Stewardship
Board of
Directors.
Pseads is guided by people whose experience spans education, creative practice, philanthropy, business, media, technology, youth development, and community.
Different disciplines.
Shared stewardship.
Dedan Gills
FOUNDING BOARD MEMBER · IN MEMORIAMEducator, poet, social advocate, and a foundational mentor whose example continues to shape the heart of Pseads.
Dedan was an educator, poet, social advocate, and pioneer of Green Recovery, a movement linking community healing, dialogue, environmental stewardship, inner wisdom, sustainability, and the greening of the spirit.
With Belvie Rooks, he co-founded Growing a Global Heart, whose work included ceremonial tree planting along the transatlantic slave route and Underground Railroad as an act of remembrance, healing, and ecological care. Across decades, Dedan worked with people facing homelessness, addiction, incarceration, and despair, always returning to human dignity and possibility.
He also worked in film as associate producer of Watts Up! and executive producer of Search for the Everlasting Coconut Tree. His poetry and presence continue to live through Pseads classrooms, relationships, and the book I Give You the Springtime of My Blushing Heart.
Steve Uzzell
TREASURER · CHIEF HOPE OFFICERPhotographer, cinematographer, speaker, and creative problem-solving educator with a career spanning the world.
Steve began his photography career with National Geographic and went on to build an internationally recognized body of advertising, corporate, editorial, and cinematic work. His assignments have taken him across all 50 states and more than 30 countries.
His photography has received numerous honors, including ten Communication Arts awards, and has appeared in more than 100 publications. As a speaker, Steve has shared the ideas that became Open Roads Open Minds: An Exploration of Creative Problem Solving with hundreds of organizations and audiences around the world.
He brings to Pseads a lifelong commitment to curiosity, visual storytelling, creative courage, and the discipline required to turn possibility into practice.
Chris Fong
BOARD MEMBERC-level executive and strategist with experience across startups, global technology, finance, private equity, and music.
Chris has spent more than 25 years working across venture-backed startups, large technology companies, investment banks, strategy, private equity, and mergers and acquisitions. His career has included leadership roles at Credit Suisse, Citigroup, Synopsys, and Planet Labs.
Earlier in his career, he worked at Loud Records in Los Angeles during a formative period in American hip hop. That blend of business, culture, technology, and creativity continues to inform his perspective.
Outside work, Chris enjoys sailing, hiking, and collaborating with friends on books, music, community-building, and social-impact projects.
Jelani Rooks
BOARD MEMBERThree-time Emmy Award-winning producer whose work brings storytelling, sport, culture, and authentic conversation together.
Jelani is a three-time Emmy Award-winning producer for CBS Sports and serves as Coordinating Producer for CBS Sports Soccer. He has produced more than 100 live broadcasts across soccer, football, and college basketball, including major championship events.
He helped create and launch Kickin’ It, a CBS Sports series built around candid, personal conversations with major figures in soccer and culture. The show earned a Sports Emmy nomination in its debut season.
Jelani studied Black Studies at Amherst College, where he also played collegiate soccer, and brings to Pseads a deep understanding of media, narrative, culture, and what makes people feel genuinely seen.
Paul Germeraad, PhD
BOARD MEMBERInnovation and intellectual-assets strategist, executive, author, educator, and advisor.
Paul is President of Germeraad Consulting Group, advising organizations on strategies for tangible and intangible assets. He previously led Intellectual Assets, Inc., combining advanced assessment tools, software, and executive-level strategy.
His career has included operating and leadership roles in software, industrial research, and Fortune 500 companies. He is also an author and editor whose work has focused on innovation and intellectual-asset management best practices.
Paul holds a PhD in Chemistry and has continued to teach and lecture in executive programs at Caltech, UC Berkeley, and the University of Southern California. He is also an avid outdoorsman and adventurer.
William Woods, MA
BOARD MEMBEREducator and talent-development professional committed to helping young people and adults grow into their potential.
William brings experience across education, nonprofit management, youth leadership, college counseling, curriculum design, and organizational culture. He currently works in talent engagement and leadership development at 3Degrees, a renewable-energy B Corp.
Earlier roles included directing K–8 scholar programming at Bridge the Gap College Prep and advising students through post-secondary transitions at KIPP Memphis Collegiate Schools.
A native of Memphis, William holds a Master of Arts in Education and Curriculum Design and has built his career around helping people find pathways into learning, leadership, and opportunity.
Richard “Rich” Meyer
BOARD MEMBER · IN MEMORIAMEntrepreneur, philanthropist, writer, pilot, and one of the earliest champions of the work that became Pseads.
Rich was an entrepreneur, philanthropist, writer, and instrument-rated private pilot. He supported causes ranging from recovery and youth-violence prevention to social and ecological care, and held leadership roles across service clubs, task forces, boards, and community initiatives.
He contributed to book projects and initiated development of Beyond Forgiveness: Reflections on Atonement. He also co-founded several organizations in Southern California.
Rich was among the first people to champion and materially support the earliest work Elizabeth Miller and Matthew Davis developed together. His curiosity, generosity, and confidence in possibility remain part of Pseads’ foundation.
Guided by experience.
Belvie Rooks
Essayist, educator, organizational leader, and social advocate weaving community care with environmental restoration.
Belvie Rooks is an essayist, educator, organizational leader, and social advocate whose pioneering work weaves social care and healing with environmental restoration and community-building. Her lifelong commitment to human and civil rights was profoundly impacted by a weekend with Martin Luther King, Jr., when she was a teenager.
During the anti-apartheid era, Belvie was among the first women on national steering committees and served as Associate Director of the Third World Fund, traveling throughout Africa, monitoring elections during South Africa’s transition to majority rule, and attending Nelson Mandela’s inauguration.
She was founding faculty at SUNY College of Social Justice, and taught at Holy Names University and Naropa University’s Environmental Studies Program. Belvie is the creator of Hey Listen Up!, a groundbreaking urban eco-literacy project, and ConverZations That Matter. She co-founded Growing a Global Heart with Dedan Gills and edited I Give You the Springtime of My Blushing Heart.
Nikos 'Nick' Yiangou, MA
Author, speaker, and former Adobe executive focused on human consciousness, systems, and contemplative practice.
Nick Yiangou, of Greek descent, grew up near Cape Town, South Africa. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Developmental Psychology from the University of Sussex, a Master of Arts in Transpersonal Psychology, and a certificate in Multimedia Studies from San Francisco State University.
Nick served as Senior Manager of Web Content, Process, and Production at Adobe, where he spent over 25 years developing systems, analytics, products, and mobile applications.
Committed to fostering meaningful dialogue on human consciousness and the intersection of contemplative practice and science, he served on the board of the Beshara School in Scotland for over 20 years. A published author, Nick is also an invited speaker at international conferences addressing self-knowledge, poetry, pilgrimage, and learning.