Board of Advisors

George Alexander is executive director of Muthoot Finance, the largest gold finance company in India. He takes care of operations in the States of Karnataka, Goa & south of Telangana, he also has the responsibility of the global operations of The Muthoot Group in U.S.  He is serving on the board of other group companies namely Muthoot Insurance Brokers, Belstar Finance & Investments, Asia Asset Finance & Muthoot Securities. Muthoot Finance is the flagship institution of The Muthoot Group. It was listed in 2011 and is traded in BSE & NSE. Apart from Muthoot Finance, The Muthoot Group has 16 other divisions, to name a few are hospitality, healthcare, education and insurance broking. Prior to joining his family business, Alexander worked for ING & Kotak Mahindra Bank in India.

He was the chapter chair of Confederation of Indian Industries – Young Indians Bangalore Chapter in 2015. He also served on the board of Entrepreneur’s Organisation Bangalore as finance chair from 2016 to 2018. George was one among the 10 Indians chosen to represent India for AIYD (Australia India Youth Dialogue) at Sydney and Melbourne in 2013.

Alexander earned his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from University of Kerala TKM College of Engineering and his MBA from UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School.

Ritch Allison serves as president of Domino’s International, overseeing over 8,000 Domino’s stores and all franchise relationships outside the U.S. Domino’s is  the world’s second largest pizza company, with more than 13,000 stores in more than 80 countries.

Since Allison joined Domino’s to lead the international business in March 2011, the division has grown by more than 3,500 stores. Domino’s International has achieved 90 consecutive quarters of same stores sales growth and accounts for more than one-half of the company’s global retail sales – over $5.0 billion in fiscal 2015.

Allison joined Domino’s after more than 13 years at Bain & Company Inc., a leading business consulting firm, where he was a partner and co-leader of Bain’s global restaurant practice, working with some of the world’s most well-known restaurant brands. His work covered strategy and solution development, including market segmentation and growth strategies, marketing and advertising effectiveness measures, menu development and pricing strategy, organizational design, driving operational efficiency and improving supply chain performance.

In addition to his experience at Bain, Allison worked for BellSouth Corporation in strategic development and online services.

Allison received his BSBA and MBA from UNC Kenan-Flagler, where he was named a Dean’s Scholar and received the Norman Block Award. He also serves on the UNC Kenan-Flagler Board of Advisors.

He resides in Ann Arbor, Michigan, with his wife, Susan.  Their two children, Jake and Emily, are students at Carolina.

Jeff Allred, a native of High Point, North Carolina, is president and CEO of Griffeon Group, LLC, a strategic advisory and merchant banking firm, managing partner of Kidder Properties, LLC, an affordable housing developer, and a senior partner in Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP, a full service AmLaw 200 law firm. He earned his BA, JD and MBA from UNC-Chapel Hill. Outside of work he serves on the boards of various community and educational organizations and enjoys spending time with his family.

Phil Ameen began his professional career as an accountant with deep roots in Chapel Hill. Phil, a UNC-Chapel alum, was certified as a public accountant while in Greensboro with Peat Marwick and submitted the second best of 28,000 CPA exams in the nation. He and his family left North Carolina for the bright lights of New York and, ultimately, the role of VP comptroller and principal accounting officer for Jack Welch and that remarkable General Electric team. Ameen retired in 2008, having signed his name to more GE annual reports than anyone in history and having brought a voice of reason to U.S. and international accounting standards setting. He is an active participant on a wide range of eleemosynary and conservative political causes.

Dwight Anderson is the CEO of Ospraie Management, LLC, an investment firm that focuses on basic industries and commodities. He earned his MBA from UNC Kenan-Flagler. He is a member of the board of trustees of the NYU Langone Medical Center.

Nathan Andrews is a partner with Deloitte. He is the U.S. and global practice leader for Deloitte’s Tax Management Consulting practice and serves as lead client service partner for UNC-Chapel Hill. He received both his BSBA and MAC from UNC Kenan-Flagler. He and his wife, Karrie,  live in Hillsborough.

With over 24 years of financial services experience, Black has held a variety of roles at financial institutions. She leads a number of Charlotte economic and civic efforts, working with 30 corporate CEOs across multiple industry sectors. Prior to her current role, Black was the mid-Atlantic region executive for the bank’s Local Market President organization.  These teams manage local grants and sponsorships and work to drive collaboration across eight lines of business to deliver the full resources and expertise of Bank of America.

Black has  led a national marketing analytics team that developed customer-centric strategies for online and offline sales.  In addition, her experience includes the management of consumer deposit products and pricing, product development, product marketing and brand strategy. She has led a national small business sales force for Merchant Services and managed a sales territory for Group Banking and Corporate Relocation services.

Black received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Queens University of Charlotte, and an MBA from UNC Kenan-Flagler.

Black resides in Charlotte with her husband and three boys.  She serves on the boards of Queens University of Charlotte and Communities in Schools.  Prior boards on which she served include Safe Alliance, supporting victims of domestic violence, and the Arts & Science Council.  She is a seven-year volunteer veteran teaching Junior Achievement curriculum at the elementary level.

Sam Bowles is a managing director at Minturn Partners.  Prior to joining Minturn, Bowles spent 10 years at Carousel Capital, a Charlotte-based private equity firm.  Bowles’ previous work experience also includes time in the mergers and acquisitions department at Morgan Stanley, as an associate at Castle Harlan, and an associate at Vestar Capital Partners.

Bowles holds a BSBA from UNC Kenan-Flagler and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

He serves on several non-profit boards, including the Mint Museum Board of Trustees, St. Peter’s Episcopal Church Vestry and the JDF International Investment Committee.

Kit Fisher Bredrup is a founding member of the 100 Women Initiative. 100 Women is a group of UNC Kenan-Flagler alumnae focused on enhancing the enrollment and our culture with strong, ambitious and collaborative female students. Their initial goal is to increase the number of full-time female MBA students through focused engagement.

Bedrup has been a Tar Heel from the very beginning. She was born in Chapel Hill while her father was a resident at UNC Medical School. She grew up in Greensboro, North Carolina, and graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill with a BA in economics. After graduating from UNC, she joined First Citizens Bank where she worked in the credit analysis department and later joined their private banking group. She returned to UNC Kenan-Flagler for her MBA. Upon graduation she joined Mercer Management Consulting where she specialized in strategy and operational consulting. In 1997, she changed careers and moved to New York to joined the Highland Search Group where she specialized in financial service recruiting. Soon after moving to New York, she met her husband, Turner Bredrup. They live in Richmond, Virginia, and are the proud parents of Turner ’23 and Fisher.

Kim Brunson is a partner in Deloitte’s Strategy and Business Transformation Group, helping to drive Deloitte’s national tax strategy and planning.  She has been with Deloitte for more than 30 years serving clients in the private wealth and banking sector with extensive experience leading key business development pursuits, transitioning and serving large-scale wealth management outsourcing engagements and managing relationships with key stakeholders.

Brunson has held numerous leadership positions within Deloitte, including National Women’s Initiative Leader, National Tax Chief of Staff, and East Sector Global Employment Solutions Leader. Additionally, she has served on various Deloitte advisory committees and boards including National Tax Risk Management Committee, Deloitte Foundation Board, Senior Tax Advisory Committee and Managing Partner’s Advisory Committee.

Throughout the years, Brunson has been an avid supporter of UNC serving as Deloitte’s first Partner in Charge of UNC Strategic School Recruiting, leading both Deloitte’s national recruiting and fundraising efforts for many years. During her tenure, she led the fundraising initiatives for The Kenan Flagler Center for Accounting and Research, The John L. Brantley/Deloitte Fellowship and The Thomas W. Hudson Jr./Deloitte Distinguished Professorship.  She also served on the UNC Kenan Flagler MAC Advisory Board and received the 2003 UNC Kenan-Flagler Alumni Merit Award.

Brunson and her husband, Phillip, live in Atlanta.  They have five children.  Their youngest daughter, Kirby Elizabeth, is currently a junior at UNC.

David Carroll leads wealth and investment management (WIM) at Wells Fargo. Approximately 36,000 team members in this unit provide a full range of personalized wealth management, investment, and retirement products and services to clients across U.S.-based businesses. Through its sub-brands — Wells Fargo Advisors, The Private Bank, Abbot Downing, Wells Fargo Institutional Retirement & Trust, and Wells Fargo Asset Management — WIM delivers financial planning, private banking, credit, investment management, and fiduciary services to high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth individuals and families. It also serves customers’ brokerage needs, supplies retirement and trust services to institutional clients, and provides investment management capabilities to global institutional clients through separate accounts and the Wells Fargo Advantage Funds. WIM manages and administers $2.2 trillion in client assets, including $188 billion in deposits, and holds $69 billion in loans.

A financial services veteran with more than 37 years in the industry, Carroll joined Wachovia Bank & Trust Company in 1979 and then First Union National Bank (Wachovia’s predecessor) in 1981. From 2005 until the merger with Wells Fargo, Mr. Carroll served as senior executive vice president and head of Wachovia’s Capital Management Group, which included retail brokerage (Wachovia Securities), asset management (Evergreen Investments), and Retirement and Investment Products. Previously, he was head of corporate services and merger integration, chief of eCommerce and technology, and head of First Union’s General Banking Group region in Florida and earlier in Georgia.

Carroll earned his bachelor’s degree in business administration from UNC Kenan-Flagler. He is a board member of Trees Charlotte, the UNC-Chapel Hill Foundation, and the Chapel Hill Investment Fund.

