Board of Directors

Labor economist Dr. Christopher King served as lecturer at The University of Texas at Austin’s Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs and senior research scientist at the School’s Ray Marshall Center, which he directed from 1991 to 2014, until his retirement in June 2017. He currently serves as a senior researcher on several center projects on workforce development and 2-generation antipoverty policy.

In 2012, Dr. King was selected as one of 20 leaders in the Aspen Institute’s inaugural class of Ascend Fellows. In 2009, he co-led a team that designed and implemented CareerAdvance®, Tulsa’s award-winning 2-generation program and, since 2011, has been part of the team evaluating the program with colleagues at Northwestern, New York and Columbia universities. He initiated and co-chairs Austin’s 2-Generation Advisory Committee. He serves on the boards of MDC, as well as the Corporation for a Skilled Workforce and The Austin Project.

Dr. King was assistant professor of economics at the University of Utah (1973-1976), an economist with the U.S. Secretary of Labor (1976-1980), and director of research and evaluation for job training programs in the Texas Governor’s Office (1983-1985).

Counsel to FrostBrownTodd LLC in Nashville, Tenn., and a founding partner of Farmer Purcell White & Lassiter PLLC, Bill Purcell has spent more than 30 years in law, public service, and higher education. During his eight-year tenure as mayor of the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County, Tenn. (1999-2007), the city saw unprecedented economic expansion, an increase in Metro school funding of more than 50 percent, and the development and preservation of more than 26,000 affordable housing units. He was elected to his second term as mayor by a record-setting 84.8 percent of the vote. Mr. Purcell’s accomplishments as a civic leader earned him Public Official of the Year honors in 2006 by Governing magazine. During his term, Nashville was ranked as the number one city for corporate headquarters and twice ranked as the hottest city in America for expansion and relocation of business.

Following his service as mayor, Mr. Purcell was named a Harvard University Institute of Politics Fellow in 2007. He then served as founding and interim dean of the College of Public Service and Urban Affairs at Tennessee State University before returning to the Harvard Institute of Politics as Director (2008–2010), and a Lecturer in Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School.

Purcell served as founder and director of the Child and Family Policy Center at Vanderbilt University (1996-99), a nationally recognized center building a bridge between academic research, politics, and best practices to benefit children and their families.

Mr. Purcell was elected to five terms in the Tennessee House of Representatives (1986-96), serving as Majority Leader (1990-96). During his decade in the General Assembly, he sponsored and passed legislation undertaking major reforms in Tennessee’s schools, courtrooms, industrial plants and boardrooms, criminal and juvenile justice, hospitals, and voting booths. He served as Chair of the House Rules Committee, Committee on Open Records, and the Select Joint Committee on Children and Youth, and as a member of the Judiciary, General Welfare, Finance Ways and Means, and Ethics Committees. During his service Tennessee was twice ranked the best managed state in America.

Purcell earned his bachelor’s degree at Hamilton College and his law degree at Vanderbilt University School of Law, where he was honored as the 2004 Distinguished Alumnus.

John works with the entire MDC team to set strategy, shape our portfolio of work, and engage with partners and the public around the urgent challenge of eliminating disparities to build a South where all people can thrive.

Before coming to MDC in 2020, John held various leadership roles in efforts to promote equity, access, and inclusion at the state, national, and international level. Most recently he was Vice President of the Aspen Global Leadership Network at the Aspen Institute, where he mobilized the more than 3,000 Fellows around the world to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic and its attendant economic effects.

A constitutional scholar and practicing attorney, John served in the Obama Administration as deputy general counsel for the White House Office of Management and Budget and general counsel for the U.S. Agency for International Development. After leaving government service, he joined Prisma Health as an executive and led collaborative, evidence-based efforts to promote health innovation, access, and equity in South Carolina’s largest private-sector employer. While serving in this role, Simpkins facilitated community conversations throughout the Upstate on racial equity in healthcare, housing, and education.

John grew up and attended public schools in Lexington, S.C.  After beginning his legal career in Washington, D.C, he returned to his home state as a faculty member in political science and Associate Director of the Richard Riley Institute at Furman University, where he focused on youth leadership, public school education practice and policy, and diversity programming for community and business leaders. He also was an assistant professor and director of diversity initiatives at the Charleston School of Law.

“The South belongs to all of us, and it matters a great deal to me. Through the work of MDC and our community partners throughout the region, we seek to be a model not just for the South, but for the rest of the country, and perhaps the rest of the world.”

