Student Body President-Elect Andrew Powell chooses his cabinet

Student Body President-elect Andrew Powell submitted his appointments for his executive team. The student body vice president, secretary and treasurer must be approved by Student Congress next week; the other three do not need approval. 

Kyle Villemain

Junior Kyle Villemain has been tapped for student body vice president pending approval. He is co-president of A Drink For Tomorrow and has served as a resident adviser. 

“I’m passionate about Andrew’s platform and the potential of student government to enact change on campus,” he said. “Getting student input on blended learning initiatives and flipped classrooms, working to holistically address sexual assault on campus and crafting a path forward on the town housing ordinance are all tasks for the year ahead that are very exciting to me.”

Linda Rebeiz 

Linda Rebeiz is Powell’s pick for chief of staff. She started Facebook page UNC Answers and is involved with InCube, a Duke University entrepreneurship group. 

“While I worked on Andrew’s campaign, I realized the need to use entrepreneurship as a core component of decision-making when it comes to serving the Carolina Community,” she said. “Andrew has a set of innovative projects I support completely. I am hoping to nurture the necessary entrepreneurial mindset amongst members of the student government to carry them out.”

Wilson Parker

Junior Wilson Parker will serve as director of state and external affairs. He is the president of UNC Young Democrats.

“Public education is the reason that North Carolina has grown and prospered in ways that other Southern states simply haven’t,” he said. “I’ve become concerned that our state is abandoning this proud tradition. In high school, I devoted my graduation speech to this subject. It would be an honor to spend my final year at Carolina helping Andrew make the case to legislators for public education.”

Allie Polk

If approved, freshman Allie Polk will serve as secretary. She works on design for the Campus Y. She wants to make student government’s work more easily digestible to students.

“I aim to produce more outreach materials that bolster the executive branch’s presence on campus and on social media,” she said. “Flyers are my forte. Lastly, I suggest opening a few executive branch meetings to students. That way, students would understand exactly how student government functions. The executive branch could even hold ‘Carolina Councils’ —brief forums in the Pit.”

Neel Patel

Economics major Neel Patel will serve as senior adviser to Powell. He serves on the Chancellor’s Student Innovation Team.

“I have experience with course redesign, specifically with ECON 101, and I’ve worked with administrators to shape the way we approach the academic experience at UNC,”  he said. “I’ve worked with Andrew on many of these goals since we came to UNC, and I’m excited to push forward with our plans for the coming year. We have come a long way from when we started in a first year seminar working in a group to help design the ECON 125 course.” 

Brittany Best

If approved, Brittany Best will serve as student body treasurer. She is chairwoman of Student Congress’ finance committee. She said the relationships she’s formed with administrators will be helpful in the position.

“I applied for this position because I am extremely passionate about helping student groups receive the funding they need and ensuring the responsible execution of the fee process,” she said. “As SBT, I hope to make the fee process more transparent and ensure that students are consulted when planning budgets that include student fees.”