Our Team
Team & Governance
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
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Dr. A.T. Harrison grew up in a small town in Northeast Georgia. He became a community developer at the age of 19 and has worked with Community Land Trusts for over a decade. His undergraduate degree is from Mercer University and his graduate degrees are from the University of Memphis and Georgia State University with emphases in affordable housing policy and community change. He is a trained community organizer, internationally recognized community development scholar with numerous books, articles, and reports published. He is also a member of the North Carolina Community Land Trust Coalition and a Research Associate at the University of Toronto’s Housing Justice Lab where he supports the Community Land Trust movement in the U.S. and abroad.
OPERATIONS MANAGER
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Valerie is a native of Western North Carolina and a lifelong Appalachian. She earned her degree in Political Science from the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and has spent the years since watching the region transform from a place people visited to a place people increasingly call home. That growth has brought real benefits to Western North Carolina, but it has also driven up costs and pushed out generational Appalachian families, a trend Valerie is deeply committed to reversing.
That commitment is what drew her to the Community Land Trust of Western North Carolina, whose mission goes beyond building homes to preserving land and protecting the communities rooted in it. CLT of WNC creates permanently affordable homeownership opportunities for long-time local residents and for families displaced by Hurricane Helene.
Outside of work, Valerie is an avid trail runner and cyclist who's happiest out on the trails around Western North Carolina. When she's not working or exercising, she's likely visiting her adult children or relaxing at home with her two doodles.
HOUSING MANAGER
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Margaux Buehl is passionate about community-driven approaches to housing affordability. Her background in education, social work services, and community organizing led her to pursue a Masters in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Washington to learn more about tools for making housing affordable. She is especially drawn to Community Land Trusts as one of these tools, because they are both community-led and permanently affordable. She has worked on community-led anti-displacement projects and on helping small towns with Hurricane Helene recovery through community-driven design and planning. She is excited to continue doing this work with the Community Land Trust of Western North Carolina. In her free time, she enjoys gardening, exploring rivers and mountains, and being a part of community-building activities.
LEADERSHIP
Board of Directors
Peter Roe, President
Kristin Huffman, Vice President
Jason McDougald, Secretary
Philip Bell, Treasurer
Stephanie Swepson-Twitty, Director
Joseph Conard, Director
Kim Chambers, Director