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Public: Recent News

NABE past-presidents usher incoming President Allan Head into office.

HONOLULU – Allan B. Head, executive director of the North Carolina Bar Association, was installed Thursday (Aug. 3) as president of the National Association of Bar Executives. The ceremonial passing of the gavel took place at the Sheraton Waikiki, headquarters hotel for the 2006 NABE Annual Meeting.

Head succeeded Tom Edmonds, executive director of the Virginia State Bar.

Founded in 1941, the NABE serves the staffs of bar associations and law-related organizations nationwide. An independent not-for-profit organization, the NABE has maintained formal working relations with the American Bar Association since 1953 through the ABA Division for Bar Services.

Membership in the NABE is comprised of more than 600 bar executives and senior staff members.

“I am honored to follow in the footsteps of those leaders who have come before me,” Head stated in his acceptance address. “It is quite a legacy of leadership. As I take the gavel, I want to thank you for your faith in me. I will work hard to maintain your support and respect.”

As the dean of American bar executives, Head has earned a wealth of support and respect throughout his tenure, which began in 1973 when he was named executive secretary for the NCBA and its NCBA Foundation. He has held the titles of executive director and treasurer since 1981.

Allan Head, left, accepts recognition certificate from NCBA President Clark Smith.

“The entire membership of the North Carolina Bar Association takes great pride in seeing one of its own installed as president of this esteemed national organization,” said NCBA President Clark Smith of Lexington. "This is certainly not the first time that Allan Head has attracted honor and prestige to our association.

“We are extremely grateful for all of his efforts throughout more than three decades of service to the NCBA, and congratulate him in advance for what we in North Carolina already know will be an unprecedented year of growth and success for the National Association of Bar Executives.”

In addition to the installation luncheon, Head was honored later that day with a reception and dinner. It was at the dinner that NCBA President Clark Smith presented him a recognition certificate signed by Smith and all of the living NCBA past-presidents. The group also funded the purchase of an engraved watch that was presented by Immediate Past-President Mike Colombo.

A native of Atlanta, Head received his undergraduate degree from Wake Forest University in 1966 and his juris doctor from the Wake Forest University School of Law in 1969. Following four years of military service as the lawyer assigned to U.S. Army Security Agency in Kassel and Augsburg, Germany, he returned to the United States and went to work for the NCBA and Executive Director Bill Storey.

At that time, the NCBA staff consisted of six people with offices in Raleigh. Today, in its 12th year at the spectacular N.C. Bar Center in Cary, some 60 individuals are employed by the NCBA and the NCBA Foundation.

“It may still be the nicest bar center in America,” Head noted. “It’s not the newest one anymore, but I am still extremely proud of our facility and the staff we have assembled there.”

In addition to his NCBA duties, Head has served on the board of directors of the Wake County Bar Association since 1974 and as its treasurer since 1981. He has filled many leadership seats within the NABE and the ABA, most recently as an appointee of President Mike Greco to the ABA’s Hurricane Katrina Task Force.

Head has also contributed considerable time and energy to charitable works and volunteer efforts. He has served on the board of directors of the YMCA of the USA, as president and board member of the Capital Area (Raleigh) YMCA and as a member of the Wachovia Board of Directors. He serves as an elder at White Memorial Presbyterian Church and for the past 15 years as the stadium announcer for the Broughton High School football team.

Among Head’s most rewarding endeavors has been an annual mission trip to the impoverished coal-mining regions of Virginia, West Virginia and Kentucky. He has served as a senior high mission trip advisor for the Presbyterian Church’s Appalachian Service Project since 1990.

Head’s acceptance remarks included expressions of gratitude to his family, all of whom were in attendance, including his wife, Patti, who chairs the Wake County Board of Education. The Heads have three children, sons David and Darryl and daughter Jayme Sanchez, and five grandchildren.

“I am also grateful to our members and the leadership of the NCBA,” Head added, “especially Norfleet Pruden who was serving as president (2002-03) when this opportunity to participate in bar leadership at the national level came about.”

The opportunity came during the tenure of Raleigh attorney A. P. Carlton Jr. as president of the ABA. It was Carlton, Head noted, who appointed him to chair the ABA’s Standing Committee for Bar Activities and Services.

Head’s passion for bar leadership is best characterized through one of his favorite quotes, attributed to former U.S. Senator and Secretary of State Elihu Root (1845-1937): “It is only through the power of association that those of any calling exercise due influence in their community.”

“The NABE will continue to grow because of the important services it provides,” Head stated. “It allows those who are called to bar association work to come together, learn from each other, and do things together that they could not otherwise do by themselves.”

In his tenure as president, during which he will preside over quarterly meetings of the NABE and its board of directors while acting as chief executive officer, Head intends to maintain a sharp focus on professionalism.