Lieutenant Governor Leads Small Business Roundtable at ECC

Edgecombe Community College President Dr. Deborah Lamm welcomes Lt. Gov. Dan Forest to the Rocky Mount campus.

Lt. Gov. Dan Forest leads a Q&A session with about 70 business owners and local leaders during a small business roundtable held at Edgecombe Community College on Tuesday.

State government came to Edgecombe Community College on Tuesday when Lt. Gov. Dan Forest led a small business roundtable for Twin County leaders in the new Biotechnology and Medical Simulation Center on the Rocky Mount campus.

The event was sponsored by the National Federation of Independent Business in conjunction with ECC and the Rocky Mount Area Chamber of Commerce.

About 70 business owners and local leaders attended the small business roundtable. Forest, who said he is “passionate about education and business,” is a member of the State Board of Community Colleges.

Questions from the audience focused on K-12 education and teacher compensation, the Affordable Care Act’s impact on small business, and incentives to encourage small business growth in North Carolina.

“Rocky Mount has great bones, a great infrastructure is already in place here,” he told the group. “Connection to urban cores is going to be critical to future economic growth.”