Governor McCrory Announces Appointments | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Raleigh, N.C.     The Office of Governor Pat McCrory announced the following appointments today:

• G. "Richard" Edwards, Jr. (New Hanover County) - Edwards is the owner of Edwards Dental Consulting in Wilmington. He has extensive training on the consultative side of the dental business and has a large amount of industry knowledge. Edwards is an enthusiastic conservationist who enjoys big game hunting, along with inland and offshore fishing. He is a member of Ducks Unlimited and supports the Boy Scouts of America.
• Nat T. Harris (Alamance County) - Harris is the founding partner of Harris, Crouch, Long, Scott & Miller Inc., which specializes in the design of non-qualified benefits for executives and directors of large companies, both public and private. He is a member of the corporate boards of directors of Copland Inc. and Delta Marketing, and is a past board member with the Burlington YMCA, the N.C. Zoological Society, Burlington Day School and the Congressional Sportsmen's Caucus Foundation. He is a member of the Bow Hunters Association, N.C. Handicapped Sportsmen and the N.C. Ducks Unlimited Hall of Fame, and is a life sponsor of the Quail Unlimited Founders' Club. This is a reappointment.
• Michael A. Johnson (Catawba County) - Johnson is the owner of Mike Johnson's Hickory Toyota. He is a lifelong N.C. sportsman and is very active in hunting education. In 2003, he was presented the Hunter's Education Instructor of the Year Award by the NCWRC. He is past Chairman of the N.C. Auto Dealers Association and past President of both the Catawba Rotary Club and Catawba County Chamber of Commerce. Johnson is also involved in other community programs, such as the American Heart Association and Brett's Ride, an event to raise money and awareness for pediatric cancer research.

    The commission manages, conserves and protects the wildlife resources of North Carolina. Appointees must be an experienced hunter, fisherman, farmer or biologist who shall be generally informed on wildlife conservation an restoration problems.

• Tommy Hester (Vance County) - Hester is the owner of Prim Residential Rentals, Inc. The company deals in residential and commercial rental sales. He currently serves as a Vance County Commissioner having first been elected in 2010. He actively serves on the county's general government, intergovernmental, and planning and environment committee, and the Kerr-Tar Regional Council of Governments. This is a reappointment.
• Steven Wangerin (Onslow County) - Wangerin graduated from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Administration with majors in finance and economics in 1986. He is currently the Chief Executive Officer for the W.T. Humphrey Group in Jacksonville, North Carolina. In each of the responsibilities, Wangerin was responsible for management, financial analysis, profitability, sales and leadership of the organization assigned to him. In his final position, he was responsible for a branch network with $480 million in branch footings with 15 direct reports and 130 employees. This is a reappointment.

    The Rural Infrastructure Authority is tasked with reviewing and authorizing grants and loans in addition to formulating policies and procedures for grant and loan making under G.S. 143B-472.127. Furthermore, the Authority shall be tasked with determining ways in which the Rural Economic Development Division can effectively aid local government units in meeting preliminary project planning costs and disseminate information to local government units about the availability of grants or loans, the application and review process, and any other information that may be deemed useful to local government units in obtaining grants or loans. Finally, the Authority is tasked with reviewing the effectiveness of grant or loan programs to determine potential avenues improvement. The Authority is required to submit their finding in a report no later than September 1 of each year.

• Dr. Hope Williams (Wake County) - Dr. Williams joined NCICU in 1986 and has served as president since 1992. She is an advocate on state and federal public policy issues, represents independent higher education with other education sectors, seeks scholarship and program support for students and campuses, and fosters collaborative partnerships among campuses. She received her post-secondary degrees from Duke University, N.C. State University and UNC-Chapel Hill. This is a reappointment.
• Charles Cole (Guilford County) - Cole is an Assistant Professor of Finance at N.C. A&T University. Prior to joining their staff, he managed the public finance department at Wachovia and BB&T. It total, he spent almost 25 years in banking and worked closely with the College Foundation during that time. He was nominated by the N.C. Bankers Association.

    The board oversees student financial assistance programs administered by the College Foundation. The board has nine members, each serving a six-year term. The governor appoints all members.

