West Virginia Focus - July/August 2014 by West Virginia Focus

July/August 2014

Don’t go to the grave with life unused. Bobby Bowden

The Business of Sports Peek inside the financial playbooks of the state’s athletic powerhouses.

TURN THIS TOWN AROUND!

Grafton and Matewan rally for change as money flows in.

SMACK IN THE MIDDLE OF TOWN

Drug activity hinders downtown progress across West Virginia.

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Focus July/August 2014

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West Virginia Focus is published by New South Media, Inc. Subscription rates: $20 for one year. Frequency: 6 times a year. Copyright: New South Media, Inc. Reproduction in part or whole is strictly prohibited without the express written permission of the publisher. © New South Media, Inc. All rights reserved

Editor’s Letter

ow many times have you heard, “Money is the root of all evil?” Well I much prefer Gandhi’s take: “Capital as such is not evil; it is its wrong use that is evil. Capital in some form or other will always be needed.”

In this issue we talk a lot about money. I hope you have been following Our Turn This Town Around campaign in Grafton and Matewan. We are so excited to announce that the towns have received a potential capital infusion of $150,000 from the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation in what we expect will be a demonstration of how money can spur economic development and revitalization efforts in our communities. Having just attended a Turn This Town Around meeting in Grafton, I’m blown away at the scope of the projects and the determination and dedication of the community members to tackle the projects. From renovating the Willard Hotel to adding apartments above the B&O station to creating a farmers’ market, big change is coming for these historic towns. Community development begins with people and passion, but it is impossible to create sustainable improvements without money. We are so grateful to the Benedum Foundation for helping our towns kick off their initiatives. And man, it really is exciting to watch the flurry of activity. Collegiate sports are also big community builders—and big money. With the recent decision by the National Labor Relations Board to allow members of the Northwestern University football team to be treated as a labor union, collegiate sports as we’ve known them are on the precipice of great change. Questions abound. Should student athletes be paid? And if so, where will the funding come from? Should all student athletes be paid? Will it compromise the integrity of college sports? Will coaches be paid less? And how will this affect our universities and colleges in West Virginia? If there’s any doubt as to whether collegiate sports operate like businesses, consider these interesting facts:

»» The University of Alabama athletics reported $143 million in revenue in 2013—more revenue than 25 of the 30 NBA teams.

»» In 40 states, the highest paid public

official is a head coach of a university football or basketball team. »» The highest paid college football coach is a West Virginian—Fairmont’s Nick Saban, head football coach of the University of Alabama. He reportedly makes more than $7 million per year. When we talk money and community we naturally think of our downtowns. Our downtowns are made up of layers, and each layer is its own economy. The sustainability of downtown commerce depends on our ability to “weed” out the drug culture. Drugs and addiction affect everyone—citizens and businesses alike. In fact, employed drug abusers and heavy drinkers cost their employers about twice as much in medical and workers’ compensation claims as their drug-free coworkers. If there’s any doubt about the importance of addressing the underworld of drug abuse, just ask Reverend Matthew Watts, who is working hard to transform the West Side of Charleston, a traditionally black, working-class neighborhood that has been crippled by unrelenting drug problems. “We are experiencing a public health crisis that affects every aspect of society,” he says. But he isn’t burying his head in sand and wishing the problem away—he is tackling it head on. Five minutes with this inspiring man and I guarantee you’ll want to join him in his crusade. Something Watts said when we were interviewing him really resonated with us. “I don’t think we can wait for somebody else to come in and save us, because I don’t feel like Superman is coming or that Batman is about to get here. No, we have to work on our problems ourselves—we’re the only ones who understand ourselves well enough to understand the solutions that will work.” Let’s come up with some creative solutions!

nikki bowman, Publisher & Editor

contr ibutors John Deskins [West Virginia Exports] is director at the Bureau of Business and Economic Research at West Virginia University, leading the bureau’s efforts to serve the state by providing rigorous economic analysis and macroeconomic forecasting. He holds a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Tennessee. His research has focused on U.S. state economic development, small business economics, and government tax and expenditure policy. Brian J. Moore [What You Need to Know About West Virginia Employment Law] is a labor and employment lawyer practicing throughout West Virginia. He is a partner with Dinsmore & Shohl and author of The Pocket Guide to West Virginia Employment Law (available at amazon.com) and the West Virginia Employment Law Blog at wvlaborandemploymentlaw.com. Nick Keppler [Gravity of Great Work] is a Pittsburgh-based freelance writer who enjoys writing about technology, drugs, music, culture, and anything odd or unusual. His work has appeared in vice.com, nerve.com, The Village Voice, Pittsburgh City Paper, and Pittsburgh Magazine. Before striking out on his own, he was an editor at the Houston Press and the (sadly defunct) Fairfield County Weekly. When he’s not writing, he’s probably out on his kayak. Focus wvfocus.com

Dialogue Feedback New Ideas and Growth

I found Focus in a Barnes and Noble store here in Pittsburgh. It cheered me up a lot! I worry about my home state these days. I grew up in Charleston, West Virginia, born in 1951. Went to college out of state and then to WVU, Morgantown. I moved to Pittsburgh in the mid-80s, mostly because I wanted to live in a bigger city but still be close to West Virginia. I still visit friends and family in Fairmont and Charleston and I go camping in the Fayetteville/ Summersville area (liked the Pies & Pints story on the website!). I’ve often thought recently about how WV needs new ideas and growth now and I’m happy to find a magazine like yours that shows how much of this is happening. Thank you, and I look forward to the next issue. Elise Power, via mail

Love Our Ad

Love our ad in the new (May/June) issue! This mag is awesome! Paige Johnson, director of marketing and public relations, Thomas Health System, via email

Millennials Respond

Fantastic article, thank you so much Katie for writing this. I am 27 years old and left the bustling metro area of Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina, to move to McDowell County. Three generations of my family are from here. I am disheartened by the lack of young professionals in my area. It can be a wonderful place to live. After being here for two years, I couldn’t really imagine seriously moving back to North Carolina. I believe West Virginia is a microcosm of lots of issues facing the nation. I think we are strongly positioned for a huge PR campaign. I have a background in PR and would like to see something like “Why Not WV?” branding that encourages the nation to take a look at WV. Nathan Acosta, via Facebook Correction In “Will Millennials Save WV” in the May/June issue, a statistic should have indicated that one third of millennials were raised with only one parent.

Focus July/August 2014

Which teams do you support most? We polled West Virginians on their favorite sports and teams. The results confirm that football is the most popular sport in the state, with more than 96% of respondents saying it’s the sport they support most. ► To read more, see The Big Business of Sports on pg. 48

VACATION BLUES According to a study by the Center for Economic and Policy Research, one in four Americans receive no paid vacation or paid holidays, and America is the only advanced economy that doesn’t require employers to provide vacation time.

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Contents FOCUS ON 11

Philanthropy

Education

Anna Dailey celebrates her 60th birthday for a cause. 13

Power Lunch

You canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t go wrong with pizza from Mia Margherita. 14

Big Idea

Windpax is bringing power to places in need.

New data systems connect schooling histories with later career paths. 28

Energy

WVU researchers from across disciplines connect as part of a new Shale Gas Network. 30

Tech

Noteworthy Launch

West Virginia Universityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s LaunchPad is a smart startup resource for students, graduates, and faculty alike. 18

Researchers at the West Virginia Robotic Technology Center are using new equipment they hope to take into space. 32

Founders

Artpreneur

Appalachian Glass in Weston shines when it comes to the family business.

Mark Bates has more than 60 pending or issued U.S. patents for medical devices at his company in Charleston.

Innovation

Huntington specialist Stephanie Skolik uses the retina to gain insight into diabetes.

Revitalization

Old industrial sites have bright futures thanks to Brownfields Assistance Centers.

Science

The Green Bank Telescope at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory matters. 24

How We Did It

Capon Springs and Farms preserves the past while planning for the future.

Focus July/August 2014

Stepping Up

Matthew Watts and West Side Revive work to reinvigorate a Charleston neighborhood.

Focus [ july/aug 2014 ]

TOOLKIT 68

Lessons Learned

Holl’s Chocolates in Vienna uses old-fashioned ideals and adds a sweet, modern twist. 70

Economics

West Virginia University economists take a close look at the state’s exports. 72

Law

Dinsmore & Shohl’s Brian Moore shares 10 things you need to know about employment law. 74

Marketing

Impakt Marketing in Morgantown says social media should be a top priority for businesses. 76

dale sparks / wvu athletic communications

B2B

Networking as part of BNI goes beyond the typical business after-hours to help your company grow.

Raising the Stakes

There’s reason to celebrate in Grafton and Matewan as towns continue to reclaim their vibrancy. 48

The Business of Sports

College athletics are more than a game—they are big business with athletic directors in charge as CEOs. 58

Smack in the Middle of Town The unhappiest state in the nation also has the highest overdose rate— and our downtowns pay a price.

10 Things

Before you make the hire, ask yourself these questions. Editor’s Letter

Dialogue 4 Power Points

cover Photo illustration provided by istock and Bill Amatucci Sr. / WVU Athletic Communications

Focus wvfocus.com

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“The difference between the impossible and the possible lies in a man’s determination.”

Town

Drinking Habit Soda pop. Lyndon B. Johnson loved it—so much that he had special buttons labeled “Coke” and “Fresca” installed in the Oval Office so he could order them from his desk. New York City tried to ban it—former Mayor Michael Bloomberg supported a law to limit soft drink size in the city, even though the courts nixed it. And we all drink it—a Gallup poll from 2012 found that 48 percent of Americans drink at least one glass of soda a day, and the average is 2.6 glasses. But what soft drink do you sip? It may say as much about you as whether you call the stuff “soda” or “pop.” Stewart’s You’re either 8 years old, it’s 1954, or you wish at least one of those things was true. You take your root beer in a glass bottle, and you drink it with a straw. You’re the only person you know who still sends handwritten thank you notes.

Tommy Lasorda

Coke

You like to picture yourself wearing red flannel and skiing, or driving a convertible with the wind in your hair. Your favorite holiday is the Fourth of July and you own a dog.

Pepsi

Williamson offers more than the history of two feuding families. pg. 27

Food

West Virginians take their food very seriously— starting with pizza. pg. 10

You’re a contrarian. You scoffed just now, when we called you a contrarian. You snack on black licorice with some regularity and often prefer a movie’s sequel to the original.

King for a Day

Highland Hospital’s Jim Strawn tries on the crown. pg. 10

Health

College students are required to have health insurance under the Affordable Care Act. pg. 20

Tech

Work under way at the West Virginia Robotic Technology Center is out of this world. pg. 30

Money

Hansen’s If someone sees you drinking one, you’re quick to say, “This isn’t even soda really—it’s all natural.” You’re completely desensitized to eye rolls. Your favorite fruit is rhubarb.

Ever wonder where all those tax dollars came from? Who’s giving what in West Virginia?

Jones Soda

You drink Jones because it’s just so hard to find a decent iced nonfat soy chai tea latte in this town. You own a skateboard you don’t use and make art you don’t sell.

