Willona joined Care Share Health Alliance as ACA Project Specialist in October 2014 and was promoted to Director of NC Get Covered in March 2016. She works closely with the NCGC Advisory Board to develop and implement a strategic plan to help guide the work of the coalition and ensure its sustainability. In addition, Willona plans and facilitates monthly coalition meetings on critical topics related to the ACA, reports outcomes from the coalition’s work to local funders, manages the program budget and website, serves as the state’s point of contact for Health and Human Services Region IV, manages NC Get Covered’s Latino mini-grant program, and helps plan North Carolina’s annual in-person assister conference before the start of each Open Enrollment Period.
Willona brings to Care Share more than 10 years of experience in program development and management, grant writing, stakeholder engagement, and data management. Most recently, Willona served as the founding director of the NC Council of Churches’ health initiative, Partners in Health and Wholeness – helping to promote health as a faith issue and to connect people of faith to statewide resources, including mini-grants. She also served as Public Health Program Consultant II for the NC Sickle Cell Syndrome Program and Statistical Research Assistant II for the NC State Center for Health Statistics.
Willona holds a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and a Master of Public Health degree, with a concentration in Maternal and Child Health, from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.