PANGAEA Internet Directors & Management

Board of Directors

JIM EDWARDS, Acting President

Jim Edwards serves as Executive Director for the Isothermal Planning & Development Commission. The Commission is an association of local governments serving Cleveland, McDowell, Polk and Rutherford counties. Jim is a Rutherford County native. He received his undergraduate degree from Davidson College, and he completed a masters degree in public administration at UNC-Charlotte. He has spent most of his professional career in western North Carolina, and now lives near Rutherfordton. He is a proponent of economic development that preserves the special character of our land and its citizens.

JOSEPH CROWDER, Secretary

Joe is a Medical Social Worker and Grants Manager for St. Luke’s Hospital. Since 2002, Joe has worked primarily in the areas of substance abuse and geriatric psychiatry. He has over 30 years of experience managing grants and contracts for research universities and government contractors. His background includes working as the Contracting Officer for the University of Kentucky Research Foundation and Director of Research Fiscal Affairs for the Medical University of South Carolina. Prior to relocating to Polk County, he was the Federal Proposal Manager for PeopleSoft, the third-largest software company in the world. Joe is a member of the Polk County Mental Health Advisory Board, the Polk County Wellness Coalition, Community Chorus, and is involved with area Scouting. Joe holds undergraduate degrees in English, Math, and Biology; a Masters degree in Social Work, and has completed Doctoral coursework in Public Administration.  

HARRY GRYMES, Treasurer

Harry is a Senior Vice President with Mountain 1st Bank in Hendersonville NC.He also serves on the Foothills Equestrian Nature Center (FENCE) Board, the AVISTA Business Development Corporation Board, The Tryon Little Theater Board and the Polk County Economic Development Commission Board. His education includes a Bachelor of Arts Degree from the University of South Carolina, Columbia SC with a major in Advertising and Public Relations. He is a graduate of North Carolina Bankers Association School of Banking at UNC-Chapel Hill.

SAM ADAMS, Director

Sam S. Adams is an IBM Distinguished Engineer within IBM Research.
Sam joined IBM in 1994 to help found the first Object Technology practice in IBM Consulting. He was honored in 1995 by being elected to the IBM Academy of Technology, and again in 1996 by being appointed one of the first IBM Distinguished Engineers. Mr. Adams then led the first IBM study of Self Configuring Systems, which foreshadowed Autonomic Computing. In 1996 Sam coauthored IBM's XML Strategy, the vision resulting in IBM's Web Services strategy. In 1998 Sam coined the term "Service Oriented Architecture" and defined the Publish-Find-Bind triangle model for SOA. In 2000, Mr. Adams led the Joshua Blue project, resulting in a number of advances in Artificial General Intelligence including the Metasemantic Affective Interest-flow Network. In 2003 Sam focused on end user programming of web services, resulting in the On Demand Integration Environment (ODIE), the first example of mashup technology at IBM. In 2008, he began the Renaissance project, exploring the programming challenges and opportunities raised by massively multicore processors. A Native American of Cherokee and Sac-and-Fox descent, Sam is also IBM's executive liaison to AISES, the American Indian Science and Engineering Society.

KATE BARKSCHAT, Director

Kate is the Director of the Polk Campus of the Isothermal Community College which is located in Columbus, NC.

RUSS PITTS, Director

Russ Pitts serves as Global Methods Director for Oracle Corporation.  His current role with Oracle includes enabling Oracle Sales, Marketing, and Consulting divisions worldwide to realize their maximum potential through use of methodological-based approaches and tools.  Russ has over 25 years of experience in the technology industry.  This includes over 14 years at Oracle Corporation, and prior employment with other fortune 500 companies such as Frito-Lay, Price Waterhouse, and General Dynamics.  Russ was a Town Commissioner and Mayor Pro Tem for the Town of Lake Lure during the period of 2004 through 2008.  He also is a director on the Lake Lure Classical Academy (LLCA-CFA) school board, and continues to be very active with improving education and business opportunities in the Hickory Nut Gorge and neighboring communities.

JEFF BYRD, Director

Jeff Byrd is the first Development Director for CooperRiis Healing Community in Mill Spring, N.C., a healing community where individuals with mental illness and emotional distress learn new ways to improve functioning, gain independence and attain fulfillment in life through a comprehensive program that addresses mind, body, spirit and heart. Formerly, Jeff was for 21 years the owner/editor and publisher of the Tryon Daily Bulletin, a 5,200-circulation daily serving Polk County and northern Spartanburg and Greenville counties. Since moving to Polk County, Jeff has been active in civic life, serving on boards including the Foothills Equestrian Nature Center(FENCE), Polk Vocational Services, North Carolina Press Association, was president of the Tryon Downtown Development Association, board member, Tryon Riding Hunt Club, president, Polk County Chamber of Commerce, and chairman of Blue Ridge Barbecue Festival. Jeff holds a Bachelor's of Science in Journalism from the University of Colorado, and Master of Liberal Arts degree from the University of North Carolina at Asheville.

MICHAEL "KEVEN" McCAMMON, Director

A Technical/Business architect with more than 25 years of system design, development, and implementation, Keven's specialties include fiber deployments, network design, and circuit card design. Keven has product implementation experience with full integration and testing skills.  He has professional project management training with experience in implementing multi million dollar projects. Keven has been successful in creating non-profit business plans and operations, along with funding programs for new ventures and managing business start-up and turn around activities.

RHONDA OWENS, Director

Rhonda is the Assistant Information Technology Director for Rutherford County and has been named Director of the department effective July 1, 2008.  She is a graduate of Isothermal Community College with an AAS in Data Processing and an AAS in Information Systems – Network Administration and Support.

MARCHE PITTMAN, Director

Marche Pittman is the Systems Coordinator for the Polk County Government and a Magistrate for the state of North Carolina. He has a bachelor of science degree from Gardner-Webb University and a Master of science degree in Innovation and Information Technology from Champlain College in Burlington,VT.

Marche has worked on many information technology projects including hardware, software, and structured wiring.

 

Management Team

RON WALTERS, Executive Director

Ron Walters is responsible for the overall management and operations of PANGAEA.  That includes administration, communications, sales, fundraising, budgeting, pricing, and product/business strategy.  He joined PANGAEA in March 2007 as a consultant to write the company’s first business plan.  Since then he has guided the organization to achieve dramatic positive results. Ron has a BA degree in Arts and Sciences and an MBA degree in Business Finance from Indiana University's Kelly School of Business.  He has had a very successful 28-year career at large and small telecommunications companies, including AT&T, Ameritech, Intermedia Communications and Trinsic Communications.  His functional area experience includes corporate management, finance, investor relations, product marketing, sales, project management, contract management and negotiation, customer service, and regulatory/industry policy.

STU DAVIDSON, Operations Director

The day-to-day PANGAEA Operations, including the Network, Fiber, Hardware and Software, are Stu's responsibiltiy. He also provides 24x7 customer support. In Atlanta and Cleveland, he was an IBM Mainframe CICS, VSAM COBOL/Assembler programmer and PC/LAN/Mainframe technical support person for 30 years. After relocating to the Tryon area in 2001, he operated the "Computer Wizard for Home and Business" until becoming a full time PANGAEA employee. He has a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from the University of Akron, Ohio.