Introducing the Leadership Triangle Executive 2022 Goodmon Fellows
We are thrilled and honored to introduce our largest Executive Cohort to date. These 24 leaders have been gathering since January to reaffirm their commitment to the Triangle and to build community amongst peers. They represent executive leadership from multiple local Universities, private companies, regional nonprofits, and the public sector. Please help us in welcoming each leader into the Goodmon Fellowship.
Thank you to our partner and program sponsor, the Research Triangle Foundation. We applaud and stand in solidarity with your commitments to regional collaboration and creating an equitable talent ecosystem throughout the Triangle.
Dr. Anthony C. Nelson was appointed the Dean of the School of Business at North Carolina Central University in 2018. Prior to that he has served as the Dean of the School of Business at Bowie State University, a position he’s held since 2008. He has served as president of the HBCU Business Deans Roundtable from 2010 to 2011. Dr. Nelson received his BA from North Carolina A&T and his MBA and PhD from University of Pittsburgh.
Carrie Heinonen is the President and CEO of Museum of Life and Science, a role she has been in for just over a year. A creative and collaborative leader, Carrie has more than 20 years of experience both with non-profits and Fortune 100 corporations. Heinonen received her Bachelor of Arts in Art History from Dartmouth College and her Master’s Degree in Public and Private Management from the Yale School of Management. She has worked in the curatorial department at the Heard Museum conducting research for The Boarding School Experience exhibition, studied Maori art in New Zealand, and lived and worked with the White Mountain Apache tribe.
With over 20 years of experience in the healthcare market, Christie Adams is the Southeast Regional Practice Lead and Principal with GUIDE Architecture. As the first point of contact for clients, she oversees business and project development and the overall growth in the Southeast. Adams’ career is focused on creating a built environment that provides hope, inspiration and support to the patient, family and the clinical team.
Creighton Blackwell is an accomplished, award winning and dynamic executive level professional and a community advocate for over 25 years on a local as well as national level. He currently serves as the Chief Community and Public Affairs Officer at Coastal Credit Union. Prior to working with CCU, he has held upper level management positions at RBC Bank. Mr Blackwell is recognized as an accomplished professional public speaker presenting on various professional, educational and motivational topics at national, regional and local events. Creighton enjoys coaching sports and spending time with his wife and three young kids.
Dewey Steadman has served as the Head of Investor Relations at United Therapeutics for over three years. A seasoned financial professional with “a unique skill set honed through sell-side equity analysis, direct industry experience and a scientific pedigree,” Steadman has worked with specialty pharmaceutical and infectious disease biotech companies and at respected investment banks.
Erin Fry Sosne is the interim Director of Strategy with the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services. Prior to this role, Erin managed equity-related COVID-19 vaccination efforts with NC DHHS. She served as the NCDHHS operational lead on partnerships with the Healthier Together initiative — a public private partnership to increase the number of individuals who are BIPOC and from other historically marginalized populations receiving COVID-19 vaccinations across the state of North Carolina. Her coworkers describe Erin as a dedicated professional who motivates and inspires others.
Before moving to Raleigh to assume his position as assistant city manager, Evan Raleigh was assistant city manager in Winston-Salem, where he oversaw the city’s small business and housing loan programs and helped establish a program to support at-risk youth and former offenders with educational and employment opportunities. Mr. Raleigh is a proud “Double Deacon” holding both a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and a Master of Science in Management from Wake Forest University as well as a Master of Public Policy from the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan. Mr. Raleigh is an active member of the North Carolina City and County Management Association and a long-time member of the International City/County Management Association.
Fay Horwitt is the President and CEO of Forward Cities. Fay designs and delivers in-person and virtual events, educational and interactive experiences to help organizations, companies, and individuals grow more effective and equitable human ecosystems. An ecosystems healer, Fay centers her work around Durham and Black entrepreneurs, and, most recently, has shifted her focus to institutions in the time of COVID-19, racial tensions and beyond, all from an equitable and multicultural lens.
