WILMINGTON — Two of the first three Richmond Raiders to win the coveted Morehead Scholarship to UNC-Chapel Hill happened to run into each other in Wilmington this week. Also of coincidence: They were both recognized by the Wilmington Chamber of Commerce at that same Feb. 3 meeting for their good work and public service.
Submitted photo
Wayne Goodwin, right, and Hal Kitchin.
Wayne Goodwin, Hamlet native and 1985 graduate of Richmond Senior High School and the first winner of the Morehead Scholarship from the school, received great applause from more than 350 Wilmington business leaders and officials for his recent decision rejecting the massive homeowner’s insurance increases sought by insurance companies. Goodwin’s order saved North Carolinians $500 million in the coming year.
Goodwin is serving in his second term as North Carolina’s Commissioner of Insurance. It appears that he is the first Hamlet native to hold statewide elected office and the first from Richmond County to do so in at least 80 years.
As Insurance Commissioner, Goodwin has saved North Carolinians over $2.4 billion in rate cuts, refunds, rebates, restitution, and insurance company reversals.
Goodwin also served as state representative in the General Assembly for Richmond, Montgomery, Scotland and Stanly counties for eight years. Previously he graduated from UNC School of Law and practiced law in Rockingham for 13 years.
He and his wife, Melanie, and their two children now live in Raleigh. His mother, sisters and other family members continue to reside in Richmond County.
A short while later at the same meeting, Rockingham’s own Hal Kitchin was surprised to find out that he was this year’s recipient of the LEAD Award (Leadership in Economic Advancement and Development) from the Wilmington Chamber of Commerce. The assembly applauded his service to the greater Wilmington area, the Chamber, and his many successful endeavors.
Kitchin, also a Richmond Senior High School graduate and Morehead Scholar at UNC-Chapel Hill, is a partner with the law firm of McGuireWoods. He earned his J.D. from the Wake Forest University School of Law after graduating from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
His professional expertise includes antitrust, business tort, and breach of contract cases, as well as bankruptcy, predatory lending and lender liability suits. He is a member of the N.C. Bar Association, has received several professional honors. His past community activities include serving as Chair of the Greater Wilmington Chamber of Commerce and the Cape Fear Future Foundation. He is a member of the City of Wilmington’s Vision 2020 Oversight Committee, and serves through 2017 on the Board of Trustees for the University of North Carolina at Wilmington.
His father was the late Henry (Buck) Kitchin of Rockingham, a longtime and much-beloved attorney in Richmond County.
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