The People who Facilitate our Programs

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Loovis currently works full-time as the Executive Director of the NC Community Colleges Foundation and she leads the Chapel Hill Retreat Center as a part-time vocation. Her career in public service includes leadership and management roles in business (GSK), government (The White House), and the nonprofit sector (Achieving the Dream) as well as with the national and a local chamber of commerce. 

 Globally and nationally, Loovis is Vice Chair of the Board of Directors for 9/11 Day and a former Advisory Board Member for the US Chamber of Commerce Foundation Corporate Citizenship Center. In May 2012, Loovis participated as a delegate for the US Department of State-sponsored program to Israel and the West Bank coordinated by the American Council of Young Political Leaders. In 1995, she captained the USA Under-19 Women’s Lacrosse Team to a silver medal in the world championship. 

 Statewide and regionally, Loovis is on the Board of Directors for the UNC School of Government Foundation. She is a former Board Director for Durham Tech Foundation, former Board Secretary and Director for the Regional Partnership Workforce Development Board, and former Chair of the Small Business & Technology Development Center (SBTDC) Advisory Board for the Central Carolina Region, the latter for which she represented as an ex-officio member of the statewide SBTDC Advisory Board.  

 Locally, Loovis is a Founding Steering Committee Member of the Summer Careers Careers Academy - an innovative, eight-week career training model that connects residents, especially young adults (ages 16-24) who are underrepresented and underserved, with new skills and paid work experiences in compelling career pathways. She is a sustaining member of the Junior League and a former volunteer mentor with the NC Study Center and the Ram's Club/UNC Athletics FORevHER Tar Heels Initiative for UNC women varsity student-athletes. In addition, she is a former appointee to the Orange County Local Reentry Council and former Board Director (ex-officio, non-voting) for the Chapel Hill Downtown Partnership.  

 Committed to leadership development, Loovis is a Lean Six Sigma IASSC Certified Yellow Belt™ (2020) and a graduate of the US Chamber Foundation's Talent Pipeline Management (TPM) Academy (2020), Leadership North Carolina (2018), the Town of Chapel Hill's Inaugural Peoples Academy (2018), Orange County Government Academy (2023), and Leadership Chapel Hill-Carrboro (2017).  

Currently, Loovis is earning her doctorate (Ed.D.) in Community College Leadership from NC State University (expected 2024), where she served as a Fellow with the Belk Center for Community College Leadership and Research (2019-2020).  She also earned the 100-hour Teaching Certificate from the NC State Graduate School and is putting those adult education principles into practice through her role as an Adjunct Faculty for the UNC School of Government teaching master’s level nonprofit management. Previously, she earned an MPA (2002) and BA in Communication Studies with honors (1999) from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she co-captained the NCAA Division I Women’s Lacrosse Team. There is an endowed scholarship in her name.  

 As a Certified Master Gardener (UDC, 2016), Loovis is delighted to live in “Blue Heaven” and cultivate four beautiful acres of native trees and plants. She earned a Certificate of Mastery in Therapeutic Horticulture from the NC State University Extension in partnership with the NC Botanical Garden (2023). In addition, Loovis founded the Chapel Hill Retreat Center LLC (2022) and has created the personal development curriculum based on principles of permaculture and therapeutic horticulture, and the evidence-based, mindfulness practice of Shinrin-Yoku (Japanese forest bathing). Through the Chapel Hill Retreat Center, Loovis provides individual and small group retreat experiences on the grounds of a celebrated private estate that was featured in Chapel Hill Magazine and Triangle Gardener, through the NC Botanical Garden, and on the Chapel Hill Garden Tour (2024).