LUMBERTON — The Robeson Community College Board of Trustees could not reach a decision Monday on who would fill the vacant president position, but did narrow the pool from three to two candidates.
After spending more than an hour in closed session, the board eliminated one of its three finalists, but did not publicly identify that person. The three finalists were Dr. William Brothers, Dr. Julie Post and Melissa Singler.
A final decision is expected next week, but only after more interviews.
All 12 board members were present for the decision, including trustee and county Commissioner Raymond Cummings, who has been absent for months due to an illness. Cummings’ last public appearance was at the Robeson County Board of Commissioner’s second meeting in Juneg.
The board plans to name the two finalists, but not until the person who has been eliminated is informed.
“We need to notify the other party,” Chairman Sammy Cox Jr. said. “We decided to bring two of the three candidates back.”
Cox said the eliminated candidate will be notified on Tuesday.
Cox described all three candidates as being “great,” but the individual eliminated did not have the type of experience the board is looking for, he said. Brothers is currently the vice president and chief financial officer at Southwesterm Community College in Sylva, Post is the vice president of Student Affairs at Gwinnett Technical College in Gwinnett, Georgia, and Melissa Singler is the executive vice president of Cape Fear Community College in Wilmington.
“We wanted to hear some more,” Cox said. “These are young candidates. It’s good to hear more from different areas than what we’ve heard.
“All three are great, but we have to do process of elimination.”
The board will conduct one final interview with each of the remaining two candidates on Sept. 4 and vote for a new president immediately after, Cox said.
“After we interview this time, we will vote,” Cox said.
The college received 39 applications and used a consulting firm to narrow that list to 10. Board members then reviewed the qualifications of the 10, including watching video presentations, and picked three finalists in July.
The position was made vacant with the departure of Kimberly Gold on June 30. She resigned to take the No. 2 spot with the North Carolina Community College System as senior vice president and chief academic officer. She served as RCC’s president for about two and a half years.
Formerly retired Bladen Community College president William Findt is serving on an interim basis as president.
