Michelle Carr serves as the Executive Director at Leadership Rhode Island where she stewards talent and organizational development, operational excellence, thought leadership, and strategic initiatives. She was recruited to Leadership Rhode Island’s staff as the Director of Programs while a member of the 2014 Kappa II class and promoted to the organization's first Deputy Director in July 2016.

A Cuban-American and first-generation college graduate, Michelle has utilized her strengths and cross-cultural competencies throughout her career to spearhead statewide initiatives and national networks among intergenerational, cross-sector leaders. She is passionate about co-creating purpose-driven, human-centered experiences and cultures of belonging that facilitate trust, increase engagement, build community and drive performance.

Previous to Leadership Rhode Island, Michelle served as Director of Community Relations at Dorcas International Institute of Rhode Island where she led community outreach, public engagement, cross-cultural training and policy change. She founded Welcoming Rhode Island, an affiliate of Welcoming America and a recipient of the Metcalf Award for Diversity in the Media. Her initiatives were highlighted nationally (2014) and she was invited to share best practices at the White House for the first National Convening on Immigrant and Refugee Integration.

Michelle has been entrusted with scholarship selection, board and career recruitment, and leadership program oversight in several volunteer roles with organizations such as RI Latino Arts, Coalition of Advocates for Student Opportunities, New Leaders Council of RI, Latino Dollars for Scholars, the Juanita Sanchez Community Fund, RI Commerce Corporation Latino Entrepreneurs, and the RI Association of Former Legislators Scholarship Fund. She is a graduate of the Rhode Island Foundation’s Nonprofit Emerging Leaders program (2010) and currently serves as a Community Advisory Board member for United Way of Rhode Island.

In 2018 Michelle was awarded the Providence Business News 40 under Forty Award (2018), recognizing forty men and women, under the age of 40, who are successful in their careers and involved in their communities. Michelle holds a bachelor’s degree in Global Studies and Business Studies certificate from Providence College, where she is a Community Faculty Member in the Global Studies Department and Feinstein Center for Community and Public Service.

Samantha joined the team at Leadership Rhode Island in 2019 as College Program and Alumni Coordinator. She oversaw College Leadership Rhode Island for 3 years and loved connecting young leaders throughout the state with their peers and introducing them to everything and everyone in little Rhody!

Samantha graduated from Providence College with a Bachelor’s degree in Public and Community Service and a Business Studies certificate. After her undergraduate degree, she completed a year of service with AmeriCorps at RI Campus Compact and earned a Masters of Education in School Counseling from Providence College. Before coming to Leadership Rhode Island, Samantha worked as a Wellness Coordinator at the Nonviolence Institute, an organization she had been involved with for years.

As Director of Community Engagement, she is looking forward to engaging with the broader community and building relationships with various community stakeholders.

Though originally from New Jersey, Samantha has been calling Rhode Island home for over 10 years and loves finding new things (mostly beaches!) to admire about Rhody!

A graduate of Providence College, Abby was excited to return to Rhode Island and join the LRI team in January of 2020. As Director of Operations & Strategic Initiatives, she is responsible for overseeing operational excellence, strategy, talent development, and impact measurement. Abby began her LRI journey in the Training & Consulting department, managing LRI’s social purpose enterprise to bring strengths-based development to organizations statewide. Prior to joining LRI, Abby completed a Social Impact MBA at Brandeis University’s Heller School for Social Policy and Management.

Abby brings experience in domestic and international education programming and nonprofit management. From 2016-2018, she worked as a U.S. Peace Corps Volunteer in Santo Domingo, Ecuador, where she collaborated with a team of public school educators to implement best practices for teaching English. Before joining the Peace Corps, Abby worked in nonprofit development and fundraising in New York City.

Outside of work, Abby enjoys traveling, going to Broadway shows, and spending time with her husband and baby son.

