Durham Tech names Presidential Search Committee members

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Search firm selected. Presidential search underway.

The Durham Technical Community College Board of Trustees has selected a search firm and a group of representatives from the College and the community to oversee the nationwide search for the College’s next president.

President Bill Ingram announced in October to the Board that he will retire in June after serving as president since 2008 and at the College since 1983.

“As board chair, I have appointed a broadly diverse 16-person presidential search committee, consisting of nine trustees, including the College’s SGA president and student trustee; five community leaders from Durham and Orange counties; and leaders recommended by the Faculty Association and Staff Association,” said John Burness, Chair of the search committee, in a college-wide message.

Durham Tech has contracted RPA Inc., of Williamsport, Pennsylvania, as the firm for the search. The search committee aims to select 10 to 12 candidates by early spring and then narrow the pool down to four finalists by early May.

The members of the search committee are:

  • John Burness: Board of Trustees chair; Retired senior vice president for public affairs and government relations at Duke University
  • Dr. Patricia Ashley: Board member; Director of NC State’s Durham Principal Leadership Academy
  • William Bell: Former mayor for the City of Durham
  • Jenna Bryant: Board member; Program director of MDC
  • Geoff Durham: Board member; President and CEO of Greater Durham Chamber of Commerce
  • Dr. Tara Fikes: Board vice chair; Retired director of Housing, Human Rights, and Community Development for Orange County
  • Barker French: Board member; Retired investment advisor
  • Justin Hall: Board student trustee and Student Government Association president
  • Diane Evia-Lanevi: Founder and board chair for The Tomorrow Fund for Hispanic Students
  • Gracie Johnson-Lopez: Board member; President and principal consultant of Diversity & HR Solutions
  • Rev. Michael Delano Page: Board member; Director of External Affairs at North Carolina Central University and pastor of Antioch Baptist Church
  • Dr. Mary Ann Peter: Former board chair; Former nursing director at Duke University Hospital and former faculty member for UNC-Chapel Hill School of Nursing
  • Walter Newton: Durham Tech Foundation Board member; President and CEO of Newton Instrument Company
  • Cathy Collie-Robinson: Durham Tech Faculty Association member; Director of Early Childhood Education program
  • Micara Lewis-Sessoms: Durham Tech Staff Association member; Assistant dean for Business Programs and coordinator of Work-Based Education programs
  • Dr. Stelfanie Williams: Duke University vice president for Durham Affairs and former president of Vance-Granville Community College

For more information on the College’s presidential search, visit durhamtech.edu/presidential-search.


Contact Stephanie Turner, Durham Tech Marketing and Media Relations Coordinator, at turners@durhamtech.edu for more. 

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