Elmer Dixon, Board Chair
Elmer Dixon is the President of Executive Diversity Services, an organizational development firm based in Seattle, Washington. With over 30 years of experience in leadership, training, and consulting, Elmer specializes in helping organizations harness the power of diversity to enhance performance and inclusion.
A certified administrator for the Intercultural Conflict Inventory and co-developer of the Inclusive Circles Process™, Elmer has worked with clients such as United Airlines, Alaska Airlines, University of California, Davis, PepsiCo, and the American Red Cross. His acclaimed training on Policing in Diverse Communities and implicit bias have been delivered to police departments across the country.
Drawing from his background as both an activist and intercultural expert, Elmer brings a dynamic, global perspective to his work. He has lectured internationally—including at Jamk University of Applied Sciences in Finland and EDHEC Business School in France—and is a frequent keynote speaker on diversity, leadership, and cross-cultural communication.
Ruby Love, Board Vice Chair
Ruby Love is a transformational business leader and founder of Love Resource Development Group, LLC, a firm dedicated to advancing socially responsible business and philanthropy. With more than 30 years of experience, she has guided organizations in the arts, education, STEM, and social services to secure $300 million in philanthropic support. She is a system strategist for mission-driven organizations, equipping their leaders with structure, capacity, and sustainability that endures beyond any one individual.
She has served in executive fundraising roles with United Way of King County, College Success Foundation, and Washington STEM, and has partnered with clients including Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, Pacific Lutheran University, Xavier University, and Girl Scouts USA. As a leader at Venture Scale, one of Washington’s first social purpose corporations, she created Impact Over Easy, a video series highlighting CEOs driving ESG innovation, and co-hosted the first Impact Challenge for Google.
Grounded in her early activism and lifelong commitment to racial equity, Ruby continues to advise entrepreneurs and philanthropic leaders who aim to create lasting social change. She currently serves on the boards of multiple organizations.
Aaron Dixon, Board Secretary
Aaron Dixon is the co-founder and former Captain of the Seattle Chapter of the Black Panther Party, the first established outside of Oakland, California. A lifelong advocate for social justice, he began his activism as a student at the University of Washington, where he co-founded the Black Student Union and the local chapter of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). His leadership in organizing youth and community movements for racial equity led to his appointment by Bobby Seale as Captain of the Seattle Chapter at just 19 years old.
Under his leadership, the chapter established community programs that became models nationwide, including free breakfast for children, legal aid, medical clinics, and prison visitation initiatives. Later, Aaron joined the Party’s national headquarters in Oakland, working closely with Huey P. Newton, Elaine Brown, and other prominent leaders of the movement.
Aaron is the author of My People Are Rising: Memoir of a Black Panther Party Captain (Haymarket Press, 2012), which chronicles his journey and the legacy of the Black Panther Party’s work in advancing racial and social justice.
Gary Melonson, Board Treasurer
Gary Melonson is a Financial Professional with Oppenheimer & Co. Inc., where he provides holistic financial planning and investment strategies tailored to each client’s unique goals, values, and needs. Through an in-depth discovery process, Gary develops personalized approaches to asset growth and protection for high-net-worth individuals, families, corporate executives, and business owners—leveraging Oppenheimer’s extensive resources to help clients achieve long-term success and navigate complex financial challenges.
A long-time Seattle resident, Gary is deeply committed to community service. He currently serves on the boards of the Legal Foundation of Washington, The Breakfast Group, and the O’Dea High School Foundation.
Gary is a graduate of the University of Washington and the Pacific Coast Banking School, and he holds securities and insurance licenses. Outside of his professional life, he enjoys spending time with his family and engaging in competitive sports such as tennis and golf.
Heidi Jackson, Board Member
Heidi Jackson is an Arts and Culture administrator with over three decades of experience contributing to community-centered social justice efforts. Her career was launched and shaped in New York working closely with music and culture pioneer Max Roach during his MacArthur Genius Award projects era. Since those blessed days she has lived in Seattle and collaborated with artists, grassroots organizations, non-profits and government entities. She develops and implements projects and programs that address racial equity and human rights. While working with 4Culture, she helped move millions of dollars to arts, public art, heritage, and preservation efforts spearheaded by communities most impacted by structural racism. With a specific interest in venues and cultural facilities she co-founded Black Power Unit at Washington Hall, contributed to the Cultural Space Agency, and helped establish the Building for Equity funding program for King County.
In her current position she serves as a Managing Artistic Director of Cultural Programs for Seattle Center. She oversees the production of 25 annual heritage festivals. Festál honors throughout the year the deeply rooted traditions and contemporary influence of the mini cultures of Seattle.
Stephanie Johnson-Toliver, Board Member
Stephanie Johnson-Toliver is President of the Black Heritage Society of Washington State (BHS) which was founded in 1977, where she leads a dedicated Board of Directors committed to upholding the society’s mission to collect, preserve, and share the history of Black people from across the region.
Black Heritage Society holds the largest public collection of memorabilia that archives the lives and professional contributions of individuals, families, and organizations whose legacies contribute to the vitality of Washington State. The Society has been an institutional partner at the Museum of History & Industry for more than thirty years and manages its collections at a shared repository in Seattle, Washington. In addition to directing collections management and guiding preservation work, Stephanie understands and accepts the expectation of the Black Heritage Society membership and affiliates to advance the Society as a community stakeholder.
Stephanie is also liaison to Seattle’s Office of Economic Development and Seattle Office of Arts and Culture as leader for placemaking initiatives at the Historic Central Area Arts and Cultural District. Her passion for recognizing and saving historic sites is solidly rooted in her own family history as a fourth-generation Seattleite.
Patricia Naudia Miller, Board Member
Patricia Naudia Miller is an educator, entrepreneur, mother, revolutionary and vocalist from Seattle, WA. Using her background in hospitality, guest service and management Naudia partners and collaborates with local entrepreneurs and organizations to curate high quality experiences and businesses.
She is a partner of Black and Tan Hall, Naudia curates safe spaces for Black and Indigenous communities to celebrate and uplift their cultures in South Seattle. She creates opportunities and seeks reparations for those communities to control, manage and own space and land in a city that was colonized, redlined, and rapidly gentrified. She believes in and aligns with The Covenant and The Ten Point Program; honoring our elders and ancestors by continuing to build on the foundation they laid for future generations.
Gia Hamilton, Project Manager
Gia M. Hamilton, MBA, is a cultural strategist, real-estate developer, and founder of Black Futurist Development (BFD). She leads complex, community-anchored projects that braid nonprofit real-estate, capital stack engineering (HTCs, CDFI/PRI, philanthropy, sponsorships), and program design. As Executive Director & Chief Curator of the New Orleans African American Museum (NOAAM), Hamilton stewards a two-acre, six-building campus and a $15M redevelopment plan tied to the museum’s 30th anniversary—turning historic assets into living cultural infrastructure. Her portfolio includes major cultural capital work at the Joan Mitchell Center and other initiatives advancing a combined $150M in arts and community projects, alongside advisory engagements that translate vision into compliant budgets, timelines, and measurable public benefit.
As Project Manager & Advisor to the Seattle Black Panther Party Legacy Group, Hamilton brings BFD’s full stack: feasibility planning, governance and board development, capital formation, vendor selection, and stakeholder engagement with descendants, elders, and public agencies. She builds teams that deliver: clear scopes, disciplined fund development paths, guaranteed-max budgets when needed, and activation plans that turn buildings into engines for education, enterprise, and remembrance. Hamilton’s practice is rooted in faith, rigor, and place-keeping, where she treats public memory as public works; design the asset; finance it responsibly, and program it so communities thrive.