GSA Business April 6, 2015

The Great

April 6 - 19, 2015

www.gsabusiness.com

Volume 18, No. 8 • $2.00

OUTDOOR$

Debt burden A report ranked two S.C. colleges among the top 20 highest-debt schools in the U.S. For a breakdown on student debt at Upstate schools, see PAGE 2

Oconee County has the great outdoors to bring in tourism dollars, but it lacks the nightlife to keep visitors overnight. The county is rebranding itself, and a planned outdoors resort on Hartwell Lake dovetails with that strategy and could benefit the entire Upstate.

READ BOTH STORIES BELOW.

Brightening up the place Park Sterling Bank transformed a 90-year-old textile building from a “dungeon” to its new regional headquarters.

PAGE 4

THELIST Private Schools PAGE 16

INSIDE In Focus: Education ........ 13 People in the News......... 19 News Briefs.................... 19 Viewpoint........................ 23

River rafting is just one of Oconee’s many outdoor allures. (Photo/Provided)

‘Cool factor’ underpins Oconee rebranding Outdoors resort

by Teresa C. Hopkins gsanews@scbiznews.com

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or business leaders in Oconee County, the future depends on a community code development, downtown revitalization, a hospitality tax and “cool factor.”

And all of this requires a managed plan, according to one economic developer.

Ken Sloan, president and CEO of Mountain Lakes Convention and Visitor’s Bureau in Walhalla, said: “Visitors come into Oconee County

from Greenville, Clemson, Clayton, Highlands, Anderson. They come in here, they ride on our roads, they visit our waterfalls, they raft on our rivers, they play in our lakes … then they turn around and go back home.”

“They spend money on restaurants, shopping and lodging in our neighboring communities, and we’re losing millions and millions of dollars as a result,” he said.

Why aren’t they staying in Oconee County?

Sloan said that research indicates the area lacks what he see REBRANDED, page 11

invigorates Hartwell development

by Bill Poovey bpoovey@scbiznews.com

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evelopers planning a 325-acre resort on Hartwell Lake along Interstate 85 have found a government agency ready to pursue building an outdoors center that will make the see OUTDOORS, page 10

COCA-COLA BOTTLING CO. MOVED ITS MAULDIN OPERATION ACROSS THE COUNTY LINE, PROMPTING ONE ANDERSON COUNTY COUNCILMAN TO CLAIM “BRAGGING RIGHTS.” PAGE 6

LEADING OFF

A QUICK READ ON LOCAL BUSINESS

A beast of debt burden R ecent data shows 69% of Americans in the class of 2013 graduated with student debt. According to a November report called Student Debt and the Class of 2013, by nonprofit group The Institute for College Access

& Success, the average student debt carried by those graduates was $28,400, a 2% increase over 2012. With average debt of $29,092, South Carolina came in higher than the national average and was the 10th-most expensive

state. Two institutions in the Palmetto State were in the top 20 high debt public colleges: Citadel Military College of South Carolina and Clemson University.

Clemson University

Anderson University

Southern Wesleyan University

Proportion of graduates with debt Bachelor’s degree recipients Full-time enrollment fall 2012 2012-13 in-state tuition and fees 2012-13 total cost of attendance

49% 3,720 15,643 $ 12,674 $ 28,182

University of South Carolina, Upstate Proportion of graduates with debt Bachelor’s degree recipients Full-time enrollment fall 2012 2012-13 in-state tuition and fees 2012-13 total cost of attendance

70% 1,120 4,225 $ 9,892 $ 21,986

Proportion of graduates with debt Bachelor’s degree recipients Full-time enrollment fall 2012 2012-13 in-state tuition and fees 2012-13 total cost of attendance

Converse College

Proportion of graduates with debt Bachelor’s degree recipients Full-time enrollment fall 2012 2012-13 in-state tuition and fees 2012-13 total cost of attendance

Furman University

68% 351 2,151 $ 21,730 $ 35,790 80% 158 605 $ 28,276 $ 40,980

Proportion of graduates with debt Bachelor’s degree recipients Full-time enrollment fall 2012 2012-13 in-state tuition and fees 2012-13 total cost of attendance

Wofford College

Proportion of graduates with debt Bachelor’s degree recipients Full-time enrollment fall 2012 2012-13 in-state tuition and fees 2012-13 total cost of attendance

75% 357 1,318 $ 21,450 $ 33,000 49% 391 1,596 $ 34,555 $ 48,129

Proportion of graduates with debt 45% Bachelor’s degree recipients 605 Full-time enrollment fall 2012 2,623 2012-13 in-state tuition and fees $ 41,532 2012-13 total cost of attendance $ 55,750

Average debt of graduates of Upstate colleges

Only public and private nonprofit colleges that reported average debt and percent with debt and had at least 100 bachelor’s degree recipients in 2012-13 are included in this data. $ 34,114

$ 27,711

$ 27,826

$ 27,511

$ 26,566

Clemson

University of South Carolina, Upstate

$ 27,355 $ 24,721

Anderson

Converse

Furman

Southern Wesleyan

Wofford

SOURCE: Student Debt and the Class of 2013, The Institute for College Access & Success

April 6 - 19, 2015

www.gsabusiness.com 3

Clemson University’s use of the Bon Secours Wellness Arena will have a $12.2 million economic impact on Greenville County, a report shows. (Photo/Provided)

Report: Clemson arena stint to shift $12M to Greenville County

by Bill Poovey bpoovey@scbiznews.com

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lemson University’s use of the Bon Secours Wellness Arena for a season of men’s basketball games and four graduation ceremonies starting in August will have a $12.2 million economic impact on Greenville County, a report shows. The report added that the impact includes 135 jobs, both full time and part time, as part of the economic shift, generating $4.1 million in labor income.

Lisa Crawford, marketing manager for the Wellness Arena, said in an email that the one-year contract has Clemson paying the arena $30,000 per game. The schedule for the season that starts in November has not been set. The Tigers had 17 home games and a preseason exhibition game in the recently concluded season. University athletic officials did not respond to messages seeking information about the total contract.

Robert Carey, director of the Regional Economic Analysis Laboratory at the university’s Strom Thurmond Institute, prepared the economic impact report and said the positive economic impact in Greenville County will be larger than Pickens County’s loss.

Carey said the Greenville arena’s larger seating capacity, 13,480, for basketball, “allows for more fans to attend the games on average. Second, room rates in Greenville are higher than Pickens-Anderson, which pushes up that sector in the output number. Third, Greenville, being much more urbanized than Pickens County, is able to absorb more of the impact of the events taking place there than Pickens can. This is due to the location of more businesses and first- and second-tier suppliers being located in Greenville, which allows for consumer spending impacts to

stay more local” than in Pickens County.

Carey said his estimates from using an Implan model shows the 135 jobs could be full time or part time and could include some people who change work locations.

Carey said the estimates are based on total attendance of 163,779 people at 14 basketball games and about 40,000 people at the four graduation events. He said people attending from outside the Clemson-Greenville area “count toward the economic impact, since we can’t necessarily take credit for spending by locals who might have spent money in Greenville County anyway.”

Carey said in an email that he assumed 100% of attendees from out of state and 25% of attendees from South Carolina, but outside the local area, lodged overnight. He said hotel rates are based on the average room rate for Greenville hotels within a 5-mile radius of the Wellness Arena.

“I assumed double occupancy for all hotel rooms,” Carey said, with those staying overnight consuming two meals locally and those who do not stay overnight consuming one meal, with cost based on federal per diem rates for South Carolina.

Crawford said the “turn-key rental agreement” with Clemson has the basketball team also using the arena for practice sessions. The arena will provide management services during games including, but not limited to, customer service personnel, marketing resources, ticketing services, concessions and catering services, safety and security personnel, locker rooms, office space, dressing rooms, weight rooms and parking, and all Greenville Arena District-owned equipment, including 360-degree ribbon boards, center-hung video boards and video cameras, Crawford said.

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April 6 - 19, 2015

Publisher - Lisa Jones ljones@scbiznews.com • 864.235.5677, ext. 101 UPSTATE NEWSROOM News Editor - Don Fujiwara dfujiwara@scbiznews.com • 864.235.5677, ext. 106 Staff Writer - Bill Poovey bpoovey@scbiznews.com • 864.235.5677, ext. 104 Graphic Designer - Jean Piot jpiot@scbiznews.com • 864.235.5677, ext. 115 MIDLANDS NEWSROOM Editor - Chuck Crumbo ccrumbo@scbiznews.com • 803.726.7542 Staff Writer - Chris Cox ccox@scbiznews.com • 803.726.7545 Special Projects Editor - Licia Jackson ljackson@scbiznews.com • 803.726.7546 Research Specialist - Patrice Mack pmack@scbiznews.com • 803.726.7544 LOWCOUNTRY NEWSROOM Managing Editor - Andy Owens aowens@scbiznews.com • 843.849.3142 Senior Copy Editor - Beverly Barfield bbarfield@scbiznews.com • 843.849.3115

Park Sterling opens regional headquarters in Greenville E. Dixon Harrill Jr., Upstate S.C. regional president of Park Sterling Bank. (Photo/Bill Poovey)

Staff Writer - Liz Segrist lsegrist@scbiznews.com • 843.849.3119 Staff Writer - Ashley Heffernan aheffernan@scbiznews.com • 843.849.3144 Editorial Assistant - Steve McDaniel smcdaniel@scbiznews.com • 843.849.3123 Research Specialist - Melissa Verzaal mverzaal@scbiznews.com • 843.849.3104 Associate Editor, Special Projects - Jenny Peterson jpeterson@scbiznews.com • 843.849.3145 Senior Graphic Designer - Jane Mattingly jmattingly@scbiznews.com • 843.849.3118 Graphic Designer - Andrew Sprague asprague@scbiznews.com • 843.849.3128 Assistant Graphic Designer - Emily Matesi ematesi@scbiznews.com • 843.849.3124 UPSTATE ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES Account Executive - Jim DeVuono jim@scbiznews.com • 864.235.5677, ext. 108 Account Executive - Pam Edmonds pedmonds@scbiznews.com • 864.235.5677, ext. 110 Account Executive - Susan Hurst shurst@scbiznews.com • 864.235.5677, ext. 111

South Carolina’s Media Engine for Economic Growth President and Group Publisher - Grady Johnson gjohnson@scbiznews.com • 843.849.3103 Vice President of Sales - Steve Fields sfields@scbiznews.com • 843.849.3110

by Bill Poovey bpoovey@scbiznews.com

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ark Sterling Bank has opened its S.C. regional headquarters and companywide mortgage operations, along with a retail bank, in the former Steel Heddle building on the edge of downtown Greenville. The Charlotte-based company has relocated employees at some area offices into administrative positions at the remodeled, 15,000-square-foot building. The new operation has 39 employees, including some who are newly hired, said E. Dixon Harrill Jr., the bank’s Upstate S.C. regional vice president. He said about a dozen more positions will be added.

