Kafi Meadows, Ph.D., President

A dynamic leader whose work bridges the worlds of arts, culture, and science. Meadows is a Senior Product Manager at MilliporeSigma (Life Science Business of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany), where she manages product lines for protein analysis, with a focus on innovation, cross-functional collaboration, and global commercial engagement. She is the great-niece of the late Dr. Elma Lewis, Founder and Artistic Director of the National Center of Afro-American Artists.

Sharra Owens-Schwartz, Vice-President

Owens-Schwartz is a social impact leader and a mission-driven change agent with experience across sectors and industries. She is experienced in creating business strategy in global and local environments, executing change management and building new partnerships.

Axel Starke, Treasurer

Starke is a Strategic Sales Planning and Enablement leader skillful at building nimble and cross-functional teams that are revenue focused, results oriented and solutions driven.

Edmund Barry Gaither, Clerk

A scholar, curator, and cultural leader, Gaither has devoted his career to preserving, interpreting, and advancing the visual and material culture of the African diaspora. As a founding force behind the NCAAA, he has shaped its mission, guided the growth of its collections, and curated groundbreaking exhibitions that center Black artists, histories, and global connections. His leadership and scholarship have left an enduring legacy at the NCAAA and within the broader fields of African and African American art, museum practice, and cultural preservation. He currently serves as the Emeritus Executive Director and Acting Curator of the Collections at the NCAAA.

Margaret Burnham, Esq.

Distinguished lawyer and civil rights activist, Burnham is an Associate Professor of Law at Northeastern University, where she established the Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project.  First African American woman to serve in the Massachusetts judiciary and formerly a principal of Burnham and Hines, Attorneys-at-Law, She is internationally known for her contributions to the struggle for human rights and justice.

Melissa Nobles, Ph.D.

Nobles is the Arthur and Ruth Sloan Professor of Political Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Ma. She has authored two books, Shades of Citizenship: Race and the Census in Modern Politics, and The Politics of Official Apologies. Acting Manager.

The Honorable Milton L. Wright, Jr.

Milton Wright is retired First Justice of the Roxbury District Court in Boston.  He is a Commissioner of the City of Boston Licensing Board. A gifted singer and writer of a musical productions as well as a lawyer, Judge Wright is Musical Director for adults in Langston Hughes’ Black Nativity as produced by the National Center of Afro-American Artists, and Co-founder of the Butterfly Project.