Management & Business Technologies Faculty
Full Time | Part Time
Full Time Instructors
Susan Fleming Bowness
Professor/Coordinator Office Administration
212-C Stone Hall
(910) 695-3755
bownesss@sandhills.edu
Susan Bowness began teaching at Sandhills Community College in 1995 in the Office Administration and Medical Office Administration programs. She earned her M.S. degree in Business Education from UNC-Greensboro and her B.S. in Business Education from Meredith College. Before her teaching career at Sandhills, she was the Associate Director of St. Andrews at Sandhills as well as an adjunct instructor in marketing with the program. Her teaching experience also includes 10 years in the N.C. and N.Y. public school systems as well as adjunct teaching positions in continuing education at Sandhills Community College. Professor Bowness is a 2000 graduate of the North Carolina Community College Leadership Program and has developed and coordinated a career shadowing program for office and medical office administration students with local businesses and medical clinics. She was awarded a 2004 UNC World View International Study Visit to Spain by the SCC International Committee for the purpose of responding to the challenges of a smaller, more interconnected world. She has served on the board of trustees of the O’Neal School and the Baptist Children’s Homes of North Carolina.
Sarah Bumgarner
Instructor, Business Administration
212-D Stone Hall
(910)
695-3751
bumgarners@sandhills.edu
Sarah Bumgarner received a MBA from Appalachian State University (’84) and a BA in Economics from the University of North Carolina at Asheville (’82). She has been teaching Economics, Finance and Management Courses for over 20 years. Although students and teaching have always been her primary focus, Sarah has maintained an active consulting practice in teacher training, retention strategies, and small business consulting. Prior to joining the SCC faculty in 2008, Sarah has been a full time instructor at ASU, Hood College, and 13 years at UNCA. While at UNCA she received the Distinguished Teaching Award (’99), Student Affairs Faculty Appreciation Award (‘97), and was recognized nationally for her student advocacy and development of the university First-Year Experience program (’01) by the National Resource Center for First-Year Students.
Carol Lucas
Professor/Coordinator Medical and Office Administration
208 Stone Hall
(910) 695-3753
lucasc@sandhills.edu
A native of North Carolina, Carol Lucas began teaching at Sandhills Community College in 1994 in the Office Administration and Medical Office Administration programs. She received her Masters of Science in Business Education with a minor in Marketing from UNC-Greensboro. Upon graduating from UNC-G with a B. S. degree in Business Information and Support Systems, she immediately began teaching in the public schools as a business and marketing education teacher, DECA/FBLA advisor, and later the girls’ high school tennis coach. She also received the “Teacher of the Year” award twice and was a former department chairperson while teaching in the high schools. Professor Lucas is a 2008 graduate of the North Carolina Community College Leadership program and currently serves as Coordinator for the Medical Office Administration program.
Kirk Lynch
Department Chair, Management and Business
Associate Professor
108 Meyer Hall
(910) 695-3866
lynchk@sandhills.edu
Kirk Lynch received a Bachelors of Science degree in Economics from Colorado State University in 1982. At that time, he went into the corporate world with American Telephone and Telegraph (AT&T) in marketing and advanced through several marketing and product management positions over a 23 year career. While working full-time, he continued to pursue advanced studies. In 1990, he earned a Masters in Business Administration with an emphasis in Information Systems from the University of Colorado at Denver. In 1992, he earned a Master’s Certificate in Project Management from George Washington University. In 1995, he earned a Master of Science in Accounting from the University of Colorado at Denver. Kirk has been teaching at Sandhills Community College since 2002. He has been a full-time instructor in the Business and Technologies department since 2003. He has taught courses in Information Systems, business and accounting. His main focus is introductory financial accounting, introductory managerial accounting, payroll accounting, spreadsheets for accounting (Excel), and accounting software applications (Quickbooks). Kirk was the first to bring Internet-based accounting classes to the business department and has continued to enhance the Internet-based accounting courses to provide an exceptional classroom experience. Kirk was recently commissioned by Cengage publishing to update the instructor’s manual for the next release of the Financial and Managerial Accounting textbooks.
Fletcher Meyers
Instructor, Business Administration
210 Stone Hall
(910)
695-3754
meyersf@sandhills.edu
Fletcher Meyers received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology from the University of Southern Maine in 1990. During his undergraduate studies he had attended the Universität Heidelberg in Germany for three years leading to a career in international banking. In 1991 Fletcher was accepted into the management trainee program at the Bayerishce Vereinsbank in Munich. In the process of the German reunification he worked for the Bayerishe Vereinbank in eastern Germany helping to rebuild the banking system. He worked in the regional office in Dresden German for many years. Mr. Meyers began his full time graduate studies in the summer of 1999 with European program at City University. In 2001 Fletcher received his MBA, and began working with a telecommunications start-up in the deregulation of the German regional telephone service. In 2003 he returned to the United States with his German wife and four children to follow his interest in teaching. Mr. Meyers has taught at many levels. He has been teaching at Sandhills Community College since 2009.
