We did it! For the first time in 40 years, we held the 2026 Emerging Issues Forum: Future Forward Water in three regions across the state: the Mountains, Piedmont and the Coast. As the second event in the three-year Future Forward Infrastructure series, this forum examined North Carolina’s water infrastructure. Water is not merely an environmental or public health issue; it is a workforce, affordability and resilience issue. It impacts public education, healthcare, life sciences, manufacturing and more. The forum brought together coalitions of local leaders who rarely occupy the same room—from utility providers and conservationists to developers—to find a common language for progress around this issue.

Holding the forum regionally provided an opportunity to meet the needs of communities where they are. In the Piedmont, the conversation focused on the need for strategic partnerships, workforce development, and the power of art and storytelling around these critical issues. In the western region, the conversation leaned more heavily on the need to introduce water infrastructure careers to students earlier in their education, preparing for future extreme weather and cross-sector innovations in water system resilience and reliability, Attendees in the eastern region emphasized their interest in promoting local and regional collaboration models, as well as raising awareness of sustainable careers in water and wastewater. And thanks to our keynotes, all sites left hungry for more information on how green infrastructure can be deployed as a strategy.

We also took this time to celebrate the 40-year legacy of the Emerging Issues Forum. Governor James B. Hunt Jr’s vision continues to ground our work, and we remain motivated by his charge to make North Carolina “all that it can be, all that it should be, and all that it must be.”

I want to thank everyone who made the forum possible. Holding three simultaneous forums is not an easy feat. Thank you to our National Advisory Board for their leadership and support in this endeavor. We are grateful to our forum sponsors and Future Forward Infrastructure series sponsors, as well as the philanthropic partners who made nearly 160 scholarships available, ensuring that leaders from Western and Eastern North Carolina, as well as faith leaders, would be at the table. We thank the NC Rural Center for their partnership in strengthening infrastructure in all regions of the state, not just our urban centers. Finally, none of this would have been possible without the team at IEI, who worked tirelessly for months to ensure a meaningful and seamless experience for everyone who attended. Thank you.

Before I close, I have two important team IEI updates. First, I want to take a moment to welcome Chris Chung, chief executive officer of the Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina, to our National Advisory Board. Chris and EDPNC have been a trusted partner of IEI, and we look forward to his visionary leadership on our board in the years ahead.

Second, I want to celebrate the leadership of IEI Assistant Director Pat Cronin, who will retire on March 1 after 18 years of dedicated service. We will miss his thoughtful insights, attention to detail, institutional knowledge, perseverance and kindness. If you see Pat out and about, please thank him for his tireless work to make our state one we all want to live and work in.