    North Carolina Education and Workforce Innovation Commission

• Rod Webb (Wake County) - Webb is a Private Client Manager with U.S. Trust. He has over 23 years of banking experience and has a B.S. in Finance from Wake Forest University. Webb is the chair of the Church Council of Edenton Street United Methodist Church and is involved with various non-profits on volunteer and community engagement aspects. This is a reappointment.
• Billie Redmond (Wake County) - Redmond is the CEO of TradeMark Properties in Raleigh. She has been in the real estate business for over 25 years and graduated from UNC with a degree in Business Management. In 2011, Billie received the 2011 Triangle Business Journal Legacy Award, which recognizes leaders who have helped shape the Triangle through their business and community endeavors. This is a reappointment.

    The commission is responsible for the administration of the newly established Education and Workforce Innovation Fund. which award grants to successful innovative education programs that combine academic rigor and skills development with the goal of graduating every student both college and career ready.

• Michael Herring (Ashe County) - Retired Chief Administrator of the North Carolina Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission. Herring has spent his entire 33-year career at the state agency and has served as Chief Administrator of the N.C. ABC Commission since 1995. During his tenure, he has played a strong leadership role in shaping many important aspects of alcohol policy that created efficiencies while increasing the Commission's effectiveness with industry and the general public.

    The purpose of the commission is to administer and enforce the ABC laws of North Carolina.

• Dr. John Fagg (Forsyth County) - Dr. Fagg is a native of Winston-Salem. He received his M.D. degree from the Bowman Gray School of Medicine of Wake Forest University and did his post-graduate training in general surgery and plastic surgery at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, South Carolina. This is a reappointment.
• Dr. Robert S. Alphin (Wake County) - Dr. Robert Alphin is an anesthesiologist in Raleigh, North Carolina and is affiliated with multiple hospitals in the area, including Rex Healthcare and WakeMed Raleigh Campus. He received his medical degree from Wake Forest School of Medicine and has been in practice for 25 years. He is one of 74 doctors at Rex Healthcare and one of 70 at WakeMed Raleigh Campus who specialize in Anesthesiology.
• Dr. Devdutta Sangvai (Durham County) - Dr. Sangvai is associate chief medical officer at Duke University Health Systems. He is very active in the medical community and has served as President of the Medical Society, an assistant professor at Duke, Executive Director for Duke Connected Care Clinically Integrated Network, and various committees for Duke University Health System. He earned his medical degree from the Medical College of Ohio (University of Toledo).

    The Medical Care Commission adopts statewide plans for the construction and maintenance of hospitals, medical centers and other health care facilities. The commission has 17 members, each serving a four-year term. All members are appointed by the governor.

• Jenny Still (Wake County) - Still is a Marketing Coordinator and Social Media Representative for RK&K Engineering. Prior to starting this position, she worked in the leasing/real estate industry. Jenny's father suffered a brain injury as a result of encephalitis. He had a portion of his brain removed as a result of a mosquito bite. Still, along with her other siblings, have become her father's primary care givers.
• Jean Andersen (Stanly County) - Andersen is a disability advocate and farmer at Meadowview Family Farm. She also serves as a member of the N.C. Stakeholders Engagement Group and on the Piedmont CFAC. This is a reappointment.
• Tiffany Morones-Suttle (Wake County) - Morones-Suttle faced every mother's nightmare in February when her 11-year-old son Michael attempted suicide after classmates bullied him for loving the cartoon "My Little Pony." She is still struggling with the effects of his suicide attempt. Her son is now in a persistent vegetative state, preventing him from communicating. Morones-Suttle recently founded a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting and promoting the well-being of youth called The Michael Morones Foundation. Its focus is more pro-child than anti-bully.
• Janice White (Wake County) - White is Director of Project Development at Neuro Community Care. She is a speech pathologist by training and has worked in direct service provision as well as in varied roles such as marketing and management for 30 years. She worked as a marketing representative and evaluator for Learning Services, a post-acute brain injury and rehabilitation program. This experience lead to her position as Program Manager for Brain and Spinal Cord Injury at HealthSouth Rehab Hospital in Columbia, S.C. White obtained her B.A. in Speech and Hearing Science from the University of Pittsburgh and her M.Ed. in Speech Pathology from University of Virginia.

    The purpose of the council is to review how the term "traumatic brain injury" is defined by state and federal regulations and to determine whether changes should be made to the state definition to include "acquired brain injury" or other appropriate conditions; promote inter-agency coordination among state agencies responsible for services and support of individuals that have traumatic brain injury; study the needs of individuals with traumatic brain injury and their families; make recommendations to the governor, the General Assembly, and the Secretary of Health and Human Services regarding the planning, development, funding, and implementation of a comprehensive service delivery systems; and promote and implement injury prevention strategies across the state.

• Contact: Crystal Feldman
•     govpress@nc.gov