PANGAEA Directors & Management

Board of Directors

AMANDA KING, Co-President

After a ten year career in Human Resources, Organizational Development, and Strategic Management Consulting, Amanda is now enjoying her role in the family business as Business Development Director for King Law Offices with locations in Forest City, Rutherfordton, and Lake Lure.  A native of Rutherford County and a former Rutherford County Commissioner (2002-2006), Amanda has served the community in a variety of roles since receiving her Bachelors Degree from Campbell University in 1998.  Her civic involvement has included positions with the Board of Directors for Rutherford County Chamber of Commerce, United Way, Leadership Rutherford, Foothills Connect, Rutherford County Library, and Smart Start of Rutherford and Polk Counties.  Commitment to faith and family remain at the center of Amanda’s life – she is married to Brian and they have two wonderful children ages 4 and 2; they are active in church as well community bible studies and outreach programs.  Amanda holds a Masters of Business Administration from Gardner Webb University, where she now serves as a member of the Board of Advisors for the Godbold School of Business.

JEFF BYRD, Co-President

Jeff Byrd is the owner/editor and publisher of the Tryon Daily Bulletin, 5,200-circulation daily serving Polk County and northern Spartanburg and Greenville counties. Prior to purchasing the Bulletin in 1989, Byrd served as editor and publisher of Suburban Newspapers of Virginia (SNV), a group of four suburban Richmond, Va. weeklies, one of which he owned and subsequently sold to SNV. Jeff has worked as an editor for the Charlotte Observer and as a reporter for the Roanoke Times & World-News. Since moving to Polk County, Jeff has been active in civic life, serving on boards including the Foothills Equestrian Nature Center(FENCE), Polk Vocational Services, North Carolina Press Association, was president of the Tryon Downtown Development Association, board member, Tryon Riding Hunt Club, president, Polk County Chamber of Commerce, and chairman of Blue Ridge Barbecue Festival. Jeff holds a Bachelor's of Science in Journalism from the University of Colorado, and Master of Liberal Arts degree from the University of North Carolina at Asheville.

JIM EDWARDS, Vice President and Treasurer

Jim Edwards serves as Executive Director for the Isothermal Planning & Development Commission. The Commission is an association of local governments serving Cleveland, McDowell, Polk and Rutherford counties. Jim is a Rutherford County native. He received his undergraduate degree from Davidson College, and he completed a masters degree in public administration at UNC-Charlotte. He has spent most of his professional career in western North Carolina, and now lives near Rutherfordton. He is a proponent of economic development that preserves the special character of our land and its citizens.

JOSEPH CROWDER, Secretary

Joe is a Medical Social Worker and Grants Manager for St. Luke’s Hospital. Since 2002, Joe has worked primarily in the areas of substance abuse and geriatric psychiatry. He has over 30 years of experience managing grants and contracts for research universities and government contractors. His background includes working as the Contracting Officer for the University of Kentucky Research Foundation and Director of Research Fiscal Affairs for the Medical University of South Carolina. Prior to relocating to Polk County, he was the Federal Proposal Manager for PeopleSoft, the third-largest software company in the world. Joe is a member of the Polk County Mental Health Advisory Board, the Polk County Wellness Coalition, Community Chorus, and is involved with area Scouting. Joe holds undergraduate degrees in English, Math, and Biology; a Masters degree in Social Work, and has completed Doctoral coursework in Public Administration.  

KATE BARKSCHAT , Director

Kate is the Director of the Polk Campus of the Isothermal Community College which is located in Columbus, NC.

JIM BROSS, Director

Jim currently serves as the Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer for Rutherford Hospital, Inc. He has responsibility for hospital, home health and related operations.   Prior to his current position Jim was the Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Rutherford Hospital for 17 years, beginning in 1991. As CFO he was responsible for Information Systems, Quality Resource Management, Managed Care Operations, Patient Financial Services, and Accounting.  Jim holds a Bachelor Degree from Southern Wesleyan University (Central Wesleyan College), Central, South Carolina and a Masters of Business Administration from the Citadel, Charleston, South Carolina. 

