Board Members

Stephen Hill, Kinston - Chair      
Stephen is the chief executive officer and chairman of Discovery Insurance Company, Hill Realty, and Mother Earth Brewing, all in Kinston. He is a former president of the Community Council for the Arts (Lenoir County) and is past chairman of Arendell Parrott Academy. He is revitalizing his sixth building in downtown Kinston. In 2013, the North Carolina Department of Commerce designated Stephen a North Carolina Mainstreet Champion. Stephen graduated from Lees-McRae College, in Banner Elk, and attended Appalachian State University.

Paul Baker, Raleigh     
Dr. Paul K. Baker is currently Executive Director of the Contemporary Art Museum (CAM) in Raleigh, NC, and Professor of History in the Department of History and Political Science at North Carolina A&T State University. Devoted to service, Dr. Baker currently is a member of the Board of Directors for ArtsGreensboro. He has served on the boards of the Raleigh City Museum, South Carolina African American Heritage Commission, and was appointed by Governor Beverly Perdue to the Board of Directors for the North Carolina Museum of History. He is a member of Watts Chapel Missionary Baptist Church and Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. A native of Fairmont, North Carolina, Dr. Baker received a B.A. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in Art/African American Studies, an M.A. from North Carolina State University in Public History, and a Ph.D. from North Carolina A&T State University in Leadership Studies from the School of Education. Dr. Baker was a Gilder Lehrman Fellow in the Center for Slavery and Abolition at Yale University, Ford Fellow in the Carter G. Woodson Center at the University of Virginia, and Oxford Roundtable Fellow at Oxford University in England. He completed Harvard University's Management Development Program and Cornell University's Program in Policy Development.

Asha Bala, Cary      
Asha received the 2018 North Carolina Heritage Award, given in recognition of lifetime contributions to the cultural heritage of our state. One of Asha’s prime accomplishments is the establishment of her independent dance institution, the Leela School of Dance, of which she is the artistic director. Through her studies in traditional and modern dance at the university level in India and the United States, Asha says she has come to appreciate how much dance benefits from knowledge and understanding of its historical and philosophical roots. She exposes her students to a well-rounded, holistic education that incorporates in-depth instruction in the practice of Bharata Natyam, a dance form that originated in South India thousands of years ago and is practiced in Indian communities in North Carolina.

DeWayne Barton, Asheville      
DeWayne is the founder and chief executive officer of Hood Huggers International, an organization that offers sustainable strategies to build support pillars for resilient historically African American neighborhoods. He also co-founded Green Opportunities (a “green collar” job training program for young people and adults) and the Burton Street Community Peace Gardens. DeWayne is a moving spoken-word performer, author, and maker of provocative found-object sculptures. He attended Norfolk State University from 1996–1999, majoring in social work. He has been involved in community improvement and youth development for more than 20 years. He received a 2016–2017 N.C. Arts Council Mary B. Regan Artist Residency grant and serves on the African American Heritage Commission.

Patricia Athey Brown, Winston-Salem      
Patricia is a long-time member of the Board of Visitors at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, where she has worked with cultivating alumni in New York, chaired the Advancement and the Chancellor's Residence committees, and supervised the building and upfit of the new Chancellor's residence. Patty and her husband Dr. Malcolm Brown, a retired physician with Novant, moved to Winston-Salem in 1988 for the arts and for medicine, after looking at 22 possible locations in the Mid-Atlantic and the South. 

Chad Cheek, Winston Salem      
Chad owns Elephant in the Room, a design and brand consultancy in Winston-Salem. Elephant in The Room specializes in brand creation and development, marketing strategy, and graphic design. Chad has more than 30 years of brand marketing and strategic business development experience and has been active in several community organizations over the years. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Arts Council of Winston-Salem/Forsyth County, the Board of Directors for the RiverRun International Film Festival, the Board of Directors for the Downtown Winston-Salem Partnership, the Board of Directors for ABC of NC, and the Board of Directors for the Triad Chapter of the American Institute of Graphic Arts. Chad has been a member of the board of the North Carolina Arts Council since 2014. Chad is a Winston-Salem native and holds an MBA from Wake Forest University.