Teresa DeFlitch has decades of experience in experiential learning, project and program management, and training. A leader in education innovation, she began her career in museums and public history. She oversaw national outreach for a history education project funded by the U.S. Department of Education, trained thousands of Congressional staffers for the Architect of the Capitol, and led the development of Winchester Thurston School’s nationally recognized City as Our Campus program. She has consulted with several organizations on projects that explore new boundaries in teaching and learning, including the crowdfunding platform Kickstarter, the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh, and the Community Robotics, Education and Technology Empowerment (CREATE) Lab at Carnegie Mellon University. Most recently, as Director of People and Education, she led the development of a people-centered HR strategy for the James Beard-nominated Pittsburgh Distilling Company (Wigle Whiskey and Threadbare Cider) while leading special projects, including the launch of a new spirits tourism trail across Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Washington, DC. She holds a BA in History from Saint Vincent College and an MA in History from the Syracuse University Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs. Originally from Pittsburgh, Teresa fell in love with Rhode Island as a Buchanan-Burnham intern at the Newport Historical Society, knowing that one day she would call the Ocean State home. She lives in Barrington with her husband, Rick, and son, Silas.

Antonieta Falconi is an impact-focused business leader with financial and operations expertise. She is committed to developing and supporting ventures whose primary goal is to achieve positive social impact while maintaining financial self-sustainability. Her work has spanned a variety of industries in the for-profit and non-profit sectors. Prior to her current role as Director of Finance at Leadership Rhode Island, she was CFO of Social Enterprise Greenhouse, where she managed the financial growth of the organization and assisted entrepreneurs in developing financial management skills. Earlier in her career she worked for the Latino Economic Development Center in Washington, DC, Ocean Rodeo in British Columbia, and Accenture in Boston. Antonieta’s education includes an MBA with a concentration in Entrepreneurship and a B.S. in Electrical Engineering.

Immediately before joining LRI, she spent some time as a stay-at-home mom focusing on her son and board service. She is an active community member and has served on the board of several organizations, including: the Public’s Radio, the Latino Policy Institute and the Providence Revolving Fund.

Joanne Brasil Gallogly joined Leadership Rhode Island in 2014 after spending 20 years as a stay-at-home mom raising her two children. Joanne previously worked as a press and legislative aide to Governor Bruce Sundlun. She also worked for several years as a legislative aide for the Rhode Island State Senate. She attended Rhode Island College and St. Mary’s Academy Bay View.

Kim Ramirez serves as the Database Administrator at Leadership Rhode Island where she spearheads database design, implementation, and maintenance.

Prior to joining Leadership Rhode Island Kim graduated from Year Up where she completed an internship at Citizens Bank, supporting various teams and partners in order to drive project delivery success. Kim, a first-generation Colombian-American, is a graduate of William M. Davies, Jr. Career and Technical High School. In May 2019, Kim graduated from Community College of Rhode Island with a Business Management Associate's Degree. She is currently pursuing a Bachelor’s Degree in Public Administration at Rhode Island College.

Born in Peru, Renzo (he/him) and his mom immigrated to the USA when he was just five years old so he boasts that he was raised by Rhode Island. Renzo credits the Providence based youth advocacy program, Young Voices RI, for encouraging him to expand past his comfort zone. He studied Biology and Anthropology at the University of Rhode Island and was an outreach worker for the URI SNAP Outreach Project. The Outreach Project set Renzo up with knowledge about social services and assistance programs, as well as the opportunity to support struggling families in Rhode Island, which led him to become the Community Resource Coordinator at the Rhode Island Community Food Bank. Like Young Voices RI, the College Leadership Rhode Island program also helped Renzo learn about his strengths so that he could move beyond perceived limits. In this role as the Training Administrator, Renzo hopes to share that gift to other eager Rhode Islanders.

He is now a board member of Young Voices RI.

Renzo is a graduate of the 2019 Class of College Leadership Rhode Island (CLRI) and also served as the co-chair of the 2020 Class of CLRI.

While her path hasn't been linear, Lyanh has devoted her career to people development and team formation. At the tail-end of her undergraduate career, she found an opportunity to become an owner of a multi-million dollar business before the age of 21. From that experience, she has brought her zest for growing and optimizing organizations through the learning and development experience of their most important component: people. Having worked across several industries, Lyanh is always eager to share perspectives and experiences that will help those around her to learn and grow.

She graduated from Grand Valley State University with a Bachelor's degrees in Biomedical Science and Psychology, and in the thick of the pandemic, decided to return to academia for her Master's Degree in Project Management at Post University.

Born and raised in Michigan, she found herself in Rhode Island by way of Boston, where she met her now husband, Matthew. Growing up around the Great Lakes, she can't see herself ever being too far from water so landing in the Ocean State worked out pretty well.

