Business North Carolina December 2023

PIPING HOT

An iconic Charlotte business pours its future into a small town.

4 UP FRONT

6 POWER LIST INTERVIEW

How Lynn minges helped get $500 million for the state’s hospitality industry after the pandemic.

10 NC TREND

How David Moritz created the high-end awards manufacturers category; Lumos bringing high-speed internet to small towns; Feetures makes socks for active lifestyles; WithersRavenel helps engineer North Carolina’s growth.

88 GREEN SHOOTS

Meet the Ashe County family that will supply the White House with its official Christmas tree.

28 NC PORTRAITS: DOWNTOWN HICKORY

Known for manufacturing furniture, hosiery and textiles, this town credits public and private investments for urban renewal.

30 ROUND TABLE: TRAVEL & TOURISM

Tourism leaders discuss North Carolina’s variety making it attractive to visitors seeking all kinds of travel destinations.

76 COMMUNITY CLOSE UP: NASH & EDGECOMBE COUNTIES

These two counties are focused on optimism, not the rearview mirror.

COVER STORY

PIPE DREAMS

54

One of Charlotte’s most iconic manufacturers has found the grass greener in the country. BY KEVIN ELLIS

SMALL BUSINESSES OF THE YEAR

Our 2023 winners consist of a resale boutique, a wine shop, a waterproofing company and a builder.

40

BY UMA BHAT, KEVIN ELLIS, EDWARD MARTIN AND CHRIS ROUSH

50 WRANGLER’S TEXAS TWIST

How Greensboro-based Kontoor Brands is using NIL to attract younger customers. BY CHRIS ROUSH

TOP DOCTORS

58

A report on the state’s most respected doctors in 65 specialties as selected by their peers.

BY BUSINESS NC

UP FRONT Chris Roush

ask questions is often more important than the questions you ask. And I’ve always prided myself on knowing someone before I meet them. Bhat had turned the tables, and I was unprepared for that.

We kept in touch during the summer, and she would occasionally ask for advice on a story she was working on for the Business Journal. When her internship ended, she asked to meet. She wanted to talk about whether she was cut out to be a business reporter.

PUBLISHER Ben Kinney bkinney@businessnc.com

EDITOR David Mildenberg dmildenberg@businessnc.com

MANAGING EDITOR Kevin Ellis kellis@businessnc.com

EXECUTIVE EDITOR, DIGITAL Chris Roush croush@businessnc.com

ASSOCIATE EDITORS

GOING TO BHAT

Ifirst encountered Uma Bhat, our fall intern who profiled one of our Small Business of the Year winners in this issue, on Twitter back in the summer, when she responded to a tweet saying she was interested in talking to people about careers in business journalism.

I replied, and told Bhat that I was back in North Carolina and could meet with her and talk .We met on a Friday afternoon at an ice cream shop in Cary, where she grew up and graduated from Green Hope High School. By that time, Bhat had already interned for WUNC and was working as an intern for the Triangle Business Journal. And she had attended the Bloomberg 2023 Journalism Diversity Program in New York in May.

What quickly became apparent when we met at the ice cream shop was that she had done her homework as well. She knew all about me and my career in business journalism. She knew the names of my former UNC Chapel Hill students now working in business journalism. She knew the names of my two sons and that one of them worked in business journalism. She had asked people in the industry about me – they told her I was “passionate” and “intense” about business journalism.

It reminded me, frankly, of myself, and what I would have done before meeting someone in the industry. Doing research before you

My response was an emphatic yes. If you’ve followed her byline for us this semester, you’ve seen her write a variety of stories for our website, from retail expansion to a private company raising funds. In the November Issue, she profiled 321 Coffee, which focuses on hiring workers with disabilities.

I’ve typically found the stories she’s written to be “clean,” which means they don’t need much editing. She learned journalism well working for her high school newspaper, and in her classes at UNC Chapel Hill and during her internships. And she asks tons of questions. She’s one of those people who is somewhat annoying by the volume of the questions she asks. But I quickly saw it’s because she wants to learn and she wants to make sure that she gets her stories as complete and accurate as possible. It’s not annoying to me because I understand that she just wants to learn.

A business editor for a large metropolitan newspaper emailed me recently, looking for summer 2024 interns. I’ve sent him students interested in business journalism for internships and jobs in the past. I immediately connected him with Bhat, who’s a junior.

And here’s, to me, what makes her different: She responded immediately, even though it was around 8 p.m. on a weeknight. She followed up with another email after she applied. She also responds immediately to texts and emails I send her. She understands that journalism is all about communicating with people and developing those relationships.

If Uma Bhat personifies the future of journalism, then we are all in great shape. She’s thorough, fair, a strong writer and a great communicator.

Contact Chris Roush at croush@businessnc.com.

The November edition provided incorrect information about Dr. Shelley Earp, who is stepping down next year as the director of the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center at UNC Chapel Hill. He will remain a professor at UNC.

Ray Gronberg rgronberg@businessnc.com

Cathy Martin cmartin@businessnc.com

SENIOR CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Edward Martin emartin@businessnc.com

SPECIAL PROJECTS EDITOR Katherine Snow Smith

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Uma Bhat, Dan Barkin, Page Leggett

CREATIVE DIRECTOR Peggy Knaack pknaack@businessnc.com

GRAPHIC DESIGNER Cathy Swaney cswaney@businessnc.com

MARKETING COORDINATOR Jennifer Ware jware@businessnc.com

ADVERTISING SALES

ACCOUNT DIRECTOR Melanie Weaver Lynch, eastern N.C. 919-855-9380 mweaver@businessnc.com

ACCOUNT MANAGER AND AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT SPECIALIST Scott Leonard, western N.C. 704-996-6426 sleonard@businessnc.com

CIRCULATION: 818-286-3106

EDITORIAL: 704-523-6987

REPRINTS: circulation@businessnc.com

BUSINESSNC.COM

OWNERS

Jack Andrews, Frank Daniels III, Lee Dirks, David Woronoff, in memoriam Frank Daniels Jr.

PUBLISHED BY Old North State Magazines LLC

PRESIDENT David Woronoff

Uma Bhat

LIST INTERVIEW

HOSPITALITY CHAMP

Lynn Minges, president of the N.C. Restaurant & Lodging Association, joined High Point University President Nido Qubein in the Power List interview, a partnership for discussions with influential leaders. Interview videos are available at www.businessnc.com.

Representing the state’s powerful hospitality industry has been a long-term pursuit for Minges, including 10 years as the president and CEO for the North Carolina Restaurant & Lodging Association. The industry represents more than $27 billion in annual sales and about 11% of the state’s workforce. Prior to her trade association role, Minges was a key part of N.C. Department of Commerce tourism efforts. The native of Bladen County is a graduate of Peace College and N.C. State University.

This story includes excerpts from Budd’s interview and was edited for clarity.

Lynn Minges, welcome. You’re the president and CEO of the North Carolina Restaurant and Lodging Association, which has an enormous impact on our economy.

It’s an honor to be here with you and be on your beautiful campus here in High Point, certainly a bright spot here in our state. It has been my honor to serve the North Carolina hospitality industry for my entire career. There are about 20,000 food service establishments across North Carolina and about 2,000 lodging properties.

There are restaurants and hotels in each of the 100 counties, so they’re important employers all across the state. We’re also the sixth-most visited state, after California, Florida, New York, Texas, Pennsylvania. About 60 million people visit North Carolina a year.

Is it a growth industry?

Our industry is growing. We look at pre-pandemic and post-pandemic, and a lot has changed in our state. We’ve added a tremendous number of restaurants and hotels in the state. We need more employees today than we did even pre-pandemic. And that, perhaps, is our biggest challenge.

You served under two or three different governors as the deputy secretary of the Department of Commerce.

I did work for three governors and five secretaries of commerce, and I’ve had experience working under some amazing dynamic leaders. My role is to work inside the government to help grow the hospitality sector and tourism sector. Now, 12 years later, I find myself working for the private sector, trying to get government to stay out of the way, or add value so that businesses can continue to thrive and continue to support people.

We do a better job in North Carolina in that regard, don’t you think?

I think we do. We’ve got a diverse economy which bodes well for us. We are not entirely tourism dependent, which is a good thing when things like COVID hit. And we have a diverse economy, a diverse workforce, a diverse topography. We have urban centers and rural areas, we have amazing natural scenic beauty as well as conference centers and conventions.

with Nido Qubein at High Point University

And thriving regions like the Triangle, Charlotte and the Triad. And all these businesses like Honda and Toyota coming here and making enormous investments in North Carolina and creating all kinds of jobs. Certainly that helps your business.

Oh, it does. With that comes the need for more restaurants and more hotels, more business travel, more meetings, conventions. You know, it all works together really well.

You mentioned COVID. It was a period in which all of us had to adapt and adjust and show grit and courage and faith. It was a frightening period for large business and small business. What did your association do to encourage and inspire these many small business owners.

COVID was a dark day for our industry. I’ll never forget on March 17, the governor went on TV and issued an executive order that folks were to stay home, that restaurants across the state were to be closed. My phone began to ring from business owners across the state. Many of these folks, restaurateurs particularly, live hand to mouth. They live on such thin profit margins that they were literally seeing their businesses evaporate.

They laid off about half their workforce in North Carolina. And we stepped up in an important way during that time. We were fortunate in North Carolina to have a good relationship with government officials, and I think that bode well for us. So, every time there was an executive order, we had a role in working with the administration to craft that in a way that did as little harm as possible to our industry.

We were involved in every single executive order making sure that when that announcement was made, we could answer all the questions from the business owners. And we fielded thousands and thousands of calls from business owners. We also stepped up to try to make consumers feel comfortable when they could come back into restaurants, and that was on May 22.

Even when we opened back up, there were still protocols, mask mandates, tables 10 feet apart, the kinds of things that we had to do to protect our guests, patrons and employees. So we were very much on the front line of all of that. Obviously since COVID, we’ve continued to be engaged today in helping our industry recover.

Are we back to 100% of pre-COVID level of business?

We can’t just go back to 2019 because we’re living in 2023 and, that’s a long time – business growth, new restaurants, new hotels, increased demand. But what I will say is that business is strong across our state. Revenues are up, but largely that’s because prices are up, the cost of doing business is up. Labor costs are up, and so if you look at dollars spent, we are well ahead of where we were in 2019. It costs a lot more to eat out. People are spending a lot more to travel these days, and that’s having an impact.

The association provides legal and legislative guidance. Besides that, do you do seminars on hiring people, motivating employees?

What I like to say to our members is, “We are watching that for you. While you’re running your business. We are interacting with government at every level. Any decision they make that impacts your business, we’re going to tell you about it, we are going to monitor that. We are going to advocate for you if it’s a bad decision that’s going to impact you adversely, we’re going to work to stop that legislation. If it’s a good policy, we’re going to work to get those passed. We’re going to keep you informed and engaged.”

The thing that we do best is that we harness the collective power of the industry. What has been the most fun for me in this role is trying to harness that voice, and reach out across the state to get people involved in effecting change.

We got a $500 million appropriation to help offset the losses of restaurants and hotels in North Carolina. The appropriation was part of the federal American Rescue Plan. And the way it worked was pretty amazing. Any restaurant or hotel that was down in gross sales by 20% got a check for 10% of their losses. It was amazing.

What do you see happening with the labor situation?

It is a big challenge. It was before COVID, and it certainly is today. I think it’s the No. 1 concern of every single restaurant and every single hotel. But a number of our businesses across our state are feeling that pain as well.

We’re preparing to execute a campaign to talk about careers in the hospitality industry. So we think we have an opportunity to lure some of those folks back, to get students interested in careers in the industry, to understand that there are amazing and incredible career opportunities.

Are the larger owners of restaurant chains coming back quicker and more profitable?

To be fair, it impacted large, small, chain, independent probably equally. There were many restaurant concepts that were dramatically impacted, even if they are chains. When you’re shut down for eight weeks, there are huge losses. And many of them had to adapt their business models. They had to reformulate their dining establishments. They had to pivot to take-out windows, delivery and many of those made huge investments in technology and design. Many large businesses took on an immense amount of debt during COVID.

What makes a restaurant successful?

Good leadership. Managers who take care of their people. I’m always amazed at the incredible lengths that people go to to take care of their people, to be good employers. A keen business sense. It takes a real smart business owner to run a restaurant in this environment.

What would be the general profit of a restaurant? Does your association figure out what generally is the gross margin? Perhaps 20%?

Not nearly that, I don’t think. I’m not involved in that side of the business. I do know it’s a thin margin. Some obviously operate on volume, so if they make a dollar a meal, they get that in volume. Finedining restaurants probably have a little bit greater margin but also pretty significant risks.

What is your view for 2024 and 2025 for the industry?

Business is brisk. Hotels are working at pretty high levels of occupancy. They’re seeing bookings coming in on an expected basis. I think there are really three challenges they are facing today. One is workforce issues, then inflation with increased cost of supplies. And I’m watching an emerging trend about the health of our urban centers and declining business travel. These are issues we’ll have to reckon with, but business is strong.

I’m encouraged talking with you. Thank you for your leadership and I wish for you great things always ■

EMBRACING THE SEASON OF GIVING WITH PURPOSE AND IMPACT

This is the twenty-ninth in a series of informative monthly articles for North Carolina businesses from PNC in collaboration with BUSINESS NORTH CAROLINA magazine.

From the sound of coins being deposited into red kettles to the warmth of donated coats at winter clothing drives, the spirit of giving appeals to every sense during the holiday season. Add to that the impending deadline for securing end-of-year tax deductions and it’s not surprising that as much as 30% of charitable giving activity in the U.S. occurs during the month of December.

The confluence of holiday goodwill and year-end financial decisions often motivates donors to consider strategies that can help maximize the charitable impact of their contributions and reduce income tax liability, from submitting employer matching gift requests to making qualified charitable distributions (QCDs) to public charities from individual retirement accounts (IRAs). While these methods can help some donors achieve their philanthropic objectives in the near term, PNC Private Bank leaders encourage families to lean into the togetherness of the season and consider the long-term impact they can create through defining their purpose.

“Discovering and articulating the ‘why’ behind a family’s purpose is foundational to creating lasting impact and legacy,” says Raleigh-based Denny Terzich, who leads PNC Private Bank in the Carolinas. “Our teams fully understand and appreciate that each family has its own unique dynamics, values and goals – and we work closely and collaboratively to help them deliver on their purpose within the context of a comprehensive wealth plan.”

Terzich and Greensboro-based David Leppert, PNC Private Bank’s wealth director for the Western Carolinas market, point to a variety of planned giving vehicles that high net worth individuals and families may consider leveraging.

One strategy that is sometimes overlooked for its simplicity, says Leppert, is designating a charitable organization as a beneficiary within a donor’s will, retirement plan, IRA, life insurance policy, annuity or any other asset that passes by contract.

Another strategy, which has increased in popularity in recent years because of its lower monetary threshold and ease of administration, is to establish a donor advised fund (DAF), a charitable fund sponsored by a 501(c)(3) entity. By giving to a DAF, usually managed by a financial institution, public charity or community foundation, a donor may receive an income tax deduction at the time a contribution is made – and then makes

recommendations for distributions to charitable beneficiaries over a longer period.

“A DAF is particularly helpful for donors who are interested in front-loading their giving for tax reasons, while also having the flexibility to research and select charities to fund in the future,” says Leppert.

Private family foundations continue to be both popular and useful in a stack of vehicles to drive change or support a specific cause. While administratively more involved, irrevocable and requiring a deeper financial commitment, a private family foundation is often the cornerstone of a family’s sense of purpose and community involvement.

For families seeking to manage an asset to provide both income and a charitable gift, a charitable remainder trust provides an option for donors looking to achieve this dual purpose, says Terzich. Charitable remainder trusts can be funded with qualified appreciated stock, cash, real estate or other tangible property. Donors retain the right to a stream of payments – either a fixed amount, such as with a charitable remainder annuity trust (CRAT), or a fixed percentage of trust asset value, such as with a charitable remainder unitrust (CRUT). Payments are made for a number of years or for the life of the non-charitable beneficiary. When the trust ends, the assets pass to one or more charitable entities.

As Terzich, Leppert and colleagues advise families on all phases and aspects of wealth planning, they acknowledge there has never been a more consequential time for individuals and families to translate their purpose into impact.

“As we embark on what experts are calling the greatest generational wealth transfer in history, families are placing an increasingly pronounced focus on making arrangements to pass down, preserve and continue to grow their purpose,”

Denny Terzich

David Leppert

says Terzich. “This entails helping prepare a new generation for the responsibilities and opportunities that accompany a transfer of wealth.”

In the ultra-high net worth and family office space, for example, families are increasingly moving beyond traditional grant-making to deploy capital, based on their values and impact goals, across a spectrum of business models to help solve societal problems. As such, many families take a portfolio approach to capital deployment – funding nonprofits with grants and low-interest loans, for example, or supporting local impact entrepreneurs with equity.

To facilitate this shift in mindset and stewardship, Terzich and Leppert enlist the resources of PNC Private Bank Hawthorn’s Philanthropy & Impact team, which helps ultrahigh net worth families define their purpose and deliver on the impact they seek.

While the scope of purpose-driven advice once focused overwhelmingly on the “how,” the Philanthropy & Impact team

works with families to first define their “why” and “what” before deciding which combination of vehicles is right for them. The team also manages the complexities of private foundation administration for ultra-high net worth families and the PNC Fund for Charitable Giving, PNC’s donor-advised fund. What happens when a family is not ready to work together on a shared purpose? PNC Private Bank Hawthorn’s Institute for Family Success helps families navigate the complex practical and emotional aspects of managing and transferring wealth, with an emphasis on fostering healthy communication and family dynamics.

Throughout Leppert’s 20-year private banking career in North Carolina, he has found inspiration and motivation in the generosity of local families. “Helping families give to organizations and causes that are meaningful to them reminds me that I am helping manage more than assets and wealth,” he says. “I am helping families make the most of their purpose and create legacies that will continue far into the future.”

REGIONAL PRESIDENTS:

Weston Andress, Western Carolinas: (704) 643-5581

Jim Hansen, Eastern Carolinas: (919) 835-0135

These materials are furnished for the use of PNC and its clients and do not constitute the provision of investment, legal, or tax advice to any person. They are not prepared with respect to the specific investment objectives, financial situation, or particular needs of any person. Use of these materials is dependent upon the judgment and analysis applied by duly authorized investment personnel who consider a client’s individual account circumstances. Persons reading these materials should consult with their PNC account representative regarding the appropriateness of investing in any securities or adopting any investment strategies discussed or recommended herein and should understand that statements regarding future prospects may not be realized. The information contained herein was obtained from sources deemed reliable. Such information is not guaranteed as to its accuracy, timeliness, or completeness by PNC. The information contained and the opinions expressed herein are subject to change without notice. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Neither the information presented, nor any opinion expressed herein constitutes an offer to buy or sell, nor a recommendation to buy or sell, any security or financial instrument. Accounts managed by PNC and its affiliates may take positions from time to time in securities recommended and followed by PNC affiliates. Securities are not bank deposits, nor are they backed or guaranteed by PNC or any of its affiliates, and are not issued by, insured by, guaranteed by, or obligations of the FDIC or the Federal Reserve Board. Securities involve investment risks, including possible loss of principal.

The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. (“PNC”) uses the marketing names PNC Private Bank® and PNC Private Bank Hawthorn® to provide investment consulting and wealth management, fiduciary

FDIC-insured banking products and services, and lending of funds to individual clients through PNC Bank, National Association (“PNC

fiduciary and agency services

AND THE AWARD GOES TO...

A Queen City CEO immerses himself in the red-carpet world of awards shows.

By Page Leggett

During law school, David Moritz had a friend who considered starting a promotional products business.

After attending a trade show, the friend told Moritz he was surprised by the dearth of high-end offerings.

There were pens, keychains and koozies as far as the eye could see. But there were few other products.

Moritz, an NYU alum who planned to be an entertainment lawyer, thought about the iconic statues presented at black-tie awards shows. Were executives browsing tchotchke showrooms? Didn’t they deserve a more sophisticated way to source sought-after awards?

The founder and CEO of Charlotte-based Society Awards says high-end awards manufacturers didn’t exist until he created the category.

Moritz aspires for the brand to be known among the award recipients themselves. Yes, that means Meryl Streep, Beyoncé, Garth Brooks and the like.

“A lot of award winners are already aware of us,” he says. “If you’re in advertising, you know about the industry’s Clio Awards, and you probably read in the trades that Society Awards is producing them now. Even in the entertainment industry, some people know us.”

When Steven Spielberg accepted the Cecil B. DeMille Award at the 2009 Golden Globes, he held it up and said, “Look; it’s been redesigned and everything. It’s beautiful.”

Society didn’t just redesign the DeMille Award. Over nearly two years, the company redesigned the iconic Golden Globe, too.

The globe sits on a marble base, weighs 5.5 pounds and stands 10.75 inches high. Each is presented, with a certificate of authenticity, in a red velvet-lined, leather-bound chest with the Hollywood Foreign Press Association logo stamped in gold.

Moritz understands: Presentation matters.

WHITE GLOVES, RED CARPETS

Founded in 2007 in New York, Society Awards offers what the company calls “white-glove concierge services.” The company employs about a dozen concierges who are assigned to a client from initial meeting through delivery. They act, Moritz says, as “the client’s command center. They review materials, design options and logistics. They handle quality control and delivery. The concierge makes everything happen.”

Society’s awards are made in China and finished (plaques affixed, polished, shipped) in the company’s Grove, Oklahoma, facility. Society employs about 60 people in Charlotte and Oklahoma.

Moritz and his family moved Society’s headquarters to Charlotte in 2020 seeking “a better quality of life.” He and his wife Charlotte have two children – ages 9 and 6 – and appreciate “the grass, the green space and the weather” in their adopted hometown.

The company maintains two offices in South End, one in Atherton Mill and the other in The Line, a 16-story, mixed-use complex. Atherton Mill offers visibility and is ideal for client meetings, while the larger Line space is more conducive to company meetings.

Pictured left to right at the top of page:

The Hip Hop Honors Award, the Academy of Country Music Award, the Billboard Music Award, the SOCAN Award, NBC’s The Voice Trophy, the American Music Award, the iHeartMedia Award and the YouTube Red Diamond Creator Award

STARTING AT THE TOP

Moritz says he started the business at the top. “We were creating a better product than already existed and felt confident going after notable accounts,” he says.

Society’s reach goes beyond show biz to encompass sports, social media, cars and more.

“Within every field of endeavor, there’s a world-class champion,” Moritz says. Whether being honored for acting in a Hollywood movie or for selling more carpet than their colleagues, these champions deserve more than a standard-issue trophy, he stresses.

Moritz’s first foray into the awards world was an acrylic memento. The award was small but the client, Billboard magazine, and the honoree, Neil Diamond, are known globally. Society Awards’ client roster now includes the Video Music Awards, the Emmy Awards, the Academy of Country Music Awards, NAACP Image Awards, NBC’s “The Voice” and ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars.”

Impressive, but one award is conspicuously absent: the Oscar. Surely, Moritz wants to manufacture that golden statuette? Nope.

“We’re already the supplier for the most prestigious awards show – the YouTube Creators Awards,” he says. “If you have 100 million subscribers to your YouTube channel, you’re eligible for the Red Diamond Award – made of red Baccarat crystal.”

THE SECRET WEAPONS

What made Moritz think he could convince Hollywood honchos to buy his product? It may have been his high-end suits.

“I was exceptionally polished,” he says. “I know what I’m doing. I had a law degree and had read manufacturing textbooks. I interviewed professional artists. I understood the assignment – replicating a series of miniatures that must be identical. It’s an artisan process. Our awards are akin to a high-end, limited-edition piece of art.”

From the beginning, Moritz knew he had to sell more than an award. He had to make the buying, production and delivery process smooth –and even enjoyable.

His self-confidence and swagger are probably his secret weapons:

Business NC: Who are your competitors?

Moritz: They’re all out of business.

BNC: OK, then. Who were your competitors?

Moritz: [Starts to answer, before stopping himself.] No, no. I’m not going to mention them. If they can’t get press on their own, I’m not getting it for them.

GETTING IN THE DOOR

There’s nothing easy about uncovering the person in an organization responsible for buying awards. “It’s often a CEO or someone else in the C-suite,” he says. “But it can be someone in the marketing department who happens to love awards shows.”

Along with Vicky Fotopoulou, the company’s co-creative director of 3-D design, Moritz helps create the awards. Those designs include creative wonders like the MTV Movie Award – a popcorn box replica with golden popcorn piled high and spilling out onto the base of the statue.

Moritz’s design sensibility might be the dictum often attributed to German architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe: “Less is more.”

An award “needs to be simple,” he says. “If you try to complicate the design, you end up with something fussy.”

Moritz’s process for creating an award is meant to be painless for the client. There are no thumbnail sketches to review. “If you’re not a sculptor, do you really want to sit around reviewing sketches for sculpture?” Moritz asked rhetorically.

Instead, the team begins with a creative brief, gets buy-in from the client and comes back with what Moritz calls a “Pixar-level photo/ illustration” for the client to approve.

The costs for Society’s white-glove treatment varies. Moritz says clients can generally get something impressive in the “ready-to-award” category for between $150 and $1,000 per unit. A custom award usually starts at $10,000.

“It’s got to be good,” Moritz says. “And it is. What we show up with is a literal work of art.” ■

More than 150 Society Awards designs will be displayed in an exhibit opening Dec. 1 at the Mint Museum Uptown.

DAILY FIBER

A High Point company sees a winning strategy for high-speed internet service in less densely populated areas.

By Chris Roush

xpanding high-speed fiber networks into rural areas is a national priority that has lots of upside for North Carolina. Corning, CommScope and other companies make massive amounts of fiber at several Tar Heel locations.

Now, High Point-based Lumos is accelerating its goal to install fiber for a major network that serves less-dense areas where Spectrum, Comcast, Google and others won’t enter. The company has a goal of passing 1 million homes and businesses by 2026, or nearly four times the current total. It has the backing of Sweden’s largest private-equity group, EQT, which manages more than $220 billion in assets.

Lumos is spending hundreds of millions of dollars in places like Burlington, Lexington, Mebane and Wilmington, working with county governments and state mandates to expand internet service. While mainly focused on North Carolina and Virginia, CEO Brian Stading looks for much of its growth to occur in South Carolina. He’s also mulling expansions in other mid-Atlantic and Southeast states.

The expansion is buoyed by the federal government’s $42.5 billion Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) program. A key goal is to help rural areas remain competitive as a location for promising companies.

Lumos is the successor of the old High Point Telephone Exchange, which local businessmen had formed in 1895. It became North State Telephone in 1905 and was led by the Hayden and Tucker families for most of the next century. It primarily served retail and commercial customers around High Point and Thomasville, and parts of Greensboro and Kernersville.

EQT expanded in the telecom sector service by buying Lumos Networks of Waynesboro, Virginia, in 2013 and North State in 2020. It later created the Segra brand, then sold North State’s regional fiber network to Atlanta’s Cox Communications last year.

Stading joined Lumos in August 2022 after nearly three years as chief operating officer of Ziply Fiber in Washington state. He says he was attracted by the chance to launch the Lumos brand and create a new culture. “When you develop a new brand, it takes time,” he says. “The good news is we had a great foundation. We’re not screwing up what was done in the past. We’re a fiber optic builder. We’re not a historical telephone provider.”

His basic pitch is that businesses and consumers should switch from old, somewhat unreliable copper cable-provided internet service to new fiber options. A detailed market study by Lumos asked, “What are the communities that are underserved or unserved? It was really assessing what we think is a reasonable and aggressive undertaking,” he says.

While gobs of money is backing rural broadband, Lumos’ timing may be risky.

In November, Gov. Roy Cooper signed a letter with 25 other governors urging Congress to reauthorize the Affordable Connectivity Program. The program, administered by the Federal Communications, provides qualified low-income households $30 per month off the cost of internet service or $100 off the cost of a router. Without action, the program could run out of funds as early as next April, affecting more than 861,000 North Carolinians.

Lumos has competitors. Indiana-based Metronet expanded its fiber-optic service into Havelock in September, for example. It’s also entering Fayetteville, Greenville and Rocky Mount, among other eastern North Carolina cities.

But Lumos appears to be among the state’s most active broadband investors, having restructured nearly $1.1 billion debt this summer

Lumos CEO Brian Stading wants to put high-speed internet in rural areas.

and adding a line of credit to fund expansion.

In September 2022, Lumos said it would spend $50 million to lay 600 miles of cable in Durham and Orange counties. The same month, it received franchise approvals for 900 miles of cable in Chesapeake, Portsmouth and Virginia Beach in Virginia.

Its biggest announcement came in January, with plans for 1,200 miles of cable in South Carolina’s Richland and Lexington counties at a cost of $100 million. Two months later, it began adding 706 miles of cable in Spartanburg County, and it has received franchise approval to go into the Columbia, South Carolina, market.

Back in North Carolina, the company is spending $56 million in New Hanover County and $50 million in Johnston County, east of Raleigh. In Alamance and Orange counties, Lumos is building infrastructure that will pass nearly 70,000 homes across Burlington, Elon, Gibsonville, and Mebane.

