National Advisory Committee Members

Dr. Andrew Michael Cohill

Dr. Andrew Michael Cohill is the President and CEO of Design Nine. He is an information architect with an educational background in architecture, ergonomics, and computer science. Cohill has an international reputation for his work advising rural communities on technology and telecommunications issues. In the United States, he has worked with rural communities across the country, with recent work in New Hampshire, Virginia, Illinois, New Mexico, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, and Texas. In recent years, his international work has taken him to British Columbia, Nova Scotia, Quebec, France, the Guernsey Isles, and Japan.

He was the Director of the world renowned Blacksburg Electronic Village (BEV) at Virginia Tech from 1993 to 2002. By the late nineties, Blacksburg had become widely known as the "most wired community in the world," with more than 87% of the town's residents using the Internet. Today, virtually all of Blacksburg's businesses and residents have one or more broadband access options at home, at work, or at both. Cohill was responsible for the design and development of electronic village and broadband services, supervised a research and development group, and managed an operations group that managed the BEV office and administrative services. He also directed the long range planning effort for the group, and served as an advocate for networking in the university and around the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Dr. Stacey Franklin Jones

Dr. Stacey Franklin Jones is the Dean of the School of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics and an Associate Professor of Computer Science of Mathematics at Benedict College.  Dr. Jones is a graduate of Howard University, Johns Hopkins University and George Washington University.  She holds a bachelors of science degree in mathematics (HU), two masters of science degrees in Numerical Science and Technology Management (JHU), and a doctor of science in Computer Science (GWU).  Dr. Jones has over 20 years of successful management experience acquired in the defense contract industry and higher education, complemented by formal training at Johns Hopkins University, Harvard Graduate School of Education  Management Development Program and the Hampton University Executive Leadership Program.  Dr. Jones is a Westinghouse Engineering Achievement Award recipient, recognized for the design and development of the beam steering control for electronically agile antenna of the U.S. Air Force AN/APQ-164 (B1-B).  Dr. Jones is the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE)'s 2004 Outstanding Woman in Technology Golden Torch Award Recipient.   She is a Senior Member of IEEE, National Society of Black Engineers 2004 Outstanding Woman in Technology and a 2005-2006 Bush/Hewett Foundation Award Grantee.

Bruce Lincoln

Bruce Lincoln is an educational technologist, a design scientist and a multimedia designer/developer. From 1994 until 2004, Bruce was the Senior Educational Technologist and Manager of Community Outreach at the Institute for Learning Technologies at Teachers College, Columbia University where he managed the Harlem Environmental Access Project (1994-96), The Eiffel Project (1996-2001), The Harlem Renaissance 2001 Project (1999-2001), The SmartForce E-Learning Digital Scholarship Fund (2000-2002), The New York Online Neighborhood Educational Network Project (2000-2003), and culminating in the New York City Community Technology Center Bank Project (2001-2004). Bruce has raised more than $13 million for the internetworking and support of a consortium that has at one time or another included over 30 schools, 20 community-based and cultural organizations, a number of for-profit technology service providers, and now under the umbrella of the NYC CTC Bank  more than 136 community technology centers.

Through the New York City Community Technology Center Bank, Bruce developed a project that would deploy a wireless, broadband network which would turn a community technology center, or a community-based organization or a school into a neighborhood ISP providing each organization access to a for-profit portal which would allow for revenue generation and sharing as a means to achieve self-sufficiency for each particular organization. The project will be piloted in Washington Heights, Central and East Harlem, and in Chinatown.

Bruce also runs two virtual companies: Sirius B Productions, Inc. founded in 1988 and the Urban Cyberspace Company founded in 1994.  Sirius B Productions, Inc. is an advanced multimedia research and development company that from 1989 to 1991 designed and produced the Black Inventors Continuum, an interactive multimedia software product on the contributions of African-American inventors to world science, industry and technology.  Urban Cyberspace is a design think tank and consulting/marketing firm specializing in broadband Internet technologies.

Bernie Mazyck

On November 1, 1998, Bernie Mazyck took the reigns as the first President and CEO of the South Carolina Association of Community Development Corporations. SCACDC is the state's trade association for CDCs and grassroots economic development organizations. Since his time with SCACDC, Bernie helped shepherd the growth of the community economic development movement in South Carolina from 4 CDCs to over 50. Under Bernie's leadership, SCACDC has been able to attract over $4 million to South Carolina, leveraging over $25 million in community economic development production.

Bernie made this move after serving as staff for the N.E.W. (Neighborhoods Energized to Win) Fund. The N.E.W. Fund was established by the Community Foundation Serving Coastal South Carolina to empower low-income residents to effect change in their own community through neighborhood organizations. In his role as Director of The N.E.W. Fund, Bernie assisted neighborhood leaders in the establishment of the first local resident-controlled community development corporation in the Charleston area, (the Charleston Area Community Development Corporation, Inc.) Prior to joining the staff of The N.E.W. Fund, Bernie served as Vice President of Community Development of the Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce and a program manager in the Employment and Training Department of the City of Charlotte, North Carolina.

Sascha Meinrath

Sascha Meinrath is a community organizer, media activist, and avid researcher.  He is involved with numerous organizations and coalitions within his local community including Anti-War, Anti-Racism Efforts (AWARE), the Champaign County Living Wage Coalition, and the University of Illinois Graduate Employee Organization.  Sascha is a core organizer and the Treasurer for the Global Indymedia Network, where he has helped set up many of the decision-making processes and communications systems used by this worldwide organization; and he is a co-founder of the Tactical Media Fund, an international non-profit organization that is engaged in strategic funding disbursements to grassroots media producers.

Sascha has overseen logistical support for numerous media projects worldwide  often working closely with people in many of the world's "hot-spots" (e.g., Israel, Palestine, Nigeria, Argentina, South Africa, Iraq, Miami).  Sascha is the co-founder of the Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center and created many of the groups and projects that are its hallmarks today (including its radio news production group, the shows & performance collective, and founding its newspaper).  Currently, Sascha is coordinating the creation of a National U.S. Independent Media Center (IMC) syndication website as a venue for highlighting news and stories from the dozens of IMCs located throughout the United States.