Remarkable Futures Scholarship Program – Selection Committee

Current role is a Policy Analyst for Chenega Enterprise, Systems, and Solutions ChESS, working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Graduated from the University of Georgia with a Bachelor of Science (Biology) and Master of Science (Comparative Biomedical Science), as well as Graduated from Georgia State University with a Master of Public Health (Epidemiology)

2017 Chick-fil-A Remarkable Future Scholarship Recipient

Until he retired in 2018, Gregory oversaw the strategic direction of YKK Corporation’s North and Central America Group, which consists of 12 operating companies located in Canada, the United States, Mexico, Central America, and Colombia. He was named the first non-Japanese president of YKK Corporation of America (YCA) in 2001. From 2008 to 2010, he served on YKK Corporation’s Board in Japan. He currently serves YKK AP America’s board. Gregory serves on the Georgia College Foundation Board of Trustees; Life Member of The Carter Center Board of Councilors; he was the inaugural Alex Gregory Leader in Residence at Georgia College; in 2021, he was named Executive in Residence at Georgia Tech’s Scheller College of Business. Gregory considers the time he spends mentoring students his time best spent. To date he has mentored more than 80 students. In 2018, he was conferred the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette from the Emperor of Japan. In 2016, baseball legend Hank Aaron was the last recipient in the southeast U.S. of this rare award. A native of Eatonton, Georgia, Gregory received his Bachelor of Textile Engineering from Georgia Tech and his MBA and MSA from GCSU. He retired as a commander from the U.S. Naval Reserves after serving 28 years. Gregory and wife Glenda have two grown children: Kristen and Alex III. They also have three granddaughters, Emma, Mya, and Lucy and a grandson, Alex IV.

Ann Cramer is a senior consultant with Coxe Curry & Associates.

In 2023, Ann received the Mayor of Atlanta’s Phoenix Award, as well as the Young Nonprofit Professional Network (YNPN) created a recognition in her honor: the Ann Cramer Civic Leadership Award.

Recently she also received the Atlanta Business Chronicle’s first Corporate Social Responsibility Lifetime Achievement Award and Georgia Trend’s Georgia Hall of Fame.

Prior to joining Coxe Curry, Ann served as director for IBM Corporate Citizenship and Corporate Affairs for the Americas.

Vice President for Development and Alumni Relations Jill S. Walton first served the University of Georgia as an admissions recruiter in 1999 and moved into development in 2001, when she became assistant executive director of the Georgia 4-H Foundation. She went on to serve in positions of progressive responsibility in the Terry College of Business — including associate director of development, director of alumni relations, and director of undergraduate student services and corporate relations — before assuming the university-level post of executive director of corporate and foundation relations in 2015. She became senior executive director of development in 2019, a position she would hold for nearly four years until becoming vice president for development and alumni relations in November 2023. As vice president, Walton also serves as executive director of the UGA Foundation.

As a leader within UGA Development and Alumni Relations, Walton has consistently pushed the university’s fundraising enterprise forward. She played vital roles in the record-breaking Commit to Georgia Campaign, the success of the Georgia Commitment Scholarship program, the creation of the Delta Innovation Hub, the naming of the Jere W. Morehead Honors College, the renovation of the Holmes-Hunter Academic Building, the e-mobility partnership between Georgia Power and the College of Engineering, the creation of the Georgia Women Give initiative, and numerous other projects that are building tomorrow’s UGA through the commitment and generosity of its alumni and friends.

Walton is a Double Dawg, earning a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture from UGA in 1999 and then a Master of Public Administration from UGA in 2003. As a student who benefitted from private scholarship support, Walton is especially committed to helping students overcome financial challenges on their path to a degree from UGA.

Serving as the fifth president of Howard Community College. She assumed office in January 2022, following a nation-wide search process and an unanimous vote by the college’s Board of Trustees. Dr. Willis is the first African American to lead the college in its history.

Dr. Willis is focused on issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion, ensuring the college’s culture of care and belonging extends to all students and employees. To build an equitable foundation for students, she has started the process of reorganizing the areas of teaching and learning and student success. An active social media user, Dr. Willis launched her own Instagram Live series, “Conversations from the Couch,” to connect with the community.

Prior to her appointment at Howard Community College, Dr. Willis was the president of Everett Community College in Everett, Washington, where she reported to a five-member board of trustees, managed a $73 million budget, and oversaw an institution with 840 employees. Committed to shared and participatory governance, Dr. Willis practices collaborative leadership and worked directly with three collective bargaining units at Everett.

Among her accomplishments are the adoption of the Guided Pathways framework across Everett Community College to help close achievement gaps and promote student success and achievement, adoption of a new advising model to assist students with course selection and degree completion, and completion of the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities mid-cycle review process for accreditation. She also secured $43.5 million from the Washington Legislature to fund the new Learning Resource Center that broke ground in September 2021.

Under her leadership, Everett Community College received $2.5 million in grants from the U.S. Department of Education to support TRIO and STEM programs for students of color and students who are low-income and with disabilities. A $50,000 Rise Prize grant and part of a $100,000 Washington Department of Labor grant went to the development and launch of a Weekend College for adult students and student parents.

She is a 2021 Aspen Institute Ascend Fellow, dedicated to empowering children and families across the country. She serves on the Howard County Economic Development Authority Board of Directors and on the advisory board for the Phi Theta Kappa international college honor society. Dr. Willis was named an Influential Marylander in 2022 by The Daily Record.

Earlier in her career, Dr. Willis was the provost and senior vice president of academic affairs at Onondaga Community College, which is one of the community colleges of the State University of New York. Other previous leadership positions include the dean of academic studies at Lee College in Baytown, Texas; executive dean of centers/dean of instruction at the Lone Star College-North Harris Greenspoint Center and Victory Center; and department chair of social and behavioral sciences and kinesiology at Lone Star College-University Park Campus in Texas and the Faculty Senate president.

Dr. Willis started in academia as an adjunct faculty member in history at Tallahassee Community College (Florida) and later as an adjunct faculty member in history at Florida A&M University. As an assistant professor of history at Lone Star College-Tomball, she taught United States history.

Dr. Willis earned her Ph.D. in history from Florida State University. She holds a master’s degree in history and a bachelor’s degree in history education from Florida A&M University, a historically Black college in Florida.

Dr. Willis and her husband, Dr. Isiah David Brown, are the proud parents of daughter Lyric, son Isiah, and daughter Imani.