Phail Wynn
By Pamela Babcock

Perhaps it’s fitting that Phail Wynn Jr. (EMBA ’89), president of Durham Technical Community College, was a member of UNC Kenan-Flagler’s inaugural Executive MBA graduating class. After all, the very institution he works for embodies the virtues of lifelong education.

Wynn calls his biggest accomplishment helping Durham Tech solidify both its reputation and partnerships with business and industries in Research Triangle Park, N.C., by providing customized training to address work force needs. The college is playing an increasingly important role as layoffs, outsourcing and downsizing have put more pressure on North Carolina’s community colleges to train the next generation of workers.

“The past three years, with the downsizing of a lot of the technology firms in Research Triangle Park, has created a new challenge for us,” Wynn says. “Even though it was an ongoing challenge, it was exacerbated because our enrollment increased 24 percent from the fall of 2001 to the fall of 2003, largely because of technology layoffs.”

Durham Tech anticipates 6,000 credit students this fall; at the end of last fall, it had served more than 24,000 citizens. A site has now been acquired for an Orange County satellite campus. The college has a unique demographic profile, with students from 95 different countries but no majority ethnic group in its population, Wynn says.

“Our flexibility and responsiveness and the fact that our programs were tailored to employee needs were very effective in getting these people enrolled,” he says.

Wynn was attracted to the Executive MBA Program because of the time he spent at UNC in 1983 learning from business school faculty through the state’s then-Government Executives Institute.

“I was really impressed by the quality of instruction,” he said. “And the Executive MBA Program was wonderful. What I learned at UNC Kenan-Flagler is relevant to what I do now.”

A native of Oklahoma, Wynn served until 1975 as a U.S. Army officer with the 82nd Airborne Division and Green Berets, including a one-year combat tour in Vietnam. While stationed at Fort Bragg, Wynn enrolled part time at NC State University, where he received a master’s in educational psychology in 1974 and a doctorate in 1977.

Wynn joined then-Durham Technical Institute in 1977 as assistant to the president and, in 1979, was promoted to vice president of support services. In 1980, he was named president, making him the first African-American community college president in the history of the N.C. system. Over the years, he has held numerous community leadership positions.

When it comes to events that have helped shape his values, Wynn has plenty to draw on. After returning from Vietnam, Wynn was in part impressed by what he found at Fayetteville Technical Community College — a community college helping returning soldiers prepare for transition back to civilian life.

“I believe in the power of collaboration and partnership and in the value of lifelong learning and helping individuals not only achieve their full measure of potential but also to continue to learn and develop,” Wynn says. “I think the lifelong [education] process enables one to not only become a better professional but a better citizen, better parent, better spouse and better person.”