Inside Memphis Business Feb/March 2016

FEB/MAR 2016 | VOLUME X | NUMBER 3

AW A R D W I N N E R S

RICHARD SHADYAC JR. KEVIN McENIRY RUSS WILLIAMS ROLANDO TOYOS

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Richard Shadyac Jr. ALSAC

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1661 Aaron Brenner Dr., Ste. 300, Memphis 38120, 901.761.2720 • 417 West Main, Ste. 100, Tupelo 38804, 662.269.4014

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2015

project location size project type

Charles Retina Institute Germantown, TN 11,998 sf Healthcare

100 Peabody Place, 100Memphis, Peabody Place, TN 38103 Memphis, • 901.260.7370 TN 38103 ••901.260.7370 www.belzconstruction.com • www.belzconstruction.com

ARCHITE CTURE

©Jeffrey Jacobs Photography

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UNRIVALED TALENT. UNMATCHED RESULTS. With a passion for everything that makes our city so special, our firm is the unrivaled leader in commercial real estate services in Memphis.

Strategic, forward-thinking and results-driven, our professionals are committed to delivering the best of Memphis to our clients and the community we serve.

For more information on how CBRE can assist you with your real estate needs in the Mid-South, please contact: +1 901 528 1000

cbre.com/memphis

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FEBRUARY / MARCH 2016 VOLUME X | NUMBER 3

AWA RD W INNERS pg. 31

••• BY JON W. SPARKS

McENIRY, WILLIAMS, AND TOYOS PHOTOGRAPHS BY LARRY KUZNIEWSKI; SHADYAC PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY ALSAC

1000+ EMPLOYEES

200-1000 EMPLOYEES

50-200 EMPLOYEES

1 - 50 EMPLOYEES

WINNER

WINNER

WINNER

WINNER

RICHARD KEVIN SHADYAC JR. McENIRY

RUSS WILLIAMS

ROLANDO TOYOS

ALSAC

ARCHER MALMO

TOYOS CLINIC

architect ure feat ures

COLUMNS 6

FROM THE EDITOR ••• B Y

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NEXAIR LLC

R I C H A R D

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A L L E Y

SCA RBORO FA RE ••• B Y

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D O U G L A S

S C A R B O R O

41 T O M M A R S H A L L

The second-generation architect has an eye for how to improve on some of the city’s most iconic structures.

••• BY LANCE WIEDOWER

DEPARTMENTS

50 A C O N V E R S A T I O N

10 T H E H O T S H E E T 16 M E M P H I S B E A T 25 S M A L L B U S I N E S S C E N T R A L 48 R E T A I L

Louis Ruffin Pounders, FAIA ••• W I T H EMILY A DA M S K EPL IN GER

52 W O M E N I N A R C H I T E C T U R E

Building on the Future ••• BY RICHARD J. ALLEY

55 L E A D E R S H I P 60 C O M M U N I T Y P A R T N E R S H I P 61 I N S I D E T H E A R C H I V E S 64 M A D E I N M E M P H I S

62 T H E O F F I C E

Greg M. Price, archimania ••• BY EILEEN TOWNSEND

18 S P O R T S ••• B Y

F R A N K

M U R TA U G H

19 C R I M I N A L J U S T I C E ••• B Y

J O S H

S P I C K L E R

20 H E A L T H C A R E ••• W I T H

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J A M E S

R I C K

D O N L O N

H A H N

21 H U M A N R E S O U R C E S ••• B Y

M IC H E L L E

D U R H A M

22 M A S S T R A N S I T ••• B Y

C H A R L I E

S A N T O FEBRUARY / MARCH 2016 | INSIDE MEMPHIS BUSINESS.COM |

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CEOs build the businesses that shape our city.

INSIDEMEMPHISBUSINESS.COM EDITOR CREATIVE DIRECTOR MANAGING EDITOR COPY EDITORS EDITORIAL CONTRIBUTORS

ADVERTISING ART DIRECTOR GRAPHIC DESIGNERS PHOTOGRAPHY BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR

Richard J. Alley Brian Groppe Frank Murtaugh Michael Finger Michelle Durham, Katherine Barnett Jones, Emily Adams Keplinger, Sally Lyon, Charlie Santo, Douglas Scarboro, Toby Sells, Jon W. Sparks, Josh Spickler, Eileen Townsend, Lance Wiedower Christopher Myers Dominique Pere, Bryan Rollins Nathan W. Berry, Larry Kuzniewski Jeffrey A. Goldberg

ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVE

March Gates

ADVERTISING OPERATIONS DIRECTOR

Margie Neal

PUBLISHED BY CONTEMPOR ARY MEDIA , INC .

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

Kenneth Neill

CHIEF OPERATIONS OFFICER

Molly Willmott

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR EDITORIAL DIRECTOR EVENTS MANAGER

Jeffrey A. Goldberg Bruce VanWyngarden Jackie Sparks-Davila

MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS MANAGER

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EMAIL MARKETING MANAGER

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IT DIRECTOR

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RECEPTIONIST

Celeste Dixon

When I was a kid, my great-grandparents, Lena and Martin Fachini, lived in a metal box a block east of East Parkway near Overton Park.

Okay, it wasn’t a box, per se, but one of only a few prefabricated Lustron homes of enameled steel built in Memphis after World War II as cheap and easy housing for an army’s worth of men about to return home from around the globe. Looking around at its molded built-ins and obvious seams, I never thought about how that house was built (or even why), but I imagine it must have been something akin to a very large and unwieldy Ikea project. But it also had to have been designed by an architect with vision somewhere, somehow.

Architects are always looking for a more inexpensive way to build a more functional home, office building, retail shop, or entertainment venue. As luck would have it, Memphis is replete with these talented artists. We’re a good-looking city, aren’t we?

Just drive around or, better yet, pull out your bike and go for a leisurely ride to take in The Peabody hotel, the D.T. Porter Building, Central Station, Visible Music College, East High School, Clark Tower, and all of the unique homes from Central Gardens to Eads.

That bike ride will be like time travel as you see the best of late-nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century works, to the Mid-Century Modern gems, all the way up to the newest in LEED-certified office space. Along the way, there will be saved treasures retrofitted for new use — the Chisca Hotel, the Century Club, the Toof building, and many others. Architects did this for us, and this issue celebrates their craft and their indomitable creativity.

“We shape our buildings and ever after

D I G Inside Memphis Business is published six times a year by Contemporary Media, Inc., 460 Tennessee Street, P.O. Box 1738, Memphis, TN 38101 © 2016, telephone: 901-5219000. For subscription information, call 901-575-9470. All rights reserved.

Periodicals postage paid at Memphis, TN. Postmaster: send address changes to Inside Memphis Business, P.O. Box 1738, Memphis, TN 38101. Opinions and perspectives expressed in the magazine are those of the authors, and do not necessarily represent the views of the ownership or management.

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they shape us.” It’s a quote from Winston Churchill and a favorite of architect Louis Ruffin Pounders, who recently published a children’s book celebrating Memphis architecture in general, and visionary Francis P. Gassner in particular; we learn about him and his new book through a Q&A. The transformation of the Pyramid into a popular retail destination was an engineering feat performed by Tom Marshall profiled here, and I take a look at women in architecture whose low numbers are rising, though slowly.

Just as we are shaped by our buildings, the Memphis business community is shaped by those within. Namely, the CEOs who build the businesses that make our city thrive.

For the fifth year, we celebrate their achievements with the Inside Memphis Business CEO of the Year Awards. The industries celebrated run the gamut from an industrial gasses provider to philanthropy, from ophthalmology to marketing and public relations.

These leaders have shaped their companies, and their people shape our society and culture into a city we can all take pride in.

Thank you once again for reading and remember, when you’re out and about, look up and be impressed with the façades and the grandeur, and by the people within.

M E M P H I S

A 2012 survey conducted by The Chronicle of Philanthropy ranked Memphis second in that magazine’s list of per-capita charitable contributions for America’s 50 most-populous metro areas. Memphisarea residents and businesses give over $700 million to charity annually.

Because of this, Inside Memphis Business in 2015 started working together with local companies to highlight the good work being done in our community. This is our “Dig Deep for Memphis” partnership program. During 2015, we matched every advertising full page purchased by our partners with a donated page for the charitable organization of their choice.

We are very pleased with the “Dig

Deep” program and look to expand it this year. For further information, contact neill@contemporary-media.com.

In the meantime, please join me in thanking our three Partners — Triumph, CBRE Memphis, and FedEx — for their support of philanthropy in the Mid-South, and their support for Inside Memphis Business in 2015.

—Kenneth Neill

INSIDE MEMPHIS BUSINESS.COM | FEBRUARY / MARCH 2016

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More flights.

More destinations.

More airlines.

More ways to save.

A better airport.

MORE. BETTER. Come see what’s in store, Memphis.

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From corporate and free community events...

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The LPBC works to foster collaboration between government, education, nonprofit and business.

Visit theLPBC.com to learn more and sign up for our newsletter. Tell us about your efforts, join us for events, and let’s work together to make a difference! /thelpbc 8|

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• • •

B Y

D R .

D O U G L A S

S C A R B O R O

To barbecue or to mildew?

That is the question.

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F A R E

If you are seeking insight into what can make you a more effective leader for your business or organization, simply ask yourself, “Are you going to barbecue or mildew?”

I attended Morehouse College, which instilled numerous ideals in me and my fellow students. One that I have consistently fallen back on throughout the years is based on this question often posed by my friends and classmates: “Barbecue or mildew. What are you going to do?”

This question, or more precisely, the answer to this question, has been cemented as a leadership ethos in nearly 20 years since graduation. Are you going to barbecue and set aside fears that could be preventing you from taking actions that lead your team or organization to success? Or will you instead choose to mildew and stagnate through inaction? to participate in a number of leadership Prior to joining the Federal Reserve Bank development programs and classes. A of St. Louis as the regional executive of its particular favorite was a class I took at Memphis branch, I was chief learning officer Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy for the City of Memphis and the executive School of Government that was led by director of the Office of Talent and Human Marty Linsky, co-founder of Cambridge Capital. During this time, I had the opporLeadership Associates and co-author of tunity to co-lead the implementation of the the book, Leadership on the Line: Staying Alive new 311 call center for the city of Memphis through the Dangers of Leading. A concept that in 2013. It was an initiative to make city govparticularly struck me, in ernment more accessible his class and in the book, to residents through the is how willingness to take streamlining of citizen queYOU CAN GATHER DATA risks is part of the equation ries, complaints, and other of good leadership. The main non-emergency matters.

AND TALK TO CUSTOMERS, message of adaptive leaderInstead of 400 different EMPLOYEES, AND CONSULship practice is the idea that phone numbers for resiTANTS, BUT AT THE END OF if a system is broken, it must dents to call for various city departments, there would THE DAY YOU WILL NEED TO be diagnosed and fixed by risks and challenging be just one number to dial.

TAKE ACTION AS A LEADER. taking the status quo in order to The number of call centers facilitate change. Often when people are would also be streamlined. In the past, it was seeking the mantle of leadership, they don’t a project that had essentially just mildewed immediately associate the risks that go with since there were many unknowns, including it. For many leaders, too much time is spent cost (since cost savings would not be immeon the “inspirational” parts of leadership and diately realized), regulatory approval, and not the “perspirational.” Much of this risk structural integration. However, once we occurs when you reach a point where you got people behind the idea, we got it done. have to exceed your given or presumed auYou can gather data and talk to customers, thority to get things done. Rarely have great employees, and consultants, but at the end leaders accomplished great feats without of the day you will need to take action as a exceeding their given or presumed authority. leader. Like most, I want to take more right Simply put, you gotta “barbecue” actions than wrong actions. However, I have to be a successful leader. Don’t sit found that usually taking some action or and become stale. Take some action choosing to “barbecue” will lead to results and make something happen. that are aligned with your intentions.

Another way of looking at this is through the lens of “adaptive leadership.” Like Dr. Douglas Scarboro is Regional Executive/VP of the many business leaders, I’ve had the chance Memphis branch of the St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank.

lpbreakfastclubtv

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The HOT Sheet Advancement Dunavant has named Brent Gurley as Operations Supervisor of Memphis’ new container drayage terminal. Gurley has 15 years of experience in the transportation industry in intermodal management positions. In the new position, he will supervise all operational duties for a growing customer base with international orders.

Memphis-based total protection company State Systems Inc. announced the new hires of Sandi Scott and Leslie Ann Brown to spearhead business at the company’s new location in Little Rock, Arkansas. Scott will serve as the branch manager and Brown has been hired as an account executive.

The American Cancer Society has named Mark Horrocks as senior director of community engagement for Memphis.

Horrocks founded Habitat for Hope in 2006 and served as its executive director, leading the charge to support families caring for critically ill children. During his tenure, Horrocks mobilized more than 2,000 volunteers and provided support to more than 700 families from 35 states and seven countries.

Carolyn Hardy, president and CEO of Chism Hardy Investments, LLC, has been named chairman of the board for the Greater Memphis Chamber through a unanimous vote by her fellow directors.

Pinnacle Financial Partners has added Stacey Fantom and Jenny Thompson as senior vice presidents and credit advisors; Gilland Sanders as a financial advisor assistant in Pinnacle’s client advisory group; and Alan Poindexter.

Waggoner Engineering, an economic development, program management, and engineering firm, has added Kasey Mauney as an engineering intern in its Hernando office. In his role, Mauney will be responsible for the design of a wide range of civil projects that will utilize his broad experience, and he will work with clients to make sure all needs and expectations are incorporated into the plans.

Mayor Jim Strickland has announced that Paul Young will serve as the new director of the Division of Housing and Community Development. In this role, he will be responsible for leading and managing the office of HCD as well as providing advice to the COO and Mayor on related matters. Strickland also announced that Patrice Thomas will serve as Deputy Chief Operating Officer. In her new role, 10 |

Thomas will support and provide advice to the COO and mayor on operational matters.

Paragon Bank has appointed Julia Sledge as portfolio manager for Private Banking. inferno, a full-service advertising, public relations, design and digital marketing firm, has appointed Caitlin Berry and Susan Waggoner as public relations account coordinators.

Previously, Waggoner served as an intern on inferno’s public relations team. Berry and Waggoner report to Beth Wilson, public relations manager.

Appointments Andre Gibson, the membership coordinator for the Greater Memphis Chamber, was appointed to the Board of Directors of the American Public Transportation Association (APTA), and the American Public Transportation Foundation (APTF) in October 2015 at APTA’s Annual Meeting. APTA is the top advocacy organization for public transportation in the country — an international organization that has been representing the transit industry since 1882. APTF is a charitable affiliate of APTA, which provides scholarships and fellowships designed to increase and retain the number of people choosing transit careers.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation’s Hiring Our Heroes (HOH) has welcomed FedEx as the newest member of its Veteran Employment Advisory Council (VEAC).

Jason D. Salomon, a member of the law firm of Harkavy Shainberg Kaplan & Dunstan LLP, has become a Fellow of the Memphis Bar Foundation. The Memphis Bar Foundation is the charitable arm of the Memphis Bar Association, providing grants that assist law-related projects which further the MBA’s mission to promote social justice and legal education.

