Sheryl Bennett

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.

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.

Barbara Propst Muirhead is a strategic, creative, collaborative marketing leader with a career history of driving high-profile projects and brand initiatives that meet the demands of a changing marketplace.  With industry experience across B2B, B2C, Financial Services, Management Consulting, Education, Membership and Non-profit verticals, Barbara was formerly the Director of Marketing and Communications for the Atlanta Speech School, the nation’s most comprehensive center for language and literacy, and is currently in the role of Group Vice President, Small Business Marketing at Truist Bank. A graduate of the University of Virginia, Barbara is active in the community, serving on two nonprofit boards, nonprofit fundraising committees and as a Cub Scout den leader and Pack treasurer. She is also a past Board member of the Junior League of Atlanta. Barbara took dance from the age of 4 through 17, studying ballet, tap, jazz and gymnastics.  She loves to travel and spend time with her husband Jon, their two sons and Newfoundland dog.

Marcia Mayoue is employed with BIP Wealth as a Personal Wealth Advisor, working with clients on financial planning and investment management.  She served on the board of Moving in the Spirit from 2007-2016, balancing brilliant analytical skills and vision with empathy and deep-rooted common sense. Marcia is passionate about Moving in the Spirit’s mission due to the organization’s efficacy and efficiency in impacting our community’s children and families. She rejoined in 2019 and currently serves as our treasurer and finance committee chair.

Marcia began her career with Manufacturer’s Hanover in investment banking and continued in the investment field by joining Balentine & Company in 1992.  She earned the Certified Public Accountant designation in 1995, the Chartered Financial Analyst designation in 2001, and the Certified Financial Planner ® designation in 2006.

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.

Shakira Crouch is a junior at Decatur High School. She takes all IB (International Baccalaureate) classes and is looking forward to receiving an IB diploma in the near future. Outside of her core classes, Shakira studies acting and graphic design and is part of Decatur High School’s Black Student Union.

Shakira has been a dancer at Moving in the Spirit for over eight years and a student Ambassador since 2019. She has been a part of Girls In Motion, GLOW in Motion, and is currently in Moving in the Spirit’s Apprentice Corporation. As an Apprentice Corporation member, Shakira has toured nationally and performed in New York City, Washington D.C., Baltimore, and several other cities.

As a teen representative on the board of directors, Shakira looks forward to using the leadership skills she’s learned at Moving in the Spirit to showcase the talents of her peers.

Laurie Jones is a Registered Dance/Movement Therapist, Licensed Professional Counselor and Certified Health Education Specialist. As a uniformed services officer in the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, she has held several positions within the federal
government. After 22 years of service with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, she joined the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration in December of 2021, where she currently serves as a Public Health Advisor.

With degrees in health education, public health, clinical mental health counseling, advanced graduate study in expressive therapies, and a doctorate in naturopathy, her holistic approach centers around helping people identify the strengths they already have. She utilizes body-centered expressive techniques to assist in the therapeutic process and believes that self-awareness, self-compassion, and self-acceptance are important aspects of the healing journey.

From 2010 to 2020, she served as a mentor, counseling team member and teaching artist (all volunteer positions for her) at Moving in the Spirit. Laurie and some of her students are featured in The Moving Child, a documentary about movement’s important role in a child’s physical, mental, emotional, and social well-being.

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.

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.

Allison Smith is a Graphic Designer at Banyan Communications in Atlanta, GA. She has a background in public health and is most passionate about leveraging her creativity to educate and empower marginalized communities, especially as it relates to public health. In her work with governmental agencies and non-profit organizations, she looks for opportunities to propose creative solutions to complex challenges with a people and community-first approach.

In her years as a self-taught graphic designer, Allison has worked with numerous clients, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Center for Global Health, Division of Violence Prevention, and National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. She has also worked with the Drug Advisory Programme, National Center for Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, Georgia Department of Community Affairs, and many more.

Prior to becoming a Graphic Designer with Banyan, Allison interned with Golin, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Future Public Health Leaders Program (FPHLP), and with the University of Michigan as a CDC Undergraduate Public Health (CUPS) Scholar.

As a former dancer in Moving in the Spirit’s Apprentice Corporation, Allison has been connected with the organization for many years and looks forward to giving back through serving on the Board of Directors.