NEW HANOVER COUNTY — As committee appointments were broached at the New Hanover commissioners meeting, tensions rose when it came to The Endowment. Vice Chair LeAnn Pierce indicated she thought she was being “bullied into a vote” from one of its appointees, but the founding member vehemently denied the accusation to Port City Daily after the meeting.
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The New Hanover Community Endowment — originally funded with $1.25 billion from the county’s sale of New Hanover Regional Medical Center to Novant in 2021 — is made up of just more than a dozen members. Five are appointed by the commissioners, six from Novant and two from The Endowment.
Fourteen people applied for the latest round of three-year appointments for New Hanover County commissioners to consider. Included were the reappointment of founding chair Spence Broadhurst — previous Wilmington mayor from 2003 to 2006 — and current chair Shannon Winslow.
However, when it came to appointments, only Winslow was unanimously decided to continue forth. Broadhurst received a nomination from Commissioner Rob Zapple, favored by his Democratic colleague, Stephanie Walker. Their Republican counterparts voted for Broadhurst to be replaced by Justin Burgess, as motioned by Dane Scalise and favored by Chair Bill Rivenbark and Vice Chair Pierce.
Pierce indicated in the meeting an appointee had reached out to her and threatened to run against her as commissioner if her vote didn’t sway in his favor. Though she didn’t name the nominee, it was implied to be Broadhurst. Pierce said she pulled every commissioner aside after Thursday’s agenda review meeting for a private conversation about the incident.
“I’ve been an elected official for 12 years and I will not be bullied and I will not be pressured into a vote,” Pierce said at the dais Monday. “If you want a vote from me, call me and say, ‘These are my merits. This is what I want. This is what I agree to do for you and our community.’ Don’t say, ‘If you don’t do this, I’ll run against you.’ … You will not get a vote from me that way, ever.”
Broadhurst maintains he never made the threat. He told Port City Daily after the commissioners’ vote Monday that Pierce’s recollection was “180 degrees from the truth.” According to Broadhurst, he had what he thought was a “cordial” and “pleasant” conversation with the vice chair over the summer. Broadhurst said he presented to her his reasoning for the Endowment reappointment.
“I said that in the next few years I was hopefully going to have more time to dedicate to public service and I want to commit that time to the endowment. Simply to re-emphasize that point — and nothing else,” he explained; Broadhurst also serves as president of the eastern North Carolina region for First National Bank. “I mentioned that actually a number of other people had suggested that I use my time to run for county commissioner, but I clearly said that I did not want to do that — I wanted to dedicate my time and resources to the endowment.”
Broadhurst recounted he stated three times during their exchange he had no intention to run for commissioner. On Monday he told PCD: “Communication has two parts: specifically what was said and what someone chooses to hear.”
When Broadhurst caught wind of Pierce’s interpretation, he called it devastating. On Sept. 1, he said he sent her a text to reassure her that’s not what he meant.
“She did not respond to either my text or phone call,” Broadhurst detailed. “I also provided a copy of the followup text to Commissioner Scalise before the board meeting.”
Port City Daily reached out to Pierce, whose term expires next year, but didn’t hear back by press.
Zapple told his colleagues at Monday’s meeting he thought Broadhurst would bring more stability at a time when it was needed on the Endowment. Broadhurst was the first board chair on the 13-member Endowment and has served as chair for its governance and finance committees as well.
He helped hire William Buster and Dan Winslow as CEOs, both of whom left the Endowment in a year or less. The former is speculated to have been pushed out, while the latter exited in July, stating personal priorities took precedence.
Zapple iterated to his commissioners how the current interim CEO Sophie Dagenais appeared before them during their Aug. 18 meeting and indicated a desire not to have more staff or board changes. This was something Zapple asked her about at the time.
“For any CEO, especially in a period of transition, there is likely no more important consideration than the stability of our work,” Dagenais said. “I would promote continuity any day of the week.”
“We need to pay attention to what the Endowment asked for,” Zapple said Monday and read from Broadhurt’s application:
“I believe my experience and knowledge of the startup process, as well as the evolution today, are critical assets for the Endowment, ensuring that the Endowment adheres to the letter and spirit of the founding documents” and its strategic plan remains consistent with the county’s.
“I couldn’t say it better myself,” Zapple said at the meeting.
Pierce responded to Zapple’s remarks as ignoring a private conversation she had with him and every commissioner that attended the county’s agenda review meeting on Thursday.
“I take it, then, you think it’s OK for a commissioner to be bullied and intimidated for their vote,” Pierce accused Zapple. “I discussed this with you in private and I told you we needed to keep it in private.”
Zapple mandated he was merely reading from the document before him, not speaking to the discussion he had with Pierce.
“I can only take it by your comments that you condone the behavior,” Pierce said.
“I certainly wasn’t a part of any of that behavior and I’m sorry if that was your interpretation,” Zapple responded.
Zapple and Commissioner Stephanie Walker both stated the Endowment appointments needed a more robust, transparent discussion. Walker, who wasn’t at Thursday’s agenda review meeting, emailed all commissioners over the weekend regarding the two appointments.
“I have been told a board majority has already made its choice for the Community Endowment Board,” she wrote. “If true, the outcome has been fixed before any genuine discussion. That is not a fair process, nor is it transparent, and it undermines the public trust we owe in safeguarding $1.6 billion for the benefit of New Hanover County.”
