CRAIN’S CHICAGO BUSINESS NAMED ONE OF CHICAGO’S TOP AFRICAN AMERICAN LEADERS

Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. Brother William Collins, chief advancement officer for Surge Institute, was named to Crain’s Chicago Business Notable Black Leader and Executives for 2021.

Surge Institute was founded in 2014 to educate and develop leaders of color who create transformative change in urban education. Brother Collins maintains its financial stability by growing a diversified investor base. Since 2018, he has secured more than $25 million in funding from philanthropists and funders in education and social justice. Working with a team of six, he focuses on building efficiencies of scale to keep revenue goals manageable and reduce the cost per fellow while expanding Surge’s mission to new markets, most recently Indianapolis, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, and Las Vegas. To date, nearly 300 Black and Brown leaders have matriculated through Surge Fellowship, many now serving on the South and West sides.

Brother Collins also leads strategies to build a large, diverse coalition that can advance Surge Institute’s cause of educational equity. He is also responsible for creating an integrated vision for external affairs and directly managing external partnerships, new site growth, fundraising and alumni impact. In recent years, he has raised more than $7.7 million nationally in support of Surge’s work, launched several new sites to expand its national footprint, helped to expand the organization from as startup team of 11 to a national staff of 20, alongside plans to extend the Surge fellowship to five more cities by 2023. He was selected as an inaugural member of the Black Bench Chicago fellowship in 2021 and is a board member of Open Books Chicago. S

ALPHA PHI ALPHA FRATERNITY, INC. EASTERN REGIONAL VICE PRESIDENT ELLIS NAMED STATE DIRECTOR OF LEGISLATIVE AFFAIRS FOR NYC MAYOR

New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced Brother Christopher G. Ellis’ appointment as state director of legislative affairs in February 2022.

Brother Ellis, the Fraternity’s Eastern Regional Vice President, will join the Adams administration as director of state legislative affairs. Brother Ellis, a 1997 Theta Eta Chapter initiate and member of Beta Pi Lambda Chapter, previously served as associate vice chancellor for workforce development initiatives at the State University of New York (SUNY). While there, he worked with the executive leadership team to implement high-priority projects, including the university’s new virtual workforce training platform, SUNY for All — Online Training Center.

Before that, he served as the special assistant to the New York State chief information officer and director of the Office for Technology. In this capacity, Brother Ellis was responsible for CIO/OFT intergovernmental affairs and performance management and led special assignments to advance the mission of the agency. Brother Ellis began his career in public service as a senior legislative fiscal analyst for the New York State Assembly Ways and Means Committee. In that capacity, he was responsible for analyzing and presenting recommendations for Assembly policy.

Prior to joining the Assembly staff, Brother Ellis was a research assistant at Youngstown State University Center for Urban Studies. He began his career as a corrections and behavior coach for the Lincoln Place Center for Youth in Youngstown, Ohio. Ellis has a B. A. degree with a double major in economics (modified with mathematics) and Africana studies from Dartmouth College. He holds a master’s degree in economics from Youngstown State University. S