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NC Community College System names Bill Carver as interim president

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N.C. Community College System Interim President Bill Carver gives closing remarks at the March 29 Legislative Day in 2023. Hannah McClellan/EdNC

The State Board of Community Colleges voted on Friday to approve Bill Carver, former president of Nash Community College, as interim president of the N.C. Community College System (NCCCS), effective July 1.

The announcement comes ahead of the June 30 retirement of current system President Jeff Cox, who announced his retirement on Aug. 1, 2025. While the State Board originally planned to name a new president by April 2026, that timeline shifted back throughout the search process.

Carver has been interim president twice already, first holding the position for five months starting in August 2020 and then again for 10 months starting in July 2022. He is the seventh leader in the last 11 years to hold the position of interim president, acting president, or president of the NCCCS.

“He is highly thought of, both in the system office and by our colleges,” said Board Chair Tom Looney on Friday. “Our Board believes he’s the right person at the right time.”

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During an April 2 meeting of the State Board’s presidential search committee, Looney said that the system would “most likely” need to name an interim president due to timeline delays.

Then, during the State Board’s executive committee meeting on Thursday, Looney announced that the Board would vote to approve an interim president the following day.

Geoffrey Lang, a member of the executive committee, asked if they would know who the interim president is. Looney responded by saying he and John Kane, Board vice chair, had met with candidates and selected one for the Board to vote on.

“I’ll have a complete package with the resume, (the) six characteristics that Mr. Kane and I laid out for the new interim,” Looney said during the executive committee meeting on Thursday.

Looney said he expects the interim president to serve at least until Sept. 1 given that most candidates for the next president have indicated they could not start until then. A transition meeting for Carver will be held on June 15.

More on the presidential search

Meanwhile, candidates for the next president and CEO of the system are actively being recruited following the State Board’s approval of a profile in April. 

The profile and a corresponding website dub the role “the most important job in North Carolina.” For the first time, CEO has been added to the president’s title, which Looney said reflects that the position’s roles and responsibilities are aligned with those of a chief executive officer.

“We’re very early. I will tell you they’re … very broad based, from business, education. So it’s exactly what we wanted, right? People involved in transformations in other locations, the key words we used in the profile,” said Looney of the candidate pool. “Early indications are that we are getting a good slate of candidates coming in.”

Looney said he expects candidate recruitment to increase in the coming weeks as efforts to promote the role continue, including through an op-ed and a podcast. E&V Strategic Communications, formerly Eckel & Vaughan, was hired to manage promotion of the search.

As of April, the Board planned to meet on June 19 to approve a final candidate, but it is unclear if that timeline is still in place.

Further complicating that timeline, this is the first system presidential candidate that will require confirmation by the General Assembly. That change, which became law in fall 2023, allows the person selected by the Board to serve as interim president until the General Assembly adopts a joint resolution confirming the selection.

The 2026 legislative short session began on April 21, and while there is no set adjournment date, the end of the state’s fiscal year is June 30, and the legislature often aims to adjourn soon after that once a new budget is passed.