Paul Grantham
Assistant Vice President
paul.grantham@duke.edu
919-681-4534
Paul Grantham is a senior executive with more than 20 years of experience in higher education.
As assistant vice president at Duke University, he has continued to assume expanded responsibilities and now oversees Work Culture and Communication Services. He also serves as Duke’s deputy emergency manager and helped lead the institution’s communication response to the COVID pandemic. He has been appointed to a multitude university-wide committees to help guide and develop policy and process for the institution.
Prior to joining Duke, Grantham spent four years in corporate communications at Wachovia – one of the leading financial institutions in the southeast. He also honed his communications craft as a journalist at the Kernersville News, where he began as a news reporter and was later named assistant editor.
Grantham has a master’s degree in English and African-American Literature from North Carolina A&T State University, where he also taught composition as an adjunct professor after completing his degree. He earned a bachelor’s in English from Guilford College, where he was named an Academic All-American on the football team.
Leanora Minai
Executive Director of Communications
leanora.minai@duke.edu
919-681-4533
Leanora Minai serves as the Executive Director of Communications for the Office of Communication Services.
In her role, she leads a team of communications professionals and oversees the Working@Duke employee communications portfolio, which includes a digital news site, print magazine, social media channels, and weekly e-newsletter for 45,000 staff and faculty. Working@Duke has earned nearly 20 industry awards. Leanora also develops, supports, and executes strategic communication plans aligned with organizational objectives, including initiatives that foster inclusion and community.
Prior to joining Duke, Leanora was an award-winning reporter for the St. Petersburg Times, now the Tampa Bay Times. She received a bachelor’s degree in News Editorial from Texas Christian University and a master’s degree from Duke University. Leanora was born in Africa and grew up abroad.
Greg Whitaker
Web Administrator
greg.whitaker@duke.edu
Greg Whitaker is web administrator for the Office of Communication Services. He manages the Human Resources and Services & Administration websites, and also provides support for other administrative department websites, including Sustainability, Duke Police, Dining, and Parking & Transportation among others.
Greg is a North Carolina native and a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he received his bachelor’s degree in ancient and medieval history. He has worked at Duke since 2000.
Paul Figuerado
Graphic Designer/Publication Specialist
paul.figuerado@duke.edu
Paul Figuerado serves as the publications specialist for the Office of Communication Services. Paul’s career in graphic design coincided with the introduction of the Macintosh computer, which was introduced a year after his graduation from The Ringling School of Art and Design in Sarasota, Florida.
More than 35 years later, Paul’s design work is now an intricate part of the fabric of Duke – from business cards that faculty and staff hand out to the issues of Working@Duke that they receive in the mail.
Paul has received recognition for his design work over the years, including six PICA (Printing Industry of the Carolinas, Inc.) awards. He has even been able to make several bad ideas look good with a little creative help.
Stephen Schramm
Senior Writer
stephen.schramm@duke.edu
919-684-4639
Stephen Schramm is a senior writer for the Working@Duke print and digital publications.
He came to Duke in 2017 after spending 16 years writing for the Washington (NC) Daily News, the Burlington Times-News and the Fayetteville Observer. He has been honored several times by the North Carolina Press Association and the Associated Press Sports Editors. He also earned a notable selection in the 2016 Best American Sports Writing series.
He covered ACC basketball for nearly a decade and was courtside when Duke claimed two of its national titles.
A Carrboro native, Stephen attended East Carolina University. He lives in Durham with his wife and two children.
Jodie Valade
Senior Writer
jodie.valade@duke.edu
Jodie Valade came to Duke in 2024 after more than two decades as an award-winning features and enterprise writer for various media outlets, primarily newspapers. Past work stops include: The Charlotte Observer, WFAE (Charlotte’s NPR station), The Plain Dealer in Cleveland, Ohio, The Kansas City Star and The Dallas Morning News, where she became Mark Cuban’s lifelong email pen pal when she covered the Dallas Mavericks during his first two full seasons of team ownership.
Since moving to North Carolina in 2015, she has freelanced for various outlets, including as a regular contributor to The Athletic, Charlotte magazine and The Washington Post. She is a proud graduate of Northwestern University, and is originally from Rochester Hills, Michigan.
Travis Stanley
Multimedia Coordinator
larry.stanley@duke.edu
Prior to joining Duke in the spring of 2024, Travis Stanley worked as the Visual Media Manager at Lees-McRae College where he was responsible for maintaining its photo and video identity. His time at previous institutions has exposed him to a variety of high-pressure production environments such as interviewing CEOs of Fortune 500 companies, covering the Super Bowl, and livestreaming commencement ceremonies to thousands around the globe.
Born in West Jefferson, Travis is a native of Western North Carolina and a 2017 graduate of Appalachian State University with a degree in broadcasting. He currently lives in Cary with his partner Emily and their beloved cat, Ollie.
Sonja Likness
Social Media Manager
sonja.likness@duke.edu
Sonja Likness manages the Working@Duke and Duke Careers social media channels for the Office of Communication Services.
She brings years of higher education, marketing, content and social media experience to the role, including having served as Duke University’s social media director previously. She has also worked in content marketing and creation, writing and video production.
A Durhamite since 1995, Sonja claims North Carolina as home. She’s a double Tar Heel, with an undergraduate degree and a Master of Arts in digital communication from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
