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NCBA Elects New Officers, Directors

The North Carolina Bar Association, convening in Asheville for the 117th NCBA Annual Meeting, elected new vice presidents and board members on Saturday, June 20.  The newly elected leaders will begin service on the Board of Governors in 2015-16 and will also serve as directors for the NCBA Foundation.

Elected to one-year terms as vice presidents were:

Justice Cheri L. Beasley (N.C. Supreme Court, Raleigh)
Associate Justice Cheri Lynn Beasley has served on the N.C. Supreme Court since 2012. She previously served four years on the N.C. Court of Appeals and nearly 10 years as a District Court judge in the 12th Judicial District (Cumberland County).

Within the NCBA, Beasley has served on the Litigation Section council and has been a member of the Appellate Rules Committee, the NCBA Foundation Endowment Committee, the Women in the Profession Committee and the Appellate Practice Section.

She is a graduate of Rutgers University/Douglass College and the University of Tennessee School of Law.

Judge W. Douglas Parsons (NC Superior Court, Clinton)
Judge W. Douglas Parsons of Clinton serves as a Superior Court judge for Judicial District 4A serving Duplin, Jones and Sampson counties. He was appointed to the bench in March 2012 and elected to an eight-year term later that year. Prior to becoming a judge, Parsons was a partner with Johnson, Parsons & Hobson, where he practiced from 1979-2012.

Parsons is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and past president of the Sampson County Bar Association and the Fourth Judicial District Bar. He is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Wake Forest University School of Law.

Judge William G. Hamby, Jr. (NC District Court, Concord)
Judge William G. Hamby Jr. of Concord serves as chief District Court judge for District 19A. He has served on the District Court bench since 1994. In addition his experience as a general practice attorney, Hamby previously served as Harrisburg’s town attorney and as a Cabarrus County commissioner.

Hamby is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Wake Forest University School of Law.

Dean Luke Bierman (Elon University School of Law, Elon)
Luke Bierman serves as dean of the Elon University School of Law in Greensboro, a position he has held since 2014. He is a graduate of Colgate University and the William and Mary School of Law. He also holds a master’s degree and Ph.D. from the State University of New York at Albany.

Bierman came to Elon from Northeastern University School of Law, where he was associate dean for experiential education and distinguished professor of practice of law.

He previously served as general counsel for the Office of the New York State Comptroller and as executive director of the Institute for Emerging Issues at North Carolina State University.

Elected to a two-year at-large term as vice president was:

James W. Narron (Smithfield)
James W. Narron is a partner with Narron, O’Hale and Whittington in Smithfield. He has been with the firm since 1979. Narron is a past chair of the NCBA’s Senior Lawyers Division and past president of the Johnston County Bar Association and the Eleventh Judicial District Bar.

Narron is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and holds two law degrees: a J.D. from Wake Forest University School of Law and an LL.M. in taxation from New York University.

Elected to three-year terms on the Board of Governors were:

Peter S. Brunstetter (Winston-Salem)
Pete Brunstetter serves as executive vice president and chief legal officer for Novant Health in Winston-Salem. A former member of the N.C. Senate, he previously practiced with Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice and Kilpatrick Stockton. He received the NCBA’s Dr. I. Beverly Lake Public Service Award in 2011.

Brunstetter is a graduate of Tulane University and the University of Virginia School of Law.

Heather W. Culp (Charlotte)
Heather Culp is a partner with Essex Richards in Charlotte. She joined the firm in 2014. Culp is a past chair of the NCBA’s Law-Related Education Advisory Committee and has served two terms as secretary of the Mecklenburg County Bar Executive Committee.

Culp is a graduate of Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, and the University of Kentucky College of Law.

Jason M. Hensley (Lenoir)
Jason Matthew Hensley of Lenoir serves as corporate secretary, senior counsel and director of real estate for Bernhardt Furniture Company, where he has worked since 2002. Hensley has been an active member of the NCBA throughout his career, serving this past year as chair of the Corporate Counsel Section. He is also a member of the Legislative Advisory Committee, the CLE Committee and the Open Courts Initiative.

Hensley is a graduate of Appalachian State University and the University of North Carolina School of Law.

Catherine E. Lee (Raleigh)
Catherine E. Lee is a member and director with Allen, Pinnix & Nichols in Raleigh. She has been with the firm since 2010, having previously practiced with Smith, Anderson, Blount, Dorsett, Mitchell & Jernigan. Lee has been active within the NCA, serving as secretary of the Young Lawyers Division and as a member of the Administrative Law Section council and the Women in the Profession Committee.

Lee is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of Texas School of Law.

Kimberly N. Overton (Raleigh)
Kimberly Nichole Overton has practiced in Raleigh with the North Carolina Conference of District Attorneys since 2003, beginning as a traffic safety resource prosecutor and since 2007 as chief resource prosecutor. She previously served as a prosecutor fellow, where she was a liaison between the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the National Association of Prosecutor Coordinators, and as an assistant district attorney for Prosecutorial District 6A.

Overton is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Regent University School of Law.

Jan E. Pritchett (Greensboro)
Jan Pritchett is a partner with Schlosser & Pritchett in Greensboro. He previously served as an assistant district attorney for the 18th Judicial District and as an associate with the Lee Law Firm in Fayetteville. Pritchett is a past chair of the NCBA’s Criminal Justice Section and focuses his practice on state and federal criminal defense.

Pritchett is a graduate of Winston-Salem State University and the Southern University Law Center in Baton Rouge, La.

David N. Woods (High Point)
David Neal Woods is a partner with Wyatt Early Harris Wheeler in High Point, where he has practiced since 2000. He practices real estate law and has been extremely active within the NCBA’s Real Property Section, serving as its chair in 2013-14.

Woods is a graduate of Lenoir-Rhyne College and the University of North Carolina School of Law.