Staff Members

Melissa Price Kromm, Coalition Director

Ms. Kromm has worked with NCVCE since August 2010. She works with more than 30 coalition partners to advance public campaign financing options for elections in North Carolina and serves as the organization's lobbyist at the NC General Assembly. Melissa has previous experience as an advocate for same-day registration and as a legal assistant with Wallace & Nordan. Melissa grew up in Clayton, NC and graduated from NC State University with degrees in Political Science and Communications.

Board Members

Toby Hampson, President

Mr. Hampson is an associate attorney with Wyrick Robbins Yates & Ponton. He holds a B.A. in International Studies and History with honors and a J.D. with honors from Campbell University School of Law. He served as Treasurer of the Judge Bob Hunter Cmte and serves on the North Carolina Bar Association Law School Liaison Cmte. He also is active in the North Carolina Bar Association, American Bar Association, and Wake County Bar Association.

Bob Hall, Treasurer

Mr. Hall is the executive director of Democracy NC. He has been working with grassroots groups across North Carolina since 1970, collaborating with them on research projects on economic and social issues. He has served as executive director and research director with the Institute for Southern Studies and was recognized for that work with a MacArthur Fellowship in 1992.

Bob Phillips, Secretary

Mr. Phillips is the executive director of Common Cause North Carolina. His interest in campaign finance reform comes in part from his other work experiences which include television news reporter and press secretary for the Office of the Lieutenant Governor. He is a native North Carolinian and graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill.

James Andrews

Mr. Andrews is the President of the North Carolina AFL-CIO. He served as the organization's Secretary-Treasurer for 13 years before being elected President. Originally from Warren County, NC, he helped organize a union at his plant in Henderson before becoming Director of NC Frontlash in 1974. He has several decades of organizing and advocacy experience in North Carolina

Peg Chapin

Damon Circosta

Mr. Circosta has worked in Washington D.C., California and Raleigh as an attorney and political consultant. A graduate of the University of Arizona School of Law, Damon has worked in the U.S. Senate on campaign reform efforts including the landmark Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act. He has managed a successful statewide judicial campaign under North Carolina's Judicial Campaign Reform Act, and worked on various other reforms to our election system. He currently is Executive Director at the NC Center for Voter Education where he works on campaign finance reform and other election issues.

Carrie Clark

Ms. Clark is the Executive Director of Conservation Council of NC, a statewide advocacy and political organization working to hold North Carolina decision-makers accountable for better environmental policies.  Carrie received a Master of Environmental Management from Duke University’s School of the Environment.  Carrie has been working in North Carolina’s environmental community since 1996 and with Conservation Council of North Carolina since 1999.  Carrie was also a Peace Corps Volunteer in Tanzania, and currently serves on the board of Blueprint NC, the Federation of State Conservation Voter Leagues, and the League of Conservation Voters.

Tom Coulson

Mr. Coulson is the former and founding president of NCVCE. A retired hospital executive, he devotes himself to good government issues. He serves on the Governing Board of Democracy North Carolina, of Common Cause/North Carolina and heads the Jane Bingham Chapter of Common Cause/NC, covering North Carolina\'s eleventh Congressional District.

Joe Haun

Chris Kukla

Mr. Kukla has been with CRL since 2002, and is primarily responsible for directing CRL’s North Carolina policy work. Chris also works with lawmakers and advocates in other states on consumer lending legislation. He received his law degree from the University of Notre Dame Law School, and received his B.A. with honors from Alma College in Alma, Michigan. Prior to joining the Center, Chris worked for five years on Capitol Hill, most recently as Appropriations Associate and Counsel to U.S. Representative Nita M. Lowey of New York.

Dick Logan

Shortly after retiring in 1991, Mr. Logan moved from New York City to North Carolina where he has been an active member of North Carolina Fair Share for over ten years. His entire career was spent as a trade union activist working to make unions more democratic and more effective in collective bargaining.

Linda Levy

Ms. Levy is the Voter Service Chairman of the League of Women Voters of Charlotte-Mecklenburg.  Her responsibilities include coordinating voter registration of new citizens on the day they are naturalized, administering a high school voter registration drive project, in which the 20 public high schools and about five private high schools in Charlotte-Mecklenburg are invited to conduct a voter registration drive.  The student organizations such as NAACP chapters, student government, leadership groups and social studies classes run the drives themselves, under the supervision of the faculty advisor.  The League gives an honorarium of $100 to each organization that successfully registers or pre-registers at least 35 students to vote.  This project is now in its eighth year and through the years thousands of high school students have registered or pre-registered to vote.

Her other interests include volunteering in the first grade of a local public school with a majority of Hispanic students, exercise classes, religious studies and Spanish conversation groups and classes.

Prior to retirement her work experience included administering a high technology trade organization on Long Island, NY; and in Charlotte coordinating a commercial real estate organization, and administrative duties in property management firms.

Beth Messersmith

Ms. Messersmith has been involved with the campaign reform movement for over five years. She was previously co-executive director of Democracy North Carolina. She previously worked as marketing specialist for Big Brothers Big Sisters. She has also served as a conflict resolution intern with the Carter Center in Atlanta, and was awarded the Harry S. Truman Fellowship for pursuit of graduate work in public service. She received her Masters of Public Affairs Degree from Indiana University.

Adam Sotak

Mr. Sotak is the Organizing Director for Democracy North Carolina and has been on the NCVCE board since 2005. He has been working with Democracy North Carolina (formerly Democracy South) since January 2000. Prior to his work at Democracy NC, Adam received his MSW from UNC-Chapel Hill and trained and worked as a labor organizer. He also spent two years working with at-risk youth. In 2001, he received the Humanitarian Award from the Charlotte-Black Political Caucus and in 2005 he received the 'Unsung Hero Award' from the Charlotte-Mecklenburg NAACP for his work for voting rights. He continues to work in the Charlotte area and throughout the state\'s Piedmont and western counties, encouraging citizens to take ownership of their democracy.

Rob Thompson

Prior to joining the Covenant in 2008, Rob held various advocacy and organizing positions. From 2003 to 2005, Rob worked as an organizer at the Center for Campus Free Speech, where he organized campus communities and lawyers around the country to protect the First Amendment rights of students. From 2005 to 2008, Rob directed NC Public Interest Research Group (NCPIRG), a consumer and good government advocacy group. In this role, he worked as the chief lobbyist and spokesperson for NCPIRG. Rob grew up in Atlanta, GA and attended Tulane University in New Orleans, where he graduated with a degree in English Literature.

Jeanne Van Divender

Ms. Van Divender has over ten years experience as an information consultant. She has worked for several chemical and pharmaceutical companies in New York and North Carolina in their Knowledge Management and Informatics departments. She has been a Key Legislative Contact for AARP for two years. She is also a precinct judge for the Wake County Board of Elections. Ms. Van Divender received a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Virginia.

Louisa Warren

Ms. Warren is a Senior Policy Advocate focusing on work and income supports at the N.C. Justice Center . Prior to joining the Justice Center , Louisa was the Director of the N.C. Coalition for Lobbying & Government Reform and also previously was the Coordinator of Special Events & Communications at El Pueblo. A Raleigh native, she graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Grinnell College.