Greater Charlotte Biz 2009.06

G M AC F i n a n c i a l S e r v i c e s

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S p i r i t Te l e c o m

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C h a r l o t t e Te c h C a r e Te a m

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Avantcare

june 2009

(l to r) Jeffrey A. Huberman Harvey B. Gantt Founding Partners Gantt Huberman Architects, PLLC

Drawing Inspiration Client-Centered Gantt Huberman Thrives On Quality

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Offer not transferable and may not be combined with any other offer. Excludes applicable taxes and fees. Business Class Phone does not include back-up power and should there be a power outage, Business Class Phone, including the ability to access 911 services, may not be available. Additional charges apply for taxes, fees, Directory Assistance, Operator Services and calls to International locations. Offer valid for new business customers in Business Class Phone serviceable areas. Offer may not be available in all areas. Time Warner Cable Business Class reserves the right to discontinue any feature or offer at any time. Subject to change without notice.

Contract must be signed by 7/31/09 to take advantage of the offer. Products and services not available in all areas. Actual speeds may vary. Some restrictions apply. Š 2009 Time Warner Cable. All rights reserved.

C H A R L O T T E ’ S O N LY A C C R E D I T E D C U L I N A R Y P R O G R A M C H A R L O T T E ’ S O N LY A C F F A C C R E D I T E D C U L I N A R Y P R O G R A M

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cover story

Gantt Huberman Architects If a company emphasized satisfying clients and performing inspiring work, and if it were run by partners who genuinely liked each other, that could foster long-term success.

That’s what Harvey Gantt and Jeff Huberman surmised 38 years ago and their firm, Gantt Huberman Architects, thrives as a testament to that credo.

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GMAC Financial Services How hard has it been to keep GMAC afloat? “We’ve been engaged in hand-to-hand combat just staying alive,” says Al de Molina, CEO of the financial mega firm which has undergone as many changes in recent months as reflections off a disco ball.

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Spirit Telecom Telecom terminology can seem tedious, with phrases such as “cost-effective network solutions” supporting “multiprotocol, data environments.” Spirit Telecom spiffs up the lingo by saying they are “selling products that you watched on Star Trek and the Jetsons.”

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Charlotte Tech Care Team As a champion for small business owners, Mark Crall is committed to partnering with his clients and delivering worry free IT services and has customized his business plan to meet the varying needs of small businesses.

departments publisher’spost

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bizmarketing

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bizxperts

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Maximize Marketing; Magnify Impact

Smart Salvos, Select Strategies and Succinct Solutions

employersbiz

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biznetwork

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ontop

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bizbits

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Legislative and Regulatory Highlights for Area Employers

on the cover:

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S p i r i t Te l e c o m

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C h a r l o t t e Te c h C a r e Te a m

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Avantcare

june 2009

Harvey B. Gantt Jeffrey A. Huberman Founding Partners Gantt Huberman Architects,PLLC

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(l to r) Jeffrey A. Huberman Harvey B. Gantt Founding Partners Gantt Huberman Architects, PLLC

Avantcare In the mountains of North Carolina, Avantcare, Inc. has been studying biochemical addiction treatment and has created Fineta, an all natural product, that company CEO Frank Gibson says “leads to a cure, not control of alcoholism.”

G M AC F i n a n c i a l S e r v i c e s

Drawing Inspiration Client-Centered Gantt Huberman Thrives On Quality

Photography by Wayne Morris

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2009-2010 Become an Exclusive Member of The Hood Hargett Breakfast Club Current Members: !"1stAmericard

!"Integraphx

Roby !"AVP Nationwide Productions !"Business Wise, Inc. !"Carolina Panthers !"Carolinas Medical Center !"CEO Inc. !"Charlotte Bobcats !"Charlotte Checkers !"Charlotte Knights !"ClickCom, Inc. !"Crown Communications !"Diamond Springs Water !"e golf Center of Charlotte !"First Citizens Bank !"G Marshall Johnson !"Greater Charlotte Biz !"Greater Charlotte Hospitality & Tourism Alliance !"HM Properties !"Hood Hargett & Associates

!"Intercede

!"Andrew

Services, Inc. Noble Restaurants !"L.A. Management !"Lions Jewelers !"Make-A-Wish Foundation !"Merrill Lynch !"Pursuit Group !"Queen City Audio Video & Appliances !"Queen’s Cup !"Ritz Marketing !"Simile Imaging Solutions !"Sonitrol !"Thunder Road Brandworks !"Tull Mortgage, LLC !"Wagner Noble & Company !"WFNZ- CBS Radio !"Wishart, Norris, Henninger & Pittman !"YMCA of Greater Charlotte !"Jim

The Hood Hargett Breakfast Club is a ‘category exclusive’ business development organization that develops and hosts some 36 events throughout the year for its members and guests. The goal of these events: to provide success-minded business owners with first-class venues to entertain clients and prospects.

3R’s You Are Invited...

Recent Speakers:

HHBC can provide your company with the 3Rs of business networking success:

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RENOWNED SPEAKERS We pride ourselves on bringing world-renowned speakers from all walks of life to these events on an on-going basis.

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RELEVANT SUBJECTS The highlight of the breakfast is an ‘educate and inform’ message from our keynote speakers addressing issues that members and guests can use to improve their companies’ performance. Our members invite clients, key employees and prospects to attend and participate with them.

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REMARKABLE MEMBERS The key to any organization’s success is the quality of its members. We’re proud to represent the best and brightest of the local business community: men and women who have built their own companies to become leaders within their respective industries.

~Ari Fleischer ~Mike Tirico ~Stuart Varney ~Jim Nantz ~Soledad O’ Brien ~General Hugh Shelton

The Hood Hargett Breakfast Club brings in business owners and decision-makers; that’s really important. If we are going to be telling our story, we want the right person to be hearing our story. ~Angela Broome First Citizens Bank

We joined Hood Hargett Breakfast Club for the value that it gives us in reaching decision makers. In today’s sales world, it’s not just who you know, it’s how well you know them. ~Marty Conte Diamond Springs Water

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[publisher’spost] 704-676-5850

Hmmm…health care special interest groups coalesce…

President Obama has made clear that, “When it comes to health care spending, we are on an unsustainable course that threatens the financial stability of families, businesses and government itself.” He has repeatedly affirmed that “controlling health care costs is essential to getting the federal deficit under control.”

Interestingly, on May 11, 2009, President Obama received a letter from the collective interests of medical technology, insurance providers, hospitals, doctors, drug companies and health care workers offering initiatives to reduce the annual growth rate of health care spending by 1.5 percent, which has been projected at 6.2 percent. Altogether, they projected savings of $2 trillion over the coming decade.

What is particularly specious about their offerings of change and cost cutting initiatives, is its timing. It seems that the only time health care groups are heard from is when they are trying to halt or blunt political efforts to dramatically change or alter the health care system.

Those same groups came together to stop the Clinton administration from reforming health care in 1993 and 1994. While Hillary Clinton’s dogmatic approach to systemic health care reform was confrontational and virtually intransigent, these powerful groups were significant opponents of reform.

These related interest groups joined together to fight Clinton’s reform because they realized that the rate of health care spending increases at that time could not be sustained. So, in place of reform, they banded together to put forward and expand “managed care” programs to contain health care spending.

Managed care programs were structured to provide a variety of techniques to reduce health care costs and improve quality of care. These techniques were created under a collective form of health care coverage called Health Maintenance Organizations or HMOs and Preferred Provider Organizations or PPOs. Patients were herded into these groups as an alternative to proposed government-organized entities. Nevertheless, health care spending still outstripped annual growth of the gross domestic product (GDP) by 2.4 percent.

Health care spending in the United States was $2.4 trillion in 2007 or $7,900 per person.

Total health care spending represents approximately 17 percent of the GDP. With costs growing by 6.2 percent per year over the next decade, total spending is likely to reach $4.3 trillion in 2017 or about 20 percent of GDP. The average annual premium charged by a health insurer for a health plan covering a family of four was about $12,700 in 2008. Workers contributed an average of $3,400. That premium is higher than the gross earnings for a full-time, minimum-wage worker ($10,712). Since 1999, employer premiums have increased 120 percent compared with inflation growth of 44 percent and wage growth of 29 percent over the same period.

It is no wonder that President Obama and the Congress are working toward major reform of our health care system. Even without change, the costs of maintaining our health care system are destined to substantially grow over the next decade given anticipated increases in Medicare spending for baby boomers reaching their ’60s. Neither businesses nor individuals can afford the increases that are predicted.

Yes, we applaud the initiatives for cutting costs, but real cost containment will only be realized through systemic reform that causes the payers of health care premiums—businesses and individuals—to apply the discipline of examining costs and participating in health care decisions that limit or reduce spending to rein in overall costs.

Simply spending more money does not deliver better health care. Any changes in our health care system must require all of us to be more intelligent consumers of health care and more equal distributors of health care.

We can improve our lifestyles. We can improve our eating habits. We can improve our physical activity. We can stop smoking. We have lots to do. Our current system does not reward those changes in behavior. And yet it must. biz

Let me know what you think - jgalles@greatercharlottebiz.com

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June 2009 Volume 10 • Issue 6 Publisher John Paul Galles x102 jgalles@greatercharlottebiz.com

Associate Publisher/Editor Maryl A. Lane x104 maryl.a.lane@greatercharlottebiz.com

Creative Director Trevor Adams x103 tadams@greatercharlottebiz.com

Editorial & Sales Assistant Janet Kropinak x109 jkropinak@greatercharlottebiz.com

Account Executives All Advertising Inquiries x106 sales@greatercharlottebiz.com Marsha Bradford Sandra Ledbetter Dave Cartwright Bradley Jackson

Contributing Writers Ellison Clary Janet Kropinak

Contributing Photographers Janet Kropinak Wayne Morris Galles Communications Group, Inc. 5601 77 Center Drive • Suite 250 Charlotte, NC 28217-0737 704-676-5850 Phone • 704-676-5853 Fax www.greatercharlottebiz.com • Press releases and other news-related information: editor@greatercharlottebiz.com.

• Editorial: maryl.a.lane@greatercharlottebiz.com.

• Advertising: jgalles@greatercharlottebiz.com.

• Subscription inquiries or change of address: subscriptions@greatercharlottebiz.com.

• Other inquiries: please call or fax at the numbers above or visit our Web site www.greatercharlottebiz.com. © Copyright 2009 by Galles Communications Group, Inc. All rights reserved. The information contained herein has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable. However, Galles Communications Group, Inc. makes no warranty to the accuracy or reliability of this information. Products named in these pages are trade names or trademarks of their respective companies. Views expressed herein are not necessarily those of Greater Charlotte Biz or Galles Communications Group, Inc. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without written permission from the publisher. For reprints call 704-676-5850 x102.

Greater Charlotte Biz (ISSN 1554-6551) is published monthly by Galles Communications Group, Inc., 5601 77 Center Dr., Ste. 250, Charlotte, NC 28217-0737. Telephone: 704-676-5850. Fax: 704-676-5853. Subscription rate is $24 for one year. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Greater Charlotte Biz, 5601 77 Center Dr., Ste. 250, Charlotte, NC 28217-0737.

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p u r s u i n g a b a l a n c e o f b u s i n e s s a n d l i fe

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[bizmarketing]

Maximize Marketing; Magnify Impact

Marketing After the Recession

C {

Your Business Is Surviving…Have Some Fun and Make Some Money

ongratulations! Your business is surviving the recession. You made the necessary adjustments, weeded out under-performing distributors, shed unprofitable or unreliable customers, deleted poor-selling products from your portfolio, and concentrated your marketing dollars on media and channels that you could prove delivered a strong return on investment. You may have downsized, voluntarily or involuntarily, since the recession began; but at least you’re still in business.

Now, you are waiting for the recovery, the chance to again have some fun and make some money. Here are seven recommendations for marketers looking to plan ahead:

! Focus on high-potential customers. Make sure you focus on building relationships with ambitious customers in growth industries where pent-up demand is going to be unleashed once the economy turns the corner. If you’re running a B2C business, focus on cash-rich or long-term-oriented consumers to lead you into recovery. But don’t forget to stock up to take advantage of the pent-up demand that will be unleashed once other consumers get their confidence back.

! Don’t assume a return to normal. The longer and deeper “Connect with your customers in the recession, the more likely a relevant and important manner.

Particularly in times like these, people consumers will adjust their like a friendly and familiar face. You attitudes and behaviors perdon’t necessarily need to be selling manently. Their coping mechaconstantly. Show you understand that nisms may become ingrained your product or service fits someone’s and define a new normal. life. The worst thing to do is to go In addition, the competitive completely dark. Wouldn’t you want a landscape will have changed. good friend to remain in touch?”

A competitive shakeout along ~David Sable, vice chairman-coo, with new product launches may Wunderman mean consumers are looking at your products and services through new lenses. Listen closely to your customers and revise your market segmentation assumptions.

