Business North Carolina December 2021 by Business North Carolina

OTHER SMALL-BIZ WINNERS: LYNCH MYKINS, ELIJAH’S XTREME & SHAKA TACO AVADIM’S DISAPPEARING ACT • 10 BIG WINNERS IN 2021 • CONGDONS DRIVE HIGH POINT GROWTH • IPO SCORECARD

As demand for counseling soared, Karin Kassab’s savvy response triggered a pandemic-era success.

DECEMBER 2021 Price: $3.95 businessnc.com

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+ DEPARTMENTS 4 UP FRONT 8 RETAIL REVIVAL

Empty storefronts dot downtown as Raleigh seeks a pandemic rebound.

DECEMBER 2021

12 NC TREND

Ten newsmakers; raising the bar of interior design; rural hospitals; innovation in downtown High Point; newly public N.C. companies.

86 TOWN SQUARE

Whiteville’s blend of old and new attracts global-minded residents.

+ SPONSORED SECTIONS 30 ROUND TABLE: TRAVEL & TOURISM Experts discuss the industry’s recovery since the height of the pandemic.

COVER STORY

68 CELEBRATING NURSES

Our Small Business of the Year winners include a structural engineering company, hot sauce distributor, taco shack and counseling service.

pSMALL BUSINESSES OF THE YEAR

CO V E R P H O TO B Y H A N N A H M C M A H O N P H O TO G R A P H Y

Nursing schools are using innovative approaches to retain seasoned professionals, add capacity and attract students to meet staffing needs.

72 N.C. PORTRAITS: DOWNTOWNS

Several of our state’s center cities are thriving, despite an unusually difficult year.

78 COMMUNITY CLOSE UP: PITT COUNTY Greenville’s growth is replicated in several nearby towns.

pAVADIM’S HEALTH

Hopes at a ballyhooed Asheville life-sciences company are dampened, not dashed. BY ED MARTIN

December 2021, Vol. 41, No. 12 (ISSN 0279-4276). Business North Carolina is published monthly by Business North Carolina at 1230 West Morehead Street, Suite 308 Charlotte, NC 28208. Telephone: 704-523-6987. Fax: 704-523-4211. All contents copyright © by Old North State Magazines LLC. Subscription rate: 1 year, $30. For change of address, send mailing label and allow six to eight weeks. Periodicals postage paid at Charlotte, NC, and additional offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Business North Carolina, 1230 West Morehead Street, Suite 308 Charlotte, NC 28208 or email circulation@businessnc.com.

pNORTH CAROLINA’S TOP DOCTORS Doctors identify state specialists considered to be the best in their fields.

Start your day with business news from across the state, direct to your inbox. SIGN UP AT BUSINESSNC.COM/DAILY-DIGEST. D E C E M B E R

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UPFRONT

► David Mildenberg

HOLIDAY HABITS

he pandemic created unexpected winners, losers and impacts while forcing everyone in business to make adjustments. For those who’ve changed in effective ways, it’s common to hear twinges of regret from achieving success during a very difficult time. This month’s cover subject, Karin Kassab, expressed that view when we discussed how her Wilmington counseling service expanded rapidly amid COVID-19. Clarity Counseling Center was one of four companies selected in our annual Small Businessesof the Year competition from more than 50 strong nominations. The final selections including Lynch Mykins Structural Engineers of Raleigh, Elijah’s Xtreme in Gastonia and Shaka Taco in Surf City were made by previous winners and experts on entrepreneurship including our publisher, Ben Kinney. Spotlighting great small businesses is a highlight of our work. Selling tacos and creating tasty hot sauces is very different from designing buildings or providing therapy. But each company is led by inspired leaders whose insights offer some terrific lessons for Business North Carolina readers. I work with great folks who are backed up by terrific families. I thought it would be fun to share some of their favorite holiday traditions. Ben Kinney: “We always try to have oyster stew on Christmas Eve and watch 'It's a Wonderful Life' that night. I'm usually the only one who watches the whole movie.” Sue Graf: “My favorite holiday tradition is making the Graf Gumdrop cookies. As one of four kids in a large extended family, we would start preparing for Christmas weeks ahead of time. This delicious cookie stems from my Mom's childhood. I’ve never seen it featured in a cookbook or by Martha Stewart. Email me for the recipe.” Peggy Knaack: “Our favorite Christmas tradition is to visit a North Carolina tree farm in the mountains. The day includes hiking, a hayride, hot chocolate and a search for the perfect tree. We’ve done this every year for the past 15 years, and it’s always a great adventure.”

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Jennings Cool: “On Christmas day, my family and I have a steak lunch. We have quality cuts, delicious sides and the occasional lobster tail. It is one of my favorite meals.” Colin Campbell: “Our family goes to a Christmas parade, usually in a small town east of Raleigh such as Archer Lodge, Bailey or Knightdale. Raleigh's got a great big city parade on the Saturday before Thanksgiving, which is too early to get in the spirit. Small-town parades usually happen on a chilly December afternoon, and it's fun to see the local high school marching bands, hand-decorated floats from local businesses and civic groups, and seemingly every fire truck in the area.” Ralph Voltz: “My wife, Laura, buys a tree as soon as possible. It is my job to make sure it is straight in the stand.” Jennifer Ware: “No matter where you are, you must put on proper attire and get back home to Florence, S.C. by 5 p.m. on Christmas Eve for the cocktail hour of champagne and cheese straws. An evening of traditions and revelry makes Christmas Eve the peak of family and friend celebrations." Scott Leonard: “I started making or buying a tree ornament for my mom when I was a kid. Some were crafts, some were from local stores, and some were from my travels. Her tree is now covered with very personable ornaments — each with its own unique memory or story. We share those stories with our six-year-old son, Oliver, and now he can carry on this tradition." David Mildenberg: “My wife Janet’s family had dozens of great Christmas traditions before her parents died. One of my favorites that continues in their absence is a stocking filled with practical gifts such as shaving cream, dental floss and oranges. And there’s always a handwritten note saying ‘Respect,’ a response to my joking request on a gift list during my first year as part of the family, many years ago.” Happy Holidays!

V O L U M E 4 1 , N O. 1 2 PUBLISHER

Ben Kinney

bkinney@businessnc.com EDITOR

David Mildenberg

dmildenberg@businessnc.com ASSOCIATE EDITORS

Jennings Cool

jcool@businessnc.com

Colin Campbell

ccampbell@businessnc.com

Cathy Martin

cmartin@businessnc.com SENIOR CONTRIBUTING EDITOR

Edward Martin

emartin@businessnc.com SPECIAL PROJECTS EDITOR

Pete Anderson

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

Ebony L. Morman, Bryan Mims CREATIVE MANAGER

Peggy Knaack

pknaack@businessnc.com ART DIRECTOR

Ralph Voltz

MARKETING COORDINATOR

Jennifer Ware

jware@businessnc.com AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT SPECIALIST

Scott Leonard

sleonard@businessnc.com

ADVERTISING SALES ACCOUNT DIRECTORS

Sue Graf, western N.C. 704-523-4350 sgraf@businessnc.com

Melanie Weaver Lynch, eastern N.C. 919-855-9380 mweaver@businessnc.com CIRCULATION: 818-286-3106 EDITORIAL: 704-523-6987 REPRINTS: circulation@businessnc.com

BUSINESSNC.COM OWNERS

Jack Andrews, Frank Daniels Jr., Frank Daniels III, Lee Dirks, David Woronoff PUBLISHED BY

Old North State Magazines LLC PRESIDENT

Contact David Mildenberg at dmildenberg@businessnc.com.

David Woronoff

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BNC ONLINE We love getting feedback from our readers. Here’s a sampling of what you had to say about Business North Carolina on social media last month.

Weisiger family tradition

Stacey Perrow

Trusted Communications Advisor Thank you Business North Carolina for the feature! Terrific story about a company and family celebrating 95 years of business.

Building NC

Grubb Ventures

The Variable

handeacar.mimar

We're proud to call North Carolina and the Triad home, which is why we've rooted ourselves in the heart of the Innovation Quarter in downtown Winston-Salem. And last year, we moved into our brand new offices in Bailey South -- which has been recognized as having the "Best Overall Design" among new commercial real estate projects in the state by Business North Carolina.

LOVE IT!

As David Mullen tells David Mildenberg about Baily South, "We wanted our fingerprints to be a part of it. It's an incredibly special development, from the overall building design to the design of our top two floors to the proximity of amazing outdoor spaces, restaurants and entertainment options. It helps us attract incredibly talented people from across the country to join The Variable and fosters amazing collaboration and work-from-office options for our team."

Workbench Roasters

workbenchroasters Thank you for the awesome write up! So happy to be part of the small batch coffee roasting biz in NC!

MFG Con

Lauren Dudley

Pillars of North Carolina

Regional Director of Customized TrainingNortheast Region at North Carolina Community College System

Harold Varner III @HV3_Golf

This should be a great presentation!

I’m fortunate to have a mentor like Bill Will.

Tyrrell County

Sarah Bernart @SarahBernart Aiming to reverse the trend, tiny Tyrrell County wants to grow @BusinessNC #CelebrateRural

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SCAN ME to find Business North Carolina everywhere online or go to linktr.ee/businessnorthcarolina.

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VIEW FROM RALEIGH

► Colin Campbell

SEEKING REVIVAL Major developments add empty storefronts as Raleigh anticipates a pandemic rebound.

▲ “The Hollow” courtyard area will eventually become a hub for outdoor dining.

residential, office and retail projects, according to the Downtown Raleigh Alliance. That has led to more than 12,000 downtown residents, 3.5 million square feet of new office space, and 732,000 square feet of new retail and restaurant space. Smoky Hollow is Kane Realty’s massive complex of apartments, offices and retail space, anchored by a Publix grocery store where

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▲ Kane Realty’s Smoky Hollow development won’t open many of its retail and restaurant spaces until 2022, even though the buildings were completed in 2021.

Peace Street meets Capital Boulevard. It can house as many as 20 retail storefronts totaling 40,000 square feet, surrounding a central courtyard known as The Hollow. The construction barricades came down in April, and while five businesses signed leases — most notably the popular Charlotte barbecue restaurant Midwood Smokehouse — most aren’t expected to open until this spring. The Hollow’s outdoor space has hosted a few special events such as a craft market, but most of the time it’s quiet. “If this was opened two years ago, it would not look like what it looks like now,” says Stacey Buescher, managing director of operations for Kane. Some openings have been delayed by construction supplychain issues and labor shortages. About two-thirds of the property is still seeking tenants, while Buescher says four more leases are under negotiation. In addition to Midwood, the current line-up includes Milk Lab, a bubble tea and rolled ice cream shop; Dos Yoga, a yoga studio and smoothie bar; the Madre tapas restaurant and cocktail bar; and J. Lights, a coffee, sandwich and cocktail cafe. “Our investor has been open to us taking time on this to make it right,” Buescher says, adding that the focus is on local businesses rather than chains. She expects most tenants will be restaurants, bars and service businesses such as salons and fitness studios, as demand for soft-goods retailers remains low. A few blocks south of Smoky Hollow at the corner of Glenwood Avenue and Hillsborough Street, the Bloc[83] development has a similar courtyard set-up for its 45,000 square feet of storefront space. The second phase of the development, known as Tower Two, opened in April. No tenants had been announced by mid-November for Tower Two’s ground floor. A large TV screen and piped-in music in the

PHOTOS COURTESY OF KANE REALTY

owntown Raleigh’s newest developments include large courtyards perfect for outdoor dining and socializing, but they’re eerily empty — for now. The mixed-use high-rise buildings that finished construction this year were planned well before the pandemic. Long before downtown employers told staffers to work from home. Long before violent protests left behind boarded-up windows and damaged storefronts. Collectively, the developments are adding nearly 100,000 square feet of street-level retail and restaurant space. They’re looking for tenants at a time when the downtown retail and dining scene is still in recovery mode and a number of vacant spaces remain where a business closed during the pandemic. Leasing agents responsible for filling the new storefronts say interest from new businesses has increased dramatically in recent months, making them optimistic that many of the newly built spaces will come to life sometime next year. “There’s been more robust leasing in the second half of this year than has ever occurred,” says Charlie Coyne, a senior vice president with CBRE, which leases retail space at multiple downtown properties. “It’s really a bet that downtown Raleigh will be fully reoccupied” as office workers return in the coming months. It will take months for the leases under negotiation to lead to business openings. Back when the newest buildings were planned, developers assumed that a fast-growing downtown would quickly make them the new hotspots. Downtown boosters hope the pandemic challenges are ultimately just a speed bump in more than a decade of massive growth. Since 2015, developers have built or planned more than $4.9 billion in

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courtyard plays to no one. In the first phase of Bloc[83], the One Glenwood office building, the cocktail bar Dram & Draught held on through the pandemic by selling groceries. An Australian burrito chain next door closed. Coyne, whose company handles leasing for Bloc[83], expects several new tenants will be announced by Jan. 1. He’s bullish on retail and dining prospects in downtown’s newest developments, noting some downtown businesses will relocate to take advantage of the courtyard setup. “It’s new space, where you’re going to get a bigger patio,” he says. The COVID-fueled shift toward more outdoor dining could hurt demand for spaces in other downtown buildings where seating is limited to a portion of the sidewalk, such as Fayetteville Street. Two restaurant spaces in the Charter Square building near City Plaza have been vacant for more than a year, as has a former Italian restaurant in the Duke Energy building and the former Pizza La Stella in the city-owned Exchange Plaza building. While food and beverage sales in the Fayetteville Street district are improving, they were still at 68% of pre-pandemic levels this fall, according to the Downtown Raleigh Alliance. The absence of many office workers is a key factor, but Coyne says he hears that most will be back in person in early 2022. “Retail and restaurant [owners] feel comfortable that the office reoccupancy will happen,” he says. In the third quarter of 2021, the Downtown Raleigh Alliance reported 14 storefront business openings and four closings. Several of the newcomers filled existing spaces where a business closed during the pandemic. Union Special bakery is in the former Tama Tea on

Fayetteville Street and (ish) delicatessen is in the former Pharmacy Cafe on Person Street. The closings included two art galleries and two restaurants. From January 2021 though the end of September, downtown had 48 new storefront openings or expansions, up 71% from the same period in 2020. If that momentum continues, the scene at the new courtyards at Smoky Hollow and Bloc[83] could look a lot different a year from now. By that point, retail leasing agents hope to be working on the next several mixed-use projects that are under construction now. ■

STOREFRONT SPACES in new downtown Raleigh properties

square feet Bloc[83] Tower Two: 30,000 Smoky Hollow Phase 2: 40,000 AC Hotel on Glenwood South: 3,860 Raleigh Crossing (Hillsborough and Dawson streets): 12,100 square feet 400H (Hillsborough and Harrington streets): 16,000 Seaboard Station (Peace and Halifax streets): 30,000 Platform (West Cabarrus and South Saunders streets): 26,740

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WHY ORGANIZATIONAL FINANCIAL WELLNESS MATTERS For this month’s informative monthly article from PNC in collaboration with BUSINESS NORTH CAROLINA magazine, we revisit an article from the March 2021 issue.

During the past year, companies have communicated extensively with their employees about wellness – particularly in the context of health. Not to be overlooked, however, is financial wellness, which extends beyond the framework of financial literacy and empowers employees to build strong financial habits – while also contributing to a more confident, productive workforce. Financial wellness is the No. 1 employer benefit that employees would most like to see added to their benefits in the future.1 And as companies and employees continue on the road toward economic recovery, financial wellness will remain an important consideration.

HOW EMPLOYEES’ FINANCIAL STRESSORS IMPACT EMPLOYERS When PNC Organizational Financial Wellness Market Managers Adam Butler and Stephanie Hughes sit down with N.C. businesses to discuss financial wellness programs, it’s not uncommon for them to share the following pre-pandemic data points2, which help bring context to the impact employees’ financial stressors pose to employers: • Financially stressed employees cost American businesses $500 billion annually in productivity. • 49% of employees admit to spending three or more hours per week thinking about financial stressors at work. • 47% of employees say that finances are a distraction. • 26% of employees admit their productivity has been impacted by financial stressors. • 10% of employees miss work occasionally due to financial stressors.

Furthermore, the cost of financial stress on an organization, in lost productivity and absenteeism, translates to more than $1,900 per employee, per year.3 “When you consider this impact, it’s clear to see that the cost of implementing a financial wellness program pales in comparison,” said Butler.

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IMPLEMENTING A FINANCIAL WELLNESS PROGRAM Financial wellness programs that are mutually beneficial to both employers and employees should take into account the unique needs at all levels of the organization. And while there’s not a one-size-fits-all approach, Butler and Hughes say the following four elements are foundational to a solid financial wellness program. 1. Workplace banking: A strong bank-at-work program should offer a variety of account options for employees. It also should offer onsite and virtual financial services, as well as workshops and informational events that address topics such as direct deposit sign-ups, applying for mort- gages, understanding various credit card programs and how they meet employees’ needs, and how to use digital money management tools. It’s important to note that this program should come at no cost or burden to the employee. 2. Consumer-directed healthcare: A Health Savings Account, or HSA, has become a common way to pay for healthcare; however, there are benefits of an HSA that are often over looked. Therefore, it is vitally important for employees to know how to use the tools they have available to them. 3. Digital financial assessment and resource center: To help motivate employee participation and improve their financial acumen, a successful financial wellness program should offer a customizable, digital tool. This tool should allow employees to assess their financial wellness, access a complete financial education curriculum, and earn points for tracking progress toward their goals. It also should allow the company administrator to gather insights on employee engagement and data trends, and provide reporting insights to assist with employee priorities and education. 4. Retirement plan and fiduciary investment services: Financial independence includes the ability for employees to retire on their own terms – without worrying if they can afford to do so. Successful retirement plan programs focus on everything from investment selection to policy assistance. These programs also offer a dedicated resource for annual education campaigns, which often include surveys, online tools, live and virtual meetings, webinars and more.

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THE PNC ORGANIZATIONAL FINANCIAL WELLNESS APPROACH In October 2020, PNC launched the formation of a new financial wellness business called PNC Organizational Financial Wellness. While PNC has offered a number of financial wellness solutions across its lines of business for years, it has now established a cohesive team and strategy to better deliver comprehensive solutions and value-added guidance. Through this offering, PNC is providing comprehensive financial wellness guidance and workplace solutions to clients through Financial Wellness Consultants, who serve as key business partners to the human resources suite. “Financial Wellness Consultants collaborate closely with organizations’ human resources decision-makers or dedicated benefits managers to design custom programs, taking into account the unique needs and goals of organizations and their employees,” said Hughes. For more information, please contact your PNC Relationship Manager or visit www.pnc.com/wellness.

THE OUTCOME OF FINANCIAL WELLNESS PROGRAMS Employees say financial wellness programs have helped them1: • Prepare to retire (47%) • Control spending (29%) • Pay off debt (29%) • Save more for major goals – e.g., home, education (29%) • Better manage investments and asset allocation (29%) • Better manage healthcare expenses (18%)

Regional Presidents: Weston Andress, Western Carolinas: (704) 643-5581 Jim Hansen, Eastern Carolinas: (919) 835-0135

Important Legal Disclosures and Information This article was prepared for general information purposes only and is not intended as legal, tax or accounting advice or as recommendations to engage in any specific transaction, including with respect to any securities of PNC, and do not purport to be comprehensive. Under no circumstances should any information contained in this article be used or considered as an offer or commitment, or a solicitation of an offer or commitment, to participate in any particular transaction or strategy. Any reliance upon any such information is solely and exclusively at your own risk. Please consult your own counsel, accountant or other advisor regarding your specific situation. Neither PNC Bank nor any other subsidiary of The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. will be responsible for any consequences of reliance upon any opinion or statement contained here, or any omission. Any opinions expressed in this article are subject to change without notice. PNC is a registered mark of The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. (“PNC”). Banking and lending products and services, bank deposit products and treasury management services for clients and/or customers are provided by PNC Bank, National Association, a wholly-owned subsidiary of PNC and Member FDIC. ©2021 The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 1 2 3

2019 Employee Financial Wellness Survey, PricewaterhouseCoopers The Employer’s Guide to Financial Wellness — 2019, Salary Finance, 2019 John Hancock 2019 Financial Stress Survey D E C E M B E R

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NC TREND

Movers and shakers

2021 PACE SETTERS THESE TEN N.C. NOTABLES SCORED SIGNIFICANT VICTORIES THIS YEAR.

Oken founded with McMahan in 2006. Falfurrias, which named four new partners this year, typically puts $25 million to $200 million in midmarket companies ranging from financial technology, media and information services. It also gets attention for its food holdings, such as Duke’s mayonnaise and Duchess honey buns. McMahan, 47, earned a bachelor’s degree at UNC Chapel Hill in 1997, then an MBA from Northwestern University in 2003. His father was a longtime Charlotte business executive who served in the N.C. General Assembly for 12 years.

Laura Niklason Humacyte CEO, Durham

He became the state’s most electrifying athlete. The 20-year-old point guard is a rising superstar in his second NBA season. The 6-foot-7-inch Ball was recognized as the NBA Rookie of the Year in June. His exciting style attracts bigger crowds for the Michael Jordan-owned franchise, which hasn’t made the NBA playoffs since 2016. In 2020, he signed a four-year contract that guarantees more than $35.5 million, a bargain price by league standards. His brothers, Lonzo and LiAngelo, play for the Chicago Bulls and Greensboro Swarm, respectively.

Lynn Good Duke Energy CEO, Charlotte

Mike Praeger AvidXchange CEO, Charlotte

She championed a reform law that solidifies Duke Energy’s leadership in N.C. energy markets.

A much anticipated IPO valued his business at $5 billion.

Long one of the state’s most powerful companies, Duke showed its clout this year. Good and her team of lobbyists threaded the needle through a complex political dynamic to help pass a sweeping energy bill that includes Duke’s longtime objective of multi year rate hikes. The company made concessions along the way, but Gov. Roy Cooper and a major manufacturing group dropped their opposition to an earlier version and backed the final bipartisan compromise. Good personally supported key lawmakers with financial donations.

Ed McMahan Falfurrias Capital Partners managing partner, Charlotte A big new fund fuels one of the state’s hottest PE execs. An $850 million capital raise last summer bolstered McMahan’s Falfurrias Capital Partners private-equity group. It was the fifth fund by the group that retired Bank of America leaders Hugh McColl Jr. and Marc

Niklason is a world-renowned biomedical engineer who has been a professor at Yale University since 2006. Now her main focus is creating regenerative tissues to treat diseases on behalf of Humacyte, which she founded in 2004. In August, the company raised $242 million and started trading publicly after combining with Alpha Healthcare Acquisition, a special-purpose acquisition company. The 139-employee business has scant revenue so far and recorded a net loss of about $425 million since its inception. Backers include German medical products giant Fresenius Medical Care. Niklason, 58, and her husband, former Credit Suisse CEO Brady Dougan, own 22% of the company’s shares, which were valued at more than $200 million in mid-November.

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Long celebrated as a leading N.C. tech executive, Praeger led an initial public offering in October that raised $660 million and valued the company at about $5 billion. Founded in 2000, AvidXchange helps about 7,000 companies automate their billing processes. Praeger and his wife, Cindy, chose Charlotte to build a company after he had achieved success at other tech ventures in the Northeast. AvidXchange has attracted capital from Mastercard, PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel and Bain Capital Ventures. The Wisconsin native retains a 7.4% stake in the business worth more than $300 million.

Billy Pyatt Catawba Brewing founder, Morganton Veteran N.C. craft brewer sells to a PE group. Founded in Glen Alpine near Morganton in 1999, CEO Pyatt’s Catawba Brewing is an institution in the N.C. craft beer scene and perhaps best known for its White Zombie brand. With an

PHOTOS: CHARLOTTE HORNETS, DUKE ENERGY, FALFURRIAS PARTNERS, HUMACYTE, AVIDXCHANGE, CATAWBA BREWING

LaMelo Ball Charlotte Hornets

A pioneering biotech researcher took her company public.

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annual volume of about 30,000 barrels, Catawba was acquired by Montgomery, Ala.-based private-equity firm Wiregrass Equity Partners in October. Catawba brews its beers at five locations with six taprooms. Its beer is distributed in five states. Pyatt cites his age as a reason to sell. “One day you wake up and you’re 60-years-old. You realize it’s time we knock some things off our bucket list.” Terms of the sale were not disclosed.

Michael Regan Environmental Protection Agency administrator, Washington, D.C. State environment quality chief gets bumped to key federal post. Goldsboro native Michael Regan got a promotion this year when President Joe Biden picked him to lead the Environmental Protection Agency. He had been secretary of the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality in Gov. Roy Cooper’s administration. He’s the first Black man to serve as EPA administrator. Regan was back home this fall to announce the EPA’s plan to regulate PFAS “forever chemicals,” such as the GenX leak into the Cape Fear River from a Chemours plant near Fayetteville.

Eddie Smith Owner of Grady-White Boats, Greenville Boat manufacturers benefit from soaring demand.

PHOTOS: EPA.GOV, GRADY-WHITE BOATS, GDC, WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY

Grady-White Boats has been building watercraft in Greenville since 1958. Owner and CEO Eddie Smith purchased the business about nine years after founders Glenn Grady and Don White started the company. Since the start of COVID-19, GradyWhite saw a peak in sales thanks to increased interest in outdoor recreation but had to navigate the challenges of labor shortages, supply-chain issues and strong demand.

Tim Sweeney Epic Games CEO, Cary He gained international acclaim for challenging Apple. Only a supremely confident person would challenge computing kingpin Apple. Meet Sweeney, who in 2020 sued the Goliath, hoping to enable Epic’s Fortnite game to bypass Apple’s App Store or require Apple to take a lesser cut of revenue. A three-week trial led to a September ruling that mostly favored Apple, prompting Epic to appeal. Meanwhile, Sweeney, 50, keeps expanding his company and buying land in North Carolina for nature preserves. Epic paid $95 million for the Cary Towne Center for use as the company’s headquarters. In April, he donated 7,500 acres in western North Carolina to a nonprofit conservancy, a record land contribution in the state. His net worth keeps soaring with estimates now topping $7 billion.

Susan Wente Wake Forest University president, Winston-Salem She instantly became the Triad’s newest powerbroker. Wake Forest University’s first female president took one of the state’s most prestigious education jobs on July 1, succeeding Nathan Hatch, who had led the 8,800-student Winston-Salem university for 16 years. Wente (pronounced Wen-TEE) spent the previous 19 years at Vanderbilt University, including nearly a year as interim chancellor and five years as provost. During her tenure in Nashville, Vandy’s ranking among top U.S. universities rose to 14th from 16th. (Wake ranks 28th.) At Wake, she leads one of the Triad’s largest employers with nearly 6,300 employees, including the Wake Forest Baptist Health medical center that is now controlled by Charlotte-based Atrium Health. The cell biologist has a Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of California and previously worked at Washington University in St. Louis.

HONORABLE MENTIONS Rod Brind’Amour

Carolina Hurricanes coach, Raleigh

Luke Combs

country western star, Asheville

Marvin Ellison

Lowe’s CEO, Mooresville

Greg Gantt

Old Dominion Freight CEO, Thomasville

Michael Jones

Spoonflower CEO, Durham

John Kane

Kane Realty CEO, Raleigh

Chip Mahan

Live Oak Bancshares CEO, Wilmington

Sheila Mikhail

AskBio CEO, Durham

Cedric Mullins

Baltimore Orioles slugger, Greensboro

Todd Olson

Pendo CEO, Raleigh

Leon Topolian

Nucor CEO, Charlotte

Ted Williams

Charlotte Axios founder, Charlotte

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NC TREND

Interior design

RAISING THE BAR BY JENNINGS COOL

► Tell us about your career change. Designbar is my little baby that I started in 2009 as a side hustle and started full time in 2014. I was born and raised in Germany and came to the States about 20 years ago for graduate school at Pfeiffer University. I started working with a German company while I was still in school, and they offered me a job before I was done with my MBA. I had a straight-laced corporate career for about 14 years, and about halfway through my career, I realized my heart wasn’t in it anymore. I did some soul searching and realized I wanted to do something creative. It always made me feel alive when I created something. Out of that, the idea of interior design started.

▲ Crave Dessert Bar in Charlotte.

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▲ Monika Nessbach

► Why commercial interior design as opposed to residential? I dabbled a bit, but [residential design] wasn’t for me — which is probably because of my corporate career. I had a good understanding of what employers were looking for and what was important for a company. I started with corporate design and then ventured into hospitality design, and now we are doing multifamily remodels. It just kind of snowballed into more and more. Commercial is the realm where we operate, and corporate design is where we started. ► What are the differences between residential and commercial design? For me it is the spaces. As a residential designer, you take a look at the usage of the space for a smaller number of people. For commercial design, you think of tons of people you have to cater to, including people with disabilities and people facing different situations. Residential design is also very emotional — which makes sense because it is dealing with people’s homes. Commercial design is less emotionally driven and more business driven with a strategy and goal in mind. Residential is a personal experience and more emotionally driven. ► Why should business owners care about interior design? Because it is a reflection of their brand. If you come into a space that is very ill-designed, has bad lighting, is dingy, or feels dirty and dark, you already have a feeling as a client. I believe the same is true for an employee. At the end of the day, design evokes emotions. Good design evokes great emotions. Employers also want people to come back and work. They want them to come back to the office and collaborate with each other. I feel collaboration is easier when you are one-to-one with someone or with a team of people. And, it's a big incentive if you get to come back to a really cool space. ► How should business owners approach design? From the perspective of what you would want to have, see, feel, experience when you come back to work. What would get you motivated to come back to a workspace and spend an hour in the car and do all the logistics to come back to work?

PORTRAIT BY PETER TAYLOR, PHOTO BY RODNEY SCOT MEDIA GROUP

erman native Monika Nessbach came to Charlotte in 1999 to earn an MBA, landing an internship and then a job at the Continental Tire Americas headquarters, where she worked for 14 years. But a love for commercial design prompted her to take classes at Central Piedmont Community College for about eight years and make a change to a more entrepreneurial life. Since 2009, she’s been building her own business, designbar, where she now works with a team of three. “I started doing projects with friends and really found my love of [interior design],” she says. Designbar’s clients include Continental Tire, Charlotte Motor Speedway, Biesse America, and The Vintage Whiskey & Cigar Bar in Charlotte. Nessbach says her style tends to reflect a contemporary approach mixed with a ton of biophilia, or designing with plants and nature in mind. She discussed her views on design in an interview that is edited for length and clarity.

