Board of Directors

Ponkka has trained top junior players in the United States and Europe for national, NCAA, ITF and professional competition for the past 30 years. He is widely acclaimed as one of the top international junior coaches and has been the driving force behind JTCC’s coaching philosophy as the Senior Director of Tennis since the facility was founded in 1999. His students have won numerous professional and national titles, achieved the #1 ITF Junior World Ranking, several #1 USTA National Rankings, and NCAA All-American honors. He was selected as the 2011 USOC National Developmental Coach of the Year and is a strong believer in Long Term Athletic Developmental Stages and Long Term Progressive Training Methods. He holds PTR, USPTA, and USTA High Performance certification.

George Walker IV is co-founder and CEO of Air Ventures LLC, a company that specializes in Airport Concessions. George oversees all aspects of Air Ventures, a food and beverage airport concessionaire, including setting company strategies and goals, implementing financial objectives, business development and hiring management team members. George has over 20 years of experience in the airport concession business. In 1997 he started OSI-MB, Inc., an airport retail concession business. In 2003 Walker partnered with Bill Newlin and formed Air Ventures. Walker has led the expansion from one concession to 27 concessions in eight U.S. airports.

In March of 2020, Emirates Leisure Retail Group (100% wholly owned subsidiary of Emirates Airlines) purchased a majority stake in Air Ventures. Walker and Newlin retain a minority stake in the business and continue to oversee the management, business development and operations for the United States.

Walker has served on the boards of the Opportunity Systems, Inc, Edmund Burke School, Capital Bank, N.A, RICH (a non-profit that provides high quality educational resources, free of charge to inner city schools in Washington DC). He currently serves on the advisory board for the Junior Tennis Champions Center (JTCC) in College Park. He is a graduate of Pomona College where he captained the Men’s Tennis team to a 6th place ranking in the nation.

Walker and his wife Robin reside in Washington and are parents to Alexandra and George.

Richey Reneberg competed for 13 years on the ATP professional tennis circuit reaching a career high of No. 20 in the world in singles and No. 1 in the world in doubles. He was a member of the United States Davis Cup Team from 1933-95 and in 1997-98, and represented the United States in the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. Reneberg also served two terms on the ATP Tour Player Council from 1994 to 1996. He attended Southern Methodist University for three years before pursuing a career in professional tennis. He joined Taconic Capital Advisors in September 2000, where he is currently a Director, Investor Relations.

Brody most recently worked as an analyst for Sutton Square Partners in New York. His previous professional experience includes three and a half years at Manor Road Capital and two at Peter J. Solomon. Brody attended Kenyon College where he starred on the tennis team for four years. He was also one of the first students to train at JTCC when the doors opened in 1999 therefore bringing this unique experience to the Board of Directors.

One of the most experienced executives in the tennis industry, Benton began his tennis career as an instructor in the public parks and became a club teaching professional. Benton was involved in a number of grassroots initiatives before becoming the first National Executive Director of the National Junior Tennis League, and organization founded by Arthur Ashe that provides low-cost tennis and life skills to all children, regardless of social economic circumstances. As the first National Executive Director, Benton led the organization’s growth from three to fifty chapters.

Benton’s career in professional sports began as a partner in the Washington, D.C.-based law firm Dell, Craighill, Fentress, and Benton. The firm evolved into ProServ, one of the largest sports marketing companies in the world.

A veteran in sports marketing, Benton is noted for his accomplishments in creating and managing worldwide events such as the senior tour for men’s professional tennis. Benton came to JTCC in 2009 and oversees all aspects of the organization. He is the main force behind JTCC’s fundraising initiatives and grassroots efforts, and strongly believes in JTCC’s holistic approach to developing Champions on and off the court.

Baker recently concluded his eight-year term as County Executive of Prince George’s County.

During his time in office he worked towards improving the county’s economic development. Baker created more jobs, reduced crime rates, and increased property values in order to make Prince George’s County one of the leading economic engines in Maryland.

Baker received both his bachelor’s and law degree from Howard University.

While in office Baker was also successful in increasing school enrollment and improving test scores.