Kathryn joins the United Way team in December 2018 to lead the organization’s community impact strategy, focused on improving economic mobility while also providing basic needs support across our five-county region. A proven strategic leader and community advocate, Kathryn spent the past 11 years with Safe Alliance, which provides a continuum of crisis intervention, advocacy, shelter and counseling services for those impacted by domestic violence and sexual assault. Most recently, she served as the agency’s chief operating officer, where she led strategic planning and program evaluation efforts, in addition to leading and managing the organization’s domestic violence shelter. During her time with Safe Alliance, Kathryn led a restructuring of the agency’s programs and services. That included the development of data-driven strategic goals and a process evaluation framework to monitor implementation. She most recently negotiated the funding and strategic partnerships needed to advance key Safe Alliance initiatives, including the expansion of housing options for domestic violence victims and the launch of a family violence prevention and intervention hotline. Prior to her work at Safe Alliance, Kathryn was a senior relationship manager for United Way of Central Carolinas from 2005-2007, leading the relationship between United Way and its community partners and volunteers in the Mooresville/Lake Norman area. Kathryn also previously served in roles with the Lake Norman Community Development Council and the Davidson Partnership for Children and Families after beginning her career as an associate professor at Indiana University. Kathryn currently serves on the board of directors for the Institute for Social Capital and has been engaged with a variety of other nonprofit boards, including the Children’s Alliance and the North Carolina Coalition Against Domestic Violence. She earned a Bachelor’s degree in political science from Carleton College and a Master’s degree and doctorate in political science from Duke University. She is married and has two children.

As deputy director for LISC Charlotte, Albert “Rusty” Mills heads the organization’s funding and approval of affordable housing development, a role he has held since the organization’s launch in 2019. His chief duty is to manage the $50 million + Charlotte Housing Opportunity Investment Fund (CHOIF), a role where he supervises the collection, review and selection of proposals submitted by developers as well as distribution of awarded contracts. Rusty brings over 30 years of housing, banking and lending experience to the position. His work spans origination, underwriting and relationship building for both nonprofit development organizations and for-profit financial companies. During almost 10 years at Fannie Mae as a loan servicing manager and a director of housing and community development, he worked on pinpointing affordable rental and for-sale housing development opportunities across the Southeast and North Carolina. Additionally, he directed the development of credit and debt solutions for single-family mortgage holders. Additionally, he has served in managerial positions for M&F Bank NC, the Urban Business Network, and First Union Bank. Rusty holds a bachelor’s in business administration from the University of North Carolina-Charlotte Belk College of Business.

With a background in urban design and planning, Mrs. Holmes is committed to building a more equitable Charlotte. Currently leading the Design and Preservation Division in the Planning Department and the Corridors of Opportunity Team, she has extensive implementation experience, actively working with stakeholders to reach actionable solutions. While at the City of Charlotte she has focused on building an urban design and placemaking program that builds social capital and transforms the way the city thinks about the built environment leading projects such as Open Streets 704, the Building Community Speaker Series, and the Placemaking Team within Corridors of Opportunity. In 2018 and 2019 Monica was on special assignment, leading the rewrite of a new Transit Oriented Development Zoning Ordinance. The ordinance was unanimously adopted by the Charlotte City Council in April 2019, charting a new path for existing and proposed development along the transit corridors. Prior to joining the city she consulted over 40 communities, both big and small, on planning and urban design issues in the private sector. She is experienced in leading multi-disciplinary teams on complicated projects and is actively building a strong Corridors of Opportunity Team.

Robin H Stuart is an executive on loan to the City of Charlotte from Bank of America. As part of the program, he is working on the City’s approach to Corridors of Opportunity while also being a liaison between the City, the County, and the nonprofit and funder ecosystem. At Bank of America, Robin is a Managing Director responsible for strategy and portfolio management of the bank’s real estate portfolio. Prior to this role he led an Operational Excellence horizontal comprehensive review of the commercial lending business from client selection through underwriting, fulfilment and servicing. In addition, Robin coordinated the overall Operation Excellence process improvements program for Global Banking & Markets. Earlier, Robin managed several bank-wide efforts related to Stress Testing, Risk Identification, and Capital related areas. He was also the Senior Audit Director the CFO group responsible for coverage of Corporate Treasury and Capital Management activities including liquidity, funding, corporate investments portfolio, bank resolution, stress testing, and Basel. Robin joined Bank of America in 2011 from Morgan Stanley where he managed the firm’s capital management activities within Corporate Treasury, including overseeing the firm’s transition to a banking holding company and its first CCAR submission. Prior that that role, Robin held various roles in Capital Planning, Corporate Strategy, and Corporate M&A at Citigroup where he was responsible for managing the bank’s capital response to the credit crisis and oversaw many of the bank’s acquisitions. Earlier in his career he held international roles in corporate advisory and banking at ABN AMRO based in Brazil and Germany. He has a B.S. in economics from Purdue University and an MBA in Finance from the Katz School of Business at the University of Pittsburgh.