Michael Murchison, Wilmington: Michael is a retired attorney who was one of the founding Board members of the Coastal Land Trust. He has served the Land Trust in a number of capacities in the past, including as its President. He has a longstanding passion for and commitment to land conservation and historic preservation. A graduate of Amherst College and Cornell Law School, he enjoyed a lengthy career as an attorney with the firm of Murchison, Taylor & Gibson, PLLC and, prior to that, as an attorney in Washington, D.C. for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. He has served on a number of non-profit boards in addition to the Land Trust, including the Historic Wilmington Foundation, the Alliance for Cape Fear Trees and the NC Center for Nonprofits. Michael and his wife, Barbara Sullivan, a noted garden author, live in a historic house in Wilmington, NC. Michael is excited to return to the Coastal Land Trust Board and to be a part of its extraordinary work. 

Rudolph (Rudy) Alexander Ashton, III, New Bern: Rudy practices in the areas of civil and criminal litigation in both state and federal courts with the law firm Dunn, Pittman, Skinner & Cushman, PLLC.  On the civil side, he specializes in personal injury and insurance defense.  He has also been a certified mediator since 1997 and has served as a mediator/arbitrator in civil cases in both state and federal court. Prior to moving to New Bern, NC in 1981, Rudy was a prosecutor in Raleigh with the Wake County District Attorney’s Office and the North Carolina Attorney General’s Office for approximately six years.  He has served on court-appointed counsel lists in both state and federal courts and for the North Carolina Appellate Defender, Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals panel, and North Carolina Capital Defender. Rudy has an active appellate practice in both state and federal courts.  He has argued cases in the North Carolina Court of Appeals, the North Carolina Supreme Court, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, and the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C.  He is also admitted to practice in the United States Supreme Court.  He currently serves on the Local Rules Criminal Sub-Committee for the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina. Rudy has been an active member of the community.  He has served on a number of boards and volunteered for numerous civic organizations including Home Health Hospice, YMCA, New Bern Historical Society, Scouts, P.T.O., and other athletic, religious, and educational organizations. In their spare time, Rudy and his wife Joanne enjoy all outdoor activities, sports, and boating on the Trent and Neuse Rivers.         

Molly Perkins Harrison, Nags Head: As a lifelong North Carolinian, a graduate of East Carolina University and a resident of Nags Head for more than 30 years, Molly has become deeply passionate about the state’s coast and coastal plain. Her writing career, hobbies and interests have taken her throughout eastern North Carolina and its waterways for decades, giving her a deep appreciation for this diverse region of the state. With a campaign focused on safeguarding water quality, natural resources and quality of life, Molly was elected to the Nags Head Board of Commissioners in 2025, is currently serving a two-year term and will run again for a four-year term in 2027. Prior to Molly’s election, she served on the Nags Head Planning Board for six years and on several town working groups and committees, including the FOCUS Nags Head Comprehensive Land Use Plan Committee. Molly has also served on the boards of the Children and Youth Partnership for Dare County and the Dare County Arts Council, and volunteers with Dare County Schools and many local nonprofit organizations. Molly’s degree in English and writing from East Carolina University led her to work as a reporter, writer and editor for more than 30 years. She has written travel guides about the Outer Banks and North Carolina coast, a nonfiction book of stories about the Outer Banks, and hundreds of articles about eastern North Carolina and the coast for local, regional and national publications. Molly is a former editor of The Coast and Outer Banks Magazine, published by The Virginian-Pilot. She is currently managing editor of OuterBanksThisWeek.com and an editor with Wrightsville Beach Magazine, Topsail Magazine and three publications in Brunswick County.  Molly and her family center their lives around the waters of eastern North Carolina. Her husband and son are boatbuilders in Wanchese, avid Outer Banks fishermen and passionate Hyde County hunters. Molly’s daughter, a freshman at UNCW, is a surfer. Molly loves exploring eastern North Carolina’s rural areas and shorelines on foot and bicycle and its waterways by paddleboard, kayak or just about any type of boat. Her family knows firsthand what a special place eastern North Carolina is, and Molly would be proud to do a small part to preserve its natural resources for generations to come. 

Ryan Stancil, New Bern: Ryan is a storyteller and communications strategist based in eastern North Carolina. Born and raised in NC and a graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill, Ryan draws inspiration from the people, places, and traditions that define the American South, particularly along the North Carolina coast. He and his wife, photographer and creative director Baxter Miller, spend much of their time along the Outer Banks and throughout Down East, where work, recreation, and everyday life intertwine. His work as a writer and producer explores regional identity, community, culture, history, and the environment. Through journalism and multimedia storytelling, he creates narrative-driven projects that examine the relationship between people and place. He is a regular contributor to Our State magazine and serves as a producer for Vivian Howard’s PBS series. In 2017, he and Baxter founded Sandbox Collaborative, a creative agency that specializes in strategic communications, content creation, and brand development. Sandbox works with businesses—particularly in the food and travel space—as well as nonprofit organizations and cultural institutions.  His community work focuses on resilience and the future of coastal communities. He co-directed RISING, an NC Sea Grant Community Collaborative Research project, and helped establish the Down East Resilience Network (DERN), a regional initiative that brings together local leaders, researchers, and residents to strengthen the long-term resilience of Down East communities. You can usually find Ryan, Baxter, and their poodle, Calloway, somewhere between their home at the confluence of the Trent and Neuse Rivers in New Bern and their family cottage in Buxton Woods on Hatteras Island.