From Student Body Presidents to University Leaders

When Ed Stack ’92 joined the NC State Board of Trustees in 2019, Vice Chancellor Kevin Howell approached him, shook his hand and said, “You know what? You might become the first former student body president to be chair of the board.”

Pretty neat, huh?

Not only did that prediction come true earlier this year, but Stack also played an integral role in recommending that Howell would become the first former NC State student body president to be named chancellor — a distinction that will come full circle on Oct. 30 at Reynolds Coliseum when Howell is installed as the institution’s 15th leader.

For Stack, who received a Bachelor of Science degree from the Wilson College of Textiles in textiles apparel and management, it will also provide a unique opportunity that no other alum, with the possible exception of late UNC System president William Friday, has had: to speak for a second time at an NC State installation ceremony.

In 1991, Stack was serving his second term as student body president and spoke on behalf of his classmates at the installation of Larry Monteith, the school’s 11th chief executive officer.

In all candor, he admits he doesn’t remember a word he said at that ceremony; just that he spoke excitedly, nervously and a little overwhelmed at the enormity of the event, which came at a time of difficult transition following the resignation of Chancellor Bruce Poulton.

This time around, his words will be crafted with a lifetime’s experience as a campus fundraiser for the NC State Student Aid Association, a private business executive and a parent of two students. The context is different, too, given the stability, growth and improvements made to the university during Randy Woodson’s 15 years as chancellor.

Stack’s perspective has changed, even if his devotion to his alma mater has not.

“As a student leader, your perspective is fairly narrow,” Stack says. “You are there to represent student opinion. Since that time, I’ve worked on multiple volunteer boards, I’ve sent both my son and my daughter here and I’ve been a trustee for six years.

“My perspective is different now. All of us on the board of trustees are trying to fully look at the future of the institution from a position of leadership and experience.”

What drew us to Kevin, besides his obvious ties to the university, was his abilities as a communicator and his vision for the future.

Their input comes from the full knowledge of the updated strategic plan, the facilities master plan, the opportunities to make changes, and the threats posed to the university.

“There is a lot more to consider that I didn’t have to when I was a student,” Stack says.

Back then, Stack was a first-generation college student from the unincorporated Rowan County township of Enochville (population 877 as of 2020), unsure of what his future might hold at a time when that community was suffering from the closing of the world’s largest textile manufacturing plant.

Like Howell — a native of the Cleveland County town of Shelby (population 20,203) — Stack is the embodiment of a critical part of NC State’s land-grant mission: to engage with students from rural parts of the state, educate them and encourage them to give back to the institution in whatever way they best see fit.

For Stack, that has meant giving his service, whether by being one of only seven two-term student body presidents in school history, serving 16 years with the NC State Student Aid Association or sharing knowledge gained in two decades in private business.

He has volunteered on the board of the Alumni Association, the NC State University Foundation board and the NC State Investment Fund board. In addition to his two stints on the Board of Trustees as student body president, he rejoined the Board of Trustees in 2019 and was named chair earlier this year.

“Ed is a unique leader,” says Randy Ramsey, former chair of the UNC Board of Governors who has known Stack for more than three decades. “He is someone who leads from the front without being someone who looks for the credit for what he has done. For me, it shows how NC State people love the university and want to stay involved, no matter where they go in life.

“They want to come back and serve the university.”

That’s true of both Stack and Howell, who both served as student body presidents and  remained connected to their alma mater after graduation.

“I see what NC State has done for me and what it has meant for me,” Stack says. “It makes me want to give back in every possible way. And I see how we can keep working to continuously make it better.”

Stack, who now lives in Morehead City and is the vice president of Ramsey’s Starflite Companies, is the Board of Trustees’ new chair, the highest volunteer leadership position in the university’s hierarchy.

Earlier this year, as chair of the chancellor search committee, Stack worked with committee members and a search firm to complete the difficult work of finding a replacement for Randy Woodson, the third-longest tenured leader in NC State’s history, who retired earlier this year after 15 years on the job.

It was an educational experience for Stack, other members of the committee and the search firm hired to vet potential candidates from all over the country, learning how others from a broad spectrum of backgrounds perceived the university.

“Resoundingly, NC State is incredibly well thought of nationally,” Stack says. “The candidates that we talked with, the people calling about candidates — they all talked about how NC State is on the precipice of something incredible and how the rest of America hasn’t quite caught up with where maybe the academic community sees NC State.

“So I think that from that perspective, we were able to get an incredible candidate pool, both traditional and nontraditional.”

The candidate pool was deep, but Howell’s connection and dedication to NC State — as well as his vision for the university — made him stand out in the eyes of the search committee.

“What drew us to Kevin, besides his obvious ties to the university, was his abilities as a communicator and his vision for the future,” Stack says. “We received more than 6,000 questionnaires, we talked to faculty, staff, students and alumni and overwhelmingly we heard the same thing: We wanted someone to continue to elevate NC State.

“We did not want someone who wanted to keep it as it was, in a pretty elevated position from the place we were when Chancellor Woodson first got here. We wanted someone who could communicate at all levels and someone who would continue to elevate NC State.”

And that will be the role Howell will formally assume at the Oct. 30 installation.