All four individuals who will be interviewed for the position of president at Cape Fear Community College have the qualities that reflect the board of trustees’ priorities for a new leader, according to chairman Jason Harris. The college announced the names of its finalists Thursday evening.

“We made sure we selected people with doctorates,” Harris said Friday. “We also preferred candidates that had experience in North Carolina.”

The four, whose names were made public in a news release, are David Brand, currently the senior vice president and chief academic officer at Fayetteville Technical Community College; Quentin Johnson, former provost of Wilberforce University in Ohio who is now vice president for student support services at Guilford Technical Community College in Jamestown, North Carolina; Matthew Meyer, associate vice president of STEM innovations and strategic planning for the N.C. Community College System; and Amanda Lee, CFCC’s interim president.

Before being named to her current post, Lee was the college’s vice president of instructional services.

The board expects to interview these candidates during the first week of June, according to the release, which added that following the interviews, the trustees will submit the names of the finalists to the N.C. Community College System for review. After system approval, the board will announce its choice for president later this summer.

Harris said the board prefers candidates with experience in a North Carolina community college because it “overwhelmingly believes” that the N.C. Community College system is more complex than those in many other states and its relationship with the UNC system is important to understand.

“Previous experience in North Carolina counts for more than you can believe,” he said. “Cape Fear is growing fast. A [candidate’s] working knowledge of the system, to us, is hugely valuable.”

Harris said also that an understanding of where CFCC has been and where it stands at present would be important in a candidate.

“We’re one of the fastest-growing community colleges in the state. Accordingly, as a college, we don’t have time to spend a couple of years while a new president becomes familiar with things. We have an interim CFO and other vice president-level positions open that we need to hire for. It would be helpful if [the new president] knew what you can do and how” with regard to the system’s personnel policies and procedures, Harris said.

All four finalists agreed to have their names released by CFCC, according to Harris.

The search for a new president comes while the college is involved in a lawsuit filed March 27 by former president Ted Spring. Spring, who contends he was forced by the board of trustees to resign in January, is charging the trustees with breach of contract and deprivation of his civil rights, specifically his right to due process. He is asking to be reinstated as CFCC president and is demanding at least $25,000 in damages plus attorney fees.

In late April, the trustees successfully petitioned to move the case from New Hanover County Superior Court to federal District Court. 

While there have since been a number of filings in the case, the trustees were granted a 30-day extension of time in which to serve “responsive motions or pleadings” to an amended complaint filed May 8 by Gary Shipman, Spring’s attorney. The amended complaint adds all 14 trustees as defendants in the case.

Earlier this month, Spring also filed a motion to disqualify the firm of Ward and Smith from serving as counsel for the defendants. Thursday, Ward and Smith filed its opposition to the motion to disqualify.