Brent Callinicos is an experienced financial and technology executive. He is currently strategic financial advisor at Virgin Hyperloop One in Los Angeles. Prior to this, he was the COO and CFO at Virgin Hyperloop One. Prior to moving to LA, he was the CFO at Uber Technologies from September 2013 to March 2015. Prior to Uber, Callinicos served as VP, treasurer and chief accountant at Google from 2007- 2013, where he was also responsible for tax, internal audit and M&A finance. He also ran Google’s Green Energy investing and Google Financial Services. From 1992–2007 he served in a variety of increasingly senior roles at Microsoft, where he was corporate vice president and divisional CFO for Microsoft’s Platforms and Services Division. He also ran worldwide licensing and pricing and Microsoft financing. He was Microsoft’s treasurer from 2000–2004. While at Microsoft, Callinicos sat on the Council of Economic Advisors for two Washington State Governors. He is on the board of PVH, Baidu (chair of audit committee) and Rubicon Global (chair of audit committee). He earned his BSBA and MBA from UNC Kenan-Flagler, which awarded him the MBA Alumni Merit Award in 2004. He also is a CPA.

Susan Cates is CEO of The Association of College and University Educators, which in partnership with institutions of higher education nationwide, supports and credentials faculty members in the use of evidence-based teaching practices that improve student engagement, retention and learning. She serves as a partner at Leeds Equity Partners, a private equity firm that invests in the education, training and software industries.

Cates was the COO for 2U from 2016 to 2017. Prior to joining 2U, she served as president of UNC Executive Development and as founding executive director of MBA@UNC, the online MBA program and one of the top-ranked MBA programs in the U.S.

Prior to that, Cates was a partner and led global acquisitions at Best Associates, a private equity firm with investments primarily in the education sector. She also was part of the founding team and principal of ThinkEquity Partners, an investment banking boutique, where she led the education investment banking practice and had responsibility for business development, client relationships and deal execution. She previously worked in investment banking at Merrill Lynch in New York, as well as in corporate lending at Wachovia Bank in Atlanta. Cates earned her MBA from UNC Kenan-Flagler, where she received a Tiger Fellowship and was a Dean’s Scholar. Susan earned her BA from Duke University where she was a B.N. Duke Scholar.

Cates serves as the lead independent director for the board of directors of Primo Water Corporation (NASDAQ: PRMW).  She lives in Chapel Hill with her husband, Scott Warren, and their daughter, Cate.

James Clark is a managing director in Harris Williams & Co.’s Healthcare & Life Sciences Group.  Over his 20-year career, which includes experience in investment banking, venture capital, and consulting, Mr. Clark has advised public and private companies in merger, acquisition, divestiture, financial reporting, tax strategy, and valuation engagements. Mr. Clark’s healthcare experience includes sell-side engagements across a wide range of healthcare services, products, and technology market segments. Prior to joining Harris Williams & Co., Mr. Clark was an Investment Manager in Ericsson AB’s Strategic Venture Capital Group and a Manager in Arthur Andersen’s Strategy, Finance, & Economics practice.

Clark earned an MBA from UNC Kenan-Flagler, where he was inducted into Beta Gamma Sigma for academic honors. He also earned a BA in economics and a Master of Accounting from UNC Kenan-Flagler. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst and a Certified Public Accountant. He lives in Richmond with his wife and two children.

Jan Davis is managing partner for Davis Growth Partners and serves as an active investor, board member and advisor for companies in software, analytics, digital marketing, information and drowning prevention. These enterprises sell products and services to a broad range of industries, including retail, real estate, financial services as well as on-line to consumers. She presently serves on the boards of directors of Megalytics, ShowingTime.com and SEAL Innovation and on the boards of advisors of multiple companies, including Market Vue Partners and cultivate.social.  She is on the Screening Committee for the Carolina Angel Network, an active investor in and past president of Triangle Angel Partners, and an entrepreneur in residence for the Shuford Program in Entrepreneurship at UNC.  She also chairs the Investment Committee for the non-profit Launch Place Seed Fund in Danville VA.

Davis served as CEO of ShopperTrak RCT Corporation, the global leader in pedestrian traffic counting.  Before joining ShopperTrak, she was an executive vice president and business unit president at TransUnion LLC, the credit reporting giant.  Previously, Davis was a marketing consultant in Boston and in Warsaw, Poland.  She co-founded SmartNames, a venture-backed database marketing information, analysis and services company.

Davis holds a BA and an MBA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and lives in Cary, North Carolina, where she moved in 2010 after decades in Boston, Warsaw and Chicago.

Ajit Dayal graduated from UNC Kenan-Flagler in 1983. He earned his Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Bombay University in 1981. He has over 25 years of experience in the investment management industry.

In 1990 Dayal founded Quantum Advisors; an India-focused investment manager and advisor. Between 1992 and 1995, Quantum had a partnership with Jardine Fleming which was one of Asia’s largest financial firms before its eventual purchase by J.P. Morgan. From 1997 and 2003, Quantum had a partnership with Hansberger Global Investors working with the late Tom Hansberger, co-founder of Templeton, Galbraith, & Hansberger – now known as Franklin Templeton. In 2006, Toronto-based Fairfax Financial Holdings – via its affiliates and associates – took a significant minority equity stake and became a long-term strategic investor in Quantum. Dayal is a board member of Pacific Pension Institute.

Dayal and his partners helped create 2 charity efforts: (1) Natural Streets for Performing Arts – to get music and the Arts back in public spaces in urban India, and (2) HelpYourNGO – a database that allows donors to better evaluate charities before making donations; HYNGO also provides the listed charities with tools and assistance to help them improve their efficiency and increase their capacity for doing more good. In addition to www.NSPA.in and www.HelpYourNGO.com Dayal was instrumental in the creation of the Pay It Forward India Fellowship in 2013 in honor of Professor Jack Behrman, who influenced Dayal with his discourses on ethics in business. Though Professor Behrman passed on on August 19, 2016, Dayal hopes his legacy and teachings will continue to inspire future generations of business leaders.

Alex Dickey has recently begun working as an Adjunct Professor of Consulting at UNC Kenan-Flagler after a 28-year career in financial services consulting.  He began his career at Andersen Consulting/Accenture after graduating from UNC Kenan-Flagler in 1987. He spent 21 years defining, developing and implementing innovative solutions for the world’s leading financial institutions. In 2009, Dickey noined Carlisle and Gallagher Consulting Group as the COO and chief strategy officer. He was charged with significantly expanding the firm’s offerings and defining a strategy to grow the firm into and industry leader. The firm grew to over 1200 consultants and $150 million in revenue while winning many industry awards and was acquired by NTT Data in 2015.

In addition to his Board of Visitor role at UNC Kenan-Flagler, Dickey is very passionate about the Big Brothers and Big Sisters program. His passion for the program began as a BIG at UNC.  He serves on the Board of Advisors of BBBS of Greater Charlotte after being on the board for 13 years. He also serves as a Big Brother in the program.

Dickey and his wife, Christa (BSBA 1989), have a son who is a freshman at UNC-Wilmington and a daughter who plays soccer at UNC-Chapel Hill.

Rob Edwards is a partner at Ridgemont Equity Partners (“Ridgemont”), a middle market private equity firm based in Charlotte, North Carolina. He serves on the Management and Investment Committees and is primarily responsible for the firm’s investment activity in the Business and Industrial Services sector. Prior to Ridgemont, Rob was a Managing Director at Banc of America Capital Investors (predecessor to Ridgemont) from 1997-2010, a management consultant at McKinsey & Co., Inc., a Vice President at Allied Capital, and an investment banker at Bowles Hollowell Conner & Co, Inc. Rob has served on UNC’s Board of Visitors (2014-2018) where he was chair of the Student Recruitment Committee and on the Chancellor’s Private Asset Gift Strategy Committee. He currently serves on the UNC Shuford Program in Entrepreneurship Advisory Board and on the Chancellor’s Global Leadership Council. Rob lives in Charlotte, NC with his wife (Leigh) and four children.

Rob received a Master of Business Administration degree from the Harvard Business School and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics with highest distinction from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Debbie is retired after 20 years of various management positions with Time Warner in NYC and Time Warner’s HBO in Atlanta. Prior to Time Warner, she worked for Wachovia Bank in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

She recently served a five-year commitment on the board of The Community Foundation of Greater Atlanta and is now serving on a task force for Women in Philanthropy with the Community Foundation. In addition to serving on The Kenan Flagler Board, she serves on the Advisory Board of The Center for Puppetry Arts, The Women’s Leadership Committee of The University of North Carolina and is an active Stephen Minister with First Presbyterian Church where she also serves on the Cuba Mission Council.  She is a graduate of Georgia’s Regional Leadership Institute and Life Member of The Girl Scouts of America, having served in Girl Scout Leadership for over 10 years.
Debbie previously served on the boards of The Trust for Public Land, The Board of Visitors of The University of North Carolina and the March of Dimes, among others.  She has also served as a committee leader on the UNC Carolina First Campaign (the school’s largest fundraising campaign in history), and raised funds to restore historic Memorial Hall.  She is a past member of the Strategic Planning Committee of First Presbyterian Church of Atlanta and has served in numerous leadership roles at First Presbyterian Church and The Westminster Schools of Atlanta, including Westminster’s Parent’s VP of Community Service Activities.

Debbie is a graduate of Stephens College where she received her Bachelor of Fine Arts and she received her MBA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Joi Ernst is vice president and head of Investment Strategies & Solutions at MetLife. IS&S oversees the selection and monitoring of separate account subadvisors and registered funds included in MetLife’s institutional securities products and provides investment consulting services for institutional businesses that include securities products in their solution set. Her division oversees approximately $70 billion in separately managed account assets.

Since Joi joined MetLife in 2002 she has held a variety of roles including vice president and chief of staff to the president of U.S. Business, head of Capital & Credit Markets and head of Rating Agency Management. Prior to joining MetLife, she was an investment banker in the Media & Telecommunications group at Credit Suisse First Boston, where she advised wireless service providers, entertainment companies, cable programmers, radio broadcasters and advertising firms on capital raising, investment and acquisition opportunities. Joi worked in a similar capacity in the Real Estate Investment Bank at Bankers Trust, advising REITs in the evaluation of hotels, shopping centers and office buildings. She began her career on Wall Street in the Corporate & Equity Operations group at J.P. Morgan after performing a similar role at Southern National Bank in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Joi earned her BSBA from UNC Kenan-Flagler with a minor in Spanish Language & Literature. In 2011, she received the Outstanding Young Alumni Award for leadership in career accomplishments.

