Board of
Directors
Elizabeth Anne Dover
Dover Vineyards, Board Member
Elizabeth Anne Dover is the owner and manager of Dover Vineyards and The Farm at Dover Vineyards, a 7-acre vineyard and 6-acre produce farm in Concord, NC. She studied at Davidson College and NCSU, obtaining degrees in Medieval Studies and Horticulture, respectively. She has worked in vineyards and wineries in New Zealand, Australia, and all over North Carolina. She enjoys teaching cooking classes and conducting wine tastings as well.
Tori Kaplan Truist Financial Corporation, Board Member
Tori Kaplan is the Chief Responsibility and Sustainability Officer for Truist. She partners with the company’s executive, business, and strategy leaders to develop, formalize, and promote Truist’s Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) initiatives to align with the bank’s purpose, mission, and values.
In her role, Kaplan analyzes external trends and benchmarks to inform near- and long-term goals; builds relationships with internal and external partners to advance Truist’s sustainability goals; and works across the enterprise to ensure corporate responsibility practices are embedded throughout the business. She also has oversight of the Truist Charitable Fund, Workplace Giving and Enterprise Volunteerism.
Benjamin Allison, PWC
Former CFO at Boston National Title, Board Member
An accomplished Executive possessing 26 years of finance and accounting experience while constantly advancing to take on more complex tasks to improve company financial reporting and profitability. An executive providing the rare combination of vast knowledge of finance with the ability to communicate seamlessly with business leaders. A business leader that maximizes value to help owners get the best return for their business. Areas of experience include building and maintaining accounting departments to provide infrastructure, creating forecast models to predict future outcomes based off key metrics, designing strategies to increase company profitability.
Blair Primis
Chief Marketing Officer at Flagship Specialty Partners, Board Member
With over 20 years of experience in marketing communications, creative direction, and social networking, Blair is a seasoned marketing leader who specializes in driving demand and growth for businesses in the healthcare sector and standing up bespoke teams and strategies.
As the Chief Marketing Officer at Flagship Specialty Partners, he oversees the marketing strategy and execution for a partnership that supports and empowers surgeons to achieve their practice goals and thrive in the modern healthcare market.
Throughout his career, he has built and led high-performing creative teams that deliver best-in-class work products and results. Blair also has experience in various strategic initiatives, board memberships, and advisory roles that demonstrate his passion and commitment to the healthcare community and the creative industry. Also an active mentor and coach, he enjoys teaching and speaking on topics such as effective marketing disruption and evolution, leadership, maximizing team performance, change management, and planning.
Barbara Worley, Ph.D.
County Extension Director at Mecklenburg County Center, Board Member
Barbara Worley, Ph.D. is a food and culture research expert and consultant. Her primary research focuses on the relationship between food and culture through the use of critical discourse analysis. Dr. Worley’s food and culture work has been published in the international peer reviewed journal Food, Culture, and Society, and presented at conferences and symposia both domestically and internationally.
Dr. Worley graduated with a B.A. from UNC Chapel Hill in Management and Society, a Masters in Extension Education from North Carolina State University, and a Ph.D. in Agricultural Science Communications from the University of Georgia. She also holds additional Ed.D. work from North Carolina State University studying International Extension, including food, culture, and agricultural economics research at the University of Zagreb in Croatia.
As a university county faculty member and Family and Consumer Sciences Extension agent for nearly two decades at three universities across the South (the University of Florida, North Carolina State University, and the University of Georgia), she specialized in chronic disease prevention, food safety, and food preparation education through the dissemination of research-based information. In April 2023, Dr. Worley joined NC State University as the Director of N.C. Cooperative Extension in Mecklenburg County where she focuses on community resource development and urban agriculture across the local food system.
In addition to her expertise in food and culture studies, Dr. Worley also focuses research on agricultural innovations related to their overall global and domestic socio-cultural impacts, and offers implications in these areas using her model to convey cultural awareness and intelligence. While at the University of Georgia, she participated in a two-year USDA/SCRI multi-university grant where her work examined agricultural commodity and turfgrass innovation communications. Her agricultural innovations and communications research has been published in peer reviewed journals including Advancements in Ag Development, the Journal of Agricultural Education, and the Journal of Applied Communications.
