RALEIGH (April 4, 2024) – If you don’t see a connection between investment in public education and North Carolina’s economy, take it from someone who has.

“Public education is critically important for workforce development,” Blue Cross Blue Shield of NC CEO Emeritus Brad Wilson says in the accompanying video.

Wilson shares how he worked with a UNC System campus to recruit an international company to the state.

“It struck me that the first team that the company brought to the state … was not the people looking for the tax incentives or wanting to examine geography,” he says.

“They were here to determine whether or not we had a workforce pipeline across their entire portfolio of services that could meet their needs. And it was a two-hour conversation about what is available, what can be developed and where are we going in the investment of and deployment of education resources in our state?

“So without that workforce preparedness – if you don’t have it, then you’re not going to be successful in economic development.”

That company is now in North Carolina with big plans to hire hundreds of North Carolinians, Wilson says.

That’s not something we should take for granted.