UNC board selects new chairman to replace Harry Smith

Randy Ramsey, head of a boat building company in Beaufort, is the UNC Board of Governors' new chairman, replacing outgoing board chairman Harry Smith.

Posted 2:07 p.m. Oct 1, 2019 — Updated 4:05 p.m. Oct 1, 2019

Travis Fain

, WRAL statehouse reporter

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Randy Ramsey, head of a boat building company in Beaufort, is the new chairman of the University of North carolina system's Board of Governors.

Ramsey, who has been vice chairman of the board, was selected unanimously and without debate during a special session of the board Tuesday morning. He replaces former chairman Harry Smith, who resigned the position last week but will remain on the board, which oversees the 17-campus UNC system.

Ramsey said his goal is to “continue what (Smith) has started.” Smith responded that he is “looking forward to getting behind you."

Wendy Murphy will replace Ramsey as vice chair, and both will continue to run the board’s ongoing search for a new system president.

Interim President Dr. Bill Roper, who stepped in in January after President Margaret Spellings resigned, said last week that he would stay until next June and that he doesn't want the president's position.

Murphy and Ramsey were the only candidates for the two board positions, and the board went into closed session after the elections. It’s unclear what they discussed, but there are a number of tumultuous issues in the system right now, including the fate of East Carolina University Interim Chancellor Dan Gerlach.

Gerlach was placed on leave Monday after pictures emerged over the weekend of him drinking in Greenville.

The board's Tuesday morning meeting was via conference call. None of the members was present at the system offices in Chapel Hill.

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