Consulting
Bruce Nofsinger, Partner
Josh Thomas, Partner
Winn Maddrey, Executive Vice President
Pat Millen, Senior Marketing Consultant
Valerie Schild, PhD, Senior Education Consultant
Cary Murphy, Senior Creative Consultant
Brandon Uttley, APR, Senior Social Media Consultant

Project Management
Jenny Beacham, VP, Project Management
Jenna Johnson, Project Manager
Scott Wilkening, Project Manager

Operations
Phelps Sprinkle, Partner
Chris Herrera, VP, Administration
Caroline Thore, Business Development Associate



Bruce Nofsinger, Partner
A creative writer, former teacher, and co-founder of Topics Education, Bruce has designed sponsored curriculum and education outreach campaigns and advised marketing and public affairs management with some of America’s most recognized corporate and nonprofit brands. From multimedia scriptwriting to curriculum architecture to marketing strategy, Bruce’s creativity and understanding of the classroom makes our clients’ programs stand out with educators, students, and the public at large. As a nationally-recognized voice in financial education, Bruce also leads our Financial Literacy Practice.
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Josh Thomas, Partner
With personal and professional passion, Josh leads Topics Education's Environmental Practice area and our efforts around Health Education. He consults with clients to design measurable programs that engage students and offer teachers innovative ways to assess learning while building respect for the natural world and healthy lifestyles. Josh is a graduate of Al Gore's "Climate Project Training Program" and a leader in the region in moving forward discussion around environmental and sustainability issues. He is the author of the company’s cornerstone white paper, Connecting with K-12: How Companies and Organizations Can Best Reach and Benefit the Education Market, and he is our resident expert on integrating technology into the education world.Top
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Winn Maddrey, Executive Vice President
With 16 years of communications experience, Winn brings a background involving public policy, public affairs, message development, strategic counsel, marketing, and public relations expertise to engagements. His experience ranges from serving as a speechwriter for a member of the US House of Representatives to a communications officer in the US Department of Commerce to the owner of three different communications firms, including Crescent PR, Capital Strategies, and Blue Nine Partners. Winn formulates strategy for media (both paid and earned media), develops messaging, and builds strategic communications plans. Top
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Pat Millen, Senior Marketing Consultant
Pat has been an international multimedia marketing consultant for over 24 years. His background has been in working with corporations and governing bodies to unleash the power of their brands using creative engagement between programming and end-user consumers. Over the years, Pat has consulted with organizations throughout the world, frequently in the sports marketing realm, with an emphasis on brand extension and enterprise management. Pat is the owner of FC Nutmeg, Inc. and Integrity Sports Marketing and throughout his career has worked successfully with dozens of multinational brands from IBM to adidas to FIFA to the NCAA and many more.  Top


Valerie Schild, Ph.D., Senior Education Consultant
With over twenty-five years of experience in community-based advocacy, classroom teaching, curriculum development, school reform, and philanthropy in education, Valerie offers a broad and unique knowledge of the education system, K-12 and beyond.  Prior to joining Topics Education, Valerie, who holds a doctorate in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, spent six years with the Wake Education Partnership as a chief liaison between one of the nation's largest school systems and the Raleigh, NC, corporate community. Valerie serves as the Director of the Kenan Fellows Program at NC State University. Top


Cary Murphy, Senior Creative Consultant
Cary specializes in strategic visual marketing, brand building, and graphic design. He has over fifteen years experience designing products for Fortune 100 companies and startups alike. Prior to founding his own firm, Cary mastered Big Brand management as a Visual Communications Director for John Deere and was an advertising agency creative in Charlotte and Chicago. He earned his BFA in Visual Communications from Kendall College of Art and Design.   Top


Brandon Uttley, APR, Senior Social Media Consultant
Brandon specializes in combining new media and traditional communications strategies to create meaningful conversations between companies and their customers. He has more than 20 years of experience working with top agencies, in addition to founding two successful companies, carbonhouse and Web Business Freedom.   Top


Jenny Beacham, VP, Project Management
With over six years of experience at Topics Education, Jenny leads the project management team where she coordinates workflow, manages our vendor and freelance relationships, and reports on all tracking systems. With a natural ease, Jenny excels at maintaining relationships with our clients and vendors, keeping them happy and coming back time after time. Top
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Jenna Johnson, Project Manager
With an extensive writing, creative, and traffic management background in the fields of publishing and advertising, Jenna is able to manage multiple projects and project teams with ease. An organization nut, she handles project workflow, content development, and delivery.  Top
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Scott Wilkening, Project Manager
Along with his twelve years of project management and client relations expertise – primarily in web development and publishing – Scott was once a high school Spanish teacher. With his easy-going personality yet tireless work ethic, Scott handles project workflow, content development, and delivery.Top
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Phelps Sprinkle, Partner
As president & CEO, Phelps has spent the past twelve years growing Topics Education from a local educational publisher to a full-service education outreach consultancy. He oversees business direction and operations while developing relationships with new clients and strategic partners.Top
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Chris Herrera, VP, Administration
A certified public accountant, Chris manages all accounting, administrative, and human resource issues for the company. Prior to joining Topics Education, she spent several years with corporations and national public accounting firms. After receiving an M.B.A., she focused on consulting for small businesses and addressing their unique needs.  Top


Caroline Thore, Business Development Associate 
As a recent graduate from the University of North Carolina with a bachelor’s degree in Political Science, Caroline brings a strong work ethic and fresh perspectives to the team. Supporting and working closely with the senior team, Caroline conducts extensive research around business opportunities and contributes to project content. Top
View Caroline Thore’s LinkedIn profile