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History

The New Hanover Community Endowment was established from the sale of the County-owned New Hanover Regional Medical Center to Novant Health in 2020. From its sale, the New Hanover County Board of Commissioners invested nearly $1.3 billion to form the endowment to benefit the community.

Our Community

NHCE was created with the focus of significantly improving our community by focusing on:

  • Education: Public primary, secondary, and post-secondary
  • Equity: Social & Health Equity
  • Community safety
  • Community development

In conjunction with the New Hanover County Strategic Plan, we seek to identify and address the root challenges in these areas, aiming for long-lasting and deeply impactful solutions in our community.

Mission

To improve the health, education, safety, and economic opportunity of every person in our community.

Vision

To transform our community so all will thrive.

Values

Integrity, Transparency, Inclusivity, Courage, Collaboration, Accountability

Commitment

The New Hanover Community Endowment is committed to recognizing and valuing everyone and every group as part of the diversity that comprises our community.

We strive to build a community that is just and inclusive. Our commitment to equity is at the core of who we are and serves as a guiding principle that shapes our work.

We aspire to build a community where all voices are heard, all barriers are faced and where all people have the opportunity to reach their full potential and build a better life.

We are committed to the work that is required to build a community that values and supports the humanity of all people.

Our Board

The board is empowered to accept, hold, invest, reinvest, and administer any gifts, grants, bequests, devises, benefits of trusts, and property of any sort on behalf of the endowment. The 13 members, appointed by Successor Local Hospital and the County, have demonstrated leadership within the community and hold prior governance experience that meets the high standard and conduct of the public serving board.

Bill Cameron, Chair
Bill Cameron NHCE Headshot

Bill Cameron co-founded and is President of Cameron Management, Inc., an investment management company with a focus on real estate development, brokerage, and property management. He was a founding Member and Director of Port City Capital Bank and Director of Crescent State Bank following its acquisition of Port City Capital Bank in 2006. Cameron currently serves on the board of directors for Live Oak Bancshares, Cape Fear Memorial Foundation, and Champion McDowell Davis Foundation.

Mr. Cameron has previously served on the board of directors of the UNC Health Care System, Wilmington Chamber of Commerce, Cape Fear Memorial Hospital, among many others. He is also past President of the NC Azalea Festival and has served as a deacon and elder for St. Andrew’s Covenant Presbyterian Church. Most recently, he served as Co-vice Chair of the Partnership Advisory Group. Cameron is a native of Wilmington.

Shannon Winslow, Vice Chair
Shannon Winslow NHCE headshot

Ms. Winslow is a Director of Strategic Accounts with WebMD Health Services with over 15 years of healthcare experience. Currently, she works with Fortune 100 companies on their Global Health and Well-Being strategies. Previously, she was a Director of Client Strategy for Walgreens and worked with Health Systems and employer clients to successfully execute national pharmacy and healthcare strategies. She is a native of Wilmington, NC. Her community involvement has included serving on various local boards and committees including the Domestic Violence Shelter, Junior League of Wilmington, the American Red Cross, the Community Boys and Girls Club, and serving as a mentor at the Cameron Executive Network at UNCW. Most recently, she served as a member of the New Hanover Non-County Agency Funding committee. Ms. Winslow received a BA in Economics from UNC-Chapel Hill and a MBA from UNC-Wilmington.

Chris Boney
Chris Boney NHCE Headshot

Chris Boney is a lifelong Wilmingtonian. After attending North Carolina State and the University of Virginia, he returned home to join his family architecture firm in 1997. In his current role as Chief Relationships Officer for LS3P, Chris oversees business development, community engagement, and leadership at the firm’s eight southeastern architecture offices. His work is focused on large commercial and institutional projects, and he has been recognized with multiple local, state, and regional awards for design and sustainable building practices. Recent local projects include the new Inpatient Tower at New Hanover Regional Medical Center, CFCC’s Wilson Center, Carolina Bay at Autumn Hall, and the Live Oak Bank corporate campus.