“We looked around at 20-something locations and to find the combination of the space, being downtown and having the parking facility” and decided on 617 E. McBee Ave., Harrill said. He said Good Wall Properties at that time were planning to buy the building, and it offered to develop it with the bank as tenant.

“We sort of designed the inside and they did more of the outside and gave us the basic structure,” Harrill said.

The bank’s new Greenville location was built 90 years ago for textile equipment manufacturer Steel Heddle. Harrill said Park Sterling’s growth and the “repurposing of an old, really historic building” are both good stories.

“When we first came in here this was all closed up,” Harrill said, describing the office area interior that now has refinished flared columns at the corners of a glistening lobby where a low ceiling was removed.

“There were walls everywhere,” Harrill said. “You didn’t have the glass windows on the inside. It was dark. It looked like a dungeon. It was like a government building.”

He said the bank has “completely sort of gutted and done the things our way. It is sort of like the law firm feel.”

Greenville buildings and landmarks are displayed in wall photographs.

Harrill said the location is “close enough to downtown” but away from Main Street and customers won’t need a parking deck.

Bank services include commercial lending, wealth management, mortgage and a retail person. He said the company’s mortgage operation for its banks in the Carolinas, Georgia and Virginia are upstairs.

“Any residential mortgage loan that is done in the four-state footprint of Park Sterling is actually processed ... upstairs,” he said. “We do have a treasury management officer here too.”

Harrill said the $2.4 billion bank has grown from about $550 million since he joined the company more than three years ago. Park Sterling Corp. first opened an office in Greenville in 2011, and its growth has included acquisitions of Greenwoodbased Community Capital Corp. and Rock Hill-based Provident Community Bancshares Inc., the holding company for Provident Community Bank.

A banker for more than three decades, Harrill said Park Sterling has “been trying to build the downtown Greenville presence with the support of the outside smaller market that we’ve gotten with the acquisitions.” He said Park Sterling has “more experienced people that have sort of big bank experience and we’ve got the products ... and all that a big bank has for most of it. At the same time, we’ve all come together in a company that is small enough and nimble enough to care and deliver it without getting too much in the red tape.”

Creative Director - Ryan Wilcox rwilcox@scbiznews.com • 843.849.3117 Director of Audience Development - Rick Jenkins rjenkins@scbiznews.com • 864.235.5677, ext. 112

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AROUND THE STATE

Amazon plans to add 500 jobs at its 1.25-million-square-foot fulfillment center in Lexington County. (Photo/Chuck Crumbo)

Amazon ready to add 500 jobs to Lexington operation

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mazon.com Inc. has announced plans to add 500 full-time jobs at its Lexington fulfillment center.

Jobs are being added at the Lexington facility to meet growing customer demand, Amazon said, adding that employees will pick, pack and ship customer orders.

Since opening the 1.25 million-square-foot facility in 2012, Amazon has brought more than 1,500 full-time jobs to the Midlands.

The Seattle-based company employs more than 150,000 full- and part-time employees worldwide. It also has a 1 million-square-foot fulfillment center in Spartanburg County.

The company said that employees are immediately eligible for benefits that include health insurance, 401(k) with 50% match, bonuses and company stock awards.

Interested candidates can apply at www.workatamazonfulfillment.com.

Workers dig a trench at the site of the Spirit Communications Park. (Photo/Provided)

Columbia baseball stadium project on track

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onstruction on the minor league baseball stadium at Columbia Common continues on schedule, with significant bids on portions of the project expected soon. Spirit Communications Park is expected to be ready for opening day in April 2016.

Baseball operations hiring is expected to start by the end of summer, with 12 to 15 employees with industry experience coming from outside of the area and another 15-18 coming from the local market. Hardball Capital, which owns the team, moved its first full-time employee to the area in January, with three others joining in the next couple months. Hardball CEO Jason Freier said part-time and seasonal hiring will begin in less than a year, with upward of 550 people expected to join.

No surrounding businesses have been announced for the $37 million multiuse sport and entertainment venue. Freier said the company has had discussions with prospects curious about the relationship.

The 20-year buildout of the development is expected to support 11,000 new jobs and produce $581 million in labor income annually, according to an economic impact study conducted by Miley & Associates Inc.

The Rise of the Rest tour stops in cities across the country to support burgeoning entrepreneurial communities and back startups. (Photo/Provided)

Charleston startups can pitch to win $100,000 from AOL co-founder

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OL co-founder Steve Case will travel to Charleston May 6 to choose one Lowcountry startup for a $100,000 investment.

Washington, D.C.-based venture capital firm Revolution, which Case heads up, will narrow applicants down to 10 startups that will compete in the pitch contest.

The investment is part of Case’s Rise of the Rest bus tour which makes stops in cities across the country to support burgeoning entrepreneurial communities and back startups.

This round of the tour, the first in the Southeast, will stop in Atlanta, Charleston, Raleigh-Durham, Richmond, Va., and New Orleans May 4-8. Case plans to

invest $100,000 in one startup in each of the five cities. Case has already invested in nine startups during previous tours.

Case will also visit tech companies, incubator spaces and accelerators in the area; have lunch with local tech executives, city leaders and politicians; and participate in a “fireside chat” to share stories about his career and startup grow-

ing pains.

Revolution, Google for Entrepreneurs, UP Global, Salesforce for Startups, Engine, Seed Here Studio, Tech Cocktail, Startup Grind and Village Capital are partnering with Case for the bus tour.

Interest startups can submit applications to the contest online at https:// www.f6s.com/riseofrest#/apply.

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April 6 - 19, 2015

Coca-Cola Bottling leaving Mauldin for Anderson County

by Bill Poovey bpoovey@scbiznews.com

C BMW Manufacturing associates Thomas Watson, Pamela Shaw, Dawn Burgess and Shirley Scott, and President and CEO Manfred Erlacher. (Photo provided)

BMW touts 3 millionth vehicle made in Greer

Staff Report

gsanews@scbiznews.com

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MW executives and state officials celebrated production of vehicle No. 3 million March 24 at BMW Manufacturing Co. Dawn Burgess, an employee at the plant since production started in 1994, handed the keys to the X5 to Manfred Erlacher, the plant president and CEO. Erlacher said growth at the Greer plant, with about 1,200 vehicles produced daily and a planned expansion boosting total employment to about 9,000 by 2017, has been “quite extraordinary.”

“Today, as we witness another historic moment, I am delighted to announce that BMW’s profound impact in South Carolina continues,” Erlacher said at a ceremony attended by S.C. Commerce Secretary Bobby Hitt and Jim Newsome, president and CEO of S.C. State Ports Authority.

Gov. Nikki Haley congratulated the automaker.

Erlacher said the vehicle was purchased by a customer in Kristianstad, Sweden.

In February, the U.S. Department of Commerce said the BMW plant was the largest U.S. automotive exporter of pas-

senger vehicles by value in 2014, at $9.2 billion. About 250,000 vehicles were exported from the plant, more than 70% of the vehicles produced. The plant is the exclusive producer of all X3, X4, X5 and X6 vehicles.

Hitt, who previously worked as public relations director at the plant, said BMW “has been a catalyst for the exponential growth of our state’s auto sector, which today includes companies in 40 of our 46 counties.”

“But beyond our borders, it’s a point of pride for our workforce that now 3 million world-class, quality-made vehicles have been delivered for the global market, from right here in South Carolina,” Hitt said in a BMW statement released after the event.

Newsome said “automotive manufacturing is significant to the port for both import and export volume growth.

BMW is the largest user of our roll-onroll-off facility at the Columbus Street Terminal as well as the S.C. Inland Port, and their expansions have been exciting opportunities for us. We value our role in BMW’s international supply chain and look forward to a strong continued partnership.”

oca-Cola Bottling Co. Consolidated is relocating 147 jobs from Mauldin to a new regional sales and distribution center in Anderson County, 15 miles away. After two years of discussing moving out of an increasingly residential area, the company is closing the Mauldin operation and making a $13.5 million investment across the county line, with an eye on expanding.

Anderson County Economic Development Director Burriss Nelson said the new project — including construction, payroll and assorted tax revenues — will have an estimated $12.7 million economic impact in its first year after an expected 2016 opening. The Charlotte-based company has purchased a site on S.C. Highway 86 near Interstate 85 at Piedmont.

Nelson said the 36-acre site will generate an annual average $168,000 in property taxes, up from $117 last year. Anderson County officials have given the company tax incentives that include credits for infrastructure spending.

“These are high-quality jobs with substantial pay,” Nelson said, adding that the first-year payroll is expected to be about $5.8 million and some of that spending will shift to Anderson County.

Until the March 13 announcement, the planned 150,000-square-foot sales and distribution center was identified as Project Upstate. Greenville County spokesman Bob Mihalic referred questions about the company’s relocation to Greenville Area Development Corp., where Senior Vice President Kevin Landmesser said the beverage company “never reached out to us” for relocation assistance. Landmesser said there are 36-acre sites available in Greenville County.

“We do respond promptly to any request,” Landmesser said.

Greenville County Councilman Fred Payne said he “did not know they were

The move will have a $12.7 million economic impact its first year. (Photo/Bill Poovey)

going to close the facility here. I am sort of surprised.”

Company spokesman Lauren Steele said in a statement, “It has been a pleasure to work with Anderson County officials on this project, and we look forward to breaking ground in the near future.”

Steele said in an interview that, while not adding employees, the company is expanding in the Upstate and “has outgrown our facility in the Simpsonville area. We can’t expand that.”

We are landlocked and not able to do anything where we are,” he said.

Steele said the company, which is located in Mauldin and has a Simpsonville mailing address, is moving those 147 employees and will have room for future expansion.

“When we relocated in Simpsonville 17 years ago, that neighborhood was more industrial than now. It has become more a residential area,” Steele said. “Where we are going is more conducive for our sales and distribution activities.”

Steele said he was unsure when construction will begin.

Anderson County Council Vice Chairman Ken Waters said the 147 jobs, “with above-average wages and a capital investment of $13.5 million, will benefit all of Anderson County. We couldn’t be happier. After all, one of Coca-Cola’s popular slogans is ‘Choose Coke,’ and now we have bragging rights: Coke chose Anderson County.”

April 6 - 19, 2015

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GSA Business wins 4 awards from S.C. Press Association Staff Report

gsanews@scbiznews.com

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SA Business received top honors for business reporting and graphic design during the S.C. Press Association’s winter meeting in Myrtle Beach in March.

The biweekly newspaper received four awards in total, including wins for reporting, outstanding specialty publication and design.

Reporter Bill Poovey won two third-

SC BIZ NEWS

2014 AWARDS FIRST-PLACE AWARDS Best Newspaper Publication, Charleston Regional Business Journal.

Best Magazine or Specialty Publication, SCBIZ magazine, summer 2014.

Best Electronic Newsletter, Daily Journal.

Best Photograph, Ryan Wilcox, Charleston Regional Business Journal.

Best Event Marketing, Jane Mattingly, Power Breakfast Series.

Best Business Reporting, Columbia Regional Business Report.

