Connect | Collaborate | Communicate
What is CCNC?
Vision
To help develop more Winston-Salem advocates by elevating our city’s legacy of creative ingenuity and fostering unique opportunities for collaborative growth.
Mission
To identify, creatively connect, and activate Winston-Salem’s distinct assets in order to help address our community’s greatest challenges.
Values
Encouraging creativity and innovation.
Supporting community diversity and inclusion.
Celebrating and promoting the assets of the community.
Valuing our unique history as a guide for the future.
Facilitating communication, cooperation and collaboration.
Promoting a united and authentic community brand.
Testimonials
“While growing up nearby, I viewed Winston-Salem as an amalgamation of New York, Paris and London.”
—Julian Robertson, New York, NY (September 12, 2019)
“Winston-Salem is a vortex of creativity. I’ve always felt it there. A special place in the world, in your part of North Carolina.”
—Martha de Laurentiis, Beverly Hills, California (April 16, 2020)
“As long as I can remember, Winston-Salem was always the cultural city of NC. It’s a key reason UNC School of the Arts is there–the innovative, can-do community saw the need for an arts school in the state and Southeast and created it there”
—Hon. Adelaide Alex Sink, Tampa FL (January 31, 2020)

Leadership
Founding Board of Trustees
Creative Center of North Carolina, Inc. (CCNC) has recruited a diverse and highly talented Board of Trustees, who guide the organization in its mission and operations. In addition, CCNC has engaged wide-ranging and connected leaders at the national level to serve as a virtual Board of Advisors, as well as a group of local influencers, called the Connectivity Area Network, to aid our community decision making.
Board of Trustees
Claire Calvin
Owner, The Porch, Alma Mexicana and Canteen Still Life
Eldridge C. “Redge” Hanes
Author; Retired Chair/CEO of privately-owned national corporations
Brajan Funes
Investment Manager, Wells Fargo
Laura Carisa Gardea
Project Manager Consultant, Sustain Point Consulting Group
Pierce Henderson
Knowledge Analyst, Boston Consulting Group
David J. Brown
Co-Founder of DENT Creative Reuse Center and Art Laboratory
Cheryl Lindsay
Director, Human Resources & Inclusion/Diversity, Hanesbrands, Inc.
Steve Nedvidek, President
Adjunct Professor, Wake Forest University; Former Innovator in Residence, Chick-fil-A, Inc.
Franklin Terry
Model/Actor/Video Producer
Rex Welton, Secretary
Founder/Executive Director of OUT at the Movies
J. D. Wilson, Chair/Treasurer
Chair/CEO Excalibur Direct Marketing;
Managing Partner, Stepstone Strategic Partners
Staff
Max Cullen
Director of Marketing & Communications
Sarah Kaplan
Director of Connectivity
National Advisory Board
Taneka Bennett, Composer, Lyricist, Creative Writer, Vocalist, Producer and Consultant, Graham, NC
M. Lindsay Bierman, Former Chancellor, UNC School of the Arts; Chief Executive Officer, PBS North Carolina, Durham, NC
Shayne Doty, Senior Vice President, Development, The Paley Center for Media, New York, NY
Linda Frost, Community Volunteer, Alpharetta, GA
William Ishmael, Visual Artist, Engineer and Vital Community Catalyst, Sacramento, CA
Martha de Laurentiis, Film Producer and Owner of The De Laurentiis Company, Beverly Hills, CA
Drew McDowell, Project Manager, Stand Up Republic, Washington, DC
Joshua Morgan, Broadway actor, “Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of the Temptations,” New York, NY
Steve Nedvidek, Adjunct Professor, Wake Forest University; Former Innovator in Residence, Chick-fil-A, Inc. Atlanta, GA
Trey Newstedt, PR Manager, Global Commercial & Technology, InterContinental Hotels Group, Atlanta, GA
Michael Pulitzer, Owner and Tour Director, New View Tours, Stockbridge, MA
Hon. Adelaide Alex Sink, Former CFO, State of Florida, Tampa, FL
Gina Tan, Principal, Tangible Strategies, San Francisco, CA
Liana Cope Northshield Thompson, Digital, Print and Marketing Executive; Principal, LNT Consulting, Winston-Salem, NC
John C. Whitaker III, Writer and Photographer, New York, NY
Scott F. Wierman, President and CEO, Community Foundation of the Low Country, Hilton Head, SC
Connectivity Area Network
Alfred Adams, Retired, Womble Bond Dickinson, Winston-Salem, NC
Adam Barnett, Chef, The Katharine, Winston-Salem, NC
Matteo Blanc, Technical Sales Manager, Raytheon, Winston-Salem, NC
Clare Fader, Owner, Fader RE, Winston-Salem, NC
Tommy Priest, Owner, Coffee Park Airstream, Winston-Salem, NC
Honorary Board of Trustees
Malcolm McD. Brown, MD
Thomas W. Lambeth
Hon. Virginia Newell, PhD
Claudia Zorn Schaefer