AdvantageWest Presents First Annual Golden Eagle Awards for Investment, Leadership During Annual Meeting
Date Posted: 12/19/2002
ASHEVILLE—AdvantageWest North Carolina—western North Carolina’s Regional Economic Development Commission—announced two winners of the new “Golden Eagle” Award during a late November annual meeting at the Grove Park Inn Resort & Spa.
Nearly 400 community and civic leaders from across western North Carolina were present for the program, which included presentations from the Lieutenant Governor Beverly Perdue and House speaker James Black.
The Golden Eagle Awards, a new initiative of AdvantageWest to recognize leadership and significant investments to western North Carolina’s economy, will be given annually by the AdvantageWest board of directors and will be announced at the AdvantageWest Annual Meeting. AdvantageWest President & CEO Dale Carroll said, “The award’s namesake is native to the North Carolina mountains and symbolizes independence and strength. AdvantageWest instituted the awards because the organization strives to secure economic independence and strength the communities we serve, and recipients of this award will be those who have stood above the crowd to help empower western North Carolina.”
For 2002, a Golden Eagle Award for Community Investment was presented to Elaine D. Sammons of Sammons Enterprises Inc.
Sammons Enterprises is the 76th largest privately held company in the United States with assets in excess of $15 billion dollars. They employ over 3000 people in industry-leading businesses which include insurance, construction equipment, bottled water operations and The Grove Park Inn Resort & Spa. The company has invested significantly in North Carolina, including the Carolina Mountain Springs bottling operating in Cashiers, N.C., Briggs Equipment, Sammons’ construction equipment and rental division, recently acquired the C. F. Craven dealerships which operate in several major North Carolina cities, including Asheville.
In 1954, Sammons purchased a then closed and nearly bankrupt Grove Park Inn, literally saving this Asheville landmark. Since 1984 Sammons has invested over $250 million dollars in capital improvements in hotel, including a total restoration of the Donald Ross Golf Course. In 2001, the business completed additions including a $42 million Spa, which is now acknowledged as one of the top ten in the world. Grove Park Inn Resort & Spa now ranks as the 16th Resort in America, in terms sales per available room. The resort employees almost 1,000 people and has an economic impact to the Western North Carolina economy of more than $300 million per year. The company is converting to an employee shareholder culture and will become of one of the largest employee-owned companies in America.
A Golden Eagle Award For Leadership was presented to AdvantageWest Chairman Gordon Myers.
The AdvantageWest Board of directors surprised Chairman Gordon Myers by presenting a second Golden Eagle Award, this one in leadership. The Award was presented to Myers himself, who has worked in economic development at the local, regional and state levels for 30 years. In addition to an impressive career in the private sector, first as a banker and then as a top executive with one of western North Carolina’s most successful and respected corporate citizens, Ingles Markets, Myers has managed an overwhelming resume of public service. Myers has served as a city council member and county economic development commission member. Myers is also the first and only chairman of AdvantageWest, the state’s first and largest regional economic development commission.
At the state level, Myers has achieved what amounts to the triple-crown of North Carolina Economic Development Leadership. He is the only man in state history to concurrently serve as chair of North Carolina Citizens for Business and Industry, co-chair of the N.C. Partnership for Economic Development, and Chair of the State Economic Development Board as appointed by Gov. Easley.
His leadership on the state DOT Board also helped improve the infrastructure of the entire state, and in western North Carolina, he helped develop and fund the I-26 corridor, which today connects western North Carolina with other parts of the state and nation.
Myers was presented with a clock made by local craftsmen in Mitchell County, which included a brass plaque inscribed with a special message from the four North Carolina Governors Myers has served; Holshouser, Martin, Hunt and Easley.
AdvantageWest President & CEO Dale Carroll said, “Our first annual meeting was a tremendous success, and I’d like to thank all our participants for making the evening possible. Leaders from across western North Carolina came together to collectively celebrate our successes so far, and to review the road we must take to prepare for a new global economy. I would also like to give a special thanks to our board member Craig Madison for his leadership in the community and for hosting this meeting at his facility, the Grove Park Inn Resort & Spa, where he serves as Vice President and General Manager.”
The meeting was also made possible through the financial support of several sponsors, including premier sponsor McGill Associates, an Asheville-based engineering firm. Additional sponsors included Sanford Holshouser Law Firm, Dot Org Group, Crisp Hughes Evans, BB&T Governmental Finance, and Ironwood Media Group.
Chartered by the N.C. General Assembly in 1994, AdvantageWest is western North Carolina’s public/private economic development partnership. Governed by a diverse board of directors from across the region, AdvantageWest has leveraged more than $400 million in investments through matching grant programs and regional initiatives.
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"As a life-long resident of western North Carolina I can’t imagine a more beautiful or diverse place to live and work."
D. Samuel Neill
Attorney-At-Law & AdvantageWest Board Member
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