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Edy Dotson's background as a top-performing and highly versatile leader with more than 20 years of experience developing and rebuilding businesses in challenging and competitive markets are tremendous assets for LPCCA, especially during this time of uncertainty. Dotson is recognized for skill in revitalizing a company’s organizational infrastructure, products, and sales/marketing strategies to optimize results - all skills that will serve LPCCA well. She has demonstrated success in business start-ups and turning under-performing operations into success stories.
Dotson moved to Ashe County to be with family and has been an active board member for the past year. As a lifelong entrepreneur, she is a true asset, especially for this start-up
phase of our non-profit.
Robert grew up on a beef and dairy farm in Yadkin County, North Carolina. He obtained BS degrees from NC State University in Food Science and in Animal Science. Following college, Robert worked in the dairy industry with Kraft Dairy Group and as the founding General Manager of Carolina Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative in Charlotte in 1984. The Cooperative quickly grew to cover five states, and in 1998 merged with Maryland and Virginia Milk Producers of Reston, Virginia. Robert was the CEO of the merged Maryland and Virginia Milk Producers until 2002. The merged Cooperative marketed the milk from 1500 dairy farms, employed 440 associates, had consolidated sales over $700 Million, and operated three manufacturing plants.
Robert left the Cooperative in 2001, and returned to Charlotte where he and a business partner, Sandy Berlin, were introduced to B Robert’s Foods Inc. He and Berlin envisioned a business opportunity in the growing market for fresh, convenience foods, so they purchased B. Robert’s Foods in 2004.
B Robert’s Foods grew rapidly from $6 M in sales in 2004 to $40+ M in 2015. In 2015, the Company sold to Bakkavor, USA, an International leader in fresh convenience foods.
Robert has now returned to his roots in the country and spends most of his time in Ashe Lansing, NC.
Walter Clark and his partner, Johnny Burleson, own and operate the Old Orchard Creek General Store and the Old Orchard Creek Blueberry farm in Lansing, NC. From 2017 until 2020 Walter served as the Executive Director of the North Carolina Land and Water Fund and the Division of Land and Water Stewardship, both a part of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources. From 2010 to 2017 Walter served as the Executive Director of the Blue Ridge Conservancy. Before coming to that position, he was the Executive Director of Blue Ridge Rural Land Trust (BRRLT) where he was instrumental in overseeing the merger of BRRLT with High Country Conservancy resulting in the new Blue Ridge Conservancy. Walter has a long history of environmental education, policy, and management. Before beginning his tenure in land conservation, he directed the legal program for North Carolina Sea Grant at North Carolina State University. While there, he co-founded the University of North Carolina’s Coastal Resources Law, Planning and Policy Center. Walter has a Masters in Regional Planning from UNC, Chapel Hill and a JD from Wake Forest University.
Christy Culbreth currently works at Wilkes Community College as a student advisor where the vision is to provide programs, resources, and services that create quality educational, economic, and cultural opportunities for the students in Wilkes, Ashe, and Alleghany counties. While in service to these students Christy provides opportunities for students to build their futures.
Christy holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of South Florida in Political Science, as well as a master’s degree in Education from the University of South Carolina but maintains that she is a lifelong learner. Throughout her career, she has supported programs and quality enhancement plans, managed budgets, supported students, and met the daily challenges of uncertainty in Higher Education. Christy has been interested in the arts since a young age, and will always try a new skill, including most recently a pottery class through LPCCA. She is passionate about supporting the arts and is looking to support this more as the LPCCA’s most recent board member. Christy moved to Ashe with her husband Duncan in 2021. Peach and Harold Culbreth, Duncan’s grandparents, were residents of Ashe since the mid-eighties. Christy and Duncan first visited Ashe County together in 2014 and the rest was history.
Sherman Lyle brings to our organization 50 years of restaurant operations and management experience. He has successfully opened over 41 new restaurants. Sherman and his wife Beth call Ashe County home and are deeply rooted in the community. After managing and owning numerous restaurants in the area, most recently as one of the owners of The Hotel Tavern, and being involved in multiple local civic organizations, Sherman has retired. He is now driven by a strong desire to give back to the community.
Russell Roten is an Ashe County Native and student at Lansing School. He went on to the University of North Carolina and the University of North Carolina School of Law. After practicing law in multiple states Russell has returned to Ashe County and is committed to our mission of revitalizing Lansing.
