Mar 15, 2020
James “Ray” Rhodes, BArch, MBA, MAT
EXECUTIVE LEADER, ARCHITECT, COMMUNITY ACTIVIST, EDUCATOR
James “Ray” Rhodes is an executive leader, architect, community
planner/activist and educator. Through his diverse technical and
professional background, Ray has dedicated his life to assisting
those less fortunate with reaching their full potential. Ray
currently serves as the Executive Director of Christina Cultural Arts
Center. In this position, he is responsible for the day-to-day
operations of the visual, performing arts and educational
initiatives of this community cultural icon dedicated to providing
affordable and quality music/arts education and live performances
to all in a welcoming environment. Ray manages and leads the
budgeting efforts, procurement of goods and services, oversees the
facilities and outlines policies and procedures for Christina.
Ray has accumulated more than 24 years of architectural,
construction project management, code consulting and real estate
development experience. He is also a certified mathematics
instructor, tutor and motivational mentor. Prior to joining the
Christina staff, Ray served as Real Estate Coordinator in the New
Castle County Sheriff’s office where he was responsible for
managing approximately $5.75M in ledger transactions on a monthly
basis and over $1.5B in annual real estate transactions. However,
where Ray has devoted a majority of his time, mostly on a volunteer
basis is in his community assisting non-profit agencies that are
tasked with assisting youth and those who are underserved. As the
current Chairman of the Board of Directors for Kingswood Community
Center and in collaboration with two other agencies, Ray is
assisting with a massive 7-10 year, $150 million dollar fundraising
campaign to redevelop the Riverside area, a community where Ray
spent time as a youth. As the Polemarch (President) of the
Wilmington Alumni Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi, Fraternity Inc., Ray
assisted with the location and the initial fundraising efforts to
purchase the fraternities' current home – The Achievement Center.
As Treasurer of the Board for Henrietta Johnson Medical Center, Ray
was on the joint task force that assisted with raising $2.5 million
dollars for the agency's facility renovations and addition. Ray
also served as Vice-Chairman of the Board for the organization. Ray
is an educator with over (25) years of experience tutoring,
mentoring and teaching youth and adults in traditional and
non-traditional school settings with both non-profits and
for-profit organizations. He assists students with SAT/ACT prep,
GRE, GMAT, ASVAB, and Praxis prep. In addition to his architectural
and teaching degrees, Ray holds an MBA with a concentration in
Executive Leadership from Wesley College and is in between studies
for his Doctoral degree where he is pursuing a Ph.D. in Public
Policy Administration with a concentration in Local Government
Management for Sustainable Communities.
Ray has served in executive-level positions with (6) different
organizations: City of Wilmington as Commissioner of License and
Inspections and Director of Rehabilitation; New Castle County as
Real Estate Coordinator; Kingswood Community Center as Vice-Chair
and Chairman of the Board; Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. on
three levels – local, regional and national as Achievement
Committee Chair; as a Trustee with Cornerstone Fellowship Baptist
Church and as Assistant Chaplain for Union Lodge #21 – Prince Hall
Free and Accepted Masons. Ray is a (21) year military veteran,
married to the former Tammy Pierce and they have (5) children and
(15) grandchildren. Ray is a dynamic, charismatic leader whose
passion focuses on meeting the needs of the constituents,
customers, clients, and stakeholders he serves. He is
self-motivated and driven to succeed and has adopted a philosophy
that allows him to always pursue his passion over his pension and
put the needs of people over his paycheck.