Our Board of Directors
Carl Forsyth, Chair
Mr. Forsyth is a veteran educator with 38 years of experience in the North Carolina public schools. He has worked in various educational settings as a teacher, counselor and school administrator. Mr. Forsyth was the founding principal of Voyager Academy Charter School when the school opened in 2007 with 325 students in grades 4-7. Through his leadership, Voyager Academy expanded to include an elementary, middle and high school with a total enrollment of 1350 students in grades K-12.
My Forsyth's continuous focus on increasing student achievement resulted in Voyager Academy being named a North Carolina School of Distinction for three straight years, with an overall student at grade level composite of 87.5% in 2013. Student growth at Voyager academy exceeded or met expected levels for six consecutive years.
Mr. Forsyth has been at the forefront of the education reform movement in North Carolina. His experience in education reform includes serving on numerous state and local commissions. Most recently, Mr. Forsyth was appointed by then Governor Beverly Purdue to serve on the Governor’s Education Transformation Commission. The commission will advises the Governor and provides oversight on the use of the federal “Race To The Top” funds. He is also member of the Commission’s School Transformation sub-committee.
In June 2010, Mr. Forsyth was appointed by State Superintendent June Atkinson to serve on the State Superintendent’s Technology Advisory Committee. This committee provided input to Superintendent Atkinson on the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction’s technology initiatives and the committee acted as an advocacy group for the innovative use of technology in North Carolina’s public schools.
In 2013 and 2014, Mr. Forsyth served on a subcommittee of the Charter School Advisory Board reviewing applications for proposed charter schools. The subcommittee was tasked with making recommendations to the Advisory Board for charter school application approval.
Mr. Forsyth retired from Voyager Academy in 2014. He currently is an education consultant with Education Leadership & Development, Inc. Mr. Forsyth serves as the President/CEO of ELD, Inc.
Mr. Forsyth holds a bachelor's degree in Health and Physical Education from Elon College and a master's degree in Education Administration and School Counseling from North Carolina Central University.
He is a former Sunday school teacher and Boy Scout leader and served for many years on the Administrative Board of Aldersgate United Methodist Church in Durham N.C.
Mr. Forsyth is a veteran educator with 38 years of experience in the North Carolina public schools. He has worked in various educational settings as a teacher, counselor and school administrator. Mr. Forsyth was the founding principal of Voyager Academy Charter School when the school opened in 2007 with 325 students in grades 4-7. Through his leadership, Voyager Academy expanded to include an elementary, middle and high school with a total enrollment of 1350 students in grades K-12.
My Forsyth's continuous focus on increasing student achievement resulted in Voyager Academy being named a North Carolina School of Distinction for three straight years, with an overall student at grade level composite of 87.5% in 2013. Student growth at Voyager academy exceeded or met expected levels for six consecutive years.
Mr. Forsyth has been at the forefront of the education reform movement in North Carolina. His experience in education reform includes serving on numerous state and local commissions. Most recently, Mr. Forsyth was appointed by then Governor Beverly Purdue to serve on the Governor’s Education Transformation Commission. The commission will advises the Governor and provides oversight on the use of the federal “Race To The Top” funds. He is also member of the Commission’s School Transformation sub-committee.
In June 2010, Mr. Forsyth was appointed by State Superintendent June Atkinson to serve on the State Superintendent’s Technology Advisory Committee. This committee provided input to Superintendent Atkinson on the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction’s technology initiatives and the committee acted as an advocacy group for the innovative use of technology in North Carolina’s public schools.
In 2013 and 2014, Mr. Forsyth served on a subcommittee of the Charter School Advisory Board reviewing applications for proposed charter schools. The subcommittee was tasked with making recommendations to the Advisory Board for charter school application approval.
Mr. Forsyth retired from Voyager Academy in 2014. He currently is an education consultant with Education Leadership & Development, Inc. Mr. Forsyth serves as the President/CEO of ELD, Inc.
Mr. Forsyth holds a bachelor's degree in Health and Physical Education from Elon College and a master's degree in Education Administration and School Counseling from North Carolina Central University.
He is a former Sunday school teacher and Boy Scout leader and served for many years on the Administrative Board of Aldersgate United Methodist Church in Durham N.C.
