Board of Directors
Cheryl Bradley Smith
Cheryl is National Accounts Manager at Armstrong World Industries. Her business career includes stints as Vice President for Strategic Planning at Hatteras Yachts and Director for Client and Market Development at NCSU’s Industry Expansion Partnership. She is Chairperson of the Parks and Recreation Committee for the Town of Pine Knoll Shores and is active in the National Charity League having served as its President. She is a member of the state-wide Youth & Government Advisory Board, also serves on the Parent Advisory Committee, and is President of the Academic Booster Club at West Carteret High School. Cheryl has served two previous stints on the Board of Directors of the Coastal Land Trust, most recently stepping down from the Board after concluding her second successive term in September 2023, as required by the organization’s bylaws. Additionally, Cheryl founded the Coastal Land Trust’s “Cycle for the Coast” bike ride and has served as a party host. She graduated from Virginia Tech with a degree in marketing and accounting and received her MBA from Wake Forest.
Merrie Jo Alcoke
Merrie Jo is a native and resident of New Bern, NC. She recently served as the Director of the Governor’s Eastern Office. Prior to that time, Merrie Jo was in private practice as an attorney with Ward and Smith, P. A. where she specialized in environmental matters, with a focus on coastal regulatory litigation, state and federal water quality permitting and enforcement, and land use planning. Merrie Jo spent most of her legal career in the N. C. Attorney General’s Office where she served as a senior coastal attorney for the N. C. Division of Coastal Management. She has also worked as a certified mediator in N. C. Civil Superior Court. Merrie Jo is active in her community and is a past Coastal Land Trust Board member.
Lorrie Basnight
Lorrie grew up in Chapel Hill, but has spent summer days her whole life on the Pamlico River near Washington. Her family’s love of boating and the natural world, combined with many years as a camp counselor and scout, shaped her passion to preserve the coastal environment for future generations. Between 2011 and 2020, Lorrie was on the board of Sound Rivers, Inc., a nonprofit organization that guards the health of the Neuse and Tar-Pamlico River basins. For three of those years, she served as board president. Since 1995, Lorrie has been a pediatrician on the faculty at the Brody School of Medicine and currently serves as the Executive Director of Eastern Area Health Education Center, working to assure a strong healthcare workforce for rural and underserved areas. Lorrie has boated and camped all over eastern N. C. and enjoys birding, looking for wildlife, and basking in the richness of coastal black waters and swamps
Bob Emory
Bob retired in 2018 from Weyerhaeuser Company, where he facilitated the 2016 corporate merger with Plum Creek. Previously, he served Weyerhaeuser as its Southern Timberlands Environmental Affairs Manager. Bob has been appointed to, and is currently serving as a member of, the North Carolina Coastal Resources Commission. He previously served as a member, appointed by the Governor of North Carolina, of the North Carolina Coastal Resources Commission, from 1994 to 2014, including seven years as Chairman. He has also served as Chairman of the North Carolina Forestry Advisory Council and has led the capital campaign for Christ Church in New Bern. Bob served prior terms on the Board of Directors for the Coastal Land Trust and served on the Coastal Land Trust’s “Your Land” capital campaign steering committee.
Bernest Hewett
Bernest is a lifelong resident of Brunswick County, where he has devoted many important and productive hours to helping with North Carolina Coastal Land Trust’s Reaves Chapel restoration project in Navassa. He is a past President of Brunswick County Branch 5452 of the NAACP, was Board Chairman of Southeastern Community Services, and is a member and ordained Deacon of Zion Hill Missionary Baptist Church. Bernest is married to Glenda Hewett and is the proud father of two and grandfather of two.
Ken Hines
Ken has a forestry degree from NCSU and served as a Service Forester with the N. C. Forest Service in Rocky Mount. Ken then earned his MBA in Finance from UNC-CH and became a corporate banker. From 1990 – 2008, Ken was able to combine his forestry and finance backgrounds as the head of the forest products and timberland finance unit at John Hancock in Boston. He then led the Bond and Corporate Finance Group and was the first president of Hancock’s Renewable Energy Group. After retiring in 2013, Ken and his wife Cathy relocated to Wilmington. They are members at CCL and WUMC. Ken has done some consulting and has taught natural resource economics at NC State and Duke Universities. Ken currently serves as the Vice President of the Harrelson Center. Ken has served the Coastal Land Trust on the Strategic Planning and Land Protection Committees.
