entertainment and fashion industry communications.
With a professional background that includes roles as FSC First Vice-President of Communications; Prince George’s Economic Development Corporation Marketing and Public Relations Director; and Prince George’s Journal Director of Advertising, Shelby possesses a unique combination of visual communication skills, media savvy, and political acumen. She continues to leverage her considerable experience assembling and managing alliances to meet communications and public relations objectives.
An ordained Deacon, Shelby serves as Chaplain for the Willow Oaks (MD) Chapter of the Links, Incorporated, where she is also the Communications Committee Chair. A former competitive equestrian, Shelby continues to enjoy horseback riding and supporting local equine activities throughout the Washington metropolitan area.
Shelby holds a B.A. from Hollins University and is currently completing her graduate studies in Data Analytics and Management of Information Technology. In 2003, she earned the Accreditation in Public Relations (APR) credential, recognizing her mastery of the public relations field. Shelby is a 2008 graduate of Leadership Prince George's.