As a Morehead-Cain Scholar-turned-scholar advisor, Julie Werry ’03 knows firsthand how life-changing this Program can be.
For her Summer Enrichment Program experiences, Julie rafted the Colorado River, lived in a chicken coop in the Dominican Republic, backpacked through Cambodia, and discovered her career path in the nonprofit sector. The alumna joined the Foundation as an advisor in 2021 to support scholars as they navigate their own formative adventures.
Julie seeks to be a trusted ear for those doing the hard work of defining oneself through exploring passions, cultivating strengths, learning how to pivot, and growing. She knows she’s doing her job well whenever their summer plans make her jealous.
The alumna has spent her career developing relationships and raising funds for organizations dedicated to meaningful change. She sees tremendous opportunity in advising scholars as they build their own lives of purpose.
The advisor received her master’s in public policy from Georgetown University in 2005 before finding a professional home at the Robin Hood Foundation. Julie spent a decade leading teams at the nonprofit, the largest funder of poverty-fighting programs in New York City. She was appointed director of donor relations in 2011, in which role she helped raise more than $145 million during their 25th anniversary year.
Julie previously worked at Teach For America, leading individual giving teams and managing events. Despite being Florida-born and Bahamas-raised, she relocated with her family to Toronto, Ontario, in 2014. Over the next two years, she served as director of development at Right To Play Canada.
Always keen for a new adventure, Julie founded her own consulting firm in 2017. She worked with nonprofit clients in both Canada and the United States on their development strategies, board engagement, and donor communications.
Her proudest personal accomplishment was helping organize community efforts (alongside Robin Cory ’98) to fund and host the resettlement of three Syrian refugee families in Canada. She’s happy to report that all three families are secure and thriving.
Julie and her husband, Scott Werry ’03, are delighted to have returned to Chapel Hill, where they live with their two daughters and lovable dog. She currently serves on the UNC Board of Visitors and as co-president of Rashkis Elementary School’s parent-teacher association. You can often find her on the tennis court, always striving to demonstrate the “physical vigor” criterion of the Program.