Movers and Shakers

Meet our Board of Directors, the people who keep NextStep Raleigh exciting, respected, and moving forward.

Board of Directors

karen thor, CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD

President and Founder, NextStep Raleigh

Karen Thor worked in banking for over 20 years, holding positions as Director of Treasury Management, Small Business, Group Banking and Credit Cards. She completed her career in banking as CIO and Executive Vice President at National Commerce Financial, a $26B financial institution. She also ran a successful consulting company, Revenue Enhancement Associates, teaching community banks how to establish high performing treasury management and group banking divisions. Karen then joined Deluxe Corporation’s Treasury Management Solutions division as a national sales manager, leading a nationwide team selling complex payments software. In 2015, Karen’s son was hit by a car and suffered a C2 break, paralyzing him from the neck down. She and her family immediately moved to Atlanta so that Michael could rehab at the Shepherd Center, one of the top SCI rehab centers in the country. It was there she saw the immense benefits of activity-based therapy. After 2 ½ years, it was time to come home to the Raleigh area, but we found that the opportunity to continue aggressive activity-based therapy was very limited. We decided to open NextStep Raleigh to allow our son to continue his recovery while giving this same opportunity to others.

Paul Baron, PhD

Veteran Affairs

Jan browder

Strategic Marketing

Jan is a seasoned business and marketing professional with extensive experience in B2B technology, supply chain, consulting, sales, and business transformation. Throughout her career, she has worked with leading companies such as Oracle, Tata Consultancy Services, IBM, and several startups. Jan holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Logistics from The Pennsylvania State University and an MBA from Meredith College.

Now retired, Jan resides in Cary, NC, where she enjoys traveling, volunteering, practicing yoga, and spending quality time with her husband, children, and grandchildren.

Margie Hennessee

Board Member

Tim Hopper

Mr. Hopper has over 30 years of operating experience within the medical device and healthcare industry. He has held increasing responsibility in sales, marketing, and executive leadership positions for large multinational medical device manufacturing companies such as Medtronic, Covidien/Tyco Healthcare, and Teleflex. After 15 years within large corporate environments, Mr. Hopper pursued his entrepreneurial passion and began working within the local NC startup ecosystem. He took an ownership and leadership position within a small medical device design/development/manufacturing firm, GILERO, to build a long-term growth strategy. While there, he created and co-founded Infield Medical, a medical device accelerator focused on low to mid-tech medical devices that have a defined regulatory approval path (Class I/II 510(k)) and a high likelihood of revenue generation and/or strategic exit within two years. 623 Medical (makers of nüm) was created and spun into a self-standing revenue-generating organization.

After a tragic accident left his youngest son with a spinal cord injury (SCI) in 2016, he became involved in the neuro-rehab/neuromodulation space. Access to neuro-rehab technologies is limited in the USA, so working with a European-based robotic rehabilitation company, he built a US footprint to import these products to the US to help people suffering from neurological deficits like his son.

He is now focused on assisting startups with their commercialization and strategic plans for novel healthcare technologies that make a difference in people’s lives.

Mr. Hopper holds a BBA in Marketing from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and an MBA in Entrepreneurship from the Babson College F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business. He resides in Raleigh with his wife of 30 years and has three older children who graduated from local NC universities. 

Alexander "sasha" rabchevsky(pHD)

Professor of Physiology at the University of Kentucky, College of Medicine

Alexander “Sasha”Rabchevsky (PhD) is a tenured Professor of Physiology at the University of Kentucky, College of Medicine and is a core member of the Spinal Cord & Brain Injury Research Center. Notably, he is, himself, paralyzed from the chest down as the result of a motorcycle accident in 1985 which fractured his sixth thoracic vertebrae rendering him a complete T5 paraplegic.  He has gained international recognition as a leading expert in the pathophysiology of both mitochondrial and autonomic dysfunction following SCI.  

Dr. Rabchevsky has and continues to serve on various study sections, both federal and private, he is an associate editor and reviewer for various scientific journals, and his distinct studies have been funded by the National Institutes of Health, the International Spinal Research Trust, the Paralyzed Veterans Administration, the Craig H. Neilsen Foundation, the Commonwealth of Kentucky, and the University of Kentucky. 

Since 2009, Sasha has served on the Board of Directors for the non-profit, No Barriers USA, that provides transformative experiences to empower people with various forms of disabilities to manifest ground-breaking innovation and discover the potential that lies within themselves – to overcome impairments in a world full of perceived obstacles. Since 2013 he has also served as co-founder and vice president of the Kentucky Congress on Spinal Cord Injury (KCSCI) that advocates for individuals with SCI in the commonwealth, and he serves on the Board for Independence Place, KY, a non-profit that supports KCSCI and further fosters inclusion and employment for individuals with a range of abilities.

Jim Passe

Legal Advisor

Bio Coming Soon

Jerry Schafer

Development

Jerry Schafer brings over three decades of executive experience in business development, operations, and finance for global companies. Before retiring, Jerry served as Senior Vice President of Worldwide Development for McDonald’s Corporation, overseeing the company’s global expansion initiatives. He previously held key leadership roles, including Chief Operations Officer and Executive Officer of Development for McDonald’s China, and Chief Financial Officer at Chipotle Mexican Grill, where he was integral in the company’s early growth stages and international expansion efforts.

Jerry began his career in McDonald's management during college and advanced through various accounting, finance, and real estate development roles. With a strong background in driving business growth, Jerry is eager to contribute his expertise to the continued success of NextStep Raleigh.

He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting from Walsh College and is a licensed CPA. Jerry currently serves on the Board of Trustees for Walsh College, is a former Board Chair for the Ronald McDonald House of Durham and Wake, and is an active member of the Finance Committee for Ronald McDonald House Charities of the Triangle.