New Hanover County commissioners voted to appoint former Wrightsville Beach mayor Bill Blair to the New Hanover Community Endowment on Monday.
Blair was first elected to Wrightsville Beach’s Board of Alderman in 2007 and served two terms. After a two-year hiatus, he returned to serve three terms as mayor from 2013 to 2019, running unopposed each time. While Wrightsville Beach’s municipal elections are nonpartisan, Blair is a registered Republican. During his 2007 run for office, Blair told StarNews his “most admired politician” was Ronald Reagan.
Blair also served as the chairman of the New Hanover County ABC Board. He currently works as a consultant.
Blair joins 12 other members on the board of the $1.3-billion Endowment, formed from the sale of New Hanover Regional Medical Center to Novant Health.
The Republican majority of the board of commissioners supported the appointment. Commissioner LeAnn Pierce made the motion, seconded by Commissioner Dane Scalise and joined by Chairman Bill Rivenbark. The board’s two Democrats each nominated their own pick.
Commissioner Jonathan Barfield, Jr. nominated Carl Brown, a retired vice president from Cape Fear Community College. Commissioner Rob Zapple nominated Sheree Darien, a board member of the Harrelson Center, who works in finance.
Other than a brief conversation clarifying the motion on the table, the board moved on to the next item without any public discussion of the appointment.
Blair replaces founding board member Stedman Stevens, one of the county's initial five appointees to the Endowment board. He rolled off after serving two terms. Due to the staggered terms of the initial appointments, Stevens’ first term ran just one year, from late 2020 to late 2021. His second term runs through the end of this month. Endowment board members are permitted to serve up to three consecutive terms.
Other applicants included: Derrick Anderson, longtime host of a community affairs show; Tony Elkins, a businessman who sits on the boards of Opera Wilmington and the Boys and Girls Club of Southeastern NC; Jennifer Keeling, a mental health professional who also sist son the NHC Cooperative Extension Advisory Board; Harry Knight, a retired GE nuclear engineer who sits on several local boards and holds the chair of the Lower Cape Fear Water and Sewer Authority Board; Alison Linker, a teacher; Christine Mason, director of R City Rocks; Jonathan Weiss, who works in investment real estate and has served on many local boards including the Red Cross and Coastal Horizons; and, Michael Werner, a retired chemical business executive, Founder of SMART Recovery, and former president of the American Humanists Association.
