Who’s on UNC’s Board of Trustees? Here’s what to know about members’ political connections
When the UNC-Chapel Hill Board of Trustees meets next month, it will include a former Republican nominee for governor and a former chief of staff to the powerful GOP leader of the state Senate.
The board’s newest members, appointed by the UNC System Board of Governors and the Republican-led General Assembly, also include an investor with experience fundraising for the university.
The board, whose new slate of members finished taking shape this week, has been in the spotlight this year for its efforts to establish a School of Civic Life and Leadership at the university, as well as for implementing an admissions and hiring policy in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling striking down race-based affirmative action that prohibits the university from considering “race, sex, color or ethnicity” in those decisions.
Campus trustees are appointed by the UNC System Board of Governors, which nominates four members to each board in odd-numbered years, and by the General Assembly, which appoints two members to each board in odd-numbered years — one recommended by the House speaker and one by the Senate leader. The student body president of each campus also serves on their respective trustee boards.
The UNC-Chapel Hill board has generally become more politically conservative since 2010, when Republicans took control of the General Assembly. Members of the board have been known to be connected to the state’s Republican political leaders, including by donating to their campaigns or serving in elected roles themselves. Some board members are lobbyists.
The UNC System board approved its trustee picks for the Chapel Hill board in April and May, reappointing three members who just completed their first terms on the board and appointing one new member to his first term. Senate leader Phil Berger and House Speaker Tim Moore’s picks were approved Wednesday, gaining some bipartisan support in the House but passing along party lines in the Senate.
All members of the Chapel Hill board are graduates of the university.
Of its 12 appointed members, the board will include two women, roughly 17% and the same as the board’s previous makeup, and two members of color, one fewer than the previous board. According to UNC System enrollment data for the spring 2023 semester, the UNC undergraduate population was more than 60% female and almost 45% non-white.
Who are the 12 appointed members of the board? Here’s what to know.
New members of the UNC Board of Trustees
The UNC System Board of Governors nominated one new member to the Chapel Hill board this year:
▪ Patrick Ballantine, a former Republican state senator from Wilmington who served as Senate minority leader from 1998 to 2004. During his time as minority leader, the number of Republican state senators doubled, increasing from 11 to 22. Ballantine resigned from the Senate in 2004 to run for governor, becoming the Republican nominee that election and eventually losing to incumbent Democratic Gov. Mike Easley.
Ballantine is an attorney and is also registered with the state as a lobbyist for several groups, including the Sports Betting Alliance. He also owns Ballantine Company, a government relations and consulting firm, which claims on its website that it offers “unparalleled access to the key decision makers.”
Ballantine was sworn in as a trustee at the board’s most recent meeting in July.
The state Senate, upon Berger’s recommendation, also nominated one new member:
▪ Jim Blaine, Berger’s former chief of staff from 2011 to 2018 and a powerful political player in the state. Blaine was the Republican Senate caucus director for several election cycles prior to assuming a role in Berger’s office, and in that role was an architect of the Republican strategy used to gain control of the General Assembly in 2010.
Ballantine hired Blaine for his first job in politics, The News & Observer previously reported, first working as a research assistant for the senator in the General Assembly, then moving to Ballantine’s 2004 campaign for governor. In the same N&O report, Ballantine called Blaine “one of the most powerful people in the state that no one’s ever heard of.”
Blaine is a partner at Martin & Blaine, also known as The Differentiators, a political consulting firm he operates with Ray Martin, Berger’s former press secretary. Blaine was hired by the UNC System in 2019 to serve as what it described as a strategic adviser as the system searched for a new president, earning $15,000 per month for his services, paid to the Martin & Blaine firm.
Though the UNC System filled the presidency with Peter Hans in 2020, Martin & Blaine held an active contract with the university system until May — about one month before Blaine was named as the Senate’s appointee to the UNC trustees in June — according to documents provided to The N&O by the UNC System through a public records request. The firm was paid more than $800,000 by the UNC System between January 2019 and May 2023, according to payment records provided by the system.
The state House, upon the recommendation of House Speaker Tim Moore, nominated one new member:
▪ Jennifer Evans, an investor and businesswoman from Chapel Hill. Evans has served as chair of the Morehead-Cain scholarship fund and co-chaired the Campaign for Carolina, UNC’s recent fundraising campaign that raised more than $5 billion over five years. She has previously served as an adjunct professor of the practice in the economics department at UNC.
Along with other leaders of the Campaign for Carolina, Evans is listed as having signed a 2019 statement in which the group expressed support for then-UNC Chancellor Carol Folt following her decision to remove UNC’s Confederate monument, known as Silent Sam. Folt’s decision led to the UNC System Board of Governors accepting her resignation months earlier than she had planned to leave the university. The group urged the Board of Governors to “act wisely and show true leadership.”
