Business North Carolina

Pillars of NC: Ernie Pitt’s pioneering career in Tar Heel journalism

Charisma and certitude led Ernest Pitt to start a four-page weekly in Winston-Salem as the city’s only Black-owned newspaper in 1974. He’d been frustrated that no one would publish his article about why Black law students at North Carolina Central University were passing the bar at a lower rate than their white counterparts. Photo: Courtesy of Ernie Pitt

Pillars of NC: Dale Halton, the Charlotte trailblazer put the fizz back in her family business

When Dale Halton stepped in as president of Pepsi-Cola Bottling Co. of Charlotte in 1981, she was a rare female CEO. The business was close to insolvency and, Pepsico’s corporate leaders were threatening to pull the franchise from her family, which had been affiliated with the soft-drink company for more than 70 years. Photo: Dale Halton personal papers and business records, MS0567, J. Murrey Atkins Library, The University of North Carolina at Charlotte

Pillars of NC: Mobile technology pioneer Jerry Neal’s signal success

Jerry Neal chuckles when asked about his success in developing one of North Carolina’s most successful tech companies, and later, building perhaps the state’s biggest house east of Biltmore Estate. He hasn’t forgotten the times he stumbled. Always a risk taker, sometimes the gamble paid off. Other times, it was rough going. Photo: Courtesy of Jerry Neal

NC Trend: Mills River

Mills River doesn’t have the tourism cachet of nearby Asheville, Hendersonville or Brevard, but it’s become a regional hot spot for economic developers. The town has landed industrial developments from Amazon, Norafin Americas and others that prize its low tax rate and relatively level land.

Pillars of NC: Harvey Gantt makes history with architecture practice

Harvey Gantt’s always been a trailblazer. As a teenager, he sat at lunch counters closed to people of color. He became the first African American student to attend Clemson University in 1963.

Pillars of NC: Mitchell Gold makes a mark in furniture, civil rights

Mitchell Gold’s love affair with furniture and home decor wasn’t a calculated decision. “I fell into it,” Gold, 68, says.

Pillars of NC: Richard Childress

Winston-Salem native Richard Childress became famous during a storied career on the racetrack, competing against other stock-car racing legends and eventually landing in the NASCAR Hall of Fame. Childress’ competitive spirit and winning attitude later drove him to other successful ventures, including heading a NASCAR team at the height of superstar Dale Earnhardt’s career. Photo: Courtesy of Richard Childress

Karrie Dixon raises trajectory of Elizabeth City State University

Chancellor Karrie Dixon has a secret to share: Elizabeth City State University is home to the only four-year aviation science program in North Carolina, the “first in flight” state. When she came on board in 2018, she realized the institution had, to its detriment, kept its jewel hidden for far too long. Photo: Courtesy of ECSU

Pillars of NC: Bill Hensley

Although Bill Hensley’s achievements have been recognized with numerous awards, his part in getting a Charlotte referendum measure that allowed diners to order mixed drinks at restaurants passed in 1978 may be his crowning glory. Photo: Courtesy of Bill Hensley

Pillars of NC: Mickey Michaux’s record-setting political career

Part of a prominent Durham business family, Henry McKinley “Mickey” Michaux Jr. became the longest-serving member of the North Carolina General Assembly after short stints as a federal and state prosecutor.

PHOTO: Courtesy of Mickey Michaux

Pillars of NC: Bill Williamson

William H. Williamson III, who is known as Bill Will by his friends, likes to remind people he was born when Herbert Hoover was president.

PHOTO: Courtesy of Bill Williamson

Pillars of NC: Sue Cole

Sue Cole was one of few women in corporate lending when she started at North Carolina National Bank in Greensboro in 1973. Her steadfast manner has served Cole well; she’s had a more than 40-year career in banking, wealth management and consulting, always in Greensboro.

Dynamic diversity: The changing look of N.C. executive power

Lewis, 59, has been a trailblazer in the North Carolina legal community. After earning a bachelor’s at Duke University and graduating from Harvard Law School, he worked as a law clerk for Associate Justice Henry E. Frye of the N.C. Supreme Court. PHOTO: Courtesy of Kenneth Lewis

Pillars of NC: Steve Stroud

Commercial real estate professional Stephen Stroud remembers taking Christmas treats to another family when he was a child. Although the Stroud family didn’t have much to give, it was an attitude and environment that he says shaped his life.

Pillars of NC: Eva Clayton

In 1992, Democrat Eva McPherson Clayton made history when she became the first Black woman in North Carolina to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives. She and Mel Watt were the first Black congressional representatives elected in the state since 1898. Photo: Courtesy of Eva Clayton

Pillars of NC: Marshall Rauch

In his 97 years, Marshall Rauch has never lost his Long Island, N.Y., accent, but he’s undoubtedly earned his North Carolinian status after moving to Durham in 1940 to attend Duke University and spending his life making a huge mark on the state.

Pillars of NC: Sherwood Smith Jr. led the nuclear charge

When he left a Raleigh law firm to join Carolina Power & Light in 1965, Sherwood Smith Jr. didn’t envision leading eastern North Carolina’s dominant power company. Photo by Christer Berg

Pillars of NC: Linda Hudson

Linda Hudson refuses to be a tech dinosaur. The founder and strategic advisor of The Cardea Group in Charlotte wants to be the first one with the newest gadgets — and she’s used to being first. A 2007 profile in London’s The Sunday Times...

Pillars of NC: Thomas Ross

Few North Carolinians have had a more varied, impactful career than Thomas Ross. Not many become the leaders of the institutions where they earned both graduate and undergraduate degrees.

Pillars of NC: Robert J. Brown

Robert J. Brown’s story reads like a wild adventure. Risky meetings, chance partnerships and gutsy business decisions moved him in front of leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela, Robert Kennedy and Richard Nixon. PHOTO: Courtesy of Robert Brown

Pillars of NC: Jane Smith Patterson

Developing broadband systems to boost rural North Carolina remains a critical problem, decades after Jane Smith Patterson helped Gov. Jim Hunt kick-start the state’s work on the issue. Patterson was instrumental in developing the N.C. Rural Internet Access Authority, now the N.C. Broadband Infrastructure Office.

Pillars of NC: Sheila Ogle’s pioneering career

Sheila Ogle was among a small group of women business owners when she opened her marketing company, Media Research Planning & Placement Inc. in Cary, in the late 1980s. Photo by Christer Berg.