EDUCATION
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
WHO WE ARE
WE ARE AN ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT ORGANIZATION
"Enabling Through Education, Empowering Through Entrepreneurship, And Driving Change Through Economic Development"
The E3 CoE (Centers of Excellence): Driving Change, Building Sustainability
The Smith Gruppe E3 CoE (Center of Excellence) model, established in 2022, champions a transformative vision for marginalized, underserved, and underrepresented communities. Guided by the bold ethos of a "Relentless Pursuit of Excellence," we empower individuals and stakeholders to reclaim their narratives and define their destinies. Through education, economic development, and entrepreneurship, we ignite pathways to lasting economic and social sustainability.
Our approach is grounded in technology-driven innovation and collaboration, fueling opportunities that transcend barriers and unlock potential. Each E3 CoE is supported by a Smith Gruppe IEDC (Infrastructure Edge Data Center), which makes it more than a center—it’s a movement. Our team is the “Difference Maker,” and the catalyst for groundbreaking ideas that ripple across the social sphere, uniting diverse voices and amplifying the impact of community-based initiatives.
Every year, our mission inspires a growing coalition of philanthropists, volunteers, corporate leaders, higher education institutions, public agencies, and private sector organizations. Their dedication affirms a universal truth: that change is possible when we commit resources, capacity, and care to create sustainable, thriving communities.
We stand united in purpose, daring to dream of a future where education empowers, economic development uplifts, and entrepreneurship transforms. Together, we build a legacy of resilience, innovation, equity and sustainability—one community at a time.
WE BELIEVE
We "Envision" a world in which marginalized, underserved, and underrepresented communities are empowered with mindsets of "Excellence", thereby increasing their economic and social sustainability and viability.
OUR MISSION
Our "Mission" is to eradicate progressive poverty in marginalized, underserved, and underrepresented communities throug our CoEs (Centers Of Excellence), which drive education, economic development, and entrepreneurship sustainability models.
OUR LEADER
Antoine Smith Bio
Antoine Smith leads Smith Gruppe. Antoine is integral to the Atlanta, GA, Charlotte, NC, and Piedmont Region business communities.
He has succussfully built and led many successful business models, and coached countless executives and entrepreneurs along the path of professional deveolopment and the ability to build a scalable and sustainable business model. Mr. Smith serves his clients and institutions well through his exceptional team building, education, and training abilities. The Smith Gruppe consulting practice focuses on providing trusted corporate-level business advisory and consulting services designed for small to medium-sized businesses, lower middle market corporations, educational institutions, municipalities, and non-profit organizations.
Antoine is an acclaimed speaker delivering invaluable insights to business and trade associations to educate them on how to increase top-line growth. Smith Gruppe is active in the private capital markets and invests as an equity player in portfolio companies in order to drive economic development in marginalized, underserved and underrepresented communities; that lack access to capital.
Mr. Smith is a certified Educator/Facilitator and delivers substantive value to community stakeholders large and small that focus on Education, Entrepreneurship, and Economic Development.
Smith Gruppe supports its commitments and engagements by directly investing in community infrastructure by way of standing up IEDCs (Infrastructure Edge Data Centers) to provide capacity and resources to the partners it engages.
Dr. Cheryl McKinley Bio
Educational Advisory Board Chair
Meet the Chairperson of the Educational Advisory Board
Dr. Cheryl McKinley serves as the Chairperson of the E³ Center of Excellence (E³ CoE) Educational Advisory Board, bringing more than two decades of distinguished leadership experience spanning banking, finance, consulting, education, ministry, and community transformation.
A visionary strategist with a servant’s heart, Dr. McKinley stands at the intersection of fiscal stewardship, educational empowerment, and mission-driven leadership—helping shape the E³ CoE’s commitment to reconceptualizing education as an engine of economic mobility, workforce readiness, and generational impact.
As a seasoned financial and educational executive, Dr. McKinley has built a reputation for aligning organizational vision with measurable outcomes through transparent governance, disciplined operational leadership, and values-centered execution. Her expertise includes budget development and oversight, board and donor financial reporting, internal controls and audits, compliance management, and long-range cash flow forecasting—critical competencies that strengthen the E³ CoE’s ability to scale sustainable initiatives across Education, Economic Development, and Entrepreneurship ecosystems.