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► What should employers be considering in terms of design? We believe we will start to see hospitality design jump over to corporate design. Employees will want to have experiences when they come to work. I think the boutique design movement that has been going on for quite a while will eventually veer into corporate design — or what corporate design is supposed to be. If you think about it, collaborative spaces and these huddle spaces and things that make workplaces less stiff and more collaborative have been around for years. It is becoming a point where people think these spaces are nice, but they want an experience at work. People may want to take their laptop and walk over to another space and feel completely different or sit outside and feel connected. I think everything is going to be all about experiences. Employees want to stay home. So how do you get them to come back? You offer them something they can’t have at home. This is what draws people to travel; offering experiences and locations you can’t find at home.

PHOTO BY ASHLYN VICTORIA AUSTIN

▲ The Law Offices of Attorney Timothy J. Pavone in Charlotte

► How do you see this shift altering your work? It used to be that when you would come into a corporate environment, the design requirements would have more of an emphasis on schematic design — process flow, how people work together, how everything is laid out. It was less on the design side in terms of incorporating a “wow effect.” For hospitality, it's almost required nowadays to have experiences and those ‘Instagrammable’ moments. While that wasn’t a case for corporate, it is slowly going in that direction. ■

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NC TREND

Health care

RURAL RESCUE A VETERAN TEXAS HEALTH CARE EXECUTIVE IS TURNING AROUND AN EASTERN N.C. HOSPITAL.

n two short years, the tiny hospital serving Washington County, about two hours east of Raleigh, has gone from the brink of closure to expansion mode. Things looked bleak for 25-bed Washington Regional Medical Center in 2019, when its out-of-state owner, HMC/CAH Consolidated, filed for bankruptcy. Inpatient services were shut down, and 12,000 county residents had to make lengthy drives for health care. The situation appears to mirror the case five years earlier in Belhaven, a Beaufort County town 30 miles south. Vidant Health closed its Pungo Hospital there in 2014, replacing it with an urgent care and multispecialty clinic. The old hospital was demolished. Washington Regional in Plymouth, however, had an unexpected savior. Plano, Texas-based Affinity Health Partners bought the hospital in early 2020 through the bankruptcy proceedings and has the facility up and running. CEO and founder Frank Avignone declined to discuss financial details. While many rural hospitals across the state have been absorbed into larger regional systems, Washington Regional is Affinity’s only hospital holding. It previously managed facilities owned by other entities, but Avignone was convinced his company could work most effectively at the hospital as an owner. “We found out very quickly that management of a facility — when you're answering to a board that may not be as well experienced in health care — is not a winning combination,” says Avignone, who grew up in South Carolina and has been an industry consultant for more than 30 years.

ashington County Regional is the only hospital in Affinity Health Partners’ portfolio, but CEO Frank Avignone aims to have six to eight by next summer. The growth may start 22 miles west of Plymouth in Williamston, where Affinity hopes to close its asset-sale purchase of 49-bed Martin General Hospital by Jan. 1. The seller is Brentwood, Tenn.based-based Quorum Health Resources, which leases the hospital from Martin County, which is reviewing the sale and had not taken action as of late October. Terms haven’t been disclosed. Martin General is double the size of the Plymouth hospital and is defined as a “prospective payment system hospital,” which means a different financial model and typically a wider range of services. “We'd love to add Martin to our portfolio of hospitals and our hope

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▲ Washington Regional Medical Center is one of the state's smallest hospitals.

When Avignone’s team arrived in Plymouth, they found a leaky roof, a broken CT scanner, messy patient rooms and a crumbling parking lot. Affinity has spent about $4 million on upgrades, including an overhaul of the radiology department and HVAC systems. The company added women’s health services and is restoring some pediatrics and cardiology care. Washington Regional now has about 1,500 patient visits a month between the hospital and the primary-care facility next door, including 500 visits a month in the emergency room. The staff has expanded from 30 full-time employees when Affinity took over to more than 160 after reducing temporary contract staffers. Avignone eventually hopes to build a hospital next door and use the existing facility as a behavioral health facility. “It's so hard to find a bed for a young child that has had mental issues or an older individual who may have dementia,” he says. “We have to hold patients in our ER all the time.” Over the past decade, Washington County lost about 17% of its population, or 2,200 people, one of the state’s largest declines. But Avignone says the hospital can thrive financially with good management. “The hospital is doing quite well. It's not out of the woods completely, but they never really are until such time that they can absolutely support themselves without a whole lot of guidance and management oversight.” is that negotiations and discussions move in the right direction with Martin County and city officials, so that way we can transfer more of our patients at Washington Regional in need of a higher level of care to Martin,” Avignone says. “We're going to focus on bringing surgery back up to levels where we believe we’ll service the community better,” he ▲ Frank Avignone adds. “We'll continue to bring in different specialties which the community needs.” Quorum Health, which operates 22 hospitals in 13 states, restructured in federal bankruptcy court in 2020 and was acquired by a new investor group. ■

PHOTOS COURTESY OF WASHINGTON REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER

BY COLIN CAMPBELL

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Washington County Manager Curtis Potter says community feedback about Affinity is overwhelmingly positive. Residents are talking about the changes, and patients are quick to tell their friends and family. “The smaller the place is, the more reputation and word of mouth travels,” he says. While he’d like to see more communication between county leaders and hospital officials, Potter notes a closure would have been devastating. The enterprise is a major county employer, and it’s difficult to attract new business if a community lacks health care resources.

about what’s going to happen as the support starts turning off,” Holmes says. “What happens over the next six to 12 months will be really interesting.” The increasing popularity of telehealth also means some rural residents may prefer a video appointment with a doctor in a larger city rather than a visit to a local doctor. “Telehealth could be worse for rural providers, but it may be much better for rural

patients,” Holmes says. To help Affinity succeed, Washington Regional has converted into a nonprofit entity. Avignone plans to do the same with other acquisitions. The move makes the hospitals eligible for a variety of grants and, he says, sends a message. “I think that shows a lot of trust — that we're going to be advocating for them as community members as well as patients.” ■

▲ Affinity has renovated the emergency room entry.

Avignone says the “secret sauce” is strict adherence to federal health care policies. “We follow the rules from A to Z,” he says. Showing personal interest also matters. “I get in scrubs. I will run the floors. People see me in that community caring for that hospital. And since we own the facility, we have a vested interest in making sure that the facility not only survives but thrives.” The hospital gets a boost from Outer Banks beach traffic passing through Plymouth, some drawn by its billboard. As many as a third of emergency-room patients during the summer months are tourists experiencing “anything from a bad sunburn all the way through a cardiac event,” Avignone says. Half of U.S. rural hospitals are losing money, says Mark Holmes, director of the N.C. Rural Health Research and Policy Analysis Center at UNC Chapel Hill. “You really need to know what you’re doing and have experience.” Federal assistance for hospitals during the COVID-19 pandemic has been a lifeline for many. Prior to March 2020, Holmes says, the country was on track to see the highest number of rural hospital closures ever. That didn’t happen because of the pandemicrelated funding. “Many people, including me, are terrified

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NC TREND

Development

DOMINION RESOURCES HIGH POINT'S ENTERPRISING CONGDON FAMILY PUSHES TO ENLIVEN THE FURNITURE CITY WITH AN INNOVATIVE DOWNTOWN PROJECT. BY EBONY L. MORMAN

igh Point is known for its significant role in North Carolina's furniture history, serving as a national epicenter of both manufacturing and marketing. The markets that occur twice a year attract tens of thousands of designers and retailers from across the world, while exhibition space for showcasing furniture dominates the city’s downtown area. But High Point’s center city is often hushed during the 11 months or so when furniture markets aren’t in session, and many key furniture and textile manufacturers have moved operations overseas or closed. Congdon Yards — formerly a 1920s-era factory owned by nowdefunct hosiery maker Adams-Millis Corp. — is remedying the silence, helping revitalize the city’s downtown in a project spearheaded by one of its most famous families. About $40 million in funding has come from the Earl and Kathryn Congdon Family Foundation, which provides grants to area businesses. “Our bottom-line goals for this project are downtown revitalization, feet on the street 365 days a year, and a sense of ‘place’ to design, innovate, collaborate, celebrate, and enjoy excellent dining and fun,” says David Congdon, who leads the foundation formed in 2015. It had net assets of about $45 million at the end of 2019, according to the most recent tax filing. “One of our goals as a new organization was to develop an innovative project around entrepreneurship, a business incubator, co-working and a maker space.” Congdon is the board chairman and former CEO of Old Dominion Freight Line, a publicly traded, Thomasville–based trucking company that was started by his father, Earl, in 1934. Old Dominion’s annual revenue has tripled over the past decade to more than $4.5 billion. The company had a market value of about $41 billion in mid-November, making it among the state’s 10 most valuable public companies. Along with the adjacent Truist Point ballpark that hosts the minor-league High Point Rockers, Congdon Yards aims to draw more year-round traffic to the area. The site includes a 94,931-squarefoot mixed-use space named Plant Seven, offering office and communal gathering spaces. The Congdon Event Center will be added in the near future as part of Congdon Yards, which is overseen by Business High Point – Chamber of Commerce. The project has morphed well beyond the original vision of the local chamber, Congdon says. He’s excited about the nearly completed Plant Seven project, while noting that adjacent The Factory building is expected to be completed by the third quarter of

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▲ High Point wants Congdon Yards to be a downtown catalyst.

2022. Interior designers Barbour Spangle, fabric maker Culp, and the Change Often consulting firm led by High Point City Counselor Cyril Jefferson are among Congdon Yards’ first tenants. “When all the tenant upfits are complete by year end, we will have around 250 people working in [Plant Seven] alone, not to mention all the people who come and go to utilize and enjoy the Commons and the Generator facility,” Congdon says. “The upfits to The Factory building will double the indoor space available for the Lofts event center, add two restaurants, an additional passenger elevator, a new central interior stairway connecting all four floors, and a gorgeous patio and distillery on the Elm Street side.” The contractor for Congdon Yards is Landmark Builders, a Winston-Salem company. High Point–based Barbour Spangle Design is leading Congdon Yards’ interior design. Louis Cherry Architecture in Raleigh is the principal architect. Cherry’s experience renovating older buildings and building community centers sealed his selection for the project. “The High Point business community and the political leadership have been focused on creating districts and uses that are year-round and providing a more robust civic life in High Point for people who are there all year,” Cherry says. High Point University and the furniture market “are the two big economic forces in High Point. This is part of a much bigger vision of creating essentially a new downtown district.” ■

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11/22/21 9:16 AM

COMING SPRING 2022

NOMINATION

INVITATION

Upcoming February 2022 magazine

Coming Spring 2022

DIVERSE LEADERS SPECIAL REPORT

N.C’S MOST INFLUENTIAL LEADERS

We are looking for nominations for successful, for-profit N.C. companies that are minority-owned. The February edition will highlight N.C.-based businesses that have shown success in various ways including:

In May 2021, we published our first Power List of the state’s most influential business leaders.

Staying Power: In business for at least three years. Solid Performance: Demonstrated revenue growth over the life of the business. Community Impact: Added staff and formed connections with other local businesses. Innovation: Created new products, services or corporate culture.

DEADLINE FOR NOMINATIONS:

DECEMBER 15, 2021 Scan the QR code above or visit

www.geni.us/nominate-diversity

We are now accepting nominations for our second edition to be published in 2022. We’d like your suggestion of an influential business leader. Our goal is to identify the people who lead North Carolina, based on interviews with business community officials, research and reader suggestions. Our emphasis is on those who have made a particularly noteworthy impact in the last year.

DEADLINE FOR NOMINATIONS:

JANUARY 15, 2022 Scan the QR code above or visit

www.geni.us/nominate-power-list

*Featured images: Covers for the February 2021 Business North Carolina magazine and the Power List 2021

For questions or additional information, email jcool@businessnc.com.

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NC TREND

Investing

NEW ON THE BLOCK B Y DAV I D M I L D E N B E R G

hares of nine N.C. companies started trading publicly in 2021, reflecting a soaring stock market and the desire of private equity owners to profit from their investments. While most involved traditional IPOs, Humacyte and Sunlight Financial went public through mergers with special purpose acquisition companies, or SPACs. Enact Holdings was spun off by Richmond, Va.-based Genworth. Seven of the nine companies reported higher trading prices as of mid-November, led by Charlotte-based Gambling.com, which gained 84%.

NEWLY PUBLIC N.C. COMPANIES, RANKED BY MARKET CAPITALIZATION DRIVEN BRANDS Charlotte Auto service franchisor Jan. 29 IPO price: $22 per share Net proceeds: $661 million Nov. 12 closing price $32.23 Change from IPO: 47% Market value: $5.4 billion Key owner: Roark Capital Partners (49%) KRISPY KREME Charlotte Doughnut retailer July 1 IPO price: $17 Net proceeds: $500 million Nov. 12 closing price: $14.45 Change from IPO: -15% Market value: $2.4 billion Key owner: JAB Holding (43%) HUMACYTE Durham Regenerative medicine biotech Aug. 27 IPO price: Net proceeds: Nov. 12 closing price: Change from IPO: Market value: Key owner:

AVIDXCHANGE Charlotte Accounts payable software Oct. 13 IPO price: $25 Net proceeds: $660 million Nov. 12 closing price: 25.95 Change from IPO: 4% Market value: $5 billion Key owner: Bain Capital Ventures (12%) SNAP-ONE Charlotte Smart-technology integrator July 27

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IPO price: $19 per share Net proceeds: $535 million Nov. 12 closing price: $22 Change from IPO: 16% Market value: $3.9 billion Key owner: Genworth Financial (82%) BIOVENTUS Durham Orthopedic healing solutions Feb. 11

IPO price: $18 IPO price: $11 Net proceeds: $250 million Net proceeds: $104 million Nov. 12 closing price: $22.60 Nov. 12 closing price: $15.84 Change from IPO: 26% Change from IPO: 44% Market value: $1.7 billion Market value: $1.1 billion Key owner: Hellman & Friedman Key owner: Essex Woodlands Investors (72%) Healthcare Partners (33%) GAMBLING.COM Charlotte Digital marketing for gaming industry July 23

IPO price: $8 $10 Net proceeds: $42 million $245 million $10.36 Nov. 12 closing price: $14.75 Change from IPO: 84% 4% Market value: $499 million $1 billion Key owner: Chairman Mark CEO Laura Niklason Blandford (38%) (22%)

B U S I N E S S

ENACT HOLDINGS Raleigh Private mortgage insurance Sept. 20

SUNLIGHT FINANCIAL Charlotte Financing for home improvements July 12 IPO price: $9.50 Net proceeds: $250 million Nov. 12 closing price: $5.49 Change from IPO: 42% Market value: $460 million Key owner: FTV Capital (19%)

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NC TREND

Statewide

BUSINESS TAX CUTS COMING, BUT NOT SO FAST

orth Carolina’s new state budget includes significant tax changes for businesses, some happening soon, others a few years off. Most notably, lawmakers approved cutting the corporate income tax rate from 2.5% to 2.25% in 2025, 2% in 2026, 1% in 2028 and then zero “after 2029.” That reflected a compromise with Gov. Roy Cooper, who generally opposed the tax cuts in favor of more spending on public education and Medicaid expansion. House and Senate Republicans wanted much faster tax relief. The delayed start until 2025 means future lawmakers will handle budget implications of the tax cuts. They could also repeal the cuts. A more immediate tax change for businesses affects the calculation for franchise tax payments. It would reduce the franchise taxes on businesses by about 25%, but the majority of businesses wouldn’t see a change. Current law requires companies to calculate three different formulas — known as “bases” — and pay taxes on whichever of the three amounts is largest. Republican legislators want to simplify that and make every company use the same formula: $1.50 for every $1,000 of the company’s net worth in North Carolina.

The vast majority of companies already use that formula. Those that don’t typically have major real-estate and equipment assets in North Carolina, which typically triggers a higher tax bill. North Carolina also agreed to allow tax deductions for businesses that received federal Paycheck Protection Program loans stemming from the COVID-19 crisis. Senate leaders had opposed the tax breaks, which total $427 million. But House leaders and Cooper agreed that the deductions are warranted, aligning North Carolina with most other states. The state budget includes many other provisions that have big implications for N.C. businesses, including plans to spend nearly $6 billion on new and renovated UNC System buildings and $1 billion for broadband expansion projects. ■

astern North Carolina’s health care landscape is shifting with Vidant Health forging closer ties to the ECU Brody School of Medicine, rebranding its operations as “ECU Health.” Leaders of ECU and the UNC System approved a new joint operating agreement that officials say will enable the two

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organizations to more effectively face key challenges. In 2022, most Vidant operations and ECU Physicians practices will convert to the ECU Health branding. The Brody School, which is receiving more than $200 million for a new building, will not have a name change. Vidant CEO Michael Waldrum, who has been dean of the Brody School since June, will lead the combined entity and set up a new management structure and shared-services agreement. It will have a nine-member Joint Operating Committee consisting of leaders from ECU and Vidant. ECU Health won’t take on debt or own real estate. ECU Health will also create a new compensation system for doctors that will be “at a market-based rate for benchmarked levels of productivity,” the agreement says. ■

PHOTO COURTESY OF ECU

EAST CAROLINA, VIDANT PARTNER TO CREATE ECU HEALTH

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ASHEVILLE TOURISM REBOUNDS

he Asheville area’s tourism economy had a strong year despite the pandemic, highlighted by surging demand for vacation rentals. Sales recorded through rentals gained 110% to $173 million in the fiscal year ending June 30, according to the Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority. That compares with a 5% gain, to $275 million, by the region’s hotel industry. Asheville tourism slumped initially during the pandemic, causing the loss of about a quarter of the industry’s jobs. It has rebounded significantly as visitor demand for outdoor-oriented activity accelerated. About 97% of the 400 local small businesses that received COVID-19 relief grants from the authority remained in business a year later. By May, leisure and hospitality staffing was 15% lower than peak levels with many employers saying they are unable to attract workers. In the 2020 calendar year, Asheville hotels reported a 30% decline in sales compared with the record level of the previous year. That was comparable to other Southeast tourism hotspots

including Myrtle Beach and Charleston, S.C. and Wilmington. “We’re still in the throes of the pandemic, but we’re on the road to recovery,” the authority said in its annual report published in November. ■

TRIANGLE APEX

PHOTO COURTESY OF HP- PR / TONYA COUNCIL

Florida-based developer Reader Communities filed a master plan with the city for a mixed-use project on a 1,067-acre site by U.S. 1 and N.C. 55. New York-based Hudson Realty Capital has been assembling the land for 14 years. Plans call for more than 4,500 residential units and as much as 4 million square feet of office and retail space.

CARRBORO Fleet Feet, a specialty footwear retailer, agreed to buy JackRabbit from affiliates of CriticalPoint Capital. Fleet Feet will take over all JackRabbit brick-and-mortar locations across 15 states and the Jackrabbit.com e-commerce business. Fleet Feet has more than 3,000 employees and had revenue of $230 million last year.

CHAPEL HILL Oprah Winfrey’s annual “Oprah’s Favorite Things” list includes local baker Tonya Council’s Cookies Pecan Crisp. Council’s grandmother, Mildred “Mama Dip” Council, opened a famous local restaurant that is now operated by her children. A five-pound jar of Council’s pecan crisps retail for $43.

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Statewide

LILLINGTON Dallas-based Reeder Land Development bought 348 acres here with plans to add 940 homes, citing the area’s rapid growth. The first phase of 220 units is expected to be completed by the end of 2022.

OXFORD

CARY SAS Institute is pushing its HQ reopen date to Jan. 3, though 97% of U.S. employees show ‘proof of vaccination.’ SAS will continue to limit use of its U.S. facilities, and proof of vaccination is required before entering.

Meel Corp. will invest $5.7 million to relocate a production facility here from Miami. The new location will include a packing and cold storage facility. Miamibased Meel Corp supplies frozen foods through its own brand and private labels.

PINEHURST GeneCentric Therapeutics raised $7.5 million from investors including Labcorp, Hatteras Venture Partners and Alexandria Venture Investments. The company uses RNA-based diagnostics to improve precision medicine processes. Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions plans to add as many as 300 staffers at its local plants over the next year, CEO Rance Poehler said. The company is currently hiring for 40 positions in the Triangle.

Aerami Therapeutics raised more than $20 million from 238 investors after sales commissions. The company changed its name from Dance Biopharm Holdings in September 2019. The city council approved the sale of a town-owned business park to CCL Label and provide funding for a manufacturing site that is expected to bring 150 new jobs. The 150 jobs created during the next five years will have average wages of about $70,000.

The village council approved a 40 single-family lot subdivision despite strong opposition from local residents The zoning of the area is unchanged. The homes are expected to be priced at $500,000 and range from 2,600 to 3,400 square feet.

RALEIGH Kane Realty announced plans for two mixed-use developments south of downtown. Construction will start soon on Park City South, a seven-story, 335-unit apartment building across from Dorothea Dix Park. Kane said it also plans a second, high-rise building on the property. A 500,000-square-foot industrial complex in south Raleigh was sold for $55 million, a 140% increase in less than two years. Texas-based Pennybacker Capital bought the South 40 Distribution Center from LM Real Estate Partners of New York.

JOHNSTON COUNTY Richmond, Va.-based AdvanceTEC will construct a $10 million cleanroom facility and hire as many as 25 workers with average wages of $125,000. The site is between Smithfield and Clayton.

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PHOTO COURTESY OF SAS INSTITUTE, ADVANCETEC, JLL

DURHAM

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CHARLOTTE Major area businesses and organizations announced plans to raise $250 million for racial equity programs. The public-private coalition said it had pledges of $196 million including $80 million from the city, $97 million from private companies, foundations and individuals and $19 million in low-return debt and equity. Plans include investing in historically Black Johnson C. Smith University and backing development projects on six underutilized corridors. Allspring Global Investments is a $600 billion asset management company based here after completion of a spinoff from Wells Fargo Asset Management. The bank agreed to sell the unit earlier this year to private equity companies GTCR and Reverence Capital Partners for $2.1 billion. Wells Fargo still owns 9.9%. Chicago-based Riverside Investment and Development plans three new buildings at a prominent corner near uptown and South End. Part of the $750 million project is slated to bring large outdoor open spaces.

PHOTO COURTESY OF AMERICAN AIRLINES

American Airlines is expected to restart its direct flight between Charlotte Douglas International Airport and Munich, Germany in mid-December. The start date was pushed back numerous times. It will involve a Boeing 777-200 plane that has 273 seats.

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Statewide

Catalyst Capital Partners and Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based developer Stiles plan a 30-story apartment building in the South End neighborhood that will include 291 units. Construction is slated for late 2022.

MOCKSVILLE Rochester, Mich.-based pallet maker Palltronics will lease a 253,000-square-foot spec building here and add as many as 200 new jobs to Davie County. Hiring for production work is expected to begin in June. The company plans to spend $40 million on capital investments.

Krispy Kreme said third quarter revenue gained 18% from a year earlier. The company reported a $5.66 million loss, an improvement from $15 million lost in the second quarter.

SALISBURY Catawba College received a $200 million donation, tripling the size of the school’s endowment. It was among the largest donations ever received by a U.S. university. About 1,200 are enrolled by the college. Catawba didn’t disclose the donor, but sources familiar with the matter say it was local investor Fred Stanback.

LEXINGTON Samet Corp. of Greensboro received approval for annexation of 773 acres off Interstate 85 for a proposed industrial park. As much as 5 million square feet of industrial space is possible at the site.

MEBANE Waltham, Mass.-based Thermo Fisher Scientific will open an eighth North Carolina facility here. The plant is expected to create as many as 200 jobs tied to a $192 million federal contract for lab equipment.

WINSTON-SALEM Stan Law, president and CEO of the YMCA of Northwest North Carolina, was named to the same post at the YMCA of Greater Charlotte, starting in January. He came here in 2017 after leading the YMCA in Birmingham, Ala.

EAST

Minnesota-based Compute North pulled its plans for a data center in Pitt County after neighbors complained that the cryptocurrency mining project would create too much noise and use excessive amounts of energy. The company had planned to add 27 jobs with average salaries of $56,000.

TRIAD GREENSBORO LT Apparel is moving its national distribution center to a 800,000-square-foot facility in Greensboro. The New York-based childrens’ apparel maker said it would invest $57 million in property and create 116 jobs.

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MEBANE Amazon plans to occupy a new 300,000-square foot building in N.C. Commerce Park here. It would be the fifth Amazon property to open in the Triad in the last two years.

PHOTO COURTESY OF KHARRIS, PALLTRONICS, THERMO FISHER, AMAZON

GREENVILLE

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Statewide

WEST

WILMINGTON New Hanover County’s ILM Business Park signed a pair of separate projects expected to bring a combined $120 million in investment. CIL Capital signed a ground lease for as much as 50 years and intends to construct a 500,000-square-foot storage and distribution facility. Edgewater Ventures signed a lease for up to 49 years covering 30 acres.

ASHEVILLE

WILMINGTON

GREENVILLE E.J. Pope & Son, a third-generation family company that started hauling coal here in 1919, sold its 36-store Handy Mart convenience-store chain for $112 million. The buyer is Richmond, Va.-based GPM Investments, which owns c-stores under various brand names.

Wilmington International Airport named Jeffrey Bourk as the new airport director, following a nationwide search and more than 100 applications to the New Hanover County Airport Authority Board. He has been executive director of Branson Airport in Hollister, Missouri.

SNOW HILL

Area restaurants got $38 million from a federal pandemic aid fund that provided money for more than 100,000 eateries nationally. Katie Button Restaurants, one of the area’s most popular food businesses, received $1.8 million. The grants are for losses suffered by food and beverage businesses in 2020, minus aid received through the federal Paycheck Protection Program. A downtown condo sold for a record $2.85 million. The third-floor residence inside a recently renovated historic building won HGTV’s Ultimate House Hunt competition. The new owner is from Charlotte and will use the 4,365-square-foot condo as a second residence.

▲ Jeffrey Bourk

Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority agreed to restart a grant program in 2022 to projects that help attract tourists. The fund was paused in 2019 after some community criticism. It has granted $44 million since 2001.

WRIGHTSVILLE BEACH The Biden Administration contends that beach towns can’t use sand from protected areas to nourish their eroding beaches, endangering Wrightsville Beach’s plans to use Masonboro Inlet sand. The move reverses a Trumpera decision and is prompting the Army Corps of Engineers to work with Wrightsville Beach to find offshore sites with sand.

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PHOTOS COURTESY OF WILMINGTON BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT, ILM, WRIGHTSVILLE BEACH, CANOPY

New Jersey-based Precision Graphics will hire 70 employees and invest $5.1 million at a new plant. The electronics manufacturer chose Greene County because of the area’s diverse workforce.

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BACK TO WORK AND PLAY Before most people had heard of COVID, North Carolina was a popular destination for business and leisure travelers. And the numbers proved it: 2019 visitor spending was $26.8 billion, an all-time high. But the travel and tourism industry soon found itself in trouble when COVID was everywhere and most of the world issued stay-at-home orders in the spring of 2020. Almost two years later, the industry is rebounding. Business North Carolina magazine recently brought together six travel and tourism experts and executives to discuss the industry’s recovery since the pandemic’s height, the changes it has to make, the challenges it faces and where it’s headed.

PANELISTS

Lindsay Cauthen

Richard Geiger

Victoria Isley

director of marketing, Pinehurst Resort

president, Visit Winston-Salem

president and CEO, Explore Asheville

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Beaufort Hotel; Explore Asheville; Pinehurst Resort; Visit Greenville, NC; Visit NC; and Visit Winston-Salem sponsored the discussion, which was moderated by Ben Kinney, Business North Carolina publisher. It is edited for brevity and clarity.

HOW HAS THE TRAVEL AND TOURISM INDUSTRY FARED OVER THE PAST YEAR AS THE PANDEMIC HAS WANED?

ISLEY: The pandemic brought a mixed bag. Outfitters and outdoor activities continued to excel over the past year. Indoor cultural venues were challenged, but it was heartening to see live music at outdoor venues thriving again. And while 2020 hotel occupancy dropped to 50%, which is the 2010 level, many people who were willing to travel or could work from anywhere chose vacation rentals. Occupancy-tax revenue for vacation rentals was up 110% for our most recent fiscal year. Hotels were up 5% on the strength of May and June alone. Our hotel partners are rebounding. Vacation rentals continue to climb, which is a win for residents who rent their homes.

business hasn’t returned. Businesses need to get their employees back in the office and traveling. The visitor industry won’t fully recover until were doing business as we have in the past. Convention and meeting business is returning. We were gearing up for a future of hybrid conventions, which mix virtual and in-person offerings. Those aren’t materializing. Many people are tired of teleconferencing. We’re not going to lose business to technology. People want to be with people. Most of the meetings have returned but with fewer people. Sporting events began returning before meetings and conventions, but most of those are outdoors. Our bookings are strong for 2022, 2023 and beyond.

TUTTELL: We recently heard from a reporter who sat in on a Visit Florida state tourism board meeting. Every year the board does independent research to determine its closest competitors. They’re usually places such as California, Las Vegas and the Caribbean. The No. 1 competitor this year was the Carolinas. That’s great news. We have what people are looking for coming out of the pandemic — mountains, coast, golf and urban regions that don’t feel urban be-cause you can get outside. We have a bit of everything. North Carolina has recovered quickly, probably more so than most states. About a third of the state’s destinations are on record pace and about a third are still hurting, far from where they were. The rest are doing okay.

GEIGER: People avoided crowded places during the height of the pandemic. We’re an urban center, so COVID crushed us, reducing occupancy-tax collections by about 50%. That’s consistent with recently released statewide numbers, which reported visitor spending was down 47% in 2020 compared to 2019. Business transient is about 60% of our hotel business. The pandemic stopped it. All urban communities were similarly hit. But we’re rebounding. This year’s hotel revenue surpassed 2020’s numbers by the end of August. Corporate-transient

CAUTHEN: We’ve held strong. Golf, which was permitted under stay-at-home orders, was our savior. The hotels were closed for two months last year, but they’ve been busting at the seams since. We’ve been sold out from July through the end of November. We have paused selling our hotels. Cancellations climbed a bit as COVID numbers increased slightly, but they have leveled off. We are selling a lot for 2022. We hope to pass 25,000 social room nights on the books. Our group business is

Charles “Bucky” Oliver II

Andrew Schmidt

Wit Tuttell

owner, Beaufort Hotel: founder and chairman emeritus, Jetcraft

president and CEO of Visit Greenville, NC and president of North Carolina Travel Industry Association

vice president of tourism, Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina; and executive director, Visit North Carolina D E C E M B E R

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TRAVEL & TOURISM steadily increasing. We’re pickier about the meetings and conventions that we bring to Pinehurst. Since they all stopped last year, we’re able to focus on the most profitable ones. SCHMIDT: Last year was challenging, but there were glimmers of hope. Outfitters reported that one out of every two people taking trips on the Tar River were from out of town, so we promoted outdoor recreation. Those visitors didn’t add occupancy-tax revenue, but they contributed to sales-tax revenue. Greenville and Pitt County are fortunate; their sales-tax revenue increased from the year prior. This year has been wonderful. The first three months were slow, but things started happening in April. Our sports tourism set a record this year. That’s a strong market for us. We host two or three tournaments each weekend. We had a few conventions and meetings this fall, though we lost some to the spike in COVID

Delta variant cases. This summer and fall felt more normal than 2020. East Carolina University home football games have had no restrictions. Our occupancytax revenue this year has surpassed 2020. The next two years look strong for conventions and meetings. That gives our hotels hope. OLIVER: We opened in 2019, perfect timing to walk into 2020. The federal Paycheck Protection Program saved our business last year. This year has been positive. We’re running about 20% over our conservative projections. Our occupancy-tax collections were up 48% for the first eight months of the year. I watch Beaufort’s local sales tax revenue. It was up 34% for the first seven months of the year, so we’re shining here. We’re welcoming business meetings. Almost half of our revenue is from food and beverage, which has been heavily impacted by the labor shortage.

