June 7, 2019 Upstate Business Journal

UNCOVERED OPPORTUNITIES

JUNE 7, 2019| VOL. 8 ISSUE 13

ChartSpan doubles its deployed capital setting the stage for growth

JON-MICHIAL CARTER ChartSpan founder & CEO

Relationships beyond banking.

All within reach.

That’s our philosophy at South State and we put it into action every day. We make personal connections first, listening carefully to your needs and providing strategic guidance that aligns with your goals.

We customize our teams and suite of offerings to best meet the task at hand. And when it comes to responsiveness, our size enables us to be agile and attentive in a way our competitors simply can’t.

Call or visit to see how we can go beyond for you.

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Personal

UBJ | 6.7.2019

Business

Mortgage

Wealth

TOP-OF-MIND AND IN THE MIX THIS WEEK

| THE RUNDOWN

THE 2019

READER’S

WORTH REPEATING

LENS PHOTO C ON T E S T

“Money is an amazing, pervasive thing that impacts every area of our lives. It’s very emotional. So it really gets close to our hearts in terms of both our desires and our fears.”

Rob DeHollander, Page 4

“Any time you’re positively impacting the end user in that magnitude, we get really excited about that.”

Austin Poole, Page 12

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The summer season is in full swing, which means gardens are growing and flowers are blooming. The weather is beautiful which means the Greenville Farmer’s market is now open on Saturday’s. Show us your pictures that capture the beauty of our community.

For details on each month’s contest and to submit your photo, visit

GreenvilleJournal.com/ReadersLens

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NEWS |

PROFILE

From engineer to financial adviser

How Rob DeHollander made the leap

n story by MELODY CUENCA | photo by WILL CROOKS

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UBJ | 6.7.2019

NEED TO KNOW

Switching careers from engineering to finance, Rob DeHollander serves his clients with the technical mind of an engineer and the understanding heart of an adviser.

“It’s one thing to change jobs,” DeHollander says. “It’s another thing to change careers.”

DeHollander began working as a financial adviser 20 years ago and became a founding partner of Greenville’s DeHollander & Janse Financial Group in 2009. Prior, he worked as a consulting engineer where he would analyze problems, find solutions, make recommendations, and help implement them.

“So, the consulting mindset appealed to me when I decided to make a career change to finance,” he says. “I structured this firm so that we do financial planning in a consultative way.”

Considering himself analytical when it comes to numbers, DeHollander says using his skills in the engineering world became repetitive.

“With financial planning, you sit down with a different person every day and talk about their unique life stories, what’s important to them and what their fears, hopes, and aspirations are. It requires a much broader set of skills in terms of using the gifts that I think I have,” he says. “I enjoy it much more. It’s more diverse; it’s more engaging and rewarding.

“Fiduciary” is an important term, DeHollander says, when it comes to understanding his mission as a financial adviser. “It’s somebody who is making financial decisions that are in your best interest, not just suitable,” he says.

With money being a very personal topic to discuss, DeHollander enjoys walking clients through the financial planning process and developing personalized plans to make wise decisions in all of life’s circumstances.

“Money is an amazing, pervasive thing that impacts nearly every area of our lives,” he says. “It’s very emotional. So it gets really close to our hearts in terms of both our desires and our fears.”

Having the ability to switch careers as he did is another result of a good financial plan, according to DeHollander. He’s seen many people come into his office with great salaries, but they don’t enjoy their careers.

Debt, standard of living, or salaries may restrict some people from pursuing more passionate careers; however, DeHollander says, once a financial plan is implemented, more opportunities are created for the future.

One of the biggest misconceptions DeHollander faces regarding working as an independent financial adviser is that it’s fun, easy, and lucrative. “That’s true, but it takes years to get to that level,” he says. “For folks starting out in finance, there’s a big barrier to entry and learning curve to overcome.”

Coming into a field with no reputation, clients, referrals, or assets, DeHollander personally experienced that barrier to entry. “But once you’re successful and you’ve been working with clients for years, it’s a really deeply relational and rewarding business,” he says.

When DeHollander isn’t busy planning out his clients’ lives, he’s spending time with his wife and two sons. His hobbies include what he likes to call the four f’s: faith, family, football, and finance.

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NEWS |

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PROFILE

A heart for his customers Shields Cochran retiring after nearly two decades with South State Bank Historical photo courtesy of Greenville County Historical Society & Photographs from the Coxe Collection.

n story by CLAIRE BILLINGSLEY | photos PROVIDED

Historical photo courtesy of Greenville County Historical Society & Photographs from the Coxe Collection.

Historical photo courtesy of Greenville County Historical Society & Photographs from the Coxe Collection.

Historical photo courtesy of Greenville County Historical Society & Photographs from the Coxe Collection.

Historical photo courtesy of Greenville County Historical Society & Photographs from the Coxe Collection.

The importance of having a importance plan could of nothaving be The The of having more clear.

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10 South Academy Street, Suite 250, Greenville, SC 29601

The only way to build a personal relationship is face-to-face, according to veteran private banker Shields Cochran. Every day of his 17-year tenure at South State Bank, Cochran took this mantra to heart by taking a client to lunch – almost always to locally-owned Stax.

“I’ve probably done 1,000 meals at Stax. In fact, we had my retirement party there,” Cochran said.

Relationship banking has been a major impetus for South State Bank’s growth since launching operations in Greenville in 2002, said Mike Coggin, South Carolina Upstate division president. And no one has done it better than Cochran.

When Cochran joined the bank, he was only the fifth team member hired in Greenville and he helped propel forward a different model of private banking. Traditionally private banking services are offered to well-established executives, Cochran said, but South State offers them to young executives, too. The model has worked, gaining South State a large share of business in the medical and legal communities.

Cochran had a critical role in that success. “Cochran treats every person that he comes in contact with as the most important person he has ever

met,” Coggin said. “He remembers where people were born, where they went to school, their entire work history and the names of their kids.”

Relationships come naturally to Cochran who was a minister at several Upstate churches for 27 years before making what he said was a very natural transition to banking.

“Let the customer know they’re important and treat them as we’d want to be treated. The Golden Rule is what we’ve gone by,” Cochran said.

Cochran’s adherence to the Golden Rule didn’t dampen his desire for results. “I’ve always chased the top and I’ve had real success,” he said.

Coggin added with a laugh, “Shields is the nicest guy in the world and also the most competitive.”

How South State plans its growth in the coming years is in part a tribute to Cochran’s legacy. “The most important thing we’ve got is our culture.

Doing things the right way. Taking care of our employees and our customers. That’s the way Shields does business. We’ve got that legacy and that’s how we’re going to build our bank,” Coggin said.