Best Graphic Design, Andrew Sprague, Lake Wylie Today.

SECOND-PLACE AWARDS Best Business Reporting, Ashley Heffernan, Charleston Regional Business Journal.

Best News Reporting, Liz Segrist, Charleston Regional Business Journal.

Best Editorial Writing, Andy Owens, Charleston Regional Business Journal.

Best Graphic Design, Jean Piot, GSA Business.

Best Graphic Design, Ryan Wilcox, SCBIZ magazine.

Best Magazine or Specialty Publication, GSA Business, Upstate Intro.

THIRD-PLACE AWARDS Best Newspaper Publication, Columbia Regional Business Report.

Best Magazine or Specialty Publication, Columbia Regional Business Report’s Giving.

Best Business Reporting, Bill Poovey, GSA Business.

Best Feature Writing, Bill Poovey, GSA Business.

Best Electronic Newsletter, Beverly Barfield , Charleston Regional Business Journal’s Weekend! 10 Ways to Play.

Best News Reporting, Ashley Heffernan, Charleston Regional Business Journal.

Best Editorial Writing, Jim Hammond, Columbia Regional Business Report.

place awards for business reporting and feature writing. Graphic designer Jean Piot won a second-place award for an informational graphic breaking down the cost of relieving congestion in Greenville’s traffic hot spots and the penny tax referendum proposed to improve them.

The entire statewide newsgathering and custom publishing operations

of SC Biz News received 20 awards for journalistic excellence during the awards luncheon.

Winning more awards in a single year since it joined the press association, SC Biz News staff and publications were honored for writing, graphic design, photography, event marketing,

beat reporting, general excellence and for electronic news products.

SC Biz News swept the magazine and specialty publication category with the Columbia Regional Business Report winning third place for Giving, GSA Business winning second for Intro Upstate and SCBIZ magazine’s summer 2014 issue winning first place.

“Outstanding photography, strong content and good writing makes this the winner in a very competitive category,” the judges said about SCBIZ magazine.

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April 6 - 19, 2015

Deja vu all over again Perfect sales plan worthless F 5-MINUTE SALES COACH

if it is never executed

I

don’t have to tell you that being successful in the world of business development is hard. The planning process has many difficult, but crucial, aspects: • Accurately identifying and evaluating potential prospects.

• Creating an effective territory plan.

• Developing an appropriate prospecting message.

Bill • Formulating McCrary meaningful qualifying questions.

• Preparing responses for the inevitable stalls and objections.

• Developing an effective plan to meet sales goals.

Which of these tasks is the most difficult? None of the above. Because after you analyze your market, develop a territory plan, develop and rehearse your prospecting pitch, formulate your qualifying questions, prepare responses to anticipated questions, and set some ambitious goals, you must take action. And that’s where so many salespeople falter.

Some sales people execute the six tasks bulleted above nearly flawlessly, and yet they never get their plans off the ground.

Why? Procrastination. One likely reason is procrastination. Not the overt “I’ll do it tomorrow” type of procrastination, but procrastination in the guise of “finetuning” activities, tweaking the plan to get it “just right.” Double checking territory figures. Rewriting scripts and questions. Recalculating numbers. The more tweaking these salespeople do, the more time they buy for themselves before they have to face the real-world challenges the plans address. In fact, those challenges are the next reason salespeople fail to take action.

Fear of failure. Planning and preparation are intellectual (“safe”) activities for salespeople. The results of their efforts are predictable, and they have complete control over the process. But once the planning and preparation is complete and they have to engage and interact with prospects, they no longer have complete control. What’s more, the process now involves an emotional component: The potential for rejection. They must put themselves in vulnerable positions in which they may have to deal with frustration,

Planning and preparation are intellectual (“safe”) activities for sales people. disappointment, and short-term failures.

Perfectionism. Some salespeople keep fine-tuning not because they’re subconsciously procrastinating but because they have a real and compelling need to achieve the ideal in every situation.

They’re not ready to take action until everything is perfect, every contingency has been identified, every twist and turn is predicted, and every appropriate action is planned.

Now, I’m sure you can guess the problem with putting off implementation until everything is perfect: Nothing is ever perfect. So, the planning goes on and on, and the “doing” never begins.

An endless effort to fine-tune a sales plan is like aiming for the horizon. You can keep your eye on it, but no matter how far you travel, you’ll never reach it. And because projects aren’t finished and goals aren’t achieved, you’ll never be happy.

Failure to take action, whether because of procrastination, fear of rejection, perfectionism, or some other reason, will undermine your confidence and create chronic dissatisfaction.

So get moving.

Selling success is the result of knowing what to do, and then doing what you know. It requires action. It doesn’t require having a perfect plan, asking perfect questions, or giving perfect answers. Putting yourself out there is what counts. Sometimes things will go as planned; sometimes they won’t. Sometimes you’ll get a rejection; many other times you won’t.

But, as long as you’re in action, you’re in a position to make corrections when needed, and to succeed.

Bill McCrary, a coach and trainer, founded Strategic Partner in 1997 after a 20-year career with Fortune 500 companies Georgia-Pacific and Wyeth Labs. Strategic Partner, a sales force development company, is an authorized licensee of Sandler Training, a sales and sales management training firm, with 275 training centers worldwide. You can contact Bill at 864-242-2333, www. sp.sandler.com or bill@sandler.com.

irst-quarter growth in gross point, oil prices will begin to climb. The domestic product will be released Department of Energy expects oil prices at the end of April. It will be to reach about $60 per barrel by the end less robust than most economists had of this year and $70 in 2016. If that is the expected a couple case, many of the recently shuttered rigs of months ago. will once again become profitable and But the soften- resume operation. Hence, our expectaing appears to be tion is that at least some of the recent attributable to tem- curtailment in drilling activity will be porary factors that reversed later this year. will be reversed in Investors have gotten slightly nervous the months ahead: in the face of weak economic statistics, work stoppages by but the S&P 500 index is only about 2.5% Stephen D. dockworkers on the below its peak level set in mid-February.

Slifer West Coast, bitter That is nothing more than the normal cold weather and a volatility in this series and, as has been sharp contraction the case so often already in this expanin oil drilling activity. It feels like a mini sion, the modest decline will be quickly version of last year, when the economy reversed once better news arrives. contracted 2.1% in the first quarter but Perhaps the most important indicacame roaring back with 4.6% and 5.0% tors to confirm the temporary nature of rates of expansion in subsequent quar- the recent slowdown is that employment ters. In our view, the U.S. economy is and hours worked remain solid. Firms likely to expand presumably beat a rate in excess lieve that the facof 3.0% until such tors depressing time as the Fedgrowth in the The National Oceanic and eral Reserve raises first quarter will rates sufficiently Atmospheric Administration not exist for long. to knock it off reported that February was the That suggests, in track, an event that whatcoldest month in more than 20 turn, that is still several ever we lose to years. years away. weather and work Work stopstoppages in the pages by West Coast dockworkers have first quarter will be recouped in the created problems for manufacturers and quarters ahead. Residential construction retailers who have been forced to wait will snap back strongly as projects sidefor goods that remain on ships at anchor lined by bad weather are brought back unable to unload. Honda, for example, online. Manufacturing and retail activity had to curtail production at six plants in idled by the problem at West Coast ports the United States because of parts short- will resume once ships are unloaded and ages. The good news is that the labor the goods finally arrive at their destinadispute has been resolved; however, it tion. will take several months to clear the conFor the past six years, we have maingestion that accumulated during three tained our belief that the economy months of union slowdowns. would continue to expand at a moderate Dangerously cold winter weather in rate for the foreseeable future. Growth the central and eastern United States has been whacked by a lengthy series caused by a frigid air mass that origi- of one-off events during that period nated in Siberia negatively affected GDP of time: Oil spills, the Arab Spring, the growth in the first quarter. The National earthquake in Japan, the debt ceiling Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminis- debacle, financial woes in Europe, Hurtration reported that February was the ricane Sandy, the fiscal cliff, bad weather coldest month in more than 20 years. and labor disputes. But, in our view, evNobody is going to go house shopping ery one of those unanticipated events under such conditions or venture off to represented a temporary setback. To the mall. But eventually spring arrives, produce an economic reversal of longer and most of the lost sales will be recov- duration requires higher interest rates. ered as the weather improves.

Given that the Fed will not even embark The 50% drop in oil prices has caused on that path until midyear and intends drillers to shutter 45% of the wells that to proceed at a glacial pace thereafter, a were in operation at the end of Septem- more permanent growth slowdown apber. But, surprisingly, production and oil pears to be several years down the road. stocks continue to climb, which means Maintain the faith. that more rigs will need to be capped in the weeks ahead. Eventually, production Reach economist Stephen D. Slifer at and inventory levels will fall and, at that steve@numbernomics.com.

April 6 - 19, 2015

www.gsabusiness.com 9

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www.gsabusiness.com

April 6 - 19, 2015

Developers of a resort on Hartwell Lake are teaming with a government agency planning to build a Great Outdoors Center to help retain vistors overnight. (File Photo)

OUTDOORS, continued from page 1 resort an overnight destination and hub for Upstate outdoors attractions. Michelle McCollum, director of the S.C. National Heritage Corridor, said she expects the agency’s Great Outdoors Center to open in early 2017 and potentially attract 700,000 people a year to Sanctuary Pointe.

“The stars are aligning right now,” McCollum said of the center and resort, which are separate but will share the site. She said construction of the Great Outdoors Center campus could begin later this year.

“We are working very closely with them,” McCollum said. “We feel each project enhances the other. It makes the entire upstate an outdoors recreation destination.” She said the Great Outdoors Center will also contribute to Oconee County’s rebranding effort to complement its outdoor attractions, which include whitewater rafting, hiking and camping.

McCollum and Sanctuary Pointe developer Robert Daffin both said the projects will also benefit Upstate residents and businesses generally. He said “nobody has ever coordinated the Upstate.”

Daffin said the outdoors center enhances the appeal of the resort to be developed about midway between Atlanta and Charlotte. His group has searched since 2013 for an upscale hotel partner for the project that is to include a golf course and conference center. Daffin said “the move to bring the Great Outdoors Center just kind of happened early this year.”

“We are trying to move it along as fast as we can,” Daffin said. “People kind of thought we disappeared but actually we have been doing a lot of work.” He de-

The planned Sanctuary Pointe resort is off Interstate 85 in Oconee County. (Map/Provided)

scribed the Great Outdoors Center campus as a “brick-and-mortar type of facility to promote outdoor recreation and conservation and preservation.” He said for visitors looking for an outdoor experience it “would be a have to try it out.”

Daffin said there will be “zip lines and canopy tours. There will be excursions run out to the waterfalls and mountains. Then we will have a lakeside center where people can learn how to kayak and canoe. There will be classrooms and programs on the outdoors and conservation.”

The “trend nowadays in vacations, people come to relax, but after a couple of days they want something to do,” Daffin said.

