BOARD & GOVERNANCE

The Board of Directors meets every second Tuesday of each month at 5:30 at Asheville PEAK Academy located at the Arthur R. Edington Education & Career Center, 133 Livingston St., Asheville 28801. Board meetings are open to the public. This is an in-person meeting and will not be accessible via zoom.

We are not currently accepting applications for new board members. For past meeting minutes and agendas please click the button below.

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Emergency Board Meeting at 10:30AM Tuesday, February 15 at Asheville PEAK Academy – The purpose of the meeting is to discuss personnel matters and will primarily be a closed session meeting.

There will be a Board meeting Tuesday, April 11, 2023 at 5.30PM at Asheville PEAK Academy’s Boardroom

The next regularly scheduled Board meeting is set for Tuesday, January 14th, 2025 at 5.30pm. 

Click Here for Special Meeting Zoom Link

Meet our Board Members

Mr. Gene Bell

Board Chairman

Gene Bell graduated from Xavier University in Cincinnati with a degree in Business Management. After a 20-year career with IBM, Bell bought a construction company in Charlotte, NC and later joined the Charlotte Housing Authority as the Director of Technical Services. Bell later moved to Asheville and joined the Asheville Housing Authority as Director of Maintenance and Construction. In Bell’s 25 year career with the Asheville Housing Authority he spent 14 as Executive Director overseeing the growth of the Housing Authority to serve 10 public housing developments.

Bell’s services to education, equity and advocate can be marked by his work with numerous organizations. Bell served as the Chair of the Asheville Housing Authority Board of Commissioners, Chair of Buncombe County Planning Board, and Past President of the NC Housing Authority Directors Association. In support of better sustainable opportunities for children and families in public housing, Bell served as the Board Chair of the Asheville City Schools. Bell is a staunch advocate for closing the achievement gap for black and brown students. He also served on the Executive Committee for the United Way of Asheville and was Past Chair of the Asheville Civil Service Board.

Mr. Robby Russell

Board Treasurer

After graduating from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte in 1983, with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration with concentration in Finance, my banking career began with Central Fidelity Bank as a Credit Analyst, working with Commercial Bankers and their clients. After 38 years, my banking career continues, however, since beginning in 1983, I have worked with Central Fidelity Bank, First Union Bank, Wachovia, PNC Financial Services and First National Bank of Pennsylvania.  Many years has been spent as a commercial relationship manager, however, there was a ten-year period, 1993 – 2003 spent working with non-profits that served low to moderate income individuals and small business as a Community Affairs Officer, working to maintain the bank’s compliance with the Community Reinvestment Act; and performing Foundation work, overseeing the disbursement of $50 million annually throughout a six-state region.

It has been the community development and foundation work that has drawn me to support community work in Asheville, joining many boards and sharing/employing skills and talents developed from my many years in banking.  This community work has also created a number of professional and business relationships, many leading to new banking opportunities.

Mrs. Susan Shanor

Board Director

Susan Shanor recently relocated to Asheville from Atlanta. While her professional background is in human resources and employment law, Susan devotes much of her time to non-profit organizations serving children and is committed to the transformative power of education. She is a lifetime board  member of Camp Twin Lakes – annually serving thousands of children and adults with serious illnesses, disabilities and other life challenges. She has served on the boards of educational institutions at the preschool, secondary and college levels. Susan has also been involved with the Ron Clark Academy in Atlanta – a school dedicated to rigor, engaged teaching, and diverse culture  – and hosts Ron Clark students annually for an overnight camping experience. Susan currently serves on the YMCA of Western North Carolina Board with a special interest in Camp Watia and the University of North Carolina Foundation Board. Susan brings to PEAK  her extensive experience in fundraising, having served in a leadership capacity on several major capital campaigns.

Mr. David Robinson

Vice Chair

David Robinson grew up in Asheville, NC.  He attended T.C. Roberson High School and then completed his education at Montreat College where he earned a Business Administration Degree and played basketball from 2002-2006. After completing his studies David then moved to Greensboro, NC, and began a career working in the school system there with special needs children and coaching middle and high school basketball.  In 2014 after marrying his wife, Shelly David moved back to Asheville . He has two boys, Taj and Rey, and a daughter, Nyla. David currently works at FedEx and coaches middle school basketball at Valley Springs.