}

Marketing Tip from the Experts:

! Assess your target customers’ trust in your brand.

Clearly, trust in financial services brands has taken a beating.

Many well-known brands like Merrill Lynch will simply never win back consumer confidence; if you are working for such a brand, dust off your CV and move on. But bad behavior in the financial services sector has bruised trust in all corporate brands. Confirm that your target customers still trust you but plan to add service support and hold their hand more firmly

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in the short term, even though your service quality, measured objectively, has remained constant. ! Stay focused on costs.

Many manufacturing industries (as opposed to services industries) are plagued by global overcapacity, relative even to pre-recession demand.

Combined with excess inventories in the supply chain, especially in consumer durables, the result will be continuing downward pressure on prices. Economic recovery will not allow producers to let up #

Marketing Tip from the Experts: “Reward innovation. Stay close to those who dare to scribble on napkins or tinker in their garages. It’s not enough to just lower prices. You can’t cut your way to success. Dream of something people want that nobody else offers. Then invest in that dream.” ~Brian Brooker, CEO-chief creative officer, Barkley U.S.

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Maximize Marketing; Magnify Impact

Marketing Tip from the Experts: “A recession is an opportunity to shake up the status quo: Weak competitors are ripe for attack; underserved customer groups and undefended markets are everywhere; consumer behaviors change and adapt and, as a result, unmet consumer needs arise all around us. Some markets open up and others shut down. It’s also a time in which new technologies arise, often with little understanding initially of how they will change the marketing landscape.” ~Stewart Owen, chief strategic officer, Mcgarrybowen

on tightening cost controls and improving productivity. ! Know your lead indicators. Every good marketer knows the specific indicators, macro or micro, that predict demand for his or her product in the next period. Use common sense.

If the Wal-Mart parking lot looks less crowded, some consumers are probably migrating back to Target and vice versa.

! Develop scenarios.

How long the current recession will last is widely debated. And whether the eventual economic recovery will be gradual or dramatic is equally unknown. Marketers planning for 2009 and 2010 should bear in mind Peter Drucker’s wise advice: “A strategy is a sense of direction around which to improvise.” Know how you can source supplies and expand distribution in a hurry if demand suddenly spikes.

[bizmarketing]

! Don’t wait for permission. Most companies will not begin reinvesting until the Wall Street Journal or Ben Bernanke officially declare the recovery underway. Get ahead of the crowd. Craft your recovery plan now, and pull the trigger when your lead indicators say go. ! Smart hedging has outweighed smart marketing.

The current recession has not been kind to marketers. In many multinationals, the positive financial impacts of recession-busting marketing plans have been obliterated by commodity price volatility and weaker-than-expected overseas earnings due to the unexpected strengthening of the dollar.

Economic recovery will bring greater commodity price and exchange rate predictability. Marketing will again come to the fore as a differentiator between successful businesses and also-rans.

Source: John Quelch, Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School, HBS Working Knowledge at http:// hbswk.hbs.edu/item/6139.html; based in part on the article “Keeping a Keen Eye on Consumer Behaviour” by John A. Quelch and Katherine E. Jocz, Financial Times Managing in a Downturn supplement, February 6, 2009.

Lean Performance

Lean Times

in

In these lean times, it makes sense to send your management teams and working groups to the PIT Instruction & Training facility to learn from professional pit crew experience how to perform multiple tasks in just seconds using lean concepts that can be adapted into any business.

This unique and entertaining introduction to lean concepts can improve performance efficiency more than 200%, making any business more efficient, effective and profitable.

A one-of-a-kind combination of classroom presentation, discussion, and actual pit crew activities drive home vital lean concepts.

Call Breon Klopp or Amanda Fowler for more information!

Performance Instruction & Training 156 Byers Creek Rd. • Mooresville, NC 28117 • 704.799.3869

p u r s u i n g a b a l a n c e o f b u s i n e s s a n d l i fe

www.VisitPIT.com

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[bizXperts]

Smart Salvos, Select Strategies and Succinct Solutions

"#$!%&'#

add sight, sound and motion to online communication strategy !

According to comScore (a leading Internet researcher), U.S. consumers viewed more than 13 billion online videos last February alone. Today, more and more Web users are rapidly becoming equipped and conditioned to receive and react to audio and video-based content, propelled in part by the emergence of new multimediaenabled computers, smart phones and other devices. Is your business positioned to take advantage of this powerful new set of tools? Consider expanding your communications strategy…Think “VIDEO.” Leverage the inherent strengths of video…Unlike text-based content, Web video presentations can better convey your corporate personality and intended tone and enhance the emotional appeal of your message. Videos inspire stronger audience trust and acceptance of the content, by offering customers the opportunity to “look you in the eye” during the conversation. Seeing is believing.

Often a brief video message can be more persuasive and memorable than a lengthy written dissertation. Video can bridge great distances, allowing customers to travel to any location while they remain seated comfortably at their own keyboards. Complex concepts (like portraying product benefits, providing sequential instructions, or explaining a cause and effect relationship) are often easier and more succinctly conveyed with three-dimensional audio visual content, as well.

Keep it simple…An easy, inexpensive way to experiment with audio visual communication is the creation of a “video blog.” For less than $100, you can purchase a quality Web cam (with microphone) and record your own brief audio and

video messages directly from your desktop. Video blogs can be embedded directly within your own Web pages or passed to recipients via e-mail links. Video blogs are good vehicles to deliver new product announcements, acknowledge corporate accomplishments, encourage participation and motivate team members, or simply to build a better personal bond with your customers and associates.

Kip Cozart Use your imagination…There are many uses for video.

Produce a walking tour of your facility, demonstrate the characteristics of your product in action, present videotaped customer testimonials, dramatize the “before and after” results of your work , deliver visual documentation from a work site, or match (smiling) faces to names of key customer service associates. Along the way, video helps maintain a consistent brand while conveying affordable, engaging and reusable sales and training content to your audience.

Try these free Web video resources: Video blog hosting @ Blogger.com (Google.com). On-demand video hosting @ YouTube.com. Video chat @ AIM. com (AOL.com).

Kip Cozart is CEO of CC Communications, a Web design, programming and Internet media company. Contact him at 704-543-1171 or visit www. cccommunications.com/bizXperts/, or watch the video at http://www. cccommunications.com/services_webVideo.cfm.

Premium Value Without

Premium Cost Empowering Your Visual Marketing www.hickoryprinting.com | 1-800-HICKORY 725 Reese Dr SW | Conover, NC 28613

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(#)*+

Smart Salvos, Select Strategies and Succinct Solutions

[bizXperts]

how to better manage loan and credit risks and problems !

How to Better Manage Loan and Credit Risks and Problems Business credit or loans are sought, and business credit or loans are granted, because each of the customer borrower and the creditor lender believe one truly fundamental assumption: there will be operating revenues either (a) sufficient to make principal and interest payments to retire the debt, or (b) sufficient to make interest payments until a property or asset sale or refinancing will pay the principal.

Whether assessing risks and options, amending loan documents or customer credit arrangements, entering into forbearance agreements, or dealing with collection efforts upon default, neither the customer debtor nor the creditor lender should be acting without guidance from qualified attorneys. The consequences of missteps and missed opportunities can be high.

Many business owners and lenders have been experiencing the unhappy consequences of the failure of this fundamental assumption. Either revenues are down so there are insufficient funds for debt service, or because credit markets have tightened and acquisition spending is off, the debtor’s repayment plan based on sale of property, sale of assets or refinancing is defeated.

All business owners and business lenders are vulnerable, but the impact has been pronounced in certain businesses. Examples include automobile dealers, real estate developers and contractors/subcontractors, as well as the lenders and vendors serving these businesses.

What should a prudent business owner or business lender or financial institution do in times like these? Remember that any business granting credit to customers is a business lender, meaning any business that operates other than strictly c.o.d.

Examine Documents for Deficiencies and Act on Defaults Review the governing credit agreement or loan documents and attend to what you find! Consult a qualified attorney early and often. Below are examples of questions you should be asking and addressing with a qualified attorney.

Are the parties correctly identified? Is there proper documentation of the existence, organization and authority of the parties signing? Are the executions complete and correct? Are financing statements and recordable instruments properly filed? Are the business terms correct? Errors and omissions can injure a borrower as well as a lender.

Are the documents’ provisions appropriate, adequate, well articulated and in compliance? If not, seek amendment or accommodation from the other party to address the issues.

Have there been payment defaults? Have there been covenant defaults? Would the creditor lender even know if there have been covenant defaults? What has been

p u r s u i n g a b a l a n c e o f b u s i n e s s a n d l i fe

said or done about defaults? Are any defaults curable?

Have there been delivery defaults? Financial statements, tax returns, insurance certificates, and the like. Deliver or request them as applicable promptly. However, be cautious not to provide information not required that would raise issues unnecessarily.

What you discover and your attorneys’ advice will govern your response—or non-response to what you discover. Remember, first do no harm!

John Northey

Defaults and Workouts: Be Proactive!

Whether you are a debtor or a creditor, act early upon learning of a default, and also when a default that has not occurred is unavoidable. Engage a qualified attorney immediately. Inaction or inappropriate action could impair your rights or increase your exposure.

Cure curable defaults. Devise for your company, or require for the customer debtor, a plan for overcoming defaults not readily curable, whether they are payment defaults or covenant defaults. Provide or require reasonable financial and other information that helps demonstrate the viability of the work out plan.

Consider the benefit (and risks) of obtaining appraisals and other assessments of the debtor or the collateral.

The suspension or reduction of payments, and an extension of the time for payment, are usually the key elements of a work out plan; but they are often the hardest terms to extract as borrower, or to decide to grant as lender.

Establish reasonable (not overly optimistic) time and performance requirements. Reset covenants to achievable reality. Negotiate such concessions as make business and legal sense under the circumstances.

Seek to improve, or to alter for practicality, the potentially applicable default, indemnity and remedies provisions of the governing documents. Be fair and not overreaching.

Consider other credit relationships of the debtor and their significance. As the creditor lender seek crossdefault, cross-collateralization and provisions to better address the situation overall. As the customer debtor, seek to avoid such provisions, except for a fair concession from the creditor lender. Determine if an intercreditor agreement is needed.

Would a forbearance agreement be beneficial? (A forbearance agreement is an agreement on certain conditions that gives the debtor/borrower an opportunity to resolve its financial problems and satisfy the debt.) Exculpation, covenant not to sue, release and other provisions for the benefit of the creditor are the norm in workout arrangements and forbearance agreements. Seek to employ such provisions as a creditor lender and to avoid or circumscribe them as a debtor borrower.

Whether assessing risks and options, amending loan documents or customer credit arrangements, entering into forbearance agreements, or dealing with collection efforts upon default, neither the customer debtor nor the creditor lender should be acting without guidance from qualified attorneys. The consequences of missteps and missed opportunities can be high.

John Northey is a partner with Wishart, Norris, Henninger & Pittman, P.A., a law firm with offices in Charlotte and Burlington serving institutions, professionals, businesses and business owners. Contact him at 704-363-0010 or visit www.wnhplaw.com.

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[bizXperts]

Smart Salvos, Select Strategies and Succinct Solutions

,--./0'&0)!

taxing matters !

Underlying the provisions of any tax law is a policy consideration that is the product of our political process.

Consequently, the malodorous scent of politics is an unavoidable hazard when discussing tax policy.

Yet understanding the components of our tax policy and their implications is important for understanding our system of taxation.

Tax policy is basically the measures and methods used by our national, state and local governments to collect the money used to fund their activities. Historically, these measures and methods have varied.

Until the 16th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified, income taxes were held to be unconstitutional and the federal government’s revenues were limited to excise taxes and tariffs. Today, the list of the methods used to collect government revenues includes sales, property, estate, gift, excise, payroll, employment and income taxes as well as fees and licenses.

Currently, governments’ major source of revenue is from taxes collected on income and earnings. According to The Tax Policy Center, a joint venture of the Urban Institute and Brookings Institution, for the fiscal year 2008, individual and corporate income taxes constituted 57 percent and payroll taxes 36 percent of the federal revenue dollars collected. Of state governments’ 2006 general revenues, nearly 51 percent came as transfers from the federal government or individual and corporate income taxes.

An increasingly important aspect of tax policy is to use it to encourage behavior believed to benefit society.

For instance, if you own a home, the presumption is that you are more invested in the community in which it is located. Accordingly, tax policy includes developing provisions in the tax law to promote home ownership such as the deductibility of interest paid on a primary residence.

Permitting business to accelerate the tax benefits cost of an asset normally spread over several years into the year it is purchased in an example of tax policy promoting business activity.

Probably the most controversial component of our tax policy, however, is its use to bring about economic fairness or vertical equity (addressing social inequality through taxation). As the income tax evolved, our tax policy has become more progressive, i.e. requiring those who earn more income within a given period to pay a relatively larger percent of their income in taxes.

