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GAA Installs New Officers, Board Members

L. Ferguson “Ferg” Norton ’61 of Wilmington has been installed as chair of the GAA Board of Directors, succeeding James E. Delany ’70 of Hinsdale, Ill. J. Rich Leonard ’71 of Raleigh is the new chair-elect.

Norton was chosen chair-elect in 2017 after having served on the board as first vice chair and as an Athletic Council representative. He is a retired rear admiral and former executive director of the First Flight Foundation, which staged the commemoration of the Centennial of Powered Flight in 2003 to celebrate North Carolina’s role in the Wright brothers’ first flight. As a student, Norton was a member of the Order of the Old Well and Navy ROTC and was co-captain of the baseball team.

Leonard is dean of Campbell Law School and former chief judge for the U.S. Bankruptcy Court. He attended UNC as a Morehead Scholar and was president of the Carolina Union, a member of Phi Beta Kappa and Order of the Golden Fleece, a Richardson Fellow, and a recipient of the John J. Parker Medal for Outstanding Leadership, the Howard Odom Award for Outstanding Sociology Major and the Frank Porter Graham Award. He received a master’s degree in educational counseling from UNC in 1973 and has served as an adjunct faculty member at the UNC School of Law.

New officers and directors were installed at the Annual Alumni Luncheon on May 12. Elections decided by Carolina Alumni members also were announced at the luncheon.

Other new officers include Dana E. Simpson ’96 of Raleigh as first vice chair and Bert Mathews ’76 of Nashville, Tenn., as second vice chair.

Simpson, who also earned his law degree from Carolina in 2000, is a partner with Smith Anderson Blount Dorsett Mitchell & Jernigan. He previously served on the board as an at-large member (2013–16). As a student, he was a member of Order of the Golden Fleece and Order of the Bell Tower; was president of Graham Residence Hall; and, as a law student, was on Law Review. He is a former member of the UNC Board of Visitors; a recipient of Triangle Business Journal’s “40 Under 40” leadership award and the N.C. Governor’s School Foundation’s Jim Hunt Award; and a member of the N.C. Rules Review Commission. He currently is a member of the UNC School of Government Foundation and the UNC School of Law Alumni Association and is on the board of advisers for Alliance Medical Ministry.

Mathews, who is a partner with Colliers International, has served on the board as an out-of-state representative (2015–18), and he has chaired the board’s Ancillary Services Committee (2017–18). As a student, he was a member of Order of the Golden Fleece, Order of the Grail, Order of the Old Well and Chi Psi fraternity. He was president of the Sports Club Council and the UNC Sailing Club and was vice chair of the Fine Arts Festival. He is a past member of UNC’s Board of Visitors; has previously been board chair of the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce, the Metropolitan Transit Authority and the University School of Nashville; and is a former vice chair of the Nashville Airport Authority. In 2007, he was the recipient of the Father of the Year Award from the American Diabetes Association. Nashville Business Journal also selected him as an Executive of the Year in Commercial Real Estate. He currently is a global trustee with the Urban Land Institute and serves on the boards of Think Tennessee and the Nashville Downtown Partnership.

Elected to three-year terms representing N.C. districts:

Lisa McNew Chapman ’82 (’07 EdD) of Sanford to the district for Alamance, Bladen, Chatham, Columbus, Cumberland, Harnett, Hoke, Johnston, Lee, Richmond, Robeson, Sampson, Scotland, Wayne and Wilson counties. Chapman is senior vice president and chief academic officer of the N.C. Community College System. As a student, she was squad leader with the Marching Tar Heels and a member of Alpha Chi Sigma. Her awards include the Alumni Achievement Award from UNC’s School of Education. She also is a past member of UNC’s Advisory Committee on Access.

Zach S. Clayton ’07 of Raleigh to the district for Nash, Rockingham and Wake counties. Clayton, who is CEO of Three Ships, was a Morehead Scholar at UNC as well as vice president of the Interfraternity Council, a member of Chi Psi and founder of New Media Campaigns. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa. He currently serves on the boards of directors of the UNC School of Media and Journalism Foundation; of With Honor, a nonpartisan political group supporting veterans running for office; and of Carolina for Kibera. He was a founding director of Global Citizen Year (a gap-year fellowship) as well as its finance committee chair. He also was a Baker Scholar at Harvard Business School.

Phillip L. McAlpin ’75 of Greensboro to the district for Forsyth and Guilford counties. McAlpin retired as general manager of Norse Sports Properties, Learfield Sports. As a student at UNC, he was a photographer with The Black Ink and a member of Black Student Movement and the UNC Student Court. He is a member of the Black Alumni Reunion planning committee and is a past co-chair/committee chair of BAR as well as a past recipient of BAR’s Harvey E. Beech Outstanding Alumni Award.

