Stephanie R. Counts

Stephanie Counts is the CEO and co-founder of Women's Inter-Cultural Exchange (WIE), a nonprofit organization whose goal is to build and bridge social capital among women of diverse culture. She is also president of Counts & Co., a strategic consulting firm geared toward providing creative solutions to profit and nonprofit businesses. A graduate of the State University of New York with a B.S. in sociology and education and an M.H.D. in administration from UNC Charlotte, Counts is a national and local educational leader, former White House consultant, and author on public school choice. She has also served as the CEO of the YWCA of the Carolinas.

Highlights of her community involvement include her selection to the YWCA World Service Council; secretary to the Board of Trustees at UNC Charlotte; Board of Advisors or trustee to the Blumenthal Performing Arts Center, Mint Museum of Art, Public Arts Commission, Urban League, WFAE, Mecklenburg Citizens for Public Education, N.C. Governor's Women's Conference; and chair, United Way African American Leadership Initiative.

Counts' honors and awards include National and North Carolina Distinguished Principal, Distinguished Alumnus of the UNC Charlotte, Spirit Award, Order of the Long Leaf Pine, Charlotte Business Journal Diversity in Business Award, and Business Journal Women in Business Achievement Award recipient. In 2009, The Mecklenburg Times recognized Counts as one of the 50 Most Influential Charlotte Women.