Loewenthal made the appointment after a university committee did the search
and screening. The NCHSAA has been part of the university since 1913.
Whitfield will succeed Charlie Adams, who has been executive director of the
NCHSAA since 1984 and with the Association since 1967. Adams has announced his
retirement for at the end of January in 2010.
Whitfield, 39, is currently the associate commissioner of the Atlantic Coast
Conference, whose offices are in Greensboro, and has been with the ACC for the
last seven years. There he has served on the commissioner's executive staff and
manages 22 sports and 21 conference championship events, providing oversight of
all aspects of the Olympic sports regular season. Among his duties are
developing multi-year schedules, addressing sportsmanship issues and enforcing
conference game management policies.
He served as the NCAA site representative for the NCAA women's soccer and
baseball championships. He also represented the conference at local, regional
and state events and worked with ACC corporate partners to create and provide
exposure opportunities.
Prior to joining the ACC office, he was assistant athletic director for
operations and facilities management at Wake Forest University, where he worked
for four years. At Wake Forest he managed all home athletic contests for 18
varsity sports as well as all special events and concerts. He held a similar
position at Campbell University from 1995 through '98.
He worked at the 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta as assistant to the
competition manager for baseball, assisting delegates of the International
Baseball Association and assisting with scheduling team practices and crowd
control.
Whitfield attended East Carolina University from 1988 through '91, where he
was a dean's list student and a member of the varsity baseball team, and then
transferred to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, earning his
bachelor of arts in exercise and sports science in 1993. He also has a master's
degree in sports administration from UNC.
A native of Goldsboro and a graduate of Rosewood High School in Wayne County,
Whitfield was inducted into the charter class of the school's sports hall of
fame in the fall of 2007.
Whitfield, his wife, the former Nicole Torode from Florida, and two children,
Will (almost age 5) and Sydney Grace (almost 2) currently reside in Jamestown.
"Davis is an excellent selection as the next executive director of the North
Carolina High School Athletic Association," said ACC Commissioner John Swofford.
"His enthusiasm, energy and values are among the many qualities that make Davis
a talented administrator and leader."