Board of Directors
Kenneth D. Thompson, Sr.
Chair of BPUSA
Kenneth D. Thompson, Sr., brings a talent for children's and fathers' advocacy cultivated in the public sector. Kenneth’ s experiences as a parent educator, facilitator, mentor and talk show host serve him well as Fatherhood Specialist for the Division of Permanency. His previous assignments include lead host for “The Dad-Show” and the featured facilitator for “Focus on Fathers.” Mr. Thompson is a certified facilitator in multiple national fatherhood curriculums.
Kenneth served as Director of “All American Mentoring Project,” a mentoring program with an emphasis on children from single parent homes and low social economic status. He is the former President of the Board of Trustees for the Pflugerville Independent School District where he was the first African American elected to political office in the Pflugerville community.
Kenneth is also the former Vice President of Texas Caucus of Black School Board Members. Kenneth served as the Vice-Chair for the Austin Advisory Committee addressing Disproportionality within the Welfare System. Kenneth served as the Director of the East Austin Youth Foundation which serves economically disadvantaged youth by providing sports activities while promoting high academic achievement.
Kenneth also served as Board Chair of “A New Entry LLC,” a program charged with providing counseling and transitional housing to formerly incarcerated men. Additionally, he served as the Chairman of the Board of Directors for The Overton Group which focuses on multi-lingual education in Head Start. He served as Vice-President of Parenting Across Color, a Trans Racial Parent Support Group. Kenneth served as the Co-
Chair of the Austin Travis Reentry Planning council
Kenneth was appointed to the National Advisory Board which focuses on Non Resident Fathers in the Child Welfare System. Lastly, Kenneth was appointed to the Community Advisory Board for the Travis County Family Courthouse expansion project. Kenneth recently served the Chair of the Austin's African American Quality of Life Resource Advisory Commission. Kenneth is currently a board member for Solar Austin. Kenneth is a graduate of Southwest Institute of Technology.
Hank retired after 6+ years as President and CEO of the Central Texas Food Bank in November, 2016, after completing a $25 million capital campaign and constructing a state of the art Food Bank to better serve the 21 counties in Central Texas served by the Food Bank.
Prior to that, Hank spent 38 years in the semiconductor industry in various roles – Senior Vice President at Zarlink Semiconductor, President and CEO of Legerity Inc., Vice President and CFO at Actel Corporation and in other financial positions at Applied Materials, National Semiconductor and General Electric.
Hank holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Accounting from San Jose State University.
Hank Perret
Board Member
Frank Ringer comes to the Board of Directors of Building Promise USA with over 20 year of executive management and administrative experience in Human Resources, Healthcare and Social Services. He currently serves as the principle of Frank Ringer & Associates a consulting firm whose client list included: Joint Commission on Hospital Accreditation, GovLease Public Project Finance, IBM Consulting, Deloitte and Touch Consulting, Tyrex Manufacturing, Mental Health Management Services, and the Austin Travis County Re-Entry Roundtable. The firm’s primary focus is on Legislative initiative development, coalition building, best practices presentations, legislative education, data presentation and legislative testimony.
Frank received his BA in Psychology from East Texas State University (1971) and his Master Degree in Health Care Administration from Southwest Texas State University (1982). Frank passion is to mentoring at-risk youth, working with returning citizens and volunteerism.
Frank Ringer
Board Member
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Lynda Frost,
J.D, PhD
Board Member
Lynda Frost, J.D, Ph.D., is the principal of Lynfro Consulting, which she founded in 2018 to leverage her
extensive experience in grant making, program design, strategic planning, and public policy with her
technical expertise in mental health and legal issues to help nonprofits effectively advance their mission.
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Prior to founding Lynfro Consulting, Lynda worked for 14 years at the Hogg Foundation for Mental
Health, where she oversaw major initiatives and grant programs, led strategic and operational planning,
and managed program staff. Lynda is an experienced administrator and attorney with expertise in
human rights, juvenile and criminal justice, special education, and mediation. She served as an Assistant
Vice President in the Division of Diversity and Community Engagement at The University of Texas at
Austin and held appointments as a clinical associate professor in the College of Education and the LBJ
School of Public Affairs, where she taught interdisciplinary graduate seminars on topics such as Mental
Health & Social Policy or Race, Leadership & the School-to-Prison Pipeline. Lynda previously held
academic positions at the University of Virginia Schools of Law and Medicine, the American University in
Cairo, and the University of Richmond School of Law. She has published numerous articles on law and
social justice and was the co-editor of a book entitled The Evolution of Mental Health Law.
Jemerell Rogers is an Influential and transformative Senior-Level Lending Professional with over 20
successful years of combined experience in Lending Management, Profitability Improvement,
Strategic Planning, Tactical Foresight, Loss Mitigation, Compliance, Talent Acquisition, P&L
Accountability, Staff Development, Financial Reporting and Client/Staff Relations.
Demonstrated success leading company growth that exceed multi-million dollar levels while providing
award-winning leadership in highly competitive markets. Possess a strong record of implementing initiatives
that improve operations and revenue through a collaborative approach and transparent cross-
functional communication throughout an organization, holding teams accountable for their
contributions. Adept at driving of revenue volume, market share and company profits.
Jemerell Rogers
Board Member