Daffin’s group, Sanctuary Pointe LLC, has a 50-year sublease with the S.C. Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism on the site that includes 7 miles of lakefront. The department leases the tract from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Daffin said his group is “working with the state

and the Corps to incorporate the Great Outdoors concept into Sanctuary and have a major focus on outdoor recreation. It’s a big undertaking. It makes Sanctuary Pointe something that is pretty unique.”

McCollum said the planned Great Outdoors Center — potentially an $8 million campus with facilities for archery and various outdoors educational programs — will add about 400 construction jobs and 350400 permanent jobs. She said the campus — including a main building, adventure center, lakeside center and an S.C. Department of Natural Resources archery facility — will be an overnight destination unique in the Southeast and is already supported by state and federal agencies, among others.

“We have not talked to one single person who has not felt like this was a game changer for the Upstate. Everyone is positive and highly excited,” she said.

The S.C. National Heritage Corridor

was designated by Congress in 1996 as a National Heritage Area, a program of the National Parks Service. The program in South Carolina is designed partly as an economic development driver with a goal of “promoting and preserving the cultural, natural and historic resources of South Carolina.” The corridor has more than 200 official discovery sites, ranging from agritourism to historic sites to outdoor recreation sites.

McCollum said the Heritage Corridor “will bring some finances to the table.” Corporate and foundation sponsors are being sought, she said.

“What we are doing here with this project is pulling in a variety of funding sources,” McCollum said.

She said there is not a rendering of the Great Outdoors Center available yet.

“Big Cedar Lodge (Ridgedale, Mo.) is kind of the look we are going for the site,” she said. “We looked at Pennsylvania Wilds (Warren, Pa.). Everything we are going to build is going to have an Appalachian rustic elegance feel. We want the entire look and feel and ambiance to immerse people.”

McCollum said the resort will be “upscale quality overnight accommodations” and there will be transportation provided across the region.

“The fact the entire site is open to the public is benefitting us,” she said. “It allows us to bring in overnight guests so people can use us as a jumping off point for various things,” including downtown Greenville and Anderson.

“The longer we can keep them here, spending money in our communities. It’s a win-win,” she said.

April 6 - 19, 2015

REBRANDED, continued from page 1 calls a “cool factor.”

The cool factor, Sloan said, comprises diversity, uniqueness in dining and shopping, nightlife, bars and entertainment. But adding any of these factors doesn’t happen overnight and requires a plan for managed growth.

Code development and enforcement would aid in the creation and maintenance of an aesthetically pleasing county.

Buildings and signs would be required to meet size and appearance standards.

Downtown revitalization also is required to keep businesses and the public interested in and visiting the county’s downtown areas. Sloan said this requires more than the “dress up” of one or two buildings.

“Downtown revitalization calls for an investment and a pubic-private partnership,” Sloan said. “Potential business owners do not want to invest in a dilapidated downtown area.”

As storefronts reinvent themselves, others will follow, Sloan said.

“No one wants to be the ugliest building on the block,” he said.

Sloan said the public-private partnership is extremely important. “If people are going to come into town, if they’re going to invest, they want to see that the community and public sector care

www.gsabusiness.com 11

enough about the town to invest.”

Another beneficial step in improving the county comes in the form of a countywide hospitality tax. Sloan said four municipalities in Oconee County have a hospitality tax: Walhalla, Seneca, Westminster and West Union. There currently is no countywide tax. Sloan said the Department of Commerce has “suggested there’s about $890,000 of

No one wants to be the ugliest building on the block.

Ken Sloan, president and CEO Mountain Lakes Convention and Visitor’s Bureau

additional hospitality tax collection we could have if we implemented a countywide tax.”

“The creation of a countywide hospitality tax would aid in getting Oconee County where leaders and residents would like to see it,” Sloan said. “The current tax in four of our municipalities is an extra 2% for food. Most people don’t recognize it. It’s pennies on the dollar. We believe there’s more than a million dollars in hospitality tax just sit-

ting out there in the county waiting for us to do something with it.”

For all that has been planned for the future of Oconee County, Sloan said some things are being done right.

Every hotel in Oconee County has higher occupancy rates than ever before, he said. Accommodation tax is up more than 65%. He said the majority of the visitors staying in the hotels are contractors.

“That means there is a lot of economic development going on, a lot of construction,” Sloan said. “In the last 15 months, $47 million in new business or business expansion has come to Oconee County.”

Sloan said the county’s revitalization requires four fundamental steps, the first of which is having a vision and garnering community support. The second is to ramp up support for that vision.

Third is funding.

“Yes, revitalization will cost something. That funding will come from public and private investments, relationships and partnerships, and the hospitality tax,” Sloan said.

The fourth fundamental step is to get to work. Sloan said he recognizes the changes won’t happen overnight but believes business owners and residents in Oconee County are ready for the change.

Correction An informational graphic on Upstate comprehensive plans that appeared in the March 23 issue of GSA Business incorrectly listed population figures for Anderson and Spartanburg counties. The correct figures are below.

Anderson

189,355

Spartanburg

288,745

In the same issue, a story on United Community Bank showed the firm’s Greenville County President Michelle Seaver having worked at First United.

Seaver has been at United Community since 2013. GSA Business regrets the errors.

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April 6 - 19, 2015

IN FOCUS

Education

LIST Private Schools, page 16

Middle school girls get up-close look at auto industry

by Bill Poovey bpoovey@scbiznews.com

F

or more than 230 middle school girls, “All Girls Auto Know” provided a showcase of future opportunities in the automotive industry and STEM education programs. The expo, programs and first-hand look at the Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research lab floor impressed students like Spartanburg seventh-grader Eleisha Thompson.

“It would be cool to design like they were designing cars and the interior design,” Thompson said after the event.

Thompson was among 27 Carver Middle School seventh-graders at the event and said she is considering “being an engineer and working with technology.”

Thompson said she is undecided about a specific area of engineering but automotive is a possibility. BMW Manufacturing Co., the Southern Automotive Women’s Forum, S.C. Auto Week and the Clemson research center sponsored the event.

Representatives of Greenville Technical College, BMW, Michelin and Draxlmaier Automotive also participated in the event, and Thompson said she learned about BMW Scholars, the Greer company’s apprenticeship program.

“I think it is really helpful how like with BMW how if you look into their field and what they do then they will pay for you to

Middle school girls from five Upstate counties attended the All Girls Auto Know event at the Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research. (Photo/Bill Poovey)

go to school so you can continue working in that field,” Thompson said.

Girls from Greenville, Spartanburg, Anderson, Greenwood and Laurens counties attended.

Keith Perham, a science teacher at Our Lady of the Rosary Catholic School in Greenville, accompanied a group of sixthand seventh-graders and said it was not his first time.

“It is very effective because it empowers our girls to realize there is a whole field out there that is open to them,” Perham said.

“They can see women that are in the field in front of them and say you know what I can aspire to be just like that person.”

Tara Miller, a representative of automotive supplier Draxlmaier in Duncan, talked to students at the expo and joined another Draxlmaier representative, Wenshan Wang, as speakers at an event program that included a hands-on-activity for the students.

Miller, a graduate of North Greenville University, said in an interview that she moved to Greenville while she was a high school student.

“I didn’t have this opportunity when I was here,” Miller said. She said the event offers an opportunity for them to see that the automotive industry, as “such a male kind of dominated industry,” offers more see AUTO, page 18

Female engineers talk STEM with 4th-grade girls

by Bill Poovey bpoovey@scbiznews.com

F

ourth-grade girls at A.J. Whittenberg Elementary School of Engineering got an early introduction to career opportunities in the field. The school’s programs director said Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day is strategically timed for the school’s more than 30 fourth-grade girls.

At the Western Carolina Society of Women Engineers-sponsored breakfast, women engineers representing GE, Fluor, Michelin, HRP Associates, the city of Greenville and others individually sat and chatted about their work with small groups of the students. Serita Acker, director of the Clemson University Women in Science and Engineering program described the variety of options in the field, including biological, industrial, civil, electrical and

Serita Acker, director of Women in Science and Education at Clemson University (background), fields questions at Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day. (Photo/Bill Poovey)

computer engineering. School Programs Director Lynn Mann said, “Research has

shown the fourth grade is when girls start veering away from science, technology and

engineering subjects and careers, and so to try to really short circuit that” the Society of Women Engineers in the Upstate sponsors the event.

Reports show women represent 24% of the STEM workforce and 14% of the engineering field, and they earn on average 33% more in the growing fields. The low percentages are attributed to lack of role models, misconceptions about the profession and fewer opportunities to answer technical challenges in K-12 than men.

Mann said the engineering day event is an opportunity for the girls to interact with female engineer “role models.” The students learn from the engineers, “what their job is, what they are doing, how did they get there, what did they study in school, what kind of education is necessary, what kind of college did they attend,” and hear about future career opportunities, she said. see ENGINEERS, page 15

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IN FOCUS: EDUCATION

April 6 - 19, 2015

Next High School students to help design own campus

by Bill Poovey bpoovey@scbiznews.com

T

he founding CEO at Next High School in Greenville said the decision to start in leased space at an office park on Wade Hampton Boulevard will allow students in the projectbased curriculum to help design a permanent campus. Zach Eikenberry said students at the free public school will get a special opportunity to work with architects and builders.

Eikenberry said applications are being accepted until July. The first class, which is expected to enroll more than 200 ninth-graders, will initially learn in a 50,356-square-foot building at Legacy Corporate Park on Wade Hampton Boulevard. Tenth grade will be added next year, and 11th grade in 2017.

Eikenberry said eight faculty members have been hired and there are several openings. He said the three-year startup arrangement was “intentional.

Being a project-based school, we want the school itself to be a project.” He said students will “help design the school they will graduate from in year four.”

“We don’t have a site,” Eikenberry said.

Eikenberry and the other organizers of the free public school received approv-

The site of the new Next High School on Wade Hampton Boulevard in Greenville. (Photo/Bill Poovey)

al from the S.C. Public Charter School District in 2013, making it eligible for state and federal funds. When opened, the school will receive $3,600 annually in state and federal funds for each student.

Charter schools do not receive local gov-

ernment funding.

Eikenberry, an entrepreneur, business owner and consultant, has led fundraising efforts for several years. He said about $400,000 has been raised, including a $280,000 federal planning and imple-

mentation grant that is spread over three years. The other money has been donated by individuals and companies, he said.

Eikenberry said the fundraising goal “hasn’t been publicly announced yet.”

He said the effort includes a new investment campaign “for community members interested in supporting the community and education.” That campaign involves low-interest loans and offers a fixed 5% return over five years with a “recommended minimum investment” of $15,000. The campaign has a goal of $500,000.

Eikenberry said the most challenging part of starting the school has been “to introduce a new education paradigm into a system that is built around compliance. You can either be innovative or proven and the system demands that in order to be proven it already has to be done. It is tough to introduce something that is truly innovative. It hasn’t been done on a large scale.”

