Beverley Francis-Gibson - CEO
Beverley Francis-Gibson is the CEO of Together Women Rise. She previously served as President and CEO of the Sickle Cell Disease Association of America, Inc. (SCDAA) based in Hanover, Maryland and has more than 25 years of experience serving non-profits and community foundations. She has an extensive background in philanthropy, fundraising, grant writing and organizational management. She has worked on behalf of women and girls through her professional and personal career.She has also led organizations whose mission addressed issues of mental illness, HIV and AIDS, homelessness/poverty, domestic violence, and women's issues.
Beverley has served on Duke University’s Women’s Services Advisory Council which was committed to gender equity and social change; took part in the YWCA’s Race Shall Not Divide Us Initiative and participated in the Women’s Giving Circle in Maryland. She was a member of a women’s delegation to Kostroma through the Sister Cities’ Program in Durham, North Carolina, and in 2019 was a featured speaker at the 63rd Session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women, which focused on social protection systems, access to public services and sustainable infrastructure for gender equality, and the empowerment of women and girls.
She served as a Board Member of the Global Patient Advocacy Advisory Board on Sickle Cell Disease; founding Board Member of the Global Alliance on Sickle Cell Disease Organizations and co-chair of the Governance Committee; and, as a member of the Steering Committee for the Black Women’s Health Imperative, met with the Biden/Harris Transition Team to discuss health disparities in the United States for women and girls.
She is Past Chair of the Board of Directors of Maryland Nonprofits. She is a 2009 Leadership Premiere Graduate and previous Board member of Leadership Howard County. She is a proud member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.
Beverley created “Leadership Conversations”, a quarterly gathering of nonprofit Executive Directors who share best practices, network, and hear from engaging speakers on various topics. Currently, she mentors Executive Directors through her affiliation with the Association of Community Services.
She has been a dynamic instructor on fundraising, grant writing, and philanthropy at Duke University’s Nonprofit Management Program and at the University of Chapel Hill in Durham and Chapel Hill, North Carolina, respectively. She has been a popular speaker and webinar presenter at the Maryland Governor’s Conference on Grant Making for several years. She is the recipient of several leadership awards and recently received a Certificate of Congressional Recognition for her advocacy efforts in Washington D.C.
A native of St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands, Beverley holds a B.A. in Public Relations and Communications and an M.A. in Industrial and Community Counseling from Eastern Kentucky University, Richmond Kentucky. She and her husband enjoy cooking, traveling, and spending time with their adult children.Follow
