ETHL Board of Directors
Emerging Tar Heel Leaders Biographies
Daniel Amburn is a legislative relations specialist with ElectriCities of North Carolina, Inc. Representing energy-specific legislative interests of over 71 municipalities, Daniel also deals heavily in the grassroots and communications arenas. Over the years, Daniel has assisted with cancer research at NIEHS, served as a NC-EMT, worked as a legislative assistant in the NC House of Representatives, assisted Slate Pharmaceuticals with their initial offering of Testopel and eaten countless Twizzlers during the process. Daniel has been accepted into the Jenkins School of Managment at NCSU and will enroll in either the Fall of 2009 or Spring of 2010. Daniel enjoys golf, inshore saltwater fishing, tinkering around the house and good gin.
Tony Caravano joined University of North Carolina General Administration in March 2007. Prior to that he served as the Director of Legislative Outreach for State Senate President Pro Tempore Marc Basnight; sharing duties in communications and policy research focused around education and the environment. Caravano earned a B.A. in Criminology from North Carolina State University, where he served two terms as the Student Body President. Growing up in a military family, he lived in multiple states before spending much of his life in Florida. He currently resides in Raleigh and currently serves on several boards and advisory councils for North Carolina State University.
Kendra Davenport Cotton is the associate director of the Center for the Study of the American South and a doctoral candidate in political science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Prior to assuming this position in January 2008, she was assistant director for programs with the Center's Program on Public Life. She has also worked as a research associate with Chapin Hall Center for Children at the University of Chicago and for the Duke Endowment's Program for the Rural Carolinas. A native Arkansan, Cotton is particularly interested in exploring the political and policy effects of the burgeoning Latinization of the American South. She holds a master's in public administration from North Carolina State University and a bachelor's in public administration from the University of Oklahoma.
Russ Dubisky currently works for State Farm as an External Relations Specialist in the Public Affairs Department. In that capacity he is responsible for overseeing philanthropic spending in the state, coordinating grassroots lobbying, and serving as the company's media liaison. Previously, Russ worked as Deputy Director with the Insurance Federation of North Carolina, an insurance trade association. In addition to ETHL, Russ serves as a volunteer board member for the North Carolina Council on Economic Education and is a member of the State Farm Agents and Associates Political Action Committee. He also has experience on the Wake County Juvenile Crime Prevention Council and as a campaign volunteer with various candidate committees. Russ graduated from NC State University with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science.
Kristen Feneley hails from South Louisiana and received BA in Political Science from Louisiana State University. She is currently working for the North Carolina Nurses Association as the Director of Volunteer Relations and Services. Prior to her work with NCNA, she worked as Legislative Assistant to Rep. Thom Tillis (R-Mecklenburg). Kristen was also a Program Director with the Institute of Political Leadership and a Communications Specialist with the NC Progress Board.
Nate Goetz is president and founder of Triangle Research Partners, LLC, a Durham-based consultancy that provides social and economic research support to organizations seeking to understand the community in which they operate, while empowering them to become leaders and advocates for community change; and the director of research and advocacy for United Way of the Greater Triangle (UWGT) where he oversees the organization's on-going analysis of health and human service issues impacting the region. A resident of Durham, Nate sits on the boards/steering committees of Read Seed, Triangle Gives Back, Emerging Tar Heel Leaders, and is vice chairman of the City of Durham Human Relations Commission. He holds a Certificate in Nonprofit Management from Duke University, a Master of Public Policy from Pepperdine University, and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Whittier College. In 2001, he was a visiting research fellow at the University of Oxford. Nate is a 2009 recipient of the Triangle Business Journal's 40 Under 40 Leadership Award
Michelle Goryn is the Policy Program Coordinator at the Institute for Emerging Issues(IEI), a public policy think-and-do tank located at NC State University, where she has been working for the past 4 years. In this role she is responsible for moving forward IEI's research and policy initiatives. Prior to joining IEI, Michelle worked in the Governmental Affairs Office of the American Bar Association in Washington, D.C. She received a Bachelor of Science in Languages from Georgetown University and a Masters of Political Science from UNC-Chapel Hill. In her free time, Michelle loves to go running with her German Shepherd, Harley.
