Fifty-five civic and community leaders from across the state have been accepted to form the 2016-17 class for Leadership North Carolina, the state’s leadership engagement program.
 
Wilmington’s Preston Davenport, director of business development at Eckel & Vaughan, has been selected for the program.
 
Leadership North Carolina’s Class XXIV is made up of top leaders from the government, business, nonprofit and education sectors.
 
Over the course of six two-and-a-half day sessions Class XXIV participants will learn about issues critical to the state through discussions with top officials and professionals, field trips and experiential learning activities, according to a news release. LNC’s sessions focus on five key areas: economic development, education, environment, government and health and human services. Through LNC’s program, participants gain new insight into North Carolina’s strengths and challenges and develop their own action plans for ways they can improve and empower their communities and the state as a whole, the release stated.