Holyoak comes to Wilson Medical Center from Castleview Hospital, a LifePoint Health facility located in Price, Utah, where has served as CEO since 2011. Prior to Castleview, he was chief nursing and clinical officer of Ashley Regional Medical Center, a LifePoint hospital in Vernal, Utah. He also previously served as executive clinical director at Wasatch Surgery Center in Salt Lake City, and as nursing supervisor at Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center in Las Vegas.
“Mark has a great track record as a hospital and community leader,” said Chris Hill, Duke LifePoint Wilson joint venture board chair. “His career features impressive accomplishments in helping hospitals improve quality care, better engage their patients, employees and physicians, and grow the many ways they serve their communities. By all accounts he is passionate and dedicated, and we are excited for him to join Wilson Medical Center and the Wilson community.”
Holyoak holds a Master of Business Administration from the University of Phoenix in Utah, a Bachelor of Science in nursing from Creighton University in Nebraska and a Bachelor of Science in biology and chemistry from Southern Utah University.
“My family and I are very excited to be making this move to Wilson,” said Holyoak. “From what I have learned of the hospital and its team so far, I am impressed. I look forward to getting on the ground, getting involved and meeting everyone so that we can begin exploring new ways that we can advance health care delivery and improve the health and well-being of the people we serve throughout this region.”
Rev. Bruce Stanley joined Methodist Home for Children as President/CEO in 2006. He serves on the Governor’s Crime Commission as chair of the Juvenile Justice Planning Committee and member of the Special Committee on School Safety.
Before joining MHC, Stanley was pastor at six North Carolina churches, serving most recently as senior pastor for Millbrook United Methodist Church in Raleigh. He served also as field education director for Duke Divinity School, responsible for developing leaders for the local and global church and communities. Stanley was ordained in the United Presbyterian Church USA in 1982 and transferred to the United Methodist Church in 1985. He spent several years as associate director for the N.C. Conference Council of Ministries for Mission and Evangelism.
Stanley is a native of West Virginia. He holds a Master of Divinity from Harvard and a Bachelor of Arts, Magna Cum Laude, from West Virginia University.
David Lee is the Parks and Recreation Director for the City of Wilson. He also writes a weekly Saturday morning column for The Wilson Daily Times. He is the past President for the North Carolina Recreation and Parks Association and 2011 inductee into the J.H. Rose High School Sports Hall of Fame. In 2018, he was awarded the Fellow Award, the highest award given by the N.C. Recreation and Parks Association. He has also published a book entitled Every Moment Counts.
Were it not for her sister’s wedding, Tarboro restaurateur, sommelier, and brewery owner Inez Ribustello would have likely found herself on either the 106th or 107th floor of the North Tower of the World Trade Center Complex on the morning of September 11, 2001. As the Beverage Director and Cellar Master at Windows on the World at the time, Ribustello (then Holderness) would have been high above lower Manhattan preparing for the day’s service or deep below the World Trade Center complex in the restaurant’s cavernous wine cellar. Her soon-to-be-husband, Stephen Ribustello, had just been hired as a sommelier. Both could have very well been two other victims to the tragedies of that historic day.
That sheer coincidence, the randomness of her, and her now-husband Stephen Ribustello, both being off work that day, and her being home in North Carolina, is the backbone that holds together the two seasons of her life, as told in her new memoir Life After Windows. In it, Ribustello traces her journey from naive, privileged Southern belle to becoming one of the most powerful people in the New York wine scene during the dot com bubble. When the September 11 terror attacks destroyed her world, in both a literal and spiritual sense, she found herself back in the very town she vowed to never return to, opened On the Square, one of North Carolina’s most heralded restaurants, and, eventually Tarboro Brewing Company.
Ribustello’s memoir is a microcosm of her personality — fast-paced, bubbly, with the occasional epithet tossed in to remind you that she’s not the proper Southern girl she once was. But it’s also raw and honest and at times gut-wrenchingly sad. For someone who lives and raises her family in the same small town where she grew up, that kind of brutal honesty, about her struggles to return to her Christian faith after 9/11, about how the restaurant industry both brought her some of her greatest joys and lowest lows, about any myriad of issues that “we just don’t talk about in public,” can be terrifying. Ribustello seems to approach the act of revealing her entire life to the world with the same pragmatic optimism she has leaned on to get her through the past 20 years. The book is woven through with opportunities to take a break from the dark stuff and laugh, and one would imagine that’s exactly how Ribustello lives her life. When things get hard, when the world gets dark, there is always family, friends, work, and of course, laughter.