Evans is a registered Republican. Campaign finance records show she donated $5,400 to Moore last year.
Returning members of the UNC Board of Trustees
Three members first appointed to the board in 2019 were reappointed to the board by the Board of Governors this year for a second term, which will expire in 2027:
▪ David Boliek, the board’s current chair, is a Fayetteville-based attorney. Boliek is a partner at the Williford, Crenshaw, Boliek and Frangakis law firm, where he works with Michael Williford, a member of the Board of Governors since 2015. Boliek has previously worked as a journalist, political consultant and prosecutor. Boliek became chair of the board in 2021, shortly after the board concluded its months-long battle over whether journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones would be granted tenure to teach at the university. The board eventually voted to grant Hannah-Jones tenure, but Boliek voted against the measure.
Campaign finance records show Boliek has donated more than $7,000 to Moore and almost $5,000 to Berger since 2019.
▪ John Preyer, the board’s current vice chair, is the co-founder and president of an environmental company. He lives in Chapel Hill. Preyer previously worked as a legislative director for U.S. Sen. Lauch Faircloth of North Carolina, a longtime-Democrat-turned-Republican who served one term. Preyer became vice chair in the same board election in which Boliek became vice chair; Preyer also voted against granting Hannah-Jones tenure.
Preyer is a registered Republican. Campaign finance records show he has donated more than $10,000 to Berger and more than $7,000 to Moore since 2019. He also donated $2,500 to Gov. Roy Cooper in 2020.
▪ Ralph Meekins, a Shelby-based attorney and partner at the Teddy, Meekins and Talbert law firm. He primarily practices in personal injury and workers compensation law.
At the board’s most recent meeting in July, Meekins expressed concerns over a resolution the board was considering in response to the U.S. Supreme Court striking down UNC’s race-conscious admissions policy in a landmark decision. The resolution, which the board eventually passed over Meekins’ objection, prohibits the university from considering “race, sex, color or ethnicity” in admissions and hiring decisions. Meekins urged the board to further consult with the university’s legal counsel before taking action.
“I have a lot of reasons why I’m against this resolution,” Meekins told his fellow board members. “For a fact, I know [it] goes well beyond the Supreme Court ruling.”
Meekins is a registered Republican, and campaign finance records show he has donated about $4,500 to Moore since 2019.
The remaining members of the board were appointed in 2021 and their terms do not expire until 2025:
▪ Robert Bryan, a former Republican state legislator who served in both the House and Senate. In the Senate, Bryan, who lives in Charlotte, finished Dan Bishop’s term after Bishop was elected to Congress in 2019. Bryan served on the UNC System Board of Governors from 2017 to 2019. Bryan previously practiced law with a Winston-Salem firm and has also worked for health care companies.
▪ Perrin Jones, a former Republican member of the state House. Jones served in the House beginning in 2019, when he was appointed to fill the seat of now-U.S. Rep. Greg Murphy after Murphy was elected to Congress. Jones ran for reelection in 2021 but lost. Jones is an anesthesiologist at East Carolina Anesthesia Associates in Greenville.
▪ Marty Kotis, a real estate developer from Greensboro. Kotis previously served on the UNC System Board of Governors from 2013 to 2021. He is a registered Republican.
▪ Vinay Patel, a hotel executive who operates and manages hotels throughout the Southeast and Midwest. Patel lives in Charlotte, where the hotel company is based.
Campaign finance records show Patel, who was appointed by the state House, has donated more than $12,000 to Moore since 2020. He has donated more than $10,000 to Berger since 2019. Patel is registered as an unaffiliated voter.
▪ Malcolm Turner, the board’s current secretary, is an executive at DraftKings, a sports betting and fantasy sports company. The company allows fans to bet on NCAA sports and has lobbied the General Assembly to legalize sports betting outside of tribal casinos, which it did this year.
Turner’s appointment to the UNC board was met with objections from some Board of Governors members in 2021, who expressed concerns over his ties to the company and potential conflicts it could create. Six members voted against his appointment, but the majority of the board voted in favor of the move.
Turner previously served as president of the NBA G League and vice chancellor and athletics director at Vanderbilt University.
▪ Ramsey White, a development professional who has worked for the Morehead-Cain Foundation at UNC and for the university itself. She is now a volunteer with several organizations and causes.
This story was originally published August 17, 2023 at 12:47 PM with the headline "Who’s on UNC’s Board of Trustees? Here’s what to know about members’ political connections."
