STAFF - in alphabetical order
Edyael Casaperalta
Program and Research Associate
Edyael worked with Rural Strategies in our efforts in the Gulf Coast in the fall and winter of 2006-2007 as a consultant and has recently joined the full-time staff.
She has worked with the Llano Grande Center for Research and Development, a nonprofit organization dedicated to educational pursuits and community youth leadership, beginnning when she was a sophomore at Edcouch-Elsa High School in Elsa, Texas. She was born in Mexico and immigrated to the United States when she was 12, graduated from E-E HS in 2001. Edyael is one of four founders of the Llano Grande Center’s Spanish Language Immersion Institute, and she led several community based research initiatives in her rural South Texas home town.
She received her BA from Occidental College in Los Angeles and has just completed a master's program in Latin American Studies at Ohio University in Athens.
Teresa Collins
Operations Coordinator
Teresa comes from Carcassonne, Kentucky where several generations of her family maintain a vibrant community life that practices the traditions of quilting and square dancing.
Teresa worked as a community organizer for Kentuckians for the Commonwealth (KFTC) for over six years. She organized members who were working towards solving problems facing eastern Kentucky, including strip mining, excessive logging, abuses of oil and gas drilling on private surface property where the mineral underneath is held by companies, and reforming the state’s welfare system.
Most recently, Teresa worked as the administrator and fundraiser for Mountain Montessori Preschool in Whitesburg, KY. The preschool provides early childhood education using the Montessori method of teaching and is the county's only childcare option for very young children that goes beyond babysitting.
Teresa lives in Whitesburg, Kentucky.
Katharine Pearson Criss
Vice President for Asset Development
Katharine is the founding executive director of the East Tennessee Foundation, which serves 24 counties that are mainly rural. In 1995, at the invitation of the Ford Foundation, she traveled to Kenya for the first time to help Kenyan leaders explore the possibility of establishing their own community foundation. Katharine later became the Ford Foundation’s representative for Eastern Africa, where she focused on helping build community philanthropy. Katharine is also former president of Appalshop, the Appalachian arts and media center based in Whitesburg, Kentucky, and was founder of The Play Group, Inc., a community-based arts organization and theater company.
Katharine has served as a member of the National Advisory Board for Rural LISC, a member and chairman of the board of the Southeastern Council of Foundations, and is currently a member of the board of Winrock International.
Katharine holds a bachelor’s degree in English and a master’s in theater from the University of Tennessee.
Dee Davis
President
Dee Davis is the founder and president of the Center for Rural Strategies. Dee has helped design and lead national public information campaigns on topics as diverse as commercial television programming and federal banking policy.
Dee began his media career in 1973 as a trainee at Appalshop, an arts and cultural center devoted to exploring Appalachian life and social issues in Whitesburg, Kentucky. As Appalshop's executive producer, the organization created more than 50 public TV documentaries, established a media training program for Appalachian youth, and launched a number of initiatives that use media as a strategic tool in organization and development.
Dee formally served as president and chairman of the board of the Independent Television Service, president of Kentucky Citizens for the Arts, and as a panelist and consultant to numerous private and public agencies.
Dee is a member of the Local Initiatives Support Corporation of the Rural Advisory Committee and a member of the board of directors of Appalshop. He is also a member of the Institute for Rural Journalism’s national advisory board.
He received an English degree from the University of Kentucky. Dee lives in Whitesburg, Kentucky.
Tim Marema
Vice President for Communications
Tim entered the non-profit media field after a seven-year career in daily newspaper journalism. In 1988 he helped found the Chapel Hill (North Carolina) Herald, a daily edition of the Herald-Sun of Durham. He served as editor of the newspaper for five years before joining Appalshop as development director in 1992.
Tim has been a grants panelist for agencies such as the National Endowment for the Arts, the Kentucky Arts Council, the National Telecommunications Infrastructure Administration, and Kentucky's AmeriCorps program. He has also been active in regional organizations such as the Coalition on Religion in Appalachia and the Kentucky Appalachian Commission Citizen's Council.
Tim is a musician and, with his wife, Liz McGeachy, has released four recordings of music inspired by traditional Appalachian music.
He is a graduate of Berea (Kentucky) College and holds a master's degree in journalism from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He lives in Norris, Tennessee.
Chavvah Lister
Communications & Development Associate
Chavvah has worked in a variety of communications organizations, including KABF 88.3 FM in Little Rock, Arkansas, where she was the Project Director for a tobacco prevention and education program. During her time at KABF, she wrote grants, participated in community outreach and hosted/produced a weekly radio show.
Chavvah is a graduate of Oakwood College (B.A., Communications/Electronic Media) and the University of Tennessee (M.S., Communication & Information/Public Relations).
Chavvah joined the staff of the Center for Rural Strategies as a Communications and Development Associate in September 2007. She currently resides in Knoxville, Tennessee.
Marty Newell
Chief Operating Officer
At age 17, Marty was a founding member of Appalshop, where he served in a variety of key management and production positions for 17 years. He has served as an executive director of the Kentucky Arts Council, general manager of Austin (Texas) Community Television, and development director for the Connecticut Food Bank. Marty served as a regional staff member for the Rural School & Community Trust, a national network that promotes place-based education and strengthening bonds between schools and their communities.
As a private consultant, he worked as part of evaluation and research projects in community development, civil societies, and organizational behavior for agencies such as the U. S. Department of Agriculture, Appalachian Regional Commission, and East Kentucky Leadership Network.
Marty received his bachelor's degree in film and Appalachian studies from the Union Institute. He resides in Lexington, Kentucky.
Shawn Poynter
Communications Associate & Photographer
Shawn Poynter has worked as a photojournalist at newspapers across the country, the most recent being in Springfield, Illinois. In January 2002, however, Poynter gave up the life of a free-wheeling staff photographer and embarked upon a career as a free-wheeling freelance photographer before landing in Whitesburg in July 2002. Shawn now works as the Center for Rural Strategies' resident jack-of-all-trades.
When not working at the Center for Rural Strategies, Shawn is usually working on either his photography or his computer.
Poynter graduated with a BA in photojournalism from Western Kentucky University in 1999.
|
