2012 – Llewellyn, Grant

November 12, 2012

Music Director, North Carolina Symphony

Grant Llewellyn is known throughout the world as a musician of great talent, versatility and passion. Born in Tenby, South Wales, Llewellyn won a conducting fellowship to the Tanglewood Music Center in Massachusetts in 1985 where he worked with Bernstein, Ozawa, Masur and Previn.

Llewellyn began his tenure as North Carolina Symphony Music Director in 2004. His sophisticated perspective has captured the interest and imagination of everyone he encounters. Critics and audiences alike have noted the passion and concentration of the orchestra under his baton and praise his “transcendent performances” and his “graceful and expressive direction.”

To date, Grant Llewellyn has held positions with three European orchestras: principal conductor of the Royal Flanders Philharmonic, principal guest conductor of the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra and associate guest conductor with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. Notable recent European guest engagements have included the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, Helsinki Philharmonic and BBC Symphony. He has also conducted the Johannesburg (South Africa) Symphony Orchestra.

Grant Llewellyn has conducted many orchestras in North America, most notably the symphonies of Atlanta, Boston, Calgary, Nashville, Houston, Montreal, Milwaukee, Philadelphia, Saint Louis, Kansas City and Toronto, as well as the Florida Orchestra. From 2001 to 2006, as music director of the Handel and Haydn Society, America’s leading period orchestra, Llewellyn gained a reputation as a formidable interpreter of music of the Baroque and Classical periods.

An accomplished opera conductor, Grant Llewellyn has appeared at the opera companies of English National Opera (The Magic Flute) and the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, where his repertoire has ranged from Handel’s Radamisto to Alexander Goehr’s Arianna. In 2001 he embarked on a collaboration with acclaimed Chinese director Chen Shi-Zheng in a production of Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas at Spoleto Festival, USA.

He has also conducted the North Carolina Symphony in two critically acclaimed recordings for the Swedish label BIS: American Spectrum with saxophonist Branford Marsalis and a 2010 release of concertos by Rachmaninoff and Medtner with pianist Yevgeny Sudbin.

2012 – Smith, Robin

October 25, 2012

Assistant Secretary for the Environment
NC Department of Environment and Natural Resources

Robin Smith, Assistant Secretary for the Environment oversees development of major policy initiatives for programs having such diverse responsibilities as the permitting of discharges to surface waters; issuance of air emissions permits; implementation of major grant programs for waste-water and drinking water projects; remediation of contaminated soil and groundwater; permitting of coastal development; and regulation of animal operations.

Before being appointed to DENR in September 1999, Robin Smith served in the attorney general’s office for 12 years. During that time, she provided legal representation and guidance to DENR on a variety of environmental issues and served as legal counsel to the state’s Coastal Resources Commission and the Clean Water Management Trust Fund. She also served as legal counsel to the state’s mining, sedimentation and radiation protection commissions.

Robin is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Law. She and her  husband, Michael R. Smith, director of the Institute of Government at UNC-Chapel Hill, live in Chapel Hill with their two sons.

2012 – Mockett, Alfred T.

September 10, 2012

CEO, Dex One

Alfred T. Mockett was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Dex One Corporation and to its Board of Directors in September 2010.

Mr. Mockett has more than 30 years experience in executive management and strategic decision-making at a number of leading technology, telecommunications and professional services companies.  Prior to joining Dex One, he served as Chairman and CEO of Corinthian Capital LLC, working with private equity companies on a variety of projects, including broadband roll out for rural communities and inner cities under the 2009 stimulus bill.  He also served as Vice Chairman of the Wolftrap Foundation for the Arts and Trustee for the Committee for Economic Development.

