Board and Strategic Council
Board of Directors
Dr. Margaret H. Annunziata
President, Isothermal Community College
Newell Clark
Commissioner, North Carolina Historic Commission; Former Mayor, Lexington, NC
Jose Oliva
Former Chief of Staff, Guilford County Schools
Dr. Keith Parker
Superintendent, Elizabeth City-Pasquotank Public Schools
Dr. Monique Perry-Graves
CEO, Road to Hire
Mebane Rash
CEO, President, and Editor-in-Chief
Dr. Pamela G. Senegal
CEO, YWCA Central Carolinas
Yona Wade
Head of Training and Development, Cherokee Indian Hospital Authority
Tracy Zimmerman
VP, Policy & Strategy, Neimand Collaborative
Strategic Council
Xavier Adams
Social Studies Teacher at Orange High School,
NCCAT 2022 Prudential NC Beginning Teacher of the Year
Donna Bledsoe
2023 Wells Fargo NC Principal of the Year
Kamille Bostock
Director of Programming, Center for Racial Equity in Education (CREED)
Russ Campbell
Senior Communications Officer, Burroughs Wellcome Fund
Debra L. Derr
Director of Government Affairs, NC Chamber
Dr. Scott Elliott
Director of Development, Blue Ridge Conservancy; Former Superintendent, Watauga County Schools
Eric Frederick
Former Editorial Advisor, EdNC
Andrea Freile
Executive Director, LatinxEd
Dr. Jeremy Gibbs
Principal, The School of Inquiry and Life Sciences at Asheville, Asheville City Schools
Kezia “Kate” Goodwin
Owner, Kate’s Korner Educational Services LLC
Jennifer Gregory
Associate Superintendent, Mitchell County Schools
Victoria Griffin
Chief Administrative Office Analyst, Bank of America
Ferrel Guillory
Founder, EducationNC
Gerry Hancock
Founder, EducationNC
Leshaun T. Jenkins
Principal, Pitt County Schools Early College High School
Chuck Kaylor
Chief of Staff, John M. Belk Endowment
Daniel Kimberg
Co-Director, NC Community Schools Coalition
Laura Leatherwood
President, Blue Ridge Community College
Amanda Lee
President, Bladen Community College
Prudencio Martínez-Mengel
Director of CE Multilingual Programs and Community Outreach, Lenoir Community College | Centro Educativo Latino
Freebird McKinney
Director of Partnership Development, Participate Learning; 2018 Burroughs Wellcome Fund NC Teacher of the Year
Dr. Lynn Moody
President, SparkNC
Kayla Romero Morais
Senior Director of Regional Impact, Leadership for Educational Equity
Cyndi Soter O'Neil
Director of Strategic Philanthropy, IMC/ChildTrust Foundation; Co-Chair, Invest Early NC
Erica Beshears Perel
Operations Director, Tiny News Collective
Melissa Singler
President, Robeson Community College
Zeb Smathers
Mayor of Canton
Heather Smith
2024 Burroughs Wellcome Fund NC Teacher of the Year
Amneris Solano
Assistant Director for Communications at the Kenan Fellows Program for Teacher Leadership, NC State University
Beckie Spears
2024 Wells Fargo NC Principal of the Year, Principal of Wilkesboro Elementary School
Dr. Erin Swanson
Education Strategy Consultant
Dr. Deanna Townsend-Smith
Senior Director, Dudley Flood Center for Educational Equity & Opportunity
Gina Zhang
Director of Strategic Initiatives, myFutureNC