NCCBI News

Cole Picks Five for Executive Committee

Sue Cole, NCCBI’s new chair, has announced her appointments to the association’s Executive Committee, selecting five board members from diverse backgrounds and experiences. They are David S. Brody of Kinston, Michael R. Coltrane of Concord, Sharon A. Decker of Rutherfordton, Louise F. McColl of Wilmington and Robert H. Stolz of Charlotte.

Brody is managing partner of Brody Associates, a family business that operates department stores and other concerns. He is a 1972 graduate of the University of Pennsylvania. He lived in Greenville before taking over the family business in Kinston in 1977. Brody served 16 years on the Pitt County Memorial Hospital board of trustees and University Health Systems of Eastern North Carolina and is a past chairman of the board. His family is a major benefactor of the medical school at East Carolina University, which bears its name.

Coltrane is chairman and CEO of CT Communications. Following a family tradition in the telecommunications industry, Coltrane joined the company in 1988. His great-grandfather founded Concord Telephone, CT Communications’ largest subsidiary, in 1897. Prior to joining CT Communications, Coltrane served as the executive vice president of First Charter National Bank in Concord and First Charter Corp., where he continues to serve as vice chairman of the board. He is also a director of PMN Inc. He is active in the telecommunications industry, serving as a director of the U.S. Telecom Association since 1991 and as chairman in 2000-2001. He is president of the Alliance of N.C. Independent Telephone Companies, and is past president of the North Carolina Telephone Association. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Davidson College and a master’s degree in business administration from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Decker is president of Doncaster, the largest direct selling division of the Tanner Companies, a women’s apparel manufacturer. A 1979 summa cum laude graduate of UNC Greensboro with a degree in economics and consumer services, she worked for Duke Energy in Charlotte for several years as vice president of customer services and later as vice president of communication and community relations. In 1994 she became corporate vice president and executive director of the Duke Power Fundation, and in 1997 was tapped to become president and CEO of the Lynnwood Foundation. She joined the Tanner organization in 1999. Decker was selected as Charlotte’s Woman of the Year in 1998, the same year she chaired the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce.

McColl is president of McColl & Associates, a meeting events and public relations company, a business she created in 1989. She is vice chairman of the N.C. State Ports Authority board and serves on the boards of Wilmington Industrial Development Association, the Wilmington Chamber of Commerce board and the Boys and Girls Home of North Carolina. McColl is a past member of the N.C. Board of Transportation board and N.C. Economic Development Board and is a past president of the U.S. Jaycee Women.

Stolz is president of The Hardwood Group, a wood products supplier that began in the Queen City in 1992 and has since expanded with stores in Charleston, Chattanooga, Greenville-Spartanburg, Norfolk, Richmond, Roanoke and Raleigh. Previously, Stolz was vice president of the Southern Bank Group in Atlanta from 1988 to 1992 and before that he was legislative affairs director to Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young. Stolz, who chairs the North Carolina Economic Development Board, is a graduate of the University of Georgia with a degree in political science.

Guilford Educators Thank Kirk: The Guilford County Board of Education recently passed a proclamation of gratitude for NCCBI President Phil Kirk’s nearly six years of service as chairman of the State Board of Education. Kirk stepped down from the education post effective May 1. The resolution, signed by Chair Alan W. Duncan and Superintendent Terry B. Grier, praises Kirk for visiting all 117 school districts and more than 750 schools.

It also reads, “The school children of North Carolina have benefited from his visionary leadership and statesmanship through his coordination of the most successful statewide bond campaign for $2.75 billion in bonds for schools and roads in the fall of 1996.”


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