In June, the N.C. Department of Information Technology, a state agency, announced that its challenges to the FCC’s National Broadband Map found an additional 115,000 homes and businesses, primarily in rural areas, without access to high-speed internet. The FCC says there are more than 250,000 locations that are unserved by broadband internet, with download speeds of less than 25 megabytes per second. About 300,000 sites have speeds of less than 100 megabytes per second. The basic Lumos service for a home is 500 megabytes per second download and upload speed.

“The reason you want fiber is that you want the best,” says Stading. “Your upload and download feeds are synced. Having that video capability is paramount, and fiber is a lot more stable and more reliable than traditional copper technology.”

For consumers, Lumos charges start at $50 a month and reach $100 for faster speeds. By comparison, Google Fiber starts at $70 a month in the Triangle. That’s a deal that Stading hopes will attract customers to Lumos. “We want to provide a fair price for a fair service and distinguish ourselves on service,” he says. “Our goal is to provide great value.” ■

FETCHING FEETURES

Two decades after their Catawba Valley business failed, the Gaithers rebound in the sock market.

By Kevin Ellis

ugh Gaither started Hickory-based Feetures 22 years ago by selling high-performance socks to runners. The company, which reported $45 million in revenue last year, is now hustling after new customers who enjoy different active pursuits, including golfers, cyclists, hikers and tennis players.

H“The running market is a small market in the big world, but Feetures is becoming a better known brand,” says Gaither, 73. He now runs the business with his two sons, John, 45, who took over as CEO in January, and son Joe, 37, the chief marketing officer. Joe came up with the Feetures name when he was a student at Newton-Conover High School.

The company sold more than 5 million pairs of socks last year, with a retail price averaging about $18, and it has doubled its workforce and sales in the past three years. The business has grown every single year, aided by steady growth of retail customers, such as REI, which started selling Feetures in 2021. It has “relentlessly focused” on gaining market share at Dick’s Sporting Goods and other key retailers, and increasing business in international markets, Joe Gaither adds. The brand sells in 50 countries and about 10,000 stores, including specialty running shops such as Carrboro-based Fleet Feet.

SOCK VETERANS

The Gaither family are longtime Catawba County business owners. Hugh Gaither’s great-grandfather, Joseph Albert Gaither, started Ridgeview, a hosiery and sock manufacturing business

in Newton, in 1912. Hugh Gaither went to work for Ridgeview in 1975 after earning an MBA from UNC Chapel Hill and completing his service in the U.S. Army. He recalls turning down a job from Mellon Bank in Pittsburgh at twice the Ridgeview salary level to join the family business.

“Ridgeview was a terrific company in many ways, including starting one of the very first on-site day care centers, (and) supporting an innovative way for parents to meet with their children’s teachers for monthly reviews on site without loss of pay,” he says.

When Ridgeview closed in 2000, it had annual sales of around $100 million but struggled to make a profit, says Hugh Gaither. Using debt for two acquisitions, extending its resources and changes at the bank that financed the company combined to force its closure after almost 90 years, says Gaither, who was CEO at the time.

Still, he learned about the sport sock market at Ridgeview, with some of those lessons now evident at Feetures. “I noticed that sport socks hadn’t changed much, and thought we could make a performance sock,” he says. The company is considering launching a line of performance shirts next year.

OVERCOMING OBSTACLES

Direct-to-customer online sales soared during the pandemic, going from about 15% of Feetures sales to 30% in 2020. “Due to the shutdown of gyms and other activities, a lot of people turned to running, walking and hiking as their primary form of exercise,” Joe Gaither says. Many active lifestyle brands flourished during the pandemic, but when the world “returned to normal,” Feetures found its retail business stronger than ever and revenue outpacing projections in all channels, he says.

COVID presented unique challenges, including an eight-week factory shutdown by Feetures’ primary supplier in Vietnam. It could have been devastating, but Feetures had added new U.S. suppliers and was able to partner with other factories in Asia. “All of this allowed us to find capacity” and keep up with customer demands, Joe Gaither says. “We did depend heavily on air freight at the time, which was extremely expensive, but we felt necessary.”

North Carolina factories in High Point and Burlington make about 25% of the company’s socks, with the rest coming from plants in Vietnam, South Korea and Taiwan.

So what distinguishes an $18 Feetures sock and white tube socks besides the splash of colors? Feetures socks “hug the foot,” says Hugh Gaither. Targeted compression keeps the sock in place and prevents friction that can lead to blisters. Feetures socks are anatomically designed, meaning just like shoes there’s a “right” sock and a “left” sock, marked with a “L” and an “R.”

“You don’t want to have to think about your socks, so we sell to active people who don’t want to worry about their socks,” he says.

ROOTED IN CATAWBA

The company employs about 55 workers, including 30 in its 40,000-square-foot customer service and distribution center in Hickory. The rest, including the three Gaithers, work at a Charlotte office that opened with four people in 2014. The Queen City group grew as Feetures recruited talent for marketing and planning teams, Many staffers preferred not to commute 50 miles to Hickory. Parents Hugh and wife, Julie, moved to Charlotte in 2016, and work at the Charlotte office. It didn’t hurt that the move put them closer to their grandchildren.

“It was a hard decision for my dad to break up our workforce, but ultimately he came around to the idea as well,” Joe Gaither says.

But Feetures will remain rooted in Catawba County, they say. Next fall, it plans to move into an expanded distribution and customer service center. It will be a 60,000-square-foot building under construction by Hickory-based contractor David E. Looper and designed by Holland and Hamrick Architects of Shelby. The site has a Newton mailing address, although it’s in the Hickory city limits.

Feetures is leasing the building from Winston-Salem-based Southeastern Industrial Solutions, which is also developing an adjacent 40,000-square-foot spec building.

Pending continued growth, Feetures expects to add 25 workers to its distribution and customer service center in the next five years, Joe Gaither says. The building’s high ceilings give Feetures twice the actual warehouse space, and it will offer technological advantages in filling orders as the company transitions to selling to larger stores and adding more direct sales to customers.

The Gaithers say they recognize each other’s strengths, which has helped achieve positive results at Feetures. “Our differences do sometimes lead to spirited debate which can be challenging, but in the end we respect each other enough to get through it and find compromise and ultimately consensus, which has been critical,” Joe Gaither says. ■

Feetures will remain rooted in Catawba County, though leaders Hugh Gaither and his sons, CEO John Gaither (left) and Chief Marketing Officer Joe Gaither (seated), are now based in Charlotte.

Engineering

A GOOD FIT

WithersRavenel makes a difference with its work behind the scenes.

By Dan Barkin

Unless you are a land developer or someone who works in local government, the name WithersRavenel may not resonate. But it is possible you live in a subdivision that was designed by WithersRavenel. Or you live in a town whose master plan was drafted with its help.

The company’s more than 400 engineers, land planners, environmental specialists and surveyors work all over North Carolina.

Sam Ravenel and Tony Withers earned engineering degrees at N.C. State University in the mid-1970s. They met working in dam safety for the state.

Eventually, they both went to work for private engineering firms. By 1982, Withers went out on his own. He needed help, and reached out to his former colleague, Ravenel.

“I said I can’t do this by myself, and we had a good relationship, so I said let’s just form a partnership.” In 1983, the firm began in Raleigh.

At that time, Cary was transforming from a small western Wake County town to a booming suburb. Research Triangle Park was taking off, and Interstate 40 had been built right by Cary between Raleigh and RTP. Fast-growing startup SAS Institute had arrived from Raleigh. WithersRavenel was getting work from developments that were springing up.

“We knew Cary was on the move,” says Withers, “so we said let’s move our office out here.” They had a draftsman and a secretary and there were four of them in a three-room sublease from a dentist.

In 1990, the partners recruited Jim Canfield, who eventually became CEO and president of the company. Two of the leading developers in the Triangle were Tim Smith and Bubba Rawl.

From 1990 to 2005, WithersRavenel would grow to 100 employees. One reason was the work it was doing for Preston Development, a company founded by Smith and Rawl and backed financially by SAS co-founder Jim Goodnight.

By 2007, the firm had 280 employees. And then the housing market collapsed in 2008, triggering a financial crisis that ripped through the development industry.

WithersRavenel reduced its staffing to below 100 employees. “It was awful,” says Withers. “Banks were calling notes on everybody. Many, many builders went bankrupt.”

Fortunately, the firm had what he called “a little bit of government work to sustain us. And we had a couple of good developer clients that were not affected as badly. They could afford to pay their bills.”

One reason WithersRavenel had government work was engineer Cameron Patterson, says Canfield. “He was our early champion for public sector work. A lot of what he did in the mid-90s, especially early 2000s, allowed us to have the public sector work we did that got us through the recession.”

WithersRavenel worked with municipalities throughout North Carolina. Engineering firms like WithersRavenel become the go-to resource for a myriad of local projects: land use plans, street construction and repair, water and sewer installations and the like.

Government work has balanced the ups and downs of private development. Today, the firm’s $60 million annual revenues are split 55% private, 45% public.

“We’ve added 200 people in the last three years, during Covid,” says Canfield. A challenge in this hiring is ensuring new employees share the company’s core values. The engineering business is a technical one, but it is also a relationship business because WithersRavenel personnel interact with clients daily. “If our employee experience here is great, they’re going to give our client a great experience,” says Canfield.

WithersRavenel now has offices in Asheville, Charlotte, Greensboro, Pittsboro, Raleigh, Southern Pines and Wilmington.

“At some point in the very near future, we will be outside of North Carolina. We need to in order to continue to grow and scale, but importantly, to give our teammates opportunities to grow with us. We’ve been thinking in 10 years, we’d be a Southeast regional firm.”

The founders are still active in the business, which is now 100% employee-owned through a stock plan. Withers works on client relationships, and Ravenel works in the stormwater group.

They are different people, says Canfield. “Sam’s very much head down, wanna do the engineering work. Tony’s much more about developing business, developing client relationships, big picture, putting things together. And so the two of them made an awesome team of Tony, he’d bring the work in, and Sam would make sure it got done and got done well.” ■

Sam Ravenel and Tony Withers

THE CORPORATE TRANSPARENCY ACT: YOUR QUESTIONS, ANSWERED

By Adam M. Beaudoin and Matthew A. Jones

Confused by what you've read about the Corporate Transparency Act?

You're not alone. Read on to learn what it is, who it applies to, what it will do, and the requirements for compliance.

WHAT IS THE CORPORATE TRANSPARENCY ACT?

The Corporate Transparency Act was created to provide law enforcement with beneficial ownership information related to specific business entities to detect, prevent, and punish terrorism, money laundering, and other misconduct.

WHEN DOES THE CORPORATE TRANSPARENCY ACT TAKE EFFECT?

The Corporate Transparency Act will go into effect on January 1, 2024.

Reporting entities created before the end of 2023 will have until January 1, 2025, to file beneficial ownership information. For companies registered after January 1, 2024, the requirement for filing ownership information is 30 days after the proposed registration, but there are proposed regulations that would extend the reporting time to 90 days, with the 30-day reporting period not going into effect until January 1, 2025.

WHICH COMPANIES NEED TO FILE BENEFICIAL OWNER INFORMATION UNDER THE CORPORATE TRANSPARENCY ACT?

The Corporate Transparency Act applies to a variety of domestic reporting companies, including corporations, LLCs, LLPs, LLLPs, LPs, non-profit corporations, and business trusts, as well as any other entity that is created by the filing of a document with the Secretary of State or Native American tribe.

Any foreign company doing business in the US with a physical location in the US will also need to file ownership information under the Act.

WHAT COMPANIES ARE EXEMPT FROM FILING UNDER THE CORPORATE TRANSPARENCY ACT?

There are 23 exemptions from the definition of "Reporting Company" in the Corporate Transparency Act. Companies in already heavily regulated industries, such as insurance, banking, financial brokerages, exchanges, clearing agencies, public accounting firms, political organizers, investment advisors, investment companies who pooled investment rewards, accountants, and Commodity Exchange Act registered agencies, are typically going to be exempt.

However, most importantly, large domestic corporations with at least 20 employees AND tax returns showing more than $5 million in gross receipts or sales will be exempt from the Act.

ARE NON-PROFITS EXEMPT FROM FILING FOR THE CORPORATE TRANSPARENCY ACT?

Various tax-exempt entities and entities assisting tax-exempt entities are also not required to report ownership information (tax-exempt entities are generally formed as non-profits). To be tax-exempt under the Corporate Transparency Act, the entity must be a 501(c) and exempt under 501(a) of the code.

ARE COMMUNITY ASSOCIATIONS OR HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATIONS EXEMPT FROM FILING WITH THE CORPORATE TRANSPARENCY ACT?

Not at this time. Community Associations organized under 528 will be subject to the Act. Only Community Associations organized under 501(c)(4) or under 501(c)(7) will be exempt.

WHAT IS A "BENEFICIAL OWNER"?

For the purpose of the Act, the definition of a beneficial owner is an individual who directly or indirectly, through any contract, arrangement, understanding, relationship, or otherwise: exercises "substantial control" over a reporting company OR owns or controls 25% or more of the "ownership interests" of a reporting company.

WHAT IF MY COMPANY IS OWNED BY A TRUST?

Companies owned by a trust will have to report the name of the trustee and any beneficiaries designated more than 25% benefits. Essentially, anyone who has authority to dispose of trust assets.

What if the beneficiary of a trust is a minor? The parent or guardian information would be reported until the child reaches the age of majority.

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN CHANGES IN OWNERSHIP HAPPEN IN THE ORDINARY COURSE OF BUSINESS?

The Reporting Company has 30 days to file the updated report.

WHO WILL BE ABLE TO SEE THE OWNERSHIP INFORMATION? IS THIS INFORMATION PUBLIC?

Beneficial ownership information submitted via the Act's portal will not be publicly available.

Instead, the information will only be available to:

• The Federal Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN)

WHAT, EXACTLY, WILL MY COMPANY BE REQUIRED TO REPORT TO THE GOVERNMENT UNDER THE CORPORATE TRANSPARENCY ACT?

Reporting companies will be required to share the legal name, trade name, DBA, taxpayer ID, and street address. Beneficial owners will have to report their name, date of birth, residential street address, and valid state-issued photo ID (i.e., Driver's License or passport). The corporate street address for beneficial owners may NOT be used.

WHAT SHOULD I DO TO FILE TO BE COMPLIANT WITH THE CORPORATE TRANSPARENCY ACT?

FinCEN's filing system is currently under development and will not be available until January 1, 2024.

WHAT IF I AM UNCLEAR ON WHAT I OR MY COMPANY SHOULD DO NOW?

Please ask your business attorney for counsel. If you are unrepresented, we are accepting new clients and are assisting businesses with the issues surrounding filing for compliance with the Corporate Transparency Act.

Public information regarding FinCEN's filing requirements and timeline may change. We will post new information on our website as it becomes available. ■

• Certain other law enforcement agencies with court approval

• Non-US law enforcement agencies, i.e., foreign governments

• Financial institutions and regulators with the consent of the reporting company

HOW MUCH DOES IT COST TO FILE MY BUSINESS INFORMATION UNDER THE CORPORATE TRANSPARENCY ACT?

There is no fee associated with filing.

HOW MUCH WILL IT COST IF I DECIDE NOT TO FILE MY BUSINESS UNDER THE CORPORATE TRANSPARENCY ACT?

Willful reporting violations carry a $500 per day civil penalty; criminal violations are up to $10,000, or two years in prison. Unauthorized disclosure or use carries civil fines of $500 per day and criminal penalties of up to $250,000 or five years in prison or both. The fines start at $500 a day, up to $250,000 per day if the government finds you are trying to perpetrate a fraud.

Adam M. Beaudoin Business Attorney amb@wardandsmith.com

Matthew A. Jones Business Attorney majones@wardandsmith.com

This article is not intended to give, and should not be relied upon for, legal advice in any particular circumstance or fact situation. No action should be taken in reliance upon the information contained in this article without obtaining the advice of an attorney.

CHARLOTTE

CHARLOTTE

Chicago-based TTX, a railroad car company, will relocate its headquarters here to the top two floors at The Line complex. TTX will invest $14.5 million and create 150 jobs in Charlotte.

Former Truist banker Heath Campbell joined Huntington National Bank as executive managing director of the Carolinas. Huntington said last month it would place its newly formed fund finance team in uptown Charlotte next year. The Ohio-based bank has more than 1,000 branches in 11 states, but none in the Carolinas.

Wayland Cato Jr., who built a major women’s apparel chain with more than 10,000 employees, died at age 100. He

and his family were major donors to the education schools at UNC Charlotte and Queen’s University. Family members still control publicly traded Cato Corp.

Cedar Fair, a Sandusky, Ohio-based company that owns Carowinds, will combine with Arlington, Texas-based Six Flags Entertainment in what the two companies are calling a merger of equals. The combined company will be headquartered here and will operate a portfolio of 27 amusement parks, 15 water parks and nine resort properties in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico.

Months after celebrating 50 years in business, the land beneath beloved Brooks’ Sandwich House is up for sale. Owner David Brooks said the business will stay open until the sale.

Coca-Cola Consolidated, the largest U.S. Coca-Cola bottler, reported net income of $92.1 million in the third quarter, down from $118.8 million in the same period a year earlier. Revenue gained 5.1% during the quarters to $1.7 billion. The company’s shares have gained 26% this year through early November.

A federal lawsuit accuses Charlotte Hornets star LaMelo Ball, his family’s business and sneaker maker PUMA of fraud, claiming damages in excess of $200 million. Ball’s former business adviser Alan Foster’s lawsuit also includes claims of trademark infringement and unfair business practices. Representatives for Big Baller Brand and the Charlotte Hornets did not have an immediate comment.

Celgard, a manufacturer of membrane battery separators, is adding more capacity to meet growing demand tied to electric vehicles. Some 100 jobs will be added in an expansion starting next year, according to the company.

KINGS MOUNTAIN

Actega plans a 238,000-square-foot production facility here. The relocation is set to take place in the second quarter of 2024. It will put all of the company’s ink technology development under one roof, which will assist workers involved in R&D, technical service and quality control.

EAST

FAYETTEVILLE

Dansons, a manufacturer of grills and smokers, is closing its distribution and warehouse operations in early 2024 and laying off 49 workers, according to a filing with the N.C. Department of Commerce. The layoffs are expected to start in February and be completed by April. The company is consolidating the Fayetteville operations in Columbus, Georgia.

MANTEO

The Outer Banks Association of Realtors hosted a meeting to discuss significant increases in property insurance premiums. While higher insurance rates in coastal communities are not unusual, CEO Willo Kelly said the 10% statewide average rate increase seems to have caused more worry than in the past.

WILMINGTON

The N.C. State Ports Authority will receive almost $11 million from the U.S. Department of Transportation to move the Port of Wilmington’s North Gate farther away from surrounding neighborhoods. The money is part of its Port Infrastructure Development Program and will fund 38% of the port’s North Gate Relocation and Access Optimization project.

Birmingham-based real estate firm Capstone Communities partnered with Newland Real Estate Group to develop the Riverlights community here. More than 200 cottages are available within a 120-acre mixed use village at the southern end of the community, which will cater to young professionals, empty-nesters and those looking to rent instead of buy.

TRIAD

LIBERTY

Toyota plans to invest an additional $8 billion and hire 3,000 more employees at its electric battery manufacturing site under construction in Randolph County, the company said. The expansion brings Toyota’s total investment to $13.9 billion and more than 5,000 jobs. The expansion adds capacity to support battery electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, Toyota said. The company announced the Liberty project in 2021 with plans at the time calling for 1,750 jobs.

WINSTON-SALEM

Javara, a clinical trials company based here, raised $9.4 million from five investors. The company has previously raised about $35 million. It employs 250 people and is led by CEO Jennifer Byrne.

Another quarterly sales slump from its Champion brand contributed to HanesBrands having a $38.8 million loss for the third quarter, the basic apparel manufacturer reported. By comparison, net income was $80.1 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2022. Sales dropped 9.5% to $1.51 billion, while Champion-branded sales were down 19% overall.

LIBERTY

Separately, Toyota is raising the wages of its factory workers, all of them non-unionized, after the UAW strikes at General Motors, Ford and Stellantis culminated in pay hikes for unionized employees. Toyota has a battery plant under construction about 20 miles southeast of Greensboro.

TRIANGLE

BUTNER

UNC Health opened a new behavioral health facility for children to help address the state’s crisis in youth mental health. The new facility, located 30 miles north of Raleigh, will add 54 new beds for children and teens experiencing psychiatric crises. The site will be enough to treat around 800 children and teens a year.

CARY

AQuity Solutions, a medical transcription and clinical documentation firm with some 7,000 employees globally, has been sold. IKS Health, which is based in Irving, Texas, bought the firm for $200 million.

New York-based biotechnology firm Covera Health has acquired CoRead, a diagnostic technology firm based here. Terms were not disclosed. Lawrence Ngo, a Duke University School of Medicine alum and radiologist, cofounded CoRead alongside University of Wisconsin alum Dr. Jacob Johnson in 2018 aiming to find radiological screening misdiagnosis at scale using artificial intelligence.

DURHAM

The US Food and Drug Administration approved the Type 2 diabetes drug tirzepatide for use in chronic weight management, making official the use of a medicine viewed as a major boost for weight loss. The approval allows for production and distribution of Eli Lilly’s Zepbound drug. The Indianapolisbased company is producing the drug at its manufacturing complex here.

CHAPEL HILL

Raising Cane’s, a fast-growing fried chicken chain started in Louisiana, opened its first Triangle location on downtown Franklin Street. The restaurant occupies perhaps the city’s most prominent corner — Franklin and Columbia streets — and has been under construction for two years. Cane’s has more than 720 locations nationwide.

LOUISBURG

China-based hemp company Q-Power is setting up shop near here in Franklin County. The company is initially investing about $10 million in phase one and expects to hire about 20 to 30 people.

MORRISVILLE

California-based Invitae appears unlikely to occupy a large facility here that was once considered part of its plans for a major East Coast expansion. More than two years ago, the genetic testing company announced plans to invest more than $100 million and create hundreds of jobs as part of a Triangle expansion. It hasn’t progressed on those plans.

OXFORD

A fire destroyed two businesses in the historic downtown. No one was injured. The brick building was built in 1901. It’s been home to Farrer Jewelers, and for the past three years, to a wellness center called The Healing Haven.

PERSON COUNTY

Richmond, Virginia-based Dominion Energy plans to build the Moriah Energy Center, two 25-million-gallon liquified natural gas facilities on 485 acres in southeastern Person County, about two miles from the Durham and Granville county lines. The facility itself would require 50 to 60 acres, with additional for possible expansion.

NC TREND

RALEIGH

to bolster the state’s $103 billion ag industry. The project is directed by a board of top N.C. officials, including N.C. Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler.

Workplace Options, the largest independent provider of well-being and mental health care, bought The Diversity Movement, which focuses on diversity, equity, and inclusion programs for employers. It is also based in Raleigh. Terms weren’t disclosed. Workplace Options 116,000 clients employ 79 million workers and their dependents.

Rise Capital, the investment firm led by Harry Smith, Travis Stephenson and Dale Jenkins, bought Fortune Electrical Contractors of Fort Myers, Florida. It’s the first out-of-state acquisition by Rise. Fortune employs 150 people.

North Carolina’s total charter-school enrollment climbed, while most traditional districts were virtually flat or declined slightly. That’s based on the state’s firstmonth report for the current school year. Enrollment for charter and lab schools, which don’t report to local school boards, grew almost 5% to 147,436, from a year earlier. About 1.38 million students attend traditional schools.

Leapfrog Group data gave A grades for health safety to Duke University, WakeMed and UNC Rex in Raleigh hospitals in an annual study. Duke’s three hospitals made the “A” list along with WakeMed’s main Raleigh campus, WakeMed Cary Hospital and WakeMed North Hospital.

BREVARD

Pisgah Hospitality plans a $30 million hotel project here that will emphasize nature and sustainability, partner Brice Bay says. Brevard Staytion is expected to break ground next year with the 54 rooms, including a 36-room lodge, opening in 2026.

City leaders are considering a gondola to connect Dix Park to the downtown area. Right now, the four-lane Western Boulevard makes it tricky for pedestrians to visit the park.

Indivior, a Richmond, Virginia-based company that focuses on addiction treatments, plans to add 35 jobs and invest $60 million in the next five years on a pharmaceutical production facility here. The company plans to hire production operators and quality control engineers, maintenance workers and an engineering manager. The plant was previously owned by Sagent Pharmaceuticals.

WEST

ASHEVILLE

The North Carolina Attorney General’s Office notified Dogwood Health Trust that HCA Healthcare has violated the asset purchase agreement regarding cancer and emergency services at Mission Hospital. The AG’s office said it could sue if the problems are not resolved within 40 days. The attorney general “concluded that HCA Healthcare failed to comply with its obligation” to the agreement. HCA denied any wrongdoing.

HENDERSONVILLE

Atlanta-based Printpack will lay off 90 workers and close its site here by the end of the year, according to a filing with the N.C. Department of Commerce. The plant, which has been operating since the mid-1970s, makes labels for water bottles and candy wrappers among other things. ■

URBAN INVESTMENT

Almost a decade ago, the city of Hickory embarked on a plan to reinvigorate its downtown by investing $98 million in transformative projects to spur economic growth, attract residents and businesses and create a better quality of life. Part of that money went to the Hickory Trail, a 10mile multimodal urban trail that connects walkers and bicyclists to some of Hickory’s assets – Lake Hickory, the renovated downtown, educational centers, sports and entertainment venues and the regional airport. It includes a bridge across U.S. 321.

Private investments downtown include One North Center, a $19 million mixed-use development that opened in 2021 along the City Walk portion of the trail. Additional mixed-use developments have also been announced.

is fall, Appalachian State University opened its satellite campus in a 225,000-square-feet, ve-story building that had been vacant for about four years. e App State building is about a veminute drive from downtown. e city already had private Lenoir-Rhyne University and Catawba Valley Community College.

e public and private investments downtown have resulted in urban renewal for the Piedmont city of about 44,000 residents with a historical manufacturing base in furniture, hosiery and textiles.

DOWNTOWN HICKORY. WELL CRAFTED.

As the Central Business District, Downtown Hickory is lled with a variety of unique retail shops, restaurants, corporate headquarters, professional o ces, and entertainment venues, all in a park-like setting in the heart of Hickory.

In November 2018, City Council unanimously approved the renovation of Union Square in Downtown Hickory, while additionally enhancing streetscapes to complement the plans for the new Hickory Trail.

The Hickory Trail (www.hkytrail.com), a 10-mile multimodal urban trail system connecting destinations across the city, is the result of a now $98 million investment to generate economic development and attract industry.

myhky.com

visithickorymetro.com

e Downtown makeover increased “dwell time” by creating spaces where visitors can comfortably enjoy solitary or group activities. e Square maintained its historic feel while modernizing aesthetics. A new multi-purpose shade structure, now called the CommScope Stage, was added. e Sails on the Square Stage remained intact and continues to host a variety of entertainment.

An elevated cannon on a multi-tiered structure, nicknamed Cannon Hill, serves as an interactive feature, as well as o ers additional seating and a unique vantage point of the Square. Increased lighting and security, atmospheric music, and complimentary Wi-Fi for Downtown visitors were all added during the renovation.

A ribbon cutting was held on September 23, 2019, to celebrate the completion of the Union Square renovations.

In addition to the newly renovated Square, Downtown Hickory is home to Lowes Foods City Park with fun, interactive features and a splash pad area. New Downtown living, including shops, restaurants, and breweries have opened and continued to be built, o ering new amenities for those who seek an active Downtown lifestyle.

On March 15, 2022, the Hickory Downtown Social District was established to allow residents to enjoy alcoholic beverages in its newly revitalized downtown area. Hickory was one of the rst in the state to adopt a Social District. is is a bene t to downtown establishments and enhances any event that is held in that area. e Sails Original Music Series is one of those events that brings people from all over to enjoy downtown Hickory and the renovated Union Square.

BRINGING TOURISTS AND GUESTS TO NORTH CAROLINA

North Carolina set a record for visitor spending with $33.3 billion in 2022, a 15.2% increase according to the Department of Commerce. Growth in direct tourism employment was more evenly distributed among rural and urban counties with more than a quarter seeing double-digit increases. Still, the tourism and hospitality industry faces challenges to continue that growth. Leaders from across the state recently gathered to discuss tourism and hospitality’s growth and where it’s headed in the future.

Photography by Edde Burgess

The discussion was sponsored by:

•Greenville-Pitt Convention & Visitors Bureau

•Halifax County Convention & Visitors Bureau

•Convention & Visitors Bureau for the Pinehurst, Southern Pines, Aberdeen Area

•Richmond County Tourism Development Authority

•Mount Airy Tourism Development Authority

•Visit Winston-Salem

Chris Roush, executive editor of Business North Carolina, moderated the discussion. It was edited for brevity and clarity.

PLEASE INTRODUCE YOURSELVES AND TELL ME ONE ISSUE IN TOURISM RIGHT NOW.

ROBERTS: I’m Jessica Roberts, executive director of the Mount Airy Tourism Development Authority. And one of our biggest challenges is finding a workforce that can be available to work in several of our different employers.

WERZ: I’m Phil Werz, president and CEO of the Pinehurst, Southern Pines, Aberdeen Area Convention and

Visitors Bureau. I would agree with Jessica that workforce development and affordable housing is a big deal. In fact, at Pinehurst resort, they’re going to take into consideration lodging for some of their workers. It is a big factor not just for the resort, but for tourism in general, in Moore County.

