Stop Hunger Now Board Members

Dr. Abbas is a native of Iowa, having grown up on a commercial farm. Following an undergraduate degree from Iowa State in Agricultural Business and Production, he joined the Peace Corps serving as an assistant cantonal agricultural extension agent in Ecuador. Subsequently, he joined the Peace Corps staff in Bolivia as a contractor via the Heifer Project. After earning a Master of Science degree in agricultural economics at Montana State, he completed a doctorate in economics at Oregon State. He has served on the faculty at the University of Georgia and North Carolina State University.

 

For many years, he has operated his own business, offering financial services and consulting to the public. He is also CFO of a firm in international commodity trading.

 

His volunteer activities include: Rotary, of which he has been a member since 1984, former president and Secretary, and is currently Board Director for International Service. Over the years he oversaw many humanitarian projects in Bolivia. Current projects are in the Ukraine, Colombia, Guatemala and Brazil. Leon is also a member of CADRE, a small group of volunteers who evaluate projects onsite for the Rotary Foundation.

 

Leon was a founder of the Alliance Medical Ministry. He served as the initial secretary for the first three years.

 

Leon is active in supporting Bahamas Habitat. Currently he is involved in building an orphanage and renovating a former church into a building suitable for volunteer housing and base of operations.

 

Leon is a member of the First United Methodist Church/Cary Endowment Committee. This activity involves consulting with potential donors and overseeing the arrangements for future transfers.

 

Leon is married to the former Sallie Wright; they have twin sons and three grandchildren. Sallie is president of the North Carolina Partners of the Americas and he supports her in her work in this organization which does international exchange projects.

Anne Grimsley Bander serves as Chief Operating Officer to the Department of Administration. Her responsibilities include managing and monitoring the day-to-day activities and operations of the Department and taking a leadership role in the establishment of performance indicators and the monitoring of performance against goals for the Department. Additionally, she serves as the Department's Director of Internal Auditing. Prior to her February 2010 appointment, she was the Assistant State Budget Officer for Government Evaluation and Review in the Office of State Budget and Management. 

 

Bander first started in the Department of Administration in 1980 in the Office of Administrative Analysis, later moved to the Office of State Budget and Management where she worked from 1991 until 2005. After a brief retirement from state service, she rejoined the Office of State Budget and Management in November 2008.

 

A native of South Carolina, Anne lived in many places around the country and in Europe as an Army"brat”.  She received a B.A. from the University of Maine at Orono and her M.A. from University College Dublin (part of the National University of Ireland).

 

Anne served on the Board of Trustees at Temple Beth Or, where she has also served as Executive Director and Temple President.  Through her membership with Temple Beth Or and has worked a regular route delivering Meals on Wheels. 

Born in Winston-Salem, NC and growing up nearby in Guilford County,  Pam graduated from Wake Forest University (B.A., 1978) and Duke University Divinity School (M.R.E., 1983; ThM., 1986).

 

Pam became an ordained Elder in the United Methodist Church in 1988 and served churches in Winston-Salem, Greensboro, and Charlotte.  She served as Associate Minister of a suburban church, a college campus minister, Director of Missions and most recently as Mission Specialist of the Western NC Conference.

 

Pam has been on a number of UMVIM trips to both Guatemala and Haiti and attended her first medical clinic week in Haiti  with Orovidence UMC, Charlotte in Oct. 2006; since that time she has made great efforts to support this vital work. Pam also worked with Providence UMC, Charlotte leadership to expand their medical clinic ministry to include support of a Haitian primary school and a micro-credit lending program which serves rural communities in the Cap Haitien area.  She now serves as President of the Haiti Mission Foundation which oversees the healthcare/clinic portion of this vital ministry. 

 

Pam also serve as the Mission Interpreter of Encounter with Christ in Latin America and the Caribbean, a permanent fund of the General Board of Global Ministries.  The fund provides $3 of every $4 spent beyond missionary support for ministry initiatives in the region. 

 

Pam now resides in Lakeland, Florida with husband, Bishop Ken Carter who serves the Florida United Methodist Conference. Two adult daughters. Oldest, Liz is a Chinese translator/interpreter who lives in Washington, DC. Youngest, Abby, will begin seminary at Duke Divinity in the fall of 2013. 

Kate has 25 years of professional management experience that includes international technology sales and operations, strategy and business development. Her expertise focuses on building new organizations and expanding lines of business. She has been selected as a guest speaker at international conferences in Europe, Canada and the US.

 

As the Director of Cisco’s Sales Associates Graduate Program (CSAP), Kate runs an industry award winning global program responsible for hiring and developing recent college graduates for placement in field sales positions around the world. In 2011-2012, the program received three prestigious industry awards recognizing CSAP’s excellence in talent development and global operations.

 

Kate has previously held a variety of positions within Cisco in their London, UK and RTP, NC locations over her 15 year tenure with the company.

