RDDA Board
RDDA Board Members
President - Natalie A Taft, MS, RD, LDN
Natalie Taft is a registered and licensed dietitian who earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Biology with a Concentration in Nutrition from North Carolina State University in Raleigh, NC. She completed her Dietetic Internship and earned her Master of Science in Nutrition from Meredith College in Raleigh, NC. Natalie is currently serving as the Registered Dietitian on a multidisciplinary team of providers at the Pediatric Healthy Weight Research & Treatment Center at East Carolina University's Brody School of Medicine. Here she positively impacts the lives of youth and their families by providing medical nutrition therapy (MNT) and supporting research initiatives to decrease the prevalence of pediatric overweight and obesity. Natalie has also worked as a Program Manager at the Alice Aycock Poe Center for Health Education, a Registered Dietitian with Personalized Nutrition, Inc. and as an instructor with the Eat Smart, Move More, Weigh Less Program through NC State University, NC Cooperative Extension, and the NC Division of Public Health. Natalie has earned certificates of training in both Adult Weight Management and Childhood & Adolescent Weight Management through the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics's Commission on Dietetic Registration. She is a member of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and an active member of the North Carolina Dietetic Association, serving on its Annual Meeting Planning Committee and as the Marketing Chair Apprentice. Natalie received the 2011 Recognized Young Dietitian of the Year Award from the North Carolina Dietetic Association. She continues to serve the RDDA in her current role as President. She enjoys working closely with the RDDA Board, a group of skilled and dedicated members, to support the RDDA and promote the value of the nutrition professional.
President-Elect - Ashley Bryan, RD, LDN
Ashley is a Clinical Dietitian for Kindred Transitional Care and Rehabilitation as well as Wellington Healthcare and Rehabilitation. She specializes in medical nutrition therapy for wounds, enteral feeding management, and nutrition care of elderly individuals.
Ashley received a Bachelor of Science in Biology with a Nutrition Concentration from North Carolina State University. She completed the Dietetic Internship program at Meredith College. She has been an active member of the RDDA for the past three years serving as the Public Policy Apprentice and Membership Chair. She is currently serving as the RDDA's President-Elect. Ashley is also a member of the NC Dietetics in Healthcare Communities professional organization and serve as the Secretary/Treasurer for this group.
Past President - Phyllis Kennel, MS, RD, LDN
Phyllis Kennel is the Research Management Team Project Core Leader and Site Base Research Manager for the School of Nursing at Duke University. Her responsibilities include implementing and coordinating the Quality Assurance program as well as being the supervisor over the RMT Project Core Team for RMT. Phyllis previously worked as the Senior Project Manager for the Clinical Genomic Studies Unit - Infectious Disease at the Duke Institute for Genome Sciences and Policy. Prior to working at Duke University, she coordinated a cooperative agreement study funded by the NIDDK called HEALHTY, A Middle School Program for Prevention of Diabetes at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. This included coordinating all aspects of the intervention and data collection portions of the study in six middle schools in North Carolina. Phyllis has also worked for Wake County Human Services in several positions including Health Promotion Coordinator and WIC Nutritionist and she has been a school nutritionist. Additionally over her work life, Phyllis has also worked as a nutrition consultant in long term care facilities, as a nutrition care representative for Sandoz nutrition, and as a clinical dietitian. Phyllis received a Bachelor of Science in nutrition from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and Master of Science in nutrition from the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. She is an active member of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, the North Carolina Dietetic Association, and the Raleigh District Dietetic Association. She is also a member of the Nutrition Entrepreneur A.N.D. Practice Group. She has served as the Marketing Chair and Member-at-large for the NCDA and as President for the RDDA. She has also served as the Membership Chair for the RDDA and Sponsorship Chair for the RDDA's Less Fork, More Foot 5k race. Phyllis is currently serving the RDDA as the Past President and she is on the Nominating Committee.
