The Deputy Commissioners serve as judges in hearings for contested cases. Deputy Commissioners must be attorneys and have a background in workers' compensation cases. The page was last updated on 12 May 2008.
DEPUTY COMMISSIONER INDEX
Stephen T. Gheen, Chief Deputy Commissioner | Philip A. Baddour III | John B. DeLuca | J. Brad Donovan | James C. Gillen | George T. Glenn II | Myra L. Griffin | George R. Hall III | Robert J. Harris | Phillip A. Holmes | Bradley W. Houser | Kim Ledford | Adrian A. Phillips | Robert W. Rideout, Jr. | Ronnie E. Rowell | John C. Schafer | Chrystal Redding Stanback | Theresa Bunce Stephenson | Wanda Blanche TaylorOn December 20, 2005, pursuant to the revision of N.C. Gen. Stat. §97-78 by the 2005 General Assembly, Chairman Buck Lattimore officially named Stephen T. Gheen as Chief Deputy Commissioner of the N.C. Industrial Commission. Mr. Gheen was an Assistant Attorney General before he joined the the Industrial Commission on August 1, 2000, as a Deputy Commissioner. At that time, Chairman Lattimore designated Mr. Gheen as the "lead worker" for the Deputy Commissioner section, with the working title of "Chief Deputy Commissioner."
Steve Gheen graduated from Western Carolina University with a B.A. degree in 1972 and an M.A. degree in History in 1974. He received his J.D. from North Carolina Central University in 1985.
He has served as a Deputy Commissioner of Insurance; Clerk to the Honorable Hugh A. Wells (deceased), Judge of the North Carolina Court of Appeals; Assistant District Attorney for Judicial District 27-A; in the private practice of law in Gaston County for 13 years; and Assistant Attorney General of the N.C. Department of Justice, assigned to the Industrial Commission as agency counsel.
Mr. Gheen is a native of Cleveland County, is the father of two children, and is married to Cathy Moore, an attorney for the County of Durham.
E-mail Chief Deputy Commissioner Gheen at gheen@ind.commerce.state.nc.us or his administrative assistant, Anne Brannen, at brannena@ind.commerce.state.nc.us.
Philip A. Baddour III joined the Industrial Commission as a Deputy Commissioner on November 1, 2000. He received his B.A. degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1992. Before entering law school, he served as a Legislative Assistant to Congressman Martin Lancaster. He earned his law degree from Campbell University and was admitted to the North Carolina Bar in 1996.
From 1996 to 1999, Mr. Baddour practiced law in Goldsboro, N.C., primarily in the areas of personal injury and workers' compensation. In 1999, he joined the North Carolina Attorney General's Office as an Assistant Attorney General in the Tort Claims Section. As an Assistant Attorney General, he represented state agencies in workers' compensation and tort claim actions. Mr. Baddour also serves as a First Lieutenant in the North Carolina National Guard.
E-mail Deputy Commissioner Baddour at baddour@ind.commerce.state.nc.us or his administrative assistant, Sue Baird, at bairds@ind.commerce.state.nc.us.
John B. De
Luca joined the N.C. Industrial Commission as Deputy Commissioner on December 1, 2003. He formerly served as Division Director of the Division of Services for the Blind at the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services.Mr. De
Luca has been an appeals referee and Staff Attorney at the Employment Security Commission and Assistant Director of Legal Affairs and later Chief of the Standards Branch for the Department of Human Resources.
He graduated Phi Beta
Kappa from Duke University and earned his law degree from Stanford University
Law School. He also attended Oxford University in England.
John DeLuca is a member of the American Blind Lawyers’ Association and a member of
the Executive Committee of the National Council of State Agencies for the Blind.
E-mail Deputy Commissioner DeLuca at delucaj@ind.commerce.state.nc.us or his administrative assistant, Shelia Williams, at williamss@ind.commerce.state.nc.us.