Children’s Hospital, 1 Gold, 2 VOX; Kingdom Quality Communications, 2 Gold, 1 VOX; Baptist Memorial Health Care, 1 Gold, 1 VOX; Hilton Worldwide, 1 VOX; Homewood Suites by Hilton, 1 VOX; Sedgwick Communications, 1 VOX; The Baddour Center, 1 VOX; inferno, 2 Gold; Running Pony, 2 Gold; Habitat for Humanity of Greater Memphis, 1 Gold; Hemline Creative Marketing, 1 Gold; Red Deluxe, 1 Gold; Regional One Health, 1 Gold; Walker & Associates, 1 Gold.

Memphis-based law firm Harris Shelton Hanover Walsh recently announced that 16 of the firm’s lawyers were selected for the 2015 Mid-South Super Lawyers list. Eleven attorneys were named 2015 MidSouth Super Lawyers and five attorneys were selected as 2015 Mid-South Rising Stars.

Fisher & Phillips LLP announced that two of its Memphis attorneys, Senior Counsel Jay Kiesewetter and Regional Managing Partner Jeff Weintraub, were selected for inclusion in the 2015 Mid-South Super Lawyers by their peers. Associate Courtney Leyes is also listed in Rising Stars for the second consecutive year.

Archer Malmo announced that it has been named to the 2016 B2B Top Shops, a listing of the top 50 U.S. B2B marketing agencies selected by the editors of Chief Marketer, a trusted source of insights and ideas for more than 140,000 brand and B2B marketers.

Counterpart Communication Design has won 11 Davey Awards, including one top award of Gold. The Davey Awards honor the best in web, design, video, advertising, mobile, and social from small agencies worldwide. This is Counterpart’s first year to enter the international contest.

Jackson Lewis P.C., one of the largest workplace law firms in the world representing management, is pleased to announce it has been named a Tier 1 firm in Memphis for Labor Law—Management; and Litigation— Labor & Employment by U.S. News — Best Lawyers “Best Law Firms” in 2016.

Dunavant has been recognized by Dow Chemical Company with the North American Gold Road Carrier Safety/Security Award for the secure transportation of Dow products during 2014. The annual award is based on Dow data for mileage, shipment count, and incident history of Dow products. Dunavant has safely and securely transported Dow domestic products with zero serious, moderate, or minor carrier-caused transportation incidents.

The Memphis Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) presented its 2015 VOX Awards for excellence in communications last October. The agencies receiving Best in Show, Gold, and VOX awards were: archer>malmo PR, 4 Gold Awards, 5 VOX Awards; Obsidian PR, 2 Gold, 3 VOX; Greater Memphis Chamber, 2 Best in Show, 3 VOX; Le Bonheur

Seventy-eight attorneys with Baker Donelson, including 27 from the Memphis office, have been named to the 2015 edition of Mid-South Super Lawyers. David L. Bearman, Leo M. Bearman Jr., E. Franklin Childress Jr., R. Mark Glover, Kristine Roberts, Jill M. Steinberg, and Buckner Wellford were also named among the top 100 attorneys in Tennessee and the top

Awards

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Jose & Jennifer had a clear vision.

For 25 years, that vision to open a bed & breakfast never wavered. So when they finally found the perfect place, all they needed was a team who shared that vision to help make it a reality.

See Jose & Jennifer’s story at my.triumphbank.com

The My Triumph campaign exists to spotlight everyday people fulfilling their dreams.

These are our customers, and these are their stories of triumph. What’s your triumph?

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The HOT Sheet contin u ed from page 10 50 attorneys in Memphis by Mid-South Super Lawyers.

Angie C. Davis, Kristine L. Roberts, and Jill M. Steinberg were named among the top 50 female attorneys in the Mid-South. A total of seven attorneys from Baker Donelson were named to this list, which is the highest number of honorees from one firm in the 2015 Mid-South Super Lawyers list.

The American Medical Association (AMA) presented Michael Cates, executive vice president of The Memphis Medical Society, with the Medical Executive Lifetime Achievement Award. The award is given by the AMA to honor a medical association executive who has contributed substantially to the goals and ideals of the medical profession. Cates has helped establish the Midsouth chapter of the Medical Group Management Association, served on the Dean’s Advisory Committee for the University of Memphis School of Public Health, and served on the board of the Common Table Health Alliance, an organization dedicated to improving health and well-being in Memphis. He has also served as president of the Tennessee Society of Association Executives, a board member to the American Association of Medical Society Executives, and as a medical executive advisor to AMA leadership.

Visible Music College has received a $2.5 million endowment at the Hope Christian Community Foundation which will support $200,000 in scholarships annually for students at the college’s original campus in Downtown Memphis.

Memphis Drum Shop won the 2015 Retail Excellent Award by Music Inc. Magazine.

Memphis Commerce Square Partners announced that One Commerce Square achieved LEED® Gold Certification, a green building certification established by the U.S. Green Building Council that recognizes best-in-class building strategies and practices. LEED® certification experts Looney Ricks Kiss (LRK) spearheaded the renovation, making One Commerce Square the first Downtown Memphis office building to receive this designation, and only the second multi-tenant office building in the Mid-South.

Google has named Memphis the 2015 eCity of Tennessee. The eCity Awards recognize the strongest online business community in each state. These cities’ businesses are embracing the web to find new customers, connect with existing clients, and fuel their local economies. Google worked with an independent research firm IPSOS to analyze the online strength of local small businesses in cities in all 50 states and Memphis is among the ranks of America’s leading cities in the digital economy.

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Great Place to Work® and Fortune have recognized Pinnacle Financial Partners as one of the 50 Best Workplaces for Camaraderie. The recognition is based on a survey of more than 255,000 employees across the country for the sense of team, fun, and collegiality in their workplace.

CBRE Group, Inc. announced that its Memphis global business services center will relocate to a new office in East Memphis in the spring of 2016. CBRE will relocate to a 47,600-square-foot office space located at 6055 Primacy Parkway. CBRE will occupy half of the 2nd floor and the entire 3rd floor of the building.

Averitt Express recently honored associate David Cook of Arlington for 25 years of safety. Averitt has developed a culture of safety by measuring both vehicle and driver performance through a series of indicators. It also strives to have the safest trucks on the road, aiming for continual improvement through training programs and awareness campaigns. Averitt’s Memphis-area facility is located at 4250 Air Trans Road.

Community Coffee Company has expanded into a new 15,500-square-foot, updated facility, moving the company closer into the city. The Memphis location will serve as a sales and distribution center for St. Louis, Nashville, and surrounding areas.

The University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC) has announced the following awards: A clinical practice improvement module developed at UTHSC was one of five national winners in the inaugural Practice Innovation Challenge sponsored by the American Medical Association (AMA) and the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA).

Anton Reiner, Ph.D., has received a grant for $617,388 from the Cure for Huntington’s Disease Initiative Foundation to study the hereditary, degenerative brain disease, often called Woody Guthrie’s disease, for its most well-known victim.

Lawrence Reiter, Ph.D., has received a grant totaling $108,000 from the Foundation for Prader-Willi Research to use a dental pulp stem cell system developed by Reiter to find gene expression changes in the nerve cells of individuals with Prader-Willi syndrome, both with and without autism. The outcome of this research could potentially identify therapeutic targets for the treatment of both Prader-Willi syndrome and autism in the future.

Kevin Hope, a graduate assistant in the Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology in the College of Medicine, has received a grant totaling $100,000 from the Dup15q Alliance.

The award will be used to study 15q Duplication, a syndrome that is caused by duplications in a chromosomal region that typically results in cognitive impairments, autism spectrum disorder, and sometimes seizures.

Inked Taurus Investment Holdings LLC has purchased Century Center Business Park, a seven-building, 520,000-square-foot light industrial park located off Interstate 40 near Whitten Road, for $48.25 million.

Savage Venture Partners, LLC, has broken ground on a new 12,000-square-foot office building at 1648 W. Massey Road. The building will serve as new headquarters for Speak Creative, a leading digital agency in Memphis, as well as provide additional space for lease. The design was conceptualized by ANF Architects and contains two stories of common areas as well as private office space.

Commercial real estate services firm Cushman & Wakefield has brokered an 800,000-square-foot industrial lease at Memphis Oaks 3, bringing the speculative property to 100 percent occupancy. The transaction at 3860 E. Holmes Road in Memphis represents the largest 2015 transaction in that market.

Patrick Walton and Kemp Conrad from Cushman & Wakefield/Commercial Advisors represented Panattoni Development Co., the property’s owner. Michael Reid and Tim O’Callaghan Binswanger represented the tenant, a Fortune 500 retail company. Cushman & Wakefield also brokered a lease renewal and expansion for DYK Automotive, doubling its distribution operation to 316,666 square feet at 4500 Malone Road in Memphis.

Magna Bank has changed its name and identity to Pinnacle Bank. Magna was merged with Pinnacle on Sept. 1, 2015, giving the firm a presence in all four of Tennessee’s urban markets and combined assets of about $8.5 billion.

Oak Hall has leased 10,000 square feet of retail space in Nashville’s upscale Hill Center development in the Green Hills neighborhood. In March, Oak Hall will open a 2,000-square-foot space specializing in men’s and women’s ready-to-wear apparel.

Lansky Bros. has relaunched its website, LanskyBros.com. The updated site is designed to provide a more user-friendly experience to their digital audience, allowing visitors to shop a wide variety of products including clothing, accessories, and gifts.

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AT FIRST WE THOUGHT THEY SAID

“CEO OF THE BEER”.

BUT HEY, THIS IS COOL TOO.

From all of us at Archer Malmo, congratulations to our 2016 CEO of the Year, Russ Williams. Thanks for making us who we are.

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The HOT Sheet contin u ed from page 12 Memphis-based Evaporcool Solutions, in partnership with NRG Energy, was awarded a contract for the Local Capacity Requirement (LCR) Preferred Resource Program.

The LCR Preferred Resource Program is a long-term plan to enhance electric grid reliability by developing portfolios of new, clean energy resources by 2022 in Southern California. Evaporcool’s contract objective is to reduce electricity consumption of commercial air conditioning by 72.5 megawatts in the footprint of Southern California Edison (SCE).

Concorde Career College in Southaven has opened its new massage therapy program. The college began holding classes for massage therapy students a year ago and the first group just graduated. The program can accommodate up to nine clients at a time.

Power and automation technology group ABB announced the company is locating new manufacturing operations in Senatobia, Mississippi, in Tate County. ABB will establish operations in the 85,000-square-foot facility formerly occupied by Twin Creeks Technologies.

The project will create 200 new jobs by its third year of operation, with another 100 expected to be added by the fifth year.

Memphis-based Crestview Collection has acquired a 435,426-square-foot warehouse at 4300 Concorde Road in Southeast Memphis for $6.9 million.

With ten locations across the Memphis area, Healthcare Realty is the go-to source for on Baptist Memorial Hospital campuses.

A variety of locations and levels of build-out provide move-in ready suites, time-share space and the ability to build to suit.

It’s your move.

Turner Construction has been selected to build the $275 million project at Methodist University Hospital. The project will include a new patient tower and a 700-space parking garage. This year marks Turner’s 10th anniversary in Memphis.

The City of Germantown and EPIcenter, through a public-private partnership, have opened a collaborative working and business space in Germantown’s West Poplar Avenue District. Located in Carrefour at Kirby Woods, at the intersection of Poplar and Kirby, EPIcenter Germantown offers collaborative co-working opportunities to entrepreneurs. The 900-square-foot space features furnished cubicles, a common area that can be converted into additional workspace to accommodate growth, a conference room, Wi-Fi, and a monitoring system with secure access. Scheduled programming, networking events, and office hours will provide access to local experts in venture capital, finance and accounting, marketing and sales, City of Germantown services and support, and connections to other EPIcenter programming and events around the region.

Wesley Neurology Clinic, PC, is going to be offering a monthly multiple sclerosis clinic to focus care and resources on people in the greater Memphis area who have MS. Dr. Tulio Bertorini and Dr. Rekha Pillai are leading this effort.

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Commercial and residential landscape.

MAINTENANCE | IRRIGATION | URBAN GARDENS See our photos online at HATCHERLANDSCAPE.COM and check us out on HOUZZ.COM

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M E M P H I S

B E A T

Selected news items you might have missed since our last issue.

11.13

An anonymous donor gifts Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare and the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC) with $40 million, the single largest donation in the system’s history. Methodist CEO Gary Shorb says the gift will “greatly impact” the care given by the hospital, specifically the transplant program, as it is transformed to the next level. Funds will be used for a new comprehensive transplant facility providing stateof-the-art accommodations for all stages of the transplant process. In December, Methodist announces it will build a new $275 million facility on its Midtown campus.

11.20

Hillary Clinton visits Memphis, vowing to win Tennessee, not only in this spring’s Democratic presidential primary, but also in the November general election. In front of more than 1,000 spectators at LeMoyne-Owen College, Clinton speaks on expanding Medicaid, defending the Affordable Care Act, Syrian refugees, and her commitment to fighting ISIS.

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16 |

Swedish furniture retailer Ikea hires Memphis contractor Linkous Construction Co., to serve as construction manager for its Memphis store, set to open in the fall. Confusion on the property tax valuation earlier threatened to derail the project, but a compromise was reached with the Economic Development Growth Engine of Memphis-Shelby County, and the project is now on track.

About 225 employees will staff the 271,000-square-foot store with construction itself expected to create 500 jobs. The Cordova store will be Ikea’s first in Tennessee.

12.4

A couple of iconic sports venues in Memphis announce that they will get a bit of polishing. The University of Memphis and the Southern Heritage Classic back a plan for $4.8 million to add 4,000 more seats with backs to Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium.

The 58,508-seat stadium currently has 800 seats with backs; with the addition of 4,000 seat backs, the

stadium would lose 1,400 seats in the trade off. Across town at the FedEx Forum, Montgomery Martin Contractors apply for a $550,000 building permit for renovation on the interiors of existing offices for the Beale Street venue.

12.11

The affordable housing development known as The Artspace South Main Artist Lofts garners three new supporters to make large leaps in its fundraising goal. Those donors are SouthernSun Asset Management and Loeb Properties Inc., each donating $10,000. AutoZone also offers a contribution in line with those made by The Assisi Foundation of Memphis, Pyramid Peak Foundation, the city of Memphis, Downtown Memphis Commission, Ford Foundation, and the Hyde Family Foundations.

The three gifts will be matched dollar-for-dollar by an anonymous foundation that previously issued a $500,000 challenge grant for the project. The 58-unit development is set to break ground in April.

12.15

Memphis Commerce Square Partners announces that One Commerce Square has achieved LEED® Gold Certification, a green building certification established by the U.S. Green Building Council that recognizes best-in-class building strategies and practices. LEED® certification experts Looney Ricks Kiss (LRK) spearheaded the renovation, making One Commerce Square the first Downtown Memphis office building to receive this designation and only the second multi-tenant office building in the Mid-South.

Notable updates to the building’s core and shell include 98 percent of regularly occupied spaces having direct views to the outdoors, 82.25 percent of regularly occupied spaces receiving natural daylight, 33 percent water savings over the LEED baseline, and a 20 percent parking rebate being offered to building patrons who have a qualified low-emitting or fuel-efficient vehicle.

12.23

Varsity Brands acquires Allgoods LLC of Grand Prairie, Texas, an apparel company focused on school fundraising. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Allgoods will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Varsity, yet will maintain its Grand Prairie headquarters and a set of satellite facilities, including 200,000 square feet of distribution and manufacturing space. Memphis-based Varsity is a set of businesses that market fundraising programs and products to schools, including colleges and universities, as well as churches and professional organizations. The portfolio includes Herff Jones, BSN Sports, and Varsity Spirit. Jeff Webb of Varsity was an Inside Memphis Business CEO of the Year Awards winner for 2015.