Diet

You fear carbohydrates and enjoy reading nutrition labels in your free time. When out to eat you always refuse dessert, but somehow eat at least three spoonfuls of someone else’s cake. You also own a dog; yours will fit in a purse.

pg. 36

Focus wvfocus.com

FOOD

Sky-High Pizza Pie Fill up on some of the biggest and best local pizza. Written by Katie Griffith

Everyone loves pizza—if you don’t you probably don’t have many friends—and thank the food gods and our Italian heritage there’s enough to go around in West Virginia. Our pizza brands are growing, from mouth-watering gorgonzola and grape combinations paired with a pint to piquant wood-fired pies. Here are some of the best and biggest in pizza around. DiCarlo’s: A square-shaped pie with piles of cheese added just after it comes out of the oven makes this place the go-to pizza joint along the Ohio Valley. Find more than a halfdozen locations across West Virginia, including the restaurant in Wheeling (open since 1949), and in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Arizona. dicarlospizza.com Gino’s Pizza & Spaghetti House: With 40 locations across West Virginia, Gino’s has been the go-to stop for West Virginians looking for a quick slice for more than 50 years. ginospizza.com Lola’s: This intimate Charleston pizza joint has a loyal following. The Friday night wait can be long, but people will sit for an hour just to sample some of the famous pies. Salads, sangria, and a microbrew selection are also big hits with the locals. Come early to claim your seat. Mountain State Brewing Co.: Mountain State Brewing Co. serves up good food and fun as well as an evening of beer and music many nights a week. The restaurant started in Thomas and expanded into Morgantown and Deep Creek, Maryland. In Morgantown, you can try a diverse menu of wood-fired flatbread pizzas. mountainstatebrewing.com Pies & Pints: With a world-class beer selection and pizza to please traditional pie lovers as well as those more adventurous with their toppings, Pies & Pints aims to capture taste buds across the nation the way it captured those of loyal followers in West Virginia. In the Mountain State, you’ll find Pies & Pints in Fayetteville, Charleston, and Morgantown. piesandpints.net The Pizza Place: This Parkersburg favorite claims to have the most authentic New York-style pizza in the tri-state area. Whether it’s true or not, customers rave over the fresh ingredients, thick dough, and pepperoni cups holding little pools of spicy grease. Two locations—in north and south Parkersburg— means twice the fun. thepizzaplace.org

Focus July/August 2014

King for a DAY Jim Strawn, director of marketing and community education at Highland Hospital and co-author of the Sad Mad Glad books, shares what he’d do as ruler of West Virginia. Strawn recently won the Jefferson Award for Public Service. Encourage more community service and volunteerism by our young people. The cornerstone of all mankind is offering a helping hand to those in need. The more you give, the more you gain. For me, the more I give, the more I live. Have every West Virginian introduce themselves to their neighbor. The word community means a series of relationships, and I have been blessed to have fostered many wonderful relationships with West Virginia’s finest asset—its people. Orchestrate a flash mob of every West Virginian exercising for 30 minutes. We need to move our bodies more. The more we move the better we feel. Enable all West Virginians to experience joy and happiness in their hearts without the fear of anxiety and worries. Happiness comes from within. When you seek happiness it will always elude you. When you seek happiness for others, it will find you as well.

in May, arranged for a band, food, and drinks, and sent out invitations—300 of them. “After 60 years you get to know a pile of people,” she says. “I invited them all.” Another 500 invitations went out by email—one for every attorney in her law firm, Dinsmore & Shohl. In the end around 250 people attended. Then came the most important part: Dailey chose three charities to highlight, all of them organizations that had touched her life in some way. Orbit Village, a project to alleviate poverty and give kids education opportunities in Kenya, was founded by an old friend of Dailey’s. She’s taken an interest in the project and given to it in the past. She helped start the Coonskin Park Foundation herself—she sits on the Kanawha County Parks and Recreation Commission and thought Coonskin Park, one of the largest and most popular parks in the system, needed a mechanism to collect donations. And the Ronald McDonald House is especially dear to Dailey. She stayed there more than two decades ago when she was a young mother—her son was being treated in a Pittsburgh hospital and she could hardly afford a hotel room. “It was a lifesaver at the time, and all these years I never had a chance to give back to them,” she says. Dailey didn’t require donations from her guests—she thought of it less like a formal fundraiser and more like a big party revolving around the idea of philanthropy—but her guests came through anyway. The event raised close to $15,000—$9,500 for the Coonskin Park Foundation and around $2,500 each for Orbit Village and the Ronald McDonald House of Southern West Virginia. “I remember when the first check arrived— I jumped up and down for joy,” she says. “It was so amazing to me that people were going to be using my birthday as an occasion to give.” Anna Dailey celebrates her 60th birthday by inviting friends to give back to the community.

Philanthropy

A Party With Purpose A Charleston attorney asks her friends for birthday gifts—for others. written by Shay Maunz Photographed by Cyndy Waters

nna Dailey has never been one for big birthday parties, but when her husband proposed a big bash to celebrate her 60th she didn’t hate the idea—she figured it could be fun for a change. “But then I had to think about what to do about gifts—I didn’t want gifts,” she says. When a friend suggested she give donations to charity in lieu of gifts, the Charleston attorney realized she could leverage her birthday to create something meaningful. Instead of casually suggesting guests donate to this or that charity, Dailey set out to plan a party around the idea of giving. Philanthropy wasn’t an afterthought—it was the party’s central theme. “I started calling it my party with a purpose,” Dailey says. She rented out the rotunda of University of Charleston for her birthday weekend

Focus wvfocus.com

CHEERS & JEERS The West Virginia Land Trust has purchased land along the Gauley River Canyon near Summersville Dam for possible incorporation into the National Park Service’s Gauley River National Park, saving the natural space from residential development. #WeOnlyHaveOneEarth

More than 500 miners could be out of work by the end of the summer after coal companies announced layoffs in thesouthern part of the state. The coalmarket is down, everyone says. #TimeToDiversifyOurEconomy #ForRealThisTime

Coal Country Tours Explore Matewan’s history with this Mine Wars tour in September. Written by Shawnee Moran

Everyone knows the words to “Take Me Home, Country Roads” and can tell you where to find the nearest pepperoni roll, but only a handful of people can tell you about the Battle of Matewan, also known as the Matewan Massacre. Doug Estepp, conductor of Coal Country Tours, wants to change that. “West Virginia has a wonderful, colorful history, but it is largely unknown,” he says. “It is important not just for West Virginia residents to know, but for the country in general.” On September 12, 2014, Coal Country Tours will depart from Morgantown for a three-day adventure to learn about one of the deadliest shootouts in history. Doug says he feels compelled to tell stories of coal miners and the events that occurred, such as the mine wars in the 1900s and the Battle of Blair Mountain. On September 13, the Matewan Massacre reenactment will be performed for the public to learn about the shootout and the people involved. Admission for the tour starts at $395 per person and covers breakfasts and lunches, transportation, and lodging. 540.233.0543, coalcountrytours.com

Focus July/August 2014

West Virginia delegates can collect their session paychecks regardless of whether they actually attend session. The issue came to the public’s attention in May when Delegate Joshua Nelson, R-Boone, missed the entire 60-day legislative session for National Guard flight training, but still picked up his $15,000 paycheck. #TalkAboutUnequalPay

Some West Virginia municipalities like Morgantown and Charleston have enacted ordinances prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation. Here’s hoping this year is the year for a statewide employment bill covering everyone. #EndDiscrimination

nikki bowman

COMMUNITY

Williamson in Mingo County has been nationally recognized for the town’s efforts to improve the health and well-being of its population. The town is one of six winners of the $25,000 Robert Wood Johnson’s Foundation Culture of Health Prize. #EveryStepCounts

the power lunch

Burn, Baby, Burn

Pizza Pros

Each morning, the Mia Margherita staff lights a fire in the pizza oven that burns throughout the day, using 80 to 120 pounds of coal. They use anthracite coal that burns clean and extremely hot, cooking a pizza in just two to three minutes.

Making a pizza is taken seriously at Mia Margherita. After researching the origins of pizza in the United States, Executive Chef Tim Goots studied with a renowned pizza chef. Guests can watch their pizzas being crafted and cooked in the restaurant’s open kitchen.

Big Plans Scott Duarte’s company, CP Hospitality, already manages the Bridgeport Conference Center and Microtel Inn & Suites by Wyndham, and has plans to develop more in the area. “The idea is to help create the hospitality opportunities both from the guest perspective and employee perspective,” he says. He hopes to open a market-style restaurant and chophouse as well as a permanent home for the popular Bridgeport Farmers’ Market.

Something Sweet

Three Popular choices

Mia Margherita, $13/$20

Penne Salmon Vodka Tomato Basil, $14

Il Fico (The Fig Tree), $15/$23

The decadent desserts at Mia Margherita—like this hazelnut cheesecake—come from local bakery Almost Heaven Desserts. Capitalizing on local resources is important to Duarte, who says they even scouted local architecture for inspiration when designing the interior of the restaurant.

“It all began with the idea that we wanted to open an authentic pizzeria,” Scott Duarte says. Duarte is the founder and co-owner of Mia Margherita—the only coal-fired pizzeria in West Virginia and a new addition to the burgeoning Charles Pointe development in Bridgeport. The restaurant combines the region’s heritage of Italian immigration and coal mining in an unexpected way: with food. Duarte says Mia Margherita’s coal-fired oven celebrates pizza in its original intention. “The intensity of the heat allows you to produce a very light, crispy, Neapolitan-style pizza,” he says. In addition to pizzas, Mia Margherita serves a variety of other Italian dishes like panini and pasta. Try the Coal Fired Lemoncello Chicken Wings with a pint of West Virginia-brewed beer during happy hour, or the soup—all of which is made from scratch in-house—and half-panini for lunch. Within the first six months of opening, Mia Margherita was awarded the 2014 New Business of the Year by the Harrison County Chamber of Commerce. Duarte credits the staff for the restaurant’s early success, saying they “worked hard from the get-go.”  139 Conference Center Way, Suite 137, Bridgeport, WV 26330, 304.808.6400, miamargherita.com

written by Elizabeth Roth | photographed by Carla Witt Ford

A West Virginia University graduate student is shining a little light on energy poverty. Written by Mikenna Pierotti

Focus July/August 2014

very day about 6 billion of us wake up, turn on the lights, and start our days. We don’t give much thought to the other 1 billion people on the planet without access to reliable, affordable electricity, but it’s an issue that’s increasingly on world leaders’ minds. In 2013 President Obama announced a new initiative, Power Africa, aimed at doubling access to electricity in sub-Saharan Africa by 2030. But it could be expensive—$35 to $40 billion a year according to the World Bank—to get anything close to universal access to electricity. Grids, power plants, infrastructure—all need to be in place

Justin Chambers designs first. West Virginia portable, collapsible University graduate wind turbines that come in three sizes—including student Justin one that could power a Chambers has small village. another plan. At about the same time the president was forming his plan to power Africa, Chambers, a Glen Dale native and WVU mechanical engineering student, was designing a portable, collapsible wind turbine. He admits energy poverty wasn’t the first thing on his mind. This was his senior design course and he wanted to ace it. “It started with me and my professor, James Smith. We saw a need for personal power in remote locations, especially with today’s reliance on electronic devices and

courtesy of windpax

Lights On Big Idea

Kent Mason

staying connected. Wind turbines have been around a long time, but they are expensive, very large, and difficult to move. With our backgrounds, we knew we could design something that could be a portable, renewable power source and meet this need,” Chambers says. Not long after they had developed a marketable product, his company, WindPax LLC, was born. Wind turbines are an old technology given new life. Research is making modern turbines taller, with longer blades, every year. But Chambers decided to keep his products lightweight, easy to set up, and—the linchpin for developing nations—affordable. “My initial thought was to target military operations, so we made the products collapsible and easy to store and transport for that criteria. Then we thought of campers and hikers and getting into that market. But when we really got into the research, we discovered how much of an impact this could have on developing countries and communities without reliable power.” Currently Chambers’ turbines have blades with a vertical axis design—rather than the typical horizontal axis you might see on the hillside—and contain a power generator and a removable power storage system. They come in three sizes, two of which are ready for market. The smallest, named The Wisp, is a 25-watt unit that uses a standard USB port and can charge and run any common devices that rely on USB—cell phones, tablets, small electronics, and LED lighting. The mid-size version, The Breeze, is a 100-watt unit with a 12-volt port—much like a standard car cigarette lighter— and USB. This size could power ample lighting or even a small TV. It could also be used to charge 12-volt batteries for later use. The Cyclone—the largest size and still under development—will be a 400-watt unit marketed as “a village power station.” But any and all of these products could take the debate over how to breach the energy gap in a new direction. “These turbines are affordable enough to be sent around the world, and the energy they produce is renewable. There are more than one billion people without power around the world, and it’s really hindering their economic development. If we can supply a cost-effective, renewable energy source, it could really help jump-start growth in many areas.” Today Chambers is a NanoSAFE Graduate Fellow in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at WVU and has so far founded two companies—all while steering WindPax into big-time recognition, including taking first prize at the West Virginia Technology Entrepreneurship challenge and getting a grant at the Annual TransTech Energy Business Development Conference. In 2014 WindPax began offering its products for pre-order through Kickstarter, raising $85,000 in 40 days. The company is now working with a manufacturer and will offer portable wind turbines for sale by January 2015. “Our next steps are to build a superior product, a great brand, and a profitable company,” Chambers says. “The ideas are the easy part. Transitioning from an idea to a real company and pitching that idea to the people you need to help get it all off the ground, that’s the hard part.”

