Local economic official earns state certification

Surry County’s top industry recruiter has earned certification through a state program.

Blake Moyer was honored as a 2024 North Carolina certified economic developer at the annual conference of the state Economic Development Association.

It was held in Wilmington during late June, with 16 economic development professionals from around the state recognized altogether.

Moyer, the president and CEO of the Surry County Economic Development Partnership, recently achieved the certification through the North Carolina Certified Economic Developer Program.

It is offered in partnership with East Carolina University and the North Carolina Economic Development Association.

The certification program provides practical knowledge surrounding the economic development profession in the state to personnel in that field, elected officials, business leaders and others interested in the subject matter.

Becoming certified is viewed as giving recipients a competitive advantage in boosting their local economies and bringing prosperity to his or her community.

Moyer believes it will aid his efforts in Surry County, where he joined the Economic Development Partnership in March 2023 after previously serving as director of industry relations for the Henderson County Partnership for Economic Development.

“It’s setting standards of best practices,” he said Monday of the certification program.

“To me, it encourages a lot of collaboration,” Moyer added regarding the opportunity it offered to share ideas with other economic development personnel about effective strategies to achieve success.

“There have been about 40 graduates of the program at this point,” he said.

Earning the certification requires recipients to take seven different courses, according to information from East Carolina University.

In addition to successfully completing the course of study, participants must pass a “capstone” project review to earn the North Carolina certified economic developer designation.

The capstone facet involves a complex academic experience in which students have the chance to apply knowledge and skills they’ve gained throughout their studies to solve real-world issues.

Moyer said his project focused on spec buildings, which are structures launched by developers with the goal of attracting tenants during or shortly after construction.

These also are referred to as shell buildings.