Leadership
Vince Leggett, Founder and President, Blacks of the Chesapeake Foundation (BOCF)
Vincent Omar Leggett has been an ally to Annapolis and Anne Arundel County for nearly half of his lifetime.
Vince is the founder and president of the Blacks of the Chesapeake Foundation (BOCF), which documents, promotes, and educates on the significant contributions of African Americans to the bay’s maritime industries and culture. In 2000, the Library of Congress designated BOCF as a Local Legacy Project, and in 2003, Maryland Governor Glendening commissioned Vince an honorary Admiral of the Chesapeake.
As a book author, a cultural historian and a planner, Vince has been leading efforts to preserve the rich heritage of Maryland’s traditionally African-American waterfront communities and immortalize the legacy of such sites as Carr’s, Sparrows and Columbia beaches. Through this work, Leggett is taking advantage of the expanding interest in diversity, equity, and inclusion to further BOCF’s mission.
Vince currently serves as a foundation board member of the Seafarers Yacht Club of Annapolis, which was incorporated in 1959 to ensure that African Americans could access all the recreational and fishing resources of their bay.
Vince is a highly respected lecturer and historical consultant on national and international documentary films on the Underground Railroad. He broadens understanding of the extensive use of the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries to spirit Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, and thousands of other enslaved persons to freedom along those clandestine routes.
As an advocate for change through the legal system, Vince enlists his position as president and CEO of the Leggett Group (USA) consulting firm to advance environmental and social justice for African Americans. Vince is a regulated lobbyist with the Maryland General Assembly, with focus areas in equitable educational funding, assisted living and affordable housing, clean energy, and historic and cultural preservation. He also represents the interests of the African-American community as a board member of the Chesapeake Legal Alliance.
Vince earned a B.S. in Urban Planning and Community Development from Morgan State University and a Masters in Public Administration from Central Michigan University.
He has continued his studies through the University of Michigan Multi-Cultural Leadership Development Initiative as well as with the Executive Director Development training program at Rutgers University.
Vince has held multiple leadership positions around the Annapolis community, including Chaplain for the City of Annapolis Fire Department, President of the Anne Arundel County Board of Education, Chair of the Wiley H. Bates Legacy Center, CEO of the Housing Commission of Anne Arundel County, and CEO of the Housing Authority of the City of Annapolis.
For 37 years, Vince and his wife Aldena have made their home in Arundel-on-the Bay enclave in Annapolis, where they enjoy beautiful bay views, fishing with their grandchildren and planning their next trip to the golf green. They are both leaders within the Mt. Zion United Methodist Church, located in South County.
v.leggett@blacksofthechesapeake.com
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Carnelius Jones, VP New Business Development
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Carnelious Jones is a business and community leader, entrepreneur, investor, and philanthropist. Over the past three decades, “CJ,” as he is known by his peers, accumulated unmatched professional experience and knowledge within the oil and gas industry, domestically and abroad.
He is the President & CEO of OMO Energy & Technology, Inc. CJ is known for (his knowledge and wisdom shattering the glass ceiling in the oil and gas industry, he is best recognized as one of the most successful corporate leaders throughout the field.
A people person who maintains a standard of excellence in the workplace, CJ built and nurtured a rich stable of oil and gas professionals who serve in multiple layers of the industry worldwide. His entrepreneurial endeavors domestically led him to own and operate three physical plants in Maryland, and as a prime contractor, CJ secured federal contracts to provide oil and gas services to the Department of Defense.
Always looking to expand his reach, CJ has embarked on an additional career in Aquaculture, harvesting world-class oysters f or shellfish connoisseurs while providing an environmentally sustainable nature water cleaning and filtration system for the Chesapeake Bay watershed.
For the past several years, CJ has served as Board Chairman for the Blacks of the Chesapeake Foundation. (BOCF) Through CJ’s business acumen, he has provided much-needed organizational development, guidance, and leadership to the education and environmental agenda of the BOCF. He has spearheaded successful legislative initiatives through the Maryland General Assembly, including chairing the “Task Force Minorities in the Environmental Community.”
In addition, during his tenure as board chair, the BOCF was designated as a “Local Legacy Project by the United States Congress and the Library of Congress in 2000. Presently, CJ is providing strategic direction for the Blacks of the Chesapeake’s Campaign to Preserve a Local Legacy.
CJ is a decorated United States Navy Vietnam-Era Veteran, and since 1998, he has served on the College of Science & Technology Advisory Board at Texas Southern University, Houston, TX and works with several Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).
