Dr. William S. WinstonBorn in Tuskegee, Alabama, Dr. Winston was inspired and influenced for leadership by the abundance of educators, scientists, and physicians who surrounded him as a youth, and by the historic aviation accomplishments of the Tuskegee Airmen who served as his role models. He is a graduate of the internationally known Tuskegee Institute in Tuskegee, Alabama (now Tuskegee University), where Booker T. Washington’s and George Washington Carver’s legacies of leadership and invention permeated the environment.

Dr. Winston served for six years as a fighter pilot in the United States Air Force, where his extraordinary achievement in aerial flight earned him The Distinguished Flying Cross, The Air Medal for performance in combat, and the Squadron Top Gun Award.

After completing his military service, Dr. Winston joined the IBM Corporation as a marketing representative. His exceptional managerial and relational skills rapidly earned him several promotions within the organization. Before he resigned in 1985 to enter full-time ministry, he was a regional marketing manager in IBM’s Midwest Region.

He is the founder and pastor of Living Word Christian Center, a multi-cultural, non-denominational church with more than 20,000 members located in Forest Park, Illinois. The church has a broad range of ministries and related entities.

Dr. Winston is also the founder of the Joseph Business School (JBS), which teaches practical and biblical principles to empower adults to develop indispensable skills as successful entrepreneurs and business leaders. JBS is located in Forest Park, Illinois with ten partnership locations across the U.S. and internationally. The Joseph Business School also has an online E-Learning program.

Dr. Winston is also the founder of Bill Winston Ministries (BWM), a partnership-based outreach ministry. Through BWM, he hosts the Believer’s Walk of Faith television and radio broadcast which reaches more than 800 million households nationwide and overseas.

Dr. Winston’s ministry owns and operates two shopping malls and Golden Eagle Aviation, a fixed-based operation located on historic Moton Field in Tuskegee, Alabama.

Dr. Winston received his Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Friends International Christian University. He is married to Veronica and is the father of three, Melody, Allegra and David, and grandfather of eight.

Dr. Deloris Thomas is the President of Joseph Business School and her responsibilities include the strategic leadership and operational direction for the Joseph Business Schools (International and Domestic), Business/Fund Development and the Small Business Development Center, Project Eden and Community Development. Ms. Thomas teaches Marketing at JBS and has a diverse background with over 18 years in marketing experience with consumer products companies.

She held several brand management positions with Kraft Foods and strategic and business development posts with Sears Roebuck & Company. She holds a bachelor's degree in marketing from Bentley College and an MBA from the Harvard University Graduate School of Business.

David Ramseur currently serves as the Dean of the Chicago Campus of the Joseph Business School’s Business and Entrepreneurship program. He has taught classes in Selling, Accounting, Feasibility, Business Plan development and Investment Analysis in the program.

Dave is also a successful Sales professional with a track record of providing solutions for challenging business, technology, and client requirements. He has earned the highest level of sales recognition awarded by four different technology organizations which include IBM and a company acquired by Oracle. He led sales efforts that were instrumental in two of the organizations conducting successful IPOs.

Dave holds a Bachelor of Science degree awarded with distinction in Electrical Engineering from Purdue University and an MBA with an emphasis in Finance, from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Melissa Duff Brown is the Director of the Illinois Small Business Development Center and Dean of the Small Business Program at the Joseph Business School. Melissa is an expert on small business start-up, business development, and has consulted on brand awareness, internet marketing, and social media aspects of more than 300 companies.

Melissa began her career in accounting as a small business accountant in a CPA firm and held positions in the banking, construction, and electronics industries. Melissa also served in the public sector in local government as a legislative aide and chief of staff. She is an award-winning Director of Sales & Marketing with over twenty years in the hospitality industry with a proven ability to manage multi-functional teams and multi-million dollar budgets.

Melissa also holds a degree in Digital Media Production, is a Six Sigma Green Belt, an Adobe Certified Education Trainer, and a Certified Business Development Advisor. She is GrowthWheel Elite User. She is in the top 40 of over 2,000 advisors in 29 countries certified to use GrowthWheel, a tool to help small and medium businesses focus and take action to grow their businesses. She is further distinguished as a graduate of the Living Word School of Ministry, was recently re-elected as the President of the Illinois Entrepreneurship and Small Business Growth Association, a member of the America’s SBDC Professional Development Committee that is responsible for the annual training conferences for the over 1,000 Small Business Development Centers across the country.