1.1

Mayor Jim Strickland, along with new city council members and a court clerk, are sworn into office. In his speech, Strickland notes that the city still has many problems ahead, including debt, large payments due to the city’s pension fund, and a “tax base that is moving away.” He ensures he’s ready to meet those challenges head-on and move the city forward: “Over the next four years I will do everything in my power to restore trust where it is broken and hope where it is lost. I’ll work every single day to make our streets safer, our city stronger, create jobs and increase wages, improve roads and transportation.”

1.7

Memphis Police Director Toney Armstrong announces he will leave the department for a job at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital as the hospital’s director of security.

Armstrong enrolled in the city’s Deferred Retirement Option Program [DROP] last year and was scheduled for retirement in 2017. Armstrong served the MPD for 27 years. He returned to Memphis after serving in the Army and began his work with the department. He worked undercover in the Organized Crime Unit and served in the homicide division for five years. When former Mayor A C Wharton named him director in 2011, Armstrong was the youngest person to serve in that position.

INSIDE MEMPHIS BUSINESS.COM | FEBRUARY / MARCH 2016

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Regional One Health is creating a new concept for care at our new location in east Memphis, where 385 crosses Kirby Parkway. This modern and convenient health care campus will not only provide primary care, but specialty care, too. New services include internal medicine, cardiology, endocrinology, rheumatology, reproductive medicine, urogynecology, an outpatient rehabilitative medicine center, imaging center, and a pharmacy. It’s not just our job to create new, convenient services that help you live a healthier life; it’s what we love to do.

WE’RE PROUD TO ANNOUNCE

a new campus IN EAST MEMPHIS.

Learn more at RegionalOneHealth.org/East

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Your life. Our passion.

Regional One Health

1/11/16 9:56 AM

not only as race-day attire, but as billboards for the next year’s event. “If a client is stuck with t-shirts in their closet,” says Routh, “that could be the profit margin for that race.”

Routh’s connection with a local t-shirt vendor forms yet another strand in the network of this new enterprise. And don’t forget the police. Routh’s first contact after securing an event is with the sheriff ’s department to ensure safety for runners along the entire course.

Routh emphasizes her majority ownership of PR Event Management, making it a

ILLUSTRATION BY RETROSTAR | DREAMSTIME

S P O R T S

WHEN YOU HAVE FITNESS UNDER YOUR BELT, YOU HAVE A BETTER LIFESTYLE.

On your mark . . .

• • •

B Y

F R A N K

M U R TA U G H

The name of the business is open to interpretation, and intentionally so. Does PR Event Management stand for public relations? Personal record (in racing terms)? Or might it be a nod to Pam Routh, the woman who founded the company with her husband, Wyndell Robertson, last July? Established with the mission of promoting fitness and health in a region on too many “fattest in the country” lists, the company partners with both large businesses (Bass Pro, for instance) and nonprofits (Concord Academy, a private school in Memphis) to plan, manage, and execute races.

Whether it’s a one-day 5K or a multi-day fitness festival, Routh brings the enthusiasm of almost 30 years as a volunteer in the industry. She’s put in the sweat, too, having competed in the 1992 18 |

Ironman World Championship Triathlon in Hawaii.

The new business inherited some equipment when Robertson split from his previous operation, Start2Finish Event Management, and has since purchased a trailer, an extra truck, and much of the hardware that goes into making a race with thousands of runners possible. Routh’s background in sales and marketing (most recently with J.W. Moore Printing) has spurred the company’s growth as a brand

and social-media presence. “You have to get your accounting up,” stresses Routh, “and your web site. Those are all things that require a staff or, with my luck, [a coalition of] freelancers.”

Partnerships and trade are components of PR Event Management’s budget, covering costs (like photography) that might escalate from one event to another. Routh builds in a profit margin with the fees she charges for management of an event, which includes a “timing fee” for races officially timed (via chips worn on racers’ bibs). Once a partner covers these costs, the rest of a race’s profits go directly to the partner, or a cause. “All I want my clients to do is invite people to the party,” says Routh.

“Get the word out and, if they want to raise money, find sponsors. What drives the party is the passion of the people involved.”

One of the largest revenue streams for any race is t-shirts.

When done right, these serve

female-owned (and thus minority-owned) business as measured by the state of Tennessee. “When I was in high school,” reflects Routh, “we had basketball and cheerleading [for girls]. One in 37 women played sports. Since Title IX [in 1972], now it’s one in three women. When I got out of college, I was scared to go to a running event. But I did, and I was empowered. I want more women — and more people in general — involved with sports.

When you have fitness under your belt, you have a better lifestyle. You work better.”

PR Event Management will coordinate the 34th-annual Memphis In May Triathlon this year (May 21-22). “This is one of the longest continually running triathlons in the country,” emphasizes Routh.

“We’ve created a new active-duty and military reserves division.

We’ll have a sprint on Saturday, and the Olympic-distance race on Sunday.” The new company is negotiating with five other partners for 2016 events. You might summarize the racing community’s take on Routh’s venture with two words: powerful response.

Frank Murtaugh is managing editor of inside memphis business and memphis, and a lifelong sports fan.

INSIDE MEMPHIS BUSINESS.COM | FEBRUARY / MARCH 2016

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J U S T I C E

ILLUSTRATION BY RETROSTAR | DREAMSTIME

C R I M I N A L

make up 53 percent of the county’s population, but 87 percent of the jail population, it is especially so among African Americans of working age.

The issue is compounded by Tennessee’s extremely narrow expungement laws. In most cases, a person can never have a criminal conviction sealed.

For many Memphians, like Joyce, who have the skills and motivation to seek a good job, this further complicates an

THE IMPACT OF THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM ON OUR WORKFORCE IS CRIPPLING.

Memphis: A city of second chances • • •

B Y

J O S H

S P I C K L E R

Joyce grew up in Memphis, but she had been locked out of the workforce for years as a result of a non-violent, low-level felony she committed as a young woman. For years, she applied for nursing jobs and was repeatedly denied after the requisite background checks revealed her single prior conviction. Last fall, she again made it through every round of the hiring process at a local healthcare provider and only needed her conviction expunged in order to finally secure a stable, well-paying nursing job.

Joyce learned she qualified to have her record permanently cleared, but doing so would cost $450. The expungement fee is one of the highest in the nation, and since she had been unable to find a decent paying job, it was a significant final hurdle to getting a job. She reached out to Just City and through our Clean Slate Fund, we paid the

$450 fee and filed her order of expungement. Joyce started her job a few weeks later and is now working full-time, paying taxes, and caring for her family. Our local economy no longer defines her by her past mistake; she is an integral part of our workforce.

The economic health of a community can be measured many different ways, but we

all know the ultimate hope of any local economy is jobs. For the last 200 years, thanks to its innovative, entrepreneurial spirit and unique geography, Memphis has built an economy that powers an entire region.

Despite our proud history, the challenges facing our community leaders have never been greater as we attempt to recruit new employers and prepare our workforce for the 21st century economy. Helping people like Joyce — who are locked out of the workforce, even though they desperately want to work — is a larger part of the solution than many people realize.

According to a recent report by the Vera Institute of Justice, among counties with populations greater than 250,000, Shelby County has the second highest incarceration rate in the nation. The impact of the criminal justice system on our workforce is crippling, and given that African Americans

already challenging path to employment. By contrast, many states automatically seal some convictions after a certain period of time, and many also prohibit government and private employers from inquiring about past convictions during the hiring process. Reforms like these would create more second chances and put people to work in Shelby County and across Tennessee immediately.

Memphis has had several second chances of its own. We have faced natural disasters, war, disease, and an assassination, each one uniquely threatening our ability to thrive. Each time, we were given another chance to rebuild our city and its economy.

We should expect that someone who runs afoul of our laws be required to pay for that decision, but all too often that person is never given another chance to earn a living, care for his or her family, or contribute to our community. Our economy cannot afford to permanently shut people out of the workforce because of a past mistake.

Second chances are part of Memphis’ DNA. It’s time to consider a different way that includes more second chances and puts more deserving Memphians back to work. • Josh Spickler is the executive director of Just City, a new, Memphis-based nonprofit organization that advocates for smarter criminal justice policies.

FEBRUARY / MARCH 2016 | INSIDE MEMPHIS BUSINESS.COM |

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that specifically targets the uninsured and under-insured in low-income Memphis communities. In December, Resurrection Health joined forces with Delta Medical Center, a 143-bed medical, surgical, and psychiatric hospital offering both inpatient and outpatient services, to provide a better continuum of care for those living in the surrounding South Memphis area.

Resurrection Health took over 24/7 staffing of the hospital’s emergency department, and the partnership developed further when Delta made room for Resurrection Health’s nationally recognized family medicine residency program, turning the facility into a teaching hospital overnight.

For both organizations, this model allows for quality healthcare to be accessible for all, leading to overall better health of the community and, ultimately, lower healthcare

THIS MODEL ALLOWS FOR QUALITY HEALTHCARE TO BE ACCESSIBLE FOR ALL. costs across the board.

James Hahn, CEO of Delta Medical Center, and Dr. Rick Donlon, CEO of Resurrection Health, answer a few questions concerning the partnership.

How does your location in a healthcare desert help or hinder your ability to provide quality care?

Reaching Memphis’ medically underserved • • •

W I T H

R I C K

D O N LO N

&

J A M E S

H A H N

Memphis – specifically Southwest Memphis – represents a phenomena happening in urban areas across the nation where there are concentrated areas of mostly low-income individuals with little to no primary healthcare resources available. These “healthcare deserts” are targeted areas for organizations such as Resurrection Health, a primary healthcare organization

20 |

Hahn: The venue in which we serve provides a unique set of challenges, particularly considering that many of our healthcare consumers have socioeconomic disadvantages or are otherwise disadvantaged, which compromises their ability to access good health care and commit to proactive healthcare measures.

Donlon: Deserts, by definition, aren’t the most desirable places to live; they’re short on resources and long on needs. Resurrection Health has turned that reality on

its head by recruiting faith-motivated healthcare providers who want to be part of something bigger than themselves. For those with eyes to see, a healthcare desert can be a rewarding place to live and work.

What does your organization want to accomplish through this partnership?

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Donlon: Expanded access to high-quality care delivered in a wise and cost-effective way that benefits everyone — patients, families, employers, taxpayers, and government payers. To succeed, we’ll have to do more than provide high-quality care in the hospital and clinic; we’ll have to reach into the community with screening, prevention, health education, and strategies that address people’s deepest needs.

Hahn: The partnership with Resurrection aligns with our hospital’s mission of providing a broader platform to serve our community and attract and retain high-quality medical personnel. Our collaboration shows how organizational partnerships can have a significant impact on capability and competence in particular healthcare settings.

Do you expect this model to become a trend in other healthcare deserts?

Donlon: If we succeed in improving the quality of care for a densely populated, low-income urban community while simultaneously reducing the overall cost — and don’t lose our shirts doing it — we’ll have lots of people interested in our model.

Hahn: The success of healthcare delivery systems is still primarily determined by three major factors: cost, quality, and access. Models that improve our ability to manage these factors will ultimately drive the healthcare delivery models of the future. However, we do believe that we will continue to see trends where meaningful partnerships between providers will be utilized. •

INSIDE MEMPHIS BUSINESS.COM | FEBRUARY / MARCH 2016

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H U M A N

R E S O U R C E S

Making room for millennials • • •

B Y

M I C H E L L E

D U R H A M

Almost four million baby boomers retired in 2015 alone, making plenty of room for graduating millennials to join the workforce. While millennials have been negatively stereotyped as lazy, narcissistic, and self-entitled, this group stands to be more open-minded, collaborative, adventurous, and tech-savvy than previous generations. And the size of this large generation, coupled with its young age, makes it the bright future of America’s workforce.

ILLUSTRATION BY RETROSTAR | DREAMSTIME

Therefore, it is important for employers to recognize that millennials value different aspects of a job compared to retiring baby boomer counterparts, and companies will benefit in the long run by making changes now as the job market turns in favor of recent grads.

To begin, many Mid-South companies are making investments in technology as

MILLENNIALS GREW UP WITH COMPUTERS, ADDING TO THEIR ABILITY TO EASILY ADAPT AND MULTITASK MORE EFFICIENTLY. millennials enter the market with more proficiency in various software programs, and are drawn to personal technology like company phones, tablets, and laptops. Millennials grew

up with computers, adding to their ability to easily adapt and multitask more efficiently. Lovers of social media, they are much more likely to broadcast their concerns. On the contrary, satisfied millennials are often advocates for their employers, providing honest, free, and credible public relations. Employers are beginning to accept these changes and provide the new hardware, software, and other tech accessories that millennials value.

Flex scheduling and work environments that foster creativity and collaboration are proving to be successful incentives in attracting millennials, as well.

On average, Americans now work 47-hour workweeks and 64 percent of managers expect their employees to be reachable outside of work. To meet these demands, millennials want the flexibility to work from home when needed or to make up time later if personal responsibilities interrupt the normal 9-to-5 day.

Furthermore, many businesses are incorporating more open-space design, stand-up desks, pool tables, and even rock-climbing walls to foster creativity and collaboration.

Compensation is always a hot-button topic, but there is an especially significant disconnect between job-seeking millennials and hiring employers in this area — as compensation isn’t often taught in the academic setting. To bridge this gap,

Mid-South companies can look to participate with educational institutions, attend job fairs, and start conversations with both instructors and students about realistic compensation expectations. Additionally, employers should be aware that the average student debt has risen to $29,000,which means that student loan repayment could be a more enticing benefit offer than, say, a retirement plan.

Companies that clearly communicate their commitment to social responsibility and sustainable practices are also gaining more popularity with job-seeking millennials. Many of our client companies are involved in the community, which has been a huge selling point for the millennial generation — Memphis Food Bank, Habitat for Humanity, and Meals on Wheels are a few that come to mind immediately.

Lastly, human resources

practices that incorporate frequent feedback and detailed evaluation are highly valued by millennial employees. They like to know what others think of them and how they are performing. Also, more than 90 percent of millennials aspire to leadership positions. This means that if they are given opportunities, coached with constructive feedback, and compensated based on what they value, millennials have the potential to be a long-standing, valued asset to a company.

Overall, companies looking to secure their future with a young and talented workforce of striving millennials will succeed by paying attention to what matters and making changes where possible to adapt to this new breed of employee. • Michelle Durham is the director of staffing at Vaco Memphis, and has more than 14 years of experience in the recruiting industry.

FEBRUARY / MARCH 2016 | INSIDE MEMPHIS BUSINESS.COM |

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The technology highway • • •

B Y

C H A R L I E

S A N TO

When we think about the link between economic development and transportation in Memphis, we typically think about logisitics — the undisputed engine of our economy. But if we wish to engage in economic development that addresses poverty and inequality, it is time to prioritize moving people, not just moving boxes.

This was a key theme in the Workforce to Work Transportation Summit recently hosted by the University of Memphis Design Collaborative.

The summit built on research conducted by a graduate studio and brought together key figures from local government, nonprofit organizations, and the business community to discuss transportation challenges and coordinate strategies.

