Business Upstate
FEBRUARY 1, 2013
J O U R N A L
Educating
tomorrow’s workers How the Upstate is preparing for the workforce of the future
Michelin expands in Anderson County page 7
CoderDojo builds kids’ tech chops page 10
PAGE 14
Helping Upstate businesses go green page 18
UBJ 6
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Ecoplosion explores keys to leadership
Jump Start
Statehouse Report Nullification talk is irresponsible
Leaders must ‘look for something better each day’
Determination, faith and banana bread helped Chancey Lindsey-Peake change her life
Spotlight: Educating tomorrow’s workers University Center president: Improving economy is ‘simple math’
By Jenny Munro contributor
By April A. Morris staff
By Andy Brack contributor
By Cindy Landrum staff
A little taste of heaven. See complete story on page 8.
Photo by Greg Beckner
Chancey Lindsey-Peake, founder of Banana Manna, offers a free taste of her fresh-baked creations.
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Spotlight: Educating tomorrow’s workers
Spotlight: Educating tomorrow’s workers
Nonprofit Matters
Digital Maven
Take pride in school system that strives for continuing education
Imagination, transformation necessary in our public schools
United Way’s roadmaps: Stewarding Greenville’s future
Online scheduling tools put time back on your calendar
By W. Burke Royster contributor
By John Warner contributor
2 Upstate business | FEBRUARY 1, 2013
By Debbie Nelson contributor
By Laura Haight contributor
UBJ worth repeating & tba “There’s still a gap between the opportunities that are out there and what workers can do.” John Baker, executive director of Greenville Works, a partnership dedicated to helping businesses meet their workforce needs.
From residential to commercial we’ve taken Upstate Real Estate personally for 80 years.
“People didn’t realize that I would make these up as I go. God would drop something in my spirit and there it was.” Chancey Lindsey-Peake on creating banana bread combinations for Banana Manna.
“I grew up on a dairy farm, and I always knew that smelling bad would pay for my college. In this case, I knew smelling bad would eventually pay off.” Elizabeth Garrison Rasor, founder of Ever-Green Recycling
“Put yourself out there. Be willing to take that shot. If you don’t, somebody else will.” Randy Dobbs, CEO of Metrix Medical Network and the keynote speaker for the Ecoplosion summit at CU-ICAR.
TBA
Reports are that a leading international manufacturer of fasteners and connecting elements with headquarters in Germany and operations in the Far East is preparing to open a technical sales office in Greenville to drive supplychain efficiency and grow its expanding business in the automotive and aerospace industries… Word on the street is a new headquarters announcement is brewing for Verdae…
Handshake by handshake. Block by block. That’s how we’ve done business in the Upstate for 80 years. Working together, thinking ahead, treating customers like family - because an Upstate family name is on the door.
Tickets have gone on sale for both the 2013 Salute to Manufacturing Luncheon and its inaugural Best Practices Forum, both set for March 21 at Greenville’s TD Convention Center. Finalists for top honors among statewide manufacturers include such organizations as BMW, Nucor Steel, Shaw Industries, Cytec, PropertyBoss Solutions and Holcim US… A new Dairy Queen is coming to Main Street in Mauldin… FEBRUARY 1, 2013 | Upstate business 3
UBJ
Greenville mattress company sells for $15.5 million By Dick Hughes senior business writer
The Orders family of Greenville has sold Comfortaire, a division of the family’s privately held Park Place Corp., to Select Comfort of Minneapolis for $15.5 million, Select announced. The transaction gives Select, which is the market leader in air-adjustable mattresses, ownership of its major competitor in that segment. Jimmy Orders, president and CEO of Park Place, said the company sold only the specialty Comfortaire subsidiary and will continue to make and sell its traditional mattress brands. “Park Place Corporation is
“The fourth generation is in the business today, so we intend to stay in the category. We like the business, and we are going to stay in it.” Jimmy Orders, president and CEO of Park Place
82 years old, and it is a fullline mattress manufacturing concern,” he said. “The fourth generation is in the business today, so we intend to stay in the category. We like the business, and we are going to stay in it.” As Park Place, the company ranks in the top 20-25 in mattress sales, he said. Park Place makes mattresses under Comfort Solutions and Park Place units with such branding names as Laura Ashley, Sleep ID, Extended
Life, Perfect Contour, American Comfort, American Home, Legacy and more. The Comfortaire air-adjustable mattress was unique to its business, and the company needed to “invest deeper or step out. We decided to step out,” Orders said. Comfortaire had revenues of $10.5 million in 2012, Select said. It has 24 employees. The air mattress is manufactured at Park Place’s old manufacturing building at 104 Shaw St. in Greenville. In 1997, Park Place relocated its main production and headquarters to a 150,000-square-foot plant on a 40-acre campus south of Greenville near I-85. The Orders family founded Comfortaire Corp. in 1983. Select Comfort said it “will continue to operate the Comfortaire business through an independent subsidiary.” Shelly Ibach, president and CEO of Select, said acquisition of Comfortaire strengthens Select’s “competitive advantages” and provides benefits from “the convergence of intellectual property. “We also are pleased that the second-largest adjustable air-bed company – with its experienced team and shared commitment to quality, innovation and individualization – is now part of Select.” Select is a publicly traded company. It had revenues of $743 million in 2011. J.B. Orders founded Orders Mattress Co. in 1931 in a 50-by-100-foot building on Fair Street in Greenville with three employees, plus himself. In its first year, it had a payroll of $2,781 and sales of $21,940. Contact Dick Hughes at dhughes@communityjournals.com.
4 Upstate business | FEBRUARY 1, 2013
Cochran named Delta president By Dick Hughes | senior business writer
Delta Apparel has named Steve Cochran, who had been president of Delta’s activewear division, as president and chief operating officer. Robert W. Humphreys, who has carried the title of president along with that of chairman and CEO, retains the latter two responsibilities. Humphreys said Cochran “has proven that he has the vision, experience and dedication to undertake the operations leadership role in the company.” Cochran joined the Greenville casual and sportswear company in 2010 to direct Delta’s catalog and FunTees division. He began his career with Cintas Corp., a provider of work uniforms. Delta reported net income of $46 million, or $1.61 per share, on sales of $105.5 million in its second quarter ended Dec. 29. For the six months, Delta had net income of $3.6 million on sales of $237 million. The company previously reported that
its first-half net income was negatively affected by a one-time charge of $1.2 million to clear books of an accounting error discovered by its own audit committee. Humphreys said that while the second quarter was not as good as expected, the company is on track to meet “our sales and earnings expectations in each of the two remaining quarters of fiscal 2013.” The board of directors added $10 million to its fund for repurchasing common shares on the open market as a means of rewarding shareholders. Thus far, Delta has spent $18 million to buy back more than 1.6 million shares at an average price of $11.01 per share. “As our stock trades at a price we believe is below its intrinsic value, in our view periodic repurchases are a sound investment opportunity and something we can pursue without sacrificing future growth plans,” Humphreys said. Contact Dick Hughes at dhughes@communityjournals.com.
UBJ
$16 million Peacock development is a go for downtown Greenville
Rendering Provided.
After several years lying vacant, the lot on E. McBee Avenue that was once intended to host a 12-story luxury hotel is set to see new life as a $16 million apartment development. Construction on the apartments should begin in April, with the 55 units ready to open in the first quarter of 2014, said project developer Grant Peacock, who has recently secured the long-sought financing for the project. With foundation still in place, the site has been idle since 2008, when the national credit crunch forced Peacock and his business partner, Mark Kent, to halt construction on a planned $65 million downtown luxury hotel and spa. In the meantime, the site had been used as a staging area for the construction of a new CVS store on the corner of McBee Avenue and Main Street, and as a staging area for the renovation of the building that houses the Carolina Ale House on Main Street.
Hughes expands downtown reach BMW Charity Pro-Am launches 2013 websites Golf fans, rejoice: Tickets and volunteer opportunities are now available online for the annual BMW Charity Pro-Am. The ticket sales website for the golf tournament, presented by SYNNEX Corporation, is now open. When patrons purchase tickets online at www. buybmwtickets.com, 100 percent of the purchase price of $10, $25 and $50 tickets can be donated to one of the tournament’s 20 charity partners. The website is presented by Kentwool. In addition, the tournament’s online volunteer registration is now open. Volunteers can also earn funds for their favorite tournament
charity by choosing one of the 20 charity partners to benefit from their workdays as a volunteer. Volunteer registration is $50; however, Early Bird Registration ($40) is available through Mar. 29. The 2013 BMW Charity Pro-Am presented by SYNNEX Corporation will take place May 16-19 at Thornblade Club, Greenville Country Club’s Chanticleer course and, new for 2013, The Reserve at Lake Keowee. For more information, call 864-297-1660, visit the tournament’s website at www.bmwcharitygolf.com or follow the tournament’s social media pages at www. facebook.com/BMWCharityProAm.
By Jennifer Oladipo | contributor
A pivotal piece of downtown Greenville real estate has just changed hands, expanding one developer’s reach. Bob Hughes of Hughes Development Corp. announced last week that he and investors purchased the Bank of America Plaza at 101 N. Main St. The building was purchased for $9.8 million from John Boyd, founder and CEO of TIC Properties Management, and other investors. The purchase includes the parking lot at Washington and Richardson streets. The 16-story building holds just over 191,000 square feet of office space. About 65,000 square feet are currently listed as available for leasing. Hughes has indicated that the building will be upgraded and integrated with the ONE building currently under construction on North Main Street. Such upgrades are likely to include a large retail space on the ground floor, but no further details about the exact nature of the upgrades and integration have been made public. Current tenants include Bank of America, CBRE/The Furman Co., Clear Channel Broadcasting, and TIC Proper-
ties and Southern Management. So far, there are no confirmed future tenants, although Hughes has indicated that those who were not able to get space in the ONE building may be considered. Future tenants announced in the ONE building are law firms Haynsworth Sinkler Boyd and Smith Moore Leatherwood, Certus Bank, Clemson University, Tupelo Honey Café and clothing and home furnishing retailer Anthropologie. The purchase of Bank of America Plaza adds to Hughes’ considerable downtown footprint. That includes the former Windstream building on the opposite corner on Main and the RiverPlace mixed-use development on the Reedy River. Contact Jennifer Oladipo at joladipo@communityjournals.com.
