Frankie Roberts
President
Frankie Roberts
President
Born and raised in Wilmington, NC, Frankie Roberts owned and operated a community-based barbershop for approximately 18 years where he received his informal education in community organizing, job development, relationship building, and individual/family counseling. After losing his brother to incarceration and addiction, Mr. Roberts co-founded LINC Inc., a nonprofit agency that provides shelter and services for men and women returning from prison. LINC’s mission is to educate and motivate youth to make positive life choices while empowering men and women returning from incarceration to be productive members of our community. LINC has successfully helped reintegrate over 1200 men and women who have been released from prison since 2002; 92% of which have remained out of prison. In 2006, LINC, Inc. received “Public Organization of the Year (Non-Public Sector)” by the Public Administration Program at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. Mr. Roberts won “Entrepreneur of the Year Award” in 2011. He is the past Chairman of the Department of Social Services’ Board of Directors, member of Criminal Justice Partnership Board, member of Cancer Outreach Board through New Hanover Regional Medical Center, and past member of the Juvenile Crime Commission.
Kenny House, LCAS, CCS
Vice President
Kenny House, LCAS, CCS
Vice President
Employed at Coastal Horizons Center since January of 1979, Kenny oversees the Behavioral Health Services – including the Prevention, Outpatient Treatment, and Primary Care Integration programs. Mr. House is a Licensed Clinical Addiction Specialist and Certified Clinical Supervisor with over 30 years of experience in the substance abuse and mental health field. He has been involved in program development that has covered a wide range of services from prevention to outpatient treatment for both adult and adolescent populations. Mr. House is the Vice-President of Clinical Services for Coastal Horizons Center- a local private, nonprofit agency serving residents of New Hanover, Pender, and Brunswick counties – and the Eastern Region of NC via Prevention and HIV/Early Intervention services. He was a co-investigator for a clinical trial utilizing Buprenorphine (Suboxone) and helped to lead a federally funded research project utilizing telemedicine in identifying HIV & Co-Occurring Disorder risk indicators in rural areas.
Roxanne Elliott, MS
Secretary/Treasurer
Roxanne Elliott, MS
Secretary Treasurer
Roxanne Elliott is the Policy Director for Community Health Services of FirstHealth of the Carolinas in Pinehurst, NC. Ms. Elliott collaborates with community partners to develop and implement plans for policy work at the local, state, and federal levels in the areas of access to care, opioid use disorder/substance use disorder, health disparities and chronic disease prevention. She has oversight responsibility for identifying areas of opportunity with regards to community health initiatives, implementation of evidence-based programs, coordination of marketing campaigns and evaluation of programs. She received her Bachelor of Science degree from West Virginia University and her Master of Science degree from The American University.
C.D. Hoop Morgan, III
C.D. “Hoop” Morgan, III
Mr. Morgan is the Founder/Chairman of The Forté Institute, LLC a global behavioral sciences firm best known for developing and providing innovative people, process, and interpersonal performance improvement solutions. Morgan is the author/developer of the proprietary, computerized Forté Interpersonal Communication Style Profile. He is a graduate of Missouri Southern State University, earning a BSBA, with minors in psychology and journalism. His educational background also includes certificates in Understanding and Solving Complex Business Problems at MIT’s Sloan School of Management, Reinventing Your Business Strategy at Sloan School of Management and the Program on Negotiation for Senior Executives and Dealing with Difficult People in Difficult Situations at the Harvard Law School.
Amanda Culp-Roche, PhD, APRN, FNP-BC
Amanda Culp-Roche, PhD, APRN, FNP-BC
Dr. Culp-Roche earned her registered nurse diploma from St. Vincent Health Center School of Nursing in 1994. She worked as an RN for several years in a variety of settings including medical-surgical, long-term care, home health, cardiac stepdown and nursing administration. She earned her BSN in 2006 from Clarion University of Pennsylvania before earning her MSN from the University of Kentucky in 2009 with a certification as a family nurse practitioner (FNP). As an FNP, she has worked in a rural health clinic, rheumatology clinic, and addiction treatment center. In 2019, she earned her PhD from the University of Kentucky. Dr. Culp-Roche has taught online for the past four years in an undergraduate program, teaching professional communication, pathophysiology, pharmacology, and leadership. She had taught clinical nursing courses prior to teaching online and has been a preceptor to several FNP students. She has conducted research related to online teaching and learning and rural health disparities.
