DIVERSITY ON LOCAL GOVERNING BOARDS

Valerie went from serving on the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City School Board, to being the first African-American female elected to the Orange County Board of Commissioners, to serving in the North Carolina state House, and currently Representative of North Carolina’s 4th Congressional District. In each of those elected positions, Valerie has focused on the issues that matter most; education, jobs, and being a champion for underrepresented communities.

Gov. Roy Cooper appointed Orange County attorney Joal Broun to a district court judgeship in June, 2021. Broun’s professional experience includes working as the director of lobbying compliance for the North Carolina Secretary of State’s office. She served on the Carrboro Board of Aldermen for 12 years, and was a former member of the CHCCS School Board. She earned her JD and bachelor’s from Wake Forest University.

Robb English was appointed to the Hillsborough Town Board in December 2019. He is currently a Recreation Specialist at Chapel Hill Parks and Recreation and has worked for the Town of Chapel Hill for 22+ years. He received his Master of Science in Recreation Administration and his Bachelor of Science in Therapeutic Recreation from Florida State University.

Born and raised in Rochester NY, Renee earned her Bachelor of Arts, cum laude, from Tufts University majoring in urban affairs, and Master of Regional Planning from Cornell University, with concentrations in city development planning, and environmental planning and design. She also studied at Colgate-Rochester Divinity School in the Master of Arts program, and was the Chair as an Orange County Commissioner.

Jean grew up on Eastern Long Island, New York and graduated from Smith College with an A.B. degree, majoring in economics, and spent her Junior Year Abroad in Geneva, Switzerland. After college, she worked for Chemical Bank in New York City before moving to California for graduate school. Jean received a Ph.D. in Economics from UC Berkeley and worked as an assistant professor of economics at Occidental College in California.

Anna retired from The Boeing Company in June of 2013 after a 40+ year career. In her last position, she provided enterprise leadership of The Boeing Company Finance Services including Payroll, Payment Services and Supply Chain Financial Analysis. Managed organization of 200+ employees. Responsibilities included the planning, development and execution of organization strategy. She has led the local chapter of the NAACP.

Tai Huynh is currently a senior Morehead-Cain Scholar at UNC Chapel-Hill majoring in Computer Science with minors in Anthropology and Business Administration. He is the Co-Founder and CEO of a social enterprise called acta, which helps local governments extract actionable insights from constituent feedback.

Deon Temme has served as the Vice-Chair of the Equity Advisory Council, as a member of the School Improvement Team for Northside and Rashkis Elementary, as the Special Needs Advisory Council representative for Seawell Elementary, as a Steering Committee member for the Campaign for Racial Equity in Our Schools, and as a tutor & coach for Math Olympiad.

Riza Jenkins completed her B.S. degrees in Business Management and Marketing at North Carolina A&T State University. Prior to starting graduate school, Riza was the North Carolina Voter Empowerment Coordinator for the NAACP. Her key tasks included increasing voter registration, education, and get of the vote efforts. After a few years in that role, Riza returned to school to receive her JD-MBA from Howard University.