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Detroiters Working for Environmental Justice |
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Our Leadership
Board of Directors Donele Wilkins, Executive Director Donele Wilkins has over two decades of experience in occupational and environmental health as an educator, consultant, trainer, administrator and advocate. In 1994, she co-founded and currently serves as the Executive Director of Detroiters Working for Environmental Justice, a non-profit organization addressing urban environmental issues in the City of Detroit. Ms. Wilkins is sought after as a public speaker addressing local and national audiences on topics of community driven sustainable development, environmental justice, and occupational and environmental health advocacy. She has coordinated and organized several conferences and gatherings to highlight the plight of her community. As a consultant, Ms. Wilkins has assisted several community organizations and put them on the correct path toward increasing their capacity to transform their communities. She is a mom of two, which motivates her to change conditions in her community so that they can have a brighter future. With her leadership, DWEJ was able to shut down the Henry Ford Hospital Medical Waste Incinerator. Donele sits on The Detroit Brownfield Redevelopment Authority, Southeast Michigan Council of Governments- transportation advisory committee, Founder and Co-Chair of the National Black Environmental Justice Network, Colin Powell Academy board of education and many other committees and forums. She is the recipient of several awards, fellowships and special recognition for her contribution on behalf of the community. Susan Lewis, Ph.D. Susan is a Regulatory Affairs professional, with over 20 years of experience in drug development, working with both the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in Rockville, Maryland and later for several pharmaceutical companies in New Jersey and most recently in Detroit, Michigan. She was born and raised in Detroit and returned to share her education and experience in making Detroit a better place.
· Community activist with a lean towards green
· Bagley Community Council Inc member since 1996
· Bagley Board member since 2006
· Detroit Mayor’s City of Detroit – Ambassador Program
· Fellow at the Center for Progressive Leadership
· Gamaliel Foundation, a national organizing institution, training 2007
· Metropolitan Organizing Strategy Enabling Strength, M.O.S.E.S., core team leader – 2006; Member of the MOSES Transportation Taskforce
· 1st Unitarian Universalist Church of Detroit – member
· Detroit City Council President, Ken Cockrel’s Green Task Force member
· University Commons Board member
· Graduated Center for Creative Studies in 1997 with a bachelor degree in Graphic and Communication Arts
· Complete the Detroit Entrepreneurship Institute Small Business Track in 1998
· Open Alphabase, a cybercafe in 1997. Detroit’s first cybercafe.
· 1999 DEI Entrepreneur of the Year Award for Alphabase
· Instructor for art class at various Detroit Public Schools, Art Councils, and Center for Creative Studies, Detroit.
Dr. Head serves as Health Officer/Director for the Monroe County Health Department. Her University of Michigan PhD is in Toxicology and she holds American Board of Toxicology Diplomate certification/DABT. In 2006, Dr. Head was re-appointed to the US EPA’s National Drinking Water Advisory Council/NDWAC and in 2005, co-chaired the NDWAC Water Security Working Group. Her water security leadership led to her being named one of the Journal of Public Works’ fifty national 2005 Trendsetters. She has been a past member of American Water Works Association’s (AWWA) Board of Directors & its Executive Committee and continues on its Public Information Advisory Forum/PIAF. She also is a member of Underwriters Laboratories’ Environmental & Public Health Council; the AFSCME NIEHS Hazardous Waste Training Grant Advisory Committee and the National Environmental Education Foundation’s National Steering Committee for Wellness & the Environment.
She has been a member of the National City & County Health Officers Environmental Health and Prevention Advisory Committee and now is a current member of its Public Health/PH Preparedness Essential Services Committee. She chairs the Committee’s associated Metrics Workgroup and is a member of US CDC’s PH Evaluation Workgroup that focuses on metrics. In November 2007, Dr. Head began a two year term as Chair of the American Public Health Association’s Environment Section. In Michigan, she chaired the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation-funded Multi-State Learning Collaborative/MLC-1 Assessment Workgroup that developed a Total Quality Management/TQI tool as Michigan’s contribution toward establishing a national accreditation program for state and local health agencies. She continues as the 2008 co-chair of the MLC-3 Steering Committee for the third and last phase of the national grant program. She served on the Environmental Justice Planning Committee for the 1994 National “Symposium on Health Research and Needs to Ensure Environmental Justice,” and authored the chapter entitled “Health-Based Standards: What Role in Environmental Justice?” in the 1995 Island press book, Issues, Policies, and, Solutions for Environmental Justice, edited by University of Michigan Professor Bunyan Bryant.