Active in both the state and local business community, Mr. Boney has chaired the Wilmington Chamber of Commerce and the Wilmington Planning Commission, and has served on numerous other non-profit boards. He is currently Chairman of the Battleship North Carolina Commission. Chris has spent considerable time mentoring children and young adults as a youth group counselor, “big brother,” and basketball coach. He is married with three teenage children, and actively involved at First Presbyterian Church.

Spence H. Broadhurst
Spence Broadhurst NHCE headshot

Spence Broadhurst is the President of the Eastern NC Region for First National Bank, coordinating corporate and business banking, integration of sales, and the overall business strategy for the bank’s eastern NC region. He currently serves on the board of the Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina.

Mr. Broadhurst was twice elected Mayor of the City of Wilmington, serving from 2003 to 2006, is a former Commissioner of the North Carolina Banking Commission, and a former Trustee for North Carolina Agriculture and Technology State University. He has also served on the boards of the Wilmington Chamber of Commerce, Wilmington Film Commission, Wilmington Business Development, the Wake County Board of Health and most recently served as Co-chair of the Partnership Advisory Group.

Cedric Dickerson
Cedric Dickerson NHCE Headshot

Cedric Dickerson is an insurance agent working with State Farm and serves as Vice President of State Farm Agents and Employees Political Action Committee. He is former Chair and current Member of the New Hanover County ABC Board and an advisory board member for the Boy Scouts of America. He has previously served as Board Chair of the Community Boys & Girls Club and has served on the boards of Cape Fear Community College Foundation, Wilmington Chamber of Commerce, Cape Fear Literacy Council, and Salvation Army.

Mr. Dickerson was honored in 2009 with a UNCW Watson College of Education Razor Walker Award and was inducted into the Laney Athletic Hall of Fame in 2018 for his community support and work as volunteer coach. Most recently, he served on the Partnership Advisory Group. He is a member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity and has lived in Wilmington for 40 years.

Michele Holbrook
Michele Holbrook NHCE headshot

Michele Holbrook is a Capital Program Manager for Corning Incorporated, responsible for the delivery of all major capital projects across Corning’s global optical fiber and cable footprint. In the community, Ms. Holbrook has served on the board of directors for the Wilmington Chamber of Commerce since 2015 and was elected to serve as the 2021 board chair. She is also an Ex-officio member of the Wilmington Business Development board of directors, and previously served on the United Way of the Cape Fear Area campaign committee, the Virginia Tech Material Science & Engineering advisory board and the NC State Industry Expansion Solutions advisory board. Holbrook was named a 2019 WilmingtonBiz 100 Power Player. She has lived in Wilmington since 2012.

Patrick D. Maguire, MD
Pat Maguire NHCE headshot

Dr. Patrick D. Maguire is a physician, medical director, and managing partner of Coastal Carolina Radiation Oncology in Wilmington, NC, where he has practiced since 2000. He received his undergraduate degree in English literature from Haverford College and MD from Penn State College of Medicine. Dr. Maguire completed his radiation oncology residency and clinical research fellowship at Duke University Medical Center and thereafter has been caring for patients diagnosed with cancer in coastal NC. He has authored many peer-reviewed scientific publications and a book for patients and families about cancer entitled “When Cancer Hits Home.”

Dr. Maguire was the principal investigator of two major Cancer Disparities Research Partnership grants from the National Cancer Institute to improve cancer outcomes for underserved populations in southeastern NC. He is nearing completion of a Master of Finance and Investment Management at University of North Carolina Wilmington. His passions include investing, endurance sports, adventure travel, and spending time on the water with his wife and two adult children.

