UMO Foundation Board Appoints New Leaders at Recent Meeting
UMO Foundation Board Appoints New Leaders at Recent Meeting
MOUNT OLIVE- A new panel of officers for the University of Mount Olive Foundation Board was recently announced during the Board’s spring meeting held on January 21. Jimmy Williams, vice president for Institutional Advancement at UMO, will serve as president of the Foundation. Rob Bizzell, president of Realo Discount Drugs Inc., will take on the role of Foundation Board chair. Ray McDonald, Jr. of Mount Olive, CEO of the ClubSoft, will serve as vice chair. These newly appointed officers will serve a three year term.
Jimmy Williams is a life-long resident of Wayne County and has a long history of service as an educator, coach, and administrator. He has been a teacher, coach, principal, assistant superintendent and superintendent of the Wayne County Public Schools; and he served for 10 years as the head of Institutional Advancement at Mount Olive College. He led the efforts to secure the funds for several of the buildings on campus and has a wealth of knowledge of advancement and of the friends and supporters of the University.
Kinston native Rob Bizzell is founder of Realo Discount Drug Stores, with 21 locations in eastern North Carolina, and Carolina Home Medical, with nine locations in eastern North Carolina. Bizzell is an alumnus of UMO, having attended back in the early 1970s. He is also a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he earned his pharmacy degree. Bizzell is active in many organizations including the North Carolina Pharmaceutical Association, Arendell Parrott Academy, Kinston Community Council for the Arts, Lenoir County Committee of 100, Pride of Kinston, among others.
Mount Olive native Ray McDonald, Jr. graduated from the University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1988 with a bachelor’s degree in economics. His early professional career included working as a regional sales manager for Medic Computer Systems and managing the sales team for A4 HealthSystems. In 2007 McDonald joined McConnell Golf as the vice president of Sales and Marketing. Today, he serves as the CEO of the ClubSoft division of McConnell Golf and ClubSoft.
Also announced during the meeting Mount Olive native and business woman Stephanie Leanne Kornegay will fulfill the unexpired term of her father, George R. Kornegay, Jr., which was left vacant with the passing of Mr. Kornegay in November. Kornegay is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology. After college Kornegay played professional golf on the LPGA Tour, earning her class “A” designations for PGA of America, LPGA and Swiss PGA. She worked as a golf professional and teacher from 1983 to 2003 in Greensboro and Charlotte, NC and in Luzern Switzerland. Kornegay is a licensed real estate broker, and in 2003 she joined her father and her brother, Kevin, in The Kornegay Co., LLC.
In commenting about following in her father’s footsteps, Kornegay said, “My father was passionate about UMO and knew how important this Board is to its growth and the importance the external impacts the University has on our community. I am proud of him and so honored to be asked to fulfill his unexpired term. I am hopeful that I can help to continue to make UMO the best that it can be.”
The purpose of the UMO Foundation is to find alternate sources of funding and equipment for a variety of programs and projects addressing the needs of the growing University. The Board of Directors are expected to play a critical role in providing UMO access to key philanthropic, corporate, civic and governmental decision-makers, while serving as ambassadors to further the mission of the University
“The University of Mount Olive Foundation is honored to have these individuals on our leadership team helping our efforts to raise resources for the promotion of the transforming mission of the University,” stated Philip Kerstetter, president of the University. “They bring a wealth of talent, contacts, and passion that will be tremendous assets as we remain committed to providing a quality educational experience in an environment that promotes Christian faith, values, and ideals. The members of the Board of Directors have proven themselves to be able business and community leaders that are willing to give back to this institution that is making a real difference in not only the lives of the students we serve, but also to the region, state, and nation as a whole.”
The University of Mount Olive is a private institution rooted in the liberal arts tradition with defining Christian values. The University, sponsored by the Convention of Original Free Will Baptists, has locations in Mount Olive, New Bern, Wilmington, Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, Research Triangle Park, Washington, Jacksonville, and in Smithfield at Johnston Community College. For more information, visit old.umo.edu.
L to R: Rob Bizzell, Jimmy Williams, Stephanie Kornegay and Ray McDonald, Jr.