Casey Angel leads the global corporate communications for Longfellow Real Estate Partners, the largest privately held investor and developer of life science real estate with a portfolio that spans top bio-innovation clusters across the United States and United Kingdom. In this role, Casey sets and executes strategic initiatives to drive media relations, government advocacy, public and community messaging, emerging portfolio expansion, and more.

Before his time with Longfellow, he held executive communications and public policy roles with National & State Political Committees, Habitat for Humanity, Realtor Associations, and a prominent Washington D.C. consulting firm where he designed and implemented strategies for Congressional initiatives and federal policy decisions.

In addition to his work with leading media organizations worldwide, Casey has spearheaded the advocacy campaigns for notable private developments, state/federal investments, and bilateral trade agreements. He has presented and testified before governmental bodies across the United States, United Kingdom, and India, resulting in the approval of projects valued at over $6 billion for his companies, municipalities, and NGOs.

Ashley leads Wake County Economic Development’s comprehensive business expansion, recruitment, and relocation efforts focused on four key market segments: Information Technology, Life Sciences, Cleantech, and Advanced Manufacturing. As a component of this, she also oversees Wake County’s talent attraction, retention and pipeline strategy, focused on growing and recruiting highly skilled talent in the Triangle. Prior to joining WCED, Ashley was the Executive Director of the Montgomery County (NC) Economic Development Corporation.

Born and raised in Richmond County, NC on her parents' farm, Ashley holds a BA in Organizational Communications from UNC-Charlotte and a certificate in nonprofit management from Duke University. Ashley and her husband Andy moved to Holly Springs in 2014 and enjoy cheering on the Wolfpack and the Hurricanes with their three kids: Emma, Hall, and Eli.

Anthony Caison has worked in education for 30 years and has been with Wake Tech Community College since 1997 in several leadership positions including Chief Campus Officer for Wake Tech’s Western Wake and Public Safety Education Campuses. Anthony was appointed to the position of Vice President in 2013 and leads several divisions in providing Workforce Development and short-term training to Wake County’s citizens, corporations, small businesses, community-based organizations, municipalities and the public safety community. Anthony is a native of Southern Illinois and is also an Army veteran.

Adrienne Cole is the president and CEO of the Raleigh Chamber and leads the Triangle’s largest business membership organization representing two-thirds of the private sector employment in Wake County. In this role, Adrienne and her team support the interests of the local business community while building a thriving regional economy, enhancing the community’s quality of life, and strengthening member businesses. Adrienne’s core focus areas are economic development, diversity, equity and inclusivity, government affairs, transportation, workforce development, talent, entrepreneurship, leadership development, and supporting small business.

Adrienne is a graduate of Meredith College and received a master’s degree in public administration from Appalachian State University. Adrienne serves on numerous boards including the Board of Directors and Executive Committee of the Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives (ACCE), Chair of the Metro Cities Council of ACCE, the Board and Executive Committee of the Research Triangle Regional Partnership (RTRP), the Meredith College Board of Trustees and Chair of the Meredith College Business and Finance Committee, the Downtown Raleigh Alliance Board of Directors, The 50 Group Board of Directors, the City Club Raleigh Board of Governors and is a member of several business and civic organizations in the Triangle.

Under Adrienne’s leadership, the Chamber and Wake County Economic Development led economic development project wins totaling $5.24 billion and 23,600 jobs since 2014. Adrienne has been the recipient of the Triangle Business Journal’s Women in Business Award and CEO of the Year award. She has also been recognized by Business NC in their Power List. Adrienne was the recipient of the TCREW Impact Award in 2023. Adrienne and her husband Walt live in Raleigh and have three children.

