StaffStaff

Nancy Gottovi is the Executive Director of Central Park. She earned her Ph.D. in cultural anthropology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and has been an adjunct Assistant Professor at NC State University and UNC Charlotte. Dr. Gottovi has served as editor for the national Rural Education Finance Center’s Rural School Funding Report, director of the Heritage and Cultural Tourism Partnership of NC and Project Director of the NC Pottery Center.  Nancy was a 1995 Fellow of the Rural Economic Development Leadership Institute and is currently a 2006-2008 William C. Friday Fellow for Human Relations.

Marla Coulthard is the Associate Director of Central Park NC. She is a graduate of Coker College in Hartsville, S.C. where she earned a BA in Sociology. Coulthard’s background includes more than 20 years as a journalist, starting on active duty in the U.S. Army, then as a publisher of three weekly newspapers and ending up as managing editor of the Richmond County Daily Journal. She was a Central Park staff member from 2004 through 2006 and returned in October 2009.

Beth Throneburg is the Office Manager for Central Park NC.  Her experience includes Director of a Main Street program, historic preservation research and planning, as well as working with diverse populations as a GED instructor. She has a BA in Historic Preservation and a Certificate in Accounting.

Santiago Ramirez Alvarez is the Facilties Manager for STARworks Ceramics.  In addition, to overseeing STARworks clay production and equipment, Santiago assists the organization with entrepreneurial development and Latino community outreach. A native of Mexico, he is fluent in Spanish and English and is a part-time potter.

Hitomi Shibata is the Studio Manager of STARworks Ceramics. She holds a Master of Education, Fine Arts and Crafts and has recently completed the residency progrm at the NC Pottery Center. She gained her undergraduate degree in Cermaics from Okayama National University. She has been a special grad student at The University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, under the Rotary International Scholarship in 2002.

Anne Pärtna is the STARworks garden Coordinator. Anne is a native of Estonia. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, she came to America to study. Anne earned her MFA from East Carolina University in 2007. Anne's mission for STARgardens is to spread enthusiasm for low impact living.

Nickolaus Fruin is the Glass Coordinator for STARworks Glass. Nick graduated Hastings College in Nebraska in 2008 with a BFA in Studio Art. He was runner-up in the Glass Art Society International Student Exhibition in 2006. As a recipient of a full scholarship to study Venetian glass, he worked with James Morgan at The Glass Furnace in Istanbul, Turkey. Nick has worked and taught in various glassblowing studios across the country.

Tony Inskeep is the Biofuels Coordinator for STARworks Biofuels. Tony graduated from Pfeiffer College in 1996 with a degree in Biology. He has worked in Information Technology for Pfeiffer College and St. Andrews Presbyterian College. Tony has lived most of his life in the Central Park region.

Phyllis Cagle joined Central Park NC in November as a part-time office assistant, although she has been associated with STARworks for three years, since she and her husband Kenneth moved their business, Comfort South Geothermal, into the building. Phyllis also manages the couple’s six rental properties. She learned her computer skills at Randolph Community College. Previously, she worked at Piney Woods Pottery, owned by her aunt and uncle. The Robbins native lives with her husband of 27 years in Seagrove. Phyllis enjoys music, having played the piano since she was 10 years old, and in recent years writing songs she hopes to have published.