NVLP YOUTUBE
About Us
NVLP Board & Staff
Dr. Camille O. Cosby
President
(Pictured above) Producer and educator Camille O. Cosby has brought to the American public, through multimedia, an appreciation of our rich and diverse cultures. Dr. Cosby's body of notable work includes producing a Peabody Award-winning television film and a Tony-nominated Broadway play, plus numerous films and documentaries. Dr. Cosby is the co-founder of the National Visionary Leadership Project, formed to help preserve the priceless legacy of African American elders.
Dr. Cosby is the author of Television's Imageable Influences: The Self-Perception of Young African Americans (University Press of America, 1994). Based on her dissertational research, the book investigates the impact of negative images of black people on television on the self-perception of young African Americans. Countering such negative perceptions has been a significant focal point of her work since she received her doctorate in education at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in 1992. Dr. Cosby also earned an MA from the university in 1980.
As part of this on-going commitment, Dr. Cosby served as executive producer on a documentary in 1994 called No Dreams Deferred. The documentary chronicled the
experiences of Thelma and Wesley Williams and their catering business designed to teach life skills to young people. The film was broadcast extensively on public television. One year later, Dr. Cosby co-produced with Judith Rutherford James Having Our Say, the inspiring story of Sarah and Elizabeth Delany, two centenarians born to a former slave, who went on to become an educator and dentist respectively. Dr. Cosby felt that the play, based on the bestselling book by Amy Hill Hearth, brought to life an important and rarely told part of American history. The two-person play starring Mary Alice and Gloria Foster received three Tony Award nominations. Diahann Carroll and Ruby Dee starred in the CBS television film version that won the prestigious Peabody Award in 1999.
Dr. Cosby's experience with Having Our Say was a major catalyst in the formation of the National Visionary Leadership Project with co-founder Renee Poussaint. NVLP is a Washington, DC-based intergenerational institution dedicated to collecting, preserving and sharing history as told by distinguished African American elders. In 2004, Simon and Schuster published A Wealth of Wisdom: Legendary African American Elders Speak based on stories from fifty of the elders in the NVLP archive.
In 2000, Dr. Cosby produced the critically acclaimed documentary Ennis' Gift. The film profiled individuals from all waIks of life, including actors, scientists, artists, business leaders, educators (and even a polar explorer), who were diagnosed with learning differences but refused to be limited by them. In 2004, Dr. Cosby served as co-executive producer for the major motion picture Fat Albert. Development of a biographical play on the life of Pearl Bailey is among her current projects in progress.
Cheryl Clarke
Chief Executive Officer
Cheryl Clarke is the Chief Executive Officer for the National Visionary Leadership Project (NVLP). She is responsible for setting strategy, operations, financing, marketing and human resources. Ms. Clarke is a seasoned executive with a proven record of success. Prior to joining NVLP in April 2008, she worked for 24 years at the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac) in several senior management positions. Her most recent stint at Freddie Mac was the Senior Director of the Freddie Mac Foundation Investment and Programs area where she directed the investment of $30M annually in the Washington, DC Metropolitan region and nationally. Additionally, she has worked as a Director in a number of other areas at the company including the Director of Communications in Community Relations; Director of the first office of Diversity, and Director of Human Resources and Business Support Services in the Atlanta and Dallas operations. In these roles she generated break-through ideas and initiatives; built infrastructure, operations, internal controls; led high-performing teams; cultivated organizational, board and external relationships; and, developed successful strategies to achieve business and organizational goals. Prior to joining Freddie Mac, Ms. Clarke spent seven years as director and teacher at a DCPS special education satellite program of the Bundy Crisis Intervention Center for emotionally and behaviorally challenged boys in Washington, DC. Ms. Clarke serves on the boards of the Washington Regional Association of Grantmakers (WRAG), The Nonprofit Roundtable of Greater Washington and is a member of Leadership Greater Washington.
Cynthia Dinkins
Chief Operating Officer
Cynthia Dinkins joins the National Visionary Leadership Project as Chief Operating Officer, a position that includes executing NVLP’s strategic vision while leading planning and day-to-day management. Her primary areas of concentration will be administration, financial operations, facilities management, support services and program execution. Most recently, Ms. Dinkins served as President of the Sheila C. Johnson Foundation, where she managed more than $26 million in donations, negotiated major donations and partnerships, and assisted in building programs that provided unique opportunities for diverse groups of people in the U.S. and abroad. Her previous positions also include, President of the Washington Mystics Foundation, Executive Director of the T. Howard Foundation, and Chief Operating Officer / Co-founder of Foxworth & Dinkins, Inc., a Washington, DC-based organization that designed programs to aid entrepreneurs in licensing and commercializing advanced technologies; her work was later adopted as the model for technology commercialization in inner city communities. She currently serves on the board of Communities in Schools for the Nation’s Capital.