Janet Cowell is the CEO of Dix Park Conservancy, a former state treasurer, former state senator, and former two-term Raleigh City Council member. Cowell has served on the Board of Dix Park since the conservancy’s inception. In her work, Cowell is dedicated to putting people, specifically North Carolinians, first. Ms. Cowell received a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania and a M.B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School of Business as well as a Master’s in International Studies from the University of Pennsylvania Lauder Institute.
JB Buxton is the fifth president of Durham Technical Community College. Buxton is a member of the N.C. State Board of Education, where he works directly with the community college system on a range of education and workforce-related issues. He began his career as a high school English teacher and coach; has served as a White House Fellow working with the Domestic Policy Council under President Clinton; Director of policy and research for the Public School Forum of N.C, and coordinator of special programs for the NC Teaching Fellows Program.
A native of Warsaw, NC, Jeffrey L Frederick never imagined that he would be handling international business cases when he was studying at NC A&T. Now, in his fifth year as SVP Global HR Business Partnering at RTI International he is doing just that. Prior to his role with RTI, Frederick spearheaded the HR efforts with a number of businesses in the Greensboro/Winston-Salem area, and served on the board of directors of North Carolina Workforce Development Boards and Guilford County Workforce Development Boards.
Justin Sosne is the Head of the U.K. Government Office in North Carolina at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. Justin has a wealth of leadership experience in developing innovative partnerships, driving large-scale organizational change and growth, and achieving concrete, measurable results. In his past roles, Sosne oversaw recruitment and retention as well as diversity & inclusion training of employees in Asia and the US; built partnerships and managed relationships with senior executives of Fortune 500 companies across Asia; and served as the Senior Policy Advisor for the US Department of State.
Katrese Dick has been in the business of people for over 20 years. She is an accomplished HR Generalist, having performed recruitment, benefits, payroll and employee relations for Fortune 500 companies in the IT, social services, consumer products and administrative/waste sectors. Skills learned in these roles combined with the blessing of being laid off in 2009 and a childhood dream of owning a beauty salon birthed the KFactor Beauty Lounge in 2011. While she is a shameless and disruptive serial entrepreneur, Katrese’s versatility and desire to help people makes her now open to a return to the corporate sector to help companies and people work through challenges being brought about by the various traumatic events that have gripped our society over the last few years. She is an entrepreneurial product of the Great Recession who wants to help make impacts in the midst of the Great Resignation. Katrese proudest accomplishments is being married to Kevin Dick and being a mom to Kelis!
Kevin Dick is President and Chief Executive Officer of Carolina Small Business Development Fund, a member of the African American Alliance of CDFI CEOs, and Board Member of Invest Appalachia. In his role with CSBDF, Dick is dedicated to equitable economic development and helping small businesses grow. Originally from Montclair, NJ, Kevin has held senior positions with the Cities of Charlotte and Durham in North Carolina, as well as the Durham Workforce Development Board. He has also held senior roles with the administrative staff of the Broward Workforce Development Board and the City of Dania Beach, FL in addition to private sector marketing and sales experience positions in New Jersey and Delaware.
Kevin Price is the President and CEO of the National Institute of Minority Economic Development. A Greensboro native and U.S. Army veteran, Kevin has held several senior leadership positions where he was responsible for diversifying company procurement spend, and being the voice for minority, women, veteran and LGBT-owned suppliers. Kevin Price serves as the Board Treasurer of Diversity Information Resources, guest lecturer at Institute for Diversity in Health Management and Advisory Board Member of the Healthcare Management Program at Winston-Salem State University.
L. Ron Pringle came into his role as the President and CEO of Inter-Faith Food Shuttle with extensive background in the food bank industry. Having dealt with food shortages following two major hurricanes, he knows firsthand how climate change can have debilitating effects on food security. Raised in South Carolina, Ron received his BA in Human Services from Springfield College in Charleston, SC. He served as an Assistant Chaplain in the U.S. Airforce during Desert Storm before returning to the Charleston area. Ron is an avid golfer, makes his own furniture, and is a self-taught musician who enjoys spending time with his family.