Khadijia Tribié Reid, MD, MPH, FAAP
Khadijia Reid NHCE headshot

Dr. Khadijia Tribié Reid is a wife, mother, pediatrician, and public health advocate. She is the Pediatric Medical Director of MedNorth Community Health Center in Wilmington, North Carolina. She also serves as the Vice Chair of New Hanover Regional Medical Center’s Department of Pediatrics. She is an advocate for high quality early childhood education and serves as the Governor’s appointee on the North Carolina Partnership for Children’s Board of Directors.

Dr. Tribié Reid is also a frequent contributor to podcasts, seminars, and other media presentations that center Health Equity, Integrated Care and Adverse Childhood Experiences.

Mary Lyons Rouse

Mary Lyons Rouse has been living in the Wilmington area for over 13 years and has been employed with Cape Fear Academy for over 11 years. She is the Associate Director of Advancement and is heavily involved with the organization and implementation of all school-wide events, the philanthropic area of the school utilizing all parent volunteers, managing the Family Partnership (Parent Leaders) Steering Committee members, working closely with the business office to oversee the Family Partnership budget and organizing and maintaining various roles for volunteers to be involved with. Mary Lyons served on the Cape Fear Community College Board from 2014-2022 and during her tenure she served as Vice Chair. She is heavily involved with St. James Episcopal Church with volunteerism and serving on the Vestry Committee.

Dr. Edelmira Segovia
Edelmira Segovia NHCE headshot

Dr. Edelmira Segovia serves as Director of Centro Hispano in the Office of Institutional Diversity and Inclusion at UNCW, where she supports the growing number of Latinx students applying, attending and completing degrees at UNCW. In her 22 years’ experience with public education, she has served populations underrepresented in higher education, taught world languages, coordinated migrant education programs, and served as Diversity and Inclusion Administrator.

Dr. Segovia is Co-chair of the UNCW Latino Alliance of Southeastern North Carolina, tasked with empowering local citizens and organizations that serve the Latinx community by creating positive change in areas of education, business, health care, safety, and community building. Most recently, she joined the founding team of the Latin American Business Council of the Greater Wilmington Chamber of Commerce, where she supports accessibility for established Latinx businesses in the region. In this role, she advocates for economic and public policy opportunities in a multilingual and culturally aware platform, with equal access to all resources that foster economic growth, success and integration of Latinx businesses and professionals into fabric of southeastern North Carolina.

David Harriss Sprunt
David Sprunt NHCE headshot

David Sprunt was born and raised in Wilmington. He became a CPA and was the Finance Manager for Bryan Properties, a North Carolina real estate development company based in the Triangle. In 2003, he returned to Wilmington to manage his family’s timberland and commercial real estate, which includes long leaf pine straw harvesting and sales, Venus flytrap plant cultivation and seed sales, leasing and property management, as well as managing the timberland for wildlife, recreational, and conservation purposes.

Stedman Stevens
Stedman Stevens NHCE Headshot

Stedman Stevens is an experienced entrepreneur in healthcare, technology and consumer product markets, specializing in bringing new ideas to practice. His passion for helping people led him to multiple roles in healthcare including pharmaceutical research and development, physician medical education and Executive Director of Geriatric Medicine at UNC Healthcare. His leadership and advisory positions span companies in public and private sectors as well as Board roles at New Hanover Regional Medical Center, North Carolina School of Science and Math, UNCW and others.

Mr. Stevens holds patents for his work, has published in peer reviewed medical journals and recently published a book about the loss of his wife to cancer. As a native of Burgaw his roots are deep in the community where he and his wife, Susanna, have five children. He takes his work seriously, but himself less so.

Woody White
Woody White NHCE

As a lifelong resident of southeastern North Carolina, Woody White has been practicing law for 30 years focusing on criminal and civil litigation in both state and federal court. A graduate of Southern College in Tennessee, White received his law degree from the University of Nebraska in 1994. He has been admitted to the bars of every North Carolina Court, the Federal District Court, the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia and the United States Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. In addition to his law practice, White served in the North Carolina Senate and was elected to two terms on the New Hanover County Board of Commissioners, including serving as chairman. His public service includes service on the University of North Carolina System Board of Governor in addition to local boards including as trustee on the New Hanover Regional Medical Center Hospital Board, Coastal Horizons Treatment Center, and Lower Cape Fear Habitat for Humanity. He is married and has two grown children.

