Roanoke Business-July 2015 by Virginia Business

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JULY 2015

SERVING THE ROANOKE/BLACKSBURG/ NEW RIVER VALLEY REGION

Learning to lead Executive education makes a difference in how area execs do their jobs

Abrina Schnurman-Crook, executive director of the Batten Leadership Institute on the campus of Hollins University

Mike Maxey President, Roanoke College

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CONTENTS SERVING THE ROANOKE/BLACKSBURG/ NEW RIVER VALLEY REGION

July 2015 F E AT U R E S COVER STORY

Learning to lead

Participants say executive education makes profound differences in how they do their jobs. by Shawna Morrison

BANKING & FINANCE It takes a community

Community Sourced Capital uses crowdsourcing to fund – and to vet – businesses in search of money.

20 27

by Tim Thornton

TECHNOLOGY Going solar

Government, advocates and businesses promote solar power in Montgomery County. by Mason Adams

HIGHER EDUCATION VTC School of Medicine and Research Institute

Having an impact in Roanoke, across the region and around the world. by Shawna Morrison

CALENDAR

OUT & ABOUT

INTERVIEW: Ken Rattenbury, Owner, Fret Mill Music Co. Strumming Along When Fret Mill Music Co. began selling guitars, Jimmy Carter lived in the White House. by Tim Thornton

COMMUNITY PROFILE Grandin Village Southwest Roanoke’s lively, historic, eclectic, neighborhood.

JULY 2015

by Sandra Brown Kelly

NEWS FROM THE CHAMBER •

Chamber Champions

•

Event sponsorships

•

New members

•

Member news & recognitions

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FROM THE EDITOR

A business philosphy by Tim Thornton

rent Cochran is an interesting guy. He helped start LEAP, the Local Environmental Agriculture Project that’s helping to make locally sourced food more available. He co-owns River Rock Climbing, an indoor climbing facility in Roanoke. He’s an adviser to CoLab, a co-working space in Grandin Village, and a project manager for Ed Walker, who’s renovated the Patrick Henry and other Roanoke landmarks. Cochran also is a co-founder of Community Sourced Capital, which is sort of like Kickstarter with loans. (You can read more about it on page 15.) Often, when a writer gets a good interview and a limited amount of space, some interesting things just won’t fit. One of the things that wouldn’t fit in the story about Community Sourced Capital is Cochran’s philosophy. He shared it with me as we sat outside of CUPS, a coffee shop across the street from the CoLab, about a block away from a business that benefited from a Community Sourced Capital loan. “My philosophy is that business is the greatest institution of our time,” Cochran says. “It’s kind of like the new church. For millennia, the church was the institution of our time. And when I say the institution of our time, I mean it steered humanity. It steered the culture of humanity in terms of how we interact together as human beings. Politics has always been there, but that really intermingles with culture driven from the church ... Now business is really the institution of our time. It is the thing that drives culture and shapes humanity in every way. And in many ways I see it shaping humanity and the world in a negative way. I always said if I want to change things a little bit, business is the vehicle to do that. “When people go, ‘Business is bad,’ that’s like saying money is bad. It’s not bad. It’s just how you use it. It’s a tool. How do you use that tool? A hammer can be great to build a house. It can also be bad to bang somebody over the head with. It’s just a tool. The hammer isn’t bad. “My interest is in really saying, ‘What can you do with business to sort of make your community and the world a little better place?’ And so everything I attempt to do is focused on that.” Small businesses, he says, are “What makes life rich” and they face all sorts of challenges, especially in getting cash they need to grow and thrive. Solving that problem was the inspiration behind Community Sourced Capital, according to Cochran. “What we’re trying to do,” he says, “is democratize capitalism.” There’s a concept.

JULY 2015

SERVING THE ROANOKE/BLACKSBURG/ NEW RIVER VALLEY REGION Vol. 4

JULY 2015

President & Publisher Roanoke Business Editor Contributing Editor Contributing Writers

No. 7

Bernard A. Niemeier Tim Thornton Paula C. Squires Mason Adams Sandra Brown Kelly Shawna Morrison

Art Director Contributing Photographers

Adrienne R. Watson Sam Dean Don Petersen Natalee Waters

Production Manager

Kevin L. Dick

Circulation Manager

Karen Chenault

Accounting Manager

Ashley Henry

Vice President of Advertising Account Representative

Hunter Bendall Lynn Williams

CONTACT: EDITORIAL: (540) 520-2399 ADVERTISING: (540) 597-2499 210 S. Jefferson St., Roanoke, VA 24011-1702 We welcome your feedback. Email Letters to the Editor to Tim Thornton at tthornton@roanoke-business.com VIRGINIA BUSINESS PUBLICATIONS LLC A portfolio company of Virginia Capital Partners LLC Frederick L. Russell Jr.,, chairman

on the cover Abrina Schnurman-Crook Executive Director Batten Leadership Institute Roanoke Photo by Don Petersen

Calender of eventsJuly Items on the calendar are just a sample of Roanoke/ New River Valley business events this month. To submit an event for consideration, email Tim Thornton at tthornton@roanoke-business.com at least one month before the event. July 2

Thursday Overtime

July 14

Roanoke

Business Basics

A networking happy hour 4-7p.m. at the Taubman Museum of Art. Anyone is welcome and there is no cover charge. Food and drinks are available to purchase from Blue Ridge Catering/Noras Cafe.

Roanoke

www.RoanokeChamber.org

July 16

Business Before Hours Roanoke Networking breakfast with chamber members 7:30-9 a.m. at Sunscape Apartments. This members only event costs $10. Call 540.983.0700 x100 or register online. www.RoanokeChamber.org

Business Basics is an introduction to owning your own business. Located at the Roanoke Chamber of Commerce. Speaker: Tom Tanner 4 – 7 p.m.

www.RoanokeSmallBusiness.com

FREE

JULY JJU U LY LY 2 2015 015 01

SERVING SE S E RV V ING IN N G TH THE E ROAN RO R ROANOKE/BLACKSBURG/ O AN A NO N OK O K E/ E/BL BLAC BL A C KS AC K S BU U RG/ RG/ RG NEW RIVER VALLEY REGION NE N E W RI RIV VE V ER V ER VA A LL LLE EY YR EG G IO ION ON

Learning to lead Executive education makes a difference in how area execs do their jobs

Abrina Schnurman-Crook, executive director of the Batten Leadership Institute on the campus of Hollins University

If you enjoy reading

Roanoke Business, look what’s coming the last four months of the year! SEPTEMBER Agriculture Meetings/Events Commercial Real Estate Community Proﬁle: Radford Edward Via - VCOM

OCTOBER International Investment in Region Employment/Workforce Design and Construction Community Proﬁle: Botetourt County Jefferson College of Health Sciences

NOVEMBER Impact of Non-Proﬁts Technology Commercial Real Estate Community Proﬁle: Salem Virginia Tech

DECEMBER July 21

Marketing Basics Roanoke

The Legal Elite Banking/Finance Retirement Communities Community Proﬁle: Downtown Roanoke Virginia Western Community College

This course describes the fundamentals of the most important aspect of any small business: marketing. Roanoke Regional Chamber

4 – 7 p.m. www.RoanokeSmallBusiness.com

For more information, please contact:

Lynn Williams - 540-597-2499 lwilliams@roanokebusiness.com ROANOKE BUSINESS

Tyler Azucena Pace Roanoke, VA Radford University ‘16 Major: Nursing

“I AM BETTER PREPARED TO IMPROVE THE LIVES OF OTHERS.” THE REASON IS RADFORD Tyler Pace sought a top nursing education and this is the reason she chose Radford University. “When I got to Radford, I saw how the professors, simulation labs and clinical settings prepared students for everything. Coming to Radford was the best decision I could have made for my future career.” Learn more reasons why Radford might be right for you. Radford.edu

Out About &

Roanoke Business Third Anniversary luncheon

1 1. Bernie Niemeier , president and publisher of Virginia Business and Roanoke Business. 2. Lynn Williams, Roanoke Business; Hunter Bendall, Virginia Business; and Annemarie Mulvihill.

Roanoke Business hosted a celebration of its third anniversary at the Shenandoah Club in Roanoke. The event was attended by about 50 area businesspeople as well as the editors, sales staff, and freelance writers and photographers of Roanoke Business magazine.

3. Tim Thornton, editor, Roanoke Business

4. Chris Turnbull, marketing, research and communications, Carilion; and Aaron Ewert, project manager, The Bridges. 5. Leigh Dunnagan, Gentry Locke; Greg Brock, Firefli; Beth Klinefelter, Firefli; and Mim Young, Gentry Locke. 6. Joyce Waugh, Roanoke Regional Chamber of Commerce, and Larry Hincker, Virginia Tech.

