CHARLOTTE, N.C. (WBTV) – A Charlotte City council member pushed to replicate an ‘Executive in Residence’ program at City Hall in 2025—just as county and school officials were raising conflict-of-interest concerns about the man at the center of it, records obtained by WBTV show.
The emails from February through May of 2025 show Councilmember Victoria Watlington expressed interest in connecting city staff with Raki McGregor to talk about the Executive in Residence (EIR) program and explore setting up a similar system with the City of Charlotte.
During that same time frame, former CMS superintendent Crystal Hill said board of education members and members of the public raised concerns about a conflict of interest for McGregor in the EIR role. Also, during that time, former Mecklenburg County Manager Dena Diorio said McGregor tried to lobby county commissioners about funding a contract connected to his family that she had removed from the budget…