The chair of the NCInnovation audit committee, Canty Alexander, recently announced that he is stepping down from NCI. His departure was described as “effective immediately” in this month’s NCI board of directors meeting, as members sorted the committee vacancies that departing leaders leave. Alexander’s decision follows the announcement earlier this year that NCI CEO Bennet Waters’ tenure would end on Nov. 30.
Also at this week’s meeting, there was disagreement over NCI board Chairman Kelly King’s term and the timing of a new chairmanship election. Art Pope, a board of directors member appointed by the North Carolina General Assembly, argued that King’s two-year term expired Sept. 30, 2025, citing a Nov. 8, 2023, board resolution and meeting minutes.
NCInnovation is a nonprofit organization created to help commercialize research from North Carolina’s public universities. The organization operates with a taxpayer-funded endowment of roughly $500 million, appropriated by the General Assembly in 2023 to support its grantmaking and operations.
“Chair King was elected to a two-year term, which expired Sept. 30, 2025, two months ago,” Pope said. “So, when are we going to elect our chairman for another two-year term, or whatever length of term that the board sees?”
“I think it’s inappropriate for the chair of the board to use his authority in scheduling an election for his successor, which may be you,” he added to King.
King disputed Pope’s claim, citing the NCI bylaws’ provision that officers serve until replaced.
“I believe that is incorrect,” King said. “I checked on that, and Bradley and I were elected to be officer positions chair and vice chair concomitantly with our board position which is, I think, September of ‘27. I think I read the bylaws to say that the chair and the vice chair served until replaced, so the bylaws would seem to be pretty clear on it, but I haven’t read the minutes of that November meeting.”
NCI’s general counsel Josh Howard also cited the bylaws but noted that he wanted to speak with outside attorneys and do a “deep dive” on the issue because the Nov. 23 meeting minutes were still in draft form. Carolina Journal has requested copies of the resolution and bylaws.
“Article 5 Section 8 make that very clear that the board officers remain in place until replaced,” he said. “Now the minutes and those things, I can’t right now attest to you whether or not they’re past or what state they’re in, so that’s what we need to do to deep, deep dive.”
“It doesn’t require outside counsel and the expense of outside counsel to read the minutes and the resolution that was adopted; it says Sept. 30, 2025,” said Pope.
King said he would review the records with Howard and, if necessary, coordinate with the nomination and governance committee.
“I’ll take that under advisement and work with Josh to make sure that we have solid legal review of it, and if there’s an action necessary, the nomination and governance committee can take it. If the actions not unnecessary then then not nothing will change,” King said.
Leadership changes and communications overhaul
The public exchange is the latest conflict in recent months as directors walk a fine line between improving the organization’s public image and confronting questions about internal governance, spending, fundraising, and the future of the state-backed endowment that underwrites its work.
In November, executive vice president and chief innovation officer Michelle Bolas was promoted to serve as acting CEO following the departure of Waters, who announced his intent to move on to other ventures earlier this year.
In November board meeting, Michelle Fiscus, NCInnovation’s Chief Communications Officer, outlined plans for a more visible and coordinated statewide effort to raise awareness of NCI’s mission. Her plan includes an NC Innovation Spotlight video series, new social media channels, and short clips highlighting grantees across the state.
“Overall, I’m trying to educate the public about what NCI is and why we exist for the state of North Carolina,” Fiscus said, “telling our story in a way that’s an accurate reflection of who we are internally and externally.”
Waters oversaw the early rollout of NCI and the board recently approved his departure agreement. While the details and dollar amount of Waters’ “departure bonus” have remained undisclosed, the vote on the agreement was made in open session, with two board members voting “no.”
Pope opposed the deal, citing concerns over “an excessive bonus for the outgoing leader of NCI.” Under the statute creating NCI’s $500 million taxpayer-funded endowment, state law caps the use of any state funds for executive severance at $140,000. NCI’s 2025 annual report notes that all employment agreements with the organization are “at will.”
Pope, who was appointed to NCI’s Board of Directors by the North Carolina General Assembly, has been a consistent critic of the organization’s governance and transparency, recently requesting additional documentation related to its IRS “H election” designation, lobbying contracts, and legal-fee expenditures. In September his request for additional financial contracts and records was denied by NCI’s audit committee and his appeal rejected by the board of directors.
Questions over donor pledge records
Pope also raised concerns in the November meeting about changes to a private pledge connected to fellow board member Lonnie C. “Ven” Poole III. He cited discrepancies between internal financials and what NCI had reported, noting that the commitment was now attributed to a different donor entity and had a later payment timeline.
“Originally it was from Ven Poole personally,” Pope said in the meeting. “Now that’s been dropped, and instead there’s a C3 Foundation… delayed from 2025 to 2027.”
