CARY, NC (Oct. 11, 2007) – Jim Goodnight, CEO of business intelligence powerhouse SAS, received a star on the Wilmington, NC, Walk of Fame on Sept. 28.

Celebrate Wilmington! Inc. hosted a dedication at the Cotton Exchange in downtown Wilmington. The nonprofit organization recognizes current and former residents of North Carolina’s Cape Fear region who have lived in, worked in and enriched the community. Honorees were born or spent their formative or creative years in the Cape Fear region, and are nationally recognized within their fields for their accomplishments.

“I am honored to be included among so many whose successes were launched in the Cape Fear region,” said Goodnight, who grew up in Wilmington and graduated from New Hanover High School. “The success of SAS has given me the opportunity to help define the way businesses should treat employees, and to influence the direction of education, one of my personal passions. That has been very gratifying.”

In 1994, a partnership between the University of North Carolina Wilmington, the (now defunct) Arts Council of the Lower Cape Fear and the community of Wilmington organized Celebrate Wilmington! Inc. The group developed the idea of a Walk of Fame in 1997 to recognize those people who have lived, worked and/or enriched the Wilmington-Cape Fear region and attained national or international recognition in one of the following fields: the arts, business, education, literature, broadcasting/television/film, journalism, sports, science, medicine, the military, politics or government.