In August 2023, Connie Leeper announced her retirement from NC WARN. She will be greatly missed. Read Connie’s farewell note here.
OUR BOARD
Beth Henry, Board Co-Chair
Beth is a retired lawyer who received both her undergraduate and law degrees from Wake Forest University. She has three children and two grandchildren. In retirement, Beth has volunteered actively with groups working on climate change, biodiversity, voting rights, and racial and gender justice. She enjoys gardening for birds, butterflies, and other wild creatures.
Bobby Jones
Bobby Jones is a lifelong community organizer and advocate for social and environmental justice. He is retired after a 30-year career at the NC Department of Health and Human Services. Among many other community roles, Bobby serves as the President of the Down East Coal Ash Environmental and Social Justice Coalition, which advocates for the black, brown and poor white communities in eastern NC living in harmful environmental conditions due to their race or economic status. The Down East Coalition addresses corporate bullying by Duke Energy, Enviva and others, and the weak regulatory oversight by our state Department of Environmental Quality and the federal Environmental Protection Agency. Watch Bobby talk about the Energy Justice NC Coalition on Now This News.
Keval Kaur Khalsa
Keval Kaur Khalsa lives with her husband and dog in a solar-powered home in Durham, NC. She joined NC WARN shortly after moving to Durham in 1989 and rejoined the Board in 2022. A retired professor from the Dance Program at Duke University, she is passionate about the role that movement can play in bringing people “home” to themselves and connecting with the earth. Mother of four and grandmother of nine, Keval is also a yoga teacher/teacher trainer, social and environmental justice activist, and avid cyclist and blueberry-picker.
Charly Lowry
Charly Lowry is an artivist from Pembroke, NC. For over a decade, Charly has established a career as a professional singer-songwriter. She is the front-woman for the band, Dark Water Rising, and serves in a variety of capacities with other musical endeavors. Charly is proud to be an Indigenous woman belonging to the Lumbee/Tuscarora Tribes, and is passionate about raising awareness around environmental issues that plague underdeveloped and underserved communities. Listen to Charly’s interview and music on The State of Things.
Jim Warren
Jim is a native of Graham, North Carolina, and earned a degree in Business Administration with Accounting from UNC-Chapel Hill. He has been active in public interest issues for 35 years and executive director of NC WARN since 1993.
Ayo Wilson, Board Co-Chair
Ayo serves as Director of Clean Energy & Climate Justice at the West End Revitalization Association (WERA). In 2013, he traveled to Liberia, where he analyzed and provided recommendations for a national land records digitalization project managed by Liberia’s Center for National Land Documents and Records Agency funded by the World Bank. He holds a B.S in Communication, Electronic Media/Broadcasting from Appalachian State University and a Masters in Public Administration, cum laude from NC Central University. He also serves on the Board of Directors of Haw River Assembly.
OUR STAFF
Jim Warren, Executive Director
Jim is a native of Graham, North Carolina, and earned a degree in Business Administration with Accounting from UNC-Chapel Hill. He has been active in public interest issues for 35 years and executive director of NC WARN since 1993.
Rita Leadem, Senior Strategist
Rita Leadem, former Assistant Director of NC WARN for 10 years, is back with the organization part-time to help with visioning and long-term capacity planning. She left NC WARN to pursue an education in herbalism (at the Chestnut School of Herbal Medicine) and started her clinical herbalism business Black Mountain Herbal in 2022. When not working for NC WARN, she is in the garden, making herbal teas and tinctures, and helping people bring healing plants into their daily lives.
Daniel Deceder, Operations Manager
Daniel graduated from Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania with a Bachelor’s degree in psychology and worked in the mental health industry for 8 years before making the career change to climate justice nonprofit work due to the urgent nature of the climate crisis. Daniel is invested in educating others on the connection between the corporate greed of the oil and gas industry and the destruction of our planet. He is grateful to have the opportunity to work at NC WARN to be on the front lines of our critical transition to renewable energy as soon as possible.
Shreya Dwibedy, Administrative Assistant
Shreya has a Studio Art and Government degree from Smith College and joined NC WARN in 2023. She has always had a passion for social justice and is happy to contribute to the important work NC WARN is doing in the climate justice movement.
Sara Heilman, Energy Policy Assistant
Sara studied Public Policy and Environmental Science at Duke University before joining NC WARN’s team in 2023. Born and raised in Chapel Hill, NC, she feels a deep reverence for her home state’s environmental justice history. In the face of the climate crisis, Sara is grateful to work with NC WARN toward a more equitable environmental future.
Connie Leeper, Special Advisor
From Kannapolis, NC, Connie is a community organizer and justice champion with 50 years of experience. She has first-hand knowledge of how certain people and places have been discounted in value and relevance to make change. Connie believes in the power and importance of cultural work. As a gourd workshop facilitator, she enjoys helping others create gourd art as a creative, healing process. Connie is also founding Co-Director of the NC Climate Justice Collective. She serves on the advisory board of the Durham Solidarity Hub, on the board of directors of the Southeast Climate & Energy Network and on the Movement Voter Project’s Leadership Circle.
Matthew Quinn
Attorney
Bill Powers
Engineer
Rao Konidena
Engineer