By Molly Parker
mparker@scbiznews.com
Published Sept. 24, 2009

Paula Harper Bethea has been officially named executive director of the S.C. Education Lottery, a quasi-state agency that rakes in about $1 billion a year in game sales.

Bethea has been serving as interim director of the lottery since July. She replaced former executive director Ernie Passailaigue, who left to become executive director of the newly created lottery in Arkansas.

Neither Bethea nor Passailaigue had any formal lottery management experience before they were hired for the high profile job that is among the top paying state government and agency positions. She is currently making $226,829, according to The State’s salary database.

Passailaigue was previously serving as a state senator from Charleston when he accepted the job. Bethea was last employed by McNair Law Firm, where she was the director of external affairs. Bethea was an inaugural board member chosen to establish the lottery in 2001.

Over the years, Bethea, of Bluffton, has served on a number of boards and commissions. She is currently the vice chair of First Financial Holdings, chairman of the Centers for Economic Excellence board, and a member of the South Carolina Competiveness Council’s board. She is past chair of the board of the S.C. Chamber of Commerce.

The nine-member commission that oversees the S.C. Education Lottery voted earlier this week to name Bethea to the position, calling off a national search. The agency employs about 250 people.

As of press time, the S.C. Education Lottery had not responded to an inquiry from SC Biz seeking information about the terms of her employment or the hiring process. The newspaper has also requested the names of the top three candidates for the job, which is public information under the S.C. Freedom of Information Act.

Board Chairman Tim Madden, an attorney with Nelson Mullins in Greenville, also could not be reached for comment. In a statement, Madden said Bethea is “exactly the leader South Carolina needs to continue our lottery’s success.” He lauded her experience, focused enthusiasm, diplomatic style and presence in the business community.

Tony Cooper, the lottery’s chief operating officer, said Bethea, as interim director, “really showed that she has the talent and capabilities to run a world-class lottery organization.”

Cooper was recruited to South Carolina in 2001. He had previously served as executive director of the lottery in Washington, D.C., from 1990 to 1994 and from 1997 to 2001. Cooper is often credited as being the brain behind South Carolina’s lottery operation.

Cooper said he was interested in leading the S.C. lottery and submitted his resume to the commission. But Cooper said he did not officially apply because there “had not really been established criteria for the selection process … We never got to that point.”

With Bethea performing well at the top in the interim role, Cooper said it made sense to keep her there.

“In doing so, the commission was able to get a leader, a well-respected leader, and save thousands of dollars,” he said.

Both Passailaigue and Cooper were passed over to head the lottery commission in North Carolina in 2005, according to the Charlotte Observer. This summer, Passailaigue nabbed the executive director’s job in Arkansas as well about a $100,000 raise. He makes $324,000, according to a business journal in Arkansas.

Bethea also could not be reached on Thursday. Bill Youngblood, McNair’s managing shareholder and chief executive, said that Bethea has been on leave of absence from the firm since accepting the interim lottery position a few months ago. She will be leaving the firm for her new job, he said.

Youngblood called her a “remarkable person who has accomplished much.”

Bethea has worked for McNair since 2004, when her husband’s law firm, for which she had been working, merged with McNair. Her husband, Bill Bethea, was a founding partner in Bethea, Jordan & Griffin in Bluffton.

Both Betheas have a long history of community and statewide service. Bill Bethea served on the S.C. State Ports Authority board from 1991 to 2003, and was its chairman from 1995 to 1999. He is currently chair of the Jasper Ocean Terminal Joint Project Office. That is the bi-state commission overseeing development of a port terminal in Jasper County that would be jointly operated by the South Carolina and George ports authorities.

Reach Molly Parker at 843-849-3144.