Project Kitty Hawk’s Pilot Departs

Wil Zemp is out as CEO of Project Kitty Hawk. 

Last month, we reported that the University of North Carolina system’s new education-technology nonprofit had dropped its original business plan and slashed its enrollment projections. 

Three weeks later, UNC Board of Governors Chairman Randy Ramsey and President Peter Hans, who serve as chair and vice chair of Project Kitty Hawk’s board of directors, sent a letter to the nonprofit’s employees stating that Zemp had a close relative battling a serious medical condition. “After conversations with Wil and with the Board of Directors” about the relative’s condition, the April 19 letter said, “we’ve come to agreement that it is time for Wil to step back from day-to-day leadership as CEO of PKH.”  

Zemp, they wrote, “built Project Kitty Hawk from literal thin air, and we will be forever grateful for what he’s done to put PKH on a path to success.” Zemp submitted his resignation April 15, a Kitty Hawk spokesman said.

The university system provided the letter to The Assembly with the relative’s identity redacted. Andrew Kelly, the system’s executive vice president, is now serving as interim CEO.

Project Kitty Hawk, funded by the N.C. legislature in 2021 with $97 million in pandemic recovery money, was created to help UNC campuses run online-degree programs for working adults. Zemp was hired in February 2022 and made $390,676 a year as of June 2023, according to the nonprofit’s most recent IRS filing. 

Kitty Hawk is partnering with N.C. Central and East Carolina Universities and will add a third campus, Appalachian State, in the fall. The UNC system recently announced that it has received $7.8 million from Congress for “technical upgrades” to campuses to improve access to online degree programs. The money will help campuses cover the upfront costs of launching new Kitty Hawk programs, according to a UNC system spokeswoman. 

Project Kitty Hawk had launched six online programs with a total enrollment of 72 students as of the end of March, which leaders projected would grow to 210 by the end of June. They originally projected enrollment of 30,800 by the end of 2028, but have dropped that number to 14,800. 

Correction: Ramsey’s title has been corrected.