Howard, a Wilson native, is a regular outdoors columnist and phot contributor to The Wilson Times. He has been a full-time photographer for two and a half years. Howard went to school at NC State for journalism and was focused more on becoming a writer. About 20 years ago is when he really got into photography and started learning everything he could about the camera. Everything he’s done he’s learned on his own.
Howard says photography is really his passion. He absolutely loves everything about photography. It’s the one thing that captures that brief moment in time. Time’s always flowing, so nothing is ever the same. Photography is the only way to get that one moment. You capture only one little scene of it, but you get that moment.
For many years, Howard worked in automotive service management at JC Harris Cadillac in Wilson, but once he got his first check for a photography gig, it wasn’t long before he was turning in his notice and taking on photography full time. Since going into photography full time, his wife and family have commented that he’s probably added 10 years to his life because the stress level has just been wiped away. He doesn’t think about what he does as a job now even though it’s the way he makes a living.
Howard has won several awards for his photography in multiple competitions including with Outdoor Photographer Magazine.
Chip Hester began duties as Barton’s first head football coach since 1950 in July of 2018, charged with building a program from scratch to begin play in the fall of 2020.
Hester brought to the job more than 20 years of collegiate coaching experience at the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) and NCAA Division II levels, including 11 as a head coach.
The Raleigh native joined the Barton staff after coaching the previous four seasons at North Carolina A&T State University, including the last three as offensive coordinator. The Aggies averaged better than 30 points per game in all three of his seasons guiding the offense, and racked up more than 400 yards per contest in each of the last two years.
The 2017 team ranked 10th nationally among FCS schools in points (35.1 per game) and 24th in total offense (426.8 per game) on its way to a perfect 12-0 record and Celebration Bowl victory over Grambling State University.
During Hester’s tenure as offensive coordinator, the Aggies posted a 31-5 record, won two Celebration Bowls and made one FCS Playoff appearance. North Carolina A&T finished both the 2016 and 2017 seasons nationally ranked.
Before joining the staff at North Carolina A&T, Hester spent 18 years coaching at Catawba College. He served as head coach for 11 of those seasons, compiling an overall record of 70-49 (.588). He led the Indians to a first- or second-place finish in the South Atlantic Conference four times, and directed Catawba to three NCAA Division II playoff appearances.
Hester’s 2007 team, which went 11-2, still holds Catawba season records for total points (578), points per game (44.5) and total offense (478 yards per game).
He earned a bachelor’s degree in management with a minor in sport management from Guilford College, and obtained a master’s degree in sport management from Georgia Southern University.
Hester is married to Trish, and has two daughters, Morgan and Tori.
Everett Speight saw that there were people throughout Wilson County who needed help. Even when operating his food truck in various areas, people would come up to him and ask for food. He realized that some may not have access to a kitchen or ways to cook food, so preparing the food for the community may be helpful. So with the support of his family and friends, a plan began to feed the homeless and less fortunate individuals of Wilson, and to provide prayer and spiritual guidance as well. With the support of the Wilson Commerce Foundation, it has evolved into something bigger than he could ever imagine- providing hot meals to anyone who desires a plate of food, as well as prayer and support.
The Waymakers of North Carolina’s mission statement is ‘Feeding Wilson One Plate at a Time”. Anyone who participates in helping us reach our goal is a ‘waymaker’- helping to make a way for others.
Junior Achievement Initiative
Robin was named the WEP Executive Director in 2017. She is a former board member and President of WEP. She works with board members, business partners, community members and Wilson County Public Schools to create opportunities for students and teachers to learn about careers. She also partners with WCS to promote and foster an environment that encourages, recognizes and supports teachers.
Robin was the former WilMed Healthcare Foundation Manager and she is President/Owner of RPW Consulting, LLC.
She holds a BS in Business Administration with minors in Marketing and Communications from Atlantic Christian College, now Barton College.
She is married to Kent Williams and they have 2 daughters Austin (25) and Sydney (23) and a rescue dog Cooper (4).