Board Members

FOUNDING ADVISORY BOARD

FOUNDING ADVISORY BOARD

COAST Christian Academy is honored to introduce the members of our Founding Advisory Board.These individuals represent a diverse group of respected leaders, mentors, business owners, educators, pastors, and community voices who believe deeply in the mission and vision of COAST. They bring valuable wisdom, experience, and a deep commitment to faith, family, education, and community.

Top Row (Left to Right): • Steve Yount • Carlie Lockey • Wayne Schriever

Center: • James Allen “J.A.” Canady

Bottom Row (Left to Right): • Elizabeth Canady • Garrett Hardin • Powell Osteen

James Allen Canady

Co-Founder & Board Member

J.A. is a co-founder of COAST Christian Academy with his wife Elizabeth and serves as President of the board. He grew up in Clayton, NC, where he attended public school. After graduating from Clayton High School, J.A. attended Campbell University and completed his BBA – majoring in Trust and Wealth Management and minoring in Accounting and Financial Planning – as well as his Masters in Business Administration. He and his wife Elizabeth were married right after college graduation in 2004, and they moved to Morehead City.

J.A. worked in corporate financial accounting for nine years. He served as Controller for Allegiance Security Group and Coastal Finance Company and spent a short stint with Ernst & Young. He also worked as a business consultant. In 2013, he went to work for Wells Fargo Advisors, and the following year J.A. and his business partner, Greg Patterson, started Atlantic Wealth Management, an independent financial planning and investment management firm in Morehead City. J.A. is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER®, has his North Carolina CPA license, and is also a Certified Kingdom Advisor®.

Since moving to the Crystal Coast in 2004, J.A. has helped plant two churches in the area and currently serves as an Elder and Worship Leader at Life Church. This is an important part of his life, along with his family – his wife Elizabeth and seven kids…Reese, Sadie, Rosa, Nellie, Eliza, Jac, and Bennett. J.A. loves to spend time with Elizabeth and the kids and squeezes in additional time with the kids by coaching soccer with Seashore Soccer League and teaching with kids discipleship at church. J. A. also serves on the Carteret Community Foundation board and on the boards of his local homeowner’s associations – Brandywine Bay and Bogue Village HO Associations.

Between their own education and educating their kids, J.A. and Elizabeth have experience with a wide range of education options, from private education with Camp Albemarle and A Sea of Learning, to public schools, to the community college system, to private Christian university education, to home school co-ops with Classical Conversation, to homeschool online through Liberty Online Academy. God has used these experiences to lead J.A. and Elizabeth to start COAST Christian Academy, a distinctly Christian school with traditional classroom teaching that acknowledges God’s Word as the source of all truth and holds to this as the basis for all things related to the school – curriculum, values, discipline, standards, and expectations. J.A. is excited about the opportunity for God to work through COAST Christian Academy to educate and grow up young men and women who are ready to pursue God’s plan for their lives and have impact – whatever their direction – for the kingdom of God.

Ephesians 2:10 - For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Elizabeth Canady

Co-Founder & Board Member

Elizabeth Canady is a co-founder and board member of COAST Christian Academy and is passionate about equipping students through a distinctly Christian education rooted in biblical truth and academic excellence. Although born in South Carolina, she was raised in North Carolina and proudly considers herself a Carolina girl through and through. She and her husband, J.A., have been married for more than twenty-two years. After they married, they made the Crystal Coast their home, where they have put down roots, invested in their church and community, and are raising their seven children: Reese, Sadie, Eliza, Rosa, Nellie, Jac, and Bennett.

She graduated from both Carteret Community College and Pitt Community College, where she completed the Radiology and Radiation Therapy programs. As a licensed and registered Radiologic Technologist and Radiation Therapist, Elizabeth served patients at several respected hospitals throughout eastern North Carolina before stepping away from healthcare to devote herself to raising her growing family while helping support the launch and growth of Atlantic Wealth Management alongside her husband.

Her passion for education has been cultivated through years of homeschooling her own children using Liberty University Online Academy and Classical Conversations. She later founded and led an 8th- and 9th-grade homeschool co-op, experiences that helped shape the vision for COAST. Those experiences, combined with years of ministry and community involvement, gave her a growing conviction that the Crystal Coast needed a distinctly Christian educational option committed to both academic excellence and biblical discipleship.

Throughout the years, Elizabeth has served on leadership teams helping plant multiple churches and was instrumental in establishing and growing the children's ministry at Life Church. She also co-founded and coordinated Carteret County's foster and adoption support community for more than eight years and previously served on the advisory board for A Sea of Learning. In her free time, she volunteers with the Atlantic Beach Sea Turtle Conservation Program and remains actively involved in serving her church, schools, her children’s sports teams and the Crystal Coast community.

