Five new members have joined the Salisbury Academy board of trustees for 2014-15. They are Reid Acre, Diane Fisher, Blaine Smith, Claudia Swicegood, and Dr. John Wear.
Acre is a graduate of Wake Forest University with a bachelor’s in economics and a juris doctorate from the Wake Forest School of Law. He practices law in Salisbury. Acre has served on boards for the Elizabeth H. Dole Chapter of the American Red Cross, North Hills Christian School and Community Care Clinic. He currently serves on the board for Faithful Friends Animal Sanctuary. He lives in Salisbury with his wife Tina.
A graduate of Meredith College with a bachelor’s in business, Fisher recently retired as Head of School for Salisbury Academy. She also volunteers with Waterworks Visual Art Center and the Symphony Guild. Fisher has three children who are alumni of Salisbury Academy: Ben, Liza and Tom. She lives in Salisbury with her husband Luke.
Smith holds a bachelor’s in business administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and works in sales and marketing in the furniture industry. He serves as the president of the Forest Glen Home Owners Association, music director for the Life Center worship service at First Presbyterian Church and treasurer of the East Council Place Owner’s Association. Smith and his wife live in Salisbury, and their three children — Olivia, Harrison and Graham — are current or past Salisbury Academy students.
Swicegood is a graduate of Furman University with a bachelor’s in English and a master’s of human development and learning from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. She is currently the dean of special projects at Rowan-Cabarrus Community College, where she is on the senior leadership team and chairs the SACS Commission on Colleges. She has also served on the boards of Waterworks Visual Art Center, Elizabeth H. Dole Chapter of the American Red Cross and the North Carolina Association of Developmental Education. Her children, Hannah and Maxwell, are both alumni of Salisbury Academy.
Wear earned a bachelor’s degree in horticulture science from North Carolina State University, master’s in biology from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and a doctorate degree in biology from Wake Forest. He is the executive director of the Center for the Environment and an associate professor of biology and environmental science at Catawba College. He is president of the boards for the LandTrust for Central North Carolina and the North Carolina Watershed Coalition, and serves on the board of the North Carolina Smart Growth Alliance. His grandsons William and Jackson are in the third grade at Salisbury Academy.
Salisbury Academy is governed by the board of trustees, which is chaired by Paul Bardinas. Other 2014-15 trustees include Robert Anderson, Matt Barr, Andrea Davis, Angela Hall, Melody Lee, Laura Lewis, Clay Lindsay and Clint Robins.