DR. KATHERINE ALEXANDER Ph.D

                            Educator / Councilor 

                                      Founder/ Director

                      "Conversations on Diversity"

                                      www.conversationsondiversity.com

                              k.alexander@conversationsondiversity

                                                           &

                             CHARLES THOMPSON

                         Educator / Councilor

                           Founder / Director

                         "Sound Business Inc."

                         www.soundbusiness.org

                            charlesthompson@nyc.rr.com

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More about: KATHERINE ALEXANDER Ph.D & CHARLES

 THOMPSON

Kathryn Alexander Enterprises, Inc., www.kaeincorporated.com

§        Founded in l980, specializes in qualitative research including focus groups, 1-on-1

depth interviews, and anthropological/observational explorations

§        One of the most experienced African-American owned and operated marketing research

and consulting services in the United States

§        Numerous projects addressing the attitudes, opinions and lifestyle characteristics of

African Americans

§        A proven track record providing qualitative research for and consulting services to major

marketers, advertising agencies, government agencies, and non-profit organizations regarding

both African-American and general market consumer groups; partial client roster:

People Not Numbers - Employee Relations Services, www.peoplenotnumbers.com

§        Identifies and resolves the intangible problems organizations face when employees are

poorly motivated, become disgruntled, and detract from the bottom-line

§        Guidelines for the development and implementation of effective diversity programs

Conversations On Diversity™ (COD), www.conversationsondiversity.com

§        A 21^st Century approach to diversity counseling

§        A unique diversity learning experience designed to inform select audiences and to

empower participants to leverage the power of diversity

§        Flagship high-school program – Sound Business, Inc.’s Career Preparatory Institute at A.

 Philip Randolph High School in West Harlem; Sound Business, Inc. board member

Education and Professional Training

§        Doctorate in Media Ecology: Communications – New York University

§        Master's Degree in Guidance and Counseling – New York University

§        Riva Training Institute – trained in the qualitative research process and the appropriate

use of exploratory techniques

Professional Affiliations

§        American Marketing Association

§        Qualitative Research Consultants Association – founding member; former board Vice

President and Secretary; served 15 +/- years on now defunct Bylaws Committee

§        American Advertising Federation District Two Diversity Achievement Awards Committee

(actively involved for several award cycles)

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CHARLES THOMPSON

executive director  Sound Business, Inc. (SBI)

CHARLES THOMPSON is the father of countless urban success stories.  As director and founder

of Sound Business, Inc., a not-for-profit educational services organization, he has touched the

lives of thousands of New York City high-school students during his 18 years at West Harlem's

A. Philip Randolph High School—and has channeled many of them into educational and career

paths that they otherwise might never have imagined.

In New York’s public schools, beset with instability and a scarcity of resources, longevity is a

rare virtue.  Since 1991, when Thompson put down his stakes at A. Philip Randolph Campus

High School in Harlem, he has worked with six different principals; the city’s school system

has been buffeted by changes wrought by six different chancellors. Through it all, SBI has

been Randolph’s constant (an extracurricular anchor) that typically enrolls 15 percent of the

school’s 1,200-1,500 students, in its College and Career Preparatory Institute (known as

Career Prep) and presents to the entire student body at 4 or more events throughout the year. 

Though not a Department of Education staff member, he has become—in the words of Nathalie
 

McFarlane, a former Randolph principal—"a key part of the school's fabric.”

Or as Tim Simonds, a former Randolph assistant principal, put it: “Charles is a quintessential

educator. For him it’s not a vocation, it’s an invocation.”

A former secondary school teacher and choral music director in Baltimore County, Maryland,

Thompson also spent five years in the corporate world as a sales executive for a linen manufacturer in New

York City.   In 1987, enlisted by the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, he became executive director of a

management trainee program for youth of color pursuing non-performance careers within the music entertainment

industry—and found a calling. Four years later, upon founding SBI and moving to Randolph, he would draw upon

his varied experience in education, business, and music to develop Career Prep as a unique complement to

Randolph’s college preparatory curriculum, then considered one of the more rigorous in New York.

From SBI’s birth to the present day, as Nathalie McFarlane noted, Thompson’s unwavering

focus and concern has been “always for the students—what can we do to help them, to move

them forward, to make them better, more well-rounded people.”

Charles Thompson is a native of Lynchburg, Virginia.  He is a graduate of Delaware State

University.  In 1980, Charles and his wife, Jean Mack, moved from Baltimore, Maryland to

New York City, where they have resided in Manhattan's East Village.   They are the parents of

three children, all of whom attended New York City public schools.