Mark V. Bensen
Mr. Bensen is executive vice president of MDC. Before coming to MDC, he served as executive director of the Lucy Daniels Foundation. At N.C. State University, he served as associate director of the Kenan Institute for Engineering, Technology & Science and founding director of the Park Scholarships. At UNC-Chapel Hill, he was director of the Global Education Initiative for the School of Education, and from 1984 to 1989 he was executive director of Operation Raleigh, an international youth leadership program. He has served on the boards of numerous charitable organizations.

back to top

Janet H. Brown
Ms. Brown is executive director of the Commission on Presidential Debates in Washington, D.C. She served previously on the staff of U.S. Sen. John Danforth and in the Office of Management and Budget under the Reagan administration.

back to top

Anita Brown-Graham
Vice Chair
Ms. Brown-Graham joined the Institute for Emerging Issues (IEI) as director in January 2007. Before joining IEI, she served as a Professor of Law and Government at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill's School of Government. In 2004, then-N.C. Gov. Mike Easley appointed Brown-Graham to the board of the North Carolina Rural Economic Development Center. She also serves as a Trustee of the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation and is active on boards and committees of several not-for-profit organizations.

back to top

John F. Burness
Mr. Burness is Interim President of Franklin & Marshall College, on leave from his position as Visiting Professor of the Practice of Public Policy at the DeWitt Wallace Center for Media and Democracy of the Terry Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University. He was previously senior vice president for public affairs and government relations at Duke, and before arriving there in 1991 held positions as the senior public affairs officer at Cornell University, the University of Illinois, and the State University of New York at Stony Brook. 

back to top 

J. Haywood Davis
Secretary/Treasurer
Mr. Davis is managing director of Atlantic Trust Company in New York City. Prior to joining Atlantic Trust, Mr. Davis spent 30 years with JP Morgan in a variety of corporate finance and private banking positions in New York, Miami, Caracas, Los Angeles, and Atlanta.

back to top 

David L. Dodson
Mr. Dodson is president of MDC. Prior to his appointment in 1999, he served as executive vice president for 12 years. He is a member of the boards of The Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation, the US Endowment for Forestry & Communities, the Center for Law and Social Policy, Durham Technical Community College, and the advisory board of the Aspen Roundtable on Comprehensive Community Change. Prior to joining MDC, he served as executive director of the Cummins Engine Foundation and director of corporate responsibility for Cummins Engine Company in Columbus, IN.

back to top 

Barbara L. Goodmon
Ms. Goodmon is the President and Executive Director of the A.J. Fletcher Foundation in Raleigh, NC, which supports social and community progress in North Carolina. With primary interests in the field of human service, she has served as chairman of the Salvation Army, vice chairman of The Healing Place of Wake County, and chairman of Wake County Human Services. She has received the William Booth Award from the Salvation Army and was inducted into the Academy of Women of the Raleigh YWCA.

back to top

Cammie R. Hauptfuhrer
Ms. Hauptfuhrer is a community volunteer from Charlotte, NC. She is Chair of Cornerstone Children?s Initiative, a nonprofit partnering with the Charlotte Housing Authority, Thompson Child Development Center, Nurse Family Partnership, YMCA, and Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools to build a cradle-to-career continuum of education and human services in a redeveloping housing project. She is also on the boards of Mecklenburg Ministries, Duke Divinity School and North Carolina Humanities Council.

back to top

Otis Johnson, PhD
Dr. Johnson is mayor of Savannah, GA.  He formerly served as chair of the board of trustees of the Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation.  A longtime neighborhood leader on issues of youth development, he led the Annie E. Casey Foundation's Youth Futures Commission in Savannah.  He also was dean of the School of Social Work at Savannah State and is a member of the Aspen Roundtable on Comprehensive Community Change.

back to top 

James A. Joseph
Chair
Mr. Joseph is Professor of the Practice of Public Policy Studies and executive director of the United States-South Africa Center for Leadership and Public Values at Duke University in Durham, NC, and a fellow at the National Humanities Center. He most recently served as United States Ambassador to South Africa and formerly served as president of the Council on Foundations, president of the Cummins Engine Foundation, and U.S. undersecretary of the Interior in the Carter Administration.

back to top

Justin Maxson

Mr. Maxson is President of the Mountain Association for Community Economic Development (MACED). Founded in 1976, MACED is a multi-strategy community economic development organization serving Central Appalachia based in Berea, KY. MACED creates economic alternatives that work for low-income people and natural places. His work is currently focused on exploring local economic development strategies that increase economic security for people in need and provide for a broader regional economic transition. Previous to MACED, he was founding executive director of the Progressive Technology Project.

back to top

Don Munro
Mr. Munro is owner, chair, and CEO of Munro & Company, Inc., and lives in Hot Springs, AR. Mr. Munro is president of the American Apparel and Footwear Association and has served on numerous boards including the Foundation for the Mid South, Arkansas Blue Cross Blue Shield, Arkansas Nature Conservancy, and the Hot Springs Area Community Foundation.

back to top 

Minor M. Shaw
Vice Chair 
Ms. Shaw is president of Micco Corporation and Mickel Investment Group and resides in Greenville, SC. She is a trustee of The Duke Endowment and a member of the board of directors of The Palmetto Institute. She is chair of the board of trustees of Wofford College and serves on the boards of numerous other educational and public service organizations.

back to top