CHARLOTTE – The man who built Bank of America says North Carolina’s community colleges have been vital to the state’s business community – and to his own career.

Community colleges serve as “a tremendous adjunct” to the university system, because they allow “working people to get an education that they otherwise might not get,” Hugh McColl Jr. says in the accompanying video.

“It helps all of our businesses have people who are educated and who can do the jobs that are available, so it’s been very important.”

The former Chairman and CEO of Bank of America notes that he took banking classes at Central Piedmont Community College himself soon after he came to Charlotte.

“We need to continue to fund that part of our education system, because it reaches and touches more of our people even than our greater university system does,” McColl says.