Keynote: Dr. Shelly Lowery - 1:00 pm

Dr. Shelly Lowery is a native of Pembroke and after finishing NC State as a Park Scholar with a biomedical engineering degree, she received her medical education at the Brody School of Medicine at ECU. Completing her residency at McLeod as a chief resident, she started with Scotland Health when she finished there in 2011 and found her medical home at Pembroke Family Practice Center, where she still practices.

Over the past 4 years, Dr. Lowery gained the role of Vice President Executive in charge of the Network in addition to CMO of SPN. Over the past two years, she has both strengthened SPN with strong, organized plans and led successful pandemic efforts in all SPN practices. Dr. Lowery is a crucial player for the hospital and the Scotland Health Executive Team. Ambulatory services, Post-Acute (Hospice, Hospital at Home), and traditional hospital services have been aligned under Dr. Lowery to ensure better consistency for the system as a whole and more importantly, the patients.

Dr. Lowery is a talented singer and her husband, Derek, have a strong Christian faith and two growing children. Dr. Lowery is very involved with patient safety, quality metrics, patient experience and is known to be the voice of her fellow peers. With Dr. Lowery as the new CMO of Scotland Health, this has given her more opportunity to ensure safe, high-quality care is delivered to all patients who receive care at Scotland Health.

BREAKOUT A : 2:00 PM

Jasmine D. Coleman currently serves as the Director for Academic & Military Outreach at UNC Pembroke.  She is twice honorably discharged veteran with active-duty service in United States Army and reserve service in the North Carolina Army National Guard. Ms. Coleman received her Bachelor of Science degree in Sociology from Methodist University and her Master of Arts in Communications (Public Relations) from Southern New Hampshire University. Jasmine relies upon her own experiences as a non-traditional student to advocate for adult learners daily. 

Allison Harrington holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Elementary Education from The University of North Carolina at Pembroke and a Masters in Education in Communication Disorders from North Carolina Central University. She has a certificate of clinical competence and is a certified speech-language pathologist.  She holds a state license in NC and SC. Harrington serves as a member of the UNCP Board of Trustees.

Allison established Speech Solutions in 2003 with six loyal and patient employees, operating out of her home in Rowland, her hometown. In 2004, she established a main office in Lumberton and added three employees. Since then, her business has expanded with additional offices in Laurinburg, N.C., Whiteville, N.C., Elizabethtown, N.C., and Shallotte, N.C. Each office has its own manager and staff.  In 2019, Speech Solutions, Inc. added Occupational Therapy to their available services.  

“It has been a joy to watch the company grow into what it is today,” Allison said. “I am proud of all the 70 plus employees who are a part of Speech Solutions. The employees consider themselves family and work together to make sure that Speech Solutions is meeting the speech, language, and occupational needs of their community.” 

BREAKOUT B : 3:00 PM

Dr. Calvina Ellerbe is an award-winning college professor and family scholar, who is motivated by her personal and professional experiences to improve the lives of others. She has earned two Bachelor’s Degrees in Sociology and Psychology, her Master’s and Ph.D degrees in Sociology and a Ph.D minor in Counseling Psychology. Promoting a positive perspective, healthy relationships and healthy families is her specialty. Dr. Ellerbe’s drive to help others pushed her to not only inspire her students but to move beyond the classroom to share her message of hope with a variety of audiences. Dr. Ellerbe honors education as an important way to improve the lives of those around her.

As a child, Rhonda Williamson was taught by her mother the importance of leaving a person or place better than she found them. She prides herself on doing that in every situation. Rhonda enjoys her role as a Financial Representative at Fair Winds Financial as it gives her the opportunity to connect with people and help them to improve their financial lives.

Born and raised in Robeson County, NC, Rhonda attended UNC Pembroke and went on to have a work career that has included marketing and sales. She saw first-hand the need for comprehensive planning, clarity in strategy, and confidence in the knowledge gained from the process. This led her to join Fair Winds Financial to bring these resources to her clients.

For Rhonda, her family is her reason for everything she does. Her inspiration lies in her two sons, her daughter-in-law, and her two precious grandchildren.

In addition to improving the lives of her clients, Rhonda is dedicated to improving her community. She serves in her local Rotary, as a member of the Main Street Lumberton Advisory Board, as a committee member of the Public Image of Lumberton Area Chamber of Commerce, and as a member of the Robeson County Extension Advisory Board. In her free time, Rhonda enjoys yoga, going to the gym, and using her natural green thumb to grow anything and everything.

Keynote: Lindsey Knapp - 4:00 pm

Lindsey Knapp is the Executive Director of Combat Sexual Assault, a nonprofit organization that empowers survivors of Military Sexual Trauma (MST) by helping them overcome barriers to obtaining justice.  As an Attorney, Army Veteran, and survivor of sexual assault/domestic violence, Lindsey brings 20 years of professional experience to this field.  At Northern Illinois University, Lindsey was responsible for training more than 20,000 incoming Freshmen every year on the risks of sexual assault, and the resources available to them.  From there, she joined the military where she provided direct advocacy to her brothers and sisters in arms.  After leaving service, she continued her work in the civilian sector as a Victim Advocate on Fort Bragg.  But after discovering that the military was systematically covering up rape, she formed Combat Sexual Assault so that she could provide legal counsel to those who were being retaliated against for reporting.