Leading with Legacy: Welcoming Our Newly Appointed Kingmakers of Oakland Board of Directors
As Kingmakers of Oakland (KOO) continues to expand its footprint and deepen its impact across the nation, we are thrilled to announce a historic milestone in our organizational journey. Effective July 1, 2026, we are officially welcoming five extraordinary leaders to the Kingmakers of Oakland Board of Directors. This incoming cohort beautifully embodies the essence of multi-generational leadership, collective stewardship, and a fierce commitment to narrative change, driving our sacred mission to uplift young Black men and create spaces of true belonging.
Our ongoing evolution from a startup organization to a robust, fundraising board takes a powerful leap forward with these visionary individuals. Each candidate brings a unique intersection of expertise, heart, and dedication to the cultural and systemic infrastructure our young kings deserve.
Please join us in celebrating and welcoming our new board members:
Shrim Bathey: A deeply familiar face to the KOO family, Shrim brings unmatched institutional knowledge and operational expertise to our governance. As KOO's very first hired employee, she spent seven years building our operational infrastructure from the ground up, guiding our standalone 501(c)(3) application and managing our growth from a team of one to more than forty employees. Now the Founder of Bathey Consulting Group, Shrim returns in a governance capacity to provide the continuity, financial oversight, and strategic clarity essential for our next chapter.
Jared Joiner: Bringing a rich, multi-sector vantage point spanning public education, philanthropy, and civic entrepreneurship, Jared has championed KOO’s lineage of work for over a decade. As the founder of Oakland-based startup JOINERS and a former director of learning strategy at the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Jared approaches board service as a deep relational responsibility, focused on affirming identity and cultivating the civic infrastructure necessary for youth to thrive.
Cheo Tyehimba Taylor: An elite strategic communications executive, author, and documentary filmmaker, Cheo's connection to our mission is written in our history because he directed and produced KingMakers of Oakland: An Original Docuseries in 2016. As the founder of Forward Ever Media and the Game Changers Project, Cheo has spearheaded major narrative-change initiatives across the philanthropy and health sectors. His master storytelling lens will elevate KOO's national voice and media presence.
Kevin Tolliver Jr.: Representing a beautiful, full-circle moment for our community, Kevin is a proud Oakland native and a brilliant alumnus of the OUSD African American Male Achievement Manhood Development Program, the foundational lineage of KOO. A Morehouse College graduate and currently a Senior Software Engineer at PayPal with pending blockchain patents, Kevin brings a vital tech-forward, multigenerational perspective. He embodies the exact trajectory of Black male excellence and leadership development that we champion.
David Roach: A legendary Oakland educator, filmmaker, and cultural organizer, David has spent over three decades anchoring ancestral knowledge, food sovereignty, and community pride in our city. The co-founder of the Oakland International Film Festival and Familyhood Connection, David is a fellow Morehouse graduate who firmly believes that storytelling is an essential tool for liberation. His vision will help expand our youth media training pipelines, empowering kings to control their own narratives.
On the shoulders of our ancestors we stand, and together with this brilliant new board, we continue to build, teach, and repeat our legacy of brotherhood and high expectations. Welcome to the circle!