FEBRUARY 1, 2013 | Upstate business 5
UBJ
Leaders must ‘look for something better each day’ By Jenny Munro | contributor
Effective leaders must take charge of their businesses and their lives, directing their careers and communities as well as their companies. In fact, all employees, from CEOs to hourly workers, who want to better themselves need a vision for where they want their career to go, said Randy Dobbs, CEO of Metrix Medical Network and the Ecoplosion keynote speaker at the Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research. He spoke to about 400 participants at the annual summit designed to launch growth through entrepreneurship, real estate and economic development. The event also featured panels on entrepreneurship, real estate and economic development and an executive panel. Transformational careers come from doing something you enjoy; having a mission, vision and values statement for your career and finding and embracing at least two strong mentors. Leaders also need to surround themselves with smart people. “Transformation is day after day,” he said. “Push and look for something better every day.”
Growing up, he had a chaotic home life, which he escaped with sports and by doing well in school. He left home at 18 and became an hourly employee. While working, he also attended and graduated from college. Dobbs said he is a survivor, something all transformational leaders must be. “I learned to fly high, to fall hard and to fly again,” he said. Dobbs said he had run four major businesses. All of them were failing to meet financial performance goals and were suffering from organization chaos when he took over. His advice to potential leaders: “Put yourself out there. Be willing to take that shot. If you don’t, somebody else will.” Among the keys to strong leadership is communication through any means possible. He has used town halls, lunch-and-learns and biweekly emails. All employees should know the businesses’ financial goals and whether it is meeting them or not. “It’s not about you. It’s about how many good people you can get working for you” and going in the same direction, he said. Companies and employees continually face change, he said. Leaders need to build a culture of change,
Photo by Greg Beckner
Ecoplosion explores keys to leadership
Members of the Executive Response panel talk to the crowd at Ecoplosion 2013 in the AT&T Auditorium of the Campbell Graduate Engineering Center at CU-ICAR.
communicate clearly and share information broadly and deeply. That moves a company toward more positive financial results. Change is here to stay, said members of a panel. “I think we are never going to see a sure future. We need to think about flexibility and how we adapt,” said Maureen McAvey, senior resident fellow for the Urban Land Institute. A major responsibility of a transformational leader, Dobbs said, is to ensure that a company can face an uncertain future by creating a group of future transformational leaders. Better communities also require leaders, he said. Companies need to make themselves visible and engage with a community. They can help transform communities into more vibrant economies and better places to live. “You can’t have a busi-
ness and not give back,” he said. Business leaders should talk with education and civic leaders and others to find out what is needed and how they can help. During the summit, The Greenville Hospital System University Medical Center received the 2013 Economic Development Award, presented by McNair Law Firm, for its creation of a four-year medical school in Greenville. The school’s initial class has 53 slots, for which 1,000 people applied. Also, 400 applications were received for the 22 new faculty positions. The 2013 summit was organized after overwhelming response to Ecoplosion in 2012, said Leighton Cubbage, co-founder of Serrus Capital Partners. “The people attending are willing and eager to improve our community, and can make a tremendous impact. We can inspire large-scale growth by focusing on education and by fostering a strong sense of community in the Upstate.” The summit was presented by Elliott Davis, Serrus Capital Partners and Wells Fargo. Contact Jenny Munro at jumnro@communityjournals.com.
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UBJ
Michelin’s Upstate investment reaches $700 million By Dick Hughes | senior business writer
Michelin’s latest announced investment – $200 million to expand its rubber-producing plant at Starr in Anderson County – brings the company’s spending commitment for new plants in the Upstate to $700 million since April. Just over a berm from the Starr plant’s parking lot, construction crews were building a $500-million plant to make giant tires for earthmoving and mining equipment. The first tires start rolling off the line before year’s end. Simultaneously, the company is spending $250 million to add to its existing earthmoving tire plant in Lexington, where it completed a $200-million addition to its light truck and passenger tire plant in October. That project got underway in May 2011. That brings to $1.15 billion the company’s investment in South Carolina in 21 months. In total, the expansion creates 870 new jobs: 270 at the Lexington truck and passenger tire plant, 500 split between earthmoving tire plants in Anderson and Lexington and 100 to be added at the Starr rubber-compounding plant. Even more employment spins off for local economies by stimulating five to seven jobs for each manufacturing job, said Pete Selleck, Michelin North America chairman and CEO. Selleck, other Michelin executives, city and county officials and plant workers gathered on the Starr plant floor last Thursday for the announcement of the expansion there. The investment in South Carolina is part of the French company’s global expansion “at a rate we’ve never done before,” he said.
Plants are under construction in China, India and Brazil, and its Nova Scotia plant is being expanded. There’s another potential investment for the Upstate. In December, the Greenville County Council approved lower property tax rates through in lieu payments “in connection with the potential expansion of certain manufacturing and related facilities at one or more locations in the county.” Asked by the Upstate Business Journal about this possible project, Selleck characterized Michelin’s request to the county as routine. “We are trying to make sure we know what the framework is for the type of incentives they are willing to offer, so when we make the ultimate decision we have the information.” He added, however, that Michelin is “constantly making improvements – and yes, there are other things we are thinking about in the future.” Selleck said incentives are a factor in site selection but not as important as infrastructure, such as highway
go figure Michelin’s expansion creates 870 new jobs:
100 270 500
to be added at the Starr rubbercompounding plant
at the Lexington truck and passenger tire plant
between earthmoving tire plants in Anderson and Lexington
Photos by Greg Beckner
With Anderson expansion, SC to become nation’s top tire-producing state
U.S Senator Lindsey Graham, chairman and president of Michelin North America Pete Selleck, and South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley at the April 2012 announcement of Michelin’s new plant in Anderson County.
and availability of abundant electricity, and “the labor environment.” According to the South Carolina Department of Commerce, the state approved $9.1 million in grants for infrastructure and worker training, along with job development credits, for its earthmoving tire expansion. The state approved $1.5 million for site improvement and job credits for the rubber-compounding expansion. Michelin’s production growth, along with that of competitors Bridgestone and Continental, will make South Carolina the nation’s top tire-producing state, leaping ahead of Oklahoma and North Carolina. “It’s remarkable, remarkable,” enthused Selleck. He said the expansion of rubber compounding at the 12-year-old Starr plant would make it Michelin’s third-largest rubber compounder systemwide. Not far down the road is the largest – the 38-year-old Sandy Springs plant, one of Michelin’s first South Carolina plants, which supplied rubber to make the first radial tires for the American market in 1975 at its U.S. 1 plant in Greenville. “We are proud to call Anderson County our epicenter of rubber compounding,” said Richard Kornacki, executive vice president, who oversees the division at Michelin.
He credited the workforce at Starr for convincing the company to expand here rather than elsewhere. Kornacki said the plant has maintained a level of operational excellence “that has become the best in the Michelin Group.” “This is where the first building blocks of all tires begins,” said Selleck. “If we don’t get it right in this stage of production, we won’t get it right at all.” Selleck said Starr’s production, which normally is “full speed all of the time,” was shut down so workers could be present for the announcement. In their blue uniforms, many watched from a stairway overlooking the assembled dignitaries. “Some people have come in after working all night, went home and slept for a couple of hours and came back in just to be here for the announcement,” Selleck said. As Kornacki put it, “At Michelin, rubber runs through our veins.” When the earthmoving tire plant is operating in Starr, it will be Michelin’s 19th facility in North America, nine of which are in South Carolina. The company is the state’s largest manufacturing employer. It will have nearly 9,000 employees when current construction is complete. Contact Dick Hughes at dhughes@communityjournals.com.
FEBRUARY 1, 2013 | Upstate business 7
UBJ
A little taste of
heaven determination, faith and banana bread helped chancEy lindsey-peake change her life
8 Upstate business | FEBRUARY 1, 2013
chancey lindsey-peake, founder of banana manna
UBJ entrepreneur
JUMP START Entrepreneurship is everywhere By April A. Morris | staff
“I don’t bake,” says Chancey Lindsey-Peake as she sits in her sunny storefront at Banana Manna and recalls what she said when her employer asked her to make banana bread. She was working as a nanny and housekeeper and adds, “I could cook and cook, but I didn’t bake.” She demurred, however, and her journey as a professional baker began. From that initial loaf, she began to tinker with the recipe and improved it with each batch. Soon she was sharing samples with all the neighbors. She received an order for 40 loaves for Christmas gifts and borrowed six loaf pans, working for many hours. “I think they cost more to make than I made,” she says. Lindsey-Peake also began working with a prison ministry, sharing her bread and her own story of incarceration: She spent nearly two years in prison for selling drugs.
She says it was a wake-up call that put her “back on the right track.” The ministry’s founders encouraged her to sell her bread, and by 2005, Lindsey-Peake was showcasing her wares at a local flea market. She drew on her experience as a member of a family of bakers and through experimentation; she was soon featuring “fully loaded” (nuts, coconut and raisins), chocolate banana, pumpkin banana, chocolate pumpkin banana and more. “People didn’t realize that I would make these up as I go. God would drop something in my spirit, and there it was,” she says. A big coup came when she was asked to join the TD Saturday Market in downtown Greenville, says Lindsey-Peake. She says it’s a joy to see repeat customers each week and share the simple goodness of her scratch-made breads. “It’s so rare to be able to meet people’s basic needs through something as
Fast Facts • The couple founded Peake & Peake Prison Ministry in 2008 and visit six institutions statewide several times each month. • Banana Manna just launched its Paleo bread: gluten-, dairy-, grain- and sugar-free. • “Best gift I ever received:” a Hobart mixer given to her after she shared her dream of her own kitchen with a visitor at a church service. • Advice for entrepreneurs: “Believe it and you can achieve it. Believe that you can do it beyond a shadow of a doubt and have faith in your project or your product – even when you can’t see it with your natural eye.”
Some of the products available at Banana Manna.
simple as food,” she says. In 2010, she was preparing to put her breads in local grocery stores, but needed capital to develop everything from bar codes to nutritional information on the label. Lindsey-Peake became the first recipient of a no-interest loan from Nasha Lending, a ministry of Grace Church. In addition to her Saturday Market customers, Grace Church members were soon supporting her, says Lindsey-Peake. “I was blessed with a large fan base, and business exploded,” she says. Business was great, but she was hobbled by the fact that she was using borrowed kitchens in the late afternoon or evenings and had to move all of her supplies every time she wanted to bake. “I would start in the late afternoon and bake until 2 a.m. Some Saturday mornings at the market, I was a sleepy girl,” she says. Now the comforting scent of fresh bread fills her dream workspace: a commercial kitchen on Rushmore Drive in Greenville. Since October 2012, Lindsey-Peake has been baking up to 40 loaves of banana bread at a time – a far cry from borrowed pans and borrowed ovens. She also makes cakes, cupcakes, cookies and custom orders – all on her own schedule. Dennis, her husband, keeps her company and helps out by mashing bananas, says Lindsey-Peake. For Lindsey-Peake, her journey
Photos by Greg Beckner
is about blessings and faith. When trying to name her business, she sought divine guidance. “I consult God on everything,” she says, “and he told me early one morning to name my business Banana Manna.” And she has even more plans for expansion. “I would love to have a bigger place where the customers could come in, sit at a table, have a cup of coffee with a slice of cake or loaf of banana bread,” she says. Lindsey-Peake says she hopes her entrepreneurial journey brings hope and inspiration to anyone who has experienced a similar situation. “It was so hard for me to move forward, but if you are determined, you can move forward and somebody will help you,” she says. “There is such a thing as a life changed.” Contact April A. Morris at amorris@communityjournals.com.