Chanavia Charleston, Fayetteville     
Chanavia Charleston has a life long love of the arts. She is a self taught artist and author of childrens books. Chanavia has been a supporter and volunteer with the Fayetteville Arts Council and served on the City of Fayetteville Arts Commission. She is the second self-published author to be invited to the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art for her book, Miracle. Chanavia is a graduate of Fayetteville State University where she earned a Bachelor of Arts and Master of Business Administration. She is a senior healthcare consultant with a national data analytics company. Chanavia lives in Fayetteville and has two adult children.

Kathy Crowe, Morehead City      
Kathy holds a BA degree from Meredith College in Music in Vocal Performance and Music Education. Kathy has dedicated her life to music education and the musical arts in her community and has taught both public and private elementary music for nearly 40 years. Locally, she is an instructor of voice at the Music & Arts Academy of Morehead City and was the musical director of several children’s productions of the SandCastle Players. Kathy says she loves performing. She is a member of Carolina East Singers and a former member of Carteret Chorale and the performing ensemble Encore! She has performed in regional theater with Harnett Regional Theater and Carteret Community Theater. Kathy dedicated years of leadership to National Charity League, Inc. and served on its national Board of Directors. She loves boating, deep-sea fishing, and travel, and most of all the sound of children singing.

Lou Anne Crumpler, Raleigh       
Lou Anne is the director of the Carolina Hunger Initiative, at UNC-Chapel Hill. Along with No Kid Hungry N.C., the Carolina Hunger Initiative expands access to nutritious meals for children at school, after school, and in the summer months. No Kid Hungry N.C. was established under Lou Anne's leadership in 2011 in the Governor’s Office and is now a project of the UNC Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention. Previously she was engaged in corporate, nonprofit, and public service work, focusing on enterprises that serve the greater good. Her professional experience in communications, marketing, development, and social entrepreneurship includes creating several successful initiatives both in business and nonprofit arenas. Lou Anne’s passion for the arts led to her prior service on the Board of Trustees and Foundation Board of the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. She volunteers for and supports several community organizations and is a member of White Memorial Presbyterian Church, in Raleigh. Lou Anne serves on the Board of Directors of the Be Loud! Sophie Foundation, whose purpose is to improve the lives of adolescent and young adult cancer patients in North Carolina.

William Henry Curry, Durham      
Maestro William Henry Curry was appointed Music Director and Conductor of the Durham Symphony Orchestra in May 2009. From 1998 to 2016, he was the Resident Conductor and Summerfest Artistic Director of the North Carolina Symphony. A native of Pittsburgh, Curry began viola studies with Eugene Reichenfeld at age 11 and began conducting and composing at age 14. His professional engagements have included the Chicago, Cleveland, Houston, Detroit, and Atlanta Symphonies as well as the Israel Chamber Orchestra, the National Orchestra of Thailand, and the National Orchestra of Taiwan (representing the U.S. State Department and giving workshops on American music.)  Maestro Curry has held Resident Conductor posts with the Baltimore Symphony, the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, and the New Orleans Symphony Orchestra and has served as Associate Conductor of the Indianapolis and Atlanta Symphonies. He received the City of Raleigh Medal of the Arts in 2016 for his achievements in advancing the arts in North Carolina, and has been honored by the N.C. African American Heritage Commission and received a certificate of achievement from Governor Roy Cooper in 2019. In addition, Maestro Curry has been a mentor and a beacon for young musicians at the Peabody Conservatory, the Baltimore School of Arts, and many music schools in the state of North Carolina. As Resident Conductor of the North Carolina Symphony for 20 years, he conducted over a thousand concerts for public school students. He has taught Music Appreciation at William Peace University and for the OLLI-at-Duke adult education series.

Carroll Dashiell, Greenville       
Carroll is associate professor of music, the director of Jazz Ensembles, and string/electric bass professor at East Carolina University. Carroll was mentored by the North Carolina jazz great Billy Taylor and has been recognized for his contributions as a bassist, musical director, and composer/arranger. His performance history includes concerts with the Boston Pops, the National Symphony, and the Washington Philharmonic orchestras. He has performed with Dr. Taylor, Ethel Ennis, and the Fifth Dimension and in concert/show tours with Maurice Hines, Stephanie Mills, Maceo Parker, Ray Charles, Vanessa Rubin, and Jennifer Holiday. Carroll has produced or performed on dozens of national and international recordings. He is the recipient of the Robert and Lina Mays and Robert L. Jones Distinguished Alumni Teaching Excellence Award.

