Our board of directors
Leslie Boyd
Mom o’ Mike, president and CEO
Leslie spent more than 25 years as a reporter for daily newspapers in New York, New Jersey and finally in Asheville, NC, covering social justice issues, religion and nonprofits for most of that time. After the death of her younger son, Mike Danforth, on April 1, 2008, from not having access to health care, she founded Life o’ Mike to pursue the cause of getting affordable access to quality health care for all Americans. Life o' Mike became WNC Health Partners in October, 2012, to reflect what we do.
In August 2009, Leslie left her career as a journalist to advocate full-time and to develop services that will help people who have serious illnesses or disabilities and their families. Leslie is married and has one surviving son and four grandchildren.
Leslie spent more than 25 years as a reporter for daily newspapers in New York, New Jersey and finally in Asheville, NC, covering social justice issues, religion and nonprofits for most of that time. After the death of her younger son, Mike Danforth, on April 1, 2008, from not having access to health care, she founded Life o’ Mike to pursue the cause of getting affordable access to quality health care for all Americans. Life o' Mike became WNC Health Partners in October, 2012, to reflect what we do.
In August 2009, Leslie left her career as a journalist to advocate full-time and to develop services that will help people who have serious illnesses or disabilities and their families. Leslie is married and has one surviving son and four grandchildren.
Andrew D. Atherton
Vice president
Andrew is a shareholder in the law firm of Patla, Straus, Robinson & Moore, P.A., where his practice focuses on developing and implementing comprehensive personal estate plans, assisting clients in navigating the estate administration and probate process, advising clients on how to deal with the costs of long-term care, asset preservation, insurance coverage, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, special needs trust development and implementation, and guardianship. Before moving to North Carolina, he completed a clerkship with the Kentucky Supreme Court. He earned his undergraduate degree in Business Economics from WesternKentucky University and law degree from the Salmon P. Chase College of Law at Northern Kentucky University in 2000. He is licensed to practice law in Kentucky and North Carolina. Aside from his position on the board of Life o’ Mike, he is a member of the Community Foundation of Western North Carolina's Professional Advisory Committee, Land of Sky Estate Planning Council, the 28th Judicial District Bar, Kentucky Bar Association, North Carolina State Bar, North Carolina Bar Association, incoming Secretary of the Elder Law Section, Estate Planning & Fiduciary Section, American Bar Association (Probate and Property Section), and the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys. Andrew has been a regular instructor for National Business Institute and the Elder Law Section of the North Carolina Bar Association on topics such as Powers of Attorney, Special Needs Trusts, Trusts, Medicaid and Ethics in the Elder Law practice.
Andrew is a shareholder in the law firm of Patla, Straus, Robinson & Moore, P.A., where his practice focuses on developing and implementing comprehensive personal estate plans, assisting clients in navigating the estate administration and probate process, advising clients on how to deal with the costs of long-term care, asset preservation, insurance coverage, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, special needs trust development and implementation, and guardianship. Before moving to North Carolina, he completed a clerkship with the Kentucky Supreme Court. He earned his undergraduate degree in Business Economics from WesternKentucky University and law degree from the Salmon P. Chase College of Law at Northern Kentucky University in 2000. He is licensed to practice law in Kentucky and North Carolina. Aside from his position on the board of Life o’ Mike, he is a member of the Community Foundation of Western North Carolina's Professional Advisory Committee, Land of Sky Estate Planning Council, the 28th Judicial District Bar, Kentucky Bar Association, North Carolina State Bar, North Carolina Bar Association, incoming Secretary of the Elder Law Section, Estate Planning & Fiduciary Section, American Bar Association (Probate and Property Section), and the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys. Andrew has been a regular instructor for National Business Institute and the Elder Law Section of the North Carolina Bar Association on topics such as Powers of Attorney, Special Needs Trusts, Trusts, Medicaid and Ethics in the Elder Law practice.
