BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Founder
Board Chair
Bernard C. Watson, Jr.
Bernard Watson Jr. founded the S.T.E.P.P. Foundation in 2017, acting on a desire he’s had for more than 30 years to help at-risk students achieve Success Through Education Planning and Perseverance.
The son of two long-time educators, Mr. Watson understands the importance of education and the obstacles, personal, environmental, and financial, that often prevent many students from having access to post-secondary education, which is the key to success. The S.T.E.P.P. Foundation’s signature program, the Barbra Watson-Riley Striving Students Scholarship Fund, is named after Mr. Watson’s sister Barbra who passed away from Breast Cancer on November 7, 2013. The wife and mother of a beautiful daughter, Barbra Watson-Riley was an attorney and a selfless serial volunteer who dedicated her life to helping others with less fortunate circumstances.
Mr. Watson is currently the Director of Community and Media Relations for Gwinnett County Public Schools (GCPS), the nation’s 11th largest school district, and a two-time winner of the prestigious Broad Prize, which is awarded to the public school system that has demonstrated the greatest performance and improvement in student achievement.
Prior to accepting the position with GCPS, Mr. Watson was an award-winning broadcast and print journalist who spent more than two decades as a reporter and news anchor at ABC, CBS, CNN, FOX, and NBC. Mr. Watson’s journalist career began at the award-winning Atlanta Constitution/Journal, which at the time, was the South’s largest and one of the most decorated daily newspapers in the nation. Mr. Watson earned a Master of Science in Journalism from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism after earning a Bachelor of Arts in History from Emory University. Mr. Watson is a 2017 graduate of Leadership Gwinnett, a member of the Gwinnett County Student Leadership Advisory Committee, Leadership Gwinnett Alumni Planning Committee, and a member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. He also is the owner of a medical sales company and serves as a youth basketball and football coach. Born and raised in Philadelphia, Pa., Mr. Watson was a member of the 300th graduating class of the prestigious William Penn Charter Friends School. Mr. Watson and his wife DeLesia, have three children.
Sue Wyatt
Sue Wyatt is currently Director of Retail Banking for Renasant Bank (formerly BrandBank), responsible for the retail distribution channel and the Investment and Private Bank. She joined the organization in 2014. Under her leadership, the company achieved 94% Net Promoter scores, the highest of all financial institutions in the country in the $1B-$5B assets level.
Ms. Wyatt’s prior professional experience includes Small Business Strategist and Market leader for SunTrust Bank.
Ms. Wyatt retired from a 30-year career with Bank of America in August 2008.
Prior roles for Ms. Wyatt include Consumer Market Executive, Business Banking Market Executive, Premier Executive for GA/TN, Change Management-BAI/Premier partnership development, Division Sales Executive, Division Service Executive, and other various Retail assignments.
Currently, Ms. Wyatt is engaged in the community through the Leadership Gwinnett class of 2017, Gwinnett County Public Schools’ Community-Based Mentoring Program Advisory Board, Partners Against Domestic Violence Funding Committee, Literacy Mission, and Vice President of Lawrenceville Kiwanis. Prior community involvement and participation include United Way, March of Dimes, and serving as Chair of the YWCA of Northwest Georgia’s Board of Directors. Ms. Wyatt also served on the Cobb Community Collaborative Managed Service Organization Advisory Committee and as a Trustee of the Georgia Ballet. She previously served on the Board of United Way Cobb County, chairing the Advisory Board, and supported the Center for Children and Young Adults as Board Chair.
Ms. Wyatt was raised in Wheeling, WV, and is a graduate of the University of Georgia School of Banking and the University of Phoenix.
Lynnette Aponte
Lynnette Aponte is the Director of Gwinnett County Public Schools’ (GCPS) Internationa Newcomers Center (INC). The INC screens international middle and high school students new to Gwinnett County Public Schools for their proficiency levels in English, the language arts, and mathematics. This includes course and transcript analyses to ensure that the students are on track for graduation. Mrs. Aponte overseas K-12 services that focus on outreach and engagement to parents of English Learners as well as local school consultative support. She and her team provide school-level and district-level workshops and classes, translations of district-level documents, and interpretations for local school meetings, conferences, and hearings.
Ms. Aponte has more than 18 years of experience working in the field of education as a teacher, Parent Instructional Support Coordinator, and as a Title III Adolescent Outreach Specialist. Prior to working in the school system, Ms. Aponte worked for several non-profit organizations in the areas of program development and fundraising. Her experiences over the last 20 years have provided her with a great deal of knowledge regarding the variables that impact both student achievement and community involvement at our schools. Ms. Aponte hopes to impact the educational experiences of our students and their families by building partnerships with businesses and the community as a whole.
Ms. Aponte has a Specialist’s degree in Educational Leadership from Georgia State University, a Master’s degree in Educational Leadership from Western Governors University, and a Bachelor’s degree from Georgia State University. She is a 2016 graduate of the Georgia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Hispanic Leadership Institute and a 2001 graduate of Leadership Atlanta. Ms. Aponte is originally from Ponce, Puerto Rico, is married, and has two sons, ages 14 and 12.
Bernard C. Watson, Ph.D.