J. Brad Donovan came to the Industrial Commission in 1997 as a Special Deputy Commissioner and was appointed as a Deputy Commissioner of the Industrial Commission on 1 October 2003. Prior to that time, he spent two years as a clerk in the Raleigh law firm of Edmisten and Weaver and eight years as a member of Staff Counsel to the North Carolina Court of Appeals.
Mr. Donovan graduated from the University of Kansas with a Bachelor of Science degree in secondary language arts education. He spent four years as a street artist and club musician on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, and another four years as a musician and carpenter in Greenwich Village, New York.
He came to North Carolina in 1983 and worked as a residential carpenter while attending the evening program law school at North Carolina Central University in Durham, where he graduated with honors in 1989. He was the Assistant Editor in Chief of the N.C. Central Law Journal and has published law review articles in the areas of family law (The Seventeen Percent Solution, 18-2 N.C. Cent. L.J. 209 (1989)), and appellate practice (The Substantial Rights Doctrine and Interlocutory Appeals,17-1 Campbell L. Rev. 71 (1995)). He is a member of the Wake County Bar Association and is a DRC Certified Mediator.
Mr. Donovan is married to Melissa Donovan, an appellate paralegal at a Raleigh law firm, and has one child.
E-mail Deputy Commissioner Donovan at donovanb@ind.commerce.state.nc.us or his administrative assistant, Stephanie McDade, at mcdades@ind.commerce.state.nc.us.
James C. Gillen was appointed as a Deputy Commissioner on May
5, 2005. He received his B.A. degree in English from North Carolina State
University in 1991 and his J.D. degree from Campbell University in 1994.
E-mail Deputy Commissioner Gillen at gillenj@ind.commerce.state.nc.us or his administrative assistant, Carlene Logue, at loguec@ind.commerce.state.nc.us.
George T. Glenn II earned a B.S. Degree from North Carolina A&T State University in 1975 and a J.D. Degree from North Carolina Central University School of Law in 1982. Prior to his becoming a Deputy Commissioner with the N.C. Industrial Commission on January 1, 1995, he was a partner in the law firm of Barbee & Glenn.
Mr. Glenn taught school in Greensboro before entering the field of law. He is presently the President of the Gate City Chapter of North Carolina A&T State University Alumni Association, and he has served as a member and chair of the Greensboro Board of Adjustments, and a member of the State Board of Examiners of Electrical Contractors and the Executive Council of the General Greene chapter of the Boy Scouts of America. He is married and has three children.
E-mail Deputy Commissioner Glenn at glenng@ind.commerce.state.nc.us or his administrative assistant, Veda Coley, at coleyv@ind.commerce.state.nc.us.
Myra L. Griffin was appointed as a Deputy Commissioner on February 18, 2005. She received her B.A. degree in Political Science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1994 and her J.D. degree, cum laude, from North Carolina Central University School of Law in 1997.
She has worked with the Industrial Commission as an Agency Legal Specialist for former Commissioner Reneé C. Riggsbee and as a Special Deputy Commissioner. Before her appointment as a Deputy Commissioner, Ms. Griffin worked as an Assistant Attorney General with the Tort Claims Section of the N.C. Department of Justice. In this capacity, she served as Agency Counsel to the Industrial Commission and Prosecutor with the Workers’ Compensation Fraud Investigations Unit.
E-mail Deputy Commissioner Griffin at griffinm@ind.commerce.state.nc.us or her administrative assistant, Cheryl Powell, at powellc@ind.commerce.state.nc.us.
The appointment of George R. Hall III as Deputy Commissioner was announced on May 9, 2002. He received his B.A. degree in Political Science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1988. Before entering law school, he worked as a commercial fisherman along the North Carolina coast. Mr. Hall received his J.D. degree from Thomas M. Cooley School of Law in Lansing, Michigan in 1995.
Mr. Hall joined the Industrial Commission in April 1999 as a Law Clerk to Commissioner Thomas J. Bolch and was named as a Deputy Commissioner in November 2000.
Mr. Hall is a native of Wake County, having been born and raised in Raleigh, NC.
