David King, Secretary-Treasurer
David consults with the Youth Leadership Association (YLA), which he previously served as its executive from 1972 to 2012, working to strengthen ethical civic leadership for the renewal of family, school, business, organizational and community life. He currently
heads a capital development effort for the Cave Lake Center for Community Leadership in OH. Previously, he also provided executive leadership to YLA’s Camp Horseshoe in WV, its mock legislative, court and UN programs and HI-Y service-learning communities through schools and civic groups across the nation.
Summer residential programs that David directs include Youth Entrepreneurship Camp, teen Leadership-Service Summits, national HI-Y Leadership Conferences, and Youth Opportunity Camps helping nearly 600 low-income 7-12 year old boys and girls from more than 200 communities. His innovative approaches led to being named one of the YMCA of the USA’s five Learn and Serve America National Demonstration Sites. Programs in
partnerships with public education that David has developed include West Virginia’s Youth Action Council, the residential Institute for IDEAS alternative school, and special teen camps for Math Excellence, Mentoring, Healthy Schools, Conflict Resolution,
GEAR-UP and 21st Century Learning Communities.
David’s design and implementation of “hands on” job training for low income, out-of-school, unemployed youth ages 16 - 21 earned a twenty year record of success with JTPA. He is a former high school history teacher who earned a B. A. from Wittenberg University and M. A. in Educational Administration from Bowling Green State University. His interests include participation in the Chautauqua Network (Chautauqua, NY), several historical societies, The Aurora Project, heritage arts, and community development.
Wendy Leibowitz
Wendy is a DC-based attorney with a background in technology and journalism. She is an editor for the Bureau of National Affairs and formerly served as an editor, columnist or reporter with the following publications: The American Lawyer, Privacy Law Adviser,
and The National Law Journal. Early in her career, Wendy clerked for a U.S. Second Circuit Court judge and practiced criminal defense law with Legal Aid and intellectual property with a Manhattan firm
Wendy earned her J.D. at Stanford University, a Masters of Journalism at Columbia University and a B.A. in History from Oberlin College. She was awarded the Harry S. Truman Scholarship for public service, is fluent in French, Hebrew and Spanish,
has traveled extensively in the Middle East, and enjoys photography and film. She is a proud adoptive mother of Naomi and savors the many joyous moments of life found by her side.
Mindy Saslaw
Mindy Saslaw has devoted two decades of service to education, including as program administrator to the UCLA Center for Experience: American Politics and Public Policy and as an administrative assistant for the National Academy of Sciences.
She is retired and devotes her spare time to Volunteers for the Visually Handicapped and WETA-TV among other pursuits.
Greater Capacity Consortium is a national nonprofit network of practitioners dedicated to solving the growth challenges of organizations operating in the public interest. We are a resource to enhance the capacity of any organization to govern effectively, to educate boards on sound stewardship, to evaluate program impact and to promote public accountability. We draw upon top talent from across the country to work with foundations, associations and schools to meet the complex challenges unique to these institutions.
Board of Directors
Mark Cannon, President
The Reverend John Edward Cager III, Vice President
David King, Secretary-Treasurer
Wendy Leibowitz
Mindy Saslaw
Mark Cannon, President
Mark has a thirty-year history of devotion to the Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) sector with two dozen years of experience as a senior executive of national associations and through government service at federal, state and county levels.
Mark has worked with clients across 28 states and various issue sectors to provide board training, strategic planning, chapter engagement and program evaluation services. He is passionate about his service to the NGO sector, including active participation in the American Society of Association Executives and BoardSource. His dedication was recently recognized by his alma mater, Miami University, where he developed and taught a mini-seminar course on Leadership Challenges in NGOs as the institution’s first Visiting Fellow in Public Leadership.
His work history is complemented by extensive volunteer service with the YMCA of the USA, the Youth Leadership Association, Youth in Government programs in three states, the National and Community Service Coalition and the Truman Scholars Association.
He earned both a B.A. and M.A. degree in Public Management from Miami University and the University of Maryland, respectively. His own higher education was partly financed through the Harry S. Truman Scholarship for public service professionals.
The Reverend John Edward Cager III, Vice President
Pastor John’s ministry has been focused on transforming community through life in the church and creating liberating experiences for congregants from all walks, but especially teens. An ordained Itinerant Elder since 1994, John is currently pastor at the historic Ward AME Church.
He began his ministry at the well-known First AME Church (FAME) in south-central Los Angeles, where he directed the youth ministry for five years. Under his leadership, the church ministered to more than 1,000 young persons through award-winning programs now replicated nationally. Following Los Angeles’ civil unrest in 1992, John was also an integral part of founding that church’s community development corporation, FAME Renaissance.
While serving there, he implemented employment programs with Disneyland and The Walt Disney Store that provided hundreds of jobs for at-risk youth. Through the LA County Metropolitan Transit Authority, he also developed the Immediate Needs Transportation Program to provide taxi vouchers to seniors and the disabled.
John has served three other congregations in southern California as a senior minister: Bethel African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church in Fontana, CA; St. Paul’s Presbyterian Church, Baldwin Hills; 1st AME, Santa Monica; and St. Stephen’s AME, Los Angeles. John has participated in the LAPD Clergy-Police council and serves on the
board of directors for 1st To Serve Drug Treatment Centers, The Center For The Study Of Black On Black Crime and My Brother’s Keeper (a rites of passage program).
John’s seminary education began at The Ecumenical Center for Black Church Studies and culminated at Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, CA. He is a graduate of McLuer
North High School (Florissant, MO) and Miami University (Oxford, OH), where he was the first African American to be elected student body president. John is married to Kinette K. (Gillespie) Cager, and they have two children, Kimberly Brooks and Les Brooks III.
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