Sadie Brewington Barbour, Secretary (Eastern Region)

Sadie is a member of the Coharie Indian Tribe and serves as an advocate in the community. She is employed as Program Director of the Community Services Program by the N.C. Commission of Indian Affairs where she advocates for services for the elderly and disabled and sits on the Board of the National Indian Parent Information Center. Sadie is a parent of a child with a developmental disability and is a representative for her adult brother with mental health disabilities. She would like to help bridge the gap in the American Indian Tribal Communities of North Carolina.

Kathy Boyd, Chair Elect (Central Region)

Kathy is a social worker who lives in Wake Forest. She is the Executive Director of the NC Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers. As a social worker and the mother of two boys, one of whom is intellectually impaired, Kathy is committed to the vital and unique role that Disability Rights NC plays in protecting the rights of those who most need our support.

Rusty Bradstock (Piedmont Region)

Rusty grew up in Tobaccoville. He moved to Greensboro in 2007 to become a Peer Mentor for Beyond Academics. As a Peer Mentor, Rusty helps people with developmental disabilities solve everyday issues as they work to live as independently as possible. Rusty has a learning disability and has seen firsthand how people with disabilities are treated. It motivated him to help others fight for their rights. Rusty currently sits on the boards of directors for Arc of NC, NC Council on Developmental Disabilities, and NC Disability Action Network.

Adonis Brown (Central Region)

Adonis lives in Durham. He has been a self-advocate his entire life and a peer/community conscious inclusion advocate for all persons living with a disability for the past 20 years. He founded EnVisioned Independent Living back in 1997 where he began to mentor and train people living with a disability in independent living skills while also advocating for disability rights and community-economic inclusion. Adonis was a leader in the struggle for redesignation of the P&A system in our State from a state agency to its present placement at Disability Rights North Carolina.

Suzanne Burley (Central Region)

Suzanne K. Burley, who is deaf, received her master's and doctorate degrees in Educational Psychology from the University of Minnesota and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, respectively. She has worked extensively with Deaf, hard-of-hearing and multihandicapped children and adults for the last 25 years. As a school psychologist, Dr. Burley has worked in public school programs for Deaf children in Minnesota and has contracted with various schools in other states. She was employed for seven years at Boys Town National Research Hospital for Children with Communication Disorders and in the Center for Abused Handicapped Children's program. While working at Mount Sinai Hospital in Chicago, Dr. Burley worked with families with deaf children from age 0 to 6, providing practical hands-on educational groups for parents. She also saw children and adults for individual therapy, parent behavior management, parental competence evaluation, and psychological testing. Currently, Dr. Burley is employed as a licensed psychologist to provide direct and indirect psychological services to Wake County residents, schools, and to those residing in surrounding counties.

Pete Clary (Piedmont Region)

Pete has been an attorney since 1981. After years of private practice during which he occasionally represented parents in special education cases, Pete became Winston-Salem's first Chief Public Defender in 2003. His daughter, Petesie (17), was born with Rett Syndrome, a profound neurological disorder. Pete has worked with many local and state groups addressing developmental disabilities over the past sixteen years and joined the Disability Rights NC Board to help ensure that North Carolina had the Protection & Advocacy organization it needs.

Jennifer Diliberto (Piedmont Region)

Jennifer is a special education professor at Greensboro College and active member of the Council for Exceptional Children. Prior to pursuing her PhD in special education, Jennifer taught students with high incidence disabilities in various academic settings and is dedicated to advocating for the rights of individuals with disabilities. In third grade, Jennifer was diagnosed with dyslexia and learned to advocate for herself over the years. Her experiences of living with dyslexia motivated her to pursue a career in special education. As a teacher, she continued using her advocacy skills by advocating for her students and working with parents on how to advocate for their children. Now, as a professor, she educates preservice and inservice teachers on how to advocate for their students. Jennifer believes the work conducted by Disability Rights NC is essential for protecting the rights of individuals with disabilities so they can achieve to their highest potential.

Bart Floyd (Mountain Region)

Bart has lived in Western North Carolina for ten years. He moved to North Carolina from his home state of Georgia to work as an advocate with the Western Alliance Center for Independent Living in Asheville. Bart has demanded equal rights for all after he became an individual with a physical disability at the age of 21 and experienced firsthand the physical access and attitudinal barriers he had to overcome. His experiences motivated him to work for the elimination of all barriers to a fully inclusive life.

