1.16.24

Ragan Ward is a Commercial Banker and Vice President at Park National Bank, which is located on Main Street in downtown Hendersonville. She has been in banking for 21 years and works to help businesses of all sizes with their loan, deposit and banking service needs. 

Ragan has been involved in the Chamber through various roles for nearly 15 years. Some of her past Chamber roles include Board Treasurer, Total Resource Campaign Co-Chair, Chair of Arts After Dark, and Chair of Business and Industry Services. Over the years she has served on various boards and planning committees including the Pardee Hospital Foundation, the Henderson County Education Foundation, United Way of Henderson County and First Contact Addiction Ministries.

She and her husband, Sean, are both proud natives of Henderson County and graduates of East Henderson High School (Class of ’96 and ’95). Ragan attended Queens University of Charlotte where she played volleyball, earned a B.A. in Business Administration (’00) and then went on to obtain her MBA (’02) while being a graduate assistant volleyball coach. A very proud mom of two, Mason and Kennedy, she loves CrossFit, traveling, camping, the beach, and spending time with her family. 

“I am excited and honored to serve as Chairman of the Board for the next two years. As the daughter of a long time small business owner, I know how important healthy and thriving businesses are to our community and that when businesses thrive, so do our residents and families. The Chamber does so much for our local business community, exceedingly more than most people realize. With over 300 meetings, events, seminars, ribbon cuttings and networking opportunities each year, the Chamber provides an immense amount of support and opportunity to all of our businesses in Henderson County, from the small sole proprietors to the large manufacturing facilities and hospitals. I’m really glad to be a small part of that support.”

1.10.24

Construction is one of the most visible sectors of our economy, responsible for the built environment that shapes our daily lives. Construction is also a “canary in the coalmine” for our economy: every recession in the past 40 years (except the COVID-19 recession) has been preceded by a decline or flattening in the growth of construction employment. North Carolina’s construction sector experienced steep employment declines throughout much of 2023, raising a troubling question: could this be yet one more sign of a much-anticipated recession?

We often advise readers to avoid focusing too much on any one data point, and recent trends in North Carolina’s construction sector illustrate why. Monthly employment numbers from the Current Employment Statistics (CES) program are still preliminary when you first read about them in the news; these figures are later revised to incorporate new information that wasn’t available when they were first reported.

Construction employment tends to move up-and-down in cycles, and construction employment is currently rising nationwide, even though preliminary data depict a declining construction sector in North Carolina. LEAD’s industry employment projections show that construction employment in North Carolina is expected to rise in the coming decade along with our state’s growing population and expanding economy.