Gina Esquivel, Lincolnton       
Gina is the principal consultant of Civic Canvas, a boutique consulting firm for social impact. Civic Canvas works with people, organizations, and communities to increase the impact of goodwill efforts through thoughtful leadership, program design, and community grassroots marketing. She is a longtime advocate of inclusion and equity, serving on national, state, and local boards. She is a visual artist and thought leader who has spent nearly three decades working for nonprofits in Mecklenburg County. Gina earned a bachelor’s degree from the National University of Costa Rica in Education and Counseling. She received her master’s degree from Pfeiffer University in Change Management and Leadership. She is a world traveler, currently working on The Hard-Working People of the World, an exhibit to bring forward the people who make our lives better.

Marjorie Hodges, Raleigh       
A long-time museum professional and community leader, Marjorie has advocated for contemporary artists by curating and facilitating significant exhibitions for Contemporary Art Museum Raleigh, Flanders Gallery and the North Carolina Museum of Art. As director of external relations and special projects at NCMA, she helped secure significant public art installations and acquisitions for the Ann and Jim Goodnight Museum Park and continues to support public art initiatives in the region and beyond. Today, she works as an independent art consultant, serving as an advisor for both private collectors and corporate collection projects including Duke Raleigh Hospital, The Fallon Group, Kane Realty Group, and more. Marjorie serves as Secretary of the Dix Park Conservancy Board, and as a public art advisor for various municipalities in North Carolina. At the heart of her efforts is a deep passion for arts and culture and a commitment to support charitable organizations including non-profit arts organizations, Museums, Dix Park, Frankie Lemmon Foundation, Art of Cool Project and more. Working to highlight the power of art to build community, Marjorie founded Artsuite, an online marketplace for art acquisition and advocacy. Through the online platform and community projects, Artsuite strives to boost arts commerce and creative prosperity, in part by adding more voices to the conversation. “I want to invite ideas and participation from artists, designers, creatives, collectors and newcomers,” she explains. “By listening and sharing these stories and developing engaging content and programming for the Artsuite community, my goal is to help more people discover the joys of living with art — whether it’s at a museum, gallery, studio, or in your own home.”

Eric Lindstrom, Fayetteville       
Eric is an architect and co-owner of SfL+A Architects. Eric lives and works in downtown Fayetteville, where he has personally redeveloped five historic properties, including the CAMEO Art House Theater. From Festival Park to numerous residential lofts, Eric’s firm has been involved in dozens of downtown projects, studies, and arts initiatives. Eric has served on Fayetteville’s Historic Resources Commission and as a board member for the Cape Fear Regional Theatre and the Arts Council of Fayetteville/Cumberland County for more than 20 years. Recently, Eric helped to launch the Cool Springs Downtown Arts and Entertainment District and the Downtown Works in Progress Public Art Program, in Fayetteville. Eric’s architectural firm is a leader in sustainable design, specializing in “net-positive” buildings that generate up to 70-percent more energy than they consume. Through the firm’s sister company, Firstfloor, SfL+A offers creative financing solutions that reduce the total cost of ownership for their clients. For weekend fun, Eric enjoys working with his partner, Kennon Jackson, on restoring their 1790s jump-and-a-half historic coastal cottage in Beaufort. 

Sejal Mehta, Raleigh      
Sejal has a strong love of the arts, and she comes from a family of writers. She served on the Board of Directors and fiction staff of the Raleigh Review, a literary and arts magazine. Currently, she serves on the Board of Directors of the Raleigh Little Theater. Sejal has assisted on the production of short films and various commercials in the Triangle. Previously, Sejal worked as a contract attorney for Duke Energy, an attorney at the New York Medical Examiner's Office, and a prosecutor in the Queens District Attorney's Office in New York City. Sejal has a BA degree from New York University, where she minored in film criticism, and a JD degree from Northeastern University School of Law. She lives in Raleigh with her husband, Jay, and their two young children.