HOW HAS THE PANDEMIC CHANGED IN-PERSON MEETINGS AND CONVENTIONS? TUTTELL: North Carolina took a measured approach to the pandemic, so people felt they could come here safely. It allowed meetings to happen. There were no large COVID outbreaks that made the news. Visitors and meeting planners avoided places that received negative publicity, such as outbreaks or lack of a response. GEIGER: People no longer want to be jammed into meeting rooms or convention floors where it’s standing room only. It’s the same at restaurants and bars. Will you go into a crowded bar, for example, or chose to walk one block further to find one with more elbow room? Social distancing is beginning to happen naturally. Our layouts and floor plans include more space. We have to be conscious of the fact that people

Asheville’s downtown skyline

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TRAVEL & TOURISM their environment, making them more comfortable. I’ve attended a few meetings and conventions recently, and people are happy to be with other people. We’re changing our pitches to meeting planners. We still sell venues and amenities, but we’re selling peace of mind, too. Most of us in the industry have created marketing materials that highlight safety protocols over meeting space. Planners are responsible for hundreds or thousands of attendees. And they have to sell those attendees on the destination. If you’re cognizant of each individual’s needs, sell the safety protocols and offer reassurance that they’ll be safe if they come, you’ll accomplish your meeting goals. HOW HAS THE PANDEMIC AFFECTED SMALLER GATHERINGS SUCH AS WEDDINGS AND BUSINESS TRAVEL?

Shown above: Kayaking on the Tar River near Greenville and the 8th hole at Pinehurst

want it that way. While the pandemic has changed our ability to hold conventions, people still want them. We have to create an environment that’s safe for consumers because people that attend conferences are consumers. Research shows they also want more outdoor spaces, so we need to find ways to mix them into our meetings, cocktail parties

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and other events. If we can make those changes as an industry, we can recoup a lot of the business that was lost early in the pandemic. SCHMIDT: We feel good about the future of conventions and meetings. We’re a drive-to market, which is a tremendous help. It lets people control

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ISLEY: The lion’s share of our visitors come for leisure. Weddings, celebrations and sporting events have rebounded well. These are right-sized groups for Asheville and Buncombe County. It’s about the style of meeting. That determines where third-party or in-house meeting planners decide to meet. We recently had an automotive company buy out a hotel for their group over several days. It was more than 100 people here for product exploration and trial, experiencing the wide-open spaces, such as driving the Blue Ridge Parkway. OLIVER: Nearly 50% of our restaurant space is outside. That helped with the transient and local markets. We also have a lot of indoor space, where we set tables far apart. You almost can see a sense of comfort among people when they enter the space. There’s no way you can do that at a cramped New

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TRAVEL & TOURISM York City restaurant in a narrow building. We categorize weddings and social events with our meetings business. During the height of the pandemic, we could’ve closed our ballroom without anyone missing it. We’re starting to see bookings, and weddings are leading the way. We have 133 rooms, and all are individually conditioned. That gives guests a level of comfort from a safety standpoint. It’s an advantage beyond industry-wide precautions such as frequent cleaning and fogging. CAUTHEN: We include our Pinehurst Promise, which details our COVID response on our website, in our emails to meeting planners and other communications. We abide by it, holding true to the protocols in place for the safety of resort guests, members and employees. We try to keep guests as comfortable as possible. We have become creative in our meeting space marketing. We push outdoor spaces, such as the Lake Pavilion and Carolina Hotel’s West Lawn. We also use our large ballrooms, where it’s easy to keep everyone socially distant.

TUTTELL: Tourism is the front porch of economic development. We’re often a person’s first impression, whether they are here for a meeting, corporate travel or leisure. When it comes to business relocation, the most important factor is almost always available labor. Tourismfriendly places are where people want to live. That creates a workforce, which every business is competing for today. ISLEY: We’ve built our reputation as a destination for leisure travel, and that’s been an entryway to companies, such as brewer New Belgium and aircraft engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney, which is building a factory and bringing up to 800 jobs to the region. We’re doubling down on that. We’ve aligned our proactive group sales team with the efforts of local economic developers to attract business from industries that best suit our region. Those include manufacturing, life sciences, climate and environment, and technology. A

test drive is still the best way to sell a car, and that’s what travel and tourism does for our communities. Asheville Regional Airport has bounced back quickly. It was offering 25 nonstop daily flights by June, which was the 2019 level. Allegiant Air is offering service between Key West, Fla, and Asheville, and Jet Blue will start service between Asheville and Boston this coming summer. Those regional connections are important for continued economic growth in western North Carolina and across the state. HOW IS THE INDUSTRY DEALING WITH THE LABOR SHORTAGE AMID RISING DEMAND? SCHMIDT: Our job is to bring that 1,000-person convention, sports tournament or what have you. But we need people to service them. Workforce is an issue for everyone who markets a destination. The past few months have

WHAT IS TOURISM’S ROLE IN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT? GEIGER: Conventions and meetings positively impact the communities that host them. We bring corporate executives to town. It’s often the first exposure business leaders have to a market. It can open the door to a regional sales office, distribution center or business relocation. A company’s vice president or marketing executive comes to town, then they’re back at home talking to the CEO about what a great place they visited. It’s not a coincidence that major markets, such as Orlando and Dallas, have exploded with corporate relocations after a major convention center was built.

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The Beaufort Hotel on North Carolina’s Crystal Coast

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TRAVEL & TOURISM been nerve-racking. We had the Little League Softball World Series come in August. We had an influx of people, and you hope there aren’t any hiccups while they are spending 10 days in your city. So, we reached out to our partners, including East Carolina University’s School of Hospitality Leadership. We tapped into it to help fill voids, especially at our lodging and food-and-beverage establishments. I recommend inquiring if your local university or community college has something similar that could help alleviate workforce shortages. We also have to educate high school students about hospitality careers, especially where you can start and where you can end up. North Carolina Travel Industry Association and other tourism groups are doing a good job with this. The labor shortage isn’t going

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away anytime soon, especially as we get into the holidays. Showing hospitality workers appreciation goes a long way to helping solve it. It’s heartbreaking how some of the industry’s front line workers are treated. The consumer may be frustrated because their meal, check-in or other interaction is taking longer than they want. But they need to understand that these workers are doing their best. We have people working double shifts. We have people working six or seven days a week. So, be kind to them. It’s an industry challenge not an individual worker’s fault or responsibility. TUTTELL: ‘Demographic Drought,’ a recent paper by labor-market data provider Emsi, spells out how COVID exacerbated an existing condition. Baby

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boomers are leaving the workforce, so all industries are struggling to find workers. Tourism will be best served by growing its own workforce. Travel and tourism businesses hire many people just as they’re entering the workforce. NCTIA has done a great job with a Charlotte pilot program, going into schools and encouraging students to choose a career in tourism. GEIGER: Workers left the industry when the pandemic shut it down. But they aren’t returning for several reasons. They don’t have to work weekends, nights or crazy hours in other industries, which also offer better pay and benefits. Our industry has to discuss how we take care of our people, including pay and benefits. It has to be a holistic approach. It must be

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or meet people. And it surely doesn’t happen if there’s nobody to deliver the experience on the other end.

Bailey Park at the center of Innovation Quarter in Winston-Salem

a strategic conversation about what’s happening in our communities, North Carolina and nationwide. How do we come out of this with the needed workforce? While changes will affect how businesses operate, we must employ and keep people. Parents are a big hurdle to getting students excited about a hospitality career because they associate it with low wages. If we get parents excited about it, we’ll get more children into the pipeline. ISLEY: It’s an issue of perception, reality and innovation. On the perception side, jobs in the industry are pegged as low paying. However, U.S. Travel Association’s Made in America report found that nearly four in 10 Americans’ first job was in travel and hospitality. And if you begin your career in hospitality, you end up earning more over your career whether or not you stay in it. Travel and hospitality can be the right job or career right now. When I went to UNC Chapel Hill, I had no idea my job existed. Now there are entire graduate programs dedicated to it. It’s incumbent upon us to tell that story by sharing

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those personal journeys that happen in each of our communities. There’s an executive chef at one Asheville restaurant who once experienced homelessness. This industry changed his life. The reality part is making connections and giving people rewarding careers that don’t require higher education. There are plenty of general managers of hotel properties who started as a front desk person or bellman. There are more women entrepreneurs in travel and hospitality than any other industry because there are opportunities to grow. We have fewer people currently willing to do those jobs, so business owners are innovating. If you eat at Green Sage Café in Asheville, you order on an iPad. And there is a service charge, so its front and back of house staff can be paid $20 an hour. I hope business owners and industry leaders have a long memory about what we’re dealing with right now, so we can turn a corner on some of these perception and reality issues and make this industry what it is — a people-to-people business. Travel doesn’t occur if a person isn’t motivated or inspired to explore a place

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CAUTHEN: One of our biggest challenges is attrition — people who decide they don’t want to work weekends or the night shift anymore, and they leave a few weeks later. We’re trying to get creative as an organization: How can we bring people in and entice them to stay? We have offered a sign-on bonus. We’ve done teamwork pay a few times this year. We offer housing for externs and interns. But we also need to take care of current employees. They’re burnt out, they’re busting their tails and they’re wearing many hats. So, we have increased wages. It’s about keeping people happy and bringing in more to help carry the load. It’s a challenge every day. OLIVER: I’m an old guy, and looking back, I never would have ended up doing what I’m doing by plan. It was stubbornness and luck in my case. Talking to a first time 20- or 22-yearold waitstaff about career possibilities can be an eye-opening experience for both of you. As an industry, we could do so much more with career management and mentoring. Take my daytime job, selling corporate airplanes. I can remember thousands of young people who got a ride in the right seat of an airplane. I didn’t need a copilot, but somebody went because they had the desire. And now they’re a captain at a major airline. It’s getting that first break, that first indication of chasing an interest then mentoring and building a career around it. That leads to a happy and prosperous life.■

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Culture connection

n a year when many companies are still keeping workers at home, Lynch Mykins Structural Engineers has seen record growth as it does the opposite — getting its staff and clients together in person. The company originally known as Stroud Pence & Associates has moved in a new direction since Anna Lynch and Dave Mykins acquired the business four years ago. Lynch had worked at Stroud Pence but envisioned a company that “would place greater emphasis on the soft skills [that] would set the structural-engineering firm apart from their competition in a hard-skills industry.” It’s paid off: The staff at offices in Raleigh and Richmond and Norfolk, Va. increased by 28% to 62 employees in the past year, and the company hit its sales goals for 2021 by June 30. The staff had fun along the way, making YouTube videos that feature lip-syncing and a summer “Olympics” with executives in a dunk tank. Lynch, 40, grew up in Clear Lake, Iowa and earned a bachelor’s degree in architectural engineering from the University of Wyoming and a master’s in civil engineering from N.C. State University. She loves to flip rundown houses in downtown Raleigh and enjoys ballroom and salsa dancing. Mykins, 62, is a New Yorker, attending high school in Scottsville and earning a bachelor’s in civil engineering at State University of New York at Buffalo. He later received a master’s in structural engineering from Old Dominion University in Norfolk. He and his wife, Ann, like to golf and enjoy visiting Brooklyn to visit their son. Comments are edited for length and clarity.

► Why did you decide to embrace in-person work? Structural engineering is high-risk work. We’re designing the structures that make buildings stand up — the buildings where people live and work. We did not believe that our team could do laundry, take care of and teach their children, and do structural analysis safely. To ensure the quality and safety of our deliverables, much of our work is collaborative and there are protocols along the way that must be done a certain way. We felt like it made the most sense to offer an open office for employees who chose to, or need to, continue working in collaboration. We made the choice a manageable one for them by offering child care and education tuition reimbursement. Most employees chose to come to the office. Because we hired and trained engineers to value human connection, they were excited to get back together. Our office is spacious, with large overhead doors that remain open most days.

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Lynch Mykins Structural Engineers PC Structural engineering Owners Anna Lynch and Dave Mykins Location Raleigh Number of employees 62 Year founded 1974; purchased and rebranded as Lynch Mykins in 2017 Projected 2021 revenue $10 million Special sauce Soft skills and culture

► How many employees are still remote? Fewer than 3% of our employees are working from home full-time. Freedom is clearly at the core of who we are, so we do not regulate remote work. ► Has adding perks and creating a fun work environment worked? Our attrition rate is 5.2%. Ten percent is our goal, and the industry standard is 22-30% currently. We attribute this incredibly low attrition to our healthy perks and benefits. We hear from new employees that something as simple as seeing one of our videos on YouTube was the turning point for them to choose work at Lynch Mykins. For others, it may have been allowing paid time off for community volunteering, the weekly happy hours, the beer on tap in the kitchen, unlimited healthy snacks, pool and ping-pong tables, free lunches or our pet-friendly offices.

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▲ The Lynch Mykins team provides structural engineering and sustainable design services to a variety of industries.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF LYNCH MYKINS STRUCTURAL ENGINEERS, PC

What are some of your recent projects? The new Bandwidth Campus in RTP; Raleigh Ironworks; each new building on the new Wake Tech Community College campus in Wendell; multiple buildings on the SAS campus in Cary; Credit Suisse in RTP; Lenovo US Headquarters; The Stitch Triangle in RTP; Burt’s Bees headquarters in Durham; Bloc 83 development in downtown Raleigh; Raleigh Civic Tower; and the UNC/Rex Cancer Center in Raleigh. We work on more than 800 projects each year around the country.

The brand and culture of connection and open communication we have as a group impacts retention. People feel comfortable coming forward with any concerns or needs before they become real problems. We believe listening to your team is one thing. Taking action is way more important. ► You’ve engaged in staff discussions about “uncomfortable” topics. How has that worked? We held company-wide roundtable conversations on COVID and racism during the Black Lives Matter movement. Both topics were a little scary and made some uncomfortable. We’re so glad our diverse group of employees felt free to offer their opinions and listen to others with an open mind. We’re a very close group and respect everyone’s opinions, even if they aren’t the same as ours. Our leaders always create space for people to share, explore and to be themselves without fear of judgement.

► What sets Lynch Mykins apart from other engineering firms? Two things: Culture and soft skills. We have a culture director at Lynch Mykins. Most engineering firms don’t. Culture has proven to be the catalyst in both employee and client retention. We invest in our people — personally and professionally. Plain and simple. We care deeply about creating a place for people to live and work with maximum freedom and flexibility. Where everyone has a voice. Everyone is heard. Our culture is about family, fun and authenticity. All ideas are welcome and valued. We invest in engineers who understand and appreciate the value of soft skills in our hard skills world. We hire people who are interested in learning, growing and expanding these skill sets. It’s not easy and doesn’t always come naturally. But it has proven to be one of the attributes of our enterprise that our clients absolutely won’t work without. We provide clear, timely, honest, proactive communication every step of the way, from the beginning of a project to the end. ► Do you have expansion plans? Our enterprise growth is focused on people, not financials, so growing into new markets will always be about meeting the right people to do the job. We’re always looking to meet new people and learn about their goals and ambitions for their future. If they match with ours, then let’s go start something new. ■

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Bringing the heat

Elijah’s Xtreme Gourmet Sauces Inc Hot sauces

hen Elijah Morey was 6 years old, he found his dad, Bret Morey, working in their garden and asked what he needed to do to be the youngest person to eat the hottest pepper out there. After sinking his teeth into a banana pepper, he was hooked on trying more spicy foods. About six years later, he asked his father if they could start making their own hot sauces. After years of trial and error, the father and son duo perfected their hot sauce. In 2014, they started Elijah’s Xtreme Gourmet Sauces in Gastonia. Now, they sell five hot sauces with different heat levels and flavor profiles. They utilize various social media platforms, a weekly newsletter, social media influencer outreach and other strategic marketing tactics to continue to grow the business. Elijah, 24, graduated from Highland School of Technology in Gastonia and attended Anderson University in South Carolina. His work with the business makes him wish he had dropped out of college sooner, he says. Comments are edited for length and clarity. ► How did you quadruple sales in 2021? There were a few keys to allow such amazing growth. First was figuring out the best social media strategy. We developed a structure to grow our audiences on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and pinterest. Tiktok was huge for us. I sent direct messages to people I found on TikTok, mostly in the food space, and sent them free hot sauce in the hopes they would make a video. Now, our hashtag on TikTok has over 13.5 million views and incredible exposure to potential new customers. Amazon was another huge area of improvement and continues to grow. By really understanding the algorithm and how it works, we have been able to maintain our products as best sellers in the hot sauce and sauce categories. We also have tripled down on social media advertising. This one was tricky and took many months of failure to figure out the best structure. We now have a pretty intense breakdown of how we reach potential new customers and retarget them on almost every social channel possible. We currently reach over 5 million people each month. Our team provides the best customer experience possible. When using social media advertising, it is great to get an initial

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Owners Bret Morey and Elijah Morey Location Gastonia Number of employees 7; 2 marketing & 5 in the warehouse Year founded June 2014 Projected 2021 revenue $2.5-3 million Special sauce Passion for quality flavor, then heat

purchase, but I knew in order to really — and I mean really grow — we needed to nurture our customers. By nurturing our customers, we have seen a massive increase month over month of returning customers. One out of four come back the next month. Lastly, passion. My dad and I work more than 80 hours a week because we love what we do — not because we have to do it. We add our passion into everything we do. I believe that is the final key to growing our company the way that we have. ► What makes your sauces distinctive? It is our passion. From the beginning, our desire was to create hotter, better tasting hot sauces that are unique, thicker and full of flavor. Using all natural ingredients, such as fresh peppers, we work many hours, sometimes weeks and even months, as we handcraft each recipe with one goal in mind: flavor first, then heat. We have been honored with 58 industry awards for our sauces.

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▲ Bret and Elijah Morey make five handcrafted hot sauces, including Xtreme Regret.

► How did you get TV star Mario Lopez to like your product? We were accepted into a very exclusive part of Amazon called LaunchPad. This program allows you to have the backend insights as the biggest companies in the world do and get in front of some amazing people. I submitted one of our most popular products to be shown to Mario’s team for a Father’s Day gift guide, and we were one of 10 lucky companies to get picked. This led to Christmas-like sales over the weeks leading up to Father’s Day.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF ELIJAH’S XTREME GOURMET SAUCES INC.

► Is building strong ties with Amazon important? Amazon is a necessary evil in today’s society. Our relationship with Amazon is one of the most critical relationships we hold, as more than 50% of our entire revenue comes from that platform. The biggest thing with Amazon is getting the right connections with reps and learning the algorithm to enable us to not just hold where we are in ranks, but to grow and gain higher positions. ► How much capital did it take to start? We launched our Ghost Pepper Hot Sauce hot sauce in June 2014 with enough money to incorporate, register and trademark our name, Elijah’s Xtreme®, and our X®. We also had enough money to pay for our first pallet of our Ghost Pepper Sauce, all under $10,000. As we sold products, we continued to save to buy more, using those funds to then buy two pallets. We now order over 75 pallets a year. ► Why did you choose the hot sauce business? When I (Elijah) was 6 years old, I came to my dad in the garden and asked what he needed to do to eat the hottest pepper in the world. My dad gave me a hot banana pepper and said, “Start here.” Each summer, we would challenge who could eat the hot-

test pepper from the garden and wait the longest before drinking any water — which led to us trying different hot sauces. I was about 12 years old when I asked my dad if we could make our own hot sauce, one that was still hot but tasted good. It took three years and many moldy batches of homemade mash until we figured it out. After sending out over 100 samples, we received great feedback. We now have five hot sauces. ► What has been your biggest challenge in 2021? There have been a lot of privacy updates with social media advertising. This has led to bad data, so it is harder to figure out which ads have attributed sales. On top of that, we are running at such a high level with our ads; the video and creatives we use get saturated very quickly. This means I have to come up with new ideas, shoot videos, edit, and optimize them in social media forms every two to three days. It’s crazy. We have run more than 500 different video ads this year alone. ► What is the best advice you have received for growing the business? “It’s not a problem; it’s a challenge” — Dad, 2020 ► What is your favorite thing to do when you aren’t working? Honestly, there’s little time we’re not working. We love it. We’re so passionate about our company. We’re always thinking of other ideas to share our passion. ► Do you personally enjoy the spicy, burn-downthe-house sauces? I enjoy a medium to hot burn on most of my food to really get me going. I don’t want to suffer. A ton of people love to suffer, and that’s why our hottest hot sauce is our top seller. ■ D E C E M B E R

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Taco shop makes big waves

resh eats, fresh vibes is the motto at Shaka Taco in Surf City. Steve Christian, 33, and Cody Leutgens, 32, designed the walk-up taco stand with simplicity in mind, creating a place where sandy feet are welcome. Attached to the restaurant is Surf City Surf School, owned and operated by Leutgens. The duo were classmates at Topsail High School in Hampstead. Christian later attended UNC Charlotte, while Leutgens has a bachelor’s degree from UNC Wilmington and a graduate degree from Chatham University in Pittsburgh. Long before the pandemic, Shaka Taco received a large portion of business from call-in or to-go orders. There is no indoor dining area. No wonder, then, that it thrived during the pandemic as tourists kept streaming to Pender, Onslow and other coastal counties. Two more locations are in the works. Shaka Taco rolls with the punches — rain, COVID-19 shutdowns and slow seasons — as a way of life, Leutgens says. Comments are edited for length and clarity. ► What enabled your company to grow through the pandemic? First, keeping staff clocked in and holding regular hours. Without staff, the business could’ve done nothing. Pushing our takeout aspect of Shaka also proved invaluable. With a large portion of our business already being call-in or to-go orders, we over-ordered our compostable packaging and created as many avenues as possible to keep orders coming — online ordering, window service utilizing social distancing, phone orders and even scheduled pickup times to further social distancing. Once restrictions were loosened, our patio was one of the few places in the area prepared to have people dine outside safely. We were ready to rock and roll. ► How much capital did it take to start the business? Steve and I each invested $5,000 to start Shaka Taco. We were able to reimburse ourselves after the first quarter we were open. ► What was your biggest challenge in 2021? There have been many challenges. Supplies across the board have been difficult to obtain or have become too expensive to resell. However, our biggest struggle has been management. We started the year strong and are in good shape now. But during peak season, we were unsure how to best utilize upper management. Therefore, we implemented shift leaders, who are employees with long-term experience at Shaka, as well as the knowledge base to keep a shift flowing.

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Surf City Schoolhouse DBA Shaka Taco Taco shack Owners Cody Leutgens and Steve Christian Location Surf City Number of employees 43 Year founded 2016 Projected 2021 revenue $2.3 million Special sauce Fresh food and an inviting, positive atmosphere

► What’s your bestselling taco? The bestselling taco every week of every year since we opened is the fish taco. It’s light, crunchy, fresh and a delightful combo of flavors. ► How do sales incentives for your employees work? The incentives function seasonally — sales incentives and summer labor incentives during the offseason. Managers will work together using set budgets. If they are under budget, that percentage is split amongst them. For example, if the disposable budget is $1,000 for September and only $800 is spent or old products are used and sold, the leftover budget will go to them. Managers can actively source alternative products, as long as the product meets standard, or they can work with suppliers to find sales. The same applies for labor, our biggest expense. If managers can lower the labor percentage or improve from comparative weeks or months, without sacrificing service quality, they keep the difference.

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▲ Surf City natives Steve Christian and Cody Leutgens opened Shaka Taco in 2016.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF SHAKA TACO

► How do you keep customers loyal? Keeping customers loyal truly rests in our duty to keep products consistent and fresh. We want them to have the same tasting fish taco every time they visit, even if it’s been three months. Because of the seasonality, we depend a great deal on locals in the off-season. We try to have their back in the off-season by running daily discounted specials, rotating breweries and dropping new merchandise that won’t be bought up by island visitors. ► How do you balance the restaurant and surf school? The surf school began in 2013, so it is well established from a functional and operational standpoint. Balancing the two businesses, again, is dictated by staff. Organization and preparation are most important for the surf school, including ensuring instructors are trained and ready once the season arrives, solidifying retail and garment designs and stocking equipment. The last two years were especially difficult to obtain surfboards, but that seems to be bouncing back. I’ve always said the surf school was my first child who is now old enough to make a PB&J and ride a bike to the beach. The taco shop still must be spoon-fed and burped but it is growing and becoming more self-sufficient each month. There are a lot of staff members who double dip — lessons all day, tacos all night. This makes for knowledgeable employees, which is invaluable. ► Does the business stay profitable during the winter months? We are able to stay in the green throughout the year. The area has grown so much, the offseason seems to get smaller and smaller.

With the local community growing, we’ve seen the winter months be surprisingly strong, especially on a sunny weekend. We want to keep as many staff members as possible, so labor becomes the biggest struggle in the off-season. The college and high school kids become far less available, so that allows more hours for full-time employees, which is a plus, but must be tightly managed. Another huge variable is weather. We do our best to combat inclement weather with specials, a limited menu and bonus items with call-in orders and other ideas. But there are times when we must chock up the day as a loss. Such is the Shaka Taco way of life, rolling with all the punches coming our way — rain, shine, hurricanes, pandemics. ► What is the best advice you have received? It would be hard to pin down one piece of advice for growth, but we value consistency in all things involved in our business, we treat staff like family, we always give back to our community, we strive to be good people and we laugh as often as possible. If we can continue to keep those aspects at the forefront, we will remain successful and our growth will happen organically. ► What is your favorite thing to do off the job? Probably try to better the workplace. Realistically, Steve and I enjoy working together as much as we do playtime, of which is almost always done outdoors. Surf, golf, disc golf, building projects, anything on the beach or outside with our families and all of which is accompanied with laughter. Steve and Kelsey have two adorable little girls, a 1-and 3-yearold, who are Shaka’s biggest fans and regular dilla destroyers. I just got married and got a puppy, so needless to say, both Steve and I are ready to have a stress-free off-season. ► What are your favorite three songs from Shaka Tacos’ usual playlist? Geez, oh man. That is impossible. There’s close to 2,000 of mine and Steve’s favorite songs on that playlist. It is supremely dynamic. From local guys like The Turkey Buzzards, to gritty guitar playing Junior Kimbrough and bluesy rock like All Them Witches, back to singer-songwriter stuff like Van Zandt and Prine. The list goes on. ■ D E C E M B E R

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Guiding through the darkness

n unforeseen outcome of the coronavirus pandemic was its devastating impact on mental health for many people, creating both challenges and opportunities for professional counselors. In a difficult environment, Karin Kassab, 37, moved swiftly to transition her team to conduct therapy sessions via telephone and online. For three months, she and a couple of colleagues ran the business out of her living room. With demand surging, her Clarity Counseling Center added 10 therapists, two interns and two administrative workers as revenue increased by more than $500,000. Profit also gained 13%, Kassab says. A lifelong resident of coastal North Carolina, Kassab leads a team that provides counseling for a wide variety of issues including body image, depression, eating disorders, fertility, grief and trauma. Comments are edited for length and clarity.

► Where did you go to high school and college? My family found its way to the North Carolina coast before I was born when my father was stationed at Camp Lejeune. We loved it so much we stayed and have been here since. My father is a proud retired Marine. I am a North Carolina native, born and raised. I attended high school in Sneads Ferry and graduated from UNC Wilmington. I love where I grew up, and that’s why I decided to build a business here. ► What sparked your interest in psychology? I’ve always been intrigued by what motivates people to do the things they do on a deeper level. I took a psychology class in high school and then an internship in high school at a local inpatient mental-health facility. That experience impacted me deeply. As a 17-year-old, I came face to face with the ways the mentalhealth system worked and the ways it failed. I knew I wanted to be part of a positive impact, and I remember becoming curious about why some people got better and others didn’t. That led me to study psychology in college. My parents thought the mental health field was saturated and that it would be difficult to make a living, so I kept a double major in elementary education and psychology. I finally dropped the education major halfway through college when I convinced my parents there’s always room for one more skilled person in any industry. Thank God; I would have been a horrible elementary school teacher. ► What prompted you to start the business? Clarity was born to address pain points in the mental-health industry. Specifically, why was it so difficult for clients to con-

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Clarity Counseling Center Therapy services Owner Karin Kassab Location Wilmington Number of employees 26, including 22 contractors Year founded September 2015 Projected 2021 revenue $1.5 million Special sauce Effective response to the pandemic’s impact on mental health

nect with the right therapeutic fit for them? And why, ironically, in the mental-health field, were therapists undervalued and underpaid? Where was the focus on workplace health and experience? Six years in and we’ve made good progress in those areas. We’re always working to be better but overall, it feels like a win. I come from a hard-working entrepreneurial-minded family. My paternal great-grandfather immigrated to the United States from Syria and was a self-starter. My mother’s heritage is a long family line of dairy farmers. When my father retired from the military, he started a business in land development, while my uncle owns and operates a consumer marketing firm in Dallas. Both of my cousins have started their own businesses. ► How did the company add $500,000 in revenue amid the pandemic? The key was having the right team and the desire to serve more clients to meet the increasing demand. We knew we had

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▲ Clarity Counseling Center’s therapists help treat a variety of issues, including anxiety, depression and postpartum.

to meet the growing client need for psychotherapy during the pandemic. People were really struggling with loneliness, anxiety, depression and isolation. And they were turning to psychotherapy. We wanted to be there for them. Our team’s readiness for change and ability to adapt to new circumstances put on us by COVID allowed us to meet client needs, and grow while maintaining our workplace culture. I am proud of many things about the business, but I am most proud of our high-performing team. It feels strange to celebrate business growth that was birthed from COVID when so many have suffered. I feel honored and grateful to have had the ability to provide services to our community at such a crucial moment of need.

