Jill Dinwiddie
Jin Dinwiddie’s career spans higher education administration, government service, and nonprofit leadership. In 1983 she was awarded the Order of the Long Leaf Pine by Governor Jim Hunt, in 2012 she was named one of the Bobcats’ Community Heroes, was named the 2015 Charlotte Woman of the Year and received the Paradigm award at the Dress for Success luncheon in September, 2017.
She has directed the International Centers at UNC Chapel Hill and the University of Texas, Austin. She served as Senior Director for Information and Public Affairs at NAFSA: Association of International Educators in Washington, DC. She worked to elect Dianne Feinstein to the U.S. Senate, subsequently directing the Senator’s CA offices before joining Belvedere Partners. In 2009, Governor Perdue appointed her as the ED of the NC Council for Women. She retired from that position, but continued as Co-chair and founder of the eNOough Campaign to end Domestic Violence in NC. She served as Chair of the Board of Planned Parenthood Health Systems facilitating a merger of two organizations to become Planned Parenthood Federation of America with 14 health centers in four states. She is currently on the board of the Jamie Kimble Foundation for Courage, Good Friends and is a member of Women Executives in Charlotte.
2015
Susan Patterson
Susan Patterson served as the Charlotte Program Director for the John S. and James I. Knight Foundation for almost 15 years. She developed Knight investments in Charlotte that included: the Carolina Thread Trail; the Cultural Facilities campaign and naming of Knight Theater; Crossroads Charlotte, a community-wide engagement project; laptops for elementary students in Project LIFT; the Knight School of Communication at Queens University of Charlotte, and the expansion of Center City Partners’ work in the Historic West End.
Previously, she also led the foundation’s work in Georgia and South Carolina. She was also one of the managers who was instrumental in leading the Knight Community Information Challenge, an effort to engage community foundations across the country in meeting the information needs of those they serve.
Before joining the foundation, Patterson was editor-publisher of the Union-Recorder in Milledgeville, Ga., and previously worked at The Charlotte News and The Charlotte Observer. Her volunteer engagement includes membership in the Women’s Impact Fund where she also served as chair. She was on the board of directors of the Arts and Science Council and was a volunteer Community Fellow for the Charlotte Mecklenburg Public Library. Woman of the Year 2015.