Peter B. Fox is the Founder of Fox Development Corporation, a real estate development firm which develops, manages, and leases office and retail space in Champaign, Illinois. Mr. Fox formerly served as Senior Managing Director of Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc. from 1985 to 1997. In 1997, he relocated to Champaign to devote more time to his real estate development and private equity investments. Mr. Fox and his companies are focused on creating and retaining jobs associated with technology and the service sector. He serves as Manager of Fox/Atkins Development, LLC, developer and manager of the Research Park at the University of Illinois in Champaign. In addition to being the developer of the Research Park, Fox/Atkins invests in companies in the Park through equity on debt, funding, or favorable lease terms.  In August 2008, Fox/Atkins and the University of Illinois opened the I Hotel and Conference Center, as a joint development. The I Hotel and Conference Center is located on the UI campus in the Research Park and also features a Houlihan’s restaurant franchise. In addition, Mr. Fox has investments in start-up companies and restaurant chains including Jimmy John’s. He is franchisee for 30 Jimmy John’s restaurants located in Indiana, North Carolina and South Carolina and was named Franchisee of the Year for Jimmy John’s in 2010. Mr. Fox received his degree from Stanford University.

Paul Fulton was born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, on September 8, 1934.  He was raised in Walnut Cove, North Carolina, where he attended public school through the eleventh grade.

After two years in the U.S. Navy, Fulton began his business career as a trainee at Hanes Hosiery in 1959 and served as vice president and general manager of L’eggs Products during the development and introduction of the revolutionary pantyhose in an egg-shaped container.  He was named president of L’eggs Products in 1972 and later promoted to executive vice president of Hanes Corporation with responsibility for L’eggs Products and Hanes Hosiery.  Hanes Corporation was acquired by Sara Lee Corporation in 1979 and Fulton was elected president of the Hanes Group and senior vice president of Sara Lee Corporation in 1981.  In 1987, he was elected executive vice president and a member of the board.  He served as president of Sara Lee Corporation from July 1, 1988 through June 30, 1993, when he retired to assume the position of Dean of the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  He served as Dean until July 1997.

Fulton assumed the position of Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Bassett Furniture Industries, Inc. July 7, 1997.  He served as CEO of Bassett until April 2000, when he became non-Executive Chairman of the Board.  He currently serves on the Board at Bassett, and is Chairman Emeritus.

Fulton serves on the Board of Directors of the Wm. Carter Company, Atlanta, Georgia and is a former member of the Board of Directors of Bank of America Corporation, Charlotte, North Carolina, Sonoco Products, Hartville, South Carolina and Lowe’s Companies, North Wilkesboro, North Carolina.

He served on the University of North Carolina Board of Governors from 2009-2013.  Fulton is founder and Co-Chairman of Citizens for Higher Education, a grass roots organization advocating for higher education. From 2000-2010 he was Co-chairman of the North Carolina Higher Education Bond Oversight Committee.

Until June of 1993, he served on the Board of Trustees at Winston-Salem State University and was National Chairman of the Leadership Campaign for their $25 million Centennial Campaign. He was also campaign chairman of the 1984 United Way of Forsyth County Campaign, founding chairman of the local Tocqueville Society in 1987 and co-chair, once again, in 1998.

Fulton was the recipient of the 1992 Maya Angelou Tribute to Achievement Award, presented by the North Carolina United Negro College Fund.  He is also the recipient of the Alexis de Tocqueville Award presented in 1988 by the United Way of Winston-Salem and Forsyth County to recognize outstanding volunteer leadership in the community.  In 1999, the United Way award was renamed the Paul Fulton Alexis de Tocqueville Award, in recognition of Fulton’s contribution to the community.

Fulton is a 1953 graduate of Virginia Episcopal School in Lynchburg, Virginia, where he chaired the Board of Trustees from 1973 to 1979.  In October 2011, he became the first recipient of the Robert Carter Jeff award for life time achievement.

He graduated in 1957 from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a BSBA degree.  He served on the board of Trustee from 2001-2009.  He also co-chaired the $2.3 Billion Carolina First Capital Campaign.

Allen Gant is President, CEO and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Glen Raven, Inc., a global provider of performance fabric solutions. He attended UNC-Chapel Hill and was a member of the UNC Board of Visitors and Educational Foundation Board. Allen serves on many boards and as a Trustee for Elon University and Alamance Regional Medical Center.

Meredith Garwood is Group Vice President of Strategic Tax for Charter Communications.  She leads Charter’s federal and state tax policy for income, property and transaction taxes.  She also leads the Company’s tax controversy and property tax groups. Meredith represents the company in national state tax organizations and projects. She has been proactively involved in numerous tax policy initiatives including state tax reform efforts and federal legislation.

Meredith currently serves on the Board of the Council on State Taxation, Board of University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Business School and is President for North Carolina Cable and Telecommunication Association. She is Past President of the Business Advisory Council to the Streamlined Sales Tax Governing Board and former Vice President of Women in Cable and Telecommunications-Carolinas. Meredith is a frequent speaker at various tax and industry forums.

Meredith has over 25 years of tax experience in all areas of tax including income, property, and transaction taxes. Prior to joining Charter, Meredith was Group Vice President for Time Warner Cable and Senior Director of Tax with AT&T Wireless.

Meredith worked with a leading public accounting firm for over eight years where her practice focused on various aspects of corporate tax. She graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a BS in Business Administration and a Master of Accounting with a concentration in Taxation. Meredith and her husband, John, live in Charlotte. They have a daughter at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a son at Clemson University

Tom has spent the bulk of his career in telecommunications including starting wireless operations internationally and domestically and is active as a director of a venture capital fund. Apart from the demands of raising his four boys, Tom also coaches youth basketball. His son Ian is also a Carolina graduate (BSBA ‘13), and a UNC Kenan-Flagler donor!

Mike Griffin, a native of Charlotte, North Carolina, is a managing partner in Griffin Brothers Companies, a diversified family business that includes retail operations in tire & auto repair, waste processing, golf & hospitality, and property development & management. The family business started with his father, Larry Griffin, Sr., with one tire & auto repair business over 50 years ago and has grown to a diversified business with over $40 million in annual revenue. Mike’s duties include corporate treasurer for all operating divisions and director of civic and government relationships. He started and ran a wireless communications business becoming the largest distributor for ALLTEL (sold business in 1999). He serves as Chairman of the Lake Norman Regional Economic Development Corp, Chairman of Wells Fargo Lake Norman Board of Advisors, and a board member for Ovation Wireless Management. He serves as an alumni advisor for his fraternity at UNC since graduating and served on Delta Sigma Phi’s National Foundation Board for 10 years. Mike received his BSBA in accounting from UNC-CH in 1987. He lives in Cornelius, North Carolina, with his wife and two young children.

Joseph High is a retired senior executive, with extensive experience in business leadership and operations for global Fortune 500 Companies in diverse industries. He has a record of rapid achievement and ability to create a motivating, results-oriented culture at plant, group and corporate levels in both non-union and union environments to meet customer expectations and increase shareholder value. His four decades of leadership in business includes officer roles at W.W. Grainger, Owens Corning, Conoco-Phillips, Rockwell Automation and Cummins Engine Company.

He currently serves on the executive committee and is co-chair of the nominations and governance committee for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Kenan-Flagler Business School Board of Advisors and UNC’s Education Foundation/The Rams Club Board of Advisors. He has also been elected to UNC’s General Alumni Light on the Hill Society Scholarship Advisory Board.

Mr. High has been recognized by the UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School with an Alumni Merit Award. He received the Mayor’s Key to the City of Toledo, Ohio in recognition of his leadership. He also received the Mayor’s Key to the City of Columbus, Indiana and Columbus Police Department’s Citizen Service Award and the Dr. William Laws Human Rights Award. He has also received a Distinguished Service Award for his work with the United Way.

Mr. High graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a major in Business. He also earned a master’s degree in Administration from Central Michigan University, Mount Pleasant, Michigan. He and his wife, Kathleen Cullins High, who is a social worker and leader with several non-profits have three children and four grandchildren.

Jeff Hoffman is a Senior Managing Director focused on medical technology at Guggenheim Partners. He has more than 25 years experience in the full range of investment banking activities including financial advisory services, mergers and acquisitions, equity and debt financings, and venture capital investments. Jeff’s execution focus is on life sciences and medical technology clients. Mr. Hoffman received a BS in Psychology and an MBA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Rolf Hoffmann is one of the most respected Operations Executives in Big Pharma and recently in Biotech, having achieved  remarkable results in significant countries around the world, over the past 26 years.

Rolf headed Eli Lilly operations in Germany, Subsahara and South Africa as well as Latin America, before moving to Amgen to take on their International operations in Europe and subsequently the United States operations out of U.S. Headquarters.

Since retiring from Amgen in July 2016, he has served on the Board of STADA (Germany’s largest independent Generics/OTC enterprise), Danish Genmab (Europe’s largest Biotech company), Trigemina Inc. (a U.S. biopharmaceutical company focused
on the discovery and development of targeted neurological drug therapies), EUSA Pharma (a European specialty pharmaceutical company focused on oncology and oncology supportive care), Shield Therapeutics (a European pharmaceutical company
focused on the development and commercialization of late-stage, hospital-focused pharmaceuticals), Paratek (a U.S. based biopharmaceutical company focused on drugs that target infectious disease and other difficult to treat conditions) and WADA (World Anti-Doping Association) and is Chairman of the Board of Directors at Biotest (a German-based global provider of plasma proteins and biological drugs). Furthermore, he consults with US- and European Biotech companies.

Rolf also acts as a member and VP External Affairs for the German-American Heritage Foundation and serves as Adjunct Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship at UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School.

