Theodore A. Adams, III
Mr. Theodore A. Adams, III is President and CEO of Unified Industries Inc. (UII), the company his father started in 1970. Mr. Adams has a legacy of community service, having served on the Board of Governors for St. Stephens and St. Agnes School and on various not-for-profit boards including: the Northern Virginia Urban League; the Parren J. Mitchell Foundation and the Retired Military Officers Association.
UII has an outstanding reputation of providing high-quality consultation services and products to government agencies and commercial customers. Dedicated to excellence, UII expands client knowledge, efficiency and effectiveness in the areas of program management, logistics, quality assurance, metrology and constructions skills training. Mr. Adams has also made a commitment to harness the capabilities of portal technology, wireless communications, knowledge management, and automatic identification tools to the service of customers across various industries.
In the 1990’s, Mr. Adams was the co-founder and President of Pyrocap International Corporation, a chemical manufacturing company that was one of only two African American owned firms that were listed on the American Stock Exchange at that time. Pyrocap earned international acclaim for its innovative technology. As President of Pyrocap, Mr. Adams was awarded the Entrepreneur of the Year Award by the Fairfax Chamber of Commerce.
In addition to Unified Industries, Mr. Adams incorporated Unified Resorts Ltd. to develop top-quality lodging and residential properties world wide. The first project is the St. Regis Bermuda and the Residences at the St. Regis located in Hamilton, the capital of Bermuda. Scheduled to open in 2013, The St. Regis Bermuda and The Residences at The St. Regis Bermuda will be located in the heart of Bermuda’s bustling international business district.
The first major luxury hotel to open in downtown Hamilton in more than 50 years, The St. Regis Bermuda will feature approximately 137 exquisitely appointed guest rooms and suites, approximately 94 exclusive residences, a Remède Spa, two signature restaurants, a wine bar and library, including a rooftop conservatory.
Mr. Adams was born in Heidelberg, Germany and was raised in Northern Virginia. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Rice University and his Masters of Business Administration from UCLA. Mr. Adams also completed post graduate studies at the Yale-China Program at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and is a graduate of Harvard Business School.
Junko Kobayashi - President
Junko Kobayashi has been providing business and financial consulting as an interim financial executive for several companies. She brings more than 25 years of experience in accounting and financing and has been involved in numerous start-up companies with an expertise in building companies from inception and problem-solving during difficult beginnings. She has been instrumental in generating and growing several successful businesses. Having started in public accounting firms in Canada and BDO in California, she has transitioned to working with corporations to secure financing, lead business development, implement efficient operations and controls and has produced numerous projects and events in entertainment, technology, healthcare, and sports.
Ms. Kobayashi has, over the years, been involved in many roles for a number of small to medium-sized companies, such as start-ups of substance abuse rehabilitation centers, sale, and expansion of a large substance abuse rehabilitation center, manufacturing sports drink-type products, turn-around of a television studio, a start-up of new technology platform, and opening of a specialized sports-training facility as a few examples.
Previous to her public accounting positions, she worked at Stan Lee Media, a Nasdaq listed company and then continued working with Stan as the Chief Financial Officer of another of Stan’s companies, POW! Entertainment, Inc. a public company that was eventually purchased by a Chinese company. POW! was in the business of creating and licensing intellectual property for the entertainment business, including feature films, live-action animation projects, television programming, video games, and merchandising. At POW! she helped secure a $15 million first-look deal with Disney for a 5-year period that took the company into accelerated development mode.
She is currently involved in a few local non-profit organizations by volunteering for community services and events such as the Boca Raton Bicycle Club and has been working with the Boca Raton Police Department to promote bike safety to elementary school children through a bike giveaway program. She started training for triathlons in 2012 and after having done an Ironman race was motivated to encourage women to join in the sport as a means of self-empowerment. She has written and secured several grants from the Ironman Women for Tri and the USAT (USA Triathlon) organizations to allow the Boca Raton Triathletes to recruit, train and encourage over 150 women to participate in their first triathlon races. She is also a certified US Master Swim Coach, Certified Adult Learn to Swim Instructor, Red Cross Lifeguard and a USA Triathlon Certified Coach and continues to coach triathletes and teach swimming to people 2 years old to adults as young as 75.
Sheila B. Coates - Board Member
Ms. Coates, a sixth generation Virginian, has been an activist for African-American families, with an emphasis on women, for more than two decades. She is the founder of Black Women United for Action (BWUFA), a community service volunteer organization, which she has served as president since its inception in 1985. Under Ms. Coates’ leadership the organization has grown from 14 Northern Virginia members to the distinction of being an international organization with ties in Africa, Canada and Europe.
As president of BWUFA, Ms. Coates successfully advocated the appointment of an African-American woman to the Board of George Mason University (a first in that institution’s history), and for a minority at-large seat on the Fairfax County Commission on Women.
BWUFA and Ms. Coates played a significant role in the depiction of an African-American woman in the final statue design of the Vietnam Women’s War Memorial. Also, under Ms. Coates’ tutelage, the initiation of an annual observance of the Slave Memorial Wreath Laying Ceremony at Mount Vernon was developed. The annual ceremony, developed over 15 years ago, has grown from a few local guests to travelers from all over the world, including Africa and Canada. (There was one dedication ceremony prior to BWUFA’s involvement.)
Additionally under Ms. Coates’ direction, BWUFA adopted a 50-unit, federally subsidized neighborhood consisting of “at risk” families, developing a program focused on self-sufficiency. This project is now a national model duplicated in New York and Florida.
Ms. Coates has testified numerous times on behalf of the African-American family before official committees and commissions, including an invitation to testify before President Clinton’s Dunlop Commission on Labor Law Reform. She is an active participant in high-level roundtable discussions and has been invited to the White House under two administrations to serve as a spokesperson on public policy issues and family preservation. She was elected to represent Virginia as a distinguished delegate to the National Summit on Africa held in Washington, D.C. In addition, she was elected to the National Council of Women’s Organization Board, which represents over 150 women’s organizations. She has traveled overseas by invitation to Africa, Israel and Switzerland, where she joined an international delegation in discussions on pertinent women’s issues.
Ms. Coates has received four gubernatorial appointments, including the Virginia Commission on Women, the George Mason University Board, and the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association Advisory Board. In addition, she has served on several other community boards and commissions, and has received numerous awards, including presentation of the Mickey Leland Community Service Award. Ms. Coates is the recipient of the Congressional Black Caucus Spouses’ Foundation 2001 National Unsung Hero Award. She also served as an advisory to Lifetime Television in New York City, was featured on the “Oprah Winfrey Show” and highlighted in the book Hard Won Wisdom, by Fawn Germer, focusing on fifty global extraordinary women. She continues to serve as a speaker for the Open World Forum to Russian women’s delegations, sponsored by the Library of Congress.
Ms. Coates served thirteen years as an Instructional Aide with the Fairfax County School Board, working with the learning disabled. Ms. Coates attended George Mason University, with a major in Public Administration and Political Science.