Transportation access has a more significant effect on social mobility than factors like crime, education, and family structure. In cities like Memphis — both poor and geographically sprawling — this connection between poverty and transportation is magnified. Low-income residents are disconnected from entry-level jobs by distance and by inadequate transportation 22 |

systems. A recent analysis by the Brookings Institution found that, for the typical Memphis commuter, only 26 percent of jobs are reachable by transit in under 90 minutes.

MEMPHIS HAS TWICE THE LAND AREA OF DETROIT, BUT ONLY HALF THE POPULATION DENSITY. It’s easy to think of our inadequate public transportation as a “MATA problem,” but it is also true that MATA faces a Memphis problem. In Memphis, the transportation-poverty relationship is conditioned by the geographic size of the city, spatial inefficiency, historical patterns of population and wealth decentralizations, and the industrial structure

T R A N S I T

of the local economy.

Memphis is a geographically large city (about as large as Boston, Philadelphia, St. Louis, and Cleveland combined) with a thinly spread population. Due to aggressive annexation and suburban sprawl, Memphis has twice the land area of Detroit, but only half the population density. Without a critical mass of potential riders or destinations along a corridor, it is difficult to provide service that is frequent enough to be convenient.

While MATA is the region’s only transit provider, it is not a regional transit authority.

MATA gets no funding from the suburbs and has no capacity to provide service to suburban areas with an increasing number of entry-level retail jobs.

In addition to changing how we think about transportation in an economic development context, addressing the poverty-transportation challenge will require an emphasis on comprehensive planning, and a willingness to look beyond the bus and fixed-route transit.

There is a tendency to think that addressing transportation needs for those in poverty means providing better bus service, but the implied notion that the car is for the middle-class and the

bus is for the poor is regressive and limits the realm of imagined solutions. Substantial research indicates that cars are an important piece of the link between transportation and household financial resiliency.

Suggesting strategies that could put more cars on the road is somewhat antithetical to sound planning ideology. However, past planning practices and development patterns have created a system that privileges those with automobiles. It would be inequitable to suggest that the poor carry the burden of planning principles and work their way out of poverty without the same opportunities available to the middle and upper class.

The development of “driverless car” technology is rapidly advancing and many predict that fully-autonomous vehicles, in which humans are only passengers, will soon be a reality on our roadways. Now is the time to explore whether driverless car technology could improve outcomes for transit-dependent, low-income residents. The impact of this technology will depend on how it is operationalized. For example, shared driverless cars, which could operate as smaller and more responsive public transit, would have a different effect than individually owned driverless cars. A “road train” of driverless cars could mitigate congestion, while the option to pay a premium for a driverless car to fetch the groceries could have the opposite effect.

This is an emerging research area replete with unanswered questions, but an area in which Memphis should be proactive.

While other cities search for driverless solutions to traffic jams, Memphis could position itself as the perfect case study to test whether technology can solve a different kind of transportation problem — one driven by spatial inefficiency and resulting in disparity and poverty. •

ILLUSTRATION BY MICURO | DREAMSTIME

M A S S

Charlie Santo, Ph.D., is an associate professor and chair of the Department of City & Regional Planning at the University of Memphis, where he has been teaching since 2005.

INSIDE MEMPHIS BUSINESS.COM | FEBRUARY / MARCH 2016

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7906 Players Forest Drive • Memphis, TN 38119 Phone: 901.365.3447 • Fax: 901.205.1021

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S M A L L

B U S I N E S S

C E N T R A L

The Bikesmith

A new bicycle repair shop in Binghampton has a winding history on the road.

PHOTOGRAPH BY NATHAN W BERRY

• • •

B Y

R I C H A R D

J .

A L L E Y

Step inside the newly remodeled, diamond-patterned service station on Hollywood Street and you’ll be greeted by hand-lettering on the wall imploring: Let’s Ride.

This garage is no longer a home for cars, though the wide-open space reminds you that you’re in a one-time auto shop. The display platforms hold helmets, pumps, gloves, water bottles, and, of course, bicycles. The Bikesmith is a newish (more on that -ish later) service station for bicycles founded by Jim and Julia Steffen.

It was common after the December 6th grand opening, and with the unseasonable weather we had that month, to find the five, large bay doors open, giving the shop an outdoor feel. And what’s better on an unexpectedly warm day than a cold bottle of beer — you’ll find that here as well. “When it’s warm out and the garage doors are open, people ride their bikes right in, and they just come in to chat,” Jim says.

At the far end of the front door is the work station where Jim or mechanic David Evans toil away greasing sprockets and cabling brake systems. Their stations are open to the public, set apart by bar-top tables where the public is encouraged to sit and watch and talk.

The whole scene is presided over by a wallsize mural by Lauren Rae Holtermann of faces in black-and-white, and iconic Memphis images. The wall is more than mere art, though, but is a pegboard to be hung with inventory.

The road to a brick-and-mortar Bikesmith was just that — a road. It all began in the spring of 2014 with a mobile truck. “We had decided we wanted to open a bike shop, but we kind of put that on the 10-year plan,” Jim says. “We have a daughter who’s a senior in high school — this was three or four years ago — so we decided to get her graduated and out on her own, and then start digging into really opening a bike shop. We started working towards that, I went to bike mechanic school and started helping out in local shops, going to Revolutions [bicycle co-op at First Congo in Cooper-Young], and just keeping my bike chops going.”

The road to a brick-and-mortar bicycle repair shop was long and winding for Jim Steffen, and began with a mobile unit capable of traveling far and wide to repair bikes on-site .

The Bikesmith was the food truck of bicycle servicing and could (and can still) be found all around town and beyond. With the help of the Mayor’s Innovation Delivery Team’s MEMMobile program — the trucking version of it’s already popular MEMShop program — the Steffens were able to garner a $15,000 forgivable loan and a $3,000 grant to get them started.

“We couldn’t pass this up, so we put our proposal together,” Jim says, adding that the “truck was just really successful and really well received. It was a risk; we didn’t know if Memphis would respond to it.”

“Mobile bike shops are becoming a real

working on bikes and Julia came up with the idea of going to community centers in neighborhoods and working on kids’ bikes for free or some kind of reduced rate, so we came up with this whole mobile bike shop idea and just kind of grew from that.”

And it’s this sort of accessibility that ultimately led the Steffens to the brick-and-mortar shop on Hollywood. Broad Avenue began its life as a heavily trafficked thoroughfare spawning saloons, mom-and-pop shops, and warehousing in the early- to mid-twentieth century. And it’s still a commuters’ street despite the $6 lattes, New York-inspired design, hand-crafted brews, and gluten-free menus.

“When it’s warm out and the garage doors are open, people ride their bikes right in, and they just come in to chat.” — Jim Steffen, co-owner of The Bikesmith. thing, so much so that there are franchises now, and they’re being featured in all the bicycling magazines,” Julia says. “It makes me super stoked that we’re ahead of the curve.”

As a condition of the two-year forgivable loan, the truck owners had to submit quarterly financial reports and agree to be out in the truck a certain number of hours per month, reporting where they were and what they were doing. The grant money had to be used to fix up the truck, Jim says, so that no one was “driving around in a rust bucket.”

The concept of a service station on wheels came about, Jim says, “as a way for me to keep

The arts district, as it spills to Summer Avenue and the shop Propcellar, and around the corner and down Hollywood Street, sits squarely in a blue collar neighborhood and, as often as one might see Marvel Comics-esque lycra on a thousand-dollar bicycle, you will also see someone pedaling to work on a cruiser that has seen better days.

For those workaday bikes there is The Bikesmith, just half a block from the Hamp Line that bisects the Broad Avenue Arts District.

“A lot of people that live in this neighborhood bike, there’s a lot of folks that bike up and down Hollywood here to and from work, and

FEBRUARY / MARCH 2016 | INSIDE MEMPHIS BUSINESS.COM |

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This is whaT a mulTi-asseT porTfolio looks like in real life...

in the neighborhood just on the other side of Sam Cooper there’s a lot of cyclists,” Jim says.

“And these are people without cars, and they need a good neighborhood shop that they can come to and have their bikes worked on.”

They weren’t necessarily looking to be in the Broad Avenue Arts District, and they weren’t completely aware that this leg of their dream was ready to come to fruition.

What Jim needed urgently was only about 500 square feet, a place to have a repair stand

PHOTOGRAPH BY NATHAN W BERRY

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Display platforms at The Bikesmith on Hollywood Street hold helmets, pumps, gloves, water bottles, and, of course, bicycles. Those platforms can be rolled out of the way to allow for in-house events or for the truck to park.

and some tools, a place to store parts and bikes he was working on. He was interested in security, but also accessibility. “I have a lot of customers out east and needed to be centralized,” Jim says. “It’s the perfect location for getting the truck out and around town and being within 10 to 15 miles of anywhere. I have customers in Collierville and even Fisherville, all the way down south into Mississippi. I have customers downtown and in North Memphis, though the majority are in Midtown, Germantown, and Cordova.”

The truck is not air-conditioned or heated, less than desirable working conditions in Memphis, so he needed a place to unload the four or five bikes he might pick up from a family to service. He was already paying $200 per month for a self-storage space for tools and parts, and another space just to securely lock the truck up at night.

“We talked to some of the food truck folks about where they were keeping their trucks and about getting together and trying to rent a larger space that maybe even had a prep kitchen for the food trucks, but had a storage

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area where we could all park our trucks,” Jim says. “We started exploring that and talking to folks, and that’s how it started to snowball.

When we started looking we were looking at old garages. We live just around the corner and this garage had a for lease sign on it, and it’s one of the few garages in town that has a street level bay that I can drive the truck into because a lot of the garages and warehouses that have a door big enough for my truck to drive through, they’re more of a loading dock or have a steep ramp that’s not really meant to drive something like that into. So this has worked really well that I could fit the truck in there.”

The Steffens were building on a dream to one day open their own shop and that dream included a debt-free scenario. Building on their success with MEMMobile, the couple took advantage of an Inner-City Economic Development (ICED) loan from the Economic Development Growth Engine (EDGE) for

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“ I T ’ S T H E P E R F E C T L O C AT I O N FOR GETTING THE TRUCK OUT AND AROUND TOWN AND BEING WITHIN 1 0 T O 1 5 M I L E S O F A N Y W H E R E .”

Memphis & Shelby County. The $25,000 forgivable loan required the Steffens to put up $12,500 of their own money. And they may be poster children for what these sorts of loans should be — they started small, proved their intent and viability, moved into an area in need of development, and will be an asset to the community as they continue to improve and hire more people.

The Steffens signed a three-year lease with options on the 2,000-square-foot shop which also has an 8,000-square-foot backyard where they plan to host food trucks and other events, and are even talking about putting in a pump track — a dirt course for jumping mountain and dirt bikes.

Nearly two years after The Bikesmith truck took to the streets, what the Steffens, along with interior designer Natalie Lieberman and brand-builder Luis Toro (co-owner of nearby City & State coffee and retail shop), reimagined is so much more than a service station. But the truck is still a going concern.

Jim is in charge of maintaining the fleet of 40 bikes that the Shelby Farms Park Conservancy rents out, and he’s grown a customer base in different areas of the city. He takes the truck to security companies that use bikes, the Rhodes College campus, Overton Park, parks it behind Snowden School, is at Shelby Farms every Sunday, Miss Cordelia’s once or twice a month, as well as scheduled pick-ups and drop-offs. “I’ve kind of become a local bike shop for some of those neighborhoods that aren’t close to a shop.”

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1/12/16 4:10 PM

APRIL 2015 | VOLUME IX | NUMBER 4

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APRIL 2015 | VOLUME IX | NUMBER 4

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The April/May 2016 issue of INSIDE MEMPHIS BUSINESS is our annual POWER PLAYERS ISSUE. This special issue of INSIDE MEMPHIS BUSINESS features profiles of several hundred of the area’s most powerful executives and business owners in 32 different categories.

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dhgllp.com

DHG is honored to co-sponsor IMB’s CEO of the Year Awards for the fourth year.

We recognize the skillful decision-making, indomitable commitment, and inspirational mentoring of the nominees. We are eager to see where these leaders take their businesses, and Memphis, in 2016.

The nominees for the 2016 IMB CEO of the Year were selected by the best panel possible: their peers. As a group, they reflect the highest ideals of leadership in Memphis. DHG is privileged to celebrate their vision and guidance.

As one of the largest CPA and advisory firms in the Southern U.S., DHG understands the changes and challenges that businesses face, and strives to maintain the leadership required to navigate these evolutions successfully. With both national resources and local relationships, we assist companies in attaining the best position to thrive and create new opportunities for Memphis.

It is only through the growth of Memphis’ business community that we have been able to flourish, and we appreciate these leaders’ contributions to our collective success.

Sincerely, P. Anthony Clark Regional Managing Partner DHG LLP – Memphis/Dallas-Ft. Worth

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1000+ EMPLOYEES

WINNER RICHARD SHADYAC JR. ALSAC

•••B Y J O N W. S PA R K S

200-1000 EMPLOYEES

Memphis is a city built on commerce, from its advantageous spot on the Mississippi River to its centralized placement within the country. Our business community

WINNER KEVIN McENIRY NEXAIR LLC

has changed the way the world ships, travels, and recreates, and is never short on leaders.

To choose a CEO worthy of being designated tops in any industry in Memphis is a little like choosing your favorite barbecue joint in this town.

There are so many great ones that the task is a bit overwhelming, but it sure is fun getting to know them.

The four leaders honored in the

50-200 EMPLOYEES

WINNER RUSS WILLIAMS ARCHER MALMO

following pages are no exception.

They are exemplars in their respective industries and on the stage of local, regional, national, and international business.

Narrowing the field down was no easy task to say the least, but those we’ve chosen, we believe, are representative of the greatness of our Memphis business community.

Thank you for reading. And now, the winners . . .

1 - 50 EMPLOYEES

WINNER ROLANDO TOYOS TOYOS CLINIC

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A noble mission

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PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY ST. JUDE

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If fundraising is art, then there is no greater virtuoso practitioner than ALSAC, the organization charged with keeping contributions coming in for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

St. Jude’s persuasive message is found all over the world. It helps that the mission is just about as noble as any endeavor can be: “To advance cures, and means of prevention, for pediatric catastrophic diseases through research and treatment.”

1000+ EMPLOYEES

WINNER RICHARD SHADYAC JR. ALSAC

But a laudable goal and good intentions won’t guarantee the job will get done.

It takes visionary planning, hard work, and the relentless asking of the question, “Can we do more?” — which is exactly the sort of thing that Richard Shadyac Jr. brings to the job as CEO of the American Lebanese Syrian Associated Charities.

ALSAC was started in 1957 as part of the creation of St. Jude, a genesis story that is well known. Young entertainer Danny Thomas was at a point in his life when he was unsure what to do. He sought guidance from St. Jude Thaddeus, the patron saint of hopeless causes. Thomas vowed to build a shrine in St. Jude’s name if he’d point the way.

After that, Thomas’ career took off and he set about to make good on his promise with a children’s research hospital in Memphis.

One of the people Thomas relied on was Richard Shadyac Sr., who helped get funding for the hospital that opened in 1962 and was on the board for decades. He was ALSAC’s CEO from 1992 until his retirement in 2005.

Shadyac Jr. took the reins in 2009, bringing with him his own long involvement and a stint as chairman of the board along with the paternal connection. “My father was a very driven man and he believed so much in our mission,” Shadyac says. In his 13 years as CEO of ALSAC, the senior Shadyac quadrupled the amount of money that was coming in.

That’s a remarkable achievement and was essential in keeping St. Jude running.

