Click HERE to join us on April 16, 2025 at 2:00 PM EST for a webinar discussing the ties between NC public schools and the business community.
In December of 2024 Public Ed Works’ Chairman, Paul Fulton asked; “Do we see the connection between business and public schools?” He concluded his remarks by inviting business leaders to play a bigger role in supporting public education. This webinar will be the first of, hopefully, several conversations with successful North Carolina business leaders sharing their thoughts on the value of public education and how it connects to business.
MEET THE PARTICIPANTS:
Doug Shackelford
Moderator – Public Ed Works
Catherine P. Bessant
Panelist – Foundation For the Carolinas
Catherine P. Bessant is CEO of Foundation For The Carolinas, the fifth-largest community foundation in the U.S. with nearly 3,000 charitable funds. Serving a 13-county region in North and South Carolina, FFTC leads a variety of civic leadership initiatives in areas such as affordable housing, economic opportunity, public school reform, the arts and the environment. Bessant joined FFTC after a successful banking career, where she last served as vice chair, Global Strategy at Bank of America and as a member of the company’s executive management team.
Willie Deese
Panelist – Merck Manufacturing Division
Willie Deese, retired executive Vice President and President of the Merck Manufacturing Division, former Senior Vice President of Global Procurement and Logistics at GlaxoSmithKline,and Senior Vice President of Procurement at SmithKlineBeecham. He also held leadership positions at Kaiser Permanente; Digital Equipment Corporation. Mr. Deese serves on the Board of Directors of the Public Service Enterprise Group, Inc., Denstply Sirona Inc., and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina. He previously served as a member of the Board of Trustees of North Carolina A&T State University from 2007 to 2015, including chairing the Board of Trustees from 2011 to 2013. Mr. Deese is a past recipient of the North Carolina Chamber of Commerce Distinguished Citizenship Award.
Tom Oxholm
Panelist – Wake Stone Corporation
Tom Oxholm, CPA, retired Executive Vice President, Wake Stone Corporation; 2025 Recipient of NC Public School Forum’s Jay Robinson Award; Chair of the 2023 Business Summit on Public Education in RTP; 2023 Raleigh Chamber of Commerce A.E. Finley Distinguished Service Award; Co-Author “A School District’s Journey to Excellence, Lessons from Business and Education (Corwin Press, 2008); Wake County Board of Education 1999-2003; Founder of Wake County School-to-Career Council and Business Education Leadership Council, 1995-1999.
Doug Shackelford serves on the Public Ed Works board. He is the Emeritus Meade H. Willis Distinguished Professor at the University of North Carolina’s Kenan-Flagler Business School. He joined the faculty in 1990 and served as the school’s dean from 2014 – 2022. Previous positions at the school include Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, Associate Dean for its Master of Accounting program, founding Associate Dean for MBA@UNC and founder of the UNC Tax Center. He is a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, an International Research Fellow at the Oxford University Centre for Business Taxation, and Fellow at the University of North Carolina’s Institute for the Arts and Humanities.