Raleigh-Durham International Airport

Patrick Hannah, Esq.

Durham County

Patrick Hannah has more than 25 years of combined experience in government affairs and finance industries. He is the Sr. Corporate Counsel for a Fortune 70 financial services company, with more than 30 years of combined financial services experience in compliance, legislative and regulatory matters. Hannah has litigation experience doing complex products liability defense work for Womble Bond. He also served in The White House Office of Legal Counsel during the Clinton Administration and worked in the North Carolina General Assembly.

Hannah is the former Chairman of the Durham Area Transit Authority. He earned his Bachelor of Arts in History from Morehouse College and a Juris Doctor from the N.C. Central University School of Law.

Sepideh Saidi

City of Raleigh

Sepideh Saidi is an accomplished civil engineer with more than 30 years of experience who founded SEPI Engineering in 2001. She has received numerous awards including the Triangle Business Journal’s Top 20 CEO’s of the year in 2015. She was recently appointed to the N.C. State Banking Commission and also serves on the boards of the N.C. Chamber of Commerce, WakeEd Partnership and as the chair of the of programs committee of the Emerging Issues Institute. Sepideh holds both a B.S. in Civil Engineering and a B.S. in Agricultural Engineering from N.C. State University. She is a registered engineer in North and South Carolina, Virginia, Georgia, Maryland and Florida.

Richard (Dickie) Thompson

City of Raleigh

Richard (Dickie) Thompson is a five-term Authority Board member and has served as former chairman, vice chairman, and head of the finance committee. He currently serves as head of the operations committee. While chairman, Dickie spearheaded the Vision 2040 planning effort which forecasted the airport’s expected growth for the next 25 years. He served on the Raleigh City Council for two terms and is past chairman on the Raleigh Planning Commission. Dickie is executive vice president/treasurer of JM Thompson Company, a commercial construction company which builds throughout the state of North Carolina.

David Morgan

County of Durham

David Morgan has over 40 years of experience working in information technology roles for industries as wide-ranging as automotive and banking to governmental agencies in transportation. He is currently a senior software engineer focused upon data management and analytics with Informatica.  Prior to that he was with the SAS Institute focused on the use of data and analytics.  He is currently part of the Durham City/County Planning Commission and prior volunteer roles with the City of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County with privatization efforts and parks and recreation respectively. David holds a B.S. in Computer Science from Bowling Green State University and a M.B.A in Marketing and Finance from DePaul State University.

David Kushner

Wake County

David Kushner has more than 20 years of experience in media and communications law, focusing on broadcasting, media policy, First Amendment issues and defamation. He is a Partner at Brooks, Pierce, McLendon, Humphrey & Leonard, LLP in Raleigh. A Morehead Scholar, David earned his Bachelor of Arts from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a Ph.D. from Princeton University and a Juris Doctor from Duke University. His bar and court admissions include North Carolina, the U.S. Supreme Court, and the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the 2^nd, 4^th, 7^th, 11^th and D.C. Circuits.

Ellis Hankins

Wake County

Ellis Hankins is a senior attorney with the Brough Law Firm, PLLC, a seven-member firm with offices in Chapel Hill, Raleigh and Concord. The law firm engages in a statewide practice focused primarily on local government, land use, and public school system representation, and related litigation. Hankins is a visiting professor in graduate public policy and management programs at UNC­ Chapel Hill, NC State and Duke University, and senior vice president with The Mercer Group, Inc., a nationwide public sector consulting firm.

Tammie Hall

City of Durham

Tammie Hall serves as Director for the Office of Historically Underutilized Businesses (HUB) and Assistant to the Secretary for HUB Outreach for the State of North Carolina. In addition to her corporate background as Senior Regional Supplier Diversity Manager for Lend Lease Construction, she has over 20 years of experience in state government and served eight years as a United States Congressional Staffer and Policy Advisor. Tammie is a proud graduate of the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff (UAPB) where she earned her Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a minor in Finance. She served on the National Alumni Association Board of Directors for over eight years to include service as the President. Tammie is a member and past president of the NC MWBE Coordinators Network and currently serves as the management liaison to the Governor’s Advisory Council for Historically Underutilized Businesses.

Yesenia Polanco-Galdamez

City of Durham

Yesenia Polanco-Galdamez is the Principal Attorney at Polanco Law, P.C., located in Durham. The practice specializes in criminal defense and immigration law with an additional specialty in family law. Yesenia has worked as an immigration attorney for over 15 years, gaining her education from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and obtaining her law degree from the University of the District of Columbia, The David A. Clarke School of Law.