Board and Staff

RC&D Board of Directors

The RC&D Council is governed by a 15 member Board of Directors comprised of three members from each of the five counties. Each board member is a volunteer citizen representing the interests of her or his county. The Board governs the policy, direction and activities of the RC&D.

Officers and Executive Committee

Officers - Serve for one year terms and can be re-elected for up to four terms at the annual meeting.

Fiscal Year 2007

Chairman Cherry Acuff, Grainger County
Vice-Chairman David Lietzke, Hancock County
Secretary/Treas. Bill Rhea, Grainger County

Executive Committee - The Executive Committee is composed of the officers of the organization plus one member from each county and is appointed annually at the Annual Meeting. The members for Fiscal Year 2004 are:

David Leitzke
Bill Rhea
Stewart Oaks
Joe McNew
Cherry Acuff
Sheldon Livesay

Board Members

Claiborne County - Dennis Shipley, Joyce Hopson and Joe McNew

Grainger County - David Lietzke and Cherry Acuff

Hancock County - Sandra Columber and Bill Rhea

Hawkins County - Nancy Barker, Jenny Lawson, and Sheldon Livesay

Union County - John Gentry, Stuart Oaks, Bill Whited

RC&D Staff

The RC&D staff puts ideas into action. The RC&D coordinator is provided by the USDA in a unique public/private partnership through the USDA NRCS. All other staff assistance is funded through grants, contributions and partnerships.

The RC&D utilizes full-time, part-time and/or as-needed employment, national service, volunteers and/or contracted services at any given time to carry out the programs of the organization.

Clinch-Powell RC&D Council Staff as of June, 2006

Lindy Turner, RC&D Coordinator
Email: lindy @ clinchpowell.org

Lindy has been involved with the RC&D since the inception of the organizing steering committee in 1988 and on through the application process before becoming coordinator in 1990. She is an employee of the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service assigned to work with the Clinch-Powell RC&D Council. She works with all programs to provide leadership and technical assistance to assist the RC&D in carrying out its programs.

Sara Knight, Business Manager
Email: finance @ clinchpowell.net

Sara Knight, CPA, had seven years of nonprofit auditing experiance before starting a private consulting proactice specializing in nonprofit entities in 2001. Sara has eight years direct experience with various RC&D's and has been on staff since 2003.

Trenna Brown, Appalachia CARES Program Director
Email: appalachiacares @ aol.com

Trenna directs the AmeriCorps/Appalachia CARES program which includes supervising AmeriCorps members working in schools in ten East Tennessee counties. She works directly with the school administrations in the organization and conduct of the program, as well as conducting training and evaluation of member performance. Trenna was an AmeriCorps member for us for two years before coming to this position. This is a joint program with the Appalachia RC&D Council. Trenna has been with the RC&D since July 1999.

Ronald Lambert, Clinch River Field Representative
Email: rlambert @ tnc.org

Ronald directs the Clinch River Community Project which is a partnership effort with The Nature Conservancy. He works directly with private landowners to install conservation practices on farms. He orchestrates several funding sources to provide cost-share to the farmers. The purpose of the project is to protect the Clinch and Powell rivers habitat while improving local lands for the benefit of the farmers. Ronald began work with the RC&D as a volunteer for four years at Conservation Camp before coming to work full-time for the RC&D and then on to a full-time position with The Nature Conservancy.

Candice Barbee, Program Assistant
Email: candy @ clinchpowell.org

Candy works with the RC&D Coordinator to support the work of the Clinch-Powell Enterprise Community Board and Committees. This includes monitoring grantees, managing the reporting and revision activities of the EC Strategic Plan, as well as writing grants to fund programs. The position is funded by the EC grant. Candy joined the RC&D staff in April 2001. She ran her own small business for 17 years before joining the Enterprise Community effort.

Stephanie Wesson, Housing Counselor
Email: stephanie @ clinchpowell.net

Stephanie provides one-on-one housing counseling to individuals in our area, including delinquency, homebuying and debt counsling. She has prior experience in real estate and finance. Stephanie joined our staff in April of 2006.

Chris Osborn, Housing Program Specialist,Clinch-Powell Regional Network Manager
Email: chris @ clinchpowell.org

Chris joined the staff in November 2000 after receiving a degree in Social Work at UT. He manages the RC&D's housing counseling and rehabilitation programs. Chris is also the network coordinator for the Clinch-Powell Regional Network and maintains the Clinch-Powell website as a community hub for information.

Alice Fleenor, Director of Marketing, Communications & Development for the Appalachian Quilt Trail
Email: alice @ clinchpowell.net

Alice Fleenor graduated Summa Cum Laude from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, with a B.S. in public relations, mass communications and English, and obtained a Master’s Certification in Corporate Governance from Tulane University College of Law, Louisiana. Fleenor has received awards for her work and field research from PRSA and served as an All-State Academic Team member. After working as a journalist for the Parliamentary Sustainable Waste Group, London, England, Fleenor returned to Knoxville and has continued to work in non-profit development, most recently joining the Clinch-Powell &D Council as Director of Marketing, Communications & Development of the Appalachian Quilt Trail, a rural economic development imitative.  

Kim Belcher, Special Projects Coordinator

A native of Hancock county, Kim currently works with the RC&D in the development of properties in Kyle's Ford, including the Kyle's Ford Education Center and a number of rental properties.

Clinch-Powell Construction

Clinch-Powell Construction is a company committed to managing construction of affordable single family and multi-family homes. The Clinch-Powell Construction Company is solely owned by Clinch-Powell RC&D

Appalachia CARES AmeriCorps

We have a terrific team of AmeriCorps Members working in schools throughout 11 counties in East Tennessee. Full-time Members are service-learning facilitators working in 6-8 classrooms each once per week. They guide students through a process which uses classroom academic skills to solve real community needs. Part-time Student Teachers are using the service-learning teaching model in all classroom subjects. The five CARES cornerstones are Community, Action, Responsibility, Education and Service. This is a joint program with the Appalachian RC&D Council.

AmeriCorps Members are serving their country in local communities building community, opportunity and personal responsibility.

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“All programs and assistance of the RC&D Council are available without regard to race, color, national origin, gender, religion, age, disability, political beliefs, sexual orientation, and marital or family status. Persons with disabilities who require alternative means for communication of program information (Braille, large print, audiotape, etc.) should contact the USDA’s TARGET Center at (202) 720-2600 (voice and TDD).”