Raleigh, NC (October 29, 2019) — The N.C. Institute of Political Leadership (IOPL) announced Brad Young as the fifth executive director in the organization’s history.

In addition to being a Spring 2015 IOPL Fellow, Young has served on the organization’s board of directors since 2016. Young’s experience includes roles in nonprofits and in state government, most recently in as director of External Affairs at the Office of the State Auditor. A native of Jacksonville, North Carolina, Young is a graduate of North Carolina State University and holds a Master of Business Administration from Campbell University. Young lives in Raleigh with his wife and two daughters.

“We conducted an extensive search process to find the next leader of this organization — and Brad was our consensus choice,” said John Hood, who chairs the IOPL board of directors. “During his work in state government and politics, Brad has demonstrated creativity, dedication, and an impressive ability to work across partisan lines. As a graduate of IOPL, he has a compelling vision of how to update and broaden its programs while maintaining its traditions and commitment to improving the practice of democracy in our state.”

NCIOPL is a non-partisan, nonprofit organization whose mission is to educate future political and community leaders in modern campaign strategy, ethical decision making, and governance. IOPL strives to ensure, its participants have a sound grounding in ethical behavior, consensus building, and cooperative and collaborative leadership.

“I am honored to serve as executive director of IOPL,” said Young. “It is as important as ever to identify and empower the public servants necessary to meet the challenges of both today and tomorrow. Disagreement is inevitable, but demonization does not have to be. Our fellows work to disagree better. I look forward to IOPL continuing to develop the leaders that our state deserves.”

IOPL offers a comprehensive non-partisan fellows program that helps to prepare individuals from diverse backgrounds to enter the pipeline to be public servants – elected, appointed, or through other community involvement. IOPL, currently in its 33rd year of operation, has over 1,100 alumni representing 82 NC counties.

Applications are now being accepted for Spring 2020.

###