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HomeBoard of Directors

The League of Women Voters of Wake County
2024 - 2025 Board of Directors


Helen Zimmerman
President

A Topeka, Kansas native, Helen attended Northwestern University; graduated with a B.S. in Education.  Helen went back to school and earned her CPA certificate through studies at the University of Nebraska at Omaha and William & Mary University in Williamsburg, VA.

Helen worked in corporate accounting at several medium-sized companies including Anheuser-Busch Brewery.

Her most memorable work experience was her last job before retirement, at KaBOOM!, a Washington, DC, non-profit that  builds volunteer-based playgrounds for under-served children.

Her most memorable volunteer experience: As PTA President for her son’s elementary school, she organized the PTA to convince the Williamsburg City Council to renovate rather than tear down the Matthew Whaley Elementary School in historic Williamsburg, VA.

Her most memorable political experience:  She was instrumental in organizing and sending 10,000 “Postcards to Swing States” to Georgia for the 2021 special United States Senate Election.  The candidates won.

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Gaye Williams
Vice President

Gaye Williams (she/her) is a child of the South. Originally from South Carolina, she grew up in South Florida, attended college and graduate school in Louisiana and Texas, and had a long career in Atlanta with a brief stint in Fort Worth before landing in North Carolina where she has deep family ties. Moving to Apex in 2013, Gaye joined LWV-Wake in 2020, looking for an opportunity for deeper community involvement. She has been a Voter Services volunteer for the last two years and is part of the LWV-Wake Vote 411 team. Over the last few years, Redistricting has been her greatest area of interest. In 2024, Gaye began serving as the Redistricting Liaison for LWVNC. She also serves as co-lead for the LWVNC Citizen Initiative Study Team, looking at the potential for a LWVNC position on Citizen Initiative.

Recently retired from Cisco Systems, Inc., Gaye’s professional career focused on Human Resources, with the last 10 years in HR for Mergers & Acquisitions. Most recently, Gaye led Cisco's Global Human Resources Mergers & Acquisitions team.

In addition to volunteering with LWV-Wake Voter Services and representing LWVNC with partner groups focused on Redistricting, Gaye’s community involvement includes working as an Election Official, serving on the Transportation Advisory Board for the town of Apex, and deploying in October 2024 as a Red Cross volunteer to assist with the support of Western North Carolina communities impacted by Hurricane Helene.

Sandra Birckhead

Treasurer/Finance

Sandra Birckhead is an Organizational Change Coach specializing in enabling leaders to transform their business through process improvement and culture change.

Sandra is an expert in lean management systems, in team effectiveness and in the change-management process. She has led transformation projects in manufacturing, laboratory environments, and sales and marketing.

She is an experienced facilitator and trainer, preparing organizations to implement lean six sigma and other change initiatives.  Sandra’s work experience spans a broad range including strategic planning, supply chain, project management, and process improvement implementation.

Sandra has also worked with non-profits facilitating strategic plans, conducting focus groups, and training leaders. She is currently assessing and mentoring new workshop moderators for Braver Angels.

Sandra has BA from UNC-Greensboro and an MBA from the University of North Carolina. She is certified by the American Society for Quality as a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt and by the International Coach Federation as an executive coach.
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Kristen Howard

Secretary


Kristen studied History of Science and Biology in college, and she returned to those roots last year by completing the Wake County Extension Master Gardener program. 


After college she became a COBOL programmer in New York with Equitable Life and when PCs came out, she switched over and became a financial analyst. While there she completed her MBA in Finance at NYU in the evenings. After 12 years, she left Equitable Life to raise her three children and teach computers at her local colleges in CT. 


During that time, Kristin started her own computer training service, Granite Micro, specializing in private one-hour lessons, and supported TCI, a consulting company doing benchmarking studies in the life insurance industry. When TCI sold their company, Kristen tagged along and became an employee of Deloitte Consulting.


For the last 14 years of her career, she benchmarked back-office expenses across industries and managed a data analytics team based in Atlanta and Hyderabad. There were other side ventures along the way like writing an Heirloom Gardening newsletter, becoming an Associate Professor at Norwalk Community Technical College, and owning a metaphysical bookstore.


During the pandemic she joined the Wake County League of Women Voters and started studying art via zoom.


Family, the league, art, and gardening are now her primary concerns.

Retta Riordan

At-Large/Healthcare Committee Chair


Retta joined the League of Women Voters in 2017. She became a member of the ERA Committee (now the Women’s Rights Committee) because she believes all people are equal. She also joined the Voter Services Committee because she strongly supports the belief that everyone has a right to vote.


At the request of the League, Retta was a named plaintiff in a successful constitutional challenge to districts the legislature had drawn. She also assisted voters as an election protection lawyer during the past two elections.


Retta earned her JD from Georgetown University Law Center, where she served as an editor of the International Law Journal, and her BA in Political Science from The George Washington University.


As a healthcare lawyer, Retta represented numerous life sciences companies, both as outside counsel and in-house counsel. After serving as a Compliance Officer for a pharmaceutical company, she started her own compliance consulting company, Riordan Compliance LLC, in 2008.


She has extensive experience drafting policies and procedures for companies and providing training to employees to ensure compliance with the laws.

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Dale Cousins

At-Large - Timely Topics Chair and Representing the Membership Committee

Dale Cousins joined the Wake League in April 2017. She currently chairs the Timely Topics Committee and is active on the Membership Committee. She frequently volunteers for Voter Services activities such as voter registration drives and candidate forums. She was appointed to the LWV-Wake Board in October 2019, reelected in 2022 and will serve her final term in 2024.

She retired in 2014 after 41+ years as a public librarian/manager with Wake County Public Libraries.

In addition to her MLIS from NC Central University, she has a BA in English and Education from NC State University.

Dale enjoys volunteering and is currently the president of the Friends of the NC State University Libraries, is a past president and current member of the NC Library Association, and was a past chair and board member of Wake County  Smart Start.  She routinely works at her neighborhood polling place on election days.

Ever the farmer’s daughter, she gardens every chance she gets when not reading and traveling to the NC coast.

Johanne Christensen
Co-Chair Voter Services 

Johanne joined LWV-Wake in 2021. She is currently a co-chair (2024-2026) of the Voter Services Committee where she works on the League's outreach efforts to voters in Wake County.

Johanne has a BA in English/Creative Writing from the University of Houston and received her PhD in Computer Science from NC State. She brings her user experience background to her passion for voter's rights advocacy.

Outside of the League, she enjoys writing and fiber arts.

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Cheryl Tung

Immediate Past President & Development


Cheryl Tung served as the League of Women Voters of Wake County's President where she was responsible for implementation of the League’s strategic plan and overall management of the organization, including serving as the League’s spokesperson. 


Cheryl will continue to volunteer with the League's Voter Services and Communications teams. 


In addition to her work for the League, Cheryl serves on the City of Raleigh Community Engagement Board and works as an Independent Personal Stylist for J. Hilburn. Cheryl holds a BS in Finance from Ohio State University and a Certificate in Nonprofit Management from Duke University.


She previously worked in the banking industry, both in marketing and managing portfolios for high wealth individuals and small businesses.


Cheryl also previously worked for a political fundraising company in San Diego, where she assisted in fundraising for national, state, and local campaigns.