Board
For questions or concerns, please contact any Board Member directly by clicking on the Email Me button below their respective names.
Veronica Williams
Board Chair
Veronica Crenshaw currently serves as the board Vice-chair. She is dedicated to sharing her love and passion for students through her work in advocacy and dispute resolution formerly with the Georgia Department of Education and currently as the Assistant Director of Special Education Compliance at Georgia Cyber Academy. She has over 10 years of education experience working with Teach For America-Alabama, Birmingham City Schools, and KIPP Metro Atlanta. In her spare time, Veronica pursues her other passion for law by seeking opportunities to make necessary voices heard in education policy. She is a strong believer in equipping people with the tools necessary to empower themselves. She is a graduate of Fisk University (’10) and Cumberland School of Law (’13). Veronica joined the board to ensure that students have access to a high quality education that will place them on a more stable path to success in college and/or career. Her focus is to increase student access and promote creativity through the arts. She is an active member of the Junior League Atlanta, Leadership for Educational Equity, Rotary Club of Atlanta West End, Council for Exceptional Children, and Council for Administrators of Special Education.
Ivan Lee
Treasurer
A native of Chattanooga, TN, Ivan Lee is a Certified Public Accountant in Georgia. He received his Bachelor’s Degree and Master’s Degree in Accounting from the University of Memphis. After his matriculation at the University of Memphis, Ivan worked for one of the “Big Four” accounting firms—PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). While there, he worked in the audit practice, servicing clients in the financial services and real estate industries. Mr. Lee moved on to his current role as an Accounting Manager for Metroplex Energy, a wholesale fuel supplier and wholly-owned subsidiary of Racetrac where he manages the Metroplex settlements team as well as ensures the reconciliation and proper recording of accounts receivable and accounts payable transactions for the company. Mr. Lee is also the founder and CEO of I.E. Lee Financial Services—a CPA firm that offers accounting, bookkeeping, financial consulting, and tax preparation services. Overall, Mr. Lee is a driven and organized professional with a passion for financial literacy and helping people. With his diverse experience, he plans to help business owners, companies, and families take control of their finances to achieve their financial goals. Mr. Lee serves as the Board Treasurer for Atlanta SMART Academy.
Lauren Harden
Board Member
Lauren Harden is a native of East Point, Georgia. She obtained her Bachelors of Arts in Child Welfare and Sociology from the University of Georgia and her Juris Doctorate from Howard University School of Law. As legal counsel for Fulton County Department of Family and Children Services, Lauren specializes in a broad range of juvenile dependency matters. She is thoroughly excited to support Atlanta students through Atlanta SMART Academy.
Adam Tolliver
Adam Tolliver is a Southwest Atlanta native, and a graduate of Florida State University. He currently runs a Financial Services Practice, serving young professionals and growing families and businesses in Atlanta. Adam joined the Atlanta SMART Academy Board as Chair because he believes in the power of innovation and choice in education, and its ability to provide a limitless range of opportunities for students and families in the community he has always called home.
Shirlynn Fortson
Member
Shirlynn is an experienced economic developer with more than five years’ experience in strategic planning which resulted in job creation and investment throughout the State of Georgia. She currently serves as the Economic Development Policy Manager at Amazon. She has expertise in tax incentives analysis, redevelopment and development processes, marketing, and business development; with a specialization in selling the assets of Georgia in the IT, Corporate Headquarters, Data Center, Financial Technology, and Health IT industry sectors. Shirlynn holds a Master of Science degree with an emphasis in Strategic Corporate Communications, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in International Affairs. She is a graduate of The University of Georgia and Troy University.