As for Cochran, he’ll continue putting relationships first in his retirement. He’ll be spending time with his children and grandchildren.

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BUSINESS NEWS

With Brexit, AFL gets closer to its European customers n story by NEIL COTIAUX | photos PROVIDED

Ever since voters in the U.K. chose to leave the European Union, executives at U.S. firms doing business there – and by extension the EU – have waited on a final date for dissolution of a 46-year-old partnership that provided an orderly and many times profitable framework for free trade on the continent.

Will the U.K. opt for a “no-deal” Brexit? Will future cross-border regulations and taxes post-departure help or hurt U.S.-based companies with operations in Britain and customers on the continent?

One Upstate company hasn’t waited for Europe to provide answers.

“The customer impact was really the top priority,” said Brianna Woodsby, director of international trade at Duncan-based AFL, a more than $1 billion fiber-optic cable and accessories

manufacturer and servicer with offices in the U.K. and clients across the EU and other parts of the globe. AFL is a subsidiary of Japan-based Fujikura Ltd. “And that’s ultimately what was driving a lot of the chaos … How can we minimize the impact to our customers so that they’re not coming to us saying, ‘We’re concerned about Brexit. You’re in the U.K. We’re going to find another supply to mitigate our supply chain risks,’” Woodsby told a recent forum on Brexit held by Upstate SC Alliance.

AFL has two U.K. divisions, one for fiber-optic cable manufacturing that exports its product around the world; the other, for fiber-optic accessories used mostly in data centers and for other indoor purposes, with buyers across the EU.

In Britain, the accessories division engages in “quick turn” manufacturing, importing reels of cable from North America or Asia, cutting and connecting it to customer specifications and then shipping the product across the English Channel to buyers in 27 countries. It also engages in imports of fiber accessories and related equipment.

Under Brexit, those quick-turn products – delivered to smaller businesses in the EU who buy smaller quantities, with duties already paid in Britain – would now be subject to a set of yet-unknown charges and regulations when Brexit kicks in.

“Now we’re talking about all of these 70 shipments a day … they have been imported, they’ll be exported, and they’ll have to be imported again” to the EU under a still-uncertain frame-

work of duties, Woodsby said in explaining AFL’s decision-making process regarding Brexit.

n BRIANNA WOODSBY

director of international trade, AFL

As management at AFL’s U.K. operations conferred with company officials in Duncan during prolonged uncertainty, talks focused on the importance of being as geographically close to EU customers as possible while trying to reduce costs.

Ultimately, AFL’s working group

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UBJ | 6.7.2019

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estimated that import-export and logistical costs post-Brexit could amount to $1 million - $1.5 million annually, not including costs related to additional lead times.

n JASON JONES

associate professor of economics at Furman

Given those facts, the decision was made to create a new warehouse on the continent to serve EU customers.

Located in the Netherlands, the new warehouse has been live since March, with accessory products completed in the U.K. moving mostly by ferry to the port of Rotterdam. Goods sourced outside the U.K. and headed for the EU go directly to the new warehouse, which is being managed by a third-party logistics firm.

Sales, marketing, customer service

and engineering staff will stay put in the U.K. while accessory products will now be held at and shipped to customers from a new warehouse that is closer to them.

“So as far as they can tell, there would be no impact to their lead times, they wouldn’t be expected to handle any customs clearance … and we were able to ship the good with the same speed that we were before,” Woodsby explained.

Woodsby, a licensed customs broker who is responsible for export controls, import customs compliance, supply-chain movement and trade-related risk mitigation at AFL, joined the company in 2007.

Future opportunities As the long-running Brexit saga nears a conclusion, AFL and other companies may benefit from even closer economic ties between the U.S. and the U.K., said Jason Jones, an associate professor of economics at Furman University, who also spoke at Upstate SC Alliance’s forum.

Already, the United Kingdom is South Carolina’s fifth-largest export

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“There’s actually opportunities that are opening up for the United States when trade deals fall,” Jones told the forum.

“So let’s say worst-case scenario, they crash out and the EU and the U.K. move to World Trade Organization

| NEWS

standards for tariffs. That means tariffs will rise between those two countries.

“That opens up an opportunity for a U.S. firm that wasn’t competitive, say in intermediate-good trade or final-good trade because of the preferred trade status between a U.K. and a EU country … and so that’s a real possibility for U.S. firms to take advantage of in the mess that may come afterwards,” Jones said.

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ChartSpan Secures $15 Million as BIP Capital Comes to Greenville story by NEIL COTIAUX photos by WILL CROOKS

Jon-Michial Carter, ChartSpan

John Moore, NEXT

INVESTING IN GROWTH

Austin Poole, BIP Capital 10 UBJ | 6.7.2019

Matt Dunbar, VentureSouth

One of the Upstate’s biggest entrepreneurial success stories is ready to begin its next stage of growth and with it, the expectation of 200 to 300 more jobs over the next 24 to 36 months, almost all of them in Greenville.

With a just-closed funding round of $15 million from a syndicate led by BIP Capital, an Atlanta-based venture capital firm, ChartSpan Medical Technologies is doubling its deployed capital, for a total of $30 million.

Now, new funding in hand, ChartSpan will spend “a majority” of it to embark on a national sales and marketing strategy designed to capture an even larger share of the chronic care management market, said cofounder and CEO Jon-Michial Carter.

Founded in Houston, Texas, ChartSpan chose Greenville for its headquarters in 2013 and soon emerged as the largest managed-service provider affiliated w ith the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) chronic care management program. Currently, ChartSpan offers technology-enabled coordination of care to the patients of 106 health systems and medical practices, most of them in the Southeast.

Working from ChartSpan’s offices at 2 North Main Street, trained clinicians assist patients with such varied needs as contacting a nurse 24/7, refilling prescriptions, accessing medical test results, making appoint-

What does ChartSpan do?

Trained clinicians help patients contact a nurse 24/7, get prescription refills, access medical test results and more.

The process works by an exchange of clinical data between ChartSpan’s electronic records platform and hospital and physician records.

ments and securing transportation, with clinical data exchanged between ChartSpan’s electronic records platform and those used by hospitals and physicians.

Nationally, ChartSpan is the market leader in the space with “the largest enrolled population in the country” served by about 200 employees, Carter said.

“Last month, there were 61 million Medicare and Medicare Advantage patients and that is the audience that we serve,” said Carter. “CMS says 72 percent of them are eligible for the program we run … so 45 million available patients and we have just under 30,000 patients enrolled. So, it’s this blue ocean of opportunity.”

To capitalize on such a wideopen market, Carter sought to build on prior funding rounds in a way that would allow his company to reach mid-sized status rapidly.

“Candidly, this time we really wanted smart, healthcare partners who understood how to scale nationally and who understood how to execute within the enterprise marketplace,” he said.