Banana Manna 27 Rushmore Drive, Greenville www.bananamanna.com 864-244-5001 Storefront hours: Tue-Sat, 11 a.m.-7 p.m.
FEBRUARY 1, 2013 | Upstate business 9
UBJ spotlight: educating tomorrow’s workers
CoderDojo nurtures youth tech culture By Jennifer Oladipo | contributor
In a traditional Japanese dojo, you’d find children learning karate chops from a master. But at CoderDojo Greenville, children and their parents are building up their technology chops. One of a few hundred worldwide, CoderDojo was brought to Greenville by the Iron Yard, based at the NEXT innovation center. Education director Mason Stewart said the goal is to plug kids into the Upstate’s thriving tech culture. “Greenville has a really healthy tech and design scene, I would say much healthier than most cities,” Stewart said. “We just wanted to do for the kids what most of the schools can’t do, which is give them exposure to real-world engineering. “We don’t dumb anything down or water anything down. The kids in the programming class are using the same tools that I do every day for a living.” CoderDojo does not connect to the school curriculum, but aims for cohesiveness among its courses. Stewart said CoderDojo Greenville’s grand vision would be a cadre of high school graduates a few years from now who are as skilled as anyone graduating with a BS in computer science. “There’s really no reason not to, and the reason that we expect that skill level out of a college graduate is because most students don’t get exposed to engineering until college,” Stewart said. Kids who stick with CoderDojo won’t learn the theory or history behind what they do, but Stewart hopes the program will help make Greenville a leader in youth exposure to engineering. Six-week courses cover video game, app, and website development, electrical engineering and robots. The dojo is open to students ages 8 to 18; those under 13 years old are accompanied by an adult. The first session, which started last October, had about 20 students. Stewart said more than 100 people signed up when enrollment opened this month, but there was space for 70. Kerry Meade enrolled his two daughters, Emily, age 9, and Kaitlyn, 11. He primarily wanted them to have a better understanding of the world around them. They are learning CSS and HTML Web coding language in one course, and MIT’s Arduino software-building platform in another. “It’s not that I necessarily want them to grow 10 Upstate business | FEBRUARY 1, 2013
Photos provided
up to be coders or hardware interface experts, but if they know the framework, then they know how to engage those problems,” Meade said. He also likes the collaborative atmosphere where kids are encouraged to build on each other’s strengths and where trying different methods is as important as discovering which ones actually work. “Once the kids see how it applies to them, then their own natural thirst for education just kicks in,” Meade said. Emily, who likes piano, figured out that the Adriano board could also make music, and Kaitlyn set about figuring out how she might manipulate a popular video game that boys at her school talked about. Meade said the instructors’ engaging and enthusiastic style wins them fans among the children, who don’t even realize how much they are learning. Classes start with a 45-minute lecture that gives students the basics they need to create whatever they want. Stewart said this focus on creativity and lab
“Once the kids see how it applies to them, then their own natural thirst for education just kicks in.” Kerry Meade, parent of students currently enrolled
time allows people to work at their own pace. “So the younger kids, it’s never over their heads. Some of the younger kids are actually some of the best,” he said. Those who move quickly just do more, adding greater complexity to their projects. Part of the draw is that the program is free of charge. All of the mentors work on a volunteer basis, and nearly everything else is donated, including laptops. The Iron Yard has covered some of the minimal costs. Arduino, an open-source software company, donated hardware for students to learn its program, including some gear that was not available in stores. The program has also received equipment, funds, and volunteer help from The Village Church, which helped CodorDojo expand to West Greenville this month. Because of low transportation access in the community, programming class held at the West Greenville Community Center is restricted to those from the surrounding area who would be able to walk to class. Students at the NEXT Center location come from Greenville, Simpsonville, Spartanburg and other parts of the Upstate. Stewart expects several talented entrepreneurs to come out of the group, and hopes to find internships and other projects for them to use those talents. In the meantime, there will be opportunities for students to meet and show off their work to each other. Soon the Iron Yard Academy will extend its educational opportunities to adults through a threemonth intensive code education school. Building on the model of its Next Big Thing business accelerator, they’re offering a tuition-back guarantee for anyone who doesn’t land a job within six months of finishing. Applications are now being accepted. Contact Jennifer Oladipo at joladipo@communityjournals.com.
UBJ statehouse report
Nullification talk is irresponsible
Courtesy of National Portrait Gallery
You’d think folks would learn. Especially after numerous court decisions and a civil war with more than 600,000 deaths that tore America apart. But talk of nullification of federal laws by the state of South Carolina grows. You hear it at conservative rallies. State Sen. Lee Bright, R-Spartanburg, proposes a bill to keep Obamacare out of the Palmetto State. His GOP colleague, Larry Grooms of Berkeley County, has a bill that seeks to exempt statemade guns or ammunition from any federal firearms restrictions. State Sen. Tom Davis, R-Beaufort, proposes to nullify any presidential executive order on the right to of nullification, perfected in Debear arms. Nullification is behind cember 1861 when South Carolina seceded from the union, essentially past attempts to get the state to holds that states are the final arbireject federal stimulus money and ters of whether federal laws apply to even to mint its own money. them. Proponents maintain states “These nullificationists should formed the country by joining take a look at the Supremacy together in a compact and the U.S. clause of the Constitution of the Constitution was a document for United States, whose signers for its limited government that delegated ratification included four delegates some powers to the federal governfrom South Carolina: John Rutment, but reserved lots of power for ledge, Charles Pinckney, Charles states. Under nullification theory, Cotesworth Pinckney and Pierce therefore, states can “nullify” or Butler,” historian Jack Bass said. reject federal laws it Article VI says the opposes. Constitution is “the States tried to supreme law of the use nullification land; and the judges in Pennsylvania in in every state shall 1809 to nullify a fedbe bound thereby.” eral court decision. Furthermore, state The U.S. Supreme legislators “shall be Court rejected the bound by oath or afargument, saying firmation to support this constitution.” that if states could “In other words,” nullify federal laws Bass concluded, “any John C. Calhoun and decisions, “the legislator who openly Constitution itself believes in ‘nullificabecomes a solemn tion’ should be remockery, and the moved from office as a nation is deprived of violation of their oath the means of enforcof office to support ing its laws by the the U. S. Constitution. instrumentality of One doesn’t have to be its own tribunals.” very bright to underIn other words, stand this.” nullification as a The political theory State Sen. Lee Bright remedy would cause
“In other words, any legislator who openly believes in ‘nullification’ should be removed from office as a violation of their oath of office to support the U. S. Constitution. One doesn’t have to be very bright to understand this.” Historian Jack Bass
Photo provided
chaos. Some entity has to have ultimate authority; otherwise the country and states are like a dog continually chasing its tail on controversial issues. South Carolina’s John C. Calhoun, whose portrait haughtily stares over the state Senate chamber today in Columbia, perfected the nullification argument in what led to the Nullification Crisis in the early 1830s. At issue was a tariff that favored Northern businesses. South Carolina voted to nullify it and President Andrew Jackson threatened to send troops. A compromise was reached, but nullification became a major argument for years in the Southern fight to keep slavery. Nullification reared its ugly head during the civil rights debate in the 1950s and 1960s. And now it’s back again because of a partisan,
By Andy Brack
political environment that’s more charged than in a long time. “The current support for nullification seems to be a convergence of two Republican efforts for the past three decades: support for states’ rights and appointment of conservative judges to the federal bench,” said constitutional law professor John Simpkins, a fellow at the Charleston School of Law. “Nullification has been around since the days of Thomas Jefferson and the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions. Each were rejected in their time and the idea has suffered serial defeat subsequently, from John C. Calhoun to George Wallace.” Legislative attempts to force courts to deal again with nullification, Simpkins suggested, may be a way to try to get a favorable ruling so the current more conservative U.S. Supreme Court can revisit the issue. Regardless, all of this nullification nonsense is a big waste of time. As a state, we’ve got better things to do. As much as it may pain nullifiers, our country got its start as an experiment in direct democracy, not as a put-up job by states to keep control. Evidence? The first three words of the U.S. Constitution: “We the people.” Andy Brack is the publisher of Statehouse Report. He can be reached at brack@statehousereport.com.
FEBRUARY 1, 2013 | Upstate business 11
UBJ spotlight: educating tomorrow’s workers
University Center president: Improving economy is ‘simple math’ More college degrees equal higher per capita income equals economic growth By Cindy Landrum | staff When it comes to growing the Upstate’s economy, education pays big dividends, said the president of the University Center of Greenville, a consortium of seven colleges and universities. “It’s simple math,” he said. As a person’s educational attainment rises, so does his income. And as educational attainment rises, the likelihood of unemployment falls. As an area’s per capita income rises, so does its economic growth, Taylor said. “In order for the Upstate to prosper, we have to move the educational water line,” he said. The percentage of working-age South Carolinians with at least an associate degree has hovered around 34 percent. While there has been an ongoing push in the Upstate to get to 40 percent college degree attainment – the level achieved by some of the Southeastern metro areas with which Greenville competes for business and industry – by 2020, the nonprofit Lumina Foundation says the nation needs to have 60 percent college degree attainment by 2025 to compete in the world economy. “The gap is actually growing,” Taylor said. It’s not surprising, then, that the Greenville area lags behind its Southeastern counterparts – and the nation – in per capita income. Greenville’s per capita income of $33,917 significantly trails the U.S. average of $39,937 and the Southeastern cities of Columbia and Charleston, S.C.; Birmingham, Ala.; Charlotte, Raleigh and G re e n s b oro, N.C .;
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Source: Chamber of Commerce Economic Scorecard, US Bureau of Economic Analysis
Jackson, Miss.; Louisville and Lexington, Ky.; and Richmond, Va. If Greenville’s per capita income equaled the national average, there would be an additional $11.1 billion in spendable income in the Upstate and $1.59 billion in Greenville County alone. Upstate residents plainly want to increase their education, according to a higher education regional study commissioned by the University Center and completed in December by the Riley Center at the College of Charleston. The University Center is a consortium of seven colleges and universities – USC Upstate, the University of South Carolina, Clemson University, Furman University, Greenville Technical College, South Carolina State University and Anderson University – that offer programs at the former McAlister
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COMPARISONS Per capita CITY & STATE
PERSONAL INCOME
1. Greenville, SC
POPUlATION
$33,917
638,968
$36,992 $36,015 $34,296 $41,260 $35,054 $38,512 $36,270 $38,734 $34,412 $36,121
1,285,891 473,568 725,192 1,260,396 699,258 702,253 40, 072 1,129,068 769,947 667,713
$40,138 $39,479 $38,895 $38,736
1,594,885 1,137,297 1,763,969 1,728,247
Peer Regions: 2. Louisville, KY 3. Lexington, KY 4. Greensboro, NC 5. Richmond, VA 6. Knoxville, TN 7. Little Rock, AR 8. Jackson, MS 9. Birmingham, AL 10. Columbia, SC 11. Charleston, SC
Target regions: 12. Nashville, TN 13. Raleigh, NC 14. Charlotte, NC 15. Austin, TX
UNEMPLOYMENT RATE in 2011 (With AN average of 7.6%)
Doctoral Degree – 2.5% Professional Degree – 2.4% Master’s Degree – 3.6% Bachelor’s Degree – 4.9% Associate Degree – 6.8% Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Population Survey
12 Upstate business
Some college, no degree – 8.7% High school diploma – 9.4% Less than high school diploma –14.1%
UBJ spotlight: educating tomorrow’s workers $1,800 $1,600
$1,665
Median Weekly earnings in 2011
$1,551
$1,400
(With median weekly average of $797)
$1,263
$1,500 $1,053
Everywhere. Every week.