Beth Garriss Hardy (Piedmont Region)

Beth is a retired educator with expertise in educational programming for marginalized student populations. A resident of Rockingham County, she continues her work in homeless education as a consultant with the US Department of Education, serving as a federal monitor of state and local programs for the education of homeless children and youth across the nation. As the sister of a person with severe mental illness and a long-time advocate for improvement of the mental health system, Beth works to strengthen the services and supports available for people with disabilities in North Carolina. She believes that the work of Disability Rights NC is critical to that improvement process and to repairing the safety net for our most vulnerable citizens.

Brett Loftis, Secretary (Mountain Region)

Brett is the Executive Director of the Council for Children's Rights, a nonprofit legal and advocacy program that works to protect the rights of children in areas of special education, juvenile delinquency, mental health, private custody and abuse/neglect proceedings. Brett serves on numerous collaborative groups in the Charlotte region and around the State, including the NC Child Fatality Task Force, local Systems of Care, Model Courts and Juvenile Justice Committees. He received a bachelor's degree in Sociology/Political Science from Furman University and a juris doctorate degree from Wake Forest University. He serves on a number of boards including the Covenant with NC's Children, Disability Rights NC and Weaving Families Adoption Ministry.

Jeff McLoud, Board Chair (Eastern Region)

Jeff is very active as an advocate for persons with disabilities in our State. He is a consultant to SAMHSA/CMHS as a PAIMI Peer Reviewer, PAIMI State Monitor, and a Mental Health State Block Grant Reviewer. He currently is the Board President of the NC Mental Health Consumers Organization and serves on the Board of Directors of the Kinston Housing Authority, NC Mental Hope, and Fellowship Health Resources, Inc. The Governor appointed him to the NC Statewide Independent Living Council and he chairs the Legislative Committee for that organization. Jeff is a member of the PAIMI Advisory Council of Disability Rights North Carolina.

Cheryl Mulloy-Villemagne, Treasurer (Mountain Region)

Cheryl lives in Waynesville. She moved to North Carolina fifteen years ago to join the staff of Easter Seals UCP and now works in the Quality Management department after having served in many program capacities. Cheryl's husband acquired a disability as a result of an injury. She believes that every individual has the right to live a self-determined, rich, full life with freedom of choice and that Disability Rights NC is an integral part of ensuring and advocating for the rights of all people with disabilities.

Herb Smith (Central Region)

Herb lives in Dunn and has been a Behavior Analyst for RHA Health Services in Benson for five years. He has fifteen years' experience in the MR/MI and persons with disabilities field. He has two family members who were born with a disability. Herb is motivated by having a chance to advocate for individuals whose voices are not always heard. He enjoys working with other individuals who have chosen to work tirelessly and selflessly to help individuals identify and obtain the supports they need to live a life less burdened by specific challenges.

Kim Taylor (Mountain Region)

Kim is retired from the NC Superior Court where she served as a judge for ten years following fourteen years as a judge in District Court. In January 2009, she was presented with the Order of the Long Leaf Pine which is the highest civilian honor for a citizen of North Carolina. She now lives in Alexander County and practices law in Taylorsville where she represents clients in criminal, domestic and personal injury matters. She is certified as a mediator for Superior Court and Family Court cases. Kim has an adult autistic son and is married to a law enforcement officer. She advocates for educating law enforcement, first responders and other members of the court system about the special needs of people with disabilities.

Sheila Wall-Hill (Mountain Region)

Sheila Wall-Hill serves as the Chair of the PAIMI Advisory Council. She lives in Charlotte and is employed with the Mental Health Association of Central Carolinas, Inc. Her current position is Peer Support Coordinator for the ParentVOICE Program of MHA. She is the parent of an adult child with mental and developmental disabilities and has worked many years as a strong parent and family advocate, working in her local community and participating throughout the state. She is coordinating the ParentVOICE Family Partner Program, which trains parents and family members to be peer support providers for other parents/caregivers in need of education, mentoring, and emotional support while receiving mental health services for their families.

Willis Williams (Eastern Region)

A graduate of NC A&T State University, Willis first became an advocate for people with disabilities through his efforts to overcome the obstacles he faced to enroll his son who had a physical disability in the public school system. His advocacy work led him to found the Community Reinvestment Association of NC (CRANC) and co-found both The Justice Center and the NC Low Income Housing Coalition. Willis was one of the original members of the board of Pamlico Sound Legal Services and was appointed by the Governor to the GACPD board, Disability Rights NC's predecessor organization. Currently, he serves on the Access to Justice Commission. Willis acquired a disability while serving in the Vietnam War. In 2004, he received Legal Aid of North Carolina's inaugural Client Community Service Award.