Hall responded saying, “It has always been with C3 and not Ven Poole individually.”
IRS filings show that the C3 Foundation, a Raleigh-based private foundation led by members of Ven Poole’s family, reported $7.9 million in assets at the end of 2023 and distributed $1.86 million in grants to North Carolina nonprofits that year. Its officers include Lisa R. Poole, Ven’s wife, who serves as president.
According to a review conducted by the State Auditor in March of 2025, the “Ven Poole Family” was included on a list of donors who helped NCI reach lawmakers’ $25 million statutory requirement to raise some of its own capital. The C3 Foundation is not listed in that audit. Pope argued that discrepancies between internal and public donor records warranted closer examination. If a personal commitment were later attributed to a family foundation, it could raise governance questions. According to IRS self-dealing rules, a private foundation generally cannot satisfy the personal obligations of an insider or family member.
King ended the November exchange, noting donor privacy: “We’ll get you the answers you need,” he said, “but I don’t believe it’s appropriate to have these donor discussions in open session.”
Private foundations like the C3 Foundation are permitted under federal law to keep most donor information confidential. NCInnovation, by contrast, is a public charity supported by taxpayer dollars and is subject to North Carolina’s public-records and open-meetings requirements.
Investment strategy shaped by potential legislative recall
Increasingly, board discussions have focused on NCI’s $516 million investment corpus, and what might happen if the General Assembly orders the funds returned to the state treasury.
Last month, investment adviser Rob Barrington of Wells Fargo told the NCI board of directors that the investment committee had adopted a strategy splitting the portfolio, with roughly half in laddered US treasuries and half in money market accounts.
“Our recommendation at the time was to position some portion of that portfolio which is currently in money market cash out longer on the treasury curve,” Barrington said. “With the expected Fed interest rate cutting environment on the horizon, let’s buy some bonds that will lock in some of those yields rather than just ride cash.”
He added, “The primary consideration around that was, okay, if we go ahead and buy these securities, what happens if we are required to return the proceeds or would be returning a portfolio that is not particularly in line with the state of North Carolina?”
“The team’s doing a nice job managing three things; one, getting as much yield as we can; two, aligning with the strategic needs of NCInnovation; and three, being mindful that we’re in this flex where we need flexibility because of where we sit with the legislature,” said King.
Pope pressed for confirmation that the portfolio could be transferred back to the state without liquidation.
“If the General Assembly were to pass a budget in February or March, have we already checked with the state treasurer’s office or the General Assembly that they’ll take this portfolio in kind for repayment, or would we have to liquidate it?”
CFO Linda Hall replied, “We don’t have confirmation, Director Pope, but it is transferable. You’ve explained it exactly as we know it today. It is transferable.”
“The legislation does not require us to take the stance we’re taking today,” King added. “We’re taking a judicious, conservative stance, but there will be a point when we need to ask the General Assembly for clarification.”
Pope agreed: “There’s no reason not to check with the state treasurer’s office [so] that the General Assembly [can] be sure we can transfer.”
Pope warns of high ‘burn rate’ and lack of fundraising
Regarding NCI’s internal finances, Pope raised alarms last month about spending levels and a lack of new private donations. He pointed out that while NCI was under budget on grants distributed, it was over budget on administrative expenses.
“When you go to our statement of financial position, we had net assets of $526.5 million. That means we have $10.3 million in non-restricted, non-state funds,” Pope said in the November meeting. “That’s primarily the pledges, which are time-restricted, but soon they’re coming due.”
“When you look at the expense side,” he continued, “we are over budget in the general and administrative non-program expenses — 100% over on accounting fees, 100% over on legal fees, and 100% over on lobbying expenses. Legal fees at $40,000 a month, that goes on another eight months, that’s $320,000 in additional overage.”
“If you add the salary expenses, the program expenses, that comes out to about $5.9 million,” Pope added. “We’ve got $10.3 million in non-state assets and a $5.9 million burn rate a year. We’re running out of money, in about two years. We don’t have a development officer or fundraiser. We don’t have a grant application officer, and we’re adding expenses. This needs to be addressed sooner rather than later.”
Hall confirmed the figures. “That’s correct,” she said. “Legal fees are running around $40,000 per month, and I think we just need to think about how we address that between now and the next board meeting.”
“Management’s tracking to a budget that we don’t have dollars in on the budget side,” she added, “but we’re incurring the $40,000 per month in fees; just something to report out and keep top of mind.”
“We’re eating into the pledges, and we haven’t raised any money in the last year or this year to date,” said Pope.
King concluded, “You’re right — we’ll need to have a conversation about how to remedy that.”
This story has been corrected to clarify that a quote and presentation on a new communications strategy for NCI were misattributed. They were delivered by NCInnovation Chief Communications Officer Michelle Fiscus, not Acting CEO Michelle Bolas.