Eikenberry and other organizers of the school have said it will provide students opportunities to determine what they want to do and to develop professional skills. Eikenberry has previously said the aim is to “create thinkers, doers and producers. It’s about giving our students a better chance.”

April 6 - 19, 2015

IN FOCUS: EDUCATION

ENGINEERS, continued from page 13 Mann said the students are exposed to engineering “every week, if not every day and they are exposed to a lot of it.

But we think there is something about that one-on-one female professional role model to a young girl that can really let them see themselves in engineering.” She said many girls who as fourthgraders attended the school’s first girls’ engineering day are sixth-graders at Fisher Middle School, “continuing that STEAM education and still focused on those STEM science, engineering and math activities.”

Susan Schlangen, an environmental engineer at HRP Associates Inc. who participated in the weather-delayed event, said afterward that the girls get to see how many different career opportunities engineering offers.

“I love this event. It’s really fun,” said Schlangen, who works in the Farmington, Conn.-based firm’s Greenville office. “You get to spend some time with girls who maybe don’t necessarily see themselves as an engineer but have a huge interest in math and science.” Schanglen said one girl she told about her environmental protection work responded, “I didn’t know you could have a job that could do that.”

Acker told the girls that her job is “to promote the field … so we would like to have more of you at the table, creating

Clemson University Director of Women in Science and Education Serita Acker (center) discusses engineering fields with fourth-graders. (Photo/Bill Poovey)

and designing and helping us solve problems.” She said some mechanical engineers build cars.

“I had a young lady who majored in mechanical engineering, and now she works for Toys R Us developing toys.

Anything that has movement is mechanical engineering.”

Acker asked the girls if they enjoy planning parties and said “there is a major called industrial engineering … manage people and manage things to make sure we are going to have a certain quantity of

things.” She said another former engineering student “now works for Hallmark. She is in charge of saying ‘How many should we put out there? How many people will actually buy these Valentine’s cards.”

“How many people like to go to Disney World and Six Flags and do all those kind of things, like to sit on those rides?” Acker said. “There is a major that deals with the building of structures, and it is called civil engineering. Say civil engineering.”

“Civil engineering,” the girls answered.

“I don’t want to go to Six Flags or Dis-

www.gsabusiness.com 15

ney World and go across a bridge and it just falls down,” Acker said. “Somebody had to build that. Civil engineers are very instrumental in working with architects and different people and building bridges and things that we use so that when we go different places you don’t have to worry about them falling apart.”

Acker held up a model of a bridge.

“When I hold this up what are you going to think about?” she asked.

“Civil engineering,” the girls answered.

Acker told the girls “there is so much more. I just wanted to give you a glimpse of what they do to spark your attention. I think every young lady should have a seat at the table, being able to build and create and problem solve.”

Acker conducted an experiment using sodium polyacrylate, an absorbing polymer used in disposable diapers.

“Babies use this and we just throw it away,” Acker said. “Somebody was paying attention in their chemistry class and their sciences classes and so forth” and decided to be a problem solver.

“We had cloth diapers,” Acker said as two students helped demonstrate the absorbent powder by pouring water in a glass. “Now we have these disposable diapers.” She said the discovery is “magic because somebody paid attention and someone saw there was a problem and they used their creativity to make this happen.”

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IN FOCUS: EDUCATION

www.gsabusiness.com

THELIST

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

T

here are 442 private schools in South Carolina, serving 67,191 students, according to Private School Review, a private school research website. With 56 private schools, Greenville County has the most in the state.

Of the five National Blue Ribbon private schools in South Carolina, three are in the Upstate, Private School Review said.

The average minority enrollment in S.C.

private schools is 15%, and the studentteacher ratio is 11-1.

This list ranks the Upstate’s largest private schools by enrollment and includes number of teachers, contact information and Web presence, administrators and years founded, grades enrolled and student-teacher ratios, and affiliations.

– Don Fujiwara, news editor

April 6 - 19, 2015

BREAKDOWN ON UPSTATE PRIVATE SCHOOLS

Schools Minority Student-teacher ratio

Greenville County

56

16%

11-1

Spartanburg County

21

8%

10-1

Anderson County

15

9%

12-1

Statewide

442 15%

11-1

SOURCE: Private School Review

Private Schools Ranked by Enrollment

Enrollment / Teachers

Grades / Student:Teacher Ratio 1

Leonard Kupersmith 1959

1,142 119

K5 through 12th 10:1

864-234-7595 www.southsidechristian.org

Stephen G. Reel 1967

1,003 102

18 months through 12th varies by school level

Bob Jones Academy 1700 Wade Hampton Blvd.

Greenville, SC 29614

864-770-1395 www.bobjonesacademy.net

Daniel C. Nelson 1927

1,001 87

K4 through 12th 12:1

Bob Jones University / pending accreditation

St. Joseph's Catholic School 100 St. Joseph's Drive Greenville, SC 29607

864-234-9009 www.sjcatholicschool.org

Keith F. Kiser 1993

680 52

6 through 12th 11:1

SCISA, SACS, NAPCIS, NASSP, NCEA, SCHSL, SACAC, PAIS, College Board / AdvancED (formerly the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools)

Shannon Forest Christian School 829 Garlington Road Greenville, SC 29615

864-678-5107 www.shannonforest.com

Bob Collins, Thomas Riddle 1968

453 48

Transitional kindergarten through 12th grade 18:1

ACSI, ASCD, CAA, GCCTM, NASSP, NCISAA, The College Board, 22ft Basketball Academy of SFCS / SACS, SACAC

Spartanburg Christian Academy 8740 Asheville Highway Spartanburg, SC 29316

864-578-4238 www.scawarriors.org

Rob McDonald 1996

445 -

K3 through 12th 16:1

First Baptist North Spartanburg, SCISA, SACS/ AdvancED, ACSI, SBACS / SCISA and SACS/AdvancED

Spartanburg Day School 1701 Skylyn Drive Spartanburg, SC 29307

864-582-7539 www.spartanburgdayschool.org

Rachel Deems 1957

425 50

3K through 12th 9:1

NAIS, SAIS, PAIS, CEEB, SCISA, NACAC / SACS/ AdvancED, SAIS, IB

Hampton Park Christian School 875 State Park Road Greenville, SC 29609

864-233-0556 www.hpcsonline.org/hpcs

Kevin L. Priest 1970

410 34

K4 through 12th 15:1

Hampton Park Baptist Church / SCACS

Mitchell Road Christian Academy 207 Mitchell Road Greenville, SC 29615

864-268-2210 www.mitchellroadchristian.org

Robert C. Schmidt, Tony Lesley, Beth Kinzer 1973

355 32

K3 through 8th 11:1

Member of the Better Business Bureau / ACSI, SACS (AdvancED)

Greenwood Christian School 2026 Woodlawn Road Greenwood, SC 29649

864-229-2427 www.greenwoodchristianschool.org

Chris Johns 1992

315 29

K through 12th 9:1

Christian / SCISA, ACSI

Anderson Christian School 3902 Liberty Highway Anderson, SC 29621

864-224-7309 www.andersonchristian.com

Gina Michelle Cutler 1987

270 37

K2 through 12th 14:1 to 23:1

Nondenominational / SCISA

Prince of Peace Catholic School 1209 Brushy Creek Road Taylors, SC 29687

864-331-2145 www.popcatholicschool.org

Michael E. Pennell 2003

266 28

K4 through 8th 18:1

Catholic Diocese of Charleston; 2014 National Blue Ribbon School / SCISA, SACS

Montessori School of Anderson 280 Sam McGee Road Anderson, SC 29621

864-226-5344 www.msasc.org

Craig Drennon, Susan Johnson, Megan Mulligan 1973

225 50

Infants through 12th 7:1

AMS / SCISA

Oakwood Christian School 304 Pearman Dairy Road Anderson, SC 29625

864-225-6263 www.oakwoodministries.com

Russell Baun 1971

225 25

Pre-K through 12th 17:1

Oakwood Baptist Church / SCACS

Five Oaks Academy Inc. 1101 Jonesville Road Simpsonville, SC 29681

864-228-1881 www.fiveoaksacademy.com

Kathleen Trewhella Grant, Jessica Greer 2003

214 35

Toddler through 8th 5:1 toddler; 12:1 primary through 8th

Montessori School of Mauldin Inc. 205 E. Butler Road, Suite B Mauldin, SC 29662

864-288-8613 www.montessorischoolofmauldin.com

Brooke Walker 1977

155 23

Infant through 8th 12:1

Our Lady of the Rosary Catholic School 2 James Drive Greenville, SC 29605

864-277-5350 www.olrschool.net

Marianne T. Tully 1955

149 18

K4 through 8th, Arrowsmith Program for learning difficulties 11:1

Greenville Classical Academy 2519 Woodruff Road Simpsonville, SC 29681

864-329-9884 www.greenvilleclassical.com

Tim Cockrell 2004

144 26

K4 through 12th 7:1; varies by class

School

Phone / Website

Administrator(s) / Year Founded

Christ Church Episcopal School 245 Cavalier Drive Greenville, SC 29607

864-299-1522 www.cces.org

Southside Christian School 2211 Woodruff Road Simpsonville, SC 29681

Because of space constraints, only the top-ranked companies are printed. For a full list of participating companies, visit www.scbiznews.com/data. Although every effort is made to ensure accuracy, errors sometimes occur. Email additions or corrections to lists@scbiznews.com or go to www.tinyurl.com/joinourlists. Some schools include volunteers and part-time teachers in their student:teacher ratios.

