VGCC names Ferguson to Industry Services post
Vance-Granville Community College recently named Eddie Ferguson of Oxford as the college’s new Director of Industry Services and Emerging Technologies.
Ferguson (pictured above) joins VGCC after many years as a business executive. From 1982 until 1995, Ferguson served as vice-president of Medic Computer Systems, a Raleigh-based medical software company he helped start. In 1995, he founded Hunt Investments, LLC, an investment and real estate development firm based in Oxford. Ferguson has been involved in a number of economic and community development projects in Vance, Granville and Wake counties. Meanwhile, he has also been active as a volunteer leader in the community, serving on the boards of the Triangle North Healthcare Foundation, Kerr-Vance Academy, Area Christians Together in Service (ACTS), The Ministry Incubator and the Henderson-Vance Economic Partnership, among others. Ferguson served as the founding Chief Volunteer Officer for the local Boys & Girls Clubs organization and helped secure funding for Franklin-Vance-Warren Opportunity’s Women’s Economic Equity Project. A longtime supporter of the college, he has served on the board of directors for the VGCC Endowment Fund. His family foundation began sponsoring VGCC scholarships in 2000. Ferguson earned two bachelor’s degrees, in Business Administration and Political Science, from Atlantic Christian College (today known as Barton College).
“I am honored and excited to be part of Vance-Granville Community College and look forward to serving our community by building upon this college’s tradition of partnering with business and industry,” Ferguson said. He noted that the “emerging technologies” in his job title refer to “those leading-edge innovations or discoveries that will transform our whole way of life,” including local examples in alternative energy and biotechnology. “The College can play an important role by recognizing and creating an environment that will foster the continued innovation and implementation of these technologies,” Ferguson said.
VGCC works with new, expanding, and existing industries in Vance, Granville, Franklin and Warren counties, providing customized training programs tailored to meet the needs of the industry and its employees. The workforce training programs are flexible in design to accomplish specific objectives and are jointly planned by company personnel and training specialists from the college. VGCC Industry Services personnel also work closely with the N.C. Commerce Department, the N.C. Community College System office , local economic developers and chambers of commerce to recruit new industries to the college’s service area. According to a recent report from the N.C. Community College System, 96% of area businesses responding to a survey said that they were satisfied with services provided to them by VGCC.
