The Greenville-Pitt County Chamber of Commerce presented Janice Faulkner with the Legends Award during its Annual Dinner on January 13. 

Faulkner was born in rural Martin County in eastern North Carolina. She enrolled at East Carolina a week after her high school graduation and earned a B.S. in 1953 and the M.A. in English in 1956 from what was then East Carolina College.  She has lived in Greenville and Pitt County since that time.  After post-graduate work at the famous Breadloaf School of English in Vermont, she joined the East Carolina faculty. During her tenure at ECU, she was an English professor, director of alumni affairs, chairman of the board of the ECU Credit Union, director of the Regional Development Institute and Associate Vice Chancellor for Regional Development. She also published two English textbooks and numerous articles on folklore, local history, historic preservation and economic development.

From Greenville and Pitt County, she became a well-known, highly respected and active part of state politics and government.   In 1993 she became the first female to serve on the II-member Council of State when she was sworn in as North Carolina's Secretary of Revenue.  Her selection by Governor James B. Hunt, Jr. capped a career that includes 38 years of service with East Carolina University, a term as the first female executive director of the North Carolina Democratic Party, and three highly successful years overseeing one of the most tumultuous and challenging periods in the 74-year history of the North Carolina Department of Revenue.

She was appointed by Governor Hunt as the Secretary of Revenue in January 1993, directed a 1,200- employee agency with a budget of $71 million. Under her guidance, the department phased in a new integrated tax computer system designed to save millions of dollars and to make the department more responsive to taxpayers.  To accomplish the transition to Revenue's new technology, Secretary She introduced principles of employee involvement and total quality management. Her hands-on leadership made Revenue a model agency for quality management in state government. She became increasingly in demand as a speaker on quality management issues and on her effective experiences at Revenue.

Nationally, Madame Secretary earned the respect of her fellow tax administrators who elected her to the board of trustees of the Federation of Tax Administrators, an organization which represents all 50 states, the District of Columbia and New York City.

She was appointed by Governor Hunt as Secretary of State in April 1996 with a mandate to restore that troubled office to health and to a position of public trust, She has completely revitalized it through the imposition of proper management and accountability measures in record time. She has won significant public praise and recognition for her transformation of the department's operation and reputation.

Governor James Hunt once again called her into a leadership role when she was appointed to serve as the Commissioner of the Department of Motor Vehicles.   She served in this role from April 1997 to April 1991.  She retired from government service following this appointment.

An active public servant, she has been intimately involved in a variety of roles, including a stint as chair of the board of directors of the North Carolina Institute of Political Leadership. She was the first woman to hold this position.  As executive director of the North Carolina Democratic Party, She traversed every county in the state and developed a network of leaders with whom she would later work on local and regional development initiatives.

Her loyalty to her birthplace in Eastern North Carolina has led her to be a strong and effective advocate for regional economic development in the area.  She is a founding member of the Pitt County Industrial Development Commission, past president of the state board of the North Carolina World Trade Association, served as president of the Coastal Plains Chapter of the NC World Trade Association (1987-1991).

Since her retirement from government service in 1991, she has continued to be actively involved at the local level and has continued to receive recognition for her contributions.  She has continued to support East Carolina University as a member of the University Foundation and was the inaugural chair of the university's Board of Visitors. The university recognized her in 1993 with its Distinguished Alumnae Award. She was recognized as the 2002 Citizen of the Year by the Greenville-Pitt Chamber of Commerce; she served as the author of the Chronicles of PIE, the history of the highly-recognized Partners in Education initiative of the Chamber, the Pitt County Schools, Pitt Community College, East Carolina University and the business community of Greenville and Pitt county; she served as the founding chair of the ECU Women’s Roundtable in 2003; she was recognized as one of ECU’s 100 Incredible Women by the ECU Women’s Roundtable in 2007, and she served on the ECU Centennial Task Force and its steering committee.  And, in 2009 she received the Jarvis Medal, East Carolina’s highest award -- the first woman to receive this prestigious recognition.  It was noted then that the award is only presented to a person who is integral to the history and life of East Carolina University; a concept so very similar to that of the Legends Awards.

Most recently, her expertise and experience was called upon once again – in her retirement, when she was appointed by the UNC Board of Governors as a member of the Pitt County Memorial Hospital-University Health Systems of Eastern Carolina board of trustees/directors.  She has served as secretary of the Board and chaired the Quality Improvement Committee.   She currently serves as chair of the board of directors of the Pitt Memorial Hospital/University Health Systems Foundation.

The Legends award is a special honor that is given on occasion at the Annual Membership Celebration.  It is not necessarily presented every year.  The honor is designed to recognize a person for exemplary contributions to the betterment of Greenville-Pitt County over a long continuous period of time.  The Legends award honors a citizen whose service to the community has been so significant in civic, economic, political, educational and/or religious activities over a sustained period of time that the history of Pitt County could not be written without their inclusion.  There have been two previous recipients:  Mr. Walter Williams and the late Mr. Les Garner.