Advisory Board

ROBIN C. HAYES

Robin C. Hayes is a former Republican Congressman.  He represented North Carolina's 8th congressional district in the House of Representatives for five terms from 1999 to 2009.

Mr. Hayes is a graduate of Duke University and a former teaching fellow at the Kennedy School at Harvard University.

While in Congress, Mr. Hayes served on the Armed Services, Agriculture and Transportation committees.  He was chairman of the Livestock sub-committee, the Special Forces Caucus and the Philanthropy Caucus.

Mr. Hayes currently serves on the Board of Directors at the USO of NC, The US Air Force Academy, the Childress Institute for Pediatric Trauma, and the J. Dennis Hastert Center at Wheaton College.  He also owns and operates the Mt. Pleasant Hosiery Mill, Inc., in Mt. Pleasant, NC.

Mr. Hayes is married to his wife Barbara and has one son, Bob and one daughter, Winslow and also has six grandchildren.

DUNCAN L. HUNTER

Duncan L. Hunter is a former Republican member of the House of Representatives from California's 52nd, 45th and 42nd districts, where he served from 1981 to 2009.  He became chairman of the House Armed Services Committee during the 108th and 109th Congress. 

Duncan attended the University of Montana from 1966 to 1967, and then briefly attended the University of California, Santa Barbara, before being commissioned into the United States Army in 1969.  He served in South Vietnam from 1970 to 1971 during the Vietnam War in the Army Rangers' 75th Ranger Regiment, attached to the 173rd Airborne Brigade.  While in Vietnam he held the rank of First Lieutenant, and was awarded the Bronze Star, Air Medal, and service ribbons such as the Vietnam Service Medal.  In 1976, Duncan attended Western State University College of Law at San Diego and earned a Bachelor of Science in Law and Juris Doctor.

On March 20, 2007, Duncan announced he would not seek re-election to the House of Representatives as part of his presidential bid.  In 2008 and on March 20, 2008, his son, Duncan D. Hunter, was elected to succeed Duncan as the congressional representative of California's 52nd district.

Duncan is married to Lynne Layh and they have two children; Duncan D. Hunter and Samuel Hunter.

MAJ. GEN (ret) GARY L. HARRELL 

Maj. Gen. (ret) Gary L. Harrell was commissioned a second lieutenant in December 1973 after graduating from East Tennessee State University.  His first assignment was with 2nd Battalion, 508th Infantry Regiment.  He successfully completed the Special Forces Qualification Course in 1977 and went on to serve in both the 7th and 10th Special Forces Groups.  From 1986 to 2000 he served at both the 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta (Airborne) and the Joint Special Operations Command.  He held command of the 1st SFOD-D from 1998 to 2000.

In 2001, Maj. Gen. Harrell served as the assistant division commander for the 10th Mountain Division in Afghanistan during Operation Anaconda.  At the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom he commanded Special Operations Command, Central.  During this time he led 20,000 special operations troops, the largest special operations force since World War II.

During his career, he participated in several major operations to include, Operation Urgent Fury, Operation Just Cause, Operations Desert Shield and Storm, Operation Continue Hope, Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom.

His awards and decorations include the Defense Distinguished Service Medal, Defense Superior Service Medal, Bronze Star Medal with "V" Device, Purple Heart, Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Meritorious Service Medal, Air Medal, Army Commendation Medal, Joint Service Achievement Medal, Combat Infantryman Badge, Expert Infantryman Badge, Master Parachutist Badge, Military Free Fall Parachutist Badge, Pathfinder Badge, Scuba Diver Badge, Ranger Tab and Special Forces Tab.

Maj. Gen. Harrell served his final role as deputy commanding general of the U.S. Army Special Operations Command before retiring on March 6, 2008, after thirty-four years of service. 

MAJ. GEN. (ret) JAMES W. PARKER

Maj. Gen. (ret) James W. Parker left active duty after more than 38 years of service, most of which was with special operations units.  He enlisted in the Army in 1970 and after serving four years as an NCO on a Special Forces A-Team, he attended Officer Candidate School and was the Distinguished Honor Graduate in 1975.  Over the next 33 years he served as an Infantry and Special Forces officer.  Notable assignments include;  Senior Advisor, El Salvadoran  4th Infantry Brigade;  Commander 1st Battalion, 3rd  Special Forces Group;  Commander 7th Special Forces Group;  Deputy Commander, US Army Special Operations Command;  Commanding General Special Operations Command South(SOCSOUTH);  Director of Intelligence and Information Operations USSOCOM,  Deputy Commander Special Operations Central; Northern Iraq Operations;  Director Center for Special Operations (J3) USSOCOM;  and Commanding General JFK Special Warfare Center and School (SWCS).

In his last assignment as the SWCS Commanding General, he was the architect for a complete restructuring of all courses of instruction for Special Forces, Civil Affairs, and Psychological Operations.  While maintaining the highest training standards in the Army, he increased the effectiveness of the training and brought the production of special operations soldiers to the highest level in history.  

Maj. Gen. Parker's awards and decorations include: The Distinguished Service Medal, the Defense Superior Service Medal, and the Bronze Star with "V." He has also earned the Combat Infantryman's Badge, the Master Parachutist Badge, the Military Free Fall Parachutist Badge, Special Forces and Ranger Tabs, and numerous foreign awards.  He holds a bachelors degree in business administration from Ft. Lauderdale University, a master's degree in government procurement and contracting from Webster University and is a graduate of the Army War College.

Maj. Gen. Parker and his wife Debbie reside in Merritt Island, Florida.

