WakeUP Wake County Staff
Email: karen@wakeupwakecounty.org, Tel: 919.828.3833
Karen has worked with WakeUP since its inception in 2006. She spent 10 years in Washington DC working in non-profit advocacy and grassroots organizing and as a legislative aide to NC Congressman James McClure Clarke. She is a graduate of UNC-CH and the University of Zimbabwe. Mother of two, she volunteers in their Wake County schools.
Email: tappan@wakeupwakecounty.org, Tel:919.859.2711
Tappan has a decade of experience in grassroots civic engagement programs and strategy. She settled in Raleigh in 2009 to start her family due to the region’s wonderful reputation for public schools, job opportunities and green space. She is a graduate of Sewanee: The University of the South and holds a Masters of Business Administration, with a concentration in Marketing from Golden Gate University.
Email: patty@wakeupwakecounty.org
Patty has lived in Wake County for almost 20 years and has long been an education activist. She’s been with Great Schools in Wake since the beginning (November 2009). Prior to joining GSIW, Patty spent 20+ years in marketing communications. She is a graduate of Amherst College and holds a Masters degree in Public and Private Management from Yale University.
Board of Directors
Executive Committee:
Members:
Email: chair@wakeupwakecounty.org
President, Centrex Properties, Inc.; Partner, CommunitySmith, LLC; Board of Directors, Triangle Land Conservancy
Beverley Clark, Secretary
Mediator in Wake County; former SE Regional Attorney for The Nature Conservancy; former member Wake County Board of Education
Anne-Lise Knox Velez, C0-Treasurer
Email: treasurer@wakeupwakecounty.org
NCSU Graduate Student, Public Administration
Tom Rhodes, Co-Treasurer
Email: treasurer@wakeupwakecounty.org
Chaplin Rex Hospital; former Minister, Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Raleigh
VP Global Wealth Management Merrill Lynch; Officer, U.S. Marine Corps
Yevonne Brannon
Director, NCSU Center for Urban Affairs; Chair, Public Schools First NC; Chair, Great Schools in Wake; former Chair, WakeUP Wake County; former Commissioner, Wake County Board of Commissioners
Tayon Dancy
Product Development Team Lead, IBM; Owner, Give Life Family Care
Karen Kemerait
Attorney, Styers, Kemerait & Mitchell; zoning, utility and land use law
Frank Harmon
Principle, Frank Harmon Architect PA; LEED AP green architecture firm
Ross Massey
Civil Engineer, LandDesign; Cary Site Design Focus Group
Director, Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project, NC Justice Center
Margaret Newbold
Associate Director, Conservation Trust for North Carolina
Phil Poe
Citizen Advocate, retired Financial Officer, Johnson & Johnson
Nilesh Surti
Civil Engineer, NCDOT; Chair, SEANC Council; Garner Concerned Citizens
Melanie Wilson
Planner; Board of Directors, NC Zoo Society; former Planning Director, Wake County
Jennifer Woody Collins
Public Heath Program Consultant, NC Division of Public Health; Co-Chair, Beehive Collective
WakeUP Board of Directors
Board of Advisors
Norm Camp
Larry Dickens
Abeni El-Amin
Greg Flynn
Greg Hatem
Bill Holman
Robin Hammond
Sig Hutchinson
Brent Laurenz
Don Mial
Paul Morris
John Shaw
Anna Stein
Nina Szlosberg
Susann Wigger
