2024 Annual Meeting

Tracy Dodson, Assistant City Manager and Economic Development Director

In her dual roles of assistant city manager and economic development director, Tracy Dodson guides the City of Charlotte in developing a vibrant new regional economic ecosystem. She utilizes her proven business insights and strategies to champion the city’s economic expansion, workforce development and upward mobility initiatives.

Under Dodson’s guidance, the city continues to successfully leverage strong business relationships on the local, county, regional and state levels. The attraction and retention efforts led by Dodson have resulted in game-changing economic development wins, including Honeywell, a fortune 100 company, moving its headquarters, as well as expansions by LendingTree, AvidXchange and Lowe’s, all bringing thousands of new jobs to Charlotte.

Dodson has more than 20 years of economic development and real estate experience across North and South Carolina. Prior to her work with the City of Charlotte, she was a senior vice president for brokerage and development at Lincoln-Harris, and from 2009 to 2013, she served as director of economic development for Charlotte Center City Partners. Dodson earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and holds a master’s in real estate and urban development from Harvard University.

Brian McCarthy, Principal, Chief Risk Officer Global Risk and Security, Vanguard

Brian McCarthy is a principal and Chief Risk Officer for Vanguard’s Personal Investor division. In this role, he leads a team that provides independent risk oversight and guidance to the Personal Investor division, which serves nine million individual investors.

Prior to his current role, Brian served as the Global Head of the Investment Management Group Operational Risk team within Vanguard’s Global Risk & Security division. Other roles have included leading the Retail Client Services and Investor Trading Services organizations within Personal Investor.

Jennifer Manry, Principal, Corporate Systems, IT Executive, Vanguard

Jennifer Manry holds the position of Principal of Corporate Systems at Vanguard, where she oversees the technology that underpins Vanguard’s shared services including Human Resources, Legal, Risk, Marketing, and Communications. Additionally, she is responsible for leading the development and management of enterprise technology platforms, enhancing productivity through innovative solutions like robotic process automation, generative AI, CRM, workflow, and search functionalities.
Prior to Vanguard, Jennifer was the vice president of the Global Industry Solutions group at VMware, where she was responsible for defining VMWare’s global industry strategy and creating industry specific solutions across the financial services, healthcare, retail, and government industries.

Before VMware, Jennifer held executive leadership positions at both Bank of America and Capital One. She was the CIO and managing director of Employee Technology and Employee Experience at Bank of America, where she was responsible for the technology used by over 200,000 employees globally. In addition to those responsibilities, Jennifer lead both the Global Human Resources and Chief Administrative Office technology teams. At Capital One, she served as managing vice president – end user computing, digital workplace, and identity and access management, where she drove the transformation of the employee experience, creating a contemporary, digital workplace based on consumer- grade technology at enterprise scale.

She has also held technology leadership positions at GE and Genworth Financial.
Jennifer earned a degree in Mechanical Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology.

Major Torri Tellis, CMPD

Major Torri Tellis is a twenty-five (25) year veteran of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department. He joined the CMPD as a member of the 129th Recruit Class in 1998. He was promoted up the ranks over a span of thirteen (13) years commanding the Independence Division, Metro Division, Violent Crime Division, Eastway Division (2x), Community Services Bureau, Internal Affairs Bureau and the Special Events Division through his current assignment of the Patrol Northeast Service Area.

As the Major of the Patrol Northeast Service Area, he oversees three (3) patrol divisions: Hickory Grove Division, North Tryon Division and University City Division.

Major Tellis has served as the President of the Charlotte Chapter of North State Law Enforcement Association and currently serves as the President of the Greater Charlotte Chapter of the National Organization for Black Law Enforcement Executives. He is also a member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Incorporated.

A native of Newark, New Jersey, Major Tellis earned his Bachelor of Science Degree from Virginia State University in 1996. He successfully achieved his Master of Business Administration Degree from Pfeiffer University.

Stuart Parks, UCP Chairman of the Board, CEO Parks Companies

Stuart Parks is the chief executive officer of the Parks Companies,  a purpose-driven family investment company committed to inspiring and building better lives and communities.  Parks serves as Managing Partner of the Arden Group (Real Estate development ),Parks Holdings (Real Estate investment ), Parks Automotive, Capital Automotive and various other LLC’s and investments. Under his leadership, assets under management and revenue have grown substantially since Parks took leadership following the passing of the his father and the consolidation of management in 2010.  

Prior to the current leadership role Parks held increasingly senior positions in corporate and commercial real estate management, development and consulting.  Parks is a champion for philanthropy and volunteerism. Providing financial support for many organizations such as the Methodist Church, Arbor Acres Foundation, Shepherds Center and many health and cultural nonprofits. He has served on the boards of a number of North Carolina organizations. He is currently a board member of the Charlotte‘s University City Partners and recently on the boards of Reynolda House Museums and the Forsyth County Arts Council.  A native of North Carolina, Parks earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Virginia and a Masters Degree from Princeton University.

Alex Romero, Director, Investments, Accesso Partners and University City Partners Board Member

Alex Romero is the Director of Investments at Accesso Partners, a vertically integrated real estate owner and operator, where he is responsible for sourcing, underwriting, closing, and dispositions of all office and multifamily investment opportunities. In this role, he works closely with the Asset Management team to help oversee the 3MM SF portfolio the company operates in the Carolinas.

Education

Bachelor of Science from the University of Connecticut
Master of Business Administration from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill Accesso is a full-service, vertically integrated commercial real estate investment manager, owner, and operator that provides superior returns and excellent value to U.S., international, and institutional investors, brokers, tenants, and team members.

Innovation Park, an Accesso property, is a premier 12-building Class A office campus totaling 1.76 million rentable sq. ft. It is conveniently located near all 3 major highways (I-85, I-485, and I-77) in Charlotte, NC.

Kieth Stanley, CEO, University City Partners

Starting this role in January 2023, Keith is responsible for implementing the overall Strategic Vision Plan for University City released in 2021. In addition, he will focus on building the University City brand, increasing community engagement efforts, and supporting small business and entrepreneurial opportunities in University City.

Keith has over 20 years of community and economic development experience. Among Stanley’s accolades are Milwaukee Business Journal’s 40 Under 40 winner; BizTimes Nonprofit Executive of the Year; Young Alumni Award from the Milwaukee Public Schools Foundation; the Young American

Leaders program of Harvard University, and the Diversity in Business Award from the Milwaukee Business Journal and the 2022 Frank Kirkpatrick Award by the Greater Milwaukee Foundation.