Leslie Boney III Bio

Leslie Boney serves as Associate Vice President for Economic Development Research, Policy and Planning. His duties include serving as key staff support to the President on economic development issues. He is principally responsible for conducting research and analysis in the support of the university’s economic development strategy, for coordinating system-wide economic development initiatives with selected faculty and University personnel and for connecting this work to external constituencies. A primary role is to coordinate UNC’s efforts to enhance entrepreneurship on campus and throughout the state.

Prior to joining UNC, Mr. Boney was a senior associate with MDC, Inc., a nonprofit research firm specializing in economic and workforce development, where he managed a two-state rural development initiative for the Duke Endowment and co-managed a study of rural poverty with Duke University’s Terry Sanford Institute of Public Policy.

In earlier positions, he was executive director of Policy, Research and Strategic Planning for the North Carolina Department of Commerce and staff director for the 25-member North Carolina Rural Prosperity Task Force, which, led by Erskine Bowles, developed a series of recommendations to re-energize rural economic development in the state. As director of the Commerce Work First Project, he led a successful effort to get North Carolina businesses to hire and retain more than 16,000 welfare recipients and helped develop a statewide “Next Steps” initiative to assist transitioning welfare recipients in career advancement. As Governor Hunt’s director of Community Involvement, he led the development of the statewide Support Our Students initiative, a statewide mentoring program for at-risk middle school students.

He currently serves as Governor Easley’s appointee to the Southern Growth Policies Board, as the University’s representative on the N.C. Economic Development Board and the board of the NC Biotechnology Center and on the North Carolina Food Bank Advisory Council.

A former reporter and high school teacher, Mr. Boney’s published work includes articles on economic, workforce and community development.

Mr. Boney received his B.A. in English and Psychology from Amherst College. He is a native of Wilmington, NC and lives in Raleigh with his wife and twin children.

Contact Leslie Boney