Chamber Staff Profiles
Aaron Nelson, President and CEO | email
Aaron Nelson has been the CEO of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Chamber of Commerce
since 2001 and was appointed Executive Director of the Chamber’s partner,
the Foundation for a Sustainable Community upon its creation in 2004. Aaron
currently serves on the Board of Directors of The ArtsCenter and The Carolina
Club, the Steering Committee of the Regional Transportation Alliance, the
Advisory Board of Small Business and Technology Development Center and the
Board of Regents of the Northeast Institute for Organization Management. Aaron
is a 1997 graduate of UNC Chapel Hill with a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy
where he also served as Student Body President. Prior to his service with
the Chamber, Aaron worked at UNC Chapel Hill holding several appointments
including Special Assistant to the Chancellor and Coordinator of Local Relations.
Aaron has been a resident of the Triangle since 1982 and lives in Chapel Hill
with his wife Sonja, son Maxwell Isaiah and daughter Atlee Elizabeth.
Karen Bonardi, Director of Development | email
Karen is a long-time Chapel Hill resident and 1985 graduate of UNC. She began
as Director of Development for the Chamber in May 2008. Karen serves the Chamber
by facilitating new membership, membership retention, marketing, advertising,
and sponsorship. Before joining the team at the Chamber, Karen served as Membership
and Marketing Director of Chapel Hill Country Club. Over the past 23 years
she has worked in various areas of the community and UNC, participated as
a community volunteer and parent volunteer in the Chapel Hill-Carrboro schools.
Karen lives in Chapel Hill and enjoys summers and holidays with her daughter,
Taylor Coil, a student at the University of South Carolina.
Meg Branson, Director of Membership Services |
email
Meg came to the Chamber as member relations intern while completing her degree
in Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill. After graduating, Meg joined the Chamber staff full time as member
relations coordinator. She has since taken on more responsibility as programs
and communications manager and now as director of membership services. Meg
manages the Chamber’s publications – PERSPECTIVES, an annual relocation
magazine, the Community Map, Food Finder dining guide, and monthly e-mail
and print newsletters. Meg is also responsible for maintaining member relations
and records and managing membership programs and services.
Adam Klein, Vice President, Economic Development and Government
Relations | email
Adam came to the Chamber in August of 2007 after receiving his Masters from
UNC in Regional Planning, focusing on economic development. Adam has work
experience in the environmental field and sustainable business development
as well as research experience with small town economic development strategies.
His Masters Project, titled “Environmentally Accountable Economic Development”,
examines two communities and their path toward job creation and environmental
protection. A graduate of Denison University, Adam was a two-time Academic
All-American in golf and an Environmental Studies program senior fellow. In
his spare time, Adam enjoys spending time with his new wife Manda, as well
as reading, golfing and serving in the local community.
Whitney Woodyard, Program Coordinator | email
Whitney Woodyard was born and raised in Ohio where she attended Miami University
and received a Bachelor’s Degree in Spanish and Latin American Studies.
During her time at Miami she studied abroad at the Universidad de Sevilla,
Spain. After moving to North Carolina in 2005 she served the North Carolina
Society of Hispanic Professionals, a small non-profit in Cary, as an AmeriCorps
Member. Several months later she was promoted to Director of Programs and
because their only official staff person. In her position as Director she
managed a membership of 250+ professionals, planned large scale conferences,
managed educational programs for Hispanic youth, and handled all communication
for the organization. She started with the Chamber in July of 2008 as the
Program Coordinator. In her new capacity she will be greeting visitors to
the Chamber and managing many of the Chamber’s events including Business
Before Hours, Business After Hours, the Women’s Executive Series and
roundtables.
Foundation Staff Profiles
Chris Carmody, Director for the Sustainable Business Initiative
| email
Chris Carmody serves as Director for the Sustainable Business Initiative at
the Institute for Sustainable Development. Chris has spent the better part
of 20 years helping cities utilize social entrepreneurship, the arts and sustainability
practices as catalysts for economic growth. After graduating from Oberlin
College in 1989, Chris staffed Michael R. White in his successful bid to become
Cleveland’s second African American mayor. He served in Mayor White’s
cabinet in education policy and entrepreneurial government posts from 1990
- 1995, and on Cleveland’s Board of Zoning Appeals for six years. Chris
holds an MBA from Case Western Reserve University, where he also served as
graduate business student body president. In 1998, Chris founded the Greater
Cleveland Film Commission, which brought over $55 million in new motion picture
business to northeast Ohio including parts of Spider-Man 3 and films starring
George Clooney, Denzel Washington and Meg Ryan. Chris has taught undergraduate
and graduate level courses in non-profit strategic management and politics
at Oberlin College and Cleveland State University. In 2002 he was selected
for the American Marshall Memorial Fellowship.
Kirsten Hausman, Foundation Program Coordinator
| email
Kirsten joined the Foundation after relocating to Chapel Hill from Crested
Butte, Colorado. She received her Bachelors of Arts degree in Sociology from
the University of Denver in 2004. She had been passionate about sustainable
development and the environment since she lived in Niger and Morocco as a
child. Her responsibilities at the Foundation include managing the Business
in Education Partnership, organizing donor management, and coordinating events
like the golf and bocce tournaments and the Inter-City Visit and Leadership
Conference.
Anne McKune, Foundation Associate Director | email
Anne moved to Chapel Hill from Kentucky to complete a Masters in Social Work
at UNC and graduated in 2007 with a concentration in community practice and
a certificate in international development. A 2001 graduate of the University
of Richmond with a Bachelor of Arts in French and International Studies, Anne’s
personal and professional interests led her overseas, where she has worked
in development in West Africa and Central and South America. Anne joined the
Foundation in 2006 as a program assistant and, in August of 2007, began work
as the associate director of the new Institute for Sustainable Development.
Joe Polich, Foundation Community Development Coordinator
| email
Joseph is a Masters student at the UNC School of Social Work where he currently
serves as a Student Ambassador and as Tri-Chair of the Social Work Student
Organization. He also attended UNC as an undergraduate, graduating with distinction
while earning a BA in Psychology as a Morehead Scholar. Joseph has volunteered
or worked for many organizations in the Chapel Hill community in the fields
of traumatic brain injury, sexual assault, mental illness, and farm labor
issues. Between his two stints as a student at UNC, Joseph worked at a camp
for children for low-income families located in New Hampshire where his responsibilities
included maintaining high and low ropes courses, coordinating the team-building
program, creating daily motivational homilies, driving boats full of children,
and visiting boys in their homes and schools throughout the year. Since joining
the Foundation, Joseph has begun working on Leadership Chapel Hill - Carrboro
2008.