COMMISSIONERS

Rev. Tamara E. Wilson, D.Min., CHAIR
Commission term: 2015; 2015-2019; 2019-2023
MCAAHC Commission Chair, Rev. Dr. Tamara E. Wilson, D.Min., representing Baltimore City, was appointed to the Maryland Commission on African American History and Culture in 2015 by former Governor Martin O’Malley and reappointed in 2019 by current Governor, Lawrence J. Hogan. Chair Wilson is the pastor of Nu Season Nu Day Church & Ministries and the founder of Journey Ministries, Inc., which provides programming to empower women to embrace their authentic selves in order to fulfill their purpose and achieve their personal best. She is a passionate advocate for the preservation, strengthening, and empowering of the African American community.

Edwin T. Johnson, PhD, VICE CHAIR
Commission term: 2016-2020; 2020-2024
Commissioner Edwin T. Johnson, PhD, representing Baltimore City, was appointed to the Maryland Commission on African American History and Culture in 2016 by Governor Lawrence J. Hogan. Commissioner Johnson is the Special Assistant to the Provost and University Historian at Morgan State University. For more than 20 years, his work has primarily served non-traditional students to include: at-risk males, minorities, first-generation college attendees, adult learners, veterans and disabled students.

Dion Banks
Commission term: 2022-2026
Commissioner Dion Banks, representing Dorchester County, was appointed to the Maryland Commission on African American History and Culture in 2022 by Governor Lawrence J. Hogan. Commissioner Davis has played an active role in community engagement and leadership, from housing and educational initiatives to matters regarding social issues and sustainability. Dion is a lifetime member of the Dorchester County NAACP, 2012 graduate of Leadership Maryland, a member of the Cambridge Economic Steering Committee, board member of the Upper Shore Workforce Investment Board, and co-founder of Eastern Shore Network for Change (ESNC).

Maya Davis
Commission term: 2017-2021; 2021-2025
Commissioner Maya Davis, representing Prince George’s County, was appointed to the Maryland Commission on African American History and Culture in 2017 by Governor Lawrence J. Hogan. Commissioner Davis is the Director of the Riversdale House Museum in Riverdale Park, MD and brings twenty years of public history experience to the Commission.

Janice Curtis Greene 
Commission term: 2017-2021; 2021-2025
Commissioner Janice Curtis Greene, representing Baltimore County, was appointed to the Maryland Commission on African American History and Culture in 2017 by Governor Lawrence J. Hogan. Commissioner Green is a multi-award-winning Author, Teaching Artist and Master storyteller, an American Griot, keeping the history and culture of the African Diaspora alive. She is a past President and Life Member of both the Griots’ Circle of Maryland, Inc. and the National Association of Black Storytellers.

Dr. Walter “Wali” Gill
Commission term: 2022-2026
Commissioner Dr. Walter “Wali” Gill, representing Baltimore City, was appointed to the Maryland Commission on African American History and Culture in 2022 by Governor Lawrence J. Hogan. Commissioner Gill is a military veteran, an art and social studies teacher, a professor, an artist, an actor and an author. He brings over twenty years of teaching experiences, particularly as an urban educator,  working as an advocate for children in foster care, and participating in the arts of literature, painting, collages, crafts, ceramics, photography, films, and clothing design.

Marilyn Hatza 
Commission term: 2015-2019; 2019-2023
Commissioner Marilyn Hatza, representing Baltimore City, was appointed to the Maryland Commission on African American History and Culture in 2015 by Governor Lawrence J. Hogan. Commissioner Hatza is the Director of Grants & Community Outreach at Maryland Humanities. She brings twenty years of archival and grant administration experience to the Commission.

Russell Frisby, Jr., Esq.,
Commission term: 2015-2019; 2019-2023
MCAAHC Vice Chair, Russell Frisby, Jr., Esq., representing Howard County, was appointed to the Maryland Commission on African American History and Culture in 2021 by Governor Lawrence J. Hogan. Vice Chair Frisby is an attorney and partner in the Stinson Leonard Street firm in its Washington, DC location. Long involved in civic affairs in Maryland, Commissioner Frisby has a familial connection to the Banneker-Douglass Museum through his grandfather, Dr. Herbert M. Frisby, who donated his historic collection of Arctic artifacts to the Banneker-Douglass Museum.

Melvin Kelly 
Commission term: 2015-2019; 2019-2023
Commissioner Melvin Kelly, representing Anne Arundel County, was appointed to the Maryland Commission on African American History and Culture in 2015 by Governor Lawrence J. Hogan. Commissioner Frisby is the treasurer and of the Severn Improvement Association and has been a member since 1959 previously serving as a President and Vice President. Kelly currently serves on the Commission’s Administration and Finance Committee.

