GREENSBORO, N.C. — Gov. Josh Stein came to Greensboro on Wednesday to add more than a dozen people from across the Triad to the Order of the Long Leaf Pine, one of the highest honors a North Carolina governor can hand out for public service.
Guilford County had the largest share of the class. Its honorees were Kevin Baker, who runs the Piedmont Triad Airport Authority; Judge Julianna Earp, a former Business Court judge who handled complex commercial disputes; Deena Hayes-Greene, a member of the Guilford County Board of Education and co-founder of the Racial Equity Institute; Stephen Lee, a former career and technical education teacher at Northern Guilford Middle School; and Kelly A. Moore, director of forensic services for the Greensboro Police Department.
Forsyth County drew several names as well, led by Winston-Salem Mayor Allen Joines, along with Lara Gerald of the Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust, retired Business Court Chief Judge Michael L. Robinson, elections director Tim Tsujii, and Winston-Salem officers Michael Smith and Liam Whelan.
From Rockingham County, the governor recognized Valencia Abbott, who teaches social studies at Rockingham Early College High School and was named the 2025 national history teacher of the year by the Gilder Lehrman Institute, and Paula Rakestraw, a county school board member who once led the Rockingham County Partnership for Children. Former state environmental secretary Michael Regan of Wake County was also inducted, as was a Moore County minister who pushed for Taylortown to become an official town.
Stein said the group showed the range of public service in the region, from a mayor who recruited employers to teachers in classrooms. The award has more than 60 years of history and goes each year to a limited number of people for long careers serving others; earlier honorees range from poet Maya Angelou and racer Dale Earnhardt to basketball star Michael Jordan.
