The Deal includes

some Sparks:

Two receive

Adams award
By Scott Nicholson
nicholson@wataugademocrat.com

The ninth annual Alfred Adams Leadership Awards Luncheon on Thursday recognized area businesses and community leaders who work to make the area a better place to live.

The luncheon, named for a late banker and civic leader Alfred Adams, was both a celebration of Adams’s life of service and recognition of those who followed his footsteps to build the community and bolster the job market.

The Boone Area Chamber of Commerce and Watauga County JobLink Career Center hosted the event, which was sponsored by Wachovia.

This year there were two winners of the Alfred Adams Business Leadership Award: Richard Sparks, president and CEO of Appalachian Regional Health System, and Jim Deal, local attorney and chairman of the Watauga County commissioners and the Appalachian State University Board of Trustees.

Sparks said he was honored because his career was intertwined with Adams’s and said Adams invited him to get involved in the community after his graduation from Appalachian State University in 1976.

Sparks recalled being told that he had an obligation to help bring high-quality health care to the region and drew on other examples of citizen commitment in his career as hospital president.

During Sparks’s tenure, Watauga Medical Center merged with Cannon Memorial Hospital and Blowing Rock Hospital into a regional system.

The hospital also opened the Seby B. Jones Cancer Center, the Scott Mallard Dialysis Center, the Paul Broyhill Wellness Center and a new outpatient lab and imaging center.

The hospital also began planning an allied health program with ASU.

Sparks serves on ASU’s Business Advisory Council and the Board of Trustees for Grandfather Home for Children.

He has held several positions with the North Carolina Hospital Association and was given ASU’s Distinguished Alumni Award in 2001, an award Adams won 25 years earlier.

Deal said he was influenced by Adams and said, “I can’t think of any recognition that would mean more to me than to be associated with Alfred Adams. Those people who have opportunities have an obligation to use their skills and talents to make the world a better place.”

Deal also said he would continue to be a strong supporter of education and “continue to work so that our young people can be successful.” Deal is an ASU graduate and served on the Watauga County Board of Education from 1990 to 1998 and has served on the governing board of the Boone United Methodist Church.

He is also a trustee for Appalachian Regional Healtcare System.

Two local businesses received JobLink Employer of the Year awards. Foscoe Companies was praised by its employees for the support and encouragement given by company owners Mark and Missy Harrill. Employees said the company showed loyalty both to workers and business associates and had supported other local businesses and the community. Mark Harrill said the company had become successful because the employees had taken initiative and responsibility for improvement.

Mountain Lumber Company also was named an employer of the year. The company has 34 employees and built success over 20 years by building relationships with customers and being actively involved in community projects and public service.

Company owner Dwight Simmons said in his industry there were many competitive suppliers of the same goods and products, so the difference for success is in the quality of employees and their ability to build positive relationships. He talked about starting out small and seeing his business grow and thanked his long-time employees, saying, “These people made it happen.”

Habitat ReStore of Boone won a Community Advocate Award for its work recycling and recovering unused building materials and selling them to benefit Habitat for Humanity. ReStore’s efforts help provide affordable housing in the area and keep waste material from the landfill in augmenting the work of Habitat volunteers.

Alex Hooker, speaking on behalf of ReStore, said it had salvaged 24 tons of material in the last six weeks, saving taxpayer money and providing useful supplies for do-it-yourselfers and builders.

“ReStore people have a passion for what they do and the community,” he said.

Mast General Store also won a Community Advocate Award. Owner John Cooper said 160 of the company’s 385 employees worked in Watauga County and recalled getting a phone call from Adams when the original Mast Store reopened, wanting to visit it. Cooper also noted the next generation of community leaders were coming out of local businesses like his. Mast General Store was recognized for supporting Western Youth Network’s Project Venture, an outdoor-based experiential learning program.

The luncheon’s keynote speaker was Tom White, director of the N.C. Division of Employment and Training. White noted the challenges of replacing lost manufacturing jobs, saying business and corporate sponsorship of jobs and retraining programs were important. He said the state was emerging as a leader in biotechnology, but there were still divides between urban and rural job opportunities.

To address them, he encouraged the development of regional partnerships and promoting capital expansion to address “the urban-rural dichotomy.” The state’s university system was a successful resource for preserving jobs, White said, adding that the available supply of skilled workers was an important factor in where businesses chose to locate.

The luncheon was held at the Broyhill Inn & Conference Center in Boone, with 157 people attending.

To view more photos from the Chamber event, please visit the Watauga Democrat's photo galleries: Alfred Adams.