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NCALA Staff

Jerry Cooper, NCALA Executive Director

Jerry Cooper, NCALA Executive Director has a background that includes assisted living experience from both the public and private sectors. Six of his eight years in the public sector were spent with the North Carolina Division of Social Services, as well as the Division of Facility Services (DFS). In his DFS position, he had responsibilities for implementing the North Carolina licensure program regulating residential care facilities, including Homes for the Aged and Disabled, Family Care Homes, and Mental Health Residential Treatment Facilities, and providing consultation to Assisted Living Administrators (formerly Domiciliary Care) and local departments of Social Services.

Jerry resigned from state service and developed Davie Village Assisted Living, a 40-bed assisted living residence, and served as its administrator as well as being a part owner. During his nine years at Davie Village, he provided consultation to companies developing and managing assisted living residences. From December of 1995 to August of 1997, Jerry was Vice President for Assisted Living for Hunt Assisted Living, and was involved in the opening of six new assisted living residences in North Carolina. Also during this time, Jerry was active in the creation of the North Carolina Assisted Living Association, the state affiliate of the Assisted Living Federation of America.

In September of 1997, after two years as President of NCALA, Jerry began his current role as Executive Director of NCALA. In this position, he has been very active in legislative issues and spends most of his time at the General Assembly when they are in session. He is also heavily involved in the educational arm of NCALA, teaching administrator certification classes as well as regional meetings across the state.

Kathy Rodgers, Membership & Meeting Coordinator

Kathy came to the Association with over thirty years’ experience in human resources and an administrative and organizational background. Because of personal experience and some aging awareness, she has a strong commitment to the assisted living industry and its mission. Kathy also maintains the bookkeeping and scheduling for her husband’s house renovations business and is the mother of two adult sons. She obtained her BA in Multidisciplinary Studies with an emphasis on North American Anthropology from NC State University in 1995. She and her husband are avid NCSU fans.

Ward Conant, IT Manager & Administrative Assistant

Ward joined the NCALA team as a Web developer and print designer in 2004. He graduated from St Andrews Presbyterian College in Laurinburg, NC, in 1992. He keeps our Web site up-to-date, maintains our database, and generally keeps all things computer-related running smoothly in our office. Ward is a native North Carolinian.

Donna Blake-Weems, Office Assistant

Donna joined the NCALA team in 2006. She received a trial by fire during the 2006 Fall Conference, but she came back for more, so we knew she was a keeper! Donna is a native of Canada.

Evelyn Hawthorne, Government Relations Consultant

Evelyn Hawthorne is NCALAs lobbyist. In addition to lobbying the North Carolina General Assembly on behalf of Assisted Living Communities, Evelyn provides government relations and communications consulting. Evelyn has spent all of her career in public policy and around politics. She puts her more than 15 years of experience to work for clients of her government and public relations consulting concern, Evelyn Hawthorne Government and Public Relations. Prior to launching her firm, Evelyn lobbied at the state and federal levels of government on behalf of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the North Carolina Hospital Association. Evelyn arrived in North Carolina in 1990 after having spent four years in Iowa and on the staff of the Iowa General Assembly. She hails from Michigan and the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor.