Warren (Chip) A. Forstall, Board Chair
Chip Forstall is a graduate of Loyola University Law School, and for more than 20 years, has provided legal representation to clients in New Orleans and throughout Louisiana. He currently serves on the Executive Committee for Southern University in New Orleans, where he was appointed by the Louisiana governor, and approved by the state senate, to a six-year term. Also, he currently serves on the Board of Directors for the New Orleans Boys Scouts. 

James Glover
James Glover was born and raised in Mobile, Alabama and currently works for the Moss Point School District as the Director of Technology. Before working for Moss Point, he worked for other large educational institutes including Mobile County School System and Baldwin County School System in Alabama. He also has experience in the corporate world and the federal sector, at one point working with the federal court system. He currently holds a number of IT certifications such as MCSE, CCNA, A+, Network+, Server+, and IC3 certifications. 

Kendall Hartmann
Kendal Hartmann is the former Executive Director of the Congressional Award Program of the United States, the premier recognition award scheme for outstanding youth achievement in the United States (and is also a member of the global network of International Award programs under the Patronage of the Duke of Edinburgh).  She remains connected at the highest levels in Congress and is well known as a leader/innovator in youth development programs in the US.  She currently resides in both Annapolis and Wyoming. Kendall also serves as a director on the DOT Global Board.

Darrell Owen
Darrell Owen is highly regarded in the field of Information and Communications Technology (ICT). Prior to forming Owen & Owen, Owen worked at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) for six years.  While at USAID, Darrell led the initial set up of its focus on ICT and development. In recent years he has been engaged in a wide-range of ICT related projects in over 20 countries around the globe. He has been actively involved in developing national ICT strategies and tactical plans, supporting the development of a new Telecommunications Law to liberalize the telecom sector in various countries, and working in support of telecom market reforms. More recently, Owen has been actively engaged in several of USAID's Last Mile Initiatives (LMIs) projects in Mongolia, Vietnam, and Sri Lanka. In his current work, he has undertaken ICT implementation projects in the developing world through the establishment of public-private partnerships between USAID, Intel, Qualcomm, Microsoft, and Hewlett Packard.

Janet Longmore
Janet Longmore is the founder of Digital Opportunity Trust, and, for the past twenty years, has been at the leading edge of youth development programs in North America and internationally. In the late 1990s, she served as CEO of the largest agency for at-risk youth in the United States, distinguishing herself as a leader in building innovative, multi-year, multi-million dollar partnerships with industry. A talented communicator, Longmore is passionately committed to effective efforts to bridge the global digital divide and empower people through the application of technology. She holds an Honours Bachelor of Commerce degree from Queen's University and is currently completing a MA in Mass Communications at the School of Journalism and Communications - Carleton University.

Carol Whelan, Ph.D.
For the past 15 years, Dr. Carol Whelan’s mission has been to improve teaching and learning in public schools. In her career, she has worked as a teacher, counselor, and professor. She is the former Assistant Superintendent in the Office of Quality Educators for the Louisiana Department of Education. She holds degrees from the University of Massachusetts and the University of New Orleans. She has continued to take courses at the University of South Alabama and most recently at the University of California at Los Angeles Online Teaching Program. Dr. Whelan is currently a professor at Tulane University in New Orleans.

Karen Soniat, Ph.D.
Dr. Karen Soniat, the current Director of Communications and External Relations for Louisiana State University Paul M. Herbert Law Center, has more than 25 years of experience working in education. She has worked as a teacher at the junior/high school level, and as an administrator in higher education institutions. She holds a bachelor’s, master’s, and doctorate’s degree from Louisiana Sate University at Baton Rouge.

Tom Pittman
Tom Pittman currently serves as the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Community Foundation of Northwest Mississippi, a position he has held since 2004. He was one of two members to incorporate the organization in 2002, and served as volunteer chairman for the first board of directors. Prior to his work with CCFNM, Pittman spent more than 25 years in the newspaper publishing industry, working at various newspapers across Mississippi. Before working at CFNM, he was the owner, publisher and editor of the DeSoto Times newspaper in Hernando, Mississippi. Pittman currently serves on a number of boards and committees including the Mississippi Economic Council Board of Directors, Mississippi Public Education Forum Board of Governors, State Kids Count advisory board, and the Southeastern Council on Foundations community foundations committee.

Portia Ballard Espy
Portia Ballard Espy has 24 years of experience working in the areas of human resources, communications, grant making and low-income related initiatives. Portia currently serves as Assistant Director of the Kellogg Foundation’s Mid South Delta Initiative. Prior to taking on this role, Portia served as Manager of External Affairs for Entergy Mississippi, Inc. where she was responsible for the company’s Corporate Giving Program and its Low-Income Initiative. Portia was appointed by Governor Haley Barbour in 2006 to serve a three-year term as a Commissioner on the board of the Mississippi Commission for Volunteer Services and is currently serving a second three-year term. She also serves on the board of the Mississippi Children’s Museum.

Robin J. Robinson
Robin Robinson is Director of Organization Development and Corporate Communication at Sanderson Farms, Inc., a publicly held, vertically integrated poultry company, employing over 10,000 employees.  Sanderson Farms has over a billion dollars in sales and has operations in Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas and Georgia. Robin is very active in the community and across the state. She serves as Chair of the M. B. Swayze Educational Foundation and is the Board of Directors for the following organizations: Jones County Junior College Foundation, Mississippi Economic Council, the United Way of the Pine Belt, Mississippi Chapter, and serves on the USM Business Advisory Council.  The Governor appointed Robin as a member of the Mississippi Supreme Court Judicial Advisory Study Committee. She also served on the Governor’s Commission for Recovery, Rebuilding and Renewal after Hurricane Katrina. Robin has been named as one of Mississippi’s 50 Leading Business Women, recognized by the Mississippi YWCA as a “Woman Who Makes a Difference”, named as one of America’s 2000 Notable Women, and inducted into the University of Southern Mississippi Alumni Hall of Fame.