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Wanda K. Brown
PresidentWanda K. Brown is the director of library services at the C. G. O’Kelly Library at Winston-Salem State University. Prior to that appointment, she served as the Associate Dean of Wake Forest University’s Z. Smith Reynolds Library. Brown has spent more than 40 years in the profession. During this time, she has focused on being “professionally active” in state and national library organizations. In June of 2019, she assumed the role of president for the American Library Association (ALA). As ALA president, Brown was the chief elected officer for the largest library association in the world. Brown has severed in numerous positions at the Black Caucus of the American Library Association including as treasurer (2016-2018), as president (2006-08), as treasurer (1992-96) and two terms as an executive board member (2001 to 2003, 2014 to 2016). She was the 2011-2013 president of the North Carolina Library Association and has held various other positions with NCLA, including treasurer (1991-1998) and the 2005-2009 chair of the Finance Committee. An ALA member for more than 30 years, Brown is an active member of the Association of College and Research Libraries and the Library Leadership and Management Association. She has held multiple leadership positions within each division. She is the 2015 recipient of the DEMCO/ALA Black Caucus Award for Excellence, the 2013 BCALA Leadership Award, and the 2012 BCALA Distinguished Service Award. In 2009, Brown received University of North Carolina at Greensboro’s Kovacs Award for Outstanding Alumni Achievement. In 2013, UNCG awarded Brown with the School of Education Outstanding Alumni Achievement Award. Brown holds a BA in English, with a minor in psychology from Winston-Salem State University, and an MLS from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. -
James Davis Jr.
Vice-PresidentBiography to Come. -
Nichelle M. Hayes
Immediate Past PresidentNichelle M. Hayes, MPA, MLS, is President of the Black Caucus of the American Library Association
(2022-2024). She works as an information professional with a focus on the African Diaspora, Community
Engagement and Inclusion. As an active member of ALA, she served on the “2023 ALA Nominating Committee”
and “Working Group to Condemn White Supremacy and Fascism as Antithetical to Library Work” from 2022 to
2023. Hayes was recently honored as a 2023 Culture Carrier Award Honoree and 2022 National Coalition of
100 Black Women – Breakthrough Women Award. In 2022, she was co-editor of The Black Librarian in
America: Reflections, Resistance, and Reawakening. Additionally, Hayes is a genealogist with a focus on
African Ancestry and keeping families connected, as documented in her blog “The Ties that Bind.” Hayes
is a graduate of the former IU School of Library & Information Science (SLIS) with a Masters in Library
Science, (now Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering, Indianapolis).
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Taylor Brooks
SecretaryBiography to Come. -
Joel Thornton, CPA
TreasurerBiography to Come.
Our Valuable Team Members
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Elizabeth Brumfield Ph.D.
Board Member, 2023-2025Biography to Come. -
Andrea Hayes
Board Member, 2023-2025Biography to Come -
Dr. Nicole Cooke
Board Member, 2023-2025Biography to Come. -
Nicollette M. Davis
Board Member, 2023-2025Biography to Come. -
Shaunterria Owens
Board Member, 2023-2025Shaunterria Owens is a member of the BCALA Executive Board and brings a wealth of experience to the organization. She has had a successful 20-year career in school and public libraries in Southern California and New Jersey and currently is a Youth Services Specialist at the North Miami Public Library in Miami-Dade County. Shaunterria’s dedication to promoting literature and literacy is evident in her roles as secretary to the ALA Sibert Committee, a member of the ALA Rise: Feminist Book List committee, and her position on the Executive Board of the ALA Library Support Staff Round Table. Apart from her library work, she is also a licensed Zumbini instructor, demonstrating her passion for fostering community engagement beyond the library walls. Shaunterria is a strong advocate for the power of libraries to transform lives and is committed to working with BCALA to advance its mission of promoting Black librarianship and cultural awareness. -
Cantron (Tré) Quarles
Board Member, 2023-2025
Cantron (Tré) Quarles, MLIS, serves as a member of the Board of the Black Caucus of the American Library Association for the term 2024-2026. He is currently employed as the Research Public Services Librarian at Countway Library, Harvard Medical School. Quarles is a recipient of the BCALA Breaking Barriers Grant and was recently recognized as the 2024 ALA Lois Ann Gregory-Wood Fellow. Additionally, he is a member of the ALA Rainbow Round Table. Quarlesholds a Master’s degree in Library and Information Science from the Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering at Indiana University, Indianapolis. -
Olanike Olaniyi
Board Member, 2023-2025Olanike Oianiyi was born in Nigeria and practiced as a librarian before moving to the United States with her family some years ago. She has a bachelor’s degree in library, archival and information studies, a master’s degree in information science from University of Ibadan, Nigeria, and a master’s degree from Indiana University. She is a Certified Community Health Worker. Oianiyi currently works with the Indianapolis Public Library in Collection Management & Acquisition but had earlier worked as Children’s Librarian and Digital Projects Librarian. She was the library’s first Diversity Fellow and is passionate about researching, collaborating, and connecting my communities with diverse information needs and backgrounds. -
Fannie Mae Cox
Board Member, 2023-2025Biography to Come -
Gladys Smiley Bell
Board Member, 2023-2025Gladys Smiley Bell is an Executive Board member of the Black Caucus of the American Library Association (2023-2025), and Chair of the BCALA Literary Committee (2003-present). She works at Hampton University as the Peabody Librarian with a focus on Rare Books on African American Culture and History. She has also been an active member of ALA, serving as a Councilor-at-large (1999-2019). Bell has been honored with the 2007 ALA Equality Award; Institutional Diversity Community Service Award for outstanding leadership and commitment to furthering cultural diversity in the University, in the community and focusing on the personal and scholastic development of students of color, Kent State; the Distinguished Service to the Profession Award for enthusiasm and dedication to educating the African American community about information technology from the Black Caucus of the American Library Association. Served on the Joint National Conference/Council of Librarians of Color (JCLC) as a Conference Co-Chair, Steering Committee member, and Council Director-at-large (2002-present). Bell has an MLS from Long Island University, Palmer Graduate Library School. -
Tiffeni Fontno
Board Member, 2023-2025Biography to Come -
Kimberly Hunter
Board Member, 2023-2025Biography to Come -
Jessica Tingling
Board Member, 2023-2025Biography to Come -
Michael Torres
Board Member, 2023-2025Biography to Come -
Christina Vortia
Board Member, 2023-2025
Christina Vortia, MSLIS, is an Executive Board Member of the Black Caucus of the American Library Association (2024-2026). She is the Chief Librarian at Howard University’s Moorland-Spingarn Research Center, the world’s leading repository on the global Black experience, and serves as the African Studies, African American Studies, and History Subject Liaison for Founders Library. Christina is a librarian, educator, and literature analyst committed to Black diasporan literary traditions and print culture. She has served on the 2020/2021 LA Times Book Prize for Young Adult Literature, the 2019/2020 Coretta Scott King Book Awards Committee, the 2017 Michael L. Printz Award Committee, and the 2017 Florida Author’s and Publisher’s Association Book Awards Committee. Christina served as Chair of the 2023 Newbery Committee and is a juror on the 2025/2026 Coretta Scott King Book Awards Jury. -
Jamia Williams
Board Member, 2023-2025
Biography to Come.