Founder & Board of Directors
KG Charles-Harris
After many years as an investment banker and technology entrepreneur, KG Charles-Harris directed his talents to supporting at-risk African-American boys by founding the M3 Foundation. In his research, Charles-Harris learned that in the San Francisco Bay Area, 73% of black boys drop out of high school, and of these dropouts 64% end up in prison. This raised a great concern in him, and he is currently dedicating his energies and resources into M3’s Math & Sports Academy, an education and enrichment program for inner city boys at risk.
As co-founder and CEO of EMANIO (www.emanio.com), KG Charles-Harris is a prominent international entrepreneur and spirited advocate for improving the way people work and connect through technology. Guided by this vision, Charles-Harris has led the charge to give small and mid-sized businesses access to the same predictive business intelligence and process automation tools once limited to Fortune 100 companies. EMANIO works with various technologies to access, analyze and distribute information to the right people within an organization, and to transport data between organizations – enabling organizations to share information seamlessly.
In 2000, Mr. Charles-Harris’ achievements were recognized on a global scale, as he received the United Nations Global Young Entrepreneur Award at the UN’s 7th World Summit of Young Entrepreneurs. Nominees for this prestigious honor were evaluated based on growth, creativity, risk management and shared prosperity. A natural leader, Charles-Harris brings a deep respect for his colleagues and a strong emphasis on customer service to the culture of any organization in which he is involved — along with a touch of reggae that reflects his Swedish-Jamaican roots.
Mr. Charles-Harris is an experienced technology investment banker and has been a force in the international private equity market — having worked internationally with companies like NOKA Securities (Scandinavia) and Nesta Advisors & Capital, a boutique biotechnology M&A firm he initiated with offices in San Francisco and Europe. In 1996, he co-founded Hurd, a Scandinavian corporate venture fund focused on new technologies for the Fred Olsen family (owners of Timex, Olsen Tankers, and more). He is also the co-founder of GenoMar, a genomics company focused on aquaculture and food safety.
Mr. Charles-Harris co-founded OMOD (Organization Against Public Discrimination) in Scandinavia and remains its Chairman. The non-profit organization has grown to become a primary partner for Scandinavian governments in dealing with issues of integration of their immigrant population. He is a member of the board of several privately held companies. Mr. Charles-Harris was educated in Scandinavia and the UK and has done post-graduate research on corporate strategy and organizational psychology.
Sophie Hahn
Sophie Hahn is a community leader, activist and parent. She is also a former attorney, small business owner and consultant. Raised in Berkeley, she attended the Berkeley Public Schools at a time of great idealism and social change. Her experiences spawned a lifelong commitment to civil and human rights; to participation and activism; and to the belief that community action is the most powerful agent of lasting, progressive change.
After graduating from Berkeley High, Sophie attended UC Berkeley, majoring in American History with an emphasis on race relations and the South; graduating Phi Beta Kappa, with Honors. She attended Stanford Law School where she co-chaired Women of Stanford Law, and went on to practice law. Other professional and academic activities include the International Planned Parenthood Federation in New York, NY; the Henry Dunant Institute (Humanitarian Law) in Geneva, Switzerland; the Department of Industrial Relations and Human Resources at Rutgers University, NJ; and the start-up and development of a small manufacturing company, Signia Fine Papers.
She has been a founder, Board Member, Chairperson and/or volunteer with myriad organizations including the M3 Foundation; Planned Parenthood Shasta Diablo; the ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project; Bay Area Women Against Rape; the Maybeck Road Association; Step One and Prospect Sierra Schools; 1000 Flowers (voter registration) and Equality NOW!
Raising her three children in Berkeley, Sophie Hahn currently serves as President of the PTA and Chair of the School Governance Council at Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School (representing almost 1000 students and families), where she created a task force to address the school’s persistent “Achievement Gap.” She is a founding Board Member of M3 Foundation, a program for African American boys in Middle School, and works and fundraises for Democratic candidates at the local and national levels. Her deep commitment to community, equity, participation and excellence guide her in all endeavors.
James Hill
Jim Hill, President of Hill & Company Communications, is a communications veteran with more than 35 years experience in public relations, marketing communications and social marketing. Jim has worked for and provided communications counsel to major U.S. corporations as well as not-for-profit organizations.
At Hill & Company, Jim has expanded the agency’s social marketing practice and is responsible for leading social marketing programs for the Alameda County Public Health Department’s Nutrition Services and the Office of AIDS. He developed a major social marketing campaign for the California Transplant Donor Network that led to significant increases in the number of organ donors from communities of color in the East Bay. He also has conducted research for the YMCA of the USAfor the development of new nutrition-related social marketing programs throughout the Y’s national system. The Nutrition Services campaign has grown to become one of the largest in the state supported by the USDA and the California Nutrition Network.
Just prior to forming Hill & Company Communications in 1998, Jim served as Vice President–Communications for Kaiser Foundation Health Plans/ KaiserFoundation Hospitals, a position he held since 1994. At Kaiser, he was responsible for all corporate internal and external communications including employee communication programs, media relations, situation management, crisis communications, community relations, corporate philanthropy, and corporate image and issue advertising. He also was responsible for establishing the overall marketing communication strategy for Kaiser Permanente.
Additionally, he has held management positions in public relations and corporate communications with Owens-Corning Fiberglas, Johnson Wax and Sara Lee Corporation, and is the former CEO of Chicago-based Burrell Public Relations Inc., one of the country’s largest agencies dedicated to developing advertising and public relations programs targeting the African-American consumer market. Some of the corporations and organizations that Jim has provided consulting services to include the Alameda County Public Health Department, the California Nutrition Network, Nissan North America, McDonald’s, Ford Motor Company, Citibank, Xerox, the City of Chicago, U.S. Sprint, AT&T, the State of Illinois/ Department of Health Services, and the Port of Oakland.
Awards Education Community Involvement |
Steven Wilkinson
R. Steven Wilkinson is an independent financial advisor that helps individuals and small businesses create, grow and transfer wealth. He assists clients in clarifying their objectives and implementing and monitoring financial and investment programs that achieve their goals. His firm does business as AGA Financial.
Mr. Wilkinson has over twenty years of experience in the financial field beginning his career with the FDIC as a bank examiner. He joined Smith, Barney, Harris and Upham as a registered representative in 1983. He has a series 7, 66 and 63 licenses with the National Association of Securities Dealers. He has a life and Health license with the State of California. As well, he holds the Certified Financial Planning (CFP™) designation. He has won numerous Awards including the Million Dollar Round Table’s exclusive Court of the Table (Top 5% in industry).
Mr. Wilkinson has a degree in finance from Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business and an MBA from Harvard Business School (HBS). He completed Executive Education Classes at the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business and the UCLA Anderson School of Business. He is a 1973 graduate of University School of Nashville Tennessee. He is on the Board of The Inner City Advisor’s (www.innercityadvisors.org) and the lending Committee of the California State Guarantee Loan Fund. Mr Wilkinson is a founding board member of the M3 Foundation.
