Executive Director of Industry Services is CCCC’s Staff Member of the Year
For Central Carolina Community College Staff Member of the Year Patricia Anderson, prior experience as an industry leader is key to her effectiveness — and her drive to serve.
As Executive Director of Industry Services, Anderson helps companies understand how the college can assist them and she works with them to build and schedule training that meets their specific needs.
“Her ability to cultivate and sustain meaningful relationships with industry partners, showing up not just when it’s convenient, but consistently and genuinely, has strengthened the college’s reputation as a trusted resource for the regional manufacturing community,” said Margaret Roberton, CCCC Vice President for Workforce Development and Chief of Staff.
Anderson’s experience as a former manufacturing executive gives her empathy for the dynamic nature of industry and how busy and chaotic it can be. Industry leaders’ goal, she said, is to get a finished product out the door, made correctly to meet all requirements, but unexpected events can interfere, and then leaders have to pivot to correct the situation.
“Training can be an afterthought, but it’s very, very critical,” she said. “You have to make time for it, and then maybe everything isn’t constantly on fire, or breaking.”
CCCC offers customized training for free to manufacturers who qualify under state guidelines. Popular training topics include leadership development, safety, computer skills, artificial intelligence, maintenance, and specialized equipment.
During Anderson’s tenure, CCCC has significantly increased the number of customized training projects it does with employers per year. Last fiscal year, for the first time in the college’s history, it had the highest number of projects of any community college in the state, she said. Those gains come as Anderson and others at CCCC have worked to streamline and modernize how the college offers customized training and to strengthen relationships with area businesses.
For Anderson, taking on a leadership role at the college represented a full-circle moment because the launching point for her career was the electronics degree she earned at CCCC.
Growing up in Harnett County, where she lives now, Anderson knew she was interested in technical subjects, so studying electronics at CCCC seemed like a good fit. The smaller-than-a-university atmosphere at the college helped her feel that she was always a person and not just a number. She remembers instructors who explained topics well and provided hands-on learning experiences that she enjoyed.
After she graduated with her associate degree, she was hired on as a technician for a plant in Lillington. She worked for them for the next 32 years.
During that time her company paid for her to get an engineering degree at NC State and promoted her into management, culminating with her role as vice president of quality, safety, and environmental.
That job disappeared, she said, after the federal government defunded the product line for the camouflage products that Saab Barracuda manufactured and the business there shut down. She commuted to a role at Global Skyware in Smithfield for a couple of years but found herself looking for something closer to home.
That’s when she gave her resume to a connection at CCCC, hoping to get it passed along to contacts at area companies. Instead, she was recruited to join the college.
Anderson came on board in late 2021 and worked for about a year as a program coordinator before being promoted to lead the program.
“It’s wonderful,” she said of her current role. “I had such a successful career in manufacturing that, to me, I feel like I’m giving back to industry by providing this customized training, which is at no cost to the industry that participates with us.”
Whether by providing training in leadership and other topics, or by helping employees earn relevant degrees and credentials, she’s seen how companies can build their own future leaders and show employees the value they place on them.
She wishes everyone could better understand all the educational opportunities and assistance the college has to offer.
“No one should have a reason as to why they don’t think they could get a higher level of education, because CCCC is here to help,” she said. “All they have to do is ask.”
Photo Caption:
Patricia Anderson accepts the Staff Member of the Year award from CCCC President Dr. Lisa M. Chapman.