But the way fundraising was done then is not necessarily the roadmap for the hospital’s future. “We have a mission second to none,” Shadyac says, “but you always have to improve.

What was good for the first 40 years isn’t necessarily the right way to go for the next 10 or 20 years. We have to look for ways to do things better and challenge the status quo.”

That is his biggest job, to have ALSAC grow in a way that reflects a changing world. The emergence of millennials, the variety of multicultural influences,

“We have a mission second to none, but you always have to improve.”

and technology are having an impact on how information is processed.

“We need to transform and morph the organization as the world changes,” Shadyac says. “The pace of change is different — it’s accelerated. When I started here, the iPad was just coming out. Now everyone is on it and using truly smart phones. With this pace of change we have to make sure our mission remains relevant to all demographics.”

A recent announcement by St. Jude that it’s embarking on a $1.17 billion series of capital projects, as well as a total addition of 2,000 to the workforce of ALSAC and St. Jude, means ALSAC is going to be busier than usual. “We have to raise a lot of money for this to become a reality,” Shadyac says. “I’m working on this every day.”

The expansion is a commitment to the hospital’s growth and staying on the cutting edge of research. “We’re in a position to think about the next 50 years,” he says. “And we always ask, ‘Can we do more?’ If we believe we can, we have a moral obligation.”

For Shadyac, rising to such a challenge means having a clear philosophy of what it takes to be an effective CEO. “You have to be an authentic human being, no phoniness,” he says. “You also have to have passion for the company, the cause, and the mission. You have to have compassion and care about the people you’re leading.” He further says that the CEO must be strategic and innovative to achieve meaningful success.

There is, however, a term Shadyac uses that he feels gets to the heart of being CEO at ALSAC. “You have to be a servant leader,” he says.

That, moreover, is what shapes the fundraiser’s corporate culture. “The tone is that everyone here is a servant leader,” he says. “I work with some of the most caring, compassionate, and committed people I’ve ever met in my life. I see their passion and love and how much they care about the kids and families they serve. It takes a special person — they have to have drive and energy. We’re all servant leaders here, people willing to take less money and work longer hours than in the for-profit world.

They know their work is impactful.”

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Bucking a trend

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Kevin McEniry has a vision for success which, at first glance, might seem a bit contrarian: “We’re trying to buck a trend.”

But the savvy CEO of nexAir LLC knows his business inside out and what it takes to stay ahead of the curve. The company provides a range of gases in cylinders that are used in manufacturing, welding, lighting, and medicine among other applications.

200-1000 EMPLOYEES

WINNER KEVIN McENIRY NEXAIR LLC

The family-owned business has been around for 75 years and McEniry is the third generation to helm the company. The 45-yearold CEO has been guiding nexAir since 2007, but he started there when he was 13, working at odd jobs during the summer. “I’ve done a little of everything at the company over time,” he says, “from painting cylinders to being CEO.” The insight he’s gotten from working at all levels, and in seeing how the industry and economy have changed, brought him to this realization: “We used to run the company from the standpoint that if we grew sales, that would take care of everything. But now we’re operationally driven and have to be as efficient as we can. If we don’t, others will.”

McEniry says that nexAir is making the sales, but that many of its offerings are service-based. “But more and more people we survey in our industry say they’re getting less tech support from suppliers,” he says. “So we’re trying to avoid that.”

He says nexAir is taking the burden off of companies that have been providing their own tech support by offering tech teams who work with customers. “We’re well trained,” he says, pointing to the company’s technology advance team that includes certified welding inspectors and people with other forms of expertise. “Not only do we train our people internally, we go out and train customers on process and process improvement.”

So how has that approach been working out? Well, it’s one of the reasons nexAir has doubled revenues in the past decade.

But there are other elements that go into making a company successful and McEniry — aware of both the big picture and the small details — knows how to maintain a corporate culture that serves the business, the customers, and the employees.

“Our executive team, the top management, has an average age of under 50,” he says.

“We give people opportunities to provide value to the company at an early age and that strengthens our culture. We rarely hire outside of entry level externally.”

An employee coming in has great potential at nexAir to create a strong career path.

Employees also have a solid benefits package,

“I’ve surrounded myself with an executive team who have a lot of strengths on a day-to-day basis.”

including a strong medical benefit plan, a profit sharing plan, and a matching 401k. Some of nexAir’s growth has come from acquisitions and when those new workers come in, they each get a veteran employee they can call on to answer whatever questions may come up.

“We ingrain the culture,” McEniry says.

An integral part of that culture is community involvement. “We’re very charitable,” he says. “The community we operate in is very good to us, so there are a lot of organizations we support financially and also a number of us sit on boards.” The company supports the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Memphis, Junior Achievement, and the Orpheum. “I’m happy to provide support for them. We believe in giving back and putting our money where our mouth is.”

The road to McEniry becoming CEO involved not only working in the summers as a teenager, but also going to the University of Tennessee at Knoxville where he got an economics degree with a business minor.

He started full-time in 1994 and about six years later decided to get an MBA from Christian Brothers University to have a better grounding in finance and accounting.

Even then, there are some aspects of being a CEO that only come with on-the-job experience.

“I don’t know if I recognized this when I was 37,” McEniry says, “but I thought I had to be the expert on everything.

That can create a lot of long days.”

So he soon acknowledged that, even with his considerable awareness of the ins and outs of nexAir, there were people around him that had strengths he didn’t have.

“I’ve surrounded myself with an executive team who have a lot of strengths on a dayto-day basis,” he says. “You’ve got to let go of a lot of things — delegate. You have to be willing to let employees have responsibility.

There will be bumps in the road, and maybe some decisions could have been better, but the way to stretch employees is to let them rise to the top. The majority of time the individual will capitalize on the opportunity.”

The most daunting thing McEniry faces is the company’s ongoing success.

“The biggest challenge is managing a growing company and the operations around it,” he says. “We have to have capable people at every level as we go — we don’t want to get spread so thin that we can’t grow.”

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Running free

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1/11/16 11:40 AM

Walk into Archer Malmo’s offices on the fifth floor of the Cotton Exchange building at Union Avenue and Front Street, and you’ll feel a distinct thrum of activity. It’s not anything frantic, but feels entirely purposeful as if something intriguing is going on in every corner.

CEO Russ Williams will tell you that it’s the effect of talent being allowed to run free, an essential characteristic of the branding/advertising/PR/ digital marketing agency.

100-200 EMPLOYEES

WINNER RUSS WILLIAMS ARCHER MALMO

It’s also the sound of growth. In 2015, Archer Malmo acquired Austin-based agency Tocquigny, which resulted in a presence in that top-tier market and an additional 30 employees, bringing Archer Malmo’s population to 190.

“We have aggressive plans to continue to grow,” Williams says. “We’re one of the top 30 independent agencies in the country of this size. It has been an unusual level of success.”

That is, as the old western saying goes, no brag, just fact. Williams could brag plenty about his agency and its accomplishments, but that’s not his nature.

Ask him what it takes to be a successful CEO and he’ll tell you this: “Low ego.”

“If you’re CEO, presumably you’ve got skills or strengths so you have confidence,” he says. “But you have to have a lot of humility.

You don’t want to dominate the culture or the ideas or the thinking. If you have a low ego and you know you don’t know everything, you empower the great team of talent around you and you’re going to be more successful.”

For Williams, the key to the whole shebang is that Archer Malmo is what he calls a talent-driven business: “It’s like a hypothesis that says if you build a culture that is enormously attractive to the most talented and creative marketing and technology people, and those people are inspired to come here and do their best work and do it in a collaborative way, doesn’t it automatically follow that the work they’re going to do will be the best they can possibly do and that the results for our clients would be superior? And doesn’t it follow that we’d then be able to retain and attract clients? That’s the reason we’ve had this growth.”

He allows that there are other strategic decisions at play, particularly investing aggressively in digital. “Our business today is 50 percent digital, which might surprise a lot of people,” he says. “We have close to 60 digital specialists and we do everything in-house.”

Archer Malmo has won barrels full of awards over the years (there actually are big clear barrels in the agency lobby with scads of trophies) that point to its successes.

“I’m a big believer in a high degree of freedom for the talent.”

But Williams is mindful that the ad business is tough. “We’re not retail that has thousands or hundreds of thousands of customers. The nature of our business is high customer concentration. They change over time; the budgets they have can change dramatically from year to year. We’re trying to run a business that is stable for our employees and trying to sustain that over a long period of time in a business where the top line is destined to be volatile, that’s the hardest thing. And that’s chronic.”

It is, however, a fact of life. Williams finds that the book Good to Great by Jim Collins offers plenty of sage advice, including “Face the Brutal Reality.” “Leadership has to accept it and be aware of it and be wise about how to manage it,” Williams says.

“We want durability and stability.” The independent and privately owned company does that by being financially conservative.

“We’re not living on the edge and we’re prepared for downturns,” he says. During the recent recession, Archer Malmo did some investing, “and we came out the other side much more competitive, and that has contributed to our growth since.”

Along with that prudence are some other characteristics that Williams believes are essential to making a successful CEO. “I’m a big believer in a high degree of freedom for the talent,” he says. “And authenticity is important. I have to be the same person in good times and bad, at home and at work, no matter what group you’re working with.”

Further, he says that strategic action is important: “We live in a dynamic world that’s constantly changing and when you’re taking action, then you’re experimenting, you’re putting ideas out there for real-world feedback, you’re adapting and pivoting off of those ideas.” But, he says, it has to be strategic action as opposed to a thoroughly researched strategic plan that ends up gathering dust.

That action comes from making good use of, as Williams says, “filling your company with a truckload of intellectual horsepower. Smart people benchmark themselves against the cutting edge. We have a lot of intellectual horsepower and they line up to tell me how the world is changing and how we have to adapt.”

And that, Williams will tell you, is how it goes when you put talent first.

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Following a vision

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Dr. Rolando Toyos has a vision, which isn’t surprising for an ophthalmologist, but it’s not just about providing good eye care for his patients. It goes well beyond that, from the entrepreneurial (adopting the latest technological advances) to the charitable (providing free treatment for patients who can’t pay for it).

It’s something of a super-vision, which fits right in with Toyos’ ambitious, energetic nature.

50-100 EMPLOYEES

WINNER ROLANDO TOYOS TOYOS CLINIC

He started his business in 1998, not long out of his residency. The group he was in was disbanding, so he pondered whether to join a new group or start his own practice. Toyos, being a take-charge type, didn’t want someone else making decisions for him on how to practice and which patients could be treated according to their financial situation. He wanted it all and wanted to be in the middle of it.

Toyos Clinic, which specializes in vision, optical, and facial cosmetic surgery, will treat anybody who needs what they offer, but he’s quick to tell you it isn’t the workplace for everyone. “If you want to do the same thing and stay with the status quo, this isn’t it,” he says. “We are always looking forward, we never stand still.

Ophthalmology is a high-tech specialty and that’s one thing that attracted me.

We adopt new technology, research new ways to help patients, and stay at the cutting edge. We’re small, so we can make changes quickly. The hard part of that is these technologies are very expensive, so bringing them to market can be a stretch for the clinic, but that’s our commitment and what we try to do.”

That says, you might think that the clinic, with six locations in Mississippi and Tennessee, is a fairly exclusive enterprise.

Toyos, however, is just as interested in investing in the community as he is in new technology: “Giving back is the ultimate in what you do with your life.”

To that end, he and his wife, Dr. Melissa Morrison Toyos, formed the Toyos Foundation to provide free care and contribute to various charities.

He has long been involved in community affairs, working with young people when he taught high school before going to medical school. “My goal was to be a physician and also a leader in the community,” Toyos says. “Even in med school, where I was class president, I made it a mission to do

“We’re here to help people and there are so many benefits in having a business helping people in need.”

outreach at local schools.” He attended the University of Illinois College of Medicine and started a program for youngsters in Chicago who were interested in the healthcare profession. “When I moved to Tennessee I started coaching and working with kids through churches.” That led to expanding his practice to include free care, which is done locally through the Eye Care America Project established by the American Academy of Ophthalmology, and on medical mission trips that have taken him to Nicaragua, Honduras, and Haiti.

“I tell incoming employees it’s the mission of the practice to have a successful clinic and be part of the fabric of the community. Even with changes in healthcare to get more people insured, there’s still a huge group of uninsured, underinsured, and underserved people needing care.

Our nonprofit wants to deliver that.”

As much effort as it takes to keep up with the latest technology and provide care for those who could not otherwise afford it, the biggest challenge for Toyos Clinic is educating patients.

“Changes that come with the Affordable Care Act mean informing patients about new rules,” Toyos says. “Insurance is changing to higher deductibles and those have to be taken into account. Patients have to understand their insurance better and we can help, but it’s taking a lot of administrative time on our end. Also, declining Medicare reimbursements is another thing. Making things work in healthcare in this new environment is tricky, but we try to stay on top of everything and make sure we can adapt.”

Toyos the CEO is a mix of doctor, teacher, and community benefactor. With all those activities going on, he appreciates what it is to have good people to rely on.

“We’re successful because we’re a good team and that team makes me look good,” he says. “We’re here to help people and there are so many benefits in having a business helping people in need. I’m not interested in running a business where we’re creating a new widget. Treating people requires a dedication and in the long-term, we feel good about making a difference.”

FEBRUARY / MARCH 2016 | INSIDE MEMPHIS BUSINESS.COM |

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A R C H I T E C T

P R O F I L E

Tom Marshall

••• BY L ANCE WIEDOWER

The secondgeneration architect has an eye for how to improve on some of the city’s most iconic structures.

Some of Tom Marshall’s earliest and possibly best memories in architecture aren’t of the many projects his firm has been associated with through the years. A Memphis architect since 1986, Marshall was able to work alongside his father, noted architect Oscar Thomas “O.T.” Marshall at O.T. Marshall Architects, until the latter’s death in 2014 just days after his last day on the job. And the early days with his father are cherished memories.

“I grew up a bit of a nerd, on Saturdays I’d go to his office and scratch on a drawing board all morning,” Marshall says of his childhood weekends that often saw him tag along with his father. “He called me his junior architect. I latched onto it early in life.”

PHOTOGRAPH BY LARRY KUZNIEWSKI

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John Morris, the founder of Bass Pro, and his son, John Paul Morris, were captivated with the views from the top of the Pyramid. The elder Morris asked for, not only an observation deck, but a restaurant, and massive aquarium for the top of the pointed house.

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Today, Marshall has followed in his father’s footsteps, working on some of the more notable projects in recent years in Memphis, including the transformation of The Pyramid arena into the Bass Pro Shops at the Pyramid.

The massive retailer opened its doors in May 2015, and Marshall played a big role in the pointed house’s redevelopment.

O.T. Marshall first started on the project working with the city. Bass Pro founder John Morris had his own architect for the project and needed Marshall’s team to work on the seismic stabilization, and mechanical and electrical systems.

“As the city’s liaison, my first job was to negotiate the agreement,” Marshall says. “We hit it off quickly because Bill Dance and I were fishing buddies.”

Dance, an iconic fisherman who calls West

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PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY TOM MARSHALL ARCHITECTS PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY TOM MARSHALL ARCHITECTS

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Tennessee home, is a close friend of Morris’ and that relationship helped, but it was Marshall’s attention to detail that caught the ultimate admiration of the Bass Pro founder.

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The free-standing elevator is an engineering feat, isolating and stabilizing the Pyramid for seismic standards, as well as providing a structure to hold the 80,000 pounds of water it takes to fill the aquarium at the top.

tects for the project around Christmas 2013.