LAMBETH: My name is Meghann Lambeth, and I am the executive director of Richmond County Tourism next door to Moore County. And I agree with both of their statements, I feel like those are applicable in Richmond County.

Also we have limited lodging. For some weekend events, it’s sufficient for what we have going on. But when we have larger national events, whether most of them are racing related, some kind of competitive sports, we don’t have anywhere near what we need. So that’s a big issue for us.

TUTTELL: And I’m Wit Tuttell, executive director of Visit NC. I think one of our biggest issues is balancing the needs of rural areas and urban areas and spreading out visitation so that everyone’s getting as much as they need, but not too much.

MINGES: I’m Lynn Minges with the North Carolina Restaurant and Lodging Association, and I would echo what

several of my colleagues have said about the workforce.

MEDLIN: I’m Lori Medlin with the Halifax County Convention and Visitors Bureau. So we’re on the I-95 corridor, just as you enter North Carolina from Virginia, and our hotels and restaurants are telling us they’re basically fully staffed. But what they’ve done, especially our restaurants, is cut back on days of service. No one’s open on Mondays. You know, a lot of people aren’t open for lunch until maybe Thursday. So getting everybody up to full speed is a challenge for us.

SCHMIDT: And I’m Andrew Schmidt, president and CEO of Visit Greenville, NC. Obviously, I think I would echo

what our colleagues also said, but I think one thing that’s affecting us is our growth. We have a lot of growing going on at the same time and a lot of the same areas. So communicating to our visitors, what roads might be closed this particular week while this hotel is going up or what detours might be available for certain events has been challenging for us over the last few months.

DO YOU STILL FEEL THAT YOU’RE RECOVERING FROM COVID? IS THERE STILL A COVID AFTEREFFECT THAT IS IMPACTING YOUR COMMUNITIES?

ROBERTS: I think us being in a rural community, we weren’t really that

Wit Tuttell executive director, Visit North Carolina

Jessica Icenhour Roberts executive director, Mount Airy Tourism Development Authority & Tourism Partnership of Surry County

Lori R. Medlin president and CEO, Halifax County Convention & Visitors Bureau

Phil Werz president and CEO, Convention & Visitors Bureau for the Pinehurst, Southern Pines, Aberdeen Area

Meghann Lambeth executive director, Richmond County Tourism Development Authority

Lynn Minges president and CEO, North Carolina Restaurant & Lodging Association

Andrew Schmidt president and CEO, Greenville-Pitt County Convention & Visitors Bureau

heavily impacted about the pandemic. We fared very well. And being in a location that has lots of outdoor recreation and wineries. It hasn’t really impacted us. We have surpassed our 2019 numbers.

WERZ: For golf, it was probably the best thing that ever happened. It was a tragedy as well. But it really impacted the golf industry. It’s an absolute boom, and the demand for golf now is through the roof. And now Gen Z is getting more involved. Golf is becoming more of a lifestyle kind of thing. So with COVID, we were impacted for maybe three or four months. But after that golf has taken off, and we haven’t looked back.

MINGES: I think we’re still feeling a whole lot of impact, not necessarily from COVID. The industry has changed, people have changed, workers have changed, priorities have changed. During COVID, we displaced, in the hospitality industry, about half of our workforce. So over the last two years, we’ve had to hire 100,000 people a year to build back.

Working to onboard them and train them has been a challenge. We saw mass numbers of retirees, and so that whole population left the workforce, many of them earlier than we had anticipated. I think our industry has, in a big way, embraced technology because they had to during COVID. They had to shift the way they do business. But in no way has it filled the void of workers. We still need more workers than we needed before COVID.

TUTTELL: What fascinates me is there were so many changes that came with the pandemic. And we didn’t know which ones were permanent changes and which ones were temporary. It’s been like a lot of people said Zoom meetings are going to take 50% of the meetings. But we’ve seen in urban areas this year, and last year, meetings have come back. But work from home is still around. Nobody’s in the office. So therefore, if you’re a restaurant, why would you be open for lunch on a Monday or Friday? And that’s a challenge to trying to do business.

SCHMIDT: One of the good things that happened with COVID is people had to go outside. They learned that they loved camping, or they took up golf. Being in eastern North Carolina, we have a lot of outdoor assets, and they are being utilized to the point where sometimes there’s not enough space for everybody, especially on certain event weekends.

HOW IS TECHNOLOGY OVERALL IMPACTING TRAVEL AND HOSPITALITY?

MINGES: During COVID, we got used to contactless payment. And so we’re all using that today to rent cars, to check into hotels, to purchase things, to view a menu. And pre COVID, we were terrified of that. We’re doing it because we’ve learned to do it, and it’s more efficient. So we’re seeing that take place. We’re seeing efficiencies that are created by technology in front of the house and in the back of the house. But surprisingly, even with those efficiencies, when we look at the hard numbers, we need more employees to date than we needed pre COVID. So those technologies are making us more efficient, better suited to deliver high-quality service, but they’re not necessarily reducing the demand for workers. So we’re using technology. It’s a good thing, but it’s not replacing the need for workers to deliver quality customer service.

WERZ: The biggest thing we look at in destination marketing is artificial intelligence. There are certain things we can do with AI. As far as copywriting, you’re going to be able to do videos with AI. But is it going to replace my staffer? Probably not. So it’s something that we’re looking at on a daily basis, at least my colleague is. And I know the (Pinehurst) resort is looking at it as well, because they always want to be

on the forefront of what’s going on in technology. And so AI has been a big, big topic for us.

TUTTELL: A new platform comes along like TikTok. Suddenly it’s massive, and you need to be on it when you didn’t have a TikTok strategy a year ago. Things like Booking.com, those types of sites can come in and just change the game. And those changes are happening faster and faster than they did before.

WHEN I THINK ABOUT AI, I ENVISION BEING ABLE TO GO TO A WEBSITE OF MOUNT AIRY AND BEING ABLE TO VIRTUALLY WALK THROUGH IT AND SEE THE ANDY GRIFFITH STATUE. ARE Y’ALL DOING THINGS LIKE THAT?

WERZ: We’re launching a new website beginning in 2024, that will incorporate AI. So you’ll be able to go in and you’ll be able to ask questions, you will get responses back, you’ll be able to book your room. Everything will be able to be done online, in real time. I need to learn more about that myself. But I mean, it’s amazing the technology and the capabilities that are there.

SCHMIDT: It actually gives more control to that meeting planner. So on our convention center website, anybody can go in and design their own setup now. They can go in and say, “I want my convention hall to look like this,” or “I want my meeting room to look like this.” So we give them an opportunity to design it. It saves us time on the back

end because we’re not going through and making diagrams.

LET’S GET BACK TO THE WORKFORCE ISSUE. WHERE ARE YOU GETTING YOUR WORKERS FROM? AND HOW ARE YOU RECRUITING THEM TO COME FOR THOSE JOBS? THAT SEEMS LIKE A MAJOR ISSUE FOR ALL OF YOU.

SCHMIDT: One issue is education. So we’re going into high schools and other places, and educating these kids that are going to be in the workforce that maybe are not going to college, about careers in our industry. How do you become a general manager at a hotel? And there’s a clear path, but these kids don’t know what that path is. And they also don’t know the kind of living you can make in a career like that. It’s a good living. And then the other part is really working with parents and others to educate them about careers in the hospitality industry as well. So it’s really exposure in education.

MEDLIN: We’ve been talking to our community college about this career path and how fast people move in this industry. And so we’re looking at not necessarily a two-year program, but some certificate programs where they go into the schools before they even graduate from high school and talk to them about this industry and offer a certificate and then going into the hotels and the restaurants. We’re kind of excited about that. And then hopefully, there’ll be a two-year curriculum there soon that’ll lead people into this industry.

MEGHANN, ARE YOU DOING SIMILAR STUFF IN RICHMOND COUNTY?

LAMBETH: Richmond Community College is our local community college and they’re very much immersed into our community. And the high school has hired a teacher that is now just focused on career development. So there’s a new bond that’s growing, not too new, but it is developing.

MINGES: Largely, we’re talking about not having enough workers to work in hotels and restaurants. During COVID, when we displaced half of our workforce, we went to the General Assembly and asked that they allocate some of the state’s portion from the American Rescue Plan to help our industry recover. And so the North Carolina Restaurant Lodging Association received a grant of $5 million to develop and execute a hospitality workforce recruitment campaign. It’s all centered around a website that is intended to introduce people to careers in the hospitality industry. It’s a centralized job portal that today lists about 20,000 restaurant and hotel jobs that are open and available in North Carolina. It allows people to search by location, or it will default to the location they are currently sitting in. And it will pull jobs from their area, they can search by the kind of job. This morning when I checked, there were over 5,000 jobs in our industry that pay close to $50,000 a year just in North Carolina.

The second thing we’re trying to do on that website is to really talk about the career opportunities because of some of the research we did in the industry. When you drill down and ask them in focus groups, “Why did you leave?” and they said “well, I just didn’t see a career pathway. I was doing that. So I could earn a living to get through high

school or to buy a car.” They saw that as a transactional sort of job. And so what we’ve tried to do on the website is interview over 100 employees who are currently working in our industry across the state. And they talk about their stories and what they like about the industry and they talk about their career path.

LET’S SWITCH GEARS AND TALK ABOUT THE END PRODUCT. HOW ARE YOU GETTING MORE PEOPLE TO VISIT YOUR COMMUNITIES? IS THERE ANYTHING NEW OR INTERESTING YOU’RE DOING?

SCHMIDT: What we’ve done differently over the last year, is going away from traditional marketing avenues and spending where the streaming services are, whether it’s audio streaming, or television streaming. Less people have cable. People are watching things like Hulu.

The other thing is seeing how your target market has changed. For us, we’re looking at more sustainable tourism opportunities for people. That’s what the research really shows that people are looking for. And also multigenerational travel is something that we’re seeing more of as well, whether it’s for leisure, travel, or even we’re seeing it for sports travel. I think it’s just looking at what is going on in your particular area and how you’re reaching your particular target market.

MEDLIN: We sort of decided that we need new products on the I-95 corridor to bring new visitors in. We’re really excited to share that the legislature looked at developing rural tourism districts for rural areas in North Carolina. So we’re hopeful when they

get back in session in May, that they’ll look at that seriously and put those areas in North Carolina so we can build new products. We’re also really excited about America’s 250th birthday, which is coming up in 2026. And it all started in Halifax, North Carolina. So the state is kicking off that celebration in April in Halifax with a two-year long celebration for our state and the nation. I think we’ll see some new visitors, some history travelers and people coming in because we have a lot of Revolutionary War history here in North Carolina.

ROBERTS: Being in an area where I am with not great broadband and Wi-Fi, we’ve added lots of new wayfinding and signage throughout our county, which has really helped drop people into the downtowns and to the hotels to destinations and that’s just a constant thing for rural areas, especially in the western part of the state.

WIT, TAKE A MORE STATEWIDE VIEW OF WHAT THE ISSUES ARE FOR TRAVEL AND TOURISM INSTEAD OF A COUNTY VIEW OR A REGIONAL VIEW.

TUTTELL: North Carolina is so diverse. It’s an incredible blessing. We run from the most undeveloped beaches in the eastern United States, the highest mountains in the eastern United States and incredibly fascinating communities in between. That’s great, but when you’re trying to get that into seven seconds, that’s an incredible challenge. You really have to balance things to showcase. We try to do things that are open to anyone in the state that anybody in the state can participate in and aren’t specific to the coast or specific to the mountains, or specific to the Piedmont.

DO YOU GET MOST OF YOUR VISITORS FROM IN THE STATE, OR DO THEY COME IN FROM OUT OF STATE?

ROBERTS: We get a lot from the urban areas in North Carolina. We get a lot from Virginia, like the Roanoke area. And then Ohio was huge for us (with people from there) coming down on their way to Florida. We get them coming and going. So we’ve been targeting them to get them to come back and play on more vacations our way. So that’s a big, big destination for us.

MEDLIN: I’m a little unusual in that department. I’m on the I-95 corridor. Yeah, we’re getting visitors from New York to Florida, a lot of visitors from the Northeast. So we advertise that way. We do a lot of billboard campaigns that way. The impact of that corridor and people coming back and forth all the way up and down the United States, coming in and

out of our communities, is tremendous. Probably 70% of our visitors are traveling on that corridor, and they’re planning to stay with us on their way up and down. And then we try. And our goal is to try to get them to stay longer.

TUTTELL: Even though we have fantastic airports, we’re still a drive market for mostly domestic visitation. So it’s really those drive-in markets that are important. It’s usually about a 60-40 split. So 40% of the visitors are in-state visitors and 60% are out-of-state. But those out-of-state visitors, even though they don’t visit as often, they spend more and stay longer, so they have more impact.

WERZ: In Moore County, because we have Pinehurst, it’s unique because we have our marketing budget. Obviously Pinehurst resort has its marketing budget, too. So we’ll coordinate and say, “Hey, where are you spending

your golf dollars? Where can we kind of fill in?” It’s great to have that flexibility where we can kind of lay it on the resort a little bit and then kind of do our own thing as well.

WHEN I LIVED IN ATLANTA, SUGAR AND BEECH WERE THE ONLY PLACES I EVER WENT SKIING. AND I JUST KEPT GOING BACK. IF YOU HAVE A GOOD EXPERIENCE AT A PLACE, YOU JUST WANT TO KEEP REPEATING THAT GOOD EXPERIENCE. IS THAT WHAT YOU’RE ALL TRYING TO ACCOMPLISH?

LAMBETH: You find something, and you’re like, “This works. This is where now I can go.” We just got a new digital sign that is enormous. I don’t recall the exact number of measurements, but it’s in front of the dragway, which is across from the former NASCAR track which can be a NASCAR track again. But it has been such a wonderful marketing tool, because there’s so much traffic coming in from Raleigh and other places.

WHERE DO YOU SEE TRAVEL AND TOURISM CHANGING IN THE NEXT FIVE YEARS? WHAT CAN YOU DO TO KEEP GROWING?

ROBERTS: We’ve seen tremendous growth with our wine region being the Yadkin Valley wine region. And we are working tremendously with our partners in Wilkes County and Yadkin County and collaborating with them to spread our advertising out. So I see that growing still. We’ve also expanded our food trails. Of course, Mayberry is still our biggest hook, and will continue to be very important to our tourism. We’re a big wedding destination as well. We have a lot of wedding barns, a lot of higher end restaurants that have come around since I’ve been there.

WERZ: Moore County is already a globally recognized destination. So people are already coming from around the world. There are so many Department of Transportation projects that have been put on hold that the day after the US Open in 2024, it will be the highest concentration of highway projects in the state with 12 different projects going on. So by the 2029 US Open, it is going to be a completely different destination, every road in and out of there is going to be five lanes and much easier to get into and out of that area.

LAMBETH: I think (we have) the spillover from that growth, which we already have a lot of, coupled with the growth of our established things that are already bringing so many people from racing to a motocross track in Ellerbe, that you would never know that it’s even there because it’s

in the woods. So I think just the growth of those things, which is another continuation of COVID. People got really into their sport, especially if it happened to be something that was conducive to doing during that time period, they got even more engaged in it. I didn’t want to keep going off to all my random stories. We did have an Andre the Giant festival for the first time this year.

HOLD ON. ANDRE THE GIANT? THE FAMOUS WRESTLER?

LAMBETH: The guy who is the chair of the museum board called me maybe in April and told me about it. So the consensus was, well let’s have a festival. So I got really nervous. It was just three of us planning this event. And the day before the festival, I’m getting all these texts. Here’s one (feature)

in Sports Illustrated. It was all these national things. And I was like, “This is really good. It was a wonderful day.”

YOU NEED AN ANDRE THE GIANT IMPERSONATOR ENTERED INTO A DRAG RACE.

LAMBETH: Crazy. Awesome. OK.

TUTTELL: Our goal would be to see North Carolina be a year-round destination. That’s the best travel destination in the South. And I say that because we don’t include Florida in the South because it’s not really southern. And I think we have an opportunity to grow in a smart way. And a lot of other states haven’t done that. And I think we have the foresight and the people that care enough to see that we grow it to be the biggest destination in the South in the right way. ■

SMALL BUSINESSES, BIG AMBITIONS

Selecting Business North Carolina’s Small Businesses of the Year offers an inspiring look at the entrepreneurial spirit that helps the state thrive. Many of 70 or so nominees offered compelling stories of achievement, but these enterprises topped the judges’ list.

• Dry Otter Waterproofing, a Lincoln County-based company that protects crawl spaces and basements.

• VPC Builders, a Banner Elk firm specializing in commercial and residential construction and remodeling in North Carolina, Tennessee and South Carolina.

• Taylor’s Wine Shop, a Raleigh convenience store that offers a wide selection of fine wine and craft beer, locally roasted coffees, local products, live bait and gasoline.

• MODE Consignment Boutique of Raleigh, which enables customers to buy and sell clothing and accessories at affordable prices.

Judges for the contest were Byron Hicks, the state director of the N.C. Small Business and Technology Center; Jennifer Curtis, cofounder and CEO of Firsthand Foods, a Durham distributor for local farms and meat processors, and one of the 2022 Small Businesses of the Year; and Business North Carolina Publisher Ben Kinney.

The judges considered creativity, community impact, persistence and other factors in making the selection. The business had to be in operation for at least five years and have fewer than 100 employees. The four selected businesses employ between 15 and 31 employees. “This was not an easy job to select just four,” says Curtis.

Judges also noted their favorites: “MODE management went through an extensive rebranding and overcame significant obstacles in moving locations, twice, and through all of this was able to increase sales,” says Hicks. Taylor’s Wine Shop rose to the top of the list for Curtis because of “their family owned business model, their connection to place and community, and that they have grown a fixed retail business during difficult times. They have a colorful story to tell and some hard-won lessons learned.”

This marks the 28th year Business North Carolina has published the Small Business of the Year award, sponsored this year by Duke Energy. The goal is to honor smaller businesses that form the backbone of the state’s economy.

The state had more than 157,000 companies with between one and 19 employees in 2022, about 2,000 more than the year before, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration. There were also about 816,000 sole proprietorships.

FASHION MODE

Raleigh boutique keeps coming back stronger.

By Uma Bhat

Lauren Elmore was working as a district sales manager for Jones Apparel Group, now known as Nine West Holdings, in 2009 when “everything went sideways for a lot of companies.”

The Great Recession caused retail sales to drop sharply. Plus, Elmore had a 9-year-old son, and the company she worked at wanted her to travel almost every day. So she began looking for a position that would better accommodate her family.

That’s when Elmore says she found a job listing on Craigslist for a small store in south Durham that was looking for somebody to work Thursdays. “And my schedule was wide open,” says Elmore, who grew up in Wilmington and spent her senior year of high school in Raleigh.

Elmore got the job and became friendly with the store owner, who she says didn’t live in North Carolina. The owner was planning to close the store because it wasn’t generating any revenue — unless, Elmore says, Elmore was interested in doing something with it.

“I was up for the challenge,” she says. “I took over the store, changed locations, eventually rebranded to the name MODE, and then I moved it to Downtown Durham, that was my first space.”

About a year and a half later, she says, MODE bought a second location in Cameron Village, now called Village District, near downtown Raleigh.

“And we’ve just continued to expand and grow from there,” Elmore, now 44, says.

The store has faced its fair share of challenges – like when it was forced to relocate to a temporary space as new projects arrived in the Village District last year. The

move came on the heels of a major rebrand for the store, Elmore wrote, in addition to the new, permanent site for the store being upfitted.

To ensure customers and consignors continued following the store despite all the chaos, the staff had to think fast. MODE staff got to work on flyers, announcements and banners to alert customers about the shifts, Elmore wrote, and offered incentives for people to visit the temporary location, like a raffle and gift card giveaway.

With the support of loyal customers and dedicated staff, MODE’s sales skyrocketed beyond its record-breaking 2021 numbers and hit almost $2 million.

Why did you select the name, MODE?

When I was rebranding, there was a lot of pressure. I’m like, “Oh, what if I pick a name and everybody thinks it’s stupid, and I think it’s the coolest thing ever.” I have no marketing background, so I was also thinking about how this [name] would look on business cards and on a sign on the front of the store. I wanted to keep it simple. The word “mode” means fashion in French, and I just thought it was fun, easy and relatable. The word looked really cute in print when I was playing around with it. It’s really not much more than that.

What resources did you use when you reopened the store?

I didn’t qualify for the Raleigh up-fit grant because I already had permits and things when the grant became available. I had already started a few things, which automatically disqualified me. Through COVID, I definitely got some

Lauren Elmore has been in the resale trade since 2010.

assistance with Paycheck Protection Program loans and Small Business Administration loans, just the general stuff that I think a lot of small businesses used. That definitely helped me get back on track to be able to run my business profitably.

Really, when I did upfits or remodels with my store, luckily I had enough personal capital to fund it myself. But it’s always good to look for any grants you can get. I’m always on the prowl for stuff.

Why did you decide to focus on reused clothing?

For a long time there was a stigma against thrifting, if you will. I remember being a teenager and going to Goodwill — and I didn’t do that a whole lot with my friends, but we always thought it was fun to see what we could find. Finally, through boutiques like mine, we’ve kind of mainstreamed this reuse concept to where it’s not shameful anymore to buy used clothing.

You hear a lot of the older generation talk about their stories. If they came up in poverty, they say, “Well, we never got new clothes.” It was a sad thing, obviously. But this has definitely shifted to where it’s [buying reused clothing] healthy for the environment. It doesn’t have a stigma attached to it anymore and it can really be fun. We have a carefully curated selection of clothing in our stores to make it a really great experience.

What sets MODE apart from other thrift stores?

Logistically, just like operations, we’re different. Plato's Closet (a Minneapolis-based chain with more than 370 used clothing stores) buys your clothes outright at a really low price, and you never have to deal with them or see them again. I think they also cater a little bit more to the younger, junior crowd.

But we have a huge demographic of people that shop in our store. We have the moms bringing in the high school girls wanting their first pair of designer shoes, all the way up to our old lady friends that need their church outfits, and everything in between.

We cater to every single female fashion out there. Anybody can come in our door and find something because we have so many amazing brands.

MODE CONSIGNMENT BOUTIQUE

OWNER Lauren Elmore

LOCATION Raleigh

NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES 20 YEAR FOUNDED 2010

What challenges did you face during the pandemic?

We were closed for 56 days, in both locations. During that time, I was in panic mode, not knowing if we were going to be able to reopen or how to reopen. There are a lot of people that work for me who have families.

That really weighed heavy on my shoulders – how was I going to take care of my employees? Am I going to have to let half of the staff go just to keep the store afloat? There were a lot of unknowns that were really scary when we were closed. When we got the order from the governor that we could reopen, we opened that day. I was like, “Let's go guys.” And we figured it out.

Financially, we had a huge hit. Obviously, there was zero money coming in. Money was still going out to pay the landlord and the electric bill and all the things that you need to just keep a building.

When we closed the store, it was March. We reopened in mid-May. So when we closed the store, we had a bunch of late winter and some early spring items, and everything just sat stagnant until we reopened in May. Then all of a sudden, it was summertime. We didn’t even have the proper inventory to sell, so that was a challenge in itself.

How have your sales trended since then?

We have, since our reopening, continuously had double-digit increases year over year, which is just more than I could have hoped for or imagined would happen.

Have people bought into the concept of MODE as a social-driven business?

Everybody that comes into the store has a different mission. Some people shop at my stores because they only buy second-hand, and we’re one of many that they shop in.

Some people come to my stores because they like really nice things and they’re on a budget – so they like the price points. And they don’t care if it’s used or new or whatever. It’s on sale, it’s the price point that works for them.

Some people like the balance where they can consign and buy, and they use their store credit. It's almost like a swap they can trade out. That drives a lot of people to come in.

It's not just one mission that we're putting out there. It's amazing that we're a part of the circular economy – that part makes me feel like I'm doing something really great, not just going to work.

But my personal passion is retail and sales, and the customer-facing part of it. It’s my favorite thing to be on my sales floor. That fills my cup. When I'm in my flow is when I'm on my sales floor, and I'm talking to customers, and they find something that they love that fits them perfectly.

WFROM MERLOT TO MINNOWS

By Chris Roush

hen Taylor Cash bought a country store on Six Forks Road in north Raleigh in 1980, it was in the middle of nowhere. The street hadn’t been paved, and Interstate 540 was just a dream, more than two decades away. The nearest residents were miles away.

Cash made the business work by adapting to the times. When construction started on nearby neighborhoods, he did a brisk lunch business selling hot dogs and hamburgers to carpenters and electricians. In the 1990s, he switched to movie rentals and then video games.

Now, the store is called Taylor’s Wine Shop. In addition to the BP gas available at the pumps outside, the spot carries 1,500 types of wine from all over the world, plus a healthy selection of breakfast sandwiches, made by longtime employee “Biscuit” Bill Brown. There’s also typical convenience store fare. Some of Raleigh’s largest residential neighborhoods, such as Sutton Estates and Bridgepoint, now surround the property, reflecting one of the fastest-growing U.S. cities over the past 30 years.

And fish bait is still available for those going to nearby Falls Lake.

The store is now run by Taylor Cash’s son, Ben Cash, and manager Kelli Beck, and it ships wine purchased through its website across the country every day. It also partners with local restaurants on wine dinners and holds wine tastings on Fridays, when customers can sit in a rocking chair on the front porch. Cash and Beck visit the Sonoma and Napa

the latest wines. Taylor’s sells about 140,000 bottles a year, and the best sellers are California cabernets.

How did the store get into shipping wine nationally through online sales?

Kelli Beck: It mainly came about because of COVID. It really ramped up then because people weren’t able to get wine, or were not comfortable coming in to get wine. They would pick up in the parking lot, and then we just expanded across the country, any state that allows wine to be shipped.

How did your dad get into wine and expanding the business?

Ben Cash: In the late 1990s, once [Interstate] 540 was finishing, all of the construction had shifted to the north, so the lunch business wasn’t prominent any more. For years, we had movie boxes on the walls, renting videos. We did that for 10 years, and then Blockbuster opened up down the street. So then we had a full videogame arcade with Joust and Donkey Kong, and that was a lot of fun as a kid. But then people started to stay home to play them. So in the late ‘90s, my dad was kind of thinking, we need some kind of profit center that is a draw for people. My dad got into wine, and he started with a little end cap. It quickly grew, and he started making trips to California with this wine group and met these boutique winemakers that pretty much only

Taylor’s Wine Shop shifts with the times.

Valley areas each year to check out

Taylor Cash, his son Ben Cash and manager Kelli Beck.

sold from their location. He convinced them to send him two or three cases a year. Once those wineries sold out in California, the only place you could get it was here. People would come in and say, “Gosh, I can only get this in California.”

Do the wineries now come to you?

Cash: They do. We met with four wineries last week. They’re just coming back to the state post-COVID for distribution and want partners that can give them exposure. Kelli and I try to go every year, or every other year, and my dad goes the year we don’t go. We refer a lot of people when they travel and help a lot of customers set up tours. Wine is just a lot of fun. When I was a kid, it was primarily a bait shop and a convenience store.

Do you still sell a lot of bait?

Cash: Just worms and nightcrawlers. The minnows just weren’t working. Kids would go by and put their hands in, and minnows are communal. If one gets sick, they all die. So almost weekly, you’d lose your whole batch. And crickets are so noisy. It just wasn’t worth it.

Does gas bring in customers?

Cash: Fuel is like an amenity. Since we only have one location, there’s really no profit. You can sell 3 million gallons of fuel, and if you break even, you’re in good shape. We did a pretty substantial remodel, right before COVID, in October 2019, and shifted the pumps from the front to the side of the building. That opened up the front for parking lot parties and wine tastings. With the fuel customers lined upfront before the remodel, it was kind of chaotic.

TAYLOR'S WINE SHOP

OWNER Taylor Cash LOCATION Raleigh NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES 15 YEAR FOUNDED 1980

How have you partnered with others?

Beck: We have great relationships with restaurants around here, and we love supporting other family-owned restaurants. So we would partner with them to do wine dinners and work with the chefs to make custom menus. Our customer base loves those off-site wine dinners. They crave them. We just got creative during COVID, and we’re working with large venues. It’s a way to create more business outside of this footprint. It does take a lot, me, especially, to work it in our schedule.

Have you considered adding another location?

Cash: Oh yeah. I have two picked out.

Beck: We go back and forth on this. My personal opinion is I don’t want to own a bar. Staffing has been an issue since COVID, and we have employees who have been here 10 and 15 years. I feel like if we were having to staff a later evening establishment, I would be stuck working that. If we had another wine shop, that would be fun and most likely not involve a gas station.

How difficult has staffing been?

Beck: It has been extremely difficult. We want people that want to come to work, be reliable, work hard, and return. We will pay well. We want to pay people what they’re worth and are great with our customers. We are such a small family business that it’s important that everyone gets greeted when they come in and gets great service. It’s not a convenience store where you come in and get your coffee and then check out and leave. Every person that comes in here is important. We need someone who can manage the cash register and sell a $500 bottle of wine. We need those kinds of employees. The reason we have weathered COVID well is because we have these long-time employees who are like family.

KEEP IT DRY

By Kevin Ellis

Kevin Sanders wasn’t mad, but it was time for a change. So without much thought about his Plan B, he quit his job working for a national waterproofing company.

The company treated him well, he says, but at age 44 he didn’t think he earned enough to support his wife, Wendy, and their young son. After 16 years working for someone else’s company, he felt he had hit the top rung of the ladder. That was 10 years ago.