E-mail Deputy Commissioner Hall at hallg@ind.commerce.state.nc.us or his administrative assistant, Cathy Holmes, at holmesc@ind.commerce.state.nc.us.
Robert J. Harris was born in Cincinnati in 1967 and moved to North Carolina at 20 months of age. He grew up in Raleigh and went to high school there, also attaining the rank of Eagle Scout.
He received his B.A. degree in English and philosophy from Yale University in 1989. Returning to North Carolina, he lived and worked as a newspaper reporter in Johnston County for nearly two years. He then went to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Law, from which he graduated with his J.D. degree in 1994.
From 1994 through his joining the N.C. Industrial Commission in 2003, he practiced law in Raleigh, concentrating in employment law. With the Industrial Commission, he served as a Special Deputy Commissioner until his appointment as a Deputy Commissioner in 2005.
He is married and has two children.
E-mail Deputy Commissioner Harris at harrisr@ind.commerce.state.nc.us or his administrative assistant, Kimberly Campbell, at campbelk@ind.commerce.state.nc.us.
Phillip A. Holmes of Hillsborough received his A.B. degree in Political Science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1972. He also obtained a Master's Degree in Sports Administration from Ohio University in 1975 and obtained his J.D. Degree from Campbell University School of Law in 1980.
Mr. Holmes has practiced criminal law for 14 years as both a prosecutor and as a criminal defense attorney. He comes to the N.C. Industrial Commission from the District Attorney's Office in Durham. He has also been an Assistant District Attorney in Greensboro and Asheboro.
Mr. Holmes was sworn in as a Deputy Commissioner on July 7, 1995.
E-mail Deputy Commissioner Holmes at holmesp@ind.commerce.state.nc.us or his administrative assistant, Terra N. Collier, colliert@ind.commerce.state.nc.us.
Bradley W. Houser was promoted to the position of Deputy Commissioner on December 21, 2000. He joined the N.C. Industrial Commission in January 1994, and previously worked as an Agency Legal Specialist. In that capacity, Mr. Houser initially worked for Commissioners Dianne C. Sellers and Thomas J. Bolch. From 1997 until his appointment as a Deputy Commissioner, he worked for Commissioner Christopher Scott.
Outside the Commission, Mr. Houser has worked for Governor Michael F. Easley and former Governor James B. Hunt, Jr., and in the presidential campaign of U.S. Senator Bill Bradley.
In 1989, Mr. Houser received a B.A. degree in political science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he also received his Juris Doctor degree in 1993.
Mr. Houser's father is retired from the Jefferson-Pilot Insurance Company, and his late mother worked for the Guilford County School System.
E-mail Deputy Commissioner Houser at houserb@ind.commerce.state.nc.us or his administrative assistant, Debra Bell, at belld@ind.commerce.state.nc.us.
Kim Ledford received a B.A. degree in Political Science and Psychology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1978. Prior to entering law school, she worked as a paralegal for Jones Key Melvin and Patton in Franklin, N.C. and as a staff assistant to Congressman Lamar Gudger. Ms. Ledford received her J.D. degree from Wake Forest University School of Law in 1983, and upon graduation she was awarded the Order of the Barristers.
She was admitted to practice in North Carolina in 1983 and has worked as a Law Clerk at the N.C. Industrial Commission (1983-84), as an Agency Legal Specialist at the N.C. Department of Correction (1984-85), as an Assistant Attorney General in the Tort Claims Section of the N.C. Department of Justice (1986-91), and as a Claims Counsel at Lawyers Mutual Liability Insurance Company (1991-94). Ms. Ledford was sworn in as a Deputy Commissioner in October 1994.
E-mail Deputy Commissioner Ledford at ledfordk@ind.commerce.state.nc.us or her administrative assistant, Darryl Wright, at wrightd@ind.commerce.state.nc.us.
