RICHMOND—Dr. Paul W. Conco will become the seventh president of Paul D. Camp Community College this summer.

“I’m extremely excited,” Conco said Tuesday. “It’s a real honor and privilege to be chosen to work for the faculty, staff and students at Paul D. Camp Community College.”

He was chosen from four finalists to replace Dr. Douglas Boyce, who is retiring on June 30.

“I have known Paul for nearly a decade,” said Dr. Glenn DuBois, chancellor of Virginia Community College System. “He is extremely capable and I am confident he will do a terrific job leading Paul D. Camp Community College.”

Conco is vice president for financial and administrative services and a professor at Virginia Highlands Community College in Abingdon, positions he has held since 2001.

He was executive vice president at Campbellsville University in Kentucky from 1995 until 2000 and professor of business from 1995 until 2001 at Campbellsville.

From 1986 until 1993, he served as the president of Johnson & Wales University in Charleston, S.C.

Conco holds a doctorate in higher education administration from the University of South Carolina, a master’s in business and public administration from Central Michigan University, a bachelor’s from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale and an associate’s from the Community College of Baltimore.

Virginia Highlands had been a “great place to work” but Conco is looking forward to his new position.

“It is hard to leave one area, but I’m looking forward to the adventure of arriving in a new area,” he said.

Cunco said PDCCC would continue to play an active role in the region’s economic recovery as International Paper Co. shuts down the Franklin mill. More than 1,100 jobs will be lost.

“We’ve got a lot to do,” he said.

“Dr. Conco will do an outstanding job and I look forward to working with him for a smooth transition,” said Boyce, who has served as the college’s president since 2002.

College Board Chairman A. Meredith Felts Jr. said the board was “extremely pleased” with the candidates and the selection process.

“All of the finalists were well qualified to run the college,” he said. “In the final analysis, we felt that Dr. Conco was the best fit for the college and for the community we serve.”

Conco will take over at PDCCC on or before July 1.

“We look forward to working with Dr. Conco and the new directions he will take the college,” Felts said. “But we also express our heartfelt appreciation to Dr. Boyce for his leadership. Dr. Boyce has positioned this college so that it can be of major assistance to the community during these troubled economic times.”

Conco and his wife, Dr. Diana Conco, live in Bristol. They have three children and three grandchildren.