Leadership

Bishop Eddie L. Long, Chairman
Linda Vega, Advisory Chairperson
Ed Ukanou, President
Reggie Winfrey, Vice President
Ernelle Winfrey, Legal Counsel
Cheryl Cooper, Economic Development
Cheryl Ragland, Membership
Patrick Lewis, Youth Academy
Shelly Gee, Special Projects

Bishop Eddie L. Long, Chairman

A noted author and prolific preacher, Bishop Long's captivating and powerful messages are masterfully captured in a number of audio and video series.

Bishop Long’s desire to see the members of the New Birth congregation succeed welcomed the idea of his business leaders joining their resources to create a chamber of commerce to serve it’s large church community as well as the city of Atlanta at large.

Each year, Bishop Long hosts many of the country's most noted conferences and programs for ministers, lay leaders, and rising entrepreneurs. Through his ministry, people are discovering their destinies. Because of the favor on his life, Bishop Long has close relationships with key leaders in the religious, political and entertainment arenas; consequently, this humble servant is advancing the Kingdom of God in a whole new way and sharing principles of business to all whom he encounters.

Linda Vega, Advisory Chairperson

Linda Vega is a seasoned executive leader as well as a community leader in Atlanta. In her role as Executive Chief of Staff, Vega oversees the administration and external business affairs of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church under the leadership of CEO and Senior Pastor, Bishop Eddie L. Long. Vega previously served as a Senior Vice President in the Wachovia Bank Georgia Banking Division for 20 years in various leadership roles.

Linda has displayed a passion for community service by serving on boards as the Advisory Chair for One Economy Corporation, The Embassy International Chamber of Commerce, Southern Regional Medical Center Foundation Development Committee, the Latin American Association, Zonta and Women Looking Ahead.

Her awards and recognitions include the Atlanta Business League’s 100 Most Influential Women, WLA Georgia’s 100 Most Influential Women and recognition as a 2003 Leadership Atlanta alumna. Linda has been acknowledged in numerous magazine articles regarding her accomplishments and commitment to community service.

Ed Ukaonu, President

Ed Ukaonu is the President and CEO of ViXio Technology, LLC, an Information Technology (IT) firm specializing in providing IT solutions to small, midsize, large businesses and Government agencies.

Ed Ukaonu is a consummate entrepreneur and has also invested in a 100% ownership of a WineStyles franchise. This is as a result of his passion for wine and his ability to create relationship synergies between WineStyles and ViXio Technology, resulting in great value for both companies.

He recently bought the master licensing rights for the State of Georgia from Global NES, Inc, the premier provider of renewable energy sources and is now the Managing Director of Global NES-GA, Inc. Ed deeply believes that ‘relationships’ is the currency of business.

Prior to starting ViXio Technology, Ed Ukaonu was a Senior Level executive at Siebel Systems, a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system provider and worked for PriceWaterhouseCoopers as a senior level Manager. This depth and wealth of experience has provided Ed access to a lot of business models, relationships and an understanding of leveraging this knowledge and relationships to provide value for his clients.

Ed is also a board member of Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce and the current President of Embassy International Chamber of Commerce.

Ed has an MBA degree from State University of New York system and is happily married with 2 children.

Reginald L. Winfrey, Vice President

Reginald L. Winfrey, Esq. is an honor graduate of Hampton University, and a graduate of Emory University School of Law.  While in law school, he won the First Place Award and the Best Petitioner’s Brief Award at the Southern Regional Frederick Douglas Moot Court Competition.  These accomplishments promoted Reginald to the National Frederick Moot Court Competition where he won the Best Oralist Award.

In addition to his moot court activities, in law school, Reginald gathered valuable experience through several internships.  He interned with Justice Richard Bell (Georgia Supreme Court), Judge Marvin Shoob (US District Court for the Northern District of Georgia), the DeKalb County Solicitor’s Office, a sole practitioner, and a 60+ lawyer law firm in midtown Atlanta.

After law school, Reginald continued to perfect his craft by serving as a Judge Advocate General in the U.S. Army.  His legal acumen continued to soar as he worked in private practice with two top-rated, nationally recognized attorneys – one a personal injury attorney and the other a criminal defense attorney.

