| 2024 | A. Dale Jenkins, Former Chief Executive Officer of Curi | Mitch Gillespie, Former former Assistant Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources |
| 2023 | Willie A. Deese, Former President of Merck & Co., Inc. | Michael A. Sprayberry, Former Director of North Carolina’s Division of Emergency Management |
| 2022 | J. Bradley Wilson, Former President and CEO of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina | Senator Kay Hagan |
| | Karen Cochrane-Brown, Former Division Director, North Carolina General Assembly |
| 2021 | Drs. Eunice and Joe Dudley, Sr., Founders, Dudley Beauty Corp. | The Honorable Dennis Wicker, Former North Carolina Lt. Governor |
| 2020 | George H.V. Cecil, Chairman, Biltmore Farms | Brigadier General (Retired) James R. Gorham |
| 2019 | David Congdon, Executive Chairman and former CEO, Old Dominion Freight Line | Stephen Scott, Former President of Wake Technical Community College |
| 2018 | Allen E. Gant, Jr., Chairman of the Board, Glen Raven, Inc. | Dr. June Atkinson, Former State Superintendent of the Public Schools of North Carolina |
| 2017 | Thomas E. Skains, former CEO, President and Chair, Piedmont Natural Gas | Richard Y. Stevens, former North Carolina State Senator |
| 2016 | Susan Cameron, President and CEO, Reynolds American Inc. | Thomas W. Ross, Former President of the University of North Carolina System |
| | Scott Ralls, Former President of the North Carolina Community College System |
| 2015 | Stan Kelly, Retired Wells Fargo Executive; President and CEO, Piedmont Triad Partnership | The Honorable Sarah Parker, Former Chief Justice, N.C. Supreme Court |
| 2014 | O. Temple Sloan Jr., Founder and Chair, CARQUEST/General Parts International | The Honorable Jim Crawford, Former N.C. House Representative |
| 2013 | The Honorable Wendell H. Murphy, Previous Chairman and CEO, Murphy Farms | The Honorable David Hoyle, Former Secretary of Revenue |
| 2012 | James Maynard, Chairman and CEO, Investors Management Company; Chairman, Golden Corral Corporation | Congressman Howard Coble, NC-6th U.S. Congress |
| 2011 | Stephen P. Zelnak, Jr., Chairman and Former CEO, Martin Marietta Materials | Erskine B. Bowles, Co-Chairman National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility & Reform |
| 2010 | Robert A. Ingram, General Partner, Hatteras Venture Partners | The Honorable Howard N. Lee, Executive Director, The North Carolina Education Cabinet |
| 2009 | John A. Allison, IV; Chairman and former CEO of BB&T | Michael F. Easley, Governor, North Carolina |
| 2008 | James B. Hyler Jr., Former Vice Chaiman and COO of First Citizens Bank | H. Martin Lancaster, President of the North Carolina Community College System |
| 2007 | Thomas W. Bradshaw Managing Director and Co-Head of theTransportation Group for Citigroup Global Markets, Inc. | Justice I. Beverly Lake, Jr., Former Chief Justice, N.C. Supreme Court |
| 2006 | Smedes York, President, York Properties | Henry Frye, Former Chief Justice, N.C. Supreme Court |
| 2005 | Edward Smith Jr., Chairman and CEO, Grady-White Boats Inc. | Gen. Henry H. Shelton, Vice Chair of the Board of Advisors, M.I.C. Industries |
| 2004 | Bert Collins, Chairman and CEO, N.C. Mutual Life Insurance Co. | Burley Mitchell Jr., Former Chief Justice, N.C. Supreme Court |
| 2003 | John F. McNair III, Retired President, Wachovia Bank | The Rev. Billy Graham, Billy Graham Evangelistic Association |
| 2002 | Russell J. Robinson II, Founding Partner in Russell, Bradshaw & Hinson | James G. Goodmon, CEO of Capitol Broadcasting Co. |
| 2001 | Paul J. Rizzo, Former Dean of the Kenan Flagler Business School | Sen. Jesse Helms, Veteran member of the U.S. Senate |
| 2000 | Hugh L. McColl Jr., Chairman and CEO, Bank of America | James B. Hunt Jr., Governor, State of North Carolina |
| 1999 | Louie Woodbury Jr., President, Woodbury & Co. | Elizabeth Aycock, Secretary, Research Triangle Park |
| 1998 | John Medlin, Chairman, Wachovia | Dr. Dallas Herring, Former Chairman, State Board of Education |
| 1997 | Sherwood H. Smith Jr., Chairman, CP&L | C. D. Spangler, Former President UNC System |