PHOTOS BY HANNAH MCMAHON PHOTOGRAPHY

► What makes Clarity distinctive? We say jokingly, “This isn’t your grandma’s therapy.” We offer modern evidence-based therapy. Finding the best therapeutic fit for each client is what sets us apart. I am obsessed, almost maniacal, about client-therapist matchmaking. No old-school formalities, no head nodding and awkward “How does that make you feel?” We want real bios and real super specialists who are the best fit for a client struggling with those specific issues. ► What were your biggest challenges? COVID threw all business owners a curveball. We experienced fear and uncertainty regarding telehealth services, unsure even now if insurance companies will continue to cover mental health care at parity to in-person services. We knew that many of our clients would suffer if we couldn’t continue care. We foresaw the mandated closure of our office. By preparing in advance, we were able to transition to telehealth, keep our team safe and continue to provide uninterrupted service to our clients for the following 18 months. We scrambled and prepped everyone. The administrative team worked out of my living room for three months. We returned to the office in July 2021. On the bright side, being forced to go virtual made therapy services more available than ever and we saw an increase in clients. We created more accessible services and expanded to include the entire state. The second greatest challenge was walking through the dark-

ness together. Our jobs are helping people walk through a frightening and uncertain time, while also up to our eyeballs in our own fears and uncertainty. I am honored to do the work we do. It’s my life’s work and I wouldn’t trade it, but it’s also heavy at times. Our team was at an all-time high risk of burning out. Our clients were struggling, we were struggling. I knew as a leader I couldn’t shield them from that experience, and I certainly couldn’t take it away and make it better. The part we could impact was reminding everyone on our team that they weren’t alone. We’re still connected. We are still a team. ► What did you do to boost morale? We have focused on teamwork, perfecting our client-therapist matchmaking approach and putting our therapists’ mental health first. We have weekly YouTube “State of the Practice” updates, monthly virtual parties (masks and mimosas, virtual game nights, virtual pool party), and Slack groups (such as “taco-bout-gratitude” and “virtual-coffee”). We wanted every team member to feel valued and part of the team, despite being separated across time zones. We curated and delivered care packages to all staff members that were filled with facial masks, puzzle books, stickers, candy and more. ► Has the pandemic raised the awareness of mental health issues? Absolutely. We were already on the road to becoming more aware as a culture and the pandemic just ripped that Band Aid right off. The struggle with loneliness, isolation, fear, anxiety and worry is undeniable. ► What’s the best advice you’ve received? That growth is inherently destabilizing. It is often blindly celebrated, but the reality is business growth is destabilizing to the business core. Unchecked growth can be a business’s demise. With this advice, I’ve been able to make cautious deliberate decisions with the goal of incremental growth with built-in stabilization periods. ► What do you enjoy doing off the job? I love to spend time exploring new places and eating new things with my husband; time with friends, family and our two adopted fur babies; being outdoors; and practicing yoga. ■ D E C E M B E R

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Hopes at a ballyhooed Asheville life-sciences company are dampened, not dashed. By Edward Martin

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PHOTO SOURCE: VENTUREASHEVILLE.COM

is 1800s forebearers wrestled a living from the rugged Cataloochee Valley a hundred miles west of Asheville, and now, in his middle 50s with hair as white as his lab coat, Steve Woody is modest. “I’ve been blessed,” he shrugged during an interview in 2015, overlooking a humming clean room. His Asheville company, Avadim Technologies, was pioneering microbiome skin products that work with the body’s billions of bacteria and other organisms to fend off infections such as the deadly MRSA superbug. Its brands such as Theraworx are becoming staples for preventing infections in more than 1,000 nursing and long-term care homes and acute-care hospitals. Hawked in television infomercials and used by major college sports teams, Avadim’s products are sold in 50,000 pharmacies and retailers including Dick’s Sporting Goods. Impressed, the N.C. Chamber singled out Avadim as one of its manufacturers of the year. Inc. Magazine ranked the company on its list of the nation’s fastest-growing industries, citing growth of more than 2,500% from 2015 to 2017. Woody sketched plans to expand to more than 550 employees and move to a $25 million plant in nearby Black Mountain, attracting 1,300 investors. Local and state governments provided $2 million in aid for what promised to be one of the region’s biggest economic developments. The nonprofit ▲ Steve Woody Golden LEAF Foundation, which metes out money from a nationwide tobacco-health settlement, anted up $775,000 to build water infrastructure at the Black Mountain site because of the company’s growth potential and plans to pay average wages of about $51,000 a year. Avadim, circa 2015, is a gazelle. “In economic-development speak, that’s a local company with national and international promise,” says Clark Duncan, the Asheville Chamber’s economic development head. “They would have a transformative impact for our economy out here in the west. We had lots of high hopes.” Then the gazelle stumbled. In May, mired in $80 million in debt and having posted $138 million in losses between 2018 and 2020, Avadim filed for reorganization in federal bankruptcy court. It came as three dozen major creditors circled and efforts to find new money failed, partly because of the worldwide coronavirus pandemic.

With potential new investors unwilling to top a secret minimum bid, the court handed control in August to an investor group led by the main debt holder, United Kingdom asset manager Hayfin Capital Management. Avadim Health, renamed during the bankruptcy, now operates with nearly 100 employees. “We’ve stabilized things here and are looking forward to continued growth,” says New York restructuring specialist Keith Daniels, who Hayfin hired as CEO. “We had to reset the operation, but we have a good platform to build on.” Daniels won’t discuss finances. “I can’t comment on that. We’re a private company.” To be sure, the business is a bit player in the $20 billion or so of assets managed by Hayfin, which was started in 2009 by the U.K.-based TowerBrook Capital Partners private-equity group. In Western North Carolina, once-enthused elected officials, economic developers and community boosters wonder what went wrong at the company they expected to lead the region’s resurgence in the state’s burgeoning life-sciences industry. “It was a really significant event in [Black Mountain’s] history when the governor — Pat McCrory — came here in 2015 to make the announcement at the Commerce Park site,” Mayor Larry Harris says. “Just the thought of all those jobs coming to Buncombe County made it a really grand occasion.” Woody and other Avadim executives declined requests to discuss what happened. Daniels won’t say if Woody is involved anymore. “I can’t comment. Nothing has been formalized.”

Cash burn Interviews and legal documents describe an innovative company that was hampered by too much borrowing and an unexpected pandemic. “It’s not uncommon for companies in those first few years to be burning through a lot of cash,” says Ben Teague, vice president of strategic development at Biltmore Farms and former head of the Buncombe County Economic Development Commission. “But Steve’s a visionary, and this is still very much a viable product. I don’t doubt he’ll find his way through this and come out successful on the other end.” That’s a common sentiment about Woody in western North Carolina. The Asheville native was a high school soccer star who majored in math at UNC Asheville. After graduating in 1989, he joined Medical Action Industries, a Brentood, N.Y.-based manufacturer of surgical equipment. He stayed for a decade as its sales grew from $75 million to more than $300 million.

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RENDERING BY AVADIM TECHNOLOGIES

of the Biltmore Farms development company. Along the way, Woody impressed many potential investors, several Asheville acquaintances say. It was easy casting him as a homegrown business talent who decided to stay put rather than relocating to a larger city. Among the company’s directors was Charles Owen III, the former CEO of Beacon Manufacturing, once the world’s largest blanket maker. It closed in 2002. Owen is board chairman of UNC Health, one of the state’s biggest health care systems. He didn’t return calls ▲ Avadim had plans to build a 100,000-square-foot plant in seeking comment about Avadim. Black Mountain that never materialized. Local acquaintances say Woody was believable in 2015 when he predicted From his initial $4.50-an-hour job, Woody rose through Avadim would have 900 employees by 2021. “I don’t know the ranks in the heavily regulated businesses of mediof anyone who doesn’t like and respect [Woody],” says an cal devices and pharma development. He consulted with investor who asked not to be named. manufacturers, then formed his own company. He helped Avadim, despite innovative and popular products, had guide more than 30 medical-equipment businesses through barely kept its financial head above water for years. In 2013regulatory thickets and plan for product launches. 14, the cash-strapped company was rescued by grants from In 2006, he came across a manufacturer of an antiseptic the Mission Foundation, a nonprofit organization affiliated wash used to bathe nursing-home residents. A year later, with Mission Health that supported local medical initiahe bought rights to the technology, and Avadim was born. tives, according to people familiar with the matter. After (“Avadim” is Hebrew for servant or slave, depending on the sale of Mission Health to Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA which scholar you ask.) His initial product, which could be Healthcare in 2019, the foundation shut down and grant sprayed or wiped on patients, was effective against urinary records are no longer available, officials say. tract infections, the bane of long-term hospital stays. In 2016, Fann led local leaders on a tour of the company’s “My vision is for Asheville to be for medical devices new manufacturing and distribution center in Swannanoa. what Raleigh is for the pharmaceutical industry,” Woody It was in a repurposed, long-vacant Beacon warehouse. He told Business North Carolina in 2015. Avadim’s woundtold Business North Carolina the company had raised more care products have the potential to save millions of lives, than $4.5 million toward the $25 million it expected to particularly in developing countries with weak health care need for a larger plant that never got off the ground. systems, he said. Woody and Fann had raised more than $120 million in debt The company continues to produce Theraworx Protect and equity, including investments from about 1,300 individufor immune health; Combat One, mainly marketed to first als, Daniels told the bankruptcy court in May. It’s unlikely responders to prevent infections; three cosmetic products; they will recoup their investment, he said in early November. and three homeopathic drugs for joints and muscle cramps, As its Theraworx commercials became standard fare on according to Daniels. A partner at New York-based Carl cable television, Avadim’s losses were mounting. Starting Marks Advisors, he was the court-assigned bankruptcy case in 2018, the company ramped up borrowing to support its trustee before becoming interim CEO. growth. Not more than a year later, it was missing payments Woody’s key partner was David Fann, recruited as presiand begging lenders for more time to pay its debts, Daniels dent in 2012. Fann had been a CEO or president of several told the court. startup companies in Florida and California involving solar “Net losses were $49.5 million, $34.8 million and energy, finance and technology. From 1995 to 2002, Fann $53.6 million for 2018, 2019 and 2020,” Daniels reported. was CEO of Teraglobal Communications, a San Diego-based Company leaders pinned their hopes on an early 2020 inipublic company that disappeared following the dotcom bust tial public offering plan aimed at raising $75 million to pay of the early 2000s. From 2000 to 2002, Teraglobal’s board for the Black Mountain plant and give the business some chairman was Asheville civic leader Jack Cecil, president

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breathing room. But it never materialized as the worldwide coronavirus pandemic chilled financial markets, stalling many IPOs. The virus was also strangling attempts to boost sales. It was difficult for Avadim’s sales force of more than 50 to line up face-to-face meetings because of COVID-19, according to a Midwest sales representative who asked to remain anonymous. Like many N.C. businesses, Avadim benefited from the federal Payroll Protection Plan, receiving a $2 million forgivable loan while telling federal authorities that it then had 238 employees. It wasn’t enough. “They just needed that IPO capital to make their business go,” says Black Mountain Mayor Harris. He believes Avadim was poised for its shovel-ready site. “We have an interstate exchange — Interstate 40 — already funded, with right of way to begin in 2023 and construction in 2025, and everything was promising and exciting,” he says. “They were going to build their headquarters there, and their product had great market appeal.” In February 2021, Woody sent Harris and the Black Mountain Board of aldermen a statement canceling the plant, blaming the company’s travails on the pandemic. “It limited the capital the company needed to grow and launch two of the new products we had ready to put on shelves in over 50,000 pharmacies,” Woody wrote, while killing “other expansion plans.” Ever upbeat, he added that Avadim had record sales in the second and third quarters of 2020 “even though we couldn’t call on hospitals, long-term care facilities or even some pharmacies.” Avadim’s net revenue increased from about $11 million a year to more than $45 million between 2017 and 2019, internal records show. Continued growth was likely, Woody noted. Costs, however, were rising even faster, Daniels told the bankruptcy court in Wilmington. Avadim was bleeding money, “despite the fact the company’s revenues have increased steadily over the past several years,” he says. Debt exceeded assets by almost $80 million. The company had, for at least a decade, been pumping “tens of millions of dollars” into brand-building but failed to gain “sufficient market foothold to fully fund its operations.” With its IPO hopes fizzling, Avadim was left with a wellknown brand, large stocks of unsold inventory and increasingly restive workers. In May of this year, just weeks before its bankruptcy filing, Avadim allocated $185,000 as bonuses to retain non-executive workers. Then, in mid-August, the court transferred the company to its secured creditors. On a recent steamy summer day, the Black Mountain Commerce Park site was quiet, its mountain backdrop shrouded in haze. The dream that the company would

proclaim the region as a major player in Tar Heel health sciences was in the hands of strangers from far away. Avadim’s popular products, manufacturing technology and millions in patent value mean there’s more to this story, some observers say. “It’s too early for a postmortem,” Ben Teague says. “This is not the buggy whip. I’d never give up on a company that has good products and good people. There’s hope.” ■

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North Carolina’s most respected doctors in 56 specialties are presented in this annual report. Those cited were selected by their peers with a goal of saluting the state’s leading medical practitioners.

ethodology and disclaimer: This report was produced by DataJoe Research, a software and research company specializing in data collection and verification. The Lakewood, Colo.-based company conducts various nominations across the United States on behalf of publishers. To create the “top doctors” list, DataJoe Research facilitated an online peervoting process, also referencing government sources. DataJoe then tallied the votes per category for each doctor to isolate the top nominees in each category. After collecting nominations and additional information, DataJoe checked and confirmed that each published winner had a current, active license status with the state regulatory board. If we were not able to find evidence of a doctor’s current, active registration with the state regulatory board, that doctor was excluded from the list. In addition, any doctor who has been disciplined, up to the time-frame of our review process for an infraction by the state regulatory board, was excluded from the list. Finally, DataJoe presented the tallied result to the magazine for its final review and adjustments. We recognize that there are many good doctors who are not shown in this representative list. This is only a sampling of the huge array of talented professionals within the region. Inclusion in the list is based on the opinions of responding doctors in the region and the results of our research campaign. We take time and energy to ensure fair voting, although we understand that the results of this survey nomination are not an objective metric. We certainly do not discount the fact that many, many good and effective doctors may not appear on the list. DataJoe uses best practices and exercises great care in assembling content for this list. DataJoe does not warrant that the data contained within the list are complete or accurate. DataJoe does not assume, and hereby disclaims, any liability to any person for any loss or damage caused by errors or omissions herein whether such errors or omissions result from negligence, accident, or any other cause. All rights reserved. No commercial use of the information in this list may be made without written permission from DataJoe. For research/methodology questions, contact the research team at surveys@datajoe.com.

► Addiction Medicine Stephanie Newby

Atrium Health Behavioral Health Charlotte, a facility of Carolinas Medical Center

Charlotte

► Allergy Immunology

Lavinia Kolarczyk

UNC Hospitals Dept of Anesthesiology

Chapel Hill

Bryant Murphy

UNC Hospitals

Chapel Hill

Chuanyao Tong

WFUBMC Dept of Anesthesiology

Winston-Salem

Dale Buchanan

Providence Anesthesiology Associates PA

Pinehurst

Maeve O'Connor

Allergy Asthma & Immunology Relief of Charlotte Charlotte

Robert Shakar

American Anesthesiology

Wilmington

Caroline Hobbs

Atrium Health Allergy, Asthma & Immunology

Charlotte

Kathleen Smith

UNC Hospitals

Chapel Hill

Vandana Patel

Carolina Asthma & Allergy

Gastonia

Thomas Mulford

Outpatient Surgery Center of Asheville

Asheville

John Norris

Carolina Asthma & Allergy Center PA

Charlotte

Ashraf Habib

Duke Birthing Center

Durham

Edwin Kim

UNC Hospitals Children's Specialty Clinic

Chapel Hill

Matthew Buck

Duke Birthing Center

Durham

Sean Lucas

Allergy Partners

Wilmington

Emily Teeter

UNC Hospitals

Chapel Hill

Shannon Chadha

Carolina Asthma & Allergy Center PA

Charlotte

Brian Thwaites

Pinehurst Anesthesia Associates

Pinehurst

Mildred Kwan

UNC Allergy & Immunology Clinic

Chapel Hill

Joshua Schwartz

East Carolina Anesthesia Associates

Greenville

Heather Gutekunst

Allergy Partners of Raleigh

Raleigh

David Chiu

Salem Anesthesia

Advance

Sherif Taha

Allergy Partners of Eastern Carolina

Greenville

James Winkley

Pinehurst Anesthesia Associates

Pinehurst

Sonia Bains

Allergy Partners of Raleigh

Raleigh

John Bryant

Mission Community Anesthesiology Specialists Asheville

Ekta Shah

Atrium Health Allergy, Asthma & Immunology

Charlotte

John Berry

Pinehurst Anesthesia Associates

Pinehurst

Ranjan Sharma

Ben Judd

Pinehurst Anesthesia Associates

Pinehurst

Jay ReVille

Pinehurst Anesthesia Associates

Pinehurst

Aaisha Haque

LeBauer Allergy & Asthma Burlington Wake Forest Baptist Health Allergy Asthma and Clemmons Immunology Services WG (Bill) Hefner VA Medical Center Charlotte

Farrukh Sair

Providence Anesthesiology Associates PA

Charlotte

Diane Laber

Allergy Partners of Pinehurst

Elsje Harker

Regional Anesthesia PLLC

Mooresville

Shannon Page

Regional Anesthesia PLLC

Mooresville

Kimberley Nichols Katherine McNiff Nicholas Anil Adusumalli

UNC Hospitals Dept of Anesthesiology

Chapel Hill

CaroMont Health

Gastonia

Vidant Roanoke-Chowan Hospital

Ahoskie

Leslie Cristiano

Pinehurst

► Anesthesiology Anthony Passannante

UNC Hospitals

Chapel Hill

David Mayer

UNC School of Medicine

Chapel Hill

David Zvara

University of North Carolina

Chapel Hill

B U S I N E S S

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N O R T H

C A R O L I N A

11/19/21 10:51 PM

Charlotte

John Allan

Novant Health Women's Heart & Vascular Center Statesville Cardiology

Charlotte

Matthew Cavender

UNC Hospitals Outpatient Center

Chapel Hill

Atrium Health Sanger Heart & Vascular Institute Charlotte

Anthony Christiano

Vidant Heart & Vascular Clinic

Greenville

Richard Miller

Tryon Medical Partners

Walter Tan

Wake Forest Baptist Health Heart and Vascular High Point

Brian Powell

Atrium Health Sanger Heart & Vascular Institute Charlotte

Brett Izo

Asheville Cardiology Associates

John Holshouser

► Cardiothoracic Surgery

Benjamin Atkeson

Atrium Health Sanger Heart & Vascular Institute Charlotte Atrium Health Atrium Health Sanger Heart & Charlotte Vascular Institute North Carolina Heart & Vascular Clayton

Dalane Kitzman

Wake Forest Health

Eric Janis

► Cardiology David Framm Kenneth Owen George Clinard

Sanjeev Gulati

Tryon Medical Partners Tryon Medical Partners

Sandy Charles

Charlotte

Statesville

Asheville

Eric Skipper

Atrium Health Sanger Heart & Vascular Institute Charlotte

Neal Kon

Wake Forest Baptist Health Cardiology

Winston-Salem

Bret Borchelt

Novant Cardiothoracic Surgeons

Winston-Salem

North Carolina Heart & Vascular

Smithfield

Adrian Lata

Wake Forest Univ Baptist Medical Center

Winston-Salem

Frederic Kahl

Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center

Winston-Salem

Edward Kincaid

Wake Forest Baptist Health Cardiology

Winston-Salem

William Downey

John Frederick

Atrium Health Sanger Heart & Vascular Institute Charlotte

Medhat Takla

Atrium Health Sanger Heart & Vascular Institute Concord

Jeffrey Klein

Atrium Health Sanger Heart & Vascular Institute Charlotte Atrium Health Atrium Health Sanger Heart & Charlotte Vascular Institute UNC Chapel Hill Chapel Hill

Robert Ferguson

Wake Forest Baptist Health

High Point

Min Pu

Wake Forest Baptist Health Cardiology

Winston-Salem

Edward Gerhardt

Triad Cardiac & Thoracic Surgery

Greensboro

Tony Simmons

Wake Forest Baptist Health Cardiology

Winston-Salem

John Williams

East Carolina Heart Institute

Greenville

Cary Ward

Duke University Medical Center

Durham

Mark Groh

Asheville Heart

Asheville

Robert Iwaoka

Novant Health Heart & Vascular Institute

Charlotte

L. Nifong

East Carolina Heart Institute

Greenville

Christian Gring

North Carolina Heart & Vascular

Clayton

Tom Theruvath

Novant Health Heart & Vascular Institute

Charlotte

Joseph Mishkin

Atrium Health Sanger Heart & Vascular Institute Charlotte

Judson Williams

WakeMed Raleigh Campus

Raleigh

Shomeet Patel

Atrium Health Sanger Heart & Vascular Institute Mooresville

Stephen Davies

FirstHealth Cardiovascular & Thoracic Center

Pinehurst

John Vavalle

UNC Hospitals Outpatient Center at Eastowne

Chapel Hill

William Kitchens

FirstHealth Cardiovascular & Thoracic Center

Pinehurst

Geoffrey Jao

Wake Forest Baptist Health Cardiology

Winston-Salem

Geoffrey Rose

Atrium Health Sanger Heart & Vascular Institute Charlotte

Bharathi Upadhya

Bermuda Run

Thomas Gehrig

Duke Cardiology

B. Wilson

Atrium Health Sanger Heart & Vascular Institute Charlotte

Agodichi Nwosu

Wake Forest Baptist Health Atrium Health Atrium Health Sanger Heart & Vascular Institute Atrium Health Atrium Health Sanger Heart & Vascular Institute Atrium Health Sanger Heart & Vascular Institute Atrium Health Atrium Health Sanger Heart & Vascular Institute Carolina Heart Physicians

Robert Applegate

Wake Forest Baptist Health Cardiology

Winston-Salem

William Kuehl

Asheville Cardiology Associates

Asheville

Cody Deen

UNC Hospitals Hillsborough Campus

Hillsborough

Chelsea Ngongang

WakeMed Brier Creek Healthplex

Raleigh

David Frazier

Vidant Medical Center Medical Center

Greenville

David Cowherd

Pinehurst Medical Clinic

Pinehurst

Daniel Koehler

Atrium Health Sanger Heart & Vascular Institute Lincolnton

Hari Saini

Carolina Heart & Leg Center PA

Fayetteville

Joseph Falsone

North Carolina Heart & Vascular

Raleigh

Jan Levene

FryeCare Cardiology Associates - Boone

Joseph Hakas

Theodore Frank

Jonathan Schwartz Noreen Kelly Michael Elliott Dermot Phelan

Charlotte

Durham

John Fedor

Atrium Health Sanger Heart & Vascular Institute Charlotte

Charlotte

John Symanski

Atrium Health Sanger Heart & Vascular Institute Charlotte

Charlotte

Troy Leo

Atrium Health Sanger Heart & Vascular Institute Charlotte

Charlotte

Cheryl Russo

Atrium Health Sanger Heart & Vascular Institute Charlotte

Fayetteville

Patricia Chang

UNC Hospitals Outpatient Center At Eastowne

Chapel Hill

Thomas Caranasos

UNC Hospitals Jason Ray Transplant Clinic

Chapel Hill

J. Harrison

Duke Cardiology

Durham

Ker Boyce

Pinehurst Medical Clinic

Pinehurst

Mark Landers

FirstHealth Cardiology

Pinehurst

Herman Cheek

Congdon Heart and Vascular Center

High Point

Peter Ellman

FirstHealth Cardiovascular & Thoracic Center

Pinehurst

► Colon And Rectal Surgery Bradley Davis

Atrium Health General Surgery

Charlotte

Christopher Mantyh

Duke University Medical Center

Durham

Boone

Jennifer Holl

Surgical Specialists Of Charlotte PA

Charlotte

Pinehurst Medical Clinic

Pinehurst

Robert Kastner

Gregory Waters

Wake Forest Baptist Health Colorectal Surgery

Greensboro

North Carolina Heart & Vascular

Clinton

Steven Klein

John Migaly

Davis Ambulatory Surgical Center

Durham

Cone Health Medical Group HeartCare

Greensboro

Peter Vassallo

Bradley Davis

Charlotte

FirstHealth Cardiology

Pinehurst

Steven Kent

Pinehurst Medical Clinic

Pinehurst

Stephen Iuliano

Atrium Health Sanger Heart & Vascular Institute Mooresville

Julie Thacker

Atrium Health General Surgery Atrium Health General & Complex Abdominal Surgery, a facility of Carolinas Medical Center Duke University Medical Center

Ravish Sachar

North Carolina Heart & Vascular

Raleigh

Stanley Fuller

Novant Health Colon & Rectal Clinic

Winston-Salem

Archie Tyson

Novant Health Heart & Vascular Institute

High Point

Richard Saleeby

Saleeby & Wessels Proctology

Raleigh

David Zhao

Wake Forest Baptist Health Cardiology

Winston-Salem

Timothy Sadiq

North Carolina Surgery

Raleigh

Jan Pattanayak

Asheville Cardiology Associates

Asheville

Tiv Johnson

Atrium Health Union Surgical Associates

Monroe

Jack Kuritzky

Chapel Hill Internal Medicine

Chapel Hill

Reza Rahbar

North Carolina Surgery

Raleigh

Sylvester Ejeh

Cumberland Cardiology PA

Fayetteville

Patrick Brillant

Physicians East

Greenville

Angelo Milazzo

Duke Children's Specialty Services

Raleigh

Reid Vegeler

Pinehurst Surgical Clinic PA

Pinehurst

H. Strunk

FirstHealth Cardiology

Pinehurst

Laura Altom

North Carolina Surgery

Raleigh

William Newman

North Carolina Heart & Vascular

Raleigh

Joseph Payne

NHRMC Physician Specialists

Wilmington

Kevin Kasten

D E C E M B E R

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Charlotte Durham

2 0 2 1

11/19/21 10:52 PM

Sarah Fox

NHRMC Physician Specialists

Wilmington

► Cosmetic Surgery Andrew Schneider

Forsyth Plastic Surgery Associates

Winston-Salem

Brenda Draper

Draper Plastic Surgery

Asheville

John Robinson

Atrium Health Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery Charlotte

Charles Kays

Wilmington Plastic Surgery Specialist

Wilmington

Jefferson Kilpatrick

Pinehurst Surgical Clinic PA

Pinehurst

J. Garrison

Greenville Plastic Surgery

Greenville

Richard Rizzuti

Greenville Plastic Surgery

Greenville

► Critical Care Medicine Allison Johnson

Haywood Surgical Associates

Clyde

Shannon Carson

Chapel Hill

Mashael Al-Hegelan

UNC Chapel Hill Atrium Health Pulmonary Critical Care Consultants Atrium Health Pulmonary Critical Care Consultants FirstHealth Hospitalist Service Atrium Health Pulmonary Critical Care Consultants Atrium Health Pulmonary Critical Care Consultants NorthEast Lung Associates Atrium Health Atrium Health Pulmonary Critical Care Consultants Atrium Health Pulmonary Critical Care Consultants Duke University Hospital

Lydia Chang

UNC Hospitals Outpatient Center

Chapel Hill

Todd Kelly

FirstHealth Hospitalist Service

Pinehurst

Thomas Przybysz Douglas Haden Lisa Lindauer Michael Haley Alan Heffner Sahar Mansoor John Wynne Stephen Cochran

Sarah Vieta

Vieta Dermatology PLLC

Pinehurst

Lisa May

Biltmore Dermatology

Asheville

Hazem El-Gamal

Charlotte Dermatology PA

Charlotte

William Kaufman

Dermatology Associates PA

Wilmington

Sarah Koch

Dermatology Group of the Carolinas

Concord

Alyssa Daniel

Novant Health Dermatology

Charlotte

Richard Lewis

Eastern Dermatology & Pathology PA

Greenville

Logan D'Souza

Forest Dermatology

Asheville

Elvira Chiritescu

New Age Dermatology

Apex

Brooke Jackson

Skin Wellness Dermatology Associates

Durham

James Appel

Wilmington Health PLLC

Wilmington

► Diagnostic Radiology James Oliver

Charlotte Radiology PA

Charlotte

Lauren Burke

University of North Carolina

Chapel Hill

Charlotte

Michael Lavelle

Charlotte Radiology PA

Charlotte

Pinehurst

Leon Bacchus

Leon Bacchus MD

Chapel Hill

Ersan Altun

UNC Dept Of Radiology Unc Hospitals

Chapel Hill

Valerie Jewells

UNC Department of Radiology

Chapel Hill

Benjamin Mervak

UNC Hospitals Rehab Unit

Chapel Hill

Concord

Carolyn Maynor

Pinehurst Radiology

Pinehurst

Charlotte

Glen Toomayan

Pinehurst Radiology

Pinehurst

Charlotte

Deborah Agisim

Charlotte Radiology PA

Charlotte

Michael Tripp

Eastern Radiologists

Greenville

Amy Sobel

Charlotte Radiology PA

Charlotte

Allen Joseph

Pinehurst Radiology

Pinehurst

John Roberson

Pinehurst Radiology

Pinehurst

William Hudgins

Pinehurst Radiology

Pinehurst

Raleigh Radiology

Raleigh

Charlotte

Charlotte Charlotte

Durham

► Dermatology Patricia Roddey

Tryon Medical Partners

Charlotte

John Alley

Meredith Dasher

Tryon Medical Partners

Charlotte

Martie Jewell

Tryon Medical Partners

Charlotte

► Emergency Medicine

Nancy Thomas

UNC Dermatology & Skin Cancer Center

Chapel Hill

Marc Carruth

Carolina Skin Surgery Center

Charlotte

April Boswell

Tryon Medical Partners

Charlotte

Uma Nadiminti

Tryon Medical Partners

Charlotte

Lindsay Strowd

Wake Forest Univ Baptist Medical Center

Winston-Salem

Aida Lugo-Somolinos

UNC Dermatology & Skin Cancer Center

Chapel Hill

Amy McMichael

Wake Forest Baptist Health Dermatology

Winston-Salem

Donna Culton

UNC Dermatology & Skin Cancer Center

Chapel Hill

Jennifer Helton

Steele Creek Dermatology

Charlotte

Michael Sullivan

Carolina Dermatology & Skin Cancer Surgery PA Wilmington

Patricia Mauro

UNC Dermatology & Skin Cancer Center

Chapel Hill

Tara Byer-Parsons

Atrium Health Dermatology

Charlotte

David Lane

Charlotte

Christopher Sayed

Dermatologic Surgery of the Carolinas PLLC Metrolina Dermatology & Skin Surgery Specialists UNC Dermatology & Skin Cancer Center