Elected to three-year terms representing out-of-state alumni:

Judith Hippler Bello ’71 of McLean, Va., to the district for Virginia. Bello, a retired executive vice president with PhRMA Foundation, was her UNC class valedictorian, president of Valkyries, co-chair of the UNC exchange program with the University of Toronto, a Richardson Fellow and chair of Tom Bello’s 1970 campaign for student body president. She graduated with highest honors, received the Outstanding Junior Woman Award, was a member of UNC’s Women’s Student Association and was a cheerleader. She has contributed articles in numerous international law and trade journals and is the author of two books on international trade.

Michael P. Vandenbergh ’83 of Nashville, Tenn., to the district for Missouri, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Tennessee. Vandenbergh, a professor, holds the David Daniels Allen Distinguished Chair at Vanderbilt’s law school. At UNC, he was student body president, a Morehead Scholar, a participant in the N.C. Fellows Program and a member of Phi Eta Sigma honor society. He was in the Honors Program and belonged to the Rugby Club. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa.

W.H. “Joe” Knight Jr. ’76 of Seattle to the district for Alaska, California, Hawaii, Nevada, Oregon and Washington. Knight is the Distinguished Academic in Residence at Seattle University’s law school and is a former law school dean at the University of Washington. He also is managing director of WHK Consulting. As a student at UNC, he was a member of the Order of the Old Well, Order of the Grail,, Order of the Golden Fleece and Phi Eta Sigma honor society. He also was a National Merit Scholar. In 2006, he received the Black Alumni Reunion’s Harvey E. Beech Outstanding Alumni Award.

Appointed to a three-year term on UNC’s Athletic Council:

David Hanners ’76 of Chapel Hill. Hanners, who also earned a master’s in teaching from Carolina in 1982, is the retired assistant basketball coach of the New Orleans Pelicans. As a student at UNC, he was a member of the men’s basketball team (1972–76), was named an Academic All-ACC and received the Foy Roberson Award. As an NBA coach, he was in charge of teams that selected St. Jude’s Hospital in Memphis, Tenn., and Presbyterian Hospital in Charlotte (focusing on the oncology wing) in response to the NBA’s expectation that teams support a community organization each season.

Appointed as at-large directors to three-year terms:

Alexa Smith Aycock ’66 of Greensboro. Aycock is executive director of the Marion Stedman Covington Foundation. As a student at UNC, she was a member of Phi Alpha Theta history honorary society and president of Kappa Delta sorority. She belonged to the Women’s Residence Council and the Elections Board. She is a current board member for Greensboro Downtown Parks, and her past service includes being on the advisory council for UNC’s Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center. She also has co-chaired Center City Park, has been chair of Friends of Center City Park and has been president of the Greensboro Junior League.

Paul R. Newton ’82 (’85 JD) of Mount Pleasant. Newton,who  is the retired president of Duke Energy Progress, currently is serving his first term in the N.C. Senate. In his first term, he won awards as the top Senate legislator from the League of Municipalities and the Metropolitan Mayor’s Coalition. He also received a perfect score from the N.C. Chamber of Commerce. While in law school at Carolina, Newton was a member of the National Holderness Moot Court team. During his career, he held a number of industry leadership posts, including as chair and board member of the Southern chapter of the Energy Bar Association, as a member of the planning committee of the Edison Electric Institute’s lawyers committee and with the Nuclear Energy Institute and the American Corporate Counsel Association. He was named to Business North Carolina’s “Legal Elite” in 2006, 2007 and 2008.

Appointed as an out-of-state director for two years to fill a vacant seat:

Banks Edwards ’90 (’90 MAC) of Darien, Conn. Edwards is a partner at Deloitte. At UNC, he was president of Beta Theta Pi and a member of the Interfraternity Council. He is a former president of the New York Carolina Club and member of the Kenan-Flagler Business School Alumni Council.

 

 

Also appointed:

John Orth John Orth of Chapel Hill as the board’s faculty representative. Orth, a William Rand Kenan Jr. Professor of law, joined the faculty in 1978, teaches basic and advanced property and legal history, and has been cited by North Carolina’s highest court as “a highly respected state constitutional scholar.” After law school and graduate school, he clerked for Judge John J. Gibbons of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. He is the author of numerous books, including Due Process of Law: A Brief History (2003) and How Many Judges Does It Take to Make a Supreme Court? and Other Essays on Law and the Constitution (2006), and many scholarly articles and book reviews.

Reappointed to their posts were Anthony Eden Rand ’61 (’64 LLBJD) of Fayetteville, treasurer; Dwight M. “Davy” Davidson III ’77 of Greensboro, assistant treasurer; and Wade M. Smith ’60 (’63 LLBJD) of Raleigh, counsel.


 

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