7. Matt Huff, executive vice president and COO of Poe & Cronk Real Estate Group; Mike Pace, Roanoke College, Center for Teaching the Rule of Law; and Brett Marston, Gentry Locke.

6 5

4 Photos by Don Petersen

ROANOKE BUSINESS

COVER STORY

Learning to lead Participants say executive education makes profound differences in how they do their jobs

by Shawna Morrison

JULY 2015

Photo by Don Petersen

George Anderson, senior pastor of Roanoke’s Second Presbyterian, learned that his challenges aren’t that different from those facing other leaders.

n a regular workweek, George Anderson may not have much interaction with a police chief, a law firm manager, a community organizer and a government leader. But those were among the people who made up Cohort for Change, an executive education program in which Anderson was enrolled through Hollins University’s Batten Leadership Institute. The diversity of professions made for a successful educational opportunity for everyone involved, says Anderson, senior minister of Roanoke’s Second Presbyterian Church. “We learned that leadership issues and challenges are very similar in every context.” Anderson says he took part in the program in 2013 because he wanted to grow in leading a church he describes as “complex in its organization and diverse in its views.” He says, “The Batten leadership program helped me be a more effective leader … in leading the congregation I serve through some significant transitions.” Cohort for Change is one of several opportunities available in the Roanoke Valley and beyond for executive education. A big trend in the field is offering more programs on nights and weekends to cater to professionals who want to hone leadership skills while they continue working. In many cases, people also are raising families. Hollins University, Roanoke College, the Roanoke Higher Education Center, American National University, Radford University and Virginia Tech all offer programs geared toward managers or executives, with classes held at times other than the traditional middle-of-the-day college schedule.

ROANOKE BUSINESS

cover story Abrina Schnurman-Crook, executive director of the Batten Leadership Institute at Hollins University, says the programs give bosses a chance “to see the big picture from a new lens of support and challenge in a confidential space.”

Lower-level managers and those aspiring to be managers often choose to work toward a Master of Business Administration degree or an Executive MBA, while toptier managers come together in executive education programs to help one another refine their leadership abilities. People who have taken part in the programs – at both the management and executive levels – and those who lead them say the return on investment is immediate, intense and long-lasting. “At the executive education level, training is customized with assessments, discrete topic content, reading and experiential elements that are directly applicable to the needs of the individual, their businesses, human systems, and teams. Corporations, attorneys, engineers, nonprofits and government branches have all continued to sponsor employees for this resonant, economical deep dive on development,” says Abrina Schnurman-Crook, executive director of the Batten Leader10

JULY 2015

ship Institute. At Hollins, executive level programs are offered along two tracks, an intensive six-month program that runs from August to January for midcareer women; and the Cohort for Change, a 12-week, coed program in its third year, which is designed for CEOs, executive directors and owner/operators across industries. Participants, who come from a variety of positions across diverse fields, provide each other with feedback and support that may not be available to them within their organizations because of their senior leadership positions. “People do not typically wish to be frank with a boss or, if they are, they need to keep it in a range of acceptability so that they live to work another day. Also, the boss is not well served staying in his or her own system for real feedback all of the time. Others depend on them for protection, order, direction, and it is refreshing to get away from those stakeholders to

see the big picture from a new lens of support and challenge in a confidential space,” says SchnurmanCrook. Only eight participants are accepted into the coed program each year. The women’s leadership program has a capacity of 10 and has been in place since 2005. It fills each year. Discussions that arise out of the programs can get intense and require some soul-searching, participants say. They say much discussion is aimed at how to successfully negotiate loss because, Schnurman-Crook says, leadership involves change which often means loss. “In leadership, when the work involves change and distributing loss in order to make movement on important issues, people must face themselves … The Batten Leadership Institute is a good place for managers, directors and executives to come for that work,” SchnurmanCrook says. “It is hard, hard work and people have to learn their triggers, blind spots, hungers and come to grips with obstacles of their own creation in order to better serve the system and make thoughtful interventions.” Virginia Tech Geared toward managers, Virginia Tech offers an Executive Master of Business Administration degree through its Pamplin College of Business. The classes, however, are held hours away in Arlington County at the Virginia Tech Research Center, meeting from 2 to 9 p.m. every other Friday and 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. every other Saturday for 18 months, with seasonal breaks in the winter and summer to allow students to balance work and family. The curriculum focuses on “leadership and strategic management in a global environment with an emphasis on business analytics, innovation and globalization,” according to a website for the program. Participants must have more than six years of professional or managerial experience, but the Photos by Don Petersen

average is 13 years, compared with 8 to 9 years for participants in the Evening MBA and Professional MBA programs. The $85,500 tuition includes materials, a laptop, flights and lodging for a 10-day international residency that’s part of a study abroad program that Maureen Hall, executive director of the EMBA program, describes as “an opportunity to interact with senior-level business professionals and government officials in a global environment.” In March, a group went to Peru and Chile as part of the program. Past destinations for the groups of 15 to 20 students have included Germany and Croatia, Thailand and Hong Kong, and Finland and Russia. “It is designed for the working professional who is seeking to take their career to the next level,” Hall says. Students learn not only from their professors but also from each other, she adds. “They are with classmates who have extensive work experience and can add value to the classroom discussions. Students are able to take what they learned in the classroom on the weekend and put it into practice at work on Monday morning. The return on investment is immediate for the student and their employer.” The main difference between an MBA program and an Executive MBA program is Executive MBA students can continue to work while completing their degrees and are with classmates who have extensive work experience. Virginia Tech also has a Professional MBA program that runs 24 months and meets monthly on Fridays and Saturdays in Roanoke and Richmond. Students in that program typically have an average of 10 years of work experience, says Director Robin Camputaro. The structure of the program is usually cited as the biggest benefit “because it allows our students to maintain the priorities in their life – work, family and other personal interests – while still earning their MBA,” she says. Another benefit to

Dave Simmons says he has been able to use nearly everything he learned in night classes that led to a management degree.

the programs is the ability for participants to vastly expand their professional and personal networks, Hall and Camputaro say. Roanoke College Roanoke College developed The Management Institute “to meet the management training needs specific to the Roanoke Valley as identified by local business leaders,” according to its website. The mission is to provide “the Roanoke Valley business community with a viable management education program that is timely, competitive, informative and thereby assists in the continued educational development of middle and upper level managers.” Participants in the 12-week program, in place for 26 years, are assigned to work in management teams throughout the semester. The content of the program, the website says, is continuously reviewed to determine the most important topic content for upper-level managers. At the end of each session, par-

ticipants fill out surveys about their experience, says Dreama Poore, administrative coordinator for business administration and economics. While it is not available to the public, Poore says, the survey feedback she has heard has been “nothing but positive.” Leadership Roanoke Valley program, which got its start in 1983, is run by the Roanoke Regional Chamber of Commerce to help participants better understand issues facing the Roanoke region. As part of the 10-month program, people attend a two-day retreat and assist the community with a service project. A group of 31 people completed the program last year. After graduation, participants are encouraged to keep in touch through the group’s alumni association, Leadership Forward. University of Virginia Executives who can get away for a few days or a few weeks can find opportunities through the Darden School of Business at the University ROANOKE BUSINESS

cover story Kirk Whitt says the MBA he earned through Averett University helped him “start thinking as a manager.”

of Virginia in Charlottesville. It offers a number of short courses that last one to three weeks, as well as on-

line courses. One of its most intense programs may be a $7,500, five-day program called True Leadership:

Where leaders learn EXECUTIVE AND LEADERSHIP PROGRAMS

Hollins University, Batten Leadership Institute Executive Education Certificate in Leadership, six-month program for midcareer women Cohort for Change, 12-week co-ed program for CEOs, executive directors and owner/operators Roanoke College, The Management Institute Management Program, 12 weeks Roanoke Regional Chamber of Commerce Leadership Roanoke Valley, 10-month leadership program MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION PROGRAMS

American National University MBA, on-campus or online Radford University, College of Business and Economics MBA, Radford and Roanoke, on-campus or online Roanoke Higher Education Center MBA, Averett University, on-campus or online MBA, Radford University MBA, Virginia Tech MBA with concentration in HR Management, Leadership or Marketing, Averett University Virginia Tech, Pamplin College of Business Executive MBA, Arlington Professional MBA, Roanoke and Richmond Sources: Abrina Schnurman-Crook; Jill Sluss; roanokechamber.org; roanoke.edu; education.edu/programs; mba.vt.edu; radford.edu/mba

