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Dallas Native Named General Secretary and CEO for United Women in Faith

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For Immediate Release

June 21, 2023

New York, NY – United Women in Faith (UWF) announced the election of Sally Vonner to the position of General Secretary and Chief Executive Officer, effective June 1, 2023. The May 22 board vote culminated a six-month nationwide search. Vonner is a native of Dallas and will be installed in Dallas on July 29.

Ms. Vonner joined the organization’s national staff in 2010 as Assistant General Secretary of Membership and Leadership Development. Following a reorganization in 2018, she became the Transformation Officer, coordinating the organization’s visioning and strategic development to positively impact the lives of women, children, and youth. She oversaw an organizational rebranding that opened new ways for women to join, introduced program innovations and initiatives, and rolled out United Women in Faith as the new public-facing name.

“Sally is not just a woman who knows this organization but also a visionary who possesses a wealth of knowledge and experience,” said ‘Ainise ‘Isama’u, UWF board president. “She is the kind of leader who understands where we’ve been, where we are, and where we need to go.”

“Sally’s grasp of the current strategic plan will enable her to lead United Women in Faith boldly as we live out our belief that love in action can change the world,” said Cynthia Rives, board vice president. “Equally important, she brings stability in a time of change as she is well grounded in our organization, knowledgeable of our history, and today’s United Women in Faith.”

Vonner is ready for the new challenge.

“My primary focus is to continue and expand the mission and reach of United Women in Faith as we put our love and faith in action to change the world, and work to improve the lives of women, children, and youth around the world,” Vonner said. “I commit to lead with faith and trust in God, the support of the directors, the Program Advisory Group, my colleagues, and most of all, the members of United Women in Faith.

“I look forward to connecting with members, soon to be members, and The United Methodist Church family in the weeks, months, and years to come. Get ready for the awesome future God has for us.”

The Texas native has served The United Methodist Church in several other capacities including women’s retreat leader, and jurisdictional conference delegate and alternate in 2008, 2016, and 2020 representing the North Texas Annual Conference. Ms. Vonner was an organizer for the denomination’s work on immigration assistance, community development initiatives, and dismantling racism work. She was commissioned as a U.S. missionary by the General Board of Global Ministries in 2000 to serve in the North Texas Annual Conference as the Communities of Shalom Coordinator. Ms. Vonner also served as the Associate Director of Connectional Ministries for the North Texas Annual Conference, 2005-2010.

Vonner serves on the boards of The Wesley campus ministry at her alma mater Texas A&M Commerce and is vice president of the New York Justice For Our Neighbors. She is a longtime member of Black Methodists for Church Renewal at the conference, jurisdiction, and national levels. She is also part of a women’s leadership cohort with J.P. Morgan Chase’s Community Development division, since 2021.

She  is a graduate of Perkins School of Theology with a Master of Divinity and Women’s Studies Certification and Texas A&M Commerce with a Bachelor of Science in Biology.

A longtime member of First United Methodist Church of Grand Prairie, Texas, she regularly attends Teaneck United Methodist Church in New Jersey, where she is a member of the local United Women in Faith group. She is an active member of the Bergen County Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. Vonner enjoys spending time with her adult children, Wesley and Lessie, reading, walking, and traveling.

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What Makes A Good Spokesperson?

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If you’ve ever been enthralled with a news program or advertisement, it’s because the person delivering the message or the message itself captured your attention. Once your interest was piqued, you couldn’t turn away. This begs the question, ‘what makes a good spokesperson?’ In this video, I share a tips to help you become a great spokesperson.

First, a good spokesperson knows their audience. Before they speak, they know who they’re communicating to, and what their audience needs to hear.  When they receive interview requests, they vet the requests from the standpoint of who is the audience and is this an audience I should be communicating with; or is someone else better positioned to do so. Good spokespeople do not speak just to be speaking, but rather to deliver an impactful message.

Next, a good spokesperson avoids jargon and speaks in plain language. Do you have a friend who loves the ‘big words?’ In his book, “On Writing,” author and screenwriter Stephen King advised writers to ‘never use a big word when a small one will do.’ I agree with the sentiment believes it applies to writers as well as communicators. Jargon or poorly selected word choices – when your audience doesn’t use those words – could complicate understanding. Since we communicate to be heard, its important to eliminate anything that makes it harder for our audience to hear us. Why? Because in organizing, we want our audience to hear us and then act. So, make it easy for them to do so. 