 

Prior to joining Cisco, Kate spent 7 years with Oracle Corporation where she held various positions in Sales, Marketing and Business Development Management. Kate holds a BA in History from Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH. She attended the University of Michigan for her MBA.

 

Kate and her husband, Stephen, have a son and a daughter, and reside in Raleigh, North Carolina.

With more than 24 years of experience as a Financial Advisor, Geoff is dedicated to helping his clients meet their financial needs.  Backed by the vast resources of Wells Fargo Advisors, Geoff is fully invested in his clients.

 

Geoff graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a Bachelor's, Masters and Doctoral Degree in education. Before becoming a financial advisor, Geoff was an English teacher at Chapel Hill High School from 1977-1982 and an assistant men's soccer coach at UNC-Chapel Hill from 1977 to 1987.

 

With an emphasis on continuing education, Geoff has also earned the CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER TM professional designation from the College for Financial Planning. For this designation, Geoff had to complete approved educational programs, pass rigorous examinations and meet stringent experience requirements. This designation has broadened his background, and given him the ability to work with individuals, trusts, retirement plans, charitable organizations and businesses in a comprehensive manner.

 

In his practice, Geoff strives to help his clients plan for a financial future in a way that best meets their goals. Whether you are planning for retirement, saving for your children's or grandchildren's education, or looking to preserve your wealth, Geoff can provide you with objective guidance to help you achieve your goals.

 

Geoff has been an active member of the Capital Area Soccer League, serving as a board member, player and coach. Currently, Geoff enjoys playing golf at Raleigh Golf Association and tennis at North Hills Club where he participates on several USTA teams. Geoff also appreciates spending weekends at Atlantic Beach, N.C. with family and friends. Geoff and wife, Sandra, have lived in Raleigh for the past 20 years, and have two children, Jay and Willie

Paul Huckle is Chief Regulatory Officer and Senior Vice President for GlaxoSmithKline with worldwide responsibility for managing regulatory affairs. Dr Huckle provides regulatory counsel to senior management, participates in senior committees within the company and leads any significant regulatory action to support or extend the GSK portfolio of medicines. Dr. Huckle has responsibility for regulatory staff located on all GSK development sites, including USA and Europe. He moved to the USA in 2006 and is primarily based in RTP, NC.

 

Before entering the regulatory arena, Dr. Huckle worked for ten years in the field of pharmaceutical development with responsibility for the development of prescription and over-the-counter medicines. Prior to joining the pharmaceutical industry he held an academic position at The School of Pharmacy, University of London. He holds an Honors degree in Pharmacy and a Ph.D. in Pharmaceutics from the University of London, and is a registered pharmacist in the UK.

 

Outside of work Dr Huckle has held a number of voluntary roles in support of community based organizations.

John Martin brings over 20 years of media experience to NASCAR Media Group. Over that time he has developed a reputation as an expert at developing business strategies and partnerships that deliver revenue from the traditional and emerging media landscape.

 

Martin was a key member of the executive leadership team that combined the NASCAR Images and NASCAR Digital Entertainment divisions of NASCAR to create the NASCAR Media Group. He wrote and executed the capital expenditure plan to build NASCAR Media Group’s state-of-the-art production and office facility in uptown Charlotte. Additionally, he led the television sales division to achieve a 20% revenue growth, launched NASCAR’s News Department, spearheaded NMG’s internal cost tracking process and oversaw the Production Operation’s divisions during NMG’s transition into the new facility. Currently he is responsible for the Business Operations and Interactive Divisions of NASCAR Media Group.

 

Prior to joining NMG, Martin spent seven years at Turner Broadcasting. As a member of the executive team at Turner Sports, he spearheaded new business development for the Turner Sports Digital division. Before his foray into the new media side of Turner Sports, Martin was the director of marketing and programming for the various Turner Sports properties working closely with NASCAR, the NBA, MLB, the PGA of America and college football.

 

Martin’s additional experiences include two years as the head of sales for Golfport, an internet golf company that provided turnkey services to golf and country clubs and seven years as head of the Sports Licensed Products division of Champion Products, a $400M athletic apparel company. At Champion Products, Martin successfully launched the inaugural WNBA and NFL Thrownbacks merchandise lines and drove the dramatic growth of Champion’s Sports Licensed Products division during Michael Jordan’s return to the NBA earning Champion the designation of the #1 licensee of the NBA.

 

His media experience began at Titan Sports, the parent company of the World Wrestling Federation by participating in the stunning growth of this media empire’s Pay-Per-View division and syndicated television department. Martin has a Master’s Degree from the University of Massachusetts/Amherst and an undergraduate degree from Colgate University. He lives in Charlotte, NC with his wife Kathryn and their two children, Diane and Jack.

