John Rustin will head a business advocacy group.

The Gastonia native, 42, will leave a position with the N.C. Family Policy Council to head the N.C. Free Enterprise Foundation, the successor to the now-defunct N.C. FREE.

"It will be providing similar information and services to N.C. Free, but the board of directors will have some other thoughts about new programs and services," he said. "That's kind of a work in progress." 

After graduating from UNC-Chapel Hill in 1989, Rustin worked in state lobbying. From 1994 to 1997, he lobbied for companies such as General Electric and Abbott Laboratories at Hunton and Williams in Raleigh.

Since 1997, he has worked at the Family Policy Council, serving as director of government relations and vice president.  

Update and Correction: A previous version of this post incorrectly referred to the N.C. Free Enterprise Foundation as a lobbying group. It does not lobby.

In a press release today, the group also announced that James A. Rouse III will become chairman of the board of directors.

Rouse is director of government affairs for the N.C. Association of Electric Cooperatives.

Business executives around the country apparently like what they see when they look at North Carolina.

Chief Executive magazine recently polled CEOs about the top states for business. Texas and Nevada—states with no income tax—came out on top.

North Carolina moved up from fourth to third in the magazine's annual survey.

The magazine gave North Carolina a B+ for taxation, regulation and workforce quality. North Carolina got an A- for "living environment."