Kimberly Nixon, Charlotte       
Dr. Kimberly Nixon graduated from the University of Detroit in Michigan with a BA in Chemistry before going on to earn a dental degree from Northwestern University in Chicago. She received her Certificate of Pediatric Dentistry from New York’s Columbia University School of Dental Surgery. Dr. Nixon has practiced in the pediatric field for more than 15 years, and enjoys hospital privileges at Carolinas Healthcare System, University Hospital, where she also serves on the Executive Committee. An ardent supporter of children in need who is passionate about making a difference in kids’ lives, Dr. Nixon volunteers her time and services for several charitable causes. These include Rowan and Cabarrus Counties’ Head Start programs and Bright Smiles, Bright Future, a program that provides free dental screenings and oral health education to at-risk children. She also volunteers her services for Give Kids a Smile and NC Missions of Mercy, outreach programs that provide access to dental healthcare. Whether acting as a role model or working to make a child more comfortable and happy while the dentist, Dr. Nixon is committed to bettering the lives of the patients she serves. She has two daughters, and devotes her free time to traveling, cooking, and supporting the arts.

Edward Norvell, Salisbury       
is a retired attorney from Salisbury. He is a board member of the Piedmont Players Theatre, Inc., the St. Luke’s Foundation, the Bell Tower Green Park, and the Salisbury Public Art Commission, where he has been involved with the annual Salisbury Sculpture Show for many years. He is president of the Historic Salisbury Foundation and active with the Ocracoke Alive arts group and the Ocracoke Preservation Society. He has been active in historic preservation both in Salisbury and the state as a former board member of Preservation N.C. He led the capital campaign for the restoration of the 1905 Meroney Theater and the Norvell Children’s Theater in downtown Salisbury. He is a former board member of the Waterworks Visual Art Center and the Rowan Arts Council. He was named Salisbury’s Main Street Champion in 2005. Formerly an attorney with the Land Trust for Central N.C. and the Conservation Trust for North Carolina and a board member of the N.C. Coastal Land Trust, he has been very active with the land trust community across the state. He received his BA degree from UNC-Chapel Hill, his MA degree from the City University of New York, and his JD degree from Wake Forest University. A proud father of one surviving son and two granddaughters, he is also the author of several novels that take place on the N.C. coast.

Latha Pamarthi, Knightdale       
Latha Pamarthi is a certified Project Management Professional with experience in Information Technology and Event Management. She has worked for the North Carolina State Government since 1999. Previously, she worked for the World Health Organization in Copenhagen, Denmark. Latha immigrated from India to Minnesota in 1986. She since lived in New York, Mississippi, and Denmark before moving to North Carolina and making it her home. She enjoys traveling globally and learning about different cultures. Latha is a strong advocate for volunteerism and expanding diversity through cultural education. In 2002, she founded and headed the Triangle Indian Youth Organization, a group aimed at promoting volunteerism and cultural education for Triangle-area youth of India-American heritage. Latha’s passion for community development and women’s empowerment also led her to found and direct the Miss India North Carolina competition, which was the state’s first pageant for women of Indian descent, in 2003. She later served two terms as Vice President of the Board of Directors for HumSub between 2008 and 2018. In 2019 she served as an Executive Board member of TiE (The Indus Entrepreneurs) and played an instrumental role in launching the Triangle's Women's Pitchfest. Since 2020, Latha has served as an Advisory Board Member for the North Carolina State Employees Combined Campaign (a charitable organization that drives support from state employees for North Carolina charities to improve community initiatives). Latha counts raising her two children among her greatest accomplishments. Her son practices medicine in the field of interventional radiology in Charlotte, and her daughter is an attorney in the DC area. Latha is the proud grandmother of two grandchildren.

