Admin
Jennifer Warren
Executive Director
Western Youth Network
Caroline Davis
Director of Events & Operations
Western Youth NetworkStudent Programs
Heather Canipe
Director of Student Programs
Western Youth Network
Kiersten Kleene
Watauga Afterschool Lead Programmer
Western Youth Network
Gabbie Lee
Watauga Afterschool Programmer
Western Youth Network
Sarah Collins
Watauga Afterschool Programmer
Western Youth Network
Taylor Lewis
Watauga Afterschool Programmer
Western Youth Network
Kelsey Ferrell
Ashe Afterschool Programmer
Western Youth Network
Tara Worley
Ashe Afterschool Programmer
Western Youth Network
Rita Jordan
Ashe Afterschool Programmer
Western Youth Network
Svea Hulstedt
Ashe Afterschool Programmer
Western Youth Network
Chanecka Schellhorn
Sparta Afterschool Lead Programmer
Western Youth Network
Alexis Pardue
Sparta Afterschool Programmer
Western Youth Network
John Vujnovich
Sparta Afterschool Programmer
Western Youth Network
Elizabeth Davis
Glade Creek Afterschool Lead Programmer
Western Youth Network
Molly Andrews
Glade Creek Afterschool Programmer
Western Youth NetworkMentoring
Angela McMann
Director of Mentoring
Western Youth Network
Carla Parker
School-Based Mentoring Coordinator
Western Youth Network
Haley McKinney
Avery Mentoring Program Manager
Western Youth NetworkCommunity Health
Amber Dixon
Director of Community Health Initiatives
Western Youth Network
Jessica Howard
Ashe/Alleghany Community Health Coordinator
Western Youth Network
Tiffany Moon
Avery Community Health Coordinator
Western Youth Network
Jonathan Sheppard
Avery Youth Prevention Assistant
Western Youth Network
Brittany Duncan
Watauga Community Health Coordinator
Western Youth NetworkBoard of Directors
Greg Lovins
Chair of the Board
Member Since 2019
Member Since 2019
After over 30 years in higher education administration, including 25 years at Appalachian State, Greg is now a Director at First Tryon Advisors of Charlotte. He was introduced to WYN via several sources but especially through his wife, Claudine, a middle school teacher with Watauga County Schools, who speaks about the amazing work of the WYN team on a regular basis. Greg and Claudine reside in Boone and are the proud parents of Caroline, a 2019 graduate of Appalachian State, and Mary, a sophomore at UNC-Chapel Hill.
Heidi Ragan
Vice Chair of the Board
Member Since 2019
Member Since 2019
Heidi is the Watauga District Manager for Blue Ridge Energy. As a proud graduate of Appalachian State University, she is excited to be back in the mountains serving a community she loves. Heidi began her professional career with Appalachian State University and then spent six years working in Hickory, NC where she volunteered with numerous non-profit boards. She joined the Blue Ridge Energy family in early 2017 as the Training and Development Manager at the corporate office and transitioned to her current role in January 2019. Her and her family live in the Vilas area and are enjoying rediscovering this area they call home.
Brenda Bradley Lowman
Treasurer
Member Since 2016
Member Since 2016
Brenda graduated from ASU in 1979 with a degree in Recreation/Business Management and never left the High Country! She has served the community’s youth in a variety of ways and raised two amazing daughters. In 2015, she retired from the Mast General Store as the Training and Event Coordinator.
As a Board Member, it is my distinct honor to support the devoted WYN staff in their mission.
Tucker Deal
Secretary
Member Since 2016
Member Since 2016
Tucker is a native of Boone, an Attorney with the firm Deal, Moseley & Smith, LLP, and an adjunct instructor of business law at Appalachian State University. He believes strongly in WYN’s mission to provide each child with the opportunity to succeed regardless of circumstance, and that when we lift up and support the children of our community we strengthen our shared foundation for years to come. When not working, he can be found running the local trails and climbing rocks with his dog, Mister.
