As the event director at Business North Carolina since 2016, Norwood Teague has directed the magazine’s successful annual events, including mfgCON and the NC CEO Summit. Among his many responsibilities, Norwood Teague manages event logistics, sale of corporate sponsorships, and marketing efforts to drive attendance. He also provides direction for Business North Carolina’s Legal Elite, an exclusive list honoring the state’s top lawyers in various business categories.
Every year, Business North Carolina (BNC) publishes a list of active, top lawyers who have been selected and rated by their peers. The categories include, but are not limited to, antitrust, bankruptcy, construction, employment, immigration, and real estate. Voters cannot vote for themselves, instead, they can nominate a colleague from the same firm as long as they also choose another lawyer from a different firm within the same category. The lawyers who receive the highest votes in each category are automatically elected to BNC’s Legal Elite Hall of Fame and are, therefore, no longer eligible to win again.
An accomplished business professional, Norwood Teague serves as event director for the Business North Carolina Magazine, where he is responsible for increasing attendance and sponsorship sales of the mfgCON and NC CEO Summit events. In his work, Norwood Teague conducts interviews and writes profile articles about the speakers and attendees of the events.
In a January article, Norwood Teague featured Neal Fowler, the CEO of Liquidia Technologies and one of the speakers invited to attend the 2019 NC CEO Summit, which gathered industry executives and professionals to participate in collaboration, learning, and networking sessions in Pinehurst, North Carolina on April 1-2. Fowler talked about his successes and important learnings while working at Liquidia Technologies, a biopharmaceutical company, as well as his prior business development roles at Johnson & Johnson, Ortho-McNeil Neurologics, Inc., and Eli Lilly and Company. He also shared his thoughts on why university-industry collaboration is one of the main driving forces of innovation and growth.
Neal Fowler joined other speakers, including Jim Hansen, the regional president of PC Bank Eastern Carolinas, Jim Homes, CEO of Sentinel Risk Advisors, Bill Roper, interim president of the Universit of North Carolina System, and more.
A University of North Carolina graduate, Norwood Teague has served as an event director at Business North Carolina Magazine since 2016. In this role, Norwood Teague is responsible for developing an extensive agenda and increasing annual sponsorship sales by more than 20 percent for the magazine’s events, mfgCON and NC CEO Summit.
For the magazine’s most recent mfgCON held on November 13-14, 2018, Norwood Teague wrote an interview article about one of the speakers, Jason Dingess. He is the owner of Quis Machinery, an industrial manufacturing company that offers machinery solutions with a broad range of materials from solid wood and wood-based composite panels to metal and plastic.
Jason Dingess’ career in woodworking was inspired by the history of the portable lap desk designed and made by Thomas Jefferson and his carpenter. He worked closely with Frank Quis starting 2013 before buying Quis Machinery and becoming the sole owner in 2017. Since then, the company has expanded from solely selling woodworking equipment to offering aluminum, plastic, and other material handling services. When asked about the key to the success of Quis Machinery, he highlighted the importance of listening to customers and asking a lot of questions to meet their needs. He counts empathy as one of his strengths in building trust and relationship with clients. In the next five years, Jason Dingess aspires to expand the business in terms of services and software.
Formerly the director of athletics at Virginia Commonwealth University, Norwood Teague serves as the event director for Business North Carolina Magazine, where he coordinates major events for the publication. Outside of his professional activities, Norwood Teague enjoys reading and learning about history related to World War II.
It took Allied forces a year to prepare for the massive invasion known as D-Day.Operation Bodyguard, an elaborate disinformation campaign that misled Nazi forces regarding the timing and location of the attack was a key component of preparatory efforts.
The most obvious point for Allied forces to attack the Nazi’s 1,500 mile long coastal defenses was Pas de Calais, the region in France that is closest to Britain. In order to convince Axis powers that this was the planned point of attack, Operation Bodyguard engaged in a complex game of deception. German aerial reconnaissance spotted a large army gathering on England’s shores that consisted of hundreds of dummy aircraft, landing craft, and tanks. German forces believed the activity was the First U.S. Army Group led by General Patton. German radio operators intercepted hundreds of false radio transmissions that confirmed their belief.
German spies who had been captured and turned into double agents were a key part of Operation Bodyguard. Trusted by Nazi leadership, these individuals fed the Germans a steady stream of misinformation, including detailed reports outlining the activities of Britain’s Fourth Army, presumably gathering in Scotland to join with forces with the Soviet Union. To complete the ruse, fabricated radio communications were exchanged, discussing issues related to the cold weather.
Other measures used in Operation Bodyguard included actors impersonating generals, aluminum strips dropped by airplanes to trick enemy radar, and hundreds of dummy paratroopers. Even after the invasion at Normandy, the deception continued, successfully keeping Nazi reinforcements in other locations waiting for attacks that never came.
Operation Bodyguard was named in reference to a quote by Winston Churchill: In wartime, truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies. The elaborate web of deception successfully deceived enemy forces and ultimately turned the tide of World War II.
Event Director for Business North Carolina Magazine
Norwood Teague 