State's Commerce Secretary Is BCCC Graduation Speaker | Eastern North Carolina Now

    N.C. Secretary of Commerce, John E. Skvarla, III, will deliver the commencement address at the 2015 graduation exercises for Beaufort County Community College to be held Thursday, May 14.

    BCCC graduation exercises will be held at 7 p.m. in the auditorium of Washington High School. Admission is by ticket, available from members of the 2015 graduating class.

    Skvarla was named Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Commerce in December 2014 by Gov. Pat McCrory and he assumed those responsibilities in January 2015.

    Prior to serving in Gov. McCrory's administration in his current capacity, Skvarla served as Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources for two years.

    Skvarla is a noted businessman, most recently serving as chief executive officer for Restoration Systems, an environmental mitigation firm based in Raleigh that helps improve and restore wetlands and waterways.

    He also led Wilkinson Hi-Rise, a manufacturer of waste management and automated recycling systems, served as chief operating officer for Proactive Therapy, one of the largest physical therapy providers in the Southeastern United States, and chief operating officer of The Aviation Group, Inc., a company that emerged as the world's largest all-cargo airline during his tenure.

    Skvarla founded and served as senior partner in the Raleigh-based law firm of Wyrick Robbins Yates & Ponton where he specialized in corporate and tax matters as well as public and private capital formations.

    Skvarla's accomplishments also include appointments to the Board of Directors for the University of North Carolina School of Law and School of Nursing Foundations and the Law Entrepreneurial Council. He has served as President of the Board of Visitors at Peace College, now William Peace University, in Raleigh, NC. He is the author of The People's Prescription for What Really Ails America's Health Care System, published in 1994 by Signal Books.

    Skvarla holds a bachelor's degree in economics from Manhattan College in New York and law degree from the University of North Carolina School of Law.

    Beaufort County Community College is a public comprehensive community college committed to accessible and affordable quality education, effective teaching, relevant training, and lifelong learning opportunities for the people served by the College.