Reginald found his passion in March 2000, when he started representing pastors, churches, and ministers while working at a 15+ lawyer law firm in the exclusive Buckhead area of Atlanta.  He has represented pastors, churches, and ministries in a host of situations including, but not limited to, pastoral sexual misconduct, defamation, breach of contract, real estate disputes, tax abatement, and premises liability.  In 2003, his work with pastors, churches, and ministries earned him the honor of being selected as a presenter at a continuing legal education course entitled Church Law For The General Practitioner where Reginald taught other lawyers how to defend pastors, churches, and ministries.

In 2008, Reginald started his own law firm – Winfrey & Winfrey, P.C. – focusing on representing pastors, churches, ministries, and corporate entities.  The firm has been retained to represent numerous companies, pastors, and churches including serving as the General Counsel for the 12th largest church in the U.S. – New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, Inc. in Lithonia, GA where Bishop Eddie Long is the senior pastor. In 2009, Reginald was honored to be a presenter at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church’s Focus Conference where he taught senior pastors and church leaders how to use the law offensively and defensively to establish the Kingdom of God here on earth.

Reginald passed the bar examinations in the State of Georgia and the State of Maryland.  He is a member of the State Bar of Georgia, the Lawyers Club of Atlanta, the Georgia Association of Realtors, the Georgia Black Chamber of Commerce, the Embassy International Chamber of Commerce, the Referrals Unlimited Chapter of Business Network International (BNI), and Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc.  Reginald serves as the Vice President of the Embassy International Chamber of Commerce, Inc., and is the immediate past President of his BNI chapter.  He is admitted to practice before the US District Courts in the Northern District of Georgia and the Middle District of Georgia, the Georgia Court of Appeals, and the Georgia Supreme Court.

Cheryl Cooper, Economic Development

Ms. Cheryl Cooper is a serial entrepreneur and the owner of CLC Consulting Group, LLC.  CLC’s target market and the owners passion is for assisting church’s, small business start-ups (1-4 years old) and non-profits. At CLC the motto is “Helping To Develop The Heart of Your Business” and our goal is empowering our target group to reach maximum productivity by developing sustainable business infrastructures. Ms. Cooper began her entrepreneurial career on a part-time basis 6 years ago in network marketing where she was able to cultivate a team of over 200 members and her passion for helping entrepreneurs and organizations to improve business processes grew from there.  She has an Executive MBA – in management which included studying abroad and is an NxLevel graduate, and over 15 years of combined management consulting, accounting, Sarbanes Oxley and system implementation experience.  She has consulted in S. Africa, Mexico, Europe, Japan and the US and worked for a combination of Big 4/Fortune 500 companies; IBM, Deloitte & Touche, and Coca Cola Enterprises. As Ms. Cooper’s desire to gain knowledge and grow the Kingdom continues she is in the process of becoming a Certified Church Consultant through the Society for Church Consulting.  In addition to the Embassy International Chamber of Commerce Board, Ms. Cooper serves on the Georgia Budget & Policy Institute and Green Economy Diversity Initiative Board of Directors.

While acquiring skills in corporate Ms. Cooper felt that God had afforded her these unique opportunities so that they could be given back to the Kingdom in order to create excellence in minority, women owned businesses, churches and non-profit organizations and therefore she started CLC Consulting Group, LLC (CLC) while working a demanding full-time corporate position, managing multiple projects and traveling abroad.  CLC specializes in business plan development and organization advisory services which includes: business coaching, corporate infrastructures design, process improvements/design, proposals development (PowerPoint), web-content/copy development, business referral services, orchestrating strategic alliances for financing and so much more.  Ms. Cooper’s goal is to become one of the most widely sought after female owned African American management consulting firms - known for executing value add strategic alliances in America and Africa. Ms. Cooper believes in cultivating new relationships and utilizing past corporate relationships to arrange strategic partnerships, ensuring that CLC’s clients receive excellent services (i.e. Venture Capitalist, Researchers, Tax Accountants, Accountants, Technology and Marketing & Branding).  Lastly Cheryl is passionate about giving, empowering young women, writing/editing, studying the Word of God, the environment, serving on Boards and photography.

Earnelle P. Winfrey, Legal Counsel

Earnelle P. Winfrey, Esq. is a graduate of Clark-Atlanta University and John Marshall Law School.  While in law school, she acquired experience by interning with the Rockdale County District Attorney’s Office and Judge Myra Dixon (Fulton County State Court).