Nevius 
Toney
Associate Professor/Coordinator HIT Program
212-A Stone Hall
(910) 695-3752
toneyn@sandhills.edu
Nevius Toney received a Bachelors of Science in Business Administration with a concentration in Marketing from North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University in Greensboro, N.C. She also received a Masters of Science in Administration with a concentration in Business Administration and Health Management from Central Michigan in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan. Nevius is an Instructor of the Management and Business Technologies Department at Sandhills Community College. She also is the Program Coordinator for the HIT program offered through Pitt Community College.
Nevius usually teaches BUS 110, BUS 137, BUS 255, and MKT 120. She created and or edited all of the courses online that she teaches. She is a member of the distinguished 20/20 VISION committee. She has 10 years of banking experience with Wachovia (formally First Union National Bank) based in Charlotte, N.C. It is the fourth largest banking chain in the United States based on total deposits. She held various positions with the bank including selling mutual funds and serving as an associate in the Trust Department, consumer loan officer, and financial consultant, providing technical support for all branches in the 14-state territory.
Catherine Skura
Associate Professor Economics / Coordinator Business Administration
212-B Stone Hall
(910) 695-3750
skurac@sandhills.edu
Catherine Skura was born in France and moved to the U.S. in 1986. She first lived in Brooklyn, N.Y., where she attended Brooklyn College and she earned her B.A. in Economics. She then moved to Raleigh, N.C., to attend North Carolina State University and graduated with a master’s degree in Economics. Catherine has been teaching Economics since 1999, first at NCSU and at Sandhills since July 2004. She is an associate professor of the Sandhills Department of Management and Business Technologies and the program coordinator of the Business Administration program.
Mary M. Speth
Accounting Professor
106 Meyer Hall
(910) 246-4129
spethm@sandhills.edu
Mary Speth graduated with a Bachelors of Arts in History from the University of South Carolina. After nine years in small business ownership and management, she returned to the university and earned a Masters in Business Administration and became a licensed Certified Public Accountant. She also completed 18 graduate credit hours in accounting courses. Mary worked for an accounting firm for five years, performing audits of government agencies, banks, and small businesses, as well as tax and compilation services for both business and individual clients. For the last 25 years, she has taught accounting and business and management at South Carolina State University, the University of South Carolina in Columbia, Montgomery College in Maryland, and, since 2005, Sandhills Community College. While teaching at South Carolina State University, she authored an Accounting Procedures Manual for the university’s business office. At Montgomery College in Maryland, she was chairman of the Department of Accounting, Business, Management and Paralegal Studies on the Germantown campus. She specializes in teaching financial accounting at the principles and intermediate levels, managerial and cost accounting. She was instrumental in starting the Certified Bookkeeper’s program at Sandhills.
Part Time Instructors
Marinda Moore Avera
Adjunct Faculty
211 Stone Hall
(910) 693-2062
averam@sandhills.edu
A North Carolina native, Marinda Avera came to Sandhills Community College in 1979 to teach in the Department of Management and Business Technologies. Upon graduation from East Carolina University with a BSBE degree, she immediately began teaching in the North Carolina Community College System at Lenoir Community College. With her completion of an M.A.Ed. with a concentration in business education and six years of teaching experience, Marinda came to Sandhills where she taught full-time for another 26 years. Since 2005, Marinda has continued to educate Sandhills’ students as she continues to serve the college on a part-time basis teaching business mathematics, contract law, text editing applications, medical legal issues, organizational behavior, and business communications. In addition, she frequently offers effective communication seminars through the Small Business Center.
Karl Ecker
Adjunct Faculty
105 Meyer Hall
(910) 246-4118
eckerk@sandhills.edu
Karl Ecker, a graduate of the University of Michigan, B.A, Wayne State University Law School, J.D., and Columbia University Law School, LL.M., practiced law for 35 years in the Washington, D.C. For the first three years, he worked with the Urban Renewal Administration of the Department of Housing and Urban Development. He then entered private practice with a D.C. law firm to represent private real estate developers in acquisition, disposition and financing of multi-family and commercial real estate. In the mid-1970's, he helped establish a law firm and expanded his practice to include corporate law representing private companies seeking financing through private and public debt offerings, doing mergers and acquisitions. The last several years prior to retirement, he concentrated on representing foreign entities in commercial transactions in the United States. Upon retirement in 1998, he accepted a position with Sandhills Community College as an Adjunct Professor and continues to teach Business Law and Real Estate.
