UNC President-elect Tom Ross is leaving the corporate board governing Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina.
Ross, chosen late last month to head the 17-campus public university system, had joined the Blue Cross board earlier this year. Under the organization's bylaws, board members who change jobs must offer to step down, and the board then decides whether to accept the resignation.
Ross has made clear he plans to leave the board.
In a letter to Dr. Jeffrey Houpt, the former UNC-Chapel Hill medical school dean and current chairman of the Blue Cross board, Ross writes in part that membership on corporate boards doesn't make sense for him right now.
"I know that I have much to learn in my new position, and that I will have many demands on my time, particularly during the first year of my service," wrote Ross, now the president at Davidson College. "Thus I have concluded that at this early stage of my work at the university it is not in my best interest or that of the university for me to devote the time necessary to properly fulfill the duties of a corporate board member."
His resignation will be effective Oct. 15.
Ross will succeed Erskine Bowles as UNC-system president Jan. 1.
The Alcoa story's cost
Lobbyist Bruce Thompson has resigned his seat on the UNC-TV board of directors.
Thompson was caught in the controversy surrounding UNC-TV's story critical of Alcoa. Thompson lobbies for Stanly County, which is fighting Alcoa's request to renew its long-term license to produce electricity using dams on the Yadkin River. Thompson helped former UNC-TV correspondent Eszter Vajda with her Alcoa report.
"I don't want to be a distraction," he said upon stepping down.
His e-mail address appears on some of the mostly redacted documents the station released last month in response to public records requests. Vajda said in an interview last month that Thompson helped with the story. Vajda's report was highly critical of Alcoa, its environmental practices and its efforts to renew a federal license to produce electricity using Yadkin River dams.
Thompson said he did nothing more for Vajda than he would have done for any other reporter by giving her information on the issue. He said he did not try to meddle in UNC-TV management decisions.
Thompson said he has asked the station to release unredacted versions of his e-mail because it will show that he did nothing wrong.
"I am very comfortable with everything that I did," Thompson said. "I did nothing to take advantage of my seat as a board member. I'm very careful in all my dealings. I'm disappointed that someone would think otherwise."
Motivation for DPI
Some state Department of Public Instruction employees were probably in the crowd at the RBC Center on Wednesday, soaking up inspiration from the likes of Rudy Giuliani, Colin Powell and Steve Forbes.
Rebecca Payne, head of DPI's career and technical education, purchased 50 motivation seminar tickets to hand out to her staff, department spokeswoman Vanessa Jeter said.
Payne paid a total of $20 for the set, Jeter said, and told employees that if they decided to go, they could do so only on their own time.
Debate in House race
Democratic U.S. Rep. G.K. Butterfield of Wilson will debate his Republican challenger, Ashley Woolard of Washington, N.C., Sunday on TV.
The one-hour debate will be televised on NBC-17 in the Triangle at 1p.m. It apparently will be the first meeting for the 1st Congressional District foes.
The debate will be moderated by political reporter/anchor Kim Genardo, who has become the debate maestro of this current campaign.
By staff writers Eric Ferreri, Lynn Bonner and Rob Christensen
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