Bird of a different feather
Peacock receives Golden Eagle Award

By ASU News Service

Appalachian State University Chancellor Kenneth E. Peacock received the Golden Eagle Award for Leadership from AdvantageWest, the economic development commission for the region’s 23 western counties.

“Dr. Peacock’s significant record of accomplishments in higher education includes positioning the Walker College of Business as one of the top business schools in the nation,” said J.W. Davis, vice chair of the AdvantageWest Board of Directors. “He has encouraged innovative programs to meet the region’s needs, from an energy center performing outreach in the green economy to a student entrepreneurship program nurturing the next generation of business leaders. In addition, he has developed a supportive culture for student-athletes leading to Appalachian’s football team winning three consecutive national championships and well on their way to a fourth. Dr. Peacock is well known for his enthusiasm whether he’s engaging directly with students on Facebook or building relationships with the private sector.”

AdvantageWest also presented awards for excellence in entrepreneurship and investment in Western North Carolina’s economy.

More than 650 federal, state, regional and local business leaders attended the annual meeting held at The Grove Park Inn Resort and Spa. The meeting included remarks by Lt. Governor-elect Walter Dalton and Peter Reichard, senior advisor to Governor-elect Beverly Perdue. The evening also included special recognition of Jim Fain, the state’s longest-serving Secretary of Commerce. Both Dalton and Fain are natives of Western North Carolina.

The program also included an announcement of the acquisition of Appalachian Solar Energy by Vanir Energy, a subsidiary of the multi-national Vanir Group of Companies Inc. based in Sacramento, Calif.

The new company’s first project will be a solar thermal installation at Fletcher Business Park, a 900,000-square-foot facility in Henderson County where the company is headquartered. The 640-panel array will be the largest installation of solar thermal heating and cooling technology in the world, according to a database maintained by the Solar Heating and Cooling Program of the Paris-based International Energy Agency. Vanir Energy plans to invest $14 million in solar thermal technology projects throughout North Carolina in 2009.

Also attending the AdvantageWest Annual Meeting were members of the N.C. Economic Development Board, comprised of state government officials, business and nonprofit leaders, and elected officials, a group that oversees state economic development research and planning and makes policy recommendations to the N.C. Secretary of Commerce, the governor and the General Assembly.

Chartered by the N.C. General Assembly in 1994, AdvantageWest is Western North Carolina’s nonprofit, public/private economic development partnership.

Governed by a diverse board of directors from across the region, AdvantageWest’s primary focus is marketing the North Carolina mountains to corporations seeking to relocate or open a new facility, expand an existing business within the region, and those who might otherwise improve the quality of life for citizens within the region through activities such as filmmaking, entrepreneurship and tourism.

For more information, visit advantagewest.com.