Board
Patti Gillenwater
Patti Gillenwater is CEO of Elinvar, a retained search firm focused on mission driven leadership. As Elinvar’s leader since 1995, Patti has built the Elinvar organization around her belief that great results stem from leadership and great leadership happens when leaders are working in an environment that supports them. “It is with great leaders at the helm that mission driven organizations are able to create good things for all of their stakeholders.”
Rashidah Lopez Morgan
Rashidah Lopez Morgan is Principal consultant with Education First, an education policy and strategy consulting firm. She works with K-12 education leaders to create and implement organizational strategies and talent management solutions that help prepare students—and particularly students of color—for success in college, careers and life. She has worked with state and local education agencies across the country, as well as numerous national and regional philanthropic organizations.
Kelli Ovies
Kelli Ovies is an attorney with Womble Bond Dickinson in Raleigh who advises clients on trademark and copyright matters. She regularly prepares and prosecutes trademark and copyright applications, conducts and reviews trademark clearance searches, responds to USPTO Office Actions, and assists with maintaining U.S. and international trademark registrations. She also has experience initiating and defending Trademark Trial and Appeal Board and federal court proceedings, negotiating trademark co-existence agreements, and drafting and reviewing intellectual property assignment and licensing agreements.
Harold Sellars
Harold retired from Mechanics & Farmers Bank (M&F), Durham, NC in 2012 after 14 years as a Senior Vice President in the areas of Credit and Branch Administration. He began his banking career in 1977 with United Carolina Bank (UCB) Whiteville, NC. During his personal and professional growth years at UCB he held several Senior Management positions in the areas of Lending, Mergers & Acquisitions, Regulatory Compliance, and Community Reinvestment. The North Carolina native graduated with honors from North Carolina Central University with a B.A. degree in Business Administration. He is also a graduate of the North Carolina School of Banking Mid-Management and Advanced Management Programs at UNC-Chapel Hill.
Margaret Annunziata
Dr. Margaret Annunziata currently serves as the President of Isothermal Community College. In this role, she works collaboratively with community leaders to promote economic and social mobility for the residents of Rutherford and Polk Counties and the surrounding region in western North Carolina. Her strategic vision and commitment to providing equitable access, opportunities, and outcomes for students resonate in the college’s focus on increasing educational attainment, career advancement, and economic wellbeing for those whom the college serves.
Peggy Carter
Peggy Carter retired as vice president of the Forsyth Medical Center Foundation. She previously served as VP of corporate affairs for Sara Lee Corporation’s apparel operations (now Hanesbrands Inc.) and senior director of legal and regulatory affairs in external relations for RJ Reynolds. She currently sits on boards for Winston-Salem State University’s Foundation (a past chair), Salemtowne Continuing Care Community (past chair), Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute at UNC-CH, Winston-Salem Chamber of Commerce (a past chair). She also serves on the Provincial Elders Conference of the Moravian Church Southern Province, the Trustees of the Moravian Salem Congregation and the Winston-Salem Capital Campaign Coordinating Committee.
Marian F. Earls
Dr. Marian F. Earls is the developmental and behavioral pediatrician of the NICU Developmental Follow-up Clinic for Cone Health System in Greensboro. In North Carolina she co-leads the Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Work Group, a cross sector group focused on building the workforce, consultation for primary care early childhood educators, child welfare, and early intervention professionals, and training on the impact of structural racism for consultants and early childhood providers. She serves as Chairperson for the newly formed American Academy of Pediatrics Council on Healthy Mental & Emotional Development.
Sherry Franklin
Sherry Franklin retired as a Technical Assistance Specialist within the Trohanis Technical Assistance (TA) Projects at the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute (FPG) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She currently works with two national technical assistance centers funded by the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP), U.S. Department of Education: the Early Childhood TA (ECTA) Center and the Center for IDEA Early Childhood Data Systems and (DaSy). She provides TA to federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) state leaders who serve children with disabilities ages birth to five and their families. Sherry’s areas of expertise include building the capacity of states to strengthen state systems to implement evidence-based practices with a particular focus on early intervention services, governance, quality improvement, and child/family outcomes measurement.
Devonya Govan-Hunt
Dr. Devonya Govan-Hunt is a committed community advocate and education leader whose research focuses on cultural competency, addressing the preschool to prison pipeline, mass incarceration, and race matters. Dr. Govan-Hunt holds numerous leadership positions including, the Executive Director of the Charlotte Affiliate of the National Black Child Development Institute, the President of the Mecklenburg Child Care Association, BCDI-Charlotte Board Member, Co-chair of READ Charlotte’s ‘Ready for School’ committee, President of the Charlotte Bilingual Preschool Board of Directors, member of the Leading on Opportunity Council, Chair Woman of the Community and Family Engagement Equity Committee for the Charlotte Mecklenburg School Board of Education, member of the NC Think Babies Leadership Team, and leader for the state wide policy group, Care and Learning Coalition also known as CandL. Hunt leads BCDI-Charlotte as a statewide leader fighting to eliminate harsh and unfair disciplinary practices in preschool. She is the proud mother of two young daughters; McKenzie and Madison.
