Lisa Baker ‘88 – Graham, NC |
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Lisa Baker is a native of Pembroke, NC. She is a member of the Lumbee tribe. Lisa earned a BA in Biology in 1988 and a Certificate in Cytotechnology from Roche Biomedical Laboratories School of Cytotechnology in 1994. Presently, Lisa is employed at Laboratory Corporation of America.
She resides in Graham, NC.
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Danny Bell – Chapel Hill, NC |
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A member of the Coharie and Lumbee Tribes of North Carolina, Danny Bell is the program coordinator for American Indian Studies. He has been very involved in supporting and establishing the curriculum for the American Indian Studies major and minor in the Department of American Studies. Danny was appointed to the Provost Committee on Native American Issues in 1997 as it developed both plans and proposals to increase Carolina’s awareness of the American Indian presence, and proposals that led to establish the American Indian Center. Danny has served as an advisor for many Native American student organizations. The UNC student Magazine Blue & White selected Bell as its 2005 “Person of the Year”. In 2014 he received the C. Knox Massey Distinguished Service Award from Chancellor Folt, one of the most coveted distinctions the University gives faculty and staff.
Danny serves on various UNC committees including the Pogue Scholarship Committee, the Minority Health Videoconference Committee, the American Indian Center Community Engagement & Research Committee, and the EEO Advisory Committee.
In addition, he serves on state committees including The State Advisory Council on Indian Education to the NC State Board of Education, the NC Commission of Indian Affairs Committee on Education, Religion and Culture, and the NC Museum of History Indian Heritage Month planning committee. Before coming to UNC Danny worked with the NC Commission of Indian Affairs for 14 years. Danny attended East Carolina Indian High School and East Carolina College. He served for 30 years in the US Army and the NC 440th Army Band.
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Ron Bilbao ’10 – Miami, FL |
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Ron Bilbao is Legislative Specialist at the Florida Education Association (FEA), Florida’s largest association of professional employees with more than 140,000 members. He is a proud Miami native of Venezuelan and Colombian heritage.
Ron’s passion for social justice was firmly rooted at a young age. In high school, he served as President of the Miami-Dade County Student Government Association (SGA) where he created the first student-lobbying program leading fellow students to the state capital to advocate for anti-bullying legislation and juvenile justice reform. He also led the SGA in a federal lawsuit against the Miami-Dade County School Board for banning the children’s book, Vamos a Cuba.
At UNC, Ron continued his tradition of student-led advocacy through founding of the North Carolina Coalition for College Access, which lobbied state leaders for in-state tuition for undocumented youth. As a first-generation college student, he founded the University’s Latina/o center to advance opportunities for this emerging population.
Ron returned home to Miami in 2010 to become the lobbyist for the ACLU of Florida. Most recently, he served as Political Director for SEIU Local 1991 representing nurses, doctors and healthcare professionals at the nation’s largest public hospital system, Jackson Health.
In 2014, Ron was selected by Latino Leaders Magazine as one of Miami’s “Leaders of the Future” and was named one of the “30-under-30 Rising Stars in Florida Politics” by Saint Peters Blog.
Ron is a founding fellow of the 2012 NLC Miami inaugural class and has since served as Chapter Vice Director and in various roles on the exec team. He also serves on the Board of Directors of SAVE, Miami-Dade’s largest LGBT advocacy organization. Ron is a graduate of UNC and lives in Miami.
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Katrina Billingsley ’96 – Oakboro, NC |
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Katrina Y. Billingsley is a native of Oakboro, NC. She received her undergraduate degree in Political Science from UNC – Chapel Hill. She holds a Doctorate of Philosophy in Counseling and Counselor Education from NC State University. She is a graduate of NC Central University where she received a Master of Arts in Career Counseling. She is a National Certified Counselor (NCC) and a NC Licensed Professional Counselor Associate (LPCA).
Dr. Billingsley is a former chair of the UNC Black Alumni Reunion and continues to serve on the planning committee. Additionally, she serves on the First Reads committee for the Light on the Hill scholarship fund. Dr. Billingsley currently serves as a psychotherapist and a counselor educator. As a social justice advocate, her research is intended to be anti-oppressive and pro-liberating. Dr. Billingsley has experience working in private practice and in community mental health working with diverse clients. Dr. Billingsley has almost 20 years of experience working in higher education.
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Kerry D. Bird ’86 – Raleigh, NC |
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Kerry D. Bird is a member of the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate of South Dakota and has heritage from the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina. He was formerly employed as a Development Officer in the Office of Development at UNC Chapel Hill. He holds a BA in Political Science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and holds a Master’s of Social Work from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri.
Kerry served as a diversity consultant with ProGroup, Inc. for several years. He was previously employed as the interim executive director for Native Americans in Philanthropy and the National Native American AIDS Prevention Center and as project director for the N.C. Commission of Indian Affairs.
