OUR PEOPLE

Christine White is a visionary leader with over 20 years of experience driving impact in nonprofits and businesses. As CEO of the Georgia Alliance for Progress, she leads the state’s leading progressive funding collaborative and has raised over $40 million for organizations committed to economic and racial justice, climate change, voting rights, and reproductive rights.

Her career includes serving as a former Fulton County Prosecutor, co-hosting an Emmy-nominated PBS TV show, A Seat at the Table, and working as a corporate and entertainment attorney. She’s a political strategist and has advised Grammy winner Common during the 2022 election.

Christine holds board positions with several organizations, including Progress Georgia, Represent Georgia Action Fund,  and Committee on States. She graduated from Spelman College and holds an MBA from Georgia Tech and a J.D. from John Marshall Law School.

Alexander is the Research Manager at Georgia Alliance for Progress. Previously, he was the Senior Research Associate at the New Georgia Project, where he drafted and analyzed surveys, oversaw research experiments and composed comprehensive white papers on political issues impacting everyday Georgians. His efforts contributed to the collection of over one thousand surveys for the Black Census Project.

Before the New Georgia Project, Alexander served as a Research Assistant for the Warnock For Georgia 2020 campaign, where he helped develop extensive documents detailing each candidate’s policy positions. In 2019, he was chosen as a Research Fellow by America Votes Georgia where he collected and synthesized research regarding state representatives and senators.

Alexander graduated from Georgia State University, magna cum laude, with a BA in Political Science and Anthropology, International Relations and Affairs. While at GSU, he participated in Model United Nations and served as Deputy-Director General at GSUMUN. Alexander enjoys nerding out about maps, MARTA, The OA, and local Atlanta drag. In his free time, he writes screenplays, sews, and gets way too overzealous at Atlanta United games.

Quentin J. Mays is a political and civic infrastructure leader who has spent more than a decade building, strengthening, and sustaining progressive ecosystems at both the state and national level. A proud Georgia native, Quentin was raised in Augusta and is a proud graduate of the Richmond County Public School System. A true homegrown leader, he was educated in the state of Georgia, earning a B.A. in political science from Mercer University in Macon. His leadership is shaped by place – growing up in the South, working across Georgia’s communities, and remaining accountable to the people who live and organize here.

Quentin recently joined the Georgia Alliance for Progress as the organization’s third Executive Director, where he leads the state’s only statewide donor table and movement coalition working to build a permanent, representative, progressive democracy across Georgia.

He previously served as Chief of Staff at Everybody Votes Campaign, where he led internal strategy and operations, supported senior leadership, and helped scale national voter engagement and grantmaking efforts. In that role, he rebuilt systems, strengthened staff capacity, and ensured alignment across teams operating in high-pressure civic engagement environments.

Earlier in his career, Quentin served as Director of Partnerships and Community Engagement at the Analyst Institute, where he worked at the intersection of research, strategy, and organizing. He built relationships with movement organizations, donors, and practitioners nationwide, launched a fellowship program, and expanded institutional membership with a focus on organizations led by and serving Black, Brown, and historically marginalized communities. His work centers the belief that infrastructure must serve people and movements — not the other way around.

Quentin has also held leadership roles at the National office for America Votes in Washington, DC, and America Votes North Carolina, supporting state-based coalitions, coordinating multi-organizational strategy, and strengthening organizing capacity across regions. He also served as a national trainer with the National Democratic Training Committee for five years, supporting candidates, staff, and volunteers with accessible, values-driven field and organizing tools.
In addition to his professional work, Quentin has volunteered as a youth soccer coach, with Braven supporting HBCU student engagement and leadership development, and the Atlanta Community Food Bank.

Grounded in Black liberation and a deep love for all Black people, Quentin believes that building power in Georgia requires sustained investment in the most marginalized communities, shared leadership, and institutions that are accountable, transparent, and durable.

