The State Board of Community Colleges in North Carolina has chosen Thomas Stith III as the next president of the North Carolina Community College System. He will take office on January 11. The community college system includes 58 educational institutions throughout the state that enroll about 700,000 students.
Stith has been serving as district director of the U.S. Small Business Administration, where he has led the federal agency’s response to COVID-19 in North Carolina, resulting in more than $16 billion in support for small businesses in the state. Earlier, Stith served as chief of staff to former North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory from 2013 to 2017 and was a three-term city council member in Durham from 1999 to 2007.
“My vision for the North Carolina Community College System is guided by the principle that education translates into opportunity,” Stith said. “The North Carolina Community College System will lead our state’s economic recovery by providing education and training for our diverse population. The system will become a national model for educational excellence.”
Stith holds a bachelor’s degree and an MBA from North Carolina Central University.