Iconic Lands Protected The West Virginia Land Trust permanently protected 665 acres along the Gauley River in June. The purchase of properties within the Gauley River National Recreation Area ensures the Gauley Canyon, once considered for development, will provide river access and recreational opportunities for the public. “Not only will views in the canyon be protected, but the essence of West Virginia’s beauty will continue to be on display for the thousands of people who visit the Gauley River each year,” says Land Trust Executive Director Brent Bailey. The Gauley’s world-class white water draws 60,000 rafters during a six-week period each fall. “This land fronts on six miles of the river on both sides and many of the rafting companies use this area for their lunch stops,” says Dave Arnold of Adventures on the Gorge adventure resort. “Protecting the visual corridor in this area is critical to the quality of our customers’ experience.”

windpax.com Focus wvfocus.com

Launching Students into Business West Virginia University’s new LaunchPad takes a homegrown and highly successful model for entrepreneurship education university-wide.

written by pam kasey

ntrepreneurs can be made. If you doubt it, watch what comes out of West Virginia University’s LaunchPad over the coming year. The start-up resource center for students, graduates, and faculty represents a whole new level of commitment to entrepreneurship on campus. To seal its commitment, the university lured superstar entrepreneurship educator Fonda Holehouse away from her teaching position in the Davis College for a one- or two-year sabbatical to head it up. “I’m leaving a job I adore, but I’m stepping out here and taking a chance on this because I believe in the model and in the entrepreneurial capital we have in these students,” she says. In a renovated section of Hodges Hall on the downtown campus, The LaunchPad Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation is a one-stop start-up shop for any student at WVU. “We’ll pull in the resources they need to get them moving with their concepts and it will truly be an interdisciplinary effort,” Holehouse says. The College of Law’s entrepreneurship clinic will have someone on-hand to

Focus July/August 2014

resolve intellectual property and legal questions. A College of Business and Economics representative will offer help with business planning and financing. Holehouse is working with the Reed College of Media on what she hopes will be a student ad agency for help with logos and marketing. The LaunchPad is all about collaboration, consultation, and creativity. “We teach students that part of being an entrepreneur is building your team,” she says. “You’re going to need a chief financial officer—go over to Business and Economics and find one. You might need an engineer—go find one. The team is as important as the idea.” The space makes consultation easy. “It’s literally one long string of offices and meeting spaces,” says Matt Harbaugh, WVU director of innovation, entrepreneurship, and commercialization. “On one end you’ve got a classroom where we’ll teach entrepreneurship classes and help students build teams, and then they can literally walk to an ad agency, and the next stop is for legal and finance support, then a Small Business Development Center office—and there are conference rooms and networking space.”

courtesy of the brickstreet center for innovation and entrepreneurship at WVU

Noteworthy Launch

Entrepreneurship classes—the seedbed for the creative energy behind all this—will be taught by Holehouse using the model that has won her students six of the seven prizes awarded by the West Virginia Collegiate Business Plan Competition in the past three years. That model has several steps. “First, recognize that you don’t just have to get a degree and work for someone else—entrepreneurship can be your job and can grow wealth,” she says. “Second, what is a problem that needs to be solved? It can be big or little.” Third, come up with a device or a service that solves it, and fourth, find out if there’s a market for it. “How do I price it? How do I get it manufactured and get it to the market? That puts them into the business plan process.” Fifth, protect the idea, and sixth, find funding. The model is as effective as it is straightforward. “There’s a point when you see a lightbulb come on and a change in a student’s maturity level and drive,” Holehouse says. “Their idea is not just an idea anymore—they see that it can be a living business with employees and revenue, a different kind of life from working behind a desk for somebody. At that point you’ve created an entrepreneur. This idea might not succeed, but they’ll continue to look at problems and solutions.” Student enterprises Holehouse has nurtured in the past year include LAX Stringtech, which is patenting a device that makes it easier to string a lacrosse head. “We’ll see that product in sporting goods stores in the next year,” she says. Vasculoc LLC developed a Fast Application Combat Tourniquet that she says the U.S. military has shown strong interest in. “Students also have a portable wind turbine that’s very close to launching, and they’re actually taking orders,” she says, among other projects. Eighty students signed up before school was out in spring 2014 for the three classes Holehouse will teach at the LaunchPad in the fall. She has no doubt new businesses will come out of those classes. “Our students truly are on par with some of the best innovators in this country—we’ve just never had a system in place that gives them the resources they need. The LaunchPad will do that.”

Join the Tamarack Artisan Foundation for a series of statewide benefits for the artists of West Virginia. Each event will be held in a beautiful venue that highlights the natural beauty of our state and will feature an elegant menu of locally sourced foods, wine, music, and art. “HNTB has provided engineering services that have created roads for people to travel our beautiful state. The Tamarack Artisan Foundation’s mission is to provide “road maps” to artists and their businesses. HNTB supports the important work of the Foundation creating relationships that benefit WV businesses, communities and artists.” —Randy Epperly Group Director at HNTB

CRAFTED…

A West Virginia Celebration

of Farm to Table ART by Hand

Four events • One great Cause Celebration One:

Sunday, Sept. 14

3 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Café Cimino Sutton, WV

Tickets are $150 and with limited seating.

RSVP by Sept. 5

to the Foundation: 304-926-3770

Sutton Celebrations will be held in additional locations around the state in 2014.

Like our Facebook page for up-to-date details. Facebook.com/TamarackFoundation

      .  Sponsorships available by contacting Sally Barton: sally@tamarackfoundation.org

Artpreneur

For the Love of Glass One glassblower is romantic in art, but practical in business. Written by Shay Maunz Photographed by Carla Witt Ford

Focus July/August 2014

hip Turner loves glass. The bright colors, the glossy finish, the magic of watching it take shape inside a kiln—he can wax poetic about the stuff for hours. But when he talks about his company, Appalachian Glass, he’s all business. “In the glass industry you have to constantly strive,” he says. “You’re competing with people all over the world, so you have to try to produce a product that is better or more affordable.” Appalachian Glass in Weston produces 500 products, from novelty pieces to stemware and drinking glasses, all made of hand-blown glass. They’re sold at stores in 37 states, the company does a brisk retail business at its shop, and the schedule at Turner’s glass studio is packed with demonstrations—more than 65 tour buses come through every year to browse the store and watch Turner and his team blow glass.

It might be the way Turner’s business sense mingles with his romantic ideas about glass that lends his business its special charm. His work is shown in a handful of West Virginia museums, the spiraled towers of glass lit with gallery lights, but he’s also not above making little glass trinkets that sell for $1 so even the most cash-strapped visitor can leave his shop with something small, like a colorful piece of glass in the shape of a chocolate kiss. “My thinking is that you shouldn’t have to have a lot of money just to buy a colorful piece of glass you enjoy—I don’t think rich people should be the only ones who can enjoy beautiful things,” he says. “But there’s a business side to that, too—having inexpensive things makes it easier to get them put in stores.” That said, nothing is too cheap. Turner does a full cost analysis before he introduces a new line of product, and he won’t keep producing something if it’s not profitable.

Chip’s Business Tips Know Your Product You have to know your product better than anyone else in the world. It’s your product— someone can’t ask you a question and you blank and go, “Duh.” You need to know enough to be able to explain to people why your product is a better buy or better quality or better price point than someone else’s product. Have a Growth Plan Eventually you need to get out there and sell that product wholesale so you’re not the only one selling it. If you’re just selling it in your little hometown then pretty soon everybody has one—and you need to sell more because you need to keep making a living. “You know how there are coal towns and timber towns—our town was a glass town,” Turner says of Weston, where he grew up. Turner learned to blow glass in high school, back when glassblowing was still taught in Weston’s public schools. After graduation he went to work at a glass factory in town—but he wasn’t an artisan, he worked in the maintenance department. “I just needed a job,” he says. From there he worked his way up in the company, occasionally blowing glass but more often working in support or managerial positions, doing all the disparate things that keep a glass factory running. “I still had the glassmaking skills, but I didn’t do it every day,” he says. “But I had in the back of my mind that I was going to start my own little glass studio.” Around 15 years ago the glass factory where Turner was working, by then as the floor and furnace manager, was sold to another company. He decided the time was right, quit his job, and started Appalachian Glass with another factory employee in 2001. In 2002 he bought his partner out of the business, and now he runs it with the help of his son and father.

Chip Turner (center) He has a contract continues his love of with a firm that glassblowing in business works to secure with his father and son at wholesale contracts Appalachian Glass. for the company. “In the glass factory there were hundreds of jobs to be done, and I spent all those years asking people why we do things a certain way, and they’d explain it to me,” Turner says. “I had this natural curiosity about the glass industry and that has really served me well. When you have a business you have to be a jack of all trades—you may be a master of none, but you have to know a little bit about how to do everything.” As the sole proprietor of Appalachian Glass, Turner is doing all the things he did during his years working his way through all those jobs at the glass factory—but now he’s doing them all at the same time. “Before I worked at keeping the plant running, developing products, and all of that,” he says. “Now I’ve got to wear those same hats again, but I also have to wear the marketing hat and I have to wear the production hat. I find myself blowing a piece of glass and thinking about all the other things I have to do and how I’m going to do them.”

Be Smart About Pricing Most people don’t actually realize how much it costs to make their product. They say, “Oh, that’s what everybody else charges, that’s what I’ll charge.” They need to sit down and do a cost analysis and say, “This is how much it costs to make them, this is how many I can make in a day, and I need this much to live on.” That’s how you find out how much you need to charge. Retail vs. Wholesale—Know the Difference You wouldn’t believe how many people build a business around a product and they only have one price for it. They might have a beautiful product and it’s something they could actually be making a living at, but they’ve marketed it for years at one price, and now they can’t make the business larger because no one will buy it if someone marks it up and it costs more than that. You have to be able to sell something directly to the consumer, but also to sell it wholesale to people who will sell it for you.

