Meet the GRO Team
Meet the team working to build an inclusive economy!
Hope Wollensack
Executive Director | she/her
Hope is the founding Executive Director of the Georgia Resilience & Opportunity Fund. Prior to her current role she served as a senior strategist at the Economic Security Project and led the Old Fourth Ward Economic Security Task Force, a community-driven initiative to examine the root causes of economic insecurity in Atlanta and beyond. Hope was a founding Policy and Advocacy Lead at Fair Fight Action and also served on the political team with the Abrams for Governor Campaign in 2018.
As a former teacher and assistant principal in New Orleans, Hope has experience in organizing young people, educators, and the faith community. She earned her Master of Public Affairs from Princeton's School of International and Public Affairs as well as a Bachelor of Arts degree from Tufts University, where she helped found the Africana Studies program.
Chyna Quarker
Director of Programs, In Her Hands | she/her
Chyna Quarker serves as the Director of Programs over the In Her Hands guaranteed income initiative.
Chyna is a proud Los Angeles native who has spent her career working on community-driven initiatives aimed at alternatives to incarceration and increasing the accessibility of quality social services in Atlanta. Chyna received her Bachelor’s in Psychology from Howard University and her Master’s in Political Psychology from Arizona State University where her interest in the intersection of public policy and human behavior was born.
She began her career as a Sr. Cognitive Behavioral Health Counselor within the Georgia Department of Corrections where, in addition to providing substance use and mental health treatment, she created and implemented programs centered around family reunification, restorative justice, and recidivism prevention.
Prior to her current role, Chyna was the Director of Community Response Services at the Policing Alternatives and Diversion Initiative in Atlanta, where she built the country’s first non-emergency non-police response program through a city’s 311 line. She has since developed several extensions of that work, all focused on decriminalizing poverty and providing appropriate responses to people in crisis in Atlanta.
Chyna lives in Atlanta with her cat, Balenciaga, and enjoys traveling, cafe-hopping, and fantasy football
Narrative & Cultural Strategist | they/them
Eshe Shukura
Eshe Shukura serves as the Narrative & Cultural Strategist with the Georgia Resilience & Opportunity Fund; where they co-architect the story of our movement through storytelling, art activations, community centered events, and building authentic relationships. Eshe most recently was the Cultural Strategist at the Economic Security Project, where they developed the Radical Storytelling initiative, a project they will continue at GRO.
Eshe spent five years working in the field of Reproductive Justice furthering the vision of its Black Feminist foremothers. As the Georgia State Organizer with URGE: Unite for Reproductive & Gender Equity. In this position, they managed eight college and community URGE chapters. They were a lead organizer in the fight to end the Georgia Abortion Ban, advancing the battle through deep community building and creative activations. In 2019, Eshe was awarded the Vanguard for Change Award from SPARK Reproductive Justice Now and the Reproductive Justice Warrior Award from SisterSong at their annual, Let’s Talk About Sex conference. Eshe has planned several cultural activations, from coordinating the 2016 All Access: Abortion Rights concert in Atlanta to hosting an Abortion Positive Party at the historic Cascade Skating Rink! New to economic justice, Eshe is embracing their reality, learning new concepts and trusting the wisdom of their own economic experiences.
Paul Glaze serves as Communications Director for the Georgia Resilience and Opportunity Fund. In this role, he's responsible for soliciting and managing incoming media and press coverage of GRO's programs and supporting the vision and goals of the leadership team. Paul was most recently the Strategic Communications Manager at New Georgia Project and its affiliate, New Georgia Project Action Fund.
A graduate of the University of North Georgia - Gainesville, Paul's press work has included pieces with several major outlets in the United States and abroad: including The Nation, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Al Jazeera, AFP, Reuters, Associated Press, the Atlanta Journal Constitution, and The Atlanta Voice. He’s helped change federal labor policy regarding immigrant workers and beaten back threats to the right to vote. He lives in Decatur with his partner, Mariah, and son, Aesop.
Communications Director | he/they
Paul Glaze
Amit Khanduri
Director of Programs, Baby Bonds | he/him
Amit serves as Director of Programs for the Georgia Resilience and Opportunity (GRO) Fund, where he develops GRO’s Baby Bonds pilot program among others. Amit’s work and studies focus on driving bold solutions to narrow Atlanta’s racial wealth and income gaps.