Since living in New England, Lyanh volunteers with Sojourner House, Girls on the Run, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Massachusetts and Rhode Island, and the American Red Cross. In her spare time, she is usually with her two dogs, Shadow and Atlas. Otherwise, she can be found baking a new recipe for cheesecake or doing a crossword puzzle (in pen) by the beach- even in the winter.

Rose Kenyon serves as Leadership Development Coordinator here at Leadership Rhode Island.

She graduated from George Mason University with a B.A. in Environmental and Sustainability Studies and a Minor in Communications. Following university, she worked for a social marketing agency, where she led marketing initiatives for mission-driven community organizations. Since then, she’s served as both an account manager and strategic content developer for a digital marketing agency based in Providence.

Rose loves to travel and spent a semester studying abroad in India, as well as a year teaching English in China. She is also a contributing writer for Providence Media, with works published in SO Rhode Island Magazine, Providence Monthly, Hey Rhody, and The Bay.

As a South County native, many of her weekends are spent beachside—paddle boarding or biking through Matunuck. When she's not by the water, she's happily home in Providence, delighting in local businesses and events, or taking walks with her neighbors.

As the Community Engagement Coordinator at Leadership Rhode Island, Jacklyn Xavier looks to serve Rhode Island, and the communities within.

Jacklyn Xavier is a recent graduate from Rhode Island College where she majored in Marketing and minored in Communications and Data Analytics. Throughout her studies, she contributed to the campus through the Track and Field program where she attained the prestigious All-American title in 2018 and consistently made the Dean's List since her sophomore year. In addition to her academic and athletic successes, Jacklyn also coaches high school Track and Field at the Wheeler School.

She also serves on the Young Adult Community Advisory Board of the Rhode Island Black Business Association, where she played a key role in creating the Leadership Equity Accelerated Pathway (LEAP) Mentoring Program. This program provides free, five-month mentoring to BIPOC youth and young adults, matching mentors with mentees based on career interests. Mentors provide support for academic and career goals, and mentees attend sessions on financial literacy.

Jacklyn is a graduate of the 2020 Class of College Leadership Rhode Island (CLRI) and also served as Co-Chair for the 2021 Class of CLRI.

As a recent graduate from Rhode Island College with a B.A. in Strategic Communication, Jackie has a passion for connecting and bringing individuals together for common causes.

Throughout her college career, she made this passion observable in her work with the Office of Undergraduate Admissions. Serving as the Group Tour and Outreach Coordinator of the department’s Admissions Ambassadors program, Jackie was able to educate students not only about the college experience, but the Rhode Island experience.

Most recently, Jackie has worked in multiple roles at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) within the department of Continuing Education providing operational support to fine art programs for young adults and children - specifically that of RISD’s Pre-College program. During her time at RISD, she found the most joy in seeing Rhode Island through many artists’ lenses.

Jackie is a graduate of the 2023 class of College Leadership Rhode Island (CLRI) and is excited to help provide similar experiences, passion, and connection to others.

Mei Mei Long was born in Cambodia and raised in Providence, Rhode Island. She is passionate about discovering new opportunities and values the diverse perspectives that connect people together. As Development and Communication Coordinator at LRI, she looks forward to building meaningful connections and supporting others on their journey of personal and professional growth.

In her previous role at the Center for Southeast Asians, Mei Mei managed workforce training initiatives in partnership with the Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training, supporting a wide range of individuals across the state.

Mei Mei graduated from the University of Rhode Island with an undergraduate degree in Human Development and Family Science, followed by a Master’s in International Relations with a focus on Policy Development.

Throughout her academic career, Mei Mei gained valuable experience through a diverse range of internships with both non-profit organizations and government agencies, including the Rhode Island General Assembly and the Social Security Administration. Early in her journey, she developed lesson plans for students at Over the Rainbow Learning Center and the Providence Child Development Center, supported patient needs at Clinic Esperanza, and provided interpretation services at the Genesis Center. She also dedicated her time to volunteering at the Davinci Center, where she served meals to older adults and assisted with fundraising.

Javier Grandile serves as an Events and Engagement Coordinator at Leadership Rhode Island. With extensive experience in hospitality, event organization, sponsorships, donor relations, digital marketing, and e-commerce, Javier is passionate about building connections and contributing to the community at Leadership Rhode Island.

Originally from Argentina, he earned a B.A. in International Relations from Universidad Abierta Interamericana in 2017. After graduation, Javier returned to Australia –where he previously completed a six-month high school exchange program– to pursue a Master’s-level in Strategic Leadership from Meridian College.