$1,000 $768
$800
$719 $638
BUSINESS UPSTATE
$600 $451 $400
FEBRUARY 1, 2013
J O U R N A L
$200 $0
Doctoral Degree
Professional Degree
Master’s Degree
Bachelor’s Degree
Associate Degree
Some college, High school Less than high school diploma no degree diploma
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Population Survey
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Square shopping mall. The study found that 50 percent of Greenville residents with an associate degree want a bachelor’s degree. Sixty-two percent of Greenville residents with a bachelor’s degree want a master’s degree. But they want the programs to be offered in Greenville, according to the study. “It’s location, location, location,” Taylor said. “We’ve got a good facility for learning, but it’s all about convenience and flexibility. For every person who has the means and desire to go off to college, there are some multiples of that who have restrictions. Greenville is a big community and it is, and has, a more anemic education development than most developed areas.” While Bob Jones University, North Greenville University and Furman University are in Greenville County, they are unique, targeted programs focused largely on liberal arts, not the business and sciences programs identified in the Riley Center study as additional academic programming needed in Greenville, Taylor said. “It’s not a competition between the University Center and the other higher education institutions here,” he said. “It’s about we need more academic programs, more credit hours earned and more degrees generated. We’ve got to move up the charts.” Taylor said the survey showed that 92 percent of University Center students are satisfied with their overall experience there and 86 per-
cent would recommend it to others seeking higher education. The survey showed that business, criminal justice, education administration, engineering and information technology programs are needed. The University of South Carolina Upstate will double or triple its offerings in the next 24 months and has already added 7,500 square feet of space. Clemson is growing more than 20 percent and Anderson University is starting an MBA program this month, Taylor said. Anderson also has a noted criminal justice program, he said. South Carolina State is interested in expanding its offerings at the University Center as well, he said. Taylor said the center is used at 30 percent capacity Mondays through Thursdays during the day and about 45 percent capacity at night. Fridays and Saturdays operate at about 5 percent of capacity every time of day, he said. “We could more than double our offerings without doing a thing,” Taylor said. “Capacity is not an issue.” Other areas of the former McAlister Square building offer expansion capabilities when there is need, and there’s plenty of room on the campus as well, he said. “I cherish the day when I have to have a real robust conversation about capacity,” he said. “We want to help Greenville and the Upstate move up the charts.” Contact Cindy Landrum at clandrum@communityjournals.com.
EDUCATING
FEBRUARY 1, 2013 | Upstate business 13
UBJ cover story
The future of the workforce Everybody’s talking about the need for skilled workers – but is anybody doing anything about it? South Carolina’s workforce must innovate and change, as employers demand more highly skilled and broadly educated workers. Everyone parrots that refrain, but few are telling employees By Jenny Munro | contributor and those training them just what they need to do gain the skills demanded by employers. The Upstate has been earning its economic development chops for years with a workforce that boasts a strong work ethic and a relatively low wage rate. But the textile era, which allowed workers with little education to make decent wages, is gone. Manufacturing, still a major force in the state, requires more advanced skills. The workforce of the future is likely to be more diverse than now. It may be older. It should be healthier and better educated, with postsecondary education considered a key to getting a job, according to various studies. Upstate jobs are expected to be more diverse – advanced manufacturing, medical research, other healthcare positions, engineering, IT, entrepreneurs and other knowledge-based jobs.
“It basically says the employed component of the labor force will have a high education attainment, something beyond high school.” Bruce Yandle, dean emeritus of the Clemson University College of Business and Behavioral Science
Determining what the job market will be like in 10 to 20 years is difficult, said Bruce Yandle, dean emeritus of the Clemson University College of Business and Behavioral Science. But by looking at the current data on workforce participation, some ideas can be deduced. Although the economy has been going through a tough spell with a recession and a tepid recovery, difficult times can be more revealing, he said. For example, participation in the labor force has been declining since before the recession began, 14 Upstate business | FEBRUARY 1, 2013
Yandle says. The data shows that labor force participation for those without a high school degree is 45 percent, while the overall participation rate is 65 percent. “It basically says the employed component of the labor force will have a high education attainment, something beyond high school,” he said. A minimum for many jobs probably will be a twoyear degree, and some will need the equivalent of a bachelor’s degree, although it may not be a traditional degree. The majority of workers will fall into one of two categories, he said: those with highly specialized, specific skills and those who are more broadly educated and engaged. Cynthia Eason, Greenville Technical College vice president of corporate and economic development, agreed that projecting jobs needed in the Upstate in the next couple of decades is hard. However, the region needs and will continue to need skilled and educated workers. Employees can be both, she said.
Skills gap still exists
Employers are demanding employees who are problem solvers and can adapt to a changing environment as well as those who work well in teams, she said. They also want employees who have integrated skills – quality assurance is part of an employee’s normal job and not the responsibility of one person at the end of the line. “There’s still a gap between the opportunities that are out there and what workers can do,” said John Baker, executive director of Greenville Works. Employers have told him they need multiskilled technicians and skilled machinists, and they’re still having trouble finding them. “I don’t think the opportunity is going to change,” he said, so the skills level needs to change. The Greenville Regional Workforce Collaborative recently announced plans to expand its CareerSkillsNow program into West Greenville communities with the help of grants from Bank of America and the Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation. That section of Greenville has pockets with unemployment rates as high as 48 percent, said Lillian Brock Fleming, Greenville City Council member. The December unemployment rate in the county as a whole was 6.8 percent.
The Upstate has the “capacity to train” workers in needed skills, Baker said. “The issue has been people qualifying for the training.” He suggested creating a tighter connection between employers and trainers. “People don’t know how to get to the opportunities in the companies. It is so complicated to get a job.” Dean Jones, administrator of Greenville County’s Workforce Investment office, said that as workers age out of the job market and young people fill those slots, the skills gap will lessen.
Emphasis is on credentials
Credentials are what prospective employees need now, he said. They need that high school diploma or a GED, which will become more difficult to get in 2014. They also need credentials provided by WorkKeys, a testing program that determines individual skills. Baker said WorkKeys’ results show the quality of prospective workers has improved over the past several years. Greenville Works requires a silver score on three basic skills levels for its training courses, which would be a combined total of 12 points. Baker’s applicants are coming to him with a combined score of 15 to 18 points. Workers must continue learning throughout life, upgrading math skills, learning new skills or just reading a book, Jones said. That readies them for coming job changes and allows them to grow in their existing jobs. Employees need to manage their careers,
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Photos provided
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having a vision of where they want that career to go, said Randy Dobbs, CEO of Metrix Medical Network and keynote speaker at the recent Ecoplosion event. For example, a machinist – a highly skilled position – still needs to learn new technology as it comes along. Yandle said education and training may come in many forms – on-the-job training, online training, colleges and universities, night school and more. But credentials are needed to show that the student has learned the skills. While MIT and Stanford provide a huge array of free college courses, a student who learns engineering through those classes currently has no way to prove the skills.
Are liberal arts still relevant?
In search of an adaptable workforce
However, experts say many of the jobs in the Upstate will not require a bachelor’s degree, instead demanding an associates’ degree or various certifications. “Somebody has to make something, and we’re actually really good at that,” Baker said. The region is expected to continue to provide lower-skilled, lowerpaid jobs, primarily in the service industry, Eason said, adding she expects employees will discover that learning advanced skills pays off. Many of those lower-paid jobs can lead to career paths. The key to having an adaptable workforce is employees who can change, she said. The jobs present in the Upstate might not be here in 10 to 20 years. The region saw that occur with textile jobs – but a workforce with adaptive skills can learn the new skills those new jobs will require. Growth in the biotech sector, among other industries, is driving the demand for more Contact Jenny Munro at jmunro@ highly skilled and broadly educated workers. communityjournals.com. Photo by Greg Beckner
One measure of job quality and economic growth is per capita income. In an effort to increase the growth rate in the Greenville area, many business, economic development and political leaders are calling for more people with bachelor’s degrees or higher. While Greenville County’s per capita income is growing, it still lags behind Charleston and the
nation as a whole. Not everyone needs a four-year degree, but Eason said there is room for the person who wants a liberal education, one that teaches the student to think creatively and to learn how to learn. “A love of learning is the best thing you can instill in people,” she said.
Wealth creation through entrepreneurial activity is the focus of Clemson University’s Arthur M. Spiro Institute for Entrepreneurial Leadership, which supports educational, research and outreach programs that promote entrepreneurial activity and economic development of the region, state and nation. The Spiro Institute offers classes such as “New Venture Creation,” “Technology Entrepreneurship” and “Economics of Innovation.” USC’s Darla Moore School of Business also offers a project-based entrepreneurship focus, in which students work with the school’s Faber Entrepreneurship Center. North of the border, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill recently established an introduction to entrepreneurship class, open to both business majors and those outside the business school. The class is an attempt to knock down the artificial wall that often separates business programs from the liberal arts, according to University Gazette, a UNC publication. A recurring theme in the class is the “indispensable role of a liberal arts education in not only preparing students for jobs that do not yet exist, but also in giving entrepreneurs the intellectual tools they will need to develop ideas for new businesses that will house those jobs.” There is a place for both those with specialized skills and those with a more general education, although they also will need some technical knowledge, Yandle said. People with a broader education will have “the capability of looking to the right and the left as well as forward. There will always be value associated with people who can explain and communicate what others do.”
