Meet our Board of Directors
Leo Bennett
Founder / Chairman
Leo Bennett is the President of Variety Entertainment. A native of Mobile, Alabama, he earned his Doctorate ofPharmacy from Florida A&M University. He has practiced in community, retail and hospital settings.
As a young man, Leo was lured into entrepreneurial pursuits. His ability to realize the value of live music andhis appreciation for watching people enjoy themselves led him into promoting concerts and other entertainmentevents in his hometown. Now, with 20+ years of experience, Bennett has learned the ups and downs of concertpromotions as well as the expectations of concert-goers. He takes seriously the concept of “putting on the show”and making it go off without a hitch. Not just in it for the money (since he would be fabulously wealthy, but isquick to say he is not), Leo has been applauded for ensuring that proceeds from his events are donated to helpothers.
An avid golfer, Leo enjoys time on the links with brothers of Omega Psi Phi, but his heart also bleeds blue andsilver for the Dallas Cowboys. Leo is blessed with constant support from his wife, family and friends.
Natalie Brown
Vice-Chair
Natalie J. Brown is Senior Vice President, Enterprise Campus Diversity Manager at Bank of America. She is responsible for leading the development and execution of the enterprise campus diversity strategy for the company.
Brown joined the company in 2000 and has held a range of positions in Global Supply Chain Management, Global Compliance and Operational Risk, Consumer Banking, and Global Marketing and Community Affairs. Prior to joining Bank of America, she worked for several fortune 500 companies such as Honda of America Manufacturing, Inc., Haworth, Inc., Mercedes-Benz U.S. International, Inc. and International Business Machines (IBM).
Brown actively promotes the company’s commitment to diversity and inclusion internally and externally, including serving as a member of employee resource groups, Charlotte LEAD for Women, Black Professionals Group and the Hispanic/Latino Organization for Leadership and Advancement. She serves on the board of directors for The Charlotte Post Foundation, Supportive Housing Communities, and Lifting As We Climb. She also sits on the advisory boards for Opera Carolina and Women’s Intercultural Exchange (WIE).
In 2012, Brown was appointed to the Board of Visitors for North Carolina A&T State University, a 10,000-student university and one of the largest Historically Black Colleges and Universities in the country, which she now serves as Vice Chair.
Brown is an active member of the Charlotte Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. and The Girl Friends, Inc.
A native of Greensboro, North Carolina, she received her bachelor’s degree in Transportation Management from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. She is married and has two daughters.
Rahman Khan
Rahman Khan (Rock-mon Kon) is renowned as a media, community and diversity leader. Professionally, he serves as Director of Diversity and Inclusion at Time Warner Cable where he works with senior business leaders, human resources, communication and recruitment colleagues to attract, retain, engage and develop diverse staff. Rahman also leads many of the diversity branding efforts of the company, creating strategic partnerships with diverse organizations. Rahman previously held diversity leadership roles with the Compass Group, the largest contract foodservice company in the world, and with Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools.
Rahman also is the founder of GoodWorks Media Group – a television production and awards venture. In this role, he has developed, executive produced, and hosted “GoodWorks with Rahman Khan” on PBS station WTVI in North and South Carolina. Rahman also hosted and produced the TV talk show “Diversity Matters” and further utilizing his media skills, Rahman was also a contributor for the Mecklenburg Times newspaper.
Rahman stays active in the community, once being tapped to lead the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce’s Black Professionals Network for over two years. Rahman is also an active member of the National and the Carolinas chapter of NAMIC (National Association of Multi-Ethnicity in Communications), and with the Urban League of the Central Carolinas. He has participated in three leadership development programs, including Leadership Charlotte, in which he still volunteers. Rahman also participates with the Community Building Initiative as a volunteer and former board member.
Several organizations have recognized his work. Rahman has been selected as an influential leader in “Who’s Who in Black Charlotte”. He had been selected as a “Top 40 Under 40” recipient by the Charlotte Business Journal. In fall 2012, Rahman was named as a Charlotte Catalyst by Uptown magazine. Much of his success is attributed to the great networks he has formed both locally and nationally.
