The North Carolina Community College System (NCCCS), State Board of Community Colleges, and the North Carolina Community Colleges Foundation announced the winners of the system’s 2026 excellence awards on Wednesday.
The announcement includes 10 awards, recognizing excellence among students, staff, faculty, presidents, and workforce development partners. A new award, the Pathways to Employment Leadership Award, recognizes efforts to advance inclusive workforce pathways.
Recipients include “a student who rebuilt her life after a career-ending accident, a motorsports legend who has spent decades investing in the workers this state needs, educators who have turned their classrooms into launchpads, and industry partners who treat workforce development as a core business strategy,” according to a press release.
Award winners will be honored during the system’s annual awards dinner and celebration on April 15. Learn more about each of the 2026 winners below.
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Signature awards
Dallas Herring Achievement Award: This award — named after Herring, who is known as the “father” of the NCCCS — is presented to a student who embodies Herring’s open-door community college philosophy of “taking people where they are and carrying them as far as they can go.”
Cheri Landreth, a student at Surry Community College, is the recipient of this year’s award. After working in long-haul trucking for most of her career, Landreth experienced a “devastating accident” in 2019 that “forced her to rebuild from the ground up,” the press release says.
At Surry Community College, she has served as president of Phi Theta Kappa, an honor society for two-year colleges, organized a veterans memorial project, and built community partnerships.
Her journey is a testament to what community colleges do at their best.
— NCCCS press release
I.E. Ready Lifetime Achievement Award: This award honors those who have made significant statewide contributions to the NCCCS. Recipients are those who demonstrate leadership and commitment to the system’s development and impact.
This year’s recipient is Rick Hendrick, chair and CEO of Hendrick Automotive Group and founder of Hendrick Motorsports.
According to the press release, Hendrick has provided sustained investments in automotive training, including apprenticeship programs, industry partnerships, and funding for facilities at Wake Technical Community College, Central Piedmont Community College, and a soon-to-open facility at Richmond Community College.
Hendrick has helped build a durable pipeline of skilled technicians at a time when North Carolina needs them most.
— NCCCS press release
Faculty and staff awards
Excellence in Teaching Award: This award is presented to an outstanding faculty member who exemplifies the highest quality of instruction and makes significant contributions to the NCCCS.
This year’s recipient is Tonya Stephens, an instructor at Blue Ridge Community College, who has taught cybersecurity, artificial intelligence (AI), and networking for more than 25 years.
According to the press release, Stephens developed one of the first AI pathways in the NCCCS, leads cyber defense teams during national competitions, and “has built intentional pathways to expand access for women and underrepresented students in technology.”
Staff Person of the Year Award: This award recognizes non-teaching staff members who exemplify exceptional performance and dedication to the community college mission.
This year’s recipient is Heather Pack, ADA coordinator and licensed clinical mental health counselor at Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College. The award recognizes Pack’s efforts to close gaps in access to mental health care, including ensuring students have access to 24/7 virtual counseling and mobile wellness spaces on campus.
Pack has also worked on veteran-focused initiates, autism supports, and universal design practices that have “reshaped how A-B Tech approaches student well-being.”
President of the Year Award: Janet Spriggs, president of Forsyth Technical Community College, is this year’s award recipient.
The award recognizes exceptional leadership and achievements of a community college president who has significantly contributed to their institution and the entire system.
Spriggs received the award for her leadership of the college as a “destination model for demand-driven education,” including programs like the Learn and Earn Apprenticeship Program (LEAP), College Lift, and the Future-Ready Workforce Alliance that connects students to paid apprenticeships, according to the press release. She is also being recognized for improving completion rates and access for underrepresented students, and for her broader involvement in the system through mentorship, professional development, and more.
Read more on President Spriggs
Workforce Development Pinnacle Awards
The Workforce Development Pinnacle Awards “recognize exemplary employers, businesses, or industry groups that have demonstrated extraordinary engagement and a firm commitment to the education and professional development of their employees and to the development of North Carolina’s workforce through their partnership with one or more of the state’s 58 community colleges,” according to the press release.
Apprenticeship Champion: Caterpillar, Inc. and Central Carolina Community College received this award for a youth apprenticeship program that “has served as a model for the state since its launch in 2012,” according to the press release. The program engages high school juniors and senior as welding pre-apprentices, combining paid, hands-on training at Caterpillar’s facility in Sanford with coursework at Central Carolina. Since 2019, the program has had an 84% completion rate, resulting in 136 graduates.
“Today, more than 30% of Caterpillar’s Sanford welding workforce traces its roots to this pipeline — a figure that has inspired the company to expand into Industrial Maintenance and Mechatronics pathways,” according to the press release.
Read more
Innovative Leadership Award: Okuma America Corporation, a CNC machine tools company, and Rowan-Cabarrus Community College received this award to recognize their partnership on the Okuma Machine Tool Academy. Located at the Rowan-Cabarrus Advanced Technology Center in Kannapolis, the academy has provided technical training to more than 800 students from companies including SpaceX and Harley Davidson, according to the press release.
Business of the Year (<500 Employees): Aegis Power Systems, Inc., a power supplies manufacturer, received this award to recognize its partnership with Tri-County Community College in advancing economic and workforce development. According to the press release, Aegis has used a “four-legged stool” model of regional economic stability, “advancing advanced manufacturing alongside healthcare, tourism, and public service.”
Business of the Year (>500 Employees): Pratt & Whitney, an aerospace manufacturing company, received this award to recognize its partnership with Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College in “the largest economic development project in the history of Western North Carolina.” Since announcing a $650 million investment in 2020 to build a new manufacturing facility in Asheville, the company has partnered with A-B Tech to build a workforce pipeline aligned with “800 high-wage positions.”
Pathways to Employment Leadership Award: This award, presented for the first time this year, recognizes efforts to advance “inclusive workforce pathways that connect education to meaningful employment,” according to the press release.
This year, the recipients are: Senate Majority Leader Michael Lee, R-New Hanover; Lisa Estep, a member of the State Board of Community Colleges; and Nancye Gaj, director of career pathways of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD) at the NCCCS.
This year, the award recognizes champions of the Access to Achievement program, a workforce training program for students with IDD. The award also recognizes efforts among policymakers, educators, and community partners who are “working together to remove barriers, expand access, and build a more inclusive workforce across the state.”
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