CHAPEL HILL — Campbell Law Dean J. Rich Leonard will be installed as chair of the University of North Carolina’s General Alumni Association (GAA) Board of Directors at the Annual Alumni Luncheon on Saturday, May 11. He was chosen as chair-elect in 2018 after serving on the board as a North Carolina district representative (2015-18).
A native of Davidson County, Leonard is a 1971 graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he was a Morehead Scholar and was president of the Carolina Union, a member of Phi Beta Kappa and Order of the Golden Fleece and a Richardson Fellow. He received the John J. Parker Medal for Outstanding Leadership, the Howard Odom Award for Outstanding Sociology Major and the Frank Porter Graham Award. He earned a master’s degree in education from UNC-Chapel Hill in 1973, and then earned a law degree from Yale Law School in 1976.
A former chief judge for the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina, Leonard has served as an adjunct faculty member at the UNC School of Law.
“My wonderful education at UNC has been the foundation of everything I have done since, and I am delighted and humbled to be able to give back in this role,” he said.
The General Alumni Association serves the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and all past, present, and future students. The GAA provides publications, programs, services, records management, and legislative advocacy to support the university and connect graduates. Membership in the GAA currently exceeds 69,000, and approximately 90 Carolina Clubs are active worldwide.