Senyo Opong, Ph.D.

Founder & Chair

Senyo Opong is a global engineering technology leader at the DuPont Company with experience in leading engineering teams focused on new product and process development, manufacturing support and technical consulting. He holds a Bachelor’s degree with High Honors from Princeton University and a doctorate from the University of Delaware- all in Chemical Engineering.

Senyo has been involved as a founder, leader or volunteer of a number of nonprofit technical and educational organizations aimed at improving the lives of people from disadvantaged backgrounds and communities. He is a firm believer in servant leadership and through his volunteer service with the Resolution Project and as Trustee of Mawuli Fund and founder of Hope Academy Fund,  he strives to create opportunities for children to achieve their full potential and make impactful contributions to their communities.

Portia D. Yarborough, Ph.D.

Board Member, Secretary/Treasurer

Portia Yarborough is passionate about innovation and business development and has a track record of creating value for customers across numerous markets for the DuPont Company.  Portia has expertise in cultivating, coaching and training high-performance teams.

She received her doctorate in Polymer Chemistry from Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. She values education and seeks to open doors for the disadvantaged by actively mentoring youth and being a leader to support groups with a similar mission such as Urban Promise and United Way.

Alex J. Appiah, Ph.D.

Board Member, Financial Secretary

Alex Appiah, Ph.D., is a Consumer Behavior Modeling Executive at Bank of America. Alex has expertise in leading teams in the development and execution of quantitative tools to solve complex business problems. He received his doctorate in Economics from Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, Canada.

Alex has been instrumental in promoting diversity and inclusion at Bank of America and spends part of his weekends volunteering at local nonprofit organizations including the Wilmington, Delaware YMCA Black Achievers program.