Focus wvfocus.com

HEALTH

Coverage in College Students are not exempt from the Affordable Care Act. Per the new health care regulations under the Affordable Care Act, college students must be covered by health insurance or face penalty fines. “There are no special exemptions for college students under the ACA,” says Allison Adler, spokesperson for the state Department of Health and Human Resources. Many students will retain coverage under a parent’s policy to the age of 26, she adds. “Other students may be eligible for exemptions as a result of low income.” Exemptions available to all Americans are outlined at healthcare.gov/exemptions. In West Virginia there are several insurance options available to students, in addition to plans offered through the ACA:

»» Students under 30 have special availability of a catastrophic plan, which is less costly but also provides less coverage.

»» West Virginia is among states expanding their Medicaid programs in 2014. The state Medicaid program will cover individuals making approximately $15,800 per year or less.

»» Students can sign up for school health plans, which sometimes can be covered through loans. Both Marshall University and West Virginia University offer student health insurance.

Focus July/August 2014

Innovation

The Protective Factor A retina specialist in Huntington is using the eye to gain insight into diabetes.

Written by Shay Maunz

t’s the early 1990s and Stephanie Skolik is an ophthalmology resident at the University of North Carolina. A big part of her job involves diagnosing and treating patients with diabetic retinopathy— damage to the blood vessels in the retina part of the eye that leads to vision loss, sometimes leaving patients completely blind. Somewhere between 40 and 45 percent of people with diabetes develop problems like this with their eyes, and the longer they have diabetes the higher the risk. “But one day this patient came in and she had had diabetes for 50 years— and her retina was perfect. And I looked at her and she had horrible arthritis. Her hands were deformed and she could barely walk,” Skolik says. “And then I started to notice a pattern. Patients, they’d come in and tell me they’d been on insulin for 45 years and I’d say, ‘How bad is your arthritis?’ and they’d say, ‘It’s terrible, how did you know?’ and I’d say, ‘Because your retinas look just fine.’” This small realization propelled Skolik into decades of research on the link between eye health and arthritis and prompted her to found, in 2001, the American Retina Research Foundation, a nonprofit created to house that research. That foundation is based in Huntington, along with Skolik’s ophthalmology practice and work as a retina surgeon. A study of 170 diabetic patients referred to Skolik’s ophthalmology practice, published in the journal Eye in 2012, affirmed her hunch that people with arthritis are less likely to develop problems with their retinas related to diabetes—especially if the onset of the arthritis happened before the onset of the diabetes. Skolik thinks there’s something about arthritis that helps people with

diabetes ward off damage to blood vessels in 1 the retina. “My suspicion is that 2 the inflamed joint is making 3 some kind of protein that is 4 circulating within the body and 5 affecting various REsear 6 organs like the eye,” she says. ch FouN 7 A healthy retina 8 dation might have some inflammation, but not too much. “It has to be just the right balance, but there is something very protective about the inflammation,” Skolik says. “For now we call it the protective factor.” The next step in Skolik’s research is to identify the protective factor and its source. Diabetes is a major health issue worldwide—more than 347 million people have it, and the World Health Organization projects it will be the seventh leading cause of death globally by 2030—but little is known about what causes it. Skolik thinks her research could shed some light on that. “My hope is that if this is right it’s the beginning of tracing back the pathways to see what causes diabetes or what makes people vulnerable to it,” she says. And if researchers could figure out where diabetes comes from, they might be able to create a vaccine to prevent it. “That’s my dream,” Skolik says. “I think it could be in my lifetime, but the truth is that in research you’re either a step away or a million steps away, and you only know if you keep stepping.”

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an R

etina

SCIENCE

Greatness of Green Bank Scientists from all over travel to Pocahontas County to uncover the secrets of the universe.

Written and photographed by Laura Wilcox Rote

ou have to see it to believe it. In the middle of the Monongahela National Forest, in a tiny town of less than 150 people, sits the 17 million-pound Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope (GBT) at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO). It’s taller than the Statue of Liberty and is the world’s largest fully steerable radio telescope at 485 feet tall. And its funding is in danger. Primary funding for the Green Bank Telescope for the last 60 years has come

from the National Science Foundation (NSF), according to Karen O’Neil, the NRAO site director who’s been with the observatory in West Virginia for more than a decade. In 2012 an NSF review committee issued a recommendation to divest GBT from its budget portfolio by 2017. Researchers at Green Bank do everything from study how stars are born and die to looking far away to capture snapshots of the universe at earlier times. “The ultimate goal, of course, is to understand the evolution of that stuff we see in the sky,

but also to understand how we got here,” O’Neil says. The GBT has discovered sugars in space; mapped the surfaces of the moon, Venus, and asteroids; and proven Einstein’s theory of relativity to within 5 percent of his hypothesis, to name just a few findings. And it’s the only thing like it. “While there are a number of radio telescopes around the globe, the GBT is the premier single dish radio telescope in the world,” says Business Manager Mike Holstine. “Its operating frequency range is unmatched by any other radio telescope, it can see more of the celestial sphere than any other single dish, it operates more hours per year than any other radio telescope, and it is more sensitive to radio signals than any other radio telescope in its operating range.” O’Neil says the telescope is able to view more than 85 percent of the celestial sphere. “The loss of the GBT would be a blow felt by astronomers around the world,” she says. Part of the reason the GBT is able to do its job is because of the peaceful location. It sits in a federally mandated quiet zone where the use of cell phones, Focus wvfocus.com

The Green Bank Science Center at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Pocahontas County attracts 50,000 visitors each year.

digital cameras, and even some vehicles is limited within a 10-mile radius of the facility to prevent radio interference. O’Neil says the NSF wants to keep the telescope running—that they’ve been working with staff there as well as at the nonprofit Associated Universities to find funding. “We’re extremely optimistic that we will find funding for the GBT to continue to not only operate, but thrive,” she says. In early summer employees were working to secure some project funding from the State Board of Education and additional funding through WorkForce West Virginia for onsite educational programs. “It appears NSF may be willing to fund us at a 50 percent level if we can secure the necessary other 50 percent,” Holstine says. The NRAO was founded around an “open skies” concept. “The idea was that any scientist around the world could apply for time to use any one of our telescopes,” O’Neil says. But as talk of divestiture continues, the number of open access hours available on the GBT may be reduced,

Focus July/August 2014

even as demand soars. Applications from all over the world to use any of the observatory’s eight telescopes are peer reviewed by other scientists and ranked. The highest ranked projects—those expected to have the largest effect on science—get time on a telescope, and GBT is easily the most popular. “We are five to seven times oversubscribed,” says Holstine, who has worked there for 20-plus years. Maura McLaughlin, professor of physics and astronomy at West Virginia University, says the GBT is the most capable radio telescope for the kind of work she does. She studies pulsars— rapidly rotating remnants of stars that have exploded in supernovae. “The GBT is absolutely critical for the efforts to detect gravitational waves using pulsars. This effort would open an entirely new window on the universe, allowing us to observe objects such as black holes and test theories for galaxy evolution, she says. However, making this detection depends on long timescale, sensitive observations of pulsars with a range of angular separations on the sky. The GBT has so far provided nine years of high-quality data for this experiment, which surpasses the data taken with any other telescope. If we lose access to the GBT, this project will take a tremendous hit.” But it’s not just scientists who flock to Green Bank. The site attracts as many as 50,000 visitors each year and hosts

How do radio waves work? “When molecules move through heat motion they radiate radio waves at wave frequencies particular to that molecule, much in the same way light wave frequencies are emitted by a burning match,” says Mike Holstine, business manager at the NRAO in Green Bank. “These radio waves travel from their source through the vast distances of space until, perhaps, we can intercept them here on Earth. Since these radio waves are tremendously weak, it takes very large collectors (telescopes) and incredibly sensitive radio receivers to detect them.”

many school and educational groups, too. The West Virginia Governor’s School of Math and Science, the National Youth Science Camp, and groups from all over the U.S. make trips to Green Bank for in-depth educational experiences. Many people also find themselves marveling at the giant telescope during trips to the region for other reasons—fishing, skiing, or bicycling in the area. Whether you love science or not, the GBT is a sight to behold when you round the bend of West Virginia 92 and see it there below the mountains. The observatory itself employs more than 100 people—none of them federal employees. It’s the fourth largest employer in Pocahontas County, and Holstine says it contributes $29 million a year in economic benefit to the county and state. The observatory is open seven days a week from 8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. beginning Memorial Day weekend. Free tours are given at the top of every hour from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and include a short film and bus trip to all of the telescopes. Visitors can also take a self-guided tour, walk out to the observation deck, and safely snap photos of the large telescope. www.gb.nrao.edu

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How We Did It

The Capon Way A third generation of owners brings a historic family resort into its own again in the 21st century.

written by shay maunz | photographed by carla witt ford

or most businesses, it’s easy to agree to be profiled in a magazine—it’s free publicity, after all, and everyone likes free publicity. But for Capon Springs and Farms in Hampshire County, it wasn’t quite so simple. Capon Springs, an all-inclusive resort in the Eastern Panhandle that has been run by the same family since 1932, has a rich tradition of word-of-mouth advertising and of shirking publicity. For Jonathan Bellingham, who runs the resort now with his sister Ginny Brill, doing an interview felt unnatural. “It’s very awkward, sharing some of this

Focus July/August 2014

information,” Bellingham says. “For so many people who come here and do have a connection with Capon, we’re this magical place. We don’t want to jeopardize that. It’s not the Capon Way.” The modern resort at Capon Springs was practically founded by accident. Lou and Virginia Austin, Bellingham and Brill’s grandparents, bought the rundown remnants of a 19th century resort in 1932 only because they wanted access to the freshwater springs on the property and the water they produced, which Lou Austin believed had medicinal properties—he wanted to bottle and sell it. But soon

the couple started bringing friends to the property to entertain, those friends told their friends about this secret getaway at the foothills of the Allegheny Mountains, a trickle of guests became a steady stream, and without any marketing at all Capon became a full-fledged resort. “For years the only way you could stay here is if you had the name of someone who had already stayed here,” Bellingham says. That’s not true anymore but, even now, most of Capon’s guests were introduced to it that way—through a link, however convoluted, to one of the Austins’ first guests. Most families come back year after year. “We’re into our third generation of guests, just like we’re third-generation owners,” Bellingham says. Not many businesses survive a transition to the third generation like Capon has; only 5 percent make it through a transition to the fourth generation. Even though Capon’s inception was effortless and the last 80 years were prosperous, the third generation has been forced to deal with more uncertainty than generations

“Ishareholders nstead of being of

a corporation, there’s a real sense that we’re stewards, that this special place is entrusted to our care.” Jonathan Bellingham, co-owner

past. It’s not that the business is in immediate danger— the stream of guests is as steady as ever and the third generation is as committed to the business as when they took over in the 1980s—it’s just that the best path forward is unclear. How do they strike a proper balance between past and present? How do they deal with a legacy of word-of-mouth advertising in the age of the Internet and social media? And who will take over when Bellingham, the youngest of his generation, retires? The whole thing is especially fraught because of the pressure the pair inherited

Family-owned Capon Springs and Farm is now being maintained by its third generation of owners, who are working on a succession plan. Less than 5 percent of family-owned businesses operate into the fourth generation.

