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NCCBI News
for August 2004
BofA's Denton Kicks Off
Membership Campaign
 When
Graham Denton (left), North Carolina president of Bank of America and
NCCBI’s Second Vice Chair, accepts a challenge, he jumps in with both feet —
a fact he is again demonstrating in his management of the association’s annual
membership campaign. “This year’s campaign has all the signs of being a
record year,” according to Rosemary Wyche, NCCBI’s vice president of
development.
Denton tapped Lynda Looney, senior vice president of Atlantic Middle Market
Banking, to coordinate the Bank of America campaign and she has assembled a
dynamite group of volunteers. Twelve teams consisting of 88 volunteers will
canvas the state recruiting new members to achieve their goal of $100,000.
To reward and encourage the volunteers, NCCBI First Vice Chair Steve Miller,
executive vice president of The Biltmore Company, asked travel and tourism
related industries and NCCBI board of directors to donate prizes for the
volunteers. The response from the industry has been overwhelming.
We want to thank and recognize these companies for assisting with the campaign.
If others would like to donate, please contact Rosemary Wyche at rwyche@nccbi.org.
Team 1: Captain Mike Mayer, members John Mercuri, Joe Donlevy, Saeed Moghadam,
Susan Vercauteren, Jason Ziegler, Bonnie Tomberlin.
Team 2: Captain Bob Warfield, members David Sedor, Tony Marano, Roger Portaro,
Mark Caulton, Marcia Fredell, Bill Bridges.
Team 3: Captain Steve Park, members David Houston, Mark Mackinnon, Mark Goodwin,
Otis Northington, Allen Sprinkle, Paul Cucchiara.
Team 4: Captain Steve Windell, members Paula Takacs, Marsha Miller, Sam Kottyan,
Bryant Brewer, Jolaine Blankenship.
Team 5: Captain Sabrina Miller, members Ken Vance, Becky Girard, Carol R. Allen,
Michael Andry, Michelle Weerasuriya, Cynthia Fuller, David Greiner.
Team 6: Captain Dale Hall, members Keith Strickland, Sapna Carter, Don Ward,
Phil Sizemore, Julie Benitz, Rob Hone.
Team 7: Captain Greg Cox, members Derek Ellington, Tom Johnson, William J Burns,
Susan Apple, Jackie Fayne, Mike Marion.
Team 8: Captain Sherry Ledoux, members Gary Gore, Frank Manship, Chris Woelfel,
Mel White, Ellen Lindh, James Stemple.
Team 9: Captain Henry Essey, members Rick Brown, Jeff Lee, Holly Tucker, Ed
Hollowell, Dave Klinge, Paula Stewart, Gregoire Kokomo.
Team 10: Captain Lee McInnis, members Rod Webb, Grady Jackson, Chris Harris, Pam
Keene, Rob Weaver, Chris Frushone, Eva Choy.
Team 11: Captain Pam Parker, members Ray Vaughn, Bland Benthall, Helen
Ballentine, Janie Raper, Marie Stapleton, Luann Herring, Scott Padalecki.
Team 12: Captain Mike Williams, members Jon Hand, Tom Dodson, Loren Hamlin,
William Vaughan, Natalie Waggett, Dawn Raiford, Cindy Tillinghast.
Amtrak president visits NCCBI: North Carolina is one of the only states
in the nation with significant potential for expansion of passenger rail
service, according to David Gunn, president and CEO of Amtrak. Gunn spoke with a
group of NCCBI members about the importance of creating “success stories” to
get federal dollars for rail expansion. The train between Raleigh and Charlotte
should be running four times per day, he said. When frequency is up, the state
can validate the request for federal dollars. “There are only a handful of
areas in the country that have potential and North Carolina is one of them,”
he said
Thirty-four people filled the NCCBI board room to hear what Gunn had to say as
he passed through North Carolina. NCCBI Transportation Committee Vice Chair
Henry Liles welcomed Gunn while Raleigh Mayor Charles Meeker was on-hand to make
the official introduction. NCCBI Chair Barry Eveland was in attendance and
former governor James B. Hunt Jr., stopped by right before the meeting. State
Reps. Margaret Dickson (D-Cumberland) and Ray Rapp (D-Madison) also attended.
Gunn, who has led Amtrak since 2002, says the passenger rail system is doing
well and has restored fiscal controls. “Expenses have flattened and we’re
under-running our operating budget,” he said. “Ridership surpassed a record
24 million passengers in 2003 and Amtrak began the process of ramping up a
capital program in order to work through the backlog of capital projects that
had accumulated over the years.”
When asked about the possibility of privatizing Amtrak, Gunn said the people who
discuss privatization are either cynical and want to get rid of passenger rail
all together or are naive and think an entity could take it over and run it
better. With the complexities of running and maintaining a large passenger rail
system, Amtrak has the expertise and experience to continue making it work, he
said.
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