Lassiter to chair NC Economic Development Partnership board

Seventeen people have been appointed to the board of directors that will oversee the operations of the newly created North Carolina Economic Development Partnership.

John Lassiter, a former Charlotte city councilman and president of Carolina Legal Staffing will serve as the boards chairman. The board includes a number of people from the Triangle, including developer John Kane, Red Hat CEO Jim Whitehurst, Lenovo Vice President Thomas Looney and R. Doyle Parrish of Summit Hospitality Group.

The board is scheduled to meet for the first time Friday. It will meet quarterly.

The Economic Development Partnership opened its doors last month in Cary. It was created to consolidate the state's marketing and business recruitment functions previously handled by the Commerce Department. The partnership has 38 employees.

Under state law, it is required to raise private dollars to supplement state funding. In order to receive roughly $17 million a year in state dollars, the partnership will be required to privately raise $750,000 in its first year and $1.25 million a year in subsequent years.

This story was originally published November 17, 2014 at 2:45 PM with the headline "Lassiter to chair NC Economic Development Partnership board."