Board of Directors
Chairman of the Board
R. Omar Casimire
R. Omar Casimire is a researcher and nonprofit CEO, and founder of the Katrina National Memorial Museum in New Orleans. During Hurricane Katrina, he was in the National Memorial Convention Center taking the names and contact information of thousands of people displaced by the storm. That list evolved into a book, Katrina List, as well as a vision: The Katrina National Memorial Foundation and Museum. For the past 15 years, he has gathered documentation, interviews, and artifacts related to the hurricane, as well as advocated for displaced persons. In constructing a memorial and museum to commemorate the storm, Mr. Casimire advocates for a seldom-mentioned casualty of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita: the history of New Orleans itself.
Executive Board of Directors
Dr. Kim Marie Coleman, COO
Dr. Coleman received her Ph.D. from Howard University. She holds an M.A. in economics from Stanford University and a B.A. in economics from Howard University. Kim Coleman joined the faculty of Dillard University in August 2005 as an assistant professor in the Department of Marketing. In July 2006, she was appointed Chairperson of Economics and Finance. Previously, she worked as a Financial Economist in the Office of Tax and Economic Policy for the Government of the District of Colombia. Dr. Coleman’s research interests are numerous, including urban economics, tax revenue estimation, economic modeling, and local tax policy. Dr. Coleman is on the Katrina National Memorial Foundation Executive Board.
Dr. Athema L. Etzioni, DVM,MS, Dipl, ACVP
Dr. Athema L. Etzioni is a Board Certified Veterinary Clinical Pathologist. She was home schooled and entered college at Xavier University of Louisiana at New Orleans in the Spring of 1994, and received her BS degree in Biology Pre-Medicine in the Spring of 1997. That Fall she was accepted into Tuskegee University College of Veterinary Medicine, Nursing & Allied Health (Now Tuskegee University College of Veterinary Medicine, TUCVM). She received her Doctorate of Veterinary Medicine degree in May 2001 and Certificate of Internship in Clinical Pathology from TUCVM and went on to complete a Veterinary Clinical Pathology Residency program and Masters degree at Purdue University in 2005. Dr. Etzioni has worked in research, academic, Government, Corporate, and private sectors of Veterinary Medicine. Dr. Etzioni is currently, Vice Chair of the Katrina National Memorial Foundation.
Jody McAfee Richardson, CNHP, Consultant, Katrina Memorial Museum Designer, Lecturer
Jody has spent the last 45 years in the Art and Design world as well as teaching Natural Lifestyle. The
intersection of Design and Nature is Eco-conscious Community Architecture, such as the Katrina
Memorial Museum Project, a place of education about our responsibility to the natural world. Mrs.
McAfee Richardson is on the Katrina National Memorial Foundation Executive Board.
Donna Pilot-Miller, M.S. Architecture, B.S. Mechanical Engineering, LEED AP
Mrs. Donna Pilot-Miller is an experienced construction manager skilled in implementing and managing portfolios of new construction or rehabilitation projects; which includes planning, cost estimating, code review, and schedule analysis inspections. She has done independent consulting work with architectural and construction management firms, construction companies and government agencies. Projects included Public Building Commission of Chicago’s school development program, finalizing construction closeout documents, final inspections, obtaining permits and certificates of occupancy. She has also coordinated ADA/504 upgrades in dwelling units at senior apartment complexes. Mrs. Pilot-Miller is on the Katrina National Memorial Foundation Executive Board.
Garrett Miller - Grant Administrator and Asset Manager
Garrett Miller is a multifaceted professional with extensive expertise in communications, promotion, and advertising for both companies and organizations. As a Howard University graduate with a Bachelor of Arts degree, Garrett excels at identifying and leveraging innovative trends in media and digital content development. His distinctive customer service skills and diplomatic approach to problem-solving have consistently proven effective in various roles.