Lori O’Keefe has served as President and CEO of Triangle Community Foundation since 2012. In addition to leading the operations and strategic vision of the Foundation, she works to ensure that the Foundation’s donors are engaged and connected to the causes they care about. A lifelong singer who is passionate about the arts, Lori has devoted her career to the nonprofit sector. Before joining Triangle Community Foundation in 2005, Lori worked as a fundraiser and arts administrator at performing arts institutions in California and New York City.
Michelle Price currently serves as the Vice President for Student Supports at Communities In Schools of North Carolina. A Mebane native, she completed a BS Degree in Community Health Education with a minor in Child Development and Family Relations from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. While raising 3 amazing children — Zachary, Kailyn, and Julian — with her amazing and supportive husband, Kevin, she also completed a Master of Arts in Education/Adult Education and Training. In November of 2020, Kevin and Michelle moved to the Triangle from the Charlotte area as empty nesters to pursue new career opportunities. Price enjoys living closer to her parents who are in Wilson and her two sisters who are in Raleigh.
Neville Devlaliwalla has been working with SAS for over four years, first as Manager and now as Senior Manager in Corporate Real Estate. Prior to joining SAS, Neville has worked with Red Hat and Cisco in their real estate and business operations divisions. Some of Neville’s many strengths include client relationship management, team success, and performance optimization.
Dr. Paulette Dillard is the 18th President of Shaw University, a scientist, educator and a businesswoman. Dr. Dillard is a trained medical technologist certified by the American Society of Clinical Pathology and has over twenty-five years of experience working in the field of diagnostic laboratory medicine. A native of Mt Airy, NC, Dr. Dillard earned a B.S. in biology from Barber Scotia College, an M.S. in biology from Tennessee State University, an MBA from the Jack Massey School of Business at Belmont University, and a Ph.D. in Biological Sciences. She began her career at International Clinical Laboratories in Nashville, Tennessee. She went on to hold senior positions at SmithKline and Quest Diagnostics, as well as serve on the boards of Dorothea Dix Conservancy and Carolina Small Business Development Fund.
Terri Steadman is an accomplished entrepreneur with deep expertise in utilizing positive people to create revenue, while maximizing profits. Her business ownership/management experience includes sales, marketing, training, leadership development, process oriented CRM implementation and solving problems creatively. Her motto is and has always been — Find A Way.
Dr. Van B. Sapp is the Dean and Assistant Professor at Saint Augustine’s University School of Business, Management, and Technology as well the President and Chair of the Board of HBCU Business Deans Roundtable. Sapp spent the early years of his career within the Sales Division of Kraft Foods, in various roles with increasing responsibility before joining PepsiCo. Working in several divisions across PepsiCo, Sapp held three Senior Vice President roles across marketing, sales, and general management. After 13 years with Pepsico, Van joined the loyalty company TCC Global as its US CEO and President of the Americas. While relatively new to working in academia, Dean Sapp is a graduate of two HBCUs: Tuskegee University, where he received his BS in Business Administration, and Clark Atlanta University, where he received his MBA. Most recently, Dr. Sapp received his PhD from Concordia University.
Virginia Parker is the Senior Vice President/Triangle Market Manager at Bank of America, where she helps build relationships with customers and promotes social responsibility initiatives. A North Carolina native and Triangle resident for more than 30 years, VIrginia has years of expertise in leadership, management and development in both the for-profit and nonprofit world. She values human connections and uses that to build and improve her community.
As a nonprofit executive and administrator, Yvette Holmes, the CEO of Southeast Raleigh Promise, is passionate about initiatives that strengthen the lives of families, women and children. She is skilled at working with underserved communities and shaping and leading solution-oriented strategies that result in lasting impact. A Southeast Raleigh resident for over 20 years, Holmes has spent the last 15 years working to advance affordable housing goals and wealth creation strategies through homeownership attainment.