What was initially planned as a two-year adventure turned into a seven-year journey. During his time in Australia, Javier built a career in the wine industry, serving as a Marketing and PR Coordinator at Bird in Hand Winery, one of South Australia’s most renowned wineries. His roles in marketing, events, and public relations allowed him to develop strong connections within the industry and the community.

Through his position at Bird in Hand, Javier had the opportunity to meet Rebekha Sharkie, a Federal Member of Parliament, and later contributed to her successful re-election campaign in the 2022 Australian Federal Elections. Following the campaign, he continued his work in public service as an Events and PR Coordinator in Rebekha’s office. In 2024, after obtaining Australian citizenship, Javier and his partner relocated to Providence, Rhode Island, where his partner accepted a postdoctoral position at Brown University.

Jane Nugent comes to Leadership Rhode Island with many years of experience in the nonprofit sector in Rhode Island. Jane was a Senior Vice President with the United Way of Rhode Island, having given 22 years of service. While at United Way Jane grant managed several million dollars per year in funding, and her major projects included: Needs for the Nineties, Making It Work, The Facts, Dollars and Sense, Building a Stronger Community, and Skill Up Rhode Island. Prior to her work in the nonprofit sector Jane taught for 15 years, five of which were spent in England. Jane has won several awards for her service to the community and has held membership on committees, boards, and task forces in Rhode Island. Jane received her Bachelor’s Degree from Bridgewater (MA) State University, and her Masters and Doctoral Degrees from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

Jane has been an active volunteer for LRI since the early nineties, having given presentations to both the Core Class and the College LRI Class on issues pertaining to the nonprofit sector, and has served on many LRI committees over the years. Jane currently gives professional development workshops at Children’s Friend and Service, and has recently volunteered with the RI Academic Decathlon, the ACE Charter High School in Providence, and the Tufts Certificate Program in Non Profit Practice. Jane was the Class Speaker for her LRI Class of 1995, the Omicron Class. In 2019 she was given the Habits of the Heart Award jointly awarded by LRI and the United Way of Rhode Island.

Richard retired from Fannie Mae at the end of 2014 after 12½ years with the company. His most recent assignment with Fannie Mae was as a member of the Foreclosure Prevention & Outreach Team, offering individualized counseling and assistance resources to homeowners across the country who are experiencing mortgage delinquency. Earlier he served on the company’s Ending Homelessness Team, Public Entity Loan Team, and Housing & Community Development Team. Prior to joining Fannie Mae, Richard worked for various banking institutions in a variety of management roles, including Community Reinvestment, Compliance, Marketing and Product Management.

Before retirement, Richard’s community interests focused primarily on issues related to affordable housing and homelessness prevention. He currently serves in board or committee capacities for the Community Housing Land Trust of Rhode Island, Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), and was elected Moderator for the Town of Barrington in 2020. Also, Richard volunteered as an adaptive ski instructor for AbilityPLUS Adaptive Sports. at Attitash & Wildcat Ski Areas in New Hampshire for twenty years. He grew up in Barrington, is a graduate of The Colorado College, and now lives in Barrington with his wife Betsy. They have three grown children and three grandchildren. You can find him on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter at @rfstaplesjr and on LinkedIn.

This is Richard's eighth year volunteering as photographer for LRI and CLRI class session days and activities.

Carol J. Young, a graduate of Syracuse University, spent her entire 45-year newspaper career at the Providence Journal. After several years as an education writer, she moved into editing. She served as state editor, city editor, metro managing editor and deputy executive editor. She also had a major role in the recruiting and hiring for the reporting staff and managed a highly successful reporting internship program.

She received numerous reporting awards and was selected by the New England Association of Newspaper Editors to receive its first Spirit of Journalism Award. After retiring in 2010, Carol was inducted into the Rhode Island Journalism Hall of Fame.

A member of the Mu class (1992), Carol was a volunteer presenter for LRI’s Media Day program long before she went through LRI herself. Alumni in the l980s and l990s may remember the “page one game” she created just for LRI, the journalism ethics discussions she led, or the visits to the Providence Journal she orchestrated. In recent years, she has edited LRI’s newsletters and two of LRI’s publications: "Crossing the Line" and "Dear President".

In addition to volunteering for LRI, Carol serves on the Board of Directors for Inspiring Minds, the Advisory Council for the President of the University of Rhode Island, and the board for the Hummel Report.