Our Team

Hal Cobb is the Senior Partner at Cobb Dill and Hammett, LLC and practices in the Corporate & Banking Division. He studied Accounting at The Citadel, graduating in 1992, and received his M.B.A. in finance from the University of South Carolina. After spending several years in the banking industry, Hal obtained his Graduate Degree in Banking from Louisiana State University and his J.D. from the Charleston School of Law.

Hal maintains a banking and corporate practice and has vast experience in federal and state banking regulatory matters, mergers and acquisitions and commercial transactions, having successfully represented a wide variety of clients in state and federal court. While the majority of Hal’s practice is located in the Lowcountry, he has active cases throughout South Carolina and in Colorado, where he is also licensed. Outside of corporate and banking work, Hal has experience and works on large commercial real estate transactions and is active in litigation across the board. Hal serves on the South Carolina Bar’s Corporate, Banking & Securities Counsel and is an active member of the South Carolina Bar, Colorado Bar, and South Carolina Supreme Court. He also volunteers for multiple organizations in the Lowcountry. When not practicing law, Hal enjoys spending time with his three sons, Tyler, Alex, and Theo.

Dean G. Kilpatrick, Ph.D. is a Distinguished University Professor and a licensed clinical psychologist at the National Crime Victims Research (NCVC) and Treatment Center in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Medical University of South Carolina and senior investigator who has had continuous extramural research funding since 1972 and continuous NIH funding since 1985. His involvement with the traumatic stress field began in 1974 when he helped establish People Against Rape (now known as Tri-County S.P.E.A.K.S.), South Carolina’s first rape crisis center. His primary research interests include measuring the prevalence of sexual violence, other violent crimes, mass violence, and other types of potentially traumatic events, as well as assessing PTSD and other mental health impacts of such events. He has provided invited testimony on the topics of rape, sexual harassment, and compensation for PTSD to several U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate committees.

Dr. Kilpatrick’s research has been funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, NIMH, NIDA, NICHD, the National Institute of Justice, the Office for Victims of Crime, and the Veterans Administration. He has over 300 peer-reviewed publications, over 60 book chapters and monographs, over 700 presentations at scientific and professional meetings, and eight papers that have been cited more than 1000 times.

He was a member of two Institute of Medicine Committees and one National Academy of Sciences Standing Committee. He served as Editor-In-Chief of the Journal of Traumatic Stress from 1997-2005 and as President of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies (ISTSS) in 2005. He has also served as Director of the National Crime Victims Research and Treatment Center since it was established in 1977 and as Director or Co-Director of the Charleston Consortium Clinical Psychology Internship Program since 1982.

He has received numerous awards for his work including the United States Presidential Award for Outstanding Contributions to Victims of Crime in 1990, the United States Congressional Victims’ Rights Caucus Allied Professional Award in 2007, the ISTSS Lifetime Achievement Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Field of Traumatic Stress Studies in 2008, the South Carolina Governor’s Award for Excellence in Scientific Research in 2017, the ISTSS Outstanding Service Award in 2020, and the Order of the Palmetto, South Carolina’s highest civilian award, in 2020.

Vickey Cornelison Grant has been involved in the crime victim field for over 35 years. Professionally, she has worked at the National Crime Victims Research and Treatment Center (NCVC) at the Medical University of South Carolina since the beginning of her involvement in the victimization field in 1986. She has served as a research assistant on a variety of projects, and in that role interviewed numerous crime victims, criminal justice, and public policy officials. She was the Editorial Assistant for the peer reviewed Journal of Traumatic Stress which is published by the International Society on Traumatic Stress Studies. She has been an event planner for countless trainings, including the early National Victim Assistance Academies that were hosted in Charleston, as well as three state victim assistance academies where she served as a faculty member. She was the Project Manager for the Mother Emanuel AME project and currently serves as the Project Manager for the National Mass Violence Center (both of which were funded by the Office for Victims of Crime). She is also Division Administrator for the NCVC, Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences. For many years, she has served sexual assault victims in her community as an advocate for Tri-County S.P.E.A.K.S (formerly People Against Rape), South Carolina’s first rape crisis center, and has been on their Board of Directors since 2010. Her knowledge and interest in the field of victimization has been acquired from her personal and professional experiences.

Laura Stemkowski is an attorney at Motley Rice, who advocates for survivors of humans trafficking and sexual assault. In this capacity, Laura primarily represents individuals who are trafficked or abused by institutional actors, including religious organizations and national hospitality chains. Laura’s other work at Motley Rice involves defective medical devices and drugs. In law school, Laura represented undergraduate student sexual assault survivors in the Title IX process. Laura is a native of Charlotte, North Carolina, and has lived in Charleston with her husband for seven years. Laura’s other volunteering activities include Be a Mentor at Meeting Street Academy.

JoAnn Scott is a local private practice psychotherapist in Mount Pleasant, SC who specializes in trauma and dual diagnosis. Once a volunteer for Tricounty SPEAKS (then PAR) she realized how vital it was to be involved, especially in victim services. This among other things inspired her to obtain her Masters Degree in Social Work from USC. With this background, social justice and trauma-related services are top priority. This led to being involved in Tricounty SPEAKS again, this time as a Board Member. JoAnn believes in the inherent strength of others, and that everyone has the capability for success if they are empowered and are offered the resources and pathways to support this.