EDWARD T. CARNEY

Edward T. (Ed) Carney leads the Enhanced Customer Aligned Testing Services (eCATS) organization in Customer Advocacy. eCATS unifies test engineering and architecture experts into a single team focused on working in tandem with Cisco and Enterprise Customer organizations to design validated Cisco solutions. These solutions improve the deployment success of Cisco products, services and architectures for the Company's most strategic global Enterprise Customers through a joint Cisco-Customer model that is foundational to the Company's next generation Enterprise Customer relationship.

Among the ancillary responsibilities Ed has within Cisco is his role on the Architecture Board of the Company's Enterprise Business Council – one of eleven corporate councils tasked with leading successful business change in line with the Company's key global strategies. He was also a Cisco Fellow with the Microelectronics Center of North Carolina – an independent, nationally recognized U.S. non-profit that uses advanced technologies and systems to improve learning and collaboration throughout the state's research and education communities.

Ed joined Cisco in 1997, moving to Customer Advocacy in March 2008. Through February 2008 he served as Vice President and General Manager of the Company's Government Systems division, customizing commercial products, services and service delivery for global Government Customers' land, maritime, aviation and space requirements. Ed has also evolved engineering organizations, building Cisco's premier Systems and Test Engineering organization, policies and processes.

Prior to joining Cisco Ed held a number of leadership roles during a 15-year career with IBM. Among these were his role in Europe as Director of Engineering and Operations of the Global Network division and a number of key engineering management positions in the U.S. for the Network Hardware division.

Currently, Carney serves or has served on the boards of several organizations throughout the North Carolina community, including:  Chairman, Board of Directors for the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina; Industrial Advisory Board for NC State University's College of Engineering; Board of Directors for the NC Chamber; Board of Directors for the NC Defense and Security Technology Accelerator; the Board of the National Veterans Freedom Park; and the Advisory Board of the Eisenhower Fellowship.

Ed holds a BS in Engineering from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point – a premier military academy known in the U.S. and abroad for its code of ethics and for graduating distinguished leaders. He is married and has a son and a daughter.

 PAUL ZEISMAN

Mr. Paul A. Zeisman is employed with the Sierra Nevada Corporation as the VP Tactical Communications.  In April 2005 he retired from the Government Service where he was the Deputy Director C4I Systems, Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), headquartered at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

Immediately upon graduation from Johnstown Senior High School, he entered active duty into the Air Force in 1960.  Upon completion of basic training and communications specialist training at Sheppard AFB Texas, he served in a variety of conventional and joint assignments, which include, 1981st Comm Sqdn, Morocco, 2049th Comm Sqdn, McClelland AFB, California, Comm Support Element (CSE) US Strike Command, MacDill AFB, Florida and CINCPAC J6, Camp Smith Hawaii.

In 1972 he was accepted in the Army as a Warrant Officer with assignments at/ the 122nd Signal Bn, Camp Casey Korea, USACC Taiwan Defense Command, 7th Special Forces Gp, and in 1977 he was selected for assignment to the 1st Special Operational Detachment at Fort Bragg NC.

During his combined 45 years of military and civilian service,  he has participated in numerous overseas missions including the evacuation of US and British citizens from Jordan during the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, Operation JTF Congo, 1967-68, Contingency operations for the Gemini 10 & 12 space crafts, Desert One (Iran) 1979-80, Urgent Fury (Grenada) 1983, Lebanon Operations 1983-1985, Just Cause (Panama) 1989-90, Desert Shield/Storm, (Persian Gulf) 1990-91, and Operation Iraqi Freedom 2004.

Mr. Zeisman is a graduate of the Airborne Course, Jumpmaster Course, British Airborne Course, Warrant Officer Senior Course and Communications Electronics Warrant Officer Advance Course.  His Military decorations include the Legion of Merit, Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Meritorious Service Medal (w/oak leaf cluster), Joint Service Commendation Medal (w/two oak leaf clusters), Army Commendation Medal (w/three oak leaf clusters), Army Achievement Medal, Humanitarian Service Medal, Joint Military Unit Award (w/oak leaf cluster), Southwest Asia Service Medal, Kuwait Liberation Medal and Saudi Liberation
Medal Superior Civilian Service Award.  In 1996 he received the Silver Order
of Mercury from the US Army Signal Corps Regimental Association for contributions made to the Signal Corps.  In 1998 he was inducted into the Signal School Hall of Fame at Fort Gordon Georgia. In 2005 he was designated a Honorary Member of the 75th Ranger Regt.

Mr. Zeisman is married to the former Florence Jean Carpenter and they have two sons, Paul and Louis.

KIMREY W. RHINEHARDT

Kimrey W. Rhinehardt is the Vice President for Federal Relations at the University of North Carolina, General Administration. As Vice President for Federal Relations, Kimrey is the primary liaison between the University of North Carolina (UNC) and the federal government. 

Kimrey works closely with the congressional delegation and their staff to advocate for university priorities and is the principal point of contact for University partnerships with the United States Army Special Operations Command (USASOC), the Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command (MARSOC) and other critical military partners.  Other duties include developing and implementing the Board of Governors' Federal Agenda, analyzing and influencing federal higher education policy, coordinating the federal government relations efforts for the 17-campuses of the University of North Carolina, and advising the President and Board of Governors on all federal/military issues.

In 1997, Kimrey received her Bachelor of Science in Political Science from Appalachian State University.  She began her career as a legislative correspondent for The Honorable Lauch Faircloth, United States Senate.  Later, Kimrey served as the chief education policy advisor to Subcommittee Chairman George Voinovich (OH).  From 1999 to 2004, she served as the communications, policy and political advisor toe Representative Richard Burr.

Kimrey currently serves on the UNC National Security Fellowship Advisory Committee