William Davis grew up in Wake County. He graduated from UNC – Chapel Hill in Recreation Management. He has been employed with the Town of Cary since 1994 in the Parks, Recreation and Cultural Resources Department. He has been Sports Venues Manager since 1999 which, then, he supervised 2 full-time staff. Today he oversees the Sports Venues, community centers, and senior center and manages 33 full-time staff and approximately 150 part-time staff. He and his staff have experience in running national level events to local sports leagues. His staff oversees management of WakeMed Soccer Park, Cary Tennis Park, USA Baseball National Training Complex, Thomas Brooks softball complex, Middle Creek softball complex, recreational sports leagues, 26 multipurpose fields, 32 baseball/softball fields, three community centers, and a Senior Center. He also works closely with negotiating agreements with the NCFC, USA Baseball, naming rights sponsorships, college championships and Wake County Public Schools. Cary takes pride in managing/hosting top level championships like NCAA Championships, ACC Championships, national softball tournaments, large tennis tournaments, cross country events, USA Baseball games and NCFC matches.

Sherry DeVries has 40 years leadership experience in cultural institutions. Since 2002 she has served as Executive Director of the Durham Arts Council. She has led major initiatives including the Durham Cultural Master Plan; the Durham SmART Initiative – a creative placemaking program for downtown Durham; arts economic impact studies; reorganization and successful revitalization of 2 arts agencies; international marketing and public relations for Field Museum of Natural History; and redevelopment/grand opening work for Navy Pier, Chicago. While serving at the Field Museum, she was awarded the Publicity Club of Chicago’s “Golden Trumpet Award” for the top Midwest communications campaign. She received the Illinois “Governor’s Award for the Arts” in 1999.

In 2013, Ms. DeVries was recognized by the City of Durham annual Women’s Leadership Forum Awards, and in 2014 was selected for the Women of Achievement Award by Durham Magazine. In June 2019, DeVries and the Durham Arts Council were awarded national recognition from Americans for the Arts Public Art Year In Review for the top 50 public art projects in the U.S. and Canada with “Durham in Continuum – SmART Corcoran Garage Art Wrap” project.

Ms. DeVries holds a Master of Arts in Arts and Entertainment Management, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Arts Management. She has also provided consulting services to arts, cultural, and civic clients across the United States. In her 38 year arts career, she has raised over $20 million to support arts and culture from the public and private sectors. Under her leadership, the Durham Arts Council has grown services to the community 167% and launched many new partnerships.

Today, the DAC provides programs, services and support to over 300 arts and cultural organizations, over 2,000 artists, and more than 400,000 program participants and visitors each year that DAC serves through classes, artist residencies, exhibits, Art Walk, CenterFest Arts Festival, grant programs, technical support and training, creative placemaking and arts economy programs and research. She is responsible for the overall management and programming of the 52,000 sq. foot Arts Council building which programs or hosts nearly 5,000 events and programs each year in a variety of theatre, art, music, dance, film, educational, corporate and community events.

Scott Dupree is in his 30th year with GRSA, a division of the Greater Raleigh Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB). He focuses on long-range planning and strategy for the GRSA. This includes overseeing the implementation of the Destination 2028 sports initiatives within the Destination Strategic Plan for Wake County—including advocacy and support for new sports venues and facilities and overseeing relationships with the 12 local municipality parks and recreation departments within Wake County. Under his leadership, GRSA was named Sports Tourism Organization of the Year (for populations 250,000 and above) in 2015 by the National Association of Sports Commissions. In 2014, Dupree was named CVB & Sports Commission Professional of the Year by Connect Sports.

Prior to joining the Greater Raleigh CVB, he worked in college athletics at the University of North Carolina, the University of Notre Dame and Arizona State University. He is a native of Wilson, N.C., and a graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill. Dupree lives in Cary with his wife Monica and has two adult children, Davis and Savannah, both recent graduates of UNC-Chapel Hill.

Geoff Durham joined the Greater Durham Chamber of Commerce in 2016 as the President & CEO. Through Geoff’s leadership, the Chamber engages the business community, elected officials and regional partners in creating economic development strategies and initiatives. This collaboration fosters an innovative and inclusive business environment that generates opportunities for Durham and its residents to thrive.
Prior to joining the Durham Chamber, Geoff served as the President & CEO of the economic development organization, Downtown Durham, Inc., where he facilitated the development of new office, laboratory, and co-working spaces which provided new opportunities for existing businesses to expand and new businesses to relocate to Durham.