along with the beloved family business. “Instead of being shareholders of a corporation, there’s a real sense that we’re stewards, that this special place is entrusted to our care,” Bellingham says. “It’s a real privilege and our responsibility, but there’s also this sense that we can’t let this thing end on our shift.” So Bellingham and Brill have been working to shore up Capon’s business. They’re working on a contingency plan for the coming years. They’re putting the resort out there—slowly and deliberately— with an online presence, word-of-mouth cards designed to help regulars spread the word about Capon, and more openness to media coverage. And there have been some even bigger changes, changes that felt even more unnatural than a magazine

interview. Among other things, they’ve added a spa, renovated buildings, and built a new addition to the main lodge—changes they worried would cheapen the legacy that defined Capon. For the most part, the reaction has been positive. “One of our longtime guests walked in the door to the main lodge after the new addition, and he kind of paused there—it was a shock,” Bellingham says. “He turns to me and says, ‘I’m really trying not to like this—I’m really trying. But I really do like it.” To guide them, they’ve settled on a philosophy that balances their grandparents’ vision for the resort with their own vision and practical demands. “You can’t live off someone else’s vision. You can’t do anything significant until it becomes your vision and part of what you want to do,” Bellingham says. “We know our grandfather was first and foremost an entrepreneur and, because he was always thinking that way, that he wouldn’t want us to hold on to something just to hold on to it if it was bad for Capon. So we aren’t going to do that.” caponsprings.net Focus wvfocus.com

Education

Seeing the Bigger Picture Connecting schooling histories with later career paths may help us see which educational approaches work best.

written by Pam Kasey

ow can we know which educational methods are working best? Not just for high test scores and graduation on time—how can we know which ways we teach students to read and write and to work with numbers and the laws of science lead not only to academic success but, ultimately, to productive and fulfilling employment? OK, a measure of fulfillment may still be beyond our reach. But soon educators and policymakers will gain hindsight they’ve never had through the state’s new ZoomWV and P-20 data projects that illuminate real education-to-workforce pathways. Looking at the histories of our young adults who have gone astray, for example, educators will be able to ask where we lost them and how we might avoid that in the future. Looking at those who thrive, they’ll be able to learn what worked so they can use it to help students yet to come. “We want folks to be able to go to our new site when it comes on board in the fall and look at trends across the state—find school-specific information or zoom out to county- or RESA (regional)level or state-level information, to

Focus July/August 2014

make better decisions,” says West Virginia Department of Education Data Governance Manager Carla Howe. This is mainly a matter of accessing information we already have in a new way. Since 1990 the West Virginia Education Information System (WVEIS) has amassed a mountain of data on students and schools. Its tables, available online, give us snapshots: how many students qualified for free and reduced-price lunches in a given school year, how many dropped out or graduated, how they scored on spring exams. By school, by grade, by county, by disability, by gender—the data come sliced in just about any way students can be grouped. But while the snapshots are interesting, to use our data to improve our understanding we need to connect them over time. We need “longitudinal” data chains that reveal links between practices and outcomes. ZoomWV will help us see links between earlier educational practices and later academic outcomes by turning the sprawling WVEIS tables into a statewide longitudinal data system (SLDS). Easyto-use interfaces will make the data available on a secure site for teachers and administrators, Howe says, and on a site with only aggregate information for the public. New charting functions will

also be provided. States across the nation have brought similar SLDSs online over the past several years; Howe points to Wisconsin’s WISEdash and Michigan’s MI School Data as examples the state is looking to in its development process. At the same time, to get at links between education and career, the state is in the process of developing connections among several agencies’ databases. “We are part of a P-20 initiative that is the interagency linking of information,” Howe explains. “P-20” is shorthand among SLDS professionals for the period from early learning through entry into the workforce. “Our information is linked with information from the Higher Education Policy Commission so we can see students’ postsecondary success, and with Workforce West Virginia workforce information.” Howe emphasizes the high standard of privacy protection maintained throughout the SLDS and P-20 systems. “All the student-specific information is stripped off, because it’s not about a single student,” she says. “It’s about what we can understand about the performance of groups of students, to see gaps and make better policy decisions.”

town

Williamson This once bustling coal town in southern West Virginia is ramping up for a second act with the help of recreation, tourism, and two historic feuding families.

ATV and UTV Trails

The 700-mile HatfieldMcCoy Trail System is one of the longest professionally maintained trail systems for off-road vehicles in the world.

Feuding Families Williamson is smack dab in the middle of Hatfield and McCoy country, where the two historic families carried out their famous feud. The city is packed with small businesses dedicated to the feud.

Presidential Past President John F. Kennedy campaigned in Williamson during the 1960 presidential primary race.

Sustainable

Nikki Bowman

A grassroots community development campaign, Sustainable Williamson, is improving education, creating rural and urban partnerships, promoting health, and upgrading infrastructure. Projects include a wellness center that treats patients on a sliding scale, solar power installations, and an energy plan to reduce energy expenses at some public buildings.

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Energy

Fueling Research A WVU Shale Gas Network brings researchers from diverse disciplines together.

rom public health to energy economics to law, researchers all across West Virginia University have turned their attention to the growing extraction of natural gas from shale. The industry touches so many fields, in fact, that the researchers don’t always know of each other’s work. “Within disciplines, they know what each other is doing,” says Trina Wafle, deputy director of the National Research Center for Coal and Energy (NRCCE) at WVU. “But outside, they don’t necessarily know.” Wafle set up the Shale Gas Network (SGN) to create opportunities for cross-disciplinary interaction. How many people at WVU are researching shale gas? There’s no way to be sure—which is part of why this network is a good idea. Wafle asked the university’s Office of Sponsored Programs, which administers most grants, for the names of everyone who has been funded for shale gas research by typical funding organizations. The 60 names she received gave her a start on a contact list, but she’s sure there are more. Quarterly networking meetings will be the SGN’s primary activity, and the first one, held on April 25, 2014, may be an indication that faculty like the idea. Participants heard presentations about highly visible research that was funded in 2011 by the state Legislature: Paul Ziemkiewicz, director of the West Virginia Water Research Institute at WVU, spoke of what he learned about liquid and solid waste that comes from hydraulically fractured horizontal gas wells, and

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Michael McCawley, interim chairman of the Department of Occupational and Environmental Health Sciences, talked about air, noise, and light pollution at shale gas well pads. Other researchers presented posters during a reception that followed. Wafle was surprised by the turnout. “We organized it with incredibly short notice. And it was the week before finals, when faculty are really, really busy,” she says. “The core faculty advising me on this said it would be a success at 30, and we had 75.” To get the network off to a good start, Wafle secured funding internally from the NRCCE for a “flash funding opportunity” of five $10,000 grants to projects with the potential to position faculty for big National Science Foundation- or National Institutes of Health-type research awards. “Faculty had three weeks to write proposals and then we took about eight days to read them,” Wafle says. The review committee strongly recommended funding six of the 23 proposals it received, so she persuaded the WVU Research Corporation to kick in another $10,000. “The faculty we’ve awarded are either

Lindsay Bowman new to the field, discusses hydraulic new to WVU, or new fracturing research at the to their careers, first Shale Gas Network meeting in April 2014. which is pretty nice,” she says. Three of the six funded projects address issues close to home: Jessica Hoover, assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry, will study the conversion of natural gas, with its single carbon atom and four hydrogen atoms, into hydrocarbon molecules with three, four, or five carbon atoms. Used in the manufacture of synthetic rubbers and plastics, these hydrocarbons are currently made from petroleum and cannot be made from the nation’s increasingly abundant natural gas. Brian V. Popp, an assistant professor also in the Department of Chemistry, will research the use of natural gas as a feedstock for the chemical industry. He also plans to develop a program of study from his research to educate students, especially U.S. Armed Forces veterans, for careers in science, technology, engineering, and math to support a chemical industry renaissance in West Virginia.

Julie Black / WVU Academic Innovation

written by PAM KASEY

“The core faculty advising

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Trina Wafle, shale gas network coordinator Heather Basara, an assistant professor in the Department of Occupational and Environmental Health Science, is teaming up with School of Public Health Research Assistant Professor Travis Knuckles to identify emissions of ultrafine particles that might lead to heart disease among people living or working near hydraulic fracturing well sites. Three are international projects, showing WVU’s early expertise is allowing the university to grow as this new field expands beyond the U.S.: J. Ryan Shackleton, an assistant professor in the Department of Geology and Geography, will study fracture patterns in shale outcrops at the earth’s surface to develop a tool to predict fracture patterns in shale deep in the subsurface. He’ll work with researchers from the University of Aberdeen in Scotland to create a “fracability index” that could make hydraulic fracturing safer, more predictable, and more efficient. Alison Peck, an associate professor in the College of Law, will develop recommendations for regulations to protect water resources in connection with shale gas development in Argentina. In April 2014, Chevron and Argentine oil and gas company YPF announced the first commercial development of that nation’s shale gas resources. Local citizens have opposed shale gas development without an assessment of its environmental impacts. Peck will work with university faculty in Buenos Aires to identify top priorities for water resources and other environmental protection in the region and create regulatory recommendations. Usha C.V. Haley, professor in the Department of Management of the College of Business and Economics, aims to further understanding of global implications of China’s shale gas development. China has the world’s largest shale gas reserves on paper, with strong governmental support for their development. Haley previously studied China’s entry into sectors such as solar, coal, and steel to document China’s significant effect on those global markets. With this award she will explore the international strategic ramifications of Chinese shale gas development for companies, governments, and technology. Awardees will present posters at future SGN meetings. Wafle expects to hold the next quarterly meeting in September.

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TECH

Gravity of Great Work Researchers at the West Virginia Robotic Technology Center in Fairmont are using new technology to do things never thought possible, like finding ways to break up asteroids.

written by nick keppler photos courtesy of west virginia robotic technology center

n 1957 the Soviet Union launched Sputnik and a manmade object scraped the roof of the planet for the first time. Since then about 3,600 satellites have joined Sputnik in orbit. Among their functions are guiding GPS units, delivering satellite TV, distributing XM Radio, composing Google Maps, and forecasting weather. But about 70 percent of them no longer do anything.

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They have run out of fuel or broken down, and new satellites are launched to take their places. This creates the problem of space debris. Last year the European Space Agency (ESA) issued a report on the “pressing need to act now” before satellite proliferation causes collisions that will damage this vast floating infrastructure, worth an estimated $137 billion to the world economy.

