About Us » Staff

Since 1998, Kristina Marshall has been advancing Winning Futures to be a top-rate school-based mentoring program. In fact, in 1994, Kris was in the first student group to participate in Winning Futures in the Warren Consolidated School District and Sam Cupp, the program’s founder, was her personal mentor. Kris has made the organization her life's mission.

She earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from Michigan Technological University, a Master of Arts in Educational Leadership from Oakland University, is a graduate of Leadership Macomb and of the Michigan Nonprofit Association's Executive Leadership Fellows. Kris has received numerous awards including the 2005 RARE Foundation “Everyday Hero Award, the 2006 International Athena Award from the Macomb Business Chamber for her dedication to the community and providing leadership development to women, and Crain’s “40 under 40” award in 2008.

Kris speaks nationally about mentoring, implementing youth development activities that focus on life skills, goal setting, and career planning, and the importance of creating corporate mentoring programs to develop your employees.  

Laurie Tarter – Program Director

Laurie has been with Winning Futures since 1997. She leads efforts to design the program curriculum and implement the program into our schools. Combining enthusiasm with an energetic speaking style, Laurie is a motivational and inspirational facilitator specializing in goal setting strategies, lessons on the importance of PMA (positive mental attitude), and character education. With more than 20 years of business experience in sales, marketing, customer service, training, educational instruction, and the talent industry, she creates a dynamic spark of audience participation wherever she speaks.  

Melinda Brakenberry – Partnerships Manager

Since 2004, Melinda has been writing grants and developing community relationships to build resources for our students. She coordinates all of our events and manages special activities and programs for students including our scholarship and job shadow programs. Melinda has earned a master degree in Public Affairs from Indiana University and a bachelor degree in Family Studies from Central Michigan University. She is a Leadership Macomb graduate and a member of the American Association of Grant Professionals. Melinda has over 10 years of experience working and volunteering in the human service field. She is passionate about ensuring a healthy future for our community.  

Joan Mantini – Program Facilitator

In 1999, Joan participated in Winning Futures as a high school senior, and then worked for the program throughout college. In 2007, she rejoined the team as the lead facilitator for our Pontiac program and career workshops. 

Shernitha Gray & Angela Hage – Americorps Members

Shernitha and Angela are both entering their second year of service with Winning Futures.  They support all of our mentoring programs and coordinate activities for the Metro Detroit Mentor Collaboration.