MPA ALUMNUS OF THE YEAR, 2009
Bill Bennett

MPA ALUMNUS OF THE YEAR, 2008
Blair Knox

Blair Knox serves as the Town Manager for the Town of Pilot Mountain, North Carolina. The post-industrialized economy has placed many new challenges on towns such as Pilot Mountain. However, since 2005 Pilot has partnered with multiple State, Federal, and nonprofit agencies to get ahead of its peers by embracing these challenges. Highlights of Knox's tenure as Manager include a balanced water/sewer fund for the first time in nearly a decade, the creation of the Pilot Mountain Tourism Authority Board and Surry County Joint Tourism Authority Board, obtaining the status of a NC Rural Center NCSTEP Community, updating the Town’s zoning policy to reflect “Quality of Life” issues, recruitment of two private companies having a direct investment of over 14 million dollars and 200 new jobs, partnering with Appalachian State University’s Energy Center to test the implementation of hydrogen fuel cells, and the creation of Mount Pilot Now, an organization that organizes multiple downtown festivals that attract approximately twenty-four thousand visitors a season.

Additionally, Knox is owner and consultant for BlairKnox Consulting Services which provides consultation and coaching services to administrators, managers, and supervisors in the following areas:

• Workplace culture, communication and organizational design
• Policy interpretation and use to acheive organizational goals and requirements
• Performance management and disciplinary actions
• Work Group Interaction and Conflict Management Strategies
• Strategic Planning and development of Best Practices for organizational management
• additional technological and statistical services.

In 2001, Knox received his BA in Government with a minor in Environmental Science from Campbell University, Buies Creek,NC. He completed his Master of Public Administration with a concentration in Nonprofit Management in May 2004.

Blair is married to Melody Knox, an LPN and full-time student at Winston-Salem State. They live in Pilot Mountain, NC.