Fourth-generation Pitt County farmer Lawrence Davenport has left the board of the Golden LEAF Foundation, where he’s been the longest-serving director.
Davenport was appointed to the Rocky Mount-based non-profit in 2000 when former UNC President Bill Friday was the initial leader. Since then, both Democratic and Republican elected officials have repeatedly reappointed Davenport to the 15-member board. Now, he’s stepped down, with Raleigh lobbyist and former state Rep. Jim Harrell joining the board.
“It’s time for me to get off. I’ve been on there long enough,” Davenport says, who succeeded Friday as the group’s second board chair. “It’s always been a hard-working, mission-driven organization, and people who join the board often don’t realize how mission-driven they are. Within two or three meetings, they are totally bought in and ready to go to work.”
The group was formed after the 1999 Master Settlement Agreement, in which big U.S. tobacco companies agreed to pay more than $200 billion to 46 states to cover healthcare costs associated with smoking. North Carolina’s share is split between funding state government and financing Golden LEAF, with a mission of promoting economic development in areas that once relied heavily on tobacco.
“I saw it as the only money left for rural North Carolina and the only way we’re ever going to make rural areas competitive,” he says.
Since 2000, the foundation has received $1.2 billion from the settlement, provided grants topping $1.3 billion, and retains an investment portfolio topping $1.4 billion. That’s a contrast with some states that spent their settlement money within a few years of receipt.
Davenport says he’s been the sole director who is a registered independent, joining nine Republicans and five Democrats. He switched his affiliation from Democrat to independent about 20 years ago. Positive, nonpartisan relations between board members have sparked Golden LEAF’s success, noting that sentiment has been expressed by former members Art Pope, a staunch Republican, and Erskine Bowles, a Democratic Party supporter and former chief of staff for President Bill Clinton.
“The interesting thing is that the Democrats set the foundation up and in the first years, it got a lot of criticism from Republicans,” he says. “But since Republicans got in control, they reappointed me every time.”
Davenport also credits the group’s leaders for helping Golden Leaf thrive, including current CEO Scott Hamilton and former top executives Friday, Valeria Lee and Dan Gerlach.
Representing rural North Carolina is a passion for Davenport, whose family farm business between Greenville and Washington now grows seeds under contract with Nutrien and other companies. Other parts of the business include part ownership of a cotton gin, farm equipment sales and row crops, including peanuts, wheat and cotton. The Davenports exited the tobacco business two years ago because younger family members “think they can do better in other directions,” he says.
Davenport is a former chairman of the board of NC State University and ECU Health. He earned a bachelor’s degree in agronomy from NC State in 1965.
Golden LEAF has had more successes than problems, but Davenport says his views have been shaped by former Gov. Mike Easley. “He said if we were successful on every dollar we gave away, that we weren’t giving away enough. He thought we needed to take some risk and not just give to those who the banks give money to, but give to those who don’t have any choice. So we’ve done a few projects that were disappointing, but we’ve also hit some home runs.”
Overall, Davenport says the foundation has exceeded the dreams of its founders.
David Mildenberg is editor of Business North Carolina. Reach him at dmildenberg@businessnc.com.