Elizabeth believes God has uniquely gifted her to connect people, solve problems, and build teams around a shared vision. She considers co founding COAST Christian Academy a calling from the Lord and is committed to faithfully serving the families of the Crystal Coast. Her prayer is that every student who walks through the doors of COAST will graduate with a deep love for Christ, a commitment to truth, and the wisdom and courage to faithfully lead and serve wherever God calls them.

"For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be glory forever. Amen." — Romans 11:36

Pastor E. Powell Osteen, Jr.

Board Member

From local churches to university boards and community foundations, Pastor Powell has spent a lifetime investing in people. As an ordained pastor in the Global Methodist Church, Pastor Powell faithfully served local congregations throughout eastern North Carolina for 40 years. His most recent appointment was at First Methodist Church Morehead City, where he served from 2014–2025. Following his recent retirement, he continues to preach and teach in local churches, serve within the Global Methodist Church, mentor pastors, and passionately invest in couples preparing for Christian marriage.

Pastor Powell has served on the Boards of Trustees of both Duke University and Wesleyan University. He currently serves on the Board of Ministry for the Global Methodist Church in North Carolina and as President of the Carteret Community Foundation.

Pastor Powell is deeply devoted to Jesus and desires to see others experience the joy of knowing Christ and growing in holiness and love. He is especially encouraged by COAST Christian Academy’s vision for the faithful formation of young men and women who pursue both a vibrant walk with Christ and academic excellence.

Pastor Powell and his wife, Mary Lynne, a Morehead City native, have two adult children and two grandsons, Owen (5) and Sullivan (2). We are grateful for Pastor Powell’s wisdom, leadership, and heart as he joins us in establishing COAST Christian Academy as a distinctly Christian school, all for the glory of God alone.

Garrett Hardin

Board Member

Garrett Hardin is an ENC native and a father of two daughters whose life is defined by service, leadership, and faith.

After a medical retirement cut his law enforcement career short, he refocused his passion for helping people into new roles. He spent years mentoring youth as both a school educator and a soccer coach for multiple age groups.

Today, Garrett runs a local business and serves as a biblical counselor, focusing his energy on giving back to the community and sharing his love for Jesus Christ.

Steve Yount

Board Member

Steve is a retired secondary school educator with an extraordinary 35-year career in education, serving students in several North Carolina high schools as he and his family followed his wife’s career in the NC Community College System. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Appalachian State University, a Master’s Degree in Secondary Education, and achieved National Board Certification in his academic field.

Throughout his career, Steve taught Advanced Placement (AP) United States History, AP Government and Politics, as well as core courses in United States History, World History, and Civics. In addition to the classroom, he invested in students through coaching varsity athletics, including football, men’s and women’s basketball, and baseball.

Steve’s dedication to excellence in education was recognized through numerous honors, including being named Teacher of the Year for the Hickory Public School System, J.M. Morehead High School in Eden, and Croatan High School in Carteret County, where he concluded his distinguished teaching career.

Carlie Lockey

Board Member

Carlie grew up as the child of a pastor, playing piano for special music and teaching Sunday School and Children’s Church. After graduating from Liberty University with a teaching degree, she taught middle school ELA and 5th grade. In 2009, she moved to Carteret County and married Chad Lockey. For more than 20 years, Carlie has invested in others through teaching, mentoring, and leading—whether in the classroom, serving in church ministry, raising a family, or guiding teams in the workplace. As a wife, foster and adoptive mom of seven, she understands both the joy and the challenges of leading at home and at work.

Professionally, Carlie founded Remarkable People Solutions in 2018, where she helped organizations solve people challenges through strategic hiring, team development, and leadership support. Today, as an EOS Implementer®, she partners with entrepreneurial leadership teams to help them gain clarity, strengthen accountability, and build healthier businesses. Her greatest desire is not simply to help organizations succeed, but to encourage people to live and lead in ways that honor God. John Piper in his book Don't Waste Your Life said: "Desire that your life count for something great! Long for your life to have eternal significance!..... But whatever you do, find the God centered, Christ-exalting, Bible-saturated passion of your life.... and you will make a difference that lasts. You will not waste your life."

Wayne Schriever

Board Member

Wayne dedicated more than 30 years to public education in New York, holding certifications in Biology, Chemistry, Earth Science, and Social Studies. Throughout his career, he taught students ranging from middle school through junior college and later earned certifications as both a school administrator and district superintendent.

Before entering the classroom, Wayne served for 2½ years in the Peace Corps in Fiji, helping establish a junior secondary school on a remote Fijian island. This experience sparked a lifelong commitment to expanding educational opportunities and investing in young people.

Since retiring and relocating to Emerald Isle, Wayne has continued to serve others faithfully. For the past 15 years, he has fostered therapeutic children through Easter Seals and Carteret County DSS. He has also been actively involved with the Carteret County Literacy Council and the Carteret Community Foundation and has generously supported local students through numerous educational scholarships.

Wayne has long been a passionate advocate for strong Christian education.