BUILDING FUTURES BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Gyasi Haynes
Board President
Gyasi Haynes is the Director of Project Management at KAI Enterprises. With more than 20 years working in the
industry starting as a Journeyman, Haynes has become a client focused and innovative leader with extensive experience in logistics, procurement and quality assurance. Prior to KAI, Haynes was Principal Owner of Haynes Living, a contracting consulting firm offering project consulting and design/
construction management services. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Business and Project Management from University of Phoenix and an Associate of Science in Engineering Technology from Gwinnett Technical College. Gyasi is an
Executive Board Member for Annie Malone Children & Family Services.
Dr. Gwendolyn Diggs
Dr. Gwendolyn Diggs is an inspiring educator with over 25 years of exemplary educational leadership and keen ethics. Currently the Vice President of Head Start/Early Head Start for Urban League of Metropolitan Saint Louis, Dr. Diggs has previously served as Assistant Superintendent in the Jennings and Ferguson-Florissant School Districts. Her passion for students began as a first and
fourth-grade teacher in the Pattonville School District, where she taught conversational Spanish in an afterschool
program. Dr. Diggs has lived and worked in Panama and Guatemala for the US Army, the American Embassy, and the
overseas branch of Citibank. She has been married for 40 years to Darryl S. Diggs, Sr., and has three adult children and four grandchildren. She is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.
Susan Pruchnicki, FAIA
Susan is a principal at Bond Architects in St. Louis, Missouri. Bond Architects focuses on educational, municipal and commercial projects throughout the St. Louis metro region. Susan’s specialty is creating environments that contribute dramatically to a facility’s functionality, working atmosphere and historical accuracy. She offers a track record of consistently on-time, on-budget projects that exceed client expectations. Sue also co-chairs the Fundraising Committee.
Ken Kranzberg
Ken, chairman of TricorBraun, a leader in the packaging industry, Mr. Kranzberg’s philanthropic efforts helped transform St. Louis’ Grand Center into a vibrant area with the couple’s funding of the Kranzberg Arts Center, the new Marcelle Theatre, and many other initiatives. In old North St. Louis, they rescued a dilapidated building to create Northside Workshop, an art space dedicated to addressing the area’s cultural and community issues.
Mr. Kranzberg sits on the Sam Fox School National Council at Washington University. Over the years, he has received numerous honors, including the 2007 Jane and Whitney Harris St. Louis Community Service Award and a 2015 St. Louis Arts Award for Excellence in Philanthropy from the Arts and Education Council.
Holston Black
Past Board President
Holston Black is an entrepreneur in North St. Louis and a manager at Boeing. He has led teams in systems engineering, lean manufacturing, and training and development. Holston lived in Europe for 8 years, gaining unique experiences in operations, quality, and aerospace supplier development. He has a Bachelor of Science in mechanical aerospace engineering from Princeton University and an MBA from the Northwestern University Kellogg School program with Wissenschaftliche Hochschule fur Unternehmensfuhrung (WHU) in Germany. He is an University City High School graduate and an alum of Inroads, M.I.T.E.S., and the Developing Engineering Students program at McDonnell-Douglas. He is also a board leader of Friends of Confluence Academies, and the Old North St Louis neighborhood.
Jay Reeves, AIA, LEED BD+C
Past Board Vice President
Jay brings a rich experience to Building Futures as an architect, a designer, a maker, a teacher, and a builder. He is a long time St Louis City resident and is a practicing architect at SPACE Architects + Designers + Builders. Jay received a Bachelor of Architecture at Drury University. While there, he began his own Design+Build business. He has lived and practiced in Maine, Guatemala, and St. Louis where has earned multiple local and national design awards for his design work, collaboration with the trades, and design build installations. During our Saturday sessions, you can find Jay sharing his love for teaching and making with Building Futures students, often introducing new projects to the curriculum. Jay also chairs the Long Range Planning Committee.
Barbara A. Geisman, J.D.
As the former Executive Director
for Development under Saint Louis Mayor Francis Slay, Barbara spent nearly a decade managing all aspects of the
Mayor’s economic development policy. She left the Mayor’s office in 2010 to attend law school at Washington University. For dozens of large-scale projects involving urban planning,
federal grants, and tax incentives, Barbara negotiated development strategies and multimillion-dollar budgets while solving a variety of logistical problems, all so developments could successfully advance. She is a licensed architect with more than 40 years of experience in community development.
Leon P. O'Hara
Leon P. O’Hara IV, a St. Louis native, at age 12 began to work in construction with his parents, as they purchased buildings in need of renovation throughout the St. Louis area. A University City High School graduate, Leon attained an Associate’s degree from Ranken Technical College in
Carpentry and Building Construction.
In May of 1998, Leon became Construction Superintendent for
Roberts Brothers Properties, LLC (RBP). In two short years, he became V.P. of Construction. In 2010, he founded Paradigm Builders, LLC, a General Contracting company that also self
performs commercial and multi-family residential carpentry and construction finishes whose office is located in Old North, a few blocks from Building Futures.
John Berendzen
John joined Fox Architects in February 1988, became a partner in 1998 and currently serves as CEO. John guides the strategic vision at Fox in addition to supporting select clients as Principal in Charge. John is a past President of the St. Louis Chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and serves as a trustee of the AIA St. Louis Scholarship Foundation. He serves on the Eliot Society, Washington University Sam Fox School and is a past member of the Sustainability Commission for the City of Webster Groves. John is a registered architect in Missouri and 16 other states.