As evidence of the progressive nature of income taxes, the Tax Policy Center estimates that about 40 percent of tax units will pay no individual income tax or will receive a net subsidy for 2008 and that the 1 percent with the highest incomes will pay 18.3 percent of their income in

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individual income tax on average.

And while it is generally recognized that payroll taxes are regressive, claiming a relatively larger share of the income of lower-income than from higherincome households, The Tax Policy Center correctly points out in its 2008 estimates that individuals in the bottom 20 percent of earners do not pay any income John Blair tax but receive subsidies, i.e. payments, from the government totaling 8.1 percent of their income. So a portion of the regressive nature of payroll taxes is offset by the subsidies lower income households receive in conjunction with their earnings.

The Tax Policy Center estimates that about 40 percent of tax units will pay no individual income tax or will receive a net subsidy for 2008 and that the 1 percent with the highest incomes will pay 18.3 percent of their income in individual income tax on average.

A consequence of a progressive tax policy is that the cost of government is increasingly borne by fewer taxpayers. Understandably, these taxpayers are advocates for narrow or limited tax saving provisions to reduce their income taxes, adding to the tax code’s complexity and the perception of unfairness.

In effect then, what the advocates for vertical equity in tax policy have fostered is an environment in which taxpayers justify inflating or embellishing facts to meet the requirements of specially designed stipulations in the law to reduce taxes, because most taxpayers have a vague notion that locked in the recesses of the tax code are rare and illusive tax saving provisions.

Occasionally, we will ask clients whose tax returns we are preparing to describe the facts surrounding a reportable transaction; their response in many instances is some variation of, “What do they need to be?” as if facts were so malleable they could be transformed, reminiscent of the legal contortions associated with questioning what the meaning of the word “is” is.

Abraham Lincoln once said, “Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.” A similar sentiment might capture the outlook many of us have regarding taxes. Be assured, however, that the appropriate place for redress of tax or economic inequities is not in a CPA’s office.

John D. Blair Sr. is a managing partner at Blair, Bohlé & Whitsitt, PLLC, a CPA firm that provides accounting, assurance, tax compliance and planning services in addition to strategic planning and tax minimization strategies to privately held businesses. Contact him at 704-841-9800 or visit www.bbwpllc.com.

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Smart Salvos, Select Strategies and Succinct Solutions

12#-/'&3#!4.*-5

[bizXperts]

some business insights from those at the top… !

Sales in Uncertain Times • Sales people need 20 percent more prospects to stay even. No one can rest on their laurels, nor assume that a sale is coming in. Get as many prospects in that pipeline as possible!

• Nearly 50 percent of deals are lost to “doing nothing.” When asked, business owners had no real idea how to identify their target customer. Don’t chase garbage; use a score card to benchmark good customers and target new ones just like them.

• Lack of insight into sales activity and the target markets loses 10 to 20 percent of all sales. Revenue reductions from the previous quarter are due to financial reasons, poor service, or unforeseen competitive advantages. Do you track and take corrective actions?

• It takes 20 to 30 percent longer to close a sale. People are afraid to buy—which is actually quite strange, because now is the best time to buy.

Present clear and compelling value combined with a sense of urgency. Be diligent in your follow-up process.

• Companies that significantly reduce sales and marketing in 2009 will be gone in 2010.

• Sales are critical but will not cure all ills. Cash management, upgrading personnel, and touching base with all aspects key to your business is a must. Do not accept mediocrity from yourself or your people.—Allan H., Scottsdale, Ariz.

Without Confidence, Leadership is Hollow Self-confidence is the fundamental basis from which leadership grows. More fundamental than passion, communication and empowerment, leadership without first building confidence is like building a house on a foundation of sand. Especially in uncertain times, leadership is about having the confidence to make decisions. If Jeff Raynor someone is afraid to make and commit to decisions, all of the communication and empowerment in the world won’t make a bit of difference.

While the fearful will agonize over decisions and always make the safe choice, the confident will take the information that they have and take action. That is the definition of leadership.

Not only does confidence allow you to make the tough decisions that people expect from a strong leader but it’s reassuring to your employees.

It allows you to lead meetings with authority, to accept candor and open communication. And the greater they perceive your force of will, the more faith they will have in your company and its mission.—Ed H., Charlotte, N.C. Jeff Raynor, M.B.A., Certified TAB Facilitator®, heads The Alternative Board® - TAB Carolinas™, a global, small business CEO-peer group and executive coaching firm.

Contact him at 704-554-6200 or visit www.TABCarolinas.com.

Banks used to be symbols of responsibility and security.

For us, they still are.

Welcome to the South.

We think you’ll like it here. Despite the current trend, we still believe in treating our customers as neighbors and friends – not prospects, accounts or worst yet, numbers.

It’s these values that have allowed us to develop and grow in this region for over 100 years now. So if you’re looking for some common sense thinking and hard-to-find trust—welcome to the bank for you. For more information, call us at 800-218-8619 or visit us at citizenssouth.com. We look forward to talking with you.

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june 2009

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[bizprofile]

by ellison clary

KINGTION N A G B DIREC N I K TA NEW IN A

A New Way of Doing Business

GMAC

GMAC BECOMES AN ALLY

How hard has it been to keep GMAC afloat?

“We’ve been engaged in hand-to-hand combat just staying alive,” says Al de Molina, chief executive of the financial mega firm which has undergone as many changes in recent months as reflections off a disco ball.

“I’ve not spent a lot of time adding and deducting from the business lines and setting strategy,” adds de Molina of his days since taking the reins on April 1, 2008. “Just fighting tooth and nail to keep the thing going. That culminated in bank approval in late December.”

A Christmas Eve decision by the Federal Reserve allowed the financing arm of General Motors to become a bank. It also made GMAC eligible for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) and the firm promptly accepted $5 billion from the U.S. Treasury.

Then on December 31, GMAC consummated a bond exchange that produced an $11.4 billion gain, wiping out a huge loss for the year.

“For 2008, we made money,” de Molina says with a head shake, “but we made money on December 31st. We lost $9 billion from January 1 to December 30. That debt exchange recapitalized the company.

“We were hammered with massive losses all

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year,” he continues. “Mostly from the mortgage business, but a significant amount came from the auto business.”

His prognosis for 2009: “We’ll lose money.”

Indeed, the loss for first quarter 2009 was $675 million.

Banking on the Future Gloom isn’t pervasive, though. GMAC announced a new name for its online bank— Ally—in mid-May. The name change had been mulled for the past year, as the company tries to appeal to a broader range of customers.

“We want a real word that powerfully portrays who we want to be,” says to Diane Morais, head of deposit and innovation of GMAC Financial Services, which is keeping its name.

At a time when customers have become increasingly antagonistic toward banks, wary of hidden checking-account fees and mortgage fine print, and angered over bank bailouts and the financial crisis, Ally bills itself as just that: an ally. The transformation is billed as “taking the bank in a new direction,” developing new products and giving the customer more options while maintaining the highest rates.

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Just days earlier, a bankruptcy judge had ruled that Chrysler Corporation dealers and customers can get financing from GMAC, to fill a void left by moribund Chrysler Financial. Some even speculated GMAC could become the Freddie Mac of auto lending.

Charlotte’s business and government leaders were overjoyed when de Molina and GMAC announced in March that the new bank with $200 billion in assets will more than double its workforce in the Queen City.

In exchange for adding 200 new jobs to the 240 it already has, mainly in Ballantyne, GMAC will receive up to $4.5 million from the State of North Carolina and $237,000 from the City of Charlotte. That largesse reflects how welcome the news was for Charlotte, where Wachovia figures to shrink employment significantly now that it’s owned by Wells Fargo and where Bank of America is slogging through layoffs system wide that could top 40,000.

GMAC has said its new jobs in Charlotte will pay an average annual wage of more than $96,000. State officials expect the company to invest $16.4 million in Mecklenburg County.

GMAC sees Charlotte as the perfect recruiting ground for talent to transform it into a true bank holding company. Already, de Molina, a former chief financial officer at Bank of America (BofA), has lured bright stars from his alma mater. They include names such as Sam Ramsey, chief risk officer; Robert Hull, former chief financial officer at Bank of America’s Global Wealth and Investment Management Division, who took the GMAC chief financial officer post in late 2007; and Jeff Brown, exBofA treasurer who recently accepted the same title at GMAC. “We’ve hired probably 30 from Bank of America in the last couple of months,” de Molina says. “We’re talking to some others.

We’ve hired some from legacy Wachovia. And hopefully our hiring won’t stop at 200, but we’ve got significant challenges ahead of us, so that’s dependent.”

The bulk of top leadership is in Charlotte, but Detroit remains headquarters. GMAC has 2,000 employees there.

Alvaro G. de Molina CEO GMAC Financial Services

“When I give somebody my word, I stick to it,” de Molina says. “I told the governor of Michigan the headquarters would stay in Michigan. The functions that are going here are largely new functions that surround the control and management and leadership of a new kind of company, which is a bank.”

De Molina, 52, joined GMAC in August 2007 as its chief operating officer, after retiring

p u r s u i n g a b a l a n c e o f b u s i n e s s a n d l i fe

as BofA’s chief financial officer. He never left the Charlotte house he’s shared with wife Donna and their three children since 1995. Instead, he commuted from Charlotte to Detroit or to the GMAC offices in Manhattan.

More Hard Work Ahead Now he stays closer to home, but the work remains hard. #

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13

“We have to build a safe and sound financial institution from scratch,” he says.

GMAC traces its origin to 1919 as the wholly owned auto financing arm of General Motors (GM). Over time, its products and services have expanded.

In 2006, GM parted with its controlling interest to a consortium of investors led by Cerberus Capital Management, L.P. The company had diversified and entered the mortgage business big time. Bad home loans cost it about $10 billion during 2007 and 2008.

General Motors still holds a significant stake, but GMAC is no longer controlled by GM or anyone else for that matter. Besides auto finance and mortgage, it specializes in real estate finance, insurance, commercial finance and online banking.

“If you look at the balance sheet, our business is roughly two-thirds auto and onethird mortgage,” de Molina says. “We have a small commercial business, which is a good business, but it’s small because it has some competitive disadvantages, like the high cost of funds.”

GMAC’s cost of money is high because it doesn’t have a deposit network, the country is mired in what de Molina calls its “greatest credit crisis in history,” and because of huge mortgage losses.

The Ally Bank name is calculated to reflect more than that the company is a bank. The

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“If you walk around here, you won’t see people moping. We’re all excited about the challenge.” ~Al de Molina CEO

online entity will be unique in “treating customers with total transparency,” de Molina says.

The bank intends for the brand to attract customers with its “straightforward” approach of being “open, accountable, and honest,” offering no-penalty certificates of deposit, online savings accounts and money market accounts with “no monthly fees, no minimum deposits, and no minimum balances.”

“It’s based on three principles: talking straight, doing what is right for the customer and being obviously better than the competition,” says Sanjay Gupta, chief marketing officer.

That new moniker could get plastered on the Charlotte skyline since GMAC is moving uptown. It plans to take more than 106,000 square feet at the 15-story office tower rising at 440 South Church Street sometime in the last quarter of the year.

Many suspect de Molina’s former boss, retired BofA chairman and chief executive Hugh McColl Jr., a tireless proponent of center city, influenced that decision.

McColl lobbied for center city,

de Molina says, but was never pushy. After long deliberation, de Molina concluded McColl was right.

That’s not the only decision on which McColl has influenced de Molina, who joined BofA 20 years ago. He’s quick to acknowledge that the precepts he learned there have helped him through the last year.

“Everything that I did with GMAC, I learned in my time with BofA,” he affirms.

“I aspire to lead like Hugh McColl, who was the master at creating a great team and great culture.”

Putting Stock in Acumen McColl calls that a compliment, and praises de Molina’s ability to fix GMAC. “I’m sure Al has observed firsthand what has worked and what hasn’t worked in the financial sector,” McColl says. “My guess is he will need no advice or coaching to avoid the kind of problems he found when he went to GMAC.” Marc Oken, also a former chief financial officer at BofA, was head of accounting when he brought de Molina into the fold. He recognized right away that de Molina was “a very bright, clever deal guy.”

Oken, now managing partner of Falfurrias Capital Partners in Charlotte, admires how de Molina has “taken advantage of the opportunities presented by the government assistance programs to make GMAC an independent bank holding company. The next chapter,” Oken says, “has to be that he finds a way to create distribution for his products. One way would be to find a bank to merge with.”

De Molina agrees. “We have a great assetgeneration machine,” he says. “We have a liability structure problem in that we don’t have the cheap deposits of a bank. One way to solve that is to combine or roll up a retail presence. First, we need to get our own act together. But that would be, in my mind, coming shortly thereafter.”

De Molina and his charges fought market forces throughout 2008. “The hand of Adam Smith wanted to kill us,”

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he chuckles. “It tried and it tried and it tried.

And it couldn’t kill us.”

Resistance wasn’t easy. “It’s amazing how the markets are so effective at pointing out your weaknesses,” he says. “And we were nothing but a basket of weaknesses. We were plugging holes all the time.”

