MONROE -- The new United Way board of directors is smaller, but includes three Union County residents.

United Way’s new board of directors, taking over Jan. 1, is about one-third the size of its previous board.

After sifting through more than 100 applications for the voluntary positions, 22 leaders were chosen. Jane McIntyre, executive director of United Way of Central Carolinas, said there are still two vacant positions, but they might not be filled. The nonprofit’s bylaws allow for a maximum of 24 board members.

The new board includes Monroe resident Angela Bower, Waxhaw resident Susan Faulkner — who will serve as the board’s chairwoman-elect — and Morrison Creech, a Marshville native who now lives in Monroe. Both Faulkner and Creech served on the previous board.

Organization leaders say a smaller panel will increase accountability, as will making meetings public. Nine of the previous board’s members agreed to stay on, assuring some “continuity,” McIntyre said.

Bower has volunteered with United Way since 1977. She served as chairwoman of Union County’s board in 1995 and 1998, as its campaign chairwoman in 2000 and on the regional board before it ballooned to more than 60 members. “I think it functioned well as a smaller board,” she said.

She also served on several United Way agencies’ boards, including Turning Point and Community Health Services.

“United Way is a vital part of this community, ... a facilitator for assessing needs that exist in the community,” she said, adding that sometimes those needs “have a very silent voice.”

Bower also works as an office administrator for her husband, Monroe surgeon Edward Bower. She helped found HealthQuest, a non-United Way, nonprofit pharmacy that provides free medications to residents in need.

To the new board, she hopes to bring a “non-Mecklenburg perspective” and wants to see “more dialogue and communication between the regional board and the community boards” — a connection she said can be neglected.

In Aug. 2008, United Way announced that it would work to restore confidence in the organization after public outcry over former executive director Gloria Pace King’s $1.2 million compensation package. A seven-person independent review panel was appointed to analyze decisions that led to the controversy and make recommendations to ensure a more transparent board. The panel is unaffiliated with United Way.

A smaller board is only one of the panel’s several recommendations.

Creech, the board’s treasurer and chair of the finance committee, could not comment on King’s pay package due to pending litigation, but said the board has taken more time to screen each budget line item and put more dollars toward the community rather than overhead costs.

It is the agencies, he added, that provide the “primary assistance to people in need.”

“I believe in United Way,” Creech said. “It’s a very efficient way to get the needs of the community met.”

Regional vice president Richard Heins said the board will bring “fresh ideas” needed to move forward.

McIntyre said the entire board will be privy to governing details that were previously made available to only a portion of the board.

“When you have a board with sixty-something people, it’s hard to determine who’s responsible,” Creech said.

To view the entire list of recommendations from the Report of the Governance Review Panel, visit tinyurl.com/ycn75vj.

FAST FACTS

The number of people who need United Way agencies’ help is higher than ever.

United Way of Central Carolinas covers five counties: Union, Anson, Mecklenburg, Cabarrus and the Mooresville-Lake Norman area, part of Iredell County.

- Unemployment has increased by 84 percent in these counties in the past 10 months; more than 80,000 people lost their jobs. (Employment Security Commission of North Carolina)

- From Sept. 2008 to Sept. 2009, there was a 34 percent increase, or about 20,000 more households, receiving food stamps in these counties. That’s about 80,000 total households on food stamps. (Jordan Institute for Families at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s School of Social Work)

- In Union County, there are 16,250 people on food stamps, a 49 percent increase since 2007. (U.S. Department of Agriculture)



MEET THE BOARD

Returning members

Jeffrey Kane, board chair, retired senior vice president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond

Susan Faulkner, board chair-elect, Bank of America Corp.

Irv Bisnov, managing partner for Deloitte & Touche

Morrison Creech, Wells Fargo & Co. Inc.

David Dzuricky, chief financial officer at Piedmont Natural Gas Co. Inc.

Andrew Elliott, partner in charge of PricewaterhouseCoopers’ technology advisory practice in the Carolinas

D. Mason Ellerbe, vice president of Carolinas Medical Center

Curt Fochtmann, Charlotte managing partner at Ernst & Young

Michael Smith, CEO of Charlotte Center City Partners

New members

The Rev. Donald Anthony of Grace Lutheran Church in Concord

Angela Thomas Bower, former chair of the United Way Union County board

James Bolch, senior vice president for Ingersoll-Rand Co.

Mary Lynne Calhoun, dean of the College of Education at UNC-Charlotte

John Cannon, Wells Fargo Securities

Linda McFarland Farthing, retired chief executive of Steinmart Inc.

Gary Lancaster, IBM senior location executive

Anne McGeorge, managing partner for Grant Thornton’s health-care practice

Mark Martin, director of community relations operations for Novant Health Inc.

Alice Carmichael Richey, attorney

Michelle Lancaster-Sandlin, general manager for community health and safety for Mecklenburg County

Curt Walton, city manager

Jennifer Weber, senior vice president at Duke Energy Corp.