Ultimately, Carter chose to partner with BIP Capital, a venture capital investment firm whose focus includes healthcare IT, enterprise software-as-aservice, and digital media.

Founded in 2007, the firm has invested more than $300 million since inception. Its CEO, Mark Buffington, has led investment rounds in more than 35 companies, with BIP Capital offering both funding and operational recommendations.

In a brief telephone interview, Buffington said South Carolina’s Upstate fits his firm’s focus on

“second-tier innovation centers” in geographic areas “not nearly as competitive as a Boston market or a Bay Area.”

“We feel there’s just tons of uncovered opportunities,” Buffing ton said, citing venture partnerships in place in Minneapolis, Indianapolis, and Columbus, Ohio.

BIP Capital was attracted to ChartSpan in large part due to its early understanding of the chronic care management landscape, said Austin Poole, a senior associate.

“They’d figured out the complex parts of the process, where a lot of other groups that we had looked at were still kind of in that developmental phase, and some of them thought they might have had it figured out, but a closer look said that there might be more steps before they actually got there,” Poole said during a visit to Greenville.

The $15 million deal led by BIP includes syndicate partners Blue Heron Capital of Richmond, Virginia; Bailey Southwell & Co. of Nashville, Tennessee; and Croft & Bender of Atlanta. All four members of the syndicate hold preferred stock equity stakes in ChartSpan.

“Blue Heron is interesting because their entire LP (limited partnership) structure are just former healthcare executives that have run large enterprise companies,” Carter noted. “So, that was obvious, the attraction for us, and we spent time with them in Richmond, and again, loved the regional focus,” Carter said.

Poole, along with BIP vice president Sarath Degala, will

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5/31/19 11:30 AM

“Part of what was so compelling for us about ChartSpan as an investment was, not only does it bring efficiency to the whole U.S. health care system, but also the impact that it has on the patients.”

AUSTIN POOLE BIP SENIOR ASSOCIATE

Continued from page 11

operate out of Greenville’s NEXT on Main incubator and will collaborate with Carter and other ChartSpan personnel on the company’s growth while also becoming familiar with other businesses in the region.

“We expect to hold office hours, take part in pitch events, mentor entrepreneurs and companies, provide guidance in strategies and funding alternatives as well as hopefully become engrained in the VC infrastructure in the community,” Degala said via email.

John Moore, president and CEO of NEXT, believes BIP Capital’s arrival in the Upstate

represents a turning point in the evolution of funding for entrepreneurs.

“One of the biggest things obviously in any ecosystem is building access to capital … we’ve been working on that for a long time and to see something like this happen and see BIP’s leadership, first and foremost in the investment in ChartSpan, is tremendous,” Moore said.

According to Moore and Carter, BIP’s deepening commitment to the Upstate will provide a f light path to growth funding for a variety of local firms that successfully launched with seed money.

VentureSouth, which now

operates 12 angel groups across the Carolinas, provides much of that early-stage funding, said Matt Dunbar, one of its three managing directors. The combined group, with 320 active investors, has deployed $36 million for 67 companies since 2008.

Using preliminary data, the Angel Capital Association, a national trade group, just placed VentureSouth among the top ten angel groups in the country in terms of dollars invested, or $7 million in 22 companies during 2018.

“Matt was a resource and in some ways a mentor for me early on,” Carter remarked. “All of

these things in Houston, Texas where we came from, we would’ve got lost and drow ned. We wouldn’t have had this kind of support.”

Now, Carter’s company looks set to add significantly more clients, revenues, and jobs.

“Part of what was so compelling for us about ChartSpan as an investment was, not only does it bring efficiency to the whole U.S. healthcare system, but also the impact that it has on the patients,” said BIP’s Austin Poole.

“Any time you’re positively impacting the end-user in that magnitude, we get excited about that,” he said.

Greenville County Property Sale Call for Highest and Best Offers Greenville County is seeking the highest and best offers from interested parties to purchase County-owned real property located on River Road and Lake Cunningham in Greer, SC. At this time, the County has five separate vacant parcels located along River Road. The lots, which are located within the Valley Haven Acres Community of Greenville County, are being sold together in a bundle “As Is.” The lots are located in the unincorporated, unzoned area of Greenville County. No offers below the purchase price of $130,000.00 will be accepted.

Offers should be submitted by 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, July 18, 2019, and should demonstrate the ability to close within 60 days of notice of success.

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UBJ | 6.7.2019

Visit GreenvilleCounty.org for all the details.

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Cheers - in moderation

ALCOHOL CAN OFFER HEALTH BENEFITS IF YOU CAN STICK TO ONE OR TWO If you enjoy a glass of wine in the evening, or an after-dinner cocktail, Dr. Jack Durham of PartnerMD says keep doing what you’re doing.

“There seems to be a public misconception that alcohol is bad, that any drinking is bad, and it’s actually not that way at all,” Durham says. “I tell my patients that alcohol in moderation is not a bad thing, and it may actually be a good thing.”

Studies and media reports tend to offer opposing viewpoints, some saying that drinking is healthy while others recommend cutting alcohol as much as possible. Durham says research so far indicates that moderate drinking does offer several health benefits, including reduced risk of dying from heart disease and reduced risk of certain types of strokes.

The key is knowing what “moderate” means. Durham defines it as one drink per day for women of all ages and for men over age 65. Men under 65 can have up to two drinks per day.

“It sounds a little sexist, but it’s the way men metabolize alcohol, and they usually have more body weight,” he says.

“One drink” means one 12-ounce beer, one mixed drink with a standard jigger (1.5 ounces) of alcohol, or five ounces of wine. The wine recommendation can be a surprise.

“One night I decided to see for myself, and I realized I had been pouring more like 6-8 ounces of wine instead of the recommended 4-5 ounces,” he says. The larger wine glass he was using meant 5 ounces filled only about a third of the glass.

Though moderate alcohol use has health benefits, he tells teetotalers they can get just as many health benefits through other means, Keeping your such as exercise and nutrition, and they don’t leadership cardioprotective, possibly because of need to start drinking. increased HDL levels and decreased therefrain leading Other peopleat should as clotting. The latest research shows well, includingedge pregnantof women, health. that moderate drinking reduces risk those with a history of liver disease, of heart disease and ischemic stroke, people on medications for anxiety or possibly due to lower levels of fibrindepression, and anyone with a per- ogen, which forms clots. New studies sonal or family history of addiction also show that drinking might reduce issues. Abstaining is also better than the risk of diabetes. “That’s counterdrinking alcohol in larger quantities, intuitive to me,” he says, but more which increases the risk of high blood studies should explain the effect. pressure, breast cancer, liver cancer Talking with your doctor is imYou know healthy leadership is essential to business success. So do we. and pancreatitis, among other health portant, no matter how much you We’re PartnerMD, Greenville’s leading concierge care practice specializing issues. “And larger quantities can drink, because she or he can help you in executive physicals and primary care to equip progressive businesses cause people to make poor decisions, recognize if you are drinking too like yours with the latest advancements in medicine and holistic wellness such as driving while under the in- much to reap the benefits. He takes for you and your leadership. We tailor our programs to your exacting fluence,” Durham says. a social history of each patient and needs, providing customized control that enables executives to perform But for those who can easily stop brings up drinking, though occasionat the peak of health and excel every day through care so personal, at one or two, having a drink can be ally patients bring it up themselves. it’s like having a doctor in the family.

