Richmond Community College Executive Vice President Dr. Dale McInnis is poised to take over the college’s top position in 2010 pending approval at the state community college board meeting Jan. 14.

An Ellerbe native and seven-year veteran of the college, McInnis said he was “humbled and honored” after being named the lone finalist for the presidential position at the college by a nine to five vote by the RCC Trustees Thursday evening.

“I am from Richmond County, I’ve lived here my whole life and my family has lived here for over 200 years,” McInnis said Friday. “Nothing could make me more proud than to be from here, and be chosen for a position like this representing Richmond and Scotland counties.”

The announcement immediately followed interviews with four presidential candidates conducted by the RCC Board of Trustees at a special called meeting Thursday.

He joined the RCC administrative staff in July 2002 as Vice President for Administration, and was promoted to executive vice president in October 2006.

“I’m very pleased (with the choice of McInnis for RCC President),” RCC Presidential Search Committee Chairman J.C. Lamm said Friday. “I think we’ve got an excellent person for the job, and someone who is familiar with the college.”

Lamm said McInnis was considered for the job when current RCC President Dr. Sharon Morrissey was hired in late-2007. Because McInnis has already received preliminary approval from the state community college board, Lamm doesn’t anticipate any difficulty getting his final approval from that body.

Following Thursday’s interviews, the board of trustees reconvened in open session and voted to nominate McInnis as the finalist for the college’s top position. His nomination passed by the four-vote margin, with no other candidates being nominated.

Voting for McInnis were Chairman Hugh Lee, J.C. Lamm, Jim McCaskill, Joyce McDow, Dean Nichols, Patrick Preslar, Claudia Robinette, Glenn Sumpter and Bert Unger.

Voting against were Vice Chairman Walter Stancil, Nancy Daugherty, Dot Fisher-Bynum, Dale Ormsby and Sam Snowden.

For RCC Trustee and Presidential Search Committee member Jim McCaskill, who voted for McInnis, McInnis was “equally as qualified” as any of the other three candidates interviewed Thursday, but his familiarity with the Richmond and Scotland county region gave him a head start on the rest of the field.

“There are obvious advantages, to me very strong advantages, to going with a local candidate,” McCaskill said Friday. “He knows the people, knows the local leadership, knows the faculty and staff and the strengths and weaknesses of the college. So, there will be a very small learning curve with Dale as president.”

McCaskill acknowledged McInnis’s responsibilities will be different as president than they were as executive vice president, but his prior local experience gives him a leg up.

“With his background knowledge from working here over the past eight years, he should be able to get out to a fast start,” McCaskill concluded.

Trustee Dale Ormsby was one of those who voted against McInnis’s nomination, and emphasized there was “nothing personal” in his vote.

“I’ve known Dale for a number of years, and consider him a friend,” Ormsby said Friday. “I just felt like, in my personal opinion, it would be in the best interest of the college to go in another direction ... to find someone with some new ideas and some different experience to bring to the table.”

Despite his no vote, Ormsby said he supports McInnis’s nomination.

“That is the way the main body of the trustees voted, and I will do everything I can to make sure his tenure as president is a successful one,” he said.

McInnis described his reaction to being named the finalist.

“I am very excited, and very much looking forward to continuing to work with the faculty, staff and students here, and very excited about working with the board of trustees,” McInnis said Friday. “I think we have a really wonderful with tremendous potential, and I’m excited about what we can do in the future to build on our past accomplishments and improve the lives of people in Richmond and Scotland counties.”

McInnis said he will seek to challenge the college “to become the example that other colleges of our size look at to see how things should be done,” but stopped short of describing any imprint he’d like to give the campus.

“You want to be open to the ideas of folks in the community and your employees,” McInnis said. “Even though I’ve been here a couple of years, and am a native of the county, I realize the perspective from the President’s Office is different. So, I’m going to be open to listening and learning what people inside and outside the college have in terms of ideas and needs and wants, and use that as a framework for my vision for the college.”

McInnis said he will remain supportive of current RCC President Dr. Sharon Morrissey, and said her shoes, and the shoes of past RCC presidents, will be a tall order to fill.

“This college has a great history and a rich legacy of leadership — with presidents like Honeycutt, Grimsley and Morrissey,” McInnis said. “I’m very humbled and honored to be selected to join their ranks, and they leave a rich legacy and a challenge for me.”

He also said the challenge of living up to past president’s legacies isn’t the only challenge the college is facing, either.

“I think we have some challenges to face as a college,” McInnis said. “The economy’s been tough, but I think the college is going to be a key player in working with citizens, agencies, governments and public schools in the two counties to help us all through this situation. It’s a wonderful resource, and we need to continue to tap into that.”

Morrissey, who McInnis will replace upon state approval, said she whole-heartedly agreed with his selection.

“I think this will make for a very smooth transition for the college and for the board of trustees,” Morrissey said. “He is a member of the college’s leadership team ... so, he is certainly familiar with everything that goes on at the college, and he is also leading the college’s (Southern Association of Schools and Colleges) process.”

She said he has gained “a breadth of knowledge about the inner-workings of the college,” “through several activities that fall under the purview of his position as vice president.”

“He’s very well-prepared academically, he has held several mid-level and high-level executive positions at community colleges, so he’s experientially well-prepared,” Morrissey said. “He definitely has the education, experience and background for this position.”

Staff Writer Philip D. Brown can be reached at (910) 997-3111 ext. 32, or by e-mail at pbrown@yourdailyjournal.com.