Bernard C. Watson, Jr., Founder and Chair

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.

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.

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.

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.