Campbell University should be and must be an “indispensable partner” with Harnett County, which has grown more than 27 percent over the last 15 years and is on the cusp of significant growth in the business sector as well.
That was the opening message from Campbell President Dr. William M. Downs for Wednesday morning’s 2026 Harnett County Economic Development Update, held in the Oscar N. Harris Student Union for the third consecutive year. The annual event invites elected officials, business leaders and stakeholders from Harnett and its neighboring counties to share updates on new projects, economic trends and announcements from the previous year.
Campbell’s continued involvement is part of its five-year Strategic Plan, launched earlier this year, which lists “community impact” as one of its four main objectives.
“Every place I have ever worked, the university has been viewed by its surrounding community and region as an asset to economic development, as an inducement to business and industry and as a driver of innovation. It has been seen as the indispensable partner for growth,” Downs told the group of about 200 in attendance. “We ask that you save us a seat at your table when you are dreaming big about the future of this county and beyond. Campbell University is open for business, and we’d like to do business with you.”
In addition to Campbell, Harnett is home to Harnett County Schools and its Career & Technical Education programs and a satellite campus of Central Carolina Community College, home of the Eugene Moore Manufacturing & Biotech Solutions Center (the largest training facility in the state).
Stephen Barrington, Harnett County Economic Development director, shared the county’s latest initiatives, focus areas and opportunities in economic development. He lauded Campbell and the county’s strong educational and training infrastructure for training the area’s current and future workforce.
“Workforce is at the top of the list when we talk about economic development,” Barrington said “Work and skill-ready talent remains at the top of the list [of assets in Harnett County]. We’re extremely grateful for the education and training of our students for the next generation.”
One big project landed in September when Harnett County was awarded a $500,000 Build Ready Sites grant from the North Carolina Railroad Company to advance a rail-served industrial site. The investment will help prepare the property for future development and strengthen Harnett County’s ability to compete for rail-served projects. The funding will support Byrd Industrial Site B, an 83-acre site with 58 developable acres within the Byrd Industrial Sites in Lillington.
Harnett County is also actively working with Samet Corp. is actively working with Samet Corp. on the development of a 175,500-square-foot speculative industrial building to stimulate economic development.
Featured speaker was Ted Abernathy, founding and managing partner of Economic Leadership, a small group of data, strategy and best-practice policy experts that work with companies, foundations and business organizations to analyze competitiveness, develop strategy, support leadership, tune communications and reimagine the future.
Abernathy lauded Harnett County’s proximity to one of the fastest-growing and most business-friendly regions in the country — the Research Triangle and Raleigh-Durham metropolitan area — and said Harnett needs to attract more businesses that offer higher-paying jobs to compete.
“The quality of the jobs you attract is one of the challenges for you as you go forward,” he said. “You need more high-paying jobs. A big chunk of the population here is making $25 to $50 an hour, which is good. But where you’re really weak is this high end. If you looked at Raleigh or Durham or Mecklenburg, that number would be a third of their jobs.”
He told the crowd that competitiveness is a marathon, not a sprint.
“You’re going to work on being competitive forever,” he said. “Every county in North Carolina, every state in America, every place in Mexico and Canada and Vietnam are fighting for some of the same things you’re fighting for.”
Learn more about Harnett County Economic Development and current projects happening at harnettedc.org.