In these leadership roles, he has created large new businesses, grown or turned around existing businesses, and managed them through all kinds of crisis to deliver hypergrowth. Rolf is a master of the entire instrumentarium of growth levers, including organic growth, acquisition, partnerships and licensing.

In addition, he has been successful on both sides of the table in analyzing, buying and selling Biotech products and company opportunities.

Leo Horey is the Executive Vice President – Operations of AvalonBay Communities Inc. He has held this title since January 2004 and was Senior Vice President—Property Operations from February, 2001, through December, 2003. Prior to assuming that office, Mr. Horey had served since the Merger as Regional Vice President—Property Operations. Prior to the Merger, he had served since 1994 as Vice President—Property Operations for Avalon Properties. Previously, Mr. Horey had worked for TCR since 1990. Leo received his Masters of Business Administration from the Kenan- Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he was a Richard H. Jenrette Fellow. He also holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science and Economics from Duke University.

James is a former Senior Financial Services Executive with extensive experience in several aspects of banking, including distribution, strategic planning, sales management, process improvement,  corporate integrations, and customer experience.

James began his career as a credit analyst and since then has held progressively responsible roles in two of the nation’s top financial institutions, Bank of America and Capital One. At Capital One, James was  the Executive Vice President (EVP) for North America Branch Distribution (1,000 bank network)  and the Mid-Atlantic Market President (Washington, DC MSA).

Prior to Capital One, James served in EVP leadership roles at Bank of America in several businesses, including Premier Banking & Investments, Home Lending and Retail & Business Banking. Also, he served as President of the Virginia Bank, where he led the state-wide transition from NationsBank to Bank of America.

Most recently, James was the Sales EVP for Credit Services and Decision Analytics  at Experian North America. He led the largest business to business (B2B) sales organization, representing ~50% of revenue in North America.  Also, James was responsible for leading sales transformation and  implementing new go-to-market client coverage models.

James earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of Georgia and an MBA from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill (Kenan Flagler). He is a CPA and has a Six Sigma Green Belt Certification.

Harry Jones is the Managing Partner of Edge Capital and serves on the portfolio management team of the Blue Current dividend equity strategies.  Before co-founding Edge, Harry spent his entire professional career in the investment advisory business at Credit Suisse in Atlanta, Morgan Stanley in Atlanta and New York, and as an analyst for the Excelsior Value & Restructuring Fund in New York.

Harry earned a Bachelor of Arts in History and Economics with distinction (Omicron Delta Epsilon) from Hampden-Sydney College, where he was a Captain of the lacrosse team. Harry also graduated with a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of North Carolina Kenan-Flagler School of Business, which presented him with its Young Alumni Award in 2009.

Harry is active with his community endeavors, including his time as a youth lacrosse coach and being awarded the 2011 Man of the Year for Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Georgia chapter. He is also a member of YPO and serves on the Advisory Council of Pershing Advisory Solutions and the Board of Visitors of UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School. Harry is married with three children and lives in Atlanta.

Bob Jones is Senior Vice President and Financial Advisor at CAPTRUST. Prior to joining CAPTRUST, Bob was the co-founder of the Jones-Blair Group of Wells Fargo Advisors. He earned an AB in chemistry and philosophy with honors, as well as an MBA, from UNC-Chapel Hill. His wife Mindy also graduated from UNC in ’82, along with their sons Robert, who received his BSBA in 2014, and Chris, who received his BSBA in 2016 and was a Wayland Cato Scholar. Both boys currently reside and work in NYC. Daughter Anna (’19) is currently studying Early Childhood Education.

Peter Keane is President and Chief Investment Officer of Keane Capital Management, Inc. He began his investment career with T. Rowe Price and in 1987 joined Interstate/Johnson Lane (IJL) as an equity analyst and was later promoted to director of the firm’s equity strategy group.  In 1997 he was named director of IJL Capital Management, a wholly owned subsidiary of Interstate/Johnson Lane.  In 1999, Peter Keane founded Keane Capital Management, where he manages an investment partnership. He is a member of the North Carolina Society of Financial Analysts and is a Chartered Financial Analyst.  He was also previously employed with the American Friends Service Committee in Philadelphia – this prior to earning his M.B.A.

He graduated from Guilford College with a B.A. in Accounting in 1982.  He subsequently received his M.B.A. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1987.

He has two daughters, and a son.

Pete is on the Board of Visitors for the University of North Carolina, the Board of Visitors for the University of North Carolina Business School,  a member of the Board of the ClearPath Foundation and President of the Alpha Omega Foundation.

Mr. Keber joined Hines in 2012.  He serves as Senior Managing Director in Hines’ New York office where he has global responsibilities within the Capital Markets Group for structuring and capitalizing the Firm’s investment vehicles.

Prior to Hines, Mr. Keber was a Partner and Director of Global Capital Raising at Starwood Capital Group, a private equity firm based in Greenwich, Connecticut. Previously, Mr. Keber worked in the New York office of Credit Suisse in the Real Estate Private Funds Group, a leading adviser to private equity firms dedicated to real estate.

Mr. Keber is a member of the Urban Land Institute and the Pension Real Estate Association.
He holds a Bachelor of Arts from Georgetown University and an MBA (Real Estate) from University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, where he is the outgoing Chairman of the business school’s Alumni Council.

Frank is the Co-Founder and Portfolio Manager of KD Capital Management, LLC, an investment partnership which he launched in 2014. Prior to founding KD Capital, Mr. Kenan was an analyst for Boulderado Group, a concentrated value-oriented investment fund based in Boston, MA from 2011-2014. Prior to the work with Boulderado, Frank was a Development Associate at Edens & Avant. While at Edens & Avant, Mr. Kenan focused on managing every stage of ground-up retail developments from site selection and financial underwriting through final completion. Before joining Edens & Avant, he was an Underwriting Analyst for the Vivum Group, a private equity firm. He currently serves as a member of the Board of Directors of Boston Omaha Corporation, a NASDAQ listed company, and the Cougar Club of the College of Charleston, which serves as the fundraising arm for the College of Charleston Athletic Department. Frank earned a B.S. in Anthropology from the College of Charleston in 2005 and an MBA from UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School in 2011.

Steve Krichmar is the founder of Krichmar & Associates, a virtual advisory firm in the financial services domain providing strategic planning, interim C-suite staffing, governance support, and operations reorganization consulting. He is also an independent trustee of the Goldman Sachs Trust II Funds. Steve previously served as Chief of Operations, Senior Managing Director for Putnam Investments in Boston, Massachusetts (2001-2016) and as an audit Partner with PricewaterhouseCoopers (1981-2001) where he was the investment management industry leader (assurance) for the Northeast United States. He received a BSBA from UNC Kenan-Flagler in 1980, and lives in the Boston area with his wife Karen.

Steve is a member of the Board of Trustees of Boston Children’s Hospital; a member of the Board of Directors of Combined Jewish Philanthropies; a member of the Board of Trustees of Boys and Girls Clubs of Boston; Chairman of the Board of Directors of United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley; and a member of the Board of Advisors of the University of North Carolina Kenan-Flagler Business School.

Stuart received her BA from UNC in 1991.  She is President of USA Operations and Senior Vice President of Marketing for Coca-Cola USA. She leads the strategic management of The Coca-Cola Company’s largest brands and oversees its National Retail Sales, Franchise and Commercial Leadership organizations. In addition, Stuart is on the board of directors of the American Beverage Association. Stuart and her husband, Kurt, live in Atlanta with their two daughters.

Kel Landis, III, was born and raised in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, where at the age of 15 he earned his Eagle Scout. He attended the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill where he earned a bachelor’s degree in business and a master’s of business administration.

Kel has over 30 years of experience in banking, financial services, investment management, and private capital and is a founding partner of Plexus Capital, a North Carolina-based investment firm. He co-founded Plexus Capital after retiring as CEO of RBC Centura Bank. Kel also serves as a director of Live Oak Bank, one of the leading lenders to small businesses across the country.

Kel has served as a Trustee of UNC-Chapel Hill, Chair of the UNC Board of Visitors, Trustee of Elizabeth City State University, and as an adjunct professor of finance for the Kenan-Flagler Business School. Currently, he is a member of the UNC Foundation’s board of directors, a member of the board of visitors for the Kenan-Flagler Business School, and a Trustee for The Kenan Institute for Private Enterprise. Kel is also a William C. Friday Fellow for Human Relations.

Kel is a former director of the North Carolina Citizens for Business and Industry and a former chair of the North Carolina Bankers Association. He co-founded and served as Chair of the Foundation of Renewal of Eastern North Carolina. In addition, he is a former board member for the Golden Leaf Foundation, a non-profit organization that supports grants for economically distressed communities. He also served as Senior Advisor for Business and Economic Affairs for the Governor of North Carolina and as Trustee of the North Carolina State Supplemental Retirement Fund. Today Kel is board member for the North Carolina Community Foundation, which provides support for community foundations across the state.

Earlier in his career, Kel was President of the Rocky Mount Chamber of Commerce, President of the Rocky Mount Area United Way, and President of the Rocky Mount Family YMCA. He was also Treasurer of the local homeless shelter, a board member for Nash HealthCare Systems, and a board member for the North Carolina Citizens for Business and Industry. He is also a former member of the Young Presidents Organization.

Lynn Lewis is Chief Commercial Officer for Envigo, one of the world’s largest nonclinical Contract Research Organizations. In this role, she is responsible for directing all commercial activities globally including sales, marketing, new service development, and customer engagement. Lynn brings extensive knowledge in both science and business to the company through her successful career in pharmaceuticals, and leadership roles within sales and operations in the contract research organization (CRO) industry.

Prior to joining Envigo, Lynn was Group Vice President of Business Development, Clinical Development and Commercialization Services for Covance. During her 15 year career with Covance, she also led the global sales organizations for Covance’s nonclinical and central laboratory businesses and also served as the General Manager of Covance’s drug discovery and development campus in Greenfield, Indiana.

