Shawntelle L. Fisher
Founder/CEO
Elder Shawntelle L. Fisher is a highly anointed and very influential leader, speaker, teacher, and dancer who serves with excellence and integrity. She holds both a Bachelor in Educational Studies and a B.S. in Media Studies from the University of Missouri St. Louis and is currently a double Master candidate at Washington University and Eden Theological Seminary. She is the founder and CEO of a non-profit, The SoulFisher Ministries and has a passion to see lives transformed and restored. Through her own struggles and pitfalls in life she was guided by caring members in the community to a path of restoration and possibilities. Through The SoulFisher Ministries she is spreading hope and empowering youth and those formerly incarcerated, to be positive productive, and socially responsible members in the community.
MEET OUR
Board of Directors
President
Nathan Emmons
Nathan is the Board President of The SoulFisher Ministries and an attorney in St. Louis, Missouri. Prior to joining the Board of Directors, Nathan researched mass incarceration while at the Clark-Fox Family Foundation in Clayton, Missouri, where he developed a program and presentation to encourage the community to address this phenomenon at the city, state, and national levels. Nathan received his J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, where he was the Executive Director of the Prisoners’ Education and Advocacy Project, and his bachelor’s degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from the University of Pennsylvania College of Arts and Sciences.
Vice President
Eric'el Johnson
Electrical Engineer, Boeing
Eric'el Johnson, a STEM enthusiast, graduated from the University of Missouri – St. Louis with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering. She made it her mission to promote STEM wherever she goes. Whether she’s helping elementary school students with robotics or running a mentoring program for engineering students, helping the community energizes her. This desire began at a young age and continues to flourish now. That is why she eagerly accepted the invitation to join The SoulFisher Ministries. Her technical background and network proved to be instrumental when introducing FIRST Robotics to the ENAL program during the 2017-2018 school year. Johnson uses her enthusiasm for STEM, experience running programs, and her network to contribute to the mission of The SoulFisher Ministries.
Secretary
Gwendolyn Jackson
Manager of Business Operations, Centene Corporation
Gwendolyn Jackson is a native of Saint Louis Missouri. She attended the Saint Louis Public School system and was a graduate of O’Fallon Technical High School. She has been an entrepreneur almost since birth starting with work at their family owned grocery store literally at the age of five. She is now the proud owner of J&J Accessories Featuring The Church Lady Fashions located in Hazelwood Missouri. Gwen also has a passion for children and at risk youth and she has demonstrated her passion over the past six years as a treatment foster parent with Great Circle and Children’s Division with her primary focus on teenage males. Gwen is the proud mother of two adult sons, one grandson and one daughter in love. Gwendolyn is currently employed at Centene Corporation as a Manager of Business Operations for the healthcare Marketplace. Gwendolyn holds a Masters Degree in healthcare administration from the University of Phoenix. She currently serves as the secretary of the board of directors for The SoulFisher Ministries and she is an ordained evangelist.
Wesley Bell
Prosecuting Attorney, St. Louis County
Wesley Bell is the Prosecuting Attorney for St. Louis County, Missouri. He is the first African American to hold this office. Wesley unseated a 28 year incumbent by a 14 point margin. As a leader in criminal justice reform, Wesley is an advocate for ending mass incarceration, reforming cash bail, and rebuilding trust between communities and the prosecutor’s office. Central to his reforms is a system for deferred prosecution and diversion treatment. His office is designing a prosecutor led program to increase public safety while reducing incarceration. He graduated from Lindenwood University and the University of Missouri-Columbia law school, Wesley represented hundreds of disenfranchised clients as a Special Public Defender in St. Louis County. Throughout his career, Wesley has led his own criminal defense practice and served as a criminal justice professor and municipal court judge. He served as a Ferguson City Councilman from April 2015 to December 2018.
Community Development Manager
(MO, IL & IA)
Eric Madkins
Eric Madkins, joined Regions in March 2014 and is responsible for community development and CRA initiatives in Iowa, Illinois, and Missouri, which involves developing partnerships with business groups both internally and externally to assist in successfully identifying CRA lending opportunities, investments, and services. Madkins serves on the bank’s Market Executive Leadership Team. Prior to assuming his current role, Madkins served as Division Operating Officer and member of the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis’ senior management team, which entailed oversight of the agency’s housing and community development portfolio and Fannie Mae’s St. Louis Mortgage Help Center. Madkins has won several awards for his work in affordable housing and has over 15 years as a community development practitioner. Madkins earned a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science with an emphasis in Public Administration from the University of Missouri-St. Louis and holds two Master degrees from Webster University in Communications and Business Management and Administration.
John Ritzen
Jay is a retired executive with over 30 years of global leadership in business development, marketing, operations and strategy with Cargill and Nestle Purina. He is currently a Trauma Chaplain in the Trauma/Critical Unit at Barnes-Jewish Hospital; Spiritual Care Regional Lead with the Red Cross of Missouri/Arkansas; Chaplain with the State of Missouri’s MO-1 DMAT/DMORT COVID Reserve Team; and a member of the Crisis Response Team of the National Organization for Victim Assistance (NOVA.)
Jay is also an Adjunct Professor at Centenary University with a focus on MBA candidates in marketing, strategy and management and a Candidate for the Global Trauma Recovery credential at Mission Seminary.
He received his Ecclesiastical Healthcare Endorsement from the Episcopal Church, MBA in Finance and Marketing from Loyola University of Chicago, and BS/Honors Scholar in Agricultural Economics from the University of Missouri, Columbia.
