Charlotte-based Wachovia stripped CEO Ken Thompson of his dual role as chairman of the bank’s board. The company said it was separating those jobs as it appointed Lanty Smith as nonexecutive chairman. Smith is chairman and CEO of Tippet Capital, a Raleigh merchant banking company.
Lanty Smith, 65, Wachovia’s new chairman, brings to the job a background in textiles, law, medical-device research and merchant banking. He has served on the Wachovia board for more than 20 years.
Fayetteville native Holden Thorp, 43, was appointed Thursday as the new chancellor of UNC Chapel Hill. Thorp, a chemist who is the dean of the school’s College of Arts and Sciences, takes over July 1 from James Moeser.
The Federal Communications Commission has selected Wilmington as a test market for next year’s switch to all-digital television broadcasting. The test will begin in September. Only about 7% of the market’s households still watch over-the-air programming.
Calvin Gilmore, who turned a Myrtle Beach theater into a top music venue, has tentatively agreed to try to do the same at the Roanoke Rapids Theatre. But Gilmore warned it may be difficult to turn around the fortunes of the former Randy Parton Theatre.
Gov. Mike Easley told the state’s universities and community colleges to ignore an opinion issued by the state Attorney General’s Office and continue to admit illegal immigrants. Neither the community-college system nor the UNC system has said what it will do.