Erin Hodges

Tryon Medical Partners

Charlotte

Audrey Echt

Anne Arundel Dermatology

Raleigh

Linda Taylor

Daniel Jones

Greensboro Dermatology Associates PA

Greensboro

E Bain

Bain Dermatology

Raleigh

Elias Ayli

Wake Skin Cancer Center

Joseph Jorizzo Mark Hutchin

Sasha Haberle

Peter Mattei

Abhishek Mehrotra

UNC Dept of Emergency Medicine

Bradley Anglemyer

Mid-Atlantic Emergency Medical Associates PA Charlotte

Chad Eller

Mid-Atlantic Emergency Medical Associates PA Charlotte

Jane Brice

University of North Carolina

Chapel Hill

Nikki Binz

UNC Dept Of Emergency Medicine

Chapel Hill

Frank Christopher

Sandhills Emergency Physicians

Pinehurst

Todd Listwa

Mid-Atlantic Emergency Medical Associates PA Charlotte

Michael Gibbs

Atrium Health Carolinas Medical Center

Daniel Martinie

Mid-Atlantic Emergency Medical Associates PA Charlotte

Erin Smith

Mid-Atlantic Emergency Medical Associates PA Charlotte

Arun Manikumar

UNC REX Hospital

Raleigh

Michael Harrigan

UNC Hospitals Emergency Department

Chapel Hill

Olga Otter

UNC Emergency Medicine

Chapel Hill Pinehurst

James Lewis

Sandhills Emergency Physicians Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center Emergency Department High Point Medical Center Emergency Department Sandhills Emergency Physicians

Matthew Vreeland

Sandhills Emergency Physicians

Pinehurst

Wake Forest

Sandra Craig

Atrium Health Carolinas Medical Center

Charlotte

Wake Forest Baptist Health Dermatology

Winston-Salem

Emily MacNeill

Atrium Health Carolinas Medical Center

Charlotte

Dermatology of North Asheville

Asheville

Laura Hester

Chatham Hospital

Siler City

Pinehurst

Herbert Garrison

ECU Physicians

Greenville

Mid-Atlantic Emergency Medical Associates PA Charlotte Mission Hospital Emergency Department

Carolina Skin Care

Charlotte Chapel Hill

Amanda Korzep Don Bahner David Manthey

Neil Prose

Duke Pediatric Dermatology

Durham

Jason Mutch

Steven Feldman

Wake Forest Baptist Health Dermatology

Winston-Salem

Scott Ramming

B U S I N E S S

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N O R T H

Chapel Hill

Charlotte

Pinehurst Winston-Salem High Point Pinehurst

Asheville

C A R O L I N A

11/19/21 10:52 PM

Roy Keys

Sandhills Emergency Physicians

Pinehurst

Andrew Hannapel

Chatham Hospital

Siler City

Matthew Harmody

Sandhills Emergency Physicians

Pinehurst

Augustus Parker

Novant Health Blakeney Family Physicians

Charlotte

Scott Hollrah

Sandhills Emergency Physicians

Pinehurst

Holly Layman

Laurel Health Care Company

Salisbury

Julie Verchick

Sandhills Emergency Physicians

Pinehurst

Karen Smith

Karen L Smith MD PA

Raeford

Rebecca Calhoun

Vita Family Practice

Fayetteville

Thomas Leonard

FirstHealth Family Medicine

Carthage

John Bridgman

Sandhills Emergency Physicians

Pinehurst

Zane Lapinskes

Fischer Clinic

Raleigh

Benjamin Missick

Novant Health Blakeney Family Physicians

Charlotte

Brent Penhall

Novant Health Lakeside Family Physicians

Mooresville

Lauren Hull

Atrium Health Carmel Family Physicians

Charlotte

Michael Harris

Carolina Family Practice & Sports Medicine

Raleigh

Garett Franklin

Cary Medical Group

Cary

Angela Bacigalupo

Burlington Family Practice

Burlington

Crystal Dorsey

Novant Health Maplewood Family Medicine

Winston-Salem

Chapel Hill

Megan Johnson

Crissman Family Practice

Graham

Raleigh

Craig White Viviana MartinezBianchi Donna Tuccero

Davidson Family Medicine

Davidson

Duke Family Medicine Center

Durham

Avance Health System Inc

Raleigh

Pulak Patel

Novant Health Primary Care

Charlotte

Tagbo Ekwonu

Eastowne Family Physicians PA

Charlotte

Andrew Drabick

Family Medical Associates of Raleigh

Raleigh

Ann Marie Richards

FirstHealth Family Medicine

Pinehurst

Bo Kopynec

FirstHealth Family Medicine

Ellerbe

► Endocrinology Diabetes And Metabolism D. Brantley

Tryon Medical Partners

Charlotte

Gary Rolband

Tryon Medical Partners

Charlotte

Charles Upchurch

Charlotte

Denis Becker

Tryon Medical Partners UNC Hospitals Diabetes and Endocrinology Clinic UNC Hospitals Diabetes and Endocrinology Clinic Raleigh Endocrine Associates

Cynthia Burns

Wake Forest Baptist Health

Winston-Salem

K. Ober

Wake Forest Baptist Health Endocrinology

Winston-Salem

Kristen Hairston

Wake Forest School of Medicine

Winston-Salem

Tripuraneni Kirk

UNC Hospitals Outpatient Center UNC Hospitals Diabetes and Endocrinology Clinic Tryon Medical Partners

Chapel Hill

Tryon Medical Partners

Charlotte

Tryon Medical Partners

Charlotte

James Liffrig

FirstHealth Convenient Care

Asheboro

Chapel Hill

Mary Moree

FirstHealth Family Medicine

Rockingham

Chapel Hill

Shawn Howerton

Howerton Family Medicine

Roseboro

Chapel Hill

Amy Howerton

Howerton Family Medicine

Roseboro

Pinehurst

Justin Parker

Asheville Family Medicine

Asheville

Charlotte

Lateef Cannon

Pardee Family Medicine Associates

Hendersonville

Greenville

Heidi Knoll

Asheville

John Buse David Clemmons

Elizabeth Harris SiSi Hester-Clarke Uha Reddy Francisco Bautista Vitiello Morgan Jones Sriram Machineni Josh Evron Brooks Mays Kelli Dunn

UNC Hospitals Outpatient Center At Eastowne UNC Hospitals Outpatient Center At Eastowne UNC Hospitals Outpatient Center at Eastowne Pinehurst Medical Clinic Atrium Health Carolinas Medical Center

Chapel Hill

Chapel Hill Huntersville

Julia Warren-Ulanch

Creedmoor Centre Endocrinology

Raleigh

Timothy Plaut

Sung-Eun Yoo

Cary Endocrine & Diabetes Center PA

Cary

Ginger Poulton

MAHEC Family Health Center Appalachian Mountain Community Health Centers MAHEC Family Health Center

Adva Eisenberg

Novant Health Endocrinology

Charlotte

Tammi Waters

Olical Health PLLC

Apex

E. Story

Atrium Health Levine Cancer Institute

Charlotte

Brian Lanier

Promina Health

Wilmington

Xanthia Samaropoulos Capital Endocrine Consultants PA

Raleigh

Daniel Biondi

Reserve Health

Charlotte

Amy Levenson

Chapel Hill

Andrew LePorte

FirstHealth Primary Care

Raeford

Thomas White

Hometown Direct Care

Cherryville

Laura House

Chatham Hospital

Siler City

Rachael Hollifield

UNC Family Medicine

Raleigh

Mark Warren

Physicians East

UNC Hospitals Children's Specialty Clinic

► Family Medicine Brian Wysong

Gaston Medical Partners

Belmont

David Locklear

Gaston Medical Partners

Gastonia

Caroline Stephens

Gaston Medical Partners

Gastonia

Michael McCartney

Gaston Medical Partners PLLC

Gastonia

Steven Gilchrist

Blakeney Family Physicians

Charlotte

Geoffrey Wrinkle

Atrium Health Carmel Family Physicians

Milton Hester

Ram Neelagiri

Asheville Asheville

Raleigh

Charlotte

UNC Primary & Specialty Care Atrium Health Atrium Health Levine Cancer Benjamin Simmons Institute Union Health Atrium Health Levine Cancer Christopher John Vieau Atrium Institute Union Dana Neutze The UNC Family Medicine Center

Crown Point Family Physicians

Charlotte

John Redding

White Oak Family Physicians

Asheboro

Marshall McMillan

Crown Point Family Physicians

Charlotte

Thomas Gross

Lake Norman Medical Group

Mooresville

John Baker

J Scott Baker MD

Highlands

Rodrigo Samodal

UNC Primary Care

Clayton

Jenny Chen

Atrium Health Mint Hill Primary Care

Mint Hill

Carolyn Vaught

Chatham Hospital

Siler City

Derek Reed

Gaston Medical Partners

Gastonia

Micheal Ryder

Duke Primary Care Henderson

Henderson

Mark Gwynne

Chatham Hospital

Siler City

Stacey Searson

The Art of Health

Charlotte

Amir Barzin

The Unc Family Medicine Center At Chapel Hill

Chapel Hill

Dominick Trapani

WakeMed Primary Care

Raleigh

Clark Denniston

UNC School Of Medicine

Chapel Hill

Savannah Crites

Chatham Hospital

Siler City

Margaret Helton

UNC School Of Medicine

Chapel Hill

Mimi Miles

Chatham Hospital

Chapel Hill

A Woman's View Atrium Health Primary Care One Health Family Vanessa Everett Medicine Mohammad Shahsahebi Duke University

Hickory

Melissa Jones

Melissa Jones DO Primary Care

Charlotte

Huntersville

Mohsin Arshad

Novant Health Inpatient Care Specialists

Winston-Salem

Durham

Jason Parker

Novant Health Inpatient Care Specialists

Charlotte

Jorge Franco

Fayetteville

Patrick O'Connell

Sentinel Primary Care

Raleigh

Rachel Kelly

Carolina Family Practice Centre

D E C E M B E R

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Monroe Monroe Chapel Hill

2 0 2 1

11/19/21 10:52 PM

Kourtney Krohn

Physicians East

Greenville

Timothy Farrell

UNC Hospitals Multispecialty Surgery Clinic

Chapel Hill

Elizabeth Fry

Physicians East

Greenville

Timothy Kuwada

Atrium Health Carolinas Medical Center

Charlotte

Andrew Morris

Hendersonville Family Health Center

Hendersonville

William Bradshaw

Mission Surgery

Asheville

Anthony Charles

UNC General and Acute Care Surgery Clinic

Chapel Hill

J. Meredith

Winston-Salem

► Gastroenterology David Smith

Tryon Medical Partners

Charlotte

Amit Aravapalli

Tryon Medical Partners

Charlotte

Oscar Brann

Tryon Medical Partners

Charlotte

Brian Burlingame

Wake Forest Baptist Health General Surgery Atrium Health General & Complex Abdominal Surgery a facility of Carolinas Medical Center Pinehurst Surgical Clinic

Kent Holtzmuller

Tryon Medical Partners

Charlotte

Kristin Wagner

Surgical Specialists Of Charlotte PA

Charlotte

Eric Hilgenfeldt

Tryon Medical Partners

Charlotte

Chirag Desai

UNC At Chapel Hill

Chapel Hill

Girish Mishra

Wake Forest Baptist Health

Winston-Salem

Arielle Perez

UNC General and Acute Care Surgery Clinic

Chapel Hill

Nicholas Shaheen

UNC Gastrointestinal Medicine

Chapel Hill

Mark Koruda

UNC Hospitals Multispecialty Surgery Clinic

Chapel Hill

Stephen Deal

Carolina Digestive Health Assoc PA

Charlotte

Jonathan Routh

Duke University Medical Center

Durham

Todd Baron

Chapel Hill

W. Hooks

New Hanover Regional Medical Center

Wilmington

William Hope Kolandaivelu Ramaswamy Timothy McGuire

New Hanover Regional Medical Center

Wilmington

Mission Surgery

Asheville

Yolanda Scarlett

UNC Gastrointestinal Medicine Wake Forest Baptist Health Digestive Health Endoscopy Wake Forest Baptist Health Digestive Health Endoscopy UNC Gastrointestinal Medicine

Physicians East

Greenville

M. Branch

Duke Endoscopy Clinic

Durham

Ashley Christmas

Atrium Health Carolinas Medical Center

Charlotte

Ian Grimm

UNC Gastrointestinal Procedures

Chapel Hill

Beverley Paton

Atrium Health Carolinas Medical Center

Charlotte

Preston Purdum

Carolina Digestive Health Associates PA

Charlotte

Christopher Watters

Duke General Surgery

Raleigh

Sam Fulp

Charlotte Gastroenterology & Hepatology PLLC

Matthews

Kenneth MacDonald

Physicians East

Greenville

Christopher Jue

Digestive Health Specialists PA

Winston-Salem

Cynthia Lauer

Atrium Health Carolinas Medical Center

Charlotte

Christopher Ferris

Tryon Medical Partners

Charlotte

Lynnette Schiffern

Atrium Health Carolinas Medical Center

Charlotte

Rig Patel

REX Digestive Healthcare

Raleigh

Matthew Wakefield

Central Carolina Surgery PA

Greensboro

Ravikant Varanasi

Pinehurst Medical Clinic

Pinehurst

Robert Noel

Maria Parham Surgical Associates

Henderson

Scott Brotze

Charlotte Gastroenterology & Hepatology

Huntersville

Courtney Sommer

Mission Trauma Services

Asheville

Steven Josephson

Charlotte Gastroenterology & Hepatology

Huntersville

Elizabeth Acquista

New Hanover Regional Medical Center

Wilmington

David Price

Pardee Surgical Associates

Hendersonville

David Grantham

Pinehurst Surgical Clinic

Pinehurst

Raymond Washington

Pinehurst Surgical Clinic

Pinehurst

H. Chu

Pinehurst Surgical Clinic

Pinehurst

Natalie Nowak

Surgical Specialists of Charlotte PA

Matthews

R. Bhasin

Surgical Specialists of Charlotte PA

Huntersville

Eric Wallace

Surgical Specialists of Charlotte PA

Matthews

Matthew Alleman

WakeMed Raleigh Campus

Raleigh

Carolyn Day

North Carolina Surgery

Raleigh

Joel Bruggen John Gilliam

Winston-Salem Winston-Salem Hillsborough

Vedra Augenstein

Charlotte Pinehurst

Thomas Swantkowski Pinehurst Medical Clinic

Pinehurst

Hans Herfarth

UNC Gastrointestinal Medicine

Chapel Hill

Kerry Whitt

RMG Gastroenterology

Raleigh

John Clements

Lake Norman Medical Group

Mooresville

Jason Lewis

Atrium Health Gastroenterology and Hepatology Charlotte

Nilesh Lodhia

Atrium Health Gastroenterology and Hepatology Charlotte

Martin Scobey

Atrium Health Carolinas Medical Center

Charlotte

Shannon Scholl

Cary Gastroenterology Associates

Cary

John Moore

Charlotte Gastroenterology & Hepatology

Huntersville

Nicholas Anthony

Atrium Health Gastroenterology and Hepatology Charlotte

James Rholl

Digestive Health Partners

Hendersonville

Maureen Dale

UNC Faculty Physicians Center

Chapel Hill

Norman Clark

Digestive Health Partners

Hendersonville

Lee Berkowitz

UNC Faculty Physicians Center

Chapel Hill

Murtaza Parekh

REX Digestive Healthcare

Clayton

John Kizer

UNC Chapel Hill

Chapel Hill

Justin Crocker

Duke Gastroenterology

Raleigh

Hal Atkinson

Winston-Salem

Jeffrey Medoff

Wake Forest Baptist Digestive Health

Greensboro

Rajat Chander

Raleigh Endoscopy Center

Raleigh

Eric Frizzell

Pinehurst Medical Clinic

Pinehurst

William Applegate

Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center Wfu Internal Medicine-Sect On Gerontology & Geriatrics Wake Forest Baptist Med Ctr

Wayne Lucas

Pinehurst Medical Clinic

Pinehurst

Jeff Williamson

Wake Forest Baptist Health

Bermuda Run

► General Surgery Leslie Webster

Surgical Specialists of Charlotte PA

Charlotte

Aaron Bergsman

Surgical Specialists Of Charlotte PA

Huntersville

Bryan Blitstein

Surgical Specialists Of Charlotte PA

Charlotte

Carl Westcott

Wake Forest Baptist Health General Surgery

Winston-Salem

David Gerber

UNC Hospitals Jason Ray Transplant Clinic

Chapel Hill

David Overby

UNC General Surgery

Hillsborough

Elizabeth Dreesen

UNC General and Acute Care Surgery Clinic

Chapel Hill

Kent Kercher

Carolinas Specialty Surgery Center Novant Health Salem Surgical Associates Clemmons

Charlotte

William Berger

B U S I N E S S

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N O R T H

Clemmons

► Geriatric Medicine

Mia Yang

Winston-Salem Winston-Salem

► Gynecologic Oncology Paola Gehrig

UNC Gynecologic Oncology

Greensboro

R. Naumann

Atrium Health Levine Cancer Institute

Charlotte

Wendy Brewster

UNC Gynecologic Oncology

Greensboro

Erin Crane

Atrium Health Levine Cancer Institute

Charlotte

John Soper

UNC Hospitals Gynecologic Oncology Clinic

Chapel Hill

Angeles Secord

Duke Cancer Center

Durham

John Boggess

UNC Gynecologic Oncology

Chapel Hill

Linda Van Le

UNC Gynecologic Oncology

Chapel Hill

Jubilee Brown

Atrium Health Levine Cancer Institute

Charlotte

C A R O L I N A

11/19/21 10:53 PM

Erin Stone

Novant Health Mintview OB/GYN

Charlotte

Paul Schmeltzer

Elizabeth Skinner

Novant Health Cancer Institute

Kernersville

Michael Sundborg

FirstHealth Gynecologic Oncology

Pinehurst

► Hospice and Palliative Care

Ashley Case

Hope Women's Cancer Centers

Asheville

Beth Susi

Paula Lee

Duke University Hospital

Durham

Anthony Galanos

Atrium Health Levine Cancer Institute Supportive Charlotte Oncology Clinic Duke Regional Hospital Durham

Brittany Davidson

Duke Cancer Center

Durham

John Barkley

Atrium Health Hospice & Palliative Care

Charlotte

Rebecca Previs

Duke Cancer Center

Durham

Gina Morrill

IPC

Monroe

Tim Vanderkwaak

Hope Women's Cancer Centers

Asheville

Julie Jones

First Health Physicians Group

West End

Blair Harkness

Hope Women's Cancer Centers

Asheville

Laura Hanson

UNC Hospitals

Chapel Hill

Janelle Fauci

Novant Health Gynecologic Oncology Associates Charlotte

Ellen Willard

FirstHealth Hospice & Palliative Care

West End

Physicians East

Joshua Baru

Mission Palliative Care

Asheville

Shenita Moore

Carolinas Hospitalist Group at Atrium Health

Charlotte

Bruce Kennedy

Atrium Health Levine Cancer Institute

Concord

Sandra Whitlock

Academy of Educators

Chapel Hill

Steven Strobel

Richmond County Hospice

Rockingham

Aaron Gavett

FirstHealth Hospitalist Service

West End

Emily Sawyer

Four Seasons Compassion for Life

Flat Rock

Jennifer Davis

Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center

Winston-Salem

Diane Semer

Greenville

► Hand Surgery

Atrium Health Liver Care & Transplant

Charlotte

Robert Chadderdon

OrthoCarolina

Charlotte

John Gaul

OrthoCarolina

Charlotte

Gary Kuzma

The Hand Center of Greensboro

Greensboro

Glenn Gaston

OrthoCarolina

Charlotte

Kevin Kuzma

The Hand Center of Greensboro

Greensboro

Lois Osier

OrthoCarolina

Charlotte

Ethan Wiesler

Wake Forest Baptist Health Orthopaedics

Winston-Salem

► Infectious Disease

L. Koman

Wake Forest Baptist Health Orthopaedics

Winston-Salem

Christopher Ohl

Wake Forest Baptist Health Infectious Diseases Winston-Salem

Richard Smith

EmergeOrtho

Raleigh

Myron Cohen

UNC Div of Infectious Diseases

Chapel Hill

Christopher Lechner

Carolina Hand and Sports Medicine

Asheville

David Weinrib

Atrium Health Infectious Disease

Charlotte

Bruce Minkin

Carolina Hand and Sports Medicine

Asheville

Lewis McCurdy

Atrium Health Infectious Disease

Charlotte

Lacy Thornburg

Carolina Hand and Sports Medicine

Asheville

Michael Leonard

Atrium Health Infectious Disease

Charlotte

Erika Gantt

OrthoCarolina

Charlotte

David Priest

Novant Health Infectious Disease Specialists

Winston-Salem

Richard Bahner

EmergeOrtho

Wilmington

Cynthia Gay

UNC Faculty Physicians Center

Chapel Hill

Harrison Tuttle

Raleigh Orthopaedic Clinic

Cary

Claire Farel

UNC Div of Infectious Diseases

Chapel Hill

Raleigh

Heather Michael

Novant Health Infectious Disease Specialists

Charlotte

Pinehurst

John Sanders

Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center

Winston-Salem

Southeastern Sports Medicine and Orthopedics Arden

Bruce Israel

Mission Infectious Disease Associates

Asheville

OrthoCarolina

Gastonia

Catherine Passaretti

Atrium Health Infectious Disease

Charlotte

Pinehurst

Christopher Parsons

Pardee Center for Infectious Diseases

Hendersonville

Raleigh

Jaspaul Jawanda

FirstHealth Infectious Diseases

Pinehurst

Charlotte

Gretchen Arnoczy

FirstHealth Infectious Diseases

Pinehurst

Zainab Shahid

Atrium Health Levine Cancer Institute

Charlotte

Kristine Johnson

Mission Infectious Disease Associates

Asheville

Stephanie Strollo

Atrium Health Infectious Disease

Concord

T. Gallaher

Physicians East

Kinston

Anne Lachiewicz

UNC Hospitals Jason Ray Transplant Clinic

Chapel Hill

Thomas Belhorn

UNC Infectious Diseases Clinic

Chapel Hill

Octavio Cieza

UNC Specialty Care

Smithfield

Mindy Sampson

Atrium Health Infectious Disease

Charlotte

James Post Mark Brenner Samuel Abrams Julie Woodside Christopher Johnson Paul Schricker Ryan Garcia

Raleigh Hand to Shoulder Center Pinehurst Surgical Clinic

Pinehurst Surgical Clinic PA Raleigh Hand to Shoulder Center OrthoCarolina

► Hematology Reed Friend

Atrium Health Levine Cancer Institute

Charlotte

Stephan Moll

UNC Hospitals

Chapel Hill

Alice Ma

UNC Hospitals

Chapel Hill

Charles Packman

Atrium Health Levine Cancer Institute

Charlotte

Peter Voorhees

Atrium Health Levine Cancer Institute

Charlotte

Mary Knovich

Atrium Health Levine Cancer Institute

Charlotte

David Eagle

Novant Health Cancer Institute - Huntersville

Huntersville

Thomas Knight

Atrium Health Levine Cancer Institute

Charlotte

► Internal Medicine

Brittany Ragon

Atrium Health Levine Cancer Institute

Charlotte

Christina Kennelly

Tryon Medical Partners

Charlotte

Hendrik Van Deventer

University of North Carolina

Chapel Hill

Jane Harrell

H3 Healthcare

Charlotte

Durham

Andrea McGrath

Tryon Medical Partners

Pineville

Charlotte

Amy Shaheen

UNC Faculty Physicians Center

Chapel Hill

Henderson

Alice Cole

Tryon Medical Partners

Charlotte

Gary Shelton

Tryon Medical Partners

Charlotte Charlotte

Michael Deel Ifeyinwa Osunkwo David Mack Srinivasa Sanikommu

Atrium Health Levine Cancer Institute Maria Parham Cancer Center Atrium Health Levine Cancer Institute

James Powell

Trust Company Of The South

Greensboro

Hala Webster

Edward Copelan

Atrium Health Levine Cancer Institute

Charlotte

Thomas Batchelor

Mark Russo

Atrium Health Liver Care & Transplant

Charlotte

Charles Ferree

Tryon Medical Partners Atrium Health North Charlotte Medical Specialists Tryon Medical Partners

Alfred Barritt

University of North Carolina

Chapel Hill

Anne Barnard

Tryon Medical Partners

Charlotte

Andrew Delemos

Atrium Health Liver Care & Transplant

Charlotte

Amy Weil

UNC Faculty Physicians Center

Chapel Hill

Jama Darling

UNC Dept of Hepatology

Chapel Hill

Julianne Weidner

Tryon Medical Partners

Charlotte

D E C E M B E R

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Huntersville Charlotte

2 0 2 1

11/19/21 10:53 PM

Lorri Ayers

Charlotte

Gregory Collins

Atrium Health Randolph Internal Medicine

Charlotte

Winston-Salem

Ronald Walters

FirstHealth Internal Medicine

Pinehurst

Joshua Shoemake

Atrium Health Perspective Health & Wellness Wake Forest Baptist Health University Internal Medicine H3 Healthcare

Rita Mikhail

Sampson Regional Medical Center

Clinton

Robert Bowen

Tryon Medical Partners

Charlotte

Robert Deucher

FirstHealth Hospitalist Service

Pinehurst

Peter Copsis

Tryon Medical Partners

Charlotte

Phuong-Mai Vu

Wake Internal Medicine Consultants

Raleigh

Eric Landis

Tryon Medical Partners

Pineville

Jessica Heestand

Wake Internal Medicine

Raleigh

John Sensenbrenner

Sensenbrenner Primary Care PLLC

Charlotte

Walter Morris

Walter S Morris III MD PLLC

Southern Pines

Cristin Colford

Chapel Hill

Moses Cone Physician Services Inc

Greensboro

William Flannery

Huntersville Pediatrics & Internal Medicine

Huntersville

Philip Lackey

UNC Faculty Physicians Center Wake Forest Baptist Health University Internal Medicine Signature Healthcare PLLC

Lawal Garba Leigh Medaris

Atrium Health Infectious Disease

Charlotte

Christopher Cosgrove

Intracoastal Internal Medicine

Wilmington

Benson Okeiyi

CaroMont Health

Gastonia

Andre Leonard

Intracoastal Internal Medicine

Wilmington

Michael Soboeiro

WakeMed Primary Care

Garner

Daniel Aquino

Tryon Medical Partners

Charlotte

Prashanti Aryal

Wake Internal Medicine

Raleigh

Kerry Briones

Tryon Medical Partners

Charlotte

Justin Miller

Tryon Medical Partners

Matthews

Alicia Reams

Tryon Medical Partners

Charlotte

► Interventional Cardiology

John Tenini

Tryon Medical Partners

Charlotte

Michael Rinaldi

Caroline Wilds

Tryon Medical Partners

Charlotte

Glen Kowalchuk

Claire Presswood

Tryon Medical Partners

Charlotte

Michael Kutcher

Atrium Health Sanger Heart & Vascular Institute Charlotte Atrium Health Atrium Health Sanger Heart & Charlotte Vascular Institute Wake Forest Baptist Health Winston-Salem

Jason Carnes

Tryon Medical Partners

Huntersville

Sanjay Gandhi

Vascular and Cardiac Catheterization Lab

Winston-Salem

Robert Brownlee

Tryon Medical Partners

Charlotte

James Mills

Duke University Medical Center

Raleigh

Kym Furney

Tryon Medical Partners

Pineville

George Stouffer

UNC Hospitals Outpatient Center at Eastowne

Chapel Hill

Elizabeth Perry

Signature Healthcare PLLC

Charlotte

Keith Davis

Pinehurst Medical Clinic

Pinehurst

Catherine Walsh

UNCPN Internal Medicine at Weaver Crossing

Chapel Hill

Patrick Simpson

Pinehurst Medical Clinic

Pinehurst

Hendren Bajillan

The Westchester Building

High Point

Scott Denardo

FirstHealth Cardiology Laurinburg

Laurinburg

Paul Tobin

North Chatham Pediatrics & Internal Medicine

Chapel Hill

William Harris

FirstHealth Cardiology

Pinehurst

Hal Hemme

Asheville Internal Medicine

Asheville

Mohit Pasi

North Carolina Heart & Vascular

Raleigh

Aubrey Calhoun

Lake Norman Medical Group-Internal Medicine Mooresville

Sun Kim

Aaron Miller

Novant Health Inpatient Care Specialists

Matthews

Kurt Daniel

Wake Forest Baptist Health Internal Medicine

High Point

Muhammad Ahmed

Vidant Medical Center

Greenville

Prashant Singh

Cone Health Advanced Heart Failure Clinic At Moses Cone Hospital Fischer Clinic

Greensboro

► Maternal And Fetal Medicine

Carolinas Hospitalist Group at Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Health University Internal Medicine Atrium Health Charlotte Internal Medicine & Specialty Group Mission Hospital Medicine

Charlotte

Megan Alexander

Francis O'Brien

Snehalatha Konidena Benjamin Fischer Kelly Forb William Rice Iris Cheng Scott Joslin Stephen Brown Eric Byrd

Carolina Internal Medicine

Erika Bono Laura Diefendorf Ranee Montgomery

Charlotte

Atrium Health Carolinas Medical Center Duke Primary Care Henderson

Atrium Health CMC Women’s Institute

Charlotte

John Allbert

Novant Health Maternal-Fetal Medicine

Cornelius

Rebecca Pollack

Atrium Health CMC Women’s Institute

Charlotte

Brenna Hughes

Duke Birthing Center

Durham

Winston-Salem

Alison Stuebe

UNC Maternal-Fetal Medicine

Raleigh

Charlotte

Robert Strauss

UNC Maternal-Fetal Medicine

Raleigh

Asheville

Nikki Koklanaris

Atrium Health CMC Women’s Institute

Charlotte

Geeta Swamy

Duke Perinatal

Durham

Chad Grotegut

Duke Birthing Center

Durham

Elizabeth Coviello

UNC Maternal-Fetal Medicine

Raleigh

Andra James

Duke Birthing Center

Durham

Carol Coulson

MAHEC OB/GYN Specialists

Asheville

M. Menard

UNC Maternal-Fetal Medicine

Chapel Hill

Durham

Julie Johnson

FirstHealth UNC Maternal-Fetal Medicine Wake Forest Baptist Health Obstetrics and Gynecology

Pinehurst

Raleigh

Hendersonville Charlotte Charlotte Henderson

Duke Primary Care

Pinehurst

Lorene Temming

Carygreensboro

Novant Health Southern Piedmont Primary Care Monroe Atrium Health Charlotte Medical Clinic

