Raymond A. “Buddy” Bass, Jr., of Fayetteville has been elected Chairman of the North Carolina Real Estate Commission for the second time and Melvin L. “Skip” Alston of Greensboro has been re-elected Vice Chairman, it was announced by Phillip T. Fisher, Executive Director.
Bass, a Commission member since 1993, was first elected Chairman in 1995. He was also elected Vice Chairman in 1994 and co-vice chairman in 2005.
Entering the real estate business in 1965, Bass was a full-time REALTOR® and homebuilder in Fayetteville, having served on numerous committees with the Fayetteville Association of REALTORS®.
He was a member of the North Carolina and National Association of REALTORS®, and the Homebuilders Association at the local, state and national levels and is currently a member of the Association of Real Estate License Law Officials. He was owner and president of Dickens-Bass Realty & Construction Company in Fayetteville and was president of Bass Construction Company of Fayetteville, Inc.
Bass has been conferred with the Order of the Long Leaf Pine by the Governor for outstanding service to the State of North Carolina.
He is a native of Halifax and a graduate of East Carolina University in Greenville where he played football. He served in the U.S. Military during the Korean Conflict.
He is a member of St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Halifax, the Halifax Fishing Club, Seven Spots Hunting Club and the Cape Fear Aero Clubs as well as the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association.
Bass and his wife, Joan, live in Fayetteville and have three children, Greg, Lisa and Susan.
Melvin L. “Skip” Alston
He has been a member of the Commission since 2003.
Alston is serving his fourth four-year term as a member of the Guilford County Board of Commissioners and was elected its chairman in December 2002 for a one-year term.
Alston is also involved with several other successful business adventures in the Greensboro community, such as President of East Market Street Square, Inc., a commercial development company; Alston and Alston, LLC, a consulting firm; Skip’s All Beef Hotdogs, Inc.; and Vice President of S & J Partnership, Inc., dba The Bar-B-Que Palace.
Alston is also the immediate past president of the North Carolina State Conference of NAACP Branches, which consist of 120 Adult Branches and 60 Youth and College Chapters across the state. He also serves on the NAACP National Board of Directors since 2001 and is a member of the NAACP National Board of Trustees since 1988.
Alston is also co-founder and Chairman of the board of directors for the Sit-In Movement, Inc., a nonprofit corporation formed for the purpose of purchasing and renovating the historic Woolworth Building in downtown Greensboro into an international Civil Rights Center and Museum.
He is a former member of the North Carolina Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday Commission and is a past president of the North Carolina Association of Black County Officials along with a host of other boards and commissions throughout this state and country.
Alston resides in Greensboro with his wife, Gwendolyn, and is a member of St. James Baptist Church. He has two sons, DeSean Jahleel Alston, 24, who is also a real estate broker, and Ryan DeMarkus Alston, 14.
This article came from the October 2006-Vol37-2 edition of the bulletin.