Alan E. Rimer, P.E., joined the OWASA Board of Directors in July, 2007 as an appointee of the Chapel Hill Town Council. He previously served on the OWASA Board from 1995 to 2002.
Mr. Rimer has served as a member, Secretary, and Vice Chair of the OWASA Board. He is a registered Professional Engineer (P.E.) in North Carolina, South Carolina, Ohio, Vermont, Virginia and Puerto Rico. He holds a Diplomate in Environmental Engineering (D.E.E.). from the American Academy of Environmental Engineering.
John A. Young joined the OWASA Board in March, 2011 as an appointee of the Town of Chapel Hill. He chairs the Finance Committee and is a member of the Human Resources Committee.
Mr. Young’s experience as a business executive includes:
- Directing a multi-year business improvement program as Chief Operating Officer of VIF International Education, a mission-driven enterprise based in Chapel Hill which advances education and cultural exchange.
- Leading the creation of innovative businesses, products, and market strategies at HP/Compaq (Vice President, General Manager and founder of strategic worldwide business units; and Director of Product Management) and at Red Hat (Vice President for Marketing), which helped generate 30% to 90% year-over-year growth on revenues ranging from $70 million to $4.5 billion.
- Leading strategy and business improvement projects, as Engagement Manager at McKinsey & Company, for Fortune 500 senior management teams, including those at two electric utilities, a telecommunications service provider, and a cable operator.
He earned a Master of Business Administration degree as a Fuqua Scholar at Duke University; and a Bachelor of Science degree in Electronics Engineering, magna cum laude, from Yale University.
Mr. Young and his spouse, Kenlyn, have two children: Alex and Anna. He enjoys recreational sports, creative meals, deep woods, and unrefined musical expression.
Ms. Amy Witsil joined the OWASA Board of Directors in May, 2010 as an appointee of the Town of Chapel Hill. She serves on the Finance Committee.
Ms. Witsil is a Technology Project Manager in the Center for Technology Applications at the Research Triangle Institute (RTI) International. Her work centers on the formation of joint partnerships for technology development. She helps clients look for novel technology and R&D partnership opportunities, and provides strategic technology management services for private and public sector clients.
Ms. Witsil assesses new technologies and business plans, and scouts for technology solutions. In RTI's innovation-led economic development activities, she evaluates best practices in technology accelerator programs and benchmarks regional research and technology assets.
Her areas of expertise include aerospace, solar thermal, fluid dynamics, materials and structures, sensors and detectors, strategic competitive intelligence, best practices in technology transfer (program evaluation) and innovation-led regional economic development.
Before joining RTI, Ms. Witsil was an aerospace engineer with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) at the Langley Research Center, where she performed and managed thermal analysis tasks in support of various NASA missions.
She received a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Virginia in 1987, and has done graduate coursework in fluid dynamics.
Ms. Witsil's hobbies are reading, walking, swimming and raising the family's puppy. She and her husband Matt have three children: Grace, Tucker and Caleb.
Amy grew up in Williamsburg, Virginia and has lived in Chapel Hill since 1997.
Terri Buckner
E-mail: tbuckner@owasa.org
Terri Buckner began serving on the OWASA Board in August, 2011 as an Orange County appointee. She previously served on the OWASA Board from June, 2005 to September, 2006 as a Carrboro appointee. She chairs the Board's Natural Resources/Technical Systems Committee and is a member of the Finance Committee.
Terri is employed as a Business Analyst with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC). She has over 20 years of experience as a professional educator, including two and a half years with the UNC Sustainability Office. She specialized in distance education and faculty development.
She is also an information technology professional specializing in systems analysis and business function alignment, and used this background in energy management, education and student admissions.
Terri Buckner’s service on local advisory boards and groups has included the Carrboro Transportation and Environmental Advisory Boards, Smith Level Road Task Force, Chapel Hill Technology Advisory Committee and Solid Waste Reduction Task Force, the festival planning committee for the Friends of Bolin Creek and the Chancellor's Commuting Cost Task Force at UNC.
She earned a bachelor’s degree in economics at UNC and a Master of Science in Instructional Systems at Florida State University, where she completed coursework in her doctoral studies. She also received a certification in program evaluation from Florida State.
Terri's leisure activities are photography, kayaking, gardening and reading.
Stephen Dear
207 Wyndham Drive
Chapel Hill, NC 27516
Telephone: 919-622-1739 | E-mail: sdear@owasa.org
Stephen Dear joined the OWASA Board in July, 2012 as an appointee of the Town of Carrboro. He serves on the Board’s Natural Resources/Technical Systems and Human Resources Committees.
Mr. Dear has been the Executive Director of People of Faith Against the Death Penalty, a national organization based in Carrboro, since August, 1997.
From 1990 to 1995, he was the Executive Director of the NC Rural Communities Assistance Project, which provides technical assistance and organizing services to small communities across North Carolina on water and wastewater issues. Mr. Dear is the author of Considering the Alternatives: A Guide to Wastewater Management Systems for Small Communities in North Carolina (http://www.ncrcap.org/downloads/ConsiderAlternatives.pdf), published in 1994 with funding by the General Assembly).
Stephen has also worked as a writer and served in the Peace Corps in Africa with his wife, Dr. Janet Dear. Early in his career, he was an intern in Ralph Nader’s office at the Center for the Study of Responsive Law.
