Brian Gray is executive director of marketing and communications at Prairie View A&M University in Texas. Gray has more than 20 years of experience in marketing, brand strategy and business leadership, with a career spanning global corporations, emerging businesses and entrepreneurial ventures. Most recently, he was founder and principal consultant of STRATEGY BAG. He has also held senior roles with ExxonMobil, Direct Energy, and Heineken.
A graduate of two HBCUs, Gray holds a bachelor of business administration degree in finance from Howard University and an MBA from Clark Atlanta University.
Josh Cathey was promoted to director of operations for Eagle Dining at the University of Southern Mississippi. Cathey joined Aramark Collegiate Hospitality in 2016 as a catering chef with Eagle Dining at Southern Miss. Five years later, he was promoted to executive chef. In 2023, Cathey was named one of Aramark’s 40 Under 40 awardees.
Cathey received his bachelor’s degree in tourism management from the University of Southern Mississippi.
Paula G. Love is the new chief financial officer for Talladega College in Alabama. Love comes to her new role with more than two decades of higher education leadership experience in finance, operations, compliance, and institutional strategy. Throughout her career, she has held senior leadership roles with HBCUs across Tennessee, South Carolina, and Texas. She has also been a finance peer evaluator for the Commission on Colleges and Universities since 2017.
Love holds a bachelor of business administration degree in accounting and management from what is now the University of Memphis Lambuth in Tennessee and an MBA from Union University in Jackson, Tennessee.
Irene Okwang is vice president for institutional effectiveness and chief human resources officer at Dutchess Community College in Poughkeepsie, New York. Dr. Okwang first joined the college in 2024 as associate vice president of human resources. Previously, she held human resources leadership roles at the State University of New York at New Paltz, Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, and Greystone Programs Inc.
Dr. Okwang is a graduate of the University of Ghana, where she majored in linguistics. She holds a master’s degree in human resource management from Stony Brook University in New York and a doctorate in organizational leadership and management from St. Thomas University in Florida.