After law school, Earnelle enhanced her legal skills by working for several years with Judge Arch McGarity (Chief Judge, Henry County Superior Court).  Subsequently, she displayed her exceptional legal talents while working several years with a 20+ lawyer law firm in McDonough, GA where she was the first African-American attorney hired by this firm.  At that firm, she represented pastors, churches, companies, counties, cities, school boards, and people on a wide variety of legal issues.  From these two experiences, Earnelle developed a reputation of being a thorough researcher, skillful negotiator, and tough litigator.

Then, in 2008, Earnelle started her own law firm – Winfrey & Winfrey, P.C. – focusing on representing pastors, churches, ministries, and corporate entities.  The firm has been retained to represent numerous companies, pastors, and churches including serving as the General Counsel for the 12th largest church in the U.S. – New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, Inc. in Lithonia, GA where Bishop Eddie Long is the senior pastor.  Additionally, Earnelle was specifically chosen to serve as the General Counsel of Embassy International Chamber of Commerce, Inc. – a visionary, faith-based chamber of commerce birthed out of the ministry of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church.

Earnelle is a member of the State Bar of Georgia, the American Bar Association, the American Trial Lawyers Association, the Henry County Bar Association, the Georgia Black Chamber of Commerce, and the Embassy International Chamber of Commerce.  Earnelle serves as the Vice President of the Henry County Bar Association.  She is admitted to practice before the US District Court in the Northern District of Georgia, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, the Georgia Court of Appeals, and the Georgia Supreme Court.

Earnelle is the proud mother of six wonderful children.

Shelly Gee, Special Projects

It was a moment of epiphany when  Shelly Gee was given the definition of "Entrepreneur", because it was then she realized what she would become.  Shortly after high school, almost two decades ago, she started her real estate career at the prestigious Sotheby's International Realty in New York City.  As the youngest and only Black salesperson in a firm of middle-aged women described as "barracudas", she had no choice but to quickly adapt to a fast paced environment.  It didn't take Shelly long to start her own Real Estate Boutique on Manhattan's Upper East Side, where she found her niche market in Condominiums.  She developed a clientele of foreign diplomats and investors and  pursued opportunities of remodeling and decorating the units which she sold.
 
Her seemingly insatiable appetite for starting new businesses has titled her "Serial Entrepreneur" and expanded her real estate portfolio to include investment properties, commercial and residential development.  Shelly is the founder of International Youth Embassy, a nonprofit organization which impacts youth and women in Third World poverty stricken countries.  Her passion and dedication for Global and Humanitarian issues has motivated her to be positioned as a "Social Entrepreneur". 

Patick J. Lewis, Youth Academy

Patrick J. Lewis is the Chief Executive Officer of Realm Marketing Resource, LLC an Atlanta, Ga based marketing company committed to providing Ministry Marketing, Kingdom Strategic Planning and Entrepreneurial Training and Development. His Kingdom mandate is to ensure Pastors and laity are provided with business resources to be globally and strategically positioned in the marketplace by marketing ministries to increase international revenues and establish local and international growth through multiple Business Start Up Courses,Youth Entrepreneur Courses, Micro Entrepreneur Courses, Incubater Training Centers, Government and Political Partnerships, Church and professional business relationships. Patrick comes to the Embassy International Chamber of Commerce with a combined 28 years corporate experience in the U.S. Air Force, as a Chaplaincy Director of Operations responsible for executive operational management and the strategic laison to Senior Wing Chaplains,Senior Pastors, Catholic Priests, Commanders and Corporate Vice Presidents to formulate pastoral military strategies and operational management, implementation and fiscal control for critical mission essential project management. He was the co-author and was responsible for impementing the now “Chaplaincy Global Ministry” model for the U.S. Air Force Chaplaincy worldwide. He is a 2006 Graduate of the Nxlevel Entrepreneur Training and a Certified NXlevel Entrepreneurial Training Instructor for the Embassy International Chamber of Commerce. He serves as the Executive Board Advisor for Youth Entrepreneurship. He founded the Embassy International Chamber of Commerce Global Youth Entrepreneurial Academy in February 2009. He is a member of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, Lithonia, GA.