A good spokesperson understands that its not what they say, but what their audience hears that makes a difference. They take time to research their audience as well as the current political environment. They are mindful of the contemporary meanings of words, and how those words can trigger support or upset. They speak so that their audience understands and hears.

For other tips, see this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFD-IuFz1fY&t=10s.

Be sure to go to this YouTube page and like, subscribe and share if you find this content helpful.

In 2022, Newsletters and Newsletter Curators Will Be a Communicator’s Best Friend

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By Jennifer R. Farmer

Years ago, communicators focused on sharing a client’s message with the media and the media alone. More recently, communicators have learned that to deliver a message, they must communicate with members of the media as well as bloggers, podcasters, influencers and micro-influencers. But once again, communicators are needing to be creative about how to communicate a message or amplify a cause.

The media has been contracting for years and that contraction presents an opportunity to rethink what we mean when we say “media.” As the media contracts, journalists are under increasing pressure to cultivate loyal followings. Publications not only want journalists to write well and to write expeditiously, they also want them to garner likes and follows on social media. The more traffic a website receives, the more the outlet can charge for advertising. And as journalists are asked to do more to lure in readers, the people who engage journalists will also need to do more.

Why Is This Happening?

The shift to a 24/7 news cycle has meant that media outlets must constantly produce content and do so while keeping costs as low as possible. Additionally, the switch to digital versus print means that outlets have lost valuable advertising resources. That has led to cuts in newsrooms across the country.

That leaves people who love to write and tell compelling stories in a challenging situation; their passion must be split between the newsrooms that employ them and their personal brand. In today’s media landscape, a personal brand is like insurance. It will protect you from storms and unforeseen emergencies. Therefore, the currency for journalists is no longer how well or how quickly one writes but rather the expansiveness of their brand and network. That makes journalists even more concerned about building their platform.

One of the ways they’re doing that is by identifying their audience, curating email and text lists, and distributing newsletters and other communications. They are going directly to the consumer. In fact, I can think of several journalists who no longer work for media publications but instead produce and distribute their own newsletters.

For people who want to amplify critical work, it is no longer enough to rely on the media in the traditional sense. They must focus on communicating with anyone with a platform, whether they work for a mainstream outlet or a fledging personal enterprise. In 2022, newsletters and newsletter curators will be a communicator’s best friend.

GOV. PHIL MURPHY’S DIVISION OF INVESTMENT, ALONG WITH BLACKROCK ALTERNATIVE ADVISORS & CLIFFWATER LLC SUED FOR RACIAL DISCRIMINATION, RETALIATION AND FRAUD BY NEW JERSEY’S MOST PROMINENT BLACK ASSET MANAGER

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For Immediate Release

NEWARK, NJ – Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy’s Department of the Treasury, Division of Investment (DOI), BlackRock Alternative Advisors, and Cliffwater LLC, were named as Defendants in a federal lawsuit filed today. Wigdor LLP filed the suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey on behalf of Blueprint Capital Advisors on Tuesday, June 23, 2020.

The Complaint details allegations against the Defendants regarding their misappropriation and improper use of proprietary information obtained from Blueprint, a Black-owned firm. Blueprint alleges that, in the course of investment-related due diligence with DOI and Cliffwater, confidential information and trade secrets regarding their business plans and a new and innovative investment program designed and developed by Blueprint called “FAIR” was improperly handed over to BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, whose executive management is predominantly composed of white men.

“Blueprint was exploited for its innovative and advantageous business concept and its status as a Black-owned firm was used as a justification for this injustice,” said Lawrence M. Pearson, a partner at Wigdor LLP, the firm representing Blueprint. “As the Complaint makes clear, a DOI official admitted the discriminatory reason for Blueprint being cast aside for BlackRock, whose own CEO has acknowledged its serious shortcomings regarding diversity. Through their alleged actions, BlackRock and the New Jersey DOI both betrayed the public trust and did their best to hobble a promising minority-owned business.”

As the Complaint states, the DOI and Cliffwater, including various involved individuals who are named as Defendants personally, are accused of promising a contractual relationship and $500 million investment to Blueprint in exchange for the exclusive right to adopt Blueprint’s FAIR program.  Blueprint received requests that went far beyond normal due diligence documents, including business plans, profit and loss projections, fee models and spreadsheets, negotiating methods, term sheets and prospective client lists, which Blueprint judiciously guarded through, among other things, non-disclosure agreements, employee confidentiality agreements, disclaimers, and watermarks on documents.

