Meet The Team

Jessica Cannon, MD, co-founder

Jessica Cannon is co-founder of Clean Cape Fear. She is a mother of three boys, a retired physician and a self-described ‘political junkie’.  A native Virginian, she completed her undergraduate and medical degrees at the University of Virginia, and her medical training in obstetrics and gynecology at the Medical College of Virginia. Before going to medical school, she worked on Capitol Hill as a legislative aide. Along with their children, she and her husband Kevin have lived in Wilmington for 17 years, where she practiced medicine until 2006.

Jessica believes, in the tradition of Paul Wellstone, that “we all do better when we all do better.” Her particular areas of interest include political and civic issues that affect the well-being of children and families in our community. But she has opinions on almost everything. Just ask her.

In 2019, Jessica was appointed to Cape Fear Public Utility Authority’s board due to her tireless advocacy for clean water. She is also co-founder of Suit Up Wilmington, a 3,500+ member grassroots organization, formed in November 2016, that works for fairness and accountability in government in Southeastern North Carolina.

Emily Donovan, co-founder

Emily is co-founder of Clean Cape Fear. Her work has helped elevate NC's PFAS contamination crisis to the national and international stage. She has testified before Congress twice regarding PFAS contamination. She created a lobby day effort in Washington, DC for local community members and participated in a Washington Post Live panel discussion with actor Mark Ruffalo and lawyer Rob Bilott. She helped organize and co-host two screenings of the movie, Dark Waters, in Wilmington and Raleigh featuring special guest, Mark Ruffalo--both events resulted in NC's Attorney General suing DuPont/Chemours for natural resource damages and NC's General Assembly filing a historic amount of PFAS bills during the 2021-2022 legislative session. Emily helped secure reverse osmosis filling stations for 49 public schools impacted by PFAS contamination in Brunswick and New Hanover counties. She is a member of the leadership team for the National PFAS Contamination Coalition and sits on various community advisory boards and coalitions working to address PFAS contamination. Most recently, she engaged the United Nations Human Rights Council to investigate business-related human rights abuses associated with PFAS exposures within the Lower Cape Fear region. She frequents Washington, DC and Raleigh, NC pressuring lawmakers and regulators for quicker responses to our growing PFAS public health crisis.

Emily is a former youth ministry leader. She lives in Brunswick County with her husband, David, and boy/girl twins.  She's been a resident of Brunswick County since 2009.

Harper Peterson, co-founder

Harper Peterson is married to Plunkett Dodge and together they have five children and two grandchildren. They have been successful business partners for the past 40 years in historic downtown Wilmington and on Bald Head Island. Harper is a graduate of the University of North Carolina, majoring in Meso-American Archeology and excelling in Lacrosse as a three time First Team All American. Harper is a co-founder of Clean Cape Fear, a lifetime member of the Bald Head Island Conservancy, and founding member of Cape Fear River Watch. He served on the Wilmington City Council and as Mayor in the late 1990s and early 2000s and most recently in the NC Senate from 2019-2020. In 2020, Harper received the Green Tie Award as “Senator of the Year” from the NC League of Conservation Voters. Harper remains committed to protecting the environmental and economic resources that preeminently define the quality of life in Southeastern North Carolina.

Harper and Plunkett live in Downtown Wilmington.

Kirk deViere

Kirk deViere lives in Fayetteville with his wife Jenny Beaver deViere and son Greyson.  He served two terms as a North Carolina State Senator and previously served one term as a Fayetteville City Councilman. Kirk served his country for 10 years in the US Army.  He owns and operates 219 Group, a full-service advertising agency with offices in Fayetteville and Raleigh. 

As a senator, Kirk was pragmatic in his approach to putting people over politics and worked across the aisle to help pass critical pieces of legislation in the areas of energy, criminal justice reform, education, and the first state budget in over 4 years which included the largest investment in the state’s history to fight PFAS contamination.  He is most proud of the work he did to eliminate the state income tax on military retirement pensions. Also, deViere was named a Green Tie “Rising Star” by the NC League of Conservation Voters in 2020 and twice named a job champion by the NC Chamber.

Kirk is committed to continuing to use his voice to ensure clean water for so many that may not have a voice in the fight.  