Things weren’t always easy, although a good relationship with Morris pushed the project through.

“John had this vision others had trouble latching onto,” Marshall says. “We heard him really well. John Morris, if he wasn’t a successful retailer, he would’ve been one hell of an architect. He was good at describing his vision. We threw out a lot of scenarios to advance the idea to the next level and he was quick to respond.”

There were challenges, namely a building with four walls that also serve as four roofs.

The facility was built nine months before seismic codes came into play in Memphis, so a seismic retrofit was the first step.

Then, halfway through the design phase, Morris and his son John Paul Morris, decided to have a race up the 439 steps to the top.

Marshall trailed the racing duo and, once he arrived at the top, he saw the Morrises mesmerized by the spectacular views of the city’s skyline, the Mississippi River, and the Arkansas flood plains beyond. Marshall’s new marching orders were to figure out how to make the city’s unrealized dream of an ob-

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PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY O.T. MARSHALL ARCHITECTS

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servation deck a reality.

Marshall maintained the integrity of the compression ring at the top while also installing an elevator through it. Then Morris added a wrinkle: He wanted to add 80,000 pounds of water for an aquarium at the top.

The elevator tower to the top isolates and stabilizes the structure for seismic standards,

[BASS PRO FOUNDER JOHN] MORRIS HAS A TIGHT CIRCLE AND HAD GONE THROUGH SEVEN ARCHITECTS FOR THE INTERIOR WORK OF THE PYRAMID. provides a structure to hold up the massive weight of the aquarium, and provides access to the observation deck and restaurant at the top.

“It’s a technological feat,” Marshall says.

“That was a very challenging 40 or 50 days for us to do.”

The Bass Pro Shops at the Pyramid has met quick success as it took an empty space and turned it into a destination that drew more

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Finding solutions is the nature of our game.

When architect Tom Marshall turned his sights and talents on Tiger Lane outside Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium, he found himself removing some of the design work his father, Oscar Thomas “O.T.” Marshall, had done for the Mid-South Fairgrounds master plan in 1977.

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than 2 million visitors by year’s end. The water-filled observation deck was one challenge.

Another came when Morris decided to add a hotel with rooms designed as a curve around parts of the interior walls of the structure.

“We were brought into this idea, but we’re not marketers and we were scratching our heads sometimes,” Marshall says. “It was such a gamble to us. The brilliance of John Morris, he knew. We weren’t sure until the last 60 days. It was such a tremendous effort.

THE TIGER LANE PROJECT IS MORE THAN JUST A SIMPLE TAILGATING SPACE. IN FACT, IT’S A CELEBRATION OF THE STADIUM’S SADDLE DESIGN. Sometimes you’re too close to a project to see. I was there for the two-millionth visitor and I looked around the parking lot and saw license plates from all over the country. This is the quintessential destination retailer for this part of the country.”

The work on the Pyramid is giving O.T.

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RENDERING COURTESY O.T. MARSHALL ARCHITECTS

Marshall Architects another level of attention with unsolicited calls coming in because of the project. For example, they are working to complete a master plan in Minneapolis for the city and its school district.

University of Memphis football fans are familiar with another of Marshall’s notable projects, Tiger Lane outside Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium. Marshall’s father designed the Mid-South Fairgrounds master plan in 1977. When the firm returned to the property, they found themselves taking down some of their own buildings.

The Tiger Lane project is more than just a simple tailgating space. In fact, it’s a celebration of the stadium’s saddle design, highlighting it from East Parkway to its center.

“It’s a wonderful piece of architecture in Memphis I thought we’d celebrate,” Marshall says. “And something I snuck in on the city was dynamic lighting. I didn’t tell anybody I’d do it. I didn’t want someone to come along and say, ‘We don’t deserve that.’ We have this pessimism that I believe the city is overcoming.”

Today, the stadium and tree-lined Tiger Lane are lit at night, providing a welcoming sense of place to East Parkway and Midtown itself. Marshall hopes it’s a precursor to what’s possible at the fairgrounds.

Along with the Pyramid transformation, it’s a lasting legacy for Marshall and one of the city’s oldest architecture firms.

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R E T A I L

2016: The year of the grape

A wider allowance for wine sales beginning in July is set to change the landscape for grocery stores and liquor stores alike.

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Wine will flow from the shelves of grocery stores in Memphis and other cities in Shelby County this summer, in a move that’s been a long time coming and one that could change the retail landscape for a long time to come.

Seven years of legislative battles in the Tennessee General Assembly on the “wine in grocery stores” issue ended in 2014 when lawmakers approved a bill that would allow for grocery store wine sales in “wet” counties, those that already allowed alcohol sales.

Grocery store owners said the lack of wine hampered sales and pointed to surrounding states as proof. Liquor store owners said grocery sales of wine could push them out of business and predicted that, at the least, the move would result in massive layoffs across the state.

In the end, a compromise was struck.

Grocery stores could sell wine and liquor stores could diversify their product offerings to include beer, mixers, accessories like bottle openers, light food, and even T-shirts. Lawmakers struck the bargain and the deal was done.

But Governor Bill Haslam’s signature on the bill was not the end of the matter. It was the starting pistol for an effort to push a vote on the issue to the state’s municipalities.

The movement, headed up by a lobby group called Red White and Food, mobilized operatives to get the 15,000 signatures needed in each city to get the wine sales issue on the next election ballot.

once housed La Hacienda Mexican restaurant next door. There, Buster’s has expanded to include a growler station to fill jugs with craft beer, and two tasting stations, one in the wine section and one in the beer and spirits section. The expansion puts the retailer at 16,000 square feet of space, a footprint that’s had store owners speculate they may be the biggest in the state.

Wine won big time in six Shelby County cities that had the issue on the ballot on November 5, 2014. In Memphis, 66 percent of voters approved the measure and 34 percent voted against it. Voters in Millington, Bartlett, Germantown, Arlington, Lakeland, and Collierville approved it, too, but not by margins wider than in Memphis.

PACK AGE STORE RENAISSANCE

S

ince then — more than a year’s time — liquor stores have beefed up their operations all over Shelby County.

The two most notable examples have to be Buster’s Liquors & Wines in East Memphis, and Joe’s Wine & Liquors in Midtown.

In May 2015, the owners of Buster’s bought the 6,000-square-foot space that 48 |

“Buster’s has always been the best in class and they are spending a ton of money to stay there with both a physical expansion of their space and with beer, specialty foods, and mixers,” says Danny Buring, a partner in the Memphis office of The Shopping Center Group. “Not all local stores have the money to get in these other types of business, much less the shelf space.”

The owners of Joe’s began gearing up for the 2016 wine-in-grocery-stores kickoff in 2014, before the bill to allow it was even approved by Memphis voters. That store nearly doubled in size and added a 30-tap growler station with 19 beer taps (many for high-gravity beers), 10 wine taps, and a kid-friendly tap for Abita Root Beer. It also expanded offerings in mixers and even a small case for Boar’s Head meat, cheeses, pickles — everything one would need for a great charcuterie plate.

THE CASH SAVER APPROACH

O

n the other side of the spectrum, though, the change in the law has been all but invisible in the aisles of Memphis grocery stores. But Rick James, owner of four local Cash Saver stores, says that — make no mistake — he, at least, is definitely gearing up for wine sales to begin on July 1st.

But the work to get there has been bureaucratic stuff in the back office, not eye-catching stuff in the aisles. He’s been sending state officials copies of corporate charters, lists of officers, lease agreements, and more in a process he says is like getting a beer license, but more detailed.

He’ll apply for wine licenses for all four of his Cash Saver stores. Each store is different in size, he says, so the amount of wine space he’ll devote to each is different. Initially, wine distributors will help him decide on brands and varieties of wines

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to carry but he’ll fine-tune his mix based on customer comments.

“Our customers who credit [the Madison Avenue Cash Saver store] with having the best beer selection in Memphis are anticipating a great wine selection, and we will look to meet their expectations,” James says.

“Some minor store layout changes are currently being planned to make that happen.

We will be matching the amount of inventory to consumer demand and feedback in each location.”

The legislature set the wine markup at 20 percent. James says wholesalers told him this was lower than the current average.

But Cash Savers’ approach to wine will be the same it applies to its other products.

It will sell all wine — whether a low-end varietal or from a high-end, top-quality winery — at the store’s cost plus 10 percent.

The markup will be 20 percent, James says, adhering to the state’s mandate and “no retail will be higher than the minimum allowed by law.”

CONSUMERS

L

ynda Nance has lived in Memphis for about nine years, but she can still clearly remember trying to find the wine section at the old Schnuck’s market on Union Avenue when she first got here. She walked around the store for about 45 minutes before asking an employee, who made her feel silly for even asking for wine at all. “I thought it was kind of ridiculous,” Nance laughs now.

Howell Evans is a longtime Memphian and remembers being surprised the first time he saw vodka and wine in an out-ofstate Walgreens. Evans admits he’s more of a brown liquor drinker, “like a good Southern man.”

Still, he enjoys a glass of wine with dinner or on the porch with his wife, Grace. He says wine sales in grocery stores will save him store-runs, but that he’ll still mostly go to liquor stores.

“What we’ll likely see is that when we’re at the grocery store, we’ll try to remember how much wine we have in the house and if we think we’re low, we’ll pick something up,” Evans says. “It’ll be more of an augmentation.”

Nance says she is a member of the wine club at Joe’s and will remain one after July

1st. While there is a convenience factor in grabbing wine at the grocery store, she says there’s room for both liquor stores and grocery stores. For evidence, she points to the Binny’s Beverage Depots in Chicago that now touts 31 locations there even with wine sales in grocery stores.

BY THE NUMBERS

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ance’s gut feeling about the Chicago market played out (theoretically, at least) in Tennessee as Red White and Food researchers put the liquor and grocery markets here under a microscope in 2012.

The study aimed to calm fears that wine in grocery stores would, indeed, cause job losses. Instead, the study found that opening the wine market would create somewhere between about 1,500 to 3,500 new jobs, depending on market growth, creating somewhere between $59.2 million to $130.4 million in new wages.

However, around 100-600 jobs “may be at risk or may shift among channels,” the study says, meaning some liquor store workers may find jobs at grocery stores and vice versa. But this would largely depend upon the business strategies of the independent liquor stores.

Wine sales in Tennessee could grow to as much as $353.8 million, the study says, and create as much as $38.2 million in new taxes for state and local coffers.

Growth projections were based on a look at wine consumption here and in neighboring states that allow wine sales in grocery stores. The U.S. average wine consumption in 2012 was .38 gallons per capita.

In the South, the figure was .31 gallons.

Virginia topped the list with .42 gallons consumed. Missouri was at .30 gallons per capita. Tennessee wine consumption was only .20 gallons.

THE RETAIL SHAKEUP

W

ine in grocery stores will mean more to Memphis than just wine in grocery stores. [Editor’s note: Kroger, by far the largest grocery outlet in Memphis, was still working out the details of their plan at press time.]

Buring says the move should attract big box liquor chains, will bring changes at more grocery and liquor stores already here, and it will probably set the stage for the coming of one wildly popular retailer.

“I think the coming of Trader Joe’s is very tied to this change,” Buring says. “Were they already coming? Most likely, but this is very significant for them. I don’t know their typical percentage of sales for wine, but I can tell you that they use a ton of shelf space to sell it.”

But Cash Saver’s James says that while selling wine will be a welcome addition to the bottom line, he’s not yet convinced it will be a “game changer” in his business.

“The average supermarket in the U.S. carries over 42,000 items [source: Food Marketing Institute], so the majority of sales volume will continue to come from what we already offer,” he says. “However, it should increase the average transaction size since wine will be an add-on to the shopping list, and that will certainly bring a welcome sales increase.”

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A

C O N V E R S AT I O N

Louis Ruffin Pounders, FAIA • • •

W I T H

E M I LY

A D A M S

K E P L I N G E R

With over 40 years spent as an architect designing buildings in Memphis, Louis Pounders has found another way to apply his professional design talent — in a book about architecture, for children. The book is titled Frank, An Architect’s Dog, and was illustrated with hand-drawn, watercolor images by retired Memphis architect Terry DeWitt.

resultant storyboard was akin to a sketch I would have done for a building.

Why did you choose to make a “board book?”

Foremost, I wanted a book that could by read by (and to) young children that showed examples of architecture. For that audience, I wanted a book that was easy to read, straightforward, with compelling and simple imagery.

How did you select the artist for the book’s illustrations?

Terry DeWitt and I have been friends for many years. He was an early partner in Hnedak Bobo, back in the days before computer-generated design. He found that he liked doing renderings more than actual architecture, so he developed a career of doing renderings for other architects. I thought he would be perfect for this project — and he was!

How did you choose your story’s narrator?

The book is narrated by a golden retriever named Frank. Goldens are known to be a friendly, popular breed and I thought having a dog as the guide for the book would make it easier for children to connect with the story.

What made you decide to write a children’s book?

As an architect, you have to respond to issues via design, and you have a responsibility to the client and to a larger audience to make the building the contextual. Buildings are more than just separate individual units, they create environments. I had been thinking about related activities that I could contribute to as an architect and a book was one of them. I thought writing a children’s book related to architecture would be a way to introduce people to architecture at a very fundamental level.

How did you go about the actual formation of your book?

I followed a very similar approach to the way I approach designing buildings. Although

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this book was self-initiated rather than a response to a client, the process was very similar. First, I approached the story by considering what I wanted the end result to be, in this case a basic introduction to the field of architecture. Then, much as I would divide a three-dimensional building into space, I divided the form of the book into what it would take to complete it — creating a team of editors, artists, and a printing company. It took about a year to put my book together and I self-published it in June (2015) through Print Ninja.

What was your role in developing the form of the book?

As ideas began to flow, I mocked up the whole book myself, page by page, in terms of its preliminary design. The

Frank — that’s an interesting choice for the dog’s name. Any significance there?

Yes, the book is dedicated to renowned Memphis architect Francis P. Gassner, FAIA, who was a mentor to me in the early 1970s and had a large influence on my professional work. I had already written two books about Mid-Century Modern design when I had the idea for a children’s book, using Gassner as the inspirational source.

Gassner died in 1977 at age 50. Many of the structures depicted in the book, including the State Office Building, the Shelby County Administrative Building, the C&I Bank Building (now Visible Music College), and Gassner’s own Midtown home, are buildings he designed in Memphis; even his 1964 Porsche is included.

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Where did you grow up?

I’m a native Memphian.

And where did you go to school?

Grahamwood Elementary, followed

by White Station Middle and White Station High School (class of 1964).

College consisted of a BA from Rhodes College (Class of 1968), then a Master of Architecture degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Design.

Tell us about your family.

My wife, Dorothy, and I have a son, Brad, who lives in Memphis, and a daughter, Elizabeth, who also lives here, but will soon to move to Oxford, Mississippi.

Any favorite pastimes?

I enjoy traveling and, as a member of the national AIA Committee on Design, I have the opportunity to travel twice a year for conferences to some interesting places, both domestic and international.

Do you have a favorite travel destination?

Actually I have two favorite places: New Orleans and Italy. I love the food, the ambience, the history, and the architecture of both places. I usually travel to New Orleans at least once a year.

And I’m fascinated with Italy. I spent six weeks in Rome several years ago and that gave me a wonderful opportunity to get to know that city. My wife and I went back to Rome just last year.

