Who We Are

We are current and former local and state government human resources and training professionals.

All MAPS Group principles and associates have a minimum of 10 years of experience working in a human resource management or training position in North Carolina State and local government agencies. Most have over 20 years of HR experience. For more information regarding each staff member, see below.

Board of Directors

President	Rebecca Veazey
Vice President	Cheryl Brown
Secretary	Pat Thomas
Treasurer	Larry Kerr

Principals

	Patsy Burks
	Susan Ennis
	Lynn Freeman
	Erika Phillips
	Bunny Spadaro
	Valiria Willis
	Thom Wright

Officers and Principals:

Rebecca "Becky" Veazey

Becky has worked full-time with The MAPS Group since 1989, serving as President since 1995. Prior to working with MAPS she served as Human Resources Director for the Town of Cary and Durham County, and worked as an HR generalist in the Town of Chapel Hill and in training and employee relations for the City of Greensboro. She has a BA and MPA from UNC Chapel Hill and extensive training in facilitation, team building, instrumentation use and has presented at numerous conferences, workshops, and programs including IPMA, OMPO, NCLM and School of Government.

Becky’s work with MAPS includes a wide variety of human resources services including assessment center development and management for hiring, promoting and career development purposes; employee and management training on numerous topics; performance management system development and implementation; facilitation of staff and elected official meetings and retreats for planning and team building; personnel policy review and development; organization structure and management systems review, performance pay systems development and implementation; and classification and compensation studies. Becky has worked with over 200 local governments in North Carolina in her consulting work.

Phone	(919) 233-3914
Cell	(919) 616-5965
Email	bveazey@themapsgroup.com

Cheryl Brown

Cheryl joined The MAPS Group in 2018 and currently serves as the Vice President. Cheryl spent the majority of her career, 24 years, with the City of Charlotte, retiring in 2017 as their Director of Human Resources. She also served for six years as the Director of Human Resources for the City of Monroe. She has over 20 years of senior management experience in Human Resources administration and operations, providing management and consulting services to City Councils, City Managers, Department Directors and employees. One of Cheryl’s most cherished successes was leading the HR Team to secure funding and contract with a provider to open six strategically placed health and wellness clinics throughout Charlotte for use by employees and their families. Cheryl received her MPA from UNC-Charlotte and BA in Public Policy Analysis from UNC-Chapel Hill. She holds a Senior Human Resources Professional Certification from the International Public Management Association for Human Resources (IPMA-HR).

Cheryl’s work with the group is predominantly classification and pay studies.

Phone	(704) 579-9197
Email	cbrown@themapsgroup.com

Pat Thomas

In her 45 year career in Human Resources, Pat, an original founder of MAPS, served as HR Director for the Town of Chapel Hill and consulted with over 150 NC local government organizations working with MAPS and with the Office of State Personnel. She serves as Secretary for THE MAPS GROUP Board of Directors.

Phone	(919) 829-1327
Email	pthomas@themapsgroup.com

Larry Kerr

One of the original founders of The MAPS Group, Larry has served the City of Greensboro in several capacities including Human Resources Director and Internal Projects (Technology) Manager. Larry also worked as a classification analyst with NC State University.

Larry’s work with MAPS includes collecting the data and producing the annual School of Government’s County Salary and Benefits surveys, employee surveys, pay system development and consultation – and serving as the MAPS Treasurer.

Phone	(336) 601-3059
Email	lkerr@triad.rr.com

Erika Phillips

Erika joined The MAPS Group in 2015 as a consultant and has worked with multiple municipalities and counties throughout the State. Erika has 22 years of local government HR experience as well as 9 years of State government HR experience, including work as a classification analyst for UNC-Chapel Hill. She most recently served as the Human Resources Director for the Town of Holly Springs in Wake County handling recruitment and hiring, salary administration, classification and compensation, personnel policy development, benefits administration, and all aspects of local government human resources. Erika received M.Ed. and B.A. from UNC-Chapel Hill. She currently holds a Senior Certified Professional (SHRM-SCP) credential from the Society for Human Resource Management and completed UNC School of Government’s Municipal and County Administration Course. She has been very involved in NC International Personnel Management Association (NC-IPMA) holding several positions on the board.

Erika’s work with The MAPS Group generally involves classification and pay studies, personnel policy review and development, and assisting organizations with hiring and assessment centers.

ephillips@themapsgroup.com

Patsy Burks

Patsy began working with The MAPS Group in 2005 after serving as the Human Resources Director for the City of Greensboro. Patsy also worked in other capacities for Greensboro including training and serving as Compensation Manager covering classification, pay and benefits. Patsy’s work with MAPS included classification and pay studies, analysis of benefits programs, training and personnel policy review and development. She is now retired from working with the group.

Susan Ennis

Susan worked with The MAPS Group from 1990 until 2014, working close to full-time many of those years. Prior to working with MAPS she worked in several capacities in the Office of State Personnel including serving as Director of the Employee and Management Development Division, Manager of the Performance Management and Management Training Program, and an analyst in the Classification and Pay Division. She is now retired from working with the group.

Phone

(919) 790-1434

Lynn Freeman

One of the original founders of The MAPS Group, Lynn worked in the NC Office of State Personnel and served as a Human Resources Managing partner for Career Banding and Special Projects. She previously worked in the Classification and Pay Division.

Lynn is not currently active in The MAPS Group.

Bunny Spadaro

One of the original founders of The MAPS Group, Bunny served as Assistant Human Resources Director for the Town of Chapel Hill for 20 years. She moved to NC in 1981 from the State of New York where she worked in a human resources capacity for several state agencies there.

Bunny's work with MAPS is behind the scenes: she calculates implementation costs for classification and pay recommendations, develops salary schedules, calculates individualized employee benefits statements and does other analysis and spreadsheets.

Valiria Willis

Valiria, also known as Vee, joined The MAPS Group in 1995. Valiria spent the majority of her career, 27 years, with the Town of Cary, retiring in 2012 as their Director of Human Resources. While there, the human resources department received several national and state awards for model programs in leadership development and employee benefits. Her career in local and state government also includes human resources roles with the City of Raleigh as well as UNC Hospitals and Alliance Behavioral Healthcare. In addition to a BA in Sociology from UNC Chapel Hill and MPA from North Carolina Central University, Valiria received her Human Resources Professional Certification from the International Public Management Association – Human Resources in 2001. She also completed UNC School of Government’s Municipal and County Administration Course and the Public Executive Leadership Academy (PELA).

Vee’s work with the group includes classification and pay studies, employee relations activities including employee surveys, assessment center management, and talent recruitment and selection strategies.

Phone	(919) 489-8448
Cell	(919) 280-5635
Email	vwillis@themapsgroup.com

Thom Wright

Thom has over 30 years of state government experience in the field of HR, recently serving as the North Carolina State Personnel Director for the past eight years. He previously served as HR Director for the Department of Justice and also worked in the North Carolina Office of State Personnel, the Virginia Office of Human Resources and UNC-hospitals. Thom holds a CCP from WorldatWork, graduated from the PMP with excellence and was awarded the Master Human Capital Strategist designation.

Thom's work with the MAPS Group generally involves assistance with classification and pay reviews