Meet Our Board of Directors

Antwone Smoak is the Programs and Community Development Manager at the World Trade Center Savannah. He earned his Masters in Public Administration with a concentration in Nonprofit Management from Savannah State University. Antwone has served as a volunteer intern at World Trade Center Savannah, an administrator for the organization, and has insight into corporate management, international business transactions, and cross-cultural business expertise. World Trade Center Savannah is a member of the World Trade Centers Association, a global network of more than 300 WTCs in nearly 100 countries. Antwone currently serves in as the Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion on the United Way of the Coastal Empire Young Leaders Board and is a Member of the United Way of the Coastal Empire’s Race, Equity, and Opportunity Committee.

Michelle Keating is the Director of Career Services at South University in Savannah, Georgia. Michelle has over 15 years experience working with college students to align them with their long term goals. Experienced teaching, organizing events, completing outreach, and promoting resources. She has also served as co-chair for Community Investments with United Way of the Coastal Empire in Savannah, GA. Michelle is continuously engaged with IVolunteer International in volunteer capacity as the Professional Development Associate, adding tremendous value to the Writers' Council Fellowship.

Donald Fountain resides in Glennville, Georgia and is the Chief Operations Officer for Rotary Corporation. Donald has been employed by Rotary Corporation the world's largest supplier of outdoor power equipment aftermarket parts and accessories for 49 years. He has been very active in his local community serving on the Glennville City Council as well as sitting Chairman for two terms on the Tattnall County Board of Education. Donald served as Chairman of Southeastern Technical Colleges Foundation Board of Directors for ten years and lead the effort to establish their Annual Fundraising Campaign, which enabled the College to partner with donors to support and invest in students, faculty, and staff to build a stronger community. Donald has been a member of the Glennville Rotary Club for 34 years and has served the Club and District 6920 in various leadership rolls.

Alison Alwes is the Director of Marketing at The Georgia Leadership Institute for School Improvement (GLISI). Prior to joining GLISI, Alison worked as the Director of Marketing at the United Way of the North East Georgia. Before that, she worked at marketing and PR agencies in Atlanta and Athens, helping craft messages, develop brand strategy, manage crises, conduct spokesperson training and implement client communication strategies and efforts. Alison's passion is to connect people through stories, establish commonalities for collaborations, and craft messages to engage people. She has experience in branding, messaging, media relations, writing, social engagement, reputation and crisis management, spokesperson training, event management and more, working with clients from local healthcare groups to international relief agencies.

Passionate about driving social impact and building strong communities, Kelsey works in social impact finance, managing Atlanta Emerging Market Inc.'s impact lending programs while also supporting New Market Tax Credits deployment, organizational marketing, and fundraising efforts. Kelsey simultaneously serves as Invest Atlanta's Partnership Liaison with the City of Atlanta Mayor's Office and leads Invest Atlanta Partnership's subsidiary emerging CDFI, Leapbound Capital. Previously, Kelsey has served as Invest Atlanta Partnership's Interim Executive Director, advised public-private partnerships across the Southeast, supported economic development across Georgia, and facilitated comprehensive community engagement. As a Fulbright grant recipient in Mitrovicë, Kosovo, Kelsey researched post-conflict community reconstruction, and she holds a Master's of City and Regional Planning from Georgia Tech. Most recently, Kelsey is a LEAD Atlanta Class of 2023 graduate and a member of the inaugural Atlanta Hawks SheLEADS program. In her spare time, Kelsey volunteers with nonprofits across Atlanta, loves thrifting, and goes to the Buford Highway Farmer's Market every weekend. She lives with her husband, Campbell, in Atlanta, Georgia, with their two cats, Indie & Oscar.

For more than 20 years, Fischlin has been enabling programs around the world to maximize impact and reach to those most in need. A native of Reidsville, Georgia, she attended Georgia Southern University. Fischlin is a licensed real estate agent with Coldwell Banker Lake Oconee Realty serving the Lake Oconee area. Fischlin’s volunteer work with organizations across the globe addresses the need for clean water, disease prevention, health care and literacy projects. In 2008, Fischlin joined Alliance for Smiles, a volunteer-based nonprofit, mobilizing hundreds of medical and non-medical volunteers from all over the world. Their work advances healthcare, trains local medical professional, and delivers surgical care for patients with cleft lip and cleft palate in their communities. Tina is also an active member of Rotary International, having served in multiple district and international roles including Rotary District 6910 Governor.

Nipuna is a tech-for-good entrepreneur, speaker, leadership consultant, and social impact activist. Nipuna leads numerous globally distributed teams to consult with nonprofits, governments, and agencies to leverage technology to empower young people to become active citizens in their community and to bring young activists to the forefront of the decision-making process. Nipuna has industry experience in social-impact consulting, public policy, and diversity equity leadership. Nipuna is a Paul Harris Fellow, Will Watt Fellow, a Rotary Youth-All Star, and a Civil Society Youth Representative serving in the Youth Steering Committee at the United Nations Department for Global Communications.