| 1996 | John A. Forlines Jr., Chairman & CEO, Bank of Granite | Hugh McRae Morton, President and Owner, Grandfather Mountain |
| 1995 | William S. Lee, Former NCCBI Chairman | James E. Holshouser Jr., Former Governor |
| 1994 | C. Felix Harvey, Former NCCBI Chairman | Dr. Jay M. Robinson, Educator |
| 1993 | W. Roger Soles, Former NCCBI Chairman | James G. Martin, Former Governor |
| 1992 | Ralph W. Ketner, Chairman Emeritus, Food Lion | C. C. Cameron, Former NCCBI Chairman, State Budget Director |
| 1991 | Thomas J. Hackney Jr., Former NCCBI Chairman | L. Richardson Preyer, Former Congressman |
| 1990 | W. David Stedman, Chairman, W. David Stedman Associates | Ivie L. Clayton, Former NCCBI President |
| 1989 | George R. Herbert, President, Research Triangle Institute | Kenneth C. Royall Jr., Member, North Carolina Senate |
| 1988 | John M. Belk, Chairman of the Board, Belk Stores Services Inc. | Robert W. Scott, President, North Carolina Department of Community Colleges |
| 1987 | Bland W. Worley, Retired Chairman of the Board, Barclays American Corporation | Harlan E. Boyles, Treasurer State of North Carolina |
| 1986 | Frank H. Kenan, Chairman, William R. Kenan Jr. Fund | Joseph Branch, Chief Justice of the N.C. Supreme Court |
| 1985 | C. C. Cameron, Chairman of Executive Committee, First Union Corporation | James T. Broyhill, Member of U.S. House of Representatives, Tenth District of North Carolina |
| 1984 | Thomas H. Davis, Chairman of the Board, Piedmont Airlines | Mary D.B.T. Semans, Chairman, The Duke Endowment |
| 1983 | Carl Horn Jr., Former Chairman of the Board, Duke Power Company | Thad Eure, Secretary of State |
| 1982 | J. Paul Sticht, Chairman of the Board & CEO, R.J. Reynolds Industries Inc. | Dr. Juanita Kreps, Former U.S Secretary of Commerce |
| 1981 | Edwin A. Morris, Former Chairman of the Board, Blue Bell Inc. | Henry L. Bridges, Former State Auditor |
| 1980 | Shearon Harris, Chairman of the Board, Carolina Power & Light Co. | Susie Sharp, Former Chief Justice, N.C. Supreme Court |
| 1979 | Joseph M. Bryan, Insurance and Radio-Television Executive, Jefferson-Pilot Corporation | Terry Sanford, President, Duke University |
| 1978 | John F. Watlington Jr., Retired Chairman & CEO, The Wachovia Corporation and Wachovia Bank & Trust Company | Albert Coates, Professor Emeritus in the UNC Law School, Founder, Institute of Government |
| 1977 | Holt McPherson, Editor Emeritus, The High Point Enterprise | James A. Graham, North Carolina Commissioner of Agriculture |
| 1976 | Allen H. Sims, Former Chairman of the Board, Citizens National Bank | William H. Bobbitt, Former Chief Justice, N.C. Supreme Court |
| 1975 | Raymond A. Bryan, Chairman of the Board, T. A. Loving Company | Sam J. Ervin Jr., Former United States Senator |
| 1974 | Addison H. Reese, Chairman of the Board, North Carolina National Bank | William C. Friday, President, University of North Carolina |
| 1973 | Alex. H. Galloway, Chairman of the Board, R. J. Reynolds Industries Inc. | Henry E. Kendall, Former Chairman, Employment Security, Commission of North Carolina |
| 1972 | Archie K. Davis, Chairman of the Board, Wachovia Bank & Trust Company, N.A | Charles R. Jonas, Member of US House of Representatives, Ninth District of North Carolina |
| 1971 | J. E. Broyhill, Chairman of the Board, Broyhill Industries | L. H. Fountain, Member of U.S. House of Representatives, Second District of North Carolina |
| 1970 | Howard Holderness, Chairman of the Board, Jefferson-Pilot Corporation | Edwin M. Gill, Treasurer, State of North Carolina |
| 1969 | R. O. Huffman, Chairman of the Board, Drexel Enterprises | Daniel Killian Moore, Former Governor of North Carolina |
| 1968 | Lloyd E. Griffin, Former Executive VP/ Secretary, North Carolina Citizens Association | |
| 1967 | Edwin Pate, President, Z.V. Pate Inc. | |
| 1966 | Emery Byrd Denny, Chief Justice, North Carolina Supreme Court | |
| 1965 | B. Everett Jordan, United States Senator | |
| 1964 | R. Grady Rankin, President, Superior Yarn Mills | |
| 1963 | Sam J. Ervin Jr., United States Senator | |
