About Us

Skinner Leadership Institute provides networking, bridge-building, and leadership development opportunities among Congressional leaders, business executives, nonprofit organizations, college students, faith leaders, young professionals, and urban youth. Our vision is to produce high performing morally and professionally excellent, civic-minded executive leaders. We coach, train and equip leaders in our nation, leaders in the faith community, and leaders among youth, who are committed to the empowerment of the economically underserved and to uniting all segments of our nation.

Skinner Leadership Institute also regularly brings together veteran and next-generation leaders to build mutual cooperation and understanding about issues valued by each generation. Diversity and inclusion seminars for the 21st-century workforce have also been facilitated through Skinner Leadership to foster relationships among national and local leaders around common issues impacting their communities.

Dr. Barbara Williams-Skinner

CEO, Co-founder

bws@SkinnerLeadership.org

Dr. Barbara Williams-Skinner, CEO and co-founder of Skinner Leadership Institute, is a trusted advisor, public policy strategist, faith and community leader, author, lecturer, educator, executive coach, and mentor. She has indelibly imprinted in American public policy, government, diversity, and community relations. She and her late husband, Tom Skinner, founded the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Prayer Breakfast that annually attracted over 3000 leaders across the nation. She regularly works with interfaith leaders on health care, criminal justice reform, and voting rights.

Widely known as a committed prayer warrior, Dr. Williams-Skinner regularly prays for and with Congressional leaders from both political parties and sends daily scripture to many of them. She is co-founder of a millennial and Generation X leadership program - the Masters Series for Distinguished Leaders that equips young leaders to move to the next levels of their lives and careers while also addressing the needs of the disadvantaged in their community and modeling high moral character.

Dr. Williams-Skinner also co-founded the Masters Series for Distinguished Clergy, which equips pastors with advocacy and media skills to voice their values in the public arena. She has authored a book on building personal spiritual and prayer power, I Prayed, Now What? My Journey From No Faith to Deep Faith and a companion Discussion Guide, ideally suited for individual and group Bible studies. She is also the author of Leadership Led by God: Prayer Journal and Guide, a book that equips leaders to operate daily in the spirit and character of Jesus.

In 2022, Dr. Williams-Skinner is coordinating a ten-state nonpartisan, multi-racial, interfaith, and multi-generation Faiths United to Save Democracy (FUSD) voter justice campaign with a toolkit to make voting easier for vulnerable populations. She is co-convener of the National African American Clergy Network and recipient of various awards, including the D.C. Regional Leadership Hall of Fame Award.

Dr. Williams-Skinner holds a B.A. Degree from San Francisco State University, a Master of Social Work Degree, and a Law Degree from UCLA; as well as a Master of Divinity and a Doctor of Ministry from Howard University School of Divinity in Washington, DC.

For more information and booking request visit:

BarbaraWilliams-Skinner.com

Our Faculty

Dr. Evans serves as a SLI Faculty Member for both the MSDL and MSDC programs. He is a physician and the founder and CEO of Whole Life Associates. He has served as the Vice President and Corporate Medical Director of Cigna Insurance and Healthcare Corporation; as well as the National Health Director and Washington Bureau Chief for Rev. Jesse Jackson’s Operation Push. He is also the author of, From Purpose to Promise Driven Life, the foundational teaching of the Skinner Leadership Institute Masters Series for Distinguished Leaders (MSDL) and the Masters Series for Distinguished Clergy (MSDC). Dr. Evans currently serves as Pastor of Morning Star Community Christian Center, a multicultural, interdenominational, Christian based church located in Linden, NJ. He is a graduate of Howard University’s undergraduate (BS) and medical school (M.D.); additionally, he holds B.A., M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in theology from the United Christian College of New York.

Dr. Therman E. Evans

Hon. Constance Berry Newman

Ms. Newman serves as a SLI Faculty Member for both the MSDL and MSDC programs. She currently serves as special counsel for African affairs at the Carmen Group and is an adviser on Somalia to the US African Development Foundation. She has served the U.S. as assistant secretary of State for African Affairs and as the assistant administrator for Africa at the US Agency for International Development, where she oversaw the US government's economic development in Africa and was a key participant in the launching of the African Education Initiative to expand children's access to basic education and increase the number of teachers across the continent. From 2002 to 2005, she acted as President Bush's G8 personal representative on Africa. She has held seven presidential appointments, five confirmed by the Senate, in both Republican and Democratic administrations. Ms. Newman holds an undergraduate degree in political science from Bates College and a law degree from the University of Minnesota Law School.

Dr. Roger A. Mitchell, Jr.

Dr. Mitchell serves as an MSDL faculty member. He is Chair of the Department of Pathology of the Howard University College of Medicine. Formerly, he served as Chief Medical Examiner for the Government of the District of Columbia, Washington, and was appointed by the D.C. Mayor as the city’s Interim Deputy Mayor for Public Safety and Justice. He has worked as a Forensic Biologist for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) – DNA Unit. He has co-authored position papers on The Violence Epidemic in the African American Community for the National Medical Association (NMA) and the Definition, Investigation, Postmortem Examination and Reporting of Deaths in Custody for the National Association of Medical Examiners (NAME). He has served on the Forensic Science Standards Board (FSSB) for the National Institute of Science and Technology (NIST). The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), and the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) frequently seek out his expertise on subjects such as violence, death investigation, and mass fatality management. Mitchell is also an ordained minister serving as a mentor in his local community, where he often shares how drugs and violence have shaped his own life. He and his wife are proud parents of their three children.

Ms. Glover serves as an MSDL faculty member. She is Interim General Counsel for the Department of Public Works in the Government of the District of Columbia, Washington, DC. The department manages sanitation, parking services, fleet vehicle maintenance services, snow, leaf collection, and property maintenance for the District and its residents. In her various roles in the public and private sectors, Camille has served as an advisor, advocate, confidant, crisis manager, and developer of strategy. Her ministry spans the areas of social justice, political advocacy, human rights, anti-human trafficking, and prison reform. As an attorney and in the faith and advocacy communities, her work has taken her to all continents (except Antarctica). She has spent extensive time in Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. Camille sits on both local and national boards in leadership roles. She is a proud graduate of Howard University, Duke University, and the University of Denver.