St. John's Appoints Distinguished Trustees

Welcome, new trustees Dr. James A. Anderson '66, James Cummings, '63, Jourdan Dozier '05, and Raul Fernandez '84.
DR. JAMES A. ANDERSON '66
Prior to joining the SJC Board of Trustees, Dr. James A. Anderson served as the chancellor and professor of psychology at Fayetteville State University from June 2008 through July 2020. Previously, Anderson served as a tenured full professor of psychology, vice president, and vice provost at the University at Albany (SUNY); as vice president and associate provost at Texas A&M University; as vice provost and dean at North Carolina State University; professor of psychology at Indiana University of Pennsylvania; and professor and department chair at Xavier University of New Orleans.
 
Raised in Washington, DC, Anderson majored in psychology at Villanova University—serving two terms on the Villanova Board of Trustees from 2000 until 2010—and later received a doctoral degree in cognitive psychology from Cornell University. 
 
Anderson has consulted with more than 350 colleges, universities, and university systems addressing topics including teaching effectiveness, student retention and persistence, assessment of student learning and diversity, institutional diversity plans, faculty development, and the institutional preparation for the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) accreditation. He has served on advisory boards for the American Association for Higher Education, American Association of State Colleges and Universities, American Council on Education, Educational Testing Service, Lumina Foundation, National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education, National Survey of Student Engagement, Thurgood Marshal College Fund, and the United Negro College Fund. He currently serves on the advisory board for the Center for the Advancement of STEM Leadership where his contributions resulted in a successful $9 million seed grant. According to Derrick Scott, director of minority engineering, Anderson’s model of problem-solving and successful study groups, developed more than 20 years ago, continues to drive minority student success at the College of Engineering at the University of Michigan.  
 
Anderson’s research has focused on the interplay between diverse learning/cognitive styles and the need for variations in teaching styles (K–12). He was one of the first researchers to examine the impact of race, class, culture, and gender on the development of student learning styles, faculty teaching styles, and ultimately the impact on student persistence and academic success. At North Carolina State University, he developed the First Year College which became a national model, the Minority Engineering Program, the Women in Engineering Program, and the Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning, which served as the vehicle that drove the successful model of Inquiry Guided Teaching and Learning (IGL) that has been utilized by more than 600 faculty members and graduate students. 
 
Author of landmark book Driving Change Through Diversity and Globalization: Transformative Leadership in the Academy—which has influenced the thinking of many leaders in higher education—he also served as editor for the book, Unfinished Agenda: Brown vs. the Board of Education, celebrating the 50th anniversary of this significant Supreme Court decision. 

JAMES CUMMINGS '63
Jim Cummings has focused his career on creating state-of-the-art systems for commercial and institutional buildings, resulting in a diverse portfolio of high-profile projects. Relying on his mechanical engineering skills for more than 50 years, Cummings is a professional engineer (PE) and LEED accredited professional (LEED AP). Currently the senior principal (principal-in-charge) for GHT Limited, where he has served as president for 15 years, overseeing the company’s rise to become one of the most trusted consulting engineering firms in the Washington, DC, metro area. Cummings remains deeply involved in the design of building systems for key projects and is a mentor to GHT staff. He also applies his broad base of knowledge and experience to advise clients on facility decisions—a value-added perspective that has resulted in millions of dollars of follow-on work. He is also an expert witness for many reputable firms, companies, and organizations. 
 
Cummings holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Maryland and is a member of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) and Washington Building Congress (WBC). 

JOURDAN DOZIER '05
Following graduation from St. John's, Dozier attended George Mason University and was a member of the women’s volleyball team. As a four-year scholarship student-athlete, she led the Colonial Athletic Association in blocks per game in 2007 and 2008. In her senior year, she received the John D. Larranaga Memorial Scholarship in recognition of her athletic and academic achievement.  
 
Dozier attended Tulane University Law School in New Orleans, where she was an active member of the Black Law Students Association, the Sports Lawyer Journal, and Tulane’s Moot Court Society. She competed on Tulane’s Moot Court teams and was a two-time finalist in the Tulane intra-school competition. During her time in New Orleans, Dozier interned with the Hon. Ivan L.R. Lemelle and worked with the Hon. Reggie B. Walton following graduation. Currently, she is employed at Coughlin Midlige & Garland LLP, where she represents domestic and international insurers in insurance coverage disputes.  
 
Raised in the Maryland suburbs Dozier was the first of three Dozier siblings to attend St. John’s. While at St. John’s, Dozier was a member of the volleyball and basketball programs, where she won the WCAC championships in both sports. Her volleyball career began at SJC, where she was a member the first JV volleyball team. In her senior year, she was volley ball team captain, leading the team to capture their first WCAC Championship in 2004.  For her efforts that season, Dozier was named the DC Gatorade Player of Year, a volleyball first for St John’s.  She was also a member of the girls’ basketball team, winning the WCAC Championship in the 2003–04 season. A diligent student at St. John’s, she was also a member of the National Honor Society and Spanish Honor Society.  

She and her sisters—all graduates of SJC—created an annual scholarship fund for St. John’s volleyball players, which they hope will flourish in the years to come.

RAUL FERNANDEZ '84
Raul Fernandez is currently vice chairman and owner of Monumental Sports & Entertainment, a private partnership and owner of DC sporting franchises—including the Washington Mystics, Washington Capitals, Washington Wizards, and Wizards District Gaming NBA 2K team—as well as DC’s premier sports and entertainment complex, Capital One Arena. A senior advisor and limited partner to General Atlantic Partners, Fernandez is also an investor, business executive, and philanthropist, with an esteemed career spanning a cross-section of industries from technology and retail to sports and entertainment. Investing his expertise and resources in emerging and established B2B and B2C companies, he is active in a multitude of sectors that intersect technology with lifestyle industries. As a hands-on leader, Fernandez is also involved in global sponsorship and technology innovation and serves as an alternate governor on the NBA Board of Governors. 
  
Fernandez brings more than three decades of executive experience scaling innovative and rapidly growing technology companies. He is well known in the tech industry and the DC area as the founder of Proxicom, which which has evolved into a prominent global provider of e-commerce solutions for Fortune 500 companies under his leadership, guiding their growth from 1991 to 1999. With more than 2,000 consultants and $200 million in revenue, he sold the company to Dimension Data in an all-cash transaction valued at $450 million. From 2000 to 2002, he served as chief executive officer for Dimension Data North America, and as a director of its parent company, Dimension Data Holdings Plc, in 2001.   
 
He serves as chairman and CEO for ObjectVideo; served on the board of directors of Liz Claiborne/Kate Spade & Company from 2001 until 2017; and is a member of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. Fernandez serves on the board of directors at DXC Technology; Broadcom, Inc.; GameStop; URBANEER; InSite; and Perfect Sense, Inc. Fernandez is also an active technology investor in disruptive companies including Cloud9 eSports, SyncThink, Radius Networks, SUGARFISH, Professional Fighters League (MMA), and RemoteRetail.
 
A native Washingtonian, Fernandez is an active philanthropist with a focus on educational reform. In 2000, he co-founded Venture Philanthropy Partners, a philanthropic investment organization based in Washington, DC. Passionate about making college education accessible to DC’s high school students, Fernandez is also a board member of DC College Access Program and the Fernandez Foundation. Profiled by The Wall Street Journal, Fortune, Forbes, CNBC, The Industry Standard, The Washington Post, and CNN, Fernandez holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Maryland. 
 
 
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