Lynn also worked for Eli Lilly and Company for 16 years before Covance leading cross functional development teams to bring new medicines to market. She held various positions in sales, marketing, strategic planning, and general management. Her last position was Product Team Leader for two of Lilly’s osteoporosis compounds. In this position, she led a team of scientific and commercial professionals through submission and approval of Forteo in the US and Europe. She also spent two years abroad as General Manager for their Danish affiliate.

Mrs. Lewis’ background includes a MBA from the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill, and a B.S. in Biology from Bucknell University. She has served on several community boards, including BioCrossroads’ External Advisory Board, Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association External Advisory Committee, Bucknell University’s Alumni Board of Directors and UNC Kenan-Flagler’s Board of Advisors.

Jason Liberty is Chief Financial Officer for Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., responsible for overseeing the company’s Treasury, Accounting, Corporate and Strategic Planning and development, Revenue Planning and Systems, Deployment, Internal Audit and Investor Relations operations.

Since joining the company in 2005, Liberty held several senior management positions. He was appointed senior vice president of Finance and Strategy, responsible for Treasury, Strategic and Corporate Planning, Investor Relations and Deployment and before that served as vice president of Corporate and Strategic Planning, in charge of Corporate, Capital and Strategic Planning, Energy Management, Revenue Planning and Systems and Insurance.

Liberty was a senior manager with the accounting firm KPMG LLP before he joined Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. He is an accounting graduate of the University of Miami School of Business and has an MBA from UNC Kenan-Flagler.

Liberty lives in Weston, Florida, with his wife Erica and their four children.

Eric Livingston is Americas Financial Services Principal with EY in Charlotte. With over 26 years of experience, Eric has demonstrated ability collaborating with global financial services companies to develop strategy and provide large-scale, globally diverse programs in technology and business.

His experience spans strategy development to drive customer experience and efficiency, executive level portfolio planning, outcome-based business capability prioritization, complex and global program/project management, post-merger integration leadership, and management and enterprise change management leadership.

Eric received an MBA and a BA in Economics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He also attended Yale University’s Chief Executive Officer Institute.  He is married with two daughters.

Anne Lloyd is Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Martin Marietta. She joined the company in 1998 as Vice President and Controller and was promoted to Chief Accounting Officer in 1999. She has served as Chief Financial Officer since June 2005.

Before joining Martin Marietta, Anne was with Ernst & Young LLP for 14 years in positions of increasing responsibility, ultimately as a Senior Manager and client service executive for the natural resources, mining, insurance and healthcare industries.

Anne currently serves as Treasurer of the National Stone, Sand and Gravel Association (NSSGA). She also served on NSSGA’s MAP-21 Reauthorization Committee and on the Blue Ribbon Panel of Transportation Experts for the National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission. Anne is the immediate past Chair of the North Carolina Chamber of Commerce and a member of their Infrastructure and Economic Development Policy Committee. She is also a Commissioner on the Civil Justice Committee of the North Carolina Commission on the Administration of Law & Justice. Further, Anne is a Board Member of the Terra Nitrogen Company, L.P., serves as the chair of its Audit Committee and is a member of the Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee.

Anne is active at White Plains United Methodist Church and also serves as a Vice Chairman of the Council on Finance and Administration of the North Carolina Conference of the United Methodist Church.

Anne is a 1983 graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration and is a Certified Public Accountant.

Anne and her husband, Steve (BSBA ’85), live in Raleigh, North Carolina. They have been married for 28 years and have two adult sons.

Thomas L. Lutz (Tom) is a Senior Partner and Managing Director for The Boston Consulting Group (BCG). He began work with BCG in 1992, and is currently the Global Leader of the Consumer & Retail Practice and the Leader of the North American Consumer Private Equity Practice. Prior to these roles he served as the Global Restaurant Topic Leader and Managing Partner of the South System (Dallas, Houston, Atlanta, Miami, and Denver).

His industry expertise includes specialty retail, restaurants, hotels, grocery retail, convenience retail, and Private Equity.

Tom earned his Master of Business Administration degree, with distinction, from The Harvard Business School. He also holds a Bachelor of Science degree, with honors and distinction, from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he serves on the Business School and the Honors Board.  Tom is a member of the Dallas Citizens Council.

Tom is a native of Western North Carolina, and currently lives in Dallas, TX with his wife, Dana, and two teenage daughters, Charlotte and Morgan.

Mr. McNairy is CEO of International Farming Corporation, an agricultural investment manager.  Mr. McNairy has overseen farmland acquisitions, mid-stream assets and agtech investments across a multitude of geographies and crop types.  He grew up working for his family’s farming businesses, including Harvey Farms.  Mr. McNairy was a Morehead Scholar, Phi Beta Kappa and Academic-All ACC at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he played for Coach Dean Smith.  Mr. McNairy received his M.B.A. from Harvard University.

Nancy leads Deloitte’s US Inbound Services group and globally leads Deloitte’s Consumer Business Industry. Nancy served as the Manufacturing Industry leader for nearly five years. With clients across North America, Europe and Asia, Nancy leads projects involving complex tax matters, as well as other business issues.

A longtime supporter of UNC Kenan-Flagler, Nancy Millett actively recruits students and currently serves on the Board of Visitors.  She and her husband created a fund that enables the dean to direct money to areas of the School’s greatest need or importance each year. In 2012 they also designated a planned gift to the School.

Bill Moore is a Co-Founder and Chairman of private equity firm Lookout Capital. He has had a successful career as a company founder, CEO, investment banker, investment manager, private & public equity investor, board chairman & member, and Kenan-Flagler professor.

Bill is a proven company builder and executive. He founded and served as CEO of Trident Financial Corporation, a boutique investment bank that specialized in IPOs and M&A transactions for financial institutions. (After 25 years of successful operations, the firm was sold to KeyCorp in 1999.) He had a short, but productive tenure as CEO of MCNC, where he led the successful reorganization and turnaround of that company in 2001-02.

In addition to his success as a CEO, Bill has been a chairman, board member, partner and investment committee member for numerous organizations, including Franklin Street Partners, the U. S. Naval Academy, the National Humanities Center, Kenan-Flagler Business School, the Weaver Foundation and Vietri, Inc.

He is currently Chairman of RTI International, one of the world’s leading research institutes.

He received his undergraduate and MBA degrees from the U. S. Naval Academy and UNC-Chapel Hill respectively.

Mike Norona is a retired Fortune 500 company CFO and executive with 29 years of experience in retail and multi-unit global businesses. He is accomplished in business turnarounds and leading transformational change in high-growth environments, with a proven track record of creating shareholder value. Mike was Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for Advance Auto Parts, from 2008 to 2016. In addition to his finance responsibilities, he also oversaw Legal from 2008 to 2014, IT in 2013, and Human Resources in 2012. Prior to Advance, Mike spent almost 20 years with Best Buy. Mike started his career in Best Buy’s Canadian subsidiary and had escalating financial leadership roles in Canada, ultimately serving as head of finance. In the U.S., he held several finance officer roles with the last role being President – Financial Services.

Mike is on the Board of Directors and Audit Committee Chair of Clarios (Formally Johnson Controls Power Solutions). He is a Director Emeritus of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) and a former International Board of Directors Member and Finance Committee Member of the JDRF. Mike and his family have been actively involved in the JDRF for 12 years. Mike is also on the Ravenscroft School Board of Trustees and sits on their Investment Committee.

Mike has a Bachelor of Commerce degree (Accounting) from the University of British Columbia, Canada, and is a Chartered Professional Accountant, CPA, CGA, Canada.

Mike has been married to his wife Helen for 29 years and they have two sons. Dylan is a sophmore in high school, and Jordan, a junior at the UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School. Mike is also an avid runner.

Tom Newby is a Partner of Lexington Partners primarily engaged in the origination and evaluation of secondary purchases of buyout, mezzanine, alternative and venture capital interests.

Prior to joining Lexington in 2007, Mr. Newby was a managing director and the head of principal investing at Montgomery & Co., an investment bank, and a general partner of Technology Crossover Ventures.

Mr. Newby graduated from the University of North Carolina with a BS (Honors) in business administration and from the Stanford Graduate School of Business with an MBA.

Ken O’Herron is founder and president of O’Herron & Company with over 30 years of experience in portfolio management and investment banking. He is currently serving as chairman and CEO of 3TEX Corporation and Tavve Software Company and on the Board of Directors of Phoenix Worldwide and others. Ken is chairman of the North Carolina Museum of Art’s current Capital Campaign and serves on the NC Museum of History Foundation Board. Ken graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill where he received both his BA (’72) and MBA (’80).

Michael is retired from a 25-year career in financial services with Bank of America/Merrill Lynch and Wells Fargo. He received his BSBA in 1981 and MBA in 1987 from UNC Kenan-Flagler, where he has also established a scholarship fund to provide funding for students to obtain international study opportunities.  He is a former member of the UNC Kenan-Flagler Alumni Council.  Michael lives in Charlotte and  also currently serves as a volunteer construction supervisor for Habitat for Humanity, and also has served on the boards of Friendship Trays, Friendship Gardens, and Slow Food.

James Pirouz joined SunTrust Robinson Humphrey in March 2009 as a Managing Director in Healthcare Investment Banking. James was responsible for coverage of the Benefits Management, For-Profit Acute Care and Distribution sectors where he originated and executed mergers and acquisitions, equity and debt transactions. He was promoted and assumed responsibilities as Head of Healthcare Investment Banking in January 2014 where he has successfully grown the group to a leading practice on Wall Street, serving both corporate and financial sponsor clients in strategic advisory and acquisition financing. He maintains his FINRA Series 7, 63 and 24 licenses.