Currently, Garrett serves as the Grant Administrator and Asset Manager for the Katrina National Memorial Foundation. Established immediately after Hurricane Katrina, the organization is dedicated to commemorating the lives lost in the hurricane’s aftermath through the creation of a museum and memorial park. In his role, Garrett manages technical details and coordinates partnerships, contributing to the foundation’s success and growth.
Katie Thomas - Board Member
Katie Thomas is a dedicated Board Member of the Katrina National Memorial Foundation and a highly respected investigative genealogist with Moxxy Forensic Investigations. She brings extensive experience in historical research, nonprofit service, and forensic investigation to her role at KNMF.
As a lead researcher, Ms. Thomas has contributed to numerous projects involving archival recovery, ancestry verification, and the documentation of untold narrative skills that directly support the Foundation’s mission to preserve the legacy of Hurricane Katrina and promote cultural truth-telling.
Her investigative and nonprofit background also supports KNMF’s major initiatives, such as The Katrina List, The Casimire Family Ancestry Project, and Enslaved/History in Bondage. Katie Thomas’s precision, dedication to truth, and commitment to public history make her a vital part of the Foundation’s leadership and long-term vision.
Jennifer Ward - Board Member
Jennifer Ward is a seasoned arts professional and the Director of Art Conscious, with over 30 years of experience across all aspects of the art industry. As a Board Member of the Katrina National Memorial Foundation, she brings deep expertise in visual storytelling, cultural preservation, and creative curation.
Her leadership in the art world has shaped exhibitions, community art programs, and cultural initiatives that span both nonprofit and commercial sectors. At KNMF, Ms. Ward plays a key role in guiding the development of visual and interpretive components for projects such as The Katrina List, Enslaved/History in Bondage, and the Traveling Exhibit Series.
Through her artistic vision and dedication to cultural healing, Jennifer Ward helps ensure that the Foundation’s work not only informs but inspires, using art as a powerful tool for memory, justice, and transformation.
Currently, Garrett serves as the Grant Administrator and Asset Manager for the Katrina National Memorial Foundation. Established immediately after Hurricane Katrina, the organization is dedicated to commemorating the lives lost in the hurricane’s aftermath through the creation of a museum and memorial park. In his role, Garrett manages technical details and coordinates partnerships, contributing to the foundation’s success and growth.
Danita Bright - Board Member
Danita Bright serves as a committed Board Member of the Katrina National Memorial Foundation, where she supports the organization’s mission of historical preservation, education, and community empowerment. Known for her strong leadership and collaborative spirit, Ms. Bright contributes to strategic planning and public engagement initiatives that advance the Foundation’s impact.
Her guidance is especially valuable in shaping programs such as The Katrina List, The Casimire Family Ancestry Project, and the Foundation’s outreach to schools and cultural institutions. With a deep connection to the legacy of Hurricane Katrina and a passion for truth and remembrance, Danita Bright helps ensure KNMF’s work remains rooted in compassion, accountability, and justice.
Currently, Garrett serves as the Grant Administrator and Asset Manager for the Katrina National Memorial Foundation. Established immediately after Hurricane Katrina, the organization is dedicated to commemorating the lives lost in the hurricane’s aftermath through the creation of a museum and memorial park. In his role, Garrett manages technical details and coordinates partnerships, contributing to the foundation’s success and growth.
John J. Pierre - Board Member
John J. Pierre is a celebrated New Orleans jazz musician and a committed Board Member of the Katrina National Memorial Foundation. Deeply rooted in the cultural and musical traditions of New Orleans, he brings a rich artistic perspective to the Foundation’s work in remembrance, healing, and heritage preservation.
As a lifelong advocate for community-based cultural expression, Mr. Pierre supports KNMF’s mission through musical storytelling, public engagement, and participation in initiatives such as The Katrina List, The Traveling Exhibit Series, and commemorative events honoring the legacy of Hurricane Katrina.
His unique contribution as a musician and cultural bearer helps ensure that the soul of New Orleans remains at the heart of the Foundation’s vision for education, resilience, and truth.