Bob Holder
Member Since 2013
Bob and his wife, Carolyn, moved to Boone in 1983 to raise their three children in a mountain community. Bob and Carolyn are the developers and co-owners of Donor Express Software. As a Boy Scout leader, Bob learned the value of changing youth behaviors through positive influences. He became an avid supporter of WYN when he saw the same philosophy at work changing young lives.
Wayne J. Miller, III.
Member Since 2013
Wayne is a Senior Wealth Management Advisor with Merrill Lynch in Charlotte. He owns Footsloggers as well as several local favorite restaurants. He and his wife, Jenny, live in Blowing Rock where they raised three children.
Wysteria White
Member Since 2014
Wysteria is the Director of Public Relations for the Boone Area Chamber of Commerce where she has served for more than 15 years. Wysteria is also a WYN Community-Based Mentor and a founding member of the Watauga Compassionate Communities Initiative. Wysteria has a son who benefited from WYN’s programs.
“As a single Mom I would not have been able to stay in this community and raise my son without WYN.”
Billie Brandon Howell
Member Since 2015
Billie is past President of Deer Valley Development Corporation, a family owned business that has provided recreational opportunities for Watauga County and seasonal residents of the High Country for over thirty years. She has been a community volunteer for numerous organizations and currently serves on the Board of Trustees for the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation and the Advisory Board of the Women’s Fund of the Blue Ridge.
Dave Robertson
Member Since 2016
Dave is a graduate of Lenoir-Rhyne University and University of Georgia. He has over 42 years experience as a student development educator and middle school teacher. He and his wife, Karen, have been married for 48 years and have three grown children and five granddaughters. Dave also serves on several other community Boards for the arts and nature conservation and is an active member of Boone United Methodist Church.
Cindy Wallace
Member Since 2016
Cindy has been a part of the Boone community for over three decades. With husband Allen Moseley, raising their sons in these beautiful mountains, she was first introduced to WYN during a long career at Appalachian State University. Cindy serves with WYN because she believes it is nurturing better citizens, families, and communities.
Greyson Summey
Member Since 2021
Greyson is the owner of Revolution Boone, a cycling studio dedicated to give back to local nonprofits. Before opening this philanthropic business, Greyson taught middle school math to at-risk youth in rural Tennessee and inner city Philadelphia. Her passion to support vulnerable youth and local nonprofits lead Greyson to WYN. She avidly supports WYN and feels every child deserves a chance to thrive. She resides in Boone with her husband Brett, and children Brett and Poppy.
Jessa Sebastian
Member Since 2024
Jessa is the Training Coordinator and Executive Assistant at the Mast General Store. Jessa has always encouraged her two young daughters to “look for the helpers,” and after she and her husband moved to Boone in 2017, WYN was one of the first organizations their family noticed. After years of work in rural school settings, Jessa knows the mission of WYN is not only important, but vital. She is grateful to the WYN staff and volunteers for the essential work they do. Jessa also serves in various ways throughout the community, mainly focusing on youth and leadership development.
Advisory Board
Hanes Boren
Member Since 2016
Hanes, a 45-year resident of the High Country, is the Founder of Ski First Tracks and Footsloggers of Boone. His wife, Lida, and he have two children and three grandchildren living in Colorado and England. Hanes open Footsloggers in 1971 and Ski First Tracks in 1984 and has since sold both businesses. He is now retired from retail and gives much of his time and energy to community causes. He is an active member of Boone Sunrise Rotary and a founder of the Men for WYN movement to address the crisis of male mentorship facing WYN’s Community-Based Mentoring program.
