Dan Winslow shares his vision for leading New Hanover Community Endowment

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — The new CEO of the New Hanover Community Endowment, Dan Winslow, was introduced back in August.

Winslow’s previous experience includes serving as a judge, chief legal counsel for then Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, and as the executive of a Boston area non-profit.

Since starting, Winslow has sat down and spoken with community organizations, residents, and officials to hear their thoughts on the endowment and where funds need to be spent.

“4 pillars of focus, so we have education; health and social equity, which is the disparity in health and social equity by race that we’ve seen here in the county; public safety; and community development,” Winslow said. “Community development includes affordable housing attainable housing, job creation, and transportation.”

Over the years, the endowment has received criticism about transparency when it comes to the distribution of its funds and whether it has helped the county deal with some of its issues since being created.

Winslow said he welcomes criticism, as it can help the endowment find new ways to provide help.

“I have gotten so many good ideas from people who just called me up really just to complain, really,” Winslow said. “I mean, there’s value in complaints, there’s value in criticism, there really is. Sometimes, you know, some folks are just critics for their own sake but a lot of times there’s some kernel of truth and so lets not, lets not be closed minded about the possibilities of making things better.”

Winslow said projects and their funding will be made available online for the public to see where it is being spent.