Sanders credits his wife and her parents with giving him the encouragement to start Dry Otter Waterproofing in Denver, a Lincoln County town about 25 miles north of Charlotte. He put the “small” in the term small business, he recalls.

“In October 2013, I got a 1,000-square-foot office in this same area, actually right across the street from here,” he says while seated in Dry Otter’s storefront space off N.C. 16 Business. “I had two offices, a desk, a computer, a truck and zero employees. My name was in every hierarchical box – CEO, accountant, installer – my name was in every single box.”

Sanders survived by hiring hit-or-miss temporary workers and getting people he knew who worked for other companies to help him finish jobs on the weekends.

“At first, you’re doing everything and you’re working all the time,” he says. “But at (his former employer) Dry Pro, I worked 7075 hours a week, so I was used to that.”

Sanders’ drive continues to push the company forward, says Dry Otter marketing director Erin Blackburn. “He has grit and that’s made this company a success,” she says. “He is generous and is always teaching us important things about business and life.”

A REAL BUSINESS

Sanders’ company posted $250,000 in sales in its first year. In 2015, Dry Otter

more than doubled that amount to $600,000, then topped $1 million the next year. In 2022, Dry Otter sales reached $3.4 million. This year, the company will top $4 million, Sanders says.

Dry Otter now has 25 employees – almost all of them having been with the company more than two years. To grow real equity, Sanders says, Dry Otter should reach $6 million to $8 million in annual revenue. He thinks the company is poised to hit that mark. Dry Otter leased a Charlotte office in November, and is mulling a Winston-Salem location. For now, the company services a 50-mile radius – an area Sanders describes as being from north to south, Lenoir to Rock Hill, South Carolina, and from east to west, Albemarle to Shelby.

“If you're not expanding, you’re going backward,” Sanders says.

Sanders hired his first employee in 2014. A year later, Dry Otter had three laborers, including himself, and a salesperson. He hates sales, he says, so he counted that as a win. His wife helped out with the books and ensured everyone got paid on time. By 2016, he hired someone to answer calls and he felt like he had created a real company.

“It took a few years before I could start putting other people’s names in those boxes,” Sanders says. “The real trick is, with all those boxes, you put somebody else’s name in there, and hopefully they’re better than you.

“And that’s what’s helped lead to Dry Otter’s success. We’ve been able to hire some really good people and retain those people,” Sanders says.

Sanders hired Mark Johnston in 2015 to help with sales and installations. The company wasn’t making any money at the time, so Sanders gave Johnston equity as part of his compensation. Johnston later invested in the company and now owns a 25% stake, with Sanders owning the rest.

Dry Otter Founder Kevin Sanders

An independent waterproofing company finds its space thanks to owner’s ‘grit.’

FROM MISSISSIPPI TO NORTH CAROLINA

Sanders is a native of Tupelo, Mississippi, the birthplace of Elvis Presley. Sanders started playing soccer in elementary school. He was still 5 foot 2 in eighth grade so when his bigger classmates gravitated toward football and basketball, he says he stuck with soccer.

In 1987, he was the state’s Gatorade soccer player of the year. “Mississippi was terrible in soccer back then, so that wasn’t that big a deal.” He was good enough to play soccer at Belmont Abbey College, where he earned a business degree.

After college, Sanders took a restaurant job. “I was making at best $150 a week, living in Pineville, with no furniture,” he says. Two waitresses had boyfriends with jobs for a waterproofing company.

“They were making 800 to 1,000 bucks a week. Digging ditches under houses. It was purely monetary,” Sanders says. “It took six months of me bugging them for them to hire me. I started in January of ‘93 with Professional Waterproofing doing installs.”

The owner of the company had two sons who were helping him, so advancement proved difficult. “Before I knew it, I had been there 10 years, just digging ditches, and I had a college degree,” he says.

Sanders moved to Dry Pro in 2007, and stayed there until starting Dry Otter. At Dry Pro, Sanders worked on the business side, helping him understand the finances of waterproofing.

Beyond his great experience at Dry Pro, he credits Michael Gerger’s book “E Myth – Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work And What To Do About It’ as a big factor in his success. The book attempts to explain the “entrepreneurial myth,” noting that it takes more than skillful technical work and a good idea to form a business foundation.

“Most businesses start up because you’ve probably met somebody who’s great at making cookies and someone says, ‘Oh, you should start your own business.’ Or you’ve met somebody that's the best plumber in the business. He’s the one they always call when there’s a problem no one else can solve. So he says, “I should start my own business.’

“But he doesn't know how to manage. He doesn’t know how to get the leads. He doesn’t know how to sell them and convert them into a job once he gets them. He’s a great plumber, but you learn that business is made up of about 10 other things you’ve got to be great at. Or at least hire somebody who’s great at it.”

GROWING A COMPANY

Taking advice from Gerber’s book, Sanders transitioned from a person who did everything to someone focused on growing equity. For the past two years, he has emphasized budgets, streamlining processes and moving Dry Otter toward an $8 million-a-year company. He hasn’t done any of what he calls the “in company” work.

“Once I decided to start a business, I said I wanted to own a business, I don’t want to work in a business. That’s the only way the business will grow,” says Sanders. He still comes into the office five days most weeks, but no longer at 6:30 a.m. or earlier. When he leaves the office, he heads out to watch his son’s sports practices or games at North Lincoln High School.

“If I don’t come in on Monday, Dry Otter’s still going to work all day. Now I don’t do any in-company tasks on the business. No payroll, no marketing. I hire someone to do those jobs,” he says. “The company isn’t me. I have a lot of friends who own their own company, but they are the company. If they go on vacation for two weeks the company stops.”

Dry Otter budgeted $30,000 a month this year on marketing, and Sanders says he’ll bump that to $35,000 in 2024. Chasing leads, he says, is constant.

“The saying is 50% of marketing works, you just don’t know what 50% it is, and I definitely believe that because we struggle,” Sanders says. “You have to keep up with your cost per lead, and last year our cost per lead was $245 per lead. We’d love to drive that cost down.” Dry Otter only does waterproofing, and contracts out other work. Its average job costs about $10,000.

MAKING IT HAPPEN

During his talks to high school students about business, he rarely mentions Dry Otter. Instead he tells them what it takes to be a success.

“I tell them, ‘You can really start anywhere and kill it just by showing up everyday with a Get ‘er done attitude and a little pride in whatever you’re doing. Every trade out there is hiring. You guys at 18 can start tomorrow, and you can be running the company by the time you’re 25 if you show up every day for work and work hard. You’re 100 miles ahead of everybody.’”

For Sanders, it was a push from his wife and her parents to start a business.

“It’s worked out really well.”

DRY OTTER WATERPROOFING

OWNERS KEVIN SANDERS AND MARK JOHNSTON

LOCATION Denver

NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES 25

YEAR FOUNDED 2013

MANSION MAN

By Edward Martin

When the work day is done, Matt Vincent often goes for walks near his home in Boone. The mountains are serene, particularly in the evenings. “This is the place I love,” he says. “I have three boys and we go on hikes. I grew up here. It’s a beautiful place and you can see why so many other people want to live here.”

As the son of Jay Vincent, owner of Vincent BerkshireHathaway, one of the region’s oldest and most prominent real estate agencies, he’s the echo of his own youth.

Indeed, the lure of the Tar Heel high country is the magnet that has made his VPC Builders of Banner Elk a successful builder of high-end residential, commercial and other properties. Vincent’s business has enjoyed revenue gains of 20% to 30% in recent years, and is on track to top $30 million this year.

Clients, suppliers and others that deal with Vincent and his 30-member staff every day say that the business reflects values sometimes missing in modern commerce. His company’s name reflects that with letters standing for value, professionalism and communications.

“Matt’s real serious, but level-headed,” says Alex Hooker, executive director of the Watauga Habitat for Humanity. The agency builds homes for the needy and Vincent has been a long-time supporter. “I like the fact that he’s local. A lot of the builders here are from out of town. He comes from a great family.”

Vincent, 41, graduated from Appalachian State University in 2004 with a degree in banking and finance. He admired his father’s work ethnic – up at 4:30, a workout, then his day job – but discovered real estate was “not my cup of tea.”

Among other things, he laughs, he dug perk holes that enable builders to determine

if the soil of a lot will perk, or absorb moisture for septic tanks. That put him closer to the community. “I enjoyed doing things with my hands,” he says. “Here in a small town, you get to know everybody and everybody is somebody you are proud to call your neighbor.”

He obtained his general contractor’s license in 2003 and created VPC in 2010.

“At the time, we were doing mainly residential building but have since diversified into commercial,” he says. The company has a home products division that does roofing, windows and similar work.

New, high-end residential construction still makes up about twothirds of VPC’s work, but the company has segued into other ventures such as converting basements into heated living space.

Demand for mountain getaways propels a Banner Elk builder.

Matt Vincent and Thor at the VPC Building office and Vincent with his wife Casey and their three children.

That, Vincent says, can keep employees busy even during the high country’s tough winters, one of the challenges his company faces. Count rugged terrain, sloping lots and high rainfall among others.

“In the flatlands you can take just about any house and put it on any property,” he says, “Up here in the mountains you can’t do that. You have to design the house around the lot.”

The result in VPC houses is often striking. The company has won more than a half-dozen industry awards this year for design originality. It also been recognized as one of North Carolina’s best places to work. That’s notable given the lack of affordable housing in the state’s mountain areas.

Mountain Building Supply owner Tammy Mantooth, one of VPC’s suppliers, says she knows of at least one worker living in a tent because he can’t afford more permanent housing. VPC has responded by paying higher than national wages and upping other compensation, Vincent says.

Most of VPC’s residential construction is in the $2 million range, while its biggest project exceeded $7 million. It has its own drafting staff, relying on outside architects for design-build contracts.

The bulk of VPC’s clients, says Vincent, are business owners from Charlotte and Raleigh. Absentee owners are still common, though, and covering all bases, VPC offers a home-watch program for seasonally vacant homes.

Increasing costs, material scarcities and high interest rates have hammered even top-end builders, and though easing recently have taken its toll.

VPC BUILDERS

OWNER Matt Vincent

LOCATION Banner Elk

NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES 30 YEAR FOUNDED 2010

“We have had a lot of good friends who went out of business and bankrupt,” Vincent says.

However, more than good market strategy and placement has served the company. Some who deal with it on a daily basis say its professionalism is noticeable.

Mantooth says VPC is a longstanding customer, never missed a payment and that Vincent is known for his integrity. “All I’ve ever needed was his word,” she says.

Vincent concedes that professionalism is important to him.

Employees wear what he calls the uniform, and though not formal, it’s effective – knit shirts, same colors, cut. “It looks like in the morning; you got ready to go to work for the day. And the simplest things my dad taught me, many people have forgotten – following up on your emails, returning calls and always doing what you say you’re going to.”

Such measures are more than superficial. VPC routinely sends employees to sales-training courses, seminars and similar exercises.

Clients notice the result.

“I’ve never interfaced much directly with Matt, but I work mostly with his senior staff,” says Bob Pudney, Beech Mountain town manager.

The town recently awarded VPC a $2.1 million contract to build a city hall and visitor center. “It’s going extremely well and I would call them the top tier contractor in our area. Their attention to detail is great, and their customer service is impeccable.”

Vincent enjoys his hikes with his three sons, but he’s determined not to push them into following his steps.

“But one of things they most enjoy is going to work with daddy.” ■

Wrangler'sTexas twist

How the jeans giant is using NIL to attract younger customers.

By Chris Roush

Greensboro-based Kontoor Brands has used professional sports to promote its Wrangler jeans and clothing for decades. Its relationship with the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association dates back to 1948. e denim brand has also been a longtime NASCAR sponsor, and Wrangler recently became the o cial jeans of the Dallas Cowboys.

But name, image and likeness (NIL) rules for college athletes are allowing it to go a er a younger customer base more aggressively.

In the last two years, the company has signed NIL deals with 10 athletes, primarily in Texas, to help promote a collection of licensed collegiate apparel. University of Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers (pictured), Ohio State University tight end Cade Stover and Texas volleyball middle blocker Asjia O’Neal post regularly on social media in their Wrangler clothes, giving the company a bigger presence with the under-35 age group.

Since Kontoor began promoting college athletes, it’s had more than 240 million media impressions for the Wrangler college collection of clothing. Sports Illustrated and e Houston Chronicle covered its deal with Ewers, for example. And it’s seen higher scores when it measures brand awareness and purchase consideration.

“It’s the evolution of sports sponsorships,” says John Meagher, senior director of marketing for Wrangler. “It is the intersection between sports marketing and in uencers, engaging with audiences. at’s what we like about it. It feels authentic.”

While the company is in a “test and learn phase” with NIL, he’d like to see the marketing around colleges and college athletes become a major way it sells Wrangler clothing. He’s looking at adding deals with Southeastern Conference teams for 2024. “ is is one part of a range of tactics that look at college sports and a younger audience, where we can to some degree see some sell-through.”

e $70 billion annual denim clothing market is expected to reach $130 billion over the next decade, according to market researcher Fact.MR. Companies such as Abercrombie & Fitch are entering the eld, meaning Kontoor needs to nd new ways to sell its brands, which also include Lee jeans.

It helps that college football, and other college sports, are especially popular in the South and Southwest, where Wrangler wants to expand its sales. “Quinn Ewers was someone that had reached out to us because he was such a fan of Wrangler,” says Meagher. “He had grown up with the Wrangler logo on his back pocket, and his values aligned with Wrangler.”

Kontoor held photo shoots with Ewers and the other athletes wearing Wrangler clothing, which were then used on their social media accounts. In addition to Ewers and O’Neal, Wrangler also had NIL deals last year with athletes on UT’s baseball, swimming and so ball teams. “Texas is the heartland for us,” says Meagher. “It’s the heartland for cowboys, and our brand is strong there. Texas made so much sense.” is year, Wrangler added Stover and signed O’Neal for a second year. Stover, projected to be an NFL dra pick in 2024, grew up on a cattle farm in Ohio and has done promotional work for the Ohio Beef Council, as well as agriculture company Ag-Pro. (He has said he’d prefer to be paid for his NIL sponsorships in tractors, not money.) O’Neal, a volleyball All-American and a sports management major, has become “professional” in how she promotes the brand on her social media accounts, says Meagher.

Noting the growing interest a er the University of Colorado signed Deion Sanders to be its football coach, Wrangler also signed on this year to be the o cial clothing supplier of students

Texas volleyball middle blocker Asjia O'Neal was tapped by Wrangler because of her impressive "professional" social media strategy.

who run onto the school’s Folsom Field before football games with school mascot Ralphie, an 850-pound bu alo. Supplies include a cowboy hat, button-up shirt and jeans.

NIL deals for brands such as Wrangler are smart, says Eben Novy-Williams of Sportico, a Penske Media operation, because they are usually cheaper than signing a professional athlete and because the people who live in many college towns and cities are fans of those teams because they’re alumni. “In a speci c city like Austin, the UT athlete is better than partnering with someone on the Mavericks or the Cowboys, and cheaper as well,” says Novy-Williams. “Someone like Quinn Ewers would be a way to reach that fan base.”

To be sure, some companies, particularly those run or owned by success-obsessed alums, are using NIL deals to attract athletes to the university. Miami billionaire John Ruiz has used NIL deals with his company LifeWallet to encourage football players to transfer to the University of Miami, where he’s a longtime booster. Typically, larger universities can o er more extensive NIL packages than smaller programs. A er Wake Forest University quarterback Sam Hartman transferred to Notre Dame this past year, he signed NIL deals with UnderArmour, Home eld Apparel, Topps and Beats by Dre. Kontoor, a publicly traded company that split o from VF Corp. in 2019 and has a market capitalization of $2.6 billion, wants deals with athletes that personify its product’s image. For Wrangler, it’s about grit, con dence, and humility, says Meagher. “It helps us punch above our weight in terms of a media spend and a marketing spend.” Kontoor spent about $140 million annually on advertising and marketing during 2021-22, according to Securities and Exchange Commission lings.

NIL deals are bene cial to the athletes, particularly with potential professional careers, by giving them experience in

negotiating contracts and aligning with credible brands, says Michael McCann, a law professor at the University of New Hampshire and founding director of the Sports and Entertainment Law Institute. “ ey’re getting real-life training,” he says. “A lot of them won’t go onto the pros, so whatever they get is something that they will value and could help them with costs.”

Meagher likes how the deals connect Wrangler with teams and athletes. “It makes people connect with them,” he says. “ ey feel true and down to earth and someone they can root for."

Ohio State tight end Cade Stover, who has an NIL deal with Wrangler, is expected to be an NFL draft pick in 2024.

Highly touted quarterback Quint Ewers spent a year at Ohio State before transferring to Texas in 2022. The Longhorns ranked No. 7 in the AP poll in early November.

PICKLE BALL?

A Tar Heel linebacker who knows how to deal.

er the rst seven games of the 2023 season, UNC linebacker Cedric Gray had recorded 70 tackles as well as an interception and two fumble recoveries.

Gray, a Charlotte native and second-team All-American in 2022, had also recorded a Mt. Olive Pickle commercial before the season opener against South Carolina and taped a commercial for All About Insurance, a Chapel Hill-based Nationwide agency. ere’s also the Big Ced burger – topped with bacon, cheese, egg and lettuce – at Al’s Burger Shack in downtown Chapel Hill.

It’s part of the new frontier in college sports, where athletes can use their notoriety to make some money a er the NCAA approved name, image and likeness (NIL) guidelines in July 2021. Gray won’t disclose his nances, and the value of NIL agreements are rarely disclosed. But college sports website On3’s algorithm projects his deal-making potential at $429,000 in the next 12 months. By comparison, On3 predicts UNC quarterback Drake Maye could attract $1.3 million in transactions.

Gray works with NIL agent Pet Sumner, an account executive at e Sumner Group in Gastonia. Sumner, who played college basketball at Maine-Farmington, sees NIL work as expanding the agency and using his sports knowledge. “Brands aren’t going to reach out unless you’re making a name for yourself,” he says. “ ey want a guy who gets on TV and makes a lot of plays.”

Mt. Olive considered a national commercial for its Pickle Juicers, but Sumner suggested they start with a regional ad. He recruited Gray and another client, South Carolina linebacker Debo Williams, for a spot in which the two argue about which university is the real “Carolina.” ey agreed that Pickle Juicers helped their workouts.

“I just thought it was a great idea and a good opportunity and related to sports,” says Gray, a sports administration major.

Mt. Olive looked for college athletes who personi ed the privately owned pickle company – reliable folks who do simple things well. Pickle juice is a favorite rehydration drink for exercise enthusiasts.

Gray says he is interested in NIL deals with companies that are professional and responsive. “If I have a deal in a particular eld, I try not to crisscross,” he says. Regulations prevent agreements related to gambling and alcohol.

Sumner says deals with auto dealerships or companies that are run by alumni are good for the athletes. He also struck a deal with Al’s Burger Shack for former UNC basketball player Pu Johnson and a suit deal for former UNC wide receiver Emery Simmons, now playing at Utah.

Gray also works through Heels4Life, a collective for UNC football players, where companies can enter proposed agreements, athletes can accept them, and then the university’s compliance o cer can review the deals. Once the work is completed, the athlete is paid.

Few college athletes get NIL deals, despite the fact that NIL has turned some college students into millionaires. On3 says Southern Cal basketball player Bronny James – LeBron’s son – has the highest NIL value potential at $5.9 million. UNC basketball player Armando Bacot has an NIL value potential of $930,000.

Sumner plans to speak at a lawyers conference in January to see if any rms are interested in working with college athletes, particularly those who, like Gray, specialize in defending. He dreams of using the phrase, “You want the best defense,” with a couple of hard-hitters.

Sounds like Gray may have another opportunity for a commercial.

of Nov. 5, 2023)

PIPE DREAMS

How the Dowd family moved from their historic Charlotte foundry to a glistening new rural setting.

By Kevin Ellis

Charlotte Pipe and Foundry forged cast iron into pipes near the Queen City’s center for more than a century before moving in September to a new foundry in pastoral Stanly County. Opening the $460 million plant 35 miles from its traditional home was a huge decision for the Dowd family, which has been among Charlotte’s most prominent business owners for generations.

The fact that Roddey Dowd Jr., the company’s vice chair, bought a Stanly County farm 31 years ago didn’t hurt the relocation decision. He passes three stop signs on rural roads on his five-minute commute to the foundry, which sits on 700 acres in the town of Oakboro.

The proximity is mostly coincidence, he says. He moved to Stanly County to get out of Charlotte so he “could shoot and hunt, you know, stuff like that.”

“For some reason, I wanted to have a farm, and so I bought a farm,” says Dowd, part of the fourth generation running the business. ”It was falling down, and we picked it back up.”

To be sure, family members had long discussed the increasing challenges of operating a major manufacturing business so close to a fast-growing center city. “I mean I heard (uncle) Frank and Dad [Roddey] say we needed to get out of Charlotte. That’s been in our DNA since the mid-60s. But I had no idea. That wasn’t even in the filter back then.”

The Dowds have traditionally been extremely private, rarely talking with the press. Financial details are closely held. The name is perhaps most associated with the YMCA near downtown Charlotte.

“We’ve never pounded our chests or said a whole lot about ourselves over the years,” says Hooper Hardison, who succeeded Roddey Dowd as CEO in December 2021. His father, Ned, was a veteran company executive. “We’ve kinda tried to stay beneath the radar.”

But Charlotte Pipe provided a tour of the foundry and interviews with top officials, reflecting the momentous occasion of opening a plant after three years of construction. It’s one of the state’s largest privately held companies, making cast-iron and plastic pipes and fittings for commercial and residential plumbing.

Charlotte Pipe has more than 2,700 employees spread across 10 plants in eight states, including 530 who work at the Oakboro foundry. Plastics represent about 60% of Charlotte Pipe’s business, the remaining 40% in cast-iron pipes. A July 2022 acquisition added Wisconsin’s Neenah Enterprises, a leading producer of manhole covers.

Hardison, dressed in a button-down shirt, red tie and dark trousers, described the process that led to the company’s move. “When you have a plant that's 100 years old, you've done a lot of adding on and fixing this and fixing that,” says Hardison, who has a bachelor’s degree from UNC Chapel Hill and a University of Virginia MBA. “And while we were very productive and very efficient, there were also a lot of things that could be vastly improved to make us even better, and we needed more space.”

At the interview with Business North Carolina, Dowd's dress reflects his less formal style. The sleeves of his half-unbuttoned, stained blue work shirt, are rolled up. Two patches – one with his

first name, the other with the company name – are above the shirt’s two front pockets. One sleeve of the shirt has a patch that says “safety first,” the other sleeve adorned with a patch of the U.S. flag.

Dowd remains hands-on, having started his morning working with a team on the foundry’s floor. While he never felt city leaders appreciated Charlotte Pipe’s contributions, the relocation decision came down to practicality, he says.

“We always knew we needed to get out [of the Uptown location] because we were landlocked in Charlotte,” says Dowd, whose great-grandfather, W. Frank Dowd, started the company in 1901 with 25 employees.

He wasn’t the only person happy about the relocation, which is benefiting from more than $50 million in state and local incentives. For many years, much of the uptown foundry’s workforce has lived in Stanly or Union counties, with routine hour-long commutes into Charlotte. One employee told Hardison the move to Oakboro would save him $4,800 a year in fuel costs. Some employees now live close enough to drive their golf carts to work. When the company announced the move to Oakboro, employees played Kool & the Gang’s classic funk song “Celebration” over the PA system, Hardison says.

Charlotte Pipe chose Charlotte-based Barringer Construction as general contractor for the project. While it has worked on company projects for more than 30 years, it had never built a foundry, says Josh Ramsey, senior project manager for Barringer. The development’s size, safety protocols and technology required working together with multiple specialty engineering firms to build one of the world’s most sophisticated foundries.

Over nearly three years of construction, more than 500 construction workers were on the job site each day. More than 1.2 million hours of work were registered. Construction supplies and materials for the foundry were 100% made in the U.S.

Hooper Hardison and Roddey Dowd Jr.

Heat exchange

Dowd says the new foundry has a “good green story” to tell. Charlotte Pipe invested $58 million in the foundry’s environmental systems and controls. The biggest change: the new foundry uses electricity to forge the iron, while the old foundry used a coal product known as foundry coke.

The change reduces annual carbon emissions by 40,000 tons, which the EPA says is equivalent to a year’s worth of carbon emissions of 32,638 gasoline-powered passenger vehicles. Environmentalists should be pleased, though that didn’t motivate the investment, he says.

“The point of the matter is, Charlotte Pipe believes in doing the right thing,” Dowd says. “You do the right thing environmentally and do the right thing by your people, your customers, (and) safety.

“You just walk the talk and, and to the extent that, you know, whatever kind of arcane argument that wants to be made about the environment, there are environmental laws and, we're gonna meet those laws and exceed them,” he says. “I mean, if you don't, you're gonna be out of business or you're gonna be in jail. I'm not going to jail for anybody.”

Pivoting to heating by electrical induction over coke made the environmental permitting process much easier with state and federal officials, Dowd adds. An on-site 70,000-megawatt substation for the plant, which is fueled by natural gas distributed by Union Power Cooperative, produces enough electricity to power 70,000 single-family homes. Charlotte Pipe chose the Monroe-based electric cooperative as its energy partner over Duke Energy following a lengthy analysis.

For workers, the plant is a major contrast to the old foundry, which got extremely hot even on chilly winter days. High ceilings and systems to pump in air and collect dust make the new foundry more comfortable for workers, and make the plant less susceptible to weather extremes, says T.J. Costello, vice president of cast iron operations.

global conflict

Opening a foundry in Stanly County also aligns with the Dowds’ long-time commitment to North Carolina and battling foreign rivals. “It’s a poor rural county that had a textile base that got wiped out when we were stupid enough to let” the Chinese take the industry away, says Dowd. “This is a real shot in the arm for the county. It's a rural farming community. Really good people.”

Charlotte Pipe has spent “tens of millions” of dollars fighting Chinese trade practices dating back to the 1980s. Dowd says he went to China in the late 1980s to study competitors, whose products were imported at lower prices than Charlotte Pipe’s.

“We were over there not because we wanted to partner with them, but they were dumping all this stuff. Our goal was to try to find out if they could really do what they were doing,” he says. “We found out that there was no damn way. I mean, these were primitive foundries. They would have looked like Charlotte Pipe in 1915.”

In 2019, the International Trade Commission voted unanimously in favor of Charlotte Pipe in an anti-dumping case involving imports of cast iron soil pipe from China. The U.S. Department of Commerce concluded that Chinese products undersold the fair market value of Charlotte Pipe’s cast iron, prompting new duties of more than 250% to level the playing field. That same year, the company got global attention by publicizing how a Shanghai company has been illegally using the “Charlotte” trademark for its products for more than a decade.

Earlier this year, U.S. Sens. Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Sherrod Brown of Ohio introduced the Fighting Trade Cheats Act, which would strengthen U.S. trade law enforcement. “This anti-circumvention trade legislation is critical to holding Chinese and other bad actors accountable when it comes to enforcing lawful dumping and subsidy duties,” Dowd said at the time in a press release issued by Tillis. The legislation is pending.

Senior Vice President Greg Simmons and Charlie Ponscheck, Charlotte Pipe engineering manager for the cast iron division, led the planning for the facility.

Neither political party nor any administration has done enough to curb China’s trade practices in the last 40 years, Dowd says. “ ey are bad people,” Dowd says of the Chinese government. Roddey Dowd Jr. has given almost $73,500 to Republican candidates in federal elections since Jan. 1, 2022. Hardison has given about $54,000 to Republicans in federal elections in that same time period.

“Our job is to make money,” says Dowd, “but it's also not to let anybody get put out of work. We have a duty to protect our workers’ jobs. is is a family company and most of them have worked for us for generations.”

Charlotte Pipe hasn’t laid o anyone in its plastics divisions since 1982 and no one at the foundry since 1957, Dowd says. When the company lost money in 2009 and 2010, everyone kept working. “We invested in brooms and paint back then,” Hardison says. e plant was kept particularly clean in those lean years, he notes.

NEW USE, but no stadium

Charlotte Pipe still owns its huge land parcel adjacent to Interstate 277 and near the center city and South End areas. It’s in no hurry to make a decision on what to do with that property, says Hardison, who joined the company in 1988. A third of that land was used for production and the rest for storage and warehousing.

A few years ago, Charlotte Pipe secured the intellectual property rights to the term “Iron District” for its valuable property. e company engaged real estate services company CBRE last year to market the property.

For years, popular perception was that Carolina Panthers owner David Tepper would buy the Charlotte Pipe property for a new stadium. Now, the focus is on renovating Bank of America Stadium through a partnership with the city of Charlotte.

Charlotte Pipe has not spoken with Tepper or his colleagues about the property for years, Hardison says. Still, he o en runs into people who think the hedge-fund CEO owns the site.

Charlotte Pipe wants to ensure the land will make a positive contribution. “We do have a legacy there that we want to preserve, and we want to do something to make the city and the citizens of the city proud of it. So it'll be something nice. But who knows what it'll be? We're a long ways away from that.”

Key

dates in Charlotte Pipe and Foundry

Workers at Charlotte Pipe's Oakboro foundry earn an average wage of about $48,000, which is 140% greater than the average Stanly County wage of $34,211.