Gary Gloster
Member Since 2016
Gary Gloster is a retired Suffragan Bishop of North Carolina who began his ordained ministry in Indiana. Most recently Gary served as the priest for Blowing Rock’s St. Mary of the Hills Episcopal Church. At the time of his election as Bishop Suffragan, Gloster was in his seventh year serving as the vicar of the Chapel of Christ the King in the underserved and impoverished Optimist Park neighborhood of Charlotte. Working in Charlotte and serving a newly-formed inner-city mission reflected Gloster’s long-standing commitment to social justice. As Bishop, Gloster brought this generous, passionate and pastoral sensibility into the life of the Diocese. He also made good use of his well-established talents in clown ministry, most notably at his own consecration, when he invited the Presiding Bishop, among others, to don clown noses. He consistently called upon the Episcopal Church to witness to the truth of and to give voice to the suffering and the neglected members of the human family.
Richard Sparks
Member Since 2016
Richard Sparks was President and Chief Executive Officer for Appalachian Regional Healthcare System for 38 years before he retired in 2017. Richard currently teaches in the Computer Information Systems & Supply Chain Management Department of the Walker College of Business at his alma mater, Appalachian State University (ASU). He received his undergraduate degree from ASU in Health Care Management in 1976 before subsequently obtaining his MBA there in 1978. He is a Fellow in the American College of Healthcare Executives and served on the ACHE Council of Regents from 1996 to 2000.
Harry Davis
Member Since 2017
A giant North Carolina’s finance and banking community, Harry Davis, PhD, is now a professor in the Walker College of Business at Appalachian State University (ASU). Dr. Davis is the Professor of Banking (1980) and Economist (1981) for the North Carolina Bankers Association; a professor of Finance and past Chair of the Department of Finance, Banking, and Insurance at Appalachian State University (1981-1998); the Dean for the North Carolina School of Banking; an instructor for the Director’s College sponsored by the North Carolina Commissioner of Banks and the FDIC; and an instructor for the North Carolina Insurance Executive Management School and the South Carolina School of Banking. In addition to these honors, Dr. Davis is active in the consulting field and has presented seminars to business groups in North Carolina as well as nationwide. He puts together feasibility plans, business plans and valuations for both financial and nonfinancial corporations.
Chuck Mantooth
Member Since 2019
Charles "Chuck" Mantooth is the President & Chief Executive Officer of the Appalachian Regional Healthcare System (ARHS), the second largest employer in Watauga County. Chuck is a dedicated father, husband and member of the Boone United Methodist Church worship band. He graduated from Appalachian State University with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration (Healthcare Management) in 1990 and from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2006 with a Master of Public Health. He is a Fellow of The American College of Healthcare Executives and has served on numerous boards including the North Carolina Hospital Association (NCHA) Board of Trustees, the NCHA Policy Development Committee, Appalachian State University Honors College Partnership Board, and The American College of Healthcare Executives Regent Advisory Committee. When asked to join the WYN Advisory Board, Chuck said he was honored to join a team so dedicated to making a difference.
Kim Shepherd
Member Since 2019
Kim Shepherd is the CEO of SkyLine Membership Corporation in West Jefferson, NC. She has worked for the cooperative for the past 22 years and assumed her current role in July 2018. Prior to being named CEO, she served as Chief Management Officer from 2016-2018 overseeing all operations of the company. She has also provided leadership in the areas of customer service operations through her responsibilities as Executive Director of Customer Operations from 2011 – 2016 and Customer Service and Sales Manager from 2002 – 2011. Kim holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Mathematics and Secondary Education from Appalachian State University and a Master of Business Administration from Gardner-Webb University. She serves on various industry boards including Carolina West Wireless, Telecom Insurance Group, Access/On Multimedia, Inc., Carolina/Virginias Telephone Membership Association, North Carolina Telephone Cooperative Coalition, Tennessee Broadband Association, and South Carolina Telecommunications and Broadband Association. Kim and her husband, Derek, reside in Warrensville, NC and they have two children. They are members of Pleasant View Baptist Church in Lansing, NC.
