Tri-County Cradle to Career Board of Directors welcomes new board members Ericka Plater and Suzanne Thomas, PhD, and new Chief Development Officer, Karen Quadrio
December 16, 2021
Tri-County Cradle to Career Collaborative (TCCC) Board of Directors unanimously approved two new members at its August board meeting.
Ericka Plater, MS, MBA, Executive Director of Our Lady of Mercy Community Outreach, and Suzanne Thomas, PhD, Associate Provost for Education Planning and Effectiveness at The Medical University of South Carolina, were both appointed for three-year terms.
“We are excited to welcome Ericka Plater and Dr. Suzanne Thomas to the board of TCCC. Their collective experience and willingness to serve in a leadership role will greatly assist TCCC in achieving its goals and mission,” said Anita Zucker, Chair and CEO of The InterTech Group and Chair of the TCCC Board of Directors.
Ericka Plater
Plater is the Executive Director of Our Lord of Mercy Community Outreach, a non-profit focused on building equitable communities and helping individuals reach their fullest potential through the provision of basic and emergency needs, job assistance, health services, and youth and adult education programs. She served on the board of the D5 Coalition focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion in philanthropy as well as the Hemophilia Association of the Capital Area and Amethyst & Indigo Community Action Support in Washington, DC. She was a member of the Executive Committee of SC Trident United Way’s Healthy Tri-County Initiative helping launch an area-wide health plan in 2019 grounded in collective impact. She currently serves on the board of the Carolina Catholic Professionals Network and MUSC Health Partners and chairs TCCC’s Community Leaders Council and Together SC’s 2022 CEO Forum.
A native of Washington, DC, Plater holds a MS and MBA from the University of Maryland University College and a BA from Howard University. She is a Certified Association Executive, a growth and empowerment coach, and a mother of two beautiful daughters and a handsome son who keep her on her toes. She enjoys a good book, good music, good times with friends, traveling and time by bodies of water.
Suzanne Thomas
Thomas is MUSC’s Associate Provost for Educational Planning & Effectiveness. She directs the university’s continuous quality improvement strategies and champions stewardship and accountability in the academic enterprise. Both the Office of Institutional Effectiveness and the Office of Enrollment Management (including University Admissions, University Financial Aid, and the Registrar) report to her. By centralizing institutional effectiveness and institutional research and reporting, the university can make data-informed decisions, develop targeted improvement plans, demonstrate accountability, and determine how to allocate resources to MUSC’s best advantage. She is the liaison to the university’s accrediting body (SACSCOC) and represents the educational enterprise to the South Carolina Commission on Higher Education.
Dr. Thomas received her bachelor’s degree from Auburn University and her doctorate in Experimental Psychology/Behavioral Neuroscience from the University of South Carolina. She studied at the University of St. Andrews, Scotland, and she is a graduate of the Harvard Leadership Development Institute.
Karen Quadrio
Karen Quadrio has joined TCCC as the Chief Development Officer. “We are thrilled that Karen has joined the TCCC team to build and lead our fund development program. Her corporate and non-profit experience are the perfect combination for TCCC’s current and expanding agenda” said Tri-County Cradle to Career CEO, Phyllis Martin.
Quadrio is a business management executive who excels at building relationships that lead to exponential growth. Spending most of her career in consumer products, managing upwards of a quarter billion dollars in global toy sales, she started her own business in 2009 shortly after relocating to Charleston with her husband, Fred. 4Rivers Sales & Consulting specialized in working with international consumer products companies based in Canada, China, Israel, Mexico, and Spain, to name just a few, assisting them with business plans necessary to bring their products to the U.S. market.
With a desire to connect with, and serve her community, Karen intentionally shifted her career path in 2018 and joined Charleston Promise Neighborhood as their Director of Development & Marketing. After nearly four years of managing and growing a $1.5 million budget, she creatively expanded the donor base with individuals, developers, and corporate philanthropists to further the work and impact of CPN.
Karen is a proud Jersey Girl, born and raised in the Garden State. She and Fred have called Charleston “home” for nearly 15 years. Outside of the office, you might find Karen playing a round of golf, tending her garden, or cooking comfort food for family and friends.
About Tri-County Cradle to Career Collaborative
Tri-County Cradle to Career is a community movement in Berkeley, Charleston, and Dorchester counties committed to building collective power to transform education by changing systems that allow Black and Brown children to achieve their goals.
