Jessica Kapota, Director
Jessica began her career at UNC Charlotte in July 2014, and joined Learning and Organizational Development in August 2022.
Jessica Kapota is the Director of Learning and Organizational Development. She provides leadership, project management and training support for employees around personal and professional development as well as compliance training for the university. Jessica has a passion for helping others grow and partners with many campus colleagues and teams to support the department mission. She has previous experience as an instructional designer, project manager, LMS administrator and training specialist at Charlotte and over a decade experience in the field of education.
Jessica holds a Master of Education in Educational Leadership and also a Master of Arts in History from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. She also earned a Bachelor of Arts double majoring in Social Studies Education (Grades 6-12) and History from Southeastern Louisiana University.
Kimberly Barrett, Learning and Development Specialist
Kimberly Barrett began her career at UNC Charlotte in November 2021.
Kimberly is a learning and development specialist in Human Resources at UNC Charlotte. Kimberly comes from Tandem Health in Sumter, SC, where she was a project assistant specializing in strategic planning, project management and HRIS system support for executive teams. Prior to this, she worked at the University of South Carolina where she served as a talent and development coordinator specializing in new employee onboarding, HR processes and annual giving. Kimberly also has experience in large meeting and event planning, budget planning, aspiring leaders’ development programs and learning management system administration. She serves as the primary contact for all customer service related to the Learning and Development Portal available by email for customer assistance at hrtraining@uncc.edu. She assists facilitators with any of the Learning and Development Portal features including working with over 75 campus subject matter experts annually to program the Learning and Development Portal session calendar. Kimberly acts as the office administrator for the learning and organizational development team and consults on the budget, materials management and maintains team communication efforts to the campus as the liaison to University Communications. Kimberly is also the program manager for some LOD key programs such as New Employee Orientation (NEO), Campus Connection Events (CCE), the Professional Administrator Certification (PAC) and ASPIRE.
Kimberly holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration double majoring in Human Resources and Marketing from the University of South Carolina.
Vernon Haley, Instructional Systems Specialist
Vernon joined the UNC Charlotte in January 2023.
Vernon is an Instructional Systems Specialist with 14 years of experience supporting instructional systems within the UNC system. Vernon provides instructional technology support of the Learning & Development Portal to students, faculty, and staff. Vernon focuses on expanding co-curricular learning experiences that support personal development in the workplace. Vernon also enjoys rooting for the Los Angeles Lakers and Carolina Panthers.
Vernon obtained his Bachelor's degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Management Information Systems from Fayetteville State University. He also earned a Master's degree in Instructional Technology from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington.
Linda Diggs, Administrative Support Specialist, Staff Awards and Recognition Program
Linda Diggs began her career at UNC Charlotte in October 2021.
Linda is an administrative support specialist and leads administrative functions related to the Human Resources Staff Awards and Recognition Program, included as one of Human Resources Learning and Organizational Development's key staff programs. Linda works specifically with all large staff awards and recognition events and is the key contact for staff quarterly recognition and is available by email for customer assistance at staff-recognition@uncc.edu. Linda comes from Wells Fargo Bank where she was a benefits consultant in the area of human resources. Linda has advanced expertise in the administration of health and well-being onsite services and events. She also has extensive experience in reporting, vendor relationship management and on-site large event coordination. Linda worked for Wells Fargo Bank as a client services consultant and specialized in project requests and quarterly reporting. She has prior experience in corporate business operations dealing with customer service, compliance and supply chain management at another large commercial bank.
Linda holds a Bachelor's Degree in Labor Studies/Industrial Relations from Rutgers University.
Tytianna Williams, Instructional Designer
Tytianna Williams joined learning and organizational development on a temporary assignment in March 2021.
Tytianna is an instructional designer for special projects with the department of human resources at UNC Charlotte. She comes from AAA Carolinas/ACG where she was an instructional designer and also worked as a learning architect for American Tire Distributors. Tytianna is a former classroom science educator and taught middle school sixth-eighth grades for four years in the Fort Mill, SC area. Tytianna will work on special instructional design projects for human resources learning and organizational development with a focus on custom eLearning content creation.
Tytianna holds a Bachelor’s degree in Education from the University of South Carolina-Upstate. She earned a Master’s degree in Instructional Technology from Coastal Carolina University.
Jeremy Lewis, Graduate Assistant
Jeremy Lewis is a GA for the department and second year PhD student in the Organizational Science program at Charlotte. His research interest revolves around the intersection of technology and organizations, such as platform work and AI. He conducts research, data analysis and other support projects towards department and HR goals.
Jeremy holds a Bachelor of Arts in Organizational Science and Psychology from Coe College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.