Ray is a combat-decorated retired Army paratrooper. He has an MA in Public History and an EdS and Doctorate in Education Leadership. He is a Fulbright Specialist Expert in Education and Storytelling Narrative and was recently awarded the inaugural Black Appalachian Storytelling Fellowship for North Carolina. A former adjunct professor of history and storytelling at several universities, Ray has performed at numerous storytelling festivals and stages across the US and Canada including Old North State and Jonesborough (Slam winner and featured teller). His stories have appeared in Reader’s Digest (2016 Best Stories in America and 2017 American Heroes) and the New York Times bestselling book “How to Tell a Story,” edited by directors from The Moth. As a competitive storyteller, Ray is a 12-time Moth Story Slam Champion and winner of the 2016 National Storytelling Festival Story Slam. His stories have been featured on radio shows produced by The Moth, Snap Judgment and Back Story as well as an array of podcasts including Spooked, Story Collider, AdultISH, The Confessional and Risk. Ray travels to Asheville, NC to host the monthly Moth Story Slam, but resides in the remote, mountains of Watauga County, NC. From his mountain oasis, he produces and hosts his own podcast, What’s Ray Saying?, a show that uses history and story to explore the Black American experience from a unique perspective
Trevor McKenzie is the Director of the Center for Appalachian Studies at Appalachian State University. McKenzie performs traditional music from along the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina and Virginia, both as a solo artist and with regional string bands including Nobody's Business, The Little Stony Nighthawks, and The Elkville String Band. He has been an instructor for the Junior Appalachian Musicians program and taught workshops at gatherings such as Augusta Heritage Center's Old-Time Week and the Floyd Old-Time Music Get-Together.
McKenzie was a guest co-editor of Appalachian Journal's Appalachian Music Special Issue, is a member of SouthArts Emerging Traditional Artists Cohort, and was the recipient of a 2020 SouthArts/NC Arts In These Mountains Apprenticeship to study fiddle traditions with master musician and radio host Paul Brown.
Otto Wood the Bandit: The Freighthopping Thief, Bootlegger, and Convicted Murderer behind the Appalachian Ballads, published in 2021 by The University of North Carolina Press, is his first book.
Aimee is a native North Carolinian, currently residing in Lansing with her husband, JT, and 5 year old twin daughters, Kaelyn and Parker. Lansing is near and dear to her, as she grew up playing in Big Horse Creek, spending time with family at her great uncle’s cabin. Those fond memories of Lansing were forever enshrined upon getting married to her husband in 2010 at Old Orchard Creek, which is home to her uncles. The generational legacy will now continue with the Fink family, recently purchasing farm land and residence in Lansing.
Engage with and support your community; appreciate the cultural differences it fosters; cultivate sustainability. These are foundational elements in Aimee’s continued personal and professional pursuit. Aimee studied Intercultural studies at Columbia International University, and spent time abroad missioning in Romania, where her love of people and an inclusive community are rooted. Professionally, Aimee has over 20 years of banking industry leadership experience. She currently leads a Charlotte based team executing global strategic initiatives for one of the world's largest banking corporations.
Bobby Ashley has been a lifelong educator. He began his career in Ashe County and then in Grayson County, Virginia. He came back in the county in 1992 and spent 20 years as a building level administrator. He led multiple schools in the county as well as working in all three of the Ashe County districts. Under his tutelage, one school was named in the top 25 title 1 schools in North Carolina, as he moved to the middle school, it was named as one of the five best middle schools in the United States in 2008, it was also certified as a National School to Watch by the National School to Watch committee as well as becoming a model school and serving as a model school for the International Center for Leadership and Education out of New York. After serving Ashe County, Bobby also worked at the Department of Public Instruction in Raleigh, North Carolina, where he served the 30 plus counties in the Western region. As the Regional Lead, he led a team of educators who could support school districts or individual schools in need. He coordinated services between North Carolina DPI and superintendents of those counties. Later, he went to work for the International Center for Leadership and Education where he served 42 different states as an educational leadership coach. Bobby has Key Noted multiple openings of schools as well as conferences and workshops. He did extensive work in Texas and designing The Aspiring Leaders Symposiums as well as the Turnaround Coordinator for schools in Indianapolis, Indiana and in Asbury Park, New Jersey. Bobby was recognized by the Virginia State Senate for his dedication as well as being recognized by the North Carolina Senate for his work in education in North Carolina. Bobby is a native of the Lansing area, growing up on Big horse Creek. He attended Lansing elementary School and returned as the principal of Lansing elementary School until it closed in
1992 and combined with Riverview Elementary School to form the new school, Blue Ridge Elementary. Bobby says he is honored to serve the Lansing community and his privileged to be on the board for the Lost Province Center for The Cultural Arts.
LOST PROVINCE CENTER FOR CULTURAL ARTS
9710 NC Highway 194 | PO BOX 224, LANSING, NC 28643, US
LPCCA is a 301(c)(3) non-profit organization. All donations are tax deductible.
Copyright © 2020 Lost Province Center for the Cultural Arts - All Rights Reserved.
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