Our Staff

Lakesha McDay, Executive Vice President of Programs and Operations
Lakesha McDay NHCE Headshot

Lakesha McDay is a deeply respected leader across the State of North Carolina with 25 years of leadership experience in equity, diversity and inclusion; strategic operations and human resource management; and leadership development. Her areas of expertise include a demonstrated ability to build trusted collaboration and partnerships with community members, government officials, education and executive leaders, and grassroots organizations.

She most recently served as the executive director for governmental and community relations at the University of North Carolina – Asheville. Ms. McDay also served significant leadership roles including equity officer at Dogwood Health Trust, a private foundation in western North Carolina. She also served the community of western North Carolina while working for Mission Health for more than 20 years. She obtained a bachelor’s degree in interdisciplinary studies from UNC Asheville, a post-graduate certificate in innovation management from Western Carolina University and is currently pursuing an MBA from Fayetteville State University. Ms. McDay holds a certification as a national diversity professional through the Society for Diversity and National Institute for Diversity and Health Equity. She is also a trained facilitator in leadership coaching, professional development and organizational communication.

Ms. McDay is excited to join the inaugural senior leadership team at New Hanover Community Endowment and is looking forward to being in and serving alongside the people in this community.

Joel Beeson, Chief Financial Officer
Joel Beeson CFO

Joel Beeson is a lifelong resident of North Carolina. He is a CPA with more than 30 years of experience in various industries. Over the last 14 years, he participated as part of the leadership team providing oversight of all financial, human resources, information technology, and grants management functions as director of administration at the Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust in Winston-Salem, N.C.

Prior to working at Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust, Joel Beeson’s career included experience at various organizations including Deloitte, Hospital Corporation of America, Sara Lee Business Services, and Novant Health. His diverse background includes accounting, work in software implementations, and information technology. He is enthusiastic about technology and the possibilities it brings to his work. He excels in automating processes and systems so that organizations can run more efficiently.

Joel Beeson received his Bachelor’s Degree in accounting from North Carolina State University and went on to receive a Master of Public Health Leadership from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is an active member of the North Carolina Association of Certified Public Accountants and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.

Kevin Maurer, Director of Communications

Kevin Maurer is the Director of Communications for the New Hanover Community Endowment. He has worked as a reporter in Wilmington first for the Associated Press and later for the StarNews before transitioning to the nonprofit community. He still contributes to various publications including Rolling Stone, The Atlantic, and The Washington Post. Maurer is also the author of 13 books, including, No Easy Day: The Firsthand Account of the Mission That Killed Osama Bin Laden.

Emily Page, Director of Learning and Capacity Building
Emily Page

Emily Page brings decades of experience creating customized approaches and solutions for learning, capacity building and organizational development. Most recently, she led a consulting and coaching firm specialized in organizational development, leadership development and capacity building. Over her career, she has served in executive and leadership roles and has worked for several Fortune 500 companies, nonprofits, small business, and government-regulated organizations which enable her to understand the issues facing a variety of entities.

She earned her MBA from Duke University with a concentration in Organizational Behavior and Marketing and her BBA from Howard University in Accounting. She trained as an executive coach with The Center for Creative Leadership and The Coaches Training Institute. Page is certified in multiple approaches to organizational change and trained in adult education curriculum design and facilitation. Additionally, she is highly experienced in leading participatory, collaborative group facilitation processes. She’s an exceptional facilitator, moderator, and motivational speaker.

As a lifelong learner, Page has served on numerous boards and volunteer roles. Her personal interests include theater, movies, cooking, baking, traveling, thrifting, and vintage fashion. She loves to dance and teaches line dance.