Prior to GRO, Amit was Senior Program Officer at LISC Atlanta. Amit helped to establish LISC’s new Atlanta office, directed and advised the deployment of $50M in community development investments, and developed place-based, policy, and financial stability strategies.
Amit served on the leadership team for WorkSource Atlanta (WSA), the city of Atlanta’s workforce development agency, where he developed job training programs. Prior to WSA, Amit was a Human Capital Analyst at Deloitte Consulting’s Federal Practice where he helped federal agencies align their culture, structure, and talent with their mission.
Amit holds a Master’s degree in Public Policy from Duke University and a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Georgia Tech. Amit lives in Atlanta with his wife, daughter, and cat. Ask him about Atlanta Hawks basketball and places to enjoy good food and drinks.
Program Manager | she/her
Makayla Richards
Makayla Richards serves as the Program Manager for the Georgia Resilience and Opportunity Fund where she leads the day to day management of the In Her Hands Guaranteed Income Program. Prior to her current role, Makayla served as a state organizer for both Our Turn, an education justice organization, and URGE: Unite for Reproductive and Gender Equity, engaging youth in issue-based campaigns that promote anti-racist learning and autonomy.
She earned her Bachelor's degree from Brandeis University, where she developed an Independent Interdisciplinary Major in Black Women’s Studies. In her free time, she can be found supporting single mamas in Atlanta via her work with the Tender Foundation’s diaper bank, or cuddled up with her cat Sage.
Anna Halpern
Finance and Operations Director | she/her
Anna serves as the Finance & Operations Director of the Georgia Resilience & Opportunity Fund. In this role, she is responsible for general operations management, driving organizational initiatives that contribute to long-term operational excellence, financial organization and management, and overall team support. Anna was most recently Chief of Staff at Atlanta-based tech start-up NoCodeOps and served as Fractional Chief of Staff & Principal at consultancy firm Operational Designs.
Anna previously led operational infrastructure design & implementation, and financial management for global teams at EY as a Financial Technology Consultant. She also managed technical and business teams in the financial tech industry in delivering large scale digital transformation projects.
Anna received her BA in Women’s Studies from the University of Maryland, College Park where her studies focused on historical power dynamics in the US relating to gender, race, and sexuality. She enjoys hiking and relaxing at home with her husband and two cats (Wun Wun & Marcel). She’ll gladly show you pictures of them at any point in time.
Bianca Mieses
Narrative Community Coordinator | she/her
Bianca Mieses serves as GRO Fund’s Community Coordinator - working with the Cultural and Narrative Strategist to advance narrative change. She has worked in the corporate, nonprofit, public health, and education sectors. As a change agent in her community, she has had the opportunity to build community capacity via establishing partnerships, co-founding a non-profit, and developing a collaborative to harness the power and energy focused around justice, health equity, racial equity, antiracism, and DEI.
Bianca has previously been involved in several organizations in the Tampa Bay community including DE&I Council of the St. Pete Chamber, and she sat on the board of Tampa Connection and Leadership St. Pete, having graduated from both programs. She co-founded St. Petian Collaborative and YEA Collective. As an Alaskan native, long-term transplant in St. Petersburg, and new transplant to Atlanta, Bianca is drawn to exploration and routinely seeks out opportunities to further her education and experience in ways that allow her to better support her community. Most recently, she has been pursuing extra-professional development in the areas of equity and inclusion, honing her skills as a facilitator in both the corporate and non-profit sectors. She is a graduate of the two-part Courageous Conversations Beyond Diversity training on race, part of the inaugural Facilitation Master Class, and a DE&I Facilitator for Inclusivity.
Executive Board
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Board Chair | he/him
Atlanta City Council Member, District 2Amir is an Atlanta City Councilmember and Executive Director of US Programs at CARE. In 2019, Amir convened the Old Fourth Ward Economic Security Task Force to explore approaches to increasing economic security for his council district's most vulnerable residents. This work led to the launch of the GRO Fund. Amir is a graduate of Duke University and Duke University School of Law and was the first Iranian-American elected official in the American South.
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Board Member | she/her
Director of Investor Relations,
ICV PartnersKristie is a Marketing and Investor Relations professional that has worked in the alternatives assets space for almost two decades. In her current role at ICV Partners, she leads all capital development efforts for the firm and is responsible for cultivating and maintaining institutional investor relationships.
Prior to her role at ICV Partners, Ms. Goodman served as Founder and CEO of Inner City Consulting, LLC where she provided ESG, strategy, and outsourced investor relations services to private equity and venture funds.
