Header image: NC Arts Council board and staff at Toe River Arts Council for the Spring 2026 board meeting. Photo by Ai-Ling Chang.
In April, the North Carolina Arts Council leadership, board, and staff met in Spruce Pine for our annual spring board meeting. There, Stephen Hill, who was appointed the board’s chair by Governor Roy Cooper in 2017, stepped down and welcomed the new chair, Sejal Mehta.
As the chief executive officer of Discovery Insurance Company and co-founder of Mother Earth Brewing, Stephen has played a key role in fostering regional economic growth and cultural revitalization. He will continue as a board member and serve on the executive committee.
Sejal Mehta is the founding director of JLF North Carolina, a public literary festival in the Research Triangle. Before entering the arts sector, she built a legal career as an assistant district attorney at the Queens County District Attorney's Office, in New York, and later as an attorney at Duke Energy. In addition to serving on the North Carolina Arts Council board, she is on the board of South Arts, is a member of the North Carolina Literary and Historical Association, and acts as a judge for the DPAC Rising Stars Awards, given by the Durham Performing Arts Center. She also contributed to the development of Wake County's Cultivating Creativity cultural arts strategy, the county's landmark plan for arts investment and programming across its 12 municipalities.
“I am grateful for Stephen Hill’s dedication and extraordinary leadership as chair of the NC Arts Council board. His input has been invaluable to the work that we do every day to ensure that all 100 counties have access to the art and culture that make our state great,” said Jeff Bell, the Arts Council’s executive director. “I am also pleased to welcome Sejal Mehta as the new board chair. I look forward to working with her in this role.”