1 Some schools include volunteers and part-time teachers in their student:teacher ratios.

2 Montessori School of Mauldin's teachers hold AMI or AMS certification; the school is unaffiliated.

Affiliations / Accreditations - / SAIS-SACS, NAES, NAIS, PAIS, SCHSL

None / SAIS-SACS, ACSI, SCHSL

Montessori, SCISA, South Carolina Montessori Association / SCISA, Montessori accreditation

None 2 / None

NCEA, Diocese of Charleston / SACS

None / ACCS, ACSI, NAUMS

IN FOCUS: EDUCATION

April 6 - 19, 2015

www.gsabusiness.com 17

Private Schools Ranked by Enrollment

Enrollment / Teachers

Grades / Student:Teacher Ratio 1

Roger D. Estes 2001

130 16

Pre-K through 12th 10:1

Greater Union Church / AACS, SCACS

864-385-6020 www.carolinaprepschool.com

Lee Pariseau 2010

118 35

Infants through 5th 4:1-15:1

Core Knowledge / Actively pursuing status as a Core Knowledge school

St. Paul the Apostle Catholic School 152 Alabama St. Spartanburg, SC 29302

864-582-6645 www.stpaulschoolsc.com

Patti Lanthier 1941

115 15

K4 through 8th 9:1

NCEA, SCFLTA / SACS

Camperdown Academy 501 Howell Road Greenville, SC 29615

864-244-8899 www.camperdown.org

Dan Blanch 1986

104 32

K through 8th 3:1

SCISA / Orton-Gillingham Accredited Teaching and Training Facility

Mount Zion Christian School 724 Garlington Road Greenville, SC 29615

864-297-6646 www.mzcs.net

Kimberly Reeve 1984

102 17

K3 through 8th 10:1

ACSI, CMSC / ACSI

Montessori School of Greenville 305 Pelham Road Greenville, SC 29615

864-232-3447 www.montessorigreenville.com

Robin R. Bylenga 1970

92 4

K3 through 3rd 1:14

American Montessori Society, International Montessori Council and LiveWell Greenville School / SC DSS licensed

Tabernacle Christian School 3931 White Horse Road Greenville, SC 29611

864-269-2760 www.tbc.sc/school

Brandon Risinger, Ed Richardson 1960

85 14

K4 through 12th 6:1

AACS, SCACS / SCACS

St. Joseph Catholic School 1200 Cornelia Road Anderson, SC 29621

864-760-1619 www.stjosephofanderson.com

Mary Ann Wheeler 1967

78 15

Pre-K through 8th 7:1

NCEA, ASCD / SACS

Village School of Gaffney 200 N. Limestone St. Gaffney, SC 29340

864-487-5080 www.thevillageschoolofgaffney.org

Fran Reeves 2002

72 14

K through 8th 10:1

Nondenominational Christian / SCISA

Soaring Eagles Christian Academy 501 Old Liberty Road Easley, SC 29640

864-855-6781 www.soaringeagleschristian.com

Harry A. Ohlson, Linda Ohlson 2003

30 5

K through 12th 10:1

Christian / SCACS, AACS

The Chandler School 2900 Augusta St. Greenville, SC 29605

864-991-8455 www.thechandlerschool.org

Dana K. Blackhurst 2011

23 12

K through 8th 2:1

SCISA / SCISA

School

Phone / Website

Administrator(s) / Year Founded

Union Christian Day School 331 Meansville Road Union, SC 29379

864-427-4268 www.unioncds.org

Carolina Prep 212 Roper Mountain Road Ext. Greenville, SC 29615

Because of space constraints, only the top-ranked companies are printed. For a full list of participating companies, visit www.scbiznews.com/data. Although every effort is made to ensure accuracy, errors sometimes occur. Email additions or corrections to lists@scbiznews.com or go to www.tinyurl.com/joinourlists. Some schools include volunteers and part-time teachers in their student:teacher ratios.

1 Some schools include volunteers and part-time teachers in their student:teacher ratios.

Affiliations / Accreditations

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IN FOCUS: EDUCATION

Tara Miller (left) speaks to middle school girls about her company, Draexlmaier, at the All Girls Auto Know event. (Photo/Bill Poovey)

AUTO, continued from page 13 than just engineering and manufacturing. She said Draxlmaier has employees in communications, environmentalists and

sales.

“There are multiple avenues you can take,” Miller said. “It kind of opens their eyes.”

Catherine Hayes, who has helped coor-

dinate the five events as executive director of the S.C. Automotive Council, said “it’s important to tap on our manufacturers’ expertise and enthusiasm about their products and processes.”

April 6 - 19, 2015

She said the event makes an “important first impression on these girls that a STEM career could be exciting, interesting and financially rewarding, allowing them opportunities to travel, drive cool cars, wear chic clothes and be part of a dynamic and high-tech industry. But we know that this is just a first step. We want to expand our influence to offer these girls repeated exposure and opportunities throughout high school and to measure if we have an impact.”

Hayes said the automotive council is expanding SC Auto Week across the state and hopes to “expand the All Girls Auto Know field trip opportunity beyond the Upstate counties.” She said in an email after the event that there are many programs and events in the Southeast trying to persuade young girls to pursue STEM fields.

“Although the majority of college graduates are women, the lack of women graduating in technical fields is distressing, and the percentages haven’t changed much in 30 years,” Hayes said. “With All Girls Auto Know, we hope to make a dent in our local population and to provide students, parents, teachers and counselors with accurate information to help drive students toward a STEM career in one of our most thriving economic clusters.”

Researcher teaching manufacturing robots trust and regret Staff Report

gsanews@scbiznews.com

A

Clemson University researcher, Yue “Sophie” Wang, has received a $500,000 award for work she says is improving opportunities for humans and robots to collaborate in manufacturing. Wang, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering, has focused the research on trust and regret while aiming to develop “control algorithms.”

For her research on trust, Wang is developing algorithms that help workers determine which tasks they should do and for how long and when they should hand the job to robots, a university statement said.

Wang and Jacob Sorber, an assistant professor in the school of computing, each received $500,000 as honorees in the National Science Foundation’s Faculty Early Career Development Program. Sorber’s research enables low-cost sensors to gather data for long periods. The sensors would be powered by sources such as the sun, with no need for batteries or recharging.

“I envision devices that are super small, super cheap that you can deploy for 50 years,” Sorber said. “I want the lifetime of my sensing devices to be limited by the natural decay of the hardware ... Today, the battery always wears out first, and replacing batteries is not sustainable in many applications, and expensive and tedious in

others.”

Sorber is proposing a new computing platform called Mayfly, which will make it easier to develop applications for devices that fail frequently.

Wang also sees high potential for “human-supervised mobile sensor networks.”

Robots could begin doing simple, repetitive tasks, while humans could be involved in high-level complex tasks, she said.

Humans can do more complicated and flexible jobs than robots, but when humans work too long and are under stress, their performance fades. To figure out when a human is too tired or stressed to work, Wang is developing models that quantitatively measure performance in real time as

humans and robots work collaboratively.

“We will show this information on the computer screen and provide suggestions: Now is the time you should take over, or now is a time you should rest,” Wang said.

“The workload balance between the human and robot is governed by the trust that the human has for the robot. That’s key as we determine how much autonomy the robot has.

She said the project will “mathematically model the trust. The models will be based on how much prior trust the human had for robot, the rate of improvement in performance, as well as the rate of decrease in the number of mistakes of both human and robot collaborators.”

AT WORK

WHO TO KNOW AND WHERE TO GO AROUND THE UPSTATE

Upstate picked to develop foreign-direct investment plan Staff Report

gsanews@scbiznews.com

T

he Upstate is among six areas picked by the Brookings Institution and JP Morgan Chase Global Cities Initiative to develop a foreigndirect investment plan. Upstate SC Alliance said the assessment and plan will add to its recently announced strategy for expanding the region’s export economy.

Other areas selected are Atlanta; Des Moines, Iowa; Los Angeles; Milwaukee and Syracuse, N.Y. Launched in 2012, the Global Cities Initiative helps business and civic leaders expand their area economies by strengthening international connections and competitiveness. The foreign direct investment opportunity is part of the next phase of the Global Cities Initiative’s Exchange, a network that assists areas with strategies to support sustainable economic growth.

An alliance statement said the Upstate was selected in the competitive application process “for its readiness and commitment to strategically pursue foreigndirect investment such as Greenfield expansions, mergers and acquisitions, and other types of foreign investment including EB‐5, private equity, joint ventures and sovereign wealth funds.”

Jeff Henry, executive director of middle market banking at JPMorgan Chase

in South Carolina, said selection of the Upstate “to develop a global trade and investment plan, with the guidance from a world‐class think tank, is exactly the kind of innovative planning that will ensure our community’s long‐term economic success.” He said the region has a “history of helping businesses connect to global markets and the Global Cities Initiative’s foreign-direct investment work brings another level of depth to our region’s efforts to further create jobs, attract capital and grow our economy.”

The alliance statement said foreigndirect investment “has long supported regional economies, not only by infusing capital, but also by investing in workers, strengthening global connections and sharing best business practices. As the world’s largest economy with a stable investment environment, the United States has been a top destination for foreign-

direct investment. Yet in the world’s increasingly competitive investment market America’s global share of foreign direct investment has fallen.”

A team of local leaders will join Upstate SC Alliance in developing the plan, including Grennville-Spartanburg International Airport President and CEO Dave Edwards; Spartanburg County Councilman David Britt; Clemson University regional economist Robert Carey and David Shellhorse of the SC Appalachian Council of Governments.

Edwards said the goal of participating in the Global Cities programs is to “transition the Upstate region from a player to a leader in the global economy. To make the shift, we must be prepared to expand the traditional role of economic development in whatever direction the global economy demands.”

Alliance President and CEO John Lummus said the Upstate has always excelled in the recruitment of foreign-direct investment “as evidenced by having double the national average of jobs supported by foreign-owned enterprises. By broadening our definition of foreign-direct investment, the Upstate can leverage its solid foundation in international recruitment to strengthen our global competitiveness.”

People in the News ARCHITECTURE, ENGINEERING & CONSTRUCTION Berr y Ponder joins Mashburn C o n s t r u c t i o n’s Greenville office as a project manager.

Ponder brings more than 15 years of experience in Ponder the construction industry. He previously served on the Greenville County Planning Commission and was a reserve deputy sheriff for both Richland and Spartanburg counties.

Harry Gleich, vice president of engineering at Metromont Corp., was named a Titan of the Industry by the Precast-Prestressed Concrete Institute.

Gleich The Titans of the Industry program honors those who have served the precastprestressed concrete industry and made an impact in the areas of education, research, design, production, quality, erection, marketing or management.

Gleich began his career in 1976 and has served on the board of directors and headed several committees for the institute.

News Briefs

The entrance to Southern Pressed Juicery on the West Washington Street side. (Photo/Bill Poovey)

Table 301 opening Southern Pressed Juicery in One building

Greenville-based restaurant group Table 301 is entering the health food market, opening a downtown juice bar that will offer “all-organic cold-pressed juices, superfood smoothies and plant-based menu items.” Southern Pressed Juicery is opening in early May. The juice bar at the

One building between Orvis and Brooks Brothers will encourage walk-in graband-go traffic as well as customers wanting to sit down and stay a while, a Table 301 statement said. Chef Xavier Bonnafous, an international plant-based raw food chef, will lead the culinary division of Southern Pressed Juicery, coming from Miami where he specialized in raw and vegan cuisine. Table 301 operates Soby’s, Soby’s on the Side, The Lazy Goat, Nose Dive, Passerelle Bistro, Papi’s Tacos and Table 301 Catering.

Spartanburg angel investor group heralds launch

The Spartanburg Angel Network is open for business. Operating as San Investments LLC, the group has launched a website and is ready to start funding local early-stage companies, according to Managing Director Paul Clark. The group

consists of individual investors who meet monthly to invest their own money and expertise in early-stage high-growth companies, a statement said. Its initial members include CEOs, active professionals and retirees from a range of industries. More than 30 people attended Spartanburg Angels’ first full member meeting in late February, exceeding the group’s initial goal. Spartanburg Angels is an affiliate of the S.C. Angel Network, an operator of angel investment groups and funds across South Carolina and in Asheville, the statement said. Paul Clark, an S.C. Angel Network director and managing director of Spartanburg Angels, said in a telephone interview that the network will “probably make its first investment in April.” see NEWS BRIEFS, page 22

Hughs

Creative Builders Inc. added David Hughs as vice president of interiors.