JULY 2015

Leading with Meaning, in which participants are housed at the Inn at Darden. “Most of the participants want to take their leadership to the next level to learn to inspire the people that they lead. Most are fairly senior in their organizations so that they lead a group of leaders in their own right,” says ethics Professor Ed Freeman. Freeman is listed on Darden’s website as an expert in stakeholder management, leadership, business ethics, business strategy and corporate responsibility. He also wrote the books “Strategic Management: A Stakeholder Approach,” “Stakeholder Theory: The State of the Art” and “Managing for Stakeholders: Survival, Reputation and Success.” According to Freeman, participants in the course “want to learn to be more creative and find imaginative solutions to very hard leadership problems. We focus on the ideas of purpose, stakeholder value creation and having the participants create their own ‘working model’ of leadership, i.e., their own ‘leadership story.’ ” Institutions that include the Roanoke Higher Education Center and American National University offer programs that, while not necessarily geared toward executives, cater to and enroll many managers. “An increasing number of students are taking classes when it is convenient for them in order to advance their careers,” says Jill Sluss, communications manager at American National. Many programs, including graduate programs, are offered online, “so students who are also parents can take courses online at home, in a coffee shop or anywhere that is convenient for them.” She said students’ reasons for enrollment vary. Sometimes, students wish to further their education; sometimes, an employer suggests an employee obtain a degree or further training. For companies that offer tuition assistance, American National offers a Business Partnership Grant that can provide up to a 50 percent match, which Photos by Don Petersen

can mean the student pays little or nothing out-of-pocket. The school also offers refresher courses for life without any additional cost to the graduate, allowing them to keep up with evolving technology, Sluss says. Dave Simmons worked 50 to 60 hours a week as an assistant service manager at Varney Inc., an industrial and commercial services contractor, while taking night classes for more than four years at what was then National College of Business and Technology (now American National University). He earned a bachelor’s degree in business management administration. Before he started, Simmons says, he couldn’t even turn on a computer, but he saw the educational opportunity – for which Varney paid – as a way to get out of the field and into the office. He is now a project manager for Varney and says that while it was a challenge, “I’m glad I did it. I’m able to use almost everything I learned.” Kirk Whitt also found a way to make night classes work for him. He spent two years working during the day as a business development manager for Crossroads Automotive Group and taking night classes at the Roanoke Higher Education Center to earn his Master of Business Administration from Averett University. “I wanted to grow beyond my position. I felt like I was lacking some of the training that would help me,” he says. Whitt said he would work from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., then take class on Thursdays from 6 to 10 p.m. His wife, who had just had the couple’s second child, “encouraged me to go after it,” he says. “While I was studying, she was pulling extra duty.” Going back to school paid off, Whitt says. He is now a corporate analyst for the company, working for the management group out of Wake Forest, N.C., where he commutes a few days a week from his home in Vinton. “To say that I had a master’s degree, I got a seat at the table. I learned a lot through

Amanda Stanley, executive director of DePaul Community Resources, says Cohort for Change changed her “in a really fundamental way by challenging my notion of leadership.”

the program. It helped refine my thoughts about business and how to look at the world through a business point of view. It helped me start thinking as a manager,” he says.

Keep programs local Schnurman-Crook says the key to success for local executive development programs is making them work “within the boundaries of work

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cover story and life.” Many people can’t afford, financially or otherwise, to spend a week on location or devote every evening to taking part in a program. “The advantage to having a high-impact program locally is that learning can be practiced within their current systems and refined as weeks go by, and the cohort is still intact to assist one another.” One or two-day programs are offered by some schools. While they may generate revenue, Schnurman-

Crook says that “it has not been our experience that a quick seminar will dramatically alter sustained results under stress, when the participant is faced with decisions and conflicts back in their systems.” Several people who have taken part in the Batten Leadership Institute’s Cohort for Change, which lasts roughly one college semester, spoke highly of the program and how it helped them within their organizations.

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“Most people have a certain reliable, tried-and-true set of skills within their leadership wheelhouse that get them where they are professionally. But we’re never better leaders than we are people,” says Christine Lockhart Poarch, managing attorney at Poarch Law in Salem. “What programs like BLI provide are a way of thinking about areas of potential growth and self-development that aid both the individual and the organization. These include things like better conflict resolution methods, practiced and committed communication skills and a whole field of leadership theory that advances our individual understanding of how to manage large- and small-scale changes and transitions.” Amanda Stanley is president and CEO of DePaul Community Resources, a human services organization that offers services for people with special needs and connects children with foster and adoptive families. She took part in the Cohort for Change last fall. Stanley says the program changed her “in a really fundamental way by challenging my notion of leadership dramatically. I was freed from a long list of attributes and ‘supposed tos’ and introduced to gut- and heart-level connections to purpose and loss. Leadership is required when a change needs to happen and change always involves loss. So, leading is not having answers, but carrying through loss.” She says the program “made me a stronger leader by cracking me open and encouraging risky vulnerability. This was not what I expected.” The program helped her become a better leader, and that has helped her organization, Stanley says. DePaul leads through social work, introducing “hope and belonging to our communities’ most vulnerable individuals,” she says. “We cannot support our clients well if we ourselves have not done the hard work of loss and re-negotiating loyalties to old stories. Batten’s impact on DePaul – and subsequently in the communities we serve – has been immeasurable.”

BANKING

It takes a community Community Sourced Capital uses crowdsourcing to fund – and to vet – businesses in search of money

Viva la Cupcake’s Community Sourced Capital loan allowed the company to take its store to customers at festivals and special events.

by Tim Thornton

he other panelists were already on stage when Brent Cochran hustled into Whitman Theater carrying a take-out cup of coffee. While Cochran took his spot, moderator Tom Tanner, senior business counselor with the Roanoke Regional Small Business Development Center, pointed out Cochran was the only person up there wearing jeans. The group had come to Virginia Western Community College to be part of the Roanoke Regional Chamber’s

Photo by Natalee Waters

annual Business Summit. The session was called “Show Me the Money,” and it was all about how and from whom small businesses can get loans. It was a diverse group – a vice president from a community bank, a vice president for a certified Community Development Financial Institution and the regional lending manager for the Virginia Small Business Financing Authority. More than his jeans made Cochran stand out. For one thing,

his organization, Community Sourced Capital, doesn’t have any money to lend. As the name suggests, the capital it disburses comes from communities. The communities and the money they generate are real, but much of the important work gets done in cyberspace, and the capital in the title refers to more than money. “We’re riding the crowd-funding wave,” Cochran explains. “The basic idea of crowd funding is you use the interconnectivity of the ROANOKE BUSINESS

banking

Pennie Ahuero, owner of Viva la Cupcake, is pleased with her Community Sourced Capital experience.

Web to launch an idea, whether it be a business idea or a project or what have you. You reach out to people and you say, ‘I need money to do x, y or z.’” Through a site such as Kickstarter of GoFundMe, a band might ask for money to produce a

CD, for instance. People who contribute to the project might get a T-shirt or an autographed copy of the CD or a house concert, depending on how much they give. Community Sourced Capital is similar, but different. “We’re using a Web-based platform to allow

SUCCESS FEELS GOOD WITH THE RIGHT BANKING TEAM.

a business to reach out directly to its community and ask for money,” Cochran says. “But instead of asking for a donation, what they’re doing is asking for loans.” Community Sourced Capital grew from a business school project at Seattle’s Bainbridge Graduate Institute (now part of Pinchot University), where Cochran earned an MBA in Sustainable Business. Cochran and three classmates developed and launched CSC in their second year with the program. They added a fifth partner soon after graduation. Most of the company’s founders and activities are in the Northwest, but Cochran grew up in Roanoke and Roanoke County. He lives in the city. So far, the company has done only a few projects locally. Viva la Cupcake, a Grandin Village business, got a loan through Community Sourced Capital. So did a restaurant in Lexington and a dogand-dog-owner related business in

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Photos by Natalee Waters

Richmond. Cochran worked on those deals as well as one in Maine and a few in North Carolina. Pennie Ahuero, owner of Viva la Cupcake, is pleased with the way things have worked out since last August’s campaign. The company bought a custom outfitted trailer that allows it to take cupcakes to festivals and other events away from the Grandin Village shop, she explained as she and her crew loaded the trailer for a trip to Party in the Park at Daleville’s Town Center Performance Pavilion. The trailer has allowed Viva la Cupcakes to take cupcakes to Roanoke’s Festival in the Park and GoFest and Dickens of a Christmas, among many other events. Community Sourced Capital considers three things when a company asks for a loan: •

Is the loan responsible – can the company reasonably pay it back?