Prior to coming to Durham, Geoff served as the Director of Economic Development in Fairfax (Va.) and worked for Montgomery County (Md.) as the Manager of Downtown Silver Spring.

Geoff is a graduate of Randolph-Macon College in Virginia. He successfully completed professional certification for Economic Development at Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University and commercial finance at the Council of Development Finance Agencies. He resides in Durham with his wife, and currently has daughters at UNC-Chapel Hill and UNC-Charlotte.

Matt Gladdek has served as the VP of Economic Development for the Durham Chamber of Commerce since January 2023. During this time, he helped to bring in over 260 jobs and over $70 million in capital investments, as well as serving on the Durham Tech Community College Board of Trustees.

Prior to working at the Chamber, Matt was the Executive Director of the Chapel Hill Downtown Partnership where he led the organization through a new strategic plan, restructured and increased the staff, collaborated with multiple organizations on the pandemic response, doubled the organization's budget, and increased downtown foot traffic above pre-pandemic levels. Matt also worked at Downtown Durham, Inc. as the Director of Policy and Planning.

Originally hailing from Buffalo, New York, Gladdek went to college in Massachusetts and spent four years working at the state legislature in Boston. Realizing the next step in his career was graduate school, Matt enrolled at UNC-Chapel Hill and graduated with a Master’s Degree in City & Regional Planning and a Master’s in Public Administration. Gladdek has made Durham his home for over fifteen years.

Reginald Johnson serves as Director of the Durham, North Carolina Department of Community Development. Community Development is responsible for coordinating Durham’s federal and local housing resources while promoting affordable housing, neighborhood revitalization, and ending homelessness. Reginald is also the city liaison to Durham’s two city-owned theatres – the 1,100-seat historic Carolina Theatre built in 1926 and the 2,700-seat Durham Performing Arts Center (DPAC). Reginald has served as Community Development Director since August 2011. For seven and a half years, he previously served as senior assistant to the city manager.

A magna cum laude graduate of Southern University and A. & M. College in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Reginald also holds a Master of Public Policy degree from Duke University and a Juris Doctor from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is a member of the Louisiana and North Carolina bars. He serves on the board of directors of the Maureen Joy Charter School, Civic Local Foundation, and the Beta Theta Lambda Foundation. He is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. He also serves as Chair Pro-Tem of the Board of Stewards at St. Joseph AME Church.

Jerry Jones is the Executive Director, Center for Workforce Engagement at Durham Technical Community College. Jerry has over 30 years combined experience working within the private sector and community college system. Jerry is seasoned in his ability to analyze, assess, identify, and deliver high impact training offerings and workforce solutions that promote organizational growth, meet workforce demands, and contribute to employee enrichment. Jerry understands the tremendous value of collaboration, working collective with diverse partners and stakeholders to create and implement sustainable and measurable initiatives that benefit all. Jerry has worked with numerous organizations across different sectors including; telecommunications, advanced manufacturing, pharmaceutical, healthcare, life science, skilled trades, etc., and has partnered with multiple agencies including; workforce development, economic development, commission boards and chambers, governmental agencies, K-12 school system, etc., identifying critical funding resources and targeting underserved and underrepresented communities to implement strategic programs, including internship and apprenticeship opportunities that advance student success and job growth.

Jerry believes that diversity, equity, and inclusion in training, service offerings, and job placement must be at the core of all programs and activities in order to advance upward socioeconomic mobility for students and meet the growing demand of a dynamic workforce.

Jerry holds a Master of Science in Managerial Leadership from National-Louis University.

Scott Levitan was hired in August 2017 to lead the Research Triangle Foundation as its CEO & President. He has over 30 years of experience working in mixed-use development, with an emphasis on university-related research parks.

