Tama Bouncer served as the NCRSP Administrative Council Member and has been a member of the NCRSP Executive Board since 2019. After retiring, she joined Wake RSP and has served as both Wake RSP President and Region 5 Director since 2019.

She has chaired the NCRSP Convention Committee from 2021–2026 and serves on the NCRSP Constitution Committee. Previously, she served as NCRSP Community Service Committee Chair (2019–2024). Before retirement, Tama served as a building representative and later as Vice President and President of Wake NCAE.

She began her career at Swift Creek Elementary School in Wake County in 1987, retired in 2014, and became a life member of NEA. She has also served as a state delegate to NEA-R conventions.

“Tama leads with thoughtful dignity and compassion. Her knowledge and experience make her the logical successor as our new president.”

Subject: Grow. Advocate. Ignite.

Dear NCRSP Members,

I am deeply honored to serve as your NCRSP President. Thank you for the trust, encouragement, and support you have given as we begin this new term together.

Our path forward must be focused, practical, and united. I believe NCRSP’s work can be guided by three words:

Grow. Advocate. Ignite.

We will grow by welcoming more retired school personnel into NCRSP and helping them understand that this organization belongs to them. A stronger membership gives us a stronger voice, greater influence, and a deeper ability to serve one another.

We will advocate with a clear message: Respect, Not Neglect, for Retirees! Our members earned their benefits through years of faithful service. NCRSP must continue to speak for health insurance, cost-of-living adjustments, pension protection, and fair tax treatment. Retired school personnel should never be forgotten, overlooked, or pushed aside.

We will ignite renewed energy across our regions, local units, committees, and membership. NCRSP is blessed with wisdom, talent, experience, and dedication. When we work together with openness, respect, and purpose, there is no limit to what we can accomplish.

I look forward to serving with you as we strengthen communication, support leadership, expand service, and move NCRSP forward with courage and care.

With gratitude,

Tama R. Bouncer

Sandra Hatley has served as NCRSP Policy and Procedure Chair (since 2024), authoring the plan that has significantly grown NCRSP’s unencumbered assets, adding thousands to our reserves. She serves on the NEA-R Governance Committee and previously served six years on the NEA-R Regulations Committee.

Sandra has served as NCRSP Community Service Chair (2023), Region 1B Director (four years), and President and Vice President of the Catawba County RSP. She retired from Exceptional Children’s Services in 2011.

Her leadership path began early—Sandra was SNCAE Vice President in high school (1962) and again in college. She holds an MA from UNC-Charlotte.

“Sandra Hatley has a powerful voice for which I am grateful—speaking up for NCRSP no matter whom she is addressing. She has the heart of a lion.”

I am honored to serve as your NCRSP Vice President, and I accept this responsibility with a full heart, a clear mind, and a steady commitment to the members of this organization.

NCRSP belongs to retired school personnel who gave years of service to North Carolina’s students, schools, families, and communities. We did not serve quietly in order to be forgotten quietly. We did not give our working lives to public education only to have retiree concerns treated as afterthoughts.

Retired school personnel deserve to be heard. We deserve to be respected. We deserve leadership that will stand up and speak out.

That is the kind of service I intend to give.

I believe in respectful leadership, but respect does not mean silence. I believe in collaboration, but collaboration does not mean surrender. I believe in unity, but unity must never require us to ignore the needs of the very members we were elected to serve.

As Vice President, I will work to strengthen NCRSP from the inside out — through honest communication, responsible governance, careful stewardship, and courageous advocacy. I will support our President, officers, regions, local units, committees, and members as we work together for stronger membership, stronger influence, and stronger protection for retired school personnel.

Our members need advocates who are not afraid to ask hard questions, speak plain truth, and insist that retirees remain visible in every conversation about health insurance, pensions, cost-of-living adjustments, and the dignity owed to those who served.

I know who I am, and I know whose I am. That gives me courage, steadiness, and peace. I will not serve from fear. I will serve from faith, conviction, and love for this organization.

Thank you for your trust. I am ready to work, ready to listen, and ready to stand with you.

