board of directors
Meet the HAI Board of Directors
Ferline Etienne
Tresaurer
Tresaurer
Chairman
Mr. Jean-Baptiste is a native of Port-au-Prince where he completed his secondary studies at College Canado-Haitien and attended INAGHEI for a degree in Business Administration.
He traveled to the United States in the year 1994 and pursued his undergraduate degree in both Management and International Business at IU, Kelley School of Business where he earned a dual degree. He later obtained his MBA at the Indiana Wesleyan University with a concentration in Healthcare Management.
Mr. Jean-Baptiste co-founded a local Haitian Non-for-Profit named the Haitian Association of Indiana (HAI) that served the small Haitian community in Indiana. He registered the organization as a 501(C) (3) to ensure the organizational profile and best practices of the association were sound and that HAI resources would scale up proportionally as the community would increase.
Mr. Jean-Baptiste has been a consummate professional who for 15 years has worked as a Business Developer in the Canadian Life Science Market as a major supplier of medical capital equipment. Mr. Jean-Baptiste is an equity partner at the Jaspen Group, a wholly owned Haitian Enterprise, that manages a portfolio of businesses where he spearheads and oversees business strategies to ensure business objectives and policies are optimized.
Mr. Jean-Baptiste lives in Indiana with his wife and two kids where he dedicates his spare time to HAI.
Program Coordinator
Kristin Peoples, our exceptional Program Coordinator! Her expertise and dedication will be the driving force behind our initiatives, ensuring smooth operations and impactful results.
With her passion for making a difference, we’re confident that she’ll take our organization to new heights.
FOUNDING MEMBER
Jean Gerve is the founder of the Haitian Association of Indiana. Jean is also a board member of Banm Dwam International and an associate with Haitian Congress to Certify Haiti.
Mr. Gerve is a true public servant and a visionary that saw early on the need to establish a communal environment where Haitian migrants to the state of Indiana can enjoy and maintain a connection to Haiti and the Haitian culture. He also helped to establish several local Haitian churches and is a highly respected deacon.
Mr. Gerve is married, and father of 2 children and grandfather of 3 grandchildren. He holds 2 certificates in electrical and HVAC technology and is currently retired.
Board Member
Alex Dugé is an equity partner and chief financial officer for the Jaspen Group, a company that provides staffing, consulting and management services to several clients in the midwest. He was raised in Haiti, and moved to Miami, FL for his high school education and then to Florida State University, where he obtained his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Mechanical Engineering. He relocated to Indiana in 2006 and joined Cummins Inc., a global leader in power solutions, where he worked as an engineer for 15 years. In 2017, he decided to pursue his MBA from The Indiana University Kelley School of Business, with a focus on Finance and Supply Chain Management.
Alex is also a dedicated member of the Haitian Association of Indiana (HAI), a nonprofit organization that promotes the Haitian culture and supports the Haitian community in Indiana. He has been involved with HAI since 2011 and has held various leadership roles, including his current position as Chair of the Board of Directors. He believes that serving his community is not only a duty but also a privilege, as it allows him to stay connected with his roots and share his heritage with others.
Alex lives in Indiana with his wife Anne and their three children, who are also active participants in HAI’s activities. They enjoy celebrating their Haitian identity and culture in their home away from home that is HAI.
Board member
Claunick “Nick” Duronville is an attorney at Quarles & Brady LLP with a practice focused on commercial litigation and financial services. Nick hails from South Florida and attended Morehouse College in Atlanta, GA and Hofstra Law School in New York. Prior to private practice, Nick was a federal law clerk to the chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana and a supervising attorney in the Housing Unit of a New York legal services organization. Nick has also served as a congressional extern for a U.S. Congressman in Washington, D.C., and he is currently on the board of directors for the Fair Housing Center of Central Indiana. Nick has a demonstrated track record and history of serving Haitian communities throughout the country and is proud to be a part of the work of the HAI.
Board member
Beairshelle Edmé (Pronouncer: Beer-Shell Ed-May) is an award-winning journalist, who brings people and their untold stories to the forefront.
The multi-Emmy award-winning television broadcaster currently serves Central Indiana as the main evening anchor at 5PM, 6PM, &10PM on FOX59 News, WXIN-TV.
Prior to joining FOX59, Beairshelle worked as a weekend morning anchor for WNCN-TV in Raleigh, North Carolina, where she earned several awards for her anchoring and reporting. Beairshelle has also worked at WDTN-TV in Dayton, Ohio; and KMEG-TV & KPTH-TV in the tri-state region of Iowa, Nebraska and South Dakota.
A proud first-generation Haitian-American and native of Philadelphia, Beairshelle is an alumna of Loyola University Maryland. She is also a member of the National Association of Black Journalists and serves on several regional boards.
Beairshelle will #seeyouonTV, but in the meantime she hopes you connect with her!
@newsladyB (Facebook and Twitter) and @itsnewsladyB (Instagram)
Board member
Dr. Leslie K. Etienne is the Founding Executive Director of the Center for Africana Studies and Culture, Assistant Professor of Africana Studies, and Director of the Africana Studies program at Indiana University-Purdue University, Indianapolis (IUPUI).
His research interests are frameworks for Black emancipatory education, health equity and food justice, educational justice, Black internationalism, Black cultural production and arts administration, museum education, cultural heritage preservation, historical and contemporary manifestations of Black radical and intellectual traditions.
He is particularly versed in the narrative history of the 1964 SNCC Freedom Schools that operated in Mississippi during the Freedom Summer. He currently serves as the Executive Director of the IUPUI/Children’s Defense Fund Freedom School, and in 2018 co-curated Remember 1968, an exhibit that highlights a timeline of the year 1968, focusing on six overlapping areas that parallel present day issues on college campuses: Gun Violence, Freedom of Speech, Student Activism, Global/Local Resistance, Patriotism, and Organizing. Dr. Etienne is proud of his Haitian roots.
Board member
Marie Jeanne is the Director of Diversity Initiatives at the College of Pharmacy at Purdue University. She was born and raised by Haitian parents in Nassau, Bahamas. Marie Jeanne possesses a Bachelor of Arts in Organizational Behavior from Rollins College and a Master of Science in Applied Behavior Analysis/Counseling from Nova Southeastern University.
Marie Jeanne has worked in higher education for over 20 years and is passionate about teaching underrepresented minority high school students how to obtain a college degree. She has designed programs for college students in Florida, Maryland, and Indiana to ensure their graduation success.