Leadership

Kwame Johnson
President & CEO
Kwame Johnson was named the “Most Admired CEO” by the Atlanta Business Chronicle. Kwame serves as the President and CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters Metro Atlanta, overseeing the largest and most effective youth mentoring agency in the state of Georgia. Kwame has drastically transformed the organization’s operations, programs, and fundraising, increasing overall revenue by 80%. Kwame is also the award-winning author of The Hope Inside: Harnessing the Power of Mentorship in Life and Career. Kwame is a highly sought-after public speaker and consultant in the areas of fundraising, leadership development,
strategy, marketing, and program innovation. Kwame found his passion while incarcerated during his senior year of high school. During this challenging time, he decided to change his life and made history by becoming the first youth to ever take his SATs in jail. Kwame was accepted into Hampton University and decided to leave college at the age of 19 to become a social entrepreneur. He has dedicated his life to service.
Kwame’s passion led him to Washington, DC, where he served as the National Program Director for the Woodson Center, which focused on helping residents of low-income neighborhoods address the problems of their communities. Kwame also served as the Director of Corporate Relations for the national office of Communities In Schools, the nation’s largest dropout prevention organization. Kwame moved to Atlanta in 2015 to serve as the CEO of Power My Learning Atlanta, focused on improving educational outcomes for students, where he increased the organization's revenue by 65% and program reach by 115% within three years. Kwame has received national recognition for his work, including the Social Entrepreneur Program of the Year Award from the Manhattan Institute. Kwame received the highly distinguished Atlanta Business Chronicle Most Admired CEO Award and the Atlanta Business League Men of Influence Award. Kwame has received both the Atlanta Business Chronicle and the Georgia Trends 40 Under 40 Award. Kwame was recently named one of Atlanta’s Top 500 Most Powerful Leaders by the Atlanta Magazine and featured on WSB-TV Channel 2 as a Georgia Game Changer.
Kwame is a graduate of Leadership Atlanta and holds a degree in Business Administration from the University of Maryland and an Executive Education Certificate in Nonprofit Strategy from Harvard University.

Michele Pearce
Chief External Relations Officer
Michele Pearce serves as Chief External Relations Officer for BBBSMA, where she is responsible for managing all fundraising activities, recruitment efforts, public relations and marketing programs. She has more than 20 years of experience in development in Atlanta, which began when she served as Senior Development Associate for BBBSMA from 1995-1999. Before returning to BBBSMA in 2015 as Vice President of Development, she was the Chief Development Officer for ClearPoint Financial Solutions (formerly CredAbility/Consumer Credit Counseling Service) a national nonprofit headquartered in Atlanta, and she has also served as Director of Development and Co-Producing Artistic Director for Synchronicity Theatre in Atlanta, and Director of Development for Moving in the Spirit and Cool Girls. Michele holds the Certified Fund Raising Executive designation awarded by CFRE International, and she is a member of the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP).

Kathy Wells
Chief Finance Officer
Kathy’s career spans more than 25+ years of various leadership experience in financial management, business leadership, and corporate and non-profit business strategy. Prior to joining Big Brothers Big Sisters of Metro Atlanta, she served as VP of Finance and Accounting for Sylvan Homes and CBRE in the global real estate industries.
Kathy is an executive leader that brings a wealth of business knowledge and experiences. She also possesses the unique ability to manage high performing, virtual, cross functional teams across a broad geography. Her management skills and knowledge within this business and organization have granted her the opportunity to be acknowledged by various leaders, colleagues, and subordinates.
Kathy also had an opportunity to be a part of the non-profit space working with The Salvation Army- Metro Atlanta location prior to CBRE, where she served as the Controller/Accounting Manager over the DHQ division. Kathy holds a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from Saint Leo University.