With courage and gratitude,

Sandra Hatley
Vice President, NCRSP

Julia Yamaoka Thorn, NCRSP Secretary and our first member-webmaster, launched NCRSP’s award-winning digital presence, earning Best NEA-R Website and a Runner-Up Award. She has established shared drives, searchable archives, and transparent records access for leaders statewide.

She holds degrees from Stanford University (BA, Honors; MA) and Northwestern University (Graduate Debate Fellowship), and later earned an MSA at ECU. She is licensed in NC, WA, CA, HI, and Japan, has served 52 years in education across five states and two continents, and brings paralegal, executive training, and program-building expertise. She has made and maintained five websites.

Leadership & Recognition Highlights: Carteret County RSP & DKG President, Rotary Harris Award (2x), LWV Distinguished Woman, NC Medicaid Caseworker of the Year, Region 7B Volunteer of the Year (4x), Teacher of the Year - SE Region Finalist, Military spouse support & domestic-violence advocacy, Speech & debate educator, parliamentary trainer

“Julia works tirelessly to make things better and ensure the word of NCRSP reaches members across our association.”

Gretchen Lampe managed millions in school employee dues and bargained for benefits.

Her experience includes:

• Research Staff Director and Legislative/Executive Branch Lobbyist, KY Education Association

• Budget analysis and forecasting for 172 school systems

• Chief Negotiator, Indianapolis Education Association

• UniServ Director in NC, SC, TX, and LA

• Coordinator of Employee Benefits statewide

• Former NCRSP Communications Chair and editor of Panorama, fully revamping the publication

Gretchen’s diligent review of NCRSP finances—including examination of decades-old records—has ensured compliance, transparency, and corrective action when needed.

“There is no more remarkable money manager than Gretchen. She not only identifies issues—she remedies them.”

Dear NCRSP Member, 

I hope to give you an idea of who I am. On April 16, 2026, I became 74 years old. I was saved in August 1997 and baptized in November 1997. God has made me driven, diligent, and determined with a heart conviction to serve the cause of public education and the quality of life for the men and women who provided that education in all forms.

I taught for 35 years in five states, on two continents, but also have secretarial experience. I served as a paralegal for two law firms where accuracy and thoroughness and timeliness matter. The NC DSS chose me as Medicaid Caseworker of the Year for my speed, accuracy, and positive attitude in processing benefits. LWV chose me as Distinguished Woman in Education.  In retirement, I became NCRSP State Volunteer of the Year 2024 and 2025, NCRSP Region 7B Volunteer of the Year for 2021, 2023, 2024, and 2025, and CCRSP Member of the Year, later serving as presidents of CCRSP and DKG Key Women Educators.

I know what it means to be the underdog coming from the poorest high school in a California town yet prevailing as the class valedictorian and winning scholarships to Stanford University. My parents, who survived WWII internment camps and ran a mom-and-pop store, were unable to pay for tuition but drive, diligence, and determination won the prize of education.  Stamina, mental toughness, and an enduring faith that the “impossible” can be accomplished make me who I am today –a woman of faith ready to serve.

Success has been my experience through help, love, and prayer. I have taught in English and Japanese, and served as a translator for my LEA. I have taught students in kindergarten, elementary school, middle school, high school, and college. Northwestern University chose me as one of ten speech and debate teachers nationally for its Graduate Speech Fellowship. I brought competitive student congress to Hawaii. I began a speech and debate team from the ground up in the lowest wealth school in my LEA and made students into champions with district, state, and two national titles.  Rotary International awarded me the Paul Harris Fellow award twice for outstanding contribution to the community, its highest recognition. 

Yet, what really matters is what I do today for you.

I keep learning. I've honored traditional standards and customs and acquired Microsoft skills and technical know-hows. I keep learning and searching for how to make writing and communication products cheaper, delivered faster, with better output in disaggregate information that we can use to win our struggle. 

Results: 1 - Our free NCRSP website I made for $12 a year saving NCRSP thousands of dollars, minutes and newsletters; 2- Two other free websites I've made for DKG and CCRSP, the two groups I lead as president with minutes and newsletters full of URLS and doorways into more information; 3 - Practicing and preparing our first NCRSP Choir in decades with singers from across our state.  In preparation for more information sharing, I seek and learn more tech apps to improve communication. I make YouTubes of events for our members to keep informed, such as the Quality of Life "Meet the Candidates." 