Hannah Holt
Hannah is strongly committed to the mission of land preservation and stewardship. She recently retired from Holt C-Stores, her family business of 33 years. She served as Director of Operations and as Secretary/Treasurer for the company’s three operating entities managing financial statements, future development, mergers and acquisitions, and stockholder relations. She has served on numerous local boards including the Coastal Land Trust Board of Directors with one stint as President. Hannah founded and is the driving force behind the Holt C-Store Golf Tournament which has raised over $1M since 2013 benefiting both the North Carolina Coastal Land Trust and UNCW. Hannah’s long association with UNCW includes serving two terms on the UNCW Foundation Board and, in 2012, the establishment of the Holt Oil Fellowship in Public Administration dedicated to the memory of her late father, Charles B. C. Holt. Hannah has also served on the Airlie Gardens Foundation Board and she and her wife, Stephanie, were major donors for the Butterfly House at Airlie. Hannah earned her Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Relations from UNC-Chapel Hill in 1987.
Laurie King
Laurie is Vice President of MCO Transport, Inc., a company headquartered in Wilmington with terminals in Savannah, Charleston, and Norfolk that specializes in warehousing and transportation services. Laurie’s responsibilities including managing the company’s human resources and personnel, with an emphasis on safety, controlled growth, adaptability, long-term relationships, and environmental stewardship and sustainability. Laurie is a past president of the North Carolina Coastal Land Trust’s Board of Directors and has served as a key volunteer leader with the Coastal Land Trust’s most popular outreach event, the Flytrap Frolic for several years.
Hal Kitchin
Hal is a partner with McGuire Woods, LLP, specializing in business, commercial, and real estate litigation and regulatory matters. He is active in bar and community affairs and has previously served as chair of the boards of the Wilmington Chamber of Commerce, the Cape Fear Futures Foundation, the Greater Wilmington Chamber Foundation, and the University of North Carolina – Wilmington. Hal has represented the Coastal Land Trust in a litigation matter on a pro bono basis.
Dr. Yoshi Newman
Yoshi is a Certified Nature and Forest Guide with the Association of Nature and Forest Therapy Guides. NFT is a practice that originated in Japan known as shinrin-yoku, which translates into forest bathing or taking in the atmosphere of the forest. A growing body of research indicates numerous health benefits associated with NFT. She has conducted walks with female veterans at Pamlico Rose Institute of Sustainable Communities in Washington, N. C. and works with Six Seconds Emotional Intelligence Network to serve with a team of amazing people around the world focused on exploring the relationship between nature and emotions. Yoshi has volunteered to assist with numerous Coastal Land Trust events prior to joining the Board of Directors.
Nick Parker
Nick has been with Live Oak Bank, a niche bank specializing in small business lending, for nine years. Nick currently serves as Vice President on the RV Park and Campsite Lending Team. He received his undergraduate degree from UNCW in Finance and Marketing and received his MBA from UNC-Chapel Hill. Nick currently chairs the Finance Committee and sits on the DEI Committee at the Coastal Land Trust. Nick is married to his wife Kendall, and they have a Golden Retriever named Teak.
Chad Pearson
Chad leads the Decision Point Wealth Management group in providing wealth management and succession strategies for small business owners and their families. He began his finance career with Merrill Lynch in NYC in 1992, after attending UNC-Chapel Hill’s Business School and the University of Manchester, UK. Chad has been a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ (CFP®) since 2004, and became a Certified Exit Planning Advisor (CEPA) in 2018. Chad currently serves on the board of First Tee. He is a past board member of the Landfall Foundation Board and the NHRMC Foundation Board. He has served on the Coastal Land Trust’s Finance Committee for nine years.