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“If people say they think they have a problem with alcohol, then they usually do,” he says. “There are a slew of medications we can use to degrease that urge and help people get off of alcohol.”

But for most patients, he can reassure them that what they are doing is fine. “Like everything else, moderation is the key,” he says. “Common sense goes a long way.”

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13

Edward Stein

Charles Williams

Blair Miller Robert Moore

BREAKING DOWN WALLS Pinnacle Financial Partners grows in the Upstate story by NEIL COTIAUX | photos by WILL CROOKS

Sometime next year, motorists turning the corner at the busy intersection of St. John and East Main streets in Spartanburg may see piles of debris where Pinnacle Financial Partners’ existing office now stands.

That’s because the Nashville, Tennessee-based bank recently decided to tear down the more than 50-yearold structure across from Converse College and erect a brand new facility to better serve its clients.

“That’s our first priority when it comes to physical branches,” said Edward Stein, Pinnacle Financial’s regional president based in Greenville, adding that the number of offices for associates will increase from 7 to 9.

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UBJ | 6.7.2019

The conversion project, now in its early stages, will at some point include the opening of a temporary business office to house current associates. A demolition date has not been set.

The take-down, build-up activity planned for Spartanburg is symbolic of the way Pinnacle Financial Partners has approached customer service and business growth: tear down barriers to lending; build up teams of associates who often worked with one another at other banks; and, market by market, create a culture that leads strong performers to stay put.

Founded with a single location in Nashville in 2000, Pinnacle now boasts $25.6 billion in assets and op-

erates in 11 markets in Tennessee, the Carolinas, and Virginia. In one of a string of acquisitions, it entered the Upstate after acquiring North Carolina’s BNC Bancorp in 2017.

In the Upstate, Pinnacle offers credit, mortgage, insurance, trust and investment products through three offices in Greenville County (Pelham Road, Laurens Road and Butler Road), in Easley and in Spartanburg, and at its main banking and administrative offices at 550 East McBee Street in Greenville.

Pinnacle’s associates talk of a “firm” rather than a “bank” to help differentiate the breadth of its offerings as well as its approach to lending. Rather than

off-loading lending decisions to remote committees as is done by larger banks, Pinnacle confers senior credit officers in local markets with substantial sign-off power “north of 10 million,” said regional president Stein.

And while its small-business unit uses a scoring process for rapid decisions, with $1 million the typical threshold, there’s some flexibility to go above that number should a loan lack complexity or if a particular parameter is not met by the scoring system, noted Blair Miller, Pinnacle’s area manager.

“Our local leadership … have the ability to decision those loans based on our knowledge of the client and

NEED TO KNOW

mitigating factors,” Miller said.

That knowledge is often the result of two key events: an associate’s understanding of existing clients as he or she is recruited and their decision to commit to Pinnacle long-term.

Pinnacle makes a point of recruiting proven revenue producers from other organizations with the understanding they will bring with them a high-quality book of business.

“From Day One when the firm was started, we are in a constant recruiting mode,” Stein said, and often lenders who worked well together at larger institutions find themselves together again at Pinnacle, making the transition to a less stratified business model even easier.

“In fact, our primary organic growth strategy is through hiring,” said Joe Bass, Pinnacle’s communications strategist, with invitations to join the firm only extended to individuals with a minimum of 10 years’ experience and with many recruits possessing 20 years. Unsolicited applications are not accepted.

To better balance the firm’s portfolio, there’s been an emphasis away from the commercial real estate lending emphasized by BNC toward recruiting talent with strong commercial and industrial portfolios, said Stein. Overall, he said, “We typically see a pretty clean portfolio” brought along by new hires.

In 2018, Pinnacle hired 107 new client-facing revenue producers, including 9 in the Upstate since inception for a total of 60 regional associates. Over the corporation’s first 18 years, Bass added, the retention rate for associates stood at 91.3 percent, further cementing the company’s relationships with clients.

To retain its people, Pinnacle fosters shared values and camaraderie, sprinkled with a heavy dose of financial rewards.

Associates participate in a book club that allows them to better understand the thinking of CEO Terry Turner and bond with coworkers.

Club meetings are held at group leaders’ homes and feature dinner, drinks, and conversation.

“We’ve covered a lot of books, but the cycle happening right now is on

| NEWS

First, Break All the Rules from Gallup,” said Bass in an email. “It was one of the early books we did, back when we had around 200-250 associates, so it’s a good time to revisit it now that we’re up to 2,300.”

In a similar vein, revenue producers invite small-business owners to an 8-week book club based on The E-Myth Revisited, aimed at helping them think through the evolution of their own company’s growth. “Our singular goal is to bring owners together to facilitate discussion,” Miller said.

Each January, the company holds a system-wide gathering at which associates are informed about performance payouts. The payouts are based on three “top-of-the-house” yardsticks – revenue growth, earnings growth, and asset quality – rather than an individual’s local-market production, Stein said.

Through its somewhat unorthodox way of doing business, Pinnacle continues to reap rewards in terms of revenues and reputation.

System-wide, loans at March 31, 2019 stood at a record $18.2 billion, for year-over-year growth of 11.3 percent. Year-over-year deposits increased 12 percent while revenues for Q1 2019 displayed a growth rate of 9 percent from the first quarter of 2018.

In the Upstate, full-year deposits grew by more than 15 percent; loans, by 21 percent.

Pinnacle Financial Partners continues to garner accolades.

Fortune listed the firm among its “100 Best Companies to Work For” in each of the last three years while American Banker recognized Pinnacle as one of “America’s Best Banks to Work For” for six consecutive years.

“It’s a culture that runs from top to bottom to sideways,” said Robert Moore, head of the Spartanburg office.

“Everybody’s pullin’ on the rope in the same direction,” added Charles Williams, who worked with Stein at two other banks and is now senior vice president and trust portfolio advisor in Greenville.

