The Advisory Committee for the NC Community AIDS Fund is charged with the responsibility for developing and promoting the mission, programs and image of the organization. It has the authority to determine the direction of the Fund and it is accountable for the fiscal well-being of the organization.

Kim D. Brown has over 30 years of experience in the accounting profession.  Originally from New Jersey, she attended North Carolina A&T earning a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting and Strayer University earning a MSA in 2012.  Much of her career has involved tax and accounting for non-profit organizations and individuals.

Bruce Curran Is an adjunct faculty member at the UNC School of Media and Journalism. He received his BA with honors from the University of Connecticut. After graduation he joined the US Air Force. He flew for six years and served in Vietnam. Upon completion of his active duty he attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and earned graduate degrees in communications and business. The majority of his career was spent in global medical communications in the pharmaceutical industry. His professional experience includes working with the teams that developed AZT and 3TC for the treatment of HIV/AIDS. He has worked in a number of countries around the world on public health communications related to HIV/AIDS, malaria and hepatitis. Bruce lives in Durham. He continues to work in the community on pro bono media projects for non-profits and educational organizations.

Roger Follas has been the STD Prevention Coordinator for the NC DHHS CDB for past three years. There he assists in coordinating statewide prevention efforts focusing on HIV, early syphilis, gonorrhea and chlamydia. Prior to this he worked for four years for local international NGOs Curamericas Global and IntraHealth. Before that he held positions as the Director of Operations for the University of Washington’s International Training and Education Center for Health (I-TECH) in Pretoria, South Africa; the management officer at Peace Corps Uganda; and the Deputy Director at CDC-Ethiopia. He has over thirty years’ experience with CDC in a variety of domestic assignments from Gaston County, NC, to Los Angeles to the Indian Health Service in the Dakotas and at CDC HQ. He is on the Steering Committee of the NC Peace Corps Association and has a graduate certificate in non-profit management from Duke University, a BA from Catawba College in Salisbury, NC. and an MPH from Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine in NOLA.

Josh Galloway is a North Carolina based graphic designer and photographer. He uses his talents as the Editor in Chief at the Creative Gentleman, a full-service creative consultancy agency specializing in branding, strategy, digital design, advertising, content creation, and graphic design. He works with clients all around the globe to improve their businesses.

Arthur Jackson is a respected and innovative community educator of HIV Prevention and Care Services, here in Fayetteville, North Carolina. Born and raised in Orange, New Jersey, a 20 minute suburb of New York, Art graduated from Orange High School in 1983 and attended Penn State University. Moving to Harlem, New York, Art has witnessed the evolution of HIV/AIDS from its inception to how we are currently living and dealing with this virus today. Since being diagnosed in January 1989 Art has tried to be an avid and dedicated fighter for those living with this disease. Art has always believed in standing up for ones right to not only live but to live proudly, productively and happily for whom they are. Currently employed by Southern Regional-Area Health Education Center as a Retention Care Coordinator & Bridge Counselor, Art works to educate, those infected and affected by this virus by finding effective, innovative ways to reach out to various communities living with this virus. Art also works with Community Health Interventions/Operation Sickle Cell as a Community Prevention Coordinator working to increase testing and referrals for those in the community whom may not be positive, to stay negative, those who test positive or for those who are positive but are not in health care. Art continues to search for innovative, positive and productive approaches to eliminating health disparities in minority and all communities and effectively fight HIV/AIDS.

Mimi Kessler has a varied background and enjoyed multiple careers. She graduated from Duke School of Nursing and was an open heart surgery ICU nurse/manager in large, teaching hospitals in Durham, Chapel Hill and Boston and was an AVP in Nursing in Atlanta. She earned an MBA at GA State University and became a management consultant, primarily focusing on projects in IT or applied technology. She is officially retired from her career, but keeps her hand in managing small projects while she works part-time in a caregiving capacity. She has been the Red Ribbon Gala Event Coordinator since 2016.

Dr. Sheila Smith McKoy is professor of chair of the Department of English at Kennesaw State University. Her research focuses on the relationships among Africa and African diaspora counties and cultures. She teaches African American, African, Afro-Caribbean and other African descent literatures as well as “Literature and Medicine” and “Race, Health and Biopolitics.” She serves on a number of boards that reflect her research interests, her foci on gender and health disparities, and her work as a writer. She is co-chair of the North Carolina Community AIDS Fund, a member of the board of Maama Watali — a non-governmental agency based in Uganda, — a member of the board of the North Carolina Writers Network, a founding member of Mother Minds – an organization of mothers providing advocacy and education focused on mental health. A poet, a literary critic, and a fiction writer, Dr. Smith McKoy is editor emeritus of Obsidian, having edited the journal from 2006 – 2015. Her work has appeared in numerous publications including the critically acclaimed Schomburg series African American Women Writers 1910 – 1940, Callaloo, Contours, Journal of Ethnic American Literature, Mythium, Obsidian: Literature in the African Diaspora, Research for African Literatures, Black Gold: An Anthology and Valley Voices. Her books include, When Whites Riot: Writing Race and Violence in American and South African Cultures (2001), The Elizabeth Keckley Reader: Writing Self, Writing Nation (vol.1, 2016), The Elizabeth Keckley Reader: Artistry, Culture and Commerce (vol. 2, 2017), and One Windows Light: A Collection of Haiku (207). Her current project includes special issue of Africology: The Journal of Pan African Studies entitled “HIV/AIS: Culture, Research and Positive Living,” co-edited with James Kiwanuka-Tondo.