What books have you read lately?

I prefer historical, non-fiction, and biographies. Recently I’ve read The Swerve: How the World Became Modern by Stephen Greenblatt, Ph.D.; and, Operation Mincemeat, Double Cross and A Spy Among Friends by Ben MacIntyre, all true stories about the British Secret Service. And, I’ve always loved The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe.

Most memorable advice you’ve ever received?

“It takes two people to do a rendering — one to draw it and one to stand behind you and tell you when to stop.”

Louis R. Pounders with ANF Architects took a year to publish his children’s book “to introduce people to architecture at a very fundamental level.”

Do you have a favorite quote?

Where is your book available?

“We shape our buildings and ever after they shape us.” Winston Churchill.

Locally, you can find it at Burke’s Book Store in Midtown, the Booksellers at Laurelwood, Bookstop Plus in Bartlett, and at our office, ANF, at 1500 Union Avenue. You can also purchase it at the local AIA (American Institute of Architects) Memphis office at 511 South Main, as well as the national AIA bookstore and the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C. The Library of Congress has a copy, too, as does the Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library, here in Memphis.

What quality do you appreciate in others?

My cousin, James Ruffin, was very influential in my life. He taught me about the ability to extend yourself graciously, and I appreciate that ability in others. He also taught me to appreciate design and learn from the world around you. I’m certain that he influenced my own design sensibilities and desire to travel.

What has been the most personal building you’ve designed?

I designed a house for my cousin James when he retired and wanted to build a house in Monteagle, near Chattanooga.

We did this house project together and designed it for entertaining. The project was great fun and it actually won an award.

In 2014, Louis Pounders was honored with the William Strickland Lifetime Achievement Award by the Tennessee chapter of the American Institute of Architects, the organization’s highest honor. The award is named for the architect who designed the Tennessee State Capitol Building in 1859.

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W O M E N

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A R C H I T E C T U R E

Building on the Future.

• • •

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J.

A L L E Y

This year, the highest honor the American Institute of Architects (AIA) can bestow upon one of its members — the Gold Award — will go to Denise Scott Brown and her husband and longtime collaborator Robert Venturi, of the Philadelphia firm Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates. The AIA, according to its website, is “the leading professional membership association for licensed architects, emerging professionals, and allied partners since 1857.” The award has been presented to “an individual(s) in recognition of a significant body of work of lasting influence on the theory and practice of architecture” since 1907. With so much history and pomp behind it, this year will mark the first time this nearly 160-year-old institution has granted its 109-year-old award to a living woman architect (it was awarded to Julia Morgan posthumously in 2014).

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Mary Haizlip’s projects for Haizlip Studio include Beale Street Landing; Discovery Place Nature Museum in Charlotte, North Carolina; University of Memphis’ University Center; and the Scott Family Amazeum in Bentonville, Arkansas.

Awards don’t define success. Success can be seen in “a significant body of work of lasting influence,” as the AIA states, and in any personal satisfaction gleaned over a career, but awards do foster recognition and help promote an industry, and this is recognition and awareness young girls considering the profession of architecture might well need. As the push is on to recruit school-age girls into STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) programs, a role model on the national stage certainly couldn’t hurt.

This is especially true when the AIA reports that only 18 percent of all registered architects in the country are women. This is mirrored locally where, out of 276 members of the Memphis chapter of AIA, only 44 are women.

Despite this dearth of women in architecture in Memphis, there is optimism: Their community is closeknit, and they hold positions of leadership among the local AIA. With elections held this past January, Mary Haizlip of Haizlip Studio is past-president, and Carolyn Wills of Bottletree Design Group is president-elect.

Kate Haywood, brg3s, held the position of Intern Development Program (IDP) director.

Haizlip is the third female president of AIA-Memphis in its 62-year history (that award for Denise Scott Brown, by the way, was announced by the national

AIA’s fifth woman president). Haizlip graduated from the University of Memphis in 1999, and says that her class was close to 10 percent women. “I don’t know if, as I was growing up, and the women before me, we just weren’t encouraged into going into more of an engineering side of a career path,” she says. “I think it’s traditionally more of a man’s world.”

Susan Golden is a partner with brg3s, the firm behind several buildings on the campus of the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis Slim Collaboratory, and the YoLo shops. She was told by her mother as they perused the UT-Knoxville course catalogue, “You’d probably like architecture. You like math and you like science and art.” She was drawn to art, but a talk with her father about being “self-sufficient” led her back to her mother’s suggestion. “You don’t just try architecture,” Haizlip says. “It’s sort of an intense program, pretty rigorous as far as time, and somehow it fit me and I made it through. I really grew to love the education process of it.”

In her first year, Golden says, about 100 freshman went into the program with only half of them graduating. Of that graduating class, she adds, about 20 or so were women. “What’s great about it is that there are a lot more women [in the profession], they’re younger, FEBRUARY / MARCH 2016 | INSIDE MEMPHIS BUSINESS.COM |

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Heather Ashbrand’s (Allen & Hoshall) projects include the Career Technology Center for DeSoto County Schools, and the Southaven Middle School Cafeteria renovation.

there are a lot of women coming out of architecture school, and you can kind of see it moving up the ranks, which is nice,” she says. At brg3s, there are three licensed architects out of 15 full time employees, including two interior designers, who are women.

Valentina Shands-Puppione, a partner with Architecture, Inc., a small but storied firm based at 88 Union Avenue, attended UT as well, graduating in 2002. A seminal moment for her was walking into Architecture 101 to find it helmed by a woman. Marleen Davis was not only a professor and revered architect, but dean of Architecture and Design at the school for nearly 10 years. It made an impression.

“When they start you out in architecture school at Tennessee, you’re with the Interiors program, which is almost 99 percent women,” Shands-Puppione says.

“There was no switching over to Interior Design, there was no thought of that. Why would I when I can keep going with a female dean as a role model?”

Her graduating class — like Golden’s, around 50 strong — was “30 to 40 percent women.”

There weren’t many women practicing when Shands-Puppione came back to Memphis to begin her career as an intern with Fleming Associates. But this 54 |

fact didn’t faze her. “You know, I didn’t really care, this is what I wanted to do so I just kept going.” But she did specifically go looking for female mentors and, she says, “I found them; they were there.” One of those mentors was Golden, another was Lisa Namie, a partner with Fleming. “There was somebody there who had blazed the trail in front of me.”

“I think it’s great,” Golden says of the number of women entering and exiting architecture school. “I appreciate that.” But what she’d like to see are more women making it through the entire licensing process and coming out the other side to remain in the profession. That process can be a long haul with five years of school, a minimum of three as an intern, and then the exams themselves. That’s a timeline that parallels when many women are beginning families and there becomes a battle with time; statistically, architecture loses out. “I’d like for us to, as an industry, figure out a way to understand how to make that transition a little bit better.”

While numbers are on the uptick, a hard look at the structure and the resources in place for women is necessary. In her story on Denise Scott Brown’s award, Sarah Rafson writes for Metropolis magazine: “In 2012,

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Susan Golden’s (above, far left) brg3s projects include the WKNO headquarters on Cherry Farms Road in Cordova, and the Methodist Hospice Residence.

Valentina Shands-Puppione (left), with Architecture Inc., designed the DHC corporate office on Front Street, and University Place site plan.

95 percent of U.S. architecture firms were exempt from federal leave policies. Could it help close the gender wage gap, which, despite progress, is still 79 percent?

The Gold Medal isn’t too little too late, it’s just a little with a long way to go.”

The industry is a strong one, to be sure, and can overcome a challenge as it did recently when the real estate market — bread and butter for architecture — imploded. According to the overall synopsis of a 2015 survey conducted by the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB), “The architecture profession is healthy and growing.” It adds that, after a decline in the profession following the most recent Great Recession, “the number of exam candidates who successfully completed the ARE [Architect Registration Examination] in 2014 marks the most since 2008.”

Optimistically, the NCARB notes that nearly 40 percent of the IDP completions in 2014 were by women, and that “the 15-year trend indicates steady, positive growth in the proportion of aspiring women architects.”

Having graduated from the University of Memphis in 2012, Heather Ashbrand isn’t letting any numbers — good or bad — stand in her way. “It is a field dominated by men, but it’s really only been positive for me. I

honestly don’t even think about it in that way,” she says. At Allen & Hoshall, Ashbrand is the sole woman architect out of 60 local employees. “I feel like I’m a part of a team and we’re all working towards the same goal. I’ve always had the mindset that you have to prove yourself just like anyone else; I see it as an even playing field.”

These women have made a commitment to their profession and, following the lead of those who carved out a path — Dianne Dixon with Clark/Dixon Associates, and Rebecca Conrad with ANF Architects, among others — they’re putting their mark on our city. They let their work speak for them, yet are willing to mentor those coming up behind them and champion the girls who show an interest and aptitude for art and engineering. After all, why should boys have all the fun?

“I think women aren’t letting that be a barrier anymore, the fact that this is a male-dominated field,” says Ashbrand. “We’re not letting that intimidate us as much as maybe it used to.”

FEBRUARY / MARCH 2016 | INSIDE MEMPHIS BUSINESS.COM |

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Advance Memphis was founded in 1999 to bring about economic revitalization in Memphis, Tennessee. Specifically, we focus on the 38126 zip code area of South Memphis, which includes and surrounds the Cleaborn/Foote public housing developments. We believe that adults can be empowered to change their lives and their community. Advance Memphis provides Biblically based programs that bring HOPE, KNOWLEDGE, RESOURCES, and SKILLS to the neighborhood. The residents of the neighborhood then have the tools they need to affect change. www.advancememphis.org • 901.543.8525 THIS PAGE DONATED BY TRIUMPH BANK AND CONTEMPORARY MEDIA, INC. AS PART OF THE INSIDE MEMPHIS BUSINESS “DIG DEEP FOR MEMPHIS” PROGRAM. FOR MORE INFORMATION, SEE PAGE 4.

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L E A D E R S H I P

Roquita Coleman-Williams • • •

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PHOTOGRAPH BY LARRY KUZNIEEWSKI

Roquita Coleman-Williams, solutions manager for Canadian National Railroad, has become the official ambassador tasked with reviving a smarter, more community-connected image for the company, and to alert more women that railroading and the intermodal transportation industry is a place where women can advance and thrive.

Her core responsibility as a solutions manager is “working with customers to figure out how to balance their assets moving over the railroad, or working rail markets to figure out how to balance our assets,” she says. Working in either “tonnage of goods,” or “feet of rail,” on a normal day she moves hundreds of tons of materials averaging nearly $70 million in revenue along the CN’s “WE’RE IN A CITY WHERE intricate network.

OVER 60 PERCENT OF THE “My projects center on large, long-term initiatives,” she says. “I’m good at planning and JOBS ARE RELATED TO identifying resources. For example, CN decided TRANSPORTATION. WE NEED to open a new terminal in Indianapolis.

TO EDUCATE EVERYBODY We needed to know what flows of traffic were moving in and out ABOUT WHERE THOSE JOBS that market, what current ARE AND HOW TO GET THEM.” of service levels were . . . It’s my job to figure out what service we have available in a market, and if we don’t, what services do we need to design, create, and implement to make that business move” in a designated market.

The official ambassador designation is a personal coup for Coleman-Williams. She lobbied the company for the responsibility after she made a significant breakthrough being named president of the Memphis World Trade Club to head the 2011 Port Conference here. She achieved significant results, including having CN’s President Claude Mongeau speak to more than 400 international industry attendees and creating a rail-exclusive panel co-produced by the Memphis Regional Chamber the year before.

CN is classified as a Class 1 railroad company, annually hovering near $10 billion in revenue. Walk through your home and review your staples; it’s a safe bet to say that some part of their journey to reach you was by rail. The company’s rail yard is located off 1-55 in the industrial South Memphis river port.

The facility is surprisingly clean and picturesque, and Coleman-Williams’ additional job as ambassador is to effectively draw in the public to learn more how the rails impact our lives.

CN’s pushing her forward led to a realization that she, the company, and the industry itself had more to offer than the public might imagine, especially for women.

“My job is an analytical, market-based, supply chain role. But what the company allowed me to do when I took on the job to head the port conference changed my life,” she says. “I was the first African American to serve FEBRUARY / MARCH 2016 | INSIDE MEMPHIS BUSINESS.COM |

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in that role. And I was the first female. That became a statement for CN’s commitment to diversity. So now, as an ambassador for the organization, it’s my responsibility to set the tone for the brand, how the market sees the organization, and how the community sees the industry.”

Coleman-Williams’ business-centered personal epiphany shows a particular insight that bodes well for her as CN’s own industry trumpet. The effervescent, featherweight Coleman-Williams is definitely not someone you would think of as a “railroad man,” but, even with the outdated reference she loves being one.

“CN is a very male-oriented environment, so the first thing I had to figure out was how do I lead among a group of knowledgeable, forceful men. A lot of people find ambition and aggression unattractive in a fePROGRESSIVE male, so that was a conflict I had RAILROADING to resolve. And NAMED HER AS A how do I define 2014 RISING STAR my space as a woman? What I OF NORTH AMERICAN learned is that, RAILROADS. in a male-dominated industry, it’s not to try to outdo them, but to support them with workable ideas, and the credit will come to you because you are effective.”

She can laugh about it now, but as the tale goes, experience is the best teacher. You can’t rise above the water if you’re afraid to get your face wet, and Coleman-Williams vividly recalls her own belly flop in an early part of her career in logistics before she came to CN. “We had a group meeting where I had to realize that, as the team leader, I was the disconnect on the team!” she says now, yet it was a stark, but necessary and honest realization.

“I had gone from literally growing up in hardcore South Memphis, becoming a mother at 18, then to becoming a college graduate and someone’s boss at the age of 20. I didn’t have any real role models in my home, so the only thing I knew was to imitate men, so my management style was molded by what these guys were doing. It didn’t look right. Imagine me, this 23 year old, 5-foot-3-inch person, walking around trying to imitate a grumpy white guy,

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which was the standard in our industry then.

So it wasn’t until I learned to welcome my own feminine strengths that I became a good manager. You don’t have to be hard to be diligent. I became more welcome and receiving, and it led to higher productivity and quality.”

Another challenge she welcomed was boosting the industry’s civic imprint. Because of their early site placement, Coleman-Williams points out that railroads are usually centered near poor, urban neighborhoods that were, at one time, centers of commerce.

“It’s helpful when you have advocates for the railroad out in the community, and it’s especially helpful in the African-American community when you see black people that have good jobs with the railroad,” she says.

“It softens the reception when we see people that say they love their jobs, and we’re being intentional about making sure that the railroad is representative of the community that we serve. Until we’ve done that we’ve not been successful.”

Her push for female advocacy has led to significant outreach. Gained from the Port Conference drive, CN now has a dedicated voice on the Memphis Chamber advisory board, gaining first-line knowledge of economic development projects with potential market impact for CN. The industry magazine Progressive Railroading named her as a 2014 Rising Star of North American Railroads following a spotlight in the September 2014 issue.

Finally, Coleman-Williams has authored a 28-page toolkit on trucking and a 48-page toolkit on warehousing and distribution that have become formal CN supply chain solution publications utilized in new sales manager on-boarding and training.

“We center so much of our educational resources on pushing children to become doctors or lawyers, which is great,” Coleman-Williams says. “We’re in a city where over 60 percent of the jobs are related to transportation. We need to educate everybody about where those jobs are and how to get them.”

