Meet the Board of Directors
Eugene L. Fisher, President
Mr. Fisher is also Co-Founder of the Watts Learning Center Schools which were established to provide a quality public education for children from inner-city low-income families.
Mr. Fisher is uniquely qualified to influence public policy by strategically and effectively navigating bureaucratic systems and legislative bodies. He served as the Senior Vice President of Medicine for Humanity where he organized efforts to establish the prevention, patient care and treatment of cervical cancer for underserved women in Africa by arranging and coordinating international meetings and seminars for surgeons from the U.S.
As Intergovernmental Affairs Officer of the South Coast Air Quality Management District. In that position, he led efforts to pass legislation that substantially increased fines for industrial pollution violations, strengthened agency authority and successfully lobbied for the federal Clean Air Act, motor vehicle emission control and stronger stationary industrial emissions regulations.
Glen Polson, Secretary
Glen Polson is the current CEO of Creative Product Sourcing in Santa Monica, California. Glen Polson founded the company in 2000 with one employee and now has over 300 employees/affiliates. The corporate office headquarters is located in Santa Monica CA and the warehouse, fulfillment, and production plant is located in Foothill Ranch CA.
Creative Product Sourcing is a leading global sourcing firm specializing in designing, manufacturing, and distributing products for the consumer and commercial markets. CPS distributes a wide array of products including superhero action figures, figurines, makeup, fitness equipment, science kits, medical devices, and toys.
Glen started hosting fundraiser events for the Watts Learning Center starting in 2013 in order to fund the annual Watts Learning Center camp weekends at Canyon Creek for all 5th and 6th graders. Glen has raised over $800,000 for the Watts Learning Center. He has been a regular guest speaker at the school and has also recruited many business leaders in the community to speak at the school.
Glen is a lifelong resident Los Angeles resident and has been married for over 25 years. He has three sons and currently resides in Brentwood CA.
David Mora, Treasurer
Vice President and Senior Relationship Manager for Chase Business Banking Division, Los Angeles. Mr. Mora is responsible for the acquisition and servicing relationships with companies with annual revenues of $5MM to $50MM. He manages credit and deposit portfolios for over 40 banking relationships. He procured business opportunities through referrals from existing clients and centers of influence. His efforts resulted in performing in the top 10% in the expansion market.
Mr. Mora has managed relationships with local economic development related non-profits for business development. Mr. Mora was also the Vice President-Senior Relationship Manager at Wachovia-Wells Fargo Business Banking Division, Los Angeles. While there he focused on depository accounts over $150,000 and loans exceeding $500,000. He utilized a consultative sales approach to create value-added solutions for prospects and clients.
As Director- Minority Business Opportunity Center (LA MBOC) for the City of Los Angeles Mayor’s Office, he was awarded “Best Performing Program” by the U. S. Department of Commerce in 2007. Mr. Mora advised the Mayor and City Council on City-wide Minority Business Enterprise and Small Business Financing and Contracting Policies. He raised over $450M in private sector funds to promote LA MBOC program activities. He successfully structured financing for real estate development projects with financial gaps.
Darell Schregardus
Dr. Schregardus is a Licensed Marriage, Family and Child Counselor. He has served as a trustee to the New Brunswick Theological Seminary. He volunteered to assist two community leaders in the formation of the African-American Support Group for Greater Holland and helped foster the development of Learning Enhancement and Achievement Program (LEAP) for middle school students which provided after school tutoring.
Dr. Schregardus has served on the Board of Directors for Partners Fore Investment Company a real estate investment LLC. He has provided counseling for Yolo County Mental Health Services as well as taught psychology courses for Consumnes River College in Sacramento, CA. At Hope College in Holland, MI, Dr.Schregardus was the Assistant Dean for Health and Counseling, Director of the Counseling Center, and Assistant to the Vice-President for Student Development. He worked with multiple students and groups, connected health center and counseling efforts, and implemented emergency interventions and critical incident debriefing for students, faculty and staff.