Libby Rodenbough, Hillsborough       
Libby is a native of North Carolina who grew up in Greensboro, attended UNC-Chapel Hill, and has since lived in various small towns in the Piedmont. She spends most of her days on the road playing fiddle and singing in the North Carolina-based band Mipso. She is interested in traditional and vernacular music, especially string band music in the old-time vein, and her self-guided major at UNC was largely concerned with questions about authenticity and ownership. She spent a summer working at the North Carolina Folklife Institute and another at a live radio program, Music City Roots, modeled on the Grand Ole Opry in its early days. In her writing and performing with Mipso, she continues to investigate stories and ideas about the place she calls home.

John Russell, Asheville       
John has served since 2006 as executive director of the Montford Park Players, North Carolina’s longest-running Shakespeare Festival. Born and raised in Asheville, he is a 1970 alumnus of the Governor's School of North Carolina, attended UNC-Chapel Hill, and has worked in arts management for most of his career. He holds a certificate in nonprofit management from Duke University and is active in the Institute of Outdoor Theatre, the Shakespeare Theatre Association, the North Carolina Theatre Conference, and the Southeastern Theatre Conference. He also serves as vice-president of the Board of Directors of the North Carolina Governor's School Foundation and is secretary-treasurer of the Rotary Club of Asheville-Metro. In 2018 he received the Mark Sumner Award from the SETC for his contributions to outdoor theater.

Ann Whichard, Greenville      
Ann has been an active community volunteer in Greenville and the state of North Carolina for more than 30 years. She served on the Board of Directors at the North Carolina Museum of Art and chaired its Building and Grounds Committee. She served on the Greenville Museum of Art for more than 10 years and as president from 1995 to 1997. She is currently the chairman of the Rachel Maxwell Moore Art Foundation, which is the art acquisition arm of the Greenville Museum. In Greenville, she has been involved as a board member with the East Carolina University Friends of the Library, Literacy Volunteers-Pitt County, and the Center for Family Violence Prevention. She is the founder of Greenville’s annual Stone Soup fundraising event, which benefits the St. Paul’s Episcopal Church Food Pantry. She has served on the UNC General Alumni Association Board of Directors and the Carolina Women’s Leadership Council. She is a graduate of St. Mary’s High School and College and UNC-Chapel Hill. She is married to Jordy Whichard. They have two adult children and two grandchildren. 

John Willingham, Yadkinville      
John is the fourth generation to manage the family-owned Indera Mills. He received his BA degree in economics from Yale University. In 1998, he moved his company from Winston-Salem to Yadkinville and became immersed in the community. For the past 10 years, he has led the Yadkin Arts Council as board president and was instrumental in the creation of the Yadkin Cultural Arts Center. Completed in 2010, the center is the home of the Yadkin Arts Council, which consists of several buildings and significant open spaces. It has served as an anchor for the revitalization of downtown Yadkinville. John is devoted to the resurgence of small-town America and the leading role that the arts play in this process.

Ronna T. Zimmer, Wilmington       
Ronna is a lifelong lover of the arts. As a five time board president of the historic Thalian Hall Center for the Performing Arts, she has worked on memorializing the history of Thalian Hall and the hall’s priceless original theater curtain. She appeared in a video that the Cameron Museum of Art created to accompany an exhibit featuring the historic curtain. She also is a longtime board member of The Wilmington Symphony Orchestra and has served on the Duke University’s Nasher Museum of Art Board and the NC Museum of Art’s statewide membership committee. She is a past chairman of The Airlie Arts Festival and co-chair of The Azalea Festival Garden Tour. Ronna served several terms on the North Carolina Advisory Commission on Cancer Coordination and Control which created the state’s Cancer Plan. She was one of two delegates sent by NC to the Lance Armstrong Cancer Summits in Austin, TX (2006) and Columbus, OH (2008) and was co-chair of the first NC Cancer Survivorship Workshop and Summit. She also has served on many local and regional boards and was a founding member of The Katherine Kennedy Foundation and The New Hanover County Library Foundation. Ronna has a MA in Speech Pathology from SUNY at Buffalo, a BS in Speech Pathology from Syracuse University, and 30 hours of study in music history, theory and piano performance from UNCW. In addition, she is a graduate gemologist from the Gemological Institute of America and has a certificate in Non-Profit Management from Duke University and a Master Gardener Certificate from NC State University.