North Carolina Judicial College

Advisory committee

Cindy Bizzell is judicial branch education manager for the North Carolina Administrative Office of the Courts. Prior to joining the AOC, she worked in college administration and owned a small business. More than 20 years ago, she began volunteering with the Guardian ad Litem program, a judicial branch child court advocacy program. After three years of volunteer service, Cindy joined the GAL Services Division of the AOC, where she worked as regional and assistant administrator through 2000. Beginning in 2001, Bizzell joined the AOC human resources staff to work in adult education and leadership. She earned a bachelor’s degree in music education from Meredith College and a master’s degree in counseling from North Carolina State University.

Catherine Eagles is a senior resident Superior Court judge. She was appointed to the Superior Court bench in 1993, elected to that position in 1994, and re-elected in 1996 and 2004. In 2006, she became senior resident judge with responsibility for court administration in Guilford County. Before appointment to the bench, she practiced with Smith Moore. Eagles is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Rhodes College, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in history. She earned a law degree from the National Law Center at George Washington University.

Barker French is chair of the Cultural Master Plan Advisory Board for the City of Durham. He is also chair of the Durham Roundtable, a citizens group dedicated to making Durham a better community for all its citizens. His other community involvement includes the Durham Crime Cabinet, the Duke-Durham Partnership, Habitat for Humanity, TROSA, Durham Workforce Development Board, Durham Technical Community College Foundation, and the NC Criminal Justice Information Network. French earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from Duke University.

Ellen Hancox is trial court administrator for the 12th Judicial District. She was previously in private practice, specializing in family law, personal injury, and workers compensation. Hancox is president of the NC Conference of Court Administrators and past secretary of the Cumberland County Bar Association. She earned a bachelor’s degree from Mary Washington College and a JD from Campbell University School of Law.

Tye Hunter is executive director of the Office of Indigent Defense Services. He previously served as assistant public defender, assistant appellate defender, and appellate defender. Hunter is an adjunct associate professor in the law school at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he teaches criminal procedure and trial advocacy. He has also taught appellate advocacy at the law school at North Carolina Central University. Hunter earned a bachelor’s degree and a JD from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Elizabeth Keever is chief District Court judge, a position she has held since 1994. Prior to that, she was a District Court judge for 12 years. Keever is chair of the District Court Judges’ Education Committee and chair of the Chief Justice’s Family Court Advisory Committee. She earned a bachelor’s degree from UNC-Greensboro and a JD from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

John C. Martin is chief judge of the Court of Appeals. Previously, he served in the US Army Military Police Corps and was in private practice in Durham. He was also a resident Superior Court judge and a judge for the NC Court of Appeals. Martin is chair of the NC Judicial Standards Commission. He earned a JD from Wake Forest University School of Law.

Peter G. Pappas is an attorney in the Greensboro office of Nexsen Pruet Adams Kleemeier. Pappas has been with the firm since 1984 and practices in the civil litigation area, with emphasis in business and commercial litigation, employment law litigation and counseling, insurance and ERISA litigation, and surety law. He is a member of the Board of Governors of the NC Bar Association and the NCBA’s Judicial Independence Committee; a former chair of the NCBA’s Bench/Bar Liaison Committee, Litigation Section, and Young Lawyers Division; a former Young Lawyer Delegate from the NC State Bar to the American Bar Association’s House of Delegates; and a member of the ABA’s Litigation, Labor and Employment Law, and Tort and Insurance Practice Sections. Pappas earned a bachelor’s degree and a JD from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Angela Ranson has served as Mecklenburg County magistrate for 24 years, including 20 years in small claims. She is vice president of the NC Magistrates’ Association. Ranson earned a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Appalachian State University.

Patricia Timmons-Goodson is an associate justice of the Supreme Court of North Carolina. She served as a judge on the NC Court of Appeals judge from 1997–2005 and prior to that was a District Court judge and staff attorney for Lumbee River Legal Services. She currently serves as secretary of the Appellate Judges’ Conference of ABA, as co-editor of Judges Journal, and as special commissioner on the ABA Commission on the Status of Women in the Profession. Timmons-Goodson earned a bachelor’s degree and a JD from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Brenda Tucker is clerk of Superior Court. Prior to that, she was assistant clerk of court and deputy clerk of court. She serves on the board of directors of the National Guardianship Association and is a member of the National College of Probate Judges. She also serves on the advisory committee for NC Court Improvement and is chairman of the AOC Rules and Recordkeeping Committee. Tucker earned an associate’s degree from Cape Fear Community College.

Charles B. “Branny” Vickory is district attorney for the 8th district (Greene, Lenoir, and Wayne counties). Previously he was assistant district attorney for the 8th district. Vickory is a member of the NC State Bar, the NC Bar Association (Criminal Justice Section), the NC District Attorneys Association and Conference, the Eighth District Bar, the Wayne County Bar, the Lenoir County Bar, and the Eastern North Carolina Inn of Courts. In addition, he is a member of the Juvenile Crime Prevention Councils of Wayne, Greene, and Lenoir counties; the Wayne County Criminal Justice Study Commission; and the State Employees Association of NC. Vickory earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a JD from Wake Forest University.

Ella Swanson Wrenn has served as trial court coordinator to Senior Resident Superior Court Judge Robert H. Hobgood in the 9th Judicial District since 1980. She is a member and officer of the NC Conference of Court Administrators; a past president and member of the NC Judicial Support Staff Conference; and an ex-officio member of the Dispute Resolution Commission. She was appointed by the Chief Justice as a member of the Rural Courts Commission in 2006 and served as chair of the Interpreters Committee. She also served on the board of directors of Safe Space, a domestic violence program, from 1998 to 2006 and was chair of the task force committee for Evidence Based Prosecution of Domestic Violence. Wrenn is a graduate of Hardbargers Business College and is currently enrolled in the National Association for Court Management’s core competencies curriculum administered by Michigan State University.