Board of Directors

Ron Link is Chair of NCICL and is the Dan K. Moore Distinguished Professor of Law Emeritus at UNC School of Law. He served as the Acting Dean and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at UNC School of Law. He is a member of the scholastic honorary societies of Phi Eta Sigma, Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Kappa Phi, Omicron Delta Kappa, and Order of the Coif. Formerly he was an Academic Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel and Chair of the Trusts Drafting Committee of the NC General Statutes Commission.

Christine Mumma is Vice-Chair of NCICL and is executive director of The N.C. Center on Actual Innocence, which coordinates the work of Innocence Projects® at each of North Carolina's seven law schools.  Ms. Mumma is an adjunct professor at UNC’s School of Law, where she teaches “Wrongful Convictions” and previously taught in the research and writing program.  She received Business Leader Magazine’s 2008 Pro Bono Impact Award, was named “2007 Tar Heel of the Year” by the Raleigh News & Observer, and was awarded North Carolina’s Pro Bono Attorney of the Year in 2006.  She also serves on the boards of Fair Trial Initiative, NC Prisoner Legal Services, American Judicature Society, Durham Academy, and UNC Law School.

Art Pope is Treasurer of NCICL and has served as Chair and Vice-Chair. He is President of Variety Wholesalers, Inc., which owns and operates a general merchandise retail chain of over 500 stores, and serves as President of the John William Pope Foundation, a private grant-making foundation. He serves on numerous boards, including being the founding Chairman of the John Locke Foundation in 1989, and on the Institute for Humane Studies at George Mason University, Atlas Economic Research Foundation, the Jesse Helms Center at Wingate College, and the Boy Scouts of America - Occoneechee Council. Pope was elected to and served four terms in the North Carolina House of Representatives (1989-1992, 1999-2002) and served as Special Counsel to Governor Jim Martin of North Carolina in 1985. Art Pope is an activist in the Republican Party, having served at every level from Precinct Chairman to Chairman of the NC Republican Party State Convention and as a Delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1992 and 1996.

Bill Graham received an A.B. degree in Economics from Duke University and a J.D. degree from the University of Virginia. He is a former member of the Trinity College Board of Visitors at Duke and is now a Director of Duke Alumni Association. He has served as a Superior Court Judge, Trustee for Wake Technical Community College, Chairman of the Forsyth County Board of Elections and as NC Commissioner of Banks. He was the first Chair of NCICL and served until August 2008 and was Managing Director from September 2007 until August 2008.  Long active in politics he has been Forsyth County Chairman, NC Bush/Quayle Chairman (1988), was an Alternate Delegate (1968) and Delegate (1988 and 1992) to the Republican National Convention, and was a Presidential Elector in 1996. Graham practices law in Winston-Salem.

I. Beverly Lake, Jr. is a former Chief Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court. He was a Military Intelligence Staff Officer, active duty and reserve, 1956 – 1968. After he earned his law degree from Wake Forest University in 1960, he entered into private practice. Lake was Assistant and Deputy Attorney General, State of North Carolina from 1969-1976 and served as a State Senator from 1976 – 1980. Before being appointed to the North Carolina Superior Court in November 1985, Lake served as Governor Jim Martin’s Legislative Liaison. Lake was elected to a regular term as Associate Justice on the State Supreme Court in 1994 and was elected as the court's Chief Justice in 2000. He retired from the Court in 2006.

Robert F. Orr is the Executive Director and Senior Counsel at the North Carolina Institute for Constitutional Law - a post he held previously before stepping down to enter the North Carolina Gubernatorial race. In 2004, Justice Orr retired from the N.C. Judiciary after 18 years of service to the citizens of North Carolina. He spent almost 10 years as a member of the Supreme Court and 8 years on the Court of Appeals. Justice Orr was initially appointed to the bench by Governor Jim Martin in 1986 and prior to that time practiced law in Asheville. He was elected four times statewide by the voters of North Carolina - twice to the Court of Appeals and twice to the Supreme Court.