Andrew Holton began his work as policy analyst with the Program on Public Life at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in December, 2005. A recent law school graduate, Andrew spent the 2005 legislative session clerking for N.C. State Senator Linda Garrou (D-Forsyth). Born and raised in Durham, N.C., Andrew holds a J.D. from the University of Wisconsin Law School where he was a member of the Wisconsin Law Review. As an undergraduate Andrew studied history at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In his free time Andrew enjoys running, traveling, history, and watching modern dance.Libby Long Richards is the Scholarship and Special Projects Coordinator at the Triangle Community Foundation, where she manages over 60 scholarship programs. Libby is a native of Columbia, South Carolina and received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Converse College in Politics and Theatre in 2005. Prior to working at Triangle Community Foundation, Libby served as the Bonner Scholars Coordinator at Wofford College in Spartanburg, SC.
Catherine Moga Bryant is senior research associate with the N.C. Rural Economic Development Center, a non-profit dedicated to improving quality of life in the state's 85 rural counties through sound economic and community development strategies. Catherine, a Virginia native, holds a Master's degree in Geography from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a B.F.A. from the University of Missouri at Kansas City.
Jason Nelson is a proud native of Roxboro, NC, where he was born, reared, and educated. His studies and travels have taken him to the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, North Carolina A&T State University, and American University in Washington, DC. After several years as an accountant in Memphis, TN Jason relocated to Washington, DC where he worked for a number of organizations including the Human Rights Campaign and the Whitman Walker Clinic, a non-profit community-based health organization established by and for the gay and lesbian community especially committed to ending the suffering of all those infected and affected by HIV/AIDS. After completing his graduate studies in public and nonprofit management, Jason moved to Botswana where he spent nine months as a Peace Corps volunteer in the village of Lerala. Currently, he calls Raleigh, NC, home while he is working as a project manager and coordinator for a statewide biofuels initiative at the North Carolina Biotechnology Center. He is also an uncle to the most adorable little girl in the world.
Michale Privette is the Senior Director of Corporate Relations for the American Heart Association in the Triangle area. After graduating from North Carolina State University, Michael moved to Washington, DC to work as the Director of Development for Witness for Peace, a human rights organization working in Latin America. After two years with Witness for Peace, Michael returned to his home state of NC in 2007 to accept his current position with the American Heart Association. In addition to his service on the ETHL board, Michael serves on the NCSU Young Alumni Council.
John Quinterno, originally from Long Island, NY, is a research associate at the North Carolina Budget & Tax Center, a nonpartisan think tank in Raleigh. His work at the Center focuses on issues of economic policy and workforce development. Earlier in his career, John wrote for and edited the political magazines SouthNow and NC DataNet, published by the Program on Public Life at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. John's writing on politics and public policy appears frequently in state and regional publications, and he regularly undertakes consulting work for other public policy organizations. John holds degrees from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of Notre Dame. Justin C. Smith is the coordinator for Project STYLE (Strength Through Youth Living Empowered) an HIV/AIDS program serving young Black men based at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine. In this capacity he organizes an ongoing college HIV testing campaign that has helped thousands of North Carolina college students learn their HIV status. Justin also organizes community-based educational events to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS, and serves as the co-facilitator of two support groups for men living with HIV. Prior to joining STYLE, Justin worked at the Rutgers Center for State Health Policy, where he researched policy options to strengthen New Jersey's health care safety net. A native of Montclair, NJ, Justin holds a bachelor's degree from Brown University with a dual concentration in Sociology and Community Health.
Sarah Wilson is a native of Raleigh, NC and holds a BA from Meredith College in Political Science. Sarah is currently the membership administrator for the Conservation Trust for North Carolina (CTNC), where she has worked since 2007. CTNC is a non-profit organization dedicated to protecting NC's land and water through direct conservation. Sarah has also worked as a legal assistant for DeMent, Askew, Gammon, and as a legislative assistant to Senator Joe Sam Queen at the North Carolina General Assembly. In her free time Sarah is an avid runner and enjoys all outdoors endeavors.
Erica Yamauchi is an account executive at Capstrat, one of the largest and most prominent strategic communications agencies in the Southeast, where she brings valuable experience in communications strategy and tactics to her media relations and public affairs work for health care and public policy clients such as Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina and Land for Tomorrow. A former Capstrat intern, she also completed internships at the Pentagon working in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs and the Program for Aging at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine. Erica graduated with distinction from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2005 with a bachelor's degree in journalism and public relations. As an International Student Ambassador Scholar, she also studied at Mahidol University International College in Bangkok, Thailand. Upon graduation, she received the H.C. and Lois Cranford Award to the Outstanding Graduating Senior In Public Relations. Erica volunteers for UNICEF and Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign, and currently serves on the public relations committee of the Alice Aycock Poe Center for Health Education. In her free time, Erica enjoys scuba diving and traveling.