The Board of Governors has named an interim president of the UNC System in less than one week since current president Margaret Spellings announced she was stepping down.

Dr. William Roper, the chief executive of UNC Health Care, has officially been chosen as the interim president of the 17-campus system Thursday morning at the Board of Governors emergency meeting. Roper was rumored to be the choice for the position Wednesday.

“A lot of hard work lies ahead, but with the help of Chair Smith and the advice of President Spellings and the team of people that are here and the others that will join us, I’m quite bullish about the future ahead of us,” Roper said during the press conference following the board meeting. “The work of the UNC System is very important to the people of North Carolina, all 10 million plus of them all across the 100 counties and I’m just excited to get over the ceremonies and on with the work.”

Board of Governors Chair Harry Smith Jr. said Roper was his number one choice for the position.

Spelling’s last day in her position was originally scheduled for March 1, but has now been moved up to Jan. 15. Spellings announced her resignation last Friday.

“[Roper] will start Jan. 1 with a two week overlap of [Spellings] and [Roper] to Jan. 15,” Smith said during the press conference.

Smith also said the board does not know how long the interim period will last.

When asked if he would be interested in making the interim position permanent, Roper said he was not concerned with the future yet.

“I really do believe in public service and part of that entails is when you are asked to do something, almost always you say yes, unless there is a strong reason not to, so I said yes to this,” Roper said. “… We’ll work on tomorrow but we’re not worried about weeks and month in the future, that’ll take care of itself.”