Leo A. Garcia
Adjunct Faculty
210 Stone Hall
(910) 246-4119
garcial@sandhills.edu
Leo Garcia retired to Pinehurst from Michigan in 2001. Leo worked for GMC for 28 years in various capacities in the financial and public relations fields, including various overseas assignments. He was a successful business owner in three companies. He received an MBA and BBA from the University of Detroit and has taught at five different colleges as a “hobby” for the past 25 years. He and his wife Jane of 40 years have two daughters and one grandson. He is a former Marine, fluent in Spanish, and his hobbies include teaching, sports, dancing, reading and traveling. Leo teaches business and management courses for the college.
Larry Harward
Adjunct Faculty
211 Stone Hall
(910) 695-3903
harwardl@sandhills.edu
Larry Harward started at Sandhills in September 1968 as a full-time instructor in Business and Accounting. He retired from full-time teaching in December 1997. In January 1998, he became a part-time instructor in Accounting. Larry teaches ACC 149 and ACC 150.
Rebecca Jones
Adjunct Faculty
207 Stone Hall
(910) 695-3903
jonesr@sandhills.edu
After 25 years as Instructor at Bladen Community College where she also served as Chair of the Business Technologies Department, Rebecca Jones retired in 2004 from the North Carolina Community College System. When she and her husband moved to Pinehurst, she began teaching Internet Keyboarding and Word Processing for Sandhills Community College as an Adjunct Instructor in 2005. Rebecca was one of the first Blackboard course developers in the NCCCS Virtual Learning Community and has continued to teach and develop online courses. She was a semifinalist in the NCCCS/First Union Foundation Excellence in Teaching Award in 1994. Prior to teaching in the North Carolina Community College System, Rebecca also taught seven years in the Business Department at DeKalb Community College in Atlanta, Georgia. She earned an Ed.S. degree from Georgia State University, a M.Ed. degree from University of Georgia, and a B.S. degree from Valdosta State University in Business Education. Rebecca now resides in Charlotte and has had a lifelong career as a business educator in both the classroom and online.
Richard Laucks
Adjunct Faculty
(910) 215-3779
laucksr@sandhills.edu
Richard Laucks received a B.S. in Criminal Justice and an MBA from Michigan State University. He began his professional career with J.L. Hudson Department Stores in Detroit, Mi. He then spent ten years with Forest City Enterprises in Cleveland, OH, and nineteen years with Shopko Stores in Green Bay, WI. While at Shopko, he held positions as Vice President of Loss Prevention and Regional Vice President of Store Operations. In 2002 Rich became an instructor for Sandhills Community College, teaching business, management, and marketing courses. Rich now resides in California and continues teaching internet courses for SCC.
Larry Little
Adjunct Faculty
105 Meyer Hall
(910) 246-4118
littlel@sandhills.edu
Larry Little received a B.S. Education from Illinois State University and a MBA from the University of Illinois. He spent 40 years in manufacturing working for Kraft Foods, Best Foods, and Unilever. He worked in a number of positions in manufacturing including operations, safety, training, human resources, and as general plant manager. He joined Sandhills Community College in 2003 and teaches a number of business courses and is a member on the entrepreneurship mentoring committee.
Ed Silberhorn
Adjunct Faculty
210 Stone Hall
(910) 246-4119
silberhorne@sandhills.edu
Ed Silberhorn received a BA from Vanderbilt University in 1970 and a JD from the University of Cincinnati College of Law in 1973. He was an Assistant City Attorney and an Assistant State Attorney for a few years before joining a law firm where he was engaged as a partner in the private practice of law, specializing in Corporate, Securities and Tax matters. Later, he sold his practice and went “in-house” as US General Counsel of a multi-national company that traded on the NYSE where he was also active with the Telecommunication Industry Association in the areas of public policy pertaining to the FCC and Congress.
Ed was Chairman of the Board of Founders Forum, a group of professional that critiqued the business plans of start-ups and assisted them in improving their respective plans. They brought start-up management teams together with venture capitalists or angels in order to help them achieve first round and/or mezzanine financing and/or have a provide placement and/or help them prepare to go public. Here at SCC, Ed teaches Business Law and Business Communications and is a board member of the Sandhills Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership, as well as Director of Entrepreneurship Mentoring Program, where he is continuing his work to assist entrepreneurs.
