Moving Up
Walter Jones
Walter Jones was appointed membership representative for the Membership Group’s Rhythm & Soul Department of the Amer-ican Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP). Jones will be responsible for the recruitment and maintenance of songwriters and producers, and identifying new opportunities for members via the Internet. He graduated from Clark University with a bachelor’s in mass media arts-public relations. Estab-lished in 1914, ASCAP is the leading U.S. performing rights organization representing the world’s largest repertory of more than 8 million copyrighted musical works from its more than 275,000 members.
Cheryl Pearson-McNeil
Cheryl Pearson-McNeil was promoted to senior vice president for communications at ACNielsen U.S., a division of The Nielsen Co. She will work to coordinate communications across ACNielsen and The Nielsen Co.’s advisory services businesses in the U.S., providing clients with complementary analytical and advisory marketing information services. A Network Journal 2007 “Influential Black Woman in Business” honoree, Pearson-McNeil has been featured in several publications, including Today’s Chicago Woman, Ebony Magazine and PRSA Tactics. She holds a B.A. in public relations from Purdue University and an M.B.A. from Keller Graduate School of Management.
Donna Pedro
Donna Pedro was named chief diversity officer, a newly created position, at Ogilvy New York. With more than 25 years’ experience in corporate human resources, with expertise in diversity, training, development and staffing, she oversee the agency’s growing diversity and inclusion initiatives. Pedro has played a key role in facilitating employee diversity training programs throughout Ogilvy’s offices in North America. Prior to joining Ogilvy, Pedro was a senior consultant with FutureWork, a global diversity firm, and for 13 years was vice president of diversity and professional development at Sony Music. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Wheaton College in Norton, Mass.
Colleen Babb
Colleen Babbwas appointed executive assistant district attorney in Brooklyn with responsibility for the School Advocacy Bureau. She supervises the attorneys in the bureau and is responsible for the prosecution of all crimes in schools and juvenile crimes outside of schools. Babb reports to the confidential assistant to the district attorney. Prior to her appointment, she was chief of the School Advocacy Bureau and part of one of the trial zones specializing in prosecuting crimes in Brooklyn. She holds a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from the State University of New York, Albany, and a law degree from Albany Law School.
Bryan E. Gingrich, Ph.D.
Bryan E. Gingrich, Ph.D., joined A.G. Edwards as associate vice president and director of diversity and inclusion. He brings more than a decade of experience in diversity strategy and management to his new position and will work with senior management to help strengthen the company’s organizational diversity strategies and initiatives. Gingrich previously was senior director of diversity at Sodexho Inc., a food and facilities management provider. He received a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Purdue University and a master’s degree in cognitive psychology and a doctorate in social cognitive psychology from the University of Memphis in Tennessee. He is a member of the American Psychological Association and the American Psychological Society.
Eugene Henderson Jr., Ph.D.
Eugene Henderson Jr., Ph.D., was appointed vice president of student development at Rockland Community College in New York. He will be responsible for leading the college’s division of student development, which includes enrollment services, student development, student services, student involvement and campus religious life and the Spring Valley and Haverstraw Extension Centers. He previously served as dean of academic student services at Nassau Community College and as a sergeant in the U.S. Army. Henderson has a bachelor’s from Saginaw Valley State University and a master’s in college student personnel and a doctorate in higher education administration from Michigan State University.
M. Monica Sweeney, M.D., M.P.H.
M. Monica Sweeney, M.D., M.P.H., was appointed assistant commissioner for the Bureau of H.I.V./AIDS Prevention and Control by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. She will oversee AIDS-related policy issues for the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. Dr. Sweeney previously was vice president of medical affairs at the Bedford Stuyvesant Family Health Center and served on President George W. Bush’s Presidential Advisory Council on H.I.V./AIDS. Co-author of Condom Sense: A Guide to Sexual Survival in the New Millennium (Lantern Books, 2004), she has a bachelor’s degree from Columbia University’s, Teachers College, an M.D. from the State University of New York Health Science Center of Brooklyn and a master’s in public health from Columbia University. Sweeney is a 2007 Network Journal “Influential Black Women in Business” honoree.