Mr. Watkins has dedicated his career to interpreting African American and global diasporic experiences through visual storytelling, historical research, and public art. His work has been exhibited and commissioned across the United States and abroad, reflecting a lifelong commitment to education, justice, and cultural truth.
At KNMF, he contributes his expertise to initiatives such as The Katrina List and Enslaved/History in Bondage, helping to develop interpretive materials, murals, and documentary components that engage diverse audiences. Through his leadership, Ivan B. Watkins ensures that art, history, and healing remain at the center of the Foundation’s mission.Garrett Miller is a multifaceted professional with extensive expertise in communications, promotion, and advertising for both companies and organizations. As a Howard University graduate with a Bachelor of Arts degree, Garrett excels at identifying and leveraging innovative trends in media and digital content development. His distinctive customer service skills and diplomatic approach to problem-solving have consistently proven effective in various roles.
Currently, Garrett serves as the Grant Administrator and Asset Manager for the Katrina National Memorial Foundation. Established immediately after Hurricane Katrina, the organization is dedicated to commemorating the lives lost in the hurricane’s aftermath through the creation of a museum and memorial park. In his role, Garrett manages technical details and coordinates partnerships, contributing to the foundation’s success and growth.
Ivan Watkins - Board Member
Ivan B. Watkins is a nationally and internationally recognized fine and public artist, muralist, ethno-historian, lecturer, filmmaker, and arts educator. As a Board Member of the Katrina National Memorial Foundation, he brings a powerful interdisciplinary perspective to the preservation of memory, culture, and community resilience.
Mr. Watkins has dedicated his career to interpreting African American and global diasporic experiences through visual storytelling, historical research, and public art. His work has been exhibited and commissioned across the United States and abroad, reflecting a lifelong commitment to education, justice, and cultural truth.
At KNMF, he contributes his expertise to initiatives such as The Katrina List and Enslaved/History in Bondage, helping to develop interpretive materials, murals, and documentary components that engage diverse audiences. Through his leadership, Ivan B. Watkins ensures that art, history, and healing remain at the center of the Foundation’s mission.Garrett Miller is a multifaceted professional with extensive expertise in communications, promotion, and advertising for both companies and organizations. As a Howard University graduate with a Bachelor of Arts degree, Garrett excels at identifying and leveraging innovative trends in media and digital content development. His distinctive customer service skills and diplomatic approach to problem-solving have consistently proven effective in various roles.
Currently, Garrett serves as the Grant Administrator and Asset Manager for the Katrina National Memorial Foundation. Established immediately after Hurricane Katrina, the organization is dedicated to commemorating the lives lost in the hurricane’s aftermath through the creation of a museum and memorial park. In his role, Garrett manages technical details and coordinates partnerships, contributing to the foundation’s success and growth.
Advisory Board
Ze Daluz
Deeply interested in working towards community goals, Zé has committed many unpaid hours to organizations ranging from Recycle for the Arts to the Katrina National Memorial Park Foundation. Utilizing skills such as grant researching and writing, internet research, graphic design, photography, website design, and networking, she has helped build and fund non-profits as well as worked at the basic levels of volunteering (for example, literacy tutoring).
Her interests also lie with the arts, and she has been a member of many arts organizations, ranging from the board of the Louisiana Crafts Guild to the just-for-fun New Orleans Fiber
Artists. She has been a member of the Mission Utopia Community Garden since 2002 and enjoys the fruit (and vegetables) of her labor.
Always interested in local politics and community issues, she is a past Vice President of the Bywater Neighborhood Association and regularly comments on important neighborhood issues.
Zé’s passion is people, and her ability to support and work with others is well-known by her friends and fellow project participants. She is equally comfortable being devoted to one task as
she is working towards multiple end goals. The most important thing for Zé is to feel that her energies are being spent on worthwhile tasks, things that will make a difference in the world.