KERRY GILES, Director

Kerry is the Director of Marketing and Commercial Development for the Rutherford County Economic Development Commission.  Since 2002, she has managed the overall marketing program for the county as well as recruitment of commercial businesses and developers to the county.  Before working in Rutherford County, Kerry was the Marketing Manager for Reeves Brothers, Inc. in Spartanburg, SC.  Her civic involvements have included co-chairing the development of Foothills Connect, former Executive Director of Realize Rutherford, Project Manager of www.rutherfordinfo.com and current e-champion and chair of e-Rutherford.  She is a 2002-03 Leadership Rutherford graduate and former board member and is a member of the current Leadership North Carolina class.  Kerry holds a Bachelor of Science degree in both Business Administration and Communications from Grace College.

HARRY GRYMES, Director

Harry is the Senior Vice President/Polk County Executive of the Mountain 1st Bank, Columbus Branch.  He provides management of Polk County Market for Mountain 1st Bank through development of loans, deposits and all other phases of Bank operation. His Primary role is to create and manage a commercial loan portfolio for the Bank. He also serves on the Foothills Equestrian Nature Center (FENCE) Board, the AVISTA Business Development Corporation Board and the Polk County Economic Development Commission Board. His education includes a Bachelor of Arts Degree from the University of South Carolina, Columbia SC with a major in Advertising and Public Relations.

MICHAEL "KEVEN" McCAMMON, Director

A Technical/Business Architect with more than 25 years of system design, development, and implementation, Keven's specialties include fiber deployments, network design, and circuit card design. Keven has product implementation experience with full integration and testing skills.  He has professional project management training with experience in implementing multi million dollar projects. Keven has been successful in creating non-profit business plans and operations, along with funding programs for new ventures and managing business start-up and turn around activities.

MARCHE PITTMAN, Director

Marche Pittman is the Systems Coordinator for the Polk County Government and a Magistrate for the state of North Carolina. He has a bachelor of science degree from Gardner-Webb University and a Master of science degree in Innovation and Information Technology from Champlain College in Burlington,VT.

Marche has worked on many information technology projects including hardware, software, and structured wiring.

RHONDA OWENS, Director

Rhonda is the Assistant Information Technology Director for Rutherford County and has been named Director of the department effective July 1, 2008.  She is a graduate of Isothermal Community College with an AAS in Data Processing and an AAS in Information Systems – Network Administration and Support.

Management Team

RON WALTERS, Executive Director

Ron Walters is responsible for the overall management and operations of PANGAEA.  That includes administration, communications, sales, fundraising, budgeting, pricing, and product/business strategy.  He joined PANGAEA in March 2007 as a consultant to write the company’s first business plan.  Since then he has guided the organization to achieve dramatic positive results. Ron has a BA degree in Arts and Sciences and an MBA degree in Business Finance from Indiana University.  He has had a very successful 25-year career as an executive at large and small telecommunications companies, including AT&T, Ameritech, Intermedia Communications and Z-Tel Communications.  His functional area experience includes corporate management, finance, investor relations, product marketing, sales, project management, contract management and negotiation, customer service, and regulatory/industry policy.

STU DAVIDSON, Operations Director

The day to day PANGAEA Operations including the Network, Fiber, Hardware and Software are Stu's responsibiltiy. He provides 24x7 Customer along with other PANGAEA personel. In Atlanta and Cleveland, he was an IBM Mainframe CICS, VSAM COBOL/Assembler programmer and PC/LAN/Mainframe Technical Support Person for 30 years. After relocating to the Tryon area in 2001, he operated the "Computer Wizard for Home and Business" until becoming a full time PANGAEA employee. He has a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from the University of Akron, Ohio. .