James was previously a Principal in Banc of America Securities’ global corporate and investment banking Leveraged Finance Group focused on Healthcare mergers and acquisitions, LBO and other capital markets transactions. He has completed over 250 transactions valued in excess of $100 billion. Prior to Banc of America Securities, he was an Assistant Vice President at both Shearson Lehman Brothers and Smith Barney.

Currently, James serves on the Boards of Directors for United Way of Greater Atlanta and the Center for the Business of Health at UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School.

James earned his MBA from UNC Kenan-Flagler and BS in Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering from Cornell University. Residing in Atlanta, he is married with three children.

Cami Rice is a Managing Director of Morgan Stanley, Chief Administrative Officer of the Institutional Securities Group (ISG), and Head of ISG Business Unit Risk Management for the Americas.

Cami joined the Firm in 2003 as an Associate in the Institutional Equity Division, and held numerous positions during her 11 years in IED. Most recently, she served as Global Chief Operating Officer of the Research Department and was a member of the Research Operating Committee before assuming her current role in July 2018.

Prior to joining Morgan Stanley, Cami worked from 1997-2001 as a trader at Bramwell Capital. She received her Bachelor’s degree from the University of Delaware, where she was a member of the Division I Women’s Basketball team for four years.  She earned her MBA from Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina. Cami resides in New York with her husband Tim and their nine-year-old twins: Charlie and Eloise.

Lansdon graduated from UNC in 1987 with a BS in Business Administration.  He began his career at General Electric where he completed the Financial Management Program in 1989 and served in several marketing, business development and management roles.  In 1992 he graduated from Northwestern University’s JL Kellogg Graduate School of Management and in 1994 he left GE to start his first of many entrepreneurial ventures, including ACCENT Marketing, Service Net Solutions and Azalea Stables.  Lansdon’s current companies include PetFirst Healthcare, which markets and administers pet insurance for cats and dogs; and Simply Waste, a commercial waste brokerage entity.  A native of Nashville, TN, Lansdon currently resides in Louisville, KY, with his wife Diana and has three children (Lansdon IV, Westin and Kendall).  His hobbies include reading, fitness, travel and thoroughbred horses.

Bill Rogers is the founder of TexWest,LLC [ www.texwestllc.com] – his principal investment vehicle – which focuses on investments in Asia, alternative energy, and agriculture. Bill Rogers is a founder of International Farming Corporation, the Halifax Group, and Colony Capital [private international investment groups]. Bill is a native of Eastern NC and lives today principally in Dallas, TX and part-time in Santa Barbara , CA. He received a BSBA degree from UNC-CH and an MBA from the University of Chicago. Bill currently serves as a Board member of the Kenan Institute for Private Enterprise and as a Board member for Duke’s Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy.

As the Vice Chairman, Client Service for East Region of the United States at PwC,  Mary is responsible for the development of committed relationships between clients and our firm for a broad range of assurance, tax, and advisory services.  In addition to the Vice Chairman role, Mary is the leader of the PwC US Brexit Response office. In this role, Mary leads a team of professionals focused on helping US-based clients navigate the risks and opportunities around Brexit.  Mary also serves on the global priority account leadership team.

In her more than 30 years of professional experience at PwC, Mary has served key clients across a variety of industries in the areas of  technology, consumer markets, entertainment, media and telecommunications industries.   Over the course of her career, she has led consulting engagements involving financial and operational due diligence, design and implementation of governance structures and target operating models, human capital organizational design and deployment, profitability analyses, industry/market research, financial modeling and forecasting, statistical analyses, valuations, contract management and forensic investigations.
Mary holds a B.S. and a Masters in accounting from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and is a licensed CPA in California and North Carolina.  As a proud graduate, Mary was the keynote speaker for the 2017 MAC commencement and the 2018 Carolina Women in Business Conference.

William Seymour is Chairman and CEO of Primax Properties, LLC, a Charlotte-based real estate investment company building retail/commercial and office/service facilities for tenants and clients throughout the United States. Bill has a BSBA from UNC-CH.

Kevin Smith received his BSBA in 1990, and is currently Senior Managing Director of the Macquarie Group. Before joining Macquarie, Kevin served as co-head of Credit Suisse’s U.S. high yield capital markets group. He first joined Credit Suisse in 2000 when the bank merged with Donaldson, Luftkin & Jenrette. He and his wife Kristie live in Connecticut with their children. Their daughter Jordan is a sophomore at UNC.

Bill Starling is CEO of Synecor, LLC, a business generator of new medical device companies based in the Research Triangle Park (RTP), N.C., Santa Rosa, California, and Silicon Valley, California and managing director of Synergy Life Science Partners, a venture capital partnership investing in medical device companies primarily in the RTP and Silicon Valley. He received his BS degree in business from UNC-CH and an MBA from the University of Southern California. Bill formerly served as chairman of the Kenan-Flagler Business School’s Board of Visitors and serves as Chairman of the Industry Advisory Board of the UNC/NCSU School of Biomedical Engineering.

Duke Steinemann is CEO of Steinemann & Company, a full service Real Estate company primarily focused on development. Steinemann & Company formed in Atlanta, Georgia in 1979 and relocated to Jacksonville, Florida in 2000. Duke is active in numerous professional and philanthropic organizations including the Mayo Clinic and serves on the Board of Trustees of Flagler College in St. Augustine, Florida. Duke holds a B.S. in Business Administration and a B.A. in History from UNC-CH. He resides in Jacksonville, FL and Newport, RI.

Beth Struckell recently earned her PhD in Management (Strategy & Entrepreneurship) from the University of North Texas where she is now employed as a Clinical Assistant Professor. Fulfilling her personal strategic plan, she retired from a successful and diverse 25-year career with PepsiCo in 2008. Always considered an entrepreneur within corporate walls (corporate entrepreneur), she has become a true entrepreneur with real estate and business ventures including a successful weight loss and longevity business she started. Her attention is now focused on teaching, various board positions, research projects, small business and non-profit consulting.

Her final and most senior roles within PepsiCo included leading the PepsiCo Vend/Foodservice as SVP/GM for 6 years.   She was instrumental in the successful merger of Quaker Oats Company with PepsiCo in 2001.  Beth started her PepsiCo career at Frito-Lay in 1983 as an Assistant Product Manager.  At Frito-Lay, her career included Brand Management Positions over Ruffles, Tostitos, Doritos and Channel Marketing.  In 1989 she joined the sister company of Pepsi-Cola, first as Area Vice President then as Vice President of Re-engineering reporting to the PepsiCo Treasurer.  She returned to Frito-Lay in 1994 to lead merger and acquisition efforts for the Division.

She holds a BA and MBA from the University of North Carolina.

Frank Sutton is a born and bred Tar Heel from Salisbury, NC. He graduated from UNC Kenan-Flagler with his BSBA in 1982. He is the Founder and CEO of Positive Distribution LLC, which owns the patent and trademark for Lock Laces, the original no-tie elastic shoelaces. He and his wife, Shelayne, have five children, two of whom also graduated from UNC Kenan-Flagler.

Patrick Trask is President of Wood Partners, currently responsible for overseeing the company’s development and construction divisions and for developing new equity and debt capital relationships. Prior to his role as President, Patrick served as Regional Development Director for Wood Partners’ Central Region, which consists of Texas, Colorado, Arizona, Nevada and Chicago. He serves on Wood’s Board of Directors and heads its Investment Committee. Patrick joined Wood Partners in 2001 and opened the Texas offices for Wood Partners. Before joining Wood Partners, he served as a Development Associate in Trammell Crow Residential’s North Florida Division, where he was active in their developments in Orlando and Tampa. Prior to graduate school, he worked as a Foreign Exchange Interest Rate Trader with CS First Boston and Morgan Stanley in their New York and London offices.

Patrick received an MBA degree at the University of North Carolina’s Kenan‐Flagler Business School in May 2000. He also earned a bachelor’s degree in history from Davidson College in May 1993. Patrick grew up in Beaufort, SC and currently lives in Houston, TX with his wife, Cathy, and three children.

Jeff Tucker is a Managing Director and the Chief Operating Officer of Century Bridge Capital, a Dallas and Beijing based private equity firm focused on investments in China.  He is responsible for the overall management of the firm, including operations in the U.S. and China, as well as global institutional capital raising.  Since it’s founding, Century Bridge has invested in real estate developments in China totaling over $1.2 billion in value.  Jeff spends much of his time traveling in China, as well as in Europe and the U.S., where the firm’s institutional investors are based.

After graduating with a BBA degree in Finance from Southern Methodist University in 1994, Jeff began his career in the Washington, D.C. office of Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, where he was engaged in federal government relations for the City of New York.  In 1995 he began working in the U.S. House of Representatives as a Professional Staff Member with the House Committee on Small Business, where he led Congressional oversight activities, hearings, and legislative initiatives focused on banking, federal contracting and taxation issues.

In 1997 Jeff moved to North Carolina and joined Franklin Street/Fairview Capital, a Raleigh based private equity investment firm, before starting in the MBA program at the UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School, where he graduated in 2000.  After business school, Jeff joined a North Carolina based Internet incubator and venture capital firm called Interactive Marketplace Group, where he served as a Director.  In 2002 Jeff moved back to Washington, D.C., where he became a Vice President with The Halifax Group, a middle-market private equity investment firm.

Jeff currently serves as a member of the Board of Visitors and as the Chairman of the International Board of Advisors at the UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School. He received the school’s Outstanding Young Alumni Award in 2001 and its Global Leadership Award in 2015.  In 2001 he created a charitable endowment that was recently expanded and renamed the Rollie Tillman, Jr. Development Fund, which is aimed at growing UNC Kenan-Flagler’s development capacity.  Jeff also currently serves on the UNC Chancellor’s Global Leadership Taskforce.

In addition to his work with UNC, Jeff is a member of the Board of Councilors of the EastWest Institute (EWI), an independent NGO focused on global conflict resolution.  He is also an active member of Business Executives for National Security (BENS), a Washington, DC based non-profit comprised of over 450 American business executives who volunteer their time and expertise to address the national security community’s most pressing challenges.