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15

NEWS |

NEED TO KNOW

REAL ESTATE

Chamber of Commerce to relocate to Riverplace, sells 24 Cleveland St. n story by ARIEL TURNER | photos PROVIDED | renderings by DP3 ARCHITECTS

The Greenville Chamber of Commerce building at 24 Cleveland St. has sold, and the Chamber is relocating its headquarters to Riverplace at 550 S. Main St. to occupy 9,200 square feet above Halls Chophouse.

“After nearly five decades in our Cleveland Street facility, we are

thrilled to integrate the Chamber’s headquarters into Greenville’s core business district as we keep our vision future- focused,” said Carlos Phillips, Greenville Chamber President & CEO. “This move positions the Chamber for success in many areas, primarily ensuring we are able to

www.CarltonMB.com 16

(864) 213-8000

UBJ | 6.7.2019

focus our resources on programs and initiatives that directly impact our Investors.”

In January 2018, the Chamber announced its selection of Colliers International as broker for the sale of the building as well as tenant representation for the new location. The disposition and selection process were led by the Chamber’s Facilities Committee, comprised by 10 Upstate business and community leaders, chaired by Rich Hagins, Chamber board chair-elect.

The Facilities Committee first convened in May 2017 and collaborated with numerous experts including architects, contractors, space planners and bankers to thoroughly vet all real estate options.

The committee determined five key objectives which directed the

process: 1. Ensure Chamber Investor resources are utilized for mission-centric initiatives 2. Strengthen the Chamber’s financial position 3. Reinforce the Chamber brand and reflect the future of Greenville’s business community 4. Provide a work environment for Chamber staff that aligns with “best place to work” goal 5. Become part of Greenville’s core business district “As we close this chapter on Cleveland Street, the facilities committee and entire Chamber team are confident the new location will advance our mission and vision, while providing a new, cutting-edge Chamber experience for the business commu-

2446 Laurens Road Greenville, SC 29607

NEED TO KNOW

nity,” said Phillip Kilgore, Chamber board chair. “We look forward to capitalizing on this opportunity to build a space that keeps our employees and investors engaged, valued and connected.”

While significantly smaller than the Chamber’s previous location, the new offices will align with the Chamber’s goals to have a more collaborative and efficient work environment and be more centrally located in the CBD. The move into the 5th floor of Riverplace, owned by Hughes Development Corporation, will take place

upon completion of an extensive renovation led by Greenville-based design firm DP3 and general contractor Mitchell Contract Interiors.

The Colliers team of Taylor Allen and Brantley Anderson worked with the Chamber to find the new location that was not on the market. They ultimately combined several suites and multiple tenants were relocated to keep all of the Chamber’s space on one floor.

The 24 Cleveland St. building is now under the ownership of Greenville-based commercial real estate and development firms Pintail

Capital Partners and Fox Commercial Properties, along with local law firm Bannister, Wyatt & Stalvey LLC. The Chamber will lease back the building from the new owners while its Main Street location is undergoing renovations.

The new ownership group is also collaborating with DP3 Architects to significantly enhance the 23,000-square-foot building’s interior as well as exterior facade. Work is expected to begin this fall.

Bannister, Wyatt, & Stalvey will relocate their offices to occupy the north side of the building, while

| NEWS

Pintail and Fox plan to occupy the south side of the building. An additional 3,600 square feet of collaborative office space will be available for lease.

“We are passionate about the opportunity to revitalize a building positioned strategically between downtown Greenville and the Cancer Survivors Park. Particularly exciting are the investments currently under way at the Bohemian Hotel and Camperdown projects, both in close proximity to this location,” said Stuart Wyeth, co-founder at Pintail Capital Partners.

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NEWS |

NEED TO KNOW

TAKEAWAY

Financial Executives discuss preparing for and balancing risk n story by MARC SMITH | photos PROVIDED

Like any industry, the financial services industry faces a variety of potential risks. And because we have learned from past mistakes, we believe it is best to confront and discuss those risks more openly as a profession, for the benefit of our business and our customers. While the economy appears balanced with no immediate warning signs, it is important that executives be prepared for potential shifts on the horizon that would have a wider impact.

As part of this collective awareness of risk, the Upper South Carolina Chapter of the Risk Management Association recently hosted a panel with three financial services executives to discuss potential risks, including technology and fintech competitors, the economy and the current cycle.

Panelists included Lynn Harton, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

of United Community Banks, Inc.; Terry M. Turner, President and Chief Executive Officer of Pinnacle Financial Partners, which has six locations in the Upstate; and Neil E. Grayson, Chair of the Financial Services Corporate and Regulatory Practice at Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough, LLP. While all the executives cited different strategies for navigating common threats, all three agreed that talent, strategic decision-making and a strong company culture are key for navigating risk.

INCREASING TECHNOLOGY AND FINTECH COMPETITORS With technology advancing daily, there is constant pressure for banks to keep up with their largest competitors.

Both Harton and Turner agreed that as community banks, they are not striving to be on the front line of innovation. Instead, they are investing in

n Left to right: Allen Gillespie, president & managing partner of FinTrust Investment Advisors; Terry Turner, president & CEO, Pinnacle Financial Partners; Lynn Harton, chairman & CEO, United Community Banks, Inc.; Neil E. Grayson, chair of financial services & regulatory practice, Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough, LLP

the appropriate technology for their customers.

“We’re more focused on finding ways to develop relationships with the customers that no longer visit the branch,” explained Harton. “We’re studying our data more closely so that we may better understand and connect with these customers even if we never

see them in person.”

While banks would be naïve to ignore the increased popularity in companies like PayPal and Square Cash, many are comforted knowing that users still need a bank account to connect to these services. To Harton, the best solution is for banks to open themselves up to partnering with these

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companies as a benefit to their customers. Grayson agreed, adding that disruptive technology won’t dominate the industry as long as they have to rely on banks. As such, he encourages banks to focus on their authentic values instead of striving to be the most convenient. “The best companies are not profit-driven,” he explained.

“They’re purpose-driven.”

THE ECONOMIC CYCLE Though in an upward cycle, all three executives agreed that a downturn is soon to come. To Harton, however, much of the necessary preparation for a recession should have already been done.

“No one can predict the future, but if you were looking for a recession to hit 18 months from now, 80% of what is on the books today will be carried into the crisis with you,” he said. “You can’t clean everything up. Instead, focus on concentration risk and only diversifying into things you understand.”

Turner added that he views the economy as relatively strong and does not see any early signs of trouble.

| NEWS

Leaning on corporate culture The importance of company culture as a risk deterrent was a driving topic throughout the conversation and one that all three panelists felt passionately about. “Culture is the driver of performance in your organization,” explained Harton. “Its what you think and do every day.”