Steven X. Lee
Commission term: 2015-2019; 2019-2023
Commissioner Steven Xavier Lee, representing Baltimore County and Baltimore City, was appointed to the Maryland Commission on African American History and Culture in 2015 by Governor Lawrence J. Hogan. Commissioner Lee is the author of The Story of Mr. Thomas Carney – A Maryland Patriot of the American Revolutionary War, and Project Director of programs in history, culture and the environment at The Heritage Museum. He brings forty-five years of teaching; community art, history and culture program design & development; museology; and environmental conservation experience to the Commission.

Cheryl A. McLeod, Esq.
Commission Term: 2015-2018, 2018-2022
Commissioner Cheryl A. McLeod (she/her/hers), representing Howard County, was recommended by Maryland Delegate Guy Gazzone, and appointed to the Maryland Commission on African American History and Culture in 2015 by Governor Lawrence J. Hogan. Commissioner McLeod advocates to include how the African American story brings truth to history, social justice, education, and democracy. She brings to the Commission over thirty years of community engagement, public sector representation, equity, and inclusion training experience.

Kayce Munyeneh 
Commission term: 2020-2024
Commissioner Kayce Munyeneh, representing Prince George’s County, was appointed to the Maryland Commission on African American History and Culture in 2020 by Governor Lawrence J. Hogan. Commissioner Munyeneh serves as a Program Manager for the Office of Civil Rights and Diversity at USAID and serves as the Ward 4 Councilmember and Vice Mayor for the Town of Cheverly. She brings extensive advocacy experience to the Commission.

Adi Nkwonta, PhD 
Commission term: 2020-2024
Commissioner Adi Nkwonta, PhD, representing Baltimore County, was appointed to the Maryland Commission on African American History and Culture in 2020 by Governor Lawrence J. Hogan. Commissioner Nkwonta is the Administrative Director of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at a Baltimore Hospital and brings fifteen years of leadership experience in healthcare to the Commission. She also volunteers for The Center of Disease Control (CDC) and Clinical & Laboratory Standards Institute, where she visits resource-constrained countries to audit and educate on improved health care quality and international accreditation in Laboratory Medicine and Management.

Barbara Paca, PhD, O.B.E.
Commission term: 2018-2021; 2021-2025
Commissioner Barbara Paca, Ph.D., O.B.E., representing Talbot County, was appointed to the Maryland Commission on African American History and Culture in 2018 by Governor Lawrence J. Hogan. Commissioner Paca is a full research professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Maryland (College Park) MD, an art historian, founder of the Water’s Edge Museum, and the Cultural Envoy to the island nation of Antigua and Barbuda, and brings forty years of experience to the Commission.

Torrey Snow 
Commission term: 2020-2024
Commissioner Torrey Snow, representing Anne Arundel County, was appointed to the Maryland Commission on African American History and Culture in 2020 by Governor Lawrence J. Hogan. Commissioner Snow is a Radio Host at WBAL. After running for the Anne Arundel County Council in 2018, he established a Maryland Chapter for the Frederick Douglass Foundation, a conservative organization focused on addressing community issues.

Tony J. Spencer 
Commission term: 2018-2022
Commissioner Tony J. Spencer, representing Anne Arundel County, was appointed to the Maryland Commission on African American History and Culture in 2018 by Governor Lawrence J. Hogan and reappointed in 2021. Commissioner Spencer is a member of the Public Relations Committee at the Banneker-Douglass Museum in Annapolis, MD, and brings 50+ years of audience engagement, community equality and equity activism, and visual art; 35-years of community collaboration, five-years as a school board member for Anne Arundel County Public School Board, ten-years of grant management, three+ years of grant evaluation, seven years of visual art exhibitions, and eighteen-years of ancestral research.

Elinor L. Thompson 
Commission term: 2017-2021; 2021-2025
Commissioner Elinor L. Thompson, representing Anne Arundel County, was appointed to the Maryland Commission on African American History and Culture in 2017 by Governor Lawrence J. Hogan. Commissioner Thompson is the Founding member and president of Broadneck African-American Heritage Project, Inc. Thompson is an independent genealogist, historian and author and has contributed more than thirty five years of experience in preserving, archiving African American Church records and documenting African American cemeteries through genealogy and research.

Reggie Turner 
Commission term: 2017-2021; 2021-2025
Commissioner Reggie Turner, representing Washington County, was appointed to the Maryland Commission on African American History and Culture in 2017 by Governor Lawrence J. Hogan. Commissioner Turner is the founder and president of Turner Wealth Management located in Hagerstown, Maryland and brings 18 years of experience as a financial advisor to the Commission.