Toni Shellady, Vice Chair
Toni was raised in Roxboro, NC. She attended Person High School and later the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where she majored in Business Administration. Toni went on to assist in building protocol and administration practices for a growing engineering firm before leaving to attend the University of North Carolina at Charlotte’s graduate program in City Planning and Location Analysis.
Throughout high school and college, Toni worked as a volunteer teaching math to middle school students which she loved. It was this passion for working with middle school students that led Toni to test the waters teaching middle school. Toni was hired at a job fair held by Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools to teach business courses to middle school students in 2006. Toni went on to achieve her licensure in Business Education for grades 6-12 and earned the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School’s Career and Technical Education Rising Star Award after two years in the district.
In 2008, Toni moved with her husband to a farm in Rougemont, NC and was hired by Voyager Academy to build a technology program. Toni worked tirelessly to create a technology curriculum, build a one laptop per child program, lead the school wide implementation of Google Apps for Education, as well as develop and implement several other technology initiatives at Voyager. Toni also has led numerous staff trainings related to technology including for the Los Angeles Unified School District, presented at statewide technology conferences, and achieved the distinction of Google Certified Teacher.
Toni is the visionary behind Discovery Charter School and is incredibly thankful for the opportunity to work with a wonderful team of people to serve the northern Durham community! When not dedicating herself to opening Discovery and growing technology education, Toni enjoys spending time with her friends and family, including her young son and daughter.
Toni was raised in Roxboro, NC. She attended Person High School and later the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where she majored in Business Administration. Toni went on to assist in building protocol and administration practices for a growing engineering firm before leaving to attend the University of North Carolina at Charlotte’s graduate program in City Planning and Location Analysis.
Throughout high school and college, Toni worked as a volunteer teaching math to middle school students which she loved. It was this passion for working with middle school students that led Toni to test the waters teaching middle school. Toni was hired at a job fair held by Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools to teach business courses to middle school students in 2006. Toni went on to achieve her licensure in Business Education for grades 6-12 and earned the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School’s Career and Technical Education Rising Star Award after two years in the district.
In 2008, Toni moved with her husband to a farm in Rougemont, NC and was hired by Voyager Academy to build a technology program. Toni worked tirelessly to create a technology curriculum, build a one laptop per child program, lead the school wide implementation of Google Apps for Education, as well as develop and implement several other technology initiatives at Voyager. Toni also has led numerous staff trainings related to technology including for the Los Angeles Unified School District, presented at statewide technology conferences, and achieved the distinction of Google Certified Teacher.
Toni is the visionary behind Discovery Charter School and is incredibly thankful for the opportunity to work with a wonderful team of people to serve the northern Durham community! When not dedicating herself to opening Discovery and growing technology education, Toni enjoys spending time with her friends and family, including her young son and daughter.
Amy Daw, Secretary
Amy is a specialist in Arts Education with K-12 teaching experience in Virginia and North Carolina public schools. In addition to teaching music, she has coordinated district and statewide events, held leadership positions, served as a mentor to new teachers, and supervised student teachers. She has presented at Music and Charter School conferences. Her performing groups have scored Superior ratings. In 2015, the high school vocal music ensemble she directed, Bull City Lights, won first place in the NC Show Choir Competition.
Mrs. Daw graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a Bachelor of Music Education degree. In 2005, she achieved National Board Certification in Music. She has been a recipient of the Phoebe Apperson Hearst PTA award, The Voyager Academy Teacher of the Year award, and was selected as Runner Up for the NC State Charter School Teacher of the Year in 2011. Throughout her career as a teacher, arts coordinator, and consultant, she has received several grants for innovative projects and served as coordinator for some collaborative grants received.
In addition to her experience in public education, Mrs. Daw has been active in the Durham community. She is currently employed by Kestrel Heights Charter School and serves as Music Director at Mt. Bethel Presbyterian Church in Durham. She definitely has a passion for the arts and enjoys working with people.
Amy is a specialist in Arts Education with K-12 teaching experience in Virginia and North Carolina public schools. In addition to teaching music, she has coordinated district and statewide events, held leadership positions, served as a mentor to new teachers, and supervised student teachers. She has presented at Music and Charter School conferences. Her performing groups have scored Superior ratings. In 2015, the high school vocal music ensemble she directed, Bull City Lights, won first place in the NC Show Choir Competition.