Alison Cheng, Programs & Operations Coordinator
Alison Cheng

Alison Cheng serves as the endowment’s Programs and Operations Coordinator, as well as supporting the board of directors. Ms. Cheng graduated from Franklin and Marshall College with a Bachelor’s Degree in English and creative writing in 2015. Her professional career has been varied across many industries including finance, public relations, and government contracting. Since joining the New Hanover Community Endowment in 2021, she has worked to support and build the endowment’s internal infrastructure, as well as kept in touch with and learned from the community. In her spare time, she enjoys writing short stories, cardio boxing, and playing video games.

Eileen O’Malley, Grants Manager
Eileen O’Malley, Grants Manager NHCE

Eileen O’Malley has almost a decade of experience working with nonprofits and start-ups with a focus on operations and compliance. She comes to the New Hanover Community Endowment from Cape Fear Collective (CFC) where she led operations and directed investments. Under her leadership, she managed an $18 million investment in affordable housing and transportation. She was also the project lead on the CFC’s purchase and renovation of the Driftwood Apartment complex. As the first CFC employee, she implemented the organization’s initial operational structure and oversaw compliance. Eileen O’Malley also managed accounting and compliance for Tru Colors Brewing and Cape Fear Group Homes.

A graduate of UNCW, she also serves as Vice Chair of the Cape Fear Museum Advisory Board. In her free time, she walks her dogs and cheers on the mighty Philadelphia Eagles.

Leigh Quarles, Network Officer
Leigh Quarles, Network Officer NHCE

Leigh Quarles, MPH, serves as network officer for the endowment providing grant management and strategic support for strategies with a focus on health and social equity. Before joining the endowment, she served as Impact Strategist at the Health Forward Foundation in Kansas City MO, where she worked on the people strategy area focused on strengthening capacity and effectiveness of partners to provide whole person, equity centered care; advanced equity-centered innovation and infrastructure across the community health ecosystem; championed an inclusive and culturally responsive workforce and advocated for policies that improved health.

Leigh is a public health practitioner and researcher who has spent most of her career focused on defining and intervening on social determinants of health. She has worked with Missouri Area Health Education Center, the Community Engagement Resource at Columbia University Medical Center, Mount Sinai Medical Center, New York University, National Children’s Oral Health Foundation, and The University of Kansas Medical Center.

Leigh has a bachelor’s degree in Neuroscience and Behavior from Mount Holyoke College and a master’s degree in public health from the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University.

Terri Burhans, Network Officer
Terri Burhans, Network Officer NHCE

Terri Burhans has worked in community development for over 15 years. She currently serves as the network officer for community development. Prior to that she served as Housing Director for Cape Fear Collective and a Community Development Analyst for the City of Wilmington in the areas of grants administration and compliance related to affordable housing and community partner agencies. She is an avid supporter of artists, musicians, and makers in the community and looks for solutions to strengthen and retain the creative class in the communities she serves. In addition, Terri has spent much of her career in parks and recreation and prides herself on finding creative ways to address health outcomes and affordability through parks facilities and programming. Her work is deeply rooted in placemaking and asset-based community development. In her free time, you can find her on the beach, spending time with her daughters and grandson, or attending live music events.

Tamara James, Special Assistant to the CEO
Tamara James Headshot

As the Special Assistant to the CEO, Tamara is dedicated to supporting William Buster in advancing The Endowment’s mission, vision, values, and commitment to making a lasting impact on the lives of those it serves. Tamara’s professional experience encompasses various sectors, including finance, government, technology, and healthcare. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Information Systems from Fairfield University and a Master’s Degree in Business and Technology from Sacred Heart University. In her spare time, she enjoys theater, symphony, hiking, and traveling. She looks forward to the opportunity to engage meaningfully with the diverse individuals, families, and organizations that collectively form the vibrant tapestry of New Hanover County.

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