Effective June 21, John Chaffee retired as NC East Alliance CEO and Vann Rogerson, Senior VP, has stepped in as interim CEO. For the next year, Chaffee will contract on a part-time basis with the Alliance for specific assignments identified by the CEO and the NC East Board of Directors. He will focus on fundraising, including grant writing and reporting, facilitating STEM East and Northeast STEM activities, client/prospect assistance, and other roles as needed. John has served as the CEO of NC East Alliance since January 2014 (and its predecessor since April 2009) and carried out the Alliance’s mission in marketing the region to companies around the world, coordinating advocacy efforts as well as developing regional approaches to workforce development and STEM education in cooperation with public and private partners.
Effective June 21, John Chaffee retired as NC East Alliance CEO and Vann Rogerson, Senior VP, has stepped in as interim CEO. For the next year, Chaffee will contract on a part-time basis with the Alliance for specific assignments identified by the CEO and the NC East Board of Directors. He will focus on fundraising, including grant writing and reporting, facilitating STEM East and Northeast STEM activities, client/prospect assistance, and other roles as needed. John has served as the CEO of NC East Alliance since January 2014 (and its predecessor since April 2009) and carried out the Alliance’s mission in marketing the region to companies around the world, coordinating advocacy efforts as well as developing regional approaches to workforce development and STEM education in cooperation with public and private partners.
“The NC East Board wants to thank John Chaffee for his time as CEO of NC East Alliance and for his leadership of our region. The board also looks forward to working with Vann as interim CEO during the upcoming months” says Mark Hamblin, Board Chairman.
Vann Rogerson has served as Senior Vice President of NC East Alliance since January 2015 and has led the organization’s marketing and client handling efforts. Vann focused on lead generation and company recruitment, building strong relationships with prospects and organizing many prospect visits to all counties across the region. Since July of 2015, NC East has generated 88 company visits to the region; those companies made 309 visits to the 28 counties served by the Alliance. Vann was previously the President/CEO of the NC Northeast Partnership based in Edenton, NC from 2006-2014 and the VP of Marketing from 1998-2006.
Over the years, the Alliance has partnered with local economic development offices, Chambers of Commerce, Tourism Bureaus, state, county and local government, Workforce Development Boards, public schools, private employers as well as service providers and many others to address the needs of the 28 counties.
The Board of Directors is finalizing a job description for the permanent CEO position prior to starting the search for a replacement.