Veta T. Jeffery
Executive Director, Heartland St. Louis Black Chamber of Commerce

Veta Lynn Thurman Jeffery has spent her life fighting for the rights of others. After graduating from the University of Missouri – St. Louis, Mrs. Jeffery began her professional career advocating for the rights of individuals with disabilities. Mrs. Jeffery went on to spend 18 years working in the financial services industry as a licensed professional and the Manager of Financial Services, where she ran agencies gaining national recognition.

Damion S. Jones
Chairman of the Board, Heartland St. Louis Black Chamber of Commerce

Damion Jones is Chairman of the Board for Heartland St. Louis Black Chamber of Commerce.  Additionally, he is the Global Head of Diversity and Inclusion for Bayer Company within their Integrated Talent Experience Department. In his current role, Damion is responsible for outlining the inclusion strategy & partnering with business unit leaders in regions across the company’s global footprint. This includes partnering to outline the global strategic framework, implementing cultural infrastructure and recommending action s in support of the functional & regional oversight of our company culture and operations. In recent years, he has led strategic enterprise wide initiatives for Monsanto, prior to acquisition, regarding the diversity dashboard design, mentoring and Unconscious Bias training all of which have reached thousands of our leaders world-wide. Currently he is working to integrate Business Resource Networks (ERGs) strategy which exist across 6 geographies.

Prior to his current role, Damion was matrixed between Monsanto Company’s Organizational Development/Talent Management & Talent Acquisition divisions and was additionally responsible for project managing the Executive Team talent review & succession planning process. At that time, Damion was intimately involved in our corporate governance aiding updates to the Board of Directors concerning CEO/ET succession as well as global diversity.

Damion received his bachelor’s degree in psychology from Morris Brown College (HBCU) and both his masters (M.S.) and doctorate (Ph.D.) from Saint Louis University specializing in the areas of both social and organizational psychology. Outside his day job Damion is frequently asked to guest lecture and lead webinars on topics of inclusion, psychology and leadership within various corporate, educational and civic institutions. In response to the Ferguson Commission Report recommendations to aid the socioeconomic stability for Black businesses within the metropolitan area the Heartland St. Louis Black Chamber of Commerce was established for which Damion was asked to sit as a founding board member. He also sits on the board of The Biome, a Youth Learning Center STEAM charter school within St. Louis City that utilizes Carol Dweck’s work on “growth mindset” to instruct students in underserved communities. He is also a frequent contributor to DiversityInc via articles, webinar facilitation and video career advice as noted on their website www.DiversityInc.com.

Damion currently resides in St. Louis Missouri with his wife Marvis, sons Simon and Aiden and daughter Genesis.

Marvin Steele
President/CEO, Heartland St. Louis Black Chamber of Commerce

Marvin Steele is the President and CEO of the Heartland St. Louis Black Chamber of Commerce.  He has a commitment to the betterment of Black Owned Businesses in and around the Greater St. Louis Metropolitan Area.  As well, Marvin is the Founder and Manager of Urban Testing Labs, a clinical diagnostic laboratory. His corporate experience began in the early 1970s working with Aluminum Company of America (ALCOA). He began as sales engineer and quickly progressed to managing accounts totaling over $40 million in sales.

Porscha Anderson
Executive Director, Heartland St. Louis Black Chamber of Commerce

Porscha Anderson has joined Heartland St. Louis Black Chamber Of Commerce as Executive Director.  Porscha has a degree in A.A.S. Degree in Management Support and brings over 15 years of entrepreneurship experience to her new role. Entrepreneurship and economic development is at the heart of Porscha’s goal driven mission as the Executive Director. Her mission is to provide business owners with the tools and resources to bridge the wealth gap by creating sustainable and thriving businesses.

Porscha is the founder and CEO of Porscha Anderson, LLC, a highly successful coaching and consulting firm that specializes in helping entrepreneurs and organizations create and implement business growth development strategies through curriculum development, course facilitation, 1:1 business coaching, seminars and workshops.

As lead consultant, Porscha has successfully worked with organizations like The Urban League Women Business Center in developing, facilitating, and coaching their flagship Entrepreneurship programs Ready. Set. Launch. And The Savvy Entrepreneur. Over 300 startups in the St.Louis Region have greatly benefited from the impact Porscha has made in the business development space.