As approved by the Board of Directors, Ms. Clarke and Ms. Dinkins will work extensively to expand our outreach through partnerships with school districts, educational organizations and others to implement new strategies and educational tools to advance the National Visionary Leadership Project’s mission of using history to develop the next generation of visionary leaders.
Skip Coblyn
Program Director
Skip Coblyn joined NVLP five years ago with nearly twenty five years of experience in broadcast, corporate and video/film production. He began his career in public broadcasting at WETA-TV26 in Washington, DC as a production assistant and then associate producer on the groundbreaking cultural series From Jumpstreet: A Story of Black Music, hosted by the late Oscar Brown Jr. He continued to work with PBS and WETA to develop the critically acclaimed national public affairs series Congress: We The People and the documentary series Making Sense of the Sixties. He has also produced WETA’s long-running DC arts magazine, Around Town.
For seven years, he was producer for MCI’s multimedia productions department, creating live business TV satellite and web broadcasts, and corporate video and film productions for company-wide use. While at MCI he received two “Telly Awards” for his work. Thereafter, Mr. Coblyn developed and produced financial news and analysis webcasts for Capital.Com, an internet business website.
Mr. Coblyn was also consulting producer/ assistant director and multimedia producer for the PBS American Experience documentary Partners of the Heart. The film, which chronicles the life and career of open heart surgery pioneer Vivien Thomas, was produced by Duke Media and Spark Media. Mr. Coblyn has also worked as a producer/reporter for Business Now and was an editor for the first season of the popular Animal Planet series, The Pet Psychic, for Discovery Communications. When he can find the spare time, he enjoys photography and making music.
Geri Reinhart TseProducer
With more than twenty years of experience in production (television, film, video, print and web); news writing; and public relations/media outreach, Geri Reinhart Tse brings a broad range of skills and expertise to NVLP. She produced broadcast news stories that aired nationally on CBS News and PBS, including segments on Women’s Suffrage and the African American Influence on Modern Dance. She produced television public service announcements shot in 35 MM film as well as promotional videos for clients such as American Express, Energy Star, Freddie Mac, and the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency. Her background includes writing for CBS News This Morning, Fox News and the F/X network.
In addition, Ms. Reinhart Tse has been responsible for directing public relations campaigns. In this capacity she conducted press conferences, media training, and media outreach; supervised the development of a wide range of press and marketing materials; orchestrated efforts with federal and local governments, partners, and community organizations and led new business pitches.
At NVLP, Ms. Reinhart Tse’s responsibilities include booking and producing the Visionary interviews shown on the NVLP website, producing brief tributes and other videos from the material, coordinating production details for NVLP events and other special projects and productions.
John Kinhart
Video Editor/Web Specialist
John Kinhart is an award-winning documentary filmmaker who studied painting and video editing at the Maryland Institute College of Art, where he received a bachelor’s degree in Fine Art. His first three films Non-Player-Character, Futonmaker and Blood, Boobs & Beast have shown at film festivals domestically and internationally. Blood, Boobs & Beast premiered at the Maryland Film Festival and went on to win Best Documentary at the Coney Island Film Festival, B-Movie Film Featival and the Backseat Film Festival. Additionally, Blood, Boobs & Beast recieved a 4-star review from Filmthreat.com and was called "thoroughly entertaining" by the Onion newspaper.
John's previous projects include serving as cinematographer for Is It True What They Say About Ann?, a documentary about controversial pundit Ann Coulter, and assistant director for "Dazzlement," a music video for Cherrywine, a.k.a. Butterfly from the hip-hop group Digable Planets.
John’s responsibilities at NVLP include managing the NVLP web site, as well as editing the Visionary interviews, short-form documentaries and other video presentations.
Rebecca A. Muse
Executive Coordinator
Rebecca A. Muse, Program Coordinator for the National Visionary Leadership Project (NVLP) joined the organization in April, 2009. Her primary responsibility includes managing the organizations projects and events while supporting the executive staff, production, and program and communications staff at NVLP.
Rebecca joined NVLP from the African American Nonprofit Network a small nonprofit based in Washington DC, prior to that she worked at Wachovia Corporation in Charlotte, NC. While she enjoyed her work at Wachovia working on bank mergers and software application deployment, she wanted to return to her hometown, Washington, DC and give back to the community in a more meaningful way. She heard about the transformational work of NVLP and knew she wanted to be involved. She loves working with organizations who are working in the community to improve the lives of youth and the Metropolitan DC area and enjoys volunteering at these organizations.
Rebecca received a B.S. in computer engineering from Johnson C. Smith University of Charlotte, NC in 2003 and later earned her M.B.A from Strayer University in 2006. Her areas of expertise include project and program management.