Winterville, NC – Boys & Girls Clubs of the Coastal Plain (BGCCP) announced today that the Board of Directors has unanimously named Mark Holtzman as the next Chief Executive Officer effective October 1, 2022.

Mark has more than twenty years of experience in various leadership positions within local government police organizations in Maryland and North Carolina, with nine years as Chief of Police. Over his 30+ year career in law enforcement, Mark has always demonstrated a heart for the community and a belief in the ability to change disadvantaged neighborhoods. Focusing on the neighborhood level, he has worked to improve the quality of life of residents, especially those living in underserved communities.

Mark has built and maintained relationships with community members to increase trust and improve transparency in departmental operations. In his latest role as a police chief in Greenville, North Carolina, he has been responsible for afterschool programs and summer camps through the department’s Police Athletic League (PAL) youth programs. Mark is known to leverage relationships with allied partners in higher education, public health, housing, and other government and law enforcement agencies to implement innovative programs and technological advances to improve the safety of the communities he served.

Mark holds a bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice, a master’s degree in Public Administration and is a graduate of the FBI National Academy. His most recent leadership responsibilities included the management of more than 250 officers and civilian staff in a nationally accredited (CALEA) police department. Mark knows that the success of any organization rests in the quality and character of its people. After a full career in the public safety field, Mark is eager to continue his service to the community as the President & CEO of the Boys and Girls Clubs of the Coastal Plain.

The search process was conducted over several months by a BGCCP Search Committee in partnership with the Boys & Girls Clubs of America’s CEO Search Team. I would personally like to thank Boys & Girls Clubs of America for their tremendous support during this process.

For Mark, the BGCCP opportunity is an honor:

“I am honored and excited for the opportunity to continue to work and serve the community both here in Pitt County and across the eastern North Carolina area that we have called home now for the past several years.  Transitioning from public safety into this new role of serving the community through the Boys and Girls Clubs of the Coastal Plain seems like a natural progression of a lifelong professional career in public service.  I look forward to contributing my energy and talents toward an organization whose mission exemplifies what it means to live, work, and serve with purpose.”  

About BGCCP:

The organization began in 1969 as a Boys Club with a very modest operation at the Pitt County Fairgrounds. Since that time, the organization has experienced significant growth in membership, programs, and facilities. In 1992 the Jack Minges Unit was built to accommodate the growing need and to include girls in membership. Additional units have been established in Ayden, Farmville, West Greenville, and north of the Tar River. BGCCP assumed responsibility for the Club in Lenoir County in 2010, two Clubs in Beaufort County in 2013, opened a new Club in November 2013 in Greene County, and now has opened two Clubs in Martin County. In 2017, BGCCP merged with the Boys and Girls Club of Coastal Carolina to add 6 Clubs in Craven and Carteret Counties. Today, more than 3,000 young people are taking advantage of the programs, activities and services provided by our 17 Clubs in 7 contingent counties: Pitt, Lenoir, Beaufort, Greene, Martin, Carteret, and Craven Counties.

Check out this article from the Carteret County News-Times!

https://www.carolinacoastonline.com/news_times/sports/article_adba3cb2-c2fc-11ec-a018-7f20af0011db.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=user-share&fbclid=IwAR2pTFzcFAb4fbObMFfRnHL4wBZE8TgL0T0VmC1dD_Gs5IS2pd7TnTCJZ2A 

Winterville, NC – On Thursday, February 3, Boys & Girls Clubs of the Coastal Plain hosted its Youth of the Year Annual Recognition Dinner.  La’tecyia Johnson was named Youth of the Year and received a $3,000 college scholarship. La’tecyia has been a member of the Beaufort Teen Center 2018 and has displayed increased self-confidence by participating in Club programming. She serves as an excellent role model, setting an example for other club and community members by exhibiting excellent leadership skills academically and athletically. Lateycia plans to become a criminal profiler. She has been offered many opportunities due to her academic achievements and was invited to attend the National Youth Leadership Forum: Law & CSI Participant in Washington, DC. In addition, she has received numerous acceptance letters and invitations to apply for honors programs at various colleges. She has not decided which college she will be attending in fall 2022, but she will begin the journey of eventually earning a master’s degree in criminology. This year, in addition to the organizational winner receiving a $3,000 scholarship, we also be awarded the runner-up with a $1,000 scholarship. This year’s runner-up was A’Niyah Grant, from the Jack Minges Teen Center in Winterville, NC. This year we also honored a Junior Youth of the Year winner, Hannah Oliver from the Sunshine Lady Club in Morehead City, who received a trophy.

