THE 11th ANNUAL GRAY HOLIDAY PARTY
SATURDAY DECEMBER 17TH
Time: 8:00pm - 1:00am
Location: Mint Museum Uptown
Raymond (Raki) McGregor serves as the Senior Vice President of Digital Equity and Community Growth division at Novant Health. He works directly with Novant Health’s executive vice president and chief transformation and digital officer to explore and deliver new business opportunities that are enabled through the digital and technology channel. Raki was requested by the CEO to lead the executive in residence program for the Charlotte Executive Leadership Council (CELC) partnering with Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools to improve 7 key focus areas within the 17 largest school district in the country.
Before transitioning to his current role, Raki led the organization’s consumer strategy and products division as chief operating officer. He was responsible for the strategy, operation and optimization teams for community engagement, business innovation, and corporate health. Under his leadership, Novant Health achieved broader community healthcare engagement, key business partnerships and greater alignment with community and consumer needs.
Raki has a long history of leadership within the healthcare and technology fields with senior positions at Independence Blue Cross, TIAA-CREF, Coca Bottling Company Consolidated, Pillowtex, Unifi, and partnership at Stone Laurel Consulting, Inc. just prior to joining Novant Health. His areas of expertise include general management with a focus on driving innovation and strategic direction, building high performing, cross-functional teams, analytics, customer intimacy, business continuity, business and cultural transformation, and change management to name a few. Raki’s strengths in the tech space include ERP applications, cloud computing and mainframe systems.
He is passionate about driving growth in both companies and communities and has excelled in developing the architecture to deliver on high demand outcomes. Raki brings visionary, strategic and tactical expertise to the table with a track record of delivering transformational change, effective relationship management, outstanding customer experiences and expert navigation of challenging, changing and volatile markets.
Raki earned his Bachelor of Science degree in management from North Carolina A&T State University and completed the Executive Education Program from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College, and he completed his Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree from Wake Forest University School of Business. With a commitment to service, Raki is a member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity and has held board positions with Charlotte Works, DreamKey Partners, One Charlotte Health Alliance (OCHA), JazzArts Charlotte, Young Black Leadership Alliance (YBLA), the North Carolina A&T State University’s Board of Visitors, Big Brothers/Big Sisters of the Central Carolinas, and a member of the board of trustees at Mary Baldwin University. He was also appointed to serve on the American Hospital Association’s Changing Workforce National Task Force and serves on two Charlotte Executive Leadership Council (CELC) work teams (Workforce Mobility & Building Health Communities).
Raki currently resides in Charlotte, North Carolina where he enjoys supporting the entrepreneurial endeavors of his wife and young adult children.
Tish Guerin, a Charlotte, NC native, has been active in the Social Work field since 2005. Over the years she has worked with a variety of populations and within several settings to consistently refine her skills. Tish works to improve Mental Health/Wellness within professions that have higher stress levels and intolerance to Wellness initiatives. Tish is considered a cultural Mental Health change agent, a recognition that she wholeheartedly embraces. After receiving her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology in 2005 from Winston-Salem State University, graduating Magna Cum Laude, Tish promptly began her career in the field. She soon realized the opportunities to expand her scope of practice to not only include micro experiences (working with individuals and families), but to also address the opportunities she noticed from a care administration perspective.
As a result, she pursued her Master of Social Work with Macro concentration (organizations and communities), graduating in 2010 from University of South Carolina Cum Laude. For over 15 years, Tish has primarily worked within the Mental Health arena providing multifaceted services within various organizations. Tish previously worked with the Carolina Panthers under the National Football League (NFL) as the Director of Player Wellness. Currently, Tish builds Wellness programs under NASCAR with TOYOTA Racing Development serving as Director of Mental Wellness and Sports Performance. Tish consults in “Big” Law Firms, specifically Alston & Bird providing Mental Health and performance coaching to Attorneys and Partners. Tish is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in the states of North Carolina, South Carolina and Pennsylvania.