Ms. Goodman holds a BBS in Finance from Georgia State University and a Masters in Business Administration with a concentration in Finance from Keller Graduate School.
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Board Member | she/her
Research Director, Southern Economic Advancement ProjectAs Research Director for the Roosevelt Institute’s Southern Economic Advancement Project (SEAP), Sarah Beth works to broaden economic power in the American South through policy research and network-building across the region. Prior to joining SEAP, she served as policy director for a gubernatorial campaign, deputy director for the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute, and founder of Gehl Consulting to provide consulting services to maximize the policy and advocacy impacts of national and Georgia-based nonprofits. Sarah Beth has taught at the University of Georgia, Georgia State University, and Agnes Scott College. She received a PhD in public policy through a joint program at Georgia Institute of Technology and Georgia State University, a Master’s in urban planning and policy from the University of Illinois at Chicago, and a BA from Birmingham Southern College.
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Board Member | she/her
CEO, Springboard to OpportunitiesAisha is the founding CEO of Springboard to Opportunities, a Jackson, MS nonprofit that uses a “radically resident-driven” approach to end generational poverty. In 2018, she created the Magnolia Mother’s Trust – now the country’s longest-running guaranteed income program, and the first one in the world to focus on Black women. Aisha’s expertise on economic, racial and gender justice issues is regularly featured in outlets including The Washington Post, Amanpour & Company, Essence Magazine, NBC Nightly News and CNN. She is a TEDx speaker and a fellow of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation Community Leadership Network and Ascend at the Aspen Institute. She holds a B.A. from Tennessee State University, and an M.A. and Ph.D. from Michigan State University.
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Board Member | he/him
Executive Director, LISC AtlantaAs Executive Director of the LISC Atlanta office, Dale is responsible for directing all of LISC’s community development investments and partnerships in the Metro Atlanta area. He brings over 30 years of experience and has facilitated over $1 billion in transactions to develop transit, affordable housing, commercial buildings and small businesses. Dale holds degrees from Duke University and University of California at Irvine.A native of Los Angeles, Dale has called Atlanta home for over 12 years. Prior to joining LISC in 2019, he served for ten years at Invest Atlanta, the city’s economic development agency, to oversee the agency’s New Markets Tax Credit program and other public-private partnerships.
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Board Member | he/him
President and CEO, MDCJohn is President and CEO of MDC, an organization working on behalf of racial equity and economic mobility in the South. Previously, he served as VP Aspen Global Leadership Network at the Aspen Institute. Prior to that, he was an executive with Prisma Health, where he led collaborative, evidence-based efforts to promote health innovation, access, and equity. He also is a Senior Lecturer at Duke Law School. John was appointed to the Senior Executive Service in the Obama Administration where he served as general counsel for the U.S. Agency for International Development and deputy general counsel for the White House Office of Management and Budget.
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Board Treasurer | he/his
Policy ConsultantAlan Essig is currently a policy consultant working with non-profits, foundations, advocacy organizations, and political campaigns. Alan previously served as Executive Director of the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, Executive Director of the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute, Deputy Policy Director in Georgia Office of the Governor, and Director of the Georgia State Senate Research Office. Alan received an MPA from Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy at the State University of New York at Albany and a BA in History from the State University of New York at Buffalo.
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Board Member
President and Co-Founder, Economic Security ProjectNatalie Foster is the President and co-founder of the Economic Security Project, a network dedicated to advancing a guaranteed income in America and reining in the unprecedented concentration of corporate power. She's a senior fellow at the Aspen Institute Future of Work Initiative, and former director at Obama's Organizing for America, MoveOn.org and Sierra Club.
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Board Member | she/her
Vice President of Community Development, Bank of AmericaYonina is a Chicago native with over a decade of experience building strategies and institutional change management practices to improve quality of life for underserved people and places. Yonina’s principal goal is to drive strategic partnerships that honor local leadership and lived experiences for harmonious social and economic impact. Yonina is a community development finance executive, public policy advocate and DEI practitioner that works to amplify Black thought leadership.
Now based in Atlanta, Yonina is a board member of The Georgia Social Impact Collaborative. Yonina has a Master of Urban Planning and Policy degree from The University of Illinois at Chicago and an MBA from Emory’s Goizueta Business School. Yonina is a Vice President of Community Development for Bank of America.
Interested in joining the team? For more information, please visit our careers page.