Geraldine Kearse Brookins, Ph.D. is the retired president of Changing Dynamics, a Management Consulting Services Firm. She has held prominent positions in major philanthropic foundations, universities, community and civic organizations, and has successfully displayed leadership skills and her abilities as a knowledgeable and innovative problem solver for leading institutions. In her capacity as Vice President for Programs with Youth and Education, Higher Education, and Social and Economic Community Development at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Dr. Brookins managed a professional staff of 40 individuals and a more than $4 million operational budget. She also supervised the distribution of more than $60 million for the unit’s grant program. A recognized researcher and authority in child development and youth policy, she has authored articles and chapters, co-edited a highly cited book on Black children and served on several editorial boards and university advisory boards.
Dr. Brookins’ consultant work ranges widely, including strategic planning, research and program evaluation, fundraising, and board development and policy development. Her former clients include Ford, W.K. Kellogg, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur, W.T. Grant and the General Mills foundations, in addition to major universities, NIH, NIE, law firms, nonprofits, corporate entities and public schools. As a consultant at Wayne State University she served as Director of the Merrill Palmer Institute of Child and Human Development where she helped revitalize its operations and stature.
She also was an accomplished professor and administrator at Jackson State University, and was a Visiting Professor at the University of Mississippi. Dr. Brookins was the first person of color to hold an endowed chair at the University of Minnesota: The Gamble-Skogmo Land Grant Professor of Child Welfare and Youth Policy with two appointments—The School of Social Work and The Hubert Humphrey School of Public Affairs. She earned an A.B. degree in History from Oberlin College, and a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology and Public Practice from Harvard University. She performed post-doctoral work the Harvard Kennedy School, The University of Michigan School of Business, Stanford University, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, and Cornel University.
Dr. Brookins is a current Trustee and advocate of the Mississippi Museum of Art. She is a past board chair of the Women’s Fund of the Community Foundation of Greater Jackson (now the Women’s Foundation of Mississippi). She was Chair of the Governance Committee and Secretary of the Jackson State University Development Foundation. Dr. Brookins is a Charter Member of the JSU Women’s Council for Philanthropy, which she chaired for several years.
She is married to Phillip J. Brookins, Esq. and has one son David, who lives with his wife, Shauna. They are the caregivers of Dr. Brookins’ “Wonders of the World”—Addison, Matthew and Jason.
