Board of Directors

Cynthia Jacquet joined the Board in July of 2020 and now serves as the Board President. She is a middle school educator with a passion to inspire and empower all students to succeed. She firmly believes in equity in education; every child is entitled to receive opportunities and resources to improve their academic and personal outcome. 

Cynthia has a B.A. in Biology with a minor in Sociology from the University of Rhode Island, Secondary Science licensure from Regis University, and is enrolled in Principal Licensure and a Master’s in Educational Leadership Program from U.C.C.S. Cynthia is a Board Member of Colorado ASCD (Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development) whose goal is to empower teachers to achieve excellence. 

Dr. Albert D. Wiggins III grew up a military dependent mostly living in Georgia and New York. He attended Richmond County Schools where he maintained active involvement in various extracurricular activities including Boy Scouts of America where he later earned the title of Eagle Scout.  He graduated from T. W. Josey High School with honors.  Following graduation from high school, Dr. Wiggins attended Fort Valley State University (Fort Valley, GA) where he graduated with high distinction and a B.S. degree in Education.  Dr. Wiggins received his Master of Arts degree in Curriculum & Instruction: Instructional Technology from the University of Northern Iowa (Cedar Falls, IA); and graduated with the highest honors with his Ph.D. in Educational Administration & Educational Sociology from Capella University (Minneapolis, MN).   

Currently, he is the Principal of Sabin Middle School, he has served as the Principal/Athletic Director at Banning Lewis Preparatory Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado.  He has previously served in the roles of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) Coordinator, teacher of general and advanced science, mathematics, and social science; served on Iowa’s Governor’s STEM Advisory Council, the International Society for Technology Education (ISTE), and has worked with the Iowa Mathematics and Science Partnership as one of the STEM gems. He also currently develops ways to integrate STEM into the core academic curriculum and extend STEM learning opportunities.   

Dr. Wiggins enjoys spending his time with his family, friends, church family, and supporting student activities. He is married to Candance Wiggins and a father of four; Elijah, Albert, Kayden, and Aubrielle. Dr. Wiggins is very involved with his church where he is a Minister, and works in the Children’s Ministry and Community Outreach Food Pantry. He enjoys getting out in the community, helping others and being a part of positive changes within the community. When not engaged in work, family, or ministry life, Dr. Wiggins enjoys playing musical instruments, photography, cooking, catching up on some sports, and enjoying the culture offered by Colorado through food, music, and the arts. 

Judge Regina Walter retired from the State of Colorado Judiciary in January of 2019 after 32 years on the bench. Currently, she serves as a Senior Judge for the State. She began her judicial career in 1987 as a juvenile magistrate in the Fourth Judicial District. She served as a county court judge from 2008 until her retirement. Prior to joining the bench, she was a deputy public defender.   

As the founder of Educating Children of Color, Inc. and the Minority Overrepresentation Committee of the 4th Judicial District Best Practices Court, Judge Walter works tirelessly to bring community together to eliminate disparate outcomes for children of color and children in poverty through education. In January of 2008, she initiated the first Educating Children of Color Summit. As chair, she has helped to organize 15 successful summits. To date, in excess of $386,000 in scholarship money has been awarded to college bound juniors and seniors at the Summit.  

 Judge Walter is also the creator of the Fourth Judicial District Family Treatment Drug Court and Diversity University. She has provided approximately 2000 hours of diversity, equity and inclusion training locally and nationally. Topics include “Eight Excuses to Ignore Poverty in the Courtroom,” “Unlearning Racism within the Judiciary,” “Disproportionate Minority Confinement,” “Invisible Privilege,” “Disparate Impact of Life Without Parole Sentences for Juveniles,” “Cultural Competence, More than Political Correctness.”   In 2013, Judge Walter and Colorado College senior, Taylor Kelson, started the Colorado College Mock Trial Team. Judge Walter lead the team from September of 2013 to July of 2021. Under her leadership Colorado College had seven teams qualify for the Open Round Championship Series and two qualify for Nationals. During the inaugural year, the Colorado College team ranked in the top twenty at Nationals.   

Judge Walter has been the recipient of many awards including the State of Colorado, Outstanding Judicial Officer of the Year, 1997; Urban League 34th Annual Equal Opportunity Award, 1998; Coalition for Minority Youth Equality Award, 1999; El Paso County Women’s Bar Association, Portia Award (Outstanding Woman Lawyer), 2000; US Postal Service and African American Voice, Thurgood Marshall Award, 2003; State of Colorado Judicial Branch, Diversity Leadership Award in 2006; the NAACP Freedom Fund Award for Public Service in 2010; and most recently the Pike Peak Community College Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Award in 2019.   

Judge Walter is a graduate of Colorado College, class of 1980, and the University of Tulsa School of Law, class of 1983.

Alex has worked as an administrator in K-12 charter schools and in higher education for over 15 years. Through that work, he developed a passion for nonprofit organizations and community development and earned a Master of Public Administration from UCCS in May of 2016. He is also an alum of Morehouse College and CSU-Pueblo. 

As a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Incorporated, Alex has served the community by helping with mentoring efforts, the giving of Thanksgiving and Christmas baskets, and fundraising for the chapter’s education foundation, which gives scholarships to students attending their first year of college. 