Rahman received both his Bachelors and Master’s degrees from Florida A & M University, where he also joined Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. He is married to Anika Khan, a Senior Economist at a large financial institution, and they have one growing loving son.
Jametta Martin-Tanner
Jametta Martin-Tanner received her BS degree in Special Education from Appalachian State University, a Master’s Degree from Francis Marion University and an Educational Specialist Degree from Winthrop University. She has been in education for 24 years and with Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools for 18 years.
She began her career as a Special Education teacher and Career Coach and has since served in various roles. In 2009, she opened Ridge Road Middle School and served as the school’s first principal. She previously had been the principal at Hawthorne High School, and an assistant principal at Hopewell High School, Vance High School, and J.M. Alexander Middle School. For the past few years under Martin-Tanner’s leadership, Ridge Road Middle School has exceeded the State’s Academic Performance Growth Standards. Those efforts earned Mrs. Tanner the distinction of being the 2014-2015 Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools’ first North Learning Community Principal of the Year and the 2014-2015 District Principal of the Year.
Mrs. Martin-Tanner serves as a member of the Board of Directors for the University City YMCA, EmpowHERment, Inc., and Lifting As We Climb. She is also a member of the Charlotte Chapter of the Links, Inc. Jametta has been married for 13 years and has a fifth grade son.
Mary Schmitt
Secretary
Mary (“Mary K”) Schmitt has locked down the radio field with 23 years of experience and has worked in Florida, North Carolina, Alabama, and South Carolina. Mary K has been with Radio One Charlotte since July of 2014 and serves as the Program Director of Old School 105.3, Praise 100.9 and 92.7 The Block. Despite constantly surpassing her competitors’ ratings, MK says the “highpoint” of her career is when she rode Disney World’s Splash Mountain for 48 hours and raised over 10 thousand dollars for the Red Cross.
Born and raised in Pompano Beach, Florida, Mary K graduated from Ely High School. She is a very proud graduate of Bethune-Cookman College #HailWildcats and Mississippi State University #HailState.
In her free time Mary K enjoys adding to her purse collection, oil painting, chasing local weather, cheering on her favorite football teams and spending time with her mother.
Ricky M. Taylor
Ricky M. Taylor is the President of New Path Youth Services Inc., an adolescent mental health service. “Rick” has been in business since 1999 and is headquartered in Salisbury. A member of Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity, Rick is married and has two very intelligent and athletic children.
Melinda M. Graham
Treasurer
A native of Charlotte, Melinda Graham earned her Master’s degree in Accounting from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Melinda is Senior Manager of Corporate Accounting and Analytics at Compass Group, where they have the benefit of her over 24 years of extensive and broad experience, including public and private industry accounting. She is also experienced in not-for- profit and government accounting. In 2010, Melinda opened Cameka Services, LLC to provide bookkeeping and tax support for individuals and small businesses. Now residing in Belmont, Melinda is married (Casey) and has a beautiful daughter (Kayla).
Stacey Stone Bennett
Executive Director
Stacey Stone Bennett is a talented and experienced litigator, mediator, arbitrator, and negotiator. Her career has taken her from a large regional law firm to her own firm and to the law department of Fortune 500 companies. Stacey built a remarkable entertainment law clientele in the early years of her practice, and has also shared her knowledge and real-world experience with future legal professionals at Charlotte School of Law.
Stacey was born and raised in Martinsville, Virginia. She earned a Bachelors’ degree in Mass Communications from Winston-Salem State University and obtained her Juris Doctorate from North Carolina Central University School of Law. Stacey is on the Board of Directors for Angel In Disguise, Inc. and is the acting Executive Director for Lifting As We Climb. She is also active with her church (Freedom House) and social sorority (The Girl Friends, Inc.).
When she is not serving as limo driver for her two busy children, she enjoys testing SPF products in the Caribbean.