Tessa Adams, M.Ed.
Adams County Children and Youth Services’ mentoring program, Project Hope

Powerhouse advocacy, networking expertise, and a passion for exposing the light within others – that’s what Mentoring Specialist Tessa Adams is made of. Her path to helping others find their way started in undergrad when she became involved in Residence Life. Since then, she has traveled the world from New York to Italy, working with youth who are considered “at risk” or working with young minds who seek to feel as fulfilled as Tessa does in her career. In Italy, Tessa developed a mentoring program for American youth growing up in the military and assisted them in finding universities to attend in the states. Soon after, Tessa moved to South Carolina where she earned her Masters of Education and developed her position as a Program Coordinator at the University of South Carolina. At USC, under South Carolina’s Department of Social Services, Tessa recruited and trained youth growing up in foster care to become leaders among their peers and advocate for change in the foster care system at the state level. It became evident that having a mentor set youth in foster care up for success more so than the youth who were growing up without an invested positive role model. Currently, Tessa works as the Mentoring Specialist for a mentoring program at Adams County Children and Youth Services called Project Hope. Due to intentionally recruiting mentors and meeting youth where they are at, Project Hope tripled in just a year’s time. The program continues to thrive and so do the youth (and the volunteers) who are a part of it. Tessa has seen first hand the difference a mentor can make in a person’s life, and in their career, and looks forward to sharing how to find a mentor as well as discuss the importance of becoming one.

Dr. Jennifer Butters owns a consulting firm that primarily works with research scientists and doctors at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto, Canada. Jennifer previously served as the Director of Research at the Centre for Urban Health Initiatives at the University of Toronto, where she also taught sociology courses on Crime, Delinquency and Mental Health. Jennifer has worked at Canada’s Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in a variety of research positions, authored numerous publications, and presented at national and international conferences. She was educated at Western University and obtained her Doctorate in Sociology at the University of Toronto where she was the inaugural recipient of the Edie Yolles Award for Dissertation Excellence.

Gerald Jones, CPLP is a Talent Development and Performance Consultant with over 10 years of training development and facilitation experience.

Gerald is a Lead Associate with Booz Allen Hamilton and is primarily responsible for designing, developing and evaluating military training programs. He has over 18 years of military experience across two service branches (8 years U.S. Marine Corps Infantry and 8 years U.S. Air Force Geospatial Analysis), and he continues to manage training development and instruction teams in the California Air National Guard. Gerald has developed and delivered training for the U.S. Air Force Intelligence Community on subjects ranging from critical thinking to multi-cultural understanding and integration.

Gerald earned his Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Nebraska Wesleyan University, is a Certified Professional in Learning and Performance, and is a Certified Practitioner of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) Personality Assessment. He leverages his backgrounds in Leadership, Business Administration and Talent Development to coach small business owners on building and leading profitable and productive teams.