James R. Buckner has been named chair of the Board of Trustees

The UNC Asheville Board of Trustees elected new officers at its July meeting on the UNC Asheville campus. James R. Buckner, president and owner of IMPACT Educational Consulting Associates Inc. and a 1971 alumnus of UNC Asheville, was elected chair. Joseph F. Damore, president and CEO of Mission Health and Hospitals, was elected vice chair, and Audrey Byrd Moseley, deputy general counsel for the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C. and a 1974 alumna of UNC Asheville, was elected secretary.

The board also welcomed new trustees Bruce Peterson, retired district director for Congressman Heath Shuler and former teacher and coach; Nathan Ramsey, dairy farmer and former chair of the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners; and Pat Smith, executive director of the Community Foundation of Western North Carolina.

Buckner, the first alumnus to serve as UNC Asheville Board of Trustees chair, has also served on the University's Foundation Board and National Alumni Council, which he helped establish. In 2008, he received UNC Asheville's Thomas D. Reynolds Award for Service to the University. In addition, Buckner and his wife Mary Elizabeth (Class of '68), have been generous supporters of the University. The couple established an endowed scholarship and regularly host alumni gatherings near their home in Atlanta.

Prior to being named Mission Hospital's CEO, Damore was president and chief executive officer of Sparrow Hospital and Health System in Lansing, Mich.. He also has served as executive vice president of Mercy Health Services in Farmington Hills, Mich., and Western Reserve Care System in Youngstown, Ohio. He is currently a member of the Board of United Way of Buncombe County and the Asheville Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors.

Following graduation from UNC Asheville, Byrd Mosley attended Harvard Law School. The Asheville native began her legal career as an attorney with the U. S. Department of Army Materiel and Readiness Command and since 1980 has worked in the office of the general counsel of the National Academy of Sciences. Byrd Mosley has also served on UNC Asheville's National Alumni Advisory Council.

The UNC Asheville Board of Trustees has 13 members; eight are appointed by the UNC Board of Governors and four are appointed by the governor. The UNC Asheville Student Government Association president, who is elected by the student body, also sits on the board.