Forty-five leading citizens from across the state will form the 2009-2010 class for Leadership North Carolina. Raleigh area participants include:

▪ Cathy Campbell (Garner) – Planning and Research Assistant, North Carolina N.C. Railroad Company

▪ Olivia Collier (Fuquay-Varina) – Chief of Local and Regional Affairs, N.C. Department of Commerce

▪ David Diaz (Raleigh) – President/CEO, Downtown Raleigh Alliance

▪ Don Esposito Jr., J.D. (Raleigh) – General Counsel, Rex Healthcare

▪ John Goodman (Cary) – Director of Government Affairs, N.C. Chamber of Commerce

▪ Carrie Gray (Raleigh) – Director of Donor Engage-ment, N.C. Community Foundation

▪ Don McCorquodale, J.D. (Raleigh) – Director of State Government Relations, SAS

▪ Ronald McNeill (Zebulon) – Director of the Independent College Fund of N.C., N.C. Independent Colleges and Universities

▪ Mitch Perry, MBA (Raleigh) – Vice President of PEC Finance, Progress Energy of the Carolinas

▪ Adriana Polcaro (Morris-ville) – Director of Financial Reporting, Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina

▪ Gaile Renegar, J.D. (Cary) – Director of Public Policy, GlaxoSmithKline

▪ Rob Rolfsen, J.D. (Ral-eigh) – Director of Finance, Cisco Systems

▪ George Sharpe (Holly Springs) – Project Develop-ment Manager, IBI Group of North Carolina

▪ Bo Somers, J.D. (Cary) – Director of State Regulatory Affairs, Duke Energy Carolinas

▪ Brent Taylor, MBA, MIE, BSIE (Cary) – Director of Supply Chain and Materials, EMC Corporation

▪ John Tramontin (Cary) – North Carolina Sales Director, AT&T

▪ Jaz Tunnell, MBA, MPA (Fuquay-Varina) – Community Relations Manager, Piedmont Natural Gas Company

▪ Ivan Urlaub (Durham) – Executive Director, NC Sustainable Energy Association

▪ Joseph Zhou (Cary) – Prinicpal, Open Asset Management Company

Leadership North Carolina selects citizens who are current or emerging leaders in the state as well as in their communities and organizations to participate in the program.

The class meets six times over seven months in cities across the state to explore critically important issues in five key policy areas: economic development, education, environment, government and politics, and health and human services. Leadership North Carolina’s Class XVII is comprised of top leaders from government, business, nonprofit and education sectors.

There are over 700 graduates of the program whose continued ties to Leadership North Carolina and one another provide them with a high level of awareness of opportunities to serve the state.