Kyle Horton, MD

Dr. Kyle Horton is an internal medicine physician and emerging leader in public policy advocacy related to veterans, healthcare, and environmental issues. She is founder and CEO of On Your Side Action, a health equity advocacy group located in Wilmington, NC. Dr. Kyle graduated summa cum laude from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington and received the highest student affairs leadership award. She then earned both her MD and MBA degrees in a 5-year physician leadership development program at Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine. She completed her Internal Medicine residency at the Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center in Richmond, VA where she was named Outstanding Senior Resident. She returned to North Carolina in 2012.

She is a former Dept. of Veterans Affairs physician and has brought her experience to Capitol Hill with legislative work to address Veteran toxic exposures, suicide prevention, care for women Veterans, and opiate safety among others. As a public health advocate, she’s committed to ensuring healthy and safe environments for families, including what should be a right to clean water. In addition to the fight to address PFAS contamination, her environmental advocacy has included issues related to climate change, Atlantic offshore drilling, the biomass (wood pellet industry) that’s deforesting NC, and water contamination from coal ash, hog waste, and at Camp Lejeune.

Steve Schnitzler

Steve Schnitzler has been Chief Executive Officer of Port City Java since 2008 and has been with the company for almost 27 years. Prior to entering the coffee industry, Steve graduated from the Culinary Institute of America with Honors in 1989, and worked as an Executive Chef for a little over 8 years. 

Steve has been a guest lecturer at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, NC State University, NC Wesleyan, UNC Chapel Hill and Cape Fear Community College.  He has also been a Keynote Speaker for UNCW’s Coastal Entrepreneurial Council annual awards banquet. He has served on the Board of Directors of the Full Belly Project, Wilmington Health Access for Teens, as well as The Carousel Center. In 2010 he was recognized as one of the New Hanover County Volunteers of the Year by the Cape Fear Volunteer Center, and received the NC Governors award for Volunteerism in the Corporate Volunteer Category. He originated the Marines for Thanksgiving program and has matched over 1300 young Marines with local families to be able to enjoy the holiday when they are stuck far from home. 

Steve currently serves on the Hospitality Management Advisory Committee of Cape Fear Community College as well as the Community Involvement Board at UNCW.

He has recently celebrated his 33rd wedding anniversary with his wife Lisa, a retired and now un-retired teacher of over 30 years. They have 2 adult daughters.  His private well became contaminated with PFAS from Chemours, and he launched into organizing his neighbors to make sure they all received the remediation they are entitled to, and is happy to be a part of taking the fight to another level to make sure that polluters are held accountable.

Rebecca Trammel

Community organizer and non-profit leader Rebecca Trammel was born in the City of Brotherly Love and raised in Wilmington, NC. The Scripture verse, “Justice, justice, you shall pursue,” is the guiding force of her life. 

Trammel has made it her life’s work to pursue justice for those whose voices often go unheard. As Founder and President of Ruthie Trammel’s Champions for Compassion, Trammel works to support those recovering from substance abuse by removing obstacles to healing and restoring hope. Trammel is Lead Advocate at Community Conversations, which she launched in 2019 to promote equity and excellence in the education of New Hanover County’s Black and Brown students. Through a partnership with the Blue Ribbon Commission, the  project received a $25,000 investment from Duke Progress Energy.

During the summer of 2020, Trammel was on the frontlines of community efforts towards addressing structural racism, including dialogue on systemic issues, removal of Confederate statues, and policy reform. Trammel led Community Conversations in teaming with the Cucalorus Film Festival to co-curate this year’s event, which centered around racism in  America. Together, the two organizations plan to host  monthly “Community Conversations” to create space for personal growth and drive policy change.  Trammel was recognized in October of 2020 as a Wilma Woman to Watch in the nonprofit sector. 

Trammel is known for launching high impact, short-term initiatives when natural disaster strikes or there is injustice causing distress to her neighbors. Recently, she launched the Dream Big program, a campaign to provide high quality air mattresses & bedding for school-aged children in need, and instruction on healthy sleep habits in partnership with the hospital and NHCS. Through programs such as these, consulting and public speaking, Trammel works to protect and empower marginalized communities and be their advocate.