A senior professional with more than 20 years of diverse experience in multiple industries; including Outsourcing Resource Technology, Higher Education, Insurance, Food Manufacturing, Financial and Technology Sales industries. Diane has been effective and successful in IT management governance, financial development and analysis, strategic and tactical planning, project management, business process improvement, and methodology development activities.
She currently serves as a Center Manager who is responsible for managing a consultant business model, outsourcing an IT operation as a Preferred Provider for ongoing IT services to Ford Motor Company, a contract valued at $100 million annually for Compuware Corporation
Previously Diane was the Business Relations Manager at the Application Management Center and in that role was responsible for managing business function requirements and processes relative to the Compuware contract within the Ford AMC. This center consisted of over 1200 employees from Ford and Compuware and had an annual budget of $150 million.
Prior to coming to Compuware Diane was Associate Director, Office of University Budget at Wayne State University and was responsible for the planning and implementation of major operational activities. She also served on a task force overseeing the requirements and implementation of the Finance, Budget and Human Resource systems.
In her role as Manager, Financial Planning Department at AAA Michigan Diane was responsible for managing the planning, collecting, analyzing and reporting processes relative to budget, forecast, strategic performance measures, and capital acquisitions. Also during her tenure at AAA she directed a number of cross-functional team efforts in the analysis and subsequent recommendations for re-alignment of departments, improved business processes and post implementation measures.
Diane has a Master of Science in Finance and Certified Project Manager from Walsh College of Accountancy and Business Administration and a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from Davenport University.
In addition to Detroiters Working for Environmental Justice, Diane is involved in several other volunteer roles in the community. These include the Detroit Women's Economic Club, Women in Leadership Community Practice and Women in Technology. top
Tonya L. Phillips, Esq. (Board Chair) Ms. Myers received her law degree from the University of Michigan Law School and also received her bachelor's degree with honors from the University of Michigan.Ms. Myers is a Detroit native and also an honors graduate from Renaissance High School. Ms. Myer's professional affiliations include: the State Bar of Michigan, Wolverine Bar Association, and the American Bar Association. In addition to her law practice, Ms. Myers has a strong civic commitment.She is the Secretary of the Coleman A. Young Foundation Alumni Association, sits on the Board of Directors for Detroiters Working for Environmental Justice, Pittman Memorial Nonprofit Housing Corporation, and is an active member of the Detroit Branch NAACP.
Ms. Rinkus is the Population & Environment Outreach Coordinator at the National Wildlife Federation's Great Lakes Natural Resource Center, in Ann Arbor, MI. Marisa is responsible for regional coalition building and program outreach and advocacy, along with special projects that focus on the linkages between population and the environment. Prior to joining NWF in 2002, Ms. Rinkus worked for two years as a Community Environmental Extension Agent with the Peace Corps in Guatemala. While there, she worked with local teachers to integrate environmental issues into existing curriculum in order to raise awareness of deforestation, erosion, water contamination, and the sustainable use of natural resources. In addition, Ms. Rinkus developed and facilitated an experiential learning seminar for CARE extension agents on environmental education for adults. Her secondary projects involved working with the local government, community leaders, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in assessing the potential for ecotourism in the region and a community-based solid waste management plan. Ms. Rinkus holds a degree in Wildlife Science from Purdue University. top
Rebecca Salminen Witt top
Dr. Xu is the Director of the Community Outreach and Education Core (COEC) at the Environmental Health Sciences (EHS) Center at Wayne State University. She manages the overall function of the COEC. The goal of the COEC is to increase awareness and share knowledge of Environmental Toxicology with members of the community in the metropolitan Detroit area. It is her responsibility to coordinate and facilitate cooperation among team members with diverse perspectives and priorities. She spent the majority of her time developing and disseminating educational programs for members of the community in the Detroit area and throughout Michigan. The major focus of these programs are in the area of environmental health, as well as helping the EHS center members to educate the human participants of their translational studies.
In addition, Susan is also a bench research scientist with over twenty years of research experience in the field of biological sciences. Currently, she is an Assistant Professor at the Institute of Environmental Health Sciences at Wayne State University. Her research focuses on studying the mechanism of DNA repair defects and cancer genetic predisposition. Because radiation, oxygen radicals, and other environmental mutagens constantly damage genomic DNA in living cells, DNA repair is essential to maintaining genetic fidelity and stability. Deficiency in DNA repair has been linked to many human diseases. A better understanding of DNA damage and DNA repair pathways is an important step in preventing and treating human diseases. She independently plans, implements, and coordinates multiple experiments to increase the basic understanding of how DNA repair deficiencies influence cancer |
