WINSTON-SALEM – The North Carolina School of the Arts Board of Trustees has elected new officers for 2008-09.

Charles C. Lucas III of Charlotte is the new chair of the board. The new vice chair is Ralph Hanes Womble of Winston-Salem, and the new secretary of the board is Donald E. Flow of Winston-Salem. The Board of Trustees also elected a new liaison to the North Carolina School of the Arts Board of Visitors: Mrs. Christine McArdle “Tina” McGuire of Asheville.

A native of Charlotte, Charlie Lucas is a grandson of Mary D.B.T. Semans of Durham, an emeritus member of the board, and the late Dr. James H. Semans, who was the first chair of the trustees and served in that position for nearly 17 years (1964-1981).

Lucas was elected as chair on July 9, the same day that the N.C. General Assembly voted to change the name of the North Carolina School of the Arts to the University of North Carolina School of the Arts.

“This is an extraordinary time for all of us who love and revere the School of the Arts,” Lucas said. “Its future has never been brighter.”

In selecting Lucas as board chair, the School has indeed come full circle. Two years ago, acclaimed conductor John Mauceri was selected as chancellor, and many applauded the fact that the arts school would be run again by an artist, as it had been in the beginning.

Reflecting upon succeeding his grandfather as board chair almost 30 years later, Lucas said, “It is truly humbling.”

Lucas is a 1980 graduate of Woodberry Forest School, and a 1984 graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he was a Morehead Scholar.  He attended Duke University School of Law where he served as editor-in-chief of The Alaska Law Review and obtained his law degree in 1990.

Lucas is a partner with The McAulay Firm, a retained executive search firm based in Charlotte. In addition to his work in the search business, he is active in civic and community affairs. He currently serves as a trustee of The Duke Endowment, a member of the Board of Visitors of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a member of the Board of Advisors of the Thomas S. Kenan Institute for the Arts, and a member of the Board of Advisors of the Institute for the Arts and Humanities at UNC–Chapel Hill. He is active in alumni and development affairs at Duke Law School and has served as a trustee and/or director of Woodberry Forest School, the Mint Museum of Art, Communities in Schools and several other not-for-profit organizations. Lucas previously served on the NCSA Board of Trustees from 1997 to 2005.

Ralph Womble is the recently retired vice president of Leggett & Platt, Inc., and CEO of Hanes Companies, Inc., in Winston-Salem.  Womble is president of the Winston-Salem Millennium Fund and is on the board of directors of the Winston-Salem Alliance; Winston-Salem Business, Inc.; the Downtown Winston-Salem Partnership; and The Downtown Arts District Association. He has also served on the boards of Woodberry Forest School, Summit School, and Reynolda House Museum of Art. He is also a trustee for the John Wesley and Anna Hodgin Hanes Foundation.

Womble received his B.A. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and his M.B.A. from the Babcock Graduate School of Management at Wake Forest University.

Don Flow received a B.S. in commerce from the University of Virginia, where he was a varsity athlete and member of the All-Academic Atlantic Coast Conference Team. He also received a Diploma in Christian Studies from Regent College in Vancouver, British Columbia. He holds a Master of Business Administration from Wake Forest University, where he graduated first in his class and received the Judson DeRamus Award for outstanding leadership.

Chairman and CEO of Flow Companies, Inc., Flow is a franchised automobile dealer for Chevrolet, Buick (three locations), Cadillac, Hummer (two locations), Saab (two locations), Honda, BMW, Mini, Saturn (two locations), Volkswagen (two locations), Audi (two locations), Acura, Subaru, Mazda, Suzuki and Isuzu (two locations). Flow has been active in the local community and beyond. He has served or is serving as chairman of the Board of Visitors at Wake Forest University Babcock Graduate School of Management, Board of Trustees of Wake Forest University, chairman of the Board of Directors of the University of Virginia’s Institute in Advanced Studies, chairman of the Board of Trustees of Summit School, and chairman of the Board of Directors of Winston-Salem Business, Inc., among many others.

Tina McGuire is a native of Toledo, Ohio, and received her Bachelor of Arts from Briarcliff College in Briarcliff Manor, N.Y. She is involved as a community volunteer primarily in the arts in Buncombe County and the city of Asheville. Within the past 12 years, she has served as interim executive director of the Asheville Area Arts Council and Pack Place Performing Arts, an organization that serves the Diana Wortham Theatre. She has also served on the Asheville Symphony Board of Directors, the North Carolina Shakespeare Festival Board in High Point, the St. Genevieve/Gibbons Hall School Board and the Carolina Day School Board. She also spearheaded the inaugural event of First Night Asheville, the New Year's Eve celebration in downtown Asheville.

Currently she is chairman of the Board of Directors for Pack Place Education, Arts and Science Center. She continues to serve on the Asheville Merchants Association Foundation, the board for the Asheville Area Arts Council, the Diana Wortham Theatre board, the city-appointed Public Art Board, the Asheville City Parks and Greenways Foundation, the Warren Wilson College Board of Trustees, and more.

The North Carolina School of the Arts was the first state-supported, residential school of its kind in the nation.  Established by the N.C. General Assembly in 1963, the School of the Arts opened in Winston-Salem in 1965 and became part of the University of North Carolina in 1972.  More than 1,100 students from middle school through graduate school train for careers in the arts in five professional schools:  Dance, Design and Production (including a Visual Arts
Program), Drama, Filmmaking and Music.  For more information, visit www.ncarts.edu.