•

Is the business connected to the community? The system works with what Cochran calls “outward facing” businesses – a coffee shop or restaurant are typical examples.

•

Is it useful to the business? Is it likely to improve or expand the business? Installing a canopy so outdoor dining tables can be used during a rain shower might make the cut. Getting enough money to cover next month’s payroll would not.

“You go to a bank and they’re like, ‘I want to see every single record about everything in your life, and then I want collateral,’” Cochran says. “The reason we don’t do that is we’re not giving the money. The community is … They’re going to have a better judgment of the worthiness of that business than you’ll ever have with all the paper and documents in the world.” If the community isn’t will-

Brent Cochran says the community has a better judgment of a business than “you’ll ever have with all the paper and documents in the world.”

ing to lend money to a business, Cochran says, the community probably knows something Community Sourced Capital doesn’t. “We don’t get upset when campaigns fail,” Cochran says. “We say that’s the system working.” The campaigns are aimed at raising a certain amount of money for a particular project. If the campaign comes up short, the company gets nothing. If the campaign meets its goal, the company repays

the interest-free loan over one to three years. Payments fluctuate with gross receipts. “In the busy season you pay back more,” Cochran says. “In the slow months you pay back less.” Community Sourced Capital gets $250 to set up the campaign and $50 each month to administer the loan. Investors get their money back. “You’re not getting a direct financial return for your money,” ROANOKE BUSINESS

banking Cochran says. “If you start thinking about it in terms of what am I getting out of it, not just cash, but what am I getting out of that relationship, it really starts to click. For the people who see it and get it, they really dig it.” It’s not just a sense of altruism that’s kept Community Sourced Capital investors from getting a return on their money. Generally speaking, it’s illegal for businesses to approach anyone who’s not an

accredited investor and offer them a return in exchange for an investment. Accredited investors are individuals or married couples with more than $1 million net worth, excluding the value of their primary residence. Individuals who made more than $200,000 in each of the two previous years and have a reasonable expectation of making more than $200,000 in the current year also qualify. For couples, the figure is $300,000.

R E G I S T E R N OW

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JULY 2015

“There’s one part of it that we believe is the social mission of it,” Cochran says “There’s another part of it that says we would explore to offer a return if we could. We’re starting to do that now in other ways. Laws are starting to expand and open up, especially in different states.” Virginia just became one of those states. This month, Virginia joined 13 other states in allowing limited exemptions to those rules. Residents of Virginia who aren’t accredited investors can invest up to $10,000 in a Virginia company that’s trying to raise up to $1 million. It’s called the Crowdfunding Virginia Exemption, and Gov. Terry McAuliffe signed it into law at the CoLab in Roanoke’s Grandin Village in May. For now, Community Sourced Capital is looking for other ways to make money. “We’re pivoting,” Cochran says. “… A pivot is usually like a 180. But we’re making a big direction change and looking at monetizing a lot of the things we’ve created.” Steven Smith, a senior vice president and small business banking manager, served on the chamber panel with Cochran. Lenders are working to make businesses and the region successful, he said. Community Sourced Capital is just another potential tool to make that happen. “There’s always room for all sorts of financing,” Smith said. “I don’t see it as a competitor. I see it as another way for small businesses to have access to capital.” Some lending institutions are beginning to see Community Sourced Capital’s system as an effective way of filtering loan applicants, a vehicle for reducing the risk of serving small businesses. The company is talking with two credit unions about plugging into CSC’s system. It could be big, Cochran says – or not. “Things are still up in air for CSC,” he says. “We’re still a startup. We might be huge in a year. We might be out of cash and done.”

HERE FOR THE

moments bike to work

Carilion Clinic is proud to be recognized as a “Bicycle Friendly Business” by the League of American Bicyclists. Even installing a simple bike rack at your company can be enough to encourage more pedaling and less driving. The more active we are as a community, the healthier we’ll be. And healthy employees are great for business.

800-422-8482 | CarilionClinic.org

TECHNOLOGY

Going solar Government, advocates and businesses promote solar power in Montgomery County by Mason Adams

n a recent sunny afternoon, gaggles of people gathered to listen as elected officials and renewable energy advocates in the New River Valley announced the launch of Solarize Montgomery. An effort to get homeowners to purchase solar panels, it expands upon a Solarize Blacksburg effort in 2014. That pilot Solarize Blacksburg program invited solar installers to

JULY 2015

bid on a group of installations to help lower costs, then offered financing options. Of the 468 people who responded, 92 were from outside Blacksburg, and thus outside the programâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s boundaries. Solarize Montgomery is targeted at those 92, along with others in Montgomery County interested in going solar. Sign-ups run through July 22. After filling out an online form

at SolarizeMontgomery.org, applicants receive a satellite assessment, basically meaning installers look at the location and orientation of the site via Google Earth to determine whether it might be a good fit. Next, installers visit the site for an in-person assessment. For many homes, it may make more sense to install basic energy conservation measures. If the site visit shows the home

When Bryan Walsh founded Solar Connexion in Blacksburg about 25 years ago, all his customers wanted “battery backup systems or were off-grid.”

Photo by Sam Dean

ROANOKE BUSINESS

technology

Carol Davis, Blacksburg’s sustainability manager, says, “Once someone knows someone with solar, they’re 200 percent more likely to go solar within the next year or two.”

would benefit from solar energy, installers submit a proposal and price estimate. If applicants choose to move forward, they’re eligible for a 30 percent federal tax credit and long-term financing assistance. Of the 468 people who applied through Solarize Blacksburg, 168 followed through far enough to get an on-site assessment and proposal. Fifty-six homeowners actually pulled the trigger – a fraction of the initial response, but “a really high conversion rate for something this complex,” says Blacksburg Sustainability Manager Carol Davis. The Solarize Montgomery ini22

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tiative seems to be off to a running start as well. The campaign had 104 sign-ups and four signed contracts by June 5. The problem facing the program – and indeed, the larger solar industry – remains the systems’ upfront cost, which can run upward of $10,000. “The biggest thing for people is coming up with that initial payment,” says Ricardo Brown, who owns Floyd County-based SolShine Energy Alternatives. “Even though there’s wonderful return on investment, a lot of people are not used to pushing out that much money.

They’ll say, ‘I just can’t afford it right now.’ It always comes back to that.” Brown worked to help promote Solarize Floyd, one of 16 Solarize spin-offs that followed in the wake of Solarize Blacksburg. Although there was a big wave of interest, with 150 people attending the first informational meeting, very few people purchased a system. Still, the program resulted in the installation of about a dozen systems representing roughly 65 kilowatts of new solar energy in Floyd County. Billy Weitzenfeld, executive director of the Association of Energy Conservation Professionals, says even smaller Solarize programs like the one in Floyd are making a cumulative difference. “In a broader sense, all these communities doing this is pushing the national picture and building that solar market,” Weitzenfeld says. “The more solar that’s going on, the lower the price is going to be.” Davis says that even small improvements create a ripple effect. “Once someone knows someone with solar, they’re 200 percent more likely to go solar within the next year or two,” he says. “As soon as you know someone with solar, it becomes less of a fringe behavior and going above and beyond, and instead it’s, ‘Oh wow, regular human beings do this.’” The Solarize movement still faces an uphill battle when it comes to chipping away at fossil fuel’s dominance in energy generation. According to the Energy Information Administration, renewables make up just 13 percent of energy generated in the U.S. Nearly half of that comes from hydroelectric sources like dams. Coal accounts for 39 percent, natural gas for 27 percent, nuclear for 13 percent and wind for 4.4 percent. Solar accounts for just 0.4 percent of all electricity generated in the U.S. That’s not to say solar won’t grow. California recently became the first state to generate more than 5 percent of its electricity from utility-scale solar. California, Photos by Sam Dean

however, has a few things that Virginia doesn’t, and not just sunny deserts to house solar farms that occupy thousands of acres. California also has a renewable portfolio standard. One of the most ambitious standards in the country, the program requires investor-owned utilities, electric service providers and communitychoice aggregators to increase procurement from eligible renewable energy resources to 33 percent of total procurement by 2020.The state also provides a tax credit that pairs with the federal tax credit. Solarize advocates say the introduction of both in Virginia would bolster the state’s solar industry, which with 1,800 jobs ranks 24th nationally. Compared with its neighbors, it ranks below North Carolina, No. 8; Maryland, 13; and Tennessee, 19; but above 34thranked Kentucky and 49th-ranked West Virginia. That doesn’t mean Virginia hasn’t made progress. In addition to the various Solarize initiatives, Dominion Virginia Power is partnering with Philip Morris and others to build a 2,450-kW solar facility near Chesterfield that will be able to power 500 homes under optimal conditions. During this year’s session, Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe signed into law a number of measures that could affect solar, including one bill to double the generation capacity of a solar net energy metering facility and another to authorize cost recovery measures for utility-grade solar facilities. Bryan Walsh, who founded Solar Connexion in Blacksburg about 25 years ago, says he’s already seen a fair amount of change in his career. “It’s an entirely different world,” Walsh says. “When I first started this business, there was no such thing as net metering [a practice in which solar-powered households contribute excess energy to the utility grid, causing their meters to run backward]. All of our customers were battery backup sys-

