Diversity Advisory Council
Frank J. Belatti
Frank is currently chairman of the board of AFC Enterprises (AFCE), the world’s premier franchisor and operator of Popeye’s Chicken and Biscuits restaurants around the world. Frank’s values, vision and record of accomplishment in hospitality and restaurant franchising resulted in his founding AFCE 1992.
He is also the managing partner of Equicorp Partners, a new business ventures firm, and serves as Director of The Center for Social Entrepreneurship at the University of Notre Dame.
He received the 2003 Community Leadership Award from the Harvard Business School, the 2003 Beta Gamma Sigma Medallion for Entrepreneurship and the Anti-Defamation League’s 2001 Torch of Liberty and the President’s Award for social entrepreneurship.
His concern for social justice has brought recognition from the Urban League, NAACP, YWCA and Habitat for Humanity. Frank is a Director for the Georgia Campaign on Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention and Hank Aaron’s Chasing the Dream Foundation. He currently chairs the Carter Center’s Board of Councilors.
Booker T. Izell
After many years with Cox Enterprises and The Atlanta Journal and Constitution (AJC), Booker was asked to lead the diversity initiative for Cox. His focus was to recruit and develop women and people of color to advance to management positions throughout the Cox organization. He also facilitated work force diversity education and training for Cox associates.
In 1993, Booker was named Vice President of Community Affairs and Work Force Diversity at the AJC, Cox Enterprises’ flagship newspaper, where he continued working in all facets of work force diversity. He recently retired from this position, however, he continues to advocate, consult and advise Atlanta companies such as Coca-Cola, Delta Airlines, the AJC, Georgia Power, US Postal Service, Spelman College, Morehouse College, Clayton College, Red Cross and United Way. He is recognized in Atlanta for his community service and ongoing commitment in the area of diversity.
Dr. Gerald L. Durley
Dr. Gerald Durley is a speaker, preacher, lecturer, and community workshop leader. He serves on the board of directors of numerous companies, including the Atlanta March of Dimes, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), Atlanta Union Mission, the Mayor’s Youth and Violence Prevention Task Force, and the Atlanta Diabetes Board.
Dr. Durley is pastor of Providence Missionary Baptist Church of Atlanta, where he has served for 17 years. Throughout his career, he has held a many prestigious positions, including director of the Health Promotion Resource Center at the Morehouse School of Medicine; executive director of the Head Start Program for Fulton and Douglas counties; dean of student affairs and director of the Counseling Center at Clark College (now Clark Atlanta University); assistant branch chief of Pupil Personnel Services for the U.S. Office of Education; and president and CEO of Perspectives International, Inc., a company he founded.
Dr. Durley holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Tennessee State University, a master’s degree in community mental health from Northern Illinois University, a Master of Divinity degree from Howard University, and a doctorate in urban education and psychology from the University of Massachusetts.
Maritza Soto Keen
Maritza Soto Keen is the director of the Latino Initiative for the University of Georgia's Office of the Vice President for Public Service and Outreach. In this position, Ms. Soto Keen directs a new initiative targeted at Georgia's Latino community. A key focus of the initiative is to increase the number of students in the educational pipeline and to support efforts that will lead to an increased number of students entering the university system.
From 2002-2005, Ms. Soto Keen held a faculty position at the University of Georgia's Fanning Institute for Leadership, where she developed the university's first Latino youth leadership program. She has served as executive director of the Latin American Association, where she was the principal advocate for Latino issues on both the local and national levels. Ms. Soto Keen, who has also served on Mayor Shirley Franklin's transition team and on former Governor Roy Barnes’ Commission on Hispanic Affairs, was selected as a Torchbearer for the 1996 Olympics.
Ms. Soto Keen is a graduate of Queens College in New York (CUNY) and holds a master’s degree in psychology from the University of West Florida.
Ken Lee
Ken Lee is vice president of Security for UPS. He is the first Asian American to hold the title of vice president and is one of the highest ranking Asian Americans at UPS. Mr. Lee began his career in 1971 as a part-time loader in San Francisco while attending San Francisco State University. Prior to his current role, Mr. Lee served in several management positions in Security and Information Systems in the Pacific and Northwest regions.
Mr. Lee is a leading activist for Asian community affairs at UPS, and serves as a mentor and role model for other Asian employees. In 1997, he was selected by UPS to receive the OCA National Asian American Corporate Achievement Award.
In addition to his work with OCA, Ken is active with other community organizations in the Georgia area. He serves as the advisor for the local fund-raising charity "Chopstix for Charity," aimed at raising money for Asian human service organizations in the metro Atlanta area. Mr. Lee, an honorary board advisor to the Association of Chinese Professionals, also works closely with the National Association of Asian American Professionals (NAAAP) and serves on the U.S. Pan Asian American Chamber of Commerce (USPAACC).
Janice L. Mathis
Janice Mathis is Atlanta bureau chief of the Citizenship Education Fund, which operates the Wall Street Project in New York and the Peachtree Street Project in Atlanta, as well as bureaus in six major U.S. cities.
Ms. Mathis previously served as general counsel and chief of staff to the Rainbow Push Coalition, and managing partner of Thurmond, Mathis and Pickett, an Athens, Ga., law firm, as well as special assistant attorney general for Child Support Enforcement. Her past and present affiliations include the Democratic National Committee, the American Council of Young Political Leaders, the League of Women Voters, United Way, and Delta Sigma Theta Sorority. She is a graduate of Leadership Georgia and was named one of Good Housekeeping magazine's 100 Young Women of Promise.
Ms. Mathis studied politics and history at New College, Oxford University, and received a bachelor’s degree in economics and public policy studies from Duke University and a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Georgia.
Bertram E. Sears, Jr.
Bertram Sears is president of Omni Power Clean, Inc., a Smyrna, Ga.-based parking lot sweeping company that has been in business for 10 years. Before acquiring Omni Power Clean in August 2001, Mr. Sears was senior vice president of Marketing and Customer Service for Georgia Power, a subsidiary of Southern Company.
Mr. Sears was previously vice president of product management for Southern Company and president and CEO of Southern Company Energy Solutions (SCES), where he became the youngest officer and highest-ranking African American with full business unit responsibility in Southern Company worldwide.
Mr. Sears currently serves on the executive board of Boy Scouts of America, Atlanta Area Council. He has also been president of the South Fulton Chamber of Commerce, a member of the executive board of the Atlanta Chamber, and a board member of Big Brothers Big Sisters Atlanta.
Mr. Sears received a bachelor’s degree in political science from Morehouse College and an MBA from the Harvard Business School.
William J. Stanley, III, FAIA, NOMA
William J. Stanley, Ill is founder and principal for design at Stanley Love-Stanley, P.C., the second-largest African American architectural practice in the South. He has 27 award-winning projects to his credit, including Ebenezer Baptist Church, United Way of Metropolitan Atlanta’s Youth Art Connection Gallery and parking deck, the Olympic Aquatic Center at Georgia Institute of Technology, and Saint Paul's Episcopal Church.
In 1972, Mr. Stanley became the first black graduate of Georgia Institute of Technology’s College of Architecture. Early in his career, he served as the design coordinator and project architect on the Renaissance Hotel in Detroit, as well as the Blue Cross Blue Shield building and the Stone & Webster building, both in Boston. In 1975, he became the youngest African American ever to receive architectural registration in the South, and in 1977 he began his own architectural practice.
Mr. Stanley was elected to the National Board of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) as the South Atlantic Regional Director for 2007-2009. He is a Fellow in the American Institute of Architects (FAIA), and is the past president of AIA Georgia, from which he received the Bernard Rothschild medal – the state's highest award.
