Kyle produces economic research for the North Carolina Economic Forecasting Initiative, while also supporting modeling efforts across the Institute’s other economic forecasting initiatives.
Before joining the Kenan Institute, Kyle worked with the University of Michigan’s Research Seminar in Quantitative Economics, contributing to national, state, and local economic forecasts. His work covered areas such as monetary policy, labor markets, inflation, and housing.
Kyle earned his Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Michigan and holds a master’s degree in economics, as well as bachelor’s degrees in economics and mathematics, from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.
Umit Celik is an AI/ML Engineer and Applied Scientist at the Kenan Institute, where he develops data science, machine learning, and generative AI solutions to support economic, healthcare, and workforce policy initiatives. He has worked across academia and applied research, building production-ready models that leverage causal inference, NLP, and large language models. His recent projects include a RAG-powered chatbot for economic dashboards, a skills-matching engine, and AI-driven tools for analyzing tax policy impacts. Ümit holds a Ph.D. in Operations Management and Data Analytics from UNC Chapel Hill, where he focused on empirical operations management.
Kelley O’Brien teaches business communication courses at UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School.
She has been teaching communication courses at UNC-Chapel Hill since 2011. In addition to teaching at UNC Kenan-Flagler, she has taught residential and online courses the UNC School of Government and the Graduate School.
O’Brien has more than 20 years of experience as a communicator, grant writer, project manager and administrator in higher education and nonprofits. She worked at the UNC School of Government for 14 years, first leading a statewide K-12 education program and then as director of strategy and innovation.
She is senior partner at Elinvar, an executive search firm specializing in mission-driven placements and organizations, and owner of KTO Strategy & Communications, a consulting firm that provides strategy, fundraising and communication support to public service organizations.
She serves on the board of directors for Frank Adoption Center and CommunityWorx.
She completed the UC Berkeley Haas School of Business Executive Program in Innovation and Harvard Division of Continuing Education’s Design Thinking Program.
She received her Master of Public Administration from UNC-Chapel Hill and her B.A. in honors interdisciplinary studies, urban studies from the University of Georgia.
Dr. Monique Perry-Graves is a transformational executive with over 25 years of experience in business, education, and nonprofit sectors, recognized for leading organizations through complex transitions and driving strategic growth.
Since May 2025, she has served as CEO of Road to Hire, an education and workforce nonprofit affiliated with Red Ventures Corp. The organization supports underrepresented young adults by providing continuous support from high school through high-paying careers, including four years of debt-free college and career placement. With corporate partners like Bank of America, Lowe’s, Ally, and Duke Energy, Road to Hire serves nearly 2,000 students annually and awarded over $4 million in scholarships last year, placing graduates into high-paying careers in the Charlotte region.
From 2021-2025, Dr. Perry-Graves was the first tri-region statewide Executive Director of Teach For America North Carolina, where she unified three regional affiliates into a single, cohesive entity and significantly expanded the organization’s impact. Under her leadership, TFA NC secured over $40 million in public and private funding, launched high-impact initiatives including Ignite High-Impact Tutoring and Future Forward, strengthened statewide partnerships, and achieved the organization’s highest-ever staff engagement scores while driving efforts to double TFA’s impact by 2030.
Previously, she spent over a decade at York Technical College as Chief Enrollment and Campus Operating Officer, where she spearheaded transformative growth in enrollment, revenue, and retention while overseeing student affairs, financial aid, and strategic enrollment initiatives. Her leadership resulted in historic enrollment and retention gains. She also led strategic communications and marketing efforts while serving as full-time faculty at the start of her career at YTC.
Her recognition includes the A. Wade Martin Innovator of the Year Award, Charlotte Business Journal’s Power 100 Leader and Most Admired CEO (2024), and being named one of Mecklenburg County’s 50 Most Influential Women.
She currently serves as Chair of EducationNC’s (EDNC) board and as an independent director of ed tech company Circle In App. Dr. Perry-Graves holds degrees from North Carolina Central University, Seton Hall University (Master’s), and University of Florida (Doctorate).
Dr. Chris Harrington has been named the new director of ApprenticeshipNC, a key statewide program under the North Carolina Community College System.
ApprenticeshipNC is the State Apprenticeship Registration Agency that focuses on supporting hands-on training for students and providing high-quality workforce pipelines for businesses.
A Randolph County native, Harrington spent most of his career in leadership roles in manufacturing and supply chain operations for several companies, including Elastic Therapy, Draeger Safety, Sony DADC, and Technicolor.
During his tenure at Elastic Therapy, he managed the apprenticeship program, and became a co-founder of Apprenticeship Randolph — Randolph County’s premiere opportunity for high school juniors and seniors to jumpstart their careers. Today, he is the chairperson for Apprenticeship Randolph.
He also has teaching experience at High Point University and Guilford Technical Community College.
“With Dr. Harrington’s extensive knowledge and experience in private sector management, as well as his demonstrated commitment to registered apprenticeship, I know he will prove to be a strong leader for the ApprenticeshipNC team,” said John Loyack, Vice President of Economic Development at North Carolina Community College System. “He possesses a unique ability to leverage his knowledge of apprenticeship from an employer perspective. This, combined with his academic and practiced commitment to building a stronger North Carolina workforce, will no doubt propel North Carolina registered apprenticeship and economic development efforts to a higher level.”
In this role, Harrington will be responsible for overseeing the execution of ApprenticeshipNC’s mission to help North Carolina employers build and retain an adaptable, skilled, and efficient workforce through the registration of apprenticeship programs across the state.