Steve Vetter is CEO and Chairman of the Board of Ennis-Flint, Inc., the world’s largest manufacturer and distributor of road marking materials for the highway safety industry. Steve also is founder and  managing member of Tarheel Properties, LLC, a family owned real estate investment company specializing in developing and owning multi-family properties currently totaling over 14,000 unites located primarily in southeastern US. Steve lives in Greensboro, NC, is married to Debbie, and has two children and three grand-children all currently living in Greensboro. Steve earned a BSBA from UNC-Chapel Hill.

Vanessa Wittman serves as the CFO of Oath.  Previously, she served as CFO of Dropbox and SVP and CFO of Motorola Mobility, following its acquisition by Google in 2012.  Before Motorola, Vanessa was CFO and EVP of Marsh & McLennan Companies.  Prior to joining Marsh & McLennan, she served as CFO and EVP of Adelphia Communications, navigating a multi-year bankruptcy proceeding.  She has also held senior roles at Microsoft, Morgan Stanley, Metricom, and Sterling Payot Company, a venture capital firm.

A Raleigh native, Smedes has spent many years serving in various capacities in his community.  He is part of a family business that began in Raleigh in 1910. Chairman of York Properties, Inc., McDonald York Building Company and Berkshire Hathaway York Simpson Underwood. Graduate of Broughton High School in 1959.

Earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering from North Carolina State University in 1963 where he played basketball for the legendary Everett Case.  Earned a Master of Business Administration degree from the UNC Chapel Hill in 1968.  Awarded an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters Degree from North Carolina State University in 2009.

Served as a Lieutenant in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (1964-1966), receiving an Army Commendation Medal for his service in South Korea.  Served on the Raleigh City Council (1977-1979) and two terms as Mayor (1979-1983). Past chairman of the North Carolina Chamber, the N.C. State University Board of Trustees and the YMCA of the Triangle.  Served as Chairman of the Urban Land Institute from 1989-1991 and continues to serve as a Trustee.  As a ULI member, he has chaired many advisory service panel assignments including New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.  Current positions include Board of Directors of the Research Triangle Foundation, North Carolina Amateur Sports and NC State University Foundation.

Inducted into the Raleigh Hall of Fame, Needham Broughton Athletics Hall of Fame and the North Carolina Business Hall of Fame.
Received the Watauga Medal from North Carolina State University and the Distinguished Citizenship Award from the North Carolina Chamber.  Smedes and his wife, Rosemary, have two sons, George and William, and three grandsons, Smedes, Bowen and Crawford.

Kevin Adams is a Managing Director at J.P. Morgan Private Bank, joining the firm in 2018. He serves as a trusted advisor and solutions provider to ultra-high net worth executives, entrepreneurs, family offices, foundations, athletes and entertainers focusing on all aspects of asset and wealth management.

Prior to J.P. Morgan, Kevin spent five years at Alliance Bernstein as a Managing Director in both Private Wealth Management and Equity Trading. Kevin also spent the first 15 years of his career at Goldman Sachs, where he was a Managing Director and CoHead of Relative Value Trading focused on Merger Arbitrage and various Event-Driven strategies.

Kevin earned an MBA in Finance from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a BS in Finance from Florida State University, where he was also a scholarship football player. Kevin serves on the boards of Elites Optimization Services, I Am Acceptance Inc., the Lee Thompson Young Foundation and The Florida State University National Alumni Association. He’s also a member of the Association for Corporate Growth. Kevin has two children and lives in New Jersey.

David Bookhout is a Vice President at AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE: AVB) responsible for all facets of the Real Estate Development process from site acquisition through community stabilization.  He has been involved with numerous AvalonBay developments in the Mid-Atlantic, including Avalon Arlington North, Avalon Falls Church, AVA Wheaton, and Avalon Hunt Valley.  Currently, he is responsible for leading projects in Towson, MD and Baltimore, MD, as well as being responsible for directly sourcing development projects and helping establish and execute AvalonBay’s regional strategic objectives. Before joining AvalonBay, David held positions in Finance/Accounting and General Management.

David has an Master in Business Administration from the Kenan-Flagler Business School at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a Master of Professional Accounting from the McCombs Business School at the University of Texas at Austin, and an undergraduate degree in Business and Latin American Studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Candice Wooten Brown is Vice President, HR Business Partner for the organization’s Corporate Functions as well as its Scientific Research & Development function. In this role, Mrs. Brown is responsible for leading the people agenda across functions, to include the design and implementation of programs and initiatives to address the talent needs of each unique function. Prior to assuming this role, Ms. Brown served as Vice President, Talent & Organizational Effectiveness, where she was responsible for talent acquisition, talent development, talent management and diversity & inclusion practices for the US.

Prior to joining the Reynolds organization, Mrs. Brown was an attorney with Constangy, Brooks & Smith, LLC, where she practiced in the areas of workers’ compensation and employment litigation. Mrs. Brown began her legal career with Womble, Carlyle, Sandridge & Rice, PLLC, where she practiced in the areas of general civil litigation, workers’ compensation, insurance coverage and defense.

Mrs. Brown served as an adjunct professor in the School of Business and Economics at Winston-Salem State University for seven years, and has also served as an instructor at the Babcock Graduate School of Management at Wake Forest University. Mrs. Brown is a Certified Mediator.

Mrs. Brown is a member of the Board of Trustees of Novant Health (Triad Region), a member of the Board of Directors of Goodwill of Northwest North Carolina and the Advisory Board for the North Carolina Pro Bono Resource Center. She is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated; The Links, Incorporated, Winston-Salem (NC) Chapter; Jack & Jill of America, Incorporated and The Moles, Inc.

The eternal Tar Heel, Mrs. Brown earned her undergraduate degree in History, law degree and MBA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is married to Ivey L. Brown Jr., Ed.D. and they have two sons, Ivey Lee, III and Ian Victor.

Dr. Adam Brown is a board-certified, practicing emergency physician and Senior Vice President of Envision Healthcare’s Mid-Atlantic region where he leads a team of emergency medicine, hospitalist medicine and intensivist providers, medical directors, and an administrative support staff for hospitals in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, and North Carolina. In his role as SVP, Dr. Brown focuses on operational and quality improvement, continued business development and strategy as well as implementing tactics for recruiting and retaining healthcare providers. Additionally, he is the System Chief of Emergency Medicine at Sentara Northern Virginia and Sentara Lake Ridge Emergency Departments in Northern VA since 2014. As System Chief of EM at Sentara Northern Virginia, Dr. Brown has made significant patient-centered operational and quality improvements, by heading a multidisciplinary group of clinicians, administrators, and process improvement professionals.

Dr. Brown’s administrative experience began first as an assistant medical director in 2009 at Provena United Samaritans Medical Center (now Presence) in Danville, IL. In 2012, he became EM medical director at United Medical Center in Washington, DC in 2012.

Dr. Brown was born and raised in NC and earned his medical degree from East Carolina University in Greenville, N.C. In 2007, he completed his residency in emergency medicine at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia, PA. In 2014, he completed his MBA, graduating with a leadership distinction from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is currently on the leadership board of UNC’s Business in Healthcare initiative. He is a fellow of the American College of Emergency Physicians where he has chaired subcommittees on alternative payment models, diversity and inclusion, and psychiatric emergencies and has co-authored an article on healthcare payment reform that appeared in Annals of Emergency Medicine. Recently, Dr. Brown has begun working on a partnership with two NGOs in Haiti to development programs in education for children and to provide healthcare to patients in the Central Plateau of Haiti.

Adam is an avid traveler, photographer, loves politics, and plays the piano. He lives in Washington, DC.

Allison Lentz Bubar joined Advance Auto Parts in 2010 and has served in her current position as GM, Senior Vice President, DieHard since January 2020.

Prior to her current role, Allison served as Senior Vice President, Store Operations Support and Real Estate as well as various leadership roles, including Strategy and Transformation. In these positions, Allison helped develop the company’s strategic business plan and established the company’s Transformation Management Office. Before joining Advance, Allison worked for Stanley Black and Decker.

Allison earned her B.S. in Business, B.A. in Political Science, and ran on the track team at the University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill. She also received her MBA from Northwestern University—Kellogg School of Management. Allison currently serves on the corporate board of directors for the YMCA of Virginia’s Blue Ridge. She resides in Roanoke, VA with her husband, Dan; their two boys, Jackson (14) and Caleb (11); and two rescue hound dogs, Guinness and Wrigley.

Kevin Clark is Head of Operational Excellence – Digital Strategy and Operations at LinkedIn. Prior to his current role, he served as Head of Marketing Operations at Facebook, and has held executive/leadership roles at EY (strategy consulting), Home Depot (finance), Sears Holdings (operational restructuring) and IBM (sales).

Kevin, who also earned his MBA from Wharton, has remained steadfast in his commitment to both KFBS and UNC-Chapel Hill since graduating with his BSBA in 1999.  He has served on KFBS’s Alumni Council, is a member of the UNC-Chapel Hill General Alumni Association, and is a regular financial donor.  Most recently, he and his wife committed to fund The Udanda and Kevin Clark Fellowship in Accounting at KFBS, and are excited about helping deserving MAC students reach their full potential.

Originally from North Potomac, MD, Kevin now resides in the Bay Area with his wife, Udanda (BA ’99, MAC ’00), and their two children, Campbell and Copeland.

Jatin’s primary responsibilities include sourcing, negotiating and financing hotel acquisition and development projects.

Previously, Jatin was with Wachovia Securities, where he focused on asset underwriting and private equity transactions ranging from $100 million to more than $5 billion. He also formed Stonehill Property Group, a family-funded investment venture targeting select- and full-service hotel investments throughout the southeast.

Jatin received his Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He also attended The University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, and The London School of Economics and Political Science. He currently is an Advisory Board member for the Wood Center for Real Estate Studies at the Kenan-Flagler Business School at UNC Chapel Hill. Jatin also sits on the board for the UNC Center for Public Services at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and the Atlanta Hospitality Alliance.

