STATEWIDE Western Region
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OLD FORT — XO.STEEL will create 30 jobs and invest $350,000 over three years in an 8,000-square-foot manufacturing plant that could be expanded to triple its size. The new Raleigh-based company will produce a protective surface application for steel products. Average annual pay for the jobs will be $37,067, 21% higher than McDowell County’s average. It will get a $90,000 grant from the state’s One North Carolina Fund if it meets job-creation and investment goals.
BOONE — Sheri Noren Everts will become chancellor of Appalachian State University July 1. The Nebraska native was provost and vice president for academic affairs at Illinois State University since 2008. She succeeds Kenneth Peacock, who joined the school’s Walker College of Business’ Department of Accounting in 1983 and became chancellor in July 2004.
FOREST CITY — Bonita Manufacturing Products will create 50 jobs and invest more than $2.8 million over three years in a paper-shopping bag plant here. The Portland, Ore.-based company also makes gift wrap and containers for retail and commercial uses. Jobs will pay an average annual wage of $32,020, close to Rutherford County’s $31,347. The company is eligible for a performance-based grant from the state’s One North Carolina Fund for up to $75,000.
ASHEVILLE — N.C. Senate Minority Leader Martin Nesbitt died March 6 after a brief battle with cancer. He was 67. The Buncombe County native served five terms in the N.C. Senate and more than 11 terms in the N.C. House of Representatives. His legislative career began in 1979, when he was appointed to replace his mother, state Rep. Mary Nesbitt, who died in office.