History

W. Frank Dowd opens a foundry in Charlotte

Frank Dowd’s son, Frank Dowd II, takes the helm

Frank Dowd II’s sons, Frank Dowd Jr. and Roddey Dowd, take over and mechanize the foundry

Plastics division launched in Monroe

Cameron, Texas, plastics plant built

Muncy, Pennsylvania, plastics division plant built

Frank Dowd IV and Roddey Dowd Jr. take the helm

Wildwood, Florida, plastics plant built

Huntsville, Alabama, plastics plant acquired

Cedar City, Utah, plastics plant built

Hooper Hardison named CEO

Acquires Neenah Enterprises, with factories in Wisconsin, Florida and Nebraska

Foundry opens in Oakboro. Construction of plastics division plant in Maize, Kansas, begins.

By Kevin Ellis

North Carolina’s most respected doctors in 65 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.

Methodology 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

Robyn Jordan UNC Department of Psychiatry Chapel Hill

Stephanie Newby Atrium Health Behavioral Health Charlotte

ALLERGY IMMUNOLOGY

Peter Bressler Duke Asthma, Allergy, and Airway Center Durham

Leslie Cristiano Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston-Salem

Gurvinder Deogun Allergy Partners of Western North Carolina Raleigh

Heather Gutekunst Allergy Partners of Western North Carolina Raleigh

Joel M. Hartman Allergy Partners of Western North Carolina Winston Salem

Caroline Hobbs Atrium Health Allergy Asthma & Immunology Charlotte

Edwin Kim UNC Hospitals Children's Specialty Clinics Chapel Hill

Mildred Kwan UNC Faculty Physicians Center Chapel Hill

Diane Krane Laber Allergy Partners of the Piedmont Pinehurst

Patricia Lynne Lugar Duke Asthma Allergy & Airway Center Durham

J. Gray Norris Carolina Asthma & Allergy Center Charlotte

Maeve O'Connor Allergy Asthma & Immunology Relief Charlotte

Vandana Patel Carolina Asthma & Allergy Center Gastonia

Ekta Shah Atrium Health Allergy Asthma & Immunology Charlotte

Sofija Volertas UNC School of Medicine Chapel Hill

Aerik Williams Allergy Partners of the Piedmont Salisbury

ANESTHESIOLOGY

Warwick Ames Duke University Durham

James Balfanz UNC Hospitals Chapel Hill

John Berry VII FirstHealth Moore Regional Hospital Pinehurst

Matthew V. Buck Duke Birthing Center Durham

David Chiu Salem Professional Anesthesiology Advance

Ashraf S. Habib Duke Birthing Center Durham

Robert Scott Isaak UNC Hospitals Chapel Hill

Benjamin J. Judd Providence Anesthesiology Associates Pinehurst

Lavinia M. Kolarczyk UNC Hospitals Chapel Hill

Daniel LaValley East Carolina Anesthesia Associates Greenville

Marley Lawrence North American Partners in Anesthesia Burlington

Kendall B. Leonard Providence Anesthesiology Associates Pinehurst

Maria Concetta Lupa UNC Hospitals Chapel Hill

David C. Mayer UNC Hospitals Chapel Hill

Mark Mueller Mission Community Anesthesiology Specialists Marion

Thomas Mulford NorthStar Anesthesia Asheville

Bryant Murphy UNC Hospitals Chapel Hill

Katherine Nicholas East Carolina Anesthesia Specialists Gastonia

Kimberley R. Nichols UNC Hospitals Chapel Hill

Matthew L. Oldroyd Pinehurst Anesthesia Pinehurst

Anthony Passannante UNC Hospitals Chapel Hill

Sara Pittenger UNC School of Medicine - Anesthesiology Chapel Hill

Jay ReVille Providence Anesthesia Associates Pinehurst

Farrukh Sair Providence Anesthesiology Associates PA Charlotte

Joshua D. Schwartz East Carolina Anesthesia Associates Greenville

Thomas Slaughter Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston-Salem

Kathleen A. Smith UNC Hospitals Chapel Hill

Emily Graham Teeter UNC Hospitals Chapel Hill

ANESTHESIOLOGY

T. Wesley Templeton Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston-Salem

Christopher Terry WakeMed Cary Hospital Raleigh

Brian K. Thwaites Providence Anesthesia Associates Pinehurst

Chuanyao Tong Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston-Salem

Nancy Wilkes UNC School of Medicine Chapel Hill

James V. Winkley Providence Anesthesiology Associates Pinehurst

David A. Zvara UNC School of Medicine Chapel Hill

CARDIOLOGY

Benjamin Atkeson North Carolina Heart & Vascular Smithfield

Matthew Stephen Baker UNC School of Medicine Chapel Hill

Elijah Hamilton Beaty Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston-Salem

Michael A. Blazing Duke Cardiology Arringdon Morrisville

Matthew Cavender UNC Hospitals Outpatient Center Chapel Hill

Craig Clinard Atrium Health Sanger Heart & Vascular Charlotte

Cody Scott Deen UNC Hospitals Hillsborough Campus Hillsborough

Michael David Elliott Atrium Health Sanger Heart & Vascular Charlotte

Joseph M. Falsone North Carolina Heart & Vascular Raleigh

David Jonathan Framm Tryon Medical Partners Charlotte

David Frazier ECU Health Medical Center Greenville

Anil Kishin Gehi UNC Health Care Panther Creek Cary

Christian Gring North Carolina Heart & Vascular Clayton

Joseph F. Hakas, Jr. Pinehurst Medical Clinic Pinehurst

J. Kevin Harrison Duke Cardiology Arringdon Morrisville

Robert W. Harrison Duke Infusion Center South Durham Durham

John W. Holshouser Atrium Health Sanger Heart & Vascular Charlotte

Brett Izzo Asheville Cardiology Associates Asheville

Eric M. Janis North Carolina Heart & Vascular Smithfield

Charles B. Jones Vidant Heart & Vascular Care Greenville

Anita Kelsey Duke Cardiac Diagnostic Unit Durham

Jeffrey L. Klein UNC Hospitals Outpatient Center Chapel Hill

Igor Klem Duke University School of Medicine Durham

Daniel N. Koehler Atrium Health Sanger Heart & Vascular Lincolnton

Richard A. Krasuski Duke Cardiology Arringdon Morrisville

Jack Joseph Kuritzky Chapel Hill Internal Medicine Chapel Hill

Olujide G. Lawal FirstHealth Cardiology Laurinburg

Jan Fox Leverne Fryecare Cardiology Associates Boone

Angelo S. Milazzo, Jr. Duke Children's Cardiology Creekstone Durham

Chelsea Ngongang Wakemed Brier Creek Healthplex Raleigh

Agodichi Nwosu Carolina Heart Physicians Fayetteville

Ryan M. Orgel WakeMed Heart & Vascular Raleigh

K. Dale Owen, Jr. Tryon Medical Partners Charlotte

Chetan B. Patel Duke University School of Medicine Durham

Jan Pattanayak Asheville Cardiology Associates Asheville

Dermot Phelan Atrium Health Sanger Heart & Vascular Charlotte

Brian Douglas Powell Atrium Health Sanger Heart & Vascular Charlotte

Geoffrey Rose Atrium Health Sanger Heart & Vascular Charlotte

Joseph Stuart Rossi UNC Hospitals Outpatient Center Chapel Hill

Hari Saini Carolina Heart & Leg Center Fayetteville

Jonathan Schwartz Atrium Health Sanger Heart & Vascular Charlotte

Rony Labib Shammas FirstHealth Cardiology Laurinburg

CARDIOLOGY

Marc Silver WakeMed Heart & Vascular Raleigh

Patrick J. Simpson Pinehurst Medical Clinic Pinehurst

Michael H. Sketch, Jr. Duke Cardiology Arringdon Morrisville

George A. Stouffer UNC Hospitals Outpatient Center Chapel Hill

H. Allen Strunk, Jr. FirstHealth Cardiology Pinehurst

Sunit Yeshwant Tolia Piedmont Cardiovascular Greensboro

Peter J. Vassallo FirstHealth Cardiology Pinehurst

John Paul Vavalle UNC Hospitals Outpatient Center Chapel Hill

Andrew Wang Duke Cardiology Clinic Durham

Thelsa Weickert UNC School of Medicine Chapel Hill

Brandon Williams Pinehurst Medical Clinic Pinehurst

David X. Zhao Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston-Salem

CARDIOTHORACIC SURGERY

Bret David Borchelt Novant Health Cardiothoracic Surgeons Winston-Salem

Ker Boyce Pinehurst Medical Clinic Pinehurst

Stephen Davies FirstHealth Cardiovascular & Thoracic Center Pinehurst

Peter Isaac Ellman FirstHealth Cardiovascular & Thoracic Center Pinehurst

John Richards Frederick Atrium Health Sanger Heart & Vascular Charlotte

Jeffrey Giles Gaca Duke University School of Medicine Durham

Donald D. Glower, Jr. Duke Heart Transplant Clinic Durham

Mark Allen Groh Asheville Heart Asheville

Jeffrey August Hagen Atrium Health Sanger Heart & Vascular Charlotte

Edward Hal Kincaid Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston-Salem

William C. Kitchens FirstHealth Cardiovascular & Thoracic Center Pinehurst

Neal D. Kon Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston-Salem

Mark D. Landers FirstHealth Cardiology Pinehurst

Adrian Lata Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston-Salem

L. Wiley Nifong East Carolina University - Department of Cardiovascular Sciences Greenville

Jacob Niall Schroder Duke Heart Transplant Clinic Durham

Eric R. Skipper Atrium Health Sanger Heart & Vascular Charlotte

Medhat Takla Atrium Health Sanger Heart & Vascular Concord

Larry Thomas Watts Atrium Health Sanger Heart & Vascular Charlotte

John Mark Williams East Carolina Heart Institute Greenville

Judson Williams Wakemed Heart Center Raleigh

CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE

Herman Barrett Cheek Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist High Point

John M. Fedor Atrium Health Sanger Heart & Vascular Charlotte

Terry Ann Fortin Duke Cardiology Clinic Durham

Christopher P. Gregory ECU Health Heart & Vascular Care Greenville

David M. Herrington Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston-Salem

Jason Neil Katz Duke Heart Transplant Clinic Durham

Todd L. Kiefer Duke Cardiology Arringdon Morrisville

Dalane W. Kitzman Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston-Salem

Joseph D. Mishkin Atrium Health Sanger Heart & Vascular Charlotte

Neha J. Pagidipati Duke Cardiology South Durham Durham

Cheryl Russo Atrium Health Sanger Heart & Vascular Charlotte

Svati Hasmukh Shah Duke University School of Medicine Durham

Cary Cecile Ward Duke Cardiology Arringdon Morrisville

Hadley Wilson Atrium Health Sanger Heart & Vascular Charlotte

COLON AND RECTAL SURGERY

Laura K. Altom North Carolina Surgery Holly Springs

Patrick Brillant Physicians East Greenville

Bradley Davis Atrium Health Carolinas Medical Center Charlotte

Samuel A. Heathcote, Sr. Pinehurst Surgical Clinic Pinehurst

Kevin Kasten Atrium Health Gastroenterology & Hepatology Charlotte

Christopher Mantyh Duke Ambulatory Surgery Center Durham

Julie K. Marosky Thacker Duke Ambulatory Surgery Center Durham

John Migaly Duke Ambulatory Surgery Center Durham

Joseph M. Payne Novant Health New Hanover Regional Wilmington

Reza Rahbar North Carolina Surgery Raleigh

Timothy S. Sadiq North Carolina Surgery Raleigh

Carl J. Westcott Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston-Salem

COSMETIC SURGERY

Joseph Madison Clark II UNC Ear, Nose and Throat Chapel Hill

Brenda McCain Draper Draper Plastic Surgery Asheville

J. Lynne Garrison Greenville Plastic Surgery Greenville

Charles R. Kays Wilmington Plastic Surgery Wilmington

Jefferson K. Kilpatrick Pinehurst Surgical Clinic Pinehurst

Andrew M. Schneider Forsyth Plastic Surgery Associates Winston-Salem

Angelo Tellis Aegean Medical New Bern

CRITICAL CARE MEDICINE

Mashael Al-Hegelan Duke University Hospital Durham

Christina E. Barkauskas Duke Pulmonary Clinic Durham

Benjamin Bringardner Atrium Health Jan & Ed Brown Center Charlotte

Shannon Carson UNC School of Medicine Chapel Hill

Lydia Chang UNC Hospitals Outpatient Center Chapel Hill

Stephen G. Cochran Atrium Health Pulmonology Charlotte

German DeJoya WakeMed Raleigh Campus Raleigh

Travis L. Dotson Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston-Salem

Elizabeth Dreesen UNC Hospitals Multispecialty Surgery Clinic Chapel Hill

Daniel Clark Files Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston-Salem

Christopher B. Granger Duke University School of Medicine Durham

Douglas William Haden Atrium Health Pulmonary Critical Care Charlotte

Michael Wade Haley Atrium Health Pulmonary Critical Care Charlotte

Alan C. Heffner Atrium Health Pulmonary Critical Care Charlotte

Allison Evans Johnson Haywood Surgical Associates Clyde

Todd L. Kelly FirstHealth Hospitalist Service Pinehurst

Lisa R. Lindauer FirstHealth Hospitalist Service Pinehurst

Russell Miller III First Health Moore Regional Hospital Pinehurst

Thomas Przybysz Atrium Health Pulmonary Critical Care Charlotte

Craig Rackley Duke Pulmonary Clinic Durham

Justin Swartz Atrium Health Jan & Ed Brown Center Charlotte

John Wynne Atrium Health Pulmonary Critical Care Charlotte

DERMATOLOGY

Zeynep Meltem Akkurt Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston-Salem

James Appel Wilmington Health Wilmington

Elias E. Ayli Wake Skin Cancer Center Wake Forest

April Atkins Boswell Atlantic Dermatology Charlotte

DERMATOLOGY

Claude Shreve Burton Duke University Medical Center Durham

Marc Carruth Carolina Skin Surgery Center Charlotte

Elvira Chiritescu New Age Dermatology Apex

Robert E. Clark Cary Skin Center Cary

Donna A. Culton UNC Hospitals Dermatology & Skin Cancer Chapel Hill

Logan D'Souza Forest Dermatology and Medical Spa Asheville

Meredith Leigh Dasher Tryon Medical Partners Charlotte

Audrey Echt Anne Arundel Dermatology Raleigh

Hazem M. El-Gamal Charlotte Dermatology Charlotte

Steven R. Feldman Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston-Salem

Jennifer Helton Steele Creek Dermatology Charlotte

Erin Hodges Tryon Medical Partners Charlotte

William Wei-Ting Huang Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston-Salem

Mark Hutchin Dermatology of North Asheville Asheville

Brooke Jackson Skin Wellness Dermatology Associates Durham

Martie Lee Price Tryon Medical Partners Charlotte

Daniel B. Jones Greensboro Dermatology Associates Greensboro

Joseph L. Jorizzo Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston-Salem

William Ketcham Anne Arundel Dermatology Garner

David Lane Dermatologic Surgery of the Carolinas LLC Charlotte

Aida Lugo-Somolinos UNC Hospitals Dermatology & Skin Cancer Chapel Hill

Lisa May Biltmore Dermatology Asheville

Amy McMichael Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston-Salem

John Carroll Murray Duke University School of Medicine Durham

Sarah A. Myers Duke University Hospital Durham

Rita O. Pichardo Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston-Salem

Patricia Koury Roddey Tryon Medical Partners Charlotte

Christopher John Sayed UNC Hospitals Dermatology & Skin Cancer Chapel Hill

Lindsay Chaney Strowd Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston-Salem

Michael D. Sullivan Carolina Dermatology & Skin Cancer Surgery Wilmington

Nancy Ellen Thomas UNC Hospitals Dermatology & Skin Cancer Chapel Hill

Carol Ann Trakimas Forefront Dermatology Goldsboro

Sarah Vieta Vieta Dermatology Pinehurst

Phil M. Williford Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston-Salem

DIAGNOSTIC RADIOLOGY

John G. Alley, Jr. Raleigh Radiology Raleigh

Ersan Altun UNC School of Medicine Chapel Hill

Mustafa Shadi Bashir Duke University School of Medicine Durham

Lauren M.B. Burke UNC Radiology Chapel Hill

John Childress Charlotte Radiology Charlotte

Michael D. Edwards Pinehurst Radiology Pinehurst

Scott Hees Charlotte Radiology Charlotte

William B. Hudgins Pinehurst Radiology Pinehurst

Lynne Hurwitz Koweek Duke University School of Medicine Durham

Tracy Anne Jaffe Duke University School of Medicine Durham

Brian Scott Kuszyk Eastern Radiologists Greenville

Michael Lavelle Charlotte Radiology Charlotte

Carolyn H. Maynor Pinehurst Radiology Pinehurst

Mark Howard Neely Durham Radiology Associates Durham

James Oliver III Charlotte Radiology Charlotte

DIAGNOSTIC RADIOLOGY

Stewart Rasmussen Pinehurst Radiology Pinehurst

Amy H. Sobel Charlotte Radiology Charlotte

Grant Thaxton Eastern Radiologists Greenville

Laura Oliver Thomas Raleigh Radiology Raleigh

Glen A. Toomayan Pinehurst Radiology Pinehurst

Michael D. Tripp Eastern Radiologists Greenville

EMERGENCY MEDICINE

Anthony Terrance Allen Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston-Salem

Bradley L. Anglemyer Mid-Atlantic Emergency Medical Associates Charlotte

Don Robert Bahner Moore Regional Hospital Pinehurst

Kevin James Biese UNC School of Medicine Chapel Hill

William P. Bozeman Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston-Salem

Jane H. Brice UNC Hospitals Emergency Department Chapel Hill

John A. Bridgman Moore Regional Hospital Pinehurst

Jonathan Brower Moore Regional Hospital Pinehurst

Frank L. Christopher Atrium Health Anson Wadesboro

Herbert G. Garrison East Carolina University Greenville

Charles John Gerardo Duke University Hospital Durham

Michael Gibbs Atrium Health Carolinas Medical Center Charlotte

Joseph Grover UNC School of Medicine Chapel Hill

Michael Harrigan UNC Hospitals Emergency Department Chapel Hill

Laura Hester Chatham Hospital Siler City

James O. Lewis Moore Regional Hospital Pinehurst

Chad D. Listrom Moore Regional Hospital Pinehurst

Emily Champe MacNeill Atrium Health Carolinas Medical Center Charlotte

Paul F. Malinda Cone Health Alamance Regional Burlington

Arun Manikumar UNC REX Hospital Emergency Department Raleigh

David E. Manthey Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston-Salem

Daniel Jason Martinie Mid-Atlantic Emergency Medical Associates Charlotte

David A. Masneri Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston-Salem

Abhishek Mehrotra UNC Hospitals Emergency Department Chapel Hill

Jason A. Mutch Mid-Atlantic Emergency Medical Associates Charlotte

Christina L. Shenvi UNC Emergency Medicine Chapel Hill

Erin Mancuso Smith Mid-Atlantic Emergency Medical Associates Charlotte

Linda Morris Taylor Atrium Health High Point Medical Center High Point

Julie G. Verchick Sandhills Emergency Physicians Pinehurst

Matthew Vreeland FirstHealth Convenient Care Asheboro

Amanda Korzep Watts Moore Regional Hospital Pinehurst

ENDOCRINOLOGY DIABETES AND METABOLISM

Joseph A. Aloi Diabetes and Endocrinology Center Winston-Salem

Pinar Gumus Balikcioglu Duke University School of Medicine Durham

Francisco Bautista Vitiello Tryon Medical Partners Charlotte

Denis I. Becker Raleigh Endocrine Associates Raleigh

Robert Walker Benjamin Duke University School of Medicine Durham

Alex Bonnecaze Pinehurst Medical Clinic Pinehurst

D. Allen Brantley Tryon Medical Partners Charlotte

Cynthia Anne Burns Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston-Salem

John B. Buse UNC Hospitals Outpatient Center Chapel Hill

ENDOCRINOLOGY DIABETES AND METABOLISM

Donald Caraccio UNC School of Medicine Chapel Hill

David A. D'Alessio Duke Endocrinology Clinic Durham

Kelli Coop Dunn Atrium Health Carolinas Medical Center Charlotte

Adva Tal Eisenberg Novant Health Endocrinology Charlotte

Josh M. Evron UNC Hospitals Outpatient Center Chapel Hill

Cristina Gherghe LeBauer Healthcare - Endocrinology Greensboro

Tahereh Ghorbani UNC School of Medicine Chapel Hill

Kristen Gill Hairston Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston-Salem

Elizabeth Harris UNC Hospitals Outpatient Center Chapel Hill

Morgan Simonds Jones UNC Hospitals Outpatient Center Chapel Hill

Tripuraneni Deepa Kirk UNC Hospitals Outpatient Center Chapel Hill

Brooks Mays Pinehurst Medical Clinic Southern Pines

K. Patrick Ober Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston-Salem

Laura Caitlin Page Duke University School of Medicine Durham

Gary Charles Rolband Tryon Medical Partners Charlotte

Ellen Shannon Story Atrium Health Levine Cancer Charlotte

Maya Shalev Styner UNC Hospitals Outpatient Center Chapel Hill

Charles T. Upchurch Tryon Medical Partners Charlotte

Mark Warren Physicians East Greenville

Julia Warren-Ulanch Creedmoor Centre Endocrinology Raleigh

Thomas Joseph Weber Duke Endocrinology Clinic Durham

FAMILY MEDICINE

Elena Adamo Scott Community Health Center Burlington

Angela M. Bacigalupo Cone Health Burlington Family Practice Burlington

John Baker J Scott Baker Md - Family and Community Care Highlands

Amir H. Barzin Chatham Hospital Siler City

Lateef Cannon Pardee UNC Health Care Hendersonville

Jenny Lee Chen Atrium Health Primary Care Mint Hill CommonsMint Hill

Clark Rohwer Denniston UNC School of Medicine Chapel Hill

Crystal Sanchez Dorsey Novant Health Maplewood Family Medicine Winston-Salem

Andrew J. Drabick Family Medical Associates of Raleigh Raleigh

Chrystal F. Eller FirstHealth Transition Care Clinic Pinehurst

Sandra Bryant Farland Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston Salem

Jorge L. Franco Carolina Family Practice Centre Fayetteville

Garett Franklin Cary Medical Group Cary

Steven Lee Gilchrist Novant Health Steelecroft Primary Care Charlotte

Joseph Gillham FirstHealth Family Medicine Rockingham

Mark D. Gwynne Chatham Hospital Siler City

Revella Harmon MyCare 365 Primary & Urgent Care Zebulon

Michael J. Harris Carolina Family Practice & Sports Medicine Raleigh

Margaret Rose Helton UNC School of Medicine Chapel Hill

Milton Mark Hester Novant Health Crown Point Family Physicians Charlotte

Laura Klatt House Chatham Hospital Siler City

Amy Howerton Howerton Family Medicine Roseboro

Lauren Bennett-Ale Hull Atrium Health Primary Care Carmel Charlotte

Megan Johnson Cone Health Crissman Family Practice Graham

Melissa Jones Priority Care Charlotte

Adam J. Kinninger McDowell Family Practice Marion

Gregory Knapp East Carolina University Greenville

Bo Kopynec FirstHealth Family Medicine Ellerbe

Kourtney Lane Krohn Physicians East Greenville

BRIAN LANIER

FAMILY MEDICINE

WILMINGTON

Brian Lanier was inspired to become a physician after his experiences as a Marine communications officer in Iraq. He joined the Marines shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks.

The Pender County native studied music at UNC Wilmington and earned a business degree from N.C. State University. He returned to N.C. State in 2007 to prepare himself for medical school. He earned a four-year, full tuition, merit-based scholarship (John and Kit Latimer Excellence Fund Scholar) to the UNC School of Medicine. He graduated in 2014. In 2017, Lanier founded Promina Health in Wilmington. The practice uses a direct primary care model, charging a monthly membership fee that covers patients’ primary care office visits and services rather than billing insurance.

FAMILY MEDICINE

Brian Lanier Promina Health Wilmington

Brenda A. Latham-Sadler Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston Salem

Thomas R. Leonard FirstHealth Family Medicine Carthage

Andrew LePorte Scotland Health Care System Laurinburg

James R. Liffrig FirstHealth Family Medicine Pittsboro

Richard William Lord, Jr. Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston-Salem

Marshall P. McMillan Novant Health Crown Point Family Physicians Charlotte

Mimi Chandler Miles Chatham Hospital Chapel Hill

Benjamin James Missick Novant Health Blakeney Family Physicians Charlotte

Amina Moghul FirstHealth Family Medicine - Seven Lakes West End

Mary Catherine Moree FirstHealth Family Medicine Rockingham

Andrew James Morris Hendersonville Family Health Center Hendersonville

Dana M. Neutze Chatham Hospital Siler City

Augustus Garland Parker Novant Health Blakeney Family Physicians Charlotte

Justin Parker Asheville Family Medicine Asheville

Brent Douglas Penhall Novant Health Lakeside Family Physicians Mooresville

Ginger Poulton MAHEC Family Health at Newbridge Asheville

James Robert Powell East Carolina University Greenville

Alicia Shute Reams Tryon Medical Partners Charlotte

John F. Redding II White Oak Family Physicians Asheboro

Derek Reed Gaston Family Practice Gastonia

Ann Marie Richards FirstHealth Family Medicine Pinehurst

Benjamin Simmons Atrium Health Primary Care Union Monroe

Karen L. Smith Karen L. Smith MD Raeford

Caroline Dove Stephens Piedmont Urology Associates Belmont

Dominick Trapani WakeMed North Hospital Raleigh

Jessica L. Triche Vidant Family Medicine Chocowinity Raleigh

Carolyn Vaught UNC School of Medicine Chapel Hill

Christopher Vieau Atrium Health Primary Care Union Monroe

Craig White Davidson Family Medicine Davidson

Geoffrey T. Wrinkle Atrium Health Primary Care Carmel Charlotte

Brian Wysong Gaston Family Practice Gastonia

GASTROENTEROLOGY

Shoukath Ansari FirstHealth Gastroenterology Hamlet

Amit Aravapalli Tryon Medical Partners Charlotte

Todd Baron UNC Hospitals Outpatient Center Chapel Hill

Eugene M. Bozymski Duke University School of Medicine Durham

M. Stanley Branch Duke Endoscopy Clinic Durham

Oscar Sven Brann Tryon Medical Partners Charlotte

Joel T. Bruggen Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston-Salem

Rebecca Ann Burbridge Duke Endoscopy Clinic

Durham

John Clements Lake Norman Medical Group Mooresville

Justin A. Crocker Duke Gastroenterology of Raleigh Raleigh

Evan Samuel Dellon UNC Center for Gastrointestinal Biology and Disease Chapel Hill

Spencer David Dorn UNC Hospitals Endoscopy Center Chapel Hill

Darin Lyn Dufault Duke Endoscopy Clinic Durham

Christopher Dean Ferris Tryon Medical Partners Charlotte

Eric Frizzell Pinehurst Medical Clinic Pinehurst

John H. Gilliam III Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston-Salem

Ian S. Grimm UNC Hospitals GI Procedures Chapel Hill

Hans Herfarth UNC Hospitals Endoscopy Center Chapel Hill

Eric G. Hilgenfeldt Tryon Medical Partners Charlotte

Kent Holtzmuller Tryon Medical Partners Charlotte

Christopher T. Jue Digestive Health Specialists Winston-Salem

Jason Lewis Atrium Health Gastroenterology & Hepatology Charlotte

Millie D. Long UNC Hospitals Endoscopy Center Chapel Hill

Wayne B. Lucas Pinehurst Medical Clinic Pinehurst

Jyothi Nat Mann Guilford Medical Center Greensboro

Jeffrey Roy Medoff Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Greensboro

Girish Mishra Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston-Salem

John H. Moore III Charlotte Gastroenterology & Hepatology Mooresville

Thomas Pacicco Atrium Health Gastroenterology & Hepatology Charlotte

Murtaza Parekh REX Digestive Healthcare Raleigh

James C. Rholl Digestive Health Partners Hendersonville

Martin W. Scobey Atrium Health Carolinas Medical Center Charlotte

ANTHONY CHARLES GENERAL SURGERY CHAPEL HILL

Anthony Charles followed a well-worn path to becoming a physician. His father is a doctor. His uncles are physicians. His older sister and younger brother are physicians. His grandfather was the first African to head the Public Health Service in Sub-Saharan Africa. “I never thought of anything else than being a physician,” says Charles.

Charles sees patients at the UNC Hospitals Multispecialty Surgery Clinic. He says he likes being part of a research hospital that’s on the cutting edge of medical advancement.

Charles graduated from the University of Lagos College of Medicine. He served with the Nigerian Army Medical Corps. Residencies include North Middlesex University Hospital in London and Saint Joseph Mercy in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

A passion is serving as director of the UNC Malawi Surgical Initiative. The southeastern African nation has fewer than 50 surgeons serving 18 million people. The program works with doctors and trains them to become surgeons.

