Advisory Board

Key milestones during her tenure included:

• The expansion of summer school offerings for credit recovery and students’ academic and social development. During the 2009 school year, over 10,000 students, which was one-third of the student population, were enrolled in some extended learning.
• Implementation of the district’s first online credit recovery program to support the academic achievement of students who had fallen behind academically.
• Establishment of the district’s first online (mandated) curriculum for English and math and a series of benchmark assessments, grades K to 9.
• In 2009, 56% of Rochester City School District students in grades 3 to 4 made historic gains on New York State English Language Arts exams by meeting or exceeding standards, up from 47% in 2008.
• In 2009, 63% of RCSD students enrolled in grades 3 through 8 met New York State mandated math standards, an increase over previous years (2008-55%; 2007-39%; 2006-32%)
• A significant increase in the high school graduation rate during the 2008 school year, rising to 52%. At that time, the national average hovered around 72%.
• An increase in Advanced Placement courses made available in Rochester high schools, focusing on expanding opportunities for more low-income and diverse students being given opportunities to pursue accelerated academic work.

Grant is the proud former principal of Joseph C. Wilson Magnet High School. She served in this capacity for four years. During her tenure, she achieved the following:

• In 2006, the Newsweek-Washington Post Poll ranked Wilson #24 among America’s Most Challenging High Schools. This ranking was based on an analysis of the degree to which Wilson students were exposed to rigorous academic study through Advanced Placement courses, International Baccalaureate (IB) courses, and dual credit (high school-college) courses. Note that Wilson was ranked #1 among urban high schools in New York State and #5 among all urban high schools in the nation. This designation was a significant honor for Wilson as the only urban public school on the list. 
• In 2005, Grant challenged her senior class to do everything in their power to earn at least $1 million in academic scholarships. Wilson’s class of 2005 earned well over $7 million in academic scholarships.
• In 2005, over 1,200 6th grade and 8th grade students designated Wilson as their school of choice for the 2005-2006 academic year. Grant was asked to expand the “Wilson Way” by extending the school across two campuses to form the Wilson Foundation Academy, housing 950 7th-9th graders, and the Wilson Commencement Academy, housing 1,000 8th-12th graders. 
• In September 2005, she was appointed lead principal by Dr. Manny Rivera, and proudly served during the 2005-2006 academic year as the principal of “one school, uniquely spread across two campuses.”  

Before working at Wilson, Grant served as director of social studies and multicultural education for the RCSD. During her tenure as social studies director, she was prominently featured in a New York State Education Department video highlighting her instructional leadership in establishing a seamless web of instruction for grades K to 12.

A native of Washington, D.C., Grant is the daughter of the late Rev. R.L. Patterson, a Baptist minister, and the late Mattie Pringle Patterson, a preschool administrator. Grant is a graduate of the University of Rochester, where she engaged in bachelor’s and master’s studies. Additional academic work was conducted at SUNY Brockport, Harvard, and Oxford University in England. In May of 2010, she earned an Ed.D. in executive leadership from St. John Fisher College.

Grant’s social and civic involvement include being a member of the Interim Police Chief’s RPD Reform Plan Implementation Committee; vice president for membership and immediate past vice president for programming for the Rochester (NY) chapter of The Links, Incorporated; president, board of managers of the Memorial Art Gallery (MAG); former member of the Rochester Mayor’s Early Learning Council; former vice-chair/school trustee for the Renaissance Academy Charter School of the Arts,; trustee at Aenon Missionary Baptist Church; former Rochester chapter president and past state parliamentarian of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc.; past program planner and distinguished mother of the Rochester chapter of Jack and Jill of Rochester, Inc.; former Commissioner with the Monroe County Freedom Trail Commission; former member of the Rochester chapter of the New York Civil Liberties Union; and former board member of the Monroe County Youth Bureau. Grant was a 2016 Athena Award finalist and a 2020 Women of Excellence honoree.