Dr. Bernard C. Watson (Ph.D) serves as the secretary of the Watson Family Foundation. He is also Chairman Emeritus of the Board of Trustees of the Barnes Foundation, the world-renowned art collection in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, a position he assumed after 15 years as Chairman. Until 2004, he was a Presidential Scholar at Temple University, an appointment made following his retirement at the end of 1993 as President and Chief Executive Officer of the William Penn Foundation in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He assumed that position in 1981 after a distinguished career as an educator, a career in which he served as a teacher and administrator in the public schools in Indiana, Deputy Superintendent of the Philadelphia public schools, Professor of Urban Studies and Urban Education, and Academic Vice President of Temple University.
A veteran of the Korean War, he enlisted in the Air Force as a Basic Airman in 1951 and was discharged as a First Lieutenant in 1954. In 1967, he was appointed by President Lyndon Baines Johnson to the National Council on Education Professions Development. In 1980, Dr. Watson was appointed by President Jimmy Carter to the National Council on Educational Research. In 1994, he was appointed by President Clinton to the President’s Board of Advisors on Historically Black Colleges and Universities. He served as Senior Vice Chairman of the Board of the National Urban League for 13 years.
He has served on numerous other boards and commissions, including the Philadelphia City Planning Commission, the Public Interest Law Center, and the National Urban Coalition. Dr. Watson was Vice Chairman of the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, Secretary of the New Jersey State Aquarium, and Chairman of the Board of Philadelphia’s Avenue of the Arts, Inc. From 1994 until 1997, he served as Chairman of the Board of the Healthcare Management Alternatives (HMA) Foundation.
Dr. Watson served on the Pennsylvania Convention Center Authority Board for 16 years, 14 years as Vice Chairman, and two years as Chair. He served on six corporate boards, including First Fidelity Bancorp, the Philadelphia Contributionship Companies, and Comcast Corporation. He was a member of the United Negro College Fund’s Frederick D. Patterson Research Institute Advisory Committee and served on the board of the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund USA, Inc.
Dr. Watson is the author of three books, 11 monographs, chapters in 31 books, and 33 articles in professional journals. He is the recipient of more than 100 major awards, including the prestigious Philadelphia Award for the year 2001. He is also the recipient of 24 honorary degrees and is a member of the American Philosophical Society. In his honor, Temple University arranged an annual cash prize for the best social science dissertation and furnished a graduate seminar room named for him. The University established the endowed Bernard C. Watson Chair in Urban Education. In 2005, a school was named in his honor by the Gary, Indiana Board of Education. Dr. Watson earned his Ph.D. at the University of Chicago. He and his wife, Lois, are the parents of two children, Barbra, an attorney, and Bernard, Jr., a community outreach and public relations executive and small business owner.
Nicole Hendrickson
Nicole Love Hendrickson was appointed as the Community Outreach Program Director for the Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners in 2015 and has developed a comprehensive outreach plan that involves engaging diverse constituents in County Government. In her first year, Ms. Love Hendrickson launched two notable programs such as the Gwinnett 101 Citizens Academy and Dinner & Dialogue with Chairman Nash, both gaining popularity with residents across Gwinnett County.
Prior to her role with County Government, Ms. Love Hendrickson served as the Associate Director for the Gwinnett Coalition for Health and Human Services, a position she held for eight years. In that capacity, Ms. Love Hendrickson spearheaded the Gwinnett Neighborhood Leadership Institute, providing grassroots community leadership training to residents, and led the annual Gwinnett Great Days of Service which is known as one of the largest volunteer initiatives in the country.
Ms. Love Hendrickson is actively involved in the community, serving in a variety of capacities. Her current involvement includes serving on the Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta Gwinnett Community Board, the United Way Gwinnett Advisory Board, and the Gwinnett Young Professionals Board of Directors. Ms. Love Hendrickson is a graduate of Leadership Gwinnett (Class of 2010), the 2016 Regional Leadership Institute, and the Georgia Hispanic Chamber’s Cultivating Hispanic Leaders Institute. Ms. Love Hendrickson is a recipient of the 2017 Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce Annual Public Service Award.
Ms. Love Hendrickson’s outreach program has been featured in Gwinnett Magazine, the Atlanta Business Chronicle, and the Gwinnett Chamber’s Edge Magazine. She served as a recent panelist on diversity and inclusion for the Partnership Gwinnett Summit.
Ms. Love Hendrickson resides in Duluth, GA with her husband and son.
Hon. Kimberly A. Gallant
Kimberly A. Gallant is a Magistrate Court Judge in Gwinnett County, Georgia. Judge Gallant handles matters including felony preliminary hearings, civil bench trials, dispossessory proceedings, applications for restraining orders, and weddings. She also sits by designation in Gwinnett County Juvenile Court and for the Accountability Courts in the Superior Courts of Gwinnett County.
Judge Gallant also serves as the Chief Judge in the Municipal Court of Snellville and as an Associate Judge in the Municipal Court of Suwanee.
Judge Gallant is active in her community, serving as a Troop Leader and Service Unit Director for Girl Scouts. She also serves on the board for the North Gwinnett Schools Education Foundation, Inc. and as an Associate Tribune for her legal fraternity, Phi Alpha Delta. She is an active member of Leadership Gwinnett (best class of 2017!), currently serving as co-chair for the Justice Day committee.
Before taking the bench in 2015, Judge Gallant was a staff attorney to a Superior Court judge for four years. Before that, she was a prosecutor in DeKalb and Gwinnett counties for a total of ten years. She received her undergraduate degree in criminal justice from the University of Georgia in 1997 and is a 2000 graduate of the Georgia State University College of Law.