But what if there were a way to repair and refuel satellites through remotecontrolled orbital vehicles equipped with mechanical arms? That could go a long way to maintain satellites past their current lifespans of 10 to 15 years. In fact, the West Virginia Robotic Technology Center (WVRTC) in Fairmont is developing just such a mechanical arm. Since 2009 the center, established by West Virginia University through a NASA grant, has worked out the technological kinks for future NASA projects. The center’s two main areas of research are currently satellite repair and asteroid interaction techniques. The WVRTC’s six full-time staff and roster of graduate students and faculty take assignments from the agency’s Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) in Maryland. “If we have some crazy idea that is not much more than a drawing on a cocktail napkin, we can take it to them and ask, ‘How would this be possible?’” says Benjamin Reed, deputy project manager of Goddard’s Satellite Servicing Capabilities Office. “The research is stepping into new territory. We are trying things that have never been done before,” says Thomas Evans, research program manager of WVRTC. “Developing and testing technology for satellite servicing or asteroid interaction increases its readiness for future operations. Our partners at NASA GSFC can then mature the technology and apply it as needed.” The heart of the operation is a gigantic room with floor space of 4,800 square feet and ceilings 60 feet high, housed in the Robert H. Mollohan Research Center—the visibly high-tech building in the I-79 Technology Park at Interstate 79 Exit 132. Within the facility is a full-size mock-up of a satellite that is hooked into a reproduction of Orion, NASA’s deep space exploration spacecraft that will carry humans to an asteroid and Mars. Put together, they serve as a great stand-in for NASA’s conceptual asteroid redirect vehicle. Extending out of the setup is the WVRTC’s baby: a 12-meter mechanical arm with a drill on the end. Someday a vehicle that looks like this might approach an asteroid and break it and extract what’s

“Tishestepping research into

new territory. We are trying things that have never been done before.” Thomas Evans, Research program manager

inside, but for now the WVRTC studies robotic sampling on a hunk of West Virginia limestone and rocks of various compositions and strengths. They’re using industrial robot arms to do so. Off to one corner are the mechanical arms meant for satellite servicing. The facility tests them on the butt of a faux satellite coated in a layer of gold-tinted insulation, thick as that which surrounds the satellites currently in orbit. The object has been rigged to rotate as it would in space. A spotlight-like device called a solar simulator that shines a light meant to simulate sunlight in space is also helping to recreate the atmosphere of space. “Servicing satellites in an unforgiving environment requires hours of testing and

Christopher Gunn / NASA goddard Space Flight Center

Researchers experience zero gravity and tour a mine, among other things, in an effort to understand technology both old and new.

development,” Evans says. “There has to be complete understanding of the task and absolute precision in performance.” For this reason, the staff has even taken the projects out of the laboratory. In July of 2011 they were part of a team that matured satellite servicing technology on a zerogravity flight. A modified Boeing 727 flies on a parabolic path, straight up and straight down in a way that creates a low-gravity atmosphere in the things on board while in free fall. The technique has been used for decades to train astronauts. For the WVRTC, the point of the flight was testing the capability of the robot’s autonomous system to track a free-floating object. Because of the time delay between signals from the ground to satellites in distant orbits, the satellite repair system is being programmed to sense and automatically grab objects

in front of it. On the zero-gravity flight, researchers released box-like objects for the robot to track. “We wanted to test the robot with chasing a moving target,” explains Giacomo Marani, research engineer. “We were happy with the response. The robot didn’t lose a second of response time,” he says, when compared to its reactions on the ground. It held up better than the staff: Marani was one of the few who didn’t experience much motion sickness. Another field trip took WVRTC scientists to a nearby underground mine, where they studied technology long in use in West Virginia: roof bolting, using a system of bolts and boreholes to keep a roof in place during a mining operation. Advancing this technology could create a solution for mineral extraction or anchoring to an asteroid. Evans, who is also a research assistant professor at WVU and earned his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering there, says the WVRTC lab has also allowed him to stay in-state while shooting for the stars, so to speak. A native of Monongah, he says NASA GSFC chose WVU and WVRTC for the intensive project because of their talented pool of researchers. “I didn’t think I would have the option to stay after finishing graduating school, but this partnership has made it possible,” he says. “I think I have the coolest job in the world.”

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Founders

about what an entrepreneur is. It’s really not a person who is just intrigued by or interested in financial gain; it’s someone who has creative solutions to meet a need.”

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courtesy of mark bates

“Tmisconception here’s a

Mark Bates Founders

ceo, N e x eon M ed Systems | interv iewed by Shay M aun z

Dr. Mark Bates founded Nexeon MedSystems, a medical device company, in Charleston in 2004. Bates, a cardiovascular specialist, has more than 60 pending or issued U.S. patents for medical devices and started the company to research, develop, and bring some of those products to market. Before founding Nexeon, Bates had one of the most successful cardiovascular practices in the nation and founded the Vascular Center for Excellence at CAMC, one of the first multidisciplinary vascular centers in the country, where he remains a co-director. We caught up with Bates recently to talk about health care, entrepreneurship, and the relationship between the two.

»» As a kid I was inventive. I developed a laser light show and when I was in high school and undergraduate school I made money

doing dances. I wasn’t always sure I wanted to do medicine though—after I got into WVU’s medical school I didn’t even tell my parents for a while because I wasn’t sure it was what I wanted to do.

»» There’s a misconception about what an entrepreneur is. It’s really not a person who is just intrigued by or interested in financial gain; it’s someone who has creative solutions to meet a need.

»» I have a low tolerance for any bad outcome, and it really bothers me if a patient suffers because of some complication. That’s why I started inventing things. If there was an adverse event I would ruminate about it, and if there wasn’t a solution I would invent something. »» I go into every new situation with a lot of thought and preparation. If it means spending 300 hours reading everything I can

find about a specific issue then that’s what I do.

»» I founded Nexeon because I had reached a pinnacle in my cardiovascular practice. I felt like I had built what I could build

already, and I’m just the type of person who needs to constantly be challenged.

»» There’s an interesting dichotomy because in medicine you can’t take risks at all, there’s zero tolerance for it. But as an entrepreneur it’s different—I would say my accountant and my wife should both be on anti-anxiety medications.

»» I consider myself to be sort of like the true renaissance person, where you reinvent yourself every so often. But that’s probably a positive spin on what is really an attention deficit disorder.

»» The nice thing about being the CEO is you can always break away when things are critical. I’m very close to my two children, and I’m always able to get away and see them when I need to. »» Early on I weathered a storm once, when I had invented a device and invested part of my life savings in it. It was sold for millions of dollars, but the way it was managed I didn’t really get anything out of that and it was my invention. It was the injustice I felt that drove me to try to understand how I had let that happen to myself, to be more involved in the business side of things.

»» I’ve learned to deal with failure so that if I run into a situation where it looks like things are going to crumble and fall apart, I sort of grieve for that failing process and then I try to learn from it and I don’t give up. After a while, if you keep slugging at something, you’ll see some success. Focus wvfocus.com

Revitalization

From Dump to Destination The state’s Brownfields Assistance Centers are transforming communities across the state one site at a time.

written by PAM KASEY

Focus July/August 2014

Before

but the West Virginia Brownfields Assistance Centers know how to help. The two centers—the West Virginia Brownfields Assistance Center (WVBAC) at Marshall University and the Northern West Virginia Brownfields Assistance Center (NWVBAC) at West Virginia University—have provided resources and technical assistance for redevelopment in communities across the state for almost a decade. The rewards of a successful cleanup are broad and lasting. “A community that works together to revitalize a brownfield site ends up with jobs, other economic benefits, and the capacity to take on other tough projects,” says NWVBAC Director Patrick Kirby. What makes a brownfields redevelopment project work? Sites with end-uses that find high levels of community support, according to a review of lessons learned published by the NWVBAC in 2013. Best practices include establishing a strong core

project team that can put in a threeto-five-year commitment, creating opportunities to educate the community on the site’s challenges and potential, building a strong network of partners, and celebrating milestones in order to maintain momentum. Kirby has learned a few lessons of his own. “We’re getting away from talking brownfields and we’re talking redevelopment,” he says by way of example. “If you only have two minutes to explain something, having to use a minute and a half to explain what a brownfield is isn’t a good start. You bring us the project and we can talk about redevelopment possibilities, and we’ll work through our channels to deal with the environmental liability at the back end.” Current brownfields assistance center programs include the West Virginia Redevelopment Collaborative, which assembles teams of academic, private

Courtesy of northern west virginia brownfields assistance center

n the 1990s and early 2000s, the abandoned Adamston Flat Glass Factory site on Clarksburg’s west side was a public safety nightmare. “Trespassers were always doing illegal activities on the property. There was a large amount of debris, and it was a strain on our public safety personnel,” says Clarksburg City Manager Martin Howe. The cleanup of the site and opening in 2013 of a Shop ’n Save and other retail transformed the neighborhood. “People can walk there for their groceries now. It’s produced new jobs and it brings revenue back to the city, the county, and the state,” Howe says. “It really is a rebirth.” Most every West Virginia town has at least one: a former industrial site that became contaminated and now sits abandoned. It might be an old filling station or a vacant warehouse or factory. They’re eyesores, and they’re often in visible and even prime locations— complex obstacles to revitalization. Sites like these are known as brownfields. Cleaning them up makes space available for any use a town envisions—housing, retail, even green space. It enlivens neighborhoods, raises nearby property values, and, by keeping development compact, preserves greenfield areas that have never been developed. Cleanup can be intimidating,

Do you see sites languishing in your community that could be put to productive use? Kirby offers tips on getting started. 1. Tell yourself money is not the barrier. 2. Which site is your top priority, and why? Productive uses draw enthusiasm and funding. 3. Who else would benefit from the end-use you have in mind? Make a list of stakeholders, why they should be interested, and how they might be engaged in the project. 4. Write a one-page project resume that explains what’s been done on the site so far and any milestones. 5. Visit wvbrownfields.org to explore next steps.

After

sector, and government agency experts to help small-town stakeholders work through the diverse challenges of redevelopment. The program has awarded funding to 20 projects across the state so far in three rounds in 2012 and 2013. Sites like the Little Kanawha Riverfront Project in downtown Parkersburg and the Houston Company Store in Kimball in McDowell County are benefiting from everything from site assessment to building of community consensus to groundbreaking and completion. And the BAD Buildings Program— that’s for Brownfields, Abandoned, Dilapidated buildings—applies the lessons from cleaning up contaminated sites to the often equally complex problem of abandoned and dilapidated buildings. BAD buildings are found in large numbers across the state: 170 on the demolition wait-list in Huntington, according to the BAD program guide, for example,

and more than 500 in McDowell County. Among other problems caused by these buildings, they deter development by discouraging would-be investors. Launched in February, the BAD program aims to bring properties back onto the market by creating BAD building inventories, prioritizing sites based on redevelopment potential and community interest, and formulating redevelopment plans. “This program has just exploded. We’re working with eight communities, but we have requests from many, many more,” Kirby says. While demolition is many participants’ first thought, the BAD program looks for broader solutions. “Yes, that’s a bad building, but what would make it better? Because that’s what gets investment—there aren’t large capital investment groups for just tearing a building down, but there’s money out there if you’re proposing a re-use.” Communities receiving grants

and assistance in the first round are Fairmont, Kenova, Middleway, Point Pleasant, Ronceverte, Shinnston, Weston, and Wheeling. An inventory alone can be a powerful tool for action, Fairmont Director of Planning and Development Kathy Wyrosdick saidwhen the grants were announced. “It not only tells a story of where all these issues are, but it also tells a story to potential funders and state legislators that, look, this is the real problem,” she told the Times West Virginian. Don’t let concerns about funding stop you, Kirby says. In fact, projects are funded frequently—just this May, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced $1 million for five projects in West Virginia. The nonprofit organization New Historic Thomas will use its $200,000 for environmental site assessments, cleanup plans, and community outreach in support of its Thomas Riverfront Park Development Plan. “Our city is so small, and to receive this award will make a huge difference in our redevelopment plans,” says New Historic Thomas Board President Emily Wilson-Hauger. The 2014 West Virginia Brownfields Conference will take place September 11 to 12, 2014, in Huntington. Focus wvfocus.com

MONEY

Where Do Taxes Come From? Discover how the state got $5.4 billion in taxes.

Written by Shay Maunz

e talk a lot about where taxes go— about the agencies, salaries, and programs we, the people, fund with our tax dollars. Less discussed is where exactly our tax dollars come from. In 2013 West Virginia collected $5.4 billion in state taxes from its citizens. This is your guide to how we got them—the funding mechanisms and the geography.

