Goodmon Awards Honor Regional Action

CBC President & CEO Jim Goodmon has long been known as the champion of regionalism. On Thursday, December 8, 2005, Goodmon joined with Leadership Triangle in presenting the annual awards named for him.

Leadership Triangle brings together business people from all across the central part of N.C.

Nineteen Fall 2005 class members graduated as Goodmon Fellows, completing the “Will You Lead? II” program.

LT Executive Director Winkie La Force challenges the audience to “Bridge the Triangle through Regional Leadership.”

Established in 2003, the Goodmon awards recognize community members and organizations that epitomized the spirit of regionalism, working over a broad swath of the Triangle to improve our area and the people who live, work and play in it.

The December event doubled as a graduation ceremony for the latest Leadership Triangle class as well as awards ceremony. The noon banquet took place at American Tobacco’s Bay 7 in Durham.

AJFF Suzie Koonce became a Goodmon Fellow.

Leadership Triangle alum Karen Cates of WRAL-FM (left) participates in the pinning ceremony to welcome the graduates as alumni.

The theme of needing bridges to traverse troubled waters literally welcomed guests to the event as they had to navigate to the check-in table.

Leadership Triangle believes that we must bridge our communities through ideas, economies, transportation, arts, environment & social issues.

CBC’s Andrea Osborne (center), an LT alum, pins Ronnie Duncan of Timely Text, Inc. during the graduation.

CBC had a graduate among the group. A.J. Fletcher Foundation Philanthropy Journal Director of Development Suzie Koonce became the latest CBC employee to earn the moniker of Goodmon Fellow. Koonce successfully completed the Will You Lead II Personal Leadership program with 18 other Triangle citizens.

“Good results without good planning is good luck,” said Goodmon, who spoke at the event. “Get your own plan together.” He challenged the audience of graduates, Leadership Triangle alumni and other community members.

“I don’t think you can run a successful organization if the community in which you operate isn’t successful,” CBC President & CEO Jim Goodmon told the crowd.

Inter-Faith Food Shuttle Executive Director Jill Bullard accepted the Goodmon Award on behalf of the 700+ volunteers who put in 42,000 hours of work every year feeding people who do not have the resources to feed themselves.

Child Care Services President Sue Russell said, “Our world is changing, getting smaller, and we must be ready.”

“The Triangle will double in size in the next 10 to 12 years, so we need to work on our infrastructure. We need to work regionally,” he continued. “We need to have a sense of community. I’m working on this notion that we’re all in this together.”

Goodmon Award recipients included:

Individual – Father David McBriar, Franciscan Friar of the Holy Order of Friars Minor, Holy Name Province in Raleigh
Elected Official – Bill Strom, Chapel Hill Mayor Pro Tem and Town Council Member
Organizations – Child Care Services Association (award accepted by CCSA President Sue Russell)
Organizations – Inter-Faith Food Shuttle (accepted by IFFS Executive Director Jill Bullard)