Under his leadership, RTP has entered a new era of transformation while enhancing its reputation as the anchor for innovation in the Triangle Region. In 2021, RTP achieved a record breaking year of investments and jobs announced, welcoming Apple, Eli Lilly, and Beam Therapeutics. Today, RTP continues to lead the transformation of the research park community in North America with the acceleration of startup community, Frontier RTP, the launch of experiential shipping container retail venue, Boxyard RTP, and the development of today’s $1.5 billion downtown, Hub RTP. In 2021, Scott received a CEO of the Year & C-Suite Award from the Triangle Business Journal.

Prior to his current role, Scott was the Vice President of Forest City Realty Trust and Development Director for the Science + Technology Park at Johns Hopkins and the New East Baltimore Community. He oversaw a $1.5 billion initiative directly adjacent to The Johns Hopkins University medical campus that includes life science research and office space, residential, retail, a new public park and a community school. Prior to that, he was the Executive Director of Real Estate Development for Georgia Institute of Technology, where he oversaw all real estate planning and development activities for the Institute. During his tenure, he oversaw the development of Technology Square, a 1.6 million-square-foot institutionally sponsored but privatized development initiative in Midtown Atlanta. From 1989-2001, Scott held various roles at Harvard University including Director of University and Commercial Real Estate.

Scott holds a masters degree in urban design from Harvard University, a masters in conservation studies from the University of York in York, England, and a bachelors in architecture from Louisiana State University. He is active and has served in a number of real estate and economic development organizations, including the Association of University Research Parks, Raleigh Chamber of Commerce, Durham Chamber of Commerce, Carolina Chamber for Chapel Hill and Carrboro and the International Association of Science Parks. Scott serves on the Planning and Design Commission at Georgia Tech and has recently been appointed to the Board of the Qatar Science & Technology Park.

Jonathan Melton has served as an at-large Raleigh City Council member since 2019. He serves as chair of the Economic Development & Innovation Committee and is Vice-Chair of the Transportation & Transit Committee. He currently serves as Mayor Pro Tem.

Council Member Melton is an attorney, exclusively practicing family law. He is a North Carolina Board Certified Specialist in Family Law and is a partner at the law firm of Gailor Hunt Davis Taylor & Gibbs, PLLC. He earned his undergraduate degree in political science from North Carolina State University and his Juris Doctor degree from North Carolina Central University School of Law.

Since 2011, Jeff Merritt is the Executive Director of the Centennial Authority. The Authority oversees operations of the PNC Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina, the 19,000-seat multi-purpose home of the Carolina Hurricanes and NC State University Men’s Basketball.

Prior to coming to the Centennial Authority, Jeff was Business Development Director for Clancy & Theys Construction Company from 2007 until 2011; Eastern Regional Director for Government Affairs for KB Home from 2003-2007; and Vice President for Government and Community Affairs for the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce from 1998 until 2003. He began his career in 1989 as a Press Assistant to then-North Carolina Governor Jim Martin.

Jeff is a graduate of Appalachian State University where he earned a bachelor’s in Political Science with a concentration in Communications and North Carolina State University where he earned a Master of Arts in Liberal Studies. He is a Fellow of the North Carolina Institute for Political Leadership and The German Marshall Fund of the United States. In 2007, he received a Marshall Memorial Fellowship. He was recognized in 2001 as one of the Triangle Business Journal’s “40 Under 40” and is a recipient of North Carolina’s Order of the Long Leaf Pine.

He serves on the Board of Directors for the Greater Raleigh Sports Alliance, and liaison to the Board of the Greater Raleigh Convention and Visitor’s Bureau. He is an Executive Committee member of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament Raleigh Regional Local Organizing Committee. He is immediate past president of the Appalachian State Alumni Council, Chairman of Appalachian State University’s Department of Communication Professional Advisory Board and former member of the University’s Board of Trustees and Foundation. He served from 2006 until 2013 as the Wake County Commissioner’s appointee to the Triangle Transit Authority Board of Trustees and served for more than two years as the agency’s Chairman. In 2005, he chaired Leadership Raleigh. He has had leadership roles in committees tasked with passing local and county bond efforts for school construction, transportation, parks and open space.