FEBRUARY 1, 2013 | Upstate business 15
UBJ spotlight: educating tomorrow’s workers
Take pride in school system that strives for continuing improvement Citizens of Greenville County can take pride in our students’ many accomplishments and efforts by educators and their public school system to provide a quality education for all students. Working with families, our efforts to unlock every child’s potential begin as young as 3 for children with special needs. By the age of 5, most of our youngest citizens are enrolled in local public school kindergartens where a major focus is teaching fundamental skills for reading. This is key because literacy is the pathway to all learning. While emphasizing basic skills in the early years, we have simultaneously expanded our most rigorous programs at the secondary level. Students have been challenged to better prepare themselves for post-secondary success by taking Advanced Placement (AP) classes,
International Baccalaureate courses, honors classes, vocational and technical courses, courses for both high school and college credit (dual credit), and courses for advanced technical/vocational certification. To help prepare high school students for this rigor, many students in middle school take courses such as algebra and geometry that most of today’s adults took in high school. This increased rigor, combined with other strategies, has raised student achievement. For example, on college entrance tests, our students continue to outscore the nation and state on the ACT and the state on the SAT. Our students continue to reap more college scholarship dollars, with last year’s graduating class receiving $104 million in scholarship offers. Also, more students are taking Advanced Placement (AP) courses and qualifying for college credit. Over the past 10
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16 Upstate business | FEBRUARY 1, 2013
years, the number of AP exams taken by our students has increased by 150 percent, and most recently, 56 percent of AP exams earned a score qualifying for college credit. The Palmetto Assessment of State Standards (PASS), given annually to students in grades three through eight, measures how well students master South Carolina’s academic standards. Last spring, our students outperformed the state in every subject and every grade level, and increased the percentage scoring “Met” or “Exemplary” on two-thirds of the subject areas. Likewise, our high school students outperformed the state on the 2012 HSAP (referred to as the High School Exit Exam), on which passing grades are required for graduation. Last year, our students’ upward trend continued, with 82.5 percent achieving passing scores. Despite all the positives we enjoy in Greenville County, there is more to be accomplished! Our goal is to provide comprehensive preparation for college or post-high school technical training that fully engages students in learning and cultivates in them a desire to acquire knowledge and contribute to society. Achieving our goal with every student is an ongoing challenge, and one that is measured in part by the graduation rate, currently 72.4 percent. Years ago, students could drop out of school, even before high school, and still earn a decent wage in a textile mill or similar industry. This is no longer the case, and the need for a high school diploma, in combination with a post-secondary degree or vocational certification, is at an all-time high. Convincing students that education is relevant to their future quality of life goes a long way toward motivating them to earn a diploma. We have many strategies to connect students to learning, and are committed to expanding our collaboration with local business and industry to provide students with roadmaps to success. Exposing students to the variety of high-paying jobs available in our community is one way to heighten their interest in doing well in school and demonstrate the value of a high school diploma. Bolstering that expo-
By W. Burke Royster
by the numbers The number of AP exams taken by our students, over the last 10 years, has increased by
150 percent 56 percent
of AP exams earned a score qualifying for college credit Scholarship offers received by last year’s graduating class
$104 million
82.5 percent
achieved passing scores on the 2012 HSAP Current graduation rate is
72.4 percent
9,500 employees play a key role in students’ accomplishments
sure with shadowing and internships that match students’ interests with industries’ needs will help improve our graduation rate, and increase our region’s desirability among new industries and provide holding power for those that are here. End results include wage increases, a boost to revenues for our counties and municipalities, a rise in charitable giving, and most importantly, a high quality of life enjoyed by our citizens. Of course, none of this would be possible without our 9,500 employees, whose outstanding efforts and dedication play a key role in students’ accomplishments. As you assess the quality of Greenville County Schools and our efforts to serve all students, be proud of all we have achieved, but never mistake pride in our accomplishments for complacency. We are focused on improving all areas – those in which we are already excel, and those in which we need to improve. W. Burke Royster began his duties as the CEO of Greenville County Schools in 2012, after previously serving as the district’s deputy superintendent. He provides leadership for the state’s largest and nation’s 49thlargest school district, which serves more than 70,000 students and employs 9,000 teachers, principals and other personnel.
UBJ spotlight: educating tomorrow’s workers
Imagination, transformation necessary in our public schools When I started the first grade in 1965, the Civil Rights Movement was roaring. Two entrepreneurs who would revolutionize the world, Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, were in elementary school, too. Men walking on the moon and a president resigning were years away. The fall of the Soviet Union and the decoding of the human genome were in the distant future. Imagine Lily, a bubbly, curious first-grader today. What does she need to know in 2060 when she will she will be at the peak of her career? We don’t know. We can’t anticipate the transformative business, political and technological events that will define her world. To succeed Lily must be a lifelong learner who thinks critically about her ever-evolving landscape. Greenville has one of the world’s best public high schools. One graduate won the prestigious Robin Williams Scholarship to attend Juilliard, and another recently graduated from Oxford having received a full four-year scholarship. Lily’s parents would love for her to attend this public school, but she may miss the chance because the Greenville Country School District won’t allow the school to promote itself to Lily and her classmates. Why? Because this excellent school is the South Carolina Governor’s School for the Arts and Humanities. The school district recently opened the excellent and innovative
A.J. Whittenberg Elementary A.J. Wittenberg Elementary School of Engineering. Because enrollment is limited, anxious parents stampeded each other on registration day trying to get their children in. One might expect that the district’s response to this high demand would be opening other similar schools that parents love. Instead, district administrators are considering a lottery to ration enrollment, ensuring that many students will miss out. Why? Because A.J. Wittenberg is a magnet school designed to entice affluent parents to drive their children long distances to attend a school in a low-income area. Parents on the affluent Eastside or the Golden Strip will likely never see a School of Engineering in their neighborhood, unless they open it themselves as a charter school. What is in the best interest of students is often different from what the district sees as in its best interest. The district’s board and administrators aren’t bad people; rather, they’re mostly dedicated people trying to manage a large,
South Carolina Governor’s School for the Arts and Humanities
Photos provided
bureaucratic organization serving students spanning from the most educated families to some that don’t know where they will sleep tonight. It’s a mission that is impossible to excel at. School district personnel are no different from people resistant to change in other large, bureaucratic organizations, whether industry, government, or education. Individuals find obsolete systems and processes impossible to change even when they know the bureaucracies are no longer effective. Many teachers are frustrated by an obsolete system they didn’t design and can’t change. They are as much victims of the system as the students are. Our fundamentally flawed high stakes accountability system is built on the notion that if we cram enough facts into students’ heads, they will be successful. The best teachers know public education is warped to teach to the test and is not educating Lily and her classmates to be the critical thinkers they need to be, whether in a business suite, a political office or a plant floor. Every highly innovative organization I have been involved with for more than 30 years has been driven by a passionate, tenacious leader. Reimagining public education around three simple guiding principles can allow teachers and parents to spark a revolution: Redefine and hold educators accountable for what is essential to empower students in their careers, in colleges and as citizens. Give principals and teachers their
By John Warner
profession back to run innovative schools that help students excel by meeting their distinctive needs. Allow money to follow the child, empowering parents to choose the best educational alternatives for their children. A simple step to implementing this is converting traditional public schools into charter schools run by teachers and parents, which is possible under the law today. This is easy for teachers, parents and the public to understand and support. It can be done with the existing infrastructure of buildings and technology. It allows teachers and parents to eliminate the school district’s stifling bureaucracy and breathe new energy into the schools that exist today. Virginia Uldrick, founder of the Governor’s School, once told me that it was impossible for her to start the school inside the Greenville school district, because it was so different, the system would not have tolerated it. This is why transformational innovations are almost always developed in upstarts like Google and not established organizations like IBM. Greenville has one of the best public schools in the world. We can create one of the best public school systems in the world, but it won’t be by the Greenville County School District starting the next Governor’s School any more than IBM will start the next Google. If we have courage, imagination and faith in ourselves, we can transform public education by empowering passionate, tenacious educators like Uldrick to create schools that take our kids to the mountaintops, which is what our children deserve. John Warner is CEO of InnoVenture, whose global Web platform helps people with big ideas attract needed customers, capital, talent and technology. InnoVenture.com partners include major corporations, universities and entrepreneurial companies regionally and around the world.
FEBRUARY 1, 2013 | Upstate business 17
Photos by Greg Beckner
UBJ professional: who’s who
elizabeth garrison rasor, president of ever-green recycling
Keeping the Upstate
Ever-Green For Elizabeth Garrison Rasor, recycling ‘smells like saving the Earth’
Elizabeth Garrison Rasor worked in pharmaceutical sales and drove past the then-under construction Twin Chimneys landfill on U.S. 25 on her way to Greenwood on a regular basis. Garrison Rasor wined and dined customers in Greenville’s restaurants, and she thought about how many of the cardboard boxes and bottles that used to hold the food they ate and the wine they By Cindy Landrum | staff 18 Upstate business | FEBRUARY 1, 2013
drank would end up there. A lot, she said, knowing that many businesses did not have recycling programs. Garrison Rasor, 39, started Ever-Green Recycling, a Greenville company that specializes in commercial recycling for offices, restaurants, hotels and medical facilities, in 2007.
Why did you want to start your own business? I was working for Greenville Area Development Corp. as a program manager, and I was inspired to start my own business. I didn’t major in business. I went to Clemson and studied communications. I worked in journalism for two years, sold cars for a year and a half, worked as a pharmaceutical sales rep for seven. But all along, I was a real student of business. Tell me about the beginning of Ever-Green Recycling. I started picking up recyclables in the back seat of my used BMW convertible. It was smelly. I grew up on a dairy
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UBJ professional: who’s who >>
farm, and I always knew that smelling bad would pay for my college. In this case, I knew smelling bad would eventually pay off. I picked up recyclables in the morning and then I went to work. I had a trench coat over my suit and I carefully positioned the recyclables in the back of the convertible so they wouldn’t blow out. It did smell bad, but to me, it smells like saving the Earth.