Alex has served on the ECOC Board since 2018 and was President from 2019-2022. He is a proud citizen of Pueblo and looks forward to continuing the work of helping the community through education while fighting for a more equitable and inclusive society. 

Ray Edwards, currently serving as the ECOC Board Treasurer, joined ECOC as a Volunteer in 2015 and also serves as Chair of the Logistics Committee. He is a retired executive with over 35 years of experience in postsecondary education administration and nonprofit and healthcare management. During his tenure in university administration, he served as an adjunct professor of education, was president of a state association of financial aid officers, and served on the American College Testing Program’s regional and nation advisory councils. In his role as Executive Director of a two-county youth and family services nonprofit, he was active in numerous local initiatives working to improve life for at-risk youth and their families. Among other involvements, he chaired the local community evaluation team and served as the 7th Judicial District SB-94 Program Coordinator. He was a two-term member of the Governor’s Commission on National and Community Service, a three-term board president of a multistate youth mentoring association, and made multiple presentations on community building and youth mentoring. In his last professional stint, he served as senior vice president of business development and contracts for a growing healthcare company serving veterans. He is a Vietnam veteran who holds a baccalaureate in history and international studies, a masters in higher education management, and is ABD in a doctoral program in postsecondary administration. 

Anita Gandhi is an award-winning French teacher currently residing in Denver, CO. She earned a B.A. Honors and a B.Ed. from the University of Western Ontario and completed her M.A. in French Literature at Carleton University. She has presented at local, state, regional and international conferences and holds workshops regularly on Innovative teaching methods to engage students. Anita works actively to advocate for diversity and inclusion, to build a future generation for whom empathy is fundamental. She is Google Level 2 certified and is a certified EdPuzzle and Flipgrid coach. CCFLT Teacher of the Year 2019-2020 and recipient of the John Asbury award, Anita loves to share her skills to build up the community. By joining ECOC, Anita hopes to reach management, educators, and community outreach organizations to support and strengthen concepts needed to thrive in various environments. 

Dr. Marissa Prince is a Colorado native who has served as a board member of ECOC for two years. Her educational background includes a BA in psychology, Masters degrees in counseling and psychological research, and in 2020 proudly earned a PhD in psychology where she studied educational settings and academic success for Black males. Dr. Prince is currently an adjunct at Pike Peak Community College and Colorado State University-Pueblo teaching a variety of undergraduate Psychology courses. In addition to her work in academia, Dr. Prince provides therapeutic services at the Griffith Center for Children. Dr. Prince is passionate about being an agent of change to promote the educational success of young people of color. 

Tiana Clark is a Colorado Springs native, the parent of school aged kids and a longtime resident of Academy School District 20. She has a bachelor’s degree in finance and a master’s degree in Global Management. She spent part of her career as an analyst in the insurance industry, but is now the Distribution and Volunteer Coordinator of Project Angel Heart, a nonprofit founded in 1991 to provide medically tailored meals to people living with severe illness.

Marie Mendoza currently serves as the Executive Director of Professional Development in a large urban district in the Houston, Texas area. She has 30 years of experience in education with varied experiences including serving as a bilingual teacher, a Reading Recovery/Descubriendo la lectura teacher leader, a Title 1 special and a district Administrator for multilingual/EL programs serving both bilingual and ESL students. She holds a bachelor’s in Bilingual Education from St. Edward’s University in Austin, Texas, a master’s in Instructional Leadership/Administration from Trinity Washington University and is pursuing her PhD in Education through Northcentral University.

Natriece currently serves as the Deputy Chief Customer Officer at the Governor’s Office of Information Technology. In her role she oversees all IT leadership for 17 State agencies as it relates to statewide strategic technology needs and services. She executes and directs all State IT programs, defines statewide technology strategies, policies, and projects for Colorado. She also oversees customer success for all business areas in the Department and manages high level programs and projects for the State of Colorado.    

During the pandemic she served jointly as the Office of Economic Development and International Trade's, State and Local Stimulus Coordinator for the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) dollars. In the role she provided guidance to executive leadership regarding funding for affordable housing, workforce, behavioral health and mental health projects statewide.   

Previously, she served as the Department of Local Affairs’ Deputy Executive Director where she managed all operations for affordable housing, local government, policy, property taxation and assessment appeals statewide. I also served as the State Complete Count Committee Chair for the 2020 Census.  She had oversight of the department’s $625M budget, managed all finance, contracts, accounting, procurement, and administrative work for the State agency.  She has also worked for the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies in the Divisions of Financial Services and Banking to overseeing all compliance, education, and outreach strategies for 60 banks and 39 credit unions. She developed the BankSafe program in partnership with AARP for Colorado and worked to launch the program to ensure financial safety and security for older Coloradans.   

 While working in state government, she worked with the financial businesses on regulatory implementations. She is certified as a Green-Belt Lean Six-Sigma trainer. She is an Adjunct Faculty member at the University of Denver and Regis University. She has three master’s degrees in Business Administration, Sociology and Criminal Justice. She also has a bachelor’s degree in Communications.