CHARLOTTE ó David H. Murdock, chief executive officer of Dole Foods and the man behind the N.C. Research Campus in Kannapolis, received a 2009 Charlotte Regional Partnership Jerry Award during a luncheon Thursday at the Charlotte Convention Center.
The University of North Carolina at Charlotte also received a Jerry Award for its work in the public sector. Murdock’s award recognized his work in the private sector.
The Jerry Awards recognize individuals or organizations that have made significant, ongoing contributions to economic development within the 16-county Charlotte region. The award is named in honor of Carolina Panthers owner Jerry Richardson and Jerry Orr, Charlotte’s aviation director, who were the first to receive the honor in 2007.
When the Charlotte Regional Partnership announced the award earlier this year, Ronnie Bryant, its president and chief executive officer, said no one is more deserving of the private-sector award than Murdock.
“He not only was instrumental in creating hundreds of jobs in Gaston County at the Dole Fresh Vegetables plant, but his vision for a collaborative, public-private research facility focused on health and wellness has come to fruition in Kannapolis at the North Carolina Research Campus,” Bryant said.