CityView Magazine

18 Januar y 2023 e N.C. Department of Commerce annually ranks the state's 100 counties based on economic well-being. Tier 1 counties are the most economically distressed; Tier 3 designates the least distressed. Sorrells, who is 64, has said he will continue building on Keen's vision of establishing Fayetteville Tech as a principal player in economic and workforce development in Cumberland County, the region and the state. "It will be a smooth transition," he Mark Sorrells has said he will continue building on Larry Keen's vision of establishing Fayetteville Tech as a principal player in economic and workforce development in Cumberland County, the region and the state. says. "We will be doing some professional development in helping guide us through a leadership transition approach. We've already got that identified and how we're going to do it." "Quite frankly," he says, "it's going to be big shoes to fill." Former Cumberland County Commissioner Larry Lancaster has known Sorrells a long time. Lancaster met Sorrells when he was coordinating the FTCC Small Business Center and Sorrells was with the Golden LEAF Foundation. Lancaster is an honorary trustee at Fayetteville Tech. "He's very bright and very articulate," Lancaster says of Sorrells. "A good businessman. And that's what that school is — a big business." Sorrells, Lancaster said, was his choice to lead FTCC. "He's been tutored; he knows our community. I think he's going to do an excellent job." Setting priorities Sorrells says he has five priorities as he assumes the job: • First and foremost, student success: "We've made some significant advances in student success in terms of our pass rates, lowering withdrawal rates," he Larry Keen, the outgoing president of Fayetteville Tech, talks with his successor, Mark Sorrells, after Fall Convocation In August. Photo courtesy Fayetteville Technical Community College

• Cover