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Akil Leggett, Jr., Director of Technology
Akil Leggett, Jr. is a first-year at the University of Chicago where he is a Political Science and Business Economics Double Major. He also serves as the ‘First-Year Representative’ for the Organization of Black Students (OBS) on campus while also being a member of the Phi Alpha Delta (PAD) Law Fraternity.
Akil is the Director of Technology and Youth Engagements for the Blacks of the Chesapeake Foundation (BoCF). In this role he collaborates on numerous projects with a variety of partners that aim to target young people within marginalized communities in the Chesapeake Region. Key partners include: Black in Marine Science, The University of Maryland's Center for Environmental Sciences, The Project W.E.T Foundation, and so many more. In this position, Akil is embodying his passion for advocacy through informing other young people on how they can make their voices heard in regards to climate and health solutions. Akil’s ultimate goal is to inspire more young people to champion their cause for their specific community with confidence and support from the BoCF.Akil’s authentic personality, with his extensive extracurricular track- record, has shaped him into a change-maker, ready to build solutions.
a.leggett@blacksofthechesapeake.com
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Brynne Rardin, Sr. Water and Environmental Communications Manager
Brynne Rardin is an underwater filmmaker, divemaster, and certified drone pilot, who is currently an Environmental Filmmaking Master in Fine Arts (MFA) candidate at American University in Washington D.C. She is also the owner and designer of OFAUNA, a sustainable and inclusive rashguard brand, working to educate people on a global scale about the immense need for ocean and marine life protection.
Brynne is the Sr. Water and Environmental Communications Manager for Blacks of the Chesapeake Foundation. In this role, Brynne manages many projects in collaboration with multiple organizations including NASA, the Ocean Conservancy, Black in Marine Science, and the University of Maryland's Center for Environmental Sciences to ensure BIPOC communities are receiving the same level of environmental education and extreme weather protection as other communities along the Chesapeake Bay. Through this work, Blacks of the Chesapeake strives to connect more youth to the water's edge to facilitate a better understanding of how to care for themselves and our Earth.
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Dee Strum
Dee Strum brings decades of contracting, compliance, grant writing/grants management and administrative oversight experiences to the BoCF’s 21st C plan for growth and “Elevating Black Voices” in the movements for environmental justice and preservation of the water’s edge communities established, and historically occupied by Black, Indigenous, People of Color throughout the Chesapeake Watershed.
Upon awarding her master’s degree in December 1977, Dee was recruited by Indiana Governor Otis R. Bowen to aid in establishing its first statewide housing agency. With two gubernatorial appointments to her credit, she transitioned from state employment to business ownership in 1981 establishing the international consulting firm, MDStrum Housing Services. Over the next 37 years her professional achievements were numerous to include, but not limited to:
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U.S. SBA_Minority Business of the Year (Indiana District Office);
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Federal Disaster Recovery Contractor, U.S. DHUD (2005-2009)
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Finalist_Initiative for a Competitive Inner City (ICIC) Top 100 Inner-City Corporations (2008, 2010);
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Outstanding Achiever, Women’s Business Enterprise National Council- Great Lakes Region (2010);
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Indianapolis Mayor’s Award for Entrepreneurship (2012);
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Finalist, “25 Most Influential Black Women in Business” New York City Network Journal (2012);
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Participant/Member, White House Task Force on (i) Public Engagement, (ii) Diversity in Federal Appointments, (iii) Women & Girls (2010-2013)
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Local/State/Federal/International Contractor for Public/Affordable Housing Development & Management with work history across the lower 48 states, Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands; the Republic of Trinidad & Tobago (1981-2012)
Her Core Competencies include Project Management * Public Speaking * Curriculum Development * Classroom Instruction/Professional Development * Engaging Presentations * Distance Learning * Small Business & Nonprofit Capacity-Building * Large & Small Group Facilitation * Nonprofit Board Development, Strategic Planning & Governance * Foundation Philanthropy
Dee’s demonstrated passion for diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice is found in her decades long commitment to women and girls having served as a 1981 national organizing member of the National Coalition of 100 Black Women, Inc. (NCBW), and winning election as the 7th National NCBW President (2009-2013) wherein she collaborated with national women leaders and members of Congress for the 2011 Reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). She returned to her Alma Mater, UMD School of Public Health in 2018, as a faculty advisor to help craft their signature student development initiative for first-generation and BIPOC college students: S.T.E.P._Students Transitioning to Effective Professionals. For her body of work and professional achievements, in 2019, Ms. Strum was inducted into the Delta Omega Public Health Honor Society. In 2022, Maryland’s Dr. Martin Luther King Committee presented her the MLK Drum Major Award for 2022.