{"id":1335,"date":"2012-12-15T09:57:00","date_gmt":"2012-12-15T14:57:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ncseagrant.ncsu.edu\/coastwatch\/?page_id=1335"},"modified":"2024-09-18T14:21:07","modified_gmt":"2024-09-18T18:21:07","slug":"bidding-adieu-a-collective-tip-of-the-hat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ncseagrant.ncsu.edu\/coastwatch\/bidding-adieu-a-collective-tip-of-the-hat\/","title":{"rendered":"Bidding Adieu: A Collective Tip of the Hat"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n
Michael Voiland’s selection of fedora hats suits the season, the style and often the music.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also has donned multiple professional hats in the past six-and-a-half years. “This experience has been fun, rewarding and gratifying,” Voiland says of his tenure as executive director of North Carolina Sea Grant and, since 2009, as leader of Water Resources Research Institute of the University of North Carolina, known as WRRI.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Mike has added new duties; responded to budget adjustments; offered state, regional and national leadership; and identified emerging issues,” says Terri Lomax, vice chancellor of North Carolina State University and Voiland’s direct supervisor. “He does it all without missing a beat.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That’s not surprising for Voiland, who plays two keyboards simultaneously in his band, offering the baseline along with rhythm and melodies. “Similarly, he has led Sea Grant and WRRI with multitasking expertise,” adds Jack Thigpen, Sea Grant extension director.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The multitasking began in 2006, a year of change for Voiland as he retired from Cornell University, married Nancy Fey, and together they moved to North Carolina.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He arrived with a sense of confidence. His career included years as extension program leader for the New York Sea Grant Institute, and stints as institute interim director. He had collaborated with other programs from across the national network. He innately understood the federal\/state program concept. He even had identified “certain expectations” of being a director.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Voiland soon realized that things were going to be different in North Carolina. Within two short months, the N.C. General Assembly handed him another hat. Legislators established the Waterfront Access Study Committee, known as WASC, with Voiland as its chair and Sea Grant staff handling committee administration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Nothing in my past experience with Sea Grant reflected the great confidence in and support for Sea Grant shown in North Carolina by stakeholders, the legislature and agencies,” he recalls. “That was great testimony to veteran staff and the past leadership of directors B.J. Copeland and Ron Hodson.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Voiland jumped into learning the complexity and intensity of problems enumerated not only in the WASC legislation, but also in a Sea Grant conference held just before his arrival.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“It was trial by fire in that it ramped up the speed by which I would learn so much about the coast, in terms of cultural, historical and biological factors, as well as its existing infrastructure,” he recalls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Ultimately, it was a welcoming gift. It was truly a good thing in terms of my education about North Carolina,” he adds. “And Sea Grant was able to help the state move forward in addressing critical issues.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The value of his leadership was cited by the panel at the time, and continues to this day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 2007, legislators allocated $20 million to a new Waterfront Access and Marine Industries Fund, or WAMI, that in turn leveraged matching support. Ultimately, about a dozen projects moved forward with a total investment value of more than $50 million. Voiland also served on the WAMI review panel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n