John Yelding
John Yelding has been preparing Hope College students to become teachers since 1994, when he joined the Hope education faculty following a wide-ranging career in public education. He brought broad experience to the task: over 25 years, he taught at the elementary, middle and high school levels and was the principal of elementary, junior high, middle and high schools. For 16 of those years he also taught and served as an administrator in a summer migrant education program in Van Buren County in West Michigan. He has chaired the Hope College Department of Education since 2016.
John teaches Perspectives in Education, Foundations of Education, the Phelps Scholars first-year seminar, the department’s Student Teaching Seminar, and Encounter with Cultures, a course that introduces students to issues related to diversity.
In addition, he co-directs the Hope Comes to Watts May Term, a travel-study course that gives students from any department on campus the opportunity to work with schoolchildren in a culturally diverse urban setting. He developed a June Term course in 2018 focused on the civil rights movement of the 1950s and ’60s, which includes an eight-day tour of historic sites in the South. His engagement in diversity initiatives on campus has also included serving on the advisory boards of the Phelps Scholars and Hope College Upward Bound programs.
Justin Sanders
Mr. Sanders is a partner at the law firm of Sanders Roberts LLP. He is a litigation partner that emphasizes complex litigation and criminal defense. He represents individual and corporate clients in all aspects of litigation, including trial, appeal and alternative dispute resolution. At the law firm of Sidley Austin LLP, Mr.
Sanders was a Business Litigation Associate. He represented corporate clients in all aspects of litigation, including mediation and arbitration. He represented clients before the commissioner of Insurance of the State of California.
As a Deputy City Attorney, Mr. Sanders managed the selection and oversight of the City of Los Angeles’ outside legal counsel. He oversaw the City of Los Angeles’ high-profile legal matters, including Fair Labor Standards Act litigation, environmental litigation and police employment litigation. Mr. Sanders was also a Business Litigation
Associate at the firm of Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton, LLP. While here, he was a member of the litigation team with an emphasis on white collar and regulatory defense practices. He represented clients in all aspects of governmental investigations, including representation before the Department of Justice, federal and state grand juries and in trial. He second chaired trial in a securities and fraud case. He prepared direct and cross examinations and opening and closing arguments.
Rao Yalamanchili
Mr. Yalamanchili has over 30 years of real estate experience and is currently the Founder, Director and President of Positive Investments, Inc. a California Corporation. His firm is a proven leader in real estate investment and property management by acquiring and disposing properties achieving above average returns.
Mr. Yalamanchili leads Positive Investments and is responsible for oversight and management of a portfolio currently encompassing multi-family single family homes, office, retail, warehouse, as well as limited and full-service hotels with the majority based in Southern California.
In addition to operating a successful real estate investment company, Mr. Yalamanchili worked in the South Coast Air Quality Management Division where he was responsible for evaluating the effectiveness of Air Pollution Control Programs and was involved in planning to implement new Air Pollution controls.
Nickey Woods
Dr. Nickey Woods has always been passionate about issues related to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging. She began her professional career at the K-12 level and has higher education experience as an adjunct faculty member, director of disability services, and as a law school Dean of Students and Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Dr. Woods regularly presents at law conferences across the country, including the AASE Biennial Diversity Conference, Association of American Law Schools (AALS), the National Association for Law Placement (NALP), LexCon by AccessLex, and the American Bankruptcy Institute.
A dynamic public speaker, Dr. Woods facilitates training sessions related to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging for both public and private sectors. She also consults with professional organizations and corporations and develops educational material with an eye toward maximizing learner motivation and engagement. In 2021, she consulted with Nickelodeon to develop a series of educational guides focused on taking action against discrimination and hate.
A proud first generation college student, Dr. Woods holds an Ed.D. in Educational Leadership with a concentration in Educational Psychology from the University of Southern California. She holds a B.A. in Psychology from UCLA and an M.Ed. in Education with an emphasis in Cross Cultural Teaching from National University. While at UCLA, she was a member of the women's basketball team. She was named to the All Pac-10 Conference Women’s Basketball team and was also a Pac-10 player of the week. Dr. Woods is a member of UCLA’s “30-Point and Up” club, an elite group of players who have scored at least 30 points in a single game. When she's not facilitating diversity trainings, she enjoys baking, writing, and spending time with her family.