When Tish is not working on behalf of others, she enjoys spending time with her husband Michael and daughters Gracyn and Quinn as well as enjoying travel, exploring diverse cuisines of other cultures, and speaking on topics of Mental Health and Wellness. Tish is a proud member of the Charlotte Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated. When working with the most vulnerable populations, Tish believes in the following mantra: “When we are provided with a space that is non-judgmental, supportive and creative, we may feel a greater ease to look at the places where there is fear, hurt, or anger. It is in this space where we overcome aversion allowing for transformation and transitions to occur.”
Assistant Principal of Instruction
West Charlotte High School
Kevin Poirier is an Assistant Principal at West Charlotte High School. By way of Teach for America and after graduating from UCLA, Kevin moved to Charlotte to obtain a teaching position. Kevin has worked at West Charlotte High School for 10 years in a multitude of positions including science teacher, technology facilitator, instructional coach, and now as an AP. At his core, Kevin believes deeply that all kids ought to be able to live up to their God-given potential and ensuring that every child receives an excellent education is our best opportunity to do so. Kevin is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc and is active in a number of community-based organizations and advocacy work within the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Community.
Fred is an Multi Emmy and Edward R. Murrow Award-winning journalist and WCNC Charlotte Main Evening Anchor, alongside Vanessa Ruffes. You can watch Fred and Vanessa Ruffes at 5, 6 and 11 p.m.
Fred Shropshire is a news anchor at WCNC Charlotte, specializing in features and breaking news.
Fred anchors the 5 p.m., 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. newscasts for WCNC and you will often see him promoting station events and making a difference in our community.
Fred says it was important for him to establish trust with viewers as soon as possible when he first arrived in the Queen City. It’s why he hit the ground running on his third day on the job – field anchoring the station’s award-winning coverage of the Charleston church shooting. His anchoring from the field spanned several days from the location and allowed him to make what he describes as his first meaningful connections to viewers. Weeks later, he anchored the Confederate flag’s removal from the South Carolina State House, quickly establishing himself as one of the market’s lead field anchors. Fred has also field anchored the station’s coverage of the Keith Scott shooting and the Carolina Panthers Super Bowl 50 appearance from San Francisco.
Fred’s career began at WCTI-TV in New Bern, North Carolina, and includes stints at WXII-TV in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and WGN-TV in Chicago.
Fred came to WCNC from Raleigh, North Carolina, where he anchored the 4 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. newscasts for WTVD-TV. He conducted more than a dozen sit-down interviews with then-Senator Barack Obama during his first historic presidential run for the White House. Fred has chased several tropical storms including Hurricane Ike when it made landfall in Galveston, Texas.
He’s also reported from major events, including the 2005 World Series in Chicago, the Jena Six Rally in Louisiana and Michael Jackson’s memorial service in Los Angeles.
While at WXII, Fred covered many important North Carolina stories, including the Jennifer Short kidnapping, the Kinston chemical plant explosion, the Air Midwest Flight 5481 plane crash and the arrest of Olympic bomber Eric Rudolph.
Fred graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill where he majored in journalism. In 2006, UNC honored him as a distinguished Nelson Benton Lecturer.
Fred loves to talk to students and emcee community events. He’s a former board member of Charlotte Pride Magazine’s PEEP (Pride Entrepreneur Education Program) – which awards scholarship and promotes education among youth ages 16-25.
Fred’s personal motto is, “to whom much is given, much will be required” (Luke 12:48)
CEO of PME & Real Estate Changed My Life
John “Sport E Odie” Adams is known to many in the United States as a connoisseur of Entertainment/Night Life. Sport E Odie created Presidential Movement Entertainment which whom brought legendary acts such as Drake, Diddy, & Jay Z just to name a few. More recently the entertainment guru has dove head first into real estate adopting the phrase “Positioned To Position”. Mr. Adams most recent goal is to utilize his position in life to birth new business and homeowners putting his clients in the best position to win.
