Governor Easley appointed Dr. Parker Chesson to serve as the public member of the Board. Dr. Chesson had a 36-year career in the North Carolina Community College System and with other workforce agencies. Since his retirement, he has worked as a consultant on various projects, including the nationally acclaimed Rural Community College Initiative and trustee training for the North Carolina Association of Community College Trustees. He now does work through his consulting firm, JPC Associates, Inc. He has worked with various colleges and non-profit organizations during the past two years on workforce development topics, board retreats, and special projects.
Dr. Chesson received bachelors and masters degrees from East Carolina University and received his Ph.D. in science education and zoology from North Carolina State University. He was selected as president of College of the Albemarle in 1975. During his 17-year tenure as president, he served as president of the North Carolina Association of Community College Presidents, a member of the Commission on the Future of the North Carolina Community College System, a member of the Task Force on Excellence in Secondary Education, and chairman of the North Carolina Coastal Resources Commission. He received the Governor’s Award for Distinguished and Meritorious Service in 1984 and was named a Paul Harris Fellow by the Elizabeth City Rotary Club in 1992. Dr. Chesson accepted the position of Executive Vice President of the North Carolina Community College System in July 1992, where he served for four years. In 1995, he received the Distinguished Alumnus Award from North Carolina State University’s Department of Education and Psychology.
In October 1996, Governor James B. Hunt appointed Dr. Chesson to chair the Employment Security Commission of North Carolina. During his four years as head of this workforce development agency he received numerous awards.
He is married to the former Wynda Chappell, who is a former elementary school teacher and a former member of the Elizabeth City-Pasquotank County Board of Education. He has two daughters, one a pharmacist and the other a physician. Both are graduates of College of the Albemarle and UNC-Chapel Hill.