During the Solarize Blacksburg campaign, Solar Connexion hired extra part-time workers.

tems or were off-grid.” Solar Connexion enlisted extra part-time workers during the Solarize Blacksburg campaign, including two college students and two highschool students. For the industry to take off, Walsh would welcome the creation of an upfront subsidy to lower the initial cost to energy consumers and believes that would make a big difference. But, ultimately, he says it’s going to take a change in the public’s mentality for solar to make substantial gains. “Really, what would help is if more people were willing to make a

long-term investment,” Walsh says. “Something that resonates with people and has helped them be more comfortable with a long-term investment is the idea you’re going to be buying electricity forever, so you can view this investment as a pre-purchase. You’re purchasing your electricity upfront, and you’re purchasing it at today’s electric prices. “We often ask the question, would you be willing to bet energy costs will go up or down in the future?” Walsh says. “We never get the answer of ‘down.’”

Net metering allows solarpowered households to send excess electricity to the grid, reducing their power bill.

ROANOKE BUSINESS

Strumming along When Fret Mill Music Co. began selling guitars, Jimmy Carter lived in the White House by Tim Thornton

JULY 2015

INTERVIEW: Ken Rattenbury, owner, Fret Mill Music Co.

lame James Dickey. In 1972, Ken Rattenbury was an Ohio University student whose taste in music and instruments was typical of a college student of that era. “First it was the folk scare of the ’60s,” Rattenbury says. “Then the Beatles hit.” The folk revival led him to play acoustic guitar. He went electric with John, Paul, George and Ringo. Then he went to the movies. “I went to see ‘Deliverance,’ ’ [the movie made from James Dickey’s most famous novel] and I bought a banjo the next day,” he says. “I’d never heard anything like it. My family were city people. They were not country music fans – folk music, but not country.” And that’s how a boy born in Peoria, Ill., grew up to own a bluegrass-centric music store in downtown Roanoke. OK, it was a little more complicated than that. After college, Rattenbury got a sales job with a paper company in California. He was hanging out with bluegrass players and taking banjo lessons. He got a job transfer to Hawaii, which was great, but all the bluegrass players over there could fit into one room. “At that point,” he says, “that was all I wanted to hear played was bluegrass.” Rattenbury moved back to California and worked for the guy who owned the music store where he’d taken banjo lessons. Then he worked for a company that distributed musical instruments and paraphernalia. After that, he decided to move east and “see what opportunities presented themselves.” He considered opening a music store in West Virginia, but that market seemed saturated. About that time, Rattenbury says, “Somebody mentioned that Roanoke had a fiddle and banjo club.” So Rattenbury came to Roanoke in 1979 and opened Fret Mill Music Co. just across Market Street from the City Market Building. “I haven’t had a job since then,” he says. “We came in unknowingly when the Center in the Square was being renovated

Photo by Sam Dean

… There was kind of a boom there,” Rattenbury says. “I wouldn’t say a boom, but there was a lot of different types of businesses down here, mostly oriented toward work clothes and people who worked at the railroad.” There was also what Rattenbury euphemistically calls “quite a lively scene out on the street” in those days, but he says that changed when Center in the Square opened. “It was a different situation altogether,” Rattenbury says. “It was kind of like the market was just starting to have some people come in, young people, and open alternative kinds of businesses.” A lot of those businesses are gone. Center in the Square has been renovated again. The Market Building has been renovated twice. The Hotel Roanoke and Conference Center has been renovated and expanded. The Taubman Museum of Art was built just down the street from Fret Mill Music Co. “There’s been a lot of comings and goings,” Rattenbury says. “The art museum. That certainly didn’t have any of the impact that we thought it would. I thought the parking was a problem, but it turned out the crowds they said would be coming didn’t show up except for the first day. “At least for retail down here, the golden age was before the Internet and Amazon became so big. You had Books, Strings & Things. The Market Building was the only thing of its type in town. Anybody who came to town, they went to see the Mill Mountain Star, the Texas Tavern, the Market Building. The [Mill Mountain Coffee and Tea] coffee shop was the first coffee shop.” Visitors still visit the Mill Mountain Star, the Texas Tavern and the Market Building. But Books, Strings & Things closed long ago. Coffee shops have sprouted like mushrooms. Fret Mill Music Co. is still within sight of the Market Building, but Rattenbury’s business moved to Salem Avenue.That’s where Rattenbury talked to Roanoke Business. ROANOKE BUSINESS

interview Roanoke Business: You came here thinking this was a bluegrass-oriented area, and you’d be able to make your living off of that. Were you right? Ken Rattenbury: For a couple of years, because there wasn’t anybody catering to bluegrass and acoustic music when I came here … There was a huge number of amateur bands working a couple nights a week in restaurants, clubs or whatever, making a little pocket money. So it got our foot in the door, and we began to see we were going to have to sell other things to make it. So now we’re still basically an acoustic shop. We probably stopped being a bluegrass specialty shop a long time ago. RB:You said the golden age of retail downtown was before the Internet and Amazon. How have the Internet and eBay and sites like that affected your business? Rattenbury: It’s just changed the whole dynamic of how people buy stuff. At that point, back then, if you were going to buy something, you went to the store. There was mail order. You had the Sears catalog and there was mail order music, but the presentation wasn’t like it is now. When we went to a trade show, I’d say I’ll take a dozen or I’ll take 20 of those because you knew you were going to sell through them. It’s not just us; it’s everybody. If I go through my neighborhood on paper recycling day -Amazon boxes in front of everybody’s house. We’re not so bad because most people don’t want to buy a nice guitar that they can’t feel, and they don’t want to go through the hassle of returning it multiple times to get the one they like. So that’s the main reason we’re still here. It’s that experience of touching it and hearing it. They’ve tried to do it online, but it’s still not the same thing. RB:You just sold a guitar to someone in Alaska who saw the guitar online. How much of that do you do? Rattenbury: We thought we were going to head that way and still are trying to have a more credible presence [online]. Our website, we’ve tried to make it look as professional as we can 26

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and to update it daily. I thought a long time ago, the big always drive out the small in anything.They’ve got economies of scale. Maybe the most successful online company in this business, I think they have like a dozen people just doing social media and website.That’s nuts. We’re trying to do it with just the handful of people that we’ve got here. This product [the Alaskan customer bought] is not a product that’s widely available. Hopefully he didn’t call us because we’re the only one stupid enough to ship it to him. If I had to just be an online business thing, I don’t know that I would want to keep on doing it. There are people who are doing it out of their homes. I just don’t enjoy it. I don’t enjoy going out and looking for something that’s $50 and then trying to sell it for $60. I mean, that’s what I do, but I don’t want to do it out of my house. The online people go through great pains to have 30 pictures from all angles and sound files and the weight and paint this chocolaty picture of the delicious guitar. We just don’t have time to do that. We have enough musicians in this area – and traveling through … We do get a lot of out-of-town, in-person business because we’ve got stuff, a good selection of stuff, you don’t find every place. And we do get the occasional celebrity who comes through and that’s nice. But the meat and potatoes or the bulk of the business is the local market or people who are willing to come drive to look at stuff. RB: After Sam’s on the Market and the Roanoke Weiner Stand, Fret Mill Music Co. may be the oldest business on the Market. What’s the magic? How have you been able to keep going? Rattenbury: I just don’t know any better. It helps to really not have other options. It’s like you’re on a train and the train is traveling so fast that if you jump off you’ll get killed, so that’s your choice. You stay on the train or you get killed. … We’ve made a living. I don’t know how much longer I’m going to do it. It’s a going business. I don’t think we’re just going to fold the tent up.

