Board Of Directors

In 2014, Kenneth Schwartz was appointed as the founding director of the Phyllis M. Taylor Center for Social Innovation and Design Thinking in addition to his role as dean of the Tulane School of Architecture. Since Schwartz was appointed as dean in 2008 (through 2018), the school has become one of the most visible units of Tulane University in creating a national model of innovative, engaged and empathetic pedagogy working in close partnership with neighborhood and non-profit organizations throughout New Orleans and beyond. His research interests currently center on social innovation, social entrepreneurship, and theories of change. Previously, Schwartz was on the faculty at the University of Virginia for twenty-four years. He was chairman of the architecture department and associate dean. He conducted an active practice and research agenda, where he explored issues of architecture in the public realm with a strong focus on community design and planning issues necessary for the creation of healthy urban environments. Among the many vivid experiences over the last eleven years at Tulane, the highlight was the time when he was blessed by His Holiness the Dalai Lama when they met during Tulane’s Commencement ceremony.

With a background in public health issues through his engagement with information technology projects at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Hugh Kelsey assisted in the creation of a thesaurus for the universal design field. A member of the Disability History Association, he has been an advocate for accessibility in general and universal design in particular for the past 15 years.

Diane Sprague is the director of the Lifetime Home Project, which is located in Minneapolis, MN. It promotes accessible/universal home design and remodeling, innovative boomer living arrangements, and home/mobile telehealth through community outreach, professional training and policy advocacy. Since 2006, she has been an instructor for the online home accessibility remodeling professional certificate series offered by the University of Southern California/Andrus Gerontology Center.From 1980-2006, Diane was on the staff of the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency.For approximately 14 years, she designed and administered a statewide home accessibility remodeling program; designed and demonstrated homeownership, rental assistance and other disability-related initiatives; and provided internal and external technical assistance on a range of seniors’/ disability policy issues and initiatives. For approximately 12 years, she then performed internal/external policy work on a range of disability- and senior-related issues connected with community living and long-term care reform. In the 1970s, she was a planner on the staff of the Minnesota Developmental Disabilities Planning Office/Governor's Planning Council on Developmental Disabilities and the Regional Planning Commission (metropolitan Cleveland, OH). She is a graduate of Miami University (OH) and the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs/University of Minnesota.

Jared Bailey joined BB&T in 2009 and has a combined 15 years of financial services experience. While at BB&T Jared has had experience as both a Market Leader and Business Services Officer. He is a graduate of Miami University in Oxford Ohio and also graduated from The BB&T Banking School at Wake Forest University in 2013. In addition, he has been an active member of the community serving on several boards of directors and non-profit organizations in both North Carolina and West Virginia.

Dr. Curl is a Professor Emeritus of Orthopaedic Surgery at Wake Forest University Health Sciences. A resident of Biltmore Lake, NC, Dr. Curl is currently serving as a physician with Asheville Orthopaedic Associates. Curl’s academic appointments have included serving as a professor of Orthopaedic Surgery and Sports Medicine at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, NC; a faculty member at the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta; a surgeon in Sports Medicine at Hughston Orthopaedic Sports Medicine, Columbus, GA; at Fitzsimmons Army Medical Center, Denver, CO; and at Keller Army Hospital at the US Military Academy, West Point. NY. In addition to his distinguished career as an Orthopedic Surgeon with a specialization in Sports Medicine, Curl has served his country through the U.S. Army as a platoon leader in VietNam, as a member of the Medical Corps for 14 years, and in the Army Reserves from 1987-1996.