Secretary - Julie Francis, MS, RD, LDN
Julie graduated from the University of Pittsburgh with a Bachelor of Science in Biology. As her interest in nutrition grew, she pursued further education at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and completed a Master of Science in Nutrition as well as her Dietetic Internship in 2005. Julie completed a Certificate of Training in Adult Weight Management in 2007. After gaining experience in several areas within the field of nutrition, including weight management, clinical nutrition, and public health, Julie found the best fit working in healthcare sales. She is currently the Enteral Nutrition Representative with Apria Healthcare for the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill area. In this position, Julie has the opportunity to work with healthcare professionals and patients to provide education and services that simplify the work of professionals and improve the outcomes of patients. Julie is a member of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. She is her fifth year as a board member of the North Carolina Dietetic Association and she is beginning her third year as a board member of the RDDA, currently serving as secretary. Professionally, Julie enjoys networking, mentoring others, and pursuing further education. She is involved in dietetic leadership as a way to give back to the profession as well as for the benefit of professional growth and development. In her spare time, Julie enjoys exercising, especially running, spinning, weight lifting, and yoga. She competes in running events ranging in distance from 5k to marathon. Julie also enjoys pursuing culinary interests and has partially completed a certificate from Wake Technical Community College.
Treasurer - Darlene Ray, RD, LDN
Marketing/PR Chair - Carson Garoni, RD, LDN
Carson originates from Jacksonville, Florida where she graduated from the University of North Florida with a Bachelors of Science in Health and Nutrition. Her love of art steered her in a different career direction for awhile; however, her longstanding dedication and interest in the area of nutrition and health remained constant. A desire to promote nutrition led to her return to graduate school. Most recently (May 2011), she completed her dietetic internship through Meredith College in Raleigh, North Carolina and became a Registered Dietitian. She is a member of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, the North Carolina Dietetic Association, and serves as the Marketing Chair for the Raleigh District Dietetic Association. She enjoys working with the RDDA board to support the marketing of events and meetings as well as promoting the value of the nutrition professional. Currently, Carson is working to complete her Master of Science in Nutrition degree and is seeking full time employment as a registered dietitian in a role that will facilitate her desire to empower individuals and/or communities to reach optimal health.
Membership/Communications Chair - Krisha E DeCoursey, MS, RD, LDN, CHES
Krisha is originally from Tremonton, Utah. She married her college sweetheart, a United States Air Force Navigator in 1998. Krisha attended Brigham Young University and the University of Texas before graduating from the University of Central Arkansas (UCA) with a Bachelor of Science in 2001. She completed her dietetic internship with UCA in 2002 and graduated with a Master of Health Science from UCA in 2003. Krisha has been working in the clinical nutrition area for 10 years and has fulfilled numerous capacities including spending time as an Inpatient Clinical Dietitian, Long Term Care Dietitian, Long Term Care Surveyor, Critical Care, Outpatient Dietitian, and Diabetes Educator. Her passion is in working with the elderly population. Krisha's current position is as the Clinical Dietitian at Highsmith Rainey Specialty Hospital, a Long Term Acute Care Hospital in Fayetteville, NC. She is currently serving on the RDDA Board in two capacities, Membership Chair and Co-Chair of the Fayetteville Extension.
Membership/Communication Apprentice - Ashley Acornley, RD, LDN
Ashley is originally from Philadelphia, PA. In August of 2008, Ashley graduated from Penn State University with a Bachelor of Science in Nutritional Services and a minor in Kinesiology. She completed the Dietetic Internship at Meredith College in May of 2010 and she is currently working on the completion of a Master of Science in Nutrition degree. Ashley is currently working part-time in the outpatient and private practice sectors of dietetics. She is also an AFAA certified personal training and has been training clients for the past four years. Ashley enjoys staying active by participating in 5Ks, triathlons, and other competitive events. She also practices boxing, yoga, and strength training at her gym. On top of a love for physical activity, Ashley has discovered a new interest for cooking and baking. As part of this new interest, Ashley has started a blog which you can find by clicking here. She is very interested in wellness and sports dietetics and enjoys teaching her clients how to stay healthy, motivated, and physically active!
Legislative Affairs Chair - Mebette L Eckhart, MA, RD, LDN
MeBette graduated from East Carolina University in 2001 with a Bachelor of Science in Nutrition and Dietetics and from Appalachian State University in 2004 with a Master of Arts in Family. She has been working in clinical dietetics for 7 years. Currently she works for the State of North Carolina at Central Regional Hospital in Butner as a Pediatric Clinical Dietitian. She has been a member of the Raleigh District Dietetic Association since 2004 and has served on the board since 2008. MeBette is excited to serve as Legislative Liason for the 2011-2012 calendar year.
