Linda Carlisle says diversity will strengthen the new administration.
The retired Greensboro businesswoman, who was added Monday to Gov.-elect Beverly Perdue's transition team, said that having male and female staffers with diverse ethnic backgrounds will improve decision-making.
"We reach better decisions and get better results when we have all levels of diversity," she told Dome. "It will make whatever is done better, stronger and more effective."
As a vice president at a major North Carolina bank in the 1970s, Carlisle remembers when few women or minorities held positions of power. More recently, she was the only woman on the original board of the state lottery.
A longtime resident of the Triad, she said geographic diversity is also important for the newly elected governor.
"It's always difficult to ensure that those outside of (Raleigh) have a sense that they're being heard," she said.
Carlisle first met Perdue when she was lieutenant governor and worked as a fundraiser and volunteer for her gubernatorial campaign. She was appointed to the lottery commission and the UNC-Greensboro board of trustees by Gov. Mike Easley.
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