Dr. Stan Riggs
Dr. Stanley R. Riggs has been on faculty in the Department of Geological Sciences, East Carolina University for 54 years; he served as distinguished Professor of the Thomas Harriot College of Arts and Sciences and as an East Carolina University Distinguished Research Professor (2000 to 2021). In 2022, Stan was the recipient of the Governor’s “North Carolina Award in Science” for significant contributions to the “Land of the Longleaf Pine”. In 2021, he was awarded the 2021 Francis Parker Shepard Medal for “Excellence in Marine Geology” in honor of the “founder of American Marine Geology” by the International Society for Sedimentary Geology (SEPM). Dr. Riggs received his B.S. degree from Beloit College (1960), M.A. degree from Dartmouth College (1962), and Ph.D. from the University of Montana (1967). Stan was awarded the Oliver Max Gardner Award for the University of North Carolina system faculty member who “made the greatest contribution to the welfare of the human race” (1983), has been a member (1978-1983) and Co-Director of the International Geologic Correlation Program 156 on Marine Mineral Resources (1984-1992), was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Senior Research Fellowship in Marine Science by the Australian Minister for Science (1986), and co-designed and co-directed a USGS-funded, multi-institutional, cooperative study on the origin and evolutionary history of the complex, world-class North Carolina coastal-marine system. He served on the NC Governor’s Committee on Marine Natural Resources (1970s), NC Mining Commission-Environmental Position (1979-1989), NC Coastal Management Commission’s Science Panel (1997-2016), and the NC Legislative Commission on Global Climate Change (2005-2011). From 2012-present, he established and directed North Carolina’s Land of Water (NC LOW), a nonprofit organization focused on implementing coastal-marine science in the public domain. Stan has spread the word on coastal dynamics and climate change through myriad book publications, hundreds of public lectures, workshops, reports and television documentaries.
Brian Rubino
Brian is a principal of Quible & Associates, P.C., where he leads the coastal environmental division. His favorite work involves habitat enhancement and restoration along N. C. coastlines. Brian received a BS and MS in geology from East Carolina University in 1997 and 2001 and is a Professional Geologist in N. C. (#1933). He resides in Kitty Hawk, Dare County, with his wife and two children. Brian has served on the Coastal Land Trust’s Land Protection Committee since 2017 and has previously served on a local bank advisory board. In 2023, he received a Pelican award from the N. C. Coastal Federation for living shoreline design, permitting, and implementation.
Ann Simpson
Ann grew up in rural Eastern NC and now lives in Chapel Hill where she works with moss+ross, a strategic consulting firm focused on nonprofits in the Triangle region. Ann has served in communications and fundraising positions with environmental organizations such as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and The Nature Conservancy and as executive director of North Carolina Catch, a nonprofit organization that supports local seafood promotion initiatives. She has also contributed original photography to four UNC Press book collaborations with her husband, Bland, most recently North Carolina: Land of Water, Land of Sky (Fall, 2021). She is a past president of the North Carolina Coastal Land Trust Board of Directors and the NC Sea Grant Advisory Board. Ann is excited to serve on the Coastal Land Trust Board and continue to pursue her lifelong passion for protecting the natural landscape of coastal Carolina.
Mary Tiller
Mary is the Regional Manager for NC State Industry Expansion Solutions (IES) serving Central North Carolina, including Alamance, Caswell, Cumberland, Hoke, Montgomery, Orange, Randolph, Richmond and Scotland Counties. Prior to joining IES, Mary worked for Cape Fear Community College in customized training, partnering with NC Works and other economic development organizations to assess the needs of manufacturers and deliver on-site services and training. In addition, Mary has more than ten years of technical sales and support experience in telecommunications. Following her lifelong passion for the North Carolina coast, she is pleased to serve on the Coastal Land Trust Board of Directors.
Pam Watkins
A native of Asheboro, North Carolina, Pam has called Wilmington home for over 45 years. An educator with a degree from Guilford College, she taught for Randolph and New Hanover County Schools and sometimes served as a librarian. She married Bruce Watkins and started a family, and together they opened Bruce Watkins Supply, established 518 N. Second Street, LLC, and P & P Holdings, LLC. She and Bruce were both active in many organizations, including the Cape Fear River Watch and the Community Boys and Girls Club of Wilmington. Pam has always been a great lover of the outdoors, and has enjoyed hiking, biking, and camping all over the country. After the passing of Bruce, she hopes in some small way to help continue his amazing legacy in preserving North Carolina’s natural areas. She currently enjoys going on various adventures with her two young grandchildren and traveling.
Bill Rich
Bill was born in Bethlehem PA and moved with his family to Hyde County, NC when he was 12. His family farmed considerable acreage of black organic soil, eventually starting a small chain of fast-food restaurants called Farm Boys. Bill completed his undergraduate degree at UNC-CH in 1972 and helped his brothers open The Rich Company real estate firm in Washington, NC which specialized in selling and managing farmland in northeastern NC. Among their extensive partnerships, Bill and his brothers took on the management of the 35,000-acre Mattamuskeet Farms for John Hancock Insurance. Bill has been involved in many ventures in northeastern NC and has also served as the Hyde County manager for five years. Bill and his wife Jennifer have been residents of Ocracoke Island for the last 18 years, are longtime supporters of the Coastal Land Trust, and love eastern North Carolina, especially Hyde County.