Our Board members come from various backgrounds and are responsible for the vision, policies and financial health of our agency. Board members serve three-year terms and act as ambassadors for our services.
Matt Epstein, President
Matt practiced law for many years and served as a New Hampshire legislator. Since moving to Chapel Hill, he has run several nonprofit and advocacy agencies. He has over thirty years of experience as a mediator, including serving as a Family Mediator with DSC.
Mia Burroughs, Immediate Ex-President
Nonprofit Consultant
Mia Burroughs served as the Board Liaison for Ipas, an international non-profit based in Chapel Hill. She served as an Orange County Commissioner and member of the Orange County Board of Health from 2014-2018, and served on the Chapel Hill Carrboro School Board 2007-2014 through which she was first introduced to the special contribution that the Dispute Settlement Center makes to our community. She worked at Advocates for Youth in Washington, DC; Shift NC in North Carolina, Planned Parenthood in South Florida, and as an aide to a US Representative from Pennsylvania. She has an undergraduate degree from Duke University, with a double major in Political Science and Spanish.
Rick Igou, Vice President
Attorney
Rick completed his first mediation training at DSC in early1990 and has been involved with the Center as a volunteer mediator, facilitator, and trainer/coach ever since. His professional practice is limited to mediation and arbitration – he holds all three certifications from the NC Dispute Resolution Commission and is a Durham County District Court arbitrator and a member of the FINRA Board of Arbitrators. He is also co-founder, with Hank Straus, of Elder Matters of the Carolinas, LLC, an elder mediation practice.
He is a past-chair of the Dispute Resolution Section of the NCBA, served twice as president of the NC Association of Professional Family Mediators, and has been a member of the NC Supreme Court Custody Mediation Advisory Committee since 2012. He is also an adjunct professor at the NCCU School of Law, teaching both mediation and arbitration. He has a B.A. in Political Philosophy from the University of Chicago and a J.D. from UNC School of Law.
Moira Downey, Secretary
Research Facilitator, NC State University Libraries
Moira works as a Research Facilitator at NC State University Libraries, connecting faculty and other scholars with the resources needed to support computationally intensive research. She has worked in libraries for over fifteen years, most of which has been spent between UNC-Chapel Hill and Duke. She is a graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill, and completed an MS in Information Science at UNC-Chapel Hill’s School of Information and Library Science in 2018. She has lived in Chapel Hill and Carrboro since 2000.
Fran Muse, Treasurer
Director, Carolina Student Legal Services, INC
Fran Lewis Muse is the Director of Carolina Student Legal Services, Inc, a non-profit law firm for UNC students. Prior to joining CSLS, Fran was in private practice for 15 years representing clients from diverse communities, including many Spanish speaking clients. Prior to private practice, Fran worked with Student Legal Services at NCSU and worked as an Assistant Public Defender in Orange and Chatham counties. It was in her capacity as an Assistant Public Defender in the early 90s that Fran first recognized the valuable services that DSC provides for courthouse stakeholders. Fran received her undergraduate degree from UNC-Chapel Hill. She spent two years studying and teaching in Seville, Spain, and then earned her Juris Doctor at Campbell University School of Law.
Annie O’Leary
Manager of Individual Philanthropy, Accion International
In her 25+ years in the non-profit world, Annie has raised major and leadership gifts for environmental, education, and reproductive rights groups. At Accion International, she works with major donors to support microfinancing and impact investments for underserved populations around the world. Having lived in North Carolina since 2001, Annie’s professional experience includes WUNC Radio, the Southern Environmental Law Center, the North Carolina Outward Bound School, and Ipas. She also serves as the Vice President on the Triangle Fly Fishers Board of Directors, and volunteers with the Mayfly Project, and has previously has served on numerous boards including ToxicFree NC, the Escambia Coalition on the Homeless, and the Florida Alliance of Information and Referral Services. She has a BA in Communications from the University of Illinois and an M.A. in International Communications from the University of West Florida.
Celisa Lehew
Chief of Police
Celisa Lehew is Chief of the Chapel Hill Police Department. She holds a Master’s Degree in Justice Administration from Methodist University and a Bachelor’s Degree from Lake Superior State University. Prior to her current responsibilities she oversaw the Training Division, Crisis Unit, Quartermaster, Information Services and Budget Operations. Celisa started her career as a Patrol Officer in 2004, having a passion for her community. She has had the opportunity to serve in various roles throughout the police department, Investigations, Traffic, and Community Services. She teaches classes on community policing, ethics, leadership and investigations.
Erica Bluford
Family Support, Center for Child and Family Health
Erica received her B.S. in Business Administration in 2015 and her J.D. and M.S.W. in 2021, all from UNC-Chapel Hill. Her interests include the intersection of spirituality, social work, and law.
Erica worked in the legal unit at the Alamance County Department of Social Services, on child abuse, neglect, and dependency cases. She hopes to focus on vocational rehabilitation, mental health consultation, and other counseling for families and adults who have been exposed to trauma such as criminal justice involvement and domestic violence. She hopes to provide community resources to empower families, decrease the likelihood of children being exposed to trauma, and help adults break negative generational cycles.
Erica was licensed to minister in January 2020 and is the Founder of True Lifetime Commitment Ministries, which promotes holistic wellness and having fun while following Christ.
Kimberly Sanchez
Executive Director, Community Home Trust
Kimberly has a law degree from the University of Miami, Florida. She worked as a housing and consumer attorney for fifteen years with Legal Aid organizations in Florida and was CEO of Community Legal Services of Mid-Florida for five years before moving to North Carolina in 2020. Kimberly is the Executive Director of the Community Home Trust, an affordable housing organization that receives the majority of its inventory through inclusionary zoning, primarily in the Town of Chapel Hill.
Hank Strauss
Mediator
Hank Straus is a mediator certified by the North Carolina Dispute Resolution Commission to mediate settlement conferences in Superior Court. Prior to mediation, Hank owned and operated Aurora Restaurant in Carrboro and Chapel Hill. Hank is from Asheville, NC. He received a BA in Urban Studies from George Washington University and worked for the city of Washington as a rental housing analyst before moving to Chapel Hill to attend law school. Hank has previously served on the boards of The Art Center, Interfaith Council and Jelly Educational Theatre and has been a precinct chair. Hank is in his third term on the board of DSC and enjoys mediating as a volunteer for DSC and North Carolina Department of Labor.
Annette Moore
Annette Moore retired as an attorney with Orange County, having previously been Director of its Human Rights and Relations Department, and is part of many local anti-racist and social justice efforts, when she is not fencing.
Kira Hague
Kira is a School Counselor at Riverside High School in Durham. She is a North Carolina School Social Worker and Licensed Mental Health Counselor. She has a BA in Social Work from Appalachian State University, and an MA in School Counseling and a JD from North Carolina Central University. With training in Restorative Circles, she brings a passion for connecting students in healthy ways.
If you are interested in board service, please contact Frances Henderson at fhenderson@nulldisputesettlement.org.
