E3 ROCHESTER - Key Persons
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- Director, Economic & Community Development, Foundry, a Digital Currency Group Company
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- President Emeritus, Rochester Institute of Technology
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- Founder, Dress for Success Rochester
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- Co - Founder
- Executive Director
- E3 Executive Director and Co - Founder
E3 Executive Director and co-founder Bryan Hickman is an entrepreneur who has served as president of several enterprises where he guided business turnarounds. His expertise has been built on positions in strategic planning and operations.
Early in his career, Bryan spent six years in public policy roles in Washington DC. Turning to a business career, he served as manager of strategy development at Gulf Oil Company and, then, General Manager for North and South America at Schlegel Corporation's Building Products Division. He began his entrepreneurial career by turning around a bankrupt tooling and automation company and, then serving as president of bus manufacturer Coach & Equipment Manufacturing Corp.
Upon selling his business interests, he turned his focus to the most pressing problem he saw facing his community: the need to effectively educate the children of Rochester. Since January 2012, he has worked full time for E3 Rochester, meeting hundreds of educators and others in the charter school movement, visiting schools across the country, and recruiting and assisting charter management organizations.
Bryan has a bachelor's degree from Williams College and a master's degree from Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. He has served on the boards of the Genesee Hospital, Compeer, the Rochester Tooling and Machining Association, Rochester-Hamamatsu Sister Cities, and several corporations.
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- Chancellor Emeritus, NYS Board of Regents
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- President, Victor Excavating and Landscape
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- Regional President, M & T Bank - Rochester Division
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- Executive Director, Boys and Girls Club of Rochester
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- Owner, Distinctive Strategies
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- Western New York Regional Executive Senior Vice President, Citizens Bank
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- Chairman of the Board
- National Sales Manager, Vice President for Sales, and Chief Financial Officer
Jim Brush is the board chair of E3 Rochester who has deep roots in the community as a business owner, leader and community advocate. He and his brother Douglas owned Sentry Group, a privately held manufacturer and marketer of fire-resistant safes, files and chests started in Rochester by their grandfather in 1930. Brush retired as president and CEO of Sentry in 2014.
Brush serves on the boards of the United Way and the Children's Agenda. He is also a board member at Caldwell Manufacturing, and previously served as a trustee at St. Lawrence University. He is a past board member of the Rochester Area Community Foundation and Rochester's Child.
Prior to taking on the role of executive director, Brush served as a board member of E3 Rochester since its founding in 2013. As a board member, Brush has led E3 through a strategic planning process and he has co-chaired the E3 fundraising campaign.
Brush joined Sentry Group in 1986 and has held positions as national sales manager, vice president for sales, and chief financial officer. Prior to joining Sentry, Brush worked for IBM Corporation in various sales and marketing roles.
Brush received a bachelor's degree in economics from St Lawrence University in 1977 and an MBA from Northwestern University in 1983.
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- General Partner, Trillium Group
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- Professor Emeritus, University of Rochester Warner Graduate School of Education
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- Director of Community Development, SUNY Brockport
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- Retired Partner & Co - Owner, Brand Cool Marketing, Inc
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- Senior Wealth Planner, Wildstar Partners, LLC
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- CEO, the Caring Institute
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- Vice President of Operations
Rev. Sebrone O. Johnson is passionate about making a difference in the lives of Rochester's youth. Prior to joining E3 Rochester he was the senior vice president of operations for the Urban League of Rochester where he had oversight of nearly 30 program areas. He is the senior pastor at the Greater Harvest Church in Rochester.
Sebrone worked for more than a decade in Manhattan and the surrounding area specializing in high-tech startups and other entrepreneurial endeavors, before returning to Rochester.
He serves as the ecumenical chairperson for the Rochester Black Leadership Commission on Health and the chair of the African American Health Coalition. He is a member of the University of Rochester Medical Center Community Advisory Council, Education Trust NY Coalition, New York ESSA Leadership Learning Circle. He has served on the boards of E3 Rochester and Vertus Charter School.
Sebrone attended Union College and St. John Fisher College, where he earned a bachelor's degree in applied mathematics and economics. He also holds a master's of divinity from Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School and an executive ELP from Duke University.