INTRODUCING: Candidates for 2027 open board positions

New Candidates Announced!

The Nominating Committee is proud to present to the CCC membership candidates for the open positions on the 2027 Board: Conservation Chair, Cruise Chair, Member-at-Large and Safety Chair.  Be on the look out for an additional announcement for the voting period which will begin on November 12 and extend for 15 days.  Candidate profiles are below.

The Bylaws of the CCC allow for other candidates to step forward for any board position.  CCC Bylaws:

Club members who wish to stand for office shall be allowed to submit their name for inclusion on the electronic ballot via a request to the nominating committee or to the Webmaster. Names will be accepted until the day before the end of the Voting Period.

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Ann Rose for Conservation Chair

I was born a free-range, barefoot, tree climbin’, pony ridin’ tomgirl and not much has changed.

I am a reliable people person with the ability to coordinate and team build to see through lengthy projects with detail and transparency. I am driven to see projects to fruition to sustain my community. Creating spaces where everyone is welcome and equal.  I have raised three children on my own and survived, twice, a near death experience. It has renewed my passion for life and equality.

I became a CNA, LPN, and RN gradually over 6 years. IT takes a bit of time when you put three children in the mix. Three Children I Love with all my heart. After they left home, I was at a point of burn out as a clinically practicing ICU nurse from just to much over time. I left nursing to find new and exciting times. I immediately began farming full time joined my local farmers market and learned so much. My childhood was being relived as I merged in to my 40’s grew up with a large kitchen garden and lots of fresh food. Riding horses on overnight camping trips and being one with the earth. So did my girls. We tried hard to forgo the packaged products. With the usual exceptions of hard times and taking what we could get. Winters are hard. I learned to can more than usual, reaching to the outside edges of food preservation.

In the winter I picked up a part time job grant writing and worked alongside the town of Lansing to develop a town park of 77 acres. It has become a regional destination year-round for the paved walking trail and trout fishing. After the park development I grew the farm into livestock production and opened a retail butcher shop. 5 years of brick and mortar busted me financially and I returned to farming part time and created a second nonprofit. I chose to take the position of Executive Director so that I could be the employee that benefited from having an income. I found 8 board members with diverse backgrounds to volunteer their time for the mission at hand. Lost Province Center for the Cultural Arts was born from a dream to keep the WPA building alive. I started this nonprofit to revitalize Lansing NC. Indirectly by acquiring historic property, initiating renovations, team building, grant writing, fundraising, site development and planning. Project underway and starting a year plan of completion.  We are sitting on the fulcrum point of go big or go home. I now spend my spare time growing more food, raising livestock and writing my memoirs.

John Finley for Cruise Chair

I was born in the Smoky Mountains. Although I left when young, it’s mountains, rivers and wilderness defined me throughout my life. I spent my childhood in the outdoors, from a farm in Virginia’s Blue Ridge to the wild high plateau of Northern Nigeria. I then returned to the area to attend Clemson University (a unique double major of Animal Science and Fine Arts – Painting) and there discovered backpacking in the Smokies, climbing in Linville, and kayaking the Chattooga.

After trying my hand at carpentry, farm management and teaching, I moved to Pullman, Washington, where I obtained a PhD in nutritional biochemistry and simultaneously began our family with three boys. Living on the border of Idaho, free time (of which there was very little) was spent on rivers such as the Selway and backpacking the extensive Bitterroot Wilderness. After graduation, I spent 16 years as a government research scientist at an institute in North Dakota.  North Dakota is not wilderness, but four hours east were the Boundary Waters for extensive canoe camping and west were the mountains of Montana for fishing, backpacking and skiing.

I then moved near Philadelphia to work for a food company where I resumed whitewater kayaking, running rivers such as the Lehigh, Yough and Tohickon. In 2009, I moved to Washington, DC, to be the scientific director for the government program in human nutrition research. I was easy to spot in the parking lot because my boat was always on top of my car, and every evening possible, I went to the Potomac River where I joined one of the best urban whitewater communities in the U.S. We surfed the Potomac waves year-round and went to favorites such as the Cheat Canyon, Potomac North Branch, Yough and Shenandoah.

Life came full circle in 2022 when my wife (a government consultant who did environmental work) and I retired. Both of us practiced art throughout our lives (she is a jeweler and glass artist; I am a painter and woodworker) and we looked for a place with an art community and wilderness. Western North Carolina was an obvious choice. Now I am free to pursue my passions: creating art (bit of a setback when Helene “relocated” our studio to S-turn on FB9), spreading my love and appreciation for wild places, spending time kayaking the rivers and climbing some of the world’s iconic mountains, including peaks in the Himalayas, Kilimanjaro and Tetons. I also am a Conserving Carolina volunteer. I will use my leadership experience and enthusiasm for wild places to serve with CCC.

Technical and leadership skills applicable to the position

• A thorough understanding of self-propelled water sports, including recreational whitewater, downriver racing, slalom, river and ocean surfing, lake paddling and canoe camping
• Ability to collaborate, organize and lead teams of people toward a defined goal
• Understanding of budgets and money constraints
• Comfortable interacting and speaking with and in front of diverse groups
• Experience in using creative approaches for problem-solving

If I am selected for this position, particular platform ideas I will champion:

• Water sports in the broader context of outdoor sports and wilderness; while CCC is not a political organization and I will not bring my politics, it is important to use the organization to keep members apprised of the complex environmental/wilderness issues facing us, as well as to instill a love for what is beyond the banks of the river.
• Diversifying our membership base to bring in younger and less experienced individuals.
• Broadening our reach to encourage more participation of individuals outside of central NC in places such as upstate SC, WNC and eastern Tennessee.

Jennifer Stockwell for Member-at-Large

I started whitewater kayaking in 2010 after a raft trip on the Chattooga Section 4 sparked my interest.  Once I was hooked, I obtained my ACA L4 Whitewater Kayak Instructor and have been teaching for over 10 years. I was previously an ACA L3 River Safety & Rescue Instructor, ACA L2 SUP Instructor, and had an ACA Adaptive Paddling Certification.

I previously taught kayak instruction at the US National Whitewater Center and hosted roll sessions in Charlotte for 3 years.  I coordinated multiple river trips during Week of Rivers and led clinics with the Carolina Canoe Club.  I also served as the Co-Safety Chair for the CCC in 2023.

Currently, I’m living in Western Pennsylvania, and my home river is the Lower Yough. I co-led a Stony and Lower Yough weekend this year with Lynn Miller and Jasmine Elmore.

I am willing to serve as the Member-At-Large for the Carolina Canoe Club for 2027, as I live out of state which is preferable, and I feel like I could have a positive impact on the club by listening to your suggestions and raising them to board leadership when appropriate.  Thank you for the consideration.

Joe Hemrick for Safety Chair

Growing paddlesport participation needs to be a common goal of all paddlers, and the Carolina Canoe Club specifically. This will only be accomplished with a safe, welcoming, and inclusive experience for all new participants. I look forward to the opportunity to share my experiences and strategies to grow this participation base as the new Safety Chairperson for the Carolina Canoe Club.

My experiences as a new boater are relatively fresh, entering the sport about 4 years ago. This perspective can be relied upon for new ideas and incites on how to overcome barriers to entry that most new boaters experience. I have embraced the learning process and excelled into a skilled and experienced boater through significant recreational paddle time, participation in multiple ACA skills courses and am now certified as a Level 4 Solo and Tandem Canoe Instructor with the ACA. My current job as a river debris removal worker with Mountain True has given me significant experience dealing with risk mitigation and safety culture in a remote river environment for the past 16 months. I hold a Wilderness First Responder certification and look forward to pursuing a SWR instructor certification during my time as the Safety Chairperson.

My wife and two teenage kids are very supportive of my boating pursuits. Tandem canoeing the Rivière Dumoine in Ontario with my daughter Katherine is a memory I will always cherish. We paddled from Grande Chute to the Ottawa River and experienced classic Canadian wilderness for the first time. The planning and practice we completed for this trip bonded us and the experiences on the water challenged and inspired us.