Erskine Bowles "likes" Facebook.

The former president of the UNC system has joined the social network giant's board of directors, adding to his long history of corporate board work.

Facebook has been beefing up its board as the company is widely reported to be preparing for an IPO next year. Other board members include Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Washington Post CEO Donald Graham and Netflix CEO Reed Hastings.

"Erskine has held important roles in government, academia and business which have given him insight into how to build organizations and navigate complex issues,” Zuckerberg said in a prepared statement.

Erskine Bowles is beefing up his lengthy board of directors resume with a stint at Belk.

Bowles, who retired as president of the UNC system in January, was elected to the board of the Charlotte-based department store chain at its annual meeting today.

Bowles is also on the boards of Morgan Stanley, Cousins Properties and Norfolk Southern. The Greensboro native previously served on the boards of General Motors, N.C. Mutual, Merck, VF Corp., Wachovia and Krispy Kreme.

"His extensive service as a director of public companies provides him with a valuable depth of experience on a wide range of corporate governance issues," CEO Tim Belk said in a prepared statement.

RTI, the Research Triangle Park think tank, named William M. Moore Jr., left, as the new chairman of its board of governors.

Moore, managing partner of Lookout Capital and former CEO of Trident Financial, has been an RTI board member since 2001. He replaces Earl Johnson Jr., right, who has served as chairman since 1992.

Peter M. Scott III, left, former chief financial officer at Progress Energy, will serve as vice chairman.

RTI marked its 50th anniversary last year and employs about 2,800 people worldwide, including 2,200 in RTP. The nonprofit research organization does a wide range of research for government and private industry.

RTI also announced three new board members today:

Talecris Biotherapeutics has beefed up its board.

The Research Triangle Park company, whose shares began trading publicly on Oct. 1 in one of the year's biggest IPOs, appointed Dean Jonathan Mitchell as the 10th member of its board of directors.

Mitchell comes with decades of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, including 15 years at GlaxoSmithKline and its predecessor companies. Most recently, he was CEO at two drug companies that were acquired, Alpharma and Guilford Pharmaceuticals.

He's also on the board of Ista Pharmaceuticals, a California company developing eye treatments.

Mitchell has a "proven record of building businesses and creating shareholder value," Talecris wrote in a prepared statement.

In his new job at Talecris, the company will pay him about $225,000 worth of cash, stock and options, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. He'll also be reimbursed for travel and other expenses related to attending board meetings.

Talecris shares fell 9 cents to close at $21.60 on Thursday.