2026-2028 Board Members

Lindsey Howie

President

Lindsey Howie is the Director of Dance and Associate Professor of Dance at High Point University.

Ashley L. Tate

VP of Communications

Ashley L. Tate is an Assistant Professor of Dance at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

Adrienne McGuire

Member-at-Large, Advocacy

Adrienne McGuire is a Dance Teacher for Wake County Public Schools and pursuing an MA in Dance Education.

Michele Trumble

NC NHSDA State Director

Michele Trumble is an Adjunct Instructor of Dance at High Point University.

Kristin Hayes

President-Elect

Kristin Hayes is the Performing Arts Chair and Director of Dance at Belmont Abbey College.

Audrey Baran

Secretary/Digital Media Coordinator

Audrey Baran is the founder and artistic director of Baran Dance, based in Charlotte, NC.

Amelia Byrd

Member-at-Large, Conference Support

Amelia Byrd is a Dance Educator at Penn-Griffin School for the Arts in High Point, NC.

Laura Stauderman

NC DPI Representative, Ex-Officio Member-at-Large

Dr. Laura Stauderman is a Visual Arts & Dance Consultant with the NCDPI Arts Education team.

Kevin Warner

VP of Development

Kevin Warner is a Professor of Dance Studies at Appalachian State University.

Lori Madl

Treasurer

Lori Madl serves as Dance Director at Northern High School in Durham and collaborates with Duke Arts Fellows.

Quan Powers

Member-at-Large, Membership + Awards

Quan Powers is the Dance Director at Martin Magnet Middle School in Raleigh, NC.

IN MEMORIAM

Ashley Cartledge

We continue to mourn the loss of an exceptional leader to our dance community, Ashley Cartledge. In her earliest years of service to the NCDEO Board, Ashley served in the role of VP of Communications. She assisted the coordination of state conferences and played a lead role in helping disseminate guidance to dance educators during Covid. She creatively shaped how our organization communicated and celebrated the work of our members through social media and newsletters. Ashley greatly impacted the organization of NCDEO operations by establishing our Google Team Drive to properly secure the transfer of documents across board position rotations and she was instrumental in helping to shape the organization’s first strategic plan. Ashley stepped into the role of President this past May. In these past eight months she continued to organize the efforts of the board and coordinated the first NCDEO Virtual Town Hall. Her love for this organization and dance education was evident in her leadership.

As a Pitt County Dance Educator, Ashley touched the lives of many students. In addition to the positive impact she had on her high school students at North Pitt High School, Ashley opened her classroom to pre-service teachers at her alma mater, East Carolina University helping to shape their understanding of a comprehensive arts education. She was instrumental in working with the North Carolina Department of Education Arts Education Team in the revision of the new K-12 Dance Education Standard Course of Study and had just began her work in helping to build standards installation support documents for teachers.

Ashley will be greatly missed by our dance community. We hope to continue to carry her legacy forward in the future work that we do in service to the field of dance education.