Nation Hahn
Nation Hahn, who serves as the director of growth for EducationNC, has expertise in design thinking, communications, public policy, and politics. At EdNC, Nation helps drive the postsecondary and community college coverage, including the Awake58 weekly newsletter and Twitter account.
Hahn works on fundraising and partnership efforts, iterating an investment strategy that combines a theory of change, leadership development, and force amplification through “go and see” opportunities for philanthropists and policymakers to build relationships with community college and local leaders. Nation leads a responsive innovation strategy for EdNC, including audience growth and engagement.
LaTonya D Harrison
LaTonya Harrison has worked in the Nonprofit accounting sector for over 15 years and is currently the Director of Budgets and Grants Management at East Coast Migrant Head Start Project (ECMHSP). Prior to joining ECMHSP, she worked for North Carolina Central University (NCCU) as an Accounting Technician and in various positions at Down East Partnership for Children where she found her love for Nonprofits. LaTonya also owns and operates a part time business for over 20 years, which specializes in bookkeeping and taxes.
LaTonya received her Bachelor of Science from Shaw University in Business Administration with a concentration in Business Management in 2006. In 2009 she received her Master of Science degree from Capella University in Nonprofit Management. She has also taken many accounting courses at Strayer University and received her Certification of Federal Grants Management.
Hal Kaplan
Hal Kaplan is Executive Chairman of Kaplan Early Learning Company. Started by Mr. Kaplan’s father in 1951, the company is the leading international provider of products and services that enhance children’s learning, with the core value “we strive to improve outcomes for all children.” The company engages in publishing and development of curriculum and assessment products and is committed to introducing new products that promote learning and play. The company’s clients include school systems, childcare centers, and federally supported programs. The company’s headquarters is in Lewisville, North Carolina, where Mr. Kaplan and his wife reside.
Easter A. Maynard
With almost 20 years at IMC, Easter Maynard has served on the IMC Board of Directors since 2017, becoming Board Chair in 2023. She has also served on the Doard of Directors of IMC partner company Golden Corral Corp. for over 20 years and is the current Board Chair. Easter has been deeply involved in IMC’s philanthropic work as Director of Community Investment, leading ChildTrust Foundation and helping to found Camp Corral. She has received numerous awards for her efforts, most recently the 2018 Vernon Malone Friend of Education Award from WakeEd Partnership, the Distinguished Alumni Award from UNC School of Social Work, the 2017 Triangle Community Foundation Catalyst Award for visionary philanthropy, and the 2017 Corporate Philanthropy Award from the Triangle Business Journal.
Nina Smith
Dr. Nina Smith is Associate Dean of the College of Health and Sciences and Associate Professor of Human Sciences at North Carolina Central University. She studies the impact of parental employment on the health and well-being of children and families and examines factors that influence children’s academic preparedness and teacher professional development in early care and education settings. Her work centers the experiences of Black children and families. Nina has worked closely with Family Forward NC for more than four years as a research advisor and also serves as a co-investigator for the National African American Child and Family Research Center.
Banu Valladares
Banu Valladares has an extensive non-profit background in education, the arts and humanities, specializing in forming strategic partnerships with national, state and local agencies. She has served with the NC Humanities Council, the NC Arts Council, and SonEdna where she was the Executive Director. Banu moved to Charlotte from Venezuela to attend UNC-Charlotte and called Charlotte home until 2004. She returned to Charlotte in 2014 after posts in the triangle area of North Carolina and Mississippi.
Shelley Y. White
Dr. Shelley Y. White joined Haywood Community College on January 1, 2020, as its seventh President. A graduate of Isothermal Community College, Dr. White received her Doctorate in Education with a concentration in Community College Leadership from Western Carolina University. She served as state-level President of the North Carolina Community College Adult Educators Association, an organization supporting the work of all workforce programs through professional development, networking, and advocacy. Dr. White is a member of Waynesville Rotary and serves on the boards of several community and regional organizations, including Haywood Regional Medical Center, the Economic Development Coalition of Haywood County, the Forest Restoration Alliance (FRA), Big Brothers Big Sisters of Western North Carolina and WNC Communities.
Click here to access the North Carolina Early Childhood Foundation’s Board Portal.