Mrs. Daw graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a Bachelor of Music Education degree. In 2005, she achieved National Board Certification in Music. She has been a recipient of the Phoebe Apperson Hearst PTA award, The Voyager Academy Teacher of the Year award, and was selected as Runner Up for the NC State Charter School Teacher of the Year in 2011. Throughout her career as a teacher, arts coordinator, and consultant, she has received several grants for innovative projects and served as coordinator for some collaborative grants received.
In addition to her experience in public education, Mrs. Daw has been active in the Durham community. She is currently employed by Kestrel Heights Charter School and serves as Music Director at Mt. Bethel Presbyterian Church in Durham. She definitely has a passion for the arts and enjoys working with people.
Mario Rodriguez
Mario is a Principal Group Program Manager at Microsoft in the Visual Studio Team Services team. He received a B.S. in Electrical Engineering and a B.S. in Computer Engineering from the University of Miami in 2002; graduating with Magna Cum Laude honors on both degrees. After graduating, he joined Microsoft in Redmond, WA to work in the Xbox division (Microsoft Games Studios). During that time, he shipped several highly acclaimed games in franchises like Project Gotham Racing, Forza Motorsport, Fable, and others. For his outstanding work and innovation he earned several Gold Star awards and was asked to co-author a cover article in the Game Developer March 2004 magazine.
His passion for developer tools and strategy brought him to Developer Division in 2005 as a Program Manager (PM), where he joined the Team Foundation Server (TFS) team. He moved to Raleigh, NC and was part of their first product release as a PM in the Version Control team. The product shipped in 2006 and in a short amount of time captured a significant share of the enterprise market; pushing out long established products developed by IBM, Borland and Serena. The unique integration strategy of TFS together with a strong set of client ALM tools helped the Developer Division become a $1 billion business. Over the last couple of years Mario has been overseeing the Services Framework team. His team has been responsible for the first cloud release of the product, now called Visual Studio Team Services as well as the recent launch of the Visual Studio Marketplace. His current area of expertise is Cloud Services at a large scale.
Mario was born in Cuba, and with his mother an educator and performing pedagogy research, he has always had a strong bond with education. He has recently co-founded a company that develops software for educators by educators in the field of real-time medical feedback for medical residents and fellows.
When he is not involved in technology or education he enjoys physical activity (running, recreational sports) and cooking. He currently resides in Raleigh with his wife Tracie and their daughters Theia and Lexa.
Mario is a Principal Group Program Manager at Microsoft in the Visual Studio Team Services team. He received a B.S. in Electrical Engineering and a B.S. in Computer Engineering from the University of Miami in 2002; graduating with Magna Cum Laude honors on both degrees. After graduating, he joined Microsoft in Redmond, WA to work in the Xbox division (Microsoft Games Studios). During that time, he shipped several highly acclaimed games in franchises like Project Gotham Racing, Forza Motorsport, Fable, and others. For his outstanding work and innovation he earned several Gold Star awards and was asked to co-author a cover article in the Game Developer March 2004 magazine.
His passion for developer tools and strategy brought him to Developer Division in 2005 as a Program Manager (PM), where he joined the Team Foundation Server (TFS) team. He moved to Raleigh, NC and was part of their first product release as a PM in the Version Control team. The product shipped in 2006 and in a short amount of time captured a significant share of the enterprise market; pushing out long established products developed by IBM, Borland and Serena. The unique integration strategy of TFS together with a strong set of client ALM tools helped the Developer Division become a $1 billion business. Over the last couple of years Mario has been overseeing the Services Framework team. His team has been responsible for the first cloud release of the product, now called Visual Studio Team Services as well as the recent launch of the Visual Studio Marketplace. His current area of expertise is Cloud Services at a large scale.
Mario was born in Cuba, and with his mother an educator and performing pedagogy research, he has always had a strong bond with education. He has recently co-founded a company that develops software for educators by educators in the field of real-time medical feedback for medical residents and fellows.
When he is not involved in technology or education he enjoys physical activity (running, recreational sports) and cooking. He currently resides in Raleigh with his wife Tracie and their daughters Theia and Lexa.