Lane Jacobs

Winston-Salem

Asheville

Carolina Mountain Internal Medicine

Michelle Foster

Charlotte

Robert Watt

FirstHealth Hospitalist Service

Pinehurst

Johanna Jorizzo

Mary Weitzel

FirstHealth Hospitalist Service

Pinehurst

Charles Howarth

FirstHealth Hospitalist Service

Pinehurst

► Medical Oncology And Hematology

Van Slaughter

FirstHealth Hospitalist Service

Pinehurst

Jenifir Bruno

FirstHealth Hospitalist Service

Pinehurst

Glenn Lesser

Adam Ligler

Tryon Medical Partners

Charlotte

Faye Campbell

Novant Health Ballantyne Medical Group

Michael Daley

Clemmons

Charlotte

Matthew Milowsky

Atrium Health Levine Cancer Institute Wake Forest Baptist Health Hematology and Oncology UNC Hospitals Adult Oncology Clinics

Charlotte

Julie Fisher

Atrium Health Levine Cancer Institute

Charlotte

Pinehurst Medical Clinic

West End

Kathryn Brownlee

Novant Health Cancer Institute

Charlotte

Michol Stanzione

Pinehurst Medical Clinic

Southern Pines

Tracy Rose

UNC Division of Hematology/Oncology

Chapel Hill

Bobby Maynor

Pinehurst Medical Clinic

Pinehurst

Asim Amin

Atrium Health Levine Cancer Institute

Charlotte

Douglas Schultz

Randolph Health Internal Medicine

Asheboro

Elizabeth Dees

UNC Hospitals Adult Oncology Clinics

Chapel Hill

B U S I N E S S

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N O R T H

Reza Nazemzadeh

Winston-Salem Chapel Hill

C A R O L I N A

11/19/21 10:53 PM

David Hurd

Comprehensive Cancer Center

Winston-Salem

Gerald Hladik

Gary Frenette

Atrium Health Levine Cancer Institute

Charlotte

Michael Morse

Durham

Joseph Coladonato

Ethan Basch

Duke University Medical Center Wake Forest Baptist Health Hematology and Oncology UNC Hospitals Adult Oncology Clinics

UNC Hospitals Kidney Specialty and Transplant Chapel Hill Clinic Carolina Kidney Associates PA Greensboro

Shiaowen Hsu

Chris Fotiadis

Metrolina Nephrology Associates

Charlotte

Winston-Salem

Maxwell Fisher

Vidant Medical Center

Greenville

Chapel Hill

Tariq Abo-Kamil

Maria Parham Nephrology & Hypertension

Henderson

Duke University Medical Center

Durham

Todd Griffith

Metrolina Nephrology Associates

Charlotte

Hope Uronis

Duke Cancer Center

Durham

Alexander Page

Pinehurst Nephrology Associates PC

Pinehurst

Lane Hellner

Atrium Health Levine Cancer Institute

Charlotte

John Shepherd

Pinehurst Nephrology Associates PC

Pinehurst

Kathryn Mileham

Atrium Health Levine Cancer Institute

Charlotte

Jennifer Stoddard

Pinehurst Nephrology Associates PC

Pinehurst

Amanda Sherrod

REX Hematology Oncology Associates

Cary

Hanna Von Hardenberg Pinehurst Nephrology Associates PC

Pinehurst

Carey Anders

Duke Cancer Center

Durham

Edward Hoehn-Saric

Pinehurst

Frances Collichio

University of North Carolina

Chapel Hill

Jonathan Serody

Chapel Hill

► Neurological Surgery

James Atkins

UNC School of Medicine Wake Forest Baptist Health Hematology and Oncology Wilkes Medical Center

James Radford

Paul Savage

Pinehurst Nephrology Associates PC

Stephen Tatter

Wake Forest Baptist Health Neurosurgery

Winston-Salem

Anthony Asher

Carolina Neurosurgery & Spine Associates

Charlotte

Wilkesboro

Charles Branch

Wake Forest Baptist Health Spine Center

Clemmons

Hendersonville Hematology and Oncology

Hendersonville

Daniel Couture

Wake Forest Baptist Health

Winston-Salem

Timothy Kuo

Novant Health Cancer Institute - Huntersville

Huntersville

John Wilson

Wake Forest Baptist Health

Winston-Salem

Gary Sherrill

Cone Health Cancer Center

Greensboro

E. Dyer

Carolina Neurosurgery & Spine Associates

Charlotte

Alan Kritz

REX Hematology Oncology Associates

Raleigh

Martin Henegar

Charlotte

Jeremiah Boles

Raleigh

Stacey Wolfe

Raymond Thertulien

REX Hematology Oncology Associates Wake Forest Baptist Health Hematology and Oncology Asheville Hematology & Oncology

Carolina Neurosurgery & Spine Associates Novant Health Brain & Spine Surgery - Kimel Park Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center

Asheville

Domagoj Coric

Carolina Neurosurgery & Spine Associates

Charlotte

Christopher Chay

Messino Cancer Centers

Asheville

Richard Lytle

Carolina Spine & Neurosurgery Center

Asheville

Sean Wang

Duke Cancer Center

Cary

Lars Gardner

Raleigh Neurosurgical Clinic

Raleigh

Robert Pohlmeyer

FirstHealth Outpatient Cancer Center

Pinehurst

Erin Kiehna

Novant Health Brain & Spine Surgery

Charlotte

Gregory Brouse

Atrium Health Levine Cancer Institute

Monroe

Laith Khoury

Raleigh Neurosurgical Clinic

Raleigh

Z. Farmer

Atrium Health Levine Cancer Institute

Monroe

Robin Koeleveld

REX Neurosurgery and Spine Specialists

Raleigh

Daniel Haggstrom

Atrium Health Levine Cancer Institute

Charlotte

James Walker

FirstHealth Neurosurgery

Pinehurst

Bei Hu

Atrium Health Levine Cancer Institute

Charlotte

Wesley Fowler

Carolina Spine & Neurosurgery Center

Asheville

Kunal Kadakia

Atrium Health Levine Cancer Institute

Charlotte

Navin Anthony

Hendersonville Hematology and Oncology

Hendersonville

► Neurology

Heather White

Physicians East

Greenville

Charles Kuzma

Pinehurst Medical Clinic

Pinehurst

Nirav Dhruva

REX Hematology Oncology Associates

Raleigh

Bradford Powell

UNC Adult and Cancer Genetics Clinic

Chapel Hill

Anureet Copeland

REX Hematology Oncology Associates

Chapel Hill

Oludamilola Olajide

Raleigh

Thomas Richard

REX Hematology Oncology Associates Wake Forest Baptist Health Hematology and Oncology FirstHealth Outpatient Cancer Center

Omotayo Fasan

Novant Health Cancer Institute

Winston-Salem

Bayard Powell

William Petty

Stefan Grant

Winston-Salem

Winston-Salem Pinehurst

Rashid Janjua

Winston-Salem Lexington

Andrea Diedrich

Carolina Neurological Clinic

Charlotte

Anita Wu

Carolina Neurological Clinic

Charlotte

Charles Tegeler

Wake Forest Univ School of Medicine

Winston-Salem

Cormac O'Donovan

Wake Forest Baptist Health Neurology

Winston-Salem

Richard Bedlack

Duke Nephrology Clinic

Durham

Daniel Laskowitz

Duke University Medical Center

Durham

Ana Felix

UNC Faculty Physicians Center

Chapel Hill

Heidi Roth

UNC Hospitals Neurology Clinic

Chapel Hill

David Huang

UNC-Chapel Hill Dept of Neurology

Chapel Hill

Michael Cartwright

Winston-Salem

Chapel Hill

Vanessa Baute

Nancy Gritter

UNC Hospitals Kidney Specialty and Transplant Clinic Metrolina Nephrology Associates

Wake Forest Baptist Health Neurology UNC Hospitals Vascular Interventional Radiology Clinic Wake Forest University

Charlotte

Kaiwen Lin

Carolina Neurological Clinic

Charlotte

Abhijit Kshirsagar

UNC Hospitals Outpatient Center at Eastowne

Chapel Hill

Danielle Englert

Atrium Health Neurology

Charlotte

Ruediger Lehrich

Duke Nephrology Clinic

Durham

Jill Conway

CMC Neuroscience & Spine Institute

Charlotte

Michael Rocco

Wake Forest Baptist Health Kidney Services

Winston-Salem

Jeffrey Cooney

Duke Nephrology Clinic

Durham

John Duronville

Duke Nephrology

Durham

Antonia Ahern

Guilford Neurologic Associates

Greensboro

David Ortiz Melo

Duke University Hospitals

Durham

Casey Olm-Shipman

UNC Hospitals

Chapel Hill

Thomas Coffman

Duke University Medical Center

Durham

Angela Wabulya

UNC Hospitals Neurology Clinic

Chapel Hill

Kimberly Yates

Metrolina Nephrology Associates

Huntersville

Winnie Lau

UNC Hospitals

Chapel Hill

Vimal Derebail

UNC Hospitals Outpatient Center At Eastowne

Chapel Hill

Rhonda Cadena

UNC Department of Urology

Chapel Hill

Prabir Roy-Chaudhury

UNC Kidney Center

Chapel Hill

James Caress

Wake Forest Univ School of Medicine

Winston-Salem

Theodore Stem

Wake Forest Baptist Health

Winston-Salem

Alexander Schneider

Mission Neurology

Asheville

Carney Taylor

Eastern Nephrology Associates

Greenville

Joseph Miller

Novant Health Inpatient Stroke & Neurosciences Greensboro

► Nephrology Ronald Falk

Hae Won Shin

D E C E M B E R

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Chapel Hill Winston-Salem

2 0 2 1

11/19/21 10:54 PM

Keith Hull

Raleigh Neurology Associates PA

Raleigh

Delores Johnson

Premier Women's Care PLLC

Fayetteville

Susan Glenn

Raleigh Neurology Associates PA

Raleigh

Caroline Lewis

UNC Women's Health

Clayton

Aarti Sarwal

Wake Forest Baptist Health Neurology

Winston-Salem

John Byron

Southern Pines Women's Health Center

Southern Pines

Sanjay Iyer

Memory & Movement Charlotte

Charlotte

Kendall Zmiewsky

Southern Pines Women's Health Center

Southern Pines

Liya Beyderman

Charlotte Neurological Services

Charlotte

Vijay Sheshadri

Triangle Physicians for Women

Cary

Melanie Blacker

FirstHealth Hospitalist Service

Pinehurst

Jennifer Mury

UNC Women's Health

Clayton

Sarah Uffindell

FirstHealth Hospitalist Service

Pinehurst

Diana McCarthy

Wakemed Cary Hospital

Raleigh

Steven Lewis

FirstHealth Hospitalist Service

Pinehurst

Michelle Homeister

Wilkerson OBGYN

Raleigh

Jonathan Richman

Pinehurst Neurology PA

Pinehurst

Roy Beaty

Pardee OB/GYN Associates

Hendersonville

John Scagnelli

Raleigh Neurology Associates PA

Raleigh

Carlos Bendfeldt

UNC Women's Health

Clayton

Ajmal Gilani

UNC Neurology

Clayton

Emily Hutcheson

Atrium Health Women’s Care Eastover OB/GYN Charlotte

Michael Forbes

UNC Hospitals Neurology Clinic

Chapel Hill

Nichelle Satterfield

Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center

Winston-Salem

Ginger Dickerson

Joel Callahan

Pardee Neurology Associates

Hendersonville

Walter Davis

Durham Women's Clinic Atrium Health Women’s Care Eastover University OB/GYN Wake Forest Baptist Health Duke Employee Occupational Health and Wellness Clinic

Raleigh

Nuhad Abou Zeid

Carrie Lee

UNC Hospitals Adult Oncology Clinics

Chapel Hill

Sridhar Pal

Atrium Health Levine Cancer Institute

Charlotte

Young Whang

UNC Hospitals Adult Oncology Clinics

Chapel Hill

Richard Krumdieck

Novant Health Lake Norman Oncology

Mooresville

Hanna Sanoff

UNC Hospitals Adult Oncology Clinics

Chapel Hill

Antoinette Tan

Atrium Health Levine Cancer Institute

Charlotte

Roy Strowd

Wake Forest Univ Baptist Medical Center

Winston-Salem

Charlotte

Jing Ai

Atrium Health Levine Cancer Institute

Charlotte

► Obstetrics And Gynecology

Kristen Said

Leslie Hansen-Lindner Atrium Health Women’s Care Charlotte OB/GYN Charlotte Atrium Health Women’s Care Eastover Charlotte Grant Campbell University OB/GYN Mark Bland Novant Health Rankin OB/GYN Charlotte

Charlotte Winston-Salem Durham

► Oncology

Steven Paterno

Atrium Health Women’s Care Copperfield OB/GYN Concord

Aviva Stein

Atrium Health Women’s Care Charlotte OB/GYN Charlotte

Michael Evers

UNC Specialty Care

Siler City

Susann Clifford

Duke Women's Health Associates

Durham

Laura Havrilesky

Durham

Jennie Hauschka

Duke Cancer Center Atrium Health Women’s Care Eastover University OB/GYN Mintview OB/GYN

Charlotte

Jessica-Lyn Masterson Atrium Health Levine Cancer Institute

Charlotte

Lisa Jackson-Moore

UNC OB/GYN

Chapel Hill

Nusrat Chaudhary

Novant Health Cancer Institute

Matthews

Charles Termin

Atrium Health Women’s Care Charlotte OB/GYN Charlotte

Bernard Chinnasami

Hayworth Cancer Center

High Point

Richard James

Atrium Health Women’s Care Charlotte OB/GYN Charlotte

Mark Graham

Waverly Hematology Oncology

Cary

Beverly Gray

Duke Birthing Center

Durham

Arielle Heeke

Kathryn Hull

Novant Health Providence OB/GYN

Charlotte

Chasse Bailey-Dorton

Amy Fletcher

Thrive Personalized Healthcare & Wellness PLLC Charlotte

Jennifer Howell

Duke University Hospital

Durham

Todd Moore

Atrium Health Levine Cancer Institute Charlotte Atrium Health Levine Cancer Institute Supportive Charlotte Oncology Clinic Cape Fear Valley Hospital Fayetteville

Maria Munoz

UNC Hospitals

Chapel Hill

Juneko Grilley-Olson

UNC Hospitals Adult Oncology Clinics

George Nowacek

UNC OB/GYN

Chapel Hill

Allison Bell

Atrium Health Women’s Care Charlotte OB/GYN Charlotte

Andrew Antoszyk

Charlotte Eye Ear Nose & Throat Associates PA Charlotte

Christie Secrest

Atrium Health Women’s Care Charlotte OB/GYN Charlotte

Terry Kim

Duke Eye Center

Laura Pekman

Atrium Health Women’s Care Charlotte OB/GYN Charlotte

Scott Jaben

Charlotte Eye Ear Nose & Throat Associates PA Charlotte

Susan Antle

Atrium Health Women’s Care Charlotte OB/GYN Charlotte

Craig Greven

Wake Forest Baptist Health Eye Center

Winston-Salem

William Johnstone

Coastal OBGYN Specialists

Wilmington

Keith Walter

Wake Forest Baptist Health Eye Center

Winston-Salem

Pamela Kantorowski

Southern Pines Women's Health Center

Southern Pines

Omar Punjabi

Charlotte Eye Ear Nose & Throat Associates PA Charlotte

Scott Augustine

Sampson Women's Center

Clinton

Joseph Krug

Horizon Eye Care

Charlotte

William Taft

Physicians East

Greenville

Vandana Minnal

Horizon Eye Care

Charlotte

Alice Chuang

UNC OB/GYN

Chapel Hill

Jan Niklas Ulrich

UNC Kittner Eye Center

Chapel Hill

Andrea Dickerson

A Woman's Place

Fayetteville

Herb Greenman

Greenman Eye Associates

Charlotte

Lisa Chitour

Biltmore OB-GYN PA

Asheville

Rajiv Shah

Wake Forest Baptist Health Eye Center

Winston-Salem

Latoya Patterson

Duke Ambulatory Surgery Center

Durham

Royce Syracuse

Horizon Eye Care

Charlotte

Astrid Jain

Atrium Health Women’s Care Eastover OB/GYN Charlotte

Matthew Giegengack

Wake Forest Baptist Health Eye Center

Winston-Salem

Jennifer Kalich

Atrium Health Women’s Care Eastover OB/GYN Charlotte

Anna Fakadej

Carolina Eye Associates

Southern Pines

Mohamed Ibrahim

FirstHealth OB/GYN

Rockingham

John French

Carolina Eye Associates

Southern Pines

John Yoon

Kamm McKenzie OBGYN

Raleigh

Winston Garris

Carolina Eye Associates

Southern Pines

Bari Byrd

Kamm McKenzie OBGYN

Raleigh

Tarra Millender

Carolina Eye Associates

Southern Pines

Breanna Bolivar

MAHEC OB/GYN Specialists

Asheville

Gregory Mincey

Carolina Eye Associates

Southern Pines

Kiran Sigmon

Mahec Ob/Gyn Specialists

Asheville

Jeffrey White

Carolina Eye Associates

Southern Pines

Kori Whitley

Physicians East

Greenville

Arghavan Almony

Carolina Eye Associates

Southern Pines

Greenville

Christina Choe

Carolina Ophthalmology PA

Hendersonville

Suzanna Fox

Angela Haskins

Physicians East

B U S I N E S S

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N O R T H

Chapel Hill

► Ophthalmology Durham

C A R O L I N A

11/19/21 10:54 PM

Nehali Saraiya

Charlotte Eye Ear Nose & Throat Associates PA Charlotte

Bryan Springer

OrthoCarolina

Charlotte

K. Mathys

Charlotte Eye Ear Nose & Throat Associates PA Charlotte

Christopher Elder

Asheville Orthopaedic Associates

Asheville

Galen Grayson

Atrium Health Ophthalmology

Charlotte

Claude Moorman

OrthoCarolina

Charlotte

David Greenman

Greenman Eye Associates

Charlotte

Shadley Schiffern

OrthoCarolina

Charlotte

Jonathan Fritz

Carolina Ophthalmology PA

Hendersonville

Walter Beaver

OrthoCarolina

Charlotte

Patrick Hageman

Kernersville Eye Surgeons PC

Kernersville

Aaron Scott

Wake Forest Baptist Health Orthopaedics

Winston-Salem

Tushar Patel

Lake Norman Ophthalmology

Mooresville

Suhail Mithani

Duke South Clinics

Durham

Isaac Porter

Porter Ophthalmology

Raleigh

James Sanders

UNC Orthopaedics

Chapel Hill

Kerry Hunt

Raleigh Eye Center

Raleigh

W. Huff

Huff Orthopaedics & Sports Medicine

Clinton

Alice Lin

Raleigh Eye Center

Raleigh

Bryan Loeffler

Orthocarolina

Charlotte

Syndee Givre

Raleigh Neurology Associates PA

Raleigh

Christopher Barsanti

Orthopaedics East & Sports Medicine Center

Greenville

Pradeep Mettu

Raleigh Eye And Face Plastic Surgery

Raleigh

Christopher Tuohy

Wake Forest Baptist Health OrthoPAedics

Bermuda Run

R. Sharpe

Carolina Eye Associates PA

Southern Pines

Robert Wainer

Greensboro

Leah Bonaparte

Cape Fear Eye Associates PA

Fayetteville

Milan DiGiulio

Margaret Greven

Wake Forest University

Winston-Salem

Kevin Logel

Murphy Wainer Orthopedic Specialists Performance Orthopaedic Surgery & Sports Medicine Raleigh OrthoPAedic Clinic

► Oral And Maxillofacial Surgery

Cary Cary

Kevin Stanley

Mooresville

Brian Farrell

Carolinas Center for Oral & Facial Surgery

Charlotte

Kurt Wohlrab

Pinehurst Surgical Clinic

Pinehurst

John Nale

Carolinas Center for Oral & Facial Surgery

Charlotte

Nady Hamid

OrthoCarolina

Charlotte

Jeffrey Almony

Southern Pines Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery

Pinehurst

Harold Frisch

Mission Orthopedic Trauma Services

Asheville

Shepherd Rosenblum

Emergeortho

Raleigh

Stephen Struble

Wakemed Cary Hospital

Cary

William Isbell

Raleigh OrthoPAedic Clinic

Raleigh

Ward Oakley

Pinehurst Surgical Clinic PA

Pinehurst

Frank Aluisio

Emergeortho

Greensboro

► Orthopedic Surgery Andrew Kersten

Southeastern Sports Medicine And Orthopedics Asheville

Richard Alioto

UNC Orthopedics & Sports Medicine

Clayton

Neil Conti

Pinehurst Surgical Clinic PA

Pinehurst

Greig McAvoy

UNC Orthopedics

Rocky Mount

R. Estes

Southeastern Sports Medicine And Orthopedics Hendersonville

Christopher Hasty

Orthopaedics East & Sports Medicine Center

Greenville

Suzanne Hall

Appalachian Shoulder Specialists

Hendersonville

Christopher Parks

Emergeortho

Wilmington

Sarah DeWitt

Orthopedic Surgery of the Foot and Ankle

Raleigh

► Otolaryngology Ear Nose Throat

Philip Perdue

Orthopaedics East & Sports Medicine Center

Greenville

Roy Lewis

Charlotte Eye Ear Nose & Throat Associates PA Mooresville

Alexander Lemons

Pinehurst Surgical Clinic PA

Pinehurst

Stephen Seal

Asheville Ear Nose and Throat

Hendersonville

David Pollock

Wake Forest Baptist Health

Bermuda Run

Marcus Albernaz

Eastern Carolina Ent

Greenville

Michael Bolognesi

Duke Orthopaedics

Morrisville

Paul Brechtelsbauer

Eastern Carolina Ent

Greenville

Bruce Cohen

OrthoCarolina

Charlotte

Eric Lindbeck

Eastern Carolina Ent

Greenville

Eben Carroll

Wake Forest Baptist Health Orthopaedics

Winston-Salem

Justin Miller

Pinehurst Surgical Clinic

Pinehurst

Christopher Olcott

UNC Orthopaedics

Chapel Hill

Waldemar Riefkohl

Pinehurst Surgical Clinic

Pinehurst

Cynthia Emory

Wake Forest Baptist Health Orthopaedics

Winston-Salem

Wyman McGuirt

Pinehurst Surgical Clinic PA

Pinehurst

David Casey

Pinehurst Surgical Clinic PA

Pinehurst

Jeevan Ramakrishnan Raleigh Capitol Ear Nose & Throat PA

Raleigh

Mark Suprock

OrthoCarolina

Huntersville

John Garside

REX Ear Nose And Throat Specialists

Cary

Gary Poehling

Wake Forest Baptist Health Orthopaedics

Winston-Salem

Kenneth Johnson

UNC Ear Nose and Throat

Clayton

Scott Smith

OrthoCarolina

Huntersville

Michael Ferguson

WakeMed Raleigh Campus

Raleigh

Scott Kelley

Duke Regional Hospital

Durham

Nathan Calloway

Wakemed Raleigh Campus

Garner

Winston-Salem

Charles Ebert

UNC Ear Nose and Throat

Chapel Hill

Charlotte Eye Ear Nose & Throat Associates PA Charlotte

Robert Teasdall

Wake Forest Baptist Health Orthopaedics

Sergio Mendoza Lattes Duke Spine Center

Durham

Gregory Tayrose

UNC Orthopedics & Sports Medicine

Clayton

David Martin

Wake Forest Baptist Health

Winston-Salem

James McDonald

OrthoCarolina

Mooresville

Thomas Fehring

OrthoCarolina

Charlotte

Hunter Hoover

W. Ward

OrthoCarolina

Charlotte

Michael Sicard

Charlotte Eye Ear Nose & Throat Associates PA Matthews

Chapel Hill

Mark Weigel

Charlotte Eye Ear Nose & Throat Associates PA Huntersville

Asheville

William Shockley

UNC Ear Nose and Throat

Chapel Hill

Bermuda Run

Brian Thorp

UNC Ear Nose and Throat

Chapel Hill

Charlotte Eye Ear Nose & Throat Associates PA Charlotte

Robert Ostrum Adam Kaufman Maxwell Langfitt

UNC Orthopaedics Mission Orthopedic Trauma Services Wake Forest Univ Baptist Medical Center

Daniel Rose

EmergeOrtho PA

Wilmington

Kenneth Compton

Marc Stevens

Hugh Chatham Memorial Hospital

Elkin

Trevor Hackman

UNC Ear Nose and Throat

Steven Heavner

Charlotte Eye Ear Nose & Throat Associates PA Charlotte

Brendan O'Connell

Charlotte Eye Ear Nose & Throat Associates PA Wake Forest Baptist Health ENT/Head and Neck Surgery Wake Forest Baptist Health ENT/Head and Neck Surgery Wake Forest Baptist Health

► Orthopedics Michael Dockery

OrthoCarolina

Charlotte

Michael Bates

OrthoCarolina

Charlotte

Virginia Casey

OrthoCarolina

Charlotte

J. Browne

Richard Moore

EmergeOrtho PA

Wilmington

Brian Downs

Christopher Sullivan

D E C E M B E R

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Chapel Hill Charlotte Winston-Salem Winston-Salem Clemmons

2 0 2 1

11/19/21 10:55 PM

Jennifer Hooker

► Pain Management

Mission Health and its affiliates

Asheville

James Hancock

Atrium Health Cabarrus Pain Management

Concord

► Pediatric Otalaryngology ENT

Hsiupei Chen

REX Pain Management Center

Raleigh

Amelia Drake

UNC Ear Nose and Throat

Chapel Hill

Binit Shah Joanna WroblewskaShah Jason Ravanbakht

Carolinas Pain Center

Huntersville

Carlton Zdanski

UNC Ear Nose and Throat

Chapel Hill

Carolinas Pain Center

Huntersville

Sajeev Puri

Charlotte Eye Ear Nose & Throat Associates PA Charlotte

Atrium Health Cabarrus Pain Management

Concord

Jonathan Moss

Charlotte Eye Ear Nose & Throat Associates

Matthews

Landirs Williams

Northeast Pain Management Ctr

Concord

Austin Rose

UNC Chapel Hill

Chapel Hill

Jennifer Oliver

Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center

Winston-Salem

► Pediatric Surgery

Paul Kuzma

National Spine & Pain Centers

Pinehurst

Sherry Ross

UNC Hospitals Children's Specialty Clinic

Chapel Hill

Raza Khan

Southeast Pain Care

Charlotte

Andrea Jordan-Hayes

UNC Hospitals Children's Specialty Clinic

Chapel Hill

Kevin Costello

Southeast Pain and Spine Care

Charlotte

Daniel Bambini

Pediatric Surgical Associates

Charlotte

Paul Kirshbom

Edward Lipford

Carolinas Pathology Group PA

Charlotte

Kiran Adlakha

Carolinas Pathology Group PA

Charlotte

Duncan Phillips

Atrium Health Sanger Heart & Vascular Institute Charlotte Atrium Health Levine Children’s HEARTest Yard Charlotte Congenital Heart Center WakeMed Health & Hospitals Raleigh

Rex Bentley

Duke University Medical Center

Durham

Katherine Chan

UNC Hospital’s Children’s Specialty Clinic

Jared Block

Carolinas Pathology Group PA

Charlotte

Siobhan O'Connor

UNC Dept of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine

Chapel Hill

► Pediatrics General

William Ahrens

Carolinas Pathology Group PA

Charlotte

Robert Burks

Carolinas Pathology Group PA

Charlotte

► Pathology

Thomas Maxey

Chapel Hill

Chad McCall

Duke University Medical Center

Durham

Jodie Prosser

Kyle Strickland

Duke University Medical Center

Durham

Andrew Shulstad

Atrium Health Levine Children’s Pespective Health & Wellness Novant Health Pediatrics Symphony Park Atrium Health Levine Children's Charlotte Pediatric Clinic Novant Health Pediatrics Symphony Park

Paul Googe

UNC Dermatopathology Laboratory

Chapel Hill

Jeffrey Baker

Duke Children's South Durham

Durham

Carol Weida

Carolinas Pathology Group PA

Charlotte

John Petty

Winston-Salem

Omar Sangueza

The Skin Surgery Center

Winston-Salem

George Manousos

Tim Wax

Atrium Health Cabarrus

Concord

Elton Smith

Carolinas Pathology Group PA

Charlotte

Beatriz Morris

Wake Forest Univ BMC Atrium Health Levine Children's Charlotte Pediatric Clinic Duke Childrens Primary Care

Charles Schirmer

Pinehurst Pathology Center

Pinehurst

Nicole McMahon

FirstHealth Hospitalist Service

Pinehurst

Megan DiFurio

Pinehurst PAthology Center

Pinehurst

Sally Wood

Amina Ahmed

North Chatham Pediatrics and Internal Medicine Chapel Hill Atrium Health Levine Children's Shelby Shelby Children's Clinic Atrium Health Levine Children’s Hospital Charlotte

Robert Silver

Atrium Health Cabarrus Pain Management

Concord

Charles Hayek

Twin City Pediatrics Winston Salem

Winston-Salem

Amy Ryan

Eastover Pediatrics

Charlotte

Andrea Scholer

Triad Adult & Pediatric Medicine

High Point

Brian Bowman

Cary Pediatric Center

Apex

Christoph Diasio

Sandhills Pediatrics

Southern Pines

Ave Lachiewicz

Durham

May Slowik

Lenox Baker Children's Hospital Atrium Health Levine Children's University Pediatrics Duke Children's Hospital

Peter Chu

ABC Pediatrics Of Asheville PA

Asheville

Laurie Pulver

ABC Pediatrics Of Asheville PA

Asheville

Charlotte

Patricia Morgan

Atrium Health Levine Children’s Hospital

Charlotte

Mike Villareal

Cary Pediatric Center

Cary

Michael Minozzi

Chapel Hill Children & Adolescents' Clinic

Chapel Hill

Laura Windham Gabriela Maradiaga Panayotti Sara Page

Chapel Hill Children & Adolescents' Clinic

Chapel Hill

Duke Children's Primary Care

Durham

Duke Children's Primary Care

Raleigh

John Templeton

French Broad Pediatric Associates PLLC

Asheville

Marisa Flores

Kernodle Clinic Elon

Elon

Ansley Miller

Mission Children's Specialists

Asheville

Lillian Harris

Raleigh Children & Adolescents Medicine

Raleigh

Natalee French

Sandhills Pediatrics

Southern Pines

William Stewart

Sandhills Pediatrics

Southern Pines

► Pediatric Allergy Immunology Michelle Hernandez

UNC Allergy & Immunology Clinic

Raleigh

► Pediatric Cardiology Gonzalo Wallis Joseph Paolillo Matthew Schwartz

Atrium Health Levine Children’s HEARTest Yard Charlotte Congenital Heart Center Atrium Health Levine Children’s HEARTest Yard Charlotte Congenital Heart Center Atrium Health Sanger Heart & Vascular Institute Hickory