Dr. McKinley’s academic journey reflects a lifelong commitment to excellence, leadership, and transformational learning. Her multidisciplinary educational background includes advanced studies and degrees in leadership, finance, accounting, educational leadership, human resources, mathematics, and biblical studies. She is currently completing a Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) in Finance at Walden University and holds a Doctorate in Leadership from Apostolos Leadership University. She also earned an MBA in Finance, Accounting, and Business from American InterContinental University and a Master of Education in Educational Leadership from American College of Education.
Beyond her executive credentials, Dr. McKinley is deeply respected as a community advocate, Overseer, Pastor, Principal, and mentor throughout the United States. Her work has consistently centered on uplifting youth, strengthening families, and empowering underserved communities through education, leadership development, and faith-centered service. Her ability to connect strategic systems thinking with compassion-driven leadership embodies the very essence of the E³ CoE mission.
Under her leadership, the Educational Advisory Board helps guide the E³ CoE’s national vision to bridge learning with livelihood, align education with real-world workforce demands, and ensure that underserved populations are equipped not only to participate in the future economy—but to lead it.
Dr. McKinley believes that education is not merely about instruction—it is about activation. Activation of purpose. Activation of opportunity. Activation of human potential.
And through the E³ CoE Business Model, she continues to help build a future where communities are no longer defined by barriers, but by the brilliance that emerges when people are given the tools, guidance, and infrastructure to thrive.
Dr. Gina Coburn Bio
Curriculum Chair
Dr. Gina Coburn is the Founder and CEO of Nerrative, a social media and professional development platform launched in 2020 whose mission is “to build bridges connecting talented people to exceptional STEM opportunities—while eliminating systemic barriers through innovation, creativity, and authentic storytelling.” She was awarded a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant in 2023 for this innovation, recognizing Nerrative’s potential to expand equitable access to high-demand STEM careers. Nerrative Learning, a branch of Nerrative, designs curriculum that “combines narrative-driven storytelling with micro-learning methodology to create engaging, effective, and accessible education for high-demand technical careers,” and serves as a core engine for the learning experiences developed with the E³ Center of Excellence.
An accomplished distance learning and instructional design leader, Dr. Coburn brings more than fifteen years of experience building innovative, equity-minded learning ecosystems across higher education and industry. She has designed, managed, and scaled online, hybrid, and micro-learning programs for institutions such as Mt. San Antonio College, Florida International University, Colorado Technical University Online, and Santa Barbara Business College, consistently aligning instruction with evolving workforce and community needs.
As Title V Instructional Designer at Mt. San Antonio College, Dr. Coburn leads the development of diverse and inclusive faculty and staff training, integrates new and emerging technologies into curriculum, and provides ongoing LMS support to enhance teaching and learning at scale. Previously, she helped design and launch approximately 1,400 online courses to support learners during the pandemic and has extensive experience with leading LMS platforms, course authoring tools, data analytics, and gamification strategies that improve learner engagement and outcomes.
In her role as Curriculum Chairperson for the Education pillar of the E³ Center of Excellence, Dr. Coburn leads the design and evolution of a responsive learning architecture that directly aligns with workforce demands, regional industry clusters, entrepreneurial readiness, and policy-informed skill development pathways. She guides faculty, subject matter experts, and program designers to ensure that education is applied, capability-based, and tightly connected to economic advancement for marginalized, underserved, and underrepresented communities.
Dr. Coburn holds a Ph.D. in Education with a specialization in Instructional Design for Online Learning, an M.S. in Human Services with a specialization in Criminal Justice, and a B.A. in English. Across Nerrative, Nerrative Learning, and E³ CoE, her work centers on redesigning education so that learning leads to real-world capability, career mobility, and new opportunities for the communities these platforms are built to serve.
TESTIMONIALS
The value delivered to communities of all origin and orentiation by the E3 CoE Business Model can’t be underestimated. We collaborated with them in 2023 to deliver workforce deveolopment and technical career apprenticeships, and the programming that their team offered was an unprecedented game-changer for our community.
Avis Robinson - Executive Director Lexington Housing Authority
This organization does what a lot of other charities and charitable institutions should have been doing years ago. It is great that Humanity exists. Their strategic and resource partners do not just give necessary resources and assistance, they give hope to all that engage and participate in the process.
Dr. William C. Merritt