Mr. Mockett also served as Chairman and CEO of Motive Inc., a leading provider of software management services to communications providers; as Chairman and CEO of American Management Systems, a global business and information technology consulting firm for the U.S. and state governments, and financial services and communications industries; in various executive-management positions during 10 years at BT Group (formerly British Telecom), including oversight for operating units such as mobile, Yellow Pages, business and global communications, and BT Ignite, which offered data and broadband solutions for businesses; and as President of Memorex Telex, a global provider of information technology solutions. Mr. Mockett graduated with honors from the University of London. Registration opens July 10, 2012

2012 – Royal, Walter

June 28, 2012

Head Chef, The Angus Barn 

Chef Walter Royal, Jr. was born on May 18, 1957 in Eclectic, Alabama to Ida Mae and Walter J. Royal. At the age of fourteen, Royal knew he wanted to cook professionally. However, his parents dissuaded him, unsure of how successful he would be as a black chef. In1974, Royal attended LaGrange College in LaGrange, Georgia, where he graduated with his B.S. degree in psychology. In 1980, he graduated from Auburn University with his M.S. degree in psychology. After working with mentally disabled children for five years, Royal enrolled in a nine-month program at Nathalie Dupree’s Cooking School in Atlanta, Georgia in 1983. After graduating from the cooking program, he was hired as a sous-chef at the Fearrington House restaurant in Pittsboro, North Carolina. There he worked under acclaimed chef Edna Lewis. In 1986, Royal was hired as a chef at the Magnolia Grill in Durham, North Carolina before becoming the executive chef and co-owner of the Crescent Café. In 1995, Royal was hired as the executive chef of the award-winning steakhouse The Angus Barn in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Royal has won numerous culinary awards. In 1997, he was the first African American chef to be awarded the Restaurant Guild’s Five Star Chef of the Year. Royal was also deemed one of the James Beard Foundation’s Rising Stars along with being honored as one of the Top Five Chefs in the Southeast, the Top Black Chef in America and the Best Chef in the Triangle region of North Carolina. Royal was featured in Southern Living magazine. In addition to being featured in Ebony, Royal performed a cooking demonstration in Raleigh, North Carolina on the CBS Network program The Early Show. In 2006, Royal competed on the Food Network reality cooking show, Iron Chef America . Royal has cooked with popular American chefs and television personalities like Bobby Flay, Guy Fieri and Cat Cora. In 2010, he was awarded an honorary doctorate from Johnson & Wales University in Providence, Rhode Island. Royal has one son, Walter Royal, Jr.

2012 – Clark-Sellers, Lee

May 14, 2012

Chief Innovation Officer Ply Gem Industries 

Lee Clark-Sellers recently joined Ply Gem Industries as Chief Innovation Officer. In this role, Ms. Clark-Sellers will be leading the effort to to help take innovation from merely a concept or catch phrase to a resourceful approach to how Ply Gem does business overall and transitions to a culture that’s rooted in innovation. This role will be heavily externally focused as Ply Gem strengthens its strategic partnerships.

Prior to Ply Gem, Ms. Clark-Sellers was the Executive Program Director for Executive Education, based in North Carolina State’s Poole College of Management. Ms. Clark-Sellers established and facilitated the Innovation Management Executive Series: Managing Disruptive Innovation. She also consulted with companies in Pharma and Advanced Chemicals to establish innovation programs.

Ms Clark-Sellers spent over 20 years with Nortel Networks, involved in all aspects of research and development, from product development to IP commercialization. As an innovative engineering leader, Ms. Clark-Sellers led the CTO’s 2010 Vancouver/London Olympic Innovation program, established software labs and partnerships in Asia and Eastern Europe while based in Mumbai India, and developed a software development platform implemented throughout Nortel.

She is also the Founder and Chair of “Innovation in RTP,” and serves on the Industrial Board of Directors at Duke’s Pratt School of Engineering. She is an Industrial Fellow with the Center of Innovation Management Studies (CIMS), based in North Carolina State University’s Poole College of Management. Ms. Clark-Sellers sits on the Advisory Board of NCSU Executive Education. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Eleoctrical Engineering and a Master’s degree in the Management of Technology, both from NC State University.

2012 – Ariely, Dan

March 12, 2012

It’s become increasingly obvious that the dismal science of economics is not as firmly grounded in actual behavior as was once supposed.  Dan Ariely tells us why we, our employees and our customers are “Predictably Irrational.”