Hughs brings more than 17 years of construction exp erience, specializing in interior upfit management.

ADVERTISING, MARKETING & PR

Banks

Collins

Infinity Marketing has promoted Sarah Steele Banks to senior marketing coordinator and Tim Collins to production supervisor. Banks works with see PEOPLE, page 20

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April 6 - 19, 2015

People in the News the firm’s manufactured homes, restaurant and hospitality, and health care teams to coordinate and manage marketing material. She has earned the employee of the month title twice since she joined the firm in 2013. Collins joined the firm in 2011 as production coordinator. Now a production supervisor, he manages estimates, workflow and billing for the creative and production department and oversees more than 30 vendors.

BANKING & FINANCE Tracy Woodruff, previously branch manager at Pinnacle Bank’s Powdersville office, has been selected branch manager for the bank’s new Easley location.

Mandy Lamb and Lisa Smith, both Easley natives, will serve as personal bankers at the Easley branch. Lamb brings 18 years of banking experience. Lamb began her career with BB&T and later served as a branch operations specialist and personal banker with South State Bank. Lisa Smith brings more than 30 years of personal banking experience. She began her career in 1983 with Security Federal S&L in Columbia and then worked at Peoples National Bank for 26 years.

The Peoples Banks has named Joe Albright senior vice president, mortgage and loan administration manager. Albright brings more than 15 years’ mortgage and loan experience to the job and has served as senior management at Greer State Bank, Provident Community Bank, and Community South Bank and Trust. He was previously a board member of the Upstate Mortgage Lenders Association for two years.

The Palmetto Bank has appointed Roy D. Jones as treasurer.

Jones, an executive vice president, will continue to serve as the CFO, a position he’s occupied Jones since 2011. He is a certified public accountant with 24 years of combined financial services and public accounting experience.

Magnolia Financial Inc has named Rick Hennecy senior vice president of its new commercial loan division, Magnolia Capital. Hennecy previously served as Hennecy the NBSC market president for the Greer area and has 18-plus years of

experience in the banking industry. In his new role, he will be responsible for new business development throughout the Southeast.

SuggsJohnson LLC has added John Clint Bates as tax manager. Bates joined the firm as a tax accountant in 2008 and focuses on tax planning and compliance, financial statements and nonprofit formation and filings. He is a licensed CPA in South Carolina and a member of the S.C. Association of Certified Public Accountants, where he serves as chairman of the CPA Leadership Institute Alumni.

CHAMBERS The Spartanburg Area Chamber of Commerce and the College Town board of directors have added Caroline Wham as the director of College Town and Wham quality of place. As director of College Town, Wham will coordinate efforts of Spartanburg’s seven area colleges to engage students and faculty to further the activities, operations and visibility of College Town, and as the director of quality of place, she will work with partner organizations to position Spartanburg as location of choice for future employees, students and residents. She previously served as director of student activities at Converse College.

EDUCATION Bruce Byers, chairman of the Division of Modern Language and Literature in the College of Arts and Science at Bob Jones University, has been awarded the S.C. Foreign Language Teachers Association lifetime achievement award.

Byers was recognized as ambassador of the Francophone language and culture and as the face of world language methodology at the university. He has taught French to American businessmen at Michelin and has participated in mission teams to Quebec and Haiti. He has also co-authored two high school French textbooks and published articles in The French Review, the journal of the American Association of Teachers of French.

A collection of essays co-edited by Furman University education professor Paul Thomas, has been named an Outstanding Academic 2014 title by Choice magazine. Each January, Choice publishes a list of best scholarly titles see PEOPLE, page 21

April 6 - 19, 2015

www.gsabusiness.com 21

reviewed during the previous calendar year. De-Testing and De-Grading Schools: Authentic Alternatives to Accountability and Standardization is Thomas’ 15th book and was co-edited

by Canadian educator Joe Bower. Before joining Furman in 2002, Thomas taught high school English in rural South Carolina. He is a column editor for the English Journal, a publication of the National Council of Teachers of English.

Clemson University faculty member Debi Switzer has been named interim chairwoman of the Eugene T. Moore School of Education’s new education and human development department.

A member of the Clemson faculty since 1990 and full professor since 2004, Switzer has focused her teaching on educational psychology, including learning and motivation theory and tests and measurements. She has received the Harold E. Mitzel award for meritorious contribution to educational practice through research from the Journal of Educational Research, the Prince award for innovation in teaching from Clemson’s Undergraduate Student Government and the governor’s distinguished professor recognition from the S.C. Commission on Higher Education.

HEALTH CARE

ChartSpan Medical Technologies named Patrick Carter vice president of product in addition to his existing roles as co­ founder and Carter senior medical officer. Carter has served as COO of Rural Access Medical Providers, staffing medical providers in underserved areas of North Carolina, and as a board member and officer of Hillside Healthcare International, delivering care to impoverished residents of southern Belize. Carter will be stepping away from his full­time clinical practice of emergency medicine.

HUMAN RESOURCES AvelPro HR LLC has hired Kelli Bright to oversee bookkeeping duties at the firm’s Greenville office.

Nine Human Technologies Inc. employees earned the certification for staffing professionals: Alex Cochran, Amy Fischer, James Aiken, Josh Wilbanks, Karen Skjerning, Scott Seation, Sarah Best, Lua Groff and Erin Langford participated in a five-week training session.

William T. Manson, CEO of AnMed Health in Anderson, has been named chairman of the S.C. Hospital Association for 2015.

Prior to taking over at AnMed in January, Manson served as president and COO at the system from 2009 to 2014, and before that he worked in the hospital division of The Duke Endowment in Charlotte. He has served on the boards of the Anderson Free Clinic, United Way and Chamber of Commerce.

INDUSTRIAL SERVICES

Dr. Michelle L. Tucker has joined the AnMed Health Physician Network at AnMed Health OB-GYN Associates.

Tucker completed her residency in obstetrics Tucker and gynecology at Greenville Hospital System and served as chief resident. She has worked at Baptist Easley Hospital and as a clinical associate professor for the University of South Carolina School of Medicine. A board-certified physician, she is part of the review faculty for America’s OB-GYN Board Review Course.

LAW

McCann

Dr. Christa McCann has joined Mary Black Physicians Group. McCann is board certified in internal medicine and has been caring for patients in the Upstate for 12 years.

GreenWood Inc. added Kevin Crittendon as director of continuous improvement.

Crittendon has more than 20 years of experience in industrial manufacturing and maintenance, contract services, operations and project management. He served as a site manager at GreenWood’s Honeywell site locations and is a U.S. Air Force veteran.

Rob Hassold was awarded the C.C. “Cotton” Harness III Peace Award by the S.C. Bar’s Dispute Resolution Section. Hassold is former chairman of Hassold the section, the S.C. Supreme Court’s Board of Arbitrator and Mediator Certification, and the Rules Committee of the Supreme Court’s Joint Commission on Alternative Dispute Resolution.

Womble Carlyle added attorney Amy H. Clayton to the firm’s real estate practice group as a partner in Womble Carlyle’s Greenville office. Formerly with Nexsen Pruet, Clayton received the Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award from Clemson and in 2014, Columbia newspaper The State named her one of its Top 20 Under 40 class.

MANUFACTURERS JPS Industries Inc. elected Michael B. Brodsky, Robert J. Capozzi, Michael L. Fulbright, Alan B. Howe and Mikel H. Williams to serve one-year terms as directors.

NONPROFITS

Carson

McKee

Upstate Forever added Patricia Carson as land protection specialist and Brittany McKee as development associate. Carson’s primary responsibilities will include working with landowners to protect their properties with conservation agreements and facilitating outreach to educate landowners about conservation options.

McKee will primarily manage the donor database and assist in the planning of fundraising events.

Tripp Muldrow, principal at Arnett Muldrow & Associates, has been elected 2015 chairman of the Upstate Transit Coalition. Muldrow is an urban planner with experience applying urban design concepts to economic development policies and strategies. The group named board officers for 2015: As vice chairman, Eric McCarthy, vice president of government relations and general counsel at Proterra; as secretary, Sandy Hanebrink, executive director of Touch The Future; and as treasurer, Princella Lee-Bridges, CEO and founder of Bridges From Augusta Inc. Board members are Deb Ayers, owner of Ayers Leather Shop; Adam Gautsch, principal at OrangeCoat and ImageThat.io; Lisa Hallo, director of Upstate Forever’s Sustainable Communities program; Bill Stephenson, senior vice president at BB&T; and Ramon Nieves, chief marketing officer of Unicomm Media Group.

The Riley Institute at Furman University has added three new staff members to its Center for Education Policy and Leadership: Tracy Waters as assistant research director, David Fleming as senior researcher and Alexis Sprogis as research specialist. Waters previously served as research and grants manager for the United Way of Greenville County and has helped plan and implement data collection for research studies, including a National Institutes of Health-funded study on rural teen dating violence.

Fleming is assistant professor in the political science department at Furman, where he teaches classes in research methodology, American politics and public policy. Sprogis will assist with

data collection, instrument and report creation, research logistics, and database compilation associated with research projects such as the S.C. Public School Montessori study, the Overcoming Obstacles Life Skills Program evaluation and the Middle Grades initiative.

The Greenville Humane Society added Bonnie Wallin as its community outreach manager.

Wallin is charged with building and implementing an Wallin education and community engagement program for the Greenville Humane Society, ensuring programs are interactive, engaging and tied to S.C. Department of Education standards. She is licensed by the State Board of Education and has taught at League Academy and Mauldin Middle School in Greenville.

REAL ESTATE

Kranidiotis

Coffey

Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices C. Dan Joyner, Realtors added three sales associates at its Pelham Road office: Mike Kranidiotis, Kasey Coffey Carr and Sonia Carr.

Kranidiotis has spent 15 years in the automotive industry. A recent graduate of the Wyatt Institute of Real Estate, Coffey is involved with the Generation Group Boys Home in Simpsonville. Carr is a member of the Home Builders Association of Greenville.

Maugeri

Dabney

Allen Tate Realtors added Randy Dabney and Teri Maugeri at its GreenvilleMidtown office. A licensed architect and residential home builder, Dabney also brings more than 15 years’ experience as a senior living developer. Maugeri’s career in real estate spans nearly 25 years and includes experience in new construction, resales and relocation.

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April 6 - 19, 2015

We can do this: Transforming the classroom A

palpable excitement fills the exhibition hall at the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center. It’s a chilly, misty Monday morning, but by 8:15 the hall is already full.

More than 700 people are there to learn more about a partnership that has already begun changing education in South Carolina.

It’s fittingly called Licia TransformSC. Jackson “The system we have was developed decades ago and doesn’t reflect the reality of life,” says Pamela Lackey, TransformSC co-chair woman and state president of AT&T. “We have new kinds of technical tools and we solve problems together as teams and not as individuals sitting at desks.”

Teachers and administrators, school board members, legislators and business leaders joined in the third TransformSC spring conference to find out more. Sessions were standing room only.