GASTROENTEROLOGY

Nicholas J. Shaheen UNC Hospitals Endoscopy Center Chapel Hill

D. Scott Smith Tryon Medical Partners Charlotte

Thomas Swantkowski Pinehurst Medical Clinic Pinehurst

Melissa Teitelman Duke Gastroenterology Clinic at Brier Creek Durham

Ravikant V. Varanasi Pinehurst Medical Clinic Pinehurst

Kerry Whitt RMG Gastroenterology Raleigh

Diane M. Williams Pinehurst Medical Clinic Pinehurst

Farra Wilson Pinehurst Medical Clinic Pinehurst

GENERAL SURGERY

Jeffrey Abrams WakeMed General Surgery Raleigh

Elizabeth Acquista Novant Health General Surgery Wilmington

Matthew Alleman WakeMed General Surgery Raleigh

Vedra Augenstein Atrium Health Carolinas Medical Center Charlotte

Erin Baker Atrium Health Levine Cancer Charlotte

Aaron Eli Bergsman Surgical Specialists of Charlotte Huntersville

Bryan Drew Blitstein Surgical Specialists of Charlotte Huntersville

Brian Burlingame Pinehurst Surgical Clinic Pinehurst

Anthony G. Charles UNC Hospitals Multispecialty Surgery Clinic Chapel Hill

Ashley Britton Atrium Health Carolinas Medical Center Charlotte

H. Willy Chu Pinehurst Surgical Clinic Pinehurst

Paul Colavita Atrium Health Carolinas Medical Center Charlotte

Carolyn S. Day North Carolina Surgery Raleigh

Chirag S. Desai UNC Hospitals Jason Ray Transplant Clinic Chapel Hill

Fuzz Fernandez, Jr. Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston Salem

David W. Grantham Pinehurst Surgical Clinic Pinehurst

B. Heniford Atrium Health Carolinas Medical Center Charlotte

Kent Kercher Atrium Health Carolinas Medical Center Charlotte

Cynthia W. Lauer Atrium Health Carolinas Medical Center Charlotte

Carl Jarrett Lowe, Jr. Novant Health Carolina Surgical Charlotte

Matthew B. Martin Central Carolina Surgery Greensboro

J. Wayne Meredith Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston-Salem

Anthony A. Meyer UNC Hospitals Adult Oncology Clinics Chapel Hill

Preston R. Miller III Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston Salem

Natalie L. Nowak Surgical Specialists of Charlotte Matthews

Andrew Mitchell Nunn Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston-Salem

David Wayne Overby UNC General Surgery Clinic Hillsborough

Theodore N. Pappas Duke Advanced Abdominal Disease Clinic Durham

Lee C. Pederson Surgical Specialists of Charlotte PA Charlotte

Arielle Jaclyn Perez UNC Hospitals Multispecialty Surgery Clinic Chapel Hill

Kolandaivelu Ramaswamy Mission Trauma Services Asheville

Jonathan C. Routh Duke Children's Health Center Urology Clinic Durham

Bailey Sanders Pinehurst Surgical Clinic Pinehurst

Lynnette M. Schiffern Atrium Health Carolinas Medical Center Charlotte

Courtney Sommer Mission Trauma Services Asheville

Kristin E. Wagner Surgical Specialists of Charlotte Charlotte

Matthew C. Wakefield Central Carolina Surgery Greensboro

Eric L. Wallace Surgical Specialists of Charlotte Matthews

Raymond G. Washington Pinehurst Surgical Clinic Pinehurst

Christopher R. Watters Duke General Surgery Raleigh

Leslie T. Webster III Surgical Specialists of Charlotte Charlotte

R. Frederick Williams, Jr. East Carolina University Greenville

GERIATRIC MEDICINE

Hal Huntley Atkinson Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston-Salem

Lee R. Berkowitz UNC Faculty Physicians Center Chapel Hill

Maureen C. Dale UNC Faculty Physicians Center Chapel Hill

Franklin S. Watkins Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston-Salem

Jeff D. Williamson Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston-Salem

GYNECOLOGIC ONCOLOGY

Victoria Lin Bae-Jump UNC School of Medicine Chapel Hill

John F. Boggess UNC Hospitals Gynecologic Oncology Clinic Chapel Hill

Jubilee Brown Atrium Health Levine Cancer Charlotte

Brian Burgess FirstHealth Cancer Center Pinehurst

Ashley Case Hope Women's Cancer Centers Asheville

Leslie Horn Clark UNC Hospitals Gynecologic Oncology Clinic Chapel Hill

Erin K. Crane Atrium Health Levine Cancer Charlotte

Brittany A. Davidson Duke Cancer Center Durham

Janelle Marie Fauci Novant Health Cancer Institute Charlotte

Cameron Blair Harkness Hope Women's Cancer Centers Asheville

R. Naumann Atrium Health Levine Cancer Charlotte

Angeles Alvarez Secord Duke Cancer Center Durham

Diane Semer Physicians East Greenville

Elizabeth Naisang Skinner Novant Health Cancer Institute Winston-Salem

John Tunnicliff Soper UNC Hospitals Gynecologic Oncology Clinic Chapel Hill

Erin Marie Stone Novant Health Mintview OB/GYN Charlotte

Michael J. Sundborg FirstHealth Cancer Center Pinehurst

Linda Van Le UNC Hospitals Gynecologic Oncology Clinic Chapel Hill

HAND SURGERY

Mark Brenner Pinehurst Surgical Clinic Pinehurst

Erika Gordon Gantt OrthoCarolina Charlotte

Glenn Gaston OrthoCarolina Charlotte

John S. Gaul II OrthoCarolina Charlotte

Casey D. Jenkins Wake Orthopaedics Raleigh

Christopher M. Johnson Pinehurst Surgical Clinic Pinehurst

L. Andrew Koman Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston-Salem

Gary R. Kuzma The Hand Center of Greensboro Greensboro

Kevin Robert Kuzma The Hand Center of Greensboro Greensboro

Christopher T. Lechner Carolina Hand and Sports Medicine Asheville

John Li Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Bermuda Run

Bruce Irving Minkin Carolina Hand and Sports Medicine Asheville

Okechukwu E. Nwoko Wake Orthopaedics Raleigh

Lois K. Osier OrthoCarolina Charlotte

James Post Raleigh Hand to Shoulder Center Raleigh

David S. Ruch Duke Ambulatory Surgery Center Durham

Ryan Tarr OrthoNC Raleigh

Lacy Eugene Thornburg Carolina Hand and Sports Medicine Asheville

Harrison G. Tuttle Raleigh Orthopaedic Clinic Cary

Ethan R. Wiesler Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston-Salem

Julie C. Woodside OrthoCarolina - Gastonia Gastonia

HEMATOLOGY

Edward A. Copelan Atrium Health Levine Cancer

Nilanjan Ghosh Atrium Health Levine Cancer

HEMATOLOGY

Gregory Knight Atrium Health Levine Cancer Charlotte

Mary Ann Knovich Atrium Health Levine Cancer Charlotte

Jonathan Levine Atrium Health Levine Cancer Charlotte

Darla K. Liles East Carolina University Greenville

Alice D. Ma UNC Hospitals Outpatient Center Chapel Hill

David Mack Maria Parham Cancer Center Henderson

Stephan Moll UNC Hospitals Outpatient Center Chapel Hill

Ifeyinwa Osunkwo Atrium Health Carolinas Medical Center Charlotte

Charles H. Packman Atrium Health Levine Cancer Charlotte

Misbah U. Qadir Oncology Services Kinston

Brittany K. Ragon Atrium Health Levine Cancer Charlotte

Saritha Ravella FirstHealth Cancer Center Pinehurst

Hendrik Van Deventer UNC Hospitals Adult Oncology Clinics Chapel Hill

Peter Voorhees Atrium Health Levine Cancer Charlotte

HEPATOLOGY

A. Sidney Barritt IV UNC Center for Gastrointestinal Biology and Disease Chapel Hill

Carl Berg Duke University School of Medicine Durham

Jama Darling UNC Hospitals GI Procedures Chapel Hill

Andrew Scott DeLemos Transplant And Liver Center Charlotte

David Friedlander UNC School of Medicine Chapel Hill

Matthew R. Kappus Duke Liver Clinic Durham

Lindsay Yount King Duke Endoscopy Clinic Durham

Mark W. Russo Transplant And Liver Center Charlotte

Neil Devendra Shah UNC School of Medicine Chapel Hill

Steven Zacks Atrium Health Liver Care & Transplant Pineville Charlotte

HOSPICE AND PALLIATIVE CARE

Aaron M. Gavett FirstHealth Hospice West End

Carl Robert Grey Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston-Salem

Julie L. Jones FirstHealth Hospice West End

Ellen M. Willard FirstHealth Hospice West End

John Eldridge Barkley Atrium Health Carolinas Medical Center Charlotte

Joshua Baru Messino Cancer Centers Asheville

Anthony N. Galanos Duke University School of Medicine Durham

Laura C. Hanson UNC Hospitals Chapel Hill

Jason Bernard Lowe Cape Fear Orthopaedics Fayetteville

Gina Morrill Atrium Health Union Monroe

Emily Rogers Sawyer Four Seasons Compassion for Life Flat Rock

Beth Elisa Susi Atrium Health Supportive Oncology Charlotte

INFECTIOUS DISEASE

Gretchen S. Arnoczy FirstHealth Infectious Diseases Pinehurst

Luther A. Bartelt UNC School of Medicine Chapel Hill

Claire Elise Farel UNC Faculty Physicians Center Chapel Hill

Thomas Ryan Gallaher ECU Health Multispecialty Clinic Kinston

Cynthia Leigh Gay UNC Faculty Physicians Center Chapel Hill

Bruce Israel Mission Infectious Disease Associates Asheville

Jaspaul S. Jawanda FirstHealth Infectious Diseases Pinehurst

Kristine Erica Johnson Mission Infectious Disease Associates Asheville

Charlotte

Charlotte

Anne Lachiewicz UNC Hospitals Jason Ray Transplant Clinic Chapel Hill

Joseph P. Lang Atrium Health Infectious Disease Charlotte

INFECTIOUS DISEASE

Michael Leonard Atrium Health Infectious Disease Charlotte

Lewis H. McCurdy Atrium Health Infectious Disease Charlotte

Heather C. Michael Novant Health Infectious Disease Specialists Charlotte

Christopher A. Ohl Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston-Salem

Christopher H. Parsons Pardee Center for Infectious Diseases Hendersonville

Catherine Passaretti Atrium Health Carolinas Medical Center Charlotte

David Harding Priest Novant Health Infectious Disease Specialists Kernersville

John Walton Sanders III Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston-Salem

Nicholas A. Turner Duke Infectious Diseases Clinic Durham

David Weinrib Atrium Health Infectious Disease Charlotte

James Whitehouse Mission Infectious Disease Associates Asheville

David Alain Wohl UNC Faculty Physicians Center Chapel Hill

INTERNAL MEDICINE

Megan M. Alexander Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston-Salem

Daniel Anthony Aquino Tryon Medical Partners Charlotte

Lorri A. Ayers Perspective Health & Wellness Charlotte

Anne Elizabeth Barnard Tryon Medical Partners Charlotte

Daniel R. Barnes FirstHealth Hospitalist Service Pinehurst

Erika L. Bono Atrium Health Primary Care Medical Clinic Charlotte

Kerry Patterson Briones Tryon Medical Partners Charlotte

Jenifir J. Bruno FirstHealth Hospitalist Service Pinehurst

Eric Wayne Byrd Carolina Mountain Internal Medicine Hendersonville

Aubrey D. Calhoun Blue Ridge Hospitalist Group Morganton

Faye S. Campbell Novant Health Ballantyne Medical Group Charlotte

Jason Anthony Carnes Tryon Medical Partners Huntersville

Iris S. Cheng Atrium Health Primary Care Charlotte Charlotte

Sitarama R. Chintalapati Atrium Health Pineville Pineville

Erin L. Clark FirstHealth Hospitalist Service Pinehurst

Alicia Wight Cole Tryon Medical Partners Charlotte

Russell Coletti II UNC School of Medicine Chapel Hill

Cristin Colford UNC Faculty Physicians Center Chapel Hill

Gregory V. Collins Atrium Health Primary Care Randolph Charlotte

Peter Copsis Tryon Medical Partners Matthews

Christopher Cosgrove Intracoastal Internal Medicine Wilmington

Michael B. Daley Pinehurst Medical Clinic Pinehurst

Temple Day Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston-Salem

Darren DeWalt UNC Faculty Physicians Center Chapel Hill

Laura P. Diefendorf Duke Primary Care Henderson Henderson

Benjamin Fischer Fischer Clinic Raleigh

Kelly M. Forb Atrium Health Pineville Pineville

Michelle Lynette Foster Novant Health Southern Piedmont Primary Care Monroe

Michael B. Friedland Atrium Health Primary Care Charlotte Charlotte

Kym Orsetti Furney Tryon Medical Partners Pineville

Mohammad L. Garba Cone Health Patient Care Center Greensboro

Joseph G. Gibbons FirstHealth Hospitalist Service Pinehurst

Mariel K. Gillham FirstHealth Hospitalist Service Pinehurst

Jane Harrell H3 Healthcare Charlotte

Jessica Heestand Wake Internal Medicine Raleigh

Charles B. Howarth FirstHealth Hospitalist Service Pinehurst

Lane Knox Jacobs Atrium Health Carolinas Medical Center Charlotte

Prachee Jain The Hometown Doctors PA Kannapolis

LAURA DIEFENDORF

INTERNAL MEDICINE HENDERSON

Laura Diefendorf dreamed of becoming a doctor while playing doctor to her dolls. Board certified in both internal medicine and pediatrics, her patients range from the youngest to oldest.

Her specialties allow her to follow patients with chronic childhood illnesses who may have had a short life expectancy, but who now live past their 50s. “I love following my chronic children all the way through adulthood.”

Diefendorf graduated from medical school at Saint George’s University in the West Indies in 2008. Her community involvement includes providing sports physicals and screening mammograms.

INTERNAL MEDICINE

Peter Stinnett Justis Atrium Health Primary Care Charlotte Charlotte

Tina Kennelly Tryon Medical Partners Charlotte

Benjamin Kirk Atrium Health Primary Care Charlotte Charlotte

Eric Landis Tryon Medical Partners Pineville

Andre Leonard Intracoastal Internal Medicine Wilmington

Steven Liebowitz Internal Medicine Associates Raleigh

Adam Ligler Tryon Medical Partners Charlotte

Bobby R. Maynor Jr. Pinehurst Medical Clinic Southern Pines

Leigh Medaris Atrium Health Infectious Disease Charlotte

Justin Gregory Miller Novant Health New Hanover Primary Care Wilmington

Justin Britt Miller Tryon Medical Partners Matthews

Daniel Joseph Mollin, Jr. Wake Internal Medicine Raleigh

Walter S. Morris III MDVIP Southern Pines

Luiz M. Nascimento FirstHealth Internal Medicine Hamlet

Francis X. O'Brien Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston-Salem

Jose E. Paz LeBauer Primary Care at MedCenter High Point High Point

Mark Andrew Perini Guilford Medical Associates Greensboro

Elizabeth Marshall Perry Signature Healthcare Charlotte

Shana Ratner UNC Faculty Physicians Center Chapel Hill

William Y. Rice III Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston-Salem

Douglas E. Schultz Randolph Health Internal Medicine Asheboro

John W. Sensenbrenner MDVIP Charlotte

Kevin P. Shah Duke Primary Care South Durham Durham

Amy Wiegner Shaheen UNC Faculty Physicians Center Chapel Hill

Gary Ryan Shelton Tryon Medical Partners Charlotte

Joshua Shoemake H3 Healthcare Charlotte

Van Slaughter, Jr. FirstHealth Hospitalist Service Pinehurst

Michael Soboeiro Wakemed Primary Care Garner

Michol Stanzione Pinehurst Medical Clinic Southern Pines

Jennifer G. Szurgot Pinehurst Medical Clinic Pinehurst

John Angelo Tenini Tryon Medical Partners Charlotte

Lisena G. Verka Duke Primary Care South Durham Durham

Kathleen A. Waite Duke Signature Care at the Center for Living Durham

Robert M. Watt FirstHealth Hospitalist Service Pinehurst

Hala Jubran Webster Tryon Medical Partners Charlotte

Julianne F. Weidner Tryon Medical Partners Charlotte

Amy Brett Weil UNC Faculty Physicians Center Chapel Hill

Mary Belle Weitzel FirstHealth Hospitalist Service Pinehurst

Caroline Lee Wilds Tryon Medical Partners Matthews

Addison Zhang FirstHealth Primary Care Sanford

INTERVENTIONAL CARDIOLOGY

Peter Matthew Belford Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston Salem

Tiffany Bonnecaze Pinehurst Medical Clinic Pinehurst

Kurt Daniel Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist High Point

Keith E. Davis Pinehurst Medical Clinic Pinehurst

Scott Denardo FirstHealth Cardiology Laurinburg

William L. Harris FirstHealth Cardiology Pinehurst

William Schuyler Jones Duke Infusion Center South Durham Durham

Sun Moon Kim FirstHealth Cardiology - Reid Heart Center Pinehurst

Glen Kowalchuk Atrium Health Sanger Heart & Vascular Charlotte

James Steven Mills Duke Cardiology of Raleigh Raleigh

Mohit Pasi North Carolina Heart & Vascular Raleigh

Michael J. Rinaldi Atrium Health Sanger Heart & Vascular Charlotte

Tony W. Simmons Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston-Salem

James Enlou Tcheng Duke University Hospital Durham

Archie A. Tyson, Jr. Novant Health Heart & Vascular Institute High Point

MATERNAL AND FETAL MEDICINE

John Raymond Allbert Novant Health Maternal-Fetal Medicine Cornelius

Carol Coulson MAHEC OB/GYN Specialists Asheville

Elizabeth Coviello UNC Maternal-Fetal Medicine Raleigh

Chad A. Grotegut Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston-Salem

Brenna L. Hughes Duke Birthing Center Durham

Thomas Ivester UNC School of Medicine Chapel Hill

Julie M. Johnson Maternal Fetal Medicine Pinehurst

Nikki Koklanaris Atrium Health CMC Women's Institute Charlotte

M. Kathryn Menard UNC Maternal-Fetal Medicine Chapel Hill

Rebecca Pollack Atrium Health CMC Women's Institute Charlotte

Alison M. Stuebe UNC Maternal-Fetal Medicine Raleigh

JAMES ENLOU TCHENG INTERVENTIONAL CARDIOLOGY DURHAM

James Tcheng came to Duke University Medical Center in 1986 for a cardiology fellowship and has remained for more than 35 years. In addition to being a professor at Duke University, he treats patients with heart disease, specializing in cardiac catheterization and coronary angioplasty procedures. His passion is clinical informatics, the discipline that centers on the use of computer technologies to help clinicians deliver the best possible care.

Tcheng is a 1982 graduate of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He has varied interests outside his work. He describes himself as a “closet architect” who has designed and built several homes. He enjoys computer technology and does programming on the side. He also plays several musical instruments, including alto and tenor saxophone, trombone, guitar and piano.

MEDICAL ONCOLOGY AND HEMATOLOGY

Asim Amin Atrium Health Levine Cancer Charlotte

Navin Anthony Hendersonville Hematology And Oncology Hendersonville

Jennifer Atlas Atrium Health Levine Cancer Charlotte

Ethan Basch UNC Hospitals Adult Oncology Clinics Chapel Hill

Jeremiah C. Boles REX Hematology Oncology Associates Raleigh

Kathryn W. Brownlee Novant Health Cancer Institute Matthews

Lisa Anne Carey UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center Chapel Hill

Geeta K. Swamy Durham

Duke Perinatal Consultants of Durham & Fetal Diagnostic Center

Lorene A. Temming Atrium Health CMC Women's Institute Charlotte

James Enlou Tcheng Duke University Hospital Durham

Archie A. Tyson, Jr. Novant Health Heart & Vascular Institute High Point

Part of being an oncologist is building relationships with patients. As the patient deals with a serious diagnosis, the doctor can learn who that patient really is, what’s important to them and then use those insights to develop the best course of care, says Dr. Navin Anthony.

“The best approach in practicing medicine is that when you are treating a patient, you should see them as you’re treating a loved one or family member,” says Anthony. “I think one of the most important things is openness and communication.”

Anthony graduated from the Michigan State University College of Osteopathic Medicine in 2006. He did his residency at Providence Hospital and Medical Center in Southfield, Michigan.

Elizabeth Claire Dees UNC Hospitals Adult Oncology Clinics Chapel Hill

Julie Fisher Atrium Health Levine Cancer Charlotte

Gary Frenette Atrium Health Levine Cancer Charlotte

Juneko Grilley-Olson Duke Cancer Center Durham

Daniel E. Haggstrom Atrium Health Levine Cancer Charlotte

Bei Hu Atrium Health Levine Cancer Charlotte

Kunal Kadakia Atrium Health Levine Cancer Charlotte

Jeffrey Klotz FirstHealth Cancer Center Pinehurst

Alan Kritz REX Hematology Oncology Associates Raleigh

Charles S. Kuzma Pinehurst Medical Clinic Pinehurst

Mark Maddox Duke University School of Medicine Durham

Kathryn F. Mileham Atrium Health Levine Cancer Charlotte

Matthew I. Milowsky UNC Hospitals Adult Oncology Clinics Chapel Hill

Robert A. Pohlmeyer FirstHealth Cancer Center Pinehurst

Brandi Reeves UNC School of Medicine Chapel Hill

Thomas J. Richard FirstHealth Cancer Center Pinehurst

Richard Francis Riedel Duke University School of Medicine Durham

Tracy Lynn Rose UNC Hospitals Adult Oncology Clinics Chapel Hill

Jonathan S. Serody UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center Chapel Hill

Gary “Brad” Sherrill Cone Health Cancer Center Greensboro

Amanda Sherrod REX Hematology Oncology Associates Cary

Sascha A. Tuchman UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center Chapel Hill

Hope Elizabeth Uronis Duke Cancer Center Durham

NAVIN ANTHONY MEDICAL ONCOLOGY AND HEMATOLOGY HENDERSONVILLE

NEPHROLOGY

Michael Scott Berkoben Duke University School of Medicine Durham

Paul Stephen Blake Metrolina Nephrology Associates Charlotte

Anthony J. Bleyer Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston-Salem

Isai G. Bowline Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston-Salem

Randal Detwiler UNC Hospitals Outpatient Center Chapel Hill

Kathleen Anne Doman Nephrology & Hypertension Consultants Charlotte

John V. Duronville Duke Nephrology Clinic Durham

Ronald J. Falk UNC Hospitals Outpatient Center Chapel Hill

Maxwell E. Fisher ECU Health Medical Center Greenville

Jennifer E. Flythe UNC School of Medicine Chapel Hill

Chris Neil Fotiadis Metrolina Nephrology Associates Charlotte

Barry I. Freedman Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston-Salem

Nancy Jo Gritter Metrolina Nephrology Associates Charlotte

Gerald A. Hladik UNC Hospitals Outpatient Center Chapel Hill

Edward W. Hoehn-Saric Pinehurst Nephrology Associates PC Pinehurst

Heather H. Jones Eastern Nephrology Associates Greenville

John P. Middleton Duke Nephrology Clinic Durham

Shahriar Moossavi Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston-Salem

Amy K. Mottl UNC School of Medicine Chapel Hill

Michael V. Rocco Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston-Salem

Prabir Roy-Chaudhury UNC School of Medicine Chapel Hill

John D. Shepherd Pinehurst Nephrology Associates Pinehurst

Harpreet Kaur Singh Duke University School of Medicine Durham

Matthew A. Sparks Duke Nephrology Clinic Durham

Jennifer K. Stoddard Pinehurst Nephrology Associates Pinehurst

Hanna Von Hardenberg Pinehurst Nephrology Associates Pinehurst

Kimberly M. Yates Metrolina Nephrology Associates Huntersville

NEUROLOGICAL SURGERY

Anthony L. Asher Carolina Neurosurgery & Spine Associates Charlotte

Charles L. Branch, Jr. Spine Center Clemmons

Daniel E. Couture Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston-Salem

E. Hunter Dyer Carolina Neurosurgery & Spine Associates Charlotte

Allan H. Friedman Duke Cancer Center Brain Tumor Clinic Durham

Lars Gardner Raleigh Neurosurgical Clinic Raleigh

Martin M. Henegar Carolina Neurosurgery & Spine Associates Charlotte

Laith Khoury Raleigh Neurosurgical Clinic Raleigh

Erin Nicole Kiehna Novant Health Brain & Spine Surgery Charlotte

Adrian Walter Laxton Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston-Salem

Richard Lytle Carolina Spine & Neurosurgery Center Asheville

Deanna Sasaki-Adams UNC Hospitals Chapel Hill

Joseph David Stern Carolina Neurosurgery & Spine Associates Greensboro

Stephen B. Tatter Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston-Salem

James B. Walker FirstHealth Neurosurgery & Spine Pinehurst

John A. Wilson Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston-Salem

Stacey Quintero Wolfe Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston-Salem

NEUROLOGY

Antonia B. Ahern Cone Health Guilford Neurologic Associates Greensboro

Richard S. Bedlack, Jr. Duke Nephrology Clinic Durham

Liya Beyderman Charlotte Neurological Services Charlotte

Melanie J. Blacker FirstHealth Hospitalist Service Pinehurst

NEUROLOGY

Joel Travis Callahan Pardee Neurology Associates Arden

James Bayard Caress Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston-Salem

Michael S. Cartwright Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston-Salem

Jill Marie Conway Novant Health Multiple Sclerosis Care Charlotte

Jeffrey Ward Cooney Duke Nephrology Clinic Durham

Andrea L. Diedrich Atrium Health Neurology Charlotte

Danielle Englert Atrium Health Specialty Care Charlotte

Ana Cristina Goncalves Felix UNC Faculty Physicians Center Chapel Hill

William Ferrell Raleigh Neurology Associates Raleigh

Laura B. Fleck AdventHealth Hendersonville Hendersonville

Michael Forbes UNC Hospitals Neurology Clinic Chapel Hill

Karissa Lorraine Gable Duke Neurological Disorders Clinic Durham

Gwenn Garden UNC School of Medicine Chapel Hill

Ajmal Gilani UNC Neurology Clayton

Susan Glenn Raleigh Neurology Associates Raleigh

Lisa D. Hobson-Webb Duke University Medical Center Durham

Keith Hull Raleigh Neurology Associates Raleigh

Delores Ann Johnson Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Mount Airy

Vern C. Juel Duke Electromyography Laboratory Durham

Steven C. Lewis FirstHealth Hospitalist Service Pinehurst

Kaiwen Lin Atrium Health Neurology Charlotte

Joel C. Morgenlander Duke Neurological Disorders Clinic Durham

Cormac A. O'Donovan Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston-Salem

Casey Olm-Shipman UNC Hospitals Chapel Hill

Emily Poole Pharr Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston Salem

Gautam S. Popli Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston-Salem

Jonathan Richman Pinehurst Neurology Pinehurst

Aarti Sarwal Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston-Salem

Richard Arnold Sater Cone Health Guilford Neurologic Associates Greensboro

John Scagnelli Raleigh Neurology Associates Raleigh

Alexander Schneider Mission Neurology Asheville

Mustafa Saad Siddiqui Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston-Salem

