For more than three decades, the Henderson County Partnership for Economic Development (HCPED) has worked to bring quality jobs and strong capital investment to a corner of western North Carolina prized for its mountains, its people, and increasingly, its manufacturers. HCPED’s roots trace back to 1993, when it began life as the Committee of 100, operating under the Henderson County Chamber of Commerce. In 2006, the committee became its own entity.
This year marks 20 years since that transition, and the organization is marking the milestone by reflecting on how its mission has evolved, growing from a Chamber committee into a dedicated economic development engine that now supports more than 130 manufacturers across the county.
“We became our own entity laser-focused on job creation—the creation and the retention of quality jobs in Henderson County,” says President and CEO, Brittany Brady. She explains that doing so helps to offset taxes and expenses for the county’s residents, a dynamic that has shaped HCPED’s priorities from the start. “We’ve always been focused on strong job creation and strong capital investment because it offsets taxes and expenses for our citizens,” she says. “Having that strong tax base is important, and obviously, having great jobs for our citizens is important.”
Over the past 20 years, though, HCPED’s role in the community has broadened well beyond chasing individual projects. Brady describes the organization today as a strategic development partner, one that has built out more robust workforce programming and product development efforts alongside its traditional recruitment work.
Remarkably, all of this is accomplished by a lean team. HCPED typically employs between three and four people. “We are small and mighty,” Brady says of her staff.
HCPED operates as a 501(c)(6) entity and describes itself as a public-private partnership. Elected officials and public bodies fund much of its work, effectively contracting HCPED to recruit and retain quality jobs on the county’s behalf. Private investors also contribute, having recognized the return that comes when new industry moves to town. “When industry comes to town, it benefits everyone,” Brady says, “and so they have invested in the work that we do.”
Balancing those public and private interests, she says, comes down to listening to what public partners find important and to what the industry itself needs. “It’s listening to what our public partners find important, what industry sectors are a good fit for our community, how they’re developing their land code and where we can work with them,” Brady explains. “The other element is understanding what industry needs, understanding if there’s an opportunity to become more business-friendly, if there are opportunities to collaborate.”
That approach, Brady says, has paid off in an unexpected way by helping both public officials and private companies better understand why economic development matters in the first place.
Part of what sets Henderson County apart, believes Brady, is the strength of its relationships with elected officials, relationships HCPED has worked deliberately to build. “They have bought into economic development, and that isn’t by chance. That is us really working with them, having meetings, educating them again on the importance of manufacturing investment in our community and how great manufacturing is—it’s really clean jobs, great jobs, strong investment.” The result is a business-friendly environment where companies know they can pick up the phone and get the answers they need. “They feel welcome here,” she says.
HCPED’s work is overwhelmingly concentrated in one sector. Roughly 95 percent of its office’s focus is on advanced manufacturing, and its location plays directly into that specialty. Henderson County sits south of Asheville, North Carolina and north of Greenville, South Carolina, a position that lends itself naturally to transportation components manufacturing. “We can serve the automotive industry in upstate South Carolina and even further south, as well as the growing aviation and aerospace cluster that has been established in western North Carolina,” Brady says.
Beyond transportation, the county’s industry base spans several sectors shaped by its mountain setting and its growing population. Outdoor products manufacturing, healthcare and healthcare manufacturing, food and beverage manufacturing, general machining, advanced materials, and professional and technical services all feature prominently. “More and more people want to live in western North Carolina, and those headquarters-type jobs and technical jobs are finding their way to the mountains as well,” Brady says.
When it comes to the investors HCPED is actively courting, the target list mirrors its existing strengths in aerospace, automotive, outdoor products, healthcare products, food and beverage, machinery, advanced materials, and professional and technical services.
Ask Brady what she shows prospective investors first, and location tops the list. Henderson County sits on Interstate 26, within a day’s drive of most major East Coast markets, and benefits from connectivity to Interstates 40, 81, 77, and 85. “That is huge because we have this opportunity to get along the Eastern Seaboard.”
The county is also just an hour from an inland port, with access to multiple deep-water ports across North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. Several of its premier industrial sites sit minutes from Asheville Regional Airport, and Charlotte International Airport is less than two hours away. “There’s just an abundance of location advantages to being here in Henderson County,” Brady says, noting how critical that combination becomes for companies looking to shorten supply chains and diversify freight options.