After Blueprint transferred over one thousand pages of confidential information in over one hundred emails and participated in over 50 conference calls and meetings, the Defendants never proposed Blueprint to the State Investment Council.  Instead, after giving multiple excuses for delays in the approval process, the DOI secretly transferred Blueprint’s trade secrets to BlackRock and proposed BlackRock usurp Blueprint’s FAIR program and intellectual property.

As Blueprint alleges, in the aftermath of the revelation that Blueprint’s investment opportunity and confidential information had been misappropriated, a New Jersey official admitted to Blueprint that the State of New Jersey’s State Investment Council “is not a fan of doing business with women-owned or minority-owned firms.” The official also told Blueprint that, if the firm was ever going to be approved, its materials had to be cleansed of any mention of its Black-owned status.

The suit alleges improper use of a confidential business idea, unfair competition, unjust enrichment, racial discrimination and retaliation, and other claims.

“As our complaint states, when Blueprint approached the Murphy Administration and the DOI about its wrongdoing, which was documented, the DOI refused to investigate the matter and instead retaliated against Blueprint in a way seemingly designed to destroy the firm,” said Jacob Walthour, Jr., Blueprint co-founder and CEO. “The industry should recognize that years of attempts by Blueprint to address this situation were ignored and rebuffed by the Defendants.  Sadly, even today, a Black-owned firm like Blueprint has no voice and to get justice from the powerful Murphy Administration, Wall Street’s biggest firm, and one of its more influential institutional consultants, it was necessary to file this complaint in a court of law.”

Under the administration of Gov. Phil Murphy, the DOI has not approved a new minority- or female-owned investment manager in his first 24 months in office. Nor has the administration hired a Black or Latino investment officer.  According to the Complaint, Blueprint’s leadership was told that “investing in minority-owned firm’s is against our fiduciary responsibility,” by a senior Murphy Administration official in July 2018.

At least six current and former New Jersey state employees are involved in the lawsuit’s allegations, including:

  • Elizabeth Maher Muoio, Treasurer, State of New Jersey
  • Dini Ajmani, Assistant Treasurer, State of New Jersey
  • Samantha Rosenstock, former Head of Investments, Division of Investment
  • Jason MacDonald, former Senior Portfolio Manager at Division of Investment
  • Christopher McDonough, former Director of the Division of Investment
  • Corey Amon, Director of New Jersey’s Division of Investment

To see the full complaint, click here.

“The events of the past four years have caused Blueprint, each of its employees, and their families tremendous pain – not just financial pain but emotional pain,” said Jacob Walthour, Jr., co-founder of Blueprint Capital Advisors. To have someone deny you because you are Black is both humiliating and humbling. I have been doing this for 30 years and my track record, titles, reputation and success meant nothing here. It’s really simple. They liked Carrie and my idea. For factors outside of our control, they just didn’t like us.”

“Sadly, the treatment of Blueprint is indicative of how things really go down when no one is looking,” Walthour said. “There is an entrenched ‘good old boys’ network in Trenton and the DOI that has never worked to the benefit of minorities or women,” concluded Walthour.

Senator Ron Rice, Chair of the New Jersey Association of Black Legislators called on the Murphy Administration to launch a formal investigation into the allegations a year ago and again in 2020, but Murphy has so far resisted. Rice said in a letter addressed to the administration, “What happened to Blueprint and Mr. Walthour, over the course of the last four years, appears to be a modern-day lynching and is a stain and a black eye on the State of New Jersey. . . I believe the neglect of his request to be heard and meet face to face never would have happened if Mr. Walthour were not African-American.”

Blueprint Capital Advisors is seeking declaratory, injunctive and equitable relief to obtain a court order that Defendants correct and reverse their alleged discriminatory practices, as well as monetary damages.

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Blueprint was founded in 2015 by Jacob Walthour Jr. and Carrie Pickett. The two sought to provide clients with an investment vehicle focused on reducing the costs associated with alternative investment strategies. Collectively, Mr. Walthour and Ms. Pickett have over fifty years’ experience working for some of the most prestigious firms in the financial services industry.  They worked together in the investment management division of Cowen & Company prior to founding Blueprint Capital Advisors.

Contact: Jennifer Farmer, jenniferr@spotlightpr.org,