Mary Silvia Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston-Salem

Rajdeep Singh Atrium Health Neurology Specialty Care Charlotte

Mark Brian Skeen Duke Neurological Disorders Clinic Durham

Henry Tellez Sandhills Neurologists Pinehurst

Sarah H. Uffindell FirstHealth Hospitalist Service Pinehurst

Angela Wabulya UNC Hospitals Neurology Clinic Chapel Hill

NUCLEAR MEDICINE

Shawn Paul Quillin Mecklenburg Radiology Associates Charlotte

OBSTETRICS AND GYNECOLOGY

Natasha Adams-Denny Atrium Health Women's Care Creek Pointe Charlotte

Allison Bell Atrium Health Women's Care Charlotte Charlotte

Carlos F. Bendfeldt UNC Women's Health Clayton

Mark Leekley Bland Novant Health Rankin OB/GYN Charlotte

Kim A. Boggess UNC Hospitals Chapel Hill

Breanna Bolivar MAHEC OB/GYN Specialists Asheville

Bari Byrd Kamm McKenzie OBGYN Raleigh

John W. Byron Southern Pines Women's Health Center Southern Pines

Grant Campbell Atrium Health Women's Care Eastover Charlotte

Lisa N. Chitour Biltmore OB-GYN Asheville

OBSTETRICS AND GYNECOLOGY

Mina N. Choi Harris & Smith OB-GYN Durham

Alice Chuang UNC OB/GYN Chapel Hill

Sheronette A. Cousins Saura Silverbell OB/GYN Greensboro

Andrea Karen Dickerson A Woman's Place Fayetteville

Ginger Dickerson Atrium Health Women's Care Eastover Charlotte

Michael Dollish Evers Chatham Hospital Siler City

Walter Stewart Fasolak Southern Pines Women's Health Southern Pines

Amy Fletcher Thrive Carolinas Charlotte

Ann Ford Duke Ambulatory Surgery Center Durham

Beverly A. Gray Duke Birthing Center Durham

Angela Haskins Physicians East Greenville

Jennie Jarvis Hauschka Tryon Women's Center Charlotte

Laura Jean Havrilesky Duke Cancer Center Durham

Michelle M. Homeister Wilkerson OBGYN Raleigh

Jennifer O. Howell Duke Birthing Center Durham

Claude L. Hughes Duke University School of Medicine Morrisville

Emily E. Hutcheson Atrium Health Women's Care Eastover Charlotte

Mohamed A. Y. Ibrahim FirstHealth OB/GYN Rockingham

Lisa A. Jackson-Moore UNC OB/GYN Chapel Hill

Bradley E. Jacobs Lyndhurst Gynecologic Associates Winston Salem

Astrid Jain Atrium Health Women's Care Eastover Charlotte

William M. Johnstone, Jr. William M. Johnston MD Southern Pines

Shayna S. Jones Pinehurst Surgical Clinic Pinehurst

Jennifer Kalich Atrium Health Women's Care Eastover Charlotte

Leslie Kammire Wake Forest University School of Medicine Winston-Salem

Pamela G. Kantorowski Southern Pines Women's Health Center Southern Pines

Caroline M. Lewis UNC Women's Health Clayton

Leslie Hansen Lindner Atrium Health Women's Care Charlotte Charlotte

Lissette Machin Pinehurst Surgical Clinic Pinehurst

Anthony L. Masciello Hawthorne Obstetrics and Gynecology Winston Salem

Diana S. McCarthy Wakemed Obstetrics & Gynecology Cary

Eleanor Mark McCurdy Novant Health Providence OB/GYN Charlotte

Diana Bures McNeill Duke University School of Medicine Durham

Maria Cristina Munoz UNC Hospitals Chapel Hill

Jennifer Mury UNC Women's Health Smithfield

Ryan Nance Pinehurst Surgical Clinic Pinehurst

George E. Nowacek UNC OB/GYN Chapel Hill

Latoya Patterson Duke Ambulatory Surgery Center Durham

Laura Pekman Atrium Health Women's Care Charlotte Charlotte

Christie Secrest Atrium Health Women's Care Charlotte Charlotte

Kiran Sigmon MAHEC OB/GYN Specialists Asheville

Aviva Stein Atrium Health Women's Care Charlotte Charlotte

Margaret H. Sullivan Mission Women's Care McDowell Marion

Charles Termin Atrium Health Women's Care Charlotte Charlotte

Rebecca Usadi Atrium Health CMC Women's Institute Charlotte

Kori Whitley Physicians East Greenville

Robert Wicker, Jr. Atrium Health Women's Care Charlotte Charlotte

Kathryn J. Hull Wood Novant Health Providence OB/GYN Charlotte

John Yoon Kamm McKenzie OBGYN Raleigh

Kendall R. Zmiewsky Southern Pines Women's Health Center Southern Pines

OCCUPATIONAL MEDICINE

Jill Ohar Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston-Salem

Kristen Said Durham Duke Employee Occupational Health and Wellness Clinic

ONCOLOGY

Jing Ai Atrium Health Levine Cancer Charlotte

Carey Kernodle Anders Duke Cancer Center Durham

Chasse M. Bailey-Dorton Atrium Health Supportive Oncology Charlotte

Bernard R. Chinnasami Hayworth Cancer Center High Point

Mark Graham Waverly Hematology Oncology Cary

Arielle Heeke Atrium Health Levine Cancer Charlotte

Shiaowen David Hsu Duke Cancer Center Durham

Carrie Beth Lee UNC Hospitals Adult Oncology Clinics Chapel Hill

Glenn J. Lesser Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston-Salem

Jessica-Lyn Masterson Atrium Health Levine Cancer Charlotte

Stergios Moschos UNC School of Medicine Chapel Hill

Bayard L. Powell Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston-Salem

George Sanders High Point Medical Center High Point

Hanna Kelly Sanoff UNC Hospitals Adult Oncology Clinics Chapel Hill

Paul D. Savage Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston-Salem

Roy E. Strowd III Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston-Salem

Ashley Sumrall Atrium Health Levine Cancer Charlotte

Antoinette Roslyn Tan Atrium Health Levine Cancer Charlotte

Kelly E. Westbrook Duke Cancer Center Durham

OPHTHALMOLOGY

Arghavan Almony Carolina Eye Associates Southern Pines

Andrew N. Antoszyk Duke University School of Medicine Durham

Michael J. Bartiss Family Eye Care of the Carolinas Aberdeen

Brent Bond Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston Salem

William A. Branner III Horizon Eye Care Charlotte

Donald Lyle Budenz UNC Kittner Eye Center Chapel Hill

Christina H. Choe Carolina Ophthalmology Hendersonville

Derek DelMonte Carolina Eye Associates Greensboro

Anna Fakadej Carolina Eye Associates Southern Pines

John French Carolina Eye Associates Southern Pines

Winston Garris Carolina Eye Associates Southern Pines

Matthew Giegengack Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston-Salem

Galen Grayson Atrium Health Ophthalmology Care Charlotte

David Greenman Greenman Eye Associates Charlotte

Herb Greenman Greenman Eye Associates Charlotte

Craig M. Greven Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston-Salem

Margaret Ashley Greven Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston-Salem

Zeina Haddad Carolina Eye Associates Southern Pines

Kerry E. Hunt Raleigh Eye Center Raleigh

Joseph H. Krug, Jr. Horizon Eye Care Charlotte

Anthony Leonard Carolina Eye Associates Greensboro

Miguel A. Materin Duke Eye Center Durham

Casey Mathys Charlotte Eye Ear Nose & Throat Associates Charlotte

Daniel Messner Carolina Eye Associates Southern Pines

Pradeep Mettu Raleigh Eye and Face Raleigh

Tarra Millender Carolina Eye Associates Southern Pines

Andrew Mincey Carolina Eye Associates Winston-Salem

Vandana R. Minnal Horizon Eye Care Charlotte

Paula Pecen Carolina Eye Associates Greensboro

Isaac W. Porter Porter Ophthalmology Raleigh

Nehali V. Saraiya Charlotte Eye Ear Nose & Throat Associates Charlotte

OPHTHALMOLOGY

Christopher Shah Carolina Eye Associates Greensboro

Lisa V. Sitterson Carolina Eye Associates Fayetteville

Jan Niklas Ulrich UNC Kittner Eye Center Chapel Hill

Keith A. Walter Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston-Salem

Kendall Wannamaker Carolina Eye Associates Fayetteville

Jeffrey White Carolina Eye Associates Southern Pines

ORAL AND MAXILLOFACIAL SURGERY

Brian Farrell Carolinas Centers for Oral & Facial Surgery Charlotte

John Carson Nale Carolinas Center For Oral & Facial Surgery Charlotte

Adam David Serlo Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery Associates Chapel Hill

ORTHOPEDIC SURGERY

Michael P. Bolognesi Duke Orthopaedics Arringdon Morrisville

Eben A. Carroll Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston-Salem

Bruce E. Cohen OrthoCarolina - Foot & Ankle Institute Charlotte

Neil A. Conti Pinehurst Surgical Clinic Pinehurst

Robert J. Esther UNC School of Medicine Chapel Hill

Timothy E. Harris Wake Orthopaedics Raleigh

Adam Kaufman Mission Orthopedic Trauma Services Asheville

Justin Kauk WakeMed Orthopaedics Cary

Andrew Kersten EmergeOrtho Hendersonville

Gaurav Aman Luther Gaurav Aman Luther MD Apex

Greig McAvoy UNC Orthopaedics Rocky Mount

Ward S. Oakley Pinehurst Surgical Clinic Pinehurst

Matthew David Ohl OrthoCarolina - University Charlotte

Christopher W. Olcott UNC Orthopaedics Chapel Hill

Christopher D. Parks EmergeOrtho Wilmington

Gary G. Poehling Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston-Salem

Daniel Todd Rose EmergeOrtho Wilmington

Jeffrey T. Spang UNC Orthopaedics Chapel Hill

Marc Stevens Hugh Chatham Memorial Hospital Elkin

Mark D. Suprock OrthoCarolina Huntersville

Alison P. Toth James R. Urbaniak MD Sports Sciences Institute Durham

Clifford R. Wheeless III OrthoNC Raleigh

ORTHOPEDICS

Frank V. Aluisio EmergeOrtho Greensboro

Christopher M. Barsanti Orthopaedics East & Sports Medicine Center Greenville

Michael Bates OrthoCarolina - University Charlotte

Christopher R. Brown Duke Orthopedics of Raleigh Raleigh

David Joseph Casey Pinehurst Surgical Clinic Pinehurst

Patrick M. Connor OrthoCarolina - Shoulder & Elbow Center Charlotte

Milan M. DiGiulio Performance OrthoPaedic Surgery & Sports MedicineCary

Michael Lee Dockery OrthoCarolina - University Charlotte

Reid Wilson Draeger UNC Orthopaedics Chapel Hill

Josiah William Duke Orthopaedics East & Sports Medicine Center Greenville

Christopher L. Elder Asheville OrthoPaedic Associates Asheville

Cynthia L. Emory Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston-Salem

William Curtis Eward Duke University School of Medicine Durham

Harold Frisch Mission Orthopedic Trauma Services Asheville

Nady Hamid OrthoCarolina - Shoulder & Elbow Center Charlotte

Curtis A. Hanson Wake Orthopaedics Raleigh

Christopher C. Hasty Orthopaedics East & Sports Medicine Center Greenville

Scott S. Kelley North Carolina Orthopaedic Clinic Durham

Jeffrey Kneisl Atrium Health Levine Cancer Charlotte

Maxwell K. Langfitt Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Bermuda Run

ORTHOPEDICS

Bryan J. Loeffler OrthoCarolina - South Park Charlotte

Kevin J. Logel Raleigh Orthopaedic Clinic Cary

David F. Martin Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston-Salem

James P. McDonald OrthoCarolina Mooresville

Patricia L. McHale OrthoCarolina - Gastonia Gastonia

Claude Moorman III OrthoCarolina Charlotte

David C. Pollock Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Bermuda Run

Michael Ruffolo Wake Orthopaedics Raleigh

James Sanders UNC Orthopaedics Chapel Hill

Shadley C. Schiffern OrthoCarolina - Shoulder & Elbow Center Charlotte

Aaron T. Scott Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston-Salem

Stephen Hubert Sims Atrium Health Musculoskeletal Institute Charlotte

Bryan D. Springer OrthoCarolina - Hip & Knee Center Charlotte

Kevin J. Stanley OrthoCarolina Mooresville

Gregory Tayrose UNC Orthopedics & Sports Medicine Clayton

Christopher J. Tuohy Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Bermuda Run

Kurt P. Wohlrab Pinehurst Surgical Clinic Pinehurst

Mark L. Wood Wake Orthopaedics Raleigh

OTOLARYNGOLOGY EAR NOSE THROAT

Marcus S. Albernaz Eastern Carolina ENT, Head and Neck Surgery Greenville

John Redmond Blumer Charlotte Eye Ear Nose & Throat Associates Charlotte

Daniel S. Brickman Charlotte Eye Ear Nose & Throat Associates Charlotte

J. Dale Browne Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston-Salem

Nathan Calloway Wakemed ENT Garner

John Clinger Wake Forest University School of Medicine Winston-Salem

Brian William Downs Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston-Salem

Charles S. Ebert, Jr. UNC Ear, Nose and Throat Chapel Hill

Michael Ferguson WakeMed Raleigh Campus Andrews Center Raleigh

John A. Garside REX Ear Nose And Throat Specialists Cary

Willard Harrill Carolina Ear Nose & Throat - Sinus and Allergy Hickory

Brett Heavner Charlotte Eye Ear Nose & Throat Associates Charlotte

Hunter A. Hoover Charlotte Eye Ear Nose & Throat Associates Charlotte

Kenneth Lee Johnson UNC Ear, Nose and Throat Clayton

Eric O. Lindbeck Eastern Carolina ENT, Head and Neck Surgery Greenville

Allen Marshall WakeMed Raleigh Campus Andrews Center Raleigh

Wyman T. McGuirt Pinehurst Surgical Clinic Pinehurst

Justin D. Miller Pinehurst Surgical Clinic Pinehurst

James Mims Brenner Children's Hospital Winston-Salem

Brendan P. O’Connell Charlotte Eye Ear Nose & Throat Associates Charlotte

Drew P. Plonk Wake Forest University School of Medicine Winston-Salem

Jeevan B. Ramakrishnan Raleigh Capitol Ear Nose & Throat Raleigh

Waldemar L. Riefkohl Pinehurst Surgical Clinic Pinehurst

Brent A. Senior UNC Ear, Nose and Throat Chapel Hill

David Shoemaker Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Greensboro

Michael W. Sicard Charlotte Eye Ear Nose & Throat Associates Matthews

Christopher A. Sullivan Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston-Salem

Brian Thorp UNC Ear, Nose and Throat Chapel Hill

PAIN MANAGEMENT

Puneet K. Aggarwal Atrium Health Musculoskeletal Institute Charlotte

Hsiupei Chen Carolina Pain & Spine Wake Forest

Kevin Costello Southeast Pain And Spine Care Charlotte

James E. Hancock, Jr. Atrium Health Cabarrus Pain Management Concord

Jon-David Hoppenfeld Southeast Pain And Spine Care Charlotte

Paul J. Kuzma Advanced Medical Group Pinehurst

Lauren Sylvester Mokris Providence Anesthesiology Associates Pinehurst

PAIN MANAGEMENT

Jennifer Betts Oliver Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston-Salem

Jason Ali Ravanbakht Atrium Health Cabarrus Pain Management Concord

Binit Shah Carolinas Pain Center Huntersville

Shaun Williams Atrium Health Cabarrus Pain Management Concord

Joanna Wroblewska-Shah Carolinas Pain Center Huntersville

PATHOLOGY

Kiran Adlakha Carolinas Pathology Group PA Charlotte

Rex Colle Bentley Duke University Hospital Durham

Jared G. Block Carolinas Pathology Group PA Charlotte

Diana M. Cardona Duke Raleigh Hospital Raleigh

Arthur R. Cohen Presbyterian Pathology Group Charlotte

Megan J. DiFurio Pinehurst Pathology Center Pinehurst

Akosua B. Domfeh Carolinas Pathology Group Charlotte

Joshua Jeanty Pinehurst Pathology Center Pinehurst

William Jeck Duke University Hospital Durham

Edward H. Lipford Carolinas Pathology Group Charlotte

Chad Allen Livasy Carolinas Pathology Group Charlotte

Chad McCall Carolinas Pathology Group Charlotte

Omar P. Sangueza The Skin Surgery Center Winston-Salem

Charles C. Schirmer Pinehurst Pathology Center Pinehurst

John Daniel Shelburne Duke University School of Medicine Durham

Elton T. Smith, Jr. Carolinas Pathology Group Charlotte

Kyle Craig Strickland UNC Hospitals Outpatient Center Chapel Hill

Carol Weida Carolinas Pathology Group Charlotte

Herbert Whinna UNC School of Medicine Chapel Hill

PEDIATRIC ALLERGY IMMUNOLOGY

Michelle L. Hernandez UNC Allergy & Immunology Clinic Durham

PEDIATRIC CARDIOLOGY

Michael G. W. Camitta Duke Children's Hospital & Health Center Durham

Gregory Allan Fleming Duke Children's Hospital & Health Center Durham

Joseph Paolillo Atrium Health Levine Children's Charlotte

Matthew C. Schwartz Atrium Health Levine Children’s Charlotte

Gonzalo Alberto Wallis Atrium Health Levine Children’s Charlotte

PEDIATRIC DERMATOLOGY

Diana B. McShane UNC Hospitals Dermatology & Skin Cancer Chapel Hill

Dean Scott Morrell UNC Hospitals Dermatology & Skin Cancer Chapel Hill

Neil Prose Duke Global Health Institute Durham

PEDIATRIC ENDOCRINOLOGY

Ali Suha Calikoglu UNC Hospitals Children's Specialty Clinics Raleigh

Lisa Durham Houchin Pediatric Endocrinology & Diabetes Specialists Charlotte

Amy Elizabeth Levenson UNC Hospitals Children's Specialty Clinics Chapel Hill

Nancie Jo MacIver Duke University School of Medicine Durham

Jakub Mieszczak Pediatric Endocrinology & Diabetes Specialists Charlotte

Diane Lee Miller UNC School of Medicine Chapel Hill

PEDIATRIC GASTROENTEROLOGY

Virginia F. Casey OrthoCarolina - Pediatric Orthopedic Center Charlotte

Jason Dranove Atrium Health Levine Children’s Charlotte

Michael D. Kappelman UNC Hospitals Children's Specialty Clinics Chapel Hill

PEDIATRIC ORTHOPEDIC SURGERY

Christian Clark OrthoCarolina Charlotte

John Frino Brenner Children's Hospital Orthopaedics Winston-Salem

Sami Mardam-Bey WakeMed Orthopaedics Raleigh

Michael D. Paloski OrthoCarolina - Pediatric Orthopedic Center Charlotte

PEDIATRIC OTALARYNGOLOGY ENT

Amelia Fischer Drake UNC Ear, Nose and Throat Chapel Hill

Eleanor Pitz Kiell Brenner Children's Hospital Winston-Salem

Jonathan Randall Moss Charlotte Eye Ear Nose & Throat Associates Matthews

Sajeev Kumar Puri Charlotte Eye Ear Nose & Throat Associates Charlotte

Austin S. Rose UNC Ear, Nose and Throat Chapel Hill

Carlton Jude Zdanski UNC Ear, Nose and Throat Chapel Hill

PEDIATRIC SURGERY

Daniel A. Bambini Pediatric Surgical Associates Charlotte

Katherine Chan UNC Specialty Care Sanford

Kimberly Erickson WakeMed Raleigh Medical Park Raleigh

J. David Hoover WakeMed Raleigh Medical Park Raleigh

Paul Kirshbom Atrium Health Levine Children's Charlotte

Thomas Maxey Atrium Health Levine Children's Charlotte

Colin Muncie WakeMed Raleigh

J. Duncan Phillips WakeMed Raleigh Medical Park Raleigh

Leah Marie Sieren Brenner Children's Hospital Winston-Salem

PEDIATRICS GENERAL

Amina Ahmed Atrium Health Levine Children's Charlotte

Jeffrey Paul Baker Duke Children's South Durham Durham

Brian Bowman Cary Pediatric Center Apex

Sarah L. Brewington Sandhills Pediatrics Southern Pines

Jonathan I. Brownlee Atrium Health Levine Children's Shelby

Laurie Demmer Atrium Health Levine Children's Charlotte

Christoph Diasio Sandhills Pediatrics Southern Pines

Lubna S. Elahi Atrium Health Levine Children's Charlotte

Marisa Flores Kernodle Clinic - Pediatrics Department Elon

Natalee French Sandhills Pediatrics Southern Pines

Richard R. Gessner Raleigh Children & Adolescents Medicine Raleigh

Lillian R. Harris Raleigh Children & Adolescents Medicine Raleigh

Charles Sigman Hayek Twin City Pediatrics Winston Salem Winston-Salem

Lawrence B. Hurst Atrium Health Levine Children's Gastonia

Jon R. Hutchinson Piedmont Healthcare Statesville

Alison Kavanaugh UNC Pediatrics Durham

John McClure Kerr III FirstHealth Hospitalist Service Pinehurst

Amanda Lanier Atrium Health Levine Children's Charlotte

Sarah Brier Leonard East Carolina University Greenville

Anitha Leonard Atrium Health Levine Children's Charlotte

George A. Manousos Atrium Health Levine Children's Matthews

Gabriela Maradiaga Panayotti Duke Children's Primary Care Durham

Catherine Mason Sandhills Pediatrics Southern Pines

Nicole S. McMahon FirstHealth Hospitalist Service Pinehurst

Ansley Miller Mission Children's Specialists Asheville

Michael F. Minozzi Chapel Hill Children & Adolescents' Clinic Chapel Hill

Beatriz Blanco Morris Duke Children's Primary Care Durham

Rhonda Patt Atrium Health Levine Children's Charlotte

John Kenneth Petty Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston-Salem

Jodie Player Prosser Atrium Health Levine Children's Matthews

Laurie Pulver ABC Pediatrics of Asheville Asheville

PEDIATRICS GENERAL

Amy Garrett Ryan Novant Health Eastover Pediatrics Charlotte

Kasey Wymer Scannell Novant Health Pediatrics Symphony Park Charlotte

Andrea Scholer Triad Adult & Pediatric Medicine Greensboro

Hope Seidel Cary Pediatric Center Cary

Andrew R. Shulstad Novant Health Pediatrics Symphony Park Charlotte

May K. Slowik Duke Pediatrics South Durham Durham

Charles Smoak Atrium Health Levine Children's Charlotte

John Templeton French Broad Pediatric Associates Asheville

Mike Villareal Cary Pediatric Center Cary

Laura C. Windham Chapel Hill Children & Adolescents' Clinic Chapel Hill

PHYSICAL MEDICINE AND REHABILITATION

John Baratta UNC REX Rehabilitation and Nursing Care Raleigh

William Bockenek Atrium Health Carolinas Rehabilitation Charlotte

Kevin Carneiro UNC Hospitals Spine Center Chapel Hill

Alexander W. Chasnis OrthoCarolina Huntersville

Walter Sherwood Davis Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston-Salem

Jairon D. Downs Carolina Rehabilitation & Surgical Associates Raleigh

Kristopher R. Karvelas UNC Hospitals Chapel Hill

Jimmy Mali EmergeOrtho Durham

Daniel P. Moore East Carolina University Greenville

David Reese O’Brien, Jr. Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston-Salem

Derek Philip Watson OrthoNC Raleigh

John Arthur Welshofer Carolina Neurosurgery & Spine Associates Charlotte

PLASTIC AND RECONSTRUCTIVE SURGERY

Matthew W. Blanton Specialists in Plastic Surgery PA Raleigh

Leslie Grace Branch Forsyth Plastic Surgery Associates Winston-Salem

Parag Butala Piedmont Plastic Surgery and Dermatology Gastonia

Peter J. Capizzi Capizzi MD Charlotte

Nicholas Clavin Atrium Health Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery Charlotte

Lynn Ann Damitz UNC Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Chapel Hill

Lisa Renee David Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston-Salem

Anthony J. DeFranzo Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston-Salem

Detlev Erdmann Duke Wound Management Clinic Durham

Eric G. Halvorson Halvorson Plastic Surgery Asheville

Enam Haque Queen City Plastic Surgery Charlotte

Joseph P. Hunstad HK Plastic Surgery & MedSpa Huntersville

Thomas G. Liszka Ballantyne Plastic Surgery Charlotte

Joseph A. Molnar Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston-Salem

John Robinson Atrium Health Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery Charlotte

Christopher M. Runyan Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston-Salem

Edward Teng Atrium Health Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery Charlotte

Michael Zenn Zenn Plastic Surgery Raleigh

Richard Stephen Zeri ECU Plastic Surgery Center Greenville

PSYCHIATRY

Hasan A. Baloch Johnston Health Smithfield

David Freeman MMA Psychiatric Services Asheville

Gary J. Gala UNC Adult Psychiatry Clinic Chapel Hill

Luciana Giambarberi Tourette Syndrome Specialty Clinic Winston-Salem

Karen E. Green Wake Forest University School of Medicine Winston-Salem

Jason Jerry FirstHealth Behavioral Services Pinehurst

David W. Litchford, Jr. Atrium Health Behavioral Health Charlotte

Scott Nord Lurie Scott N Lurie Md Charlotte

Erin Marie Malloy UNC Hospitals Chapel Hill

PSYCHIATRY

Mary T. Mandell FirstHealth Behavioral Services Pinehurst

Kevin York Marra HopeWay Campus Charlotte

Mark Thomas Mason Mission Medical Associates Asheville

Jonathan McKinsey Atrium Health Behavioral Health Concord

Jean Allen Melvin Allen Melvin MD PA Charlotte

Albert J. Naftel, Jr. UNC Child And Adolescent Psychiatry Clinic Chapel Hill

Kateland Napier UNC School of Medicine Chapel Hill

Jason Peck HopeWay Campus Charlotte

Kenan Penaskovic UNC Adult Psychiatry Clinic Chapel Hill

Donald L. Rosenstein UNC Adult Psychiatry Clinic Chapel Hill

David R. Rubinow UNC Adult Psychiatry Clinic Chapel Hill

David C. Ruck FirstHealth Behavioral Services Pinehurst

Jeffrey L. Snow North Raleigh Psychiatry Raleigh

Meredith Stanton FirstHealth Behavioral Services Pinehurst

Kellie Tolin Wake Psychiatry Raleigh

Amy Ursano UNC Child And Adolescent Psychiatry Clinic Chapel Hill

J.W. Scott Wallace Eastover Psychiatric Group Charlotte

PULMONARY MEDICINE

Adam R. Belanger Pinehurst Medical Clinic Pinehurst

Christina Bellinger Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston-Salem

James F. Donohue UNC Hospitals Outpatient Center Chapel Hill

Michael Drummond UNC Specialty Care Sanford

Azeem Elahi Atrium Health Pulmonology Concord

John Fogarty Physicians East Greenville

Kevin Ward Gibbs Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston-Salem

Daniel Lee Gilstrap Duke Pulmonary Clinic Durham

Ashley Glyn Henderson UNC Hospitals Outpatient Center Chapel Hill

Daniel Howard Atrium Health Jan & Ed Brown Center Charlotte

Scott Shannon Lindblom Atrium Health Jan & Ed Brown Center Charlotte

Leonard Jason Lobo UNC Hospitals Jason Ray Transplant Clinic Chapel Hill

Drew A. MacGregor Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston Salem

Wendy C. Moore Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston-Salem

Rodolfo M. Pascual Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston-Salem

Michael A. Pritchett Pinehurst Medical Clinic Pinehurst

Jaspal Singh Atrium Health Jan & Ed Brown Center Charlotte

James R. Snapper Duke Asthma Allergy & Airway Center Durham

David C. Thornton Pinehurst Medical Clinic Pinehurst

Christine Lee Vigeland UNC Hospitals Outpatient Center Chapel Hill

Momen M. Wahidi Duke University School of Medicine Durham

Patricia McHale sees patients limited by injury, so she never tires of seeing them getting back to doing the things they love. “When they are able to return to activity, whether that be daily activities at home or competitive sports, it is affirming and reminds me why I wanted to become a doctor in the first place,” says McHale, who works out of the Gastonia and Belmont offices of OrthoCarolina. She’s also head team physician at North Gaston High School. McHale is a rarity. In 2020, females made up just 6% of practicing orthopedic surgeons, according to the National Institute of Health. McHale is a graduate of Baylor College of Medicine.

