BURLINGTON, NC – Derek Steed, an attorney with the Burlington law firm of Wishart Norris Henninger & Pittman, officially joined the board of trustees of Alamance Community College earlier this month.

Steed, 37, was sworn in August 10 after being appointed in June by the Alamance County Commissioners. He will complete the final two years on the term of Dr. Sam Powell, a former chair of the trustees who has become a board member for the North Carolina Community College System.

“This is quite an honor and I intend the serve both Alamance Community College and Alamance County with hard work and compassion for the needs of our community,” said Steed, who concentrates on business transactions and business law.

Steed is one of 12 trustees of Alamance Community College, which is planning for 5,400 full-time students this fall, plus approximately 12,000 continuing education students.

A 12-year veteran with Wishart Norris in Burlington, Steed is a director of the firm.

Steed has served in a variety of civic functions. He is the 2009 chairman of the board for United Way of Alamance County after chairing the 2008 campaign that raised more than $1.6 million for community charities. He has served in many other leadership capacities for the organization.

Steed was 2007 chair of the Alamance County Area Chamber of Commerce, after working his way through the organization. He was its 2004 director of the year. Also in 2007, he chaired the Alamance County Economic Foundation. He previously chaired the county’s Sports Development Council, a group formed to help attract sporting events to the community.

He is a graduate of Alamance County’s Leadership Alamance program and the Piedmont Triad Partnership’s Triad Leadership Network and Piedmont Triad Leadership Institute programs. Also, he has served on the advisory committee to the Research Triangle Regional Partnership’s “Reality Check” strategic planning program.

In 2007, he won the Centennial Award from the North Carolina Bar Association for exemplary community service.

Active in his profession, Steed was named a “Rising Star” by “Law and Politics” magazine in its 2009 Super Lawyers edition. The Triad Business Journal recognized him on its “Most Influential” list for the 12-county Piedmont Triad region in both 2007 and 2008. The business weekly included him in its “40 Under 40” list of young leaders for the Triad in 2006.

Steed earned a bachelor’s in History and Government summa cum laude at West Virginia Wesleyan College in 1994. He graduated from the University of North Carolina School of Law in 1997. He and wife Julie live in Burlington and have two boys and a girl.

With offices in Burlington and Charlotte, Wishart Norris Henninger & Pittman concentrates on serving the needs of business owners in the areas of business, litigation, taxation, estate planning, real estate and land use, and family law.