Ed Pagani, Ph.D., is the Assistant Vice President for External Partnerships and the Executive Director of the Office for External Partnerships (OEP) at Duke University. Pagani and the OEP team are building broader and deeper engagement between Duke faculty and industry, other universities, government agencies, and foundations for the purpose of forming regional and international partnerships. These partnerships will advance basic and translational research on the Duke campus as well as for Duke’s partners.

Pagani’s professional career spans both industry and academia with a focus on drug discovery, clinical diagnostics, and intellectual property transfer. Prior to joining Duke in 2022, he served more than eight years at the University of Michigan’s Office of Innovation Partnerships, including roles as Associate Director of Licensing, and Managing Director of Therapeutic Partnerships. Pagani has assumed various management and executive roles during his twenty-two years in the pharmaceutical industry that include leading drug discovery programs, and while at Pfizer heading an office responsible for strategic research alliances and in-licensing intellectual property. Pagani served as General Manager and Vice President of Molecular Diagnostics at Beckman Coulter and over a period of five years had executive oversight and accountability for an ISO 13485 chemical manufacturing facility and a nucleic acid sequencing and products division. He also served as CEO, North America for LGC Limited, a global life sciences tool company headquartered in Teddington, England.

Pagani received an AB in Psychology from Columbia University and a Ph.D. in Physiology from the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. Pagani was the recipient of the Albert J. Ryan Foundation fellowship and the University of Cincinnati Dean Dissertation Fellowship to support his doctoral education, and the recipient of a fellowship from the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation to support post-doctoral training at Brigham & Women’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Scott Ralls is the fourth president of Wake Technical Community College, North Carolina’s largest community college. Wake Tech is recognized for its "laddering" strategies to connect workforce and education opportunities and is ranked as a national leader in online education.

From 2015 to 2019, Ralls served as president of Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA), the second-largest multi-campus community college in the nation. During his NOVA tenure, he developed a unique partnership with Amazon Web Services that was named 2019 Education Partnership of the Year by Education Dive. The partnership grew into a statewide initiative to create seamless cloud computing degrees between Virginia's community colleges and universities. He also initiated ADVANCE, a nationally recognized joint admission program with George Mason University.

In May 2016, Ralls was named president emeritus of the North Carolina Community College System. His 20-year career in North Carolina included roles as president of the state system, president of Craven Community College and vice president of Economic and Workforce Development.

Ralls has been recognized as a Power 100 Business Leader by regional business publications for both the Washington, D.C., region (2017) and the state of North Carolina (2021 and 2022). He has testified six times to U.S. Senate or U.S. House committees or subcommittees on workforce development or student success innovations and policy. He was appointed by U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona as the higher education representative to the Telecommunications Workforce Working Group. He serves as co-chair of the national Community College Workforce Consortium and a member of the national Taskforce on Higher Education and Opportunity.

He earned his bachelor’s degree at UNC-Chapel Hill and master’s and doctoral degrees in Industrial and Organization Psychology from the University of Maryland.

He is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Distinguished Public Service Award from the North Carolina Chamber and the Order of the Long Leaf Pine, North Carolina's highest civilian honor.

Cara Rousseau, Chief Marketing Officer, joined Discover Durham in early 2017. Charged with leading the organization’s strategic marketing objectives, she also guides the organization’s group sales initiatives and partnerships efforts for the hospitality sector.

She comes to Discover Durham from Duke University, having been the manager of social and digital media strategy and an integral part of the communications team for more than six years. Her time spent building an active community of more than one million followers across Duke’s accounts is even more impressive considering the period in which it happened: when social media and digital spaces rapidly emerged and evolved to become the marketing vehicles they are today. Prior to Duke, Rousseau served as the director of partnership initiatives for the Research Triangle Foundation of North Carolina, which orchestrates industry, university and government collaborations to attract research, scientific and technology-based organizations to the Durham-based Research Triangle Park. She also has professional experience in local government, previously holding a position with City of Durham’s Office of Economic and Workforce Development and other local agencies.

