By a unanimous vote of the N.C. State Board of Community Colleges, James "Jim" Morton was approved as the new president of Cape Fear Community College.
 
The state board voted on Morton’s selection during its monthly meeting Friday, CFCC spokeswoman Rachel Nadeau stated in a news release Friday morning.
 
Morton has been at the college since 2015, first as vice president of business and financial services and later as executive vice president. He was tapped to serve as interim president after former President Amanda Lee resigned effective Dec. 31, 2017.
 
Before coming to Cape Fear Community College, Morton served as finance director of the Wilmington International Airport (ILM) for almost 15 years. 
 
CFCC’s board of trustees chose Morton to succeed Lee on a permanent basis without doing a search.
 
Morton attended the University of North Carolina Wilmington and holds a bachelor’s degree in marketing from UNCW’s Cameron School of Business.

There is no legislative or policy requirement that community colleges conduct a search, and there are no minimum requirements for community college presidents, according to Brian Long, spokesman for the state community college system.