durham inc.
BIZBRIEFS TALENT POOL Manning, Fulton & Skinner, P.A. announced the addition of William “Rick” Freeman to its firm on January 2. Freeman was previously an attorney with Moore & Van Allen. With more than 30 years of civil litigation experience, Freeman is an AV-rated lawyer by Martindale-Hubbell and is also a long-standing member of the Durham community. He is a member of the advisory board within the Board of Directors at Durham Crisis Response Center, a member of the Durham Crisis Response Center’s Finance Committee and a former Chairman of the Durham Certification Committee for United Way of the Greater Triangle. Devada (formerly DZone), a leading resource for engaging developers around the world, announced the appointment of Matt Webb as its chief financial officer in November. Webb most recently held the role of vice president of finance at Valassis Digital (after it acquired MaxPoint, where he also worked). He also worked as a finance director for healthcare software company M*Model.
The Greater Durham Chamber of Commerce announced a new slate of both appointed and elected board members for 2019 in January. The board is comprised of industry leaders committed to helping Durham grow in a smart and strategic direction. The gavel will be passed from the outgoing board chair Indira Everett of Duke Energy to the incoming board chair Caroline Welch of ABC-11 Eyewitness News, and several new board members will be coming on as well, including Durham Magazine’s own COO Rory Gillis. The Board of Directors held its first meeting at the end of January at the Chamber’s office and will have five more meetings throughout the rest of the year.
NEW ON THE SCENE Founder Dan Swimm launched Grow Fragrance, a 100% plantbased fragrance product, in May 2018 (they have spent the last two years testing and perfecting the formulas) and released a line of scents – most recently Pine Forest in November – that
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is toxin-free and safe for families and pets. The Durham-based business, which manufactures in the States, also donates 1% of all sales to 1% For The Planet, which gives back to environmental nonprofits. Ivana Vazquez, a Durham resident and entrepreneur, started an art promotion company called Ghost Flowers in December. It will be a place where artists can sell their work, art lovers can buy work, and art events can be easy to find and easy to coordinate through the company. A portion of proceeds will benefit the Institute of Art Therapy. Jessica Breland, a former UNC women’s basketball player and WNBA AllStar who plays power forward with the Atlanta Dream, opened her newest business venture, BR3, a holistic and alternative-healing spa, at 6400 Fayetteville Rd., Ste. 3. The spa offers services such as flotation therapy, infrared sauna, cryotherapy and cryo facials. Scheduled car servicing company Yoshi, which offers
everything from fueling up your vehicle to changing your oil and washing your car – whenever your car is located, recently began servicing the Durham area. The company operates in 20 cities across the U.S.
MILESTONES Triangle Ecycling, Durham’s computer and electronics recycling option, recycled more than 50 tons of e-waste in 2018. The business also donated more than 100 computers and more than 100 teaching hours to local nonprofits including Families Moving Forward, Communities in Schools, Durham Literacy Center, SEEDS and the Salvation Army Boys & Girls Club.