2025 FELLOWS
Triangle Workforce Leadership Academy
We’re pleased to introduce the fellows of the 2025 Greater Triangle Workforce Leadership Academy
The Academy — launched in partnership by the United Way of the Greater Triangle and the Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program — brings leaders from across the Durham workforce ecosystem together for a year-long series of retreats, workshops, and action learning projects. The Academy provides a forum for local leaders to work collaboratively to identify local and regional systems-based challenges and create shared solutions for economic opportunity for all.
Fellows work with leading practitioners throughout the country as they deepen networks; strengthen systems leadership skills; apply race, equity, and systems change frameworks to their work; and increase understanding of effective strategies and programs.
The Greater Triangle Workforce Leadership Academy is one of three local academies launched in 2024. Alumni of the Academy become part of the Aspen Institute’s Economic Opportunity Fellows Network, joining more than 370 alumni from 22 previous Academies in 17 cities in the US and Canada.
Alumni of the Academy become part of the Aspen Institute’s Economic Opportunity Fellows Network, joining more than 370 alumni from 22 previous Academies in 17 cities in the US and Canada.
Fellows
Nicholas Allen
Executive Director
NPower
Lynne Barbour
Vice President of Workforce
Project Kitty Hawk
Chase Barnhill
Associate Director, Workforce Development
NCBiotech
Bryon Bellamy
Operation Lead
Black SEL
Korrie Blanchard
Dean, Career Services
Wake Technical Community College
Brett Brenton
North Central Regional Impact Manager
myFutureNC
CJ Broderick
President & CEO
Greater Durham Black Chamber of Commerce
Allyson Cobb
Director of External Partnerships
North Carolina A&T State University
Norman Collins Sr.
Apprenticeship Coordinator
Durham Technical Community College
Will Dorsey Eden
Monica Gemperlein
Assoc. VP for Workforce Operations & Assessment
Wake Technical Community College
Syretta Hill
Senior Director of Economic Mobility
Duke
Glenda Morrow
Business Services Representative
Durham Workforce Development Board
Cheryl Oliver
Johnston County Economic Development Advisory Board
Dominique Oliver
Director of Strategic Initiatives
Made in Durham
Melissa Overton
Founder/CEO
The Overton Experience & MedicalTraining.me
Leila Pedersen
Director, Raleigh Innovation Team
City of Raleigh
Malinda Todd
Assistant Director
Capital Area Workforce Development
About WLA
Workforce Leadership Academies bring together leaders across the many siloed fields of practice, organization types, and government policies that make up the field. The Academies strengthen Fellows’ capacity to develop and sustain effective workforce strategies, collaborate more deeply with employers, and expand the number and quality of leaders who advance opportunities for low-wage workers and job seekers as they meet employers’ talent development needs.
The Academies are part of the Economic Opportunity Fellows Network, a network of leadership and fellowship programs run by the Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program. Within this Network, EOP connects national and local leaders from across sectors — nonprofit, government, business, philanthropy, academia, and more — to advance policies and practices with the potential to help low- and moderate-income Americans thrive in today’s economy.
To learn more about the Academies, click here.