Racial & Ethnic Diversity Groups

Rolanda Burney chair of the African-American Subcommittee

Rolanda C. Burney currently serves as chief of staff to Chancellor Kumble R. Subbaswamy at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Burney manages the Chancellor’s Office and coordinates with the senior campus leadership team and a variety of constituents to pursue the university’s strategic goals, tracking and advancing priority projects.

Burney has extensive experience in higher education, especially in governance, board leadership, crisis management, strategic planning and implementation, and development of policies, programs and services that support institutional mission. She worked as a consultant for the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, leading the Frontier Set Initiative, a partnership of 31 public and private colleges, universities, community colleges and university systems created by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to help colleges increase the number of graduates among minority, first-generation, low-income and non-traditional students.Prior to that, Burney served for three years as chief of staff at Bennett College in Greensboro, N.C., a private, historically black women’s college, where she worked closely with the president on enacting college-wide strategic and leadership initiatives and also with the college’s board of trustees on its operational and administrative functions.

Burney served as special assistant to the president at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore for seven years, where she worked with the president and senior staff to shape and manage the strategic agenda for the president and university. She also worked at Livingstone College in Salisbury, N.C., a private, not-for-profit historically black college, as dean and then later as associate vice president of enrollment management and strategic planning; at the University of Virginia as assistant dean of admission and at the University of North Carolina Wilmington as an admission counselor.

A Life Member of the General Alumni Association her previous service to the University includes membership on the Student Affairs Advisory Board.

Burney earned her Ph.D. in organizational leadership from the University of Maryland Eastern Shore; her M.A. in English from the University of North Carolina Wilmington; and her B.A. in English at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Oliver Pau chair of the Asian American Alumni Subcommittee

Oliver Pau  is a three-time graduate earning his BS in Business Administration in 1992, Masters in 1998, and MBA in 2006 from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He currently works as a Regional Program Manager, Engineering and Environmental Management with Cherokee. Mr. Pau directs environmental due diligence, manages site assessments and remediation, and analyzes financial risks associated with brownfield real estate transactions. He is also responsible for maintaining Cherokee’s ISO 14001:2004-certified environmental management system. Prior to joining Cherokee, Mr. Pau was a Program Manager with URS Corporation, where he managed multi-media environmental engineering and design contracts

Kerry Bird co-chair of the American Indian Subcommittee

Kerry D. Bird is a member of the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate of South Dakota and has heritage from the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina. He was formerly employed as a Development Officer in the Office of Development at UNC Chapel Hill. He holds a BA in Political Science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and holds a Master’s of Social Work from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri.

Kerry served as a diversity consultant with ProGroup, Inc. for several years. He was previously employed as the interim executive director for Native Americans in Philanthropy and the National Native American AIDS Prevention Center and as project director for the N.C. Commission of Indian Affairs.

Kerry is a former member Board of Visitors for UNC, the President of Triangle Native American Society, a former board member of the LGBT Center of Raleigh, and a past President of United Tribes of North Carolina.

Kerry and his husband live in Raleigh.

Jennifer Manning co-chair of the American Indian Subcommittee

Jennifer Manning is a Senior Research Librarian at the Congressional Research Service of the Library of Congress. She earned a bachelor’s degree in political science and international studies and a master’s degree in library science, both from UNC-Chapel Hill. Of Cherokee heritage, Jennifer’s interests include promoting diversity in the library and information science professions as well as the expansion of international study and career opportunities for minority students. At UNC, Jennifer was a charter resident of the UNITAS multicultural residential learning program and was active in the Carolina Indian Circle and the Association of International Students. Jennifer is a Life Member of both the American Library Association and the UNC General Alumni Association and chairs the student financial aid committee of the District of Columbia Library Association. She is active in the American Indian Library Association and serves as liaison between the Congressional Research Service and its European parliamentary counterparts.

John Brooks vice chair of the American Indian Subcommittee

Dr. John Brooks is a Cardiologist with FirstHealth Cardiology in Raeford, North Carolina. He graduated from UNC in 1996 with a bachelor of science in Pharmacy. He completed his medical training at East Carolina University and residency at the Medical University of South Carolina.

Maribel Carrion chair of the Latina/o Subcommittee

Maribel Carrion is the Executive Director of Student Administration and Enterprise Reporting in the Information Technology Services (ITS) organization at UNC Chapel Hill. She has more than 30 years of experience working in technology, including roles based in Mexico and Singapore, as well as managing teams in Europe, South America and Southeast Asia. She returned to the Chapel Hill area in 2000 and joined UNC-Chapel Hill in 2009. Maribel holds a BS in Mathematics and an MBA, both from UNC-Chapel Hill. Born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Maribel began her travels as an “Army brat” when she was less than a year old. Her family would go on to live in North Carolina, Germany, Florida, Panama, Puerto Rico and then back to North Carolina. She credits this background for creating a lasting curiosity for the cultures, languages and arts in different parts of the world. In today’s environment, she feels it is important for all young people to have some type of experience that exposes them to the global environment – especially those under-represented students that can least afford it. As a result, she has worked with the Center for Global Initiatives to create opportunities through the Global Take Off: Puerto Rico program. She also supports the Carolina Performing Arts’ Student Angel Fund, which ensures that students have access to artists and performances from around the world here at UNC, regardless of their ability to pay. In addition to serving on ACRED for the past 9 years, Maribel currently serves on the Carolina Performing Arts International Advisory Board and the Chancellor’s Global Leadership Council.