Former ‘Woman of the Year’ and Professor Jailed for $1.4m Fraud

GRAND RAPIDS, Michigan — Dr. Nkechy Ekere Ezeh, a prominent academic and the former “West Michigan Woman of the Year,” was sentenced Wednesday to 70 months in federal prison for orchestrating a massive fraud scheme that dismantled a non-profit dedicated to serving impoverished children.

​Chief U.S. District Judge Hala Y. Jarbou delivered the scathing sentence, labeling the 61-year-old Ezeh “a fraud and a thief.” The judge ordered Ezeh to be remanded into custody immediately to begin serving her term, which includes a concurrent 60-month sentence for tax evasion.

​A Brazen Betrayal of Trust

​Dr. Ezeh founded the Early Learning Neighborhood Collaborative (ELNC) in 2011 to provide meals, transportation, and educational advocacy for at-risk children under five—72% of whom lived below the federal poverty level. However, federal investigators revealed that between 2017 and 2023, Ezeh treated the non-profit as a personal “piggy bank.”

​Working with the organization’s bookkeeper, Sharon Killebrew, Ezeh approved nearly $500,000 in fraudulent invoices. The stolen funds were used to finance a lavish lifestyle, including:

• ​International travel to Hawaii, Europe, and Africa.

• ​A luxury wedding for a family member.
• ​A “ghost payroll” that funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars to family members for little or no work.

​Global Money Laundering

​Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy VerHey noted that Ezeh used “money mules” to wire hundreds of thousands of dollars of the stolen funds to relatives in Nigeria. “Nkechy Ezeh’s greed is beyond reprehensible,” VerHey stated. “Instead of helping kids, she spent that money on herself.”

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​The financial devastation was so severe that ELNC was forced to permanently close its doors in 2023. The collapse resulted in the immediate layoff of 35 employees and the loss of critical preschool funding for thousands of families in Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, and Battle Creek.

​Restitution and Legacy

​The court ordered Ezeh to pay $1.4 million in restitution to the defrauded donors—which included the U.S. Department of Education and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation—plus $390,174 to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

​Ezeh, who was previously a tenured Associate Professor of Education at Aquinas College and an international scholar, now faces three years of supervised release following her nearly six-year prison stint. Her co-conspirator, Sharon Killebrew, was sentenced in late 2025 to 54 months for her role in the scheme.

​The sentencing brings a tragic end to the career of a woman once celebrated as a champion for educational equity, leaving a community to grapple with the generational impact of resources lost to “unconscionable” greed.

​Former ELNC CEO Sentenced for Fraud

​This video features interviews with former employees of the organization discussing the fallout and closure of the centers following the discovery of the fraud.