Kenyatta Brame
Kenyatta Brame is Chief Administrative Officer and Group Services Senior Vice President at Cascade Engineering. Cascade is a manufacturer and marketer of products and services supporting a variety of industries including the automotive, industrial and solid waste industries – a leading proponent of sustainable business practices, and a widely recognized employer of choice.
Brame is responsible for directing Cascade’s cross-organizational services, which include the Company’s engineering, legal/risk management, human resources, benefits, marketing, talent management, IT, corporate quality and ESS (environmental, safety and sustainability) functions. In addition to ensuring the alignment of those services with Cascade’s business objectives and sustainability focus, Brame also has oversight for the Company’s IWS (Invisible Waste Services) Cascade Consulting, and Triple Quest business units.
Prior to joining Cascade, Brame served as Senior Vice President of Operations and Merchandising, Employee Relations & Legal Services at SYSCO Food Services of Grand Rapids, a Midwest-based unit of the largest distributor of food service products in North America. In this position, Brame had responsibility for an array of operational areas including warehousing and transportation, merchandising and marketing, and all employee relations functions. He also served as legal counsel for the company.
Brame’s extensive community affiliations include serving as a board member of Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park; the Floyd Skinner Bar Association; Wabash College; and Alternative Directions, a probation residence service that offers an alternative direction to non-violent felony offenders. He is also a past chair of the City of Grand Rapids Civil Rights Commission. Brame holds a J.D. degree from the University of Michigan Law School, an MBA from Michigan State University and a bachelor’s degree from Wabash College.
Tracey Brame
Professor Brame is an alumna of the University of Michigan and came to the Thomas Cooley Law School in February 2006 from Legal Aid of Western Michigan. At the Legal Aid of Western Michigan she was a staff attorney and advised and represented low-income clients on family law, housing, and consumer law issues. She collaborated with other programs to address legal issues faced by ex-offenders re-entering the community. She also translated for Spanish-speaking clients. As Assistant Dean of Cooley Law School’s Grand Rapids campus, Tracey handles student conduct issues, runs the public defender clinic and teaches Constitutional Law elective courses.
Previously, Professor Brame served as staff attorney for Public Defender Services for the District of Columbia, a research and writing specialist with the Federal Defender Office, and an assistant defender with the State Appellate Defender Office in Detroit. She has argued in front of the Michigan Supreme Court, 6th Circuit Court, and the District of Columbia Court of Appeals.
Professor Brame is passionate about service to her community. She was honored as a 2010 Giants Award winner and currently serves on the board of directors of the Grand Rapids Art Museum (GRAM), Goodwill Industries of Greater Grand Rapids, Child Discovery Center, Varnum- Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Council, Jack and Jill of America, and is a Cub Scout Den Mother. She is the proud mother of two wonderful children, Kimau and Kimani, and the wife of Kenyatta Brame.