RB: Would you get on that train again? Rattenbury: I didn’t realize how good I had it before. I had a company car, an expense account. At the time I thought it was really too much to have a boss. But a long time ago I said if somebody will pay me a decent salary – I’m your boy. Mentally, it’s nice to be your own boss. But also, you can’t get away from it. But it’s not breaking rocks, that’s for sure. I’ve had lots worse jobs than this one. RB: What do you like about it? You have to like it; you’ve done it this long. Rattenbury: It’s fun – most of the people are fun. It’s the thing I like about it, and I hate about it. Dealing with the 99.9 percent of folks that are really good and honest and fair. That and getting new stuff in. It’s interesting, looking at it and saying, okay, now somebody else can have it. It comes home and when it sits unplayed for however long, it’s time for somebody else to have it. A customer was just here. He couldn’t bring himself to sell his family home. His father died five years ago. I’m just thinking, that thing would’ve been sold. I would have had that thing already gone. There are some things I’m sentimental about, but not many. Some people just like owning stuff. That amazes me. People have 20 guitars. How can you play 20 guitars? But they like it. It’s a fun business. It’s not life or death. Somebody’s not cracking a whip over me. I don’t get up in the morning thinking, “Crap, I don’t want to go in there.” RB: Do you have any sage advice for anybody who’s thinking about doing anything like this? Rattenbury: Don’t ruin your hobby. I think there are some people who go into this business still eaten up with playing music. But when I’m out of here I don’t do a lot of it. Sometimes it helps not to know what you’re getting into. Although these days, I don’t think it’s like it used to be. I don’t think it would be as easy to do because you have so much competition.

HIGHER EDUCATION

VTC School of Medicine and Research Institute Having an impact in Roanoke, across the region and around the world

Michael Friedlander, executive director and professor of biological sciences, Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute.

by Shawna Morrison

hildren from around the world who have cerebral palsy and are unable to use their arms are receiving treatment that essentially reprograms their brains, allowing their arms to work properly in a matter of weeks. New methods are being developed that chemically enable injuries to the heart and wounds elsewhere in the body to heal themselves faster and more efficiently.

Photo by Jim Stroup, courtesy Virginia Tech

Brain scanners – machines similar to MRIs – across the world are linked together, enabling researchers to study how brains interact with one another, potentially leading scientists to understand why the brain essentially breaks down with conditions like depression, Parkinson’s disease, autism and post-traumatic stress disorder. And all that research is happening in Roanoke? “I think many people have no

idea what goes on here,” says Dr. Michael Friedlander, founding executive director of the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute. Friedlander speaks passionately about the important research taking place here and the implications it can have on the health of people worldwide. The Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine and Research Institute got its start in 2007, when then-Virginia Tech President ROANOKE BUSINESS

higher eduation Medical student Sam Bircher and research mentor Michael Fox work together on a neurobiology experiment, part of the VTC School of Medicine’s goal of training scientist physicians.

Charles Steger, then-Carilion Clinic President and CEO Ed Murphy, and then-Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine announced the creation of this public-private partnership. A new medical school, with a goal of not only attracting future physicians but keeping them in

Roanoke, would address the findings of a study that showed the state would soon face a shortage of physicians, those leaders said at the time. Virginia Tech brought its strength in basic sciences, bioinformatics and engineering, while Carilion Clinic brought its experienced medical

Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine and Research Institute Both the School of Medicine and the Research Institute were founded in 2007 and opened in 2010. More than 3,000 applications are received each year for the School of Medicine. 42 students are accepted annually. Volunteer work in community service, teamwork and leadership are listed as factors in acceptance. The research institute’s faculty research team leaders have successfully competed for research grants valued at more than $12 million a year. Grant funding is hard to get, with more than 90 percent of research grant requests denied. The institute has 24 research teams and plans to expand to more than 30. Sources: Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine and Research Institute, Michael Friedlander, www.vtc.vt.edu

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staff and history in medical education. Both brought their excellent reputations. In 2008, the state approved $59 million in funding for the venture. The medical school’s charter class enrolled in 2010, and 40 of them graduated in 2014, and another 40 graduated in May. Kaine spoke to the inaugural 2014 class at its graduation. Each of the new doctors was granted a residency, with 11 choosing to perform their residencies at Carilion. In the second class, five of the students stayed in Roanoke to do their residencies. Virginia Tech Carilion sits next to Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital and the Carilion Clinic outpatient clinic in downtown Roanoke. Hokie Stone, the much-loved limestone block that is an iconic part of many buildings at Virginia Tech, was used on part of the building. While the School of Medicine and the Research Institute are separate, they work closely with each other. One of the purposes of the medical school, according to its website, is to address the need for research-competent physicians “who can translate research from the bench to the bedside and into the community.” Studies are conducted at the research institute to try to better understand the molecular basis for health and disease while working to develop new treatments. Friedlander says Virginia Tech Carilion’s researchers are working not only at the level of DNA and cells, but directly with people – “Virtually every aspect in the pipeline, from fundamental discovery right up to application in humans” – and they are seeing results. One example is the children’s Neuromotor Research Clinic led by Dr. Sharon Ramey, where children from across the world are on a two-year waiting list for her breakthrough therapy for cerebral palsy. In addition to its potential impact on health care, the economic impact the venture has had on the city and surrounding area is significant. Friedlander says the instiPhoto by David Hungate, courtesy Virginia Tech

tute’s research expenditures for its first three fiscal years amounted to about $75 million. He said that has a multiplier effect in the community of about $2.21, meaning that much money goes into the community per research dollar spent, adding up to more than $165 million. Friedlander said he expected such high numbers, but others didn’t. “For the size structure we have and the initial investment, you probably would have expected about 10 to 12 years or so to get to the level we hit in about three or four years, so we did move at a very fast clip.” The biggest impact, he says, came from initial efforts to find the best scientists doing the best research and persuade them to come to Roanoke. “We’ve recruited people here to Roanoke from London, from Ireland, from China, from all over the United States, from San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston … We really were very aggressive, and we competed with some of the best medical research institutes and universities in the country to get people in the top of their game,” he says. This effort quickly earned the institute an international reputation, which makes it easier to bring in more scientists. They bring their research money or the ability to successfully compete for the grant money Friedlander says is getting harder and harder to get. The kind of growth shown so far is sustainable, “very much so,” Friedlander says. The research institute has 24 research teams, each of which runs like a small business, led by “the superstar, the rock star scientist” who then recruits other scientists, graduate students, technicians and research associates. When the research institute first got on its feet, Friendlander says, he began counting all the homes that were purchased in the Roanoke area as a direct result. He lost count long ago, he says. “Health care, in terms of employment, is such an important industry in our region. Carilion employs more people than any Photos by Don Petersen

David Trinkle, Roanoke’s vice mayor and Virginia Tech Carilion’s associate dean for community and culture, says the interaction between medical students and the community has benefited both groups.

other place west of Richmond,” says Wayne Strickland, executive director of the Roanoke Valley-Alleghany Regional Commission. “The fact that we have the research center here adds to that. And the fact that they’re doing research in ways of improving folks’ health Strickland is important, too. The research is affecting the nation, but also locally.” Strickland said the real economic impact of the medical school and research institute remains to be seen. “It’s only been there for a few years. I think there are still opportunities to see what the impacts will be,” he says. Research, in particular, could lead to new businesses. Dr. David Trinkle, Roanoke’s vice mayor and Virginia Tech Carilion’s associate dean for community and culture, says the medical school and research center is having another significant impact on the community. The medical school has enrolled four classes of 42 students each, and the research institute now has a Ph.D. program that will en-

roll about another 30 students per year. “These are the type of citizens that really any community wants to attract. They’re people that participate in the community,” Trinkle says. In the first year of their curriculum, students at Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine team up with students at Jefferson College of Health Sciences for community service projects Trinkle helps organize. He says many of them continue providing service to organizations even though it’s not required. “I think it’s just been a winwin for the medical school as well as the community,” Trinkle says. He says the community has been very receptive to events hosted by the school, including art shows, lectures and mini medical schools. He says many students “have kind of fallen in love with Roanoke. They came here because the med school is unique and is well-positioned to be a very competitive medical school, but once they get here, because of the community involvement and because of the community’s open arms and welcomeness and because of our quality of life we have here, they want to stay.” ROANOKE BUSINESS

COMMUNITY PROFILE: Grandin Village

Grandin Village Southwest Roanokeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s lively, historic, eclectic neighborhood by Sandra Brown Kelly

JULY 2015

Photos by Natalee Waters

n a recent Saturday, Grandin Village in Southwest Roanoke was home to a film festival, a farmers market and the introduction of the latest pieces from the Stickley furniture line. These activities are a fraction of what happens regularly at the more than 50 businesses that occupy this urban village about two miles from downtown. Visitors that day also could browse the area’s largest collection of rare and out-of-print books at

