Jennifer S. Lohman – Elections Committee Member, League of Women Voters of Metro St. Louis and Director, St. Louis Area Voter Protection Coalition

Jennifer is the co-founder and director of the St. Louis Area Voter Protection Coalition and participates on the Elections Committee for the League of Women Voters of Metro St. Louis. Jennifer helped organize Missouri’s largest-ever Election Protection field program in 2018 as a volunteer for the Missouri Voter Protection Coalitions, and is currently coordinator of the 2020 Election Protection efforts in the metro area. Jennifer is also a member of the national Election Protection Anti-Disinformation Working Group and the Transformative Justice Coalition’s Voting Rights Alliance. She graduated from Notre Dame Law School and has worked as a litigator and federal clerk. After leaving the practice of law right before her youngest child was born, Jennifer engaged in voting rights advocacy on behalf of Obama for America, and then worked as a polling place supervisor for many years before re-engaging in politics and activism full-time.

Gena Gunn McClendon, PhD – CSD Director of Voter Access & Engagement, Financial Capability & Asset Building Initiatives, Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis

Gena Gunn McClendon, PhD, is director of the Voter Access & Engagement, Financial Capability and Asset Building initiatives at the Center for Social Development at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis. Her work primarily involves policy research analysis and consultation with community-based programs, academic institutions, state and federal policymakers and advocacy groups. Dr. McClendon’s program development and policy advocacy work focuses on issues related to voter suppression and civic participation of low- and moderate-income households and marginalized populations. Her research focuses on identifying and advancing practice and policy strategies that support an inclusive democracy and the professional training of social work students. She also leads the Financial Capability and Asset Building Initiative, which focuses on the development and research of a post-secondary curriculum in financial social work. Other interest areas are the racial wealth gap and coalition development. Dr. McClendon earned a PhD in Urban Higher Education from Jackson State University in Jackson, Mississippi. She received her Master of Management and Leadership from Fontbonne University in St. Louis and Bachelor of Science degree from Southern Illinois University in Carbondale.

Sabrina W. Tyuse, PhD – Associate Professor, Saint Louis University and Committee Member, League of Women Voters of Metro St. Louis

Sabrina W. Tyuse, PhD, MSW, MA, teaches courses in social work theory and social policy, her self-described passion. She grew up on the Mississippi Gulf Coast and in Meridian, Mississippi, the epicenters of civil rights legislation and social policy changes. As a teenager, she took part in the desegregation of Mississippi Public Schools, sit-ins, pickets, and other forms of civil protests for better employment opportunities. In 2008, Dr. Tyuse became involved in voter registration and Get Out the Vote efforts. This was a life-changing project, as it revealed a need in the St. Louis community and the United States of America. In 2016, she created the St. Louis Voter Registration Group. Through this group, she conducts voter registration drives and train others to register voters. In the past three years, Dr. Tyuse has conducted more than 200 voter registration drives and trained about 150 people to register voters, resulting in several thousand newly registered voters and hundreds of others having their voter registration records updated.

Erin Vilardi – Founder & CEO, Vote Run Lead

Erin Vilardi is the Founder and CEO of Vote Run Lead, the nation’s largest and most diverse training program for women to run for office and win. She first launched the program as Vice President of Program and Communications at The White House Project. She has also served as a Leadership Development Consultant for a range of clients, including Fortune 100 companies, global girls’ initiatives, and the U.S. Department of State, reaching women leaders in a dozen international cities. Vilardi is the co-author of the Athena CORE10©, an innovative set of leadership competencies for 21st century women leaders based on the latest research and gender analysis for the Athena Center for Leadership Studies at Barnard College. She has appeared on the main stage at Personal Democracy Forum, on CNN, BBC, and Fox News and her work was featured in O, The Oprah Magazine, Marie Claire, and New York Magazine, as well as numerous international and domestic articles on women and leadership. She is an Executive Producer of Ann Richards’ Texas, a  documentary about the late pioneering governor.

Adrian E. Bracy, MBA, CPA – Chief Executive Officer, YWCA Metro St. Louis

Adrian E. Bracy began as Chief Executive Officer for YWCA Metro St. Louis in 2009. Bracy previously worked for more than a decade as an executive for the St. Louis Rams, then left to become chief financial officer for the Arizona Cardinals in 2007. She has more than 20 years of senior management finance experience with professional sports teams that include the St. Louis Rams, Arizona Cardinals and the Miami Dolphins. Her strong background in financial management is complimented with responsibilities for overseeing long-term business objectives, human resources, risk management and building strong relationships with local communities. Bracy graduated from Morgan State University in Baltimore with a degree in accounting and has a master’s degree in business administration from Nova Southeastern University in Ft. Lauderdale. She has received numerous awards including the St. Louis Business Journal Most Influential Business Women Award and St. Louis American Executive of the Year Award. Bracy is married to Vernon and is an active member of Shalom Church (City of Peace).