Shawnice Meador

Shawnice Meador is the President and Executive Director of Public Ed Works, a non-partisan 501(c)(3) organization focused on strengthening public understanding and legislative support for North Carolina’s K–12, community college, and public university systems. Through cross-sector collaboration, she leads engagement efforts to ensure equitable, sustainable funding for public education that fuels workforce readiness and economic opportunity across the state.  She proudly serves on the Capital Area Workforce Development Board and is Vice Chair of its Employer Engagement Committee, helping to align employer needs with workforce development efforts.

With more than 28 years of leadership experience, Shawnice has held strategic roles in global talent management, workforce development, and executive coaching across the corporate, nonprofit, start-up, and higher education sectors. She has a proven track record of building and transforming talent ecosystems to drive measurable results through partnerships with industry, education, and government.

Shawnice launched her career in engineering and continuous improvement roles at General Electric, General Motors, and Progress Energy Corporation, building a strong foundation in operations and systems thinking. She most recently served as Head of Global Talent Management at Wolfspeed, where she led enterprise-wide talent strategy encompassing leadership development, succession planning, early career pipelines, skilled trades programs, and partnerships with community colleges and universities. Her prior senior leadership positions at ABB and UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School highlight her expertise in designing and scaling talent development programs through a collaborative, results-driven approach.

Shawnice holds an MBA from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business and a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Engineering from the University of Michigan. She is also a graduate of the Talent Pipeline Management Academy through the US Chamber of Commerce Foundation and the Nonprofit Management Institute through the NC Center for Nonprofits.