Turner cited the success of Pinnacle’s culture to its strategy of hiring experienced, personally connected bankers. This has helped the company achieve its goal of a 95% employee retention rate for nearly two decades.

He also noted that this strategy translates to a better customer experience.

The panelists agreed that attracting, growing and retaining a talented team can help to mitigate a variety of risks, but there are still many threats that cannot be avoided and must be prepared for in advance. Fostering an open dialogue about these risks as an industry is an important step in helping to prepare as much as possible, even for the unavoidable threats.

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19

DIGITAL MAVEN |

THE TECHNICAL SIDE OF BUSINESS

(Anti) Social Media

By LAURA HAIGHT president, portfoliosc.com

Is Facebook like the really cool friend who comes to visit, you have a blast for a weekend, but they overstay and ultimately you find out you really don’t like them very much?

It’s a little unfair to single out Facebook -- Twitter certainly has some pretty disgusting hygiene habits -- but its footprint is unparalleled. So its failure or rehabilitation could be catastrophic, especially for businesses. As of this month, 35 percent of the world’s population are active users on Facebook. Eighty million of those users are businesses.

The social media giant is the conduit a vast majority of US small businesses use to reach their audience.

But Facebook is having a bad patch.

• The Cambridge Analytica scandal shone a bright light on Facebook’s dark underbelly.

• The news that Facebook stored hundreds of millions (looks like 540 million so far) of users’ sensitive data in plain text on servers was not only a hit to its flagging security reputation, but maybe to its bottom line. Those policies run afoul of Europe’s GDPR and Canada’s privacy laws. Facebook faces fines of several billions of dollars for those violations.

• In addition to the GDPR and Canadian fines, Facebook is facing between $3-$5 billion in US fines from the Federal Trade Commission.

• The state of New York is investigating the company’s “unauthorized collection” of 1.5 million email addresses, which could result in more fines.

WHERE CAN BUSINESS GO IF FACEBOOK IMPLODES?

• Facebook announced last week that more than 2 billion fake accounts were removed from the platform. Most of those were at the point of creation, however.

And the company now estimates as many as 5 percent of all currently active user accounts are fake (that’s 100 million accounts).

• Recently its own co-founder, Chris Hughes, promoted the idea of breaking up Facebook.

It’s getting to be too much for some users - and even some companies. CrossFit last week deleted its Facebook and Instagram pages, detailing a litany of grievances. There’s a good amount of online discussion from both users and brand about whether or not it’s time to ditch Facebook.

But the issue for businesses remains: What do we do instead?

Where will our clients go? There

are a lot of smaller, niche social sites popping up, ready to corral the disenfranchised Facebooker.

But none that I saw offered a welcoming home for business marketing.

One interesting idea is that the FTC, as part of whatever consent decree it crafts, could require Facebook create a data portability method so people could get out without having to leave their friends and favorite brands behind (and vice versa). Another is that Congress may be ready to take up the idea of a Data Privacy act that could, at least, reform Facebook to make the environment safer, more secure, and possibly - more honest.

In the meantime, it’s everyone for themselves. Ultimately, that’s probably the best lesson for small businesses: The only one putting your business first is you.

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UBJ | 6.7.2019

SPONSORED

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Local investment bank helps business owners reap the profits when time comes to sell

A

successful business often requires the owner to invest decades of hard work, dedication and vision. When an owner is ready to part with a business that represents such a substantial investment, Devin Green has one piece of advice: “Don’t leave money on the table!”

Green, the Chief Operating Officer for Greenville-based The Capital Corporation, says “over the last 25 plus years, our firm has identified seven ‘sectors of value’ that are important to emphasize in order to command the highest valuation for our clients.”

When The Capital Corporation has been engaged to sell a business, one of the steps that Green and his team take is to thoroughly analyze the business as a buyer would, beginning with a very detailed SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) analysis.

“From that SWOT analysis, we’ll extract comprehensive list of weaknesses and threats that a prospective buyer will likely eventually identify,” Green explains. “Then we take every single weakness and threat and transfer those into what we call a ‘pre-mortem analysis’ – Within that pre-mortem analysis, we start building out the mitigating points and/or complete a cost/benefit analysis on addressing those issues before we go to market.

Green says The Capital Corporation has developed a variety of tools to ensure its clients earn the highest valuations for their businesses.

“Our pre-mortem analysis is a springboard to

get ahead of these ‘chinks in the armor’ that the prospective buyers will likely find,” he says, “so when we lift up the curtain, the chinks won’t be there anymore.”

In light of some of the common challenges businesses often face, Green has staffed his team with not only investment bankers, but also specialists which offer highly unique skillsets, including software engineers, digital marketers, cyber security experts, and others that help develop and emphasize the strengths and opportunities from the SWOT analysis.

“For example, there are cases where we have a great company, but we want to accelerate growth in order to command millions of dollars more in valuation for our client. In those cases, we’ll help our client deploy unique sophisticated digital

“

percent is recurring revenue every year, and we can quantify this data for prospective buyers. The ability to predict future revenue streams lowers the risks for buyers, which ultimately translates into higher valuations for our clients.”

“And all of a sudden,” Green continues, “we’ve had plenty of situations where the buyer says ‘Wow, we had no idea that 92 percent of your revenue was repeat and 86 percent was recurring revenue – we can pay more for this business now because we know the future performance has less risk for us.’”

Building on decades of success and a large, corporate support system, which Green refers to as “the mother ship,” The Capital Corporation’s leaders are excited to help their clients extract the value they deserve when it comes time to sell a business.

...there are cases where we have a great company, but we want to accelerate growth in order to command millions of dollars more in valuation for our client. In those cases, we’ll help our client deploy unique sophisticated digital marketing tactics and strategies... to modernize their marketing model and pop the top line revenue before we go to market.”

COO, THE CAPITAL CORPORATION

marketing tactics and strategies – such as geofencing and behavioral targeting – to modernize their marketing model and pop the top line revenue before we go to market.”

Beyond these digital tactics, there are situations where The Capital Corporation will help demonstrate the certainty of future cash flows of the business by leveraging one of Green’s in-house, database architects to build the necessary algorithms to analyze years of the client’s data in order to quantify how much of the company’s revenue is repeat revenue and recurring revenue.

“Our clients can send us (electronically) every single transaction with every single customer for every single SKU or service offering going back 10 years, and those files are massive,” Green says.

“And we’ll have our database architect build the algorithms needed to crunch out what percentage of revenue is from repeat customers and what

| DEVIN GREEN

“We have fun looking at every sale through the buyer’s lens. We like to think that by doing things a little bit differently, we can make a very big difference by unlocking a lot of value,” Green says.

“These are just a couple examples of the things we do before we ever go to market.”