Despite our best efforts, bad or inexplicable decisions are as inevitable as death and taxes and the grocery store running out of your favorite flavor of ice cream. They’re also just as predictable. Why, for instance, are we convinced that “sizing up” at our favorite burger joint is a good idea, even when we’re not that hungry? Why are our phone lists cluttered with numbers we never call? Dan Ariely, behavioral economist, has based his career on figuring out the answers to these questions, and in his bestselling book Predictably Irrational (re-released in expanded form in May 2009), he describes many unorthodox and often downright odd experiments used in the quest to answer this question.

Dan is the James B. Duke Professor of Psychology & Behavioral Economics at Duke University, where he holds appointments at the Fuqua School of Business, the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, the School of Medicine, and the department of Economics. He is also a founding member of the Center for Advanced Hindsight.

Ariely has long been fascinated with how emotional states, moral codes and peer pressure affect our ability to make rational and often extremely important decisions in our daily lives — across a spectrum of our interests, from economic choices (how should I invest?) to personal (who should I marry?). At Duke, he’s aligned with three departments (business, economics and cognitive neuroscience); he’s also a visiting professor in MIT’s Program in Media Arts and Sciences and a founding member of the Center for Advanced Hindsight. His hope that studying and understanding the decision-making process can help people lead better, more sensible daily lives.

He produces a weekly podcast, Arming the Donkeys, featuring chats with researchers in the social and natural sciences.

“If you want to know why you always buy a bigger television than you intended, or why you think it’s perfectly fine to spend a few dollars on a cup of coffee at Starbucks, or why people feel better after taking a 50-cent aspirin but continue to complain of a throbbing skull when they’re told the pill they took just cost one penny, Ariely has the answer.”

Daniel Gross, Newsweek

2012 – Strong, David

April 26, 2012

President, Rex Healthcare

David Strong became president of Rex Healthcare in September 2004. Strong brings a hands-on leadership style that focuses on quality care, patient safety, technology, physician loyalty, and community involvement to Rex Healthcare. Under Strong’s leadership Rex has accomplished: Magnet designation and re-designation from the American Nurses Credentialing Center, National Chest Pain Center and Advanced Primary Stroke Center Accreditations, the opening of a new state of the art surgery center with 12 digital operating rooms on the main Rex Campus, the opening of new campuses in Wakefield and Knightdale, and implementation of Rex’s electronic medical record system. During Strong’s tenure, Rex was named a Thomson Reuters Top 100 Hospital and a Thomson Reuters Quality Improvement Leader. Rex also was named one of the Best Places to Work in Healthcare by Modern Healthcare magazine for three out of four years. Most recently, Rex was named by Becker’s Hospital Review to the list of 50 Best Hospitals in America.

Strong holds degrees from Southern Nazarene University and Xavier University. He is active on a number of boards of directors. He currently serves on the following boards: Triangle Heart Ball, Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce, North Carolina Prevention Partners, North Carolina Symphony, Triangle Tomorrow and Greater Raleigh Convention & Visitors Bureau.

2012 – Tata, Anthony J.

February 23, 2012

Superintendent Wake County Public School System

Anthony J. Tata graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1981 and retired after 28 years of uniformed service on June 1, 2009 as a Brigadier General in the U.S. Army. Mr. Tata commanded a paratrooper battalion in the 82nd Airborne Division and an air assault brigade in the 101st Airborne Division. In 2006-07 he served as the Deputy Commanding General of the 10th Mountain Division and Combined/Joint Task Force-76 in Afghanistan. BG Tata deployed on combat missions and operations in Afghanistan, Kosovo, Macedonia, Bosnia, Panama and the Philippines.

Mr. Tata also served as a National Security Fellow at Harvard University’s JFK School of Government, earned an M.A. in International Relations from the Catholic University of America, and has a Master’s of Military Art and Science from the Army’s School of Advanced Military Studies. He is listed as a distinguished member of the 502nd, 504th, and 505th Parachute Infantry Regiments.

