Our Board of Directors
Robin Anthony Kouyate, PhD, MA, Director
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Robin Anthony Kouyate, PhD, MA, Director, CFF Board of Directors. Dr. Anthony Kouyaté has over 25 years of experience providing social and behavioral science leadership to support chronic disease, maternal/newborn/child health (MNCH), nutrition, and reproductive health programs in 15 countries in the U.S., Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean. Her experience spans a range of behavioral domains including chronic illness self-management, medication adherence, postpartum contraceptive use, breastfeeding and infant nutrition practices, adolescent resilience, cognitive behavioral therapy and mindfulness practices, and parenting with emotional intelligence. Since 2010, she has provided behavioral science leadership and expertise leading teams in designing digital and non-digital health solutions that support chronic disease self-management, in the private sector retail pharmacy, start-up and biotech industry settings. Dr. Anthony Kouyaté has served as a consultant, a volunteer, on advisory boards, and on professional society committees for organizations focused on supporting health and wellbeing, as well as mentoring BIPOC youth and peers. These pursuits reflect her passion for supporting people of color, women, and particularly BIPOC youth in their development, professional pursuits, and overall well-being. In 2005 - 2006, she served as the Lead Research Consultant for the National Council of Negro Women, documenting the efficacy of NCNW partnerships with African women’s empowerment organizations and presenting findings to the funding organization. She has served as a mentor for first generation BIPOC students for the America Need You Program, Los Angeles (2021-2022) and a professional peer mentor, Amgen Black Employee Resource Group Mentor-Mentee Program (2021). She has been appointed to two presidential committees for the Society of Behavioral Medicine (SBM): Committee Chair for the Microcredentialing Committee (2019-2020) advising on additional fundraising approaches; and Committee Member for the Industry Connections Committee (2022 – present) mandated with supporting the Membership Council by developing industry connections for SBM and its members. Dr. Anthony Kouyate has served on advisory boards as behavioral science subject matter expert for Pfizer Pharmaceuticals (2012) and Motiv, a digital health start-up (2023). She received her PhD in Social and Behavioral Sciences from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, her MA in International Economics and American Foreign Policy from the Paul H Nitze Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, her BA in Comparative Area Studies – Africa and the Middle East from Duke University, and is fluent in French. She is a Maryland resident. |
James Bentil, BS. Director and Secretary
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James Bentil Bio, BS., Director and Secretary, CFF Board of Directors. Mr. Bentil is a results-oriented strategist who provides integrated business and analytical solutions to diverse stakeholders in both public and private industries, including high valued individuals, executive leadership, and fast-growing organizations. For the past eight years, he has worked with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), where he presently serves as a Deputy Chief of Staff and Advisor. Mr. Bentil deeply understands how dynamic business can be and values organized implementation plans to achieve optimal results. His strengths are in organizational consulting, business intelligence, managing cross-functional teams, organizational development, client briefings, project/change management, and strategic planning. He is a first-generation American with parents who hail from the diverse African nation of Ghana. Ever since 1999, he would travel to Ghana for about a month to learn more about his ancestral history, about each geographic region and its attributes, and for vacation purposes. Mr. Bentil’s family has resided in Vermont for nearly 30 years. They chose Vermont for its high standard of quality of life as well as its community-based approach to improving the well-being of its residents. In past years, Mr. Bentil has volunteered in various capacities including serving as the National Chair for the University of Vermont (UVM) Alumni Association’s NextGen Council with University of Vermont Foundation, a Board Member with Chittenden County Court Diversion Program, an Alumni Networker with the UVM Alumni Association, and the United States Attorney's Office Representative for Vermont Crime Victims’ Week. Mr. Bentil has a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the University of Vermont with a focus on Human Resources and Macro/Microeconomics. He is a Vermont resident. |
Co'Relous Bryant, Director, M.Div
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Co'Relous Bryant, Director, CFF Board of Directors. Rev. Bryant serves as Pastor of the United Church of Lincoln, in Lincoln Vermont. He was born in the small town of Perry, Florida, and grew up in Jacksonville, Florida. He attended NYU for his B.A. focusing in theater and political science, spent a few years in both the nonprofit and corporate sectors, until he gave in to his call to ministry and attended Emory University for his Master's in Divinity, where he focused on homiletics, the art of preaching. He served as the Associate for Mission at St. James Church in New York City and was ordained to the gospel ministry by Metro Baptist Church in New York, where he was a ministry associate, and licensed for ministry by Hendricks Avenue Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Florida. Rev. Bryant worked as a Mentor Leader at Communities in Schools of Jacksonville, Community Mobilization Manager at the Jacksonville Public Education Fund, and Director of Training and Major Accounts at the United Way of Northeast Florida. He also worked at Big Brothers Big Sisters of Northeast Florida and State Attorney’s Office-4th Judicial Circuit, Office of the Public Defender, Bill White. As a social justice activist and community mobilizer, Rev. Bryant has worked with nonprofits that combat human trafficking in Florida and abroad through jobs and services, has overseen soup kitchens, and brought together 14 different business and non-profits to form a council to address community needs in an economically depressed neighborhood of Jacksonville. Other activism has included work to combat the school to prison pipeline, community investment in K-12 schools, and parental advocacy training. Rev. Bryant is also an artist (singing and theater) and is a proud member of the Vermont African-American African Diaspora Artists' Network (VAAADAN). He is a Vermont resident. |
Lydia Clemmons, PhD, MPH, President and Executive Director
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Lydia Clemmons, PhD, MPH President, CFF Board of Directors. Dr. Clemmons is a medical anthropologist with a 35-year career leading ethnographic research and community development programs in the US and more than 20 African countries. She has more than 20 years of senior executive-level experience managing national and global program annual budgets of $20-$50 million dollars. She is internationally recognized for her innovative work integrating arts and culture into effective public health and social change programming. Dr. Clemmons began her international work as a Peace Corps Volunteer in rural Democratic Republic of Congo. She has worked for the US Agency for International Development, the World Health Organization, UNICEF, and numerous US nonprofit organizations working in international development. She grew up on her family’s farm in Vermont and returned in 2013 to help her parents preserve the farm- one of just 0.4% of all farms in the US that is African-American owned- for future generations. As President of the Clemmons Family Farm, Inc., she provides leadership for the farm’s transition into a 501c3 nonprofit organization and oversees its programming. She is fluent in French and Lingala. Dr. Clemmons is the recipient of the 2021 Con Hogan Award from the Vermont Community Foundation, the 2021 Arthur Williams Award for Meritorious Service to the Arts from the Vermont Arts Council, and the 2022 NAACP-Rutland Branch Lifetime Achievement Award. She holds a PhD in Medical Anthropology from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, a Master in Public Health from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, and a BA in Human Biology from Stanford University. She is a Vermont resident. |
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Our Program Leadership Team
Lydia Clemmons PhD, MPH,
Executive Director
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Kia'Rae Hanron BS, Director-
Arts Learning Programs
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Liesha McKinley-Barnet, Director- African Diaspora Foodways Institute of Vermont
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