For companies weighing where to land, HCPED points to its Economic Development Assistance Grant, a performance-based incentive tied directly to job creation, wages, and capital investment. Companies that qualify can recoup a percentage of their ad valorem taxes on both real and personal property. “Our program is pretty aggressive, and we go up to 120 percent of those ad valorem taxes based on jobs, wages, and investment,” Brady says. Companies that bring high job counts, strong wages, and substantial investment stand to see that full 120 percent return through the performance-based grant, a significant draw for manufacturers evaluating sites across the region.
Beyond recruitment and retention, HCPED has invested heavily in workforce development through its Made in Henderson County program, launched in 2012 to introduce local students to manufacturing careers.
The program began with a video, then expanded to include facility tours, educator visits, classroom presentations, and eventually a children’s book. Brady describes it as a cradle-to-career pipeline. Elementary school students in Henderson County Public Schools receive a picture book about local manufacturing. Middle schoolers go on plant tours. By high school, students are encouraged to consider an apprenticeship program run in partnership with Blue Ridge Community College, or to pursue manufacturing-focused training at the college directly.
“We know that many of these students do want to go to a traditional four-year university, and so for those students who are seeking a four-year degree, we do want to remind them that they can come back to Henderson County and there are great jobs,” Brady says.
Local manufacturers function almost like small cities in themselves, employing far more than production-line workers. “Whether you have an engineering degree, an HR degree, a marketing degree, or anything in between, there’s a good chance that a manufacturer in Henderson County will have a good job opportunity for you,” she says.
The children’s book at the center of the program, titled You Can Make It, grew out of Brady’s own experience as a parent. As the mother of two school-age children, she has seen firsthand how important reading is, both at home and in the school system. “Students are always finding new facts and new stories from reading. And as a parent, helping a child read, you’re also learning these things,” she says.
That observation became the seed for a book aimed specifically at first-grade students in Henderson County Public Schools, designed so children and their parents could learn about manufacturing together. “We want students to know that you can make it. You can be successful in your hometown, and you can make products here through manufacturing. And for those parents who are reading the book, you too can make it. You can also make products here in Henderson County,” says Brady.
Asked about HCPED’s priorities for the next three to five years, Brady points to a 101-acre tract adjacent to Asheville Regional Airport known as Ferncliff Industrial Park, purchased jointly by Henderson County and HCPED a couple of years ago.
“These 101 acres and its location by the airport, its proximity to Interstate 26, make it a prime manufacturing site,” Brady says. The site requires LEED certification, supporting clean manufacturing operations, and its direct access to the airport runway is a rarity in western North Carolina and across the state more broadly.
“We would love to capture aerospace manufacturing there at Ferncliff Park,” Brady shares. “That would be a win for us personally as an organization, but also for our community and as the state, getting back to our roots as being first in flight.”
For HCPED, the relationship with a new manufacturer doesn’t end once a deal closes. Brady describes a hands-on approach that begins the moment a company begins its site search and continues long after it opens its doors. “When a company comes to Henderson County, we’re with them 100 percent of the way. When they’re starting their search, we want to make sure that we’re finding the right location for them and removing any hurdles that are with them in that startup phase. But also once they get established, we stay with them.”
HCPED positions itself as a connector within the broader community, linking companies to the local leaders, partners, and resources they need to put down roots. “We like to say we’re a jack of all trades, where we know so many different people in the community and we’ll connect you with those leaders,” Brady says.
As a membership-based organization, HCPED also hosts a range of events for its investors and for the broader manufacturing community, alongside a members-only portal that lets manufacturers connect with one another. Regular retention visits help HCPED’s small team stay attuned to what existing companies need, whether that means help securing a grant, expanding infrastructure, connecting with another manufacturer, or linking up with a utility partner.
With its next chapter centered on aerospace ambitions at Ferncliff Industrial Park and a workforce pipeline already reaching the county’s youngest residents, HCPED’s message to prospective manufacturers is straightforward. As Brady puts it, Henderson County is open for business.