Rousseau holds an MBA from the Kenan-Flagler Business School and an undergraduate degree in economics and political science, both from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Beyond her professional responsibilities, she is an active member of various community organizations, including the Scrap Exchange, Durham Rotary, and hospitality advisory boards for NCCU, Durham Tech, and Durham Public Schools. She has lived in the Triangle all her life, and currently resides with her partner in North Durham.

As Vice President of Real Estate, Mark oversees CBC’s approximately 3 million square feet of completed real estate projects and future development pipeline within the company.

Mark began his career at CBC in 2008 overseeing all office leasing and development/investment underwriting at CBC’s flagship project, the American Tobacco Campus in Durham, NC. He was later promoted to Director of Real Estate Development where he led CBC’s development efforts on office, hotel, and residential projects throughout the greater Triangle area.

Mark formerly served on the boards of the Carolina Theatre, Downtown Durham, Inc., and the Inter-Faith Food Shuttle and served as board treasurer with all three organizations. In addition, he is a 2012 Leadership Triangle Goodmon Fellow. A two-time graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill, Mark received Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Business Administration.

Mark, his wife Elise, and their two daughters Elisabeth and Kate live in Chapel Hill.

Commissioner Shinica Thomas, her husband Raymond and their sons, Eli and Khalid, have made Wake County home for more than two decades and is she one of the most enthusiastic leaders you’ll meet.

She grew up the daughter of Trinidadian immigrants. Her father served in the U.S. Army for over 20 years, and she traveled the world as an Army brat. She later went on to serve as a military spouse during her husband Raymond’s time in the Air Force. Those travels taught her at an early age how to adapt and work well with many different types of people.

Shinica was dedicated to public service long before she joined the board in 2020. Previously, she worked for the North Carolina Community College System in the Information Technology and Workforce Development department and as a Human Resources professional writing policy and conducting grievance and mediation sessions in the workplace. Using learned techniques of understanding group dynamics and personality models, Commissioner Thomas is one who understands and values the input and opinions of others how to work with people of various backgrounds and beliefs.

Kyle Touchstone brings over 18 years of experience in economic development. A Mississippi native, Kyle has led economic development efforts through similar public-private partnerships in Northeast Mississippi; Tallahassee, Florida; Chatham County, North Carolina; and the Dallas suburb of Irving-Las Colinas, Texas.

Most recently, Raleigh celebrated the recruitment wins of life science manufacturer Indivor, the North American service center for Audemars Piguet, the U.S. headquarters of Japan Tobacco International and Jewelers Mutual Group's U.S. Innovation Hub. Kyle has also been instrumental in recruitment projects such as Toyota Motor Manufacturing in Mississippi, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters in Knoxville, and McKesson’s headquarters relocation from San Francisco to Irving, Texas.

Kyle holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Communication from Mississippi State University and completed the Economic Development Institute (EDI) certificate program at the University of Oklahoma. In 2017, Touchstone was recognized by the Triangle Business Journal as a 40 Under 40 Leadership Award winner.

Mayor Leonardo (Leo) Williams is a former teacher and school administrator. He was elected to the Durham City Council in December 2021 and sworn in as mayor in December 2023. Mayor Williams is a proud graduate of North Carolina Central University, earning a bachelor’s degree in Music Education and a master's degree in Educational Leadership. While attending NCCU, Leo met his wife, Zweli, and they are the proud parents of their son, Izaiah Williams.

Mayor Williams was recognized twice by Durham Public Schools as Teacher of the Year and was also recognized by the Triangle Business Journal with a “40 Under 40” award for producing innovative practices in education. He transitioned from full-time educator to full-time small business owner when he and his wife opened Zweli's, the first full-service authentic Zimbabwean restaurant in the United States.

While serving on the City Council, Mayor Williams continues to apply his experience and passion in education, entrepreneurship, and commitment to addressing deep social issues to make Durham a united community that provides safety and prosperity.