news-record.com

GREENSBORO — Carter Pate’s BlackBerry Smartphone was almost dead by Friday afternoon.

The 55-year-old finance veteran flew south from New York to spend his first day as chairman of Greensboro College’s board of trustees among staff and faculty worried about the school’s mounting money problems.

On the drive into town, he worked the phone hard — calling alumni, rallying trustees and setting up a diverse committee to find the school an interim president.

“Someone said to me that I’ve got a lot of things to take in right now,” Pate said. “I told them for the next few days, I’m drinking from a firehose.”

As a U.S. managing partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers , one of the world’s largest auditing and accounting firms, it’s long been Pate’s business to turn struggling companies around, bringing them back from the brink. But as a 1976 alum nus who credits Greensboro College with his success, Pate said this battle is personal.

“I was one of those kids who needed a little focus, a little direction, someone to take an interest in me and give me skills and confidence,” Pate said. “This place provided that for me. That’s why I’m who I am today.”

It was that love for the school that won over the nearly 100 students, faculty and staff with whom Pate met in the school’s Finch Chapel on Friday. When the meeting ended, they gave him a standing ovation.

“How do I feel?” asked Judy Cheatham , an English professor at the school. “I’d like to get on top of the chapel and do a dance, if I could find a way up there!”

Cheatham said Pate’s skills as a certified and forensic accountant would make him perfect to lead the school through one of the worst financial crises in its 171-year history. But his deep ties to the school — his brother and wife are graduates — rallied the college’s tight-knit community around him.

Cheatham said she remembered meeting Pate in 1994 , the year he joined the board of trustees. His first conversation with her wasn’t about her curriculum or student-to- professor ratios. Instead, he asked if she could take him to see Bill Frazier , his accounting professor. Pate had just been given a big promotion and wanted to let Frazier know he was one of the teachers responsible.

“He understands what we do here and how important it is,” Cheatham said. “Because the person he is was formed here. Because of that I know he’s going to do everything he can for us.”

Neil Clegg, a music professor, said: “He’s the leader that we need right now. We’ve always been confident about the institution, about what we do here. Now we’re also confident about its leadership.”

That’s not a confidence many faculty or staff felt for long-time President Craven Williams, who retired last month amid questions about his leadership style and financial decisions. Williams’ friend Bob Stout stepped down Wednesday as chairman of the school’s board of trustees.

Carrying more than $19 million in debt, the small Methodist college has put most of its campus and its $17 million endowment up as collateral to Bank of America. The bank has extended the college’s line of credit, allowing it to meet payroll through the summer as it restructures with help from Charlotte-based NaviscentGroup. Layoffs and salary cuts have been necessary in the past few months as the school attempts to get back on its feet.

The trustees have been criticized for letting the school’s finances get so badly out of hand. Pate admitted that the trustees, himself included, weren’t involved enough during Williams’ tenure.

“But we’re meeting frequently now and we’re going to be on top of everything,” Pate said. “We’ve all been highly motivated as a governing body to seize control of this situation.”
 

Pate said it’s not just the trustees. The college’s problems have brought everyone in the community forward to help out — which is just the way he wants it. The committee that will choose an interim president and then a continuing president will be made up of students, staff, alumni, trustees and community members.

“This is an institution that bears the very name of the city I’m so proud of,” said Pate, a Greensboro native who graduated from Grimsley High School and whose parents still live in the city. “So I hope all of the citizens who are concerned for the school will rally with us.”

Pate said he’s been honest with everyone he’s talked to, telling them there will be tough decisions as the college is restructured and not everyone will like them.

“After we talked I asked all of them if there was anyone who doubted my love for the school,” Pate said. “I asked them to remember that as we go forward — I know there will be things I do that will hurt, but I want them to know I’m doing them for the right reasons.”

Contact Joe Killian at 373-7023 or joe.killian@news-record.com