The Connecticut State Conference of NAACP Branches recently named six individuals at UConn as being among the “100 Most Influential Blacks” in the state: Sanford Cloud Jr., chair of the UConn Health Center Board of Directors; Carolle Andrews, chief administrative officer of the Health Center; Warde Manuel, director of athletics; Kevin Ollie, men’s basketball head coach; Salome Raheim, dean of the School of Social Work; and Sharon White, director of the University’s Stamford campus.

“UConn is immensely proud to have such talented professionals in our midst, and I’m thrilled they are being recognized for their remarkable accomplishments,” said University President Susan Herbst. “Each of these individuals approaches their work with dedication and heartfelt commitment to our students, and to the well-being of the entire University community.

“We’re very proud of the diversity in UConn’s undergraduate student body, and having skilled leaders from a multitude of backgrounds in our faculty, staff, and university administration is essential to our success as an institution,” she added.

They will be honored at a luncheon in New Haven on Dec. 21.

In addition to his position as chairman of the Health Center board, Sanford Cloud is chairman and CEO of the Cloud Co. LLC, a real estate and development and business investment firm, and a member of the board of directors of Northeast Utilities, The Phoenix Companies Inc., Ironwood Mezzanine Fund LP, UConn’s Thomas J. Dodd Research Center, the Metro Hartford Alliance, and the Fund for Greater Hartford. He is also chairman of the Connecticut Health Foundation board, a former partner at the law firm of Robinson & Cole, and has an honorary doctorate from UConn.

Cloud is the former president and CEO of the National Conference for Community and Justice; former vice president for corporate public involvement at Aetna Inc. and executive director of the Aetna Foundation; and a former two-term Connecticut state senator.

Carolle T. Andrews is the chief administrative officer at the UConn Health Center. She plays a key role in many of the projects associated with Bioscience Connecticut. She previously served as the Health Center’s director of organizational improvement.

Before joining the UConn Health Center, she worked at the Assurant Group in Springfield, Ohio; at Cigna Corp. in Bloomfield; and in United Health Group’s law department in Hartford. She also served a four-year term as a commissioner of the Connecticut Freedom of Information Commission, and currently serves on the Board of Governors of the Hill Stead Museum.

Warde Manuel was named UConn’s director of athletics in February 2012, after serving six years as AD at Buffalo and as assistant athletic director of academic affairs at Georgia Tech. An All-American high school football player, he was a defensive end at Michigan and also a member of the Wolverines’ track and field team.

This past June, he was among a select group of Division I athletic directors appointed to provide advice and perspective on issues to the NCAA leadership.

Kevin Ollie ’95 (CLAS) was named the Huskies’ 18th men’s basketball head coach in September 2012, and led the team to a 20-10 record in the 2012-13 season. He spent the previous two years as an assistant to Coach Jim Calhoun, following a 13-year career in professional basketball. In 2013, he received the Ben Jobe National Coach of the Year Award, which is presented to the top minority coach in Division I basketball who produced the best results from his team under difficult conditions.

The men’s basketball team is 9-1 to date in the 2013-14 season.

Salome Raheim is dean and professor at the School of Social Work and co-director of the Bioscience CT Health Disparities Institute. She is Principal Investigator of the School’s Title IV-A, Department of Social Services Agreement, a five-year, $44 million contract.

Her leadership positions include the National Association of Deans and Directors of Schools of Social Work Board of Directors, Council on Social Work Education National Nominating Committee, and Corporate Board of Directors, Women and Social Work Inc. She is also a New York Academy of Medicine Leadership in Aging Academy Fellow, and has served as a diversity trainer and consultant nationally and internationally. Prior to joining UConn in 2008, Raheim was a faculty member and academic leader at the University of Iowa.

Sharon White is campus director for the Stamford campus, the first African-American woman to fill the position. She also teaches college writing and literature.

White has served on many educational and community boards and has presented extensively at professional conferences. In 2007, she received the American Council on Education’s “Advancing Women in Leadership.” In 2008, she traveled to South Africa as part of a U.S. higher education team. In 2010, she was selected as a summer fellow in higher education management at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn.