Dr. Steve Gallon III is the District 1 School Board Member for Miami-Dade County Public Schools, elected in 2016 and re-elected unopposed in both 2020 and 2024. With over 30 years in education, he has served as a teacher, assistant principal, principal, district administrator, and superintendent. Dr. Gallon graduated magna cum laude in English Education from Florida A&M University and earned both a master’s degree in Educational Leadership and a doctorate in Educational Administration from Florida International University. He also completed postdoctoral leadership programs on school reform at Harvard and Stanford Universities.

Marilyn Holifield ‘72 is a senior partner in Holland & Knight LLP, an international law firm that traces its Florida history to the 1890s. Ms. Holifield attended Swarthmore College, where she earned her B.A. in economics with a concentration in Black Studies. She earned a juris doctorate from Harvard Law School and received an honorary doctorate of Humane Letters from Barry University. Ms. Holifield was born in Tallahassee, Florida, where she was one of three black students to desegregate Leon High School. She began her legal career at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. Later she served as General Counsel at the New York State Division for Youth. She joined Holland Knight in 1981 as the firm’s first Black attorney and became a partner in the firm in 1986—the firm in Florida.

Donahue Peebles, III, Executive Vice President of The Peebles Corporation, leads new acquisitions and business development initiatives for the company. Mr. Peebles actively pursues public and private real estate transactions in The Peebles Corporation’s key markets, including Miami, Washington, D.C., New York, Boston, Charlotte, and Atlanta. He maintains substantial involvement in the pre-development phase and is adept at advancing projects throughout the development process by way of strategic partnerships, project management, and community engagement.

As captain of the wrestling team at Miami Jackson Senior High, Cuthbert Harewood, Jr. defeated all challenges. Each victory represented a lesson on how to strategically compete and win from an early age; he realized those same lessons could be applied to tackle real-life challenges. Since then, Hardwood’s display of winning has been a model of consistency. To stand out more, he legally added ‘Broadway’ to his moniker. Harewood has successfully branded ‘Broadway’ in the Miami community and decided to fight hard to change standards in the Liberty City neighborhood and enhance its image. The corridor and surrounding areas of NW 18th Avenue, from NW 62nd Street to NW 71st Street, are officially designated as “Broadway Avenue” by the Miami-Dade County Board of Commissioners. As a result, the crime rate has steadily decreased, despite the increase in unemployment.

Dr. Marvin Dunn, a native Floridian, is professor emeritus and retired chairperson of the Department of Psychology at Florida International University. Born during the Jim Crow era, he brings a perspective to black history that has been missed, distorted, and minimalized in the past. He co-authored The Miami Riot of 1980: Crossing the Bounds (1984). He authored Black Miami in the Twentieth Century (1997), A History of Florida: Through Black Eyes (2016) and The Kingsleys (2022). Dr. Dunn is the founder and President of the Miami Center for Racial Justice, a non-profit organization created to tell and preserve the true black history of Florida – especially those stories that are difficult to hear. Dr. Dunn is a renowned expert on race and ethnic issues in America and a nationally respected scholar, author, historian, documentary filmmaker, and community activist. He lives in Miami Florida. Much of his work can be found on Dunnhistory.com.