84 Villa Road, Greenville Call 864-672-8400 www.thecapitalcorp.com Satellite offices: Charlotte, NC Spartanburg, SC & Boca Raton, FL 6.7.2019 | upstatebusinessjournal.com

21

OPINION |

FROM THE COMMUNITY

Mastering financial aid eligibility

By ROB DeHOLLANDER DeHollander & Janse Financial Group

For many families, financial aid programs help make higher education attainable. To apply for aid, students first must complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), which determines eligibility for federal aid programs like grants, work-study options, and loans.

Here are some tips on navigating the FAFSA. TIPS FOR NAVIGATING THE INCOME-RELATED QUESTIONS The role of tax returns. Information from the student’s and parents’ tax returns is used to complete the FAFSA’s income-related questions.

There is a two-year look-back regarding the data required.

Whose data should be used?

When parents live apart and are divorced or separated, several factors like custody and financial support determine which parent’s information must be provided.

Stepparent’s information must also be included on the FAFSA. If the student’s parents are divorced, are separated, or were never married but live together, both are required to provide information on the FAFSA. DETERMINING THE EXPECTED FAMILY CONTRIBUTION The FAFSA’s detailed information is used to calculate each student’s expected family contribution (EFC).

The formula for determining an EFC considers parental assets and income, student assets and income, and factors such as the number of family members attending college at the same time.

•

22

UBJ | 6.7.2019

Parental assets. Reportable parental assets include cash and funds held in bank accounts, trust funds, 529 accounts, and more. Parental assets only affect up to 5.64% of the EFC, and so are consid-

•

•

•

ered low-impact for financial aid purposes.

Student assets. Student assets include property in which the student has an ownership interest at the time that the FAFSA is completed. Student assets are high-impact assets for financial aid purposes—up to 20 percent of the value of his or her assets will affect the EFC. Protected assets. Some assets are protected and don’t need to be listed on the FAFSA, like 401(k) plans and pension plans or equity in the family residence.

The U.S. Department of Education’s FAFSA4caster is a free estimate of financial aid eligibility calculator.

GRANDPARENT-OWNED 529 PLANS Funds in a grandparent-owned 529 plan are not countable assets on the FAFSA, but money that’s taken out of the 529 plan and used to pay for education expenses is considered nontaxable income to the student.

Distributions from a grandparent-owned 529 plan reduce the eligibility of a student for need-based aid by as much as 50 percent of the amount of the distribution. The family may want to reserve those funds for the last two years of college because FAFSA uses the prior-prior year’s tax return to complete the income questions.

RESOURCES FOR COMPLETING THE FAFSA Two resources for completing the FAFSA is the Notes section at the end of the FAFSA itself and the Federal Student Aid website.

A college education is one of the best investments you can make for your child but make sure you do your homework. Before making any decisions, a best practice is to consult your financial advisor and tax professional.

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UPSTATE BUSINESS NEWS & NOTES Diversity champions honored The 15 Annual Upstate Diversity Leadership Awards, hosted by the Riley Institute and the Greenville Chamber, recently recognized several individuals and organizations for outstanding achievement promoting diversity and inclusion in the Upstate. This year’s winners included: Brian Townsend, Calder D. Ehrmann Outstanding Individual; Antonio Harrison, Outstanding College Student; Hugh Hill, Outstanding High School Student; Berea High School, VALUED Lives Award for Excellence in Diversity; Mohammed Edris, Habiba Restaurant, Outstanding Contribution to International Diversity; Center for Pediatric Medicine, GHS Children’s Hospital, Outstanding Business; and Clemson University Men of Color Summit, Outstanding Nonprofit Organization.

Muffin Mam adds another production facility The Muffin Mam, Inc. recently announced a second production facility at Hunter Industrial Park in Laurens. The company now says completion of the 100,000-square-foot facility is scheduled for November. The facility includes a state-of-the-art kitchen and will include expanded product lines with a focus on decorated cakes and cupcakes. The company will hire 114 new employees. “Our new team members will have a great impact on enhancing our customer service levels and growing the Muffin Mam brand among club stores, in-store bakery channels, and food service distributors nationwide,” said Greg Marshall, executive vice president for sales and marketing.

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This June, Partners in Primary Care will open its senior-focused primary care model to a new location at 366 Market Street in Seneca. The new space will be 6,400 square feet and will be staffed by nine full-time employees. Partners in Primary Care takes a holistic approach to health with the physician diagnosing and treating the patient. Care teams help patients navigate social, behavioral and financial needs. Partners in Primary Care is a subsidiary of Humana, Inc., and the company offers care to 35,000 Medicare Advantage patients. The company plans to open four more medical centers in South Carolina later this year.

For more information on these stories visit www.UpstateBusinessJournal.com

Submit your press release at: www.UpstateBusinessJournal.com/submit

gardner-webb.edu/mba10 6.7.2019 | upstatebusinessjournal.com 10MBA-Ad1-Print--AsianFemale-UBJ-v3-2.indd 1

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12/3/18 3:36 PM

ON THE MOVE |

NEW HIRES IN THE UPSTATE

HIRED

HIRED

SHELBY ARGO has joined Greenville’s

ASHLEY BROWN has joined Greenville’s Kopis

FerebeeLane marketing agency as a graphic designer. She will provide design and production support for the agency’s growing client roster. Argo graduated from Anderson University with a Bachelor of Arts and concentration in graphic design.

in a newly developed marketing specialist role. She brings more than 10 years marketing experience to Kopis. Brown, a graduate of the University of South Carolina, recently owned the boutique marketing firm, Ashley Brown Strategy.

HIRED

PROMOTED

MARC DEL VECCHIO has joined Cargo’s

KEVIN CRITTENDON has been named vice

Greenville office to serve as the Lenovo team’s design director. In his role, he will work hand in hand with the creative lead and associate creative director to ensure all visual aspects of creative are on strategy and produced at a high level.

president of GreenWood, Inc., an integrated maintenance, construction, and workforce solutions provider. In this role, he is responsible for all company operations and lead the management team. Prior, Crittendon was director of improvement at GreenWood.

HIRED

HIRED

WALTER YARBROUGH joins Route 2 Capital

ALLY DODGE has joined FUEL, a marketing

Partners, a private investment firm providing flexible junior capital solutions, as a senior analyst.

Yarbrough will support the entire R2CP team by participating in activities including new deal execution, underwriting, and portfolio management.

agency in Greenville, as senior account director.

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UBJ | 6.7.2019

| ROUND UP

BRIEFS, TIDBITS, BLIPS, DATA & MORE

UP NEXT GOT ANY THOUGHTS? CARE TO CONTRIBUTE? PUBLISHER

Mark B. Johnston mjohnston@communityjournals.com

EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT

LET US KNOW AT

upstatebusinessjournal. com/submit.

