Dr. Laura B. Leatherwood has served since 2017 as the fourth president of Blue Ridge Community College.

Prior to being named president at Blue Ridge Community College, she served for 17 years in various roles at Haywood Community College. Dr. Leatherwood holds a doctorate degree in university and community college leadership, a master’s degree in human resource development, and a bachelor’s degree in business law, all from Western Carolina University.

Leatherwood has spent the last twenty-three years in community college education. She was appointed President of Blue Ridge Community College in 2017, leading three campuses with 11,000 students in Henderson and Transylvania Counties. This work has afforded her the opportunity to work and advocate for higher education at the local, regional, and state levels and now at the national level with the American Association of Community Colleges. She serves on the Executive Committee of the NC Association of Community College Presidents and was nominated in 2020 for President of the Year for the North Carolina Community College System. Her list of awards and accomplishments is extensive, and she was most recently nominated for the Henderson County Chamber of Commerce Athena Women’s Leadership Award in 2020.

Leatherwood spends a lot of her time working on behalf of the Henderson County Partnership for Economic Development, Henderson County Chamber of Commerce, Hunt-Lee Commission, Land of Sky – Post-Secondary Attainment Initiative, WNC American Red Cross, WNC Communities Board of Directors, Western Carolina University College of Business Advisory Board and many other nonprofit agencies.

Dr. Leatherwood and her husband Ron live in Flat Rock.