What do you specialize in? Ever-Green Recycling specializes in commercial recycling for offices, restaurants, hotels and medical facilities in the Upstate. We make recycling easy, affordable and convenient. We design customized programs that fit a company’s needs. We educate employees. We design a program that is really tailored to meet a company’s needs. How has your business grown? Growth has been steady. When I look back at where I wanted to be after the first five years in business, we’re not there. But the recession hit right after I started, and I feel fortunate to be where we are. The company is growing, and we continue to increase the number of customers and volume of material. I’m focusing on continuing to grow our company and our mission. When I
first started, people were really just starting to talk about sustainability. Five years ago, this was just an idea. Now, it’s three employees and me. When I first started, I picked up maybe 200 pounds of recyclables a week. Now we handle a million pounds a year.
Why should businesses have a recycling program? There’s a lot of “green watching” and a lot of effort put into things that are not proven, such as wind or harvesting methane gas. The cost of other programs, such as solar power, is high. A company may not be able to put in a $50,000 solar panel, but it can implement a lowercost recycling program. What’s in it for the company? It’s an opportunity to reduce overall costs. They can reduce what needs to be thrown away. Some companies are having vendors take back packaging. They are thinking about their waste streams, what they’re bringing in, how to manage it and how to dispose of it. What is the most challenging thing about running your own business? Having to wear so many hats. You go from sales mode to the leader of the company to a manager of people
Learn more at www.ever-greenrecycling.com.
Elizabeth Garrison Rasor, president of Ever-Green, puts a bag of recycled aluminum cans into one of her company’s recycle bins.
to the CFO to the human resource manager to head of professional development. Having to do all those things is one of the delights of the position, but it is also a challenge. Being a twin, if I couldn’t go to class, I could send her. I wish I had a twin here.
What was your biggest mistake? When I first started, I got some discounted recycling containers that didn’t have my logo. I thought
I’d save some money and put stickers on them instead. Well, even the best stickers don’t stick to recycling containers because they are made not to have anything stick to them. I spent a lot of time sanding bins. Being a young business owner, I was trying to save some money. But it cost me way more than what I saved. I found out sometimes a bargain isn’t a bargain. Contact Cindy Landrum at clandrum@communityjournals.com.
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FEBRUARY 1, 2013 | Upstate business 19
UBJ the fine print Making progress as ‘Best’ cities Spartanburg, Greenville and Anderson moved up notches in the annual Miliken Institute BestPerforming Cities Index. Charleston is the top-ranked South Carolina city and is No. 9 nationally. Spartanburg was one of the bigger gainers, moving up 70 spots to 108th. Greenville moved up 60 places to 52nd. They are indexed in the large metropolitan statistical areas. Anderson, which is ranked in the small cities index, rose to 127th from 141st. The Charleston MSA, which also includes North Charleston and Summerville, is benefiting in job growth “on the wings of the aerospace industry” since Boeing landed with its Dreamliner production plant. The institute’s top three “best performers” are San Jose, Calif.; Austin, Tex.; and Raleigh, N.C. The Greenville MSA, which also includes Mauldin and Easley, was ranked 17th in one-year job growth but 96th in wage growth over five years. Wage growth in a year period, 2009-2010, improved to 38th position. Greenville was 51st in growth of high-tech gross domestic product over a five-year period, 2006-11, but 127th in GDP growth 2010-11. Spartanburg was 170th in one-year job growth and 78th in wage growth and second in high-tech GDP growth. In a five-year period, Spartanburg’s wage growth was 126th. Its five-year high-tech growth placed it 52nd. Anderson got high marks for a hi-tech GDP growth: 19th over five years and 10th in the current oneyear period. “The numbers illustrate the vitality of our region’s urban areas,” said Hal Johnson, president and CEO of the Upstate SC Alliance. The Miliken Institute’s index’s “emphasis is on outcomes” based on job creation and retention, the quality of jobs created “and other criteria” to pinpoint “where employment is stable and expanding, wages and salaries are increasing, and economies and businesses are thriving.”
Securities firm grows SANDLAPPER Securities said its revenue increased 319 percent in 2012 over 2011 and announced plans to open a corporate retail branch in Greenville, adding 10 to 12 positions to its corporate staff. The Greenville firm said the growth in 2012 came atop 2011’s 230 percent increase in revenue. Trevor Gordon, founder and CEO, said the company believes it “can more than double our numbers again in 2013.” In addition to opening its first corporate retail office, the company said it expects to increase its network of independent registered agents from 40 to 90-100 by the end of the year. SANDLAPPER now has 20 franchise offices in 11 states. SANDLAPPER Securities is one of four branded companies. The others operate in capital investments, insurance services and wealth management. Gordon projected “significant growth” for all segments.
Planting the flag in Georgia HTI Employment Solutions of Greenville opened its first Georgia office with a location in Gainesville to support ZF Wind Power and ZF Gainesville. “The facility in Gainesville is part of HTI’s plan to grow its operations in the State of Georgia,” said Herb Dew, president. “Gainesville’s strong economic base coupled with a trained, educated workforce makes it a natural fit into HTI’s strategy.” The Gainesville location is HTI’s ninth in the Southeast.
New director for diner chain Denny’s Corp. has appointed
20 Upstate business | FEBRUARY 1, 2013
José Gutiérrez, a longtime AT&T executive in media systems, to the board of directors. Brenda Lauderback, chair of the corporate governance and nominating committee of the board, said Gutiérrez “will help Denny’s further strengthen its mobile and social media efforts and stay ahead of the technological advertising explosion.” Gutiérrez currently is president of wholesale solutions at AT&T. He previously was president and CEO of AT&T’s advertising solutions.
New look for renewable power Lockhart Power Co., a subsidiary of Pacolet Milliken Enterprises, has created a new website to complete “a full rebranding process, which included the development of a new logo and color scheme.” Bryan Stone, chief operating officer, said the design changes “better reflect our legacy of great customer service.” Lockhart celebrated its 100th year in 2012. Lockhart, which is based in Spartanburg, provides power to Duke Energy Carolinas and the City of Columbia. The company says 99 percent of its power is generated from renewable sources.
Free websites for nonprofits Loaves and Fishes and Gardening for Good are recipients of Engenius’ annual grants to two nonprofit organizations to get a redesigned website and logo, Web hosting and marketing
consultation. The value of each grant is more than $9,000, Engenius says. Appl ic ations for 2013 grants will be available this spring. Interested nonprofits can visit www.engeniusgrants. com for more information.
An international party
The International Center’s annual International Gala will be the official beginning of Upstate International Month on Friday, March 1 at Zen, 924 S. Main St., Greenville. Ticket price for the gala, from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m., is $80 for members and $95 for nonmembers. For more information and registration, visit www.internationalupstate.org/ event/international-gala.
Economic forecast breakfast
The Spartanburg Area Chamber of Commerce will hold its annual economic forecast breakfast Friday, Feb. 8, at the Campus Life Center ballroom of the University of South Carolina Upstate. Guest speaker Tim Quinlan, an economist for Wells Fargo in Charlotte, will address U.S. business spending and foreign economic trends. In addition, reports from focus groups “will shed some light on the local economy and provide expert analysis of 12 key sectors of our economic structure,” said David Cordeau, president and CEO of the chamber. JM Smith Corp., Wells Fargo and NAI Furman are sponsors of the breakfast.
UBJ quarterlies
Palmetto Bank reported its second consecutive quarter of net income in the fourth quarter and said it expects to remain profitable in 2013. The Greenville bank said it had a net profit of $2.7 million, or 21 cents a share, in the quarter. In the third quarter of 2012, it had net income of $3.2 million, or 25 cents a share. The bank finished 2012 with a loss of $1.9 million compared to red ink of $23.4 million in 2011. CEO Samuel Erwin said the bank “significantly reduced” the amount of problem loans, became more efficient and “enhanced the delivery of products and services to our clients.” Erwin said Palmetto entered 2013 “with positive momentum” and is “continuing our focus on enhancing the client experience and further improving our profitability.” Paying a painful price for a heavy concentration of real estate development loans that went sour in the recession, Palmetto lost $40 million in 2009, $60 million in 2010, $23 million in 2011 and $1.9 million last year. Palmetto Bank has 25 branches in the Upstate. It has total assets of $1.1 billion.
Southern First Bancshares, holding company for Greenville First Bank, reported net income to shareholders of $923,000, or 21 cents per share, in the fourth quarter of 2012. The quarterly performance was a
Sales, profits decline for ScanSource ScanSource reported net income of $16.4 million, or 59 cents a share, in its second fiscal quarter as sales revenue declined 4.5 percent from
the same period a year ago. Net income was down as well from the comparable period in 2011 when it had net of $21.4 million, or 77 cents per share. For the quarter that ended Dec. 31, ScanSource said net sales decreased to $747.7 million from $782.7 million in the second quarter of 2011. “Our sales teams delivered results within our planned range, including record quarterly sales for POS (point of sale) and barcode and security products worldwide,” said Mike Baur, CEO. “In addition, our North American communications team achieved record sales results for the quarter.” For the first six months, net income was $34 million, down from $40 million in the comparable period the prior year. Sales of $1.48 billion were down from $1.55 billion.
Kay Biscopink, CPA, Shareholder Eric Schmid, CPA, Shareholder
Around the corner and across the globe. Synovus’ turnaround year
Southern First: 2012 ‘a monumental year’
it had a net of $712.8 million. “Our fourth quarter performance represents another huge step forward for our company,” said Kessel D. Stelling, chairman and CEO. “The recapture of the deferred tax asset is a significant milestone that reflects strength.” Additionally, he said, Synovus’ bulk sale of $545 million in “distressed loans,” typically at a discount, in December “accelerates credit quality improvement and also enhances our future financial performance.” Synovus has branches of NBSC, which it bought in 1995, throughout South Carolina. In the Upstate, it has offices in Anderson, Greenville, Greer, Rock Hill, Spartanburg and Taylors.
Synovus Financial, the Georgia company that owns National Bank of South Carolina, reported its first annual profit since 2007. The bank reported net of $775 million for 2012, primarily as a result of being able to recapture $802 million of “substantially all” of its deferred tax asset allowance. Synovus lost $3 billion in the four prior years. The bank began to turn the corner in late 2011 and had positive net income in every 2012 quarter. In the fourth period,
Doing business globally is both rich with opportunities and fraught with risk. Complex laws and regulatory requirements require an extremely skillful and knowledgeable team of advisors. Our International Services practice is comprised of tax and assurance professionals who provide global reach right here at home. Contact Elliott Davis today to discuss your company’s international operations. It’ll do a world of good.
