May 12, 2017
Equality North Carolina Executive Director Chris Sgro Announces Departure
Strong Staff Will Continue to Lead; Board Announces National Search
RALEIGH — Today, Equality North Carolina announced that Chris Sgro, Executive Director since 2013, will depart the organization at the end of May. Rick McDermott and Jeanne Kutrow, Board Chairs of Equality NC, have announced that a search committee with a national scope and a North Carolina focus is beginning its work. Sgro will join the team of a key strategic partner of Equality North Carolina - the Human Rights Campaign - as the Director of Communications in Washington, DC.
"Serving as Executive Director of Equality North Carolina for nearly four years has been an honor for me,” said Chris Sgro. “Together, we have accomplished so much. I realize that there is much left to be done to achieve true equality across the state, and I know that the talented staff and committed board of directors will continue to work with LGBTQ North Carolinians, day after day, to fight against discrimination from Murphy to Manteo. Equality North Carolina has never been about me. Equality NC is the oldest state-based LGBTQ equality group in the country, and since its founding, its mission has been to advance both the legal and lived equality of LGBTQ North Carolinians. Equality NC has never been stronger than it is today because our community stepped up during the HB2 battle to stand with us to fight discrimination in our state. We will always stand with them."
During Sgro's tenure, Equality North Carolina built a permanent coalition of over 500 pro-equality business voices, established and grew a faith program focused on building a group of affirming faith leaders in both urban and rural parts of the state, and hired the organization’s first-ever Director of Transgender Policy. Equality NC has also built its strongest-ever electoral program, strongly influencing the 2015 Charlotte municipal elections and the 2016 North Carolina gubernatorial race.
"Chris has been an incredible asset to both Equality North Carolina and the LGBTQ community of North Carolina, working closely with ENC staff and a talented board of directors to build the advocacy organization our constituents need in a challenging political climate. Equality NC will remain a strong and vital voice for LGBTQ North Carolinians, and we are confident that strong interim leadership and a national search process for ENC’s next executive director will result in the best talent to lead us forward," said Equality NC Board Chairs Kutrow and McDermott.
Additional details of the comprehensive search process that has been undertaken will be announced soon.