The GMAC people, many of whom de Molina recruited, are the reason for survival, he vows, calling them smart, dedicated and creative.

“How often do you get to walk into something this large and this broken?” he asks rhetorically. “And you work as hard as you can to fix it, surrounded by your friends both old and new. It’s a pretty cool situation.

“This company would have clearly been dead,” he adds. “There would have been 20,000 less jobs. I was able to attract a group of dedicated professionals that helped save it.

And it was worth saving. That’s both a motivating and satisfying thing.”

He pauses and adds: “And it ain’t over yet.

We’ve still got a battle to go.”

Structural Snags The most frustrating part of his job, de Molina says, is that GMAC doesn’t fully control its destiny.

“There are structural impediments to GMAC’s full recovery that we are working on with the Federal Reserve Board, the FDIC and the Treasury,” he says. “We will fix them, but all of the agencies have many critical issues beyond GMAC, so it will take time.

“In five years, if I could wiggle my nose, GMAC will still have a large auto component, because that is our strategic strength and competitive advantage,” he says. “I hope the auto business is well south of 40 percent.

Another 20 percent will be in mortgage and 40 in other, which would include commercial. So I don’t see us morphing into the unsecured space, credit card or anything like that. We’re also not going to do anything in the large corporate space.

“Asset-based lending, both commercial and consumer, is probably what we will stay close to,” he sums up.

Internationally, GMAC will slim down, he says. It will be in dramatically fewer countries than its current 31.

De Molina was 3 when his father, who was in the Cuban sugar business, defected in 1960.

He’s a Fairleigh-Dickinson University graduate who built experience with PricewaterhouseCoopers and a healthcare firm in New Jersey.

He worked with JPMorgan Chase in New York before joining BofA predecessor NCNB.

We are Ally Bank, built on the foundation of GMAC Financial Services. And with that experience we’ve learned that these times demand change and a new way of doing business. ~www.ally.com

All that attracted him to Charlotte, he says, is that his wife wanted to raise their family in the South. He’s grown attached to the city. He’s involved in some civic activities, usually working behind the scenes. He hopes his company can be a strong civic supporter, but warns that can’t happen until it’s able to repay its TARP money, an event not currently on the radar screen.

On Charlotte’s prospects during the recession and beyond, he assesses both its positives and negatives.

Obviously, banking job losses have buffeted the city, he says, but the word about the talented workforce is getting out. More companies will locate offices with between 200 and 400 workers in the area, he believes, and he thinks that can be healthier for the region’s economy long-term.

Nationally, he has faith that General Motors can stop losing money if it makes drastic changes such as ditching some revered but poor performing brands.

A devotee of German cars, de Molina bought a Cadillac when he joined GMAC.

p u r s u i n g a b a l a n c e o f b u s i n e s s a n d l i fe

“I was very pleasantly surprised at the product,” he says. “They’ve got some really healthy brands. They just need to build on those strengths.”

For the national economy, de Molina sees a long road to recovery. The country has lived largely on credit since the early 1980s, he feels, and much debt reduction must occur.

“I think the Federal Reserve and the Treasury are doing some great things to take the edge off the correction,” he continues. “But that correction has to take place.”

For GMAC, a wrenching reckoning has eased. “The interesting thing is,” de Molina says, “with the exception of some remaining pockets in the mortgage business, we don’t have an asset problem.

“The problem is, our cost of funds is very, very high,” he continues. “So we’ve got to do a lot of restructuring on the balance sheet.

That’s something that I’m looking forward to getting to work on.”

His troops are anxious, too. “If you walk around here, you won’t see people moping,” he says during a tour of the Ballantyne office.

“We’re all excited about the challenge.” biz Ellison Clary is a Charlotte-based freelance writer.

GMAC Financial Services a division of GMAC, LLC Charlotte Headquarters 3420 Toringdon Way, Suite 300 Charlotte, N.C. 28277 Phone: 917-369-2300 Principal: Alvaro G. de Molina, CEO NYSE: GKM Headquarters: Detroit, Mich.

Established: 1919 Employees: 22,000; 240 in Charlotte (projected increase of 200) Assets: $189 Billion (2008) Net Income: Approximately $1.9 billion, after $11.4 billion bond exchange (2008) Customers: 15 million (2008) New Location: Relocation to 440 South Church Street, occupying at least four floors of the 15-story building (4th quarter 2009) Business: Global finance company operating in and servicing North America, South America, Europe and Asia-Pacific; specializes in automotive finance, real estate finance, insurance, commercial finance and online banking. www.gmacfs.com www.allybank.com

june 2009

15

(l to r) Roddy Broadnax Regional Director R.Vernon Williams President and CEO Spirit Telecom, LLC

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by ellison clary

[bizprofile]

A Clear Path to the Information Highway Spirit Telecom Makes the Connections

T

elecom terminology can seem tedious, brandishing phrases such as “cost-effective network solutions” supporting “multi-protocol, multi-vendor data environments.” But Roddy Broadnax spiffs up the lingo with his excitement about his company’s capabilities.

“We’re selling products that you watched on Star Trek, the Jetsons and Johnny Quest,” says the regional director for Spirit Telecom.

That’s what his Columbia-based communications firm offers, he says, to prospects he’s called on in Charlotte for nearly a year. He uses the slightly more technical phrase—“Business Class Services”—to describe the mix of local and long distance, voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) and multiprotocol switching.

Already, Spirit Telecom provides selected services to units of the City of Charlotte, Mecklenburg County and the CharlotteMecklenburg Schools, as well as to a growing number of small- and medium-sized companies.

Broadnax and his boss Vernon Williams believe Spirit Telecom, a household word in South Carolina, can make a name for itself in North Carolina, particularly Charlotte. The pair of Rock Hill, S.C., natives anticipates bigger Queen City accounts. Down the road, Spirit Telecom could occupy a higher profile than its unnamed center city building on North Myers Street affords. If plans work out, offices in a tall center city building aren’t out of the question.

If you’re skeptical about comparing fantasy gadgets from science fiction and cartoons with real-life communications options, Williams can surprise you. Take medical applications, for instance. #

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Williams, the chief executive and president of Spirit Telecom, envisions a specialist at a central hospital location, say Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, working remotely with doctors helping a patient in a rural community such as Barnwell, S.C. The specialist in Charleston would be connected via telecommunication with the nurse and doctor in Barnwell and could peer at a computer screen showing the inside of a patient’s ear, nose or throat.

“Economical, real-time, high definition,” Williams says. “It doesn’t cost thousands and thousands of dollars to do this anymore. I think we’re going to see more and more of this ‘telemedicine’ because there is a shortage of general practitioners in this country—especially in rural areas.”

Medical is one of many applications for new and anticipated telecommunication capabilities such as VoIP, on-demand audio, on-demand Web and on-demand video. Other segments ripe for a telecom revolution are banking, accounting and legal.

Dual Duty Williams actually is chief executive of two companies—Spirit Telecom and the related PalmettoNET. Although separate companies, they are both owned by the same independent telephone companies of South Carolina.

Spirit Telecom consists of a number of independent telephone cooperatives in South Carolina as well as privately held independent phone firms that are investors in Spirit. The oldest member traces its origin to 1896, but Spirit Telecom is much newer.

In the 1990s, several of these Palmetto state phone companies formed a long distance provider called South Carolina Net. Subsequently, they created IScan for private networks to businesses. Then came switching services under the banner IDN. Finally, they added Info Avenue, an Internet hosting firm.

When the economy dipped in 2002, the other phone companies decided to combine the quartet into one: Spirit Telecom.

PalmettoNET dates to the mid-1980s when many of the same South Carolina telephone companies founded a “carrier’s carrier.” Williams calls PalmettoNET a wholesaler of intercity broadband network services to retail carriers, both wireless and wire lines.

It operates a network of more than 3,100 miles of fiber throughout the Carolinas.

Though totally separate companies, Spirit Telecom and PalmettoNET share space in the four-story Palmetto Technology Park building in downtown Columbia. Spirit has 125 employees, PalmettoNET 27. Besides Charlotte, the companies share points of presence in Raleigh, Greensoboro, Asheville and Wilmington in North Carolina, Greenville-Spartanburg and Charleston in South Carolina, and Savannah in Georgia.

PalmettoNET essentially provides the infrastructure on which Spirit

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Telecom bases its expansion plans. Spirit Telecom is classified as a competitive local exchange company, or CLEC. As such, it is not regulated.

Among the myriad local exchange firms across the nation, Spirit Telecom is small, providing about 45,000 telephone lines in South Carolina.

Williams, who retired from GTE after 27 years, discontinued his consulting services to take the reins of the two firms in 2007.

“We’re doing well, I’m very pleased to say,” Williams smiles, “in spite of the economy.” He characterizes the company’s 4 percent to 5 percent annual growth as “modest.” That’s changing for the better.

“We’ve have been selected by some large customers like the State of South Carolina,” he says.

The company was awarded the VoIP contract for the state’s 40,000-plus employees this past year.

Williams, 60, sees Spirit Telecom as a Carolinas-centric company, at least for the near term.

North Carolina is fertile for expansion, he feels, and he doesn’t discount adding significant customers in the state.

“We’re not new to the Charlotte market,” adds W.J. Jordan, vice president of sales at Spirit.

“We’ve been serving business customers in the Charlotte area for 16 years with long-distance services.”

With competitive prices, Spirit Telecom tries to provide a “differential advantage, to help our customers to sell more, reduce expenses or reduce the amount of capital expenditures.” ~Vernon Williams President and CEO

“We have helped many government agencies and companies launch and maintain Internet and other communications services. We have a suite of products and services offered across a robust fiber-optic Carolinas Network with an IP switching platform capable of serving the needs of small businesses as well as large complex enterprise corporate opportunities,” Jordan adds.

Optimistic For Charlotte Growth Signing up new customers in Charlotte could help Spirit Telecom grow at the more impressive rate Williams foresees, perhaps 10 percent or more each year. Though the company doesn’t presently have any Charlotte-area clients as large as $100,000-plus annually, Williams is

w w w. g re a t e rc h a r l o t t e b i z . c o m

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I-'. "64 ?+1( >+.CDN optimistic that the efforts of Broadnax will pay off. So is Broadnax.

“We work with many of the big banks in South Carolina managing their multi-state broadband network,” Broadnax says. “So we’ve taken the reputation we’ve earned in South Carolina and brought it to Charlotte. We’ve already started courting more national banks. We’ve got a proven track record for success that gets us to the next level.”

Indeed, Broadnax has grown familiar with Charlotte. The 51-year-old has been in the Queen City since 1994, first with Alltel, then with two different marketing companies he created, and finally with Sotto Wireless. A Charlotte resident, he joined Spirit Telecom in July 2008.

Williams describes his company’s sweet spot.

“We would like to come in and offer you a voice, a video and a data application that is tailored to you,” he says. “It enables you to collaborate, communicate and be innovative with your customers so you can be successful.”

With competitive prices, Spirit Telecom tries to provide a “differential advantage,” Williams explains, “to help our customers to sell more, reduce expenses or reduce the amount of capital expenditures.”

The communications innovations of Spirit Telecom can make it possible for a multiple individuals in separate locations around the world to dial each other on their laptop computers and hear and see each other. It’s the latest version of video conferencing, without the special #

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“your business development advisors”

“Daniel, Ratliff & Company has been providing our audit services for a number of years. We have always found them to be professional, responsive, timely and customer-focused. Their assistance has been invaluable as we have grown our business capacity and sophistication over the years.” ~ Bruce LaRowe, Executive Director The Children’s Theatre of Charlotte

T heir assistance has been invaluable... trust+strategy+integrity+planning+insight+experience

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We're not your typical CPA firm. Instead, we go beyond traditional accounting services, adding valuable insight and guidance to your growth process. Think of us as the business development partner you always wished you’d had—a Champion for your business!

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301 S. McDowell St., Ste. 502, Charlotte, NC 28204 704.371.5000 • www.danielratliff.com june 2009

19

rooms and bulky equipment.

Companies can expand their footprint with such applications, and thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a big selling point for Broadnax. Individual conferencing capability cuts jet travel and land vehicle mileage.

That makes it a â&#x20AC;&#x153;greenâ&#x20AC;? alternative and it saves time, he points out.

All Spirit Telecomâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s products can be combined into a personal computer that uses one electrical plug. That begs the question: With such convenience, why doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t Spirit Telecom find faster success in signing up clients? â&#x20AC;&#x153;Change,â&#x20AC;? Williams says with a grin. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s here. Change is happening. Once people see it,

see how it works and try it, theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re going to say, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;I need to do that.â&#x20AC;&#x2122;â&#x20AC;?

Though the company will work with any business with at least 15 employees, it has its eye on bigger fish. It competes with a long list of providers, including AT&T and Verizon.