Now let’s look at the numbers. In fiscal year 2013 West Virginia brought in $5.3 billion in taxes. Here’s where they came from:

Counties where the state collected the most in income taxes in 2012: Kanawha $193 million, 12.7 percent of the whole

Monongalia

Let’s start with a refresher on state taxes. There are five tax categories:

$104 million, 6.7 percent

Berkeley $89 million, 5.9 percent

Sales and Gross Receipts: These are taxes on goods and services, measured by volume or value. The state sales tax rate in West Virginia is 6 percent. Income: These are the taxes most people know the most about, the taxes levied on the incomes of individuals, businesses, and corporations. License: These are the taxes you have to pay as a condition for a privilege—you pay for the privilege of running a business by buying a business license, or for the privilege of hunting and fishing by buying a hunting and fishing license, for example.

Cabell $81 million, 5.3 percent

Wood $70 million, 4.6 percent

Sales and Gross Receipts: 48 percent, $2.6 billion

Counties where the state collected the least in income taxes in 2012:

Income Taxes: 38 percent, $2 billion

Wirt: $3.1 million, 0.2 percent

Other: 12 percent, $617 million

Gilmer: $4.3 million, 0.3 percent

License Taxes: 3 percent, $137 million

Pendleton:$4.3 million, 0.3 percent

Property Taxes: <1 percent, $6.1 million

Property: These are what you pay when you own a piece of property. Other: These include death and gift taxes, documentary and stock transfer taxes, and anything else that isn’t classified elsewhere. Severance taxes, charged when natural resources like coal and natural gas are extracted, fall into this category.

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Let’s break it down another way. Which of the state’s 55 counties send the most money to the state’s coffers? Or the least? It’s hard to say in a comprehensive way, mainly because some taxes are so difficult to trace back to geographic location, but we can look at income tax by county—one of the biggest and broadest taxes we have. It’s no surprise personal income tax revenues track population fairly closely. The five highest revenue counties in fiscal 2012 were the five most populous; the five lowest revenue counties were all among the eight least populous.

Income tax includes both personal and corporate income tax. Personal income taxes are the biggest bucket that state taxes come out of—individual income taxes account for 88 percent of the $2 billion paid to the state through income taxes. That’s more than $900 per capita.

Doddridge: $4.2 million, 0.3 percent Calhoun:$4.3 million, 0.3 percent

Most of the money paid to the state gets funneled into the state’s general revenue fund—the money for most traditional state services comes from there. But Deputy Revenue Secretary Mark Muchow is quick to remind you that a lot of that money gets funneled back to the counties, too—mainly in the form of state funding for local school districts. “West Virginia provides more state aid toward local school expenses than most states, so a lot of that money comes back to counties that way,” he says.

Policy

Offering understanding, support and family-focused behavioral health treatment.

Hiring Our Trainees One aspect of the immigration reform bill now stalled in the House of Representatives could become important for the state. written by PAM KASEY

Every year on the first business day of April, American companies begin petitioning U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services for visas that will allow them to hire foreign nationals into specialized jobs in the following fiscal year. And every year the limited number of visas runs out—recently, in a matter of days. “Increasing the H-1B cap would help our international students who graduate and go out there seeking job offers,” says Doina Jikich, West Virginia University director of immigration services. “And the cap can be a problem for any company in private industry that has jobs for these students.” The H-1B visa allows companies to employ foreign workers for limited periods in occupations that require, typically, specialized technical knowledge. The number issued in a given year is limited by Congress to 65,000, although exemptions—for those employed in higher education, for example—brought the total to almost 155,000 in 2013. Demand for the visas was down after the recession. For fiscal year 2011 it was December before the number of petitions exceeded the cap, and for 2012 the supply lasted into January. But as the economy has picked up, that interval has narrowed dramatically: For 2015 it lasted just 10 days. The cap could become a particular hardship for West Virginia’s highly specialized industry of biometrics, the identification of individuals through fingerprints, facial recognition, and other physical and behavioral markers. WVU has one of the few graduate programs in biometric engineering in the world, and more than 70 percent of its students are foreign nationals, according to Director Bojan Cukic. “Sending them back to be successful where they came from just creates more competition,” Cukic says, arguing for raising the cap. “It’s a no-brainer.” And as the use of biometrics expands beyond classified government work to handheld devices and other commercial uses everywhere, the state’s industry is going to need more qualified hires, says Barry Hodge, president of Morgantown-based biometrics company SecurLinx. In his view, a WVU degree in in biometric engineering “ought to come with visa stapled to it.” Both West Virginia Senators Jay Rockefeller and Joe Manchin voted for the immigration reform bill that passed in the Senate in June 2013. The bill provides a mechanism for adjusting the cap on H-1B visas to market conditions and “would have improved the H-1B visa program to allow American companies to retain the best and brightest,” says Manchin Press Secretary Katie Longo. Immigration reform is now in the hands of the House of Representatives.

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Who’s Stepping Up

Revive and Thrive A community leader in Charleston has been working for decades to fix one of the state’s most troubled neighborhoods. written by shay maunz photographed by nikki bowman

Focus July/August 2014

atthew Watts can rattle off dozens of statistics about the demographics of Charleston’s West Side neighborhood: Nearly 18,000 people, 35 percent of Charleston’s population, live there. Nearly 27 percent of those people live in poverty. There are some 1,300 vacant structures, and nearly 40 percent of all the crimes committed in Charleston happen on the West Side. In conversations about the blighted neighborhood, Watts speaks with the cadence of the preacher he is, impassioned rhetoric peppered with statistics. “There are things in this community that children just can’t overcome, the social forces against them are so great,” he’ll say and then tell you how many children under 5 are living in poverty in the neighborhood—52 percent. Before you’ve recovered from the shock of that figure—that’s huge compared to the state as whole, where it’s 26 percent— he’s moved on to tell you 60 percent of students on the West Side can’t read at grade level. “The lack of motivation and low academic performance of these children is just so symptomatic of the public health crisis here,” he says. The West Side of Charleston, one of West Virginia’s most troubled neighborhoods, is a 266-acre tract of land just outside downtown in the state’s capital. It’s a unique neighborhood for West Virginia. A lot of places in the state have problems, but those are rural problems—the problems on the West Side are more urban. A traditionally black, working-class neighborhood, it’s grown increasingly troubled since segregation in 1960s, and especially since crack cocaine hit city streets in the 1980s. “There’s no other place that has the concentration of a population in such a confined area, nor a place with the concentration of poverty or the concentration of low-income housing or the substance abuse problem in such a small area,” Watts says. “This is unique in the state, and the solutions have to be unique to the setting and the context of this community. And that’s been hard to do.” Watts is at the helm of a grassroots initiative called West Side Revive, a

“

We’re looking at every facet of the community. We’re looking at it in a coordinated way to see how to revitalize this community and make it a healthier place.” Matthew Watts, Senior pastor of grace bible church

sprawling community development project that has been working to improve the West Side for 20 years. West Side Revive includes a legislative agenda, a low-income housing development initiative, a job placement program, substance abuse prevention and treatment programs, and a slew of other things—all funded through a combination of state and federal grants and donations. Sometimes the project seems big enough to be unwieldy, but that’s only because it’s so comprehensive. “We’re looking at every facet of the community,” Watts says. “We’re looking at it in a coordinated way to see how to revitalize this community and make it a healthier place.” Watts has been at this for two decades now, and the longer he spends looking at the problems on the West Side, the more complicated his mission statement becomes. When he quit his job as an engineer to become a full-time pastor and start West Side Revive in 1985, he wanted to concentrate on education through tutoring and after-school programs. But he soon realized that wasn’t enough, and he got to work on a few community development projects. It snowballed from there. And Watts says that’s how it should be—part of the point is having a big boisterous program that’s always in your face. “If we’re going to give students hope and give their parents hope then they’ve got to see us working to try to change things,” Watts says. “We hope that will motivate them to want to be a part of the drive for positive change.” Today Watts is most proud of 23 houses West Side Revive purchased and renovated using laborers from the neighborhood and which are now providing low-income housing for local families. And he’s optimistic about a new urban renewal plan he’s developed, which is being reviewed by West Virginia University’s School of Public Health—he hopes that after the university has signed off on some of his ideas, they’ll have enough weight to attract some sizeable investments. “People don’t understand the complexity of this urban island over here,” he says. “But they’re paying attention, they’re sitting down and taking meetings with us. And that’s what we need to do to make change happen.” Focus wvfocus.com

Raising THE

Stakes The people of Grafton and Matewan could get up to $150,000 to turn their towns around. Will they? Written by Shay Maunz | Photographed by Elizabeth Roth and Shay Maunz

e’re in Matewan, at the United Mine Workers of America headquarters downtown, which is serving as the Turn This Town Around meeting space for the evening. We’ve been there for two hours, watching PowerPoint presentations and talking about grant proposals; it’s now past 8:30 on a Tuesday night. When the meeting ends, it’s finally time to go home, but something remarkable happens: People don’t leave. A handful of them trickle out, sure, but there’s no mass exodus. “At least half the people stayed for half an hour talking through their projects,” says Stephanie Tyree, who heads up the project in Matewan for the West Virginia Community Development Hub. “When you end a meeting and people don’t want to leave, when they keep talking and they keep working until you basically tell them they have to go because you have to lock the doors—to me it seems like it went well.” She’s talking about the June Turn This Town Around meeting in southern West Virginia, where the team at the Hub and representatives from West Virginia Public Broadcasting and this magazine got together with community members to talk about opportunities to improve the town. The day before there was a similar meeting in Grafton. The result was similar: The meeting ended but people stuck around, talking and making plans. That’s a big deal because these meetings were a big deal. They marked the unveiling of the Turn This Town Around mini grants, a program funded by the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation to inject money into these struggling communities through our Turn This Town Around project. That means that by the end of next year these communities could each be $75,000 richer. It also means that when the grant program was unveiled on that day in the middle of June, the clock started ticking. We’re trying to have most of that money spent by the end of the year, and all of it by the middle of 2015. “We’re at a turning point in the project,” Tyree says. “We have done what we can do to get people excited about it, to get them to come together and to place some things out there to grease the wheels. Now it’s their job to make it happen.” The Hub’s executive director, Kent Spellman, cautioned that if community members fail to step up, formulate plans, write grants, and make these projects take off, this chance to make change happen in their towns could quickly pass them by. “I don’t want to have West Virginia Focus writing at the end of the year that Grafton and Matewan couldn’t get it together and left $20,000 or $30,000 on the table,” he says. We don’t want that either.

“

When you end a meeting and people don’t want to leave, when they keep talking and they keep working until you basically tell them they have to go because you have to lock the doors—to me it seems like it went well.”

stephanie tyree, West Virginia Community Development Hub

The Benedum Foundation is offering up to $150,000 for Grafton and Matewan. But first, community members have to develop plans for how they’ll use the money.

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The Grants

Here’s how it’s going to work. The Benedum Foundation, the largest philanthropic organization that operates mainly in West Virginia, approved a grant to the Hub providing $50,000 in mini grants—that’s 20 individual grants—to each community, plus another $25,000 in what they’re calling “pre-development funding.” The Hub will divvy up this money and give it to people in Matewan and Grafton to use on projects that will make each town a better place to live. Mary Hunt, a senior program officer with the Benedum Foundation, says the foundation likes to use mini grants like these to initiate productive conversations in local communities— the kind of conversations that lead to action that can be sustained for years to come. “The grant becomes a learning tool as well as a vehicle to do community work,” she says. “It takes the ideas for projects and turns them into real projects that people have to put their own blood, sweat, and tears into, and then see results. So it can also inspire people to say ‘If I can do that smaller project, I can manage this bigger one.’” “Mini grant” is nonprofit speak for a sum of money that is relatively small in the world of grant funding, but still sizable in a small town like Grafton or Matewan. Here, the maximum mini grant is worth $2,500, though one can be for less money if the project doesn’t need that much. Projects can also be more ambitious. It’s OK—great, actually—if community members take the Benedum Foundation’s $2,500 and run with it, using the

Focus July/August 2014

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Grafton residents capitalize on the town’s popular Memorial Day event, the Spirit of Grafton Festival.