Dr. Dwight Mullen

Interim Treasurer

Dwight Mullen was hired by UNC Asheville in 1984 as part of the university’s effort to integrate its faculty. Over the decades that followed, he taught courses in Political Science, Humanities, the Masters of Liberal Arts, Women’s Studies, and Africana Studies. He also mentored students and was involved with campus and community organizations. In 2014, he was honored with the UNC Board of Governors Excellence in Teaching Award. In 2017 he was selected as the Ruth and Leon Feldman Professor and by the alumni for the Distinguished Professor Award.  Upon retirement in June 2018, the University conferred the title of Professor Emeritus. 


Mullen led his UNC Asheville students from 2006 – 2018 in an ongoing research project called The State of Black Asheville which collected and presented an array of data on the status of local African-Americans in public policy areas that include health, housing, education, economic development and criminal justice. 


He has presented data, papers and reports at national and international professional venues. His public service includes work with Asheville City Schools, Buncombe County Schools, MAHEC, Asheville Housing Authority, The North Carolina Department of Corrections, Buncombe County Sheriff’s Department and the Asheville Police Department. Most recently, his work with Dogwood Health Trust aims to replace racial disparities in public policies with more racially just outcomes for the entirety of western North Carolina. Dwight Mullen and his wife, Associate Professor Emeritus Dr. Dolly Jenkins-Mullen, have four children and three beautiful grandchildren.

Mr. Kerry Friedman

Board Director

Kerry A. Friedman is an Asheville native, graduate of UNC-CH in 1976 and UNC School of Law in 1980. Kerry has been a lawyer with the Asheville law firm of Patla, Straus, Robinson & Moore, P.A. since 1980, concentrating his practice in business law. Both as a community volunteer and as counsel, Kerry has worked with a wide variety of community organizations. Kerry is currently on the Board of WNC Bridge Foundation (formerly CarePartners Foundation), Resources for Resilience, and on the Finance Committee for YMCA of Western North Carolina. 

Past Board involvements include Caring for Children, Meals on Wheels, Congregation Beth ha Tephila, Jewish Community Center of Asheville, Pisgah Legal Services, Legal Aid of North Carolina (formerly Legal Services of North Carolina), North Carolina State Bar’s Interest on Lawyers Trust Accounts Board of Trustees, United Way of Asheville – Buncombe County, UNC-Asheville Foundation and CarePartners (prior to its affiliation with Mission). Kerry and his wife Anna S. Friedman have 2 adult children.

Mrs. Kathey Avery

Board Director

Kathey Avery RN, BSN, CN, CEO IFPHA

Kathey Avery Community Nurse, founder and CEO of IFPHA (Institute For Preventive Healthcare & Advocacy) has worked toward equity as an African American female in WNC. Kathey is dedication to racial equity, especially as it relates to healthcare. Health equity has been her passion and her lifelong work.

Avery, was the May 2021 recipient of the Carol McLimans Trailblazer Award. Land of Sky Regional Council’s Area Agency on Aging established the award in 2016 to honor a professional in Buncombe, Henderson, Madison, or Transylvania County. 

Avery educated clients about diabetes, cardiovascular disease, breast and prostate cancers through community health screenings and educational events at Asheville-Buncombe Institute of Parity Achievement (ABIPA) 2008-2019. Avery helped serve over 7,200 clients as a Community Nurse (CN). ABIPA a non-profit dedicated to improving the health and well-being of minority and other underserved populations. 

In 2019, Avery started Avery Health Education and Consulting LLC addressing healthcare equity and the social determinants of health. Later that year Avery was selected for the prestigious Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Clinical Scholars funding. She later founded and became CEO of the Institute of Preventive Healthcare and Advocacy. Avery went door-to-door in Senior living, and Public Housing when the COVID-19 vaccines rolled out, listening to residents’ concerns, answering questions and continuing to provide health education and prevention classes to disproportionately affected communities. 

In 1995 Kathey was instrumental in helping form Mission’s very first Diversity Committee where she served until 2011. She received the prestigious Spirit of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  Other awards include, 2016 Unsung Heroes Award by UNC-A, BCHHS, and Date My City, 2017 she was awarded the Lillian Carter Award for Exemplary Nursing from Modern Healthcare magazine in partnership with the Lillian Carter Center for Global Health & Social Responsibility at the Emory University School of Nursing. 