The overall plan for Spirit Telecom in the Tar Heel state is to follow the already well-developed carrier capabilities of PalmettoNET, which plans to enhance its fiber line infrastructure. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Five years from now, you will see PalmettoNET more integrated in North Carolina,â&#x20AC;?

Williams predicts. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re going to spend a lot of money in North Carolina.â&#x20AC;? He mentions

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Wilmington and Raleigh prominently. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll spend a lot of money in Charlotte,â&#x20AC;? he adds, calling it the companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s main emphasis.

Finance and Health Care Targets The overall plan for Charlotte is to concentrate on the business voice, video and data markets and to strongly pursue clients in finance and health care. â&#x20AC;&#x153;In the next five years, I see us doing business with at least 20 percent of the regional banks in Charlotte,â&#x20AC;? Williams says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;And for at least one of the big banks, weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll be a trusted provider in new technology. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m talking Wells Fargo, Bank of America and BB&T. I think we can serve that type of client.â&#x20AC;?

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s kind of enjoyable to visit a prospect and have hard questions asked, because theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve done their homework. In return, weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re bringing the solutions theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re looking for.â&#x20AC;? ~Roddy Broadnax Regional Director

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Spirit Telecom can benefit from the natural inclination of large financial institutions to reduce risk by spreading their communication business among several providers, he thinks. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I also want to be in the door at Carolinas HealthCare and Novant,â&#x20AC;? Williams adds, switching to the medical sector. Heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d like to be involved with the medical schools at the University of North Carolina, Duke University and Wake Forest University. He cites Spirit Telecomâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ties to the Medical University of South Carolina.

Cracking Charlotte will take time, Williams concedes, and he and Broadnax are content to build business through personal contacts, service with civic organizations, and close relationships with those who sign on.

Broadnax points out his community involvement record since the mid-1990s includes the Charlotte Chamber, the Charlotte Touchdown Club, Girls on the Run of Charlotte, the Hood Hargett Breakfast Club and St. Gabrielâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Catholic Church.

These connections are bound to help in convincing prospects to give Spirit Telecom a try, Broadnax believes.

And for each new customer, Broadnax and Williams pledge personal attention.

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“If something is not going right, a new client should be able to pick the phone up and call Roddy’s business card, and he’ll answer,” Williams says. “Day or night, if you call my office number, it’s on my cell. So it’s a personal relationship. If my customers are not successful, we will not be successful.”

Meanwhile, Spirit Telecom will remain abreast of rapidly evolving communications capabilities, Williams and Broadnax promise.

Williams sees the term “collaboration” growing in importance, with people eschewing big gatherings around a conference table in favor of constant communication through individual computers.

“It’s going to be video, text, twitter types of things,” Williams says. “It’s about keeping an idea alive and making it grow. It’s a different way of doing business.”

In medicine, for example, Williams points out that transcription services remain a major cost. “Instead of using that, doctors can pick the phone up and just talk,” he says. “It’ll be transcribed immediately, with 99-plus percent accuracy, regardless of the inflections in your voice.”

Change will continue its acceleration, Broadnax predicts. “We’re now dealing with younger people who have grown up using technology,” he says. “They’re very open to making the changes we’re proposing.

“It’s kind of enjoyable to visit a prospect and have hard questions asked,” he smiles, “because they’ve done their homework. In return, we’re bringing the solutions they’re looking for.” biz

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Ellison Clary is a Charlotte-based freelance writer.

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Spirit Telecom, LLC a subsidiary of South Carolina Net, Inc. 125 North Myers Street Charlotte, N.C. 28202 Phone: 704-206-1306 Principals: R.Vernon Williams, President and CEO; Roddy Broadnax, Regional Director Headquarters: Columbia, S.C. Sister Company: PalmettoNET Inc. Founded: 2002 Employees: Spirit Telecom 125; PalmettoNET 27 Business: Telecommunications firm providing Internet and data communications and services over a private network. www.spirittelecom.com

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Photo:Wayne Morris

G (l to r) Jeffrey A. Huberman Harvey B. Gantt Founding Partners Gantt Huberman Architects, PLLC

Imaginon

Transamerica Square

College of Education Building UNC Charlotte

Gantt

by ellison clary

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If a company emphasized satisfying clients and performing inspiring work, and if it were run by partners who genuinely liked each other, that could foster long-term success.

That’s what Harvey Gantt and Jeff Huberman surmised 38 years ago and their firm, Gantt Huberman Architects, thrives as a testament to that credo.

“The reason for our success is that clients believe we connect very well to them,” says Gantt. “We would like them to say, ‘The reason we use Gantt Huberman is that they care about our buildings.’”

The company that started in one room in the Johnston Building with its pair of founders and a parttime secretary has completed more than 500 projects through the years. At any time, the construction value of its undertakings easily exceeds $100 million.

Their designs vary widely, and more than a few are iconic. The Charlotte Transportation Center, a model city bus terminal, has been visited by would-be imitators from across the country, and ImaginOn is a unique combination of a public library and a children’s theater.

Both are in center city Charlotte where the firm recently fashioned a 12-story, cantilevered design for the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Conjuring up a stack of textbooks, that building promises to signify the bustling institution’s intent to be a truly urban university when it opens in 2011.

Gantt Huberman operates from an office at North Tryon and Eighth streets that is catty-corner from another building that fed the firm’s reputation for quality and innovation. #

p u r s u i n g a b a l a n c e o f b u s i n e s s a n d l i fe

Client-Centered Gantt Huberman Thrives On Quality

“We don’t have a favorite building because we feel a connection to all our clients. They know we give them every ounce of what we can give in terms of trying to produce a quality product.

Their project is number one for us, and we like that feeling.” ~Harvey Gantt Founding Partner

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23

Transamerica Square is a 10-story office building with sidewalk-level retail. With its expansive lawn and separately designed eight-level condominium structure, Transamerica Square set a pattern for mixed-use development in center city.

“We’ve always said we can provide service and quality design, even if it takes educating our clients,” Huberman says. “Because the end result is a higher quality than perhaps the client was thinking of when they started.”

Indeed, Ruth Shaw, chair of the UNC Charlotte trustees, recently told a groundbreaking crowd that Gantt Huberman Architects showed the school’s leaders an image for the uptown building that was “what we wanted before we knew what that was.”

leader Floyd McKissick’s Soul City experiment when he and Huberman initiated their partnership. It was 1971, and they were 29 and 28, respectively.

They started small, with an attorney who wanted to build a 10,000-square- foot office building on West Fifth Street.

“We used that building to promote ourselves to lots of other clients,” Gantt chuckles. “We’d show this one building. That’s the only building we had.”

But they knew they’d get bigger work. “We always had the idea we were going to do projects that had significant impact on how people felt about the buildings when they were in them,” Huberman says. “We’ve always strived for architecture that’s inspiring to those people working, learning or using our facilities. That was our goal from the very beginning.”

“We’ve always strived for architecture that’s Their first multiinspiring to those people working, learning or million-dollar project using our facilities. That was our goal presented itself in 1976.

It was a communications from the very beginning.” building at Winston~Jeff Huberman Salem State University.

Founding Partner “Their president just decided to take a chance on us,” Gantt says. “It The partners have heard that before. It happened a couple of years back, when the company designed a new sanctuary for Gantt’s Friendship Baptist Church. Gantt asked the Rev. Clifford Jones if it fit his vision. “It exceeds it,” Jones responded.

Each Project More Exciting Huberman describes the excitement he and Gantt still feel about their designs: “Each project is a good experience that we learned something from, and the next project is probably going to be our most exciting one.”

The firm has employed as many as 60, but Gantt and Huberman admit they are too hands on to operate well at that size. They like their current 30 just fine.

The majority of Gantt Huberman’s work has been in the Carolinas, but projects range as far afield as New York.

Gantt, a Charleston native, met Huberman, born in Boston but raised in Miami Beach, when they were starting out together in 1965 at Charlotte’s Odell Associates. They hit it off.

“Harvey and I had similar politics in an office that was very conservative,” Huberman smiles.

“We had a good friendship, like-minded ideals and an appreciation of quality architecture.”

Gantt was working in Durham on civil rights

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Their project is number one for us, and we like that feeling.”

The Impact of Mentoring They take pride in the quality of their work force, and especially like the diversity they’ve built. That’s a business advantage, Gantt says, because the company can more easily underImaginon

UNC Charlotte Belk College

Environmental Services Facility was about $2 million. Back then, that was a fairly big project.”

For the last five years, Gantt Huberman has emphasized green structures. “We’re doing buildings that are sustainable,” says Huberman.

“ImaginOn was the first project for Mecklenburg County that was certified LEED silver.”

A subsequent Gantt Huberman structure for Charlotte-Mecklenburg Utilities has been certified LEED gold.

The partners shy from ranking their projects. “We don’t have a favorite building because we feel a connection to all our clients,” Gantt explains. “They know we give them every ounce of what we can give in terms of trying to produce a quality product.

stand the viewpoints of various constituencies when programming for a public building, such as a new high school.

Gantt recalls a visit by Ken Lambla, dean of the College of Arts and Architecture at UNC Charlotte, and how much he was impressed with the firm’s variety of professionals.

“I saw people of various races, of various colors, varying ages, varying approaches to the profession,” Lambla remembers. Gantt and Huberman told him, he continues, that they want their firm to be the “United Nations” of architecture.

“Harvey and Jeff do an excellent job mentoring a wide range of employees,” Lambla adds.

“About two years ago, they hired one of my

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North Carolina Central University Dorms Charlotte Transportation Center

graduates who is Latin American, a woman they are mentoring through the licensing process. And they understand what it takes to do that.”

Huberman is quick to expand on mentoring. He points out that more than a few Gantt Huberman alums have hung out their own shingle. Among them is Darrel Williams, who started Neighboring Concepts, based on West Morehead Street.

An African-American, Williams says he’d grown frustrated with architecture. At blackowned firms, the projects were mundane, while at majority-owned companies, black architects tended to get the leftovers.

“Gantt Huberman allowed me to get a variety of experience,” Williams says. “I was able to start off at the beginning, from programming with a client to design. I was involved in the whole project.”

Williams, who’s served on the Mecklenburg Board of County Commissioners, adds that Gantt’s political involvement helped him understand how architects can have an impact that is broader than the design of buildings.

“Working for Harvey and Jeff helped shape the person I am today,” he avers.

Gantt’s civil rights and political pursuits are well-chronicled. He broke the color barrier at Clemson University. He was Charlotte’s first black mayor, serving from 1983 through 1987.

And he ran twice as the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate.

Huberman has been involved with the profession, having served as both president of AIA North Carolina and president of the N.C. Board of Architecture.

Such leadership pursuits don’t necessarily bring in work, but they make the company better and its employees better citizens, Huberman affirms. “They bring another level of civic pride to, and involvement to, who we are as a firm,” he sums up.

In light of their own activities, it is not surprising that Gantt Huberman gives its employees time off to pursue civic activities and evaluates them annually on their involvements.

“We think it helps make them better architects,” Huberman explains. “It helps them be more knowledgeable about what the community is about and how to deal with challenges that are out there.”

The Challenge of Deadlines What challenges are most sobering to the firm’s leaders?

“The one thing you cannot buy is time,” says Huberman. “The most challenging part of architecture is how to put all the things that we do into a deadline. You always want to do something better. Doing something better takes more time.”

Yet meeting those deadlines often produces big rewards. For Huberman, they come on opening days when he watches people enter the firm’s buildings for the first time. “It’s the look and the expression and the happiness of the people who use the building,” he says.

Problem-solving appeals to Gantt. “We’re interested in solving a major problem a client has,” he says, “and the more major it is, that’s what we’re looking for.”

Sometimes the firm has satisfied a client, Gantt muses, but has realized it could have done even better. “That, to me,” he says, “is a challenge.” He quickly adds: “Some of my best feelings have occurred when we got it right.”

Gantt flashes back to the first Sunday his congregation used Friendship Baptist’s new 3,000seat sanctuary that Gantt Huberman designed.

The sun shone through stained glass windows just as the minister rose to deliver his sermon.

“It was gorgeous,” he recalls. “You could see the satisfaction across the entire congregation.”

The pursuit of such gratification traces to the early days of Gantt and Huberman. The partners acknowledged the huge amount of repeat work Odell Associates attracted and resolved to make that a cornerstone of their endeavors.

“We wanted to do very thorough drawings,” Gantt says. “We wanted to take our time to think

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through the design. We wanted to work with people who could understand that.”

The result has been as planned. “I guess 65 percent of our work is repeat,” Gantt reckons.

“Clients come back to us. That’s the highest form of flattery.”

Though both are past customary retirement age, Gantt and Huberman confess they’re having too much fun to consider leaving the firm. Each lives in Fourth Ward, within walking distance of the office.

“I can’t be myself playing golf seven days a week,” Huberman says. “I get too much enjoyment out of what I do.”

“We’re not ready to retire, either one of us,” Gantt says. “But at some point, you look at transition. And even as we’re talking about working, it probably won’t be nearly at the level of hours we’re putting in now.