Susan Schwartzkopf

EDITOR

Claire Billingsley

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STAFF WRITERS

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MANAGER OF BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT Donna Johnston

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MARKETING REPRESENTATIVES

Heather Propp | Liz Tew

1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

UBJ milestone

UBJ milestone jackson Marketing Group’s 25 Years 1988 Jackson Dawson opens in Greenville at Downtown Airport

1988

RELATIONSHIP MANAGER

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Meredith Rice

Chairman larry Jackson, Jackson marketing Group. Photos by Greg Beckner / Staff

ACCOUNT MANAGER Callie Michalak

1997 Jackson Dawson launches motorsports Division 1993

1990 Jackson Dawson acquires therapon marketing Group and moves to Piedmont office Center on Villa.

Jackson Marketing Group celebrates 25 years By sherry Jackson | staff | sjackson@communityjournals.com

Solve. Serve. Grow. Those three words summarize Jackson Marketing Group’s guiding principles, and according to owner Larry Jackson, form the motivation that has kept the firm thriving for the past 25 years.

Jackson graduated from Bob Jones University with a degree in video and film production and started his 41-year career in the communications industry with the U.S. Army’s Public Information Office. He served during

Vietnam, where he said he was “luckily” stationed in the middle of Texas at Fort Hood.

He left the service and went to work in public affairs and motorsports at Ford Motor Company in Detroit.

After a stint at Bell and Howell, where he was responsible for managing Ford’s dealer marketing and training, the entrepreneurial bug hit and he co-founded Jackson-Dawson Marketing Communications, a company specializing in dealer training and product launches for the auto industry in 1980.

In 1987, Jackson wanted to move back south and thought Greenville would be a good fit. An avid pilot, he

learned of an opportunity to purchase Cornerstone Aviation, a fixed base operation (FBO) that served as a service station for the Greenville Downtown Airport, providing fuel, maintenance and storage.

In fact, when he started the Greenville office of what is now Jackson Marketing Group (JMG) in 1988, the offices were housed on the second floor in an airport hangar.

“Clients would get distracted by the airplanes in the hangars and we’d have to corral them to get back upstairs to the meeting,” Jackson said.

Jackson sold the FBO in 1993, but says it was a great way to get to know Greenville’s fathers and leaders

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with a majority of them utilizing the general aviation airport as a “corporate gateway to the city.”

In 1997, Jackson and his son, Darrell, launched Jackson Motorsports Group. The new division was designed to sell race tires and go to racetracks to sell and mount the tires. Darrell Jackson now serves as president of the motorsports group and Larry Jackson has two other children and a son-in-law who work there. Jackson said all his children started at the bottom and “earned their way up.”

Jackson kept the Jackson-Dawson branches in Detroit and others in Los Angeles and New York until he sold his portion of that partnership in 2009 as part of his estate planning.

The company now operates a small office in Charlotte, but its main headquarters are in Greenville in a large office space off Woodruff Road, complete with a vision gallery that displays local artwork and an auditorium Jackson makes available for non-profit use. The Motorsports Group is housed in an additional 26,000 square feet building just down the street, and the agency is currently looking for another 20,000 square feet.

Jackson said JMG has expanded into other verticals such as financial, healthcare, manufacturing and pro-bono work, but still has a strong focus on the auto industry and transportation. It’s

2003 motorsports Division acquires an additional 26,000 sq. ft. of warehouse space

1998 1998 Jackson Dawson moves to task industrial Court

also one of the few marketing companies in South Carolina to handle all aspects of a project in-house, with four suites handling video production, copywriting, media and research and web design.

Clients include heavyweights such as BMW, Bob Jones University, the Peace Center, Michelin and Sage Automotive. Recent projects have included an interactive mobile application for Milliken’s arboretum and 600-acre Spartanburg campus and a marketing campaign for the 2013 Big League World Series.

“In my opinion, our greatest single achievement is the longevity of our client relationships,” said Darrell Jackson. “Our first client from back in 1988 is still a client today. I can count on one hand the number of clients who have gone elsewhere in the past decade.”

Larry Jackson says his Christian faith and belief in service to others, coupled with business values rooted in solving clients’ problems, have kept

2009 Jackson Dawson changes name to Jackson marketing Group when larry sells his partnership in Detroit and lA 2003

2009-2012 Jackson marketing Group named a top BtoB agency by BtoB magazine 4 years running

him going and growing his business over the years. He is passionate about giving back and outreach to non-profits. The company was recently awarded the Community Foundation Spirit Award.

The company reaffirmed its commitment to serving the community last week by celebrating its 25th anniversary with a birthday party and a 25-hour Serve-A-Thon partnership with Hands on Greenville and Habitat for Humanity. JMG’s 103 full-time employees worked in shifts around the clock on October 22 and 23 to help construct a house for a deserving family.

As Jackson inches towards retirement, he says he hasn’t quite figured out his succession plan yet, but sees the companies staying under the same umbrella. He wants to continue to strategically grow the business.

“From the beginning, my father has taught me that this business is all about our people – both our clients and our associates,” said his son, Darrell. “We have created a focus and a culture that strives to solve problems, serve people and grow careers.”

Darrell Jackson said he wants to “continue helping lead a culture where we solve, serve and grow. If we are successful, we will continue to grow towards our ultimate goal of becoming the leading integrated marketing communications brand in the Southeast.”

2011 Jackson marketing Group/Jackson motorsports Group employee base reaches 100 people

2008 2012 Jackson marketing Group recognized by Community Foundation with Creative spirit Award

pro-bono/non-proFit Clients American Red Cross of Western Carolinas Metropolitan Arts Council Artisphere Big League World Series The Wilds Advance SC South Carolina Charities, Inc. Aloft Hidden Treasure Christian School

CoMMUnitY inVolVeMent & boarD positions lArry JACkson (ChAirmAn): Bob Jones University Board chairman, The Wilds Christian Camp and Conference Center board member, Gospel Fellowship Association board member, Past Greenville Area Development Corporation board member, Past Chamber of Commerce Headquarters Recruiting Committee member, Past Greenville Tech Foundation board member David Jones (Vice President Client services, Chief marketing officer): Hands on Greenville board chairman mike Zeller (Vice President, Brand marketing): Artisphere Board, Metropolitan Arts Council Board, American Red Cross Board, Greenville Tech Foundation Board, South Carolina Chamber Board eric Jackson (Jackson motorsports Group sales specialist): Salvation Army Boys & Girls Club Advisory Board

November 1, 2013 Upstate bUsiness joUrnal 21

20 Upstate bUsiness joUrnal November 1, 2013

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