Team

A graduate of Oberlin College and Case-Western Reserve University’s School of Law, Everett is a member of the State Bar of Ohio and the State Bar of California.

Everett has extensive legal experience in commercial, corporate and real estate transactions, and has consistently demonstrated an effectiveness at handling complex projects and responding to client needs under time constraints.

Everett is an accomplished negotiator with a record of developing creative solutions to complex business and legal problems. Before establishing the Institute, Everett was a principal at Entertainment & Sports Plus (“ESP”), a Southern California based athlete management firm that represented professional athletes, entertainers, entertainment companies and related talent in contract negotiations and provided advice and counsel on financial, personal development and marketing matters.

For over 20 years, Everett was a NFL and NBA certified contract advisor, whose clients included 13 first round draft picks in the NBA and NFL and 3 inductees into the NFL Hall of Fame.

Everett was the first Black attorney/agent to represent multiple 1st round draft picks in the same NFL draft (twice); first and perhaps still the only attorney/agent to represent 1st round draft picks in both the NBA and the NFL in the same year (twice); 1st round draft picks in 5 straight NFL drafts; and 1st round wide receivers in 4 straight NFL drafts.

Everett’s list of “firsts” also includes becoming the first Black attorney in the Office of the City Attorney for the City of Long Beach, where he took the lead on ensuring compliance by developers with Section 3 of the Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Act of 1968 on over $150 million in affordable housing projects and authored the Small Business Enterprise Program for the Port of Long Beach, the nation’s busiest port, to promote participation of small and very small business concerns in Port spending.

Enacted in 2006, the program resulted in the award of over $300 million in construction and planning contracts for small and very small businesses.

Everett got his legal start at Guren, Merritt, Sogg & Cohen in Cleveland, OH in 1977 working under James Bailey, the attorney for former Cleveland Browns (now Baltimore Ravens) owner, Art Modell.

Everett relocated to San Francisco in 1980 and, after a 3-year stint as District Counsel for the U.S. Small Business Administration, joined Heller, Ehrman, White & McAuliffe which was one of the 100 largest law firms in the country.

During his career Everett also served as a Senior Attorney with the Resolution Trust Corporation, the federal agency established to manage the disposition of over $195 billion in S & L assets, Everett developed the strategy for terminating letters of credit in 76 mixed-housing, commercial and retail bond-financed projects, in connection with the winding up of the affairs of the receiverships for 16 thrifts, enabling the government to avoid $628 million in funding obligations.

Everett serves in an Of Counsel capacity to Alvarado Smith, LLP, the largest minority-owned law firm in California.

Kagba Suaray is currently in his 17th year as a Professor of Mathematics and Statistics at California State University, Long Beach.

He serves as Graduate Advisor for one of the largest Applied Statistics masters programs in the state. He has also served as the Director of Upward Bound’s Math Science program at CSULB, and is a product of the McNair scholars’ program which helped him earn his PhD in mathematics from UC San Diego at the age of 25, where he was the recipient of the Eugene Cota Robles Fellowship.

As a founding member of The Hesabu Circle, he strives to empower youth to discover the mathematical greatness that resides within them because of their Blackness, not in spite of it.

“Hesabu” is the Kiswahili word for “Mathematics.” The group of Black mathematics faculty and administrative staff at Southern California campuses who created the Circle did so to create connections for mutual support to break down artificial barriers caused by geography, institution, or academic level and build networks of support that encourage and empower individuals of African descent to envision and achieve excellence in mathematics.

Tyler Barnett is an educational professional dedicated to bringing best-in-class instruction to students of all backgrounds. 

Growing up, Tyler’s family always told him that his job was to do his best in school, and that they would do everything they could to help him reach his goals. Enabled by this support, Tyler was able to make academic achievements over the years including receiving multiple full-ride scholarship offers to college, graduating magna cum laude from the University of Richmond, scoring in the 99th percentile on the GMAT, and graduating from Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, as well as Harvard Business School with first year academic honors.

Tyler has dedicated his career to supporting students to achieve their academic and professional goals as his family and others supported him. He holds the unwavering belief that ALL students are capable of achieving academic excellence when provided the necessary opportunities and support, regardless of their race, nationality, or economic status.