Our Board & Staff

Tom retired as a physician at Memory Care in Asheville in 2020.  From 1985 to 2006, he practiced in a primary care setting in Burnsville and Spruce Pine while serving on the medical staff at the Blue Ridge Regional Hospital in Spruce Pine.  Tom serves as a volunteer physician with the ABBCM Doctor’s Medical Clinic in Asheville.  He lives in Burnsville with his wife Lynda.

John retired as a professor in the department of Preventive Medicine and Community Health at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston.  He continues to teach at ETSU while contributing his expertise to local nonprofits.

Britt moved to Yancey County with her husband Dr. Chad Smoker 18 years ago.  She has used her English Education degree with many organizations, including the Carolina Mountains Literary Festival and Parkway Playhouse. 

Misty hails from the Jack’s Creek area of Yancey County, where she grew up on a tobacco farm. She is currently the operations manager at Mitchell-Yancey Habitat for Humanity in Spruce Pine.

Maxine is a lifelong Yancey County resident, working as a Tax Credit and Health Justice Advocate with Pisgah Legal Services since 2022.  Before that she worked in the Affordable Housing sector for 16 years and Accounting for the 10 years prior.  Maxine lives with her husband and has 3 children.  She is passionate about affordable housing and helping to lift local, low-income families out of poverty. 

After ten years involved in medical research and and biomedical engineering, among other things, Josh found his passion in focusing on rural family medicine after completing a Master's Degree in PA studies from Wake Forest.  He is now a PA in Spruce Pine and Bakersville, where he helped lead the clinic through the COVID pandemic.  Josh lives with his wife and daughter in Mitchell County.

Bryant is a paramedic with a Master of Health Sciences degree from Western Carolina University.  With more than a decade of experience, he started as the EMS Director for Mitchell Medics in 2021, with goals of helping Mitchell Medics become a model rural EMS service for North Carolina.  Bryant lives with his wife and daughter near the Blue Ridge Parkway in Mitchell County.

Marvin is retired after a 35 year career as a corporate and finance attorney focusing on renewable energy.  Marvin was a partner with McGuireWoods LLP in Charlotte, NC for most of that time and practiced in Houston, Texas prior to that. He received his BS from Davidson College and his JD from the University of South Carolina School of Law.   Marvin and his wife have lived in Spruce Pine since 2017.

Elvira is a translator at Mountain Community Health Partnership.  She also helps with scheduling and outreach in the community.  She attended Yancey County schools, having arrived in Western NC at the age of one.  She is married with two daughters and lives in Mitchell County.

Edison V. Seel spent 20 years in the US Army including a year in Vietnam as a Special Forces medic.  He has a BS in Zoology, an MBA with a focus in Strategic Planning, and a BSN in nursing.  After spending 4 years on the Board of Cape Fear Valley Medical Center in Fayetteville, NC, he spent 10 years at Mission Hospital as a critical care Registered Nurse.  He and his wife retired to Yancey County in January 2019.

Raised in Durham, NC and a graduate of the University of Alabama  School of Optometry, Marvin has been in private practice in Mitchell, Yancey, and Avery Counties since 1983.  He lived in Spruce Pine with his wife Diane who is also an Optometrist.  Marvin has served on many local boards including Toe River Health District and Spruce Pine Rotary.

Allison is a Burnsville resident with deep family ties in Yancey County.  A temporary job with the Yancey County Health Department running their COVID-Hotline, answering questions about vaccines and testing, led Allison to apply for the position of Adminstrative Assistant with SEARCH.  She is also an artist with a Master's Degree in Painting.