© 2013 Elliott Davis LLC © 2013 Elliott Davis PLLC
‘Positive momentum’ for Palmetto Bank
511 percent improvement over the $152,000, or 4 cents a share, for the same period in 2011. For the year, the Greenville-based bank had net income of $2.8 million, 192 percent improvement over 2011. The company announced a 10 percent stock dividend to shareholders of record as of Feb. 1. “The fourth quarter was monumental for Southern First as we combined outstanding operating results with the official opening of our third office in Columbia and our first office in Charleston,” said CEO Art Seaver. “We have made significant investments in infrastructure and entire 2013 with strong momentum.” Seaver said the bank intends to increase its mortgage business and has hired a senior mortgage executive, Scott Bailey, with “control over the entire process.” On Jan. 3, the bank got a boost from its Washington regulator, the Office of Comptroller of the Currency, which lifted its 2010 memorandum putting the bank under a low level of tighter scrutiny in the recession’s aftermath. The company operates as Greenville First in its home market and as Southern First Bank in Columbia and Charleston. It has assets of $798 million.
200 East Broad Street • Greenville, SC 29601 • 864.242.3370 • www.elliottdavis.com
FEBRUARY 1, 2013 | Upstate business 21
UBJ on the move
elected
elected
honored
honored
promoted
Harrison G. Cline
Jeff Baldwin
Rita Bolt Barker
Todd Usher
Stephen Shaughnessy
Has begun a three-year term on the board of directors of the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of South Carolina (IIABSC). As the only Greenville resident on the board, Harrison, the vice president of Furman Insurance, took the oath of office during IIABSC’s 114th Annual Convention in Savannah, Ga. Founded in 1899, IIABSC is the oldest and largest association of property and casualty insurance agents in South Carolina.
Design engineering manager for T&S Brass & Bronze Works, a leading U.S. manufacturer of commercial plumbing and foodservice equipment; has stepped into the role of president at Plumbing Manufacturers International (PMI), a trade association of plumbing products manufacturers. PMI serves as a sounding board for members, a source of commercial plumbing innovation and information, a decision-making body for industry issues, and a liaison for legislation.
Named one of only 12 lawyers across the country to receive the prestigious Distinguished Environmental Advocacy Award from the American Bar Association (ABA) Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources (SEER). The award recognizes the contributions of lawyers to the development of law, policy and programs in the areas of energy and the environment. Barker, an attorney at Wyche, was coined “one of the best of the best” by the ABA SEER and Rising Star Committee.
Named the National Association of Home Builders’ 2012 Master Certified Green Professional of the Year. Usher, the president of Addison Homes, was honored for his advocacy on behalf of sustainable design/construction, his focus on increased energy efficiency, improved indoor air quality, appropriate resource allocation and consumer education. The title is presented to the industry professional who best showcases the importance of this educational designation.
Promoted to partner at Rödl Langford de Kock LLP. Shaughnessy is a certified public accountant with more than 17 years of experience in public accounting primarily focused on Federal, state, and international tax matters. Previously, he worked for Price Waterhouse LLP, Ernst & Young LLP, and Apartment Investment & Management Company before joining Rödl in 2006.
CONSTRUCTION/ENGINEERING
• O’Neal Inc., a Greenville-based integrated design and construction firm, recently hired Jason Dickinson as project manager. Dickinson brings more than 13 years of experience to O’Neal. He comes to O’Neal from CoroTech Company, based in Michigan, where he served as project manager.
LOGISTICS
• Sunland Distribution recently welcomed two global logistics industry giants, Elijah Ray as new EVP of client solutions and Bill Gates as chairman of the board of directors. Ray has dedicated over 25 years to the field of logistics and supply chain management with a focus on operations excellence, quality, customer relationship development, marketing and sales.
Gates began his logistics career in 1988 working for Standard Corporation and was CEO of the company at the time of its acquisition. In 2011 he retired, finishing his career as president of an international supply chain solutions provider with $4.5 billion revenue and 20,000 employees at the time.
MARKETING/PUBLIC RELATIONS
• Peacock Marketing Group, a marketing communications company specializing in website design, lead generation, SEO and drip marketing, recently announced that Sylvelie Desbois-Franke has joined the company as an account manager. Desbois-Franke has a strong background in B2B marketing, for the past 16 years concentrating on business software solutions at Datastream and then Infor.
NONPROFIT
• GreenvilleConnect, an organization with the goal of building and unifying the area’s Christian community by being a resource to facilitate collaboration, has named its 2013 board officers. Chairman of the GreenvilleConnect board will be Tim Brett, the CEO of Complete Public Relations; chair-elect is Bobby McDonald, executive director of the South Carolina Christian Foundation; and secretary is Gwen Martin, an attorney with Bradford Neal Martin & Associates, PA.
to director of planned giving; and Colleen Bishop joins as membership manager. Vaughn successfully launched the Endowment’s Legacy Society, which recognizes those individuals who have included the ETV Endowment in their estate plans. Deck joined the Endowment in 2009 and has a background in the banking industry. Bishop comes to the Endowment from Spartanburg’s Glenn Spring Academy, where she was director of administrative services.
REAL ESTATE
• NAI Earle Furman recently welcomed Kevin Pogue to its brokerage team at the Spartanburg office. He will be working alongside brokers Dan Dunn and Andrew Babb. Pogue served for eight years in the United States Marine Corps, the majority of which time was spent on the East Coast, primarily in Charleston, S.C. In 2004, he served an 11-month tour of duty in support of the War on Terror (Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom).
UpstateFoodie.com
• Spectrum Commercial Properties has announced that Rob Brissie has been named Top Producer and Agent of the Year for 2012. Brissie has been with Spectrum since 2007 and specializes in office, industrial, retail and investment properties.
Feed Your Inner Food Enthusiast
UpstateFoodie.com Feed Your Inner Food Enthusiast
22 Upstate business | FEBRUARY 1, 2013
• The ETV Endowment of South Carolina recently announced that Georgia Vaughn will be retiring on Jan. 31 as director of planned and managed giving; Dawn Deck will be promoted
movers and shakers New hires, promotions, award-winners, or stand-out employees can be featured in On The Move... send information & a photo. onthemove@upstatebusinessjournal.com
UBJ nonprofit matters
United Way’s roadmaps: Stewarding Greenville’s future I recently went to dinner with a close friend so we could share holiday stories and exchange belated gifts. As I opened my present, I was reminded that life is filled with so many wonderful surprises. To my delight, my friend had made a donation in my name to United Ministries. Now, here’s the twist… just that morning, I had spent four hours with 20 other volunteers evaluating agency requests for United Way’s three-year funding cycle starting in 2013; one of these requests had been made by United Ministries. Coincidentally, my role in this review process was to serve as the primary presenter and advocate for three programs offered by this wonderful Upstate nonprofit. Her gift could not have been more meaningful or timely. This leads me to the question she asked me that evening. I know you are a United Way donor and volunteer. Tell me how decisions are made to fund partner agencies. – Jacqui For the past year, I have served on United Way’s Program Evaluation Team. This is a responsibility that more than 70 community volunteers take extremely seriously. We are entrusted with understanding and evaluating the program funding requests presented by local nonprofits. As part of our role, we serve as advocates and presenters for specific agencies. You will be as surprised as I was to learn that this year United Way received requests from 93 health and human service nonprofits representing 135 different programs. What an incredible responsibility to choose where our community’s dollars will be invested. I am proud to share that our local United Way is a national leader. We are setting the bar with our approach to community impact and how we allocate funding. One of our major commitments is to
fund programs that provide access to healthcare and emergency assistance in times of crisis – right here, right now. At the same time, we recognize that as a community we must invest in long-term, forwardthinking and systemic solutions. Wouldn’t it be nice if we worked ourselves out of a job? To provide a long-term, community-based strategy, United Way volunteers, staff and partner agencies came together to develop roadmaps in the following three priority areas:
United Way of Greenville County
• School readiness for children • High school graduation and post-high school success • Financial stability for families At first glance these roadmaps may appear complex. However, once you examine them, it is evident that they thoughtfully illustrate a positive course for Greenville’s future. Moreover, they are invaluable tools for those of us making funding recommendations and decisions. Each year, members of the Program Evaluation Team attend training workshops on United Way’s Community Impact Model and the following criteria, which we use to evaluate funding requests:
the United Way’s dedicated staff and volunteers are great stewards of our community’s contributions. Last November, the United Way announced the results of a very successful 2012 campaign – the best in its history. As volunteers held their breath, campaign chair Jim Bourey turned the final placard
By Debbie Nelson
at a public event, revealing a grand total of $16,021,264. I believe this remarkable success was a huge vote of confidence for United Way. And as a result, nonprofits will be funded, individuals and families will be made stronger, and the future of our community will be brighter. Until next time, Debbie (debbie@dnacc.com) Debbie Nelson is the president and founder of DNA Creative Communications, a public relations firm that partners with nonprofit and government organizations in the education, human services and sustainability sectors. Each year DNA offers its Live Here Give Here pro bono program and Shine the Light on Your Nonprofit workshop series.
• Community need/alignment with roadmaps • Financial and organizational capacity • Collaboration, innovation and best practices • Outcome measurement Once we on the Program Evaluation Team make our final recommendations, the next step is approval by the Community Impact Cabinet. More questions are asked at this point before final recommendations are made to the board of directors for their approval. You can rest assured that FEBRUARY 1, 2013 | Upstate business 23
PLANNER
1 UBJ social
Friday FEBRUARY
“Visitors Day” First Friday Luncheon Cannon Centre, 204 Cannon St., Greer; 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. Speaker: Russ Davis, entrepreneur and sales expert, Sandler Training. Cost: $10 for Greer Chamber members, $15 for non-members. First 50 non-members to register for luncheon by calling the Chamber will receive free entrance. Call 864-877-3131 or register at www.greerchamber.com. Greenville Business Magazine: First Annual Greenville Roast Hyatt Regency, 220 N. Main St., Greenville; 6 p.m. Cost: $350 for Ad Roster, $1000 for Guests of Honor, $2500 for Roast Master rank. Emcee: Nigel Robertson; Roastee: Mayor Knox White; Roasting Panel: George Acker, Bob Hughes, Bob Howard, & Deb Sofield. Call 864-235-0506 or email emuserallo@ rmhcarolinas.com, or mspencer@rmhcarolinas.com. First Friday Leadership Series Clemson at The Falls, 55 E. Camperdown Way, Greenville; 5-7 p.m. Speaker: Joe Lancia, Prior President & CEO of SCIO Diamond Technology Corp. & CEO of Strategic Capital & Associates, LTD. Free to attend. Register at firstfridaylancia. eventbrite.com. Tuesday FEBRUARY
5
2013 Ecoplosion summit Attendees of the 2013 Ecoplosion summit at CU-ICAR take advantage of a networking break to mingle in the lobby of the Campbell Graduate Engineering Center. The sold-out event drew leaders from several industries to engage bold ideas to improve communities.