Meredith is a partner with Ernst & Young LLP in the Assurance practice and is based in Raleigh, NC. She has over 20 years of experience serving clients primarily in the life science and not-for-profit industries and has extensive experience leading audit teams and providing assurance services to clients across various transactions.

Outside of client service, Meredith is the executive sponsor for the Diversity and Inclusion Networks in the Raleigh office and is a member of the firm’s Audit Quality Review team. Additionally, she leads the firms recruiting efforts at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Meredith graduated from the Kenan-Flagler Business School at UNC Chapel Hill with a
Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and a Masters in Accounting. She is a member of the AICPA and North Carolina Association of Certified Public Accountants (NCACPA). Additionally, Meredith serves as the Vice Chair, Audit Committee Chair and Treasurer for the NC Biotechnology Center and is a member of the Board of Directors for Council for Entrepreneurial Development (CED).

Meredith lives in Durham with her husband, Paul, and their son Nick.

RRD is currently a Principal at Global Infrastructure Partners, an independent fund manager that makes equity investments in high quality infrastructure assets in the energy, transportation and water/waste sectors.  Previously, he served as a Managing Director in Morgan Stanley’s investment banking division providing advisory and capital raising service to clients in the utility, power and renewable energy sectors.

RD received a B.A. in Economics and History from the University of North Carolina and an MBA from Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina.

Carlos has over 12 years of experience in the energy industry as a Finance leader. Carlos joined Chevron in 2008 and has worked in a variety of domestic and international positions of increasing responsibility in Texas, California, Angola, and Australia. His experience includes roles across the Corporate Finance spectrum such as accounting, audit, compliance, decision support, financial planning, internal controls, reporting, and treasury.

Carlos currently leads the Finance and Planning functions of the Chevron Technical Center (CTC). The CTC is the technology development and technical service company that partners with Chevron’s portfolio businesses worldwide to solve the technical challenges of finding and producing energy in a safe, efficient, and environmentally responsible manner.

Carlos received his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California at Davis and his Masters of Business Administration from the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Carlos currently resides in the Houston area with his wife and two children. He is a Los Angeles native, enjoys cycling, traveling, and is an avid tennis player.

Erik is a Co-Founder & Partner at White Point, a Charlotte, NC-based private real estate firm specializing in the acquisition and development of office, retail, mixed-use and multifamily
properties throughout the southeastern U.S. He is responsible for asset management, underwriting and capital markets strategies. Erik previously served as SVP of Finance for a publicly-traded student housing REIT. Prior to his tenure at the REIT, he worked in J.P. Morgan’s Real Estate & Lodging Investment Banking Group where he advised clients on M&A transactions and raised over $6.5 billion of debt and equity capital. Erik began his career at Wells Fargo as a commercial real estate
lender.

Erik received a Master of Business Administration from The University of Texas at Austin and Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is a member of the Urban Land Institute and the Corners Society and serves on the Advisory Board of the McCombs School of Business Real Estate Investment Fund.

Matt Laycock is a Partner at Aurora Capital Partners, a leading Los Angeles-based private equity firm focused principally on control investments in middle-market companies with leading market positions, stable industry dynamics, and attractive business model characteristics. He joined Aurora in 2004 and then rejoined the Firm after earning an MBA from Harvard Business School. Previously, Mr. Laycock was in the Investment Banking Division at J.P. Morgan where he was a member of the Industrials Group in New York. Mr. Laycock also served as a Senior Associate at Castle Harlan, a middle-market private equity firm based in New York.

Matt received a B.S. in Business Administration, with distinction, from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Mr. Laycock currently serves on the Board of Directors of VLS Recovery Services and Petroleum Service Corp. and served on the UNC-Chapel Hill Board of Visitors from 2015 – 2019.

Shermon McMillan is a purpose led, global executive with success in building & shaping teams, identifying winning strategies, and driving growth faster than the market. He serves at Sanofi Consumer Healthcare as Global Vice President & Category Head, responsible for allergy and cough & cold businesses worldwide. His chief accountabilities include the development of category strategy, global brand leadership, and innovation, resulting in market share & sales growth. Shermon also is a member of Sanofi’s Global Marketing Leadership Team where he collaborates to set & model marketing standards and practices.

Shermon has nearly 20 years of marketing experience combined in consumer healthcare, consumer goods, and banking. During this time Shermon has developed significant capabilities in insight generation, strategy development, innovation discovery, communication development, commercialization, and brand activation. He has also held positions with increasing levels of P&L responsibility from that of junior brand manager to Vice President & Head of Marketing, with a remit of over $1 billion in revenue.

Shermon has been with Sanofi for more than 10 years and has been instrumental in the growth of the consumer healthcare business, particularly in the US market. He has helped to drive that growth with leadership roles in the Rx-OTC switches of Allegra® & Nasacort®, launch development for OTC Cialis® as well as work in digestive health and pain care. Prior to Sanofi, Shermon worked at Pfizer Consumer Healthcare with increasing levels of responsibility on Robitussin® and in the nutritionals category on Centrum®.  Pepsico-Frito Lay and Wells Fargo were also key stops as Shermon built his marketing background.

Frances Nahas is an independent strategy and M&A consultant focused on mid-tier Healthcare Technology companies. Frances developed a passion for strategy at Bain & Company, where she worked across a range of industries. She began her focus on healthcare after leaving Bain to join McKesson as part of their corporate strategy group. After several years working across multiple business units, Frances joined the McKesson Automation business unit to lead strategy and M&A and was part of the leadership team that took the business private with Francisco Partners, turned it around, and ultimately sold it to Omnicell. After leaving Omnicell, Frances began consulting independently, working with companies such as Availity and Connecture. She is passionate about the ability of healthcare technology to reduce costs, improve patient care, and still deliver a profit for shareholders. Frances earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Notre Dame and her MBA from the University of North Carolina’s Kenan-Flagler Business School, where she was a Forté Scholar and a Dean’s Scholar.

As global brand director of one of the most celebrated skin care brands in the world, Stephanie Robertson leads marketing and product innovation for Olay – translating consumer trends and insights into innovative skin care technologies and programs that capture the hearts of women in over 70 countries.

After seven years of decline, Stephanie has led the OLAY Skin Care brand back to growth in NA through superior brand building, new product innovation and improving brand relevancy. Under her leadership, Olay launched the most successful skincare product of 2018, Olay Whips, and debuted an innovative and the inspiring Face Anything campaign, which celebrates fearless women who impact the world around them.

She leaves a legacy of innovative brand building throughout her 16-year career at P&G on brands like Herbal Essences and Febreze.  Stephanie was recently recognized by Drug Store News as a “Top Woman in Beauty, Wellness, and Health” in 2019. She has leveraged her experiences to talk innovation, brand building and diversity in a variety of forums including Cannes Film Festival, the National Retail Foundation Student program, Boston Ad Club Women’s Leader Forum, Top Women in Grocery seminar and the Path to Purchase Retail Institute.

Despite these accomplishments, she is most proud of work that demonstrates and celebrates diversity and inclusion, a topic that is near and dear to her heart.  She leads P&G’s African Ancestry affinity organization to nurture and grow more leaders of color and serves on the board of directors for the Greater Cincinnati YWCA which promotes gender and racial equality. Lastly, Stephanie is active in P&G recruiting and Marketing career management to ensure that P&G and P&G Beauty is a diverse and inclusive culture that reflects the consumers they serve.

A native of Kilmarnock, Virginia, Stephanie holds a Master in Business Administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Kenan Flagler Business School and a Bachelor of Science in mathematics/Secondary education from the University of Richmond.  In her spare time, she enjoys international travel, mentoring kids, and participating in her local church activities. Stephanie resides in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Lindsay Tillie is a retail enthusiast with a keen eye for capturing emergent trends, introducing revolutionary products to market, and driving impressive sales and profitability performance for her chosen categories. Currently, Lindsay leads the Decorative Tile, Wall Tile, and Adjacent Growth Categories businesses for Floor & Decor – the #6 fastest growing retailer in the world! With an entrepreneurial approach to corporate retail management, Lindsay is changing how customers experience the hard surface flooring and home improvement industries – delivering category-killing sales in the process.

Before Floor & Decor, Lindsay worked as the Director of Co-Branded Stores at Carter’s OshKosh b’Gosh, spearheading new store concept deployment. Lindsay also worked for 12 years at The Home Depot as a Merchant of various categories, including Doors, Irrigation, and Plumbing. She prides herself on having launched many products, most notably Barn Door Kits, b-Hyve Smart Watering technologies, the Arctic Cove “Bucket Top Misting Fan,” and Iron Force duct tape – all top performers in their segments.

Lindsay earned her MBA from Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina. She received her BS in Management from Georgia Tech where she was a President’s Scholar. Today, Lindsay and her husband, Josh, live in Atlanta, Georgia. Together, they enjoy raising their son, Rhoades (3), dog, Charles Barkley (5), and are expecting baby #2 this October. These working parents subscribe to a work-life integration approach. Balance is a myth!

Velocity tapped Jamie Harper Wilkerson to take the reins of financial operations in 2019 due to her deep experience in both finance and the research / clinical trials arena. After four years as an auditor at Deloitte and 10 years in finance at The Hamner Institutes for Health Sciences, she moved into the clinical trials space as Chief Financial Officer at Clintrax Global and Director of Financial Planning at PRA Health Services. She holds a Masters in Accounting and a BS in Business Administration, both from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

In a fast-growing company, Jamie’s challenge is doing more than keeping the books. “As a finance professional, it’s not only making sure the numbers are accurate, but also making sure as a finance team we’re providing decision makers with the information they need to make the best strategic decisions.”

When Jamie is not crunching numbers she spends her time watching Carolina sports with her family and going to the beach, activities shared by most card-carrying North Carolinians.