► Pediatric Dermatology Diana McShane

UNC Dermatology & Skin Cancer Center

Chapel Hill

Dean Morrell

UNC Dermatology & Skin Cancer Center

Chapel Hill

► Pediatric Endocrinology Jakub Mieszczak Lisa Houchin Diane Miller

Atrium Health Levine Children’s Pediatric Endocrinology & Diabetes Specialists Atrium Health Levine Children’s Pediatric Endocrinology & Diabetes Specialists School Of Medicine Logo

Chapel Hill

► Pediatric Gastroenterology Michael Kappelman Victor Pineiro-Carrero Jason Dranove

UNC Hospitals Children's Specialty Clinic Chapel Hill Atrium Health Levine Children’s Specialty Center Charlotte Gastroenterology Atrium Health Levine Children’s Specialty Center Charlotte Gastroenterology

► Pediatric Orthopedics Orthopedic Surgery John Frino

WFU Health Sciences

Winston-Salem

Christian Clark

OrthoCarolina

Charlotte

B U S I N E S S

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N O R T H

Amanda Lanier Stephanie Richter

Jonathan Brownlee

Lubna Elahi

Charlotte Charlotte Matthews Charlotte

Matthews Durham

Charlotte Durham

C A R O L I N A

11/19/21 10:55 PM

Charlotte

Nicole Aho

William Mills

Atrium Health Levine Children's Arboretum Pediatrics Unc Hospitals Emergency Department

Charlotte

Albert Naftel

Atrium Health Behavioral Health Charlotte, a facility of Carolinas Medical Center UNC Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Clinic

Chapel Hill

Alison Kavanaugh

UNC Pediatrics

Durham

Dan Blazer

Duke University Medical Center

Samareh Hill

Durham

Wakemed Raleigh Medical Park

Raleigh

Amy Ursano

Chapel Hill

Jasna Nogo

Kernodle Clinic

Elon

Jonathan McKinsey

Marchi Lopez-Linus

Western Wake Pediatrics PA

Cary

Jon Hutchinson

Piedmont HealthCare PA

Statesville

Hasan Baloch

Hope Seidel

Cary Pediatric Center Atrium Health Levine Children's Gastonia Children's Clinic

Cary

Mary Mandell

UNC Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Clinic Atrium Health Behavioral Health Psychiatry & Counseling Johnston Health Atrium Health Behavioral Health Charlotte, a facility of Carolinas Medical Center Atrium Health Behavioral Health Charlotte, a facility of Carolinas Medical Center FirstHealth Behavioral Services

Meredith Stanton

FirstHealth Behavioral Services

Pinehurst

Anitha Leonard

Lawrence Hurst

Gastonia

► Physical Medicine And Rehabilitation

David Litchford Alicia Romeo

Chapel Hill

Concord Smithfield Charlotte Charlotte Pinehurst

John Welshofer

Carolina Neurosurgery & Spine Associates

Charlotte

Tia Konzer

Konzer Psychiatric

Davidson

Puneet Aggarwal

Atrium Health Carolinas Rehabilitation

Charlotte

Mark Mason

Mission Medical Associates

Asheville

John Baratta

UNC Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation

Charlotte

David Freeman

MMA Psychiatric Services

Asheville

William Bockenek

Richard Zenn

MMA Psychiatric Services

Asheville

Scott Klenzak

Pine Cone Clinic PLLC

Pinehurst

Alexander Chasnis

Atrium Health Carolinas Rehabilitation Charlotte Carolina Rehabilitation and Surgical Associates Raleigh PA UNCPN Internal Medicine at Weaver Crossing Huntersville

Zachary Feldman

Raleigh Psychiatric Associates

Chapel Hill

Daniel Moore

East Carolina University

Greenville

Kenan Penaskovic

UNC Adult Psychiatry Clinic

Chapel Hill

Vishwa Raj

Atrium Health Carolinas Rehabilitation

Charlotte

Kateland Napier

UNC Department of Psychiatry

Chapel Hill

Kevin Carneiro

UNC Spine Center Chapel Hill Atrium Health Levine Cancer Institute Supportive Charlotte Oncology Clinic Atrium Health Musculoskeletal Institute Sports Charlotte Medicine

Jason Jerry

FirstHealth

Pinehurst

Jay Patel

Traiq Abo-Kamil MD MAHEC Center for Psychiatry and Mental Wellness

Raleigh

Patrick O'Brien

Terrence Pugh Sonya Rissmiller

► Plastic And Reconstructive Surgery Chapel Hill

Anthony DeFranzo

UNC Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Wake Forest Baptist Health Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Wake Forest Baptist Health Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center

Joseph Clark

UNC Ear Nose and Throat

Chapel Hill

Enam Haque

Queen City Plastic Surgery

Charlotte

Joseph Hunstad

HKB Cosmetic Surgery

Huntersville

Robert Buchanan

Center for Plastic Surgery

Highlands

Snehankita Kulkarni

Atrium Health Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery Charlotte

Detlev Erdmann

Duke University Medical Center

Durham

Leslie Branch

Forsyth Plastic Surgery Associates

Winston-Salem

Christopher Runyan

Wake Forest Baptist Health

Winston-Salem

Michael Zenn

Zenn Plastic Surgery

Raleigh

Steven Zoellner

Pinehurst

Richard Carlino

Pinehurst Plastic Surgery Specialists PA Wake Forest Baptist Health Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Specialists in Plastic Surgery PA

William Overstreet

Blue Ridge Plastic Surgery

Hendersonville

Eric Halvorson

Halvorson Plastic Surgery

Asheville

Matthew Blanton

Specialists in Plastic Surgery PA

Raleigh

Sanjay Daluvoy

Specialists in Plastic Surgery PA

Raleigh

Shruti Tannan

Tannan Plastic Surgery

Raleigh

Lynn Damitz Lisa David Malcolm Marks

Joseph Molnar

Winston-Salem Winston-Salem Winston-Salem

Winston-Salem Raleigh

► Psychiatry Samantha MeltzerBrody Donald Rosenstein

Steven Baker

Asheville

► Pulmonary Medicine Walid Eltaraboulsi

Tryon Medical Partners

Charlotte

James Jones

Tryon Medical Partners

Charlotte

Maria Rivera

Chapel Hill

Kenneth Coggins

UNC Hospitals Adult Oncology Clinics Atrium Health Jan & Ed Brown Center for Pulmonary Medicine Atrium Health Jan & Ed Brown Center for Pulmonary Medicine Carolinas HealthCare System Pulmonary Care

Ashley Henderson

UNC Hospitals Pulmonary Specialty Clinic

Chapel Hill

Leonard Lobo

UNC Hospitals Jason Ray Transplant Clinic

Chapel Hill

Christine Vigeland

UNC Hospitals Outpatient Center At Eastowne

Chapel Hill

Peadar Noone

UNC Hospitals Pulmonary Specialty Clinic

Chapel Hill

William Fischer

Department Of Medicine

Chapel Hill

Robert Updaw

University Pulmonary Associates

Charlotte

David Thornton

Pinehurst Medical Clinic

Pinehurst

Michael Pritchett

Pinehurst

James Snapper

Pinehurst Medical Clinic Atrium Health Jan & Ed Brown Center for Pulmonary Medicine Duke Asthma Allergy & Airway Center

Azeem Elahi

Atrium Health Pulmonology & Sleep Medicine

Concord

John Fogarty

Physicians East

Greenville

Scott Johnson

Pinehurst Medical Clinic

Pinehurst

William Hall

REX Pulmonary Specialists

Raleigh

Michael Drummond

UNC Hospitals Outpatient Center at Eastowne Wake Forest Baptist Health Pulmonary and Critical Care UNC Hospitals Outpatient Center Wake Forest Baptist Health Pulmonary and Critical Care Wake Forest Baptist Health Pulmonary and Critical Care

Chapel Hill

Scott Lindblom Jaspal Singh

Justin Swartz

Daniel Files James Donohue

UNC Center for Women's Mood Disorders

Chapel Hill

Rodolfo Pascual Jill Ohar

Charlotte Charlotte Charlotte

Charlotte Durham

Winston-Salem Chapel Hill Winston-Salem

UNC Adult Psychiatry Clinic

Chapel Hill

David Rubinow

UNC Adult Psychiatry Clinic

Chapel Hill

Erin Malloy

UNC Hospitals

Chapel Hill

► Radiation Oncology

Gary Gala

UNC Adult Psychiatry Clinic

Chapel Hill

Shekinah Elmore

Department of Radiation Oncology

Chapel Hill

Jason Peck

HopeWay Campus

Charlotte

Ellen Jones

UNC Hospitals Radiation Oncology

Chapel Hill

James Wallace

Eastover Psych & Psychiatric

Charlotte

Stuart Burri

Southeast Radiation Oncology

Charlotte

Kevin Marra

HopeWay Campus

Charlotte

Hadley Sharp

Atrium Health Levine Cancer Institute

Charlotte

D E C E M B E R

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Winston-Salem

2 0 2 1

11/19/21 10:55 PM

Ashley Weiner

UNC Hospitals Radiation Oncology

Chapel Hill

Beth Jonas

UNC Hospitals Outpatient Center

Chapel Hill

Catherine Chang

Duke Medical Center

Raleigh

Saira Sheikh

Chapel Hill

Eric Kuehn

Mountain Radiation Oncology & Mission

Asheville

Victoria Lackey

William McCollough

Mountain Radiation Oncology & Mission

Asheville

Jeffrey Acker

Pinehurst Radiation Oncology

Pinehurst

Leslie Ranken

UNC Hospitals Outpatient Center Arthritis & Osteoporosis Consultants of the Carolinas Atrium Health Rheumatology

Stephen King

Pinehurst Radiation Oncology

Pinehurst

Elnaz Tabrizi

Novant Health Rheumatology & Arthritis

Charlotte

Sushma Patel

Pinehurst Radiation Oncology

Pinehurst

Gwenesta Melton

LaFayette Clinic PA

Fayetteville

Courtney Bui

REX-UNC Radiation Oncology

Raleigh

Manika Zeri

Atrium Health Rheumatology

Charlotte

Carolina Fasola

Charlotte

Physicians East

Greenville

Karen Schorn

Pinehurst Medical Clinic

West End

Monroe

Abigail Gilbert

UNC Hospitals Outpatient Center at Eastowne

Chapel Hill

Roshan Prabhu

LCI - Morehead Radiation Therapy Center Atrium Health Atrium Health Levine Cancer Institute Union LCI - Morehead Radiation Therapy Center

Duncan Fagundus

Charlotte

Rachel Wolfe

Wake Forest Baptist Health Rheumatology

Winston-Salem

Matthew Ward

LCI - Morehead Radiation Therapy Center

Charlotte

Amanda Kocoloski

Atrium Health Rheumatology

Charlotte

Trevor Royce

UNC Hospitals Radiation Oncology

Chapel Hill

► Sleep Medicine

Dean Gant

► Radiology

Charlotte Charlotte

William Clemons

Tryon Medical Partners

Charlotte

Philip Saba

Wake Radiology Consultants PA

Raleigh

Ehrlich Tan

Tryon Medical Partners

Charlotte

Chien-Chung Chang

Charlotte Radiology PA

Charlotte

Jacob Coleman

Tryon Medical Partners

Charlotte

William Hartley

Charlotte Radiology

Charlotte

Maria Sam

Wake Forest Baptist Health Neurology

Winston-Salem

Ole Aassar

Charlotte Radiology PA

Charlotte

Bradley Vaughn

Raleigh Orthopaedic Clinic

Raleigh

Vittorio Antonacci

Charlotte Radiology PA

Charlotte

Carmen Dohmeier

Guilford Neurologic Associates

Greensboro

Clayton Commander

UNC Hospitals

Chapel Hill

Kimberly Mims

Maureen Kohi

UNC Department of Radiology

Chapel Hill

Jorge Oldan

UNC-Ch Dept Of Radiology

Chapel Hill

Eithne Burke

Wake Radiology Consultants PA

Raleigh

Fakhra Chaudhry

Mecklenburg Radiology Associates

Charlotte

Sheryl Jordan

UNC Department of Radiology

Chapel Hill

Atrium Health Sleep Medicine Wake Forest Baptist Health Pulmonary and Andrew Namen Critical Care Wake Forest Baptist Health Pulmonary and Alexander Sy Critical Care Narayanachar Sekaran Vidant Sleep Medicine - Roanoke Rapids

Charlotte

Giridhar Chintalapudi

Pinehurst

Sandhills Neurologists Atrium Health Jan & Ed Brown Center for Pulmonary Medicine

Robyn Stacy-Humphries Charlotte Radiology PA

Charlotte

Michael Reif

Nicholas Said

Duke Radiology

Durham

Emmanuel Botzolakis

Mecklenburg Radiology Associates

Charlotte

► Spine Surgery

Kirk Peterson

Raleigh Radiology

Raleigh

Danielle Wellman

Wake Radiology Consultants PA

Raleigh

Michael Fisher

Delaney Radiology

Wilmington

John Howard

Charlotte Radiology PA

Charlotte

Nisha Mehta

VA Medical Center

Charlotte

► Reproductive Endocrinology

Winston-Salem Winston-Salem Roanoke Rapids Charlotte

Moe Lim

UNC Spine Center

Chapel Hill

John Birkedal

Wake Forest Baptist Health

Winston-Salem

James Hoski

Carolina Spine & Neurosurgery Center

Asheville

Tim Adamson

Carolina Neurosurgery & Spine

Charlotte

Tadhg O'Gara

WFUHS

Clemmons

Byron Branch

Concord

Wesley Hsu

Carolina Neurosurgery & Spine Associates UNC Hospitals Spine Center and Neurosurgery Clinic Wake Forest Baptist Health

Scot Reeg

Duke Orthopaedics

Knightdale

Lloyd Hey

Hey Clinic for Scoliosis & Spine Surgery

Raleigh

Keith Maxwell

Southeastern Sports Medicine and Orthopedics Asheville

John Hicks

EmergeOrtho: Blue Ridge Division

Deb Bhowmick

Chapel Hill

Bradley Hurst

Atrium Health CMC Women’s Institute

Charlotte

Rebecca Usadi

Atrium Health CMC Women’s Institute

Charlotte

Richard Wing

Reproductive Endocrine Associates of Charlotte Charlotte

Tolga Mesen

Carolinas Fertility Institute

Charlotte

Michelle Matthews

Atrium Health CMC Women’s Institute

Charlotte

Thomas Price

Duke Fertility Center

Durham

Kelly Acharya

Duke University Hospitals

Durham

► Sports Medicine

David Walmer

Atlantic Reproductive Medicine Specialists

Raleigh

Matthew Ohl

OrthoCarolina

Charlotte

Robert McBride

OrthoCarolina

Charlotte

Raleigh

David Berkoff

UNC Orthopaedics

Chapel Hill

Greenville

Dana Piasecki

OrthoCarolina

Charlotte

Asheville

Patrick Connor

OrthoCarolina

Charlotte

Brent Fisher

Arden

Michelle Matthews Susannah Copland Clifford Hayslip Travis McCoy

Atrium Health CMC Women’s Institute Atlantic Reproductive Medicine Specialists ECU Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology Piedmont Reproductive Endocrinology Group

Clemmons

Hendersonville

Jill Zouzoulas

Tryon Medical Partners

Charlotte

Diane George

Tryon Medical Partners

Charlotte

Brett Foreman

Alison Johnson

Tryon Medical Partners Arthritis & Osteoporosis Consultants of the Carolinas Wake Forest Baptist Health

Huntersville

Karl Fields

Asheville Orthopaedic Atrium Health Musculoskeletal Institute Sports Medicine Brian R Waterman Md Carolina Family Practice & Sports Medicine Raleigh Cone Health Sports Medicine Center

Charlotte

Megan Ferderber

East Carolina University

Greenville

Mark Galland

Orthopaedic Specialists of North Carolina

Raleigh

Ashley Eskew

Atrium Health CMC Women's Institute

Catherine Rainbow

► Rheumatology

Andrew Laster Rupak Thapa

B U S I N E S S

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N O R T H

Winston-Salem

Brian Waterman

Charlotte Winston-Salem Raleigh Greensboro

C A R O L I N A

11/19/21 10:55 PM

O. Bloom

Carolina Family Practice & Sports Medicine

Cary

Andrew Peterson

Duke University Medical Center

Durham

James Blount

Carolina Family Practice & Sports Medicine

Cary

Eric Wallen

UNC Urology

Chapel Hill

Bryan Saltzman

OrthoCarolina

Charlotte

Glenn Preminger

DUMC Div of Urologic Surgery

Durham

John Neidecker

Orthopaedic Specialists of North Carolina

Raleigh

Kris Gaston

Atrium Health Levine Cancer Institute

Charlotte

Lauren Porras

The UNC Family Medicine Center

Chapel Hill

Kristy Borawski

UNC Hospitals Urology Clinic

Chapel Hill

Aaron Leininger

UNC Orthopedics & Sports Medicine

Clayton

Matthew Nielsen

UNC Urology

Chapel Hill

Stephen Lucey

Sports Medicine & Joint Replacement PLLC

Greensboro

Roberto Ferraro

Urology Specialists of the Carolinas PLLC

Charlotte

Ralph Vick

Urology Specialists of the Carolinas PLLC

Huntersville

Angela Smith

UNC Urology

Chapel Hill

Michael Kennelly

Atrium Health Carolinas Rehabilitation

Charlotte

John Wiener

Duke University Medical Center

Durham

Chapel Hill

Manish Damani

Urology Specialists of the Carolinas PLLC

Charlotte

Angela Schang

Atrium Health Urology

Charlotte

► Surgical Oncology Chapel Hill

Karen Stitzenberg

UNC Hospitals Adult Oncology Clinics Atrium Health Levine Cancer Institute & Atrium Health HPB Surgery UNC Hospitals Adult Oncology Clinics Atrium Health Levine Cancer Institute & Atrium Health HPB Surgery UNC Hospitals Adult Oncology Clinics

Chapel Hill

Greg Griewe

Pinehurst Surgical Clinic PA

Pinehurst

David Ollila

UNC Hospitals Adult Oncology Clinics

Chapel Hill

Jonathan Taylor

Physicians East

Greenville

Meghan Forster

Atrium Health Levine Cancer Institute

Charlotte

Manlio Goetzl

Pinehurst Surgical Clinic

Pinehurst

Zvonimir Milas

Atrium Health Levine Cancer Institute

Charlotte

Mark Jalkut

Associated Urologists of North Carolina PA

Raleigh

Benjamin Calvo

Jonathan Hamilton

Vidant Urology

Greenville

Paul Coughlin

Perry Shen

Wake Forest Baptist Health General Surgery

Winston-Salem

William Kizer

Wake Forest Baptist Health Urology WakeMed Physician Practices - Pediatric Urology Associated Urologists of North Carolina PA

High Point

Mark Weissler

UNC Hospitals Adult Oncology Clinics Chapel Hill Atrium Health Levine Cancer Institute & Atrium Health Orthopaedic Surgery, a facility of Caroli- Charlotte nas Medical Center UNC Ear Nose and Throat Chapel Hill

Peter Turk

Novant Health Multidisciplinary Cancer Clinic

Charlotte

Zane Basrawala

Urology Specialists of the Carolinas PLLC

Charlotte

Richard White

Atrium Health Levine Cancer Institute

Charlotte

Joseph Allen

UNC Specialty Care

Clayton

Samip Patel

UNC Ear Nose and Throat

Chapel Hill

Matthew Young

Mission Urology

Asheville

Terry Sarantou

Atrium Health Levine Cancer Institute

Charlotte

Carmin Kalorin

WakeMed Raleigh Medical Park

Raleigh

Chad Gridley

UNC Specialty Care

Smithfield

Stephen Riggs

Atrium Health Levine Cancer Institute Charlotte Atrium Health Levine Cancer Institute & Atrium Charlotte Health Urology

Hong Kim David Iannitti Michael Meyers John Martinie

Joshua Patt

Charlotte

Timothy Bukowski

Lejla Hadzikadic Gusic CMC Atrium Health Levine Cancer Institute

Charlotte

Kristalyn Gallagher

UNC Dept of Surgery Div of Surgical Oncology

Chapel Hill

Jeffrey Kneisl

Atrium Health Levine Cancer Institute

Charlotte

Mark Arredondo

Wake Forest Baptist Health Surgical Specialists High Point

► Vascular Surgery

Paul Ahearne Marissa HowardMcNatt Nizar Habal

Genesis Care

Frank Arko

Ilan Avin Ashley Stewart

Asheville

Peter Clark

Wake Forest Baptist Health Breast Care Services Clemmons

Mark Farber

Carolina Breast & Oncologic Surgery

Greenville

Matthew Edwards

Novant Health Carolina Surgical

Charlotte

Erin Murphy

Charlotte

Luigi Pascarella

Charlotte

Randolph Geary

Charlotte

Wallace Tarry

Michelle Fillion

Atrium Health Levine Cancer Institute Atrium Health Levine Cancer Institute & Atrium Health HPB Surgery Atrium Health Levine Cancer Institute & Atrium Health Gastroenterology & Hepatology NHRMC Zimmer Cancer Center

Wilmington

Mitchell Cox

David Eddleman

North Carolina Surgery

Raleigh

Robert Thomason

Erin Baker Joshua Hill

► Thoracic Surgery

Cary

Atrium Health Sanger Heart & Vascular Institute Charlotte UNC Hospitals Vascular Interventional Chapel Hill Radiology Clinic Vascular and Endovascular Surgery Winston-Salem Charlotte

David Weatherford

Atrium Health Sanger Heart & Vascular Institute UNC Hospitals Heart And Vascular Center At Meadowmont Wake Forest Baptist Health Vascular and Endovascular Surgery Atrium Health Sanger Heart & Vascular Institute Duke Vascular Surgery and Vein Center at Brier Creek Novant Health Vascular Specialists UNC Hospitals Heart And Vascular Center At Meadowmont Coastal Carolina Surgical Associates

Katharine McGinigle Cary

Raleigh

Chapel Hill Winston-Salem Concord Raleigh Winston-Salem Chapel Hill

Benjamin Haithcock

UNC Cardiac and Thoracic Surgery

Jeffrey Hagen

Atrium Health Sanger Heart & Vascular Institute Charlotte

Thomas Eskew

Coastal Vascular Institute PA

Wilmington

John Ikonomidis

UNC Hospitals Jason Ray Transplant Clinic

William Marston

UNC Vascular Center

Chapel Hill

Christopher Cicci

Atrium Health Sanger Heart & Vascular Institute Concord

Lemuel Kirby

Carolina Vascular

Asheville

Jason Long

UNC Cardiothoracic Surgery at Panther Creek

Nestor Cruz

Novant Health Heart & Vascular Institute

Salisbury

Ralph Christy

Atrium Health Sanger Heart & Vascular Institute Concord

H. Hobson

Atrium Health General Surgery

Shelby

Peter Ford

Vascular Solutions PC

Charlotte

Daniel Barzana

Wilmington Health PLLC

Wilmington

John Hobson

Vascular Surgery at Pardee

Hendersonville

Chapel Hill Cary

► Urology Mathew Raynor

UNC Urology

Chapel Hill

Richard Sutherland

UNC Hospitals Children's Specialty Clinic

Chapel Hill

Tom Floyd

Urology Specialists of the Carolinas PLLC

Charlotte

Jacques Ganem

Urology Specialists of the Carolinas PLLC

Charlotte

Marc Bjurlin

UNC Urology

Chapel Hill

Hung-Jui Tan

UNC Hospitals Urology Clinic

Chapel Hill

Marc Benevides

Associated Urologists of North Carolina PA

Cary

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FINDING A CURE North Carolina’s nursing ranks are shrinking for many reasons, including the rigors of the COVID-19 pandemic. Nursing schools are using unique approaches to keep seasoned professionals, add capacity and attract students to meet staffing needs.

After Hurricane Florence made landfall in September 2018, few N.C. communities suffered as much as New Bern. Historic flooding along the Trent and Neuse rivers caused $100 million in residential and commercial damage. But CarolinaEast Health System’s staff stepped up and weathered the storm. “The hurricane was a horrible but also wonderful experience,” says James Davis, vice president of nursing. “We stayed at the hospital. We slept here. We took care of our patients and we all pulled together. That’s what we’re good at.” But it can always be worse, as the old saying goes. And the COVID-19

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pandemic made Florence seem more like a temporary inconvenience. “[It] has been like a hurricane that won’t go away,” Davis says. The pandemic has made the past two years tough for most people, especially nurses. They’re risking their health to care for patients. But even as nurses are hailed as heroes, their numbers are shrinking. Baby boomers are retiring, and fewer people are choosing a health care career. Health care systems and nursing schools are rising to reverse that trend. They’re recruiting new nurses and keeping seasoned ones by fueling the passion that initially brings people to the profession. C A R O L I N A

Throughout Davis’ 27 years in the nursing profession, he has seen plenty of ups and downs. He says the current vacancy rate for nursing jobs at CarolinaEast hasn’t yet reached a crisis, but it’s still not good. “We have lost more nurses in the last year and a half than we have ever lost in any comparable amount of time,” he says. “We currently have about 600 nurses in the hospital and 40 open full-time equivalent positions.” Pandemic burnout has taken a toll on nurses. “They have been working so hard and seeing so many people who are sick and dying,” Davis says. But there are other reasons nurses are leaving the profession nationwide. SPONSORED SECTION

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Some are retiring early to care for vulnerable family members. Others are leaving hospital jobs for positions with weekday schedules and daytime hours or seeking their fortunes as traveling nurses, where they can earn as much as three times what they make in a traditional hospital setting. During the pandemic, hospitals recruited travel nurses to supplement their permanent staff, says Tina Gordon, North Carolina Nurses Association’s executive director. “They may decide to do travel nursing for six or eight months and then return home and get their former job back,” she says. Some nursing professionals trace staffing shortages to fewer nursing school graduates. Some schools are throttling back enrollment because of a lack of instructors. “It’s a chicken and egg situation — a vicious cycle,” Gordon says. “We have a nursing shortage, but students are being turned away because there are not enough nursing faculty to teach them.” The nursing instructor shortage is being addressed in several ways, including increasing salaries, particularly at the

community college level, where instructors are required to hold at least a master’s degree. “There’s a gap between what nurses can make in faculty positions and what nurses with the same level of educational preparation can make in a clinical environment,” Gordon says. According to the State Board of Community Colleges Fiscal Year 2019-2020 State Aid Allocations and Budget Policies, community college instructors with master’s degrees earn an annual salary of $40,371. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that as of May 2020, registered nurses in North Carolina earned an average annual salary of $68,950. NurseJournal.org ranks North Carolina as the 24th best state to work as a nurse, based on salary, cost of living and an average NCLEX-RN nursing exam pass rate of 92.2%. Surry Community College in Dobson has one of the state’s most successful nursing programs. According to N.C. Board of Nursing Records, 44 of 46 nursing graduates with an associate degree have passed the NCLEX-RN exam this year. That’s a

graduation rate of 95.7%. SCC collaborates with Lees-McRae College in Banner Elk to give graduates the opportunity to earn a bachelor of science degree in nursing, says Surry Associate Dean of Health Sciences Yvonne Johnson. “Our program is so popular, they turn applicants away,” she says. “We don’t have faculty resources to admit everyone who wants to enroll. The need for nurses is huge, and if we could staff more nursing classes, we would fill them.” Johnson says after graduating and passing their license exam, most fledgling nurses stay close to home. “People who come to a community college for their nursing education are very vested in their communities.” SCC’s service area is home to Northern Regional Hospital in Mount Airy and Hugh Chatham Memorial Hospital in Elkin. Wake Forest Baptist Hospital and Forsyth Medical Center are about an hour drive away in Winston-Salem. Linda O’Boyle is a nursing professor at Barton College in Wilson and head of its RN-BSN program. She says the opportunity to transition to the class-

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room from the hospital room can be a professional reward for nurses who are worn out by the rigors of daily patient care. “Nursing is hard,” she says. “It’s physically demanding and emotionally draining. The silver lining is that some of those nurses leaving the profession may be interested in teaching.” N.C. Central University’s Nursing Department Chairwoman Yolanda VanRiel says the Durham program has averaged 75 graduates each of the past three years. “So far, we haven’t had any problems finding educators,” she says. “During the last academic year, we hired seven faculty members.” NCCU’s Clinical Learning Resource Center, dubbed “Eagle General Hospital,” provides lab skills training and patient simulation experiences. But VanRiel says it’s real-world experience that prepares students for their nursing careers. In 2013, the nursing school established a community health initiative with McDougald Terrace, a public housing development in Durham. Students continue to participate in events at the development, helping residents who were victims of a carbon monoxide crisis in 2020 and three fires earlier this year. Lisa Snow recently celebrated 40 years as a registered nurse. She is a retired nurse manager at Atrium Health and has spent the last seven years teaching at Randolph Community College in Asheboro. “We’re one of the smaller nursing programs with between 30 and 35 nursing students,” she says. RCC’s health care programs recently received a boost with the opening of the $14.4 million Allied Health Center. The facility is 45,000 square feet and houses the college’s nursing, radiography, medical assisting and emergency medical services programs. “We have a state-of-the-art

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facility in which to teach, and that makes it easier for nursing faculty to be able to contribute to the educational process of future health care professionals,” Snow says. Many nurses share Snow’s love of teaching, but the low salaries discourage them from becoming instructors. Retirees have “earned enough to be able to accept less pay, but that also means that the average age of the nursing professors is inching up,” Gordon says. A 2019-2020 report from the American Association of Colleges of Nursing says the average age of nursing professors with a doctoral degree is 63. The nursing school at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee logged a 100% NCLEX-RN pass rate for the 51 students graduating in December 2020. “Our faculty work very hard to ensure that students receive a robust educational experience that covers all the content needed to enter practice as a novice nurse,” says Terri Durbin, associate professor and director of WCU’s School of Nursing. “The faculty also gives students a great deal of individual attention,” she says. In August, WCU School of Nursing started Keep Haywood Healthy, a partnership with Haywood County Schools that created a competition among public middle schools and high schools countywide to promote annual well-child visits, which are intended to keep children healthy and protected. “Kae-Livsey, a member of WCU’s nursing faculty, obtained $10,000 in funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for this project,” Durbin says. “The middle school and high school with the greatest percentage of students providing documentation to school nurses of a completed well-child visit in the past year will each receive a $2,000 cash prize.”