In 2017, Melissa was named to the State of Illinois 18-member Project Reimagine Committee as Chair of the Minority Business Development Sub-Committee. As a result of that project Melissa now chairs the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) Network Assistance for Minority and Underserved Communities Strategic Planning Group. This year, Melissa was honored at America’s SBDC national convention as the 2018 Illinois SBDC State Star because of her outstanding leadership, guidance, engagement, and support provided within the Illinois SBDC Network.

Attorney Evans began her career with Amnesty International and matriculated to the Federal Appellate Defenders Office in 1998. Her legal clerkship with The Law Office of Ted Stein, in employment discrimination, landed her first attorney position with Samuel's & Associates, a general law practice in the Chicago Loop practicing civil, corporate, contractual and employment discrimination. At the Law Office of Standish E. Willis she prosecuted 1983 violations and later litigated federal criminal matters as a Federal Public Defender Panel Attorney. Attorney Evans has acted as 1st chair on discrimination, conspiracy, personal injury, bankruptcy and breach of contract cases. Her experience spans over 18 year. In 2009 she founded the TEIL Firms where she currently focuses on business transactions, local and international, corporate formation, contracts, negotiation, mergers, intellectual property and appellate work. These areas have flourished and are considered a majority of the work product of the firm. In addition she is an arbitrator for the County of Cook Mandatory Arbitration Program and Trustee for the Westchester Library Board.

Latasha Battle currently teaches Recordkeeping and also Financing the Business and Customer Credit. LaTasha has over 20 years of profit and industry experience in general and regulatory accounting, financial analysis and reporting, auditing, leadership development and training, human resource and benefit administration. She lead the Accounting Department at Living Word Christian Center for 11 years as Controller, Director of Finance and lastly as its CFO. She has worked in auditing and/or accounting positions at both Goldman Sachs and Dean Witter. Mrs. Battle is a Certified Public Accountant and received her Bachelor's Degree in Accounting from Florida A&M University and her MBA from the University of Chicago. She's taught classes on Investing, Financial Empowerment and conducted Personal Financial workshops. She is currently the founder and president of WeSolve Consulting, LLC specializing in accounting and process improvement for small to midsize companies. Additionally, she's enrolled in the American College of Financial Professionals in preparation for the Certified Financial Planner's Exam. She enjoys reading, traveling and helping individuals and companies improve their bottom lines. Mrs. Battle is married with 2 kids and resides in the Chicagoland area.

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Pierre Dunagan teaches the Financial Literacy class for the Joseph Business School. He has over 25 years of experience in the financial services industry in various roles and capacities. He began his career as a financial advisor at Morgan Stanley where he worked for 10 years. He then went on to form his own financial advisory firm and mortgage company. He is currently the President of The Dunagan Company an executive search firm which provides staffing and placement services for Hedge Funds, Investment Banks and Private Equity Firms. He has been frequently quoted in Black Enterprise Magazine and Bloomberg Finance Radio. He has a Bachelors of Arts from North Park University in Organizational Management and Leadership. He is very passionate about economic development and entrepreneurship.

Victoria Arrington Victoria L. Arrington teaches Eliminating Chance and Financial Literacy for JBS and has been with the JBS since 1998. Ms. Arrington is a highly experienced underwriting and mortgage banking professional with over 30 years of service in the industry. She was an Assistant Vice President/senior level credit officer for Chase Manhattan Mortgage Corporation, where she worked for 13 years. Ms. Arrington is a Quality Control Analyst currently with Mortgage Guaranty Insurance Corporation. In her academic and professional career, Victoria has received numerous awards and honors. Some of them include: the Wall Street Journal Award; Who's Who of American Women distinction; Outstanding Young Women of America distinction and a Chase Manhattan Bank Excalibur Award nominee. She's also served as past Treasurer of the National Association of Negro Business and Professional Women's Clubs (NANBPW), Chicago Area Club; member of the Delta Mu Delta National Honor Society in business administration; and was nominated MI Underwriter of the Year by the Illinois Mortgage Bankers Association for the year 2000. Ms. Arrington graduated with honors from Eastern Illinois University with a BS degree in finance. She also has an AS degree in accounting and business administration.