Too Many Books, shop the Roanoke Natural Foods Co-op – the largest of its kind in Virginia – or dine at one of the village’s dozen restaurants. This L-shaped commercial center dates to the early 1900s and stretches only a few blocks, from Black Dog Salvage on Memorial Avenue to Grandin Road and then to Grandin’s intersection with Brandon Avenue near Patrick Henry High School. Six blocks make up the Grandin Road

Commercial Historic District, arguably one of the liveliest listings on the National Register of Historic Places. The village’s eclectic mix of businesses is bolstered by the surrounding Greater Raleigh Court neighborhood, where home prices average around $200,000. “In my 28 years of evaluating real estate, I consider Greater Raleigh Court to be the most stable neighborhood we have,” says Susan Lower, Roanoke’s director of real estate valuation. She also

ROANOKE BUSINESS

community profile When Susan Stump arrived in the village in 2005, she found the business association “pretty much flat-lined.”

knows Grandin Village on a more personal level. When she accompanied her son recently to visit the house he bought in the area, they ate at the Happy Belly Deli at the Co-op. “We sat outside, and it was so exciting to people-watch. Moms were pushing baby strollers; people were riding bikes coming from the Greenway.” The greenway connects to Memorial Avenue near Black Dog Salvage, an architectural salvage company featured on the “Salvage Dawgs” DIY Network show. This year the Grandin Village Business Association will hold its 10th annual Block Party and sponsor seven “Chillages” (music and local brews events) and a Holiday Children’s Parade. Except for some neighborhood grants from the city and the city’s reworking of a portion of Grandin Road to create a wider sidewalk and better streetscape, the village’s changes have been due to its residents and businesses. These days the area is a happening place, but that was not always so. When Susan Stump arrived in the village in 2005 to open a branch of 32

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Valley Bank, she found the business association “pretty much flat-lined.” Community outreach is part of her agenda as a bank vice president, so she met the business people and got involved in the association. With the exception of one year, she has been president of the group since 2006. Getting to its current level of strength has taken “all these 10 years,” she says. Participation expanded so much that association meetings outgrew a small room in the co-op and then the bank’s conference room. It now meets at CoLab, the most recent example of the village’s energy. A resource center for entrepreneurs, CoLab opened in April 2014 with 11 members. This April membership exceeded 100, according to director Ariel Lev. Lev’s husband, Sam Lev, does marketing for the Grandin Village Community Market held on Saturdays on the roof of CoLab. It, too, has grown. The market averages 17 vendors a week, and offerings include locally produced meats. Jenny Prickett found that community spirit, too, when she opened

New to Me Consignment shop on Grandin Road more than 11 years ago. Six months after opening, she bought a home in the area and now serves on Lev the association board as a liaison from the Greater Raleigh Court Neighborhood Association. Likely no one knows Grandin Village better than Nelson Harris, a former mayor of Roanoke and author of several Roanoke history books. He has been the minister at Heights Community Church, on the corner of Memorial and Grandin, for 17 years and Harris attended the church growing up. “I can remember my granddad bringing me to the barbershop to get my hair cut. I saw the Disney films at the Grandin Theatre.” Harris gives three main reasons for the Village’s success, starting with the “very vibrant residential area around it that has diverse housing stock and is economically diverse.” The other credits go to the Grandin Theatre and the area’s diverse restaurants. They include farm-to-table offerings at Local Roots, Central and South American cuisine at Nopales, and hot wings and big screen TVs at Community Inn. Harris remembers when Grandin Village was not so vibrant. Grandin Theatre, which opened in 1932 and was the first Roanoke theater to have talking movies, struggled through several reincarnations before it closed a third time in 2001 with a showing of “The Last Picture Show.” “There were storefronts vacant then,” he recalls. He and other citizens formed the Grandin Theatre Foundation and raised $1.2 million in public and private money to purchase and renovate the structure. It reopened in late 2002. “The Grandin Theatre is the anchor of the commercial and social life of GranPhotos by Natalee Waters

din Village,” he says. It’s also a symbol of financial health, having become debt free in February. It even made money from a spring film festival that was expected to just break even, says Ian Fortier, the foundation’s executive director. The festival featured local documentaries and biking-related short films, classic films and a showing of “Body and Soul,” a 1925 work by African-American filmmaker Oscar Micheaux, who worked out of Roanoke for several years. The diversity of films brought in teenagers and seniors, Fortier says. The theater also gets money from the association and the civic league and the on-screen advertising, which includes seven local merchants. In addition to first-run films, the Grandin Theatre offers free classic movies and midnight movies year round and free cartoons in the summer, all of which are underwritten by supporters. The largest village parking space is behind the Roanoke Natural Foods Co-op, so people going to the theater across the street have to walk by the store. That’s a good thing, says John Bryant, Co-op marketing manager. The Co-op is in its 40th year and has been in Grandin Village since 1978. It is the largest co-op in Virginia with 1,000 members. When the business moved to the village, its annual sales were around $2 million. In the past year, sales reached $5.9 million, says Bryant, who also moved to the area after coming to work for the co-op six years ago. In addition to the co-op, the Village has a Mick-or-Mack grocery store and a 7-Eleven. Roanoke City Manager Chris Morrill first saw Grandin Village the day he came to Roanoke in November 2009 to interview for his job. It was among the areas his wife had targeted to check out. “I ate at Local Roots and went to the co-op,” he recalls. Frequently now, he and his family bike the Roanoke River Greenway to Memorial and then stop off in the village for a movie or to shop the co-op.

Emily McDonald refills produce bins at the Roanoke Natural Food Co-op, which has been in the village since 1978.

Morrill says Grandin Village not only represents the city’s history, but its future because of CoLab, which draws in millennials. The neighborhood “gets better and better,” says Andrea Reid Waide, owner of Reid’s Fine Furnishings, which opened 20 years ago on

Grandin Road. The store has expanded five times. “I love being here. I’m from Long Island, N.Y., and when I first moved to Roanoke in the late ’70s, we came to the theater, and this area reminded me of villages on Long Island, and I knew this was where I wanted to be.”

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Member news & recognitions Joseph “Butch” Church was the guest speaker at the Roanoke Valley Campus of American National University’s commencement ceremony. Church, who serves on the Roanoke County Board of SuperviChurch sors, is a graduate of American National University. Apptech Solutions LLC, an innovative designer and manufacturer of water and wastewater treatment and conveyance solutions, has announced plans to expand into a 27,000-square-foot facility located at 3993 Daugherty Road in Roanoke County. The company worked with Roanoke County to identify a suitable facility to accommodate its operations and expansion. It was assisted by the Virginia Jobs Investment Program of the Virginia Economic Development Partnership with a $78,000 grant to support recruiting and workforce training needs. Apptech currently has a staff of more than 30 and is projecting to create more than 100 new jobs over the next three years. Bricks 4 Kidz, the highly popular international children’s enrichment program that offers unique educational LEGO model building, has announced that its Roanoke/Salem location is now under the ownerWhitaker ship of Shelly Whitaker. The local franchise will continue offering local camps, after-school programs, in-school workshops and birthday parties at the Bricks 4 Kidz Creativity 34

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Center at Towers Mall as well as through mobile programs around the Roanoke Valley. Clark Nexsen has announced its board of directors for 2015-16. The following new board members were elected by the shareholders at the company’s annual meeting: Chris Brasier, Raleigh, N.C office; Bob Burkholder, Virginia Beach office; Clymer Cease, Raleigh office; Clint Hardie, Macon, Ga., office; Garry Kiskinis, Virginia Beach office; Chad Roberson, Asheville, N.C. office; and Danny Taylor, Virginia Beach office. Draper Aden Associates has announced that Jeffry A. McInnis, P.E., has been selected to assume the position of utilities division manager and will oversee all water and wastewater utilities engineerMcInnis ing services. He has more than 16 years of civil engineering experience in both public and private sector projects. Firefli, a digital agency headquartered in Roanoke, has been selected as an official honoree in the 19th Annual Webby Awards in the business blog website category for www.UnboundEdition.com, a website for Davis Brand Capital. Other honorees in the category included CNN, Hubspot and Autodesk. Hailed as the “Internet’s highest honor” by The New York Times, the awards, presented by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, are the leading international awards honoring excellence on the Internet. Nearly 13,000 entries were received

from all 50 states and more than 60 countries Twenty percent of the entries won the honoree distinction for exhibiting remarkable achievement. Brooke C. Rosen, a founding partner with the law firm Johnson, Rosen & O’Keeffe, was recently named young lawyer of the year by the Roanoke Bar Association. The award recognizes an outRosen standing young lawyer who has demonstrated dedicated service to the Roanoke Bar Association, the community and the profession. LeClairRyan has been recognized as one of the 100 best law firms for female attorneys in Law360’s inaugural ranking. The rankings stem from the results of Law360’s survey of 308 U.S. firms, or vereins with a U.S. component, about their overall and female head count numbers as of Dec. 31, 2014. The survey, done in conjunction with Law360’s annual Glass Ceiling Report, found that at many of the top 100 firms there are more female nonpartners than male, and a rich potential pipeline of future female equity partners and executive committee members. Poe & Cronk Real Estate Group has been selected to represent Shenandoah Life in the sale or lease of its corporate headquarters property at 2301 Brambleton Ave. in Roanoke. The Shenandoah Life Building is one of Roanoke’s landmark headquarters office locations.