Eliazar Posada graduated from Campbell University in 2015 with a degree in Political Science with a pre-law concentration. Since his time at Campbell University he has been involved in many projects and programs involving Latinx youth and the LGBTQ Community. He served as the Governor of the North Carolina Student Legislature, Campbell’s SGA, Founding Father of Phi Delta Theta-NC Zeta and various other clubs where he advocated for Latinx and LGBTQ Students. After graduation he joined the team at El Centro Hispano, as the Hola Latino and Youth Coordinator. While in those roles he worked with HIV/STD prevention, safe sex education, stigma reduction and advocacy with a focus on young gay and bisexual Latinos. He also helped youth first generation Latinx students make it to college and be prepared to apply for scholarships. Today, he is the Community Engagement and Advocacy Manager of El Centro Hispano.

Cheryl Tripp Gill has enjoyed working with the community in North Carolina. After graduating from Johnson C. Smith University she worked for the Dept. of Labor for a couple of years and moved to Raleigh, NC in 1986 to start her career in Health and Human Services.   She recently retired from NCDHHS- HIV/AIDS Prevention and Care Branch in 2016 as a Program Consultant II. As a Program Consultant she oversaw the SAMSHA funded programs that provided testing in Community Based Organizations (CBO’s) for over ten years. Passionate about her work in Prevention she also was a part of the NC HIV Prevention and Care Advisory Committee for thirteen years.  Joining NCCAF Board of Directors was a natural fit for her because they too provided support to HIV Prevention CBOs. Now that she has retired, traveling, volunteering when time permits and spending time with her family has been what keeps her smiling and enjoying life.  

Dr. James Kiwanuka-Tondo is an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication at North Carolina State University. He is currently a Park Faculty Scholar for the Park Scholars Class of 2016. His main area of research is health communication campaigns with particular emphasis on HIV/AIDS. His major contribution has been the development of the first ever quantitative model of relationships between organizational factors, campaign planning, and campaign execution variables. His work on HIV/AIDS has been published in a number of journals. He has been a principal investigator on several research grants and was Co-PI on a research project funded by a larger grant from the National Science Foundation with a purpose of developing culturally sensitive HIV/AIDS prevention messages for Black College Female students. Dr. Kiwanuka-Tondo has received several awards including the inaugural Lawrence M. Clark Faculty Excellence Award 2013, Outstanding Faculty 2008, Department of Communication; the Advocacy Award for Promoting the Presence of African American at North Carolina State University 2008; and the Outstanding Teacher Spring 2007, Department of Communication, North Carolina State University. He also received the Outstanding Professor of the Year 1999 from Sigma Phi Epsilon chapter at the University of Connecticut. Dr. Kiwanuka-Tondo is Co-Chair of the Advisory Board of North Carolina Community AIDS Fund (NCCAF); member of the Board of Directors of Maama Watali, Uganda; member of the Board of Directors for Stop Hunger Now; and member of the Board of Directors, Mama Afrika. He is a fellow of the Salzburg Seminar, and a recipient of the Fulbright Scholarship, as well as the British Commonwealth Technical Scholarship.

Kimberly Walker is the Associate Director of the Duke University Center for Health Policy and Inequalities Research.  She serves as the Principal Investigator of four North Carolina based programs focused on teenage pregnancy prevention, HIV prevention, HIV client access to care, and retention in care.  In collaboration with the NC AIDS Training and Education Center at the University of NC at Chapel Hill, Ms. Walker develops curriculum and facilitates sessions on Cultural Responsiveness to HIV health care providers.  In addition, she currently facilitates drug and HIV prevention training to African American youth through faith based organizations with the Duke University Let’s Talk program.  Ms. Walker was a founding partner and Vice President of a training and development organization, TrainingWorks, Inc. for four years.  Prior to her tenure at Duke, she operated as a Training Specialist at the American Social Health Association, where she facilitated training for staff of the Center for Disease Control’s (CDC) national health information hotlines, including the National STD and HIV Hotlines, the National Immunization Hotline, and the Public Response Hotline.  She served as the Principal Investigator for the NC Community AIDS Fund, the only local philanthropic organization focused solely on serving community based organizations that work in and impact those living with and affected by HIV/AIDS.  She was instrumental in its transition from a Duke project to being a non-profit entity where she currently serves as the Secretary of the Advisory Board.  Ms. Walker received a dual Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology and African American Studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.