“Younger persons will be taking on more of the responsibilities of the firm,” he adds as he looks five years forward. “And that’s as it should be. You’re looking for people whose skills will take you to a higher level.”

For advice to the younger folks, both men are succinct.

“Work hard and enjoy what you’re doing,” Huberman says.

For Gantt, sharp focus comes first, followed quickly by a love for the profession.

“You have to be passionate,” Gantt says.

“You really have to love creating things. You must love working with people. Architecture is not casual. It’s very visual and tangible and you’re touching people and things. You’ve got to be passionate.” biz Ellison Clary is a Charlotte-based freelance writer.

Gantt Huberman Architects, PLLC 500 North Tryon Street Charlotte, N.C. 28202 Phone: 704-334-6436 Principals: Harvey B. Gantt, Founding Partner; Jeffrey A. Huberman, Founding Partner Established: 1971 Employees: 30; 12 registered architects Total Projects: More than 500 Construction Value of Projects: More than $100 million at any one time Business: Architectural and design firm serving a wide range of institutional clients, including educational, governmental and religious, as well as private enterprises; operates mainly in the Carolinas. www.gantthuberman.com

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“Unlike many IT companies, we charge for uptime, not downtime…What makes us different is that we are only making money if we are helping you make money. We take a hands-on approach to our customers’ problems and are committed to our customers’ success.” ~Mark Crall Founder and President

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by janet kropinak

When your

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charlotte tech care team takes a hands-on approach

or many small business owners there just aren’t enough hours in the day. So much of their time is spent keeping their businesses afloat and “putting out fires,” it isn’t any wonder that many develop an “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!” mentality.

This is especially true with regard to technology. Unfortunately, most don’t appreciate its vital significance, until they are faced with a critical failure.Today, technology is not only essential for the growth of your business, but also crucial for its survival.

You might be thinking your business isn’t big enough to justify hiring an “IT guy” or you might think things are functioning okay, and they might be today. But are you prepared for when they aren’t? Do you have a strategic plan in place that will help get your business back online as soon as possible?

Or will you be the guy searching through the yellow pages dreading the answer to “How much is this going to cost me?” or “Will I get all our data back?”

If you are the latter, Charlotte Tech Care Team might just be the answer for you. As a champion for

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small business owners, founder Mark Crall is committed to partnering with his clients to deliver worry free IT services and has customized his business plan to meet the varying needs of small businesses.

Doing the Right Thing Some might be surprised to learn that before gaining certification as an IT consultant, Crall was trained as a mechanical engineer. But considering the methodical approach to his craft, it makes sense.

Similar to an engineer, Crall enjoys solving complex problems requiring the evaluation of many solutions and application of different thought processes. But instead of machinery, he is applying these skills to technology.

Crall was living in San Diego, pursuing a dot-com business, when he began capitalizing on his knack for computer technology to make extra income. Initially self-taught, he sought out formal training and certification and branched out as an IT consultant. #

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Tired of the hourly commutes to work and high cost of living, he reevaluated his family’s lifestyle. Surveying opportunities and quality of life options in many cities, he chose to bring his family to Charlotte in 2002 and put his information technology expertise to use. His business plan was to provide his customers quality service 24/7/365.

“From the beginning ‘do the right thing’ was our value statement,” Crall testifies. “We put care in our name because that is truly the basis for why we are doing this.” And that was the beginning of Charlotte Tech Care Team.

One of Crall’s first finds was Seth Dietz, who today shares stake in the company. Dietz is now the senior technical account manager, handling all types of functionality and assigning appropriate tasks for other technicians.

Altogether, the staff includes full-time and part-time technicians along with a group of subcontractors that are able to meet the needs of customers outside the Charlotte area.

Crall recalls it taking a couple of years until he was satisfied the business model was working and that they could be a viable competitor in a competitive market while staying true to their value statement—doing the right thing for the customer, always.

Tweaking With Technology But by 2005, Crall began to see a “ceiling” within their business. Without more defined processes they were at the mercy of technology and able to offer only reactive management, so he adjusted the business model and shifted to managed services.

He describes managed services as the practice of transferring day-to-day-related management responsibility as a strategic method for improved effective and efficient operations. This allows for a transfer of risk and responsibility from the business owner to Charlotte Tech Care Team, making them

(l to r) Mark Crall Founder and President Seth Dietz Sr. Technical Account Manager Charlotte Tech Care Team

accountable for functionality and performance of IT services.

Another subset of managed services is automation, which Charlotte Tech Care Team invested in as a way to economize solutions for their customers. Automation, which includes 24/7 monitoring and immediate alerts of any potential problems, has allowed them to become proactive on behalf of their customers, preventing problems before they arise.

Under a service level agreement, companies are able to transfer risk for a predetermined amount, which allows them to predict their IT costs and know their budget upfront—a luxury many small business owners aren’t familiar with.

Crall says they are able to provide the greatest value to companies with five to 50 employees— where there is enough infrastructure to demand IT management but not enough to justify in-house IT support.

He also notes a major difference in their business plan from that of many of their competitors.

“Unlike many IT companies, we charge for uptime, not downtime,” Crall explains. “I see a misalignment in many competitors’ missions as they are making money when their customers and their businesses are suffering.

What makes us different is that we are only making money if we are helping you make money. We take a hands-on approach to our customers’ problems and are committed to our customers’ success.”

In simple terms, “We’re delivering technology but selling a trusted advisor,” he continues.

Crall describes the four pillars of business as human resources, accounting, legal, and technology and notes that if any of these should fail, it can easily lead to the downfall of the business.

“Our job is to take away the stress and frustration that dealing with technology can have on a business owner,” notes Crall. “In short, we offer worry free IT.” He explains that one of the biggest mistakes small business owners make is not having an IT budget. Many small businesses maintain a relationship with a vendor instead of investing in a relationship with an IT consultant/advisor, and Crall strongly warns against this.

“Technology impacts nearly every facet of your business so it’s essential to have good communication in this area,” he explains. “We are able to help you understand the how and why in respect to technology and your business.”

One way to achieves this is with an annual risk analysis—an evaluation of current operating systems as well as learn about any problems or possible problems that might be lurking ahead; Crall refers to this as proactive management.

“So many people operate a reactionary IT budget and this can be detrimental for your business,” expresses Crall. “We strive to show our customers the importance and value of what we are trying to help them accomplish.”

Value Added As a longtime champion for small businesses, Crall is motivated by the fact that his success is tied to that of other

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small business owners.

While Crall acts as an advisor to his clients, he credits his company’s virtual board of directors as helping guide him through this economic downturn. The board, which was established in 2008, is made up of 10 non-competing business owners who meet for two days every quarter.

“The idea is that we are holding each other accountable for the execution of our goals—with respect to business operations, financial practice and work/life balance,” explains Crall.

He continues to credit the board with helping his business weather the economic downturn and helping him adjust his business model to come out of the recession even stronger than they were before.

expert for Microsoft Partner Talent and Development, helping to produce exam and certification content for Windows Small Business Server and Windows Essential Business Server. He also works with Microsoft marketing, product and partner teams as a U.S. Small Business Specialist Community Advisory Group member and a Partner Area Lead.

“My objective is to help shape the direction of the Small Business Specialist Community program and help Microsoft better understand the unique needs of Small Business Specialist Community members,” Crall explains.

Caring Partners Perhaps the most convincing argument for Charlotte Tech Care Team’s impact on a business comes from their clients.

Travis Doak, operations manager for Charlotte-based Bagby, has worked with Charlotte Tech Care Team at Bagby and even before “So many people operate a reactionary IT that, on different clean-up and budget and this can be detrimental for your recovery projects. business. We strive to show our customers Before contacting Crall, he says that the company was trying the importance and value of what we are to handle their IT needs in-house, trying to help them accomplish.” which, looking back, he calls as a ~Mark Crall crazy decision, noting that they are Founder and President in the business to sell lighting, not fix computers.

Today, all of Babgy’s IT needs are managed by Another focus for Charlotte Tech Care Team is Charlotte Tech Care Team. community involvement. Crall founded the Char“They have had a tremendous impact on our lotte SMB (Small and Medium-Sized Businesses) IT business—100 percent uptime,” he boasts. “With Pro Group as a way of bringing people in the IT everything electronic- and Internet-based, our community together—even his competition. business cannot afford for computers or Internet “People question my motivation,” Crall connections to be down and if something does affirms, “but I believe we are doing what is best happen, we have to have a service provider that for our customers by helping to bring a higher can react quickly to resolve the problem.” level of competence to the marketplace. It’s a In short, Doak says the value they provide win-win for everyone.” is the peace of mind they have in knowing that In addition to his affiliation with Charlotte their network is going to be up and we can do Small Business Server Group, which now has our jobs without interruption over 400 local members, Crall is well-known and respected among the IT community, both locally and internationally.

He serves as a subject matter

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from computer or network issues.

“We consider Charlotte Tech Care Team as a partner in the success of our business. Their service and professionalism is impeccable,” explains Doak. “They are great consultants, and frequently suggest ideas to improve our network.

When it comes to technology, they all work very hard to know what the best in the business is.”

Doak’s enthusiasm is shared by Brian Haupricht, president of Park Inc., who was referred to Charlotte Tech Care Team five years ago.

“Charlotte Tech Care Team handles the monitoring and maintenance of our computer systems in three cities,” Haupricht explains.

“They’ve helped us increase the speed with which our offsite users access the company server; they also assisted us with creating a more secure firewall.”

And he is quick to list the benefits these services have offered his company. “Charlotte Tech Care Team has freed up time that we used to spend dealing with our own IT issues and enabled us to focus on running our business and spending time with our customers and employees.”

He continues: “They work hard trying to stay on top of the latest technology. They take the time to learn about new products, systems, etc. so they can make the best recommendations for our business.”

Driven by their passion for technology and affinity for small-business owners, Crall says he and his team are ready to partner with your business and invest in your future success. biz Janet Kropinak is a Charlotte-based freelance writer.

Tech Care Team, Inc. dba

Charlotte Tech Care Team 10800 Sikes Place, Suite 300 Charlotte, N.C. 28277 Phone: 704-248-8328 Principal: Mark Crall, Founder and CEO; Seth Dietz, Sr.Technical Account Manager Founded: 2001 Distinctions: Microsoft Certified Partner, Microsoft Small Business Specialist Affiliations: Charlotte SMB (Small and Medium-Sized Businesses) IT Pro Group Business: Delivers managed information technology (IT) services throughout the Southeast; proactively monitors and manages clients network infrastructures and IT assets with a core goal of providing reliability, predictability and efficiency with minimal downtime and 24/7 access to computers, applications and data. www.techcareteam.com

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Avantcare Wellness Retreat (l to r) Neil Westby-Gibson, Executive Vice President and Medical Director Carol J. Brawley, Vice President Frank W. Gibson, Founder and President Avantcare, Inc.

Chinese Medicine

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Breaking Through

Alcohol Addiction

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Avantcare uses principles of Chinese medicine in formulating natural products for wellness

lcohol and substance abuse cost U.S. business nearly $100 billion annually, while alcoholism alone accounts for 500 million lost workdays a year. It is estimated that a substance abuser functions at only 67 percent of his or her capacity. Additional impacts to employees include an increased likelihood in mistakes and errors in judgment, poor attendance and performance, as well as a range of social, psychological and medical problems.

Alcohol continues to be the most widely abused legal substance and businesses are becoming increasingly desperate to find a solution to this growing epidemic.

While programs such as Alcoholics Anonymous and other treatment detox programs have proven valuable for some seeking treatment, for many, they simply aren’t enough. Too often, removing an individual from their environment and putting them on a regimen for a specified period of time and then returning them to the former environment, isn’t a long-term fix. Because of this and the cost of such programs in both time and money, researchers are refocusing their energies on other alternative forms of treatment.

Dr. Mark Willenbring, who oversees scientific research at the National Institute on Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse, says treatment for alcoholism has reached a point similar to the one treatment for depression reached 30 years ago—when the development of Prozac and other antidepressants took mental health care out of the asylum and put it in homes and doctors’ offices.

“There will be a ‘Prozac moment,’ ” Willenbring says, “when primary care doctors start handling functional alcoholics.”

One alternative gaining momentum in the scientific community involves blocking the brain receptors, interrupting the neurological sequence in the brain that causes the desire for excess alcohol.

And one company participating in this new research is tucked away right here in the mountains of North Carolina. Frank Gibson and his team at Avantcare, Inc. have been studying bio-chemical addiction treatment and have recently brought a new product to market called “Fineta,” an all natural product that Gibson says “leads to a cure, not control of alcoholism.”

Fineta:The Cure Fineta was the result of 17 years of research and trials. Back in 1995, Gibson had made the leap from a 1,300-year-old Chinese “Tang” or herbal soup recipe to understanding its use in conjunction with the new science of the bio-chemistry of addiction.