She volunteers for many organizations including, 14-years with Building Bridges and presently with the Racial Justice Coalition, OnTrack, Dogwood Health Trust/Impact Health and Dementia Friendly WNC to name a few.

Dr. Gordon Grant

Board Director

I  aspire to be an “amphibian”: comfortable in both the worlds of experiential and academic education. I’m  still working on that balance after 40 years in education.  

In Experiential Education:

  • I have led trips in mountains and on rivers worldwide  since the 1970’s in North America, Europe, and Asia for Camps Mondamin and Green Cove, Nantahala Outdoor Center,  Asheville City Schools, and North Carolina Outward Bound.  

  • I’ve been a US Team member in Whitewater Canoeing and remain an avid boater, rock climber, mountain biker and trail runner. 

  • Recently inducted into the Southern Appalachian Paddlesports Museum Hall of Fame.

In Academic Education:

  •  I’ve been a teacher and principal in private and NC public schools since 1988, 

  • National Board Certified Teacher and  Milken National Teaching Award winner for my design of an integrated curriculum on the French Broad River for Asheville Middle School. 

  • I  received all three of my degrees in Education from Western Carolina University, including my doctorate, and I’m  grateful to that institution for being a regional resource for me and others in WNC. 

  • Spent much of the recent years of COVID19 in the design of virtual lessons that strengthen character traits for students in grades 5- postgraduate.

  • Continue to serve as an advisor for the Milken National Education Foundation. 

I am newly retired from role of  Education Director for the NC Outward Bound School, where I work in the field and in the classroom with teachers from private, public and charter schools, and with the faculty and students of UNC Chapel Hill’s Department of Education, where I continue to serve as  adjunct professor. 

As a new board member at PEAK Academy, I  deeply believe in the school’s mission of empowering its students  with “…the academic excellence, character traits, and love of learning necessary to become life-long scholars, leaders, and community stewards.”

Ms. Crystal Salinas MacKinnon

Secretary

Crystal Salinas MacKinnon grew up in South Texas and came to North Carolina in 2016, by way of Chicago, in pursuit of the opportunity to continue her education. She earned her B.A. in Philosophy followed by her Master’s in Peace and Conflict Studies from the University of North
Carolina Greensboro. Crystal is also a certified Community mediator.

Crystal works as an equity-focused communications consultant and strategist, and also founded and serves as the Executive Director of The Cellphone Project, a nonprofit working in partnership with other regional agencies to provide cellphones to marginalized community members otherwise unable to obtain one.
Prior to the formation of The Cellphone Project, Crystal has long been engaged in mutual direct aid via donated cellphones, grassroots fundraising, volunteer work and deep advocacy for houseless, low-income, and marginalized community members. Crystal believes that whether it be education, housing, or any other facet of life, everything must be carefully considered through a lens of equity; and she is deeply invested in this ongoing work in her adopted home of WNC.

Crystal is a regular volunteer at ABCCM’s Transformation Village, participates in the Coordinated Entry Workgroup under the City of Asheville’s Homelessness Initiative Advisory Committee, and serves as Secretary on the Advisory Board of ABCCM’s Costello House.

Mr. Andy Barnett

Board Director

Andy Barnett serves as CEO of Asheville Area Habitat for Humanity. Over the last three decades, Andy has served Habitat for Humanity affiliates from the construction site to the boardroom motivated by the belief that a stable home in a vibrant neighborhood is the foundation for success. 

Andy chairs the Asheville Affordable Housing Advisory Committee. He led the housing committee for the Saint Paul Promise Neighborhood education initiatives securing targeted rental assistance for highly-mobile students.

Minutes of our last meetings:

Board Meeting dates and times are posted on the school’s master calendar which is visible on this website. Click the below toggles to see Agenda’s and Minutes of previous meetings.

  • December Meetings & Agenda
  • November Meetings & Agenda
  • October Meetings & Agenda
  • September Meetings & Agenda
  • August Meetings & Agenda
  • July Meetings & Agenda
  • June Meetings & Agenda
  • May Meetings & Agenda
  • April Meetings & Agenda
  • March Meetings & Agenda
  • February Meetings & Agenda
  • January Meetings & Agenda