Officers
A native of Illinois, Paula Egelson has also lived in the states of Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. She has a BA in child development, a master’s in reading education, and a doctorate in educational leadership. Paula has worked as a community organizer, an intermediate and middle school educator, a professional developer, a researcher, and director of a school improvement program. She has written journal articles on such topics as dropout prevention, literacy, school improvement, performance assessments, clinical practice, teacher evaluation, classrooms and COVID, the Program Evaluation Standards, career tech, and class size reduction. Paula has also co-authored books on successful research-based strategies for principals, formative assessments and is currently co-writing a book about the success and failure of various school improvement initiatives. She began participating in the League of Women Voters in her 20’s in Asheville, NC. After her two sons were grown, she rejoined the League in Charleston, SC, and has been VP for Citizen gagement and a member of the SC League. Dr. Egelson is president of the League of Women Voters of the Charleston Area from 2023 to 2025. In her free time, she enjoys reading, being outside, and traveling.
Administrative VP, Judy Peper
Judy has been a member of the League since 2017. She knew immediately that this was a perfect fit for her. Judy's interest in social justice and service began while employed at the Department of Social Services. She administered federal funds in order to remove barriers to employment for disadvantaged teenage moms. As Judy and her husband, Warren, reared 3 children, her mission continued by working in public education. She then transitioned her employment to her church, serving as the Director of Youth Ministries, where she coordinated district-wide events for 88 churches and organized a community-wide fundraiser that still exists annually. Judy considers herself a Charlestonian, as she has lived here almost all her life (even though her parents were not "from here"). She and her husband have 3 grown children, 2 daughters-in-law, and 2 grandchildren, all of whom live in the area. Judy currently serves on the Citizen's Education and Voter Services committees and eagerly awaits additional responsibilities and opportunities.
Cara Erickson moved to downtown Charleston after living in suburban New York and Connecticut. Her first involvement with LWVCA was as a charter member of the Book Club! She has spent her career in media and publishing, holding business management roles at The New York Times before heading up marketing at Business Week Magazine and spearheading its early online publishing strategies. For the last 15 years she has had an executive recruitment consulting business focused on the media industry. She and her husband Mark have two 30-something daughters and sons-in-law and four fabulous grandchildren under the age of six, living in nearby Mt Pleasant and in New York City. She is on the advisory board of Report for America, a national journalism service nonprofit, and volunteers virtually as a college admissions counselor. She has a BA in history from Duke and an MBA from Columbia University.
Citizen Engagement VP, Jeri Cabot
A native of Southern California, Jeri devoted more than 30 years of her professional life to the holistic development of college students inside and outside of the classroom. As the Dean of Students, she was charged with leading several departments and, along with colleagues from across the campus, planned and implemented student support services and programs for more than 10,000 students at the College of Charleston. Jeri also taught political science and higher education administration courses at the College and The Citadel. She holds a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of California, San Diego and a master's degree and doctorate in political science from Duke University.
Treasurer, Kate Peralta
Originally from Hickory, NC, Kate moved to Charleston in 2016 to attend College of Charleston, where she obtained her BA with a double major in Women's and Gender Studies and History. While in college, Kate was passionate about political efforts to further women's rights in the Charleston area and worked with the League of Women Voters, WREN, and other influential women in the area to pass an adoption of the CEDAW resolution in Charleston County.
After graduating in 2018, Kate moved to Hawaii with her long-time partner who serves in the US Navy, and she obtained a Masters of Public Administration and Policy from American University. She began her career in grants management and fundraising at the Girl Scouts of Hawaii and Nourish International. Since returning to Charleston, Kate joined the MUSC College of Dental Medicine where she is managing their accreditation process. In her free time, she enjoys traveling, reading, and spending quality time with her family.
Secretary, Anna Peper
Anna is a native Charlestonian with strong family ties to the community. She graduated from Georgia Southern University with a BFA in Dance & Theatre, minoring in Psychology and Spanish. She continues to pursue her passion and love for dance by teaching Ballet, Tap, and Jazz at Susan Causey's School of Dance in West Ashley. She currently works at Trident Technical College as an Event Coordinator, and has been in the Event Planning industry for over 6 years. Anna's guilty pleasure is watching Professional Wrestling, and she now has a pro wrestling ally in her nephew, Andrew. Anna loves playing with her dog Lucy and spending time with her family, all of whom still call Charleston home. Like many others, Anna's passion for activism and community service was re-ignited in 2016, and she has been a member of the League since 2018.
Elected Directors
Susan McHugh is a Denver, Colorado native who recently moved to the Charleston area. Her mother was a member of the Denver League in the 1970s and Susan is proud to continue the family tradition. Susan is a licensed secondary teacher and a licensed attorney who has worked in public and private roles. While she and her husband Chris raised their three 20-something daughters she taught high school government, civics, law, debate, and history in the Denver Public schools.
Sharon Crossley is a native of Virginia who lived in DC during her single years. After
graduating from VCU/MC, she worked as a licensed dental hygienist before moving to South Carolina for graduate school in public health at USC. Then she returned to DC where she and her husband married and raised two children for a short period of time on Capitol Hill. In DC, for ten years Sharon worked with volunteers doing community program work with the American Heart Association. Volunteers were the backbone of the community programs, and she loved motivating them and matching their interests with the mission of the organization.
During these years, Judith has spent countless hours training as a South Carolina Statewide Master Naturalist, Environmental Garden Designer/Coach, South Carolina Master Gardener and has worked as a Garden Volunteer in the lush public gardens of Great Dixter, Northiam, England and Mepkin Abbey, Moncks Corner, SC. She was also a realtor for 30 years. Judith is a Paper Maker and Paper Artist and is certified as a Circle Facilitator, convening or participating in many diverse Circles through the years.
Vote 411, Sandy Moretz
Sandy Moretz has 20 years of experience in writing and editing, and 10 years of experience in elementary education. She has a journalism degree from Ohio University, and over the years worked as a writer/editor at a newspaper, a business press magazine, the marketing communications department at a health maintenance organization, and the proposal department of a company specializing in management information systems. Later in life, she earned a degree in teaching from Mercer University in Atlanta, and worked as a special education/resource teacher and a kindergarten paraprofessional.
She and her husband Scott spent more than 25 years in metro Atlanta, where their son and daughter-in-law still live. They retired to Charleston six years ago, and live part-time here and part-time in north Georgia. Since living in Charleston, Sandy has volunteered at the Lowcountry Food Bank and My Sister's House.
Resource Development Chair, Donna Englander
Donna Englander moved to the Charleston area in 2017 after living in Northern Virginia for 30 years. She has worked for a variety of non-profit organizations as a fundraising professional. Currently she serves as Director of Development and Assistant Dean for the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at The Citadel. Her passions include public education and social justice issues.
Candidate Forums, Heidi Hupp
Voters Service Co-Directors, Judy Manning and Kathy Bennett
Off-Board Leaders
Nominating Committee Chair, Claire Fund