Chinese medicine came natural to Gibson, who himself was a devoted student of martial arts, having spent much time traveling with his master and learning the traditions of Chinese medicine.

He earned his Master of Traditional Chinese Medicine from the #

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Singapore College of Traditional Chinese Medicine and became a board-certified diplomate of Chinese herbology from the National Commission for the Certification of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine, U.S.A. Coupling this extensive knowledge with another 10 years of study and observation provided Gibson with a complete understanding of the active ingredient action and synergistic response—i.e. why Fineta worked so well.

As it turns out, the geographical development of the mountainous area of North Carolina bears striking similarities with those of the high plateaus in China where most of the plants Gibson uses are cultivated. For example, there is a specie of orchid known to grow only there in China, that also is found in the North Carolina mountains. For Gibson, it is considerably easier to harvest the plants

meeting ISPE and GMP standards, Gibson, in partnership with his son Dr. Neil Westby-Gibson, developed the formulation and method of compounding botanical materials which led to the development of Fineta. Avantcare, Inc. was then formed to produce Fineta and related products and distribute them internationally.

Gibson soon realized that Fineta allowed them a leadership position in the market, ahead of pharmaceutical companies who were attempting similar products with little success. It also was an all-natural formulation, rather than a chemicalbased synthetic product.

Gibson says that a game-changing revelation is occurring. Fineta brings about a multiple of effects in the body related to alcohol. While its mechanism is not fully understood, Fineta does seem to decrease the effects of the naturally occurring

and medical knowledge alone.

While Gibson touts their near 100 percent success rate, he acknowledges that the willingness of the patients to adhere to the program’s regime is essential to bringing about necessary brain chemical changes.

Fineta has been classified by the FDA as a dietary supplement, which Gibson says has eliminated the need for them to jump through certain hurdles, but increases the need for their success rate to be validated. But he remains steadfast in their ability to meet the challenge.

Along the way they have discovered some other useful formulations, which they market under the Break-Free brand, including products to help with calmness, sleep, smoking (cessation), stress, cold and flu, insomnia and PMS. These products work on a similar premise altering brain function.

Fineta is an all-natural formulation which blocks brain receptors, interrupting the neurological sequence that causes the desire for excess alcohol. It is packaged in a kit, The Last Call, and also available on a more extended basis as a program at the Avantcare wellness retreat. The company’s other natural formulations include Kalmaro (promoting calmness), Iremo (promoting sleep), Break-Free Smoking, Break-Free Stress, Break-Free Cold & Flu, Break-Free Insomnia and Break-Free PMS. he uses domestically rather than importing the plants from overseas.

So, it was a natural fit, in 2007, when Gibson was ready to establish a permanent location to start production, that he arrived at Hendersonville. He immediately set up a facility on 216 acres which includes the lab as well as a lodge on a working farm (Precious Woods Farm) for retreat purposes.

The property, which offers a pre-treatment experience for entering The Last Call program (featuring Fineta), alcohol prevention programs and spiritual retreats, was personally developed

by Gibson, including site planning, architectural design and drawings, engineering, and construction of over $1,000,000 in buildings.

In the state-of-the-art certified laboratory,

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excitatory neurotransmitter glutamate in the body.

This is determined by observation through withdrawal of excessive consumption of alcohol and the lack of cravings within a brief period of time.

Another response in the body is the removal or lessening of the pleasant “alcohol high,” which is caused by changes in endorphin levels. Reducing the “alcohol high” is a critical reason why Last Call clients have fewer problems with environmental cue-cravings and relapse less frequently.

Gibson describes Fineta as a delicate combination of isoflavones, glycosides, flavoids, polysaccharides, compounding methods and of course, his secret ingredient. His secret, he explains is what provides them with a deep understanding of the brain’s chemistry, which is deeper than chemistry

The Last Call Program Fineta is the key ingredient to Avantcare’s The Last Call program. The Last Call is an alterative to detox programs and other short- or long-term treatment facilities.

The Last Call kit, which retails for $795, supplies patients with enough Fineta to last them eight weeks, as well as a phytomedicine Kalmaro to help with stress, and Iremo to help aid with sleeping.

When used together, they decrease the body’s need or desire for excessive alcohol while eliminating the harsh symptoms associated with detoxification.

The regimen calls for patients to take Fineta three times a day for anywhere from four to eight weeks, over the duration of which they see a decline in symptoms and cravings related to

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alcohol dependence. Additional components of The Last Call are 5- to 10-minute exercises as well as acupuncture treatments, which continue after the use of Fineta.

Distributing a Cure Last fall marked Avantcare’s first foray in the European Union marketplace. Bulgaria, which boasts the second largest drinking problem to

Gibson with son in Avantcare laboratory processing Fineta, a delicate combination of isoflavones, glycosides, flavoids, polysaccharides, compounding methods and of course, his secret ingredient.

For patients who desire additional help, a five-day pre-treatment retreat is available at the Precious Woods Farm on the Avantcare grounds.

But because of the high success rate of Fineta, Avantcare is working to tailor the program as more of an out-patient treatment.

For those who “fall off the wagon” or get an urge for alcohol after completion, they simply restart on the Fineta until their urges subside again.

Fineta isn’t the only drug on the market that interrupts neurological sequence in the brain; similar products are available that assist with weight loss, happiness, drug addiction and other ailments.

Seven studies, including those done at Harvard University, Boston University, and Maclean Hospital conclusively prove the efficacy of these type of formulae.

But perhaps the most compelling testimony to the Fineta formulation comes from patients who have gone through The Last Call program themselves.

Will Robertson struggled with alcoholism throughout his 30s. It eventually cost him both his marriage and a series of jobs. Frustrated with the failure of other treatments including a 72-hour detox program as well as a 30-day program, Robertson was desperate for help.

His mother Helen happened to see an article on Avantcare and contacted Gibson. As a result of what she learned, her son, although skeptical, was willing to participate.

Within weeks, Robertson says he found himself craving less alcohol and functioning without the drinks that had become part of his daily routine for so many years.

To this day, Robertson says his drinking is under control and he has regained his life. He even enjoys an occasional beer but the need for excessive drinking is gone. He keeps a security blanket, a bottle of Fineta, with him but happily reports he has yet to need it.

Helen says, “It’s been a wonderful and miraculous experience; it has returned my son to me.”

Russia, was chosen as the launch of the program.

It was an opportunity for Avantcare to launch Fineta in a relatively well-defined market, and participate in everything from manufacturing, packaging, warehousing, and distribution. From the experience, they concluded that licensing of the product would be the most appropriate avenue for Avantcare’s continued European growth.

While Avantcare had initially not intended to distribute Fineta in the U.S. until 2010, the positive numbers coming from Bulgaria and an eager marketplace in the states combined with a growing number of potential competitors (pharmaceutical companies) in the U.S., Gibson decided to change the strategy.

Aware that growing too fast too soon could prove detrimental to the company; Avantcare’s plan is to first make Fineta and their other products available in the U.S. through acupuncture physicians, medical doctors, psychologists and psychiatrists.

They are being ighly selective about the clinics they align themselves with. “Last Call Certified Practitioners” are required to take an examination in treatment protocol including all aspects of neuro-science and physiology related to the new accepted knowledge of addiction. The exclusive nature of the distribution maintains the scientific status of Fineta, minimizes distribution management, and provides Last Call clients with a great opportunity for success.

Avantcare’s Vice President Carol Brawley explains that Charlotte was chosen as the test rollout market in U.S. They have aggressively marketed the product and are testing different aspects of the business plan to decide what works and what needs to be adjusted before a national launch.

Brawley thoroughly researched the Charlotte area and handpicked three local clinics to be the first to offer Avantcare’s products. Clinics were chosen based on their qualifications, successful exam results, location appearance, location, and reports from the state.

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Participating Charlotte-area clinics include Hipple Acupuncture and DMS Acupuncture in Charlotte and Darren Holman Lac in Matthews.

Denise Slavich, of DMS Acupuncture, is excited to offer the Last Call program and BreakFree products to her clients. She boasts about the success that Last Call had for one of her former patients saying she saw an almost immediate improvement upon his enrollment in the program. And she personally testifies to the success of Break-Free Cold & Flu and Stress, having used them herself.

Avantcare forecasts an additional 20 certified practitioners in major metropolitan areas by the third quarter of 2009, bringing the total to 34.

An aggressive plan is in action to reach 80 by the end of the year. Additionally, by years’ end, they expect to have completed licensing agreements in Bermuda and England. A 19-country agreement for Eastern Europe will be signed by July 2009.

While the program is still in the early stages of U.S. development and distribution, feedback is positive. This treatment is still a new science and they are seeking to learn from the experiences of more people who are looking to take advantage of the program’s offerings.

As Avantcare grows, they have the potential to offer an answer to the serious problems of alcohol and substance abuse which are costing U.S. businesses billions of dollars each year. biz

Avantcare, Inc. 172 Highlands Square Dr. No. 5 Hendersonville, N.C. 28792 Phone: 828-272-6885 Principals: Frank W. Gibson, CEO; Neil Westby-Gibson, President; Carol J. Brawley, Vice President Founded: 2007 Employees: 7 Products: Fineta (Last Call Home Treatment) for alcohol, Kalmaro for calmness, Iremo for sleep, and Break-Free Products for Smoking, Stress, Cold & Flu, Insomnia and PMS Business: R&D, manufacturing and distribution of phytopharmaceitical products; primary product is a breakthrough phytomedicine (Fineta) in the bio-chemistry of addiction; laboratory facility meets International Society of Pharmaceutical Engineering and GMP standards; product distribution in central Eastern Europe and in the U.S. through medically licensed, company-certified

clinics.

www.avantcareinc.com www.thisisthelastcall.com

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[employersbiz]

Legislative and Regulatory Highlights for Area Employers

work/family balance: best practices

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relative, and almost one in 10 workers cares for both children and elderly relatives (according to the Center for Law and Social Policy).

• 91 percent of families with children under age 18 had at least one employed parent and 62 percent of married couple families with children had two employed parents (according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics).

• Men have lost four out of five jobs during this recession, leaving working mothers as the sole earners for most families (according to the Center for American Progress).

• Approximately two in seven families have at least one family member with a disability, and approximately one in 10 families with children under 18 years of age includes child with a disability (according to the Dept. of Health and Human Services).

Improving work/life balance.The new document provides recommendations for workplace policies aimed at removing barriers to equal employment opportunity for workers with caregiving responsibilities. Among the examples provided are personal or sick leave policies that allow employees to use leave to care for ill family members, flexible work arrangements, part-time opportunities with proportional compensation and benefits, and equal-opportunity policies that address unlawful discrimination against caregivers. (CCH)

he U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has issued a document on best practices to avoid discrimination against workers with caregiving responsibilities, stressing the importance of policies that protect caregivers in an economic downturn.

The technical assistance document, Employer Best Practices for Workers with Caregiving Responsibilities, is available online at www.eeoc/policy/docs/caregiver-best-practices.html. It supplements Unlawful Disparate Treatment of Workers with Caregiving Responsibilities, a guidance document issued by the Commission in 2007 (www.eeoc.gov/policy/docs/caregiving.html), which examines how federal antidiscrimination laws apply to workers with caregiving responsibilities.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has issued a document on best practices to avoid discrimination against workers with caregiving responsibilities, stressing the importance of policies that protect caregivers in an economic downturn.

The technical assistance document, Employer Best Practices for Workers with Caregiving Responsibilities, is available online at www.eeoc/policy/docs/caregiver-best-practices.html. It supplements Unlawful Disparate Treatment of Workers with Caregiving Responsibilities, a guidance document issued by the Commission in 2007 (www.eeoc.gov/policy/docs/caregiving.html), which examines how federal antidiscrimination laws apply to workers with caregiving responsibilities.

Working families. As part of its push for family-friendly workplaces, the federal agency noted the following facts about working families: • Approximately one in four workers cares for an elderly

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Legislative and Regulatory Highlights for Area Employers

• •• •••

[employersbiz]

South Carolina Employers Required to Use E-Verify

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he South Carolina Illegal Immigration and Reform Act requires all employers to verify the legal status of new employees and prohibits employment of any worker who is not legally in this country and authorized to work. Specifically, all private employers with 100 or more employees must begin using E-Verify by July 1, 2009 to verify a new employee’s legal status.

Private employers with less than 100 employees must begin verifying their employees starting July 1, 2010.

! is eligible to obtain a South Carolina driver’s license or identification card; or ! possesses a valid driver’s license or identification card from another state whose qualification requirements are as strict as those of the state of South Carolina.

The South Carolina Department of Motor

Vehicles has determined that drivers’ licenses or identification cards issued by the following states are acceptable: AK, AZ, CT, FL, GA, ID, IN, ME (credentials issued after 11/15/08), MA, MI, NH, NJ, PA, RI, TX and VA. This list may be updated periodically. (www.sces.org;www.scdmvonline.com)

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The imputed employment license remains in effect as long as the business abides by the law.

