Strategic Partners

Leadership Asheville extends its gratitude to the following Strategic Partners:

Southern Community Bank and Trust opened for business in Winston-Salem, NC in 1996 with one branch and 13 employees.   Today the company has branches throughout the state of North Carolina and well over 300 employees.  Southern Community states that it is a bank “centered on the idea of community” and that its focus is “on individuals, not demographics, because we know that each customer is unique.”  Additionally, the company focuses “on service, not numbers, because we know that good service will ultimately bring success.”  It is this attitude and way of approaching business that will insure that, no matter how large the company becomes in size, it will always be “small enough to care.”

The Van Winkle Law Firm was founded in 1907 by Kingsland Van Winkle who moved from New Jersey to Asheville to assist George W. Vanderbilt with real estate titles for the vast mountain acreage which would become Biltmore Estate and a substantial portion of Pisgah National Forest.  The Firm focuses on building long-term partnerships with its clients by offering sophisticated services more typical of firms in larger metropolitan areas.   With offices in Asheville and Hendersonville, Van Winkle is the largest NC law firm west of Charlotte.  Additionally, the Firm continues a long tradition of civic involvement in the community, evident by its strong support of Leadership Asheville.

From its beginnings as Buncombe County Junior College, where 86 students enrolled in 1927 to further their educations beyond high school, the University has valued liberal arts ideals and community engagement.  Its special commitment to student learning and undergraduate education was reaffirmed when it joined the University of North Carolina system in 1969 as the University of North Carolina at Asheville.  UNC-Asheville’s practice of the liberal arts emphasizes the centrality of learning and discovery through exemplary teaching, innovative scholarship, creative expression, co-curricular activities, undergraduate research, engaged service, and practical experience.  UNC Asheville has consistently received high marks for educational innovation from U.S. News & World Report, and is ranked among the best public liberal arts colleges nationally.

Built from granite boulders hewn from Sunset Mountain, The Grove Park Inn opened in 1913. At its opening dinner, William Jennings Bryan declared that it had been “built for the ages.” In the decades since it has become one of the South’s most famous and venerable resorts.  The hotel was the vision of E.W. Grove, a St. Louis entrepreneur who made his millions in the 1890s peddling an elixir called Grove’s Tasteless Chill Tonic. For his Inn, he envisioned a hotel that would be like “a big home where every modern convenience could be found, but with all the old-fashioned qualities of genuineness with no sham.”  The Grove Park Inn is more than a beautiful place to stay while in Asheville; services and features at the Inn include a world-renowned spa, exquisite dining, a breathtaking golf course, shops, and a sports complex.

Volvo Construction Equipment is the oldest industrial company in the world still active in the construction machinery. It started in 1832 in a machine shop in Eskilstuna, Sweden.  Quality, safety, and environmental care comprise the corporate values of Volvo Construction Equipment.  These values are integral elements to the organization, products and the way it serves its customers and community.