As a political researcher with a background in Theatre, Brandon has pursued and engaged in work that molds the two professions together. His work revolves around how behavior and language can lead to positive outcomes in voter engagement. His work at the New Georgia Project included disinformation moderating and inoculation methods, as well as research to inform strategy for various other departments in the organization. Prior to this, Brandon was a state lobbyist with the Georgia Alliance of Community Hospitals, a canvasser during the 2021 Georgia Senate Runoffs, and an actor for various theatres throughout the country. He also is a founding member of an Atlanta-based artist collective, Couch House Collective. He holds a Master in Political Science from Georgia State University and a Bachelor’s degree in Theatre Performance at Columbus State University. He is excited to get to work at Georgia Alliance!

Ranada brings to Georgia Alliance a love for research and a passion for community improvement that stems from her integrated background of math, computer science, risk management, urban policy, and lifelong volunteer service. Ranada is at the forefront of research on Black voters’ sentiments, attitudes, and practices around voting and key issues in Georgia. She is a master at infusing research into messaging for myriad audiences.

As the Research Director at New Georgia Project, she built out the award-winning department from its inception, designed and led projects, and transformed their research findings into insights that inform the organizations’ strategic voter engagement and mobilization efforts. She has overseen multiple state-wide polls of voters of color and has managed and facilitated focus groups with Black voters across Georgia. The New Georgia Project has been recognized for its research by the Democracy Power and Innovation Fund and Campaigns and Elections Magazine. Prior to her time at NGP, she was Senior Project Manager at Market Street Services, a holistic economic development consulting firm that has worked in 35 states and over 150 communities. Ranada served as lead researcher and project manager on an array of economic and community development projects in many communities, from Cheyenne, Wyoming to St. Petersburg, FL, including her hometown of Jackson, Mississippi.

Ranada also currently serves on a number of boards, including the Outstanding Atlanta Board of Trustees, the Tufts University CIRCLE Advisory Board, and The People United Board of Directors. Ranada’s overarching goal for everything she does is making historically disadvantaged communities better for future generations. Ranada holds a Master of Science in Urban Policy Studies with specializations in policy analysis and economic development and planning and a Master of Science in Risk Management and Insurance from Georgia State University. Ranada is also a graduate of Tougaloo College, where she earned bachelor’s degrees in mathematics and computer science.

Nia Momon is a researcher specializing in digital misinformation and civic engagement. Prior to joining Georgia Alliance, she coordinated with Organizing, Communications and Political teams to bolster Get Out the Vote (GOTV) efforts for prospective Georgia voters. She has presented research on the platforming of racialized mis/dis/malinformation on social media. Nia is a graduate of Georgia State University and an Atlanta native through and through – she still holds out hope for a Falcon’s Superbowl win in this lifetime.

Comfort Uba is the Operations Specialist at Georgia Alliance for Progress, where she works closely with the Chief Operating Officer to keep internal systems running smoothly and support the organization’s continued growth and impact.

Before joining Georgia Alliance, Comfort worked in corporate management, where she oversaw operations and led marketing initiatives focused on business development and process improvement. She enjoys finding ways to streamline workflows and build systems that help teams focus on the work that matters most.

Comfort studied Business Management at Georgia State University. A West African immigrant and longtime Atlanta resident, she enjoys traveling, reading, and discovering Atlanta’s best restaurants.

Marcus J. Williams is from Springfield, MA and a proud product of the public school system. After completing his freshman year at New York Institute of Technology, he found himself being accepted as a transfer student at Boston College where he obtained his Bachelor of Arts in Communications. After returning home to Springfield, Marcus was elected to the Springfield City Council as the youngest BIPOC individual to join the body and then elected to four consecutive terms. Before retiring from politics, Marcus was elected as president of the Council twice by his colleagues. Marcus has chaired subcommittees for Diversity and Inclusion, Elder Affairs, Young Professionals and Maintenance and Development.

