Angier businessman receives Campbell Club’s highest award

Raleigh, N.C.–Campbell University’s Adam Smith Free Enterprise Club presented its highest honor, the Free Enterprise Award, to Stuart Surles, president of Stuart Surles Insurance, Inc. of Angier, N.C. The award was presented at the annual Adam Smith Club banquet held April 7 at the Raleigh North Hilton Hotel.The Campbell chapter of the Adam Smith Club, founded in 1977, is dedicated to promoting the principles of individual liberty, personal responsibility, free enterprise and minimal government. The Free Enterprise Award is given annually to individuals who best exemplify the qualities of Adam Smith, one of history’s most influential moral and political thinkers.A self-made entrepreneur, Surles put himself through Campbell University by farming five acres of his own tobacco and working part-time jobs. He graduated in 1977 with a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and was the owner and CEO of his own insurance company by 1988. Although highly successful, Surles is recognized for his service and outreach to small, limited resource or disadvantaged farmers. Two of his awards, the Outstanding Service Award from the National Crop Insurance Service and the Platinum Sales Award from the Rural Community Insurance Services organization, acknowledged this service.Invested in his community, Surles is a former member of the Board of Directors for the Department of Social Services for Harnett County and was charter president of the Angier Rotary Club. He is a member of Trinity Baptist Church in Angier and a former deacon at North Hickory Church in Angier.Surles attributes his professional success to the principles of honesty, hard work, dedication and perseverance he learned at Campbell.”Campbell afforded the type of education that most people dream of,” he said, “solid academics coupled with professors who took a genuine interest in each student, not only in the classroom, but over a cup of coffee in the Oasis.”Photo Copy: Angier businessman Stuart Surles, center, receives Campbell University’s Adam Smith Club Free Enterprise Award at the annual banquet in Raleigh’s North Hilton Hotel. Also pictured are Andrew Lupton, left, president of the Adam Smith Club, and Dr. Derek Yonai, professor of business and Lundy Scholar.

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