Roanoke Regional Chamber of Commerce | SPONSORED CONTENT teacher by the Education Foundation.

Callahan

Morse

Jessee

Oddo

Kuhnel

Leitch

Rainsbury Thompson

LeClairRyan has announced that 59 of its Virginia and Washington, D.C.-based attorneys were selected by their peers as 2015 Virginia Super Lawyers or Rising Stars in 21 practices. The Roanoke office’s 2015 Super Lawyers are: William E. Callahan Jr., bankruptcy, business; John T. Jessee, Paul C. Kuhnel and Powell M. Leitch III, personal injury medical malpractice, defense; Clinton S. Morse, employment and labor; Kevin P. Oddo, business litigation; Joseph M. Rainsbury, appellate; and Lori D. Thompson, business litigation. All four LewisGale hospitals received top grades for patient safety in Leapfrog’s Spring 2015 Hospital Safety Scores. The hospitals were graded on how well they protected patients from preventable medical errors, injuries and infections within the hospital. LewisGale Medical Center, LewisGale Hospital Montgomery and LewisGale Hospital Pulaski received an “A” score. Only 31 percent of the more than 2,500 hospitals nationwide who were scored received the highest grade possible. LewisGale Hospital Alleghany also received a “B” score. The Hospital Safety Score uses 28 measures of publicly available hospital safety data to produce a single A, B, C, D, or F score, representing a hospital’s overall capacity to keep patients safe from preventable harm. The organizers of the 5th Annual Bike Shorts Film Festival have announced the winners of the grand jury prize, best music video, best local film and first audience choice awards. RIDE Solutions received 14 videos representing local, national, and international filmmakers for the 2015 festival. These films were reviewed by a panel of five judges from the RIDE Solutions service area. The winners of the 2015 prizes are: grand jury prize, “Observing the Elements” by Chris Brunlett and the Vancouver Cycle Chic Team, Vancouver, British Columbia; best music video, “Cycle” by Amir Porat and Mor Israeli, Yavne, Israel; best local film, “Light” by Ben Buzzard, Pulaski; and audience choice, Roanoke, “Kiss My Ashes Goodbye” by Hank Ebert and Dwayne Yancey, Roanoke. Betsey Miles, a fourth- and fifth-grade science teacher at Herman L. Horn Elementary School in Roanoke County, has been awarded the 2015 Golden Apple Award by the Roanoke County Public Schools Education Foundation. The award is the single highest honor presented to a

Hidden Valley High School has announced that Kevin Burcham has been offered the boys basketball coaching position at the school. He has been an assistant coach at Hidden Valley for the past 11 years, serving as both junior varsity head coach and as a varsity assistant coach. The Science Museum of Western Virginia is displaying an amazing emerald specimen in the gem gallery. The emerald cluster weighs over five pounds and was found at the 190-meter level in an underground mine located in Minas Gerais, Brazil. The collection, which also includes an emerald necklace and a 16-carat gemstone, is on loan from the Virginia Tech Museum of Geosciences and will be displayed until December 2015. Reid Garst, CEO of Sterling-ES, was a panelist at the North Carolina American Water Works Association’s spring conference. He joined other industry experts to discuss “Wireless is Here – How Can It Garst Benefit My Utility?” The panel focused on the application of all types of wireless communication in water and wastewater. Virginia Tech and other Virginia universities that are members of the Mid-Atlantic Research Infrastructure Alliance (MARIA), will increase campus connections to the Internet 2 Network to 100 gigabits per second. This upgrade will deliver a tenfold increase in information-carrying capacity required to meet the rapidly advancing needs of high-performance, data intensive research and collaboration. Virginia Tech and Old Dominion University were the first MARIA members to implement 100G channels over the research allocation. The new network was scheduled to be operational by July 1.

the year; Chris Rowland, Virginia Tech GameChanger; and Joe Acanfora, Virginia Tech Trailblazer.

Ashton

Davis

Jill Ashton has been named director of development for the College of Liberal Arts and Human Science at Virginia Tech. In her new position, Ashton will be responsible for overall fundraising efforts and the college’s strategic development plan. Sandra Davis, owner of BCR Property Management, which specializes in student housing in Blacksburg and Radford, received the William H. Ruffner Medal, Virginia Tech’s highest honor, at the university’s commencement ceremony in May.

Veterinarian and equine specialist Dr. Michael D. Erskine has been named director of Virginia Tech’s Marion DuPont Scott Equine Medical Center after serving as the interim director since May 2013. Erskine Located in Leesburg, the center is a campus of the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine at Virginia Tech. Jennifer Gagnon, coordinator of the Virginia Forest Landowner Education Program, received the 2015 Land-Grant University Award from the Virginia Agribusiness Council. The council presGagnon ents awards annually to faculty, staff and administrators of the commonwealth’s land-grant universities, which include both Virginia Tech and Virginia State University, for meritorious or exemplary services to the industry of agribusiness.

Virginia Tech home football games draw an influx of out-of-town fans – a boon to many businesses in the region. The visiting maroonand-orange contingent now has a dollar value: $69 million. The annual economic impact figure comes from a Virginia Tech study that shows restaurants, hotels and shops benefiting most from football-generated dollars spent in the region. Football’s economic impact tripled in the 15 years since the last economic impact study was done, according to the analysis. The five biggest categories where visitors dropped their money were hotels, restaurants, shops, grocery stores and gas stations.

Edwin J. Jones, director of Virginia Cooperative Extension and associate dean of the Virginia Tech College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, recently was recognized by the Virginia Agribusiness Council Jones for his outstanding service to the agribusiness industry. The council presents awards annually to faculty, staff and administrators of the commonwealth’s landgrant universities, which include both Virginia Tech and Virginia State University, for meritorious or exemplary services to the industry of agribusiness during their careers.

Six Virginia Tech students were recently recognized for their innovations and entrepreneurial spirit. The Virginia Tech Student Innovator and Entrepreneur of the Year Awards, sponsored by AT&T, honored students who have created, founded or own a company or innovation. The winners were: Sky Van Iderstine, undergraduate student innovator of the year; M.J. Rice, graduate student innovator of the year; Cody Short, undergraduate student entrepreneur of the year; Keith Heyde, graduate student entrepreneur of

A recently signed master alliance with Procter & Gamble signals a new era of research for Virginia Tech, according to officials at the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute at Virginia Tech. A master alliance agreement allows Virginia Tech researchers to forge relationships and projects with Procter & Gamble quickly since the underlying contractual work is already completed. Under the agreement, Proctor & Gamble works with Virginia Tech to develop improved analytics and engineering approaches for manufacturing. ROANOKE BUSINESS

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“ It’s been a great relationship because Adam understands how our business works. He took the time to really ﬁgure out that we’re not just another gym.” Bill Asbell, Owner/Franchisee, Planet Fitness of Central and Southwest VA

Front and center. That’s where you’ll ﬁnd Adam Shores when it comes to serving our HomeTrust Commercial Banking clients. So when commercial real estate developer Joe Thompson of TVC had the opportunity to help revitalize Orange Avenue, he came to Adam and HomeTrust for capital.

L TO R: Bill Asbell, Franchise Owner, Planet Fitness of Central and Southwest VA Adam Shores, Market President, HomeTrust Bank Joseph Thompson, President, Thompson Valuation & Consulting Inc. (TVC)

Working with Planet Fitness Franchise Owner Bill Asbell, Adam was at the center of the client relationship, connecting Bill with Joe. Together, they are bringing the Roanoke Valley’s second Planet Fitness to life as the anchor tenant of this new retail hot spot. If you care more about building a long-term business relationship than just getting a loan, look to HomeTrust Commercial Banking Services. With customized loan and treasury services to ﬁt every size business, we’ll design a business banking program that’s right for you.

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The new Ivy Ridge Marketplace, located at Orange Avenue and King Street