Marvin Chambers
Marvin is a retired engineer and a past Grand Master of the Prince Hall Grand Lodge of North Carolina (Masons).
As a high school student, Marvin was a member of ASCORE, the Asheville Student Committee on Racial Equality, a group of students who worked from about 1960-1965 to gain racial equality.
Today he continues his work with the Masons and holds leadership training seminars.
As a high school student, Marvin was a member of ASCORE, the Asheville Student Committee on Racial Equality, a group of students who worked from about 1960-1965 to gain racial equality.
Today he continues his work with the Masons and holds leadership training seminars.
The Rev. Deacon Clare Barry
"I have had a keen interest in health care ever since I was a teenager and volunteered on Capital Hill in Washington, D.C. There I began to recognize the magnitude of the problem which has steadily worsened over time. Many serious medical conditions if addressed in their initial stages could save lives and help to reduce the staggering medical costs. Emergency rooms around the country are jammed with people who lack health insurance and cannot afford a doctor visit.
"As an Episcopal deacon, my faith calls me to address this problem. While I certainly do not begin to have all the answers, I feel it is vital to consider what would Jesus do to help those without access to medical care? If one reads the Gospels, Jesus cared for those on the margins of society: the sick, the poor, the friendless and the needy. Surely if we follow our faith, we are called to do the same."
"As an Episcopal deacon, my faith calls me to address this problem. While I certainly do not begin to have all the answers, I feel it is vital to consider what would Jesus do to help those without access to medical care? If one reads the Gospels, Jesus cared for those on the margins of society: the sick, the poor, the friendless and the needy. Surely if we follow our faith, we are called to do the same."
Cheryl Orengo
Cheryl Thomas Orengo graduated with a degree in social work, with an emphasis in community organization in 1975. She spent 30 years in public health as a health educator and retired from the Buncombe County Health Center, BCHC (now the Buncombe County Department of Health) in 2007.
During her health education career Cheryl helped to found: KISS-Kids in Safety Seats a Maryland state loaner program, while working for the State Health Dept. in Maryland; she developed a number of programs at the Health Adventure in Asheville; and as a BCHC employee she was on the committee to develop Children First, she developed and coordinated the Be Smoke Free for You and Your Baby, a maternal smoking cessation program, the BCHC Volunteer Doula Program which ultimately led her to found DAMA (the Doula Association of the Mountain Area, which serves WNC) and the BCHC Childbirth Education Program.
In 2009 Cheryl and three other former DAMA presidents decided to form a professional doula business, Peaceful Beginning Doula Services. The business group provides birth and postpartum doula support to WNC families as well as doula trainings and community forums.
Cheryl also works part-time as a childbirth educator with Mission Hospital and is the volunteer NC State Rep. for DONA International (a professional doula organization).
Cheryl has been married to Ruben Orengo, a city school music teacher, for 35 years and has two daughters who live in Asheville. In her spare time Cheryl enjoys time with her family and friends, she works as a volunteer organizer and Cheryl enjoys gardening, walking her little beagle Lucy and cycling-especially on bike tours with Ruben and the newest cycling member of the family, her younger daughter Lauren.
During her health education career Cheryl helped to found: KISS-Kids in Safety Seats a Maryland state loaner program, while working for the State Health Dept. in Maryland; she developed a number of programs at the Health Adventure in Asheville; and as a BCHC employee she was on the committee to develop Children First, she developed and coordinated the Be Smoke Free for You and Your Baby, a maternal smoking cessation program, the BCHC Volunteer Doula Program which ultimately led her to found DAMA (the Doula Association of the Mountain Area, which serves WNC) and the BCHC Childbirth Education Program.
In 2009 Cheryl and three other former DAMA presidents decided to form a professional doula business, Peaceful Beginning Doula Services. The business group provides birth and postpartum doula support to WNC families as well as doula trainings and community forums.
Cheryl also works part-time as a childbirth educator with Mission Hospital and is the volunteer NC State Rep. for DONA International (a professional doula organization).