Legislative Affairs Apprentice - Anuradha Punjala, RD, LDN
Anuradha moved to North Carolina six years ago and with the move she changed her career from software to nutrition. She completed her dietetic internship at North Carolina Central University and is currently working on her Masters. Currently, Anuradha is working as a Clinical Dietitian at Central Regional Hospital in Butner. She has been a member of the RDDA since 2008. This is her second year as the Legislative Apprentice. Her favorite leisure activities are reading, designing nutrition education materials and posters, cooking foods from different cultures, and learning about different cultures and food patterns.
Less Fork, More Foot 5K Apprentice - Ashley Acornley, RD, LDN
Ashley is also the Membership/Communication Apprentice. You can find her bio listed under that position.
Professional Development Chair - Vacant
Student Relations Chair - Lindsay Hecht, MS, RD
Student Liaison - Ashley Beasley
Ashley is a graduate student at Meredith College. She is currently serving as the RDDA Student Liaison and has been since 2010. Ashley is the treasurer of the Meredith Nutrition and Wellness Association and she enjoys volunteering at the Inter-Faith Food Shuttle as a Nutrition Educator for Cooking Matters classes, a Share Our Strength program.
Events Chair - Vacant
Food Security Chair - Katherine Andrew, MPH, RD, LDN
Katherine Andrew serves as the Director of Nutrition, Farms and Gardens for the Inter-Faith Food Shuttle, a hunger relief organization serving seven counties in central North Carolina. Along with her team, Katherine creates and manages the Food Shuttles local food and nutrition programs which are aimed at empowering and equipping community members with the tools and education they need in order to lead healthier lives. The Food Shuttle Nutrition, Farms and Gardens programs include Cooking Matter, a culinary-based nutrition education program; Hand on Health, a holistic program focusing on improving the health of low-income community members through community gardens, nutrition, cooking, and physical activity; and the Young Farmer Training Program that teaches intensive market farming to at-risk youth. In addition to directing these programs, Katherine also trains volunteer instructors, teaches nutrition to the Food Shuttle's Culinary Job Training Program interns, and develops nutrition, cooking, and gardening initiatives for many of the Food Shuttle's 200+ food assistance agencies and partner organizations. Katherine received a bachelor's degree from the University of Virginia and a Masters of Public Health in Nutrition from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Katherine is the Food Security Chair for the RDDA.
Food Security Apprentice - Vacant
Nominating Committee Chair - Nealie Tebb, MS
Nominating Committee Members - Phyllis Kennel, MS, RD, LDN and Lindsay Hecht, MS, RD
Phyllis is also the Past President for the RDDA and her bio can be found listed with that position.
Webmaster - Jessica Oswald, MS, RD, LDN
Jessica Oswald is originally from Asheville, NC. She received a Bachelor of Science in Nutrition and Dietetics from Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, NC. After graduation from Western, she decided it was in her best interest to pursue a graduate degree and she has completed a Master of Science in Nutrition from Meredith College in Raleigh, NC. Jessica also completed her dietetic internship while at Meredith College. Currently, Jessica is a Registered Dietitian/Family & Consumer Sciences Agent with NC Cooperative Extension in Alamance and Orange Counties. With this position, Jessica conducts educational programs for the public in the areas of nutrition, food safety, healthy cooking, health and wellness, and food preservation. Some of the programs that Jessica has facilitated include Eat Smart, Move More, Weigh Less; Nutrition 101; Healthy Hearts; Chef & Child; ServSafe; and From the Garden to the Pantry. Jessica is a member of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, the North Carolina Dietetic Association, the Raleigh District Dietetic Association, and the North Carolina Extension Association of Family & Consumer Sciences. This is Jessica's second year as a member of the RDDA Board; she is currently serving as the Webmaster (or as she likes to call it, Digital Duchess).
Fayetteville Extension Liason - Krisha E DeCoursey, MS, RD, LDN, CHES and Erin Johnson, MPH, RD, CNSC, LDN
Krisha is also the Membership/Communications Chair for the RDDA. Her bio is list with that position.
Erin Johnson graduated from NC State University with a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry and a Bachelor of Science in Food Science. In 2006, Erin graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a Master of Public Health in Nutrition. She currently has five years of experience in clinical nutrition. Her current area of professional interest is critical care nutrition. This is Erin's third year serving on the RDDA Board as the RDDA Liaison to the Fayetteville Extension.
****RDDA Board Members: To have your bio put on the RDDA board bio page, clickhere. To make changes to the current bio, click here.
District Listing
Member Login
Reminder: your login is your EIGHT digit member number (be sure to include the zeroes). Your password is your last name with the first letter capitalized.