The
air conditioning was on the fritz,
pushing the temperature inside the NCCBI board
room into the unbearable range, but the
members of the NCCBI Executive Committee
didn't let the heat deter them from the
tasks at hand during the governing body's
quarterly meeting Tuesday.
Having to speak over the sound of two
fans brought in to combat the heat, the
15 Executive Committee members attending
the meeting heard financial reports on
the health of the association and
discussed strategy for passing the $3.1
billion higher education bonds. Speakers
at the meeting included UNC System
President Molly Broad and Community
Colleges President Martin Lancaster.
Broad thanked the NCCBI leaders for the
association's leadership in pushing the
bond referendum legislation through the
General Assembly. “We won't forget
that it was this organization that
quickly, firmly took charge of the
situation and got the General Assembly to
respond," Broad told the Executive
Committee. "NCCBI was there, and for
us to have secured bipartisan support
within 10 days of when the General
Assembly convened, and to have obtrained
unanimous support is nothing short of
remarkable."
NCCBI President Phil Kirk briefed
Executive Committee members on progress
so far in launching the campaign for
passage of the bonds. He reported that 12 of the state's top
business and education leaders are
spearheading the campaign.
Heading up the campaign, Kirk said, will
be Leslie Bevacqua, NCCBI vice president
of governmental affairs. She will take a
four-month leave of absence from the
NCCBI staff beginning July 17 to run the
day-to-day operations of the campaign.
Until the campaign secures office space
of its own next month, work on the
campaign will done out of NCCBI's
offices.
The campaign co-chairs, charged with
directing the statewide effort to pass
the bond package, are: Jim Broyhill,
former U.S. senator; Mimi Cecil,
secretary of the board of directors of
the Biltmore Co. and chair of the board
of Warren Wilson College; Mac Everett,
First Union Bank Mid-Atlantic Region
president and NCCBI chairman; Helen
Newsome, president of the National
Association of Community College
Trustees; and Dr. Leroy Walker, former
N.C. Central University chancellor.
The finance co-chairs, who will raise
funds for the statewide campaign in order
to educate North Carolina voters about
the bond referendum are: William J.
Armfield IV, president, Spotswood Capital LLC; Thomas Bradshaw Jr., managing
director of Salomon Smith Barney Inc.;
Bert Collins, president and CEO of N.C.
Mutual Life Insurance Co.; Hugh McColl,
chairman and CEO of Bank of America
Corp.; John Medlin, chairman emeritus,
Wachovia Corp.; Earl N. “Phil”
Phillips Jr., president of Phillips
Interests; and Dr. Ruth Shaw, executive
vice president and chief administrative
officer of Duke Energy.
Gov. Jim Hunt and former governors Jim
Martin, Jim Holshouser and Bob Scott will
serve ashonorary co-chairs, Kirk added.
The referendum would allocate $2.5
billion for new construction, repairs and
renovations for the UNC system's 16
campuses. Another $600 million would go
for critical building needs at the
state's 59 community colleges.
The referendum has garnered widespread
bipartisan support from education,
government and business leaders across
the state. State Treasurer Harlan Boyles
has also endorsed the proposal, saying
that it is a fiscally responsible way to
support our community colleges and
universities.
NCCBI Treasurer Horace Johnson of
Raleigh, the Ernst & Young executive,
reported that the association was in
relatively good fiscal health. He said
the forthcoming auditor's report will say
that NCCBI completed its fiscal year
April 1 with a small surplus, the first
time that has happened in four years.
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Around
the table, from left: Community
Colleges President Martin Lancaster of
Raleigh, Miller Building Corp. Chairman
Gene Miller of Wilmington, Salomon Smith
Barney Managing Director and former NCCBI
chairman Tom Bradshaw of Raleigh, Ernst
& Young partner and NCCBI Treasurer
Horace Johnson of Raleigh, U.S. Trust of
N.C. President Sue Cole of Greensboro,
Phillips Interest Chairman and former
NCCBI chairman Phil Phillips of High
Point, Bank of Granite Chairman John
Forlines of Granite Falls, Shurtape
Technologies CEO Pope Shuford of Hickory,
and Novant Health President and CEO Paul
Wiles of Winston-Salem.
From left: Shuford,
Wiles, UNC System President Molly Broad
of Chapel Hill, First Union National Bank
Mid-Atlantic Region President and NCCBI
Chairman Mac Everett of Charlotte, NCCBI
staff member Sharon Willard, and NCCBI
President Phil Kirk.
From
left: Zaytoun &
Associates President Steve Zaytoun of
Cary, SouthTrust Bank of N.C. CEO Bradley
Thompson Jr. of Charlotte, Cole, Greater
Jacksonville/Onslow COunty Chamber of
Commerce President Susanne Sartelle of
Jacksonville, and Phillips. Photos by
Mike Lancaster.
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