Our Team
Directors
Tiffany Crowe | Howie Evans, Emeritus (in memorium) | Keith Houlemard | Cassius Johnson | Claude Johnson | Kiel King | Michael King | Kevin McGruder | Charles Wade
TIFFANY CROWE
HOWIE EVANS
Howie Evans is the Sr. Sports Editor for The New York Amsterdam News, the third oldest paper in New York City. He has embraced a career that spans over 30 years of experience as an educator, journalist, communications specialist, high school, and college basketball coach, and as coach in the Holcombe Rucker Summer Pro Rucker League.
He was named by the New York Daily News as one of New York City’s 25 Most Influential African-American Individuals in Sports and Entertainment. The United States Tennis Association honored him in 2006 with their Communicator of the Year Award. Howie Evans served as a charter member on the New York City Board of Education Chancellors Task Force on Academics and Athletics. He spent over 20 years in the New York City Board of Education public school system as the Director of Youth and Adult Education in the troubled areas of the South Bronx, Central, West and East Harlem. The longtime New York Congressman Charles Rangel cited him for his work with youth.
KEITH HOULEMARD
Keith Houlemard is the former President of the Jordan Brand at Nike. He originates from Pasadena, CA, the youngest of six children from a very close family immersed in the culture of sports. Keith attended San Diego State University, where he earned a BS in Business Finance and played Aztec baseball. It was there that Keith realized his athletic passion, and made it a goal to have a career in the sports business.
Following college, while working in footwear sales at Nordstrom, Keith started his pursuit of a career at Nike. After a number of interviews, he began with Nike in Entertainment Marketing as the warehouse manager. From there, Keith moved to become an Ekin (Nike Field Service Rep). In the years since, he was elevated within Nike to numerous positions in Sales, Product, Marketing, and Merchandising. Each role brought its own challenges and opportunities, giving him new perspectives on the business while continuing to develop his leadership skills.
These varied experiences led him to the Jordan Brand where he served as President from 2008-2012. With 25+ years at Nike and as VP/GM of Olympics, Keith led the Nike Brand through the Rio 2016 Games, which turned out to be an amazing success. With all of his travel to Rio these last few years he’s hoping the Portuguese he learned stays with him. His business focus is now on the 2018 Winter Olympics in Korea and the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, along with Strategic Projects that capture new opportunities for Nike. Keith then was VP/GM of Running for Nike Europe/Middle East/Africa before retiring from the company.
Keith is busier than ever as a co-founder of the FOODe app and as a board member of The Maurice Lucas Foundation. He is a father of three and a proud grandfather of one, and an active participant in numerous community activities. Keith has always appreciated competition and enjoys working with diverse and talented groups of people. He loves a challenge and is energized by learning new things. (Back to top)
CASSIUS JOHNSON
CLAUDE JOHNSON
Founder & Executive Director
The Black Fives Foundation
Claude Johnson is an author, historian, and founder of the Black Fives Foundation. He was born in Vienna, Austria, and lived in the Republic of the Congo (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) before moving to the USA with his parents at age six. His father was African American, from the South Side of Chicago, and his mother was German, from the Römerstadt section of Frankfurt am Main.
He has a BS in civil engineering and economics from Carnegie Mellon and an MS in mechanical engineering from Stanford. During a 20-year career in corporate America, Claude held management and exec positions at IBM, American Express, NBA Properties, Nike, Phat Farm, and Benetton Sportsystem. He left to become a stay-at-home dad to his three sons, each of whom are NCAA Division I student-athletes – the oldest two in football and his youngest in basketball. For more information, please visit Claude Johnson’s profile page on LinkedIn. (Back to top)
KIEL KING
MICHAEL KING
Michael was a national sales manager for an educational publishing house. He has spent his career working in education with a desire to give back to future generations what he is so fortunate to have learned. Previously, Michael taught in Brooklyn as an adjunct assistant professor at New York City Technical College in Brooklyn, New York (formerly NYCCC).
Michael is a descendant of the Black Fives Era. He is the son of William “Dolly” King, a collegiate and professional sports star from the 1930s and 40s, who helped pioneer the racial segregation of the National Basketball League, a predecessor to today’s NBA, and is enshrined in the Long Island University Athletic Hall of Fame. After his sports career, “Dolly” became a prominent referee, a community leader, and a professor at Manhattan Community College.
In 2013, Michael and his family were honored at the Barclays Center, home of the Brooklyn Nets professional basketball team, during a halftime ceremony to unveil a life-sized photographic image of “Dolly” that is permanently installed at the arena. The power of education and academics was instilled throughout the King family. Michael’s uncle, John B. King Sr., was the borough of Brooklyn’s first Black school principal, and his first cousin, John B. King Jr., was the former United States Secretary of Education and is currently Chancellor of the State University of New York system. (Back to top)
KEVIN MCGRUDER
CHARLES WADE