Dean Melissa Essary selected as 2008 Business Leader Women Extraordinaire winner

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Buies Creek, N.C. – Melissa Essary, Dean of Campbell University’s Norman Adrian Wiggins School of Law, has been honored by Business Leader Media as a winner in its seventh annual Women Extraordinaire awards.

Winners were selected by independent judges who reviewed more than two dozen worthy finalists from a total of nearly 300 nominations. The judges had an almost impossible task of selecting only ten.

The 2008 Women Extraordinaire winners include:

Sheila Ahler, Partner, Cherry Bekaert & Holland LLP

Theo Coonrod, Head of School, Saint Mary’s School

Melissa Essary, Dean, Campbell University’s Norman Adrian Wiggins School of Law

Jill Wells Heath, CEO, Mulkey Engineers & Consultants

Patricia Holland, Partner, Cranfill Sumner & Hartzog LLP

Cynthia Marshall, President, AT&T North Carolina

Nancy McFarlane, President, MedPro Rx, Inc.

Maureen O’Connor, Chief Administrative Officer, General Counsel & Corporate Secretary, Blue Cross Blue Shield North Carolina

Elizabeth Scott, Partner, Williams Mullen

Christy Shaffer, President & CEO, Inspire Pharmaceuticals

Essary, who joined Campbell Law School as dean in August of 2006, was chosen for her leadership within the Law School and the school’s upcoming relocation to downtown Raleigh. She was also recognized because of her substantive involvement in the Raleigh business and legal communities, including her recent election to the Raleigh Chamber of Commerce board of directors. /p>

Essary was previously recognized by Business Leader magazine as a 2007-08 Triangle Area Impact Leader. She was the only individual from higher education among the list of 24 distinguished recipients. Essary was also named a Business Leader 2008 Education Impact Leader. /p>

According to Vera Simms, publisher of Business Leader, the award recognizes women who are innovators, problem-solvers, mentors, servant leaders, and who encourage and nurture family and friends. “Each Individual who receives the Women Extraordinaire award are truly held in high regard by those in her circle,” said Simms. /p>

The winners will be honored at a ceremony on Dec. 8, 2008 at the newly opened Raleigh Convention Center. They will be featured in the December issue of Business Leader magazine. /p>

About Business Leader magazine: Business Leader magazine is a bi-monthly newsstand publication targeting business executives and business owners. The magazine profiles business leaders who have achieved success in their industries and tells you what steps they have taken to reach that success. The magazine’s content includes articles on leadership, human resources, operations, technology, sales and marketing, and personal development and features authors who are industry experts in those areas. The magazine reaches an audience of 195,000 readers and is distributed in over 5,000 outlets across 79 markets. /p>

About Campbell Law School: Since its founding in 1976, the Norman Adrian Wiggins School of Law at Campbell University has developed lawyers who possess moral conviction, social compassion and professional competence, and who view the law as a calling to serve others and create a more just society. The School has been recognized by the American Bar Association (ABA) as having the nation’s top Professionalism Program and by the American Academy of Trial Lawyers for having the nation’s best Trial Advocacy Program. In 2008, the Law School’s Moot Court Program was ranked in the top ten nationally by the University of Houston’s Blakely Advocacy Institute among 196 ABA accredited law schools. Campbell Law boasts more than 3,000 alumni, including 2,000 who reside and work in North Carolina. For the past 20 years, Campbell Law’s record of success on the North Carolina bar exam is unsurpassed by any other North Carolina law school. In the fall of 2009, Campbell Law School will relocate from the main Campbell University campus to a new location in downtown Raleigh.