Marcus has served in the social good sector for over twelve years in development-centered roles. Early on, he served as the grant writer for an emergency shelter for victims and survivors of intimate partner violence and then for the largest developer of affordable housing in the western MA region. More recently, Marcus led a donor services function that supported fiscally sponsored projects and core programs in meeting their 501c3 and 501c4 development needs. The common thread through Marcus’ experience has been a deep commitment to advancing social equity for those often looked over. As both pastimes and passions, Marcus has booked acting roles as an extra in motion pictures, television shows and commercials. Beyond, he has played tennis since the age of 11 and regularly competes in tournaments throughout the greater Atlanta region.

Alison Cargo comes to the Progressive Ecosystem with over 20 years of experience converting strategic vision into clear project outcomes. Her proven thought leadership skills consistently produce value-added solutions that deliver process efficiencies, recover revenue, improve controls, and achieve compliance. Alison has held managerial roles within the profit and non-profit sectors in addition to several entrepreneurial endeavors. She is a Project Management Professional (PMP) with a certification in Six Sigma. Alison is a proud alum of Clemson University and holds a BS in Accounting. She is a fitness enthusiast who must have chocolate every day!

Kevin Amaya is Director of Development for the Georgia Alliance for Progress, overseeing the fundraising program and developing and implementing strategies for organizational growth. He manages GAP’s relationships with institutional foundations, directs fundraising efforts with individuals and works closely with staff to operationalize community centric fundraising practices.

Kevin has nearly a decade of experience in nonprofits and fundraising. Kevin’s previous work includes human rights advocacy, managing a political campaign, owning a small business and most recently serving as Development Director of the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute.

Kevin began his career assisting with the opening of KIND (Kids in Need of Defense) in Georgia, an organization providing pro-bono legal representation to unaccompanied children entering the United States. He is a graduate of Kennesaw State University and holds a bachelor’s in International Affairs with a minor in Latin American Studies. Kevin is a first generation Georgian, and lives in Cobb County with his wife and two children. When he is not working, he can be found running, trying a new coffee shop or fixing something around the house.

Dr. Michelle Tait-Allen scholar and researcher with over 10 years of experience dismantling and disrupting oppressive systems as a diversity, equity, and inclusion professional. Her work experiences are as diverse as her multilayered identities; her former employers include Nike, ExxonMobil, Clark Atlanta University, Atlanta Public Schools, and most recently, the University of Alabama at Birmingham. She has worked in corporate marketing, curriculum development, higher education administration, DEI coaching, and assessment and evaluation. She earned her Bachelor of Business from Savannah State University and her Master’s of Education and Doctorate of Education from Georgia Southern University. She is passionate about the educative process and sees knowledge attainment and application as the first step towards liberation. When she is not working, she can be found DJ’ing a local wedding, cooking, or at home on her sofa binging a TV series.

Ashley is the Executive Director of Progress Georgia, a key progressive communications and research hub that utilizes cutting-edge media strategies through various media platforms to increase public awareness about Georgia’s progressive priorities. Previously, she was Deputy State Director for America Votes Georgia, leading state legislative strategy, advocacy, and collaboration for over 60 state-based and national organizations. Her efforts contributed to significant electoral victories, including a Presidential win, two US Senate seats, and Rev. Raphael Warnock’s 2022 US Senate seat.

Before America Votes Georgia, Ashley served as Chief of Staff to former House Minority Leader Stacey Abrams and Caucus Director for the Georgia House Democratic Caucus, where she oversaw the integral operations of the Minority office across five election cycles and seven legislative sessions. In 2018, she served as Political Director for Stacey Abrams’ gubernatorial campaign, where she built a team that effectively increased voter turnout among key constituencies and constituencies of color.

Ashley is a student of leadership and community empowerment, participating in Georgia State University’s Andrew Young School of Policy Studies Legislative Health Management Institute and the University of Southern California’s Legislative Staff Management Institute with the National Council of State Legislatures. She was also a Fannie Lou Hamer 2020 Fellow with Sandler Phillips Center. A Spelman College graduate with a BA in Psychology, Ashley enjoys dancing, collecting art, traveling, and mentoring young women of color in politics.