Miya Brown
Miya joins Discovery's Board of Directors with years of expertise in teaching and school administration in both charter school and traditional district school settings. She began her teaching career as a Microsoft IT Instructor at Voyager Academy High School where she was named Young Educator of the Year and served on the curriculum specialist team for three consecutive years. After four years of teaching Brown launched her career as an administrator at Global Scholars Academy, a charter school, where she specialized in literacy and instructional coaching. It was in this role that she was able to improve her school’s overall achievement score by 17% during the 2016-2017 school year, moving the school from a D to a C academic performance rating. Not only does Miya bring her functional expertise in literacy and teacher development to Discovery, but she has also managed several federal grants and afterschool programs.
Miya currently serves as an Educational Strategist Assistant Principal in Nash-Rocky Mount Public Schools and as an educational consultant committed to optimizing student success. Miya believes that integrity, energy, and a laser focus on data is what is needed to move any school in the right direction. Miya holds an undergraduate degree from North Carolina State University and a Masters in School Administration from North Carolina Central University.
Miya joins Discovery's Board of Directors with years of expertise in teaching and school administration in both charter school and traditional district school settings. She began her teaching career as a Microsoft IT Instructor at Voyager Academy High School where she was named Young Educator of the Year and served on the curriculum specialist team for three consecutive years. After four years of teaching Brown launched her career as an administrator at Global Scholars Academy, a charter school, where she specialized in literacy and instructional coaching. It was in this role that she was able to improve her school’s overall achievement score by 17% during the 2016-2017 school year, moving the school from a D to a C academic performance rating. Not only does Miya bring her functional expertise in literacy and teacher development to Discovery, but she has also managed several federal grants and afterschool programs.
Miya currently serves as an Educational Strategist Assistant Principal in Nash-Rocky Mount Public Schools and as an educational consultant committed to optimizing student success. Miya believes that integrity, energy, and a laser focus on data is what is needed to move any school in the right direction. Miya holds an undergraduate degree from North Carolina State University and a Masters in School Administration from North Carolina Central University.
Jeff Faucette
Jeff was raised in Durham, North Carolina where he graduated from Northern High School. He received his A.A.S. Degree in Computer Science from Durham Technical Community College in 1985. Jeff attended Vance Granville Community college where he received his A.A. degree in University Studies which he transferred to North Carolina State University and applied towards his Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science. While attending Durham Technical Community College, Jeff began his career in Information Technology with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina. Currently, Jeff works as a Web Developer for the City of Durham.
When not working, Jeff enjoys spending time with his wife Betsy of 29 years and their three children, coaching baseball and basketball, and is an active member of his church where he serves on the Deacon Board, works with the youth ministry, and is the sound and IT liaison.
Jeff was raised in Durham, North Carolina where he graduated from Northern High School. He received his A.A.S. Degree in Computer Science from Durham Technical Community College in 1985. Jeff attended Vance Granville Community college where he received his A.A. degree in University Studies which he transferred to North Carolina State University and applied towards his Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science. While attending Durham Technical Community College, Jeff began his career in Information Technology with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina. Currently, Jeff works as a Web Developer for the City of Durham.
When not working, Jeff enjoys spending time with his wife Betsy of 29 years and their three children, coaching baseball and basketball, and is an active member of his church where he serves on the Deacon Board, works with the youth ministry, and is the sound and IT liaison.
Scott Talbert
Scott was born and raised in Roxboro, North Carolina. He attended Person High School followed by East Carolina University where he graduated in 2003 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Construction Management. After college, Scott went to work full time at the family business - Talbert Building Supply.
After working with the company for over a year, Scott served as General Manager for the company’s Durham operation for 10 years before taking over as Chief Operations Officer for the company in 2015.
When not working, Scott enjoys hunting and spending time with friends and family.
Scott was born and raised in Roxboro, North Carolina. He attended Person High School followed by East Carolina University where he graduated in 2003 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Construction Management. After college, Scott went to work full time at the family business - Talbert Building Supply.
After working with the company for over a year, Scott served as General Manager for the company’s Durham operation for 10 years before taking over as Chief Operations Officer for the company in 2015.
When not working, Scott enjoys hunting and spending time with friends and family.