CLEVELAND – Farad Ali, president and CEO at The North Carolina Institute of Economic Development, has been tapped to succeed Darryl Daniels as chairman of the Airport Minority Advisory Council.
Ali joined the Institute in 2014. He directs the staff in development and implementation of programs and strategies aimed at improving the utilization of historically disadvantaged businesses.
Ali has worked more than 20 years as a banker and consultant in the private and nonprofit sectors. He is vice chairman of the Raleigh-Durham Airport Authority, representing the city of Durham, and he once sat on the Durham City Council.
Ali had most recently served as first vice chair of AMAC. He was selected to succeed Daniels by a vote of AMAC members. His appointment was announced Monday at the annual AMAC Business Diversity Conference in Cleveland.
After the announcement, Ali said he’d discuss his vision at a later date. Instead, he paid homage to Daniels, who is also a partner with the planning firm Jacobsen|Daniels.
Ali credited Daniels for helping lead the organization through a stormy time at the beginning of his tenure and, later on, through a leadership change, when he took over many of the duties of AMAC’s president and CEO as the search for a successor to Shelby Scales took place.
“His steady leadership provided us the guidance to move forward,” Ali says.
Ali says Daniels also was instrumental in the separation of AMAC and its foundation, in lobbying lawmakers for legislation aimed at helping minority- and women-owned businesses compete and generally raising AMAC’s role and visibility in the industry.
“Darryl’s dedication is unmatched by any of us,” Ali says.