Charlie and Ann Baker
Member Since 2021
Ann and Charlie Baker came to Crossnore in 1979 having both grown up loving the high country. Ann, an artist and graphic designer, has taught art in the community college as well as helping local nonprofits with their graphic design needs. She has been a Crossnore community organizer and active in her support of the Avery County YMCA and Blue Ridge Conservancy. Charlie is a family doctor and pediatrician and retired 2 years ago after 40 years of practice in Crossnore and Linville. He delivered around 2000 babies, many from Boone and Ashe county. For twenty years he delivered babies for women he had delivered. He remains active in the medical community, teaching new residents in the Appalachian family practice residency in Boone.
Brad Wilson
Member Since 2021
Brad Wilson is CEO Emeritus of BlueCross BlueShield of NC. He and his wife Carole are both alumni of ASU and early in their professional careers lived in Lenoir where Brad practiced law and Carole was a public school teacher. They both have watched the positive impact WYN has had on the lives of young people in the region, so when Brad retired from BCBSNC a in 2018, he joined the Advisory Board. Brad and Carole reside in Raleigh where their two adult children and the four grandsons live but they spend as much time as possible at their home in Blowing Rock.
After serving as General Counsel to Governor James B Hunt from 1992-96, Brad joined BCBSNC as General Counsel. He became President and CEO in 2010. Since leaving BCBSNC, he has remained engaged in academia, public service, consulting and corporate and non-profit Board work. He served 16 years as a member of the UNC System Board of Governors, and served four years as the Chair of that Board. Brad is a member of the N.C. Business Hall of Fame and is a recipient of the Order of the Long Leaf Pine, NC’s highest civilian honor.
Bricca Sweet
Member Since 2022
Bricca and Sonny moved to Watauga County with their two youngest children in 1995, following their respective Army careers. Bricca had taught school before entering the Army, to include a year at an alternative school in Idaho. She returned to education, serving as the first Grants Officer in Watauga County Schools, and then started her own grants consulting business, specializing in programs for at-risk youth. Bricca’s doctorate in Educational Leadership is from App State. She and Sonny chose WYN for Sonny’s memorial fund after his terminal cancer diagnosis because of their shared passion for helping those who most need extra help. Bricca lives in Boone with her daughter, a school teacher, son-in-law, and two precious granddaughters.
Jan Rienerth
Emeritus, 2015
Janice G. Rienerth, Ph.D. is a retired professor emeritus of the Sociology Department at Appalachian State University. Currently, she serves as Chair of the Women’s Fund of the Blue Ridge, as a Guardian ad Litem with the juvenile court system and as an advisor for Sigma Kappa sorority. Jan spent 30 years on the Board of Directors for Western Youth Network, an organization she helped to create. Jan has devoted her life and career to working with and advocating for children, youth and college aged students.
Jerry Moore
Emeritus, 2016
Coach Moore is the former head football coach at Appalachian State University (ASU) where he coached from 1989 to 2012. During his career, he compiled a college football coaching record of 242–134–2 over 24 years. He led his 2005 ASU Mountaineers team to the NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship, and then repeated as champions in 2006 and 2007, achieving the first “three-peat” in NCAA Division I FCS/I-AA history. He has since been selected for inclusion into the Southern Conference Hall of Fame, and the College Football Hall of Fame. (2014) A devoted family man, Moore is married to Margaret and they have three children: Chris, Scott and Elizabeth, and six grandchildren.
134 Doctors Drive, Boone, NC 28607
(Watauga Office)
(828) 264-5174
(828) 264-0838
info@westernyouthnetwork.org
2951 Tynecastle Hwy, Banner Elk, NC 28604
(Avery Office)
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At WYN, we value what makes you unique, in fact, we celebrate it. We believe that when people feel respected, it provides space for them to thrive. Inclusion and acceptance fosters a safe environment for everyone. WYN is committed to providing a safe space for all, regardless of race, gender, age, religion, identity, ability, and experience. Together, we explore diverse perspectives to propel our initiatives forward and transform the High Country community. Everyone is welcome here, authentically and holistically.
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