We are a student movement to address global poverty. We are here because we believe that a better world is possible. We believe that all lives have equal value. We believe that communities are best positioned to know and meet their needs.
We are…
A Network of Chapters, which acts as a platform for us to translate our good intentions into powerful, sustainable outcomes
A National Office, which trains, mentors and connects the movement
A Board of Directors, which provides our movement with the financial, strategic and legal oversight and support that it needs to actualize its potential for impact
A community of Supporters, Partner Organizations and Alumni, which contributes time, local knowledge and finances to advance the movement
Staff
Kelly Leonhardt Phoenix, Executive Director
Kelly Leonhardt Phoenix is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a double major in Economics and Dramatic Arts. Kelly joined Nourish from Urban Ministries of Wake County where she served as the Manager of Development and Communications for nearly two years. While at Urban Ministries, Kelly worked with local poverty to raise awareness and funds through major campaigns for over 24,000 people in need each year. Kelly is a member of the Association of Fundraising Professionals Triangle and the UNC Young Alumni Leadership Council. Kelly served as the 2012 Event Co-Chair for Band Together NC, North Carolina’s largest charity music festival where she assisted in raising $552,000 for the uninsured indigent poor in Wake County. Funding from the event went to the Urban Ministries Open Door Clinic to add additional patients in 2012- 2014. She is an outstanding community volunteer with Band Together, Dress for Success Triangle, Passage Home, UNC Young Alumni Leadership Council, and many other non-profit organizations. Kelly is well traveled, having visited Central and South America, Europe, and the Middle East. She currently resides in Durham, North Carolina and enjoys theater, live comedy, music, reading, and travel.
Sarah Miller, Program Director
An advocate for the power and sustainability of grassroots development, Sarah cares deeply about engaging students and empowering communities to make a difference on global poverty. Sarah holds a B.A from Pomona College in international politics with a community development and African politics focus. While at Pomona, Sarah studied abroad in Cameroon, learning first hand the benefits of participatory community-led development efforts. After graduating in 2009, Sarah spent a year teaching English to elementary school children in southwestern France. She spent the 2010- 2011 school year with Nourish working as the International Projects Coordinator and the 2011-12 year as the Chapter Coordinator. In her spare time, Sarah enjoys singing, cooking and spending time outside.
Board of Directors
Lee Buck, Board Chairman
Lee Buck brings a wealth of for-profit entrepreneurial experience to Nourish’s Board of Directors. Lee is a principal of LaunchBox Digital LLC, one of the nationally recognized accelerator programs for early stage technology companies. LaunchBox provides seed capital and a structured educational and support program coupled with extensive social networks to help companies find explosive growth. This work complements Buck’s activities as founder of Blue Bright Ventures LLC, which invests in early stage technology companies in the Southeast. Prior to his investment activities, Buck built a succession of software companies that anticipated and benefited from successive waves of technology adoption. Buck serves on a number of corporate and non-profit boards and is the founder and chief technology officer of Near-Time.
Ryan Allis
Ryan is the founder of iContact, an online marketing platform for companies and organizations around the world. Ryan launched iContact at the age of 19 and now serves as the company’s CEO. In the first four years, Ryan took the company from his dorm room to Research Triangle Park, where he now leads over 200 employees. Ryan has authored a book, Zero to One Million, describing how to go from a blank slate to $1 million in sales.
Holly Lewis
Holly holds a MBA in marketing from the UNC-Chapel Hill Kenan-Flagler Business School. She is an independent marketing and advertising professional. Her previous experience includes working as retail manager for John Wanamaker Marketing and in brand management for Sara Lee Hosiery.
Jud Bowman
Jud is the president and CEO of Appia and led the acquisition of PocketGear from Motricity in June 2008. Prior to this, he co-founded Motricity and was instrumental in raising $400 million of venture capital and growing Motricity to more than $100 million in annual revenues and 500 employees globally. Jud has been named one of the world’s “Top 100 Young Innovators” by MIT’s Technology Review and one of “Tech’s Best Young Entrepreneurs” by Business Week in 2007. He was also recognized as a winner of Carolina’s Ernst & Young “Entrepreneur of the Year” award in 2001. Jud is currently on leave from Stanford University, where he has been named a President’s Scholar, and is a graduate of the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics.
Buck Goldstein
Buck Goldstein is the University entrepreneur in residence and a senior lecturer in the Department of Economics at UNC-Chapel Hill. Prior to returning to the university, Goldstein co-founded Information America, an online information company that was publicly traded and acquired by the Thomson Corporation. Subsequently, he was a partner in Mellon Ventures, the venture capital arm of Mellon Bank. He is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill and an honors graduate of the UNC Law School.
Neil Bagchi
Neil Bagchi currently serves as president of Incanus Advisors and director of Southeast business development at Nair & Co., an integrated solution for human resources, finance, tax, and legal needs for international businesses. Neil graduated from the UNC Law School in 2004 after receiving a B.A. with honors in political science at UNC-Chapel Hill. As an undergraduate, Neil was awarded the Morehead Scholarship, UNC-Chapel Hill’s most prestigious undergraduate scholarship. He was also president of Students for the Advancement of Race Relations and the captain of the UNC-Chapel Hill rugby team. Neil founded the Entrepreneurial Law Association and is a member of the Pro Bono board.
