Our People

Brenda Anderson has more than 25 years of leadership and organizational development experience in Fortune 500 corporations. She has held key leadership roles in human resources, training and development, operations, accounting and financial management. For the past 15 years Brenda has worked with business owners across the country helping them to position and grow their businesses. Brenda’s clients value her ability to help them strategically align their organizations’ efforts with their mission and vision. Brenda has led multiple organizational development engagements nationally as well as internationally.

Andreas (Andy) Anger is a Professor and tenured faculty member in the Applied Business and Accounting department at the University of Alaska Fairbanks Community and Technical College. His academic specialties are finance, accounting and entrepreneurship. Well versed in a wide variety of teaching formats including online, video and intensive, he has developed and presented from short intensive to multiday workshops and seminars in Small Business Start-up, - Management and - Marketing to a wide variety of audiences in Alaska in support of small business development. As department chair for the past 6 years, Professor Anger focused on positioning the UAF Applied Business program as a viable competitor in the online education market worldwide, currently serving students in 40 U.S. states and 14 countries. These efforts were highlighted by receiving a U.S. number one ranking as “Best Online Associate Accounting Program in the USA, 2017” by College Choice Ranking. Before entering academia, Andy was the owner and operator of a backcountry touring company offering eco and adventure tours in Alaska. Concurrently, he was engaged as a consultant in the development of targeted sales and marketing strategies for Alaskan tourism businesses. Andy remains very active in the tourism industry and in the community at large, currently serving on boards of several non-profit organizations.

Marvis Aragon, from Acoma Pueblo, has the ambition to serve tribal communities. He is the current Chief Executive Officer with the Isleta Business Development Corporation (IBC) which is wholly owned by the Pueblo of Isleta in New Mexico. In addition to overseeing some of the current business enterprises, the IBC is charged with new business development and to support small business in the Isleta community. Marvis has also served his community in numerous positions including two terms as Acoma’s First Lieutenant Governor and chairmanship roles with the Acoma Business Board, Acoma Housing Commission and currently the Acoma Board of Education. In 2007, the New Mexico Business Weekly honored Marvis as one of New Mexico’s Top 40 Under 40, and has he been featured in the American Executive, Smithsonian, and other national publications.

Dr. Barbara Baggerly-Hinojosa is the Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Leadership Empowerment Group, LLC. She holds a PhD in Leadership Studies from Our Lady of the Lake University, where she currently is a full time faculty member in the School of Business and Leadership Studies teaching PhD courses in Leadership Studies. She is publisher/owner of the Mercedes Enterprise newspaper. She is also a published author, having published a number of books, including Are You a Ten? The Ten Characteristics of a Servant Leader. Her books are available through Amazon and are included in Good Reads and other similar media outlets.

Alison brings a broad range of experience from Fortune 500 companies, Government, and start up, entrepreneurial endeavors. Her career began at Procter and Gamble where she held leadership positions in sales, marketing and business development. She left P&G to join a start up HomeRuns.com, a home grocery shopping and delivery service. Alison then transitioned to public service for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and served as the Executive Director of the Office of Small Business & Entrepreneurship.

Vanessa Best is CEO of Precision Healthcare Consultants (PHCC). PHCC has a successful track record of consolidating and standardizing HIM operations, developing and performing extensive chart reviews for ensuring coding compliance and appealing insurance denials. The firm brings to this project a deep understanding of primary care practices and relationship building. PHCC are part of the elite AHIMA ICD-10 Ambassador Approved Trainers and very proud to have received certification with the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) as a CCS-P (Certified Coding Specialist, Physician Based) and CHTS-IM (Certified Health Technology Specialist) also with the American Academy of Procedural Coders (AAPC) as a CPC (Certified Procedural Coder).

Halbert Brown, Jr., a retired United States Navy Veteran of 24 years, is the Co-founder, Executive Director and Chief Financial Officer for Universal Nursing Services, LLC, a local home health care and staffing company. The company has 60 healthcare professionals providing Bexar County and surrounding areas with nursing, therapy and social services in their clients’ homes. Universal Nursing Services provides home health and staffing services to approximately 350 clients annually. The company receives reimbursements from Medicare, Medicaid Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs), private insurances and other contracts throughout the year. Mr. Brown is proactive in his community. He is the Division “H” Director for District 55, Toastmasters International, a charter member, Past President and Treasurer of Rising Toastmasters Club (RTM). RTM was started at University of Phoenix in San Antonio. Formerly the Chairman of the Board for People’s Choice Federal Credit Union, Mr. Brown also co-founded and is Past President of the Diversified Power Investment Club. Mr. Brown is the Immediate Past President, Business Counselor, Mentor and workshop facilitator for the SCORE, Counselors for America’s Small Business. These positions allow him to exercise his passion for helping other business professionals, for which he was recognized as the Minority Enterprise Development Week (MED-Week) Minority Advocate of the Year (2013).

C. Adam Callery, Ed. D. is serving as the Interim Associate dean, C2C at Harold Washington College. Dr. Callery is the former Program Director for the Business and Computer Information Systems programs at Malcolm X College and is currently a tenured faculty member with City Colleges of Chicago. Prior to accepting the assignment as Associate Dean, he has taught general business management, marketing, and small business management courses at Malcolm X College and Harold Washington College for the past eight years. In addition to his responsibilities as an administrator, Dr. Callery has served as the site program manager for the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Initiative, Chicago for the past two years. In this role, he was responsible for faculty recruitment and curriculum development, as well as severing a session facilitator. He came to City Colleges of Chicago from the corporate arena and has accumulated over twenty-five years of experience in the areas of engineering, banking, aviation, managerial consulting, and information technology.

Born to blaze trails, Nicole Cober’s entrepreneurial spirit was cultivated as the owner and operator of Soul Day Spa and Salon, a spa and hair salon chain that served as a revitalization catalyst in a burgeoning area of the Nation’s Capital. Over the course of nearly ten years, Soul would be acclaimed for its ingenuity, five-star quality service, and avant-garde branding. The spas were spotlighted in a number of national media outlets, including Essence, People, Allure, The Washingtonian, American Spa, Salon Today, The Washington Post, Upscale, Black Enterprise and the CBS Morning Show to name a few. Soul was featured on the Style Network’s reality show, “Ambush Makeover,” and earned recognition by the Washington City Paper for “Best Stylist” and “Best Spa.” A community champion, Nicole and her team annually partnered with Rachel’s Women’s Shelter in Washington, D.C. to provide complimentary services to residents. Having come full circle in her exciting professional journey, Nicole currently blends her entrepreneurial, business, and legal prowess to offer a distinct suite of services as the Principal Managing Partner of Cober Johnson & Romney. Affectionately known about town as “The Lawyerpreneur”, she takes the concept of business consulting a few steps further, providing a blueprint for gaining business clarity, portraying and positioning authentic brands, and legally protecting those brands, intellectual properties, and creative works. She empowers start-ups and local small businesses to reach their full potential with her creative effective branding and growth strategies.

Hugh W. Connelly is the President of Univest Capital, Inc. f/k/a Vanguard Leasing, Inc. located in Bensalem, PA. He started the business in May 2006. Univest is a national lessor helping equipment manufacturers, dealers and distributors increase sales with Univest’s FAST (Financing As a Sales Tool) system. He holds a Bachelor’s degree from Temple University and a Master of Science in Finance-Bank Management from Drexel University. Mr. Connelly is both a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and Certified Fund Analyst (CFS). He published his first book in 2013 titled, “401K Tune-Up”.