Marcus is not a traditional consultant. He is a strategist, facilitator, executive coach,  organizational architect, and trusted thought partner whose work sits at the intersection of  strategy, governance, leadership, culture, systems change, and execution. He is known for  helping organizations move beyond surface-level solutions to address the deeper dynamics that  determine whether an institution thrives, stalls, or quietly begins to unravel. 

Over the course of his career, Marcus has built a reputation for leading through complexity. He  has managed multimillion-dollar initiatives, advised more than 30 organizations across the  Southern United States, secured and stewarded more than $100 million in funding partnerships  and initiatives, and supported organizations serving thousands of community members impacted  by HIV, health inequities, systemic racism, trauma, poverty, and barriers to care. 

Before launching Cornerstone, Marcus served in senior leadership roles across public health,  nonprofit management, philanthropy, and HIV advocacy, including as Director of Programs and  Project Officer at the University of Houston’s SUSTAIN Center for the Gilead COMPASS  Initiative. In that role, he led strategy, capacity-building, and technical assistance efforts for a  network of community-based organizations across the South, helping leaders strengthen  infrastructure, improve governance, secure funding, build partnerships, redesign programs, and  navigate organizational change. 

Marcus has worked with executive directors, boards, senior leadership teams, national  organizations, grassroots organizations, health departments, foundations, and corporate partners  to address some of the most difficult challenges institutions face: fractured trust, unclear  decision-making, weak governance, leadership transition, organizational conflict, staff burnout,  inequitable systems, and the gap between an organization’s stated values and the way it actually  operates. 

He is especially known for his ability to enter environments where there is tension,  misalignment, or uncertainty and help people surface what others sense but have not yet fully  named. Whether the issue is an unhealthy culture, a lack of role clarity, a breakdown in  communication, a board-executive disconnect, competing priorities, or the long-term impact of  trauma on leadership and organizations, Marcus helps leaders move from avoidance and  ambiguity to clarity, alignment, and action.

Marcus has designed and facilitated executive retreats, board retreats, strategic planning  processes, leadership institutes, organizational assessments, change management initiatives, and  trauma-informed capacity-building efforts for organizations ranging from emerging nonprofits to  nationally recognized institutions. His engagements often include executive coaching, board  development, strategic planning, organizational restructuring, succession planning, conflict  navigation, stakeholder engagement, facilitation, and the creation of practical systems for  accountability and execution. 

His approach is grounded in the belief that strong organizations are built through alignment:  alignment between strategy and execution, values and systems, leaders and teams, boards and  staff, and institutions and the communities they exist to serve. He is deeply influenced by  trauma-informed practice, meaningful involvement, equity-centered leadership, healing-centered  engagement, and the understanding that organizations cannot sustainably achieve externally what  they have not built internally. 

Marcus is a nationally respected voice in public health, HIV advocacy, nonprofit leadership, and  organizational transformation. He has been invited to speak, train, and facilitate for national  conferences, philanthropic initiatives, leadership programs, and community organizations across  the country. His work has shaped how institutions think about trauma-informed leadership,  meaningful involvement of people living with HIV, racial equity, organizational culture, and  systems change. 

In addition to his advisory work, Marcus is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Black  Power, Liberation & Healing Now, Inc. (BPLHN), a Black-led organization dedicated to  advancing healing, leadership, advocacy, and organizational transformation. Through BPLHN,  he has built and led initiatives focused on executive leadership development, organizational  wellness, advocacy, storytelling, coalition-building, capacity-building, and community-centered  systems change. 

Marcus holds a Master of Public Health and is a Master Certified Health Education Specialist  (MCHES®), one of the highest credentials in the field of health education and promotion. He  combines that formal expertise with an unusual ability to connect strategy to people, vision to  structure, and deep reflection to disciplined execution. 

Clients often describe Marcus as a rare combination of strategic rigor, emotional intelligence,  political acumen, and unwavering honesty. He asks the questions others avoid, tells the truth  others are unwilling to say, and creates the conditions for organizations to confront what is not  working without losing sight of what is possible. 

He does not believe in consulting theater, polished jargon, or strategies that sit untouched in a  binder. 

He believes in helping leaders build institutions that are clear, aligned, resilient, and capable of  delivering on the mission they were built to serve.