Leadership Brainery Co-Founders Derrick Young Jr. and Jonathan Allen will each be honored as one of Boston's Most Influential Men of Color during the 15th Anniversary celebrations of Get Konnected! on Tuesday, March 28th. Colette Phillips founded Get Konnected! in 2008 to curate meaningful business and social connections, enrich professional development, facilitate business and career opportunities, and forge positive cross-cultural relationships.
Executive Director, Derrick Young Jr. and Director of Development, Jonathan Allen will be honored alongside other influential men of color in Boston, MA:
Deval Patrick, the first Black governor of Massachusetts
Carl Rodrigues, CEO at Harvard Allston Land Company
Scott Uzzell, CEO at Converse
Navjot Singh, Senior Partner at McKinsey
Quincy Miller, President at Eastern Bank
Marcelo Suarez-Orozco, Chancellor of UMass-Boston
Segun Idowu, Chief of Economic Opportunity and Inclusion with the City of Boston
Damian Wilmot, Chief Risk and Compliance Officer at Vertex, and Founder of the New Commonwealth Fund
Derrick Young Jr., MPH and Jonathan Allen, JD, MTS founded Leadership Brainery out of their lived experiences as active student leaders and being among the few African American men in their respective postgraduate degree programs in Boston. When they asked multiple admissions offices why students from disadvantaged backgrounds were underrepresented, their answers were "we can't find qualified candidates." Derrick and Jonathan were not satisfied with this answer and knew something had to be done – thus, Leadership Brainery was born.
Leadership Brainery addresses inequitable access to master’s and doctoral degrees and workforce leadership opportunities for underrepresented talent, including people of color, first-generation students, individuals from a lower socioeconomic status, and other demographics who are systematically excluded from higher education.
We envision a day when competitive postgraduate classrooms throughout the country are enriched by an equitable representation of first-generation and diverse students, empowered to transform our country’s leadership!
