Associate Board Founding Members

Cedric Johnson, President/Chair

Cedric Johnson is the Community Relations Manager with Madison Gas & Electric. He works specifically with diverse communities to ensure inclusive and fair access to services and products, in addition to overseeing strategic partnerships. He previously served as the Director of Development & Communications for Briarpatch Youth Services, where he led the campaign to raise $3 million for Dane County’s first and only shelter dedicated to homeless youth. He has also worked in major gift development and public relations for Madison Children’s Museum and the American Red Cross.

Cedric’s community service includes board positions with Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, Boys & Girls Club of Dane County, and New Bridge, among others. Outside of work and volunteering, he enjoys traveling, long runs through UW Arboretum, film, art, and Madison’s extensive selection of restaurants.

Emily Henry, Membership Chair

Emily Henry is a native of Dane County and now lives in DeForest with her daughter, Harper. She received her bachelors degree from Arizona State University and works as a Client Relationship Manager at Design Concepts, a strategic innovation and product design firm. Emily currently serves as President of the Alumni Association and ex-officio member of the Board of Trustees at Madison Country Day School in Waunakee.

Emily joined the Boys & Girls Club of Dane County’s Associate Board to help drive community awareness and growth of this outstanding organization.

Josh Lindquist, Treasurer

Josh Lindquist is a native of Minnesota but grew up living throughout the Midwest. After graduating from Bethany Lutheran College, he came to Wisconsin as a YMCA camp counselor and waterski instructor and has called Madison home for the last 17 years. He currently works for Nutanix, a cloud computing software company, as a territory manager. His pride and joy are his 4 sons, triplets 10-years (Andrew, Benji, and Chris) and a 15-year-old Michael. They spend their time playing on devices, playing soccer, karate, and playing legos.

Natalie Lonergan, Secretary

Natalie is currently the HR Generalist at Palmer Johnson Power Systems where she has been for over two years. She currently holds her Master’s degree in Human Resources and the SHRM-CP certification and enjoys learning new things in HR and business. Natalie believes in giving back to the public of Dane County and has a sincere passion for helping the youth of the community expand their opportunities and networks.

Prenicia Clifton, Community Relations Liaison

Prenicia is native of Kansas City, MS and a graduate of the UW-Madison. She has nearly 2 decades of precollege and youth programming experience and has served in counselor and management roles in pre college and youth programs for Upward Bound; PEOPLE-Madison, WI; CSDongliang- Chicago, IL and Shanghai China; and Academia Europea Florence, Italy. Prenicia is currently the Director of Youth Programs and Compliance at the University of Wisconsin-Madison serving nearly 250,000 students per year. She is trained in youth behavior and assessments as well as Youth Mental Health First Aid.

Prenicia is an accomplished opera singer with international performance credits from opening opera houses with Placido Domingo to sharing the stage with opera greats like Renee Fleming, and Denyce Graves. She plans to invest her musical talents in youth programs through her annual Songs for Hope Benefit Gala this holiday season.

Associate Board Voting Members

Allison Kelley

Anna Petrie

Danielle Oest

Greg Albert

Jennifer O’Rourke

Marlita Bevenue

Sarah Hughes

Associate Board Adjunct Non-Voting Members

Alex Murray, Director of Special Events, BGC

Carly Schleif, Development Assistant, BGC

Jake Brown, Director of Donor Relations, BGC

Janine Stephens, Chief Development Officer, BGC

For more information, check out the Associate Board Informational Flyer.