(RALEIGH) -- Lew Ebert, the President of the North Carolina Chamber of Commerce, says business and industry in North Carolina places more of an emphasis on education than other states. So the question now is: how does North Carolina leverage that into helping the economy?

"Kansas was busy educating everyone else's workforce and they recognize that because people grew up in Kansas, they went to school in Kansas, and went to work somewhere else. We don't want to be like that. So I think part of what we're trying to figure out is in a rapidly growing state, in a fast-growing economy, how do we capture that brainpower here? But more importantly, attract more of that from around the world," Ebert said.

Ebert says another vital tool is North Carolina's community college system, which will grow more valuable over time.