Benjamin L. Hooks, J.D.
Chairman, Board of Directors

Former executive director of the NAACP, Hooks spent almost 18 years as the leader of the world’s largest and oldest civil rights organization. He is an attorney, ordained minister and former judge. He was born in Memphis, Tennessee, and attended LeMoyne College in Memphis, Tennessee, and Howard University in Washington, D.C. He served in the 92nd Infantry Division in World War II and saw combat in Italy. Following military service, he received the Juris Doctor degree from DePaul University College of Law in Chicago. President Richard Nixon appointed him to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). In November of 2007, President George W. Bush awarded Hooks with the Presidential Freedom Award. Academically, Hooks has been recognized by Fisk University as Distinguished Professor and by the University of Memphis, where the Benjamin L. Hooks Institute for Social Change is housed. He has also served as chairman and co-chairman of Children’s Health Forum and the Memphis Civil Rights Museum.

Booker T. Jones
Founder/President/CEO
Board of Directors

Long before MINACT’s inception, Jones had an incessant desire to become a part of the solution to the problems of America’s disadvantaged. He began a career in Job Corps after leaving the Navy in 1966, taking his first employment with the Breckinridge Job Corps Center in Morganfield, Kentucky, now the Earle C. Clements Job Corps Center. Jones quickly moved through the Job Corps program from his entry-level position as resident adviser in Kentucky to serve in a center director position in Mississippi. His vision of starting his own company to continue services through Job Corps was realized in 1978 when he founded MINACT and successfully competed for his first Job Corps contract. Jones is a graduate in sociology from Indiana State University in Evansville, Indiana, and has done additional graduate studies in business administration at the University of Evansville. He is active in community organizations that promote the development of people. He serves on the boards of BancorpSouth Bank Community Board, Momentum Mississippi, the Children’s Health Forum, and the advisory board of the College of Business at Jackson State University. He was recently appointed by the Secretary of Labor to serve on the Federal Job Corps Advisory Committee, where he now serves as chairman. In May 2007, he was honored for his significant contributions to the growth and development of business in the state of Mississippi by his induction into the Mississippi Business Hall of Fame.

Robert Smith, M.D.
Vice President, Board of Directors

A caring heart matched by impeccable skills has made Smith a physician his native Mississippians can be proud to call their own. Smith, a charter fellow of the American Academy of Family Physicians and a charter diplomate of the American Board of Family Practice, is well known for his interest in helping young people prepare for the medical profession and his commitment to making sure adults and children have proper medical care. Smith opened the first private, black-owned family health center in Mississippi—Mississippi Health Services, Inc. He has served as preceptor for many medical schools, including Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee; Iowa University in Iowa City, Iowa; Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island; Howard University in Washington, D.C.; and Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He is active in other professional and civic organizations with a special interest in education and the arts.

Alveno Castilla, CPA/J.D.
Secretary, Board of Directors

Castilla has a deep interest and commitment to projects that develop youth. That’s why a lot of his volunteer time is devoted to the National Alliance of Business Youth Motivation Task Force, the accreditation team for the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, and the board of trustees for Institutions of Higher Learning’s Uniform Financial Reporting Committee. A partner in the law firm of Watkins, Ludlam & Stennis, Castilla currently serves as chairman of the firm’s board of directors, and as chairman of the firm’s Business Solutions Practice Group. He concentrates his practice in the areas of federal, state and local taxation, and corporate and finance matters. He is listed in The Best Lawyers in America, Tax Law Section. Castilla is a certified public accountant, licensed in Mississippi and Tennessee. He holds a law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law, with an M.B.A. in management and finance and a bachelor’s degree in accounting and business administration from Millsaps College in Jackson, Mississippi. He is an active member of various other civic and professional organizations.

Toni D. Cooley
Member, Board of Directors

Cooley is president of an organization named Systems’ Companies. As such, she manages the company’s local and national projects in areas ranging from project coordination, vocational training, management consulting, and manufacturing. In the 1980s, she was the legislative assistant to U.S. Representative Wayne Dowdy, D-Miss. She serves on numerous professional and civic organizations. Cooley earned a B.A. degree in business administration from Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri, and her Juris Doctor degree from the University of Minnesota.

Reuben V. Anderson, J.D.
Member, Board of Directors

Anderson, former Mississippi Supreme Court Justice and a trailblazer in the legal profession, brings a superior record of accomplishments and experience to the board. He was the first African-American since Reconstruction to serve in several high-profile judicial positions including Mississippi Supreme Court Justice (1985-90); Circuit Court Judge, 7th Circuit Court District (1982-85); County Court Judge, Hinds County (1977-82); and Municipal Court Judge, City of Jackson, Mississippi (1975-77). Anderson, the first African-American graduate of the University of Mississippi Law School, also was the first African-American to occupy the Jamie L. Whitten Chair of Law and Government at that institution. In 1997, Anderson served as the first African-American president of the Mississippi Bar Association. Anderson currently serves as a fellow of the Mississippi Bar Foundation and as a director of the boards of numerous businesses and organizations. He is a partner in the law firm of Phelps Dunbar, L.L.P. He is also a member of numerous professional organizations.

