Amber Nichols just completed her first full season as General Manager of the Capital City Go-Go. Nichols was named the second General Manager in franchise history prior to the start of the 2020-21 NBA G League season, which took place in Orlando, Florida. Nichols joined Tori Miller of the College Park Skyhawks as the only two Black female General Managers in the NBA G League.
Under Nichols’ leadership, the Go-Go reached the Playoffs for the first time in 2021-22, setting a franchise record with 28 wins during the season. Capital City also earned its first ever playoff victory, as they defeated College Park at the Entertainment and Sports Arena. The Go-Go set numerous team records during the season, as the roster put together by Nichols formed one of the most cohesive groups in the league. Five different Go-Go players were called up by the Wizards during the season, including Greg Monroe, who played for four different NBA teams during the season and finished the season in the Playoffs with the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Amber is also currently serving as an adjunct professor at Georgetown University in the Sports Industry Management Graduate program.

Amber was named to the 2022 Forbes 30U30 list as well as named to Sports Illustrated 100 Influential Black women in Sports in 2022.

Lauren Sills currently serves as the Operations Leader for the NBA Foundation, the League’s first
ever charitable foundation, dedicated to driving economic opportunity for Black youth. A proud
graduate of Spelman College, Lauren has been driven by the idea that, “to whom much is given,
much is required” and has worked over the past 12 years to ensure that her professional career
and personal endeavors are tied to service.

Lauren has worked across a variety of industries, spanning education, nonprofit and
government with the common thread of supporting and investing in communities of color.
Previous to the NBA, Lauren, worked at Nike in their Social and Community Impact team,
leading Nike’s philanthropy and community partnerships for the East coast. Before joining Nike,
she served as Senior Associate at the JPMorgan Chase Foundation overseeing JPMorgan’s
largest employee volunteer program. Prior to JPMorgan, Lauren was the Youth Advocacy
Manager for Generation Progress, a national organization in Washington, D.C. that works to
create political solutions for Millennials. Previously, she was a staffer in the U.S. Senate, a high
school teacher with Teach for America in Los Angeles and has a Master’s in Education from
Loyola Marymount University.

Michael Powell is an experienced financial accountant, project management professional, and entrepreneur. Driven by the success and accomplishments of his personal and corporate clients, he takes pride in providing the best client service possible. As a Managing Consultant currently working in the Washington D.C. metro market, Michael has experience in progressive roles in public accounting and financial consulting servicing Fortune 1000 public companies, as well as smaller private companies. In addition to his primary job functions, Michael is also the co-founder and managing partner of Jackson Powell, LLP, a CPA tax planning and preparation firm that has helped hundreds of individuals and small businesses with their tax needs since 2016.

Originally from Decatur, Georgia, Michael has always put an emphasis on staying involved in the communities he lives in and helping underrepresented groups, and he has continued that by having an active role in the DC community. As a furtherance of his community involvement, Michael is honored to serve on the inaugural board of For the City Foundation, and he looks forward to leveraging his experiences and resources to help execute the mission of expanding the professional opportunities of Raleigh-area youth.

Kayla is a Business Operations Manager at a high-growth financial technology startup that has been recognized by the Inc. 5000 for the past four years. She has built her career with this company through its transition from early- to growth-stage startup; working in strategy and operations functions as the company has scaled. Prior to joining her current company, Kayla attended the University of California, Berkeley where she majored in business through the Haas Undergraduate Program.

“As a first generation college graduate, I understand the impact that programs like FTCF can have on the confidence and future outlook of adolescent youth. I have aspired to work with youth from backgrounds similar to mine and I am excited to take part in the diverse programming that we have planned with FTCF.”