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In addition to supporting their local community, health care professionals are an important economic development driver. “Having ample access to health care is a critical component when it comes to attracting new business and industry to an area,” Gordon says. “A critical workforce shortage can hamper economic development efforts, especially in rural regions of the state.” In New Bern, CarolinaEast is Craven County’s second largest employer. “Hospitals are huge economic machines,” Davis says. “They draw a lot of business to the towns they serve. Having a strong hospital with strong nurses has a lot to do with that.” While the N.C. Nurses Association focuses on filling the workforce pipeline with promising students, bootson-the-ground professionals continue to don scrubs and go to work every day. “Nurses are the heartbeat of the hospital,” Davis says. “People spend nights in the hospital because they need 24-hour care, and it is the nurses who are at their bedside providing that care.” As Barton’s O’Boyle closes the book on her career, its final chapter is devoted to educating the next generation of nurses. She can’t think of a better ending. “Combining clinical practice with teaching certainly has been wonderful for me,” she says. “And I hope others who join the nursing profession receive as much personal satisfaction in their career as I have.” — Teri Saylor is a freelance writer from Raleigh.

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N.C. PORTRAITS

DOWNTOWNS

By Alyssa Pressler

orth Carolina’s small towns are the backbone of the state. There’s a lot of attention devoted to the state’s fast-growing areas like Charlotte and the Triangle, but important and exciting work is happening in smaller areas as well. Our goal with this section is to celebrate that and make you aware of how well-rounded the state truly is. Though SNL might jokingly call Charlotte the “gateway to Gastonia,” the town west of the Queen City is a powerhouse of development, technology and manufacturing. Their anchor project includes a ballpark, retail, apartments and more called the Franklin Urban Sports & Entertainment (FUSE) District. With creative living spaces, breweries, mixed-use space and a technology park involved, the joke becomes a little more serious as we see more folks moving outside of Charlotte to escape the hustle and bustle of the city.

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Gaston County also offers Bessemer City, located 25 miles outside of Charlotte with a population of just under 6,000. Though it might be considered small, Bessemer City is growing quickly and recently announced the transformation of the 250,000-square-foot Osage Mill downtown to become workforce housing apartments and commercial space. The city is also working on a 40-acre multi-use park for its growing population. And not to be confused with the South Carolina town with the same name, Greenville is home to East Carolina University and continues to see its town grow as a diverse place to live. Perhaps the greatest example of this is the Uptown Greenville District, which has announced or completed $900 million in public and private investments in recent years. We hope you enjoy reading more about these incredible towns in the pages to come.

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OPPORTUNITY AWAITS IN GREENVILLE, N.C. As the thriving hub of the eastern region, Greenville has become a well-rounded and diverse destination to live, work, learn, visit and invest. The downtown community, known as Uptown Greenville, is the heart of the city with unique restaurants, breweries, shopping, nightlife and outdoor adventure — all within walking distance.

visitgreenvillenc.com

The 19-acre master development project and innovative research campus, known as Intersect East, broke ground earlier this year. Located on nearby Dickinson Avenue is the newly-opened North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences at Greenville along with several projects in development, including an open-air container restaurant, boutique hotel and food hall. The newly-launched African American Cultural Trail of Greenville-Pitt County celebrates local history and recognizes the contributions African Americans made to the city’s growth and development. The Emerald Loop urban art trail featuring public art and vibrant lighting is currently underway. It includes the recently launched Emerald Express trolley system, connecting residents and visitors with dining, entertainment, and retail opportunities throughout the Uptown Greenville district. With ECU Athletics, local sports teams and tournaments, there’s always a game to catch. Plus, Greenville’s Stallings Stadium at Elm Street Park is the new host destination of the Little League Softball World Series, bringing in teams from around the world. With a rich history dating back more than 300 years, Greenville embraces its distinct Carolina culture. Residents and visitors alike revel in everything, from the annual Pirate Fest, which draws swashbucklers of all ages, to the legendary BBQ joints and award-winning

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PHOTOGRAPHY BY AARON HINES, CITY OF GREENVILLE, N.C.

Home to East Carolina University, the Uptown Greenville District is one of the fastest growing communities in the state with nearly $900 million dollars in public and private investments completed or announced in recent years. Development projects in the works include upscale living options, outdoor recreation complexes, an innovative research campus, trendy new restaurants and several chic hotels. This means more opportunity in the area to grow the market for business, research, sports and leisure.

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craft breweries along the Pitt County Brew & ‘Cue Trail. With a lively art, music, and culinary scene in the Uptown and Dickinson Avenue Arts District, there are dozens of community events including an open-air artisan market, live-at-five gatherings and live concerts along the waterfront at the Town Common. There are top-notch dance and stage performances at ECU; antique shops and boutiques for browsing; historic sites for history buffs and pick-your-own farms aplenty. It’s not called Greenville for nothing. The area is home to the 360-acre Wildwood Park, 324-acre River Park North, and the six-mile Greenville Greenway System that is part of the East Coast Greenway, in addition to several nearby golf and tennis facilities. The development of additional parks, shops, restaurants, hotels, public art and mural projects, along with research sites and business opportunities will increase and improve tourism and residency, giving people from outside the region a chance to experience the wonderful people and incredible places in Uptown Greenville.

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Photo by Tom Hauer

GREAT PLACE. GREAT PEOPLE. GREAT PROMISE. Gastonia has become the talk of the town with a new ballpark, entertainment, retail, apartments, and new restaurants that make us a great choice for almost everyone. Our geographic location captures the natural beauty of the area, which is best taken in from the view atop Crowders Mountain. Residents and visitors can access great greenways, ample parks, sports facilities, and our City is just a short distance from Charlotte Douglas International Airport. CHOOSE GASTONIA. While our City’s history was built in a textile era, our Downtown has been attracting regional attention for its anchor project, the Franklin Urban Sports & Entertainment (FUSE) District. Several projects will secure a bright future for our City: CaroMont Health Park – the jewel of our City and home to the Honey Hunters Professional Baseball Team.

cityofgastonia.com

Loray Mill Redevelopment, Trenton Mill Lofts, and Center City Crossings – three exciting projects that provide creative residential spaces, luring residents who are seeking a vibrant, healthy and growing community. Durty Bull Brewery and the Coca-Cola Pad Development – these redevelopment projects will give even more choices for residents and visitors seeking the microbrewery culture and a one-of-a-kind, mixed-use destination for leisure living and entertainment. Gastonia Technology Park (GTP) and Northpoint GATEWAY85 – technology is key in Gastonia. These two areas host several advanced manufacturing companies that make Gastonia an international proving ground for advanced manufacturing. The goal is to reach end-user customers in the supply-chain, as we become a destination of choice major retailers need to secure locations for last-mile delivery. Exciting development in Gastonia is inspiring future retail and entertainment opportunities that fuse economic development projects with its downtown, aimed at growing and sustaining our economy for future generations. COME TO GASTONIA!

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DISCOVER THE BUZZ IN BESSEMER CITY. Nestled in Western Gaston County, Bessemer City is a transforming community ready for growth and investment. WinnDevelopment, one of the nation’s leading developers of historic mills for residential living, is moving to acquire the historic Osage Mill in downtown Bessemer City as the first step toward transforming the 250,000-square-foot, 125-year-old structure into workforce housing apartments and commercial space. Working with city and state officials, the company plans to restore the mill and five-acre development site into 139 one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments, 30,000 square feet for ground floor commercial uses, multiple outdoor gathering spaces and play areas for residents and children, and 244 parking spaces. “We’re excited for the opportunity to bring our expertise to this community with a strong demand for housing that’s affordable for the working people who fuel the region’s economy,” says WinnDevelopment Vice President Aimee McHale. “We look forward to moving forward with a development process that will lead to the start of construction in the spring of 2022.”

bessemercity.com

“Bessemer City is extremely excited about the transformation that will be taking place at Osage Mill in 2022. The Osage Mill Redevelopment is a catalyst project that will, and already has, enticed additional investment and business development in downtown Bessemer City.”

-Becky S. Smith, Mayor of Bessemer City

Osage Mill is located in a mixed-use neighborhood adjacent to the city’s downtown commercial area offering easy access to Interstate 85 for commuting 29 miles to Charlotte, or 47 miles to Spartanburg, SC, both strong employment centers for the area. Bessemer City’s growth doesn’t stop with downtown. Currently, the City is working on a 40-acre multi-use park that will focus on tournament and local use. Stinger Park will drive additional investment in the community, including downtown small businesses. Bessemer City is also home to Southridge Business Park, a business campus complex that houses six national and international companies, employing upwards of 2,000 people. Additionally, Livent, a lithium manufacturer who is currently working on a multi-million dollar expansion, provides Bessemer City with additional employment and investment. Regional projects and amenities also have an impact on Bessemer City. These include: Two Kings Casino, Crowders Mountain State Park, Piedmont Lithium and Apple Creek Corporate Park. Bessemer City is transforming and growing with opportunities for new investments and projects. Bessemer City is building a hive for all. D E C E M B E R

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RIPPLE EFFECT Head south from Greenville about 6 miles, and you’ll find yourself in downtown Winterville. Folks here still gather at family-owned Dixie Queen Seafood Restaurant, which has been frying, broiling and steaming catches of the day for 40 years. For nearly that long, the community has celebrated its Watermelon Festival, complete with music, a parade, carnival rides and a watermelon eating contest, every August. Winterville’s beautiful neighborhoods and diverse community have a hometown feel, which has always attracted people to North Carolina, says Stephen Penn, the town’s economic development planner. “Much of our population is within

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walking, biking and even golf-carting distance to our small but vibrant downtown,” he says. “Yes, golf carts! We allow golf carts on the local streets of Winterville, which means you can ride your golf cart to the grocery store, to work, out to dinner, for a joy ride or to one of the many businesses in downtown Winterville.” Winterville packs all that into 4.6 square miles. That works out to about 2,150 residents per square mile, making it North Carolina’s 22ndmost densely populated municipality. Almost a third of its households earn more than $100,000 annually. “Over the past five years, we have seen a resurgence of life within our downtown,” Penn says. An upscale C A R O L I N A

restaurant, two craft breweries with outdoor seating and a cigar lounge have opened. “[The cigar lounge] will send you back to the 1950s with its smooth live-jazz nights.” Penn says Winterville seeks commercial growth. Although a retail development anchored by a well-known grocery-store brand, restaurants and a hotel. “Though Winterville is already a great place to work or live, we are seeking to make Winterville even better,” he says. “With our quick growth, low business costs, highly educated population and high quality of life, we have outstanding opportunities for new businesses and industries who are seeking to expand or relocate.”

PHOTO CREDIT: AARON HINES, GREENVILLE, N.C.

Greenville is growing thanks to a booming biopharma industry, regional health care system and ambitious higher education institutions. The benefits are evident in adjacent Pitt County towns.

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Much of Winterville’s growth can be tied to its close proximity to Greenville, the county seat. It leads Pitt County’s booming biopharma industry and is home to 29,000student East Carolina University, Vidant Medical Center and more than 87,000 residents in 2020, according to the N.C. Office of State Budget and Management. The effects of Greenville’s big city living aren’t only impacting Winterville. They can be seen in some of Pitt County’s 17 townships, including Farmville to the west and Ayden to the south.

BIOPHARMA BASED Waltham, Mass.-based life-sciences giant Thermo Fisher Scientific has more than 80,000 employees in 50 countries. It unveiled two expansions at its Greenville location, which already included 1,500 employees and 1.5 million square feet of buildings on 142 acres, within the past year. In December 2020, it announced a $500 million investment and 500 jobs over two years, expanding product development and commercial manufacturing of medicines, therapies and vaccines. And it announced a $154 million investment and 290 more jobs in September. That will expand sterile manufacturing of liquid fillings, prefilled syringes, oral solid doses and lyophilized products, which are easier to store and ship. Pitt County Economic Development Director Kelly Andrews says Thermo Fisher expanded in Greenville for several reasons. “We also competed with Italy, and Thermo Fisher has plants all over the world,” she says. “But what we have in Greenville is a lower cost and the ecosystem of biopharma training that has been developed over decades, since the late 1960s. ECU and Pitt Community College have developed training to support that — very specific training with solid dose and bio-process engineering and chemistry. All that has been evolving, and

it’s not something you can develop overnight in another community. It just continues to grow and transform our economy.” Winterville-based Pitt Community College is one of the state’s 58 community college campuses, all of which specialize in customized workforce development. PCC keeps skilled workers flowing through a pipeline to the county’s growing biopharmaceutical sector. But it doesn’t do it alone. ECU’s Eastern Region Pharma Center, which trains ECU and community college students for biopharmaceutical jobs, was awarded a $1.9 million grant in February from Golden LEAF Foundation, the Rocky Mount-based nonprofit that distributes the state’s portion of the national tobacco settlement to economic development projects. ERPC is in ECU’s $90 million Life Sciences and Biotechnology Building, which opened in November. It also is home to ECU’s biology department and offers research space to faculty and students. The four-story Life Sciences and Biotechnology building is about 141,500 square feet. ERPC claims 4,500 square feet of that. “It’s primarily a workforce-development initiative focused on increasing student awareness and engagement in opportunities

leading to pharma industry employment as well as helping pharma companies with continuing education, customized training and collaboration on innovative projects,” says Harry Ploehn, ECU professor and dean of its College of Engineering and Technology. “The ERPC is developing a ‘grow local’ approach to talent sourcing and development through a geographically focused collaboration with community colleges and industry partners in each of the five BioPharma Crescent counties. Our Pitt and Johnston [Community College in Smithfield] collaborations have already been initiated this summer. We will equip expanded teaching labs to increase the numbers of graduates with degrees and expertise needed for pharmaceutical manufacturing.” Edgecombe, Johnston, Nash, Pitt and Wilson counties make up the BioPharma Crescent. It is home to major players in the industry, including Thermo Fisher, Mayne Pharma, Pfizer, Sandoz and GlaxoSmithKline. They enjoy easy access to consumer markets via interstates, airports and deep-water ports along with an industry-specific workforce. “We have developed the North Carolina Pharmaceutical Services Network to deliver much of the training needs to

ECU’s new Life Sciences and Biotechnology building opened in November.

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Rendering of Intersect East, which will encompass 14 buildings.

support industry needs,” says Mark Phillips, vice president of statewide operations and executive director of N.C. Biotechnology Center’s Eastern Region Office in Greenville. Phillips works with school systems and higher education institutions in 27 counties, strengthening research, workforce training and commercial growth in biotechnology. Its Windows on the Workplace 2020 report indicates that statewide demand for skilled employees will increase by more than 5,000 in the next five years, with more than 50% needing a bachelor’s degree in science, technology, engineering and math — STEM — fields such as industrial technology and engineering. “Regarding the BioPharma Career Pathways, we are fortunate to have an excellent representation of the region, with the collaboration of partners, including university, community colleges, K-12 education, workforce development boards and economic development entities, as we are focused on supporting the workforce development and training needs of the industries included in the BioPharma Crescent,” he says. “The great thing about the pathways work is that it reaches back into K-12 schools. We have implemented the Pharma K12 program, which targets high school students who may not have either the financial means or interest to immediately further their education upon graduation. They apply to participate in the two-and-a-half-day training program

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that takes place after graduation at the Pharmaceutical Services Network at Pitt Community College to learn the pharmaceutical manufacturing techniques associated in a regulated environment.” The Pharmaceutical Services Network is a collaboration for workforce training that’s guided by company input. An $11 million Golden LEAF grant in 2015 went toward laboratory-based education at ECU, where the number of students enrolled in pharmaceutical skills training has quadrupled, according to the Network. It’s using a $650,000 Golden LEAF grant to offer training in theories and practices of oral solid dose manufacturing at PCC. “Upon receiving their certification, [students] are guaranteed an interview with Thermo Fisher Scientific, with many of them receiving an offer of employment,” Phillips says. “With all of these efforts, we’re hoping to reach people who never would consider a biopharma manufacturing job and demystify the available career opportunities. And we hope the stability, good pay and benefits make their lives easier in the long run.” ERPC sponsored Pharma Fest at ECU with 18 Thermo Fisher associates and 120 students in October. “This was just the first of many and varied kinds of engagement we’ll have with Thermo Fisher as we work with them and Pitt Community College and the N.C. Biotechnology Center to help increase numbers of students to find their way along the many pathways

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that can lead to pharma employment right here in Pitt County,” Ploehn says. Biopharma training efforts are incorporating other disciplines. “With the formation of the new ERPC, we are now turning our attention to supporting students beyond just the biologists and chemists to include various engineering students, industrial technology students and business students that are in high demand by the regional pharma companies,” says Jack Pender, director of pharmaceutical training and laboratory services in ECU’s Chemistry Department. “We are identifying the various courses and programs at ECU that teach students content relevant for working in the pharma industry and trying to inform those students about the opportunities available in the pharma industry as well as help them see educational paths that lead to those opportunities. We are also working with PCC and JCC on clarifying and streamlining the community college-to-ECU chemistry, bio, engineering, industrial tech part of the path for community college students before they even get here. We are also looking within the current course offerings to see where we can pull pharma-relevant content to be available as short courses for students and working people.”

WORK AND PLAY

Greenville is growing in other ways. “The uptown area has been booming over the last five years,” Andrews says. “There’s a lot of recreation and culture. We’re drawing people to uptown, and it gives it a nice feeling to see buildings lighting up at night. We’re recruiting industry, and we’re seeing people move into and around uptown, and that’s a big deal.” One of the biggest additions is Intersect East, 19 acres between ECU’s main campus and Dickinson Avenue that was once home to tobacco ware-

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City of Greenville, the Umbrella Market, and a bridge on the Greenville Greenway

houses. The eight-year project will repurpose 14 buildings into a mix of residential, office and cultural space. It’s a more than $150 million investment that’s expected to create up to 1,500 jobs, a $141 million annual financial impact and $3 million in annual tax revenue. Its first phase is expected to be complete late next year. Based on the premise of N.C. State’s Centennial Campus in Raleigh, ECU’s Millennial Campus offers the opportunity for education, industry, government, community and military partners to support public-private ventures. “The ECU Millennial Campus also is coming to life,” Andrews says. “We’re going to rehab some old buildings, and some of it will be new. Some are mixed-use. Some are industry. We’re actively marketing that right now. We see international companies wanting to break into the U.S. market, not build a big plant but just get their foot in the door. But it will put them here in eastern North Carolina. Then maybe they’ll stay and build bigger.” But it’s not all work. Greenville has time for fun, too. Uptown Greenville,

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known for citywide upgrades and a Façade Improvement Grant to renovate historic properties, created Freeboot Fridays, a pre-game festival for ECU home football games. It offers live music, children’s activities and a street fair that features local restaurants and beverage-makers. There also is a First Friday ArtWalk and a farmer’s market — Umbrella Market — during the summer. N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences’ Greenville branch opened in September. It offers science camps and fairs for students. Its e-mentoring programs for children spur interest in STEM courses. “It’s an educational piece that we haven’t had before,” Andrews says. “It’s going to draw people to our area, and all that adds to our appeal.”

RISING TIDE Continue south past Winterville, and you’ll find Ayden. It’s feeling Greenville’s growth, too, including plans for four subdivisions with a total of more than 800 lots, says the town’s economic development director, Thomas Mallory Denham. “The town

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broke ground on a new Community Resource Center on Aug. 18 and a new dog park opened Oct. 2,” he says. A pocket park — a greenspace behind Town Hall with a decorative sidewalk and fountain — was constructed with a $10,000 grant from the GreenvilleENC Alliance. The town is exploring an industrial park with rail access, but that project is in its infancy. “There’s more to come in the next four months,” he says. Like Winterville, Farmville isn’t big. There’s no university, downtown condominiums or hospital. There aren’t any billion-dollar businesses. “But I promise you’ll find more happening in Farmville than any other town in the county — except Greenville,” says Town Manager David Hodgkins. “We’ve become somewhat of a bedroom community.” Hodgkins says Farmville is tending to the needs of its changing demographics. “We’re trying to build on our amenities,” he says. “We’ve got a lot of younger families moving to town. We’re spreading out but growing closer to Greenville is more of an economic tie-in thing. A lot of people live here and work in Greenville or Wilson, so we’re getting a lot of the [Vidant Medical Center] spill over.” The writing is on the wall, literally, for Farmville’s past and future. Colorful painted murals preserve its history, depicting Gulf and Sinclair service stations, a horse stable, H.B. Sugg High School that’s now a community center and Monk Tobacco Co., which was founded in the early 1900s and was a world leader in exports. A newer mural with large green lettering on a white background invites people and progress with an alliterative slogan: Find it First in Farmville. “We’re a little artsy,” Hodgkins says. Farmville North industrial site is on N.C. 264 at the intersection with N.C. 258. It recently was certified for devel-

PHOTO CREDIT: AARON HINES, GREENVILLE, N.C.

PITT COUNTY

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opment. “Then there’s the Farmville Industrial Park, which abuts [N.C.] 264 and has about 35 acres remaining,” Hodgkins says. “And Farmville Corporate Park off [N.C.] 264-alternate is actively being marketed. We just interviewed architects [in early October] to build a shell building.” A new library opened on the site of Farmville’s old one in April. There’s a new disc golf course along with a splash pad, soccer fields, pickle ball courts and sand volleyball. These family-friendly facilities complement new businesses downtown, including a French bakery and craft brewery. They share sidewalks with 100-yearold Farmville Furniture Co., historic churches and a second Dixie Queen Seafood location. “The other thing that’s a big deal is in 2022, the town is turning 150 years old, so we’re having a sesquicentennial celebration coming up in February,” Hodgkins says. “There’s a lot going on here.” ■ — Kathy Blake is a writer from eastern North Carolina.

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PHOTO CREDIT FOR FARMVILLE PICTURES: WOODY SPENCER

Clockwise: The Farmville Arts Center, downtown Farmville, Farmville building murals and the ECU Glass Station.

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Whiteville

A CHARMING BLEND OF OLD AND NEW

+ TALKING POINTS

W H I T EVI L L E

Former Parisians and longtime residents find pleasure in Whiteville’s small-town calm

5,221

POPULATION IN 2020

FEWER PEOPLE LIVING IN WHITEVILLE IN 2020 THAN IN 2000

1832

YEAR OF INCORPORATION

$48,750

MEDIAN HOUSEHOLD INCOME

▲ Built around 1830, the Reuben Brown House is a cultural center for Whiteville.

BY BRYAN MIMS

Ida Stephens Owens

GENETIC SCIENTIST WHO WAS THE FIRST BLACK WOMAN TO EARN A PH.D. IN PHYSIOLOGY AT DUKE UNIVERSITY

Columbus County Courthouse

ON NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES

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ithin the old brick walls of Anthony’s Italian Restaurant in Whiteville, families and couples sit at varnished wood tables eating plates of chicken parmigiana and shrimp alfredo. The lights are low, the red wine and sweet tea are poured, and owner Anthony Grippi is busy in the kitchen. Too busy for conversation. Maybe another day. But after the mealtime rush, he spares a few minutes to give a thumbnail sketch of his journey from Italy to Whiteville, the Columbus County seat that is 50 miles west of Wilmington. He was born in Sicily and moved to New York as a child in 1973, where he worked in his family’s restaurants. His culinary skills brought him south to Wilmington and eventually to Whiteville, where he made a much-raved-about stromboli at Mama Rita’s Italian Restaurant. Whiteville’s grand Victorian houses, with their wide porches, big trees and luxuriant yards, held him in thrall. “That’s what attracted me, you know,” he says in a thick New York accent. The small downtown also impressed him. “How quaint it was, you know what I’m saying? Very homey feeling.” When Mama Rita’s closed in 2014, he seized the opportunity to open his own restaurant. Grippi is not the only restaurateur in Whiteville with a non-Southern accent. At nearby The Chef & The Frog, the chef is from Cambodia and “the frog” is from France. “If you don’t like French people, you can just refer to them as frogs,” says co-owner Guillaume Slama, citing the habits of some French-averse Brits during World War I. How he and his wife met and built a life sounds like a fairy tale. “We had a lot of different things happen to us,” he says. “The Cambodian princess kissed a frog, and she turned into a beautiful chef.”

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PHOTO COURTESY OF CITY OF WHITEVILLE

STATE BASEBALL TITLES WON BETWEEN 1983 AND 2018 BY WHITEVILLE HIGH SCHOOL

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VINELAND STATION BY ALLEN FORREST, COURTESY OF PECAN HARVEST FESTIVAL, GUILLAUME AND SOKUN SLAMA.

▲ Vineland Station, Pecan Harvest Festival

Slama and his wife, Sokun, met in Paris. In 1979, when she was seven years old, Sokun and her family escaped from Cambodia’s murderous Khmer Rouge regime and made their way to France. As a child, Sokun learned to fuse Cambodian fare with French cuisine, impressing both her family and the neighbors in her refugee community. Guillaume and Sokun dated, fell in love and exchanged wedding vows. They moved to Atlanta when Guillaume took a job with an engineering company. But Sokun’s superb cooking prompted them to open a bed and breakfast with a restaurant in Washington, Ga. That lasted a couple of years until the Great Recession devastated the hospitality business. As it happened, Whiteville businessman Jesse Fisher was visiting and told Sokun that her catfish sandwich was the best sandwich he ever ate. Fisher, whose family has been involved in local lumber and other businesses for more than a century, urged the couple to open a restaurant in downtown Whiteville. The Slamas had never heard of Whiteville or been to North Carolina. But facing huge business losses and eventual bankruptcy in Georgia, they called Fisher three months later to take him up on his offer. “It was completely a leap of faith for us. Things were going so great that a year and a half into it, we ▲ Guillaume and Sokun Slama bought him out,”

Guillaume says. After another year and a half, they bought 6,000 square feet of space on Madison Street, where they serve chimichurri steak, beef bourguignon and roasted pork belly. Guillaume estimates half of his business comes from out-oftowners, those from the booming coastal communities of neighboring Brunswick County and from as far away as the Triangle. The blend of Cambodian and French dishes has earned the restaurant a glowing reputation. The former Parisians are world travelers who have become enamored with a small N.C. town surrounded by cypress creeks, soybean fields and piney woods. “I love it. I really do love it over here,” she says. “It’s calmer; everything is slower. You make an adjustment.”

Hurricanes and a resurgence Whiteville was named in 1810 for James B. White, who owned about 2,000 acres, including the original town site. As the seat of Columbus County, it continued to flourish when the Wilmington and Augusta Railroad came through, building a depot in 1903 known as Vineland Station. It earned its name from the area’s scuppernong vineyards, with the grapes being shipped out on the trains. During the second half of the 20th century, Whiteville was an important banking town in North Carolina. It was the home of United Carolina Bancshares, which expanded through acquisitions of banks in Fayetteville, Greensboro, Raleigh, Greer, S.C., and other cities. It was the eighth-largest N.C. bank when it was acquired by BB&T for nearly $1 billion in 1997. BB&T’s successor, Truist Financial, still has a call center in Whiteville. These days, the area has an industrial base. The vast pine tree plantations feed the International Paper mill in Riegelwood, 30 miles east of Whiteville, employing about 800 people. Atlantic Corp., maker of packaging materials, has about 250 employees in nearby Tabor City. National Spinning, supplier of fiber-dyed spun yarns, is located in Whiteville, with roughly 200 people on the payroll.

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Whiteville interactive programs and nature exhibits. Downtown also has a boutique clothing store, a gym, a dance studio, a yoga studio and apartments. Pat Edwards is a lifelong Whiteville resident who lives in one of the 10 apartments inside a former department store. She’s outside the building, walking her tiny dog Dollie. “This building here, it was in bad shape,” she says. But now? “It’s absolutely nice on the inside.” Family and the small-town way of life have kept her attached to Whiteville, but she would like to see more recreational opportunities and enticements for visitors. “That’s the biggest problem with Whiteville,” she says. “We need people wanting to stay when they come.”

Traffic Flow

▲ Anthony’s Italian Restaurant

The Chef & The Frog managed to rebound after Hurricane Florence swept through the region in 2018, flooding much of the downtown with about 2 feet of water. But a few other businesses never recovered from the second storm to pound the city in two years. Hurricane Matthew had flooded homes and businesses in 2016. “When you look at where downtown Whiteville was three years ago, and to see where this town is after going through COVID and everything, it’s just absolutely amazing,” Mayor Terry Mann says. Mann is standing outside Vineland Station, the refurbished railroad depot, for an informal meeting with other city officials and organizers. They’re discussing the city’s marquee event, the North Carolina Pecan Harvest Festival, which draws several thousand of people on the first weekend of November. The celebration was suspended in 2020 because of the pandemic, but Mann says Whiteville has otherwise powered through. “We didn’t lose a single business in the city because of COVID.” In June, Whiteville became a North Carolina Main Street community, a program of the state Department of Commerce that provides expertise for center-city economic development. Whiteville’s downtown Madison Street has some energy. There are popular old standbys for lunch, like Ward’s Grill and Ed’s Grill. You can sit down for an orangeade at an old-fashioned soda fountain inside Guiton’s Drug Store. You can grab a coffee or ice cream at Sophie’s Bistro-Café or a cupcake at Piggypies Bakeshop. A branch of the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences marks a smaller version of the Raleigh flagship museum, with

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Whiteville is within an hour or so of both Wilmington and South Carolina’s Grand Strand, making for heavy tourist traffic along U.S. 74-76 and U.S. 701. Mayor Mann says Whiteville and Columbus County are on the right path for growth — though not too much growth like its fast-growing neighboring county. “There are a lot of people from Brunswick County who moved from up north 15 years ago, and now it’s like where they left — crowded and congested,” he says. Columbus is a quieter alternative. “I know three or four couples ▲ Guiton’s Drug Store here that this is their second move since they retired. They just don’t want the hustle and bustle when you can be there in 35 or 40 minutes.” The meeting at the depot included Stephen Bryan, whose long, silver hair is tied in a ponytail. He grew up in the area and left in 1967 to become a fighter pilot in the Air Force, swearing he would never return. “And here I am,” he says, returning eight years ago, lured by family and a longing for a less high-octane lifestyle. Bryan owns a 100-acre farm where he grows row crops and pecan trees. “It’s a place that has solitude while, at the same time, you have community around you. It’s as good as it gets.” He traveled globally, met world leaders, lived in different countries, but missed the small town and big fields. His speech has lost its Southern-ness, though his Southern sensibilities are intact. Whether you’re from Sicily or Paris or you’re a wanderlust native son, the local color of Whiteville has a way of calling you home. ■ Bryan Mims is a writer and reporter at WRAL-TV in Raleigh.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF ANTHONY’S ITALIAN RESTAURANT, CITY OF WHITEVILLE

arolina mont.

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