Byron Hicks was named the State Director of the Small Business and Technology Development Center (SBTDC) in January 2021. Hicks also serves as the Assistant Vice Chancellor of Business and Technology Extension Programs in the Office of External Affairs, Partnerships, and Economic Development at NC State University. He also serves as Vice Chair of the Board of Directors of America’s Small Business Development Centers, is the chair of the UNC System’s Economic Transformation Council and is on the Board of the NCWorks Commission.
Hicks joined the organization in 2011 as a General Business Counselor in the SBTDC’s Boone/Hickory Regional Center at Appalachian State University. In 2014, Hicks became the Regional Center Director for the Boone and Hickory offices. He assumed his previous position as Deputy State Director of the SBTDC in 2018.
Hicks handles overall program management for the SBTDC. He supports and monitors the operations of the SBTDC’s 16 regional offices across North Carolina. He brings over 30 years of experience in business, including commercial lending with major regional banks, management of a family business, as well as purchasing and managing a multi-million-dollar grading and utility contractor in Winston-Salem.
Hicks is an alumnus of Elon University, where he earned a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration with a Minor in Economics in 1987.