This business-driven effort aims to do whatever it takes to produce high school graduates who are ready for their next step into the 21st century, whether it’s a job or college. At last count, 42 schools and districts, at every grade level and in

News Briefs

Greenville Health System board members Ruth Richburg (from left), and Margaret Jenkins; COO Greg Rusnak; state Rep. Garry Smith and Chief Medical Officer Dr. Angelo Sinopoli.

(Photo/Bill Poovey)

GHS breaks ground on facility for senior care program

Greenville Health System has started construction of a $5 million building for a new senior health program designed to help patients reside at home and avoid a nursing home or other extended care facility. GHS Senior Care will be the first “Program of All-inclusive Care for the Elderly” in the Upstate. Community leaders joined GHS executives and staff at the groundbreaking just off of Grove Road.

The 20,000-square-foot GHS Senior Care

every part of the state, are on board.

The first school year of TransformSC was 2013-14. That was just last school year. Already, there are success stories.

Back at the conference, these are being shared: • In Lexington County District 4, where the poverty index is 86%, the Early Childhood Center is providing a full day of Montessori-based preschool for every child in the district, starting at age 3. The children learn concentration, self-control, sociability, love of work, and grace and courtesy. “School can mitigate the effects of poverty,” says principal Lillian Atkins. An extra bonus is a major increase in parent involvement in the school.

• Oakland Elementary, in Spartanburg County District 2, has put projectbased learning at the core of its teaching. The school has achieved the highest rating among elementary schools in the district, says Josh Patterson, principal.

The school built a place to learn by doing, called the Wonder Room, where magic happens.

• Whittemore Park Middle School in Conway received a Gates Foundation grant to initiate the iCan Model of individualized instruction. Each student has been provided with an iPad with digital content that adapts to their abilities and learning speed. “These children will change the way we do high school

because of how we do middle school,” says Judy Beard, principal. The school has a 90% poverty index, but students are already surpassing math and reading growth targets.

• Cougar New Tech Entrepreneurial Academy, a school-within-a-school in Colleton County, uses project- and problem-based learning to encourage students to stretch. The school operates on three core values: Trust, respect and responsibility. Students work in teams, and they create contracts based on these values. “We have ownership of our own learning,” says student Samantha Calcutt. “Discipline problems are almost nonexistent.” A student who doesn’t pull his or her weight can be kicked off a team, and woe to those who have their “trust card” taken away.

How did all this happen so fast? A lot of groundwork has been done over the past few years. The initiative came out of the State Board of Education, said Mike Brenan, TransformSC co-chairman and state president of BB&T. Brenan and Lackey worked hard to get everyone involved. It’s very important that TransformSC is not coming from a legislative mandate. Those take too long to deliver, and students can’t wait.

The group drew a profile of the ideal high school graduate, focusing on knowledge and skills such as teamwork and problem solving. TransformSC found a

home with the S.C. Council on Competitiveness.

“This really is a competitiveness issue,” Brenan says. “It’s a job creation issue.”

TransformSC has a framework for evaluating its practices and sharing the results across the board. The project’s coordinator at the S.C. Council on Competitiveness is Peggy Torrey, director of education and workforce initiative.

Businesses can help in many ways.

Some are providing funds for teacher training or equipment. Others serve on the steering committee or support the schools in their local area.

There’s something else they can do, suggests Jim Reynolds, executive committee member of TransformSC. “They can give projects for the schools to work on, real-world problems. They can help teachers learn about the world of work.

They can bring them into the workplace in the summer.”

The business community suggested that TransformSC deliver a graduate with knowledge, ability to learn and life skills and “we can teach them what they need to know,” Lackey says. With the lightning speed of change in the workplace, nothing else makes sense.

Licia Jackson is special projects editor for SC Business Publications. Reach her at ljackson@scbiznews.com or 803-7267546.

Submit Business News items by email to gsanews@scbiznews.com. GSA Business reserves the right to edit for length, clarity and libel. Publication is subject to editorial discretion.

building is scheduled to open in spring 2016. Enrollment is expected to start early next year. A GHS statement describes the program as “high-quality medical care at an affordable price.” The program is for people 55 and older who have been certified as eligible for a “nursing home level of care” but are able to remain in the community with the health services. Services will include primary care, dentistry, emergency services, home care and hospital care. The program will also provide meals, nutritional counseling, occupational and physical therapy and specialty services.

Haley, other Republican governors opposing new ozone limits

Businesses will suffer, and infrastructure projects could slow down if new air pollution rules are not scrapped, Gov. Nikki Haley and 10 other Republican governors wrote in a March letter to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The regulations proposed last November under the Obama administration would tighten ozone standards in an attempt to provide greater air quality. Ozone is

smog-forming pollution linked to asthma and respiratory illness. Haley and her fellow governors said such rules would slow down economic growth across the country. The governors estimate the proposed standards would cost the equivalent of 1.4 million jobs annually. It would also slow down infrastructure projects and raise their costs, “if not thwart them altogether.” The rules would tighten the smog limit to 60 parts per billion, as opposed to the current standard of 75 set under President George W. Bush’s adminstration, which Haley is urging the EPA to keep. The new regulations were proposed in light of a federal court order and will likely be decided upon by fall.

Founder Institute offers low-cost program for startups

Founder Institute-Greenville is starting a program for people who have ideas for business ventures but aren’t ready to quit their day jobs. Three introductory sessions are set for today, April 15 and April 22 at the Next Innovation Center. Jason Premo — co-director of the Silicon Valley-based institute’s new program in Greenville, the

first in South Carolina — said it will be tailored to the community’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. He said the 14-week program starting this summer will be a “feeder” for existing incubators and accelerators.

Premo, chairman of Premo Ventures and an angel investor, said the program relies on mentors who have successfully started businesses, is not profit driven, and is not geared toward software development. Premo said there are scholarships for the $750 semester tuition, some promoting female and other minority entrepreneurship, some for veterans and some for “promising technology” among others. He said there is “rigorous screening” and of 75 or 80 people who first turn out about 35 likely finish. He said that unlike accelerators that take a share of ownership and provide seed money, the institute “takes a 3.5% convertible warrant in the company. That only comes to fruition if the company becomes successful. Then they only keep 10% of that 3.5%. The rest stays in the community and some goes in a shared” pool of equity in each company.

Interest forms are available at http://fi.co/ apply/greenville.

VIEWPOINT M

ore than a third of respondents to a GSA reader poll say student debt has substantially affected their decisions about purchases such as a car or home. Half of respondents said they’ve put off buying a house because of student debt, while slightly fewer said they put off buying a car.

Economist Stephen Slifer said at a recent GSA Business event that homeownership rates are down, particularly in the under-45 demographic and that student debt might play some part in that.

Additionally, U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., last month introduced legislation in the Senate that would allow people with outstanding student debt to refinance at lower rates. The amendment to the Republican budget resolution was subsequently voted down in the Senate.

Warren had introduced an identical bill last Congressional session that did not pass a Republican filibuster.

The Boston Globe has quoted Warren as saying: “A problem that was bad a year ago has gotten worse. The federal loans produce obscene profits for the federal government and the biggest banks on the private side.”

GSA Business asked readers of its GSA Daily email, “To what extent has student debt affected your big financial decisions since college?”

Of the 25 people who responded, nine,

VIEWS, PERSPECTIVES AND READERS’ LETTERS

Readers say student debt affects financial decisions 20.83% Getting married.

16.67% I have student debt, but I’ve been able to meet my financial goals sooner than I would have without education.

12.50% Securing credit cards.

4.17% I have student debt, but I haven’t had to put off anything.

or 36% answered “Quite a bit.” Six, or 24% responded, “Overwhelmingly,” while another 24% said they don’t have student debt. Four, or 16%, answered “Somewhat,” while no respondents selected “I have student debt, but it has not affected my decisions.”

A second question asked: What decisions have you had to put off because of student debt? Readers were presented eight possible answers with the option to write in a response. They were allowed to select more than one answer. Here’s how 24 respondents selected:

50.00% Buying a home.

45.83% Buying a car.

25.00% Having children.

25.00% I don’t have student debt.

One reader wrote in, that they put off “travel and pursuing the career I would prefer (as opposed to the career that will pay the $1,500 in student loan payments each month).”

A third question asked if readers would favor federal student debt reform. Of the 24 people who responded, 20, or 83.33% said “Yes,” while four, or 16.67%, said “No.” One reader commented, “Provide student loan debt forgiveness if you have been paying the loans for 10 years or more.”

Another suggested “write-offs for those of us who have paid for over 20 years and still can’t get the interest to stop, therefore owing the same as what I borrowed 25 years ago.”

Here is a selection of comments from our readers. Comments have been edited only for typos and style. » Cost for four-year colleges, both public and private schools, has gotten outrageous.

I think there should be review and analysis, not just of student debt, but why the costs have gotten so high. I know here in South Carolina, one of the reasons is that the state covers about 10-15% of the budget costs for state universities today where they once covered 75% or more. This seems to make no sense as it moves more of the burden to the universities to cover the costs and thus to the students, who then end up with overwhelming debt.

» Students borrowing money should also pay interest according to their loan docu-

ments. Students should compete for education grants, not borrow money. If they don’t qualify for grants, then they should work their way through college without incurring debt.

» It is shocking how the financial livelihood of a relatively successful professional

who is 30 is impacted by the financial decision-making of an 18-year-old. The closest comparison I can make to student loan debt is going to financial prison for a dumb money-crime committed by a teenager.

» Don’t reward students for mismanaging their debt. There are other options besides taking out massive amounts of debt. Start out at a community college. Go to school part time, or find a paying intern position.

» Student loans kind of feel like paying rent for your job. I wish that I would have

been more informed when I was applying for student loans with my parents as a high school senior so that I would know what my debt and payments would look like after college. I am grateful for my college education, but it is unfortunate that so many millennials are in serious debt when it comes time to start their professional careers.

» Parents need to guide their children on what is actually affordable for them and the family and recognize that a four-year liberal arts degree is not needed for every job and is not suited for every student.

» The fact that one can borrow money for a sports car at an interest rate of 2%, but education is costing young people 10%-plus in interest is disgusting. Shame on the American government.

» We are cutting off our economic success because of for-profit education. » With children and living hand to mouth, even with college, due to scams by the

school I went to, I have had been paying off and on for over 20 years and still owe the same amount as when I started the school in 1989!

» Creating programs that reduce or waive student debt if a student works in a needed capacity somewhere within that state for much needed positions like teacher, doctor, attorney, engineer, etc., for a certain period of time would be a way to help both students and communities. I know there are programs of that nature, and think they should be expanded.

» Simplify the processes. If you’re going to pull state funding of higher education, thus

transferring the burden to students and their families, the least you can do is reform the financial aid process and reduce the interest rate. Also, for-profit schools should not qualify for federal financial aid money — basically underwriting corporate profits, and hurting the non-profit institutions that are the backbone of higher education.

» Debt forgiveness after so many years.

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April 6 - 19, 2015