Brenda J. Lauderback is Chairman of the Board of Directors at Denny’s, Inc and is recognized as the first African American Board Chair at a public food service company. 

A native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and graduate of Robert Morris University, Mrs. Lauderback has served on numerous boards of nonprofit organizations and corporations such as Wolverine Worldwide Foundation and Sleep Number. She was named to the National Association of Corporate Directors’ Directorship 100 list and has been acknowledged in Ebony, Jet, Essence, Black Enterprise, Forbes and Savoy magazines.

Mrs. Lauderback is on the National Restaurant News’ Power List of Most Influential People in Foodservice and one of Savoy Magazine’s Most Influential Women in Corporate America. Congressman Jim Clyburn and Mayor John Tecklenburg presented her with the President’s Lifetime Volunteer Service Award from the White House that resulted in the City of Charleston, SC, Mayor proclaiming May 9, 2022, as Brenda Lauderback Day. A person must have documentation of at least four thousand hours of community service for such an award to be bestowed.

Mrs. Lauderback is married to Dr. Boyd Wright, and they have two children.  A trailblazer devoted to community uplift, she is a member of The Links, Inc., The Girlfriends, Chums, Smart Set, and the AKA Sorority.

Brenda J. Lauderback is currently the Chair of the Anson African Burial Memorial Fund. She has raised funds to build a fitting memorial on the grounds of the Charleston Gaillard Center to represent the countless mass burial sites of enslaved people throughout the city from several generous donors and corporations.

Nigel Redden retired as the general director of Spoleto Festival USA in 2021 having rejoined the Festival in October 1995 after having previously served as the festival’s general manager from 1986 to 1991. Redden was director of the Lincoln Center Festival from 1998 to 2017. He has also served as executive director of the Santa Fe Opera (1991 – 1995), artistic consultant to Philadelphia’s American Music Theater Festival (1992 – 1994), and consultant to the chairperson of the New York International Festival of the Arts (1991 – 1992). He was director of the National Endowment for the Arts’ Dance Program from 1981 to 1986 and has served on numerous panels for the NEA, regional arts organization and various foundations. He is president of the Spaulding-Paolozzi Foundation and serves on the board of South Arts. In 2001 he was awarded the Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters and was promoted to Commandeur in 2019. He has received honorary doctorates from the College of Charleston and the University of South Carolina. He is currently the project leader for the Anson African Burial Memorial in Charleston which will honor 36 Africans/African Americans buried in the late eighteenth century whose bodies were disinterred during the renovation of the Charleston Gaillard Center.