"(Many employees) are looking to improve their financial condition with better wages and better benefits (so they can) take care of their families, send their kids to college. How do we address that? How do we retrain our workforce so they have the skills that industrial prospects who look at our areas are demanding.”

Be Prepared

To increase corporate profits, NCCBI's new leader
recommends investing in worker training programs

By Steve Tuttle

Gordon Myers believes that the people who have benefited the most from NCCBI's leadership in economic development policy are folks who aren't members and who probably have never heard of the state's largest business organization. And during his year as NCCBI chairman that's exactly who Myers wants to help even more.

“I know that when people think of NCCBI they think of the large businesses and industries in this state, but who I think we have helped more than anyone over the years is the average working person,” says Myers, who succeeded Mac Everett as NCCBI chairman during the Annual Meeting last month. “These are the people who have been able to raise their standard of living by getting good-paying jobs in the new companies that have moved to North Carolina and at our local companies that have expanded so much. This is due, in no small measure, to the positive business climate that NCCBI has worked so hard to establish in North Carolina.

“Because of the economic growth we've had, the average hourly wage is much higher now, the insurance and benefits are much more substantial, and that's made life better for tens of thousands of North Carolinians.”

But times are changing, and Myers, the Asheville business executive who is regarded by many as Western North Carolina's most influential advocate, believes NCCBI must shift its strategies if it hopes to see standards of living continue rising and corporate profits continue growing. That's a lesson he's learned, he says, from a long and varied experience volunteering with local, regional and statewide economic development groups, including the seven years he's chaired the AdvantageWest regional partnership that serves 23 western counties.

“It used to be that when industrial prospects came to a region looking to establish a new plant, the first thing they wanted to do was to see industrial sites and get information about development costs, learn how much it would cost to get operational,” Myers explains. “As far as the labor force was concerned, what they wanted to know was how quickly could they hire people.

“But now the first thing they ask is, `Do you have a workforce that is trained or trainable.' There's a critical difference in those two things. It's the difference between someone who is willing and able to work and a person who has marketable skills and who can be productive from day one.

“That's why I firmly believe that what we need to do now is to focus on workforce preparedness. I think that will be critical in order to continue the economic progress we have enjoyed in recent years.”

Myers said he knows that various federal, state and local government agencies already offer a host of workforce training programs. But he said many existing programs don't offer training that meets current needs, and almost all of them are hampered by a lack of adequate funding and support.

One thing he knows for sure, Myers says, is that the demand is there.

“I know in just our 23-county area in Western North Carolina we have over 17,000 people who have registered with the ESC looking for work,” Myers says. “Most of them are currently employed but they are employed in relatively low-paying jobs or at minimum wage jobs. They are looking to improve their financial condition with better wages and better benefits (so they can) take care of their families, send their kids to college. How do we address that? How do we retrain our workforce so they have the skills that industrial prospects who look at our areas are demanding.”

Myers, 56, says enlightened self-interest as much as civic-mindedness should drive the business community to focus greater attention on workforce preparedness. “I think the ability of our NCCBI member companies to expand their businesses is directly tied to their ability to hire and retain skilled workers.”

Myers says that improving existing workforce preparedness programs will require the cooperation of many entities. “It is an issue that's much bigger than just NCCBI,” he says. “It's a statewide problem that needs to be addressed by many groups, including the community colleges and the public school system, everybody from the governor on down.”

NCCBI President Phil Kirk, who doubles as chairman of the State Board of Education, agrees. “No issue is of more importance to the business community in North Carolina than workforce preparedness,” Kirk says. “Chairman Myers' priority on this issue will be welcomed in both the business and education sectors of our state.”

Community Colleges President Martin Lancaster agrees. “We have been talking with the governor and his staff and with several legislators who have a similar interest. There is a fragmentation now with 18 separate (workforce preparedness) programs in different agencies. The statute says we are the primary workforce development agency and we believe efficiencies could be attained if there were no such fragmentation.”

You could say that Gordon Myers has been involved with economic development and workforce issues ever since he was 14 delivering groceries around Winston-Salem — illegally, it should be pointed out — for his older brother in a 1948 Ford truck. “I had no driver's license so I sat on a case of Vienna sausages to make me look taller,” he recalls with a laugh.

And that wasn't Myers' first brush with capitalism. At the tender age of 10 he started helping in the construction business his father, a 45-year veteran of R.J. Reynolds, ran on the side. And his mother, who operated a beauty shop from the home, provided a daily example of the entrepreneurial spirit.

After graduating from Guilford College in Greensboro with a bachelor's degree in economics, Myers took a job with Northwestern Bank in the home office in North Wilkesboro in the credit department. Working at a small, rural bank taught him a lot about human nature, he said in an Executive Profile about him published in this magazine in April 1997. “We didn't have the computer sophistication back then. We made loans to people who on paper didn't look like they could pay it back. But most did.”

He was transferred to Asheville in 1972 as a vice president and branch manager of the Northwestern Bank there. He was active in banking circles, including a three-year stint with First Commercial Bank, until 1984 when he was recruited by Asheville-based Ingles Markets to develop new properties for the supermarket chain. He was named vice president of real estate at Ingles in March 1993 and currently is in charge of all real estate, real estate development and leasing management.