Woody White
Woody White
For 28 years, Woody White has been a courtroom-based attorney, helping those in need, often at the worst time of their lives. He is admitted to practice in all North Carolina Courts as well as the Federal District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina, the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia and the United States Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. Woody has performed public service in political office in the North Carolina Senate, as well as public service on local boards including as trustee on the New Hanover Regional Medical Center Hospital Board, Coastal Horizons Treatment Center, and Lower Cape Fear Habitat for Humanity. Recognized three times as an award winner in Criminal Law, Business North Carolina Magazine Legal Elite 2007, 2010 and 2021, as voted on by peer review. Woody holds the highest rating of AV from Martindale-Hubbel Lawyer Rating Services, and has been recognized as a Thomson Reuters “Super Lawyer” 7 times; in 2012 and in 2017-2022. In 2012, Woody was elected to a 4 year term to the New Hanover County Commission and was re-elected in 2016. He served as Chairman of the New Hanover County Commission for four years.
Denise Neal, RN, MSN, FNP-C
Denise Neal, RN,MSN, FNP-C
Denise graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington in 2001 and then again in 2009 with a Master of Science Degree in Nursing. She became a certified family nurse practitioner through the American Association of Nurse Practitioners directly after graduation. She worked in labor and delivery at Duke University Medical Center and New Hanover Regional Medical Center. For the last 13 years, she has worked as a nurse practitioner in adolescent medicine, internal medicine and most recently as a nurse practitioner at Novant Health Coastal OB/GYN. She became the designated clinician for the Tides program and for the last four years has helped coordinate care for all maternal patients for Tides. She is a licensed prescriber for Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) to prescribe buprenorphine for the treatment of opioid use disorder. She works closely with Novant’s residents, Coastal Horizons Center’s clinicians and therapists as well as the Tides team to ensure patients have optimal support and are receiving the comprehensive care they need.
Michelle Gunn
Michelle Gunn
Ms. Gunn serves as a member of QENO Advisory Council and a member of New Hanover County’s Health and Human Services Board. She is a graduate of the University of North Carolina with a Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology, minor in psychology and has extensive experience in the non-profit sector arena. Michelle is a certified trainer of the Community Resiliency Model (CRM). CRM’s goal is to help to create “trauma-informed” and “resiliency-focused” communities that share a common understanding of the impact of trauma and chronic stress on the nervous system and how resiliency can be restored or increased using this skills-based approach. She works with LINC as a Special Projects Coordinator and Coastal Horizons as the Recidivism Reduction Services Program Director.
Father John Kane
Father John Kane
Father Kane is a Virginia native and has been in the Raleigh area since 2005. He attended seminary in Philadelphia, and received his bachelor’s in philosophy, a Master of Divinity degree and a Master of the Arts degree concentrating on Holy Scripture. He has been an assistant pastor (called parochial vicar in the Catholic Church) at St. Thomas More Catholic Church in Chapel Hill and at Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral in Raleigh. He is now the pastor of St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church in Southern Pines, North Carolina.
Krista Purdie
Krista Purdie
Ms. Purdie is one of the first graduates of the Tides program. She spent over a decade consumed by a heroin addiction which resulted in an extensive criminal history and prison sentences. It cost her everything she held dear as well as physical ailments and multiple hospital stays. On April 7, 2018, she decided to take her life back and did so with the help and support of Dr. Johnstone and the Tides program. Since graduation, she has continued her path of recovery celebrating over 3 years of sobriety. She is now a wife and mother to her two beautiful and healthy children. She continues to share hope through her journey of recovery and the many possibilities of a life after addiction. She joins our board of directors as an ex officio member.