President
Laird Minor was appointed Chairman and President of SCPIF in October 2017 upon the retirement of its founder, Ned Sloan. Since his appointment Mr. Minor has been working to expand SCPIF’s operations, raise its public profile, and broaden its base of financial support so that it can take on more cases and its activities can cover all of the state. Under his leadership SCPIF created this website, began utilizing social media, and has begun soliciting financial support from a broad range of individuals, businesses, and other foundations and institutions.
Born in New Jersey but a resident of Simpsonville since 1997, Mr. Minor has lived and worked in Boston, Philadelphia, West Virginia and Pittsburgh as well as South Carolina. Until his retirement at the end of 2017 he was a co-founder and partner in Mauldin-based Nautilus Capital, a loan sale advisor and consultant to banks and other financial institutions. A veteran of the US Army, he has a law degree from the University of Pennsylvania, an M.B.A. from the University of Pittsburgh, and a B.M. from the Boston Conservatory of Music. Mr. Minor has practiced law in both West Virginia and Pennsylvania.
Chief Counsel
James G. Carpenter, Esq., has served as SCPIF’s principal attorney since its inception, and prior to that he handled most of Ned Sloan’s public interest litigation. In his thirty years of litigation practice in the state and federal courts, Mr. Carpenter has litigated cases involving government procurement, governmental violations of various state statutes and the South Carolina Constitution, and the Freedom of Information Act. He has argued numerous cases before the South Carolina Supreme Court and its lower courts.
