State Treasurer Janet Cowell is leading a Student Entrepreneurship Tour throughout North Carolina that will make a stop at Salem College on Monday, November 15. 

The tour, which is co-sponsored by the nonprofit NC REAL (North Carolina Rural Entrepreneurship through Action Learning), is designed to increase student awareness of the importance of entrepreneurship and personal finance while also connecting students with resources available to them in North Carolina.

Treasurer Cowell has so far visited UNC Pembroke, NC Central University and Peace College, with Salem being her final stop.

She and an area guest entrepreneur, Ms. Robbie Hoyme of Gaia, will be meeting with Salem College president Susan E. Pauly, eating lunch with a group of students and leading a discussion in the afternoon about entrepreneurship and small-business creation opportunities in the state. She will also take a tour of the Salem College campus. 

The event is being sponsored at Salem by the College's Center for Women in Business and Economics.

Cowell was elected State Treasurer of North Carolina in 2008 and is the first woman hold win the post.  Her office oversees more than 65 billion dollars in pension fund investments for the 820,000 teachers, firefighters, and public employees of North Carolina. She is the Chair of the State Banking Commission, supervising the state’s banking system, and serves on the boards of State Education and Community Colleges.  Under her executive leadership as Treasurer, the state has maintained a triple-A Bond rating for strong financial and debt management practices, and is recognized as one of only seven states to earn the rating by Standard and Poor’s, Moody’s Investment Services and Fitch Ratings. In addition, North Carolina has outperformed the national average for public pension funds by 32 percent, ranking 2nd in the United States by Standard and Poor’s in 2009.