The appointment of Adrian A. Phillips as Deputy Commissioner was announced on May 9, 2002. She holds a B.S. degree in Chemistry from Bennett College and earned a J.D. degree from North Carolina Central University in 1993. Before her appointment as Deputy Commissioner, she worked as an Assistant Attorney General in the Tort Claims Section of the Department of Justice and she was assigned to the Industrial Commission as Agency Counsel for the Industrial Commission and Fraud Prosecutor for the Commission's Fraud Investigations Section. Ms. Phillips formerly prosecuted Medicaid fraud cases for the Department of Justice. While working in the Medicaid Fraud Division during 1998-2000, she served as Supervisor and Prosecutor of white-collar crime. Ms. Phillips also has served as an Assistant District Attorney in District 9A (Caswell and Person Counties) from 1994 through 1998.
E-mail Deputy Commissioner Phillips at phillipa@ind.commerce.state.nc.us or her administrative assistant, Alicia O'Neal, at oneala@ind.commerce.state.nc.us.
Deputy Commissioner Robert Wayne Rideout, Jr. joined the N.C. Industrial Commission on July 1, 2005.
Mr. Rideout graduated from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, with a B.A. degree in History in 1995 and from Louisiana State University, with his J.D. degree in 1998. Before his appointment as a Deputy Commissioner, Mr. Rideout served as an Assistant Public Defender (1998-99) for Judicial District 3-A and as an Assistant District Attorney (1999-2005) for Judicial District 7.
Robert Rideout is also a Captain and Judge Advocate in the United States Army Reserve. Captain Rideout is a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom, where he served as the Trial Counsel/Acting Command Judge Advocate for the 171st Area Support Group at Tallil Air Base, outside of An Nasiriyah, Iraq, from April 3, 2003 until March 19, 2004. He is currently the Domestic Operational Law Attorney for AR-MEDCOM. His awards include: the Bronze Star medal, two Army Commendation Medals, the Army Achievement Medal, two Army Reserve Component Achievement Medals, the National Defense Medal, the Iraqi Campaign Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, the Armed Forces Reserve Medal with mobilization devise, the Army Service Ribbon, and the Overseas Service Ribbon.
His hobbies include running and weightlifting.
He is married to Stacy Wiggins Rideout, M.A., M.L.I.S., who is a medical librarian at WakeMed in Raleigh, NC. They have one son, Ivan.
E-mail Deputy Commissioner Rideout at rideoutr@ind.commerce.state.nc.us or his administrative assistant, Michael Carter, carterm@ind.commerce.state.nc.us.
Ronnie E. Rowell has been a Deputy Commissioner since December 2000. He previously served the N.C. Industrial Commission as an Agency Legal Specialist (1994-96) and a Special Deputy Commissioner (1996-2000).
Mr. Rowell formerly worked as Assistant Attorney General in the Energy/Utilities/Insurance Section of the N.C. Department of Justice (1991-94), as Staff Attorney in the Legal Division of the N.C. Department of Insurance (1986-91), as Law Clerk with the Industrial Commission (1984-86), as Appeals Referee for the Employment Security Commission (1983-84), as an attorney with the Wake County Attorney’s Office (1982-83), and as Deputy Sheriff with the Wake County Sheriff's Department (1977-79).
Ronnie Rowell earned his B.A. degree in psychology from East Carolina University in 1974 and his J.D. degree from Campbell University School of Law in 1982.
He is married to Kathy F. Rowell, BSRN, a Wake County Public Health Nurse. The Rowells have four children.
E-mail Deputy Commissioner Rowell at rowellr@ind.commerce.state.nc.us or his administrative assistant, Carol Abbott, at abbottc@ind.commerce.state.nc.us.
John C. Schafer joined the N.C. Industrial Commission as
its Dispute Resolution Coordinator in April of 1997. Since June of 1999, he has
also been Deputy Commissioner in Charge of Mediation.
