Patti Millar is the President of Better Ballot North Carolina and also champions the development of our regional outreach hubs. She's led a variety of projects for corporations, small businesses, and government entities with a focus on strategic planning, performance consulting, and socio-emotional development for adults. Patti has a M.A. in Organizational Development & Leadership and a PhD in Human Development from Fielding Graduate University. She cares deeply about democratic processes and believes ranked choice voting is a lever for change that will enable other pro-democracy reforms.
Viktor Shepelin is the Treasurer of Better Ballot North Carolina and also serves as the Fundraising Team lead. He has a background in finance where he previously built electronic trading products at a global investment bank. A graduate of University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business, Better Ballot North Carolina is his first foray into political activism. Viktor is passionate about ranked choice voting and strongly believes that this small upgrade to the way we vote will have a meaningful, positive impact on the political landscape.
Sandy Paternotte is the Secretary of Better Ballot North Carolina and also serves as an outreach coordinator for our Wilmington regional hub. An alumni of UNC-Wilmington, he's a retired executive from the clinical research and manufacturing industries. Outside of political advocacy, he's a proud family man and in his spare time is a musician, songwriter, arranger, and home studio guy. Sandy is tremendously excited about how ranked choice voting can change our political landscape and help heal our political divides.
Daniel Kemp is a former President of Better Ballot North Carolina and is currently an at-large board member. He teaches high school science, though spent most of his career in sales and management working with educational and insurance products. He graduated from UNC-Wilmington with a B.A. in Political Science as well as a B.A. in Psychology. While there, he was a member of both the Political Science and Libertarian Party clubs. Daniel has always had a passion for civic engagement, so promoting ranked choice voting was a natural fit.
John Underwood is a founding/former executive of Better Ballot NC. Currently an at-large board member, he also leads our Data & Technology Team. He majored in Computer Science and Philosophy during college and graduate school and has been a software developer for 25 years. Throughout his life, John has spent time as a Democrat, unaffiliated, and later as part of the Republican Liberty Caucus, both in NC and nationally. John is now a Libertarian Party activist. He believes that Ranked Choice Voting is one of the best ways to give a voice to those who at times have also found themselves disenchanted.
Justin Fry is an at-large board member of Better Ballot NC and also the lead of our Art & Creative Team. He holds degrees in both Marketing and Psychology. Throughout his professional career, he has worked in various business capacities, initially spending his time in sales and then moving on to the learning and development field where he has excelled for over a decade. He recognizes the importance that ranked choice voting and other electoral reforms play to not just bringing better options and representation to voters, but ultimately improving our state and country as a whole.
David Green is a National Organizing Director with Rank the Vote and advisor to Better Ballot NC. Formerly, he was a Deputy Chapter Lead at Voter Choice Massachusetts, building grassroots support and donations for the Massachusetts ranked choice voting movement. He was also a cofounder of the Massachusetts Yang Gang. David holds degrees in both Mathematics and Theater from Amherst College and previously worked as a Data Analyst at CareDash, a healthcare directory site. He loves getting people excited about ranked choice voting and changing our world for the better.
Frank Knapp Jr. is an advisor to Better Ballot NC as the Director of Business for Democracy, a campaign of the American Sustainable Business Network. In this role, he helps gain support toward our mission from small businesses. Frank is also the President and CEO of the South Carolina Small Business Chamber of Commerce which he co-founded in 2000. He has an M.A. in Social Psychology from the University of South Carolina. He believes that ranked choice voting is an important component of protecting democracy because it democratizes elections and contributes to a vibrant, entrepreneurial economy.
Our mission to bring RCV to North Carolina is also championed by additional organizational leaders around the state who oversee our various functional teams and regional outreach hubs. Get involved!
To bring Ranked Choice Voting to North Carolina, we need to show our legislators that RCV has wide public support.