Balanced upon all of this is her central message to women. In looking into the history of railroads, one thing is uniform: Railroad jobs have always paid well.

“That’s my main message, these are some good damn jobs,” she says. “This industry is still 80 to 90 percent male and it’s estimated that in the next 10 years we are going to need a million people to fill the supply chain industry. There are not enough white males to fill that need, so women in this industry are going to have to speak up about the jobs that are available now and in the future. I want women to know that there are good jobs in the transportation industry, that they are well paying, and third, to be intentional about coming into the industry to be leaders; to come out of college preparing to lead.”

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C O M M U N I T Y

P A R T N E R S H I P

Eclectic Eye • • •

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Both Robbie and Michael are Midtown natives and Central High School graduates, and so their first foray into community outreach began with supporting school events. “Sometimes we are able to give money for specific programs, but that’s not always possible to do because giving to public schools is so complicated,” she says. “But we try to support their specific needs. It’s a good thing to see positive energy in our local schools.”

Whenever Eclectic Eye is called upon to make a donation or attend an event, “we do all we can to participate,” she says. Project Green Fork, the Wolf River Conservancy, and Hope House are just a handful of all the Memphis charities they support. “The DeNeuville Learning Center is one we are very excited about.”

The DeNeuville Center focuses on helping women achieve their potential through educational opportunities. “They’re only two doors down Cooper, but it took a while for us to find each other,” she says.

Helping others reach their potential is a common thread weaving through the groups Eclectic Eye likes to help. Local artists, in particular, are often on the receiving end of the organization’s generosity. “The sculpture in front of the [Cooper] store by Yvonne Bobo worried me at first because I wasn’t sure how it would be received, but everyone loved it,” she says. Equally embraced by Midtowners are the various neighborhood murals painted on walls and overpasses. Those were such a hit that Eclectic Eye commissioned Michael Roy to paint one (featuring a crocodile) on their building.

Perhaps their most unique sponsorship, though, is Memphis Fashion Week (MFW), specifically the Emerging Designer Project. “With Memphis Fashion Week, we found our niche,” she says. “Eclectic Eye not only gets to promote emerging fashion designers in the area, but we also help to broaden this skill set in Memphis.”

MFW [April 4-9] began in 2011 and benefits the Memphis Fashion Fund and Memphis College of Art; EclecRobbie Weinberg and her husband, optometrist tic Eye became a major sponsor in 2012. “We promote Michael Weinberg, opened the store in 2002, but only the Emerging Designer Project winners throughout after dropping their first realtor “who advised us not the year financially and physically through events that to come to Midtown at all,” Robbie says. “Our friend culminate during Fashion Week in April.” The week Jimmy Lewis, who had a vested interest itself consists of fundraisers, parties, a in the growth and potential of Midtown, runway show, and more. Abby Phillips, owned the property and said we could be founder and director of MFW, says, “We “WITH MEMPHIS love working with Eclectic Eye because here, so we switched realtors and comFASHION WEEK, WE mitted to the location.” we have a shared vision of continued As soon as the doors opened, the growth in the fashion industry in MemFOUND OUR NICHE.” phis. As we continue to grow our event, neighborhood responded. “People were — ROBBIE WEINBERG grateful we decided to come here,” she we are also growing the endeavors of says. “We have remained loyal to the area ever since.”

Memphis Fashion Week with education in fashion deThe Weinbergs also operate a second location in Colsign and an emphasis on fashion design entrepreneurs.” lierville to serve patients and customers who live out“We want to be a part of making skilled fashion labor side the city. a big deal in Memphis,” Robbie says. “We dig it.”

L-R: Robbie Weinberg, Abby Phillips (founder and director of Memphis Fashion Week), and Dr. Michael Weinberg.

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PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY ECLECTIC EYE

There’s a disco ball hanging from the ceiling in Eclectic Eye, the upscale eyewear shop at the corner of Cooper Street and Courtland Place in Midtown. Spinning lazily, it dapples the sunny boutique in glittery light. Eyeglasses in hundreds of styles and colors shine from their perches in the windows or from cases of glass.

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I N S I D E

T H E

A R C H I V E S

Happy Hal Toys • • •

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By all standards — even the lofty ones of the Lauderdales — Hal Miller was a remarkable gentleman. Born here in 1923, he graduated from Central High School, studied at the New York Theater School of Dramatic Arts, and earned a degree in drama from Northwestern.

When he returned to Memphis he appeared in just about every play in town. Besides acting and singing, he was also an award-winning tap dancer.

But his big break came in 1955, when WHBQ-TV named him the host of a children’s show called Snicker Flickers. Over the years, that program evolved into The Happy Hal Show, featuring Miller and a curious puppet he called Lil’ Bow, which a reporter once described as “an indistinguishable blue critter.” He later told the Press-Scimitar that when he first asked the producer what the show would be, he was told,

“It’s not going to be about anything. It’s going to be whatever you want it.” Audiences obviously liked what Miller offered, for he stayed on the air for the next 17 years, hosting old movies, doing his puppet acts, and showing off the newest toys.

Owning a toy store seemed like a natural step, and in the late 1950s Miller opened his first business at the corner of Bellevue and Lamar. He always

claimed he was the first person to bring the Hula-Hoop to the Mid-South, and who’s to argue? He moved Happy Hal’s Toy Town to various locations in the next few years, eventually settling on a retail store at 1640 Union (where the Art Center is today) and a large wholesale operation at 269 Monroe.

He opened a much larger operation, Happy Hal’s Toys and Hobbies, at 666 Beale in 1975, and here an event happened that seems like something out of any child’s nightmare: His toy store burned down. The building somehow caught fire on the night of September 18, 1976. Firemen quenched the blaze before the

PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY SPECIAL COLLECTIONS, UNIVERSITY OF MEMPHIS LIBRARIES

HAL ALWAYS CLAIMED HE WAS THE FIRST PERSON TO BRING THE HULA-HOOP TO THE MID-SOUTH, AND WHO’S TO ARGUE? inventory was totally destroyed, and Miller managed to reopen the store in time for Christmas — reassuring parents trying to finish the lists their kids had given to Santa Claus.

Miller closed his toy operations in 1986 but never really retired.

He studied painting at Memphis College of Art and became president of the Memphis-Germantown Art League, which he once said “was one of the highest honors ever bestowed upon me.” He passed away in 1997, but anybody who lived here in the 1950s and beyond will always remember the name of Happy Hal.

ABOVE: Miller’s store after the fire.

LEFT: Happy Hal demonstrating a “spud gun” to kids.

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The Office Greg M. Price archimania

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• • • PHOTOGRAPHS BY ANDREA MORALES

Architect Greg M. Price is proud of his creatively cluttered office. “You can see that there are things spread all over the place,” he says. “That’s part of the creative environment. You don’t want to have everything clean and pristine because you get into the habit of not thinking. When things are messy, there are more wheels turning.”

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Price, known to his co-workers as the “tschotske king,” with reference to his collection of small desk adornments, has been an architect with the downtown firm archimania since 2002. The redheaded (and dread-headed) designer was raised in central Mississippi but moved to Memphis in 1997. A downtown resident of many years, he is a past chairman of the Design Review Board for the Downtown Memphis Commission. When asked what sort of projects he is drawn to design, Price responds, “I always tell people that my favorite project is the next one, because of getting to look towards the future and new beginnings and all that optimistic jazz.” archimania, a small firm with a contemporary approach, has recently received national attention from architectmagazine.com and the American Institute of Architects (AIA) for excellence.

Memphians will be familiar with the firm’s work on the new Hattiloo Theatre and The Blues Foundation Hall of Fame — both projects that emphasize simplicity without sacrificing specialness.

Price has a quiet disposition, but he speaks enthusiastically about good design. In addition to his work as an architect, he holds a Lighting Design Certification and a bachelor’s in landscape architecture from Mississippi State University.

Recent archimania projects that he has contributed to include Visible Music College’s new headquarters and student studios on Madison Avenue, Ballet Memphis’ new location in Overton Square, and Mercedes-Benz of St. Louis. Says Price, “I’m interested in how the architecture, landscape architecture, and lighting design can work together to create comprehensive spaces.”

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1. Awards from the American Institute of Architects (AIA): “These are some recent awards from AIA. With the AIA awards there are local, regional, and national categories.

These awards are for Tennessee, for both commercial and residential projects. All those are excellence awards, which means they are top of the line. It’s very much an honor.”

2. “Rainboil” (rainbow+oil) photo: Rainboil is one of my passions. Rain and oil and asphalt create a rainbow, so I created this hashtag called rainboil. If you go to my Instagram, there are 1,500 of them. Every time it rains I am like, ‘Alright! I can go troll the streets for rainboil!’”

3. Plastic laminate samples: “We use small, finished samples like these for all the materials in a building to work out how the finishes will contrast or complement each other. Working with small samples like these allows us to see the entirety of the project together and make sure it all works like we want it to work.”

4. Greg M. Price in the conference room at archimania, which is an open studio of collaborative designers. The firm is responsible for designing many notable cultural, office, educational, medical, retail, and residential properties around the country. Price has been with the firm since 2002.

5. Aluminum samples: “It’s used for acoustics for walls and ceilings. Not the cheapest stuff on the market. It’s something interesting to have on hand for our clients.”

6. Architectural drawings: “A lot of times it is just process. You do the same thing over and over and over in different ways until something feels right, looks right, you know, you start understanding the scale and proportion of stuff and things will start popping out as being better. And then you’ll start focusing, from the large down to the detailed.”

7. KISS figurines: “A former co-worker brought these back for me from his home in Panama.

He saw them and knew that I would like them.”

8. Foosball table: “One of our owners, Todd Walker, owns this table and had it at his house. There were several of us that got interested in foosball, it’s kind of a little culture that has grown over the years and we have competitions; it’s a pretty popular thing at about 5:30 or so.”

9. Gus’ Fried Chicken button: “There was a time where every Friday at lunch we would be at Gus’. It got to where they would actually reserve a table for us because they knew there were 10 or 12 of us coming. They never reserve tables at Gus’, so we felt kind of special. But after years and years of doing the same thing you wonder if you should try something new. Everybody loved Gus’, but we started branching out.”

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Shotwell Candy Co. • • •

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An attorney by day and candy-maker by night, Jerrod Smith has brought Memphis into the confectionary spotlight using a tried-and-true combination — a sweet tooth and good, old-fashioned hard work.

In a small town in Kansas in the early 1900s, L. Shotwell George owned and operated a general goods store stocked with sweets, and he turned a blind eye when his children would sneak caramels from the candy bins.

Nearly a century later, Grandpa Shot’s great-grandson, Jerrod Smith, went back to those confectionary roots to make a gift for friends — sweet caramels like the ones he’d grown up making with his family.

When Smith’s friends couldn’t get enough of these treats, Grandpa Shot became the namesake of Shotwell Candy Co., and Smith’s hobby turned into a full-fledged business. Three years later, Shotwell’s homemade caramels and Tennessee Toffee can be found in nearly 200 locations nationwide, and in the pages of national publications.

With a full-time job and a young family to keep him busy, those first several months turned the Smiths’ East Memphis kitchen into Shotwell’s latenight headquarters.

“I would make candy from 8 p.m. until one in the morning, seven days a week,” Smith recalls of those first months. “It sounds sort of silly to me thinking back on it, but that’s what I would do. If we went out to dinner with friends, I would come back and make candy afterward.”

With inertia from the “shop local” movement taking off in Memphis and across the country at the time, word of mouth and the support of friends got Shotwell candy on the shelves of East Tennessee luxury resort Blackberry Farm. It was there that Garden & Gun magazine found it, and the rest is history. Smith saved enough about a year-and-a-half after starting the business at home to maintain a standalone location, a 2,000-square-foot space off Shelby Oaks Drive in East Memphis where the candy is still made, packaged, stamped, and shipped by hand.

What has worked for him, both in design and taste, has also resonated with consumers across the country. Shotwell is a refreshing example of what happens when hard work pays off.

“I’m a cook at heart,” Smith says. “I love to cook. I’m also the kind of person who likes to research and practice and get things right. So that’s what I started to do. My goal was not to create a business or to create a product I could sell, it was to create the best product I could.”

Smith recalls trying 12 different butters to develop what would become Shotwell caramels. He experimented with recipes, temperatures, and ingredients before coming up with the company’s first product: the original salted caramel. Next was a hand-crushed 64 |

espresso flavor made from local J. Brooks coffee beans, and a spin on an Old Fashioned cocktail through a bourbon-infused caramel.

Over time, flavors like craft beer and pretzel, using Memphis-brewed Ghost River beer, five-spice dark chocolate, and seasonal flavors like holiday mint, were added to Shotwell’s selections. In June of 2015, Smith expanded from caramels to launch Tennessee Toffee, which secured a spot in Garden & Gun’s 2015 “Made in the South Awards” within months.

Tennessee Toffee comes in three flavors: classic dark chocolate pecan, trail mix made with dark cherries and raisins, and espresso.

“These are truly the flavors that I like to eat,” Smith says of his product development thus far. “I’ve found that other people really like what I like, or vice versa. I try to find a candy I’ve always liked that can ship well, that sells well. We don’t try to do everything, but we do toffee and caramel, I think, really well.”

The brown paper packaging and hand-stamped Shotwell logo were all selected and designed by Smith using the same creative process, a talent that in itself was a side discovery of Shotwell’s success.

“Going into this, I didn’t really think of myself as a creative person, which is wrong I’ve come to find out. Just creating a logo and development of the candy; I’ve had a lot of fun doing it. That’s an outlet for the creative side of me.”

Law school brought Smith to the Bluff City, where he has lived for nearly two decades with his wife and three daughters. He doesn’t hesitate to say he is a proud Memphian, and a little of that Memphis soul comes with every box of Shotwell candy.

“I think there is something about Memphis that is in my product,” Smith says. “Authenticity is probably the word that comes to mind most. I think Memphis is a very authentic place.”

Smith also credits part of his success to the local maker community. The support and expertise of that creative community has been huge for Smith as his company continues to grow.

“Memphis is a work-hard kind of city, and I think that’s a lot of what Shotwell is. My focus wasn’t on making a dollar, it was on making a product that was good.

I think that resonates in this city.”

While he hasn’t delved into the world of serious marketing or advertising for his company, Smith does employ old-school techniques like sending Shotwell products with a handwritten note to companies he enjoys or local social media influencers in order to create a collective awareness of his products.

“When people try it, that’s what seals it for me,” Smith says of this technique. “They usually buy one for themselves and buy more to give away. So that’s just been my approach so far. It probably isn’t academically the best way to market a product, but it’s something that rings true with me.”

Shotwell’s manufacturing facility employs up to nine people during the busy season heading into the holidays. During the spring and summer — with the exception of Father’s Day, a big holiday for Shotwell — e-commerce business slows down, but corporate and wholesale clients are sources of consistent income for the company.

“I love to watch people buy it,” Smith says. “To see people eat it for the first time, I mean there’s nothing like it. It’s nerve-wracking, but to see people really like it, it’s amazing to make something that can make people smile. I’ve got a lot of joy for that.”

In Memphis, you can find Shotwell Candy Co. products at Porcellino’s, Buster’s Wines & Liquors, City & State, and many others. Head to www.shotwellcandy.com for a full list, and keep checking in for what sweet success Smith will have next.

PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY CITY & STATE

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INSIDE MEMPHIS BUSINESS.COM | FEBRUARY / MARCH 2016

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