The grant becomes a learning tool as well as a vehicle to do community work. It takes the ideas for projects and turns them into real projects that people have to put their own blood, sweat, and tears into.” mary hunt, senior program officer, The Benedum Foundation

“

For years around here most people have had a we-don’tdeserve-it, woe-is-me, we’llnever-have, can’t-do kind of attitude. And you have to change that, and a way to do that is to give somebody hope and to let them see the light at the end of the tunnel.”

Dave Hatfield, Matewan

promise of a little funding to convince other organizations to ante up. “We have seen these mini grants sometimes leverage as much as 10 times as much as they really are, just by helping people get the projects moving and then reaching out in the community for more money,” Spellman says. “That would be a very desirable outcome.” Either way, the mini grant money has to go toward a project that will benefit the community as a whole and will result in visible, measurable improvement by the end of 2014. Pre-development money is for bigger projects—the types of things that can’t be accomplished by the end of this year or maybe even in the next couple years. The $25,000 isn’t meant to fund the entire project but instead to get the wheels turning: It can be used for things like a feasibility study or site survey, to hire an attorney or an architect. The proposal process is roughly the same for each type of grant: To be eligible, groups of at least three people have to attend training sessions with the Hub team to shape their project, and proposals are due August 1. When the grants were unveiled in mid-June, it left seven weeks for community members in each town to form groups around 20 ideas, flesh out 20 plans, and write up 20 proposals. ”This is a challenge and it is a stretch,” Spellman says to the crowd of community members in Grafton and again the next day in Matewan. “We understand that. But I think you’re up to it.” Events like Matewan’s Hatfield-McCoy Festival energize the small town.

The Ideas

Some ideas are big, sprawling, exciting messes. Others are hemmed in and thoroughly achievable. In this campaign, people want to resurface tracks and refurbish old train stations, to build bike trails and websites, paint murals and buildings, and form chambers of commerce and community centers. “I do believe this has awakened people’s interests in fixing up their town,” says Becky Bartlett, a high school teacher in Grafton who is working on a project to restore the old railroad station in Taylor County. “There were a lot of us who have had all these ideas and were like, ‘OK, we need to get started. We’re probably at the bottom of the bottom of where we’re going to go.’ But this was the push we needed.” Dave Hatfield is behind one of Matewan’s biggest success stories to date—the Hatfield-McCoy Marathon, which started long before the Turn This Town Around campaign. The marathon has grown steadily over the last 15 years and in 2014 had 1,300 runners—more than twice the population of Matewan itself and a huge boost for the little town. Things like the marathon, the annual Hatfield & McCoy Reunion Festival, and the popular Hatfield-McCoy Trails have started to breathe a little life into Matewan in the last few years. “It’s giving people an attitude adjustment, changing people’s ideas about the town,” Hatfield says. “For years around here most people have had a we-don’t-deserve-it, woe-is-me, we’ll-

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never-have, can’t-do kind of attitude. And you have to change that, and a way to do that is to give somebody hope and to let them see the light at the end of the tunnel.” Hatfield is also the man behind one of those big, sprawling, exciting ideas. He wants to turn Matewan into a history center revolving around the town’s coal-mining heritage and the Matewan Massacre—he pictures it filled with historic reenactors, a regular and robust schedule of outdoor plays, a downtown filled with shops and hotels, and streets bustling with tourists. The idea has really caught on, and several people in Matewan are planning to apply for grants for small projects that feed into Hatfield’s vision. “Unity in anything is always better than going out there on a limb on your own and trying to make it with a small number of resources,” Hatfield says. “We can’t be in competition with someone across the street—the town’s too small for that. We have to use our resources to do what’s best for everybody.” The same thing is happening in Grafton, though groups seem to be forming around a few smaller ideas instead of one big one. People want to improve and market the International Mother’s Day Shrine, the city’s popular Memorial Day celebration, and revitalize the downtown business community. And all of these ideas are gaining traction because the residents of Grafton share a common vision of what a prosperous Grafton looks like. “I remember going downtown when I was a kid and people were shoulder to shoulder on the sidewalks doing their shopping, and it was just a great experience,” says Tom Hart, who owns a gift shop downtown with his wife. “Then the railroad pulled out of Grafton and businesses started shutting down and you started to see dilapidation. I can remember a time not too many years ago where there wasn’t a single business open on Main Street. But it’s definitely coming back—now there are at least a few. And that’s made people’s attitudes about it improve.” Hart wants to use those first few businesses as leverage to attract more—he wants to see a chamber of commerce form, and he’s working on a plan to sponsor an event on the first Friday of every month downtown. His idea is to convince businesses to keep their doors open late for one night, provide music and entertainment, and hope the sidewalks fill up with people again. He wants

Focus July/August 2014

Grafton’s business Grafton to look something like it did when district is growing, but he was a kid, if only once a month. locals want to see it Just like Grafton and Matewan have grow even more. different opportunities for improvement, the challenges differ, too. The people in Matewan are enthusiastic about attracting tourists, for example, but they have a lodging problem—it’s a remote area, and there aren’t many hotels around. Grafton, on the other hand, sits just far enough off the interstate to be inconvenient—it’s a 20-minute drive from the center of town to Interstate 79—but close enough to Clarksburg, Bridgeport, Fairmont, and Morgantown that if residents get fed up with Grafton they drive to one of those places to shop, eat, socialize—or live. So here’s the question: What does it take to make Grafton a place worth driving to? Or to make Matewan a place where people want to stay? Will people invest in these communities? Will they spend money there, volunteer there? Will they continue to live there, move there, stay there? And what can we do to help?

Community development experts think the pride West Virginians have for their towns can be used to foster growth and change there.

A Field of Dreams

Nobody thinks we can fix Grafton or Matewan—or West Virginia, for that matter—with a new bike trail or amphitheater. It’s jobs. We all know it’s jobs. But community development experts have a theory about that. The Hub published a toolkit for community development a few years ago where it’s explained well. “When communities think of development, they usually think of economic development— businesses and jobs,” it reads. “People work where they want to live, so building healthy, attractive, livable, and inviting communities is critical to economic growth. West Virginia has many advantages that are well known to those of us who live here: small communities with friendly, helpful neighbors that are safe places to raise a family. Many former state residents long to return. Community building can help identify ways to leverage these assets, as well as enhancing the community’s desirability in other important ways … If you build a community people want to live in, economic development will result.” Kevin Stead, Grafton’s city manager, may sum it up even better. “I think it can create a seed that with some nurturing can grow,” he says. “As long as we can find a way to continue building pride and recruiting people who are excited about Grafton, it can grow. It’s about empowering people to create ideas and create projects, and then maybe some spin-off comes from that in the form of a better economy.”

“

People work where they want to live, so building healthy, attractive, livable, and inviting communities is critical to economic growth.”

west virginia community development hub

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The Business of Sports The booming sports industry has necessitated a change in the way our beloved college teams do business. written by

allison toffle / wvu university relations

Katie Griffith

here are few conversations in West Virginia that can immediately polarize our population and cause blood pressures to skyrocket. College sports is one—Mountaineers or Thundering Herd? The state’s athletic teams, whether you’re a Marshall University fan or a West Virginia University fan, clearly hold a position of extreme importance to our identity as a state. “Marshall is Huntington, and Huntington is Marshall,” one fan says. The same could be said of Morgantown and WVU. Arguably, it could also be said of WVU and West Virginia. With no professional teams in the state, WVU Gold and Blue have become our state colors. For WVU and Marshall fans alike, our underdog teams represent us as a hardworking state. But sports can’t run themselves on dogmas, high emotions, and scrappy wins. Behind the stadiums, loud with school colors and cheering fans, is a multimillion-dollar industry. Behind the beloved coaches and players is a director of it all. Part lawyer, part accountant, part fundraiser, part psychologist, part parent, part salesperson, part bureaucrat, the athletic director’s job is to keep the business running— and a business it is. Gone are the days when a star football or basketball coach becomes a university athletic director. It had been like that for decades. Ed Pastilong, former WVU AD, coached. Fred Schaus, Pastilong’s predecessor, did, too. While ADs now might have played college ball, their experience is decidedly more MBA than NBA.

Focus July/August 2014

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I’m not sure the term ‘athletic director’ really encompasses what I and my colleagues around the country do. You’re really a CEO. You’re running a business.” Oliver Luck, WVU athletic director

Revenue and Expenses

in millions $5

The athletic budgets of these West Virginia universities have more than doubled over a decade.

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Fairmont State University revenue expenses

Changing Models

13 20

09 20

“I’m not sure the term ‘athletic director’ really encompasses what I and my colleagues around the country do,” WVU Athletic Director Oliver Luck says. “You’re really a CEO. You’re running a business.” Millions of dollars run through the WVU and Marshall athletic departments, and it isn’t enough anymore to hire that winningest football or basketball coach to man an athletic department’s spreadsheets. “Not just here but virtually everywhere in the country, you see a lot more businesspeople,” Luck says. “People realize athletic departments are budgeting $60 to 150 million. That’s big business. When I was a student athlete here at WVU the budget may have been $4 or $5 million.” A compounding, cyclical growth in sports has been ongoing for years. Fans expect more from their stadium environment, players want to play in the best facilities, and good coaches are in high demand. We’re a sports-obsessed nation. ESPN seems to have a new channel every day. We paint our faces with school colors and logos and begin tailgating at dawn. At its heart, though, sports is a zero-sum game. For every program getting better and winning more games, there’s another program getting worse and losing. To stay at the top, athletic program budgets are ballooning, even as their universities are forced to make administrative, academic, and research cuts. In the last two years WVU’s state funding has dropped by $20 million, but the athletic budget grew from $58 million in 2011 to $74 million in 2013. Marshall’s state funding has dropped by $7 million, yet the athletic budget has grown from $23 million in 2011 to $26 million in 2013. Making ends meet as funding is cut and budgets rise has required ADs to get creative. Marshall Athletic Director Mike Hamrick is entering his 25th year as a Division I college AD. In his five years at Marshall, Hamrick has overseen the construction of $42 million in athletics facilities, including a massive indoor practice facility,

13 20

10 20

09 20

05 20

04 20

03 20

13 20

12 20

08 20

$15

$20

revenue expenses

$25

$40

Marshall University

revenue expenses

in millions $30

West Virginia University

$60

in millions $80

Certainly on the Division II level, athletics is not a major revenue generator, but it does generate revenue. Athletics provides a platform for students, fans, alums, and others to continue to participate at an institution. That does generate money. Division I schools are able to capitalize on this venture in much bigger ways than we are at the DII level. I think we have a great opportunity at the DII level to provide an excellent education to student athletes while at the same time providing an excellent student athlete experience.” Tim McNeely, Fairmont State University athletic director

a new sports medicine center, new turf on the football field, and renovated basketball accommodations. “Our facility improvement has been unbelievable,” Hamrick says. “The thing that makes us feel good is that the majority of those dollars were raised privately. We’ve raised about $32 million.” The additional funding for the Marshall facility improvements will come through bonds that will be paid over a period of time from football and basketball ticket revenues. Traditionally athletic program funding has come through channels like ticket sales and stadium concessions, boosters’ clubs, licensing, and, if the school was big enough, media revenue in television and radio. Thirty years ago universities also funded athletic programs. “Now states are cutