VGCC President Dr. Rachel Desmarais honored with 2024 Women in Business Award
VGCC President Dr. Rachel Desmarais was one of 25 local leaders honored at Triangle Business Journal's 2024 Women in Business Awards
Vance-Granville Community College is proud to announce that its president, Dr. Rachel Desmarais, was recently recognized by the Triangle Business Journal among the recipients of its 2024 Women in Business Awards .
Desmarais’s inclusion in the 2024 Women in Business Awards underscores her commitment to supporting local communities and economies through a highly skilled workforce. During the 2020-2021 academic year, Dr. Rachel Desmarais took the Presidents for Entrepreneurship Pledge through the National Association for Community College Entrepreneurship (NACCE), which included specific action steps to advance entrepreneurship and create jobs across the country. The college was so successful in these initiatives that NACCE named it the Entrepreneurial College of the Year in October 2022 .
In late 2023, Dr. Desmarais led VGCC into the AdvanceNC partnership , an innovative workforce development ecosystem developing a robust talent pipeline to support unprecedented economic growth in central North Carolina. Through this initiative, 10 community colleges, two state universities, and six regional workforce development boards will collaborate to meet the industry needs of major international companies operating in the state.
For nearly three decades, the Women in Business Awards have celebrated women in the Triangle region who are dynamic and outstanding leaders, with established track records of significant accomplishments in business and community service. Triangle Business Journal honored a total of 25 winners this year.