Chris Bingham
Chris Bingham is an entrepreneur who pursues opportunities that allow for creative freedom. He has developed skills around managing people, innovative marketing, building relationships, and strong financial management. Chris seeks challenging and unique opportunities with organizations that conduct business with high integrity. He co-founded Riley Life after the wondrous birth of his daughter, Riley. Upon receiving his MBA from UNC, Chris became fully equipped to be the lean, mean, CEO machine that we know and love.
Marcia Angle
Marcia Angle joins the Nourish board with 17 years of experience as medical director of the International Training in Health Program, overseeing the quality of training provided by IntraHealth in dozens of developing countries, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. Her publications have focused on reproductive health in the developing world and include training manuals and clinical guidelines done in collaboration with the World Health Organization. Dr. Angle also served for 15 years as medical director of the Orange County Health Department. Since 2002, she has been an adjunct professor at Duke’s Nicholas School of the Environment. Marcia holds a B.A. from Harvard University, an MD from Duke University, and an MPH from UNC, and completed residencies in both family medicine (at Duke) and preventive medicine (at UNC). She currently sits on the advisory boards of the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health and Duke Gardens.
Nicole Devereaux, Student Board Member
Nicole Devereaux is a senior at the University of New Mexico. She is working on her bachelor’s degree, majoring in sociology and biology. She recently returned from an exchange semester at the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom and is excited to get back to work with the Ventures committee at UNM. After her time abroad in Europe and her experiences with her Nourish chapter in Nicaragua, Nicole is passionate about sustainability and using globalization as a force for good. When she has the chance, Nicole loves to travel, laugh, and listen to new music.
John McCreary, Student Board Member
John is a senior at the University of Texas at Austin and will be graduating in December of 2012 with a B.A. in Geography and a minor in Business. For the past eleven years, he has worked in restaurant management. Since the fall of 2009, he has been highly involved in the Nourish Austin Chapter, during which time he has served as a Student Advisory Board Chapter Representative, Human Resources Director, International Projects Director, and as Project Leader on three projects. He believes that one of the critical keys to sustainable development is to ensure equitable access to quality education for all, regardless of socioeconomic status. Hence, upon finishing his term as an SAB Co-Chair, he plans to continue preparing for a career in development by pursuing a Master’s of Education degree. One of his highest priorities in the upcoming year is to help fortify the SAB by ensuring that it has a strong foundation to build upon, thereby allowing it to conduct productive dialogue between the chapters and the Board. In his spare time, he enjoys gardening, kayaking, playing with his dog, and interacting with children.
Jim Kitchen
After graduating from UNC-Chapel Hill in 1987 with a degree in Russian and Eastern European studies, Jim started a tour operation business. In 2005, after 18 years at the helm, he sold this company to TUI Travel, a multinational travel conglomerate based in the UK, and helped build TUI Travel into one of the largest student travel companies in the world. Currently, Jim is the president of Real Property Development, a commercial real estate business specializing in multi-family and triple-net acquisitions. Having learned some of the most important lessons of his life while sleeping in grass huts in Nicaragua and building schools in Costa Rica, Jim recognizes the value of Nourish International’s social and entrepreneurial mission. His foreign travel, study, and business experiences have taught him invaluable lessons on respecting the cultural differences within our global community.
Evan Ashkin
Evan Ashkin is an associate professor of family medicine at UNC-Chapel Hill. He comes to Nourish with a life-long interest and commitment to working with underserved populations both in the U.S. and globally. Evan teaches family medicine to medical students and residents at UNC and directs a residency training track in underserved family medicine in partnership with Piedmont Health Services. He is the lead faculty at UNC for a Health Promotion and Disease Prevention program in rural central Mexico, which also focuses on food security issues. Additionally, Evan works for AccessCare, part of Community Care of North Carolina, creating disease management programs for chronically ill Medicaid patients. He was also the founder of the Health Care for the Homeless program in Albany, N.Y. Evan received his MD from Tufts University School of Medicine and completed his family medicine residency training at the University of California at San Francisco.
Dee Blake
Dee Blake is the Director of Development at Duke HomeCare and Hospice. After earning a degree in Journalism, Marketing and Communications from the University of Hawaii at Manoa, Dee worked with such esteemed organizations as UNC-Chapel Hill, Triangle United Way, YWCA of the Greater Triangle, Easter Seals UCP North Carolina and Duke HomeCare and Hospice. Dee is deeply involved with the Association of Fundraising Professionals, serving on the Board of Directors for many years.
Sumit Vohra
Sumit is the chief executive officer of LoneRider Brewery. He is responsible for the overall strategy, marketing, and sales functions of the brewery. You can find him juggling a soccer ball while playing guitar and drinking (unfortunately he tries to do all at the same time). Prior to working at LoneRider, Sumit was a senior consultant at Quintiles, advising pharmaceutical companies on statistically effective clinical trials, and manager of business operations at Cisco for a networking solutions.