Names in the NEws


For Members Only	January 2001
Philanthropy Blue Cross CEO Bob Greczyn presents the $1.2 million check to Gov. Jim Hunt and Gov.-elect Mike Easley Blue Cross backs Smart Start Blue Cross and Blue Shield of N.C. will partner with Smart Start in a yearlong statewide campaign to raise awareness of local Smart Start resources available to help NC’s children enter school healthy and ready to succeed. The insurer donated $1.2 million toward the campaign, which will hinge on a series of one-minute television segments entitled Building Brighter Futures. The segments will begin airing this month and will address topics ranging from playground safety to dental care. BCBSNC is the campaign’s sole largest corporate sponsor and this contribution is the largest single-year contribution ever made to Smart Start. The total campaign’s estimated value is almost $3 million, including matching contributions by broadcasters from across the state, the Partnership for Children and local Smart Start partnerships. Gordon C. Hurlbert, UNCW Chancellor James R. Leutze, Daniel D. Cameron and CP&L's Gayle Van Velsor CP&L gives $900,000 to UNC-W The CP&L Foundation has honored two former members of the utility's board of directors, Daniel D. Cameron and Gordon C.Hurlbert, with a gift of $900,000 to the Cameron School of Business at UNC-Wilmington. The CP&L gift establish a development fund and endow two professorships in the business school. The Gordon C. Hurlbert Endowment will support a professorship in information systems. The Betty H. Cameron Professorship, named for Mr. Cameron's wife, will support hiring a distinguished faculty in entrepreneur studies. The Pat Moran Hurlbert Development Fund, named for Mr. Hurlbert¹s wife, will use $233,333 of this gift to endow a faculty development fund. Thrift honored for work with Smart Start Ashley O. Thrift has received North Carolina's highest civilian honor, the Order of the Long Leaf Pine, for his work as chairman of the North Carolina Partnership for Children. Thrift is a partner with the law firm of Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice, PLLC in Winston-Salem. He began his work with Smart Start in 1993 as co-chair of the Forsyth Early Childhood Partnership and became chairman of the North Carolina Partnership for Children board in 1996. Gov. Jim Hunt presented Thrift with this honor during a ceremony at the North Carolina Partnership for Children office in Raleigh, where Thrift was joined by his wife, Dr. Julianne Still Thrift, and daughter, Laura. Work First Council applauds NCCBI NCCBI received recognition for its cooperative efforts with the Governor's Work First Business Council at the group's Dec. 11 meeting. Gov. Jim Hunt saluted the business community for hiring 15,840 Work First welfare clients. NCCBI members have been active in this effort. Dr. Bill Atkinson, CEO of New Hanover Regional Medical Center, chairs the council and Sen. Jim Broyhill is the honorary chair. NCCBI President Phil Kirk is a member of the council. The council has worked with many NCCBI members, including local chambers of commerce in working to place welfare clients onto permanent jobs. Polly Hathaway, director of the Work First Business Council, is leaving to go to work as program manager for corporate contributions for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina. Return to main page	Names in the News Duke Energy promotes executives Robert P. Brace was named executive vice president and CFO at Duke Energy. In other executive changes at Duke, Sandra Meyer was promoted to senior vice president and corporate controller at the holding company. Brace, 50, joins Duke from British Telecommunications plc (BT) in London, England, where he served as group finance director. Brace fills the position that opened in May when Richard J. Osborne was appointed Duke’s chief risk officer. As CFO, Brace will be responsibile for all corporate finance, accounting, tax and investor relations functions. Brace joined BT as finance director for BT UK in 1989, and later was named group controller. He was promoted to group finance director and appointed to the company’s board in 1993. Meyer joined Duke in 1976 and held several accounting positions with various Duke subsidiaries. In other appointments, Chris Rolfe was promoted to senior vice president of human resources, Cary Flynn was promoted to senior vice president of corporate tax, Sue Becht was promoted to senior vice president of investor relations, and Roberta Bowman was promoted to senior vice president of public affairs. Also, Jeff Triplette was promoted to vice president of insurance Carlisle takes job as head of Economic Opportunity Fund State Commerce Secretary Rick Carlisle said he will become the managing general partner and CEO of the N.C. Economic Opportunity Fund, an outgrowth of the Rural Prosperity Task Force's recommendations to strengthen rural North Carolina. The private, for-profit fund will use $40 million from private institutional investors and possible additional state monies to leverage more than $100 million to serve start-up and expanding businesses in the state's rural areas. The Economic Opportunity Fund will focus primarily on financing small companies with potential for rapid growth located in rural areas. With current funding, Carlisle expects to invest in 40-65 companies over the next 10 years with funding levels ranging from $500,000 to $5 million. The fund will partner with the Kenan-Flagler School of Business and the Frank Hawkins Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise to bring the school's expertise to rural businesses. Carlisle will also assume an adjunct faculty position at the school. N.C. State salutes NCCBI NCCBI President Phil Kirk received an award for the business community's leadership in the successful $3.1 billion bond campaign for community colleges and UNC at the first groundbreaking for a building partially financed with bond money. The occasion was the Dec. 20 groundbreaking for the Ruby C. McSwain Education Center at the J.C. Raulston Arboretum at N.C. State University. Chancellor Mary Anne Fox credited the business community for its lobbying leadership and for organizing the successful campaign through the North Carolinians for Educational Opportunity. Kirk thanked the audience for its support for "the biggest higher education bond package in the history of the United States." Mrs. Ruby McSwain of Sanford and J. Willie York of Raleigh made seven- and six-figure gifts, respectively, to the new facility. Bond money of $500,000 will be supplemented by additional private contributions. NCCBI President Phil Kirk has been named an honorary director of the North Carolina Council on Economic Education. He is the fourth person to receive this designation, joining John Medlin, Sherwood Smith and Gov. Jim Martin. The council promotes economic literacy throughout the state, with an emphasis on K-12 students.