Cheryl has been married to Ruben Orengo, a city school music teacher, for 35 years and has two daughters who live in Asheville. In her spare time Cheryl enjoys time with her family and friends, she works as a volunteer organizer and Cheryl enjoys gardening, walking her little beagle Lucy and cycling-especially on bike tours with Ruben and the newest cycling member of the family, her younger daughter Lauren.
Chelsea Kouns
Treasurer
Chelsea is a certified birth and postpartum doula.
She is our program director for Start from Seed and a tireless advocate for new mothers and their infants. She lives in Asheville with her dog, Baxter (pictured).
Jim Beggs
Jim Beggs is a retired electrical engineer with a degree from Yale in 1966. He and his wife, Ann, moved to Asheville a year ago in December after 40 years in Las Vegas. Jim has patents in power-line communications and designed control systems and data systems for high rise buildings, and he knows more about the Internet than most of the rest of us.
Lynn Pace
Lynn Pace has traveled the world, creating support team networks to assist people with a variety of needs. She also has experienced the health care systems in other countries as she received needed care affordably.
She has been a social worker, a community organizer and program developer for the Girl Scouts and worked at Mountain Area Hospice and CarePartners for 10 years as community outreach coordinator, starting partnerships and programs with faith communities, colleges, community groups, neighborhoods and friends.
She has a passion for nurturing the abilities of communities to care for their members.
She has been a social worker, a community organizer and program developer for the Girl Scouts and worked at Mountain Area Hospice and CarePartners for 10 years as community outreach coordinator, starting partnerships and programs with faith communities, colleges, community groups, neighborhoods and friends.
She has a passion for nurturing the abilities of communities to care for their members.
Grant Millin
Grant Millin is a management consultant and owner of InnovoGraph LLC. InnovoGraph offers strategic innovation services.
Strategic innovation includes the development of strategy and business models around the core products, services and policies InnovoGraph clients wish to offer markets and the public.
InnovoGraph co-creates custom innovation, business design and communications projects for sustained client value performance using research-based processes. Innovation is now about cross-category ‘new value’ versus product development alone.
InnovoGraph views the ‘business of innovation’ in basic but powerful terms: Turn challenges into results addressing otherwise unmet needs, solved with a game-changing approach and strategic deployment.
And there is plenty yet to be done.
InnovoGraph supports clients using a unique interpretation of modern strategic innovation. An important part of InnovoGraph's capabilities is business model innovation, an increasingly important aspect of strategic innovation for our clients. InnovoGraph also bases its value to clients in other conventions of management science, including the use of project management in making it all work.
Grant’s education includes a B.A. in Interdisciplinary Studies (Independent Degree) in Sustainability and Security Studies, a Master of Entrepreneurship, and a Master of Project Management. Along with military service Grant’s experiences include creative work in commercial photography and filmmaking as well as sales, event production and a variety of business, government and nonprofit projects in between.
Strategic innovation includes the development of strategy and business models around the core products, services and policies InnovoGraph clients wish to offer markets and the public.
InnovoGraph co-creates custom innovation, business design and communications projects for sustained client value performance using research-based processes. Innovation is now about cross-category ‘new value’ versus product development alone.
InnovoGraph views the ‘business of innovation’ in basic but powerful terms: Turn challenges into results addressing otherwise unmet needs, solved with a game-changing approach and strategic deployment.
And there is plenty yet to be done.
InnovoGraph supports clients using a unique interpretation of modern strategic innovation. An important part of InnovoGraph's capabilities is business model innovation, an increasingly important aspect of strategic innovation for our clients. InnovoGraph also bases its value to clients in other conventions of management science, including the use of project management in making it all work.
Grant’s education includes a B.A. in Interdisciplinary Studies (Independent Degree) in Sustainability and Security Studies, a Master of Entrepreneurship, and a Master of Project Management. Along with military service Grant’s experiences include creative work in commercial photography and filmmaking as well as sales, event production and a variety of business, government and nonprofit projects in between.