The North Carolina Central University Board of Trustees has added three new members to serve four-year terms following appointments by the University of North Carolina Board of Governors and the North Carolina Senate.
Appointed by the Board of Governors were William V. Bell, a retired engineer and former mayor of Durham, and Keith Chadwell, Durham’s deputy city manager. Attorney Roderick G. Allison, of Creedmoor, N.C., was appointed by the state senate.
Current board members reappointed to a second four-year term include Michael Johnson, Oita C. Coleman and Isaiah Tidwell.
Brandon W. Hedgebeth, 2019-2020 president of the NCCU Student Government Association, will join the Board of Trustees for a one-year term.
The Board recently elected Kevin M. Holloway, chairman; Michael Johnson, vice chairman; and Oita Coleman, secretary.
Leaving the board are George R. Hamilton, a member of the board from 2008 to 2019 and most recently its chairman, vice-chairman John Barbee, who served from 2011 to 2019 and John McCubbins, Ph.D., who served a four-year term.
Bell is executive vice-president and chief operating officer at the Udi Community Development Corporation. In 2017, he concluded a 16-year tenure as Durham’s longest serving mayor. Previously, Bell was a senior engineer for IBM and a Durham County Commissioner. He holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Howard University and a master’s in electrical engineering from New York University.
Chadwell has been Durham’s deputy city manager since 2009. He was previously the city manager of Pompano Beach, Fla., and deputy county manager for Fulton County, Ga., which includes Atlanta. Earlier in his 30-year career, Chadwell held administrative roles with the District of Columbia Department of Human Services and other agencies. Chadwell holds a B.S. in political science from Morehouse College and an MPA from the University of Toledo.
NCCU alumnus Roderick G. Allison, an attorney, founded The Allison Office, a general law practice in Creedmoor, in 2003. He previously worked as in-house counsel for a nonprofit corporation. Allison earned a bachelor’s degree in political science and English from NCCU and a Juris Doctor degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Hedgebeth is a senior with a double major in history and English from High Point, N.C. He is a member of the University Honors Program, Centennial Scholars Program, Collegiate 100 Black Men and the Pre-Law Society. Hedgebeth is a former Eagle Ambassador and student orientation leader.
