Board of Directors

Laura Meyer Wellman A.B.'73, P'11
President
Charlotte, NC

Laura Meyer Wellman is Honorary Consul of the Republic of France for the Piedmont and Western regions of North Carolina, appointed in 2011 by the Government of France and U.S. Department of State.

Ms. Wellman most recently served as the first president and chief executive officer of E4E Relief™, a position from which she retired at the end of 2016. A leading provider of employee disaster and hardship relief funds, E4E provides its national roster of Fortune 500 and other companies efficient, turn-key solutions to support their employees experiencing financial hardship due to unexpected life events.

Prior to taking the helm at E4E in early 2014, she served as executive vice president to its parent organization, Foundation For The Carolinas, a community foundation with assets of $2.1 billion, based in Charlotte, NC. Joining the Foundation in 2002, she brought new levels of business oversight to its ever-expanding set of initiatives, with responsibility for strategic development, talent planning, investments, marketing, communications, and administration.

Previously, Ms. Wellman had an extensive career in the financial services industry, encompassing a wide range of executive leadership positions in marketing, management, investments, business development, and other disciplines with Bank of America and Citibank, including both U.S. and international responsibilities. Among her prior positions at Citi are director of investor relations and vice president for Middle East/Africa private banking in New York. She moved to Charlotte as consumer marketing executive for NationsBank, and served as regional marketing executive for its successor company, Bank of America.

Ms. Wellman is President-elect of the Duke Alumni Association, joining the DAA Board of Directors in 2015, and has served on the President’s Advisory Committee on Investment Responsibility as well as the Trinity Board of Visitors. A committed volunteer to Duke since graduation, she has been active in many disciplines, including Women’s Forum, Duke Forward, and reunion planning, and as a conference panelist.

An active community leader in international, cultural and educational organizations, she currently serves on the boards of the World Affairs Council (Charlotte) and Opera Carolina, and is a member of the International Women’s Forum and French-American Chamber of Commerce. She is one of the founding members of the Private Directors Association’s Charlotte Chapter, and recently completed a three-year term as chair of the Investment Committee for the board of Providence Day School.

Ms. Wellman received her A.B. (dual degree) in Russian and French from Duke and an M.B.A. from Fordham University’s Gabelli School of Business. She and her husband, Ward, a retired attorney, live in Charlotte. They have two adult children, a son Alex, and a daughter, Edie (Duke A.B.’11).

Jack Boyd '85,
Immediate Past President
New York, NY

Jack Boyd, '85, New York, NY, President. Jack served as Co-Chair for his 20th, 25th and 30th Reunions. For his 30th Reunion, he also served as the Gift Planning Co-Chair. He has been Co-Chair of Duke Alums Engage NYC since its inception in 2009. Since 2011, he has been a member of the DukeNY Board and since 2010 he has served on the Duke Alumni Association Board of Directors. In 2014 he became a founding Board Member, Vice President and Secretary of the Life Serve Youth Foundation, a non-profit organization that is creating a residential tennis camp for underserved youth.

After graduating from Duke in 1985, Jack moved to South Carolina to work for Milliken & Company. He moved to New York in 1988 where he is currently Executive Vice President of Marketing & Product Development at Elastic Fabrics of America, a textile company that is headquartered in Greensboro, NC.

Sterly Wilder '83
Associate Vice President for Alumni Affairs
(919) 684-5114

Sterly Wilder ’83, of Durham, N.C., serves as secretary-treasurer of the DAA Board and is the associate vice president, Alumni Affairs, for Duke.

After graduation from Duke, Sterly went to work in Alumni and Development Records, researching lost alumni. In 1985, she began working with the Duke Annual Fund, where she ran the phonathon program, the young-alumni program, the 55th reunion gift drive, and the Parents' Fund (but not all at once!). She was promoted to director of the Annual Fund in 1991. In August of 2004, Sterly became executive director of Alumni Affairs, and in 2009, was promoted to Associate Vice President.

Duke is integral to Sterly's life, and she views her work as a way to give back to an institution that has done so much for her and her family. Her father, Pelham Wilder, retired in 2000 as a professor of chemistry and pharmacology after more than 50 years on the faculty. He also served more than 20 years as university marshal. Now Sterly is assistant university marshal.

She is also an academic advisor for first-year and sophomore students, has served on the Duke Club of the Triangle board, and volunteered for her fifth, 10th, 15th, 20th, 25th and 30th reunions and as an Alumni Admissions interviewer. She has also served as President of the Ronald McDonald House Board of Directors and the Durham Academy Alumni Board and is currently a member of the Durham Academy Board of Trustees and the Board of the Council of Alumni Association Executives. She was actively involved with the Volunteer Center of Durham as a Board member and volunteer and is a sustaining member of the Junior League of Durham and Orange Counties.