Before accepting the roles as Executive Director with the Chamber, Porscha served as a consultant with the Heartland’s Black Chamber Of Commerce in providing operations support with the development and implementation of the Regional Minority Business Accelerator and business development center. This center is the realized vision of the Chamber’s Board Of Directors and now houses over 20 businesses.

Porscha currently serves on the Board of Directors and as project manager for Easton Development Corporation, a community based development corporation in which she and the team works responsibly in the redevelopment of the Business district of The historical Wellston Loop district in North St. Louis, MO.

As a visionary leader, Porscha’s mission is to inspire, impact, and empower those that come into her sphereiolite m of influence. She has dedicated her life and career to helping entrepreneurs discover their true purpose and passion, turn it into profit, and create a life of true wealth and abundance.

Anthony (Tony) Thompson
Chairman/CEO, Kwame Building Group

Anthony (Tony) Thompson is the Chairman/CEO of Kwame Building Group, Inc. (KWAME), the first African American ESOP corporation in the state of Missouri, which he founded in 1991. Headquartered in St. Louis, MO, KWAME is a construction management/program management firm that serves as an independent agent to the owner. KWAME provides, along with other services, exceptional project management, scheduling, estimating, contract/claims administration and document controls.

Alex Fennoy
Executive VP, Community and Economic Development, Midwest BankCentre

Alex Fennoy possesses nearly 25 years of commercial banking experience. He joined Midwest BankCentre in 2010, focusing his efforts on helping local unbanked and underbanked citizens. He has co-chaired the St. Louis Unbanked Tax Force and its Bank On Save Up initiatives since 2013. Fennoy serves on the boards of Better Family Life, Northside Community Housing, the Metro St. Louis Coalition for Inclusion & Equity, the Center for the Acceleration of African American Business and the Jackie Joyner- Kerse
center.

Dellena Jones
Small Business Owner

Dellena Jones has worked at 911 Hair Salon, at 9193 West Florissant Avenue in Ferguson, for thirteen years and has owned the business since 2012.

Apollo Carey
Attorney, Lewis Rice

Apollo Carey practices in the areas of corporate law, real estate development/construction law, and tax law. His corporate practice focuses on mergers & acquisitions, stock and asset purchases, and business operation and organization. In his tax practice, Apollo represents clients in a variety of tax planning and tax controversy matters. Furthermore, he provides legal advice and practical guidance to for profit, government, municipal, educational, and nonprofit entities and associations.

Charlotte VM Ottley
Market Development Strategist Independent Consultant

Charlotte VM Ottley was unanimously elected as a board member of the St. Louis Black Chamber of Commerce. Her entrepreneurial background matched by her media experience, training skills history of representing financial institutions and civic involvement makes her an excellent addition to the board. Her combined experience, qualifications and access to community leaders, government officials and businesses offer a valued addition to our board.

Patrick Smith
Vice President, Division Operations, Ameren Missouri

Patrick Smith Sr. was promoted to Senior Vice President of Operations and Technical Services for Ameren Illinois Company (Ameren Illinois) November 16, 2022. Ameren Illinois serves 1.2 million electric and more than 816,000 natural gas customers in a 43,700-square-mile area of Illinois.
In his this role, Mr. Smith is responsible for the oversight and support of all electric and natural gas field operations, including subtransmission and distribution maintenance, engineering design, safety and training, reliability planning, dispatch operations, electrical and natural gas emergency response, and construction services for Ameren Illinois.

With over 37 years with Ameren, Mr. Smith has previously held the positions of Vice President, Community, Economic Development, and Energy Solutions, and Vice President, Division Operations.

He joined Union Electric, now Ameren Illinois, in 1985 as a meter reader, and soon after promoted to journey Lineworker. Since then, Smith has worked in progressively responsible leadership roles.

Smith is a native of East St. Louis and he holds a Bachelor of Science in industrial and organizational psychology and an Executive MBA, both from Washington University. He is active in the community and passionate about youth sports. He sits on several boards and committees including the United Way, College Bound STL, the American Cancer Society and the Heartland St. Louis Black Chambers of Commerce.