Geisha DePina
Geisha’s skills include space planning, color coordination, furniture procurement, and project management with a focus in contract interiors. She has over 20 years experience in designing
the interiors of restaurants, retail spaces, offices, educational institutions, healthcare facilities, and residences. Incorporating “green” design principles to each project, Geisha looks for
opportunity to implement sustainability while keeping the project budget at the forefront. Her keen business acumen contributes to the success of each project — insisting on the delivery of
a quality design plan, augmenting form and function with aesthetic, regardless of the project scale.
Favorite project: Essence Magazine’s Los Angeles offices
“…When you enhance an environment, you enhance life.”
Remahn Farley - Director of Digital Marketing and Web Development
Remahn Farley serves as Director of Digital Marketing and Web Development for the Katrina National Memorial Foundation, a role he has held since the organization’s earliest days.
Remahn first met founder R. Omar Casimire while working on a city-wide Census project in the years after Katrina, and has worked alongside him ever since to translate the Foundation’s vision into a digital presence. He built the Foundation’s website and the donor infrastructure behind its fundraising campaigns from the ground up, and has supplied the digital assets and supporting materials behind successful grant asks to funders including the Institute of Museum and Library Services and the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities.
That work has made the Foundation the leading online destination for its subject. KNMF holds a top-three position in Google for every major search term related to the Katrina museum and memorial, drawing more than 5,500 visitors and 112,000 impressions in a recent sixteen-month period, and serving nearly 28,000 people since tracking began. For an organization preserving the memory of a disaster, being the first result people find is not a marketing metric. It is the difference between a story being told accurately and being told by someone else.
A New Orleans native and marketing strategist with more than fifteen years of experience, Remahn has specialized in search since 2002 and now focuses on how organizations remain visible as search shifts toward AI-driven and answer-based discovery. He is the founder of SwaggerBrand, and holds a B.S. in Engineering Physics from Xavier University of Louisiana with graduate coursework in Computer Engineering and AI at Northwestern University.
His family’s roots run through New Orleans soul and funk and Southern University’s Human Jukebox. He lived through Katrina here, which is why this work has never been a client engagement to him.
Kimberley Richards, Ed.D - Interim Executive Director, Core Trainer/Organizer and National Organizer with The People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond
Kimberley served as Executive Director of Southwest Gardens Economic Development Corporation until 2006. Southwest Gardens Economic Development Corporation is a neighborhood organizing, community-based organization in Farrell, PA. Kimberley Richards is a graduate of Clark College, where she studied education and theater. She received a Masters degree in education from Westminster College, PA. Richards completed a doctoral program of study in Education at the University of Pittsburgh as a Lilly Endowment Fellow in 1995. Kimberley Richards has studied education and theater arts and in London, England, and fabric arts in The Gambia, West Africa. As a classroom educator, Dr. Richards has worked with children and their families in Atlanta, Washington DC, New Orleans, and Farrell, PA. Currently, Kimberley Richards resides in Picayune, Mississippi.
Kimberley has been involved and serving the The People’s Institute of Survival and Beyond since 1989. She began as a participant in the Undoing Racism (URW) workshop. Richards became an organizer of URW trainings during the time she served as director of the MAC Education Fund in New Orleans. Kimberley, then, became a board member and in 1997 she earned her position as Core Trainer. Dr. Richards’ interests are reflective practice and assessment, as well as documentation and evaluation from a humanistic and anti-racist approach. She is, now, Interim Executive Director and Core Trainer/Organizer at The People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond.
DONATE
Katrina National Memorial Foundation is a 501(c)3 charitable foundation committed to honoring and serving the memory of the victims and families of Hurricane Katrina.
Support KNMF’s archival and educational initiatives by giving to KNMF or
supporting the KNMF@NOAAM exhibition program in collaboration with NOAAM.
When you make a tax deductible donation, we cherish the trust you’ve placed in us. Our mission is to do good whether through performance, raising awareness of Hurricane Katrina and it’s devastation, or providing much needed service and education to children interested in learning more about Green energy all over the globe through our Katrina National Memorial Museum.
Regardless of the size of your contribution, we hope you’ll join us in remembering those who were great contributors to the culture of our great city.