Grant’s proudest accomplishment and blessing is her family. She’s the wife of David M. Grant, a retired administrator in the RCSD. She is the proud mother of Jared David Michael Grant, a music theater graduate from Columbia College (Chicago) and an actor in Chicago, and  Karissa Joy Grant, a broadcast journalism graduate from Hampton University, who is a communications manager for a not-for-profit health care agency in West Palm Beach, Florida. Grant’s life passions are her faith, family, friends, and calling as an educator. As an educator, she has endeavored to do with and for other people’s children what she wants done for her children.  

While pursuing his master’s degree, Lowry acted as a graduate assistant for Shenandoah University Associate Vice President for Student Leadership and Development Fritz Polite, Ph.D., supporting overall classroom operations and instruction. He was and remains a member of the university’s Leadership and Mentoring Program, where he has served as both a mentor and mentee at Orchard View Elementary School and Shenandoah University. As part of the founding team of the Shenandoah University Leadership Academy (SULA), Jared has been involved in the formation and execution of SULA since October 2019. He assisted with research and development, serving a key role in collaborating with peer institutions with established leadership academies.

Currently, Lowry is a development assistant with Kansas State University Athletics. Working with the Ahearn Fund, Lowry helps manage the daily operations and premium seating options for all sporting events at Kansas State. He also assists with special events and the stewardship of donors. Lowry is excited to continue his service on the SULA Advisory Board and provide transformative leadership opportunities to current, prospective, and former students of Shenandoah University.

While Shaffer was in graduate school, he had the opportunity to serve as a graduate assistant working with the Associate Vice President for Student Leadership & Development Fritz Polite, Ph.D. Through this assistantship, Shaffer helped plan, organize, and staff a variety of experiential learning initiatives. Some of these initiatives included visiting the NFL Players Association, Inc.; volunteering at the 2018 College Football Playoff National Championship game in Atlanta, Georgia; and hosting the Harlem Globetrotters at the James R. Wilkins, Jr. Athletics and Events Center in Winchester, Virginia.

Currently, Shaffer is a business analyst at Lightwave Services in Fairfax, Virginia. He is also an assistant football coach at Shenandoah University. Shaffer has been a key contributor to the Shenandoah University Leadership Academy (SULA) since its inception in October 2019.

In 1997, Milonovich graduated from the FBI Academy and was first assigned as a special agent in the Washington, D.C., Field Office. He worked in health care fraud and foreign counterintelligence (CI) investigations, specifically economic espionage and technology transfer matters. He was promoted to supervisory special agent and served in various roles at FBI Headquarters. Milonovich served as an instructor in the training division’s Leadership Development Institute at the FBI Academy. He was an adjunct faculty member at the University of Virginia and taught graduate-level courses at the FBI’s National Academy, specializing in leadership, ethics, decision making, organizational change, and team building. He completed a fellowship at the Australian Institute of Police Management. He went on to manage outreach programs with defense contractors, high-tech academic research institutions, and law enforcement entities across the U.S.

Now retired from the FBI after a 23-year career, Milonovich provides counterintelligence and insider threat support to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence as a CI officer. He operates his own consulting practice, ADK46, LLC, providing services to federal government contractors, private sector and academia. He continues to teach in an adjunct capacity for Syracuse University’s Washington, D.C. programs, specifically leadership, management and ethics to recent alumni.  He resides in Northern Virginia with his wife Katy and their children Megan, Thomas and Ryan.

He holds a Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering from the United States Military Academy at West Point, and is a veteran and former Signal Corps captain in the U.S. Army.  Following his military service, Imoh worked for Johnson & Johnson as a pharmaceutical sales representative. Later, he moved to Merck to be a vaccine specialist, where he participated in the launch of the first vaccines to prevent cervical cancer and shingles.

He is a Rotarian and serves on several community boards including Shenandoah University, City of Winchester Economic Development Authority, Top of Virginia Regional Chamber and the Community Foundation of the Northern Shenandoah Valley.

Imoh and his wife Marie live in Winchester and have three children: TJ, who is a captain in the U.S. Army serving in Germany; Malachi, who is a sophomore at the College of William & Mary; and Elizabeth, who is a junior at John Handley High School.

They attend Victory Church in Winchester.