Simpkins received his AB in government from Harvard College and a JD and LLM in international and comparative law from Duke University School of Law. He is a Senior Lecturer at Duke Law School and is a member of the Liberty Fellowship, a program in the Aspen Global Leadership Network dedicated to moving South Carolina forward.

Dr. William Spriggs is a professor in, and former chair of, the Department of Economics at Howard University and serves as chief economist to the AFL-CIO. In his capacity with the AFL-CIO he serves as chair of the Economic Policy Working Group of the Trade Union Advisory Committee (TUAC) to the OECD, and on the board of the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER). He also serves on the Advisory Board to the Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank Opportunity and Inclusive Growth Institute and is on the editorial board for the Public Administration Review.

From 2009 to 2012, he served as assistant secretary for the Office of Policy at the Department of Labor, having been appointed by President Barack Obama and confirmed by the U.S. Senate. At the time of his appointment, he also served as chairman of the Health Care Trust for UAW Retirees of the Ford Motor Co.; chairman of the UAW Retirees of the Dana Corporation Health and Welfare Trust; vice chair of the Congressional Black Caucus Political Education and Leadership Institute; on the joint National Academy of Sciences and National Academy of Public Administration’s Committee on the Fiscal Future for the United States; senior fellow of the Community Service Society of New York; and served on the boards of the National Employment Law Project and very briefly for the Eastern Economic Association. He is a member of the National Academy of Social Insurance and the National Academy of Public Administration.

He graduated from Williams College in Massachusetts and holds a doctorate in economics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Marie Washington over a 30-year professional career has held senior financial leadership positions within the corporate and nonprofit sectors in New York City and San Francisco.

Following extended tenures at JP Morgan in corporate financial services and Pacific Telesis in corporate financial planning and strategy, she led treasury organizations for technology startups in Silicon Valley. Subsequently she held CFO positions at the KIPP Foundation and Stuart Foundation. 

While residing in San Francisco and later in Los Angeles, Mrs. Washington also served on the boards of several educational nonprofit organizations, the California Community Foundation and Engender Health, an NGO working in some of the poorest countries in the world.

Since relocating to Durham, Mrs. Washington volunteers on the boards of the Center for Documentary Studies and Friends of the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University and serves on the board of MDC Inc.

She completed her undergraduate degree at Wellesley College and earned an MBA from Stanford University.

Leslie J. Winner is a lawyer with a 40-year career of public service, primarily in North Carolina. She works as a consultant to nonprofit organizations on strategic planning and issues related to bridging divides. Previously, she served as executive director of the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation and as a member of the North Carolina Senate.

Ms. Winner is currently engaged in many civic leadership roles, serving as the co-chair of the North Carolina Leadership Forum, an effort to increase bi-partisan dialogue and cooperation. She leads a local interfaith scriptural reasoning group. She serves on the boards of the North Carolina Justice Center and MDC, organizations that promote equity and reduce poverty in North Carolina and the U.S. South. She also serves on the Executive Committee and as chair of the Interfaith Working Group of Beth El Congregation.

Ms. Winner served three terms in the North Carolina Senate during the 1990s, representing a portion of Mecklenburg County. During this time, she served as Majority Whip, Education/Higher Education Committee co-chair, Appropriations--Education Subcommittee co-chair, and Judiciary Committee vice-chair. She served for seven years as vice president and general counsel to the University of North Carolina and three years as general counsel for Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education.

She worked for 16 years as a public interest trial lawyer. As a partner at Chambers, Ferguson, Watt, Wallas, Adkins & Gresham, P.A. she served as lead attorney on cases involving voting rights and other civil rights issues.

Ms. Winner received an A.B. from Brown University and J.D. from Northeastern University School of Law. She is a native of Asheville, N.C.

Alexandra Zagbayou, serves as the Executive Director for Student U in Durham, North Carolina. As the second full time employee, in her decade tenure, Alexandra has been a consistent contributor to the organization’s growth, walking alongside the students, parents, staff and community partners to build a Durham where all children can succeed.
Ensuring the organization is constantly living into its values and reaching its mission for the students and families they work with. Ensuring Student U has access to the financial and human resources necessary to reach their mission. Building relationships with community members and partners. Ensuring Student U has a work environment and culture that enables our team to grow.

Alex is the child of a first-generation college student, she believes education has the power to be a revolutionary agent for people and communities to create a just and equitable world. To act on those beliefs, she has worked in partnerships with students, parents, and the Durham community at Student U for the past decade. She dreams of a world where organizations like Student U no longer exist and every person is able to reach his or her full potential because our systems and institutions are just and equitable. Until that vision is reached, she is thankful to do work that is meaningful, urgent, and necessary alongside an incredible personal and professional community.