Verification Requirements In addition to completing and maintaining the federal employment eligibility verification form, more commonly known as the Form I-9, all South Carolina employers must within five days after employing a new employee: 1.Verify the employee’s work authorization through the E-Verify federal work authorization program administered by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security; or 2.Verify that the employee: ! possesses a valid South Carolina driver’s license or identification card issued by the South Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles; or

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Matthews 704.814.1200

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[employersbiz]

Legislative and Regulatory Highlights for Area Employers

»CEO Departures Decline Departures by chief executive officers have slowed significantly from 2008 levels, totaling 78 in April. That represents the lowest monthly figure since December 2004, according to a recent report released by global outplacement consultancy Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc. April departures were down 32 percent from March, when 114 CEOs left their posts. Last month’s total was 30 percent lower than the 112 departures announced in April 2008.

So far this year, 387 CEO exits have been recorded, nearly 100 fewer than the 483 announced during the same period last year.

The numbers suggest companies are making efforts to maintain some stability at the top of the corporate ladder in this volatile economy.

At the same time, many CEOs are content to stay at their posts, knowing that opportunities might be limited,” says John A. Challenger, chief executive officer. “In general, we are seeing a lot less risk-taking right now, because the recession and uncertainty on Wall Street will only magnify any missteps.”

In fact, many of the CEOs leaving their posts in April will stay with their companies in some capacity. Of the 22 CEOs who stepped down into other positions last month, 10 retained their position as chairman or executive chairman, including William Lauder of Estee Lauder who announced he would remain chairman after stepping down at the end of the year.

Twenty CEOs resigned from their posts and another 15 retired. Only seven CEOs left for new positions in other companies, offering evidence of how few opportunities exist for lateral movement.

A year ago, 18 of the 112 CEO departures were executives leaving for other companies.

Health care and the technology sector— computer, electronics, telecommunication and e-commerce—led all industries with 14 departures each. The service sector and government/ non-profit sector each saw eight CEO departures.

Meanwhile, the financial industry has seen only 35 CEO departures so far this year, compared with 54 through the same period last year.

“The fact that we are seeing increased stability in the financial markets—not only in terms of CEO turnover, but with job-cutting activity as well—is a sign that we may have reached the bottom. We may continue to experience low CEO turnover for the remainder of this recession.

However, a recovery could bring more volatility in the C-suite, as companies move from a defensive stance to a more aggressive, risk-taking stance,” says Challenger.

(Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc.) The Employers Association provides comprehensive human resources and training services to a membership of over 865 companies in the greater Charlotte region.

For more information, please call Laura Hampton at 704-522-8011 or visit www.employersassoc.com.

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[ontop] Awards & Achievements Architect and former Mayor Harvey Gantt has received an honorary Doctor of Public Service

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Advertising & Media Stuart Watson and the I-Team of NewsChannel 36 have been honored with a first place National Headliner Award in the Public Service category by The Press Club of Atlantic City.

ALCOHOL PROBLEM SOLVED

WFAE has received five regional Edward R. Murrow Awards for excellence in electronic journalism from the Radio-Television News Directors Association.

FINETA

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Laarhoven Design, Inc. has awarded Apple Rock Advertising and Promotion with the 2008 Diamond Sales Award.

A3 Design has been presented with five AIGA BOOM! Awards.

Susanne Griffing has joined Indiblu Creative as social media strategist.

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Gotham Strategic Marketing has hired Jacqueline Beach as an account

Susanne Griffing

executive.

Business & Professional The Mecklenburg County Bar has honored equal rights advocate George V. Hanna III with the prestigious Julius L. Chambers Diversity Champion Award.

A newsletter produced by the law firm Fisher & Phillips LLP has been honored with the Burton Award for Best Law Firm Newsletter in 2009.

The North Carolina Bar Association has named Smith Moore Leatherwood LLP attorney Carole W. Bruce an Outstanding Citizen Lawyer.

Now available in the U.S. without prescription For Fineta information call 828-272-6885 Fineta is scientifically proven to achieve balance in the brain eliminating the desire for excessive alcohol. Currently used in Europe and select U.S. treatment centers.

Avantcare, Inc. the leading company in the natural bio-chemistry of addiction.

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Mary Elizabeth Murphy, managing

Carole Bruce

director of S.T.A.R. Resources, has been honored as a 2008 Sapphire Award winner by Inscape Publishing.

Parker Poe attorney Nancy Olah has received her LEED designation from the Green Building Certification Institute.

Cogdell Spencer ERDMAN has promoted Mike Watson to vice president of operations for the companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s

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SPECIALISTS IN VOICE NETWORKS FOR 30 YEARS.

Record Storage Systems has promoted Jenny Savage to senior account executive.

Coleman Lew & Associates, Inc. has selected Noël C. Humphreys as a partner.

Ameritrust has added Reno

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International House has selected Eric Law as development Reno Heine

director.

Duvall Investment Group, Inc. has named Nicole Tonelli its director of operations.

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Construction & Design The Bainbridge Crew has promoted Jill Bainbridge to sales manager in addition to her role as director of marketing, Erin Dennehy

Nicole Tonelli

to production coordinator, and Jason

Crossley to general manager.

Education & Staffing Diane Browder has been honored by UNC Charlotte and

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Carolina Board of Governors with an Award for Excellence in Teaching.

Central Piedmont Community College has named Fabi Preslar, president of SPARK Publications, the 2009 recipient of the prestigious Richard H. Hagemeyer Educational Advancement Award.

York Technical College Foundation, Inc. in Rock Hill has been named a winner of a 2009

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[ontop] Finance & Insurance Local resident W. F. “Sandy” Solomon, ChFC, CLU, divisional vice president and a financial pro-

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fessional with AXA Advisors, LLC in Charlotte, has earned a Certificate in Retirement Planning from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Evelyn Fox Ross, CLTC, LUTCF, has joined Hinrichs Flanagan Financial as director of longterm care insurance planning.

Allstate Insurance Company has recognized Allstate exclusive agency owners J.C. Alvarado, Ken Costanza, Curtis Ireland and John Rose with the Chairman’s Conference award for high standards in customer satisfaction, customer retention and profit-

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Government & Nonprofit The Union County Chapter of the American Red Cross has received a $19,575 grant from the WalMart Foundation to expand disaster support.

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Meriale Verburg has been promoted to sponsorship marketing supervisor of The Community Blood Center of the Carolinas.

Health Care Charlotte Eye Ear Nose & Throat Associates, P.A. has added James P. Pressly, M.D. to its new Steele Creek office.

Manufacturing General Dynamics Armament and Technical Products has awarded 16 Charlotte employees with the company’s highest honor, the president’s award: Connie Grabowski, Kevin Sims, Matthew Cana-

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Real Estate Commercial/Residential ZL Metz Homes has been honored with the gold award for product design at the 2008 Major Achievements in Marketing Excellence event hosted by the Home Builder’s Association of Charlotte.

Allen Tate Mortgage Services has been

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honored by the North Carolina Housing Finance Agency as a Top 10 Producer of the agency’s FirstHome Mortgage program in 2008.

Builder Services Inc. and clients were honored with 19 awards at the 2008 Major Achievements in Marketing Excellence event hosted by the Home

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[ontop] Builders Association of Charlotte.

CB Richard Ellis’ Steven D. Garrett, SIOR has successfully achieved the LEED Accredited Professional designation.

WEICHERT, REALTORS - Rebhan & Associates has added Bud Katter to its Lake Norman sales team as a broker associate.

We are experts in

Lake Norman Realty has added Faye Bowling as a sales associate in the Cornelius office and Elaine Westmoreland Foster to its Mooresville office.

Retail & Sports & Entertainment Commercial Flooring Solutions has been honored with a Market Share Award and a MilliCare Silver Medallion at the MilliCare annual international conference; employee Jon Hull has also received the MilliCare Star Award for service.

131 MAIN has been named Best Restaurant

Change Management • Career Development Outplacement • Executive Coaching • Talent Management Succession Planning • Training & Assessment We have assisted companies in 35 states and headquartered here in Charlotte, NC since 1994. We work with a diverse list of clients: from manufacturing to law firms, custom home builders, mortgage companies, to insurance companies and NASCAR, etc. Compass Career Management Solutions is known for our quick response, flexibility, high integrity, customization and effective services.

Overall by Charlotte Magazine.

Chuck Richards, owner of Reid’s Fine Foods, has been elected third vice president of the Carolinas Food Industry Council.

Robyn Crigger

8509 Crown Crescent Court, Charlotte, NC 28227 Phone: 704-849-2500 FAX: 704-845-2420 www.compasscareer.com

Bill Crigger

Total Nutrition Technology

Chuck Richards

has hired Kimberly Norton, LPT, CPT, as a health educator for their Myers Park office in Balance Fitness Studio.

Hissho Sushi has hired Carol Adams as its new sales and marketing manager and Kai Sayasithsena as account manager.

The Golf Club at Ballantyne and Dana Rader Golf School have welcomed back professional club fitter Stan Roach.

Stan Roach

Charlotte Blues Society has

appointed Jeri Thompson president and Lindy Paddock secretary.

Technology Fred Trice has joined NouvEON as a business development manager Fred Trice

for the energy and utility practice.

Tourism The Cabarrus Arena & Events Center has been honored with the Prime Site Award from The Facilities Media Group. biz To be considered for inclusion, please send your news releases and announcements in the body of an e-mail (only photos attached) to editor@ greatercharlottebiz.com, or fax them to 704-6765853, or post them to our business address—at least 30 days prior to our publication date.

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june 2009

[bizbits] Accounting and Finance:

Employeesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Stress Levels Rising Globally Difficult economic conditions have had a substantial impact on accounting and finance departments around the globe, according to a recent survey of finance and human resources managers

by Robert Half International. Respondents reported that economic conditions have contributed to heavier workloads, higher stress levels and lower morale. The study also found that firms are adapting their management strategies to maintain productivity and alleviate the burden on their employees.

The study, focusing on hiring difficulties, retention concerns and other staffing-related issues, is based on a survey of more than 4,800 hiring managers in finance and human resources across 21 countries, and also examined the effects of the global economic downturn on financial teams around the world.

Employers Addressing Impact on Workers In the report, 32% of U.S. respondents, compared to 40% globally, stated that their finance and accounting departments had been affected by the downturn. Among that group, 49% of U.S. respondents have a hiring freeze in place, 47% have consolidated roles and 38% have experienced layoffs.

Executives from Hong Kong and France (60% in each country), and Brazil (56%) reported the highest levels of personnel change.

Asked how current economic conditions have affected their individual employees, nearly half (48%) of U.S. respondents cited increased stress, compared to 39% globally.

Managers surveyed from Australia and Ireland, along with those from the U.S., reported the highest levels of stress among their financial teams (48%). The next most commonly cited effects, both globally and in the U.S., were heavier workloads and decreased morale. Less than onethird of all respondents both in the U.S. (32%) and around the world (29%) said their accounting and finance teams have remained unaffected.

w w w. g re a t e rc h a r l o t t e b i z . c o m

[bizbits] In response to the economic downturn and its impact on their employees, the majority of managers surveyed (62% in the U.S. and 70% globally) said they have taken some form of action to better support their teams. The most common measures employers worldwide are taking include postponing projects and redistributing workloads. Many respondents also said their firms have increased the level of communication with employees; this was a particularly notable trend among firms in Ireland and Singapore, where nearly half (46%) of managers surveyed from each country cited this as a best practice.

“Leaner teams mean that everyone is doing more work with fewer resources, which ultimately produces diminishing returns,” according to Max Messmer, chairman and CEO of Robert Half International. “As a result, managers are rebalancing assignments in an effort to prevent overwork and ensure team members are focused on the most critical projects.”

Recruiting and Retention Concerns Persist Despite slowing economic conditions, most managers (56%) worldwide said they were still having difficulty finding skilled job candidates for accounting and finance positions, the same percentage as in last year’s survey. Recruiting challenges have eased the most in the U.S., where only 32% reported difficulty locating good people, down from 72% last year. Countries having the hardest time finding skilled workers are Hong Kong (87%), Brazil (79%) and Japan (73%).

Even in countries where recruiting is easier, retention worries remain. In the U.S., 40% of respondents reported concerns about losing key staff to other job opportunities in the next year, compared to the global average of 53%.

In New Zealand, less than half of the managers surveyed (46%) reported difficulty finding skilled job candidates, but two-thirds (67%) expressed concern about losing their top performers in the next year.

Significant levels of concern over potential staff turnover also were cited by managers in Hong Kong (89%), Spain (87%) and Singapore (82%).

Messmer added, “Even in a downturn, companies make holding on to their top performers a priority. They cannot afford to lose good accounting and finance employees without also experiencing productivity and performance losses.” (www.rhi.com)

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Greater Charlotte Biz magazine is the Charlotte region’s premiere business magazine delivered directly to the desks of 20,000 business, owners, managers and executives and read monthly by over 100,000 readers.

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