Triad Business Journal Names Martin, Gatling and Foster to ‘Power 50’

EAST GREENSBORO, N.C. (Oct. 21, 2025) – The Triad Business Journal will honor three North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University leaders Thursday as part of its ninth-annual Power Players celebration, which highlights 50 of the most prominent individuals in this region.

N.C. A&T Chancellor James R. Martin II, Fox Rothschild LLP Partner and Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer Kimberly Gatling ’96 and Core Technology Molding Corp. President and CEO Geoff Foster ’90, ‘96 are included among the honorees, who have all “demonstrated a commitment to community engagement and economic growth.”

Martin was elected A&T’s 13^th chancellor in 2024 after previously serving as vice chancellor for STEM Research and Innovation at the University of Pittsburgh and before that as U.S. Steel Dean of Engineering for Pitt’s Swanson School of Engineering.

In his first year at A&T, Martin has overseen record growth and enrollment, the university’s second consecutive year of exceeding criteria for the Carnegie Classification’s prestigious Research 1 designation and the launch of multiple new graduate and undergraduate degree programs. He also launched significant new partnerships with JetZero, Toyota NC, Nvidia and Project Kitty Hawk, hired three new vice chancellors and a new dean, kicked off a five-year capital campaign for A&T athletics and introduced a new framework for implementation of A&T’s strategic plan.

Gatling practices in the areas of patents, trademarks, copyrights, software and related licensing and litigation matters and serves as a member of the university’s Board of Trustees.

Gatling also is on the boards of  Culp Inc. and Truliant Federal Credit Union and formerly served on boards for the United Way of Greater Greensboro, the Cone Health Foundation, Gateway University Research Park, the North Carolina A&T State University Real Estate Foundation, the North Carolina Bar Association, Habitat for Humanity of Greater Greensboro and the Women’s Resource Center. Last month, she was also inducted into the National Black College Alumni Hall of Fame in Atlanta.

Foster is the founder of Core Technology, an injection molding company that has grown exponentially in Greensboro over the past decade. A nearly 30-year veteran in the plastics field, he received a U.S. patent for an advanced manufacturing process in 1999.

Foster has established a talent pipeline from A&T to Core Tech, in part by serving as an adjunct professor at A&T in the Department of Applied Engineering Technology. That has allowed Core Tech to amass a glittering list of big-brand clients, including Lilly, Mercedez-Benz, Rubbermaid, Volvo, Pfizer, Merck, BMW, Husqvarna, General Electric and more. He is an advisor for the Society of Plastics Engineers and serves on the Board of Visitors at A&T.