UNCSA Foundation Board elects three new members

The University of North Carolina School of the Arts Foundation has elected three new members to its board of directors, Executive Director Cindy Liberty has announced.

They are McDara P. Folan III, senior vice president, deputy general counsel and secretary of Reynolds American, Inc.; Mary T. Perkins, retired director of nursing for Brenner Children’s Hospital and assistant vice president of Behavioral Health Services for Wake Forest University Baptist Behavior Health; and E. Taylor Shipley Jr., retired manager and instructor for Booke, a division of Aon specializing in accounting seminars and software for insurance companies.

Composed of community leaders, the board is the governance and policy-making body for the Foundation, a private, nonprofit corporation dedicated to the advancement and achievement of the students, faculty and staff of UNCSA.

McDara P. Folan III
McDara P. Folan III has been senior vice president, deputy general counsel and secretary of Reynolds American, Inc. since July 2004.  He served as vice president, deputy general counsel and secretary of R.J. Reynolds Holdings, Inc. (RJR) from June 1999 to July 2004, and has been senior vice president and secretary and director of RJR since July 2004. He also was vice president, deputy general counsel and secretary of RJR Tobacco from June 1999 to March 2000, and currently serves as assistant secretary of RJR Tobacco.

Before joining RJR, Folan worked as vice president, secretary and general counsel of Allen Telecom Inc.; as an associate at Jones, Day, Reavis & Pogue; and as a judicial clerk for The Honorable Alvin I. Krenzler, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio.

Folan currently serves on the Board of Trustees of Salem Academy and College, the Arts Council Endowment Fund, Inc. and the board of directors of the downtown Winston-Salem Foundation. He previously served as the chairman of the board of trustees of The Arts Council of Winston-Salem and Forsyth County and on the board of trustees of the Reynolda House Museum of American Art.  He also is a member of the bars of the states of North Carolina and Ohio.

A native of Port Washington, N.Y., Folan earned a bachelor’s degree in government and political and social thought, a master’s degree in business administration and a Juris Doctor from the University of Virginia.

Folan and his wife, Ragan, have three children:  Caitlin, who is married to Davis Roach; McDara; and McKenzie.

Mary T. Perkins
Mary T. Perkins is self-employed and owner of MT Perkins Collaborations, a healthcare consulting business. Previously, she was the director of nursing operations of the Brenner Children’s Hospital, director of the Brenner Children’s Health Services line of the Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center and assistant vice president of Behavioral Health Services for Wake Forest University Baptist Behavioral Health. She has more than 30 years of national and international experience in nursing of children and families, which includes more than 18 years as a healthcare executive. Perkins has managed multiple changes in complex health systems and influenced national policy for the care of children through an exceptional trajectory of leadership, extending from institutional change to regional and national policy influence. She is a strong advocate for quality healthcare for children and families.

As one of the founding members and a past president of the Society of Pediatric Nurses (SPN), Perkins has been actively involved in children’s health issues. Within a year of moving to North Carolina, she was identified by the North Carolina Nurses Association as one of the North Carolina’s Great One Hundred nurses. In the year 2000, she received the Creative Healthcare National Mentor of the Year award. She has been the American Hospital Association’s (AHA) representative to the Committee on Hospital Care for the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), board member of the National Association of Children’s Hospital and Related Institutions (NACHRI) and a member of its Education Council. 

She has been a board member for the Ronald McDonald House, SPN and Victory Junction Gang Camp. She is currently a member in the National Academies of Practice; Sigma Theta Tau Nursing Honor Society and Society of Pediatric Nurses. She is the immediate past president of the Susan G. Komen, NWNC Affiliate, and a current member of the UNCSA Board of Visitors (co-chair of the Advocacy Committee). She is a Stephen Minister, member of the United Metropolitan Missionary Baptist Church Health and Wellness Ministry, chair of UMMBC’s Community Garden and chair of the WS MOLES scholarship committee. She and her husband are the co-chairs for the UNCSA Larry Leon Hamlin Scholarship Committee.

Perkins has a Ph.D. from the University of California, San Francisco, a Master of Science in nursing from Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisc., and a Bachelor of Science in nursing from Hampton University in Hampton, Va.

E. Taylor Shipley Jr.
E. Taylor Shipley Jr. was an auditor for Ernst & Young for 14 years, and then retired after 24 years as manager and instructor for Booke, a division of Aon specializing in accounting seminars and software for insurance companies. He holds a B.A. from Duke University, an M.B.A. from Wake Forest University, and is a Certified Public Accountant.

He previously served as chair of the UNCSA Foundation’s audit committee, and is a past treasurer of Piedmont Opera and North Carolina Dance Theatre.

by Lauren Whitaker

September 20, 2016