Causeway Welcomes 5 New Board Members

Causeway announced that five new members have been elected to serve on the nonprofit organization’s board of directors. The new members are Michael Baskin, Demetrus Coonrod, April Holland, Christian Patiño, and Phil Roundy. Through superior leadership in their respective communities, these new members will provide their expertise to support Causeway in the coming year.

Mr. Baskin serves as the chief policy officer for Chattanooga Mayor Andy Berke.  Passionate about connecting citizens to their government, he helps map Administration strategy, implement priority projects, and facilitate change-making throughout the City. Previously, he worked in data analysis, brand marketing, and performance management for a Global 500 company, and in political messaging for Alipes CME. He is a native of Boston MA, where he got his start on the Mayor’s Youth Council, and graduate of Harvard College, where he studied civic engagement. He loves playful street art, exploring new places, and all things outdoors.

Ms. Coonrod is a life-long resident of Chattanooga, with a degree in Sociology from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. A true community advocate, she is the president of the Eastdale Neighborhood Association, the vice chairwoman of the Hamilton County Democratic Party, a board member of Sportsbarn and the Community Development Advisory Board, and she is running for City Council. She also owns a local franchise of JanPro, a commercial cleaning business.

Ms. Holland is a corporate attorney at Miller & Martin who works with privately-held companies through all stages of mergers and acquisitions, and counsels individuals and companies in a wide range of corporate law matters. She has experience in industries ranging from technology, healthcare, flooring, transportation, insurance and bottling. She has a B.A. in Anthropology and Global Culture and Commerce from the University of Virginia, a J.D. in Law from Washington and Lee University School of Law, and an LLM in European Economics and Financial Law from Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium. She participated in Leadership Chattanooga in 2016, and she is a board member for Northside Neighborhood House.

Mr. Patiño is the director of operations at La Paz Chattanooga, a local nonprofit that empowers and engages Chattanooga's Latino population through advocacy, education and inclusion. Christian is a California native who has lived in Mexico, Colombia, and Curaçao, and traveled extensively. He has a BBA in International Business, a Marketing MBA, and is currently working on attaining his MBA in Global Community Development, all from Southern Adventist University. His diverse international experiences make him the perfect advocate for Chattanooga’s growing Latino population.

Mr. Roundy is the UC Foundation assistant professor of Entrepreneurship at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. His research focuses on understanding how social entrepreneurs and socially-minded businesses can improve their ability to get the financial and non-financial resources they need to thrive, and exploring the formation and development of entrepreneurial ecosystems. He has a B.A. in Economics from Kent State University, an M.A. in Economics from the University of South Florida, an M.S. in Management and Organization Theory from the University of South Florida, an M.S. in Management from the University of Texas at Austin, and a Ph.D. in Strategic Management and Entrepreneurship from the University of Texas at Austin.

In addition to the new members, four existing board members have moved into officer positions: Marty Lowe as board chair, Keith McCallie as vice chair, Patricia Russell as secretary, and Shalin Tejani as treasurer. Causeway’s incoming board chairman Marty Lowe expressed his excitement to start 2017 with the addition of five new board members saying, “We have matured a lot as an organization in the last year. Heading into 2017, we’ll be focusing our efforts on driving innovation within the social sector, and we feel very fortunate to have such a diverse wealth of knowledge and experience coming onto our board to help support these initiatives."