Featured image for post: Wilson-Barton Partnership to honor Christy Proctor as Leadership Award Recipient on September 28

Wilson-Barton Partnership to honor Christy Proctor as Leadership Award Recipient on September 28

WILSON, N.C. — August 2, 2017 — Wilson Business Leader Christy Proctor, a name synonymous with Chick-fil-A, will be honored at the thirteenth annual Wilson-Barton Partnership Leadership Award Dinner on Thursday, Sept. 28, on the campus of Barton College. The event, to be held on the East Campus Suites lawn across from Wilson Gymnasium, will begin at 6:30 p.m.

The Wilson-Barton Partnership, 13 years strong, began out of Barton’s desire to further strengthen its relationship with its hometown community of Wilson. In 2004, the Wilson-Barton Partnership Steering Committee was born and in 2005, the committee proposed an annual business leadership award to demonstrate the partnership that exists between the College and the business community. The selection criteria include: significant contributions to business and/or industry; strong leadership qualities; innovative and/or entrepreneurial qualities; and community oriented. And, as a salute to the community’s involvement in the livelihood and future of Barton, a portion of the funds raised are used to fund annual scholarships for current Barton students. The first Wilson-Barton Partnership Leadership Award was given to the late Thomas A. Hackney, Jr., former Barton College Board Chair, trustee emeritus, and a widely respected business leader in Wilson for decades. The most recent distinguished awardees include Diane and Jerome Vick in 2014, Dr. Frank Batten in 2015, and Lee Gliarmis in 2016.

Tickets for the upcoming event are available at $75 per person and may be reserved by calling Summer Brock, director of donor relations and special events, at 252-399-6383. Sponsorship opportunities are available and begin at $750 for a table of eight. Advance reservations are required, and the deadline for reserving seats is Friday, Sept. 8, at 5 p.m.

Honoring Christy Proctor —

A native of Pikeville, Christy Proctor’s roots run deep in Wayne County. Growing up where both sets of grandparents were tobacco farmers, she knew what it meant to “put in” tobacco every summer—from putting sticks on loopers to cropping tobacco. Yet, during high school, Proctor began what would become a lifelong relationship with Chick-fil-A. Her first job away from those summer tobacco fields was at Chick-fil-A at Berkeley Mall in Goldsboro in May 1987. She was 15 years old when she was hired, and she remained at that location through high school and her first two years at Wayne Community College. “My job there allowed me to purchase my first car, a 1965 red Ford Mustang that my dad still owns,” she shared. “After receiving my associate’s degree, I transferred to East Carolina University and began working at the Chick-fil-A in Greenville Mall. I held many part-time jobs during my high school and college years, often times needing more than one job to help with car and college expenses. Chick-fil-A was the one job that I loved, and I didn’t leave.” Proctor continued her studies, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Elementary Education in May 1993. And, though she had not planned to make a career with Chick-fil-A, she still needed to support herself before that first teaching paycheck that fall. So, Proctor made one more commitment to travel as an interim manager for Chick-fil-A Incorporated—a summer commitment that ultimately changed her career path. The appointment was supposed to last just a few months…now, 24 years later, she remembers November 1, 1994, as the day she officially became a franchisee for Chick-fil-A in Wilson.

Proctor has become one of the most respected business leaders in the Wilson community, especially known for her dedication and support of education for Wilson County students. She is highly sought after to serve and lead in community service roles. Among these many opportunities, Proctor is a past president of the Imagination Station Board and the Wilson Chamber of Commerce. She has been a member of the ARC Board, the Wilson Crisis Center Board, the Customer Service Committee for Wilson County Schools, the Wilson County Fair Advisory Board, and she has served as a mentor for the YOUTH of Wilson.  She currently serves on the BB&T Advisory Board, the St. John CDC Board, Wilson 20/20, and Wilson-Barton Partnership Steering Committee, as well as the president-elect for the Wilson Education Partnership.

Related to her corporate service, Proctor continues to serve as an operator coach consultant for Chick-fil-A Incorporated, a role she has held for more than 17 years. She has coached and mentored more than 25 new owner/operators in the last two decades and assisted in opening more than 10 new Chick-fil-A locations.

A member of the First Christian Church of Wilson, Proctor is a past deacon and continues to lead Bible studies. And, she will be participating in her first mission trip to Kenya in September.

Most rewarding for Proctor is her involvement with two programs that rally the Wilson community in support of its youth. She took advantage of her late summer birthday date as the perfect opportunity to establish the annual “Bucks for Backpacks, a program she created to support Wilson’s youth as they prepare to return to school each fall. The second is the annual “Love and Basketball” tournament that Chick-fil-A sponsors to raise money for the CHEW program in Wilson.

Recognized with numerous awards and honors throughout her professional career, Proctor is most proud of the Chick-fil-A Symbol of Success Winner in 2006, 2012, and 2016, the Jim and Carolyn Hunt Partner in Education Award by the Wilson Education Partnership in 2016, and the Wilson Chamber of Commerce Small Business of the Year Award in 2012. The Wilson-Barton Partnership is pleased to add its distinguished Wilson-Barton Partnership Leadership Award to her list of honors.

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Questions? Please contact Kathy Daughety, director of public relations, at 252-399-6529 or email: kdaughety@barton.edu.