Mr. Dear has served on the Orange County Water Resources Committee, Carrboro Board of Adjustment, NC Environmental Management Commission’s Ad Hoc Committee on Wastewater, Triangle J Council of Governments’ Water Resources Committee and as a founding board member of the Environmental Federation of North Carolina (now NC EarthShare).
He received a Bachelor’s degree in political science in 1985 from the University of Richmond, and a Master’s degree in international studies from Claremont (California) Graduate University in 1989. He received a Nonprofit Management Certificate from Duke University and earned a State certification in surface water treatment.
He is a member or supporter of the NAACP, ACLU, Amnesty International, the Sierra Club, NC WARN, the Human Rights Coalition of NC, the Inter-Faith Council for Social Service, Triangle Vegetarian Society, and the UNC APPLES Service Learning Program among other groups.
In 2010, he received the W.W. Finlator Award from the Wake County chapter of the ACLU for extraordinary contributions to the advancement of civil liberties.
Stephen plays drums, bass and guitar and he is in two bands. He has performed stand-up comedy in Raleigh, England and at the NC Comedy Arts Festival in Carrboro.
Originally from Elizabeth City, Mr. Dear has resided in Carrboro since 2004 and in Orange County since 1991. He and his wife Janet have two children, Patrick and Katie.
Michael Hughes, P.E.
E-mail: mhughes@owasa.org
Michael Hughes began serving on the OWASA Board in August, 2012. He was appointed by the Orange County Board of Commissioners. He serves on OWASA's Human Resources and Natural Resources/Technical Systems Committees.
Michael is employed as Assistant Engineering Manager with the City of Durham.
During his career, Mr. Hughes has served as the Design Group Supervisor with the Durham Public Works Department; the Managing Partner for his engineering and land surveying firm; Senior Project Manager for two large engineering firms; and officer, director and shareholder in land development companies. He has successfully managed large complex projects and budgets and a staff of as many as 25 personnel as well as subconsultants.
He has received bachelor's and master's degrees in civil engineering.
Mr. Hughes has resided in Orange County since 1989.
Gordon Merklein 
E-mail: gmerklein@owasa.org
Gordon Merklein began serving on the OWASA Board of Directors in December, 2005 as an appointee of the Chapel Hill Town Council. He has served as Chair and Vice Chair of the Board. He chairs the Human Resources Committee and serves on the Finance Committee.
Mr. Merklein is the Executive Director of Real Estate Development for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He has worked in commercial real estate, and as a planning consultant with the landscape architecture and environmental planning firm EDAW.
Gordon received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Southern Methodist University and a Master's degree in City Planning for Georgia Institute of Technology. He also holds the American Institute of Certified Planners (A.I.C.P.) professional designation. Mr. Merklein serves on the Board of Directors of the Orange Community Housing Land Trust and he is a member of the Town of Chapel Hill's Inclusionary Zoning Task Force. Gordon and his wife, Catherine Duncan, have two sons. Gordon is an avid cyclist and he plays in the Rainbow Soccer league.
Dana Raborn
E-mail: draborn@owasa.org
Ms. Dana Raborn began serving on the OWASA Board in July, 2011 as an appointee of the Town of Carrboro. She serves on the Board's Human Resources and Natural Resources/Technical Systems Committees.
Her professional career has included serving as a Planner with the Town of Chapel Hill; Town of Herndon, Va.; and City of Round Rock, TX; and internships with the Texas Transportation Institute and Lower Colorado River Authority.
She received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Haverford College in 1995 and a Master of Science in Architecture, Community and Regional Planning from the University of Texas at Austin in 2000.
A Carrboro resident for six years, Ms. Raborn has served on the Town of Carrboro’s Environmental Advisory Board and Transportation Advisory Board, and on the Board of Directors for the Community School for People Under Six.
She and her husband, Craig Raborn, have a daughter, Ally; and a son, Shaler. Originally from Raleigh, Ms. Raborn’s avocations include sailing and kayaking.
Will Raymond
E-mail: wraymond@owasa.org
Will Raymond began serving on the OWASA Board in July, 2011. He is an appointee of the Town of Chapel Hill. He serves on the Board's Finance and Natural Resources/Technical Systems Committees.
Will has lived in Chapel Hill since 1988. He is a consulting software developer who focuses on enterprise application integration and business process management technologies. Earlier in his career, he was the chief technology/ information officer in the local companies Reged.com and Blast, Inc.; and worked as an environmental technician and commercial construction inspector.
Mr. Raymond has been a local activist since 2000, concentrating on environmental, development and social justice issues including the Carolina North Development Agreement with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Chapel Hill's Comprehensive Plan and Land Use Management Ordinance; affordable housing policies; regional watershed protection; energy building standards; water, noise, air and light pollution controls; the economic development planning process; and sustainable solid waste management.
His service on local advisory boards and groups has included the Chapel Hill Technology Board, Horace Williams Citizens Committee on Carolina North, the Downtown Parking Task Force, Sustainability Visioning Task Force, Festifall Planning Committee, Project Connect Planning Committee, Friends of the Lincoln Arts Center and Friends of Bolin Creek.
He received his Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Computer Science from East Carolina University.
Mr. Raymond is married to local artist Ellie Reinhold, a founding member of the Hillsborough Gallery Co-op. They have a teenage son, Elijah.