Reginald E. Jones, J.D.
Member, Board of Directors

Jones brings great leadership and expertise to the board from his prior leadership positions and employment experiences. He was nominated to the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) by President Clinton and unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate for a term that ran from 1996 to 2000. Prior to his appointment to the EEOC, Jones was senior legislative counsel in the office of Senator James M. Jeffords, R-Vt. From 1989 to 1993, he was minority counsel and staff director of the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Labor. During his Senate tenure, Jones was significantly involved in the enactment of many landmark legislative issues, including the Civil Rights Act of 1991, The Family and Medical Leave Act, and the Americans with Disabilities Act. Jones is an attorney in the Washington, D.C., office of DLA Piper US, LLP. Jones received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Yale University and a law degree from New York University’s School of Law.

John I. Douglas
Member, Board of Directors

Douglas has more than 30 years of experience managing Job Corps’ operations and as a corporate executive. The Kansas City native is a graduate of Kansas City Junior College, the University of Missouri-Kansas City and Baylor University. He has done postgraduate work as well. Before launching his career in Job Corps, Douglas was a teacher and counselor in the Missouri school system. Douglas has spent much of his career in Job Corps, including director of guidance and deputy center director at the Pine Knot Job Corps Center; field program specialist at the Job Corps Regional Office in Kansas City, Missouri; recruitment and placement branch chief, Job Corps Regional Office, Kansas City, Missouri; deputy regional director, Job Corps, Kansas City; CETA federal representative, ETA, Kansas City, Missouri; financial/grant manager, ETA, Kansas City, Missouri; and regional director, Region VII/VIII, Job Corps. After 34 years with the Job Corps program he retired from federal service in 1999. He currently serves as a member of the National Job Corps Association board of directors.

Sam Devore, CPA
Executive Vice President

Devore is responsible for the day-to-day management of the corporation. A certified public accountant, his career with MINACT began in 1980. Prior to joining MINACT, Devore worked in the banking industry in various senior management-level positions. He also worked for two years in Nairobi, Kenya, for the Baptist Mission of East Africa, and served in the U.S. Air Force. A native of Illinois, Devore received a Master of Accounting Science degree and a B.A. degree in economics from the University of Illinois at Urbana, Illinois. He also has an M.B.A. degree from Southern Illinois University in Edwardsville.

Jacqueline Beasley, Ph.D.
Vice President of Human Resources/Organizational Development

Beasley joined MINACT in 2002 as vice president of human resources. In her current role, she has primary responsibility for human resources operations and business development. She holds a Doctorate of Philosophy in educational administration and leadership with a cognate in business administration from Jackson State University. Her work experience includes more than 25 years in planning job development and training programs, human resources, and financial management. She earned a B.A. degree in business administration from Alcorn State University, and a Master of Business Administration degree from Delta State University.

Mark Brantley, CPA
Vice President of Fiscal Services

Brantley is a certified public accountant with more than 25 years of Job Corps financial experience. He began his career with MINACT in 1978, the year of the company’s inception. Being among the first employees provided him the opportunity to grow with the company and to experience its climb to success. Brantley is responsible for developing, coordinating and maintaining a procurement and property accountability system for the efficient and effective use of corporate resources. He received a B.A. degree in accounting from Jackson State University in Jackson, Mississippi.

Tom Deuschle
Vice President of Operations

Deuschle has an abundance of experience in workforce development at the state and federal government levels, as well as the private sector. Deuschle served as a regional director for the Job Corps program in the U.S. Department of Labor from 2000 to 2005 before re-joining MINACT in 2006 as a vice president of operations. He oversees the Atlanta regional centers: Dr. Benjamin L. Hooks and Batesville Job Corps centers. Deuschle graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree from Central Missouri State University.

Lyn Dockter-Pinnick
Vice President of Operations

Pinnick’s Job Corps experience began in 1995 as manager of academics at the Quentin N. Burdick Job Corps Center. She joined MINACT’s corporate staff in 2005. Prior to working at MINACT, Pinnick spent more than 20 years in a variety of academic settings. Pinnick now serves as vice president of operations, and is responsible for the oversight of three Job Corps centers in the Dallas region: Quentin N. Burdick, Carville and Shreveport. She received a Bachelor of Science degree in English from Minot State University in Minot, North Dakota, and completed her Master of Arts degree in counseling and guidance at the University of North Dakota.

Patrick Smith
Vice President of Operations

Smith joined the corporate staff as vice president of operations in 2001. He initially joined MINACT as a guidance counselor at the St. Louis Job Corps Center and worked in various positions at the St. Louis and Burdick Job Corps centers. He oversees the St. Louis, Excelsior Springs, and Gerald R. Ford Job Corps centers. Smith graduated from Arizona State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in justice studies in 1988.