Richardson’s experience includes key consulting and operational leadership positions. He is a former partner at Arthur Andersen LLP, where he led the strategy, finance, and economics practice and received three consecutive Consultants’ Choice Awards for coaching, leadership, and mentorship. Richardson is also a former Partner at Deloitte LLP, where he championed an innovative Managerhood Program to provide newly promoted managers with leadership, counseling, engagement management, and personal development skills. He currently serves as vice chairman of the Shenandoah University Leadership Academy Advisory Board, and on the inaugural board of directors for Syracuse University’s Office of Veteran and Military Affairs, where he also serves as a frequent speaker, panelist, and pitch competition judge in the Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities; and, on the advisory boards of selected emerging companies. He is also a leadership advisor in the National Contract Management Association’s (NCMA) Contract Management Leadership Development Program, developed NCMA’s first Leadership National Educational Seminar (launched at the NCMA World Congress 2019 in Boston Massachusetts), and developed an NCMA National Leadership Seminar on Collaborative Problem Solving (launched at the NCMA World Congress 2021 in Denver, Colorado).

Richardson’s military assignments included the U.S. Army Special Operations Command; U.S. Army, Europe; service in Operation Desert Storm; and The Joint Staff. He is a graduate of multiple military institutions, and leader development programs – from the 82^nd Airborne Division’s Primary Leadership Academy to the US Naval War College.

Richardson earned a Master of Arts in National Security and Strategic Studies from the U.S. Naval War College, a Master of Business Administration in Finance from Syracuse University, and undergraduate degrees in business management and economics from North Carolina State University.

Polite earned his Ph.D. in sport administration from The Florida State University. He received his Master of Public Administration degree from Troy State University (Alabama) and his bachelor’s degree in management from Simpson College (Iowa).

Sports have featured prominently in Polite’s career, including the following professional experience: New York Football Giants, National Football League – advising, evaluating and testing (aptitude, psychological and physical) of college athletes with potential for the annual NFL draft; General Tour Manager – Harlem Globetrotters; Sports Program Manager – Walt Disney World Sports and National TEAM; Head Coach – Switzerland (American Football), He has also worked Super Bowl XXXIX (Jacksonville), Super Bowl XLI (Miami), Super Bowl XLII (Arizona), Super Bowl XLIII (Tampa), Super Bowl XLIV (Miami), Super Bowl XLV (North Texas) Super Bowl XLVI (Indianapolis) Super Bowl XLVII (New Orleans). He has been a coach, player, and administrator at the professional level. He recently worked the 2017 – College Football Playoffs (CFP) Championship Game (Tampa) with the Tampa Sports Authority, and the 2018 CFP Championship Game in Atlanta, Georgia, as well as two Kentucky Derbys, two Kentucky Oaks, SEC football championships and ACC football championships. He organized a South Korea Winter Olympics program for 33 students/administrators (2018).

His research focus is in the area of socio-cultural aspects of sport, including global leadership, hiring practices, race, gender, and diversity. His secondary line of research is in the area of brand marketing and vertical extension. He also has presented issues related to sports agents and university/high school student-athletes. He has presented and published internationally in China, South Korea, Trinidad/Tobago, Jamaica, Barbados, Hawaii, Finland, Spain, Canada, France, Bermuda, Germany and Switzerland. He has published in respected journal outlets such as The Marketing and Management Journal, Sports Marketing Quarterly, The Spanish Marketing Journal, Public Administration Review, Journal of Issues in Intercollegiate Athletics, and The Harvard University W.E.B. DuBois Institute for African American Research. He has appeared on ESPN’s “Outside the Lines,” ABC News, ESPN National Radio, NPR News, and USA Today News. He is a member of the North American Society of Sport Management, Marketing & Management Association, Pi Alpha Alpha (Business Honor Society) Pi Lambda Theta (Education Honor Society), Delta Sigma Pi (Professional Business), and Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity Inc. He serves proudly on the Executive Board of the College Sports Research Institute and is the past president of the North American Society for Sport. He is the president-elect for the Drake Group (2018).