Day in Durham 2004
DURHAM, N.C. August 28, 2004 — On the Saturday before the official start of classes, nearly 80 MBA and MPP students gathered in Geneen to hear from one of Durham';s finest business and community leaders before heading out into the community to learn firsthand about issues and opportunities to get involved.
CASE Managing Director Beth Anderson set the stage for the day, highlighting the intersection of three themes: leadership, community, and business. She noted that the Day in Durham event hoped to build on the ILE experience and extend the conversation to focus on community leadership and the role of business, business leaders, and business skills in addressing community issues. “In the past few years, I’ve seen Fuqua students exercise plenty of leadership in the Fuqua community. But typically there has been little interaction with the community beyond, whether at Duke or in Durham. The first step in becoming a community leader is getting to know the community, the people, the organizations and the issues".
In an afternoon, the Day in Durham organizers hoped to whet the students appetites for getting involved in the Durham community during their two years at Fuqua, for seeing the relevance of their MBA training and skills when tackling social problems, and for embarking upon careers in business with an understanding of and commitment to business community leadership. Anderson then introduced keynote speaker Richard Furr, COO of National Commerce Finance Corp and President of Durham-based Central Carolina Bank. A former chair of the Duke-Durham campaign, Furr has served in a wide range of community leadership positions, and CCB has been a major supporter of downtown Durham’s revitalization efforts. Along with a senior executive from BB&T (a chief CCB rival based in Raleigh), Furr was named Business Leader of the Year in 1997 for leading the merger of Wake, Durham, and Orange County United Ways into a regional Triangle United Way. He drew on these experiences to share his perspective on business community leadership.
Before discussing the value of community involvement at both a firm and personal level, Furr emphasized that the single most important thing you can do is to do your job well. He pointed to studies that both Duke and CCB conducted to demonstrate their impact on the community. Having a successful company can do more for a community than most any other activity. At the same time, Furr observed that community involvement is important to a firm because having a healthy, growing community increases the probability of having a successful company. In