Nick is the chairman of the S. C. Manufacturers Alliance Environmental Committee.  He has a BS and MS from East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN.  He is a graduate of the University of Virginia, Darden Graduate School of Business Administration, Executive Program.  

His career includes Springs Industries, Inc., where he led the global EHS process, and managed the potable and process water filtration and wastewater treatment systems.  At the Beaunit Division of El Paso Gas Company he was a production process engineer then SHEA manager for chemical and fiber manufacturing sites.  

He was appointed to the first EPA RCRA Permit Advisory Committee, and to the EPA National Advisory Council for Environmental Policy and Technology. He has advised the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment on energy utilization and efficiency.  

He helped charter the South Carolina Environmental Excellence program, was a member of the S. C. Water Resources Commission and the Regulatory Review Task Force in the Haley administration and served on the South Carolina Small Business Regulatory Review Committee. He was a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee task force on wetlands and Carolina Bays.  

Since 1996 he has been a member of the South Carolina state board for Technical & Comprehensive Education serving as chairman for 13 years. He has worked with the Coordinating Council and the Enterprise Committee at the Department of Commerce and the South Carolina Research Authority.  

His work includes securing a number of ecologically significant conservation easements along the Catawba River with the Katawba Valley Land Trust.