BARCC Leadership

President & Commercial Development Liaison
Mell Monroe
monroe@thebarcc.org

Vice President of Strategy
Safety / Security & Clean and Green
Dr. Keith McCoy
keith@thebarcc.org

Treasurer & Fundraising Director
Pamela Dempsey
pam@bronzevilleproperties.com

Records Chair & Condominium Liaison Director
Angela Higginbotham-Monroe
angie@thebarcc.org

Director of Activities & Marketing
Jonese Burnett
jonese@thebarcc.org

Director of Membership Development
Michelle Brown
michelle@thebarcc.org

Director of External Communications
OPEN

Director of Safety & Security / Chairman
Marie Smith
marie@thebarcc.org

Director of Condominium Development
Iva Funderberg
iva@thebarcc.org

Director of Commercial Development
Akari Muhansi
akari@thebarcc.org

Co-Director of Commercial Development
Teshera Henderson
teshera@thebarcc.org

Asst. Director of Commercial Development
Clarence Carson
clarence@thebarcc.org

Political Liaison
Tyrone Forte
tforte@thebarcc.org

Director of Condominium
Development Outreach
Marvell Turnage
marvell@thebarcc.org

Communications Director
Mechele Elias
mechele@thebarcc.org

Board Member
Phaedra Leslie
phaedra@thebarcc.org
Meet the BARCC Board Members


Akari Muhansi
Director of Commercial Development
akari@thebarcc.org

Akari is a Pre-Sales Systems Engineer with Cisco Systems on the Illinois SLED (State, Local Government, & Education) team.  Akari’s account base is local school districts and government entities.  He primarily supports two Account Managers that have a combined total of 800 accounts in Chicago’s Southern and Western suburbs. Akari’s role is to help his customers set their technology vision, advise them on technical decisions around their network, give product updates, and to become a trusted technical advisor.

Prior to working at Cisco, Akari worked at Hewitt Associates as a Network Engineer in the Information Systems department.  Akari’s role was to maintain and enhance office communication via the Wide Area Network and Internet connections. 

Akari became a member of the Metropolitan Board of the Chicago Urban League in 2003.  He immediately joined the Fundraising committee where he was the entertainment lead for various events. In 2005, Akari became the Chair of the committee.  As chair, Akari lead a team of 20 members to create new events and reinvent legacy signature programs such as “Sweet Art Affair”, “MB Winter Getaway”, “Revival, From State Street to Bourbon Street”, and “Red Carpet Movie Premiere – Bastards of the Party”.  As a member, Akari enjoys volunteering for MB Lab teaching second and third grade boys science experiments once a quarter.

BS in Computer Science - Grambling State University
MS in Computer Network Systems - Elmhurst College
CCNA (Cisco Certified Network Associate)
CCDA (Cisco Certified Design Associate)
CCDP (Cisco Certified Design Professional)
CCNP (Cisco Certified Network Professional)

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