Three other Youth of the Year finalists participated in the dinner: Makyra Hoggard representing Beaufort County, Justice Spruill representing Martin County, and Tiara Johnson representing Craven County. All finalist gave their speech and were awarded medals. La’tecyia will go on to represent Boys & Girls Clubs of the Coastal Plain at the North Carolina State Youth of the Year competition later this spring.

Being named Youth of the Year is the highest honor a Boys & Girls Club member can receive. As Boys & Girls Clubs of America’s premier youth recognition program, the Youth of the Year title recognizes outstanding contributions to a member’s family, school, community and Boys & Girls Club, as well as personal challenges and obstacles overcome. Each state winner is awarded a $1,000 college scholarship and five regional winners a $10,000 scholarship. The national winner receives an additional scholarship up to $50,000 and is installed by the President of the United States.

GREENVILLE, NC – In light of recent updates from the CDC, state health department, and local hospital
officials regarding the current Delta variant surge of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Boys & Girls Clubs
of the Coastal Plain announced today that the 2021 Ultimate Pre-Game Party, Presented by First Citizens
Bank and scheduled for Friday, September 10, has been transitioned to an online auction event.
“Everything we do is to protect the health, safety, and well-being of the youth and families throughout
our Eastern North Carolina communities,” said Kimberly Boyd, Boys & Girls Clubs of the Coastal Plain
President & CEO. “This difficult decision comes at a time when collectively we have overcome so much
adversity and were looking forward to coming together for a night of fun and fellowship.”
With the generosity of sponsors and guests who had already purchased tickets, the 2021 event was on
pace to raise nearly $200,000 to directly support young people from 17 Clubs and seven counties in
Eastern North Carolina.
“First Citizens Bank is a long-time advocate for the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Coastal Plain. While we
were looking forward to the 2021 Ultimate Pre-Game Party taking place as an in-person event, we
certainly understand and support the decision to transition to an online auction and fundraising event
due to the ongoing pandemic,” stated Gordon Jethro, First Citizens Bank Area Executive. “Despite the
change of plans, First Citizens Bank is resolved to continue our sponsorship of the Boys & Girls Clubs this
year, and hope others will do the same.”
Fundraising efforts will now transition to an online auction and online giving event at www.bgccp.com
beginning Friday, September 10. Additional details regarding the online auction, which includes items
such as signature events and experiences, jewelry, fine art, and more will be announced in the coming
days.
Sponsors of the 2021 Ultimate Pre-Game Party, Presented by First Citizens Bank include: Greenville
Convention Center, Barnhill Contracting Company, Ferguson Waterworks, BB&T (Now Truist), Baker
Roofing, Grady-White Boats, Hendrix-Barnhill, Minges Bottling Group, PBMares, Physicians East,
Practicon, Service Roofing, Ward & Smith, P.A., Eastern Trust – Mullarkey Real Estate Group, Taft-Mills
Group, ARK Consulting Group, Eastern Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, Engineering Consulting
Services (ECS), Greenville Utilities, Inner Banks Media, Meridian Park, TowneBank and Towne Insurance.

Reducing the Spread and Symptoms

Winterville, NC – Boys & Girls Clubs of the Coastal Plain is pleased to announce the selection of its first Chief Financial Officer, Carrie Dale Purnell. Carrie specializes in leadership, accounting, finance, budgeting & planning and internal controls. Carrie is a graduate of NC State University where she obtained both her MAC and BS in Accounting. Carrie Dale has held roles with PricewaterhouseCoopers, Piedmont Natural Gas, and Deloitte & Touche, most recently she served as CFO of LGM Enterprises, LLC. She is excited and energized to be working with BGCCP and she is looking forward to supporting the vision of inspiring and preparing the next generation of leaders in Eastern North Carolina.

Kimberly Boyd, President & CEO, says, “Organizationally we have grown exponentially in the past few years and we are in need of in-house expertise to effectively and efficiently leverage the resources that have been entrusted to us on behalf of more that 3,000 young people. Carrie Dale brings a wealth of knowledge and experience and we are thrilled to have her join our team.”

On Friday, December 6th our New Bern Teen Center members along with members of the Craven Arts Council unveiled the Club mural dedicated to the City of New Bern and the staff of the Boys & Girls Club!

The mural depicts Club members being surrounded and supported by the New Bern community and staff of the Club. The Boys & Girls Club Logo represents our Club members, the bear on the right side represents the supporters and donors in our community, and the faces on the left side represent the caring staff members at the Club.

Thanks to a collaborative effort and the guidance of the Craven Arts Council Gallery Director, Jonathan Burger, our New Bern teen member were given the opportunity to help create the mural. On the day of the mural unvieling, Art Council and Club members took the opportunity to sign their names on the wall. The Club members also presented Mr. Jonathan and members of the Arts Council with thank you cards they created!