Rajesh Rao is co-founder and CEO of IndUShealth, a North Carolina based company that provides highly affordable medical travel alternatives to underinsured individuals and global health option plan administration services to self-insured employers across the U.S. With more than twenty years of experience in the creation and growth of successful entrepreneurial businesses in North Carolina, Mr. Rao provides IndUShealth a critical combination of operational, financial, and systems management skills.

 

Mr. Rao began his career as a software engineer at IBM in Raleigh, later joining the founding team at Post Software International based in Wake Forest, where he ultimately became Director of Research and Development. Post Software became an established worldwide leader in retail systems automation and was acquired by Fujitsu ICL. Subsequently, Mr. Rao co-founded and served as CEO of Empower Corporation, a Raleigh-based innovative enterprise e-learning software company that served several large multinational companies.

 

Empower eventually became MindLever, which was acquired by Centra Software (Nasdaq: CTRA). Mr. Rao continued as General Manager at Centra prior to co-founding IndUShealth. Having faced ever-increasing costs of providing health benefits to employees in his previous companies, Mr. Rao decided to dedicate his time and resources to the pursuit of viable alternatives. He believed that the leveling of the global playing field would result in effective cross-border solutions with the potential to introduce healthy competition and thereby substantially reduce health-care expenditure without compromising quality.

 

Since its establishment, Mr. Rao has been instrumental in building IndUShealth into a dominant player in the U.S. that has helped the medical travel trend to mature and evolve to an entirely new level. He enjoys being able to innovate and work with others to further expand IndUShealth's offerings and broaden its scope of influence.

 

Mr. Rao is recognized as an industry leader and is often asked to speak to audiences at meetings and conferences. He has been featured in several news articles, as well as in TV and radio interviews. In June 2006, Mr. Rao appeared as an expert witness before the US Senate Subcommittee on Aging, extolling the advantages of employer-assisted medical travel, and sparking a national debate over insurers' and corporations' roles in medical tourism. He was also invited to speak at a National Academies seminar that explored the potential role of medical tourism in providing a suitable alternative to Americans.

 

Mr. Rao has been actively involved in the Research Triangle Park entrepreneur community, and has previously served as President and Charter Member of TiE-Carolinas. He enjoys providing mentorship and guidance to entrepreneurs in the area, and encouraging the perpetuation of the cycle of innovation, success and giving. He holds Bachelor's degrees in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from North Carolina State University.

Jeff Truitt is an attorney in the Corporate and Commercial groups at Smith Anderson, the largest law firm headquartered in the Raleigh-Durham metropolitan area. His practice areas include mergers and acquisitions, corporate governance, commercial and finance transactions and government contracting. He also routinely represents early stage, growth and venture-backed companies in all phases of start-up, financing and exits. He has experience working with clients in a broad range of industries, including technology, software, utilities, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, manufacturing, distribution, energy and professional services.

 

Prior to joining Smith Anderson, Jeff practiced general business law in the corporate group at Sidley Austin LLP in Chicago. In addition to assisting a number of large, public companies with a variety of transactional matters, he was actively involved in developing the numerous legal guarantees that supported Chicago’s bid to host the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

 

Before working in private practice, Jeff served as general counsel for an overseas military command near London, as well as a nuclear-trained submarine officer in the Seattle area. He currently holds the rank of Commander in the Selected Reserves of the U.S. Navy. Jeff graduated with Distinction from the United States Naval Academy, and received an M.A. from the University of Maryland-College Park as well as a J.D. (with Honors) from the University of Chicago Law School. Jeff lives in Clayton, NC, with his wife, Catherine, and three young children.

Alan is a native of North Carolina and has spent the last 30 years building and growing healthcare IT companies in the Research Triangle. He was the co-founder and president of Medic Computer Systems, a company that provided practice management and EMR systems to the physician marketplace. The company went public in 1992 and was sold to Misys LLC in 1997. At the time of the sale Medic served over 60,000 physicians and had revenues in excess of $200 million. In 2001 Alan became the CEO and President of Canopy Systems, Inc based in Chapel Hill. Canopy provided a case and care management system via the web to health systems across the US. The company rapidly became the leader in automated care management and the product was popular with many of the largest health systems in the country. In 2005 the company was purchased by A4 Systems out of Cary, NC. In 2007 Winchester became the CEO and President of RxMedic Systems, Inc. a startup robotics company in the pharmaceutical industry. The company was successful developing and building a robotic pill dispensing system for the retail pharmacy market. After building a strong base of pharmacy clients in the Southeast the company was sold in 2010 to a large national pharmacy IT company. Today Alan provides consulting services to healthcare and technology companies.

 

Alan received a BS in Business from UNC Chapel Hill and earned a Master in Divinity from Southeastern Theological Seminary. He is a member of Hillyer Memorial Christian Church where he has served as a youth advisor, Sunday school teacher, Deacon and Elder. He has been married for 32 years to his wonderful wife Nora and has 3 children. Alan is an avid outdoorsman and is a lifelong fly fisherman.