North Greenville University to name new president on Thursday

North Greenville University will introduce its eighth president Thursday, Feb. 23, at a 2 p.m. press conference at the school’s Hayes Welcome Center.

The university has been operating with an interim president since school trustees announced the departure of former president Jimmy Epting in January 2015. After a video surfaced on social media in August 2015 raising questions about the circumstances surrounding Epting’s decision to retire, NGU’s board of trustees issued a statement that said school leaders “are expected to lead Christ-centered lives.”

The following month, trustees expressed regret over “any confusion and hurt [their] past communications may have caused” and later held a series of meetings with officials of the Executive Board of the South Carolina Baptist Convention, which had begun delaying Cooperative Program payments to the university.

Following those meetings, in October 2015, Executive Board members unanimously approved a resolution stating their support for the trustee leadership of North Greenville University and noting that the school was “actively moving forward in a way that is totally consistent with our convention’s morals and values,” according to Marshall Blalock, pastor of Charleston First Baptist Church and then chairman of the board’s Budget, Finance & Audit Committee.

Last fall, NGU trustee Bill Tyler, chair of the university’s presidential search committee, reported that a significant number of candidates have applied for the position. He also said the university had hired the national executive search firm CarterBaldwin to spearhead the hunt for a new president.

The search committee included trustees, faculty, staff and student representatives, Tyler said.

North Greenville University, with more than 2,500 students, is one of three South Carolina universities with historical ties to the South Carolina Baptist Convention. The others are Anderson University and Charleston Southern University.