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Leading a Healthy Community
Issue: 2021/03 – March
Nantahala Health Foundation’s leadership decisions ensure even more health care resources for Western North Carolina.
Lisa Duff
David Garrett
Jane Kimsey
Lisa Leatherman
Nantahala Health Foundation, a recently established regional nonprofit working to enhance health and wellness in Jackson, Macon, Cherokee, Clay, Graham, Swain counties and the Qualla Boundary, has announced changes in leadership at both its board and staff levels.
As of January, David Garrett, director of the Workforce Development Board at Southwestern Commission, has stepped into the chairman’s role on the organization’s 10-person board of directors, while Lisa Leatherman, a long-time Duke Energy employee, has been elevated to vice chair.
“I appreciate the board’s trust in me to take on this position,” Garrett said. “I’m very fortunate to be taking the reins from (immediate past chair) Jane Kimsey, who has worked hard to build a solid organizational foundation, which has, in turn, facilitated our first transition in the chair role.”
Born and raised in Georgia, Garrett moved to Jackson County in 2002 after falling in love with this region as an Appalachian Trail thru-hiker. Garrett joined the Employment Security Commission (now NCWorks) in 2009, where he worked as an employment counselor before becoming the business service representative for the Southwestern Commission in 2014.
Lisa Leatherman, Duke Energy’s Local Government Community Relationship Manager, stepped into the board’s vice chair leadership role left vacant by Garrett’s ascension to chair. A Duke employee for more than 30 years, Leatherman has held various customer-facing positions at the utility company, including lake services, hydro relicensing, hydro operations, engineering and vegetation management.
On the organization’s staff level, Advancement Officer Lisa Duff was promoted in January to Associate Director. A resident of Whittier, Duff joined Executive Director Lori Bailey in Nantahala Health Foundation’s Franklin office a little over a year ago after serving as the marketing and membership director of a nonprofit supporting Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Prior to that work, she served as a community organizer for the American Cancer Society with responsibilities for fundraising and mission delivery throughout Western North Carolina.
For more information about Nantahala Health Foundation’s mission to collaborate with nonprofit service providers and governmental agencies committed to improving social determinants of health throughout the region, please visit them at nantahalahealthfoundation.org or connect with them on Facebook and Instagram.