At the convention, my community supported us providing us with a free Self-Defense workshop with certified Department of Justice speakers. My goal is to record thorough, accurate minutes efficiently for the historic and exciting work NCRSP does for us all!

Realizing that we all stand on the shoulders of the heroes and heroines who have gone before us, I am thankful to you for your vote of confidence to record and deliver to you the minutes of NCRSP's historic meetings in 2024-2026.  Transparency guarantees our unity and body of shared information to champion our just cause for public education and for the quality of life of the men and women who provided that education. As my mentor and former Region 7B director Cathy Neagle says,

Together We are Strong! 

Thank you for re-electing me to serve as your NCRSP Treasurer. I am grateful for your confidence, and I understand the seriousness of this responsibility.

A treasurer’s work is not simply about numbers on a page. It is about trust. Every dollar NCRSP receives comes from members who worked hard, served faithfully, and deserve to know that their dues are being handled carefully, legally, and wisely.

That is the commitment I bring to this office.

I believe NCRSP’s financial work must be accurate, transparent, compliant, and useful. Good records protect an organization. Sound bookkeeping protects members. Clear financial procedures help leaders make better decisions. Careful attention to the law helps NCRSP avoid costly mistakes. When we stay right with reporting requirements, tax responsibilities, audit expectations, and fiduciary duties, we protect the organization our members have built over many years.

My background has taught me to follow the money, ask the necessary questions, and solve problems before they become larger problems. I have worked with budgets, negotiations, tax issues, benefits concerns, and financial systems for many years across a variety of settings. I believe financial documents and financial decisions should be transparent and open to discussion and questions.

I have taught in inner-city schools and in rural communities where children faced hardships many people never see. I know what public schools mean to families. I know what educators and school personnel give of themselves. That is why I take NCRSP’s finances so seriously. Our money must support our mission, strengthen our advocacy, assist our leaders, and serve our members.

Every penny matters. Every report matters. Every safeguard matters. I will keep working to help NCRSP use its resources with care, discipline, and purpose.

Thank you again.

---Gretchen Lampe

2024-2026 So how did a language arts teacher become proficient in organizational finance?

As a young teacher raising my daughter on my own, I was always concerned that the school board would grant raises each year. The Tennessee Education Association trained its members in analyzing school, city, and county budgets so that they would have the knowledge to work for those increases. I learned my lessons well, and I went home and did a 10-year study of our city and school system budgets. 

To my surprise, I found that by careful budget manipulation, our city school taxes never made it into our school system bank account. The superintendent and mayor were not happy with my findings. But this would not be the last time that I would upset those in power.

As the UniServ Director in Dallas, TX, I helped my maintenance and craft workers gain a salary schedule that rewarded their years of work in the school system and earned them at least a step each year.

As Research Director in Kentucky, I became adept at forecasting the new monies that the school districts would receive each year. I then worked with local associations to understand their local budgets and prepare requests for salary increases that would help their members. The Kentucky Department of Education invited me to be a participant in Superintendents' Budget Meetings because of that work.

As UniServ Director in Indianapolis, I was chief negotiator for bargaining the teacher contract. Because Indianapolis is a large urban area, they have a very high rate of teacher turnover. I taught the association there how to use retirement credit to not only raise beginning salaries but how to get everyone on the schedule a salary increase.

As UniServ Director in Charlotte-Mecklenburg, it was very challenging to confront the big financial interests like Bank of America and other large corporations that tried to tie teacher pay to salary schedules that made no sense!! Because of my work with University of Wisconsin's CPRE Group, I intend to help the association beat down these attacks and advance ourselves..

In Louisiana, I worked with state and local associations as well as Together Louisiana to fight EXXON which owned $3 billion dollars in property but was not paying its fair share in local taxes. 

I am a native of Bristol, TN, which is just 75 minutes from Asheville. When I retired, I came to North Carolina because my family is here. My heart will forever be in the smoky blue ridges of this beautiful state. 

I hope this recounting of my experience will help you understand my  experience, skills, and knowledge to watch over the finances of our NCRSP to prepare  budget  and financial reports that reflect our united work to fulfill our goals and mission.