Rosalynne Price
Vice Chair
Rosalynne is a retired Human Resources professional with over 30 years’ experience working and consulting in Fortune 500 companies. Her work centered around instructional technology, management development and diversity. It addressed challenges such as: How can you craft a workplace where everyone is motivated to contribute? How do you “grow” leaders? How can you maximize performance? Rosalynne enjoys making breakthrough contributions to her workplace and community. When presented with the opportunity, she was instrumental in creating the first centralized multilanguage credit reporting center in the country for a global data, analytics and technology company and the first companywide executive-led mentoring program for a large media conglomerate. Rosalynne is passionate about learning. Prior to working in business, Rosalynne had a number of teaching assignments which addressed learners as naive as those in the “Head Start” program and those as experienced as her students attending Shorter College and Georgia State University. Rosalynne looks forward to using her background and her love of learning in service of the board of Atlanta SMART Academy.
Wanda Newman-Johnson
Secretary
Wanda Newman-Johnson is a highly accomplished marketing professional with a dynamic career in defining and implementing innovative solutions to create visibility, build market share, and drive revenue growth for technology start-ups, fortune 100, and non-profit companies. As Director Marketing, Fiserv, she is responsible for designing the digital strategy and roadmap that transforms customer experiences; increase brand enhancement and improve conversions. Wanda helped launch the Verizon Innovative Learning Schools initiative at the Verizon Foundation and worked with various educational non-profits and partners to deliver the program. The Verizon Innovative Learning Initiative has reached over three million students across the United States. In 2013, she won a Telly Award for her non-profit work at the Verizon Foundation and was Nominated – PR Social Media Icon Award. She has been featured in Black Enterprise, University of Maryland and Rutgers University online magazines and other publications for her national and local work. Wanda is a graduate of Northeastern University with a B.S. in Education and earned a Master of Business Administration from University of Maryland. She also earned an Advanced Marketing Certificate from Rutgers University. She is a Diamond Life Member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.
Sandra Scott
Board Member
Sandra is currently a Human Resources leader in the technology industry. She has over 20 years of experience in employee and leadership development and performance management. She is a graduate of Georgian State University. She also has experience in academic operations and adjunct faculty at the college level. Sandra enjoys working with professionals and students to help them discover their job and career interests. Sandra joined the board because she is invested in supporting pathways to prepare students for STEM careers.
Antionette Kennedy
Board Member
With a decade of experience in financial data analytics, Antionette is an expert in transforming raw data into strategic assets that propel revenue growth and operational efficiency. She is a graduate of Georgia State University, where she served in university partner consultant roles for multi-million dollar economic development projects and received the university’s Big Idea Award for her fintech startup. Antionette is currently a Senior Manager and financial model builder for Verizon’s Global Enterprise team. She is also a licensed financial coach who volunteers her professional resources to local families and entrepreneurs through financial literacy workshops and business hackathons.
Bishop Williams
Board Member
Ariel Bruce
Member
As a native of Southwest Atlanta, Ariel is passionate about empowering local students and is excited to support Atlanta SMART Academy. She is currently a strategic partnership manager at Google, focusing on building and managing relationships with organizations focused on talent building and community outreach. Ariel is a graduate of Howard University with a Bachelors of Arts in Communication and Culture.
Attend a Board or Committee Meeting!
Our monthly Board Meetings, unless otherwise noted, will be held the 3rd Monday of each month at 5:30 p.m. via Zoom and are open to the public.
Up to 20 minutes will be set aside for public commentary at all board meetings. Those wishing to comment must send a request to the Board Secretary by 12:00pm NOON the day of the board meeting (lharden@atlantasmartacademy.org).
Each speaker will have 2 minutes to share with the Board. Speakers will be timed by a member of the Board and notified when time has expired.
The Public Comment period is designed to gain input from the public and not for immediate responses by the Board to the public comment presented. If there are questions or information that you have for the Board, you may also contact one or more of the Board members.
Our monthly Finance Committee Meetings, unless otherwise noted, will be held the 2nd Monday of each month at 5:30 p.m. via Zoom and are open to the public.
Our monthly Academics and Governance Committee Meetings, unless otherwise noted, will be held the 1st Monday of each month at 4:30 p.m. via Zoom and are open to the public.
