Leadership
matters
membership
Number of GAA members*
66,199
Annual members
30,851
Life members
35,348
Student members
4,367
Total GAA membership
(by percent of all graduates)
26
Top five classes
(by membership percentage)
1956
44
1960
43
1959
41
1942, 1957 (tie)
40
Top five classes
(by total membership)
1977
1,290
1971
1,244
1981
1,217
1983
1,215
1979
1,209
* as of May 27, 2010
D. Jordan “Jordy” Whichard III ’ 79 of Greenville was installed
as chair of the GAA Board of
Directors at the Annual Alumni
Luncheon on May 8, succeeding
Eleanor Saunders Morris ’ 55 of
Chapel Hill. Donald W. Curtis ’ 63
of Raleigh assumed office as
chair-elect.
Whichard, retired publisher of
The Daily Reflector in Greenville
and group publisher for Cox North Carolina
Publications Inc., has served on the board as first vice
chair and as an N.C. district representative. He has
chaired the Enrichment Committee and was vice chair
of the Awards Committee. Whichard was chosen chair-elect last year by the board. He is a member of the
UNC Health Care System board.
Curtis is chair and CEO of Curtis Media Group. He
has served on the board as first vice chair and as an N.C.
district director. He is a member of the School of
Journalism and Mass Communication’s board of visitors
and the boards of the N.C. Community Foundation
and the UNC-TV Foundation.
As a result of elections by GAA members, Judith
Allen Vinroot ’ 65 of Charlotte is first vice chair and
James R. Zook Jr. ’ 87 of Atlanta is second vice chair.
Vinroot, a retired instructor with Central Piedmont
Community College, has served on the board since
2007 as an N.C. district director. She is a former leader
of the Mecklenburg County Carolina Club and member of the Mecklenburg Morehead (now Morehead-Cain) Scholarship selection committee.
Zook, senior communications manager with Deloitte
Services LP, has served since 2007 as an at-large district
director.
New directors elected to three-year terms representing
N.C. districts are:
; John M. “Jack” Betts Jr. ’ 68 of Raleigh, to the district
for Franklin, Granville, Harnett, Johnston, Vance,
Wake and Warren counties. Betts is associate editor of
The Charlotte Observer and served on the GAA board
from 1995 to 1998 as a constituent representative for
journalism and mass communication alumni.
; Georgiana Bircher ’ 92 of New Bern, to the district
for Beaufort, Bertie, Bladen, Camden, Carteret,
Chowan, Craven, Currituck, Dare, Duplin, Edge-combe, Gates, Greene, Halifax, Hertford, Hyde, Jones,
Lenoir, Martin, Nash, Northampton, Onslow, Pamlico, Pasquotank, Pender, Perquimans, Pitt, Sampson,
Tyrell, Washington, Wayne and Wilson counties.
Bircher is a partner at Impact Communications. She
is leader of the Twin Rivers Carolina Club.
; William A. Warren Jr. ’99 of Cincinnati, to the district
for Alexander, Burke, Caldwell, Cabarrus, Catawba,
Cleveland, Gaston, Iredell, Lincoln, Mecklenburg,
Rowan, Rutherford and Union counties. Warren, a
senior account executive with Procter & Gamble,
moved to Cincinnati after the board election and
will continue to serve that N.C. district. He has
served as leader of the Charlotte Carolina Club and
co-chair of the Charlotte Young Alumni Council.
; John B. Wilson Jr. ’ 85 of Chapel Hill, to the district for
Orange County. Wilson, a documentary filmmaker,
has served as an advisory board member for the
UNC department of communication studies and
board chair for UNC Student Television.
New directors elected to three-year terms representing
out-of-state alumni are:
; Linda Partee Stephenson ’ 68 of Atlanta, to the district for Alabama and Georgia. Stephenson is the
retired executive director of the Georgia Amateur
Athletics Foundation.
; Dr. Robert W. Madry Jr. ’ 63 of Corpus Christi, Texas,
to the district for Colorado, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas,
Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas,
Utah, Wisconsin and Wyoming. Madry, who also
earned his medical degree from UNC in 1967, is a
founding partner and senior cardiologist with Cardiology Associates of Corpus Christi.
D. Jordan “Jordy” Whichard
III ’ 79
GAA Installs New Officers, Board Members
New Board Members
Left to right by rows: John M. “Jack” Betts Jr. ’ 68,
Georgiana Bircher ’ 92, Robyn S. Hadley ’ 85
Kevin M. Levy ’ 92, Dr. Robert W. Madry Jr. ’ 63, Eric S.
Montross ’ 94
Linda Partee Stephenson ’ 68, William A. Warren Jr.
’99, John B. Wilson Jr. ’ 85
Ronald J. Wooten ’ 81
