Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation.

• Position: Brief Article

Superior Court Judge Thomas Ross will hang up his robe to become executive director of the Winston-Salem-based Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation. He will start Jan. 1, overseeing about $20 million in grants to North Carolina projects and programs. The foundation, which lists its worth as $500 million, is North Carolina's biggest philanthropic organization after the $1 billion Duke Endowment. He will succeed Tom Lambeth, who has headed the foundation since 1978 and hod planned to retire in June. Ross, 49, says he mode the career leap because the Reynolds Foundation's commitment to environmental and public-education issues appealed to him...