Officers
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.
Read a member spotlight on Dr. Jeri Cabot here.
Co-President, Cara Erickson
Cara Erickson moved to downtown Charleston after living in suburban New York and Connecticut. Previously, she served as VP Communications and had direct responsibility for LWVCA's email newsletter and social media. She has spent her career in media and publishing, holding marketing strategy and sales management roles at The New York Times before leading marketing at Business Week Magazine and spearheading its early digital publishing strategies. For the last 15+ years she has had a specialized executive recruitment consulting business focused on the media and journalism industries. She and her husband Mark have two 30-something daughters and sons-in-law and four fabulous grandchildren living in Mount Pleasant and in New York City. Cara has served on the advisory board of Report for America, a national journalism service nonprofit, and as a certified college admissions advisor through two nonprofit organizations. She has a BA in history from Duke and an MBA from Columbia University.
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.
Issues & Action VP, Shayna Howell
Shayna is excited to rejoin the board of the LWVCA; she has been a member since the early 2000's when her graduate research on voter participation led her to the League. She holds a Masters in Public Administration (USC, CofC) and a BS in Anthropology (CofC). In addition to volunteering for the LWV, she also serves on the Board of Directors for the Coastal Conservation League and volunteers with the Charleston County Parks through the SC Master Naturalist program. Her primary policy interest is environmental policy, but she credits the League with a nonpartisan, nuanced education in a wide variety of issues, from healthcare policy to public education funding to redistricting reform. Shayna is a lifelong South Carolinian who currently lives on Folly Beach with her husband, two active high-schoolers who keep her amazed on the basketball court and track, and two mischievious hound dogs.
Citizen Engagement VP, Kathleen Rodgers
Mrs. Rodgers is a native of Michigan where she earned her Bachelor in Business Administration Degree of the University of Michigan and her Master in Health Care Administration Degree from Central Michigan University. Mrs. Rodgers relocated to South Carolina in 1998 and took the position of Director for The Exchange Club Center for the Prevention of Child Abuse. In 2008, she became the Executive Director for the YWCA Greater Charleston. She retired from the YWCA in 2015 to establish a program for young adults with Autism. In 2015 she co-founded Synergy Supportive Services, LLC. Her professional affiliations are League of Women Voters (Board), National Council of Negro Women (Board) Past President, Charleston Interfaith Counsel (Board) and Charleston Hat Ladies.
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
Advocacy, Linda Ashley
Linda is a Charleston native. She attended Newberry College and graduated from USC with a BS in business. Among many other jobs, she has been a realtor for 40 years.
She tries to live an environmentally conscious lifestyle. She is a vegetarian; votes her values with her dollars; drives a hybrid; buys organic, shops local and eliminates plastics when possible; and advocates for composting by carrying her food scrap collection caddy everywhere. Currently, she is working with the Town of Summerville to create the Summerville Food Scrap Collection Program. Reuse, Repurpose, Reduce, Recycle are always on her mind.
In 2020 in order to learn more about the election process, she volunteered as a poll watcher and attended the provisional ballot hearing where she witnessed the League of Women Voters in action. Joining the league was the answer to her search for a bi-partisan group offering new avenues of information and training in advocacy. With the help of the League, Linda has become a sign carrying activist (attending protests, contacting elected officials), received advocacy training, and attended life changing environmental field trips. Currently, she is on the LWV Environmental Study Group, Voters Registration Group, and Director of Advocacy.
The league has been a godsend: inspiring, motivating, training, boosting her confidence.
Candidate Forums, Karen Gallagher
Born and raised in Seattle, Karen Gallagher was the first college graduate in her family. She has been involved in some level of education since she was in kindergarten. Karen believes passionately that education is the pathway to a better life for individuals, families and democracy. She met her husband as an undergraduate and they agreed that they would move for whomever had the better job offer or educational program opportunity. So far they have lived in nine states. They moved to Summerville from Los Angeles to be near their only son, daughter-in-law and two grandchildren. Volunteering runs deep in Karen's veins. She belonged to the Chapel Hill (NC) League of Woman Voters, the Chicago Abused Women's Coalition, the Cincinnati Youth Collaborative, the Governor's Educational Council (KS), and the LA Urban League. In addition to her responsibilities as a professor and dean at the University of Southern California, she helped establish Math for America to prepare math teachers for urban high schools in LA and cofounded a network of seven high schools for low income, first generation students in southern California. Karen holds a BA in political science from Western Washington University, a MEd in educational media from the University of Washington and a PhD in educational leadership from Purdue University.
Education, Sydney Van Bulck
Originally from Sumter, SC, Sydney moved to Charleston in 2005 to attend the College of Charleston where she received her Bachelor of Science in Early Childhood Education. After she graduated, Sydney spent twelve years teaching for Charleston County School District. During her time in the classroom Sydney discovered the necessity of advocating for students, teachers, and schools. Once she left the classroom she ran for school board. She has been and remains an active member of the SCEA. She is a board member of Charleston County First Steps, and is co-chair of the School Governance steering committee for Charleston Area Justice Ministry. She is excited to take on the role of Education Director for the Charleston LWV.
Health Policy [vacant]
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.
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.
Vote 411, Chris Symons
Chris Symons moved with her husband to North Charleston in 2016 after living in western Pennsylvania for 20 years. She has a degree in Finance from Gannon University, Computer Programming certificate from Carnegie Technology Education and Data Analysis certificate from John Hopkins University. Over the years, she has worked as an accountant for a rural Credit Union, data analyst, software engineer and manager for a top 10 Mutual Fund manager and most recently as a data engineer for a social good Saas company. Since moving to the Charleston area, she has volunteered with My Sister's House, the Low Country Food Bank, Planned Parenthood of South Atlantic and is currently a creek watcher through a partnership between SCORE\Clemson and the Charleston Waterkeeper.
Voters Service Co-Directors, Judy Manning and Kathy Bennett
Kathy Bennett was born in Washington DC - not the Maryland or Virginia suburbs, but the District of Columbia. She watched her mother work for various political campaigns, both presidential and local, including Home Rule, and was proud when her parents and grandmother voted for the first time in 1964 when district residents were granted the right to vote as part of the Voting Rights Act.
Kathy is a librarian with a master's degree in public history, using both degrees as a school librarian in the public schools of Nashville, Tennessee and as a librarian at the Civil Rights Room of the Nashville Public Library. The Nashville sit-in movement of 1960 and subsequent Freedom Rides and voter registration projects were documented through an oral history project at the Nashville Public Library in which Kathy took part organizing and implementing. Kathy was honored to interview many of the early student activists of the 1960s, including Guy and Candy Carawan of Highlander Center. Guy was a folk singer whose early work in the civil rights movement was as a driver for Septima Clark. They continued to work together as educators and trainers at Highlander Center, now located in New Market, Tennessee.
Harvey and Kathy married in 1977 and have three grown daughters and three charming grandsons. While managing our league's high school voter registration drives, Kathy loves engaging with young people on their turf, getting to see how our schools work, meeting other LWV members who volunteer at schools, and sharing educational materials with new voters.
Off-Board Leaders
Nominating Committee Chair, Claire Fund