Mr. Schafer is a graduate of the University of Notre
Dame, and received a J.D. degree from the Wake Forest University School of Law
in 1984. At Wake Forest, Mr. Schafer was the Chief Justice of the Moot Court
Board, finished in first place and received the best brief award in the
southeast region of the National Moot Court Competition, finished in first place
in the southeast region of the National Trial Competition, and received the
Order of the Barristers Award.
After receiving his law degree, Mr. Schafer served as law clerk to Honorable W. Earl Britt, Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina, from 1984 through 1986. From 1986 through 1997, Mr. Schafer practiced law in the Triangle area. His primary practice area was civil litigation in state and federal courts, and he also served as a mediator and arbitrator in cases pending before the Industrial Commission, Office of Administrative Hearings, American Arbitration Association, as well as in state and federal courts.
Mr. Schafer has served as the Co-Chair of the ADR
Book Committee, a joint committee of the North Carolina Dispute Resolution
Commission (DRC) and the Dispute Resolution Section of the North Carolina Bar
Association (NCBA), which wrote and published the book titled “Alternative
Dispute Resolution in North Carolina: A
New Civil Procedure” (2003). Mr. Schafer has also served as the Chair
(1999-2000), Vice-Chair (1998-99), and Secretary (1998-99) of the NCBA’s
Dispute Resolution Section, and is currently an ex-officio member of the ADR
Committee of the State Judicial Council and the DRC.
He is married to attorney Allison B. Schafer, legal
counsel and director of policy for the N.C. School Boards Association, and has
two children.
E-mail Deputy Commissioner Schafer at schaferj@ind.commerce.state.nc.us or his administrative assistant, Mary Roussel, at rousselm@ind.commerce.state.nc.us.
Deputy Commissioner Chrystal Redding Stanback received her undergraduate degree in International Studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1988 and her law school degree from the University of North Carolina School of Law in 1991. She then entered the private practice of law in Greensboro and Henderson, N.C., before coming to the N.C. Industrial Commission in January 1995. Ms. Stanback served as an agency legal specialist and assistant to the Mediation Coordinator until being named as a Deputy Commissioner in June 1995.
E-mail Deputy Commissioner Stanback at stanbacc@ind.commerce.state.nc.us or her administrative assistant, Yolanda Newsome, at newsomey@ind.commerce.state.nc.us.
Theresa B. Stephenson joined the N.C. Industrial Commission as a Deputy Commissioner in May 1996. She previously served as personnel director for Caswell Center in Kinston, N.C., a Department of Human Resources institution with approximately 1,800 employees. As personnel director, she oversaw the workers' compensation, safety and health, and other personnel programs. She formerly engaged in the private practice of law and also served as an Assistant District Attorney for the Eighth Judicial District.
Ms. Stephenson received an A.A. degree from Peace College in Raleigh, received a B.A. degree and graduated magna cum laude from North Carolina State University, and received a J.D. degree from Campbell University School of Law. While at Campbell, she was named to Who's Who Among American Law Students. She is licensed to practice law in North Carolina and is also a Certified Mediator.
Ms. Stephenson is married to James B. Stephenson, II, a principal in the law firm of Stephenson & Stephenson in Cary. The Stephensons have two daughters.
E-mail Deputy Commissioner Stephenson at stephens@ind.commerce.state.nc.us or her administrative assistant, Gail Bernardo, bernardg@ind.commerce.state.nc.us.
Wanda Blanche Taylor received her B.A. degree from Duke University in 1984 and received her law degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Law School in 1987. Ms. Taylor spent eight years in private practice civil litigation involved primarily in medical malpractice, toxic tort, personal injury, and employment litigation.
She is licensed to practice in North Carolina and South Carolina and admitted to practice before all North Carolina State and Federal Courts as well as the United States Supreme Court. Ms. Taylor was most recently with the law firms of McNair & Sanford and The Sanford Law Firm. She became a Deputy Commissioner with the N.C. Industrial Commission in February 1996.
E-mail Deputy Commissioner Taylor at taylorw@ind.commerce.state.nc.us or her administrative assistant, Sandra Cortes, at cortess@ind.commerce.state.nc.us.