PATRICIA MCHALE ORTHOPEDICS (p. 69) GASTONIA

RADIATION ONCOLOGY

Jeffrey C. Acker FirstHealth Cancer Center Pinehurst

William Bobo Atrium Health Levine Cancer Charlotte

Courtney M. Bui UNC Hospitals Radiation Oncology Chapel Hill

Catherine Lee Chang Duke University Raleigh

Carolina Fasola Atrium Health Levine Cancer Charlotte

Ellen L. Jones UNC Hospitals Radiation Oncology Chapel Hill

Andrew Ju East Carolina University Greenville

Stephen C. King Pinehurst Radiation Oncology Pinehurst

Eric Kuehn Mountain Radiation Oncology and Mission Asheville

Sushma M. Patel Pinehurst Radiation Oncology Pinehurst

Hadley Jean Sharp Atrium Health Levine Cancer Charlotte

Matthew C. Ward Atrium Health Levine Cancer Charlotte

Ashley Aston Weiner UNC Hospitals Radiation Oncology Chapel Hill

RADIOLOGY

Nicole Abinanti Mecklenburg Radiology Associates Charlotte

Deborah Agisim Charlotte Radiology Charlotte

Emmanuel J. Botzolakis Mecklenburg Radiology Associates Charlotte

Charles Thomas Burke UNC School of Medicine Chapel Hill

Eithne Burke Wake Radiology

Chien-Chung P. Chang Charlotte Radiology

Karl Sy-Cherng Chiang Eastern Radiologists

Clayton W. Commander UNC School of Medicine

Raleigh

Charlotte

Greenville

Chapel Hill

Andrew Demmert Mecklenburg Radiology Associates Charlotte

Michael John Fisher Delaney Radiology

Wilmington

William Stuart Hartley Charlotte Radiology Charlotte

Shannon Hill Charlotte Radiology Charlotte

Valerie Jewells UNC School of Medicine Chapel Hill

Sheryl G. Jordan UNC School of Medicine Chapel Hill

Allen M. Joseph Pinehurst Radiology Pinehurst

Maureen Kohi UNC School of Medicine Chapel Hill

David Matthew Mauro UNC School of Medicine Chapel Hill

Matthew A. Mauro UNC School of Medicine Chapel Hill

James Patrick O'Brien Mecklenburg Radiology Associates Charlotte

Jorge Oldan UNC School of Medicine Chapel Hill

Kirk Peterson Raleigh Radiology Raleigh

John P. Roberson Pinehurst Radiology Pinehurst

Daniel Raymond Scanga Mecklenburg Radiology Associates Charlotte

Paul J. Tobben Mecklenburg Radiology Associates Charlotte

Rodney D. Welling Pinehurst Radiology Pinehurst

Danielle L. Wellman Wake Radiology Raleigh

Kendall W. Yokubaitis Delaney Radiology Wilmington

REPRODUCTIVE ENDOCRINOLOGY

Kelly S. Acharya Duke Fertility Center Morrisville

Ashley M. Eskew Reproductive Specialists of the Carolinas Charlotte

Clifford C. Hayslip, Jr. East Carolina University Greenville

Bradley Hurst Atrium Health CMC Women's Institute Charlotte

Michelle Matthews Atrium Health CMC Women's Institute Charlotte

David Walmer Atlantic Reproductive Medicine Specialists Raleigh

RHEUMATOLOGY

Dennis C. Ang Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston-Salem

Duncan Fagundus Physicians East Greenville

Diane George Tryon Medical Partners Charlotte

Abigail Gilbert UNC Hospitals Outpatient Center Chapel Hill

RHEUMATOLOGY

Rumey C. Ishizawar UNC School of Medicine Chapel Hill

Alison Johnson Tryon Medical Partners Huntersville

Beth L. Jonas UNC Hospitals Outpatient Center Chapel Hill

Andrew J. Laster Arthritis & Osteoporosis Consultants of The Carolinas Charlotte

Gwenesta B. Melton LaFayette Clinic Fayetteville

Leslie Pack Ranken Atrium Health Rheumatology Charlotte

Karen Schorn Pinehurst Medical Clinic Pinehurst

Hajra Zehra Shah Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Clemmons

Mohammad Shahsahebi Duke University Durham

Saira Z. Sheikh UNC Hospitals Outpatient Center Chapel Hill

Rupak Thapa Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston-Salem

Christopher Tracy Pinehurst Medical Clinic West End

Jill Scott Vargo Asheville Arthritis & Osteoporosis Center Asheville

Nina Jaime Verdino Growing Child Pediatrics Pa Knightdale

Amanda Wakeley Atrium Health Rheumatology Charlotte

Manika Zeri Atrium Health Rheumatology Charlotte

Jill E. Zouzoulas Tryon Medical Partners Charlotte

SLEEP MEDICINE

Saima Athar Cone Health Guilford Neurologic Associates Greensboro

Nancy Virginia Behrens Novant Health Sleep Medicine Monroe

Ruth Benca Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston-Salem

Giridhar Chintalapudi Sandhills Neurologists Cary

Jacob Coleman Tryon Medical Partners Huntersville

Carmen Dohmeier Cone Health Guilford Neurologic Associates Greensboro

Kimberly Mims Atrium Health Sleep Medicine Charlotte

Andrew Michael Namen Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston-Salem

Michael S. Reif Atrium Health Jan & Ed Brown Center Charlotte

Maria C. Sam Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston-Salem

Narayanachar C. Sekaran Vidant Sleep Medicine Roanoke Rapids

Ehrlich Cu Tan Tryon Medical Partners Charlotte

Bradley K. Vaughn Raleigh Orthopaedic Clinic Raleigh

SPINE SURGERY

Adedayo Ashana OrthoNC Raleigh

Deb A. Bhowmick Duke Spine Center Durham

John P. Birkedal Spine Center Clemmons

Byron C. Branch Carolina Neurosurgery & Spine Associates Concord

Domagoj Coric Carolina Neurosurgery & Spine Associates Charlotte

Gurvinder S. Deol Wake Orthopaedics Raleigh

Henry Joseph Elsner Carolina Neurosurgery & Spine Associates Greensboro

Eldad Hadar UNC Hospitals Spine Center Chapel Hill

Michael M. Haglund Duke Spine Center Durham

John M. Hicks EmergeOrtho Hendersonville

James Joseph Hoski Carolina Spine & Neurosurgery Center Asheville

Hilal A. Kanaan ECU Health Neurosurgery & Spine Center Greenville

Teddy E. Kim FirstHealth Neurosurgery & Spine Pinehurst

Alexander C. Lemons Pinehurst Surgical Clinic Pinehurst

Moe R. Lim UNC Hospitals Spine Center Chapel Hill

Keith M. Maxwell Southeastern Sports Medicine and OrthopedicsAsheville

Mark L. Moody Carolina Spine And Neurosurgery Center Asheville

Conor M. Regan Wake Orthopaedics Raleigh

Jonathan Lee Wilson Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Clemmons

SPORTS MEDICINE

David J. Berkoff

Joshua N. Berkowitz

UNC Orthopaedics Chapel Hill

UNC Orthopaedics Chapel Hill

SPORTS MEDICINE

James G. Blount Carolina Family Practice & Sports Medicine Cary

Mario Frank Ciocca Jr. UNC Campus Health Chapel Hill

Alexander Creighton UNC Orthopaedics Chapel Hill

Megan Ferderber East Carolina University Greenville

Karl Bertrand Fields Cone Health Sports Medicine Center Greensboro

Brent Edward Fisher Asheville Orthopaedic Arden

Brett H. Foreman Carolina Family Practice & Sports Medicine Raleigh

Mark W. Galland OrthoNC Raleigh

Chad Greer WakeMEd Raleigh

Aaron Leininger UNC Orthopedics & Sports Medicine Clayton

Michael Sean McCartney Gaston Medical Partners Gastonia

John M. Neidecker OrthoNC Raleigh

Patrick O'Connell Sentinel Primary Care Raleigh

Augustus Garland Parker Novant Health Blakeney Family Physicians Charlotte

Dana P. Piasecki OrthoCarolina Charlotte

David Charles Price Pardee Surgical Associates Hendersonville

Catherine R. Rainbow Atrium Health Musculoskeletal Institute Charlotte

Bryan M. Saltzman OrthoCarolina Charlotte

Brian Waterman Brian Waterman MD Winston-Salem

SURGICAL ONCOLOGY

Mark Arredondo Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist High Point

Ilan D. Avin Novant Health Carolina Surgical Charlotte

Dan G. Blazer III Duke Cancer Center Durham

Anthony J. DiNome Atrium Health Behavioral Health Charlotte

Maggie DiNome Duke Women's Cancer Care Raleigh Raleigh

David B. Eddleman North Carolina Surgery Raleigh

Michelle M. Fillion Novant Health New Hanover Regional Wilmington

Meghan R. Forster Atrium Health Levine Cancer Charlotte

Kristalyn Kay Gallagher UNC Hospitals Adult Oncology Clinics Chapel Hill

David A. Gerber UNC Hospitals Jason Ray Transplant Clinic Chapel Hill

Lejla Hadzikadic Gusic Atrium Health Levine Cancer Charlotte

Joshua Hill Atrium Health Levine Cancer Charlotte

Marissa Howard-McNatt Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Clemmons

David A. Iannitti Atrium Health Levine Cancer Charlotte

Hong Jin Kim UNC Hospitals Adult Oncology Clinics Chapel Hill

Edward Allen Levine Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston-Salem

John Martinie Atrium Health Levine Cancer Charlotte

Michael Owen Meyers UNC Hospitals Adult Oncology Clinics Chapel Hill

Zvonimir Milas Atrium Health Levine Cancer Charlotte

David W. Ollila UNC Hospitals Adult Oncology Clinics Chapel Hill

Jonathan Salo Atrium Health Levine Cancer Charlotte

Randall P. Scheri Duke Ambulatory Surgery Center Durham

Perry Shen Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston-Salem

Karyn B. Stitzenberg UNC Hospitals Adult Oncology Clinics Chapel Hill

Peter Smith Turk Novant Health Cancer Institute Charlotte

Gregory S. Waters Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Greensboro

Mark C. Weissler UNC Ear, Nose and Throat Oncology Clinic Chapel Hill

Richard L. White, Jr. Atrium Health Levine Cancer Charlotte

Emmanuel E. Zervos ECU Health Cancer Care Greenville

THORACIC SURGERY

Christopher Cicci Atrium Health Sanger Heart & Vascular Concord

Benjamin E. Haithcock UNC Hospitals Jason Ray Transplant Clinic Chapel Hill

John S. Ikonomidis UNC Hospitals Jason Ray Transplant Clinic Chapel Hill

Jason Michael Long UNC Thoracic Surgery Clinic Chapel Hill

UROLOGY

Joseph Corey Allen North Carolina Urology Clayton Clayton

Jennifer Ballinger Pinehurst Surgical Clinic Pinehurst

Marc D. Benevides Associated Urologists of North Carolina Cary

Marc Bjurlin UNC Urology Medical Center Chapel Hill

Kristy M. Borawski UNC Hospitals Urology Clinic Chapel Hill

Robert J. Chamberlain Pinehurst Surgical Clinic Pinehurst

Peter Clark Atrium Health Levine Cancer Charlotte

Matthew A. Collins ECU Health Urology Greenville

Manish N. Damani Urology Specialists of the Carolinas Charlotte

Jacques Paul Ganem Urology Specialists of the Carolinas Charlotte

Manlio Adam Goetzl Pinehurst Surgical Clinic Pinehurst

Chad Gridley Duke Raleigh Hospital Raleigh

Greg L. Griewe Pinehurst Surgical Clinic Pinehurst

Jonathan N. Hamilton ECU Health Urology Greenville

Brant Allen Inman Duke University Hospital Durham

Mark W. Jalkut Associated Urologists of North Carolina Raleigh

Carmin Kalorin Wakemed Raleigh Medical Park Raleigh

Michael Kennelly Atrium Health Women's Care Charlotte

Aaron Lentz Duke Urology Men's Health Center Raleigh

Michael E. Lipkin Duke Urology Clinic Durham

Catherine A. Matthews Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Winston-Salem

John R. Michalak Pinehurst Surgical Clinic Pinehurst

Matthew E. Nielsen UNC Hospitals Adult Oncology Clinics Chapel Hill

Andrew C. Peterson Duke Urology Clinic Durham

Glenn M. Preminger Duke University - Duke Surgery Durham

Mathew C. Raynor UNC Hospitals Adult Oncology Clinics Chapel Hill

Stephen Riggs Atrium Health Levine Cancer Charlotte

Angela Schang Atrium Health Urology Kenilworth Charlotte

Josh P. Sesek Pinehurst Surgical Clinic Pinehurst

Angela B. Smith UNC Hospitals Urology Clinic Chapel Hill

Hung-Jui Tan UNC Hospitals Urology Clinic Chapel Hill

Jonathan Taylor Physicians East Greenville

Davis P. Viprakasit UNC Specialty Care Pittsboro

Eric M. Wallen UNC Hospitals Adult Oncology Clinics Chapel Hill

John Samuel Wiener Duke Ambulatory Surgery Center Durham

VASCULAR SURGERY

Frank R. Arko III Atrium Health Sanger Heart & Vascular Charlotte

Clinton K. Atkinson, Jr. Pinehurst Surgical Clinic Pinehurst

Daniel Barzana Wilmington Health Wilmington

Matthew S. Edwards Wake Forest University School of Medicine Winston-Salem

Mark A. Farber UNC Hospitals Vascular Interventional Radiology Chapel Hill

Peter Ford Vascular Solutions Charlotte

H. Hobson Atrium Health General Surgery Shelby

John Richard Hobson Vascular Surgery at Pardee Hendersonville

Ashish Kumar Jain Novant Health Heart & Vascular Institute Charlotte

Lemuel B. Kirby Carolina Vascular Asheville

Douglas MacMillan, Jr. Carolina Vascular Asheville

Katharine L. McGinigle UNC Hospitals Heart and Vascular Center Chapel Hill

Erin Heather Murphy Atrium Health Sanger Heart & Vascular Charlotte

Luigi Pascarella UNC Hospitals Heart and Vascular Center Chapel Hill

Danielle Smith FirstHealth Vascular & Vein Clinic Pinehurst

Paul A. Vieta, Jr. Pinehurst Surgical Clinic Pinehurst

David A. Weatherford Coastal Vascular Institute Wilmington

ANNUAL UPDATE from BOARD CHAIRMAN BILL LEHNES

Over the last year, UNC Health Nash continued to focus on providing exceptional care with every patient, every time. These efforts are rooted in our four core values – Trust in Compassion, Above & Beyond, Committed to Connections and Service Leadership – which remind our teams to focus on what is important for our patients, their families, our colleagues and our community.

This work has paid off with several major recognitions. This past year, Nash was one of only 32 hospitals across the entire country to receive the Top General Hospital designation by Leapfrog, a national organization that tracks and reports hospital performance data. Only elite hospitals that meet the nation’s toughest standards for safety and quality achieve this prestigious designation.

Additionally, Business North Carolina recognized Nash as a Top 25 Hospital in NC for the second year in a row. Nash also remained an American Nurses Credentialing Center Pathway to Excellence Program and received national recognitions for heart, stroke, rehabilitation and maternity care.

A major driver in these improvements is our dyad leadership approach to quality, which designates a physician and nurse leader for every service line to drive unit-specific improvements with involvement and support from every role.

In the Emergency Department, we implemented a new patient flow model to improve efficiency and patient satisfaction. Using this model, patients are evaluated at the front door based on their ailment and routed through the best pathway to manage their condition quickly and effectively. This maximizes resources for patients with complex needs while providing more efficient and higher quality care to all of our patients.

On the inpatient side, new care models improved efficiency and the patient and family experience. Our patient engagement navigators meet with every patient to answer questions and address concerns. We launched “First Touch Rounds” where the nurse and physician round on each patient together to discuss goals for the day and answer questions. We also implemented a new staffing model that allows nursing aides and licensed practical nurses to perform at the top of their scopes.

The UNC Nash Foundation partnered with us to address social barriers to health and improve the health and well-being of our community beyond the walls of the hospital. Thanks to the generosity of our staff, medical staff and community donors, we expanded our Community Paramedic Program and Inpatient Food Pantry and bolstered our Patient Assistance Fund. These programs provide needed resources to our most vulnerable patients, contributing to reduced readmissions and better health outcomes.

Our employees volunteered at more than 30 events in the community, providing health education and other wellnessrelated activities. Our Employee Giving Campaign raised nearly $100,000 to directly support the health and well-being of our community through our Foundation and the United Way Tar River Region.

Several new providers and specialists were added to our medical staff to stabilize and expand our service line offerings in heart, urology, cancer, ENT and primary care.

Looking forward, we developed a new five-year strategic plan with input from the community, medical staff, team members and a variety of stakeholders. The plan focuses on solidifying Nash as the region’s market leader, distinguished by ease of access, expanded service offerings, exceptional quality and patient experience and workforce and community engagement.

As we live out our mission to improve the health and well-being of our community, I’d like to thank our dedicated team for positioning Nash to meet our community’s needs for years to come.

Sincerely,

Bill Lehnes Chair, Board of Commissioners UNC Health Nash

DIAMONDS IN THE ROUGH

Despite setbacks, Nash and Edgecombe counties are ready to shine

Rocky Mount straddles the Nash and Edgecombe county line. A railroad track, anchored by the Helen P. Gay Rocky Mount Historic Train Station, separates the sides.

Like the Amtrak trains and Greyhound buses that rush through, the city and both counties are moving forward. It’s a rebuild, of sorts, interrupted by upended business investments and Mother Nature.

In December 2021, a fire took out the QVC plant and distribution center in Edgecombe, destroying 75% of the $1.5 million building and putting 2,000 employees out of work. In May 2022, China-based Triangle Tyre pulled out of a $580 million deal at the Kingsboro megasite that was to create 800 jobs.

Then last July, a tornado estimated at 600-yards wide ripped through Rocky Mount and touched down in Dortches.

“We continue to celebrate that by the grace of God no one was killed,” says David Farris, president and CEO of the Rocky Mount Chamber of Commerce. “We had well over 100 homes damaged or destroyed, but we really were very lucky.”

For officials in these counties 45 minutes east of Raleigh, the focus is on optimism, not rearview mirrors.

Rocky Mount Downtown Development manager Tanika Bryant saw potential in the town of 54,300 when she came from Kentucky in 2022. “What made me say yes to this job was the people,” she says. “Seeing their belief in the city, and downtown, as well as their passion to put the needed work in, along with the great food, friendly people and beautiful historic downtown, I was sold.

“The most important thing that has changed downtown in the past year and a half is the hope of the downtown business owners,” adds Bryant. “Many when we first met were not too optimistic, and they made sure to let me know with lots of passion. However, that has changed tremendously. We are a big family working together to rebuild downtown.”

A tornado in July damaged the Pfizer plant in Rocky Mount.

Four new apartment complexes have opened, she says, with another scheduled for December. “We’ve also welcomed roughly 10 new businesses downtown during my tenure,” she says. “So yes, downtown revitalization is very real for Rocky Mount.”

On the Edgecombe side, County Manager Eric Evans says his leadership team last spring created four focus areas, including its being 99th out of 100 on a Community Health Needs Assessment, an evaluation required every four years by the N.C. Division of Public Health.

“About eight or nine months ago, I realized we have a generic mission statement we’ve had for 20 or 30 years, but we never had a vision statement. We needed to describe that place on the hill that we aspire to get to,” Evans says. “Our goal is to have a task force for each focus area by the end of December and have our first meeting.”

On the Nash side, Economic Developer Susan Phelps sees tangible progress in the county’s Strategic Action Plan crafted in 2020 to address infrastructure, workforce and housing.

“We created a marketing campaign and have new shell buildings and are working really hard on workforce development campaigns with Nash Community College and N.C. Wesleyan (in Rocky Mount) to provide our industries with the resources they need,” she says.

The Carolina Gateway Partnership, headquartered on Main Street in Rocky Mount, recruits industries to eastern North Carolina, specifically in Edgecombe, Rocky Mount and Tarboro. Its Kingsboro site, with a 400acre ready-to-go lot nixed by the tire company, is rated the No.1 megasite in the Southeast, based on a study by the state’s General Assembly.

Partnership Vice President Oppie Jordan mentions three “very active” projects eyeing Kingsboro: a $4.2 billion

investment, a $2 billion investment that could bring 1,000 jobs and a third at $1.4 billion and 1,400 jobs. “If you add those three together, it’s more than $7 billion in investment and (with) one of them, we’re the only site in North Carolina they’re looking at,” Jordan says. “They plan to have a site picked by [the] first quarter 2024. We have a padready site ready to go, all the utilities and infrastructure in place and one of the best

Rocky Mount Mills hosts Chamber Power Breakfast with Superintendent of Public instruction Catherine Truitt.

Crump Group and Millennia celebrate ribbon-cutting celebrations.

advantages is, we have the location. I mean, that’s more than 3,000 jobs.”

Adds Farris: “Our economic growth continues to move the needle in a positive way. We have several business parks that are all receiving a lot of inquiries, and in some places, plans have been made to relocate or expand. After the tornado, we’re back in operation. That’s the best way to put it.”

Edgecombe: Get off the lists!

At a leadership retreat last March, Evans says, the question arose: Who do we want to be? “It’s a two-sided statement,” he says. “One side faces our citizens and asks who, and how, they want our county to be. The other side faces us and asks how we, as an organization, can help our county. We’re tired of being at the top or bottom of every bad list.”

Influenced by that 99th-ranking in community health, the county adopted a pledge called Get Off the Lists!, hosted community engagement sessions in Tarboro, Rocky Mount and virtually, and established four focus areas: youth and families, affordable housing, education and workforce development and health equity.

The Rocky Mount Sports Complex features sports fields, disc golf, picnic shelters and a walking trail, as well as basketball and volleyball courts.

Downtown Rocky Mount, which is undergoing a rebirth, features several vibrant murals, including one of native son and jazz legend Thelonious Monk.

“My theory is we have all the right things, it’s just not enough. So, under each area, we have ‘existing efforts,’ and we ask, where are the gaps? How do we help these entities increase their positive output?” Evans says. “We need better funding, more collaboration, increased leadership abilities, all of those. That’s our model on the table. This is the lens we look through to make decisions.”

The N.C. Department of Commerce shows Edgecombe with the secondhighest unemployment rate in the state on average at 6.1%.

“It’s one of the many lists we look at. It stares us in the face,” Evans says. “So, I talked with the community college and said, we can have students apply for Pell Grants, we can have scholarships and student aid, but sometimes there’s still a gap.”

Edgecombe Community College in Tarboro recently began its Edgecombe Works! Promise Program for high school graduates, county employees, jobseekers and the under-employed, with scholarships of $500 to $1,000 to cover transportation, child care or other needs so students can study fields such as auto repair, medication aide, nail technician, construction, nurse aid, real estate prelicensing and others. The community college added an Edgecombe Works! Office Skills Academy, taught at the

Tarboro campus and online, and Edgecombe Works! Earn as You Learn for county employees to increase their skill sets.

The Turning Point Workforce Development Board in Rocky Mount, one of 23 such boards in the state and part of NCWorks, is a non-profit governed by a board of directors in partnership with elected officials. Services include on-the-job training, incumbent workforce development, specialized training and company needs assessments. “They are a great resource for us,” Farris says. “They have direct ties with some of our largest employers like Cummins, Pfizer, Honeywell, Cheesecake Factory. They help get people onboard.”

Cummins’ Rocky Mount Engine Plant in Whitakers, a 1.3-million square-foot factory that employs more than 2,000, opened in 1983 and in May marked the production of its 5 millionth engine.

“We’re working feverishly to bring more jobs,” Evans says. “We’ve had the housing crisis, hurricanes, floods but the folks here don’t give up. We have the ingredients; it’s all right here. We can change the future of this county. I really believe that.”

Nash: If they build it…

The Middlesex Corporate Center is 25 minutes from downtown Raleigh. In October, a life sciences company agreed to buy its 62,500-square-foot shell building and its 30-acre plot for $4.6 million. The company intends to create 72 jobs with an average annual salary of $78,000.

“They have a five-year plan,” Phelps says. “They’re adding another 200,000 square feet. That’s why they needed the land.”

In August, Nash County and the town of Nashville reached a joint agreement for the county to build a 40,000-squarefoot shell building at the Nashville Business Center, owned by the town. Construction will begin within two years.

“Middlesex is probably our most active industrial park in the county because of the proximity to the Triangle, and we have another supply type company in that park that’s looking to expand,” she says.

Andy Hagy, Nash’s Economic Development director, notes that the county has one of the few 1 millionsquare-foot sites in the region and is hoping to acquire a major logistics and

Pfizer plant is coming back, Win Academy student and Nashville Business Center site map.

distribution company, or manufacturing and distribution. “That’s the size of a couple of super Walmarts,” he says. “And at our I-95 and I-97 Industrial Site, we also have some hot property.”

That 142-acre site, with access to highways, airports and the CSX Carolina Connector Intermodal Terminal, is billed as a “high priority for

state incentives” because of Nash’s Tier 1 economic ranking.

“It’s a love-hate relationship because you don’t want to be Tier 1, but with the incentives you do want Tier 1,” Phelps says. “We’re working really hard on a workforce development campaign to provide our industries with the resources they need, and that goes back to the community college

and them providing customized training to help us grow our own.”

A non-profit agency called the Strategic Twin Counties Education Partnership is working with K-12 students, she says, “to align coursework with what our industry workforce is.”

In November 2022, towns in Nash County partnered with the county’s Board of Commissioners to create the Nash County Economic Development Alliance to focus on small business, entrepreneurship and downtown revitalization, thereby acknowledging a broader picture of business in the county.

“In addition, we’re also supporting private landowners who want to see development on their land,” Phelps says. “And we’re working with them to get certified through the Duke Energy Site Readiness program.”

In October, the North Carolina Rural Infrastructure Authority, a division of the Department of Commerce, approved $2.6 million in grants for seven rural communities in hopes of attracting $53.7 million in investments and creating 321 jobs, according to a release. Nash County, the report says, will receive $750,000 to assist with creation of a lift station and additional sewer line expansion for Middlesex Corporate Centre. This project will open up more than 170 more acres of the park for industrial usage.

Interstate 95 and U.S. 64 interchange, left, and progress shown in a N.C. 97 Shell building.

Some good news

Several developments in the area show promise for the future. They include:

• The city of Rocky Mount has applied for the Main Street America program, a division of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which coordinates with local communities to “bring economic vitality back downtown, while celebrating their historic character, and bringing communities together.”

“We should find out in the spring,” Farris says. “We’re seeing the livework-play trend, and more and more townhouses are being developed on upper floors of our businesses that would stand shoulder-to-shoulder with anything you’d see in a metropolitan city.”

• In May, QVC sold its property to RMQ Ventures, listed as a North Carolina foreign limited liability company, for $20.8 million. Plans for its use haven’t been disclosed.

•Nash Community College had its largest enrollment ever for the 202223 academic year at 16,007 students. “They, and Edgecombe Community College, work very closely with our manufacturing partners, and they pay

close attention as technology changes,” Farris says. “Cummins (engine plant in Whitakers) is in the process of upgrading every piece of technology in that plant, and it’s one of the largest Cummins plants in the world. When you have partnerships and relations in the likes of Nash Community College and Edgecombe Community College and N.C. Wesleyan, it’s great for recruiting industries and seeing them expand, because they know they have the resources to train the workforce.”

• In October, N.C. Wesleyan partnered with Rocky Mount to offer educational opportunities to city employees, to “develop practical skills that they can apply to their careers through certificate, undergraduate and graduate degree programs at N.C. Wesleyan University,” according to a release. The partnership allows N.C. Wesleyan to offer a one-time $250 University Award of enrollment in certificate classes to each Rocky Mount employee during their last semester of enrollment.

•The CSX Carolina Connector that opened in 2021 on 330 acres near Rocky Mount joined with the Port of Savannah’s

Mason Megal Rail Terminal in September for daily rail service. According to the release, with 37 weekly services, the Port of Savannah offers more containership calls linking more world markets than any other port in the mid-Atlantic or U.S. Southeast. Overall, what community leaders see is optimism.

Says Farris, “I go by [residential/ business development] Rock Mount Mills every day and it looks like a Norman Rockwell setting, with the townhouses that overlook the river, the homes, the breweries and restaurants, the businesses and shops. It’s a beautiful place to spend the evening or start your day. We are excited about where we’re going. Everything seems to be breaking our way.”

Adds Evans: “I think we have all the right ingredients. We suffer from some of the same problems as other places, but I think the difference is that we have everything here we need to move forward. It’s all available to us. We’ve got it; we just need to coordinate it and use it.” ■

Kathy Blake is a writer from eastern North Carolina.

CSX Carolina Connector and food company SinnovaTek are two examples of the diversity in industry in Nash and Edgecombe counties.

GREENSHOOTS Revitalizing rural N.C.

STANDING TALL

North Carolina supplies Christmas tree to White House for record 15th time.

BY KEVIN ELLIS

How did Cline Church Nursery top the experience of delivering a Christmas tree to Vice President Kamala Harris last year? This year, the Ashe County business expects to present a 19-foot Fraser fir to first lady Jill Biden for display in the Blue Room as the official White House centerpiece to holiday decorations.

“It’s such an honor,” says Amber Scott. “It’s the White House’s tree. It’s the people’s tree. It belongs to everybody.” Scott and younger brother, Alex Church, share the distinction of growing the White House tree at the business started by their parents, Cline and Ellen Church, in the early 1970s.

The brother and sister have two children each, all four in Ashe County elementary schools. “We get to take our children and our families to the White House, which is so cool,” says Scott.

Cline Church Nursery felled the selected tree on its approximate 700-acre Christmas tree farm in Fleetwood on Nov. 15 with the help of a cranelike boom truck. Traditionally, the donated tree gets delivered to the White House by horse-drawn carriage in a televised ceremony seen by millions.

Getting picked to provide the White House tree involves more than luck. “It’s a competition,” says Jennifer Greene, director of the N.C. Christmas Tree Association. “Most people don’t realize that.” Church and Scott first had to win the state competition. Their peers at the National Christmas Tree Association picked their tree as grand champion at the competition held this summer in Minnesota, giving Church and Scott the honor of providing a Christmas tree to the White House.

North Carolina farmers have now sent a Christmas tree to the White House a record 15 times since 1966. Cartner’s Christmas Tree Farm in Avery County will receive the honor in 2024, having already won grand champion in the biennial competition.

White House chief usher Robert Downing and grounds superintendent Dale Haney picked the tree on a visit to the Cline Church Nursery in October. “They said it fit the theme of the White House decorations this year,” says Scott. The tree has a nice shape and blue-green color. She says it’s 11½-foot wide.

The Cline Family Nursery planted the seedling of the chosen tree in 2004, which means it likely started out as a seed in 2000, Scott says. Twenty-three years is a long time, says Scott, but even a 7-foot Christmas tree bought retail is likely 12 years old.

Their parents planted seedlings in the early 1970s and harvested their first Christmas trees in 1981, Scott says.

“My (younger) brother could drive any piece of equipment on the farm by the time he was 12,” says Scott.

They are not new to the competition, either. Two years ago, the siblings were runner-ups in the contest, which meant they delivered the Christmas tree to Vice President Kamala Harris and her husband. “They were very gracious hosts,” says Scott.

The vice president also bought an additional 24 trees – at retail prices, along with wreaths and garland from the nursery. “We got to go see all of our trees decorated on the property. It was beautiful,” she says.

Christmas trees represent big business in North Carolina, says Greene, with the state association. In 2017, which represents the last figures available, some 850 Christmas tree farmers sold about $86 million worth of trees wholesale. Those numbers are based on the U.S. Department of Agriculture census, when trees were selling at about $21 wholesale. Current wholesales prices are more than double that, Greene says. New figures based on 2022 sales should be available in early 2024.

The Cline-family business sells trees at its nursery but expects to sell up to 65,000 Christmas trees this year wholesale. The second-generation of the business gets the White House win, Scott says, but the founders – who are in their 60s and still active in the business – deserve the glory.

“We competed for it, but we’re still riding the coattails of our parents who put in many years of blood, sweat and tears for us and built this business.” ■

BY THE NUMBERS

Fraser firs represent 94% of all trees grown in North Carolina for Christmas trees

N.C. farmers harvest 4.3 million Christmas trees annually North Carolina ranks 2nd, behind Oregon, in Christmas tree production

26.7% of live Christmas trees in homes across the nation come from N.C.

Source: North Carolina Christmas Tree Association