SC Automotive Council’s 2nd Annual Automotive Summit Hyatt Regency, 220 N. Main St., Greenville; 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Sessions with execs of Bosch, Bridgestone, Daimler & General Dynamics, and S.C. Secretary of Commerce Bobby Hitt. Cost: $325 for SCMA Members, $375 for non-SCMA Members. Visit www.scautomotivecouncil.com. Non-Profit Alliance: The Affordable Care Act presented by The United Way University Center of Greenville, 225 S. Pleasantburg Dr., Greenville; 11:30 a.m. check-in, 12-1:30 p.m. program. Open to all Chamber member executive directors of area nonprofits or their designates. Please register to attend. Lunch will be provided. Contact Claudia Wise at 864-239-3728.
Spartanburg Healthcare Network Spartanburg Area Chamber of Commerce, 105 N.Pine St., Spartanburg; 10:30 a.m.-noon. Dr. Paul Switzer, MD, will discuss mission & vision of VCOM. Free. RSVP at www.spartanburgchamber.com or Meric Gambel at 864-594-5030. 2013 Symposium Upstate Real Estate Forecast Gunter Theatre, Peace Center, 300 Main St., Greenville; 4-6:30 p.m. Speakers: Jim Costello, managing director, Americas research, CBRE, Boston, Mass., & Brian Reed, VP, client services, CBRE | The Furman Co., Greenville. Contact 864-527-6074 or cbremarketing@furmanco.com. Using Social Media in Small Business Greenville County Library, Hughes Main Branch, 25 Heritage Green Place, Greenville; 5-7 p.m. Cost: $29. Register online at www.piedmontscore.org. Call 864-271-3638 for more information. Introduction to PULSE Greenville Chamber of Commerce, 24 Cleveland St., Board Room, Greenville; 5:306:30 p.m. Come learn about PULSE. Light refreshments will be served. Call 239-3743 for more information. Wednesday FEBRUARY
6
Mauldin Chamber Leads Group Mauldin Chamber of Commerce, 101 E. Butler Rd., Mauldin; noon-1 p.m. Free to attend. Contact Don Johnson at dfjj1141@yahoo.com.
Submit your event: events@upstatebusinessjournal.com
Meeting of the Women’s Business Network from the Simpsonville Chamber of Commerce
UBJ digital maven
Online scheduling tools put time back on your calendar The question of whether technology is a time-saver or time-waster is still open to discussion for many people. We see tasks taking a long time to accomplish and wonder why tech doesn’t make it any easier. It’s a complex question and there are many factors, but two keys are: a) having the right applications, and b) learning how to use them to do what you need done. The biggest time-waster I know of is scheduling meetings – and I do a lot of this. Has the explosion of email and the addition of mobility made scheduling easier? Actually, no. There are metrics that suggest it can take at least seven emails to schedule a meeting that involves more than two people. Whether it’s the boss or an assistant, that’s a big waste of staff time. But there are tools to streamline and automate the process. And in many cases they are free or nearfree, which I define as something that costs less than a cup of coffee at Starbucks.
By Laura Haight
What do you look for in a service partner?
VS.
Doodle vs. Timebridge
Doodle (www.doodle.com) and Timebridge (www.timebridge. com) are both strong online schedulers. Timebridge is free and Doodle has a free level, but to compare to Timebridge’s functions you must upgrade to a pro account for $39 per year. The primary function is to enable you to send a selection of times from your calendar to as many invitees as you want. The application keeps track as each person responds with availability and then allows you to select the best time for all participants. Your tentative times are all added to your calendar so you don’t overbook, and when a final time is selected, they are deleted. You send one email – the applications do the rest. There are some differences: • Doodle synchronizes with
any calendar you use; Timebridge works with Outlook and Google Calendar. • Timebridge automatically confirms the best meeting time when the last invitee has participated in the poll; Doodle notifies you that all participants are in, and you make the final selection. • Timebridge notifies you of upcoming meetings automatically (via text on your phone or email); Doodle does not. • Timebridge includes options to add a free conference call to your meeting invitations; Doodle does not. • Doodle (although suffering from an unfortunate name for a business tool) seems to be a
very stable platform and offers a mobile app for iPhones, Android phones, iPads and tablets; Timebridge has had some scary outages in the past. • Doodle has a mobile app. Although it is not as full-featured as power users like myself would probably like to see, it is useful as an advisory tool. Timebridge does not have any mobile app and using Timebridge on your mobile device is clunky and aggravating. • Both services give you your own online calendar so that people can see your availability and propose meeting times with you. Even if you don’t want to create new ways for meetings to get on your calendar, it’s a nice feature to help partners, collabo-
If you are in business, you have any number of vendors, service providers and professional relationships. For every relationship you choose, there are a hundred that you passed up. For a future story, I am interested in knowing what puts a vendor/provider over the top for you? Tell me your stories about great vendor relationships. Post on Facebook – www.facebook. com/thedigitalmaven – or Tweet with #goodvendor. This is particularly relevant with technology vendors – suppliers, hardware resellers, software vendors, system integrators. Is it the lowest price, the best customer service, the value added, post-sales opportunities, name recognition, national footprint? There are so many things you make a decision on, but eventually one thing always pushes one vendor just a hair above the other. For me, it was always loyalty and customer service. I’ll show you my #goodvendor stories if you’ll show me yours! rators and clients get an overview of your schedule, which will save you time as well. As with all productivity apps, know what is important to you. Features can sound very cool, but if they aren’t tools you use, they’re superfluous, not super. But if you schedule a lot of calls and meetings, either of these two tools is worth a close look. Laura Haight is the president of Portfolio (www.portfoliosc.com), a communications company based in Greenville that focuses on harnessing the power of today’s technology to reach new customers, turn customers into loyal clients and loyal clients into advocates. She is a former IT executive, journalist and newspaper editor.
FEBRUARY 1, 2013 | Upstate business 25
UBJ snapshot
WORKERS – THEN
with vocational education, which included actual on-the-job training in the textile industry. (Right) A textile worker works with thread from the creel as it goes onto the warping machine in this photo from the 1920s.
“THEN” photos from the Greenville Historic Society
(Below) In 1922, the Parker School District was created and named in honor of Thomas F. Parker. As president of Monaghan Mill, Parker had shown genuine concern for the welfare of the mill operatives. A traditional curriculum was combined
WORKERS – NOW
“NOW” photos by Greg Beckner
(Right) In the early 1960s, Governor Ernest F. Hollings, recognizing the importance of higher education for the workforce in order to attract more business and industry to the state, formed the state technical education system. The plan was to provide training at 13 statewide institutions. From this foundation, 16 technical colleges have formed statewide and training has advanced with technology.
Got an old photo you’d like featured here? Send an image file to snapshot@upstatebusinessjournal.com with a description of the photo and do your darnedest to identify any people in it. Upstate
Business J O U R N A L
HOW TO REACH US 148 River Street., Suite 120 Greenville, SC 29601, 864.679.1200 Copyright @2013 BY COMMUNITY JOURNALS LLC. All rights reserved. Upstate Business Journal (Vol. 2, No. 5) is published weekly by Community Journals LLC. 148 River Street, Suite 120, Greenville, South Carolina, 29601. Upstate Business Journal is a free publication. Annual subscriptions (52 issues) can be purchased for $65. Visit www.UpstateBusinessJournal.com. Postmaster: Send address changes to Upstate Business, 148 River St., Ste 120, Greenville, SC 29601. Printed in the USA.
26 Upstate business | FEBRUARY 1, 2013
PRESIDENT/Publisher Mark B. Johnston mjohnston@communityjournals.com Senior Vice President Alan P. Martin amartin@communityjournals.com UBJ Associate Publisher Ryan L. Johnston rjohnston@communityjournals.com eXECUTIVE Editor Susan Clary Simmons ssimmons@communityjournals.com MANAGING editor Jerry Salley jsalley@communityjournals.com
Marketing Representatives Lori Burney | Mary Beth Culbertson Kristi Jennings | Donna Johnston Pam Putman staff writers Cindy Landrum | April A. Morris Charles Sowell SENIOR BUSINESS writer Dick Hughes contributing writerS Jenny Munro | Jennifer Oladipo Jeanne Putnam | Leigh Savage
photographer Greg Beckner CONTRIBUTING photo EDITOR Gerry Pate MarketinG Katherine Elrod Marketing & EVENTS Kate Banner Billing Shannon Rochester PrODUCTION Holly Hardin Client Services ManagerS Anita Harley | Jane Rogers
Design LEAD Kristy M. Adair
ADVERTISING DESIGN Michael Allen | Whitney Fincannon Caroline Reinhardt
EDITORIAL INTERNS Shelby Livingston | Casey Dargan
IDEAS, FEEDBACK, OPINIONS opinions@upstatebusinessjournal.com
UBJ commercial development & new to the street commercial development Pacolet Milliken Enterprises Inc. recently announced the purchase of 1400 Wilson Blvd., a 12-story, 108,296-square-foot office building located in Rosslyn, Va. Situated across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C., the building looks directly onto the National Mall in front of the U.S. Capitol. The building, which is leased entirely to the U.S. Department of State, is selfcontained on its city block. James M. Jacobson Jr. with Salus Property Investments LLC is the managing partner of the property.
Langston-Black Real Estate, Inc. announced: • Tim Allender and Chuck Langston recently represented Walt Brashier in the sale of his 12,000-squarefoot building (situated on .94 acres) located at 3220 Wade Hampton Blvd., Taylors. A portion of the building will be used as a dentist’s office with the remaining space being leased for office use.
Kirkland’s
Firehouse Subs
recently opened their 21st location in the Greenville-Spartanburg area at 1781 Woodruff Road in Greenville. This location is the first stand-alone Firehouse Subs in the Upstate and the seventh for franchisee Elliott Goldsmith.
recently opened its newest store at the Westgate Crossing shopping center at 660 Spartan Blvd. in Spartanburg. The location offers an extensive selection of decorative items, gifts and seasonable merchandise.
FEBRUARY 1, 2013 | Upstate business 27
UBJ
TOP PRODUCER FOR THE PAST 10 YEARS As first time home buyers, Melissa put us at ease throughout the entire buying process. She found the perfect house for us within a few short days. Thanks to Melissa, our experience of becoming homeowners could not have been better. - The Brinson Family We had been trying to sell our house for two years. We tried FSBO and listing it with other agents. Then we listed with Melissa. She helped us stage our home, began her marketing efforts and it sold in 2 months! Melissa Morrell is the ultimate professional! - The Mathews Family
Bring it!
PLANNING A MOVE IN THE UPSTATE?
Fine Homes Specialist | Certified Relocation Specialist 864-918-1734 | WWW.GREENVILLEAGENT247.COM |