Our Story
CCHRPA has a long-standing presence in our community. While the exact year is unknown, we have records showing that the Association was founded around 1955 by John Seals, Personnel Director of Acme McCrary and Reid Cooke, Manager with the Employment Security Commission. The Association was founded, in part, due to local union activity, but primarily as a way for local businesses and HR professionals to come together and share thoughts, ideas, and best practices.
It is in 1967 that more historical records became available for the Association and we learned that the official name of the organization was Central Carolina Personnel Director’s Association. During that period membership dues totaled $30 per year, which is approximately $231.00 in today’s dollars. Although there were 21 members, typically only 10-12 members were present at the meetings, versus the approximately 40 today. Meetings were held at Acme McCrary, a local sock and hosiery company that is still doing business today in Asheboro, NC. The typical meeting comprised of a meal in the Acme McCrary cafeteria followed by a meeting in the upstairs conference room. To date, the HR Managers at Acme McCrary still remain active members in the Association.
Over the years, meetings have been held at various locations throughout the Asheboro area, from Pinewood Country Club, back to Acme McCrary, to the Western Sizzlin’ Steak House on Dixie Drive, then back to Pinewood in 1981, who continues to host our meetings every other month.
Over the years our meeting agenda has typically followed a roundtable format, with each company updating the others on activities, staffing needs, news at their business. There were also a couple of social events and speakers throughout the year. In 2016 the Association started to move away from the roundtable format to an educational/developmental format. This included a greater emphasis on speakers and educational content for the purpose of encouraging the development of our membership, as well as provide continuing education credits for our certified members. We still utilize this format today and also include networking opportunities, the ability to share best practices and have Q&A, and social events during the year. Our goal is to provide meaningful content as well as the social networking that many need. We strive to keep the collaborative feel with each session.
Today the Central Carolina Human Resource Professionals Association has approximately 50 members from organizations across Randolph and the surrounding counties. In 2020, in an effort to adapt to the needs of our members, CCHRPA started its first online membership forum to provide additional connection resources for our valued members. Our goal is to continually evolve by providing our members the best resource for Human Resource development and networking.
