CityView Magazine

24 June 2023 Mac Healy's work ethic comes with many valuable attributes, his friends say. They tout his leadership style, business acumen, and his optimistic and persistent doggedness when pursuing a project. it into a Bourbon Street. ere also were a number of people who grew up in Fayetteville and remembered what it had been: department stores, the banks, and everything. And it was a time across the country when downtowns were beginning to come back and mall areas were beginning to suffer." "We got a nucleus of enough people who said, 'Let's do it; let's move ahead.' We thought up radical projects, and we came up with an initial plan to come up with a big project and redo the area where Festival Park is now, the site of the former USO building," according to Healy. Growing assets Healy's work ethic comes with many valuable attributes, his friends say. ey tout his leadership style, business acumen, and his optimistic and persistent doggedness when pursuing a project. Healy was a member of the Cumberland Community Foundation board from July 1, 2003, through June 30, 2015, the maximum term, according to Holmes. "When he joined our board of directors, the foundation had $22 million in assets. When he le our board of directors, we had $72 million in assets. e foundation grew $50 million in assets while he was on the board. at's almost more than triple the growth in foundation assets. at's important because our grant-making grew accordingly," Holmes says. "He's a smart businessman. On a board of directors, he's an asset for his financial knowledge, his marketing knowledge, his employee management knowledge, his network in the community, and his sense of humor," she says. Currently, Healy co-chairs the board of the proposed N.C. Civil War, Emancipation and Reconstruction History Center. Planning for the $81 million center began in 2006, and a ribbon-cutting was held last year on the grounds of the Museum of the Cape Fear Historical Complex, where the history center would be built. e plan has encountered some opposition by residents who fear it may glorify the Confederacy. "Sometimes, things take a long time to get accomplished," says Mary Lynn Bryan, a philanthropist who co-chairs the history center board. Healy is one who will "stick with it," she adds. "We're fortunate to have that kind of leadership. He does what he says he will do," Bryan says. Healy's first venture in community service was with the Arts Coucil. Healy oen appears at civic functions to speak passionately about the economic boon the history center would bring to the community. He has made numerous presentations before local governing boards, too, asking sometimes fickle politicians for the money they earlier promised if the foundation raised money on its own. Which it has done. e history center, Healy says, will draw 120,000 people annually who will eat at local restaurants and go to local baseball games. "Additionally, it will create 200 jobs, bring in $2 billion a year in tourism dollars, and become a magnet for people coming to Fayetteville where they can see the city's transformation," Healy adds. "Fayetteville has a great, long history, and we just don't show it very well." Burr and beer Richard Burr, who represented North Carolina in the U.S. Senate from 2005 to 2023, says Healy oen lobbied for his community. Burr and Healy met at Wake Forest University. Healy was an athletic trainer who taped Burr's ankles at 4 a.m. on practice days. ey were underclassmen, which is why they were given the 4 a.m. time slot, Burr said. ey have remained friends. Did they ever discuss or debate politics during Burr's tenure in the Senate? "I would have loved to talk politics with him, but mostly he talked politics with me. He was very opinionated about what we should do. It usually involved doing something for Fayetteville or the military," Burr says. Along with his "uncanny work ethic," Burr says, Healy also has a great empathy

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