JoAnn has lived in the Charleston area for 17 years, and when she is not working or volunteering, she loves hanging out with her three boys and husband, reading, running, and being a soccer/lacrosse mom.

Kait Park is a strategic communications professional with a passion for storytelling and advocacy. With a career dedicated to amplifying voices and shaping impactful narratives, she brings extensive expertise in digital media, public relations, and strategic planning to her role on the Tri-County S.P.E.A.K.S. board. Currently the Digital Media Administrator for Nelson Mullins, Kait previously worked in social media and crisis communications at NP Strategy, and served as the founding manager and lead analyst at the University of South Carolina’s Social Media Insights Lab, where she advanced social media research and built key partnerships across media, nonprofits, and academia. Her background also includes work with South Carolina’s PBS affiliate, SCETV, where she developed data-driven content strategies. Through her expertise in communications and stakeholder engagement, she aims to enhance the organization's visibility, support strategic growth, and drive fundraising initiatives. Beyond her board role, Kait is eager to serve as a volunteer, reinforcing her dedication to creating safer communities. She currently resides in Charleston where she loves walking and finding live music with her K-9 companion, Emmylou.

Lori Johnson is a seasoned On-Air Radio Personality, Author, Trauma Survivor, Speaker and Coach. For nearly two decades, she has entertained audiences as the host of various gospel networks and the recipient of multiple awards. Today, you can tune in to her inspirational radio show Moments With LJ, on WSPO in Charleston, South Carolina.

Lori has had the honor of interviewing top names in entertainment and politics, including former First Lady Mrs. Michelle Obama, Tavis Smiley and Kirk Franklin. She’s also hosted high-profile events and made on-screen appearances in movies as well as television commercials in the South Carolina region and beyond.

Her experience of being a trauma survivor and finding the resilience to move through what could have permanently incapacitated her, uniquely qualifies her to serve in a compassionate manner and to be a voice for the people.

She is so very honored to have been invited to serve on the board of South Carolina’s oldest rape crisis center and she’s looking forward to serving her community.

Michael Schmidt earned his Ph.D. from Indiana University, Bloomington and rose through the ranks of Medical University of South Carolina earning the rank of tenured professor and vice chair of microbiology and immunology. He was elected to fellowship to the American Academy of Microbiology, named an honorary fellow to the American College of Dentists and Pierre Fauchard Academy. In 2017 he was selected as the South Carolina Governor’s Awardee for Excellence in Science and Scientific Awareness, was elected as Chair of the Council for Microbial Sciences in 2019 and is the immediate past Councilor to the South Carolina Branch of ASM. He is also a regular contributor to the internationally recognized podcast This Week In Microbiology (TWiM).

Dr. Schmidt is recognized as a national and international resource in times of crisis with respect to infectious agents whether they are acquired unintentionally through natural causes or through untoward methods. Dr. Schmidt earned this reputation in part through his participation in the development of an innovative approach to use bacteriophages as targeted molecular syringes, to target and destroy select bacteria. Originally developed as an augment to offer exposed individuals as a way to quickly neutralize bio-threat agents, well ahead of the anthrax tragedy of 2001, the utility of this platform technology was demonstrated through an animal model. Due to his expertise, through the last decade he has been active in the field of biodefense preparedness; mostly notably through his participation on federal HRSA and HHS’s Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) grants and in the coordination of the education efforts for DHS in the emerging discipline of nuclear forensics. Ever looking for a more compelling way to present content to learners regardless of age or background, Dr. Schmidt remains a strong advocate for using a Socratic method to advance active learning. As part of the ASPR grant, along with his co-investigators, he organized national meetings for health experts where the topics were biodefense preparedness and responding to pandemic outbreaks. For these meetings Dr. Schmidt re-purposed extant content produced by the Fred Friendly Seminars organization about a bio-threat to an American city entitled In the Balance, and Pandemic Influenza.

Currently, he is leading an inter-institutional-interdisciplinary team of professionals investigating the role that microbes in the built clinical environment serve in the acquisition of healthcare associated infections (HAI). Building on the results of a successful multi-center clinical trial, where they established that by controlling the microbial burden in the built clinical environment, through the introduction of limited and targeted placement of copper alloys, a significant reduction (58%, p<0.0013) of HAI was achieved. The results from this study were the basis of a talk he provided to TEDxCharleston, and featured in articles in the Smithsonian Magazine and Vice.

With an EdS in Educational Leadership from the University of Georgia, I worked as a Language Arts teacher and Administrator for 34 years. Upon retirement in 2015, I traveled in the United States and abroad for nearly a year. Following my travels, I moved from Atlanta, Georgia to Charleston, South Carolina. Born in Orangeburg, South Carolina, returning to the area where my family resides was an easy choice to make.I have two children and four grandchildren, as well as other family members who live nearby. Family gatherings are frequent and large! Currently, in addition to volunteering in my community, I am honored to be a member of TriCountySpeaks Board of Directors. I am passionate about the work that TCS does, and I am committed to supporting their mission of helping others in our local communities. When I am not engaged with family, friends, and TCS, I enjoy the beach, music events, reading and pet sitting.