A graduate of the 2009 Broad Superintendent’s Academy, which focuses on preparing executives around the country for service as senior leaders in large urban school districts, General Tata served as the Chief Operating Officer of Washington, DC Public Schools. On December 23, 2010, The Wake County Board of Education named Anthony J. Tata superintendent of the Wake County Public School System. As the chief executive officer of the school system, Mr. Tata oversees its administration and implements school board policies.

2012 – Ross, Thomas W.

January 9, 2012

President University of North Carolina

Thomas W. Ross became President of the 17-campus University of North Carolina on January 1, 2011.  Born and raised in Greensboro, N.C., he holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from Davidson College (1972) and graduated with honors from the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Law (1975).

After a short stint as an Assistant Professor of Public Law and Government at UNC-Chapel Hill’s School of Government, Ross joined the Greensboro law firm of Smith Patterson Follin Curtis James & Harkavy in 1976.  He left the firm in 1982 to serve as chief of staff in the Washington, D.C., office of U.S. Congressman Robin Britt.  The following year, at the age of 33, Ross was appointed to fill a vacancy on the North Carolina Superior Court.  He held the position for the next 17 years.

From his vantage point on the bench, Ross witnessed first-hand a state justice system beleaguered by uneven sentencing and a fast-growing prison population.  In 1990, North Carolina’s Chief Justice tapped him to lead a new Sentencing and Policy Advisory Committee.  Over the next two years, this panel of judges, lawyers, legislators, law enforcement officers, and citizens devised a structured sentencing system that would toughen sentences for violent crimes and repeat offenses, while increasing community-based alternatives to incarceration for non-violent offenses.  Adopted by the NC General Assembly in 1993, the new system has become a model for similar programs nationwide.

In 1999, Ross was appointed director of the state’s Administrative Office of the Courts.  Over the next two years, he led efforts to improve the management of the court system and advocated for additional resources.  In 2001, he left the bench to serve as executive director of the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation, a Winston-Salem-based philanthropic organization devoted to improving the lives of the people of North Carolina.  During his seven-year tenure at Z. Smith Reynolds, (2001-2007), the foundation awarded about $20 million annually to non-profit groups focused on community economic development, democracy and civic engagement, the environment, pre-college education, and social justice.  Ross stepped down in 2007 to return to Davidson as its President, serving in that role until he assumed leadership of UNC.

Active in civic and community activities, Ross currently serves on the Board of Governors of the Center for Creative Leadership, advisory boards for the NC Humanities Council and the NC State University Institute for Emerging Issues, and the honorary Board of Directors of the Conservation Trust of North Carolina.  A former chairman of the UNC Greensboro Board of Trustees, he has previously served on the Boards of Visitors for UNCG, UNC-Chapel Hill, and Wake Forest University.  In addition, he has served on the boards of Davidson College, the North Carolina New Schools Project, the Kenan Institute for the Arts, the Institute of Government Foundation, the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Law Alumni Foundation, the Wake Forest Comprehensive Cancer Center, and the North Carolina Independent Colleges and Universities.

Ross has received numerous awards and accolades for his vast public service and professional achievements.  His many contributions to the judicial system have been recognized through the William H. Rehnquist Award for Judicial Excellence (2000), given annually to one state judge in the nation; Governing Magazine’s National Public Official of the Year Award (1994); the Foundation for the Improvement of Justice Award (1995); the NC Academy of Trial Lawyers Trial Judge of the Year Award (1996); the American Society of Criminology President’s Award for Distinguished Contributions to Justice (2007); the NC Justice Center Defenders of Justice Award (2008); and the NC Bar Association Citizen Lawyer Award (2010).  He has been honored with Distinguished Alumni Awards from Davidson (2001) and the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Law (2005) and holds an honorary doctorate from UNCG.  In addition, he has received the Boy Scouts of America Silver Beaver Award (1993), the National Boy Scouts of America Distinguished Eagle Scout Award (1999), and the Order of the Long Leaf Pine (1999).

Ross has been married since 1972 to Susan Donaldson Ross, a graduate of the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Education and a former executive director of the Greensboro Bar Association.  They have two adult children.