Henry Kelly

Henry A. Kelly is a former Atlanta corporate executive with more than 30 years experience in corporate America. In May 2019 he fulfilled a lifelong dream of becoming an entrepreneur by starting a logistics company, First Touch Logistics, that partners with Amazon.

In his diverse and wide-ranging career within corporate America, Kelly often acted as a change agent, charged by executive leadership with creating and implementing key strategic visions to enhance business and community engagement.

Kelly has worked in numerous leadership positions that touched on nearly all aspects of the corporation in areas such as community and governmental relations, statewide education initiatives, implementation of new technology, marketing at the national level and accounting functions.

In starting First Touch Logistics, Kelly has built a team of driver associates that has grown from 20 to over a 150 and over 50 fleet of vehicles. At First Touch Logistics, our focus is developing our employees to be the best at delighting customers and growing their professional careers.

Kelly has also been active in the community, including a term as chairman and president of 100 Black Men of Atlanta, Inc., an organization focused on financially supporting first generation African-Americans seeking a college education. He recently, along with his family, established an educational scholarship fund in the names of their parents.

Kelly has a BBA in Accounting from Augusta University and an Executive MBA from Georgia State University.

Sheryl Bennett, Chief of Staff for Atlanta City Council District 1, previously served as board chair for Moving in the Spirit from 2007-2009. She has returned at a transformative time for the organization, guiding Moving in the Spirit as it opens a new performing arts center, grows its programs, and becomes a destination for dance in Atlanta.

A community leader, connector, and visionary, Sheryl has been involved with Moving in the Spirit since its founding in 1986. Her daughter, Jillian, was taught by co-founder Leah Mann in their early classes at Grant Park Girls Club. Her son, Charles, followed after as an inaugural member of the Men in Motion program for boys and later as a leader in Moving in the Spirit’s touring Apprentice Corporation company.

Sheryl stayed connected to Moving in the Spirit over the next 30 years, helping the organization secure funding and performance opportunities to reach more young people. In 2006, she promoted Moving in the Spirit as we accepted national honors at the White House and celebrated our 20th anniversary. From 2007-2009, Sheryl served as board president, expertly steering us through programmatic growth and the beginning of an economic recession.

As Moving in the Spirit grows into its new home at Edgewood/Candler Park station, Sheryl looks forward to grounding the organization in its history while embodying the mission and moving into a bold future.

Malesha (a.k.a. Mali Irene) Taylor-Browning is a vocal artist, TEDx Speaker, strategist and the creator of The E.L.E.V.A*T.E. Framework: 8 Guiding Principles for BIPOC leaders and organizations. This framework is apart of her consulting practice as Founding Director of museSalon Collaborative (www.museSalon.org). Malesha is a proud Urban Bush Woman SLI Alum 2019 and has published articles with Arts for a Changing America and HowlRound. She has been a professor and/or guest lecturer at Harvard University, Spelman College, Scripps College- The Claremont Colleges, California State University, San Marcos and Clark Atlanta University.

Cynthia Belser brings over 18 years of experience in the financial industry to the Moving in the Spirit Board of Directors. Originally from Salina, Kansas, Cynthia discovered her love for dance at a young age, studying tap, jazz, and ballet at Vivette’s Dance Studio, where she also taught classes and assisted with production.

She earned her Bachelor of Business Administration in Management from Washburn University, where she danced with the university’s Dancing Blues team. Her career began in retail and banking before finding a home in the Credit Union sector. Cynthia joined Georgia’s Own Credit Union in 2007, where she now serves as Director of Internal Audit, overseeing a team of auditors and reporting to the Audit Committee.

A chance introduction to Moving in the Spirit in 2022 reignited Cynthia’s passion for dance and community. She was drawn to the organization’s mission and felt an immediate sense of belonging. Cynthia is eager to combine her financial expertise and her lifelong love of dance to support the organization’s mission and growth, ensuring sound financial oversight and a vibrant future for Moving in the Spirit.

Helen has been a resident of Atlanta for 40 years.  She lives in Smyrna and has three adult girls. She grew up in Wisconsin and graduated from the University of Wisconsin – Madison with a degree in economics. Helen moved to Atlanta after working in banking for three years in Chicago while completing her MBA-Finance @ DePaul University.

Helen has 39 years of commercial banking experience in the Atlanta area and retired from SunTrust/Truist in August, 2021. Helen’s focus was Not for Profit clients and prospects and was responsible for delivering credit/loans, depository, treasury management, investment and related banking services.  Prior to joining SunTrust, she was with PNC/RBC for 6 years and with Bank of America for 14 years where she was a Senior Client Manager working with not for profit and commercial clients.

Helen has been active in the not for profit community and served on Sheltering Arms Board for nine years and also served on the boards of Quality Care for Children and Communities in Schools of Atlanta.

Garry Long is the Place Based Philanthropy Program Director for The Zeist Foundation. He lives in Edgewood and has served in leadership positions with Organized Neighbors of Edgewood and Neighborhood Planning Unit O.

Garry has served on the advisory board for several organizations including, The Neighborhood Fund at The Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta, Horizons Atlanta Edgewood Site and Agape Youth & Family Center. He attended The University of Alabama and graduated with a B.A. degree in Business Administration. Prior to joining Zeist, Garry was a banking officer with SunTrust Bank.

Anne is a leader of multi-faceted experience, bringing excellence in strategic planning, marketing and corporate communications to drive business and culture in both corporate and non-profit arenas. Experienced in multiple industries: mass communications, change management, consumer packaged goods, pharmaceutical, video production and education, Anne currently is employed full time at AssuranceAmerica in the insurance industry. As Vice-President of Corporate Social responsibility, Anne oversees Philanthropy and distribution of 5% of the company’s profits to helping those in need with a focus on addressing Homelessness and Education. Anne developed and manages first-company-wide Volunteer Program engaging all six operating hubs of over 300 Associates with 15 non-profit organizations. There she is also responsible for Corporate Communications and Community Relations and serves on the Board of Directors.

Dale Royal is a community development professional with 30 years of experience in financing community revitalization and economic development projects.  Over his career, he has facilitated over $1 billion in transactions to develop transit, affordable housing, commercial buildings and mixed-use developments.

Currently, Dale is Executive Director of the Atlanta office of Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), where he is responsible for driving investments in neighborhoods and in workforce development for the national nonprofit community development organization.  Under his leadership, LISC has directed over $35 million in grants, loans and equity investments since 2019 in the Atlanta area.

Prior to joining LISC, Dale served for ten years at Invest Atlanta, the city’s economic development agency, where he oversaw the agency’s New Markets Tax Credit program and other public-private partnerships. Dale raised $248 million in NMTC allocation and deployed $190 million in 16 community investments.  He financed major transformative projects such as the Center for Civil and Human Rights, Grady Hospital expansions, and Fort McPherson’s conversion to Tyler Perry Studios.  He also launched a venture fund and several small business loan programs.

Dale is a native of Los Angeles and holds a Master’s degree in Public Policy from Duke University and a bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of California at Irvine.