Co-Founder & Faculty, CEO of Crossnore Communities for Children
It doesn’t take long after meeting him to understand his passion for protecting the most vulnerable children. As the Chief Executive Officer of Crossnore Communities for Children, Brett Lofits leads an organization that is dedicated to growing healthy futures for children and families. His experience working in a residential program for at-risk children and as a Guardian ad Litem in South Carolina; a youth minister in Texas; and an attorney and the Executive Director of the Council for Children’s Rights in Charlotte, NC positioned him well to assume the executive role at
Crossnore in 2013.
Brett’s executive leadership and strategic planning with the Board of Trustees led Crossnore to a successful merger with The Children’s Home in Winston-Salem, NC to become Crossnore School & Children’s Home in 2017. Services have expanded to underserved counties in western North Carolina through a satellite office opened in Hendersonville, NC in early 2018. He co-founded the Center for Trauma Resilient Communities, a program of Crossnore Communities for Children, in 2018. The Center for Trauma Resilient Communities helps organizations embed and embody the science of trauma resilience. Brett works across the nation training organizations to become trauma-informed and to build trauma resilience for their staff and clients. In 2021, the
Board’s strategic planning led to a name update and Crossnore School & Children’s Home became Crossnore Communities for Children.
Brett received his undergraduate degrees in Sociology and Political Science from Furman University. His passion for children eventually sent him to Wake Forest University School of Law to continue his career in child advocacy. In 2018, he was appointed to the North Carolina Child Well-Being Transformation Council by Senator Philip E. Berger and in 2019, he was asked to serve on the Board of the Campaign for Trauma-Informed Policy and Practice. He is past chair of the Board of Trustees for Benchmarks NC, an alliance of agencies helping children, adults, and families. Locally, Brett also serves on the Appalachian Regional Healthcare System Board of Directors and is past president of the Avery County Rotary Club. Brett also speaks statewide and nationally about child welfare, trauma and resilience, as well as leadership development.
In his free time, Brett loves to coach youth soccer and basketball. Brett’s greatest love is his wife, Sally, and their three sons, Will, Elijah, and Lawson.