Published in the Asheville Citizen-Times, February 6, 2020
The list of potential successors to Dennis King as A-B Tech president is down to three names.
The Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College Board of Trustees announced on Feb. 6 three finalists in its presidential search. Public forums and interviews over the next few weeks will introduce the three candidates — all school leaders at Southern community colleges or K-12 systems.
The finalists include John Gossett, president of McDowell Technical Community College; Gregory Little, the superintendent of Lexington County School District in Lexington, S.C.; and Beth Pitonzo, a vice president for instruction and student support at Guilford Technical Community College in Jamestown.
A-B Tech board Chair John Parham Jr. said the school received more than 70 applications for the position. Over the next three weeks, each finalist will hold public forums at A-B Tech’s Asheville and Madison campuses.
“We welcome and appreciate positive input to the selection process and strongly encourage the public and A-B Tech employees to attend the forums,” Parham said. “We believe that with both community and campus-wide collaboration, A-B Tech will be able to find the most qualified candidate.”
The community college's board intends for the new president to begin by July 1, A-B Tech spokeswoman Kerri Glover said in a statement. The next president will be the seventh in A-B Tech history, following Dennis King’s retirement at the end of January. King had served as president since 2014.
One of 58 community colleges in the North Carolina, A-B Tech is the largest college or university in Western North Carolina, enrolling more than 23,000 students a year at its five campuses in Buncombe and Madison counties.