Faculty and Staff Profiles

Greg Allison joined the School of Government (then the Institute of Government) in 1997. Prior to that, he was assistant director for the Technical Services Center of the Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada. He also served as finance director for the City of Morganton, North Carolina. Allison began his governmental career as a senior accountant and auditor for Deloitte and Touche. He is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and serves on the board of directors of the North Carolina Association of Certified Public Accountants.

David N. Ammons is semi-retired from the faculty and continues to work with the School of Government on a part-time basis. During his career as a professor of public administration and government he has written and taught about performance measurement, benchmarking, and productivity improvement in local government. His books on local government management include Municipal Benchmarks (M.E. Sharpe, 2012), Tools for Decision Making: A Practical Guide for Local Government (CQ Press, 2009), and Leading Performance Management in Local Government (ICMA, 2008).

Maureen Berner first joined the School of Government in 1998. She teaches evaluation and analysis courses for MPA students, and provides similar training and advising to state and local government officials throughout North Carolina. Her research currently focuses on food insecurity, particularly using longitudinal data gathered directly from food pantries. She works with nonprofits, food banks, local governments, and state agencies on improving food assistance programs. Berner is a 2014-2016 UNC Thorp Engaged Faculty Fellow.

Julie Brenman joined the School of Government as adjunct faculty in 2008. She has over 15 years of municipal executive experience and currently works as a management consultant to governments and nonprofits. Previously, she served as Director of Strategic Initiatives, Assistant City Manager, and Director of Budget and Management Services for the City of Durham.

Before joining the School of Government in February 2009, Ferrell served as chief information officer for the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research in Danville, Virginia. His efforts were recognized by the governor at the Commonwealth of Virginia Innovative Technology Symposium (COVITS) in 2004 for Technology Innovation in Higher Education. He also served as principal investigator for a three-year National Science Foundation grant that totaled $1 million, which focused on providing technology experiences for high school students.

Susan Fowler is an adjunct instructor for the MPA@UNC program. She is a self-employed facilitator, organizational consultant, and educator with experience in the nonprofit and public sectors. Her work has included a variety of strategic planning, evaluation, and program planning projects, as well as group facilitation, team building, and design and facilitation for learning events. Susan's projects have included facilitating the work of public-private partnerships and community collaborations.

Norma Houston joined the School of Government in 2006. Prior to that, she served as chief of staff and general counsel to State Senate President Pro Tempore Marc Basnight. She has also worked for UNC President Erskine Bowles and served as Dare County attorney, assistant attorney general in the NC Department of Justice, and staff attorney for NC Prisoners Legal Services. She is a member of the North Carolina State Bar and serves on the boards of several organizations.

Jeff Hughes joined the School of Government in 2002. He has more than 25 years of experience assisting communities in addressing finance and policy challenges related to the provision of environmental services and programs. Hughes is the author of numerous reports, guides, and articles on environmental finance and environmental policy analysis subjects. He works with a range of state and national organizations that focus on utility and environmental issues. He is an active member of Council of Infrastructure Finance Authorities (CIFA) and the American Water Works Association (AWWA).

Willow Jacobson joined the School of Government faculty in 2003. Prior to that, she taught in the Master of Public Administration program at the University of Connecticut and worked on the Government Performance Project and the New Jersey Initiative at the Alan K. Campbell Institute at The Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University. She has also assisted with strategic planning for community collaboratives in California and Oregon state government.

John C. Kuzenski joined the School of Government as adjunct faculty in the MPA@UNC program in 2015. A native of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, he has served as university faculty in Political Science and Public Administration for over 25 years, in addition to division management-level service in the North Carolina Department of Revenue and as a law clerk to judges at the US District Court (Eastern District of NC) and the North Carolina Court of Appeals.

Kara Millonzi joined the School of Government in 2006. She previously practiced law with Testa, Hurwitz & Thibeault, LLP in Boston and clerked for the Honorable Louis F. Oberdorfer, United States District Court for the District of Columbia. She is a member of the North Carolina State Bar and the Bar of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Millonzi earned a BA in economics, summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, from the University at Buffalo and an MA in economics from the University of Maryland at College Park.

Jonathan Morgan joined the School of Government in 2003. Prior to that, he worked for Regional Technology Strategies, Inc., an economic and workforce development consulting firm located in Carrboro-Chapel Hill. He has also served as director of economic policy and research for the NC Department of Commerce, as well as research and policy director for the NC Institute of Minority Economic Development. Currently Morgan serves as course director for the annual Basic Economic Development Course.

Tyler Mulligan joined the School of Government in 2007, where he counsels state and local government officials and their partner organizations regarding development finance, community economic development, and revitalization efforts. Mulligan launched the School's Development Finance Initiative, which assists local governments with attracting private investment for transformative development projects, and now serves as director for the initiative.

Kelley O'Brien joined the School of Government in 2002. Prior to her current role as adjunct instructor for the MPA Program, she led a variety of initiatives that spanned across the School’s programmatic and operational work. O’Brien’s prior experience includes seven years as director of the North Carolina Civic Education Consortium, formerly a program of the School of Government. She also teaches professional communications for the UNC Master of Public Administration program and grant proposal writing to public officials.

Dale Roenigk joined the School of Government in 2005 and took over the directorship of the North Carolina benchmarking project in 2006. Prior to that, he worked for the State of North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services doing program evaluation and quality monitoring for mental health services. He began his career in public service working for a policy consulting firm in Washington, DC.

Carl Stenberg joined the School of Government in 2003. Previously, he served as dean of Yale Gordon College of Liberal Arts, University of Baltimore; director of the Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service, University of Virginia; executive director of the Council of State Governments; and assistant director of the US Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations. He is former feature editor of Public Administration Review and co-author of America's Future Work Force.

Amy Strecker joined the School of Government in 2013 as an adjunct instructor with the Master of Public Administration program. She works for the Duke Energy Foundation leading their North Carolina investments. Previously, she served as a speechwriter and local government and community relations practitioner with Duke Energy, where she completed an internship while enrolled in the School’s Master of Public Administration program. She has also worked in the public policy arena, focusing on affordable higher education.

Joseph Vrabel has been General Counsel to BlaisCo LLC for close to 15 years. Prior to that, he was a senior partner at Bowditch and Dewey. His work consists of Department of Defense contract negotiations and corporate advice on all aspects of business law including mergers, acquisitions, banking, and strategic partnering opportunities. Vrabel is a past president of the Massachusetts Bar Association, the Massachusetts Bar Foundation, the Massachusetts Town Counsel Association, and Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education (MCLE), where he continues to serve as trustee.

Heather Duhart joined the School of Government in January 2015. She previously served as associate director of student life for the Daytime MBA program at Duke University. Before that, she worked at North Carolina State University as an academic advisor and assistant director of recruitment. Duhart earned a BS and a Master of Education from James Madison University.

Anne Kilby joined the School of Government in July 2015 as admission director for MPA@UNC. Previously, she worked for NYU Stern School of Business, where she served in various admissions roles. Kilby earned her BA in political science from North Carolina State University and an MPA from New York University Wagner School of Public Policy.