Harrington said apprenticeship is the gold standard in work-based learning that delivers a highly skilled workforce.
“I am excited to join ApprenticeshipNC and look forward to leading a team of dedicated professionals to strengthen and grow the use of registered apprenticeship throughout our state,” Harrington said. “A highly skilled workforce is the key factor in our economic prosperity and growth. I look forward to combining my firsthand experience as an employer, apprenticeship consortium leader, and researcher with all the many professionals and advocates collaboratively to building and sustaining North Carolina’s workforce.”
Harrington received his bachelor’s degree from Crichton College, master’s degree from the University of Tennessee, and doctorate in leadership studies from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University.
Vincent Ginski is the NC Chamber Foundation’s Director of Workforce Competitiveness, responsible for driving the workforce portfolio issues outlined in NC Leads, the Foundation’s five-year strategic plan. Through this plan, work is focused on advancing three core priorities: removing barriers to employment through policy innovation, closing the job supply-and-demand gap by scaling proven employer-led and community-based models, and addressing acute worker shortages through high-impact solutions that can be replicated statewide.
Ginski plays a key role in advancing the Foundation’s multi-pronged approach to workforce competitiveness. He is at the forefront of advancing employer-led solutions under the U.S. Chamber’s Talent Pipeline Management (TPM) framework—helping North Carolina communities aggregate data on critical industries, align education and training programs, and implement replicable strategies that tap every source of available talent.
A Fellow and Faculty Member of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation’s Talent Pipeline Management program and a recognized talent finance innovator, Ginski brings a proven track record of leading cross-sector initiatives designed to enhance regional economic competitiveness. Working closely with the NC Chamber Foundation President, he provides counsel on education and talent public policy.
A graduate of Belmont Abbey’s Honors College and the MBA program in Charlotte, Vincent frequently speaks at workforce conferences, serves as a guest lecturer for various institutions, and mentors early-career professionals. He, his wife, Alexis, and their daughter, Flannery, call Gaston County, NC, home.
Rohan graduated with a double major in business administration and public policy from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he was a Luther Hodges Scholar at UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School.
In addition to being a Hodges Scholar, Rohan was a REEL Scholar, an Honors Carolina Scholar, a UNC DEI fellow and a member of the Community Empowerment Fund. A strong advocate for research and expanding knowledge frontiers, he was awarded the UN Climate Action Award for his work on ecovillages in Denmark and Sweden and spent three years as an undergraduate research assistant at the Education Policy Initiative at Carolina (EPIC).
Rohan’s professional interests include consulting, civic advocacy, public policy and sustainability, and he hopes to continue advancing work at the intersection of business and social impact.
Daniel Gitterman is Duncan MacRae ’09 and Rebecca Kyle MacRae Professor of Public Policy at UNC-Chapel Hill. He also serves as director of the Honors Seminar in Public Policy and Global Affairs (Washington, DC). At Carolina, he has received fellowships from the Institute of Arts and Humanities (Academic Leadership Program; Chairs Leadership Program) and the Global Research Institute (inaugural program “Globalization, the Economic Crisis and the Future of North Carolina“). He has received the Tanner Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching and the John L. Sanders Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching and Service at Carolina. Gitterman’s research interests include the American presidency and public policy; education and labor markets; American welfare state and politics of social and health policy; and globalization and labor standards.
Gitterman’s most recent book is “The Intersector: How the Public, Nonprofit, and Private Sectors Can Address America’s Challenges,” an edited volume exploring how cross-sector collaboration can solve seemingly intractable societal problems. Through reviews of the state of cross-sector collaborations and emerging practices, experts in the field show how cooperation among sectors is relevant to their core missions. Scholars from a wide range of disciplines discuss both the broad and specific concepts that advance understanding of cross-sector collaboration.
He is also the author of “Calling the Shots: The President, Executive Orders, and Public Policy” and “Boosting Paychecks: The Politics of Supporting America’s Working Poor.” All three books were published by Brookings Institution Press. He is co-author/editor (with Peter A. Coclanis) of “A Way Forward: Building a Globally Competitive South,“ published by the Global Research Institute and distributed as an e-book by UNC Press.
Gitterman received a B.A. from Connecticut College, an M.A. from the University of Pennsylvania and an A.M. and Ph.D. in political science from Brown University. Gitterman was an Exchange Scholar at the Harvard University Ph.D. program in health policy and completed a National Institute of Mental Health postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California, Berkeley.
Ryan is a program manager for NCGrowth based in New Bern, North Carolina. Ryan manages technical assistance and consulting to business, government and non-profit clients with a focus on rural southeastern North Carolina communities.
Ryan is a lifelong North Carolinian, entrepreneur, and environmental steward. For nearly a decade he has run a North Carolina-based business that models how responsible natural-resource use can strengthen local economies. Ryan serves on multiple environmental and agricultural boards, bringing a hands-on perspective to food security and sustainable development across the state. He holds a bachelor’s degree in environmental studies from North Carolina Central University and an MBA in finance from UNC Kenan-Flagler. Through his work with NC Growth, Ryan hopes to channel his experience to help communities create jobs, build wealth, and foster inclusive economic development across the Carolinas.
Ellie provides grant management support for projects in three areas: the Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise, UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School and the Small Business Technology Department Center.
Ellie comes to us from NC State University, where she most recently supported the College of Engineering. In that role, she managed over 50 grant-funded projects from initiation to closeout and worked closely with faculty on post-award fiscal management, compliance, and proposal submissions.