Fayetteville Technical Community College has appointed Rodolfo “Rudy” Hernandez director of the Center for Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Small Business.
In his new role, Hernandez will lead FTCC’s efforts to support entrepreneurs and small businesses throughout the region. He brings experience in startup planning, financial structuring, strategic planning and business leadership.
Hernandez joins FTCC from the North Carolina Small Business and Technology Development Center (SBTDC), where he served as a business counselor working with pre-venture and small business clients across the nine-county Cape Fear region. In that role, he advised clients on financial structure, standard operating procedure improvements, strategic planning and capital formation. He also supported student development and community outreach programs at his host university.
Hernandez received the SBTDC Core Value Award for Collaboration in 2026.
Before entering small-business counseling, Hernandez spent nearly five years in editorial leadership at Seeking Alpha, advancing from senior editor to deputy managing editor and then managing editor of the Opinion and Analysis team. He managed a large editorial staff, reduced article turnaround time from 30 hours to fewer than nine hours and led the team in publishing more than 4,000 articles per month, the highest volume in the company’s history.
He also served as interim chief financial officer of Caribbean Express Restaurants and previously worked as a financial analyst and staff accountant at Lennar.
Hernandez holds a master’s degree in business administration with concentrations in finance and mergers and acquisitions and a bachelor’s degree in philosophy, both from the University of Miami. He is also a certified Six Sigma Black Belt.
He was inducted into the Omicron Delta Kappa honor society in 2014, was named a McLamore Scholar and placed third in the graduate division of the University of Miami’s 2013-14 Business Plan Competition. He is also a Friday Fellow of the Wildacres Leadership Initiative.
“We are excited to welcome Rudy to FTCC and look forward to the experience and energy he will bring to the center and our entrepreneurial community,” said Kelly Gold, dean of business programs at FTCC, in a press release.
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