Ingles operates 212 supermarkets in six Southeastern states. The company owns more than 145 commercial real estate properties, including shopping centers and freestanding Ingles stores. The company is not only a supermarket chain but also a major real estate holding company, owning more than 10 million square feet of real estate and serving 360 commercial tenants.

Although his job keeps him on the road two or three days a week, Myers has always been very active in community and civic affairs in Asheville and Buncombe County. He has been involved on a local level with the Asheville Rotary Club, the Asheville Red Cross, the Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce and the Daniel Boone Council of the Boy Scouts of America. He served on the Asheville City Council from 1981-85.

Myers is the father of two grown children, Adele Myers, a 1991 graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill who is a public relations industry executive in New York City; and Neil Myers, a 1993 graduate of N.C. State who works for a computer-related company in Asheville. He and his wife of 20 years, Kaye Ayers Myers, also have a daughter, Katie, who is a sophomore at Carolina.

Kaye Myers serves on the board of Asheville Buncombe Technical Community College

While he's not a native of the mountains, Myers has emerged as Western North Carolina's most visible and perhaps its most powerful voice in state affairs. He served on the Local Government Commission from 1977-81, on the State Banking Commission from 1980-82 and on the Global TransPark board from 1991-93. His most recent service to the state was as a member of the Rural Prosperity Task Force.

But it's in two other volunteer roles that Myers has come to most visibly represent Western North Carolina — as a longtime member of the State Board of Transportation and as chairman of AdvantageWest, the regional economic development organization serving 23 mountain counties.

Myers was first appointed to the DOT board by Gov. Jim Hunt in 1993 to serve a four-year term. Hunt again appointed Myers to represent the 13th Highway District on the DOT board in 1996, a term he just completed earlier this year. He is largely credited with securing $300 million in funding to complete the “missing link” of Interstate 26 between North Carolina and Tennessee and is closely associated with several other highway projects, including improvements to the historic Beaucatcher Tunnel and the special access road from the Blue Ridge Parkway to the state Arboretum.

Myers has served as chairman of AdvantageWest since its creation by the General Assembly in 1993. The organization has emerged as among the best organized and most innovative of the state's seven regional economic development partnerships, particularly in its use of the Internet to market the region to industrial prospects and for its certified industrial site program.

Although he becomes the first NCCBI chairman from Western North Carolina in a decade — since the late S.B. “Bo Bo” Tanner III of Rutherfordton in 1991-92 — Myers wants members to know he can see the interests of the state far beyond the mountain peaks.

“I have many friends in the eastern part of the state and I have learned over the years that there may be a great deal of difference in the geography between western and eastern North Carolina but our needs are very similar.”

R.V. Owens of Nags Head, who served with Myers on the DOT board and on the Rural Prosperity Task Force, echoes that point. “The biggest thing about Gordon is how much he cares about rural North Carolina. And he understands that the eastern and western parts of the state really are mirror images of each other in terms of our economic development needs.

“More than anyone else I know,” Owens continues, “Gordon understands how important it is to our future that we resolve the issue of having two North Carolinas — the rural poor parts of the state and the rich urban areas. And I can't think of anyone who is better able to explain the importance of that issue to the leaders in the urban areas.”

Erskine Bowles, who chaired the Rural Prosperity Task Force, said Myers made substantial contributions to the effort. “Gordon helped us reach a clear understanding of the problems and opportunities facing rural North Carolina and the importance of those issues to all North Carolinians. I am very grateful to have had the chance to work with Gordon and to learn from him. I am confident that the members of NCCBI will benefit enormously from his leadership.”

Rep. Wilma Sherrill (R-Buncombe), who has worked with Myers on many issues, says she is “pleased that Gordon will be at the helm for NCCBI.” The Republican lawmaker adds that Myers “has demonstrated to us in Western North Carolina that he is committed to improving the lives of all citizens. He has worked diligently for higher paying jobs in recruiting new businesses and expansion for existing industry.”

The common need of the rural and urban parts of the state is better workforce training, Myers says. Focused, targeted training programs are most effective, he adds.

“In my area we started a training program through the Training Alliance of Western North Carolina in the plastics industry. We had 12 plastics companies come together and donate machinery and employees to certify workers through the community college system. The first class had 15 workers and as soon as they graduated they immediately went into jobs that were much better paying than they had previously. Some of these workers have now gone to advanced level training.

“What we need to do is to look at what's working in other areas, like that program,” Myers continues. “Probably most of what we need to do is already being done somewhere. We need to identify where the successes are and try to build on them.”

Myers says he will spend a lot of time talking about workforce preparedness in the year ahead, and about the positive influence he thinks NCCBI exerts.

“I see my role as chairman as one to advocate what is right about NCCBI, what have we done to improve the plight of business and industry and the citizens of North Carolina. The lobbying efforts of NCCBI have made this a state that attracts more than its share of new and expanding industries, and that is benefiting everybody in this state.

“We need to talk about the hundreds of thousands of people who have jobs because of what NCCBI has done.

“It's obviously a great honor for me to have this prestigious position. What I want everyone to know is that if we all can work together, east and west, north and south, then I think we can accomplish a great deal as we move forward in the coming year.”

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