Since being founded with $1.25 billion, the Endowment funds have grown due to its investment portfolio; to date, it has doled out roughly $138 million to area nonprofits. By 2028, as the Endowment transitions into a private foundation, it’s required by the IRS to give out 5% of its assets.
Its grant money focuses on four pillars — education, health, public safety and economy — and its strategy, to be updated in 2026 as well, also lines up with the county’s strategic plan. Broadhurst’s application indicated he was “laser-focused on establishing a structure and consistency that will endure.”
Walker wrote in her letter to commissioners and reiterated on Monday to her colleagues that the significance of the Endowment’s goals to “shape the future of our community for generations” deserve a more inclusive discussion before the public. She decried the commissioners’ selection as “pre-ordained.”
“Maybe we should consider a different process,” Walker suggested, noting meeting behind closed doors further erodes public trust.
The public has been skeptical over the Endowment already, due to the controversial hospital sale and the lack of access to board meetings and minutes. The Endowment holds two community meetings a year, which Zapple prompted Dagenais in August to increase to the point the public becomes “bored to tears” over its progress and readily available access to information at all times.
“Out of all the committees we do, this is the most important,” Walker said. “People trust us to be really thoughtful with this and I don’t feel like that’s being done.”
Walker noted a lot of good people applied for the Endowment appointments, including Winslow and Broadhurst. She thought a broader discussion should be had about all of them, many of whom also included community figure Derrick Anderson and a former CFCC vice president, Carl Brown, both African American.
In 2024, former NC attorney general and now Governor Josh Stein sent a letter to the commissioners, Novant and The Endowment about bringing more diversity onto the board. Stein signed off on the endowment deal in 2021 but not before requiring its board add two more positions than originally planned, in order to create more diversity.
Stein’s letter came after commissioners voted to forego the reappointment of two founding board members, one of whom brought diversity to the board. In 2023, The Endowment chair at the time, Bill Cameron, asked commissioners to reappoint Hannah Dawson Gauge and Virginia Adams. Instead the board chose to install two of its former commissioners, Woody White and Pat Kusek, both of whom voted for the hospital sale and the creation of The Endowment. Kusek stepped down after only six months on The Endowment board and without explanation.
Walker said Monday diversity needs to be considered, even going beyond race, ethnicity and gender, but also to envelop varied ideas.
“I read your emails over the weekend,” Pierce told Walker. “And I didn’t respond, but you were not at the meeting on Thursday. … I had discussions with every other commissioner up here. You have not called me, you have not had any conversation with me…”
“You could have called me as well, Commissioner Pierce,” Walker responded.
Pierce said she presumed Walker didn’t want to discuss The Endowment appointment since she didn’t attend the agenda review.
“You miss meetings, too,” Walker said. “That’s not an excuse.”
Scalise noted his motion hadn’t been seconded to thoroughly open discussion on the floor. Pierce did so and Scalise explained he would have gone along with the status quo and potentially reappointed Broadhurst had he not been informed of the incident Pierce detailed.
“I believe Commissioner Pierce whenever she described the conversation she had with that nominee,” he said. “And it matters to me and it should matter to everybody.”
Scalise addressed Zapple as well, particularly for him speaking out about The Endowment over the summer. Zapple was in the news when Winslow departed as CEO and the commissioner posted on social media a response to Endowment board member White’s call for hiring a local CEO instead of launching a national search.
Zapple — the only commissioner to vote against the hospital sale in 2020 — suggested The Endowment board was running interference and overreaching in its capacity: “Choosing a local CEO is just a way to tighten board control and make meddling easier.”
Scalise described his motion to keep the current chair and appoint Burgess as a chance to maintain stability yet shake up ideas that could benefit The Endowment.
“It’s perfectly in line with the comments you made previously about your dissatisfaction with what some the Endowment has done,” Scalise said.
Burgess is a financial planner with Copley Investment Management, owned by Ron Copley (his wife, Wanda, used to be an attorney for New Hanover County before retiring two years ago). Burgess noted in his application to The Endowment board that he would be Copley’s successor and the company managed $250 million in portfolios for corporations, endowments and foundations. Scalise told Zapple he would be familiar with Burgess’ work as well, as the financial planner helps manage Airlie Gardens finances.
Burgess also listed on his application experience as president and grants committee member for the New Hanover County Community Foundation and was recently selected by the Chamber of Commerce’s 40 Under 40.
“He is a person of deep and sincere faith,” Scalise continued (Burgess cited the sentiment of Luke 12:48 on his application: “to whom much is given, much is expected”). “He will do an excellent job on the New Hanover Community Endowment. And I am not here to point fingers, cast blame. I thank Mr. Broadhurst for his service on The Endowment.”
Walker still pushed to devise a different method to appoint Endowment board members. She stood by the fact she didn’t think it was being carried through appropriately and asked for more collaboration.
Though thanking Walker for her comments, Scalise countered them. He said commissioners have two moments to discuss items before the public: at an agenda review and its regular meeting.
“We are discussing it right now, so to suggest anything less than transparency, when there is a discussion happening right here, right now and there was an opportunity to discuss it at an agenda review…” he said.
“Mr. Scalise, please, stop talking down to me,” Walker interjected. “I understand the words you’re saying. … I don’t need a lecture.”
“Mrs. Walker, I’m really doing everything in my power to speak as calmly and patiently as I can,” he said, before Walker interrupted to call the vote.
The commissioners decided Winslow will continue her service to The Endowment, with Burgess now joining the board. Broadhurst told PCD his term ends Sept. 30 — “unless I resign earlier.”
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