Kerry is currently a member of the Board of Visitors for UNC, the President of Triangle Native American Society, a former board member of the LGBT Center of Raleigh, and a past President of United Tribes of North Carolina.
Kerry and his husband live in Raleigh.
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Matthew Bradley ’94 – Charlotte, NC |
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Matt Bradley is a native of Fayetteville, NC currently resides in Charlotte, NC with his wife, Nikki and daughter, Nina.
He earned his Bachelor of Arts in Biology from UNC-Chapel Hill. He continued his education by taking post-baccalaureate courses in Business Administration at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, VA. As a dedicated logistician, he attended The Logistics Institute at Georgia Institute of Technology and completed two certifications as a Lean Supply Chain Professional and in Supply Chain & Logistics.
As a freshman at UNC, Matt challenged himself and walked onto the Men’s Soccer Team and earned a monogram letter that same semester. His sophomore year he joined the Theta Omicron Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. In his senior year he served as the Chapter’s Membership Intake Chair and as the Vice Polemarch.
Matt is currently the Senior Vice-President of TH Logistics, a start-up Minority Business Enterprise (MBE), where he leads Business Development, Operations and Personnel for the organization that focuses on Value Added Warehousing & Distribution, Contract Packaging, Transportation and Supply Chain Consulting services as a 4th Party Logistics provider.
Prior to joining TH Logistics, Matt has held many progressively responsible leadership roles throughout his career. Most recently, he held an Executive Management role at DSC Logistics in Richmond, VA as a Group General Manager responsible for the operational performance and customer relationship management for their Altria, Kimberly-Clark and Georgia Pacific accounts.
Matt is active in his community serving as an Usher at Freedom House Church, an active member of the Charlotte Alumni Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi where he serves on the Capital Campaign Committee.
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Kimberley Brown ’03 – Philadelphia, PA |
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Kimberley joined Janssen, The Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnsonin 2007 as a medical science liaison from the Rainbow Center for Women, Children and Families in Jacksonville, Florida where she served as HIV Clinical Specialist, and clinical assistant professor at the University of Florida School of Pharmacy. Kimberley holds a Doctor of Pharmacy from UNC- Chapel Hill and completed a Pharmacy Practice and an Infectious Diseases Specialty Residency.
Since joining Janssen, she has also served as Associate Director, Training with responsibilities for the virology MSL team. She also served as Associate Medical Director of US Medical Affairs, Infectious Diseases, where she was responsible for working as part of both the HCV and HIV clinical teams to lead efforts on research trials and launch team activities, as well as participate in business partner collaborations. She was also responsible for acting as the company’s pharmacovigilance officer. From2015- early 2018, she served as the US Medical Director for the HIV franchise (PREZISTA, PREZCOBIX, EDURANT, INTELENCE, ODEFSEY, COMPLERA). Now she serves as Scientific Director for Janssen Research and Development.
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ToNola Brown-Bland ’84 – Burlington, NC |
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Brown-Bland began her professional career as federal Law Clerk to the Honorable Alexander B. Denson, United States Magistrate Judge for the Eastern District of North Carolina, and thereafter entered private practice in Greensboro, N.C. She later became in-house attorney for AT&T Corp. (subsequently Lucent Technologies), where she was promoted to Senior Attorney and primarily supported the company’s federal contracting and related commercial technology licensing business lines in Greensboro.
She joined the North Carolina Department of the Secretary of State in 2001, serving as Director of the Business License Information Office and of the Charitable Solicitations Licensing Section. Brown-Bland’s experience in utility regulation began in 2002, when she accepted a position with the North Carolina Utilities Commission as an attorney in the Legal Division. From 2005 until her appointment to the Commission, she served as Associate General Counsel with the City of Greensboro.
Commissioner Brown-Bland has a history of community and civic service, having served on several boards including the Greensboro Bar Association, the Alamance County Historical Museum, and Western Piedmont Residential Services, a non-profit organization that provided residential service to autistic adults. She and her husband André make their home in her native Alamance County. She is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and received her Juris Doctorate from Duke University School of Law.
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Maxine Brown-Davis ’74 – Cedar Point, NC |
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Maxine Brown-Davis retired as the Chief Diversity Officer; Vice President: Human Resources for Global Diversity and General Manager for the Corporate Organization Performance Group for The Procter & Gamble Company headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Maxine was responsible to the 140,000 employees for leading the Global Human Resources organizations for Diversity and Inclusion; Employee Relations; Labor Relations; Organization Performance; Employee/Organization Research/Sensing; Employee Communications and Business Ethics & Compliance.
Maxine started her career with Procter and Gamble in manufacturing, sales, finance, corporate human resources, commercial retail teams and global business units.
Outside Procter & Gamble, Maxine worked with non-profit organizations and government agencies on leadership, effective teams, improved operations, strategic planning, organization design/renewal and inclusive management approaches. Her speaking skills earned her recognition in the areas of leadership, women/minority development, team development, personal and organization effectiveness.
Maxine received awards and acclaim from diverse groups, including the United States Postal Service, American Red Cross, Salvation Army Boys and Girls Clubs, the Governor of North Carolina for work with The Future Focus Committee, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, The Harvey E. Beech Distinguished Alumni Award and Black Health Magazine’s 2010 “25 Most Influential African Americans in Healthcare.”
Maxine is currently an associate with several Executive Coaching and Management Consulting companies in the United States. She lives on the southeastern coast of North Carolina.
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Ngoc Nguyen Bui ’94 – Raleigh, NC |
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Ngoc is a Greensboro, N.C. native and the oldest of three to graduate from UNC. As an undergraduate, she was an active member of the Asian Students Association and served as vice president and president of the Vietnamese Students Association. Ngoc earned a bachelor’s degree in public policy analysis in 1994 from UNC-Chapel Hill, then obtained a master’s degree in public administration from N.C. State University in 1996 and a juris doctor from North Carolina Central University in 1999.
Ngoc worked with the Land Loss Prevention Project, a non-profit legal organization in Durham, N.C., and joined the N.C. Administrative Office of the Courts in 2000 as a research associate. She now serves as a contract specialist with the NC Department of Revenue.
Ngoc has served as a member of the Alumni Committee on Racial and Ethnic Diversity since its inception in 1999. She resides in Raleigh with her husband and two sons.
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Rashonda Burkett ’02 – Raleigh, NC |
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Rashonda Burkett is the Regional Scientific Associate Director at Novartis. Rashonda received her Doctor of Pharmacy from UNC-Chapel Hill in 2002. She began her career with Hefner VA Medical Center as an Intermittent Pharmacist after completing her residency with them. Rashonda later became a primary care clinical pharmacist and then began working in pharmaceuticals which led her to be the Director at Novartis.
Rashonda serves on other UNC committees including the Pharmacy Alumni Association Board of Directors as well as the Residence Hall Association.
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Rolanda C. Burney ’93 – Amherst, MA |
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Rolanda C Burney currently serves as chief of staff to Chancellor Kumble R. Subbaswamy at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Burney manages the Chancellor’s Office and coordinates with the senior campus leadership team and a variety of constituents to pursue the university’s strategic goals, tracking and advancing priority projects.
Burney has extensive experience in higher education, especially in governance, board leadership, crisis management, strategic planning and implementation, and development of policies, programs and services that support institutional mission. She worked as a consultant for the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, leading the Frontier Set Initiative, a partnership of 31 public and private colleges, universities, community colleges and university systems created by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to help colleges increase the number of graduates among minority, first-generation, low-income and non-traditional students.
Prior to that, Burney served for three years as chief of staff at Bennett College in Greensboro, N.C., a private, historically black women’s college, where she worked closely with the president on enacting college-wide strategic and leadership initiatives and also with the college’s board of trustees on its operational and administrative functions.
Burney served as special assistant to the president at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore for seven years, where she worked with the president and senior staff to shape and manage the strategic agenda for the president and university. She also worked at Livingstone College in Salisbury, N.C., a private, not-for-profit historically black college, as dean and then later as associate vice president of enrollment management and strategic planning; at the University of Virginia as assistant dean of admission and at the University of North Carolina Wilmington as an admission counselor.
A Life Member of the General Alumni Association her previous service to the University includes membership on the Student Affairs Advisory Board.
Burney earned her Ph.D. in organizational leadership from the University of Maryland Eastern Shore; her M.A. in English from the University of North Carolina Wilmington; and her B.A. in English at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
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Gwendolyn Waddell Burrell ’84 – Wilmington, NC |
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Gwendolyn Burrell is a native of Wilmington, NC and has just relocated to retire there after working and residing in Raleigh over the last 30 years. She is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a Bachelor of Science degree in Administration of Criminal Justice. She is also a graduate of North Carolina Central University School of Law where she earned her Juris Doctor degree. She practiced law in the private sector for seven years before accepting a position with the North Carolina Department of Justice as an Assistant Attorney General in the Office of the Attorney General. While at the Attorney General’s Office, then Attorney General Roy Cooper appointed Gwendolyn as the first female Inspector General for the State of North Carolina. This office investigated public assistance fraud. Gwendolyn also worked in the Victims and Citizens Services Section where she was instrumental in establishing an Elder Abuse Task Force and represented the Attorney General at various speaking engagements across the state.
Gwendolyn later accepted employment with the Department of Crime Control and Public Safety as Deputy Director of the Governor’s Crime Commission. In 2009 she was appointed as Executive Director of the Governor’s Crime Commission where she served until her appointment ended in 2013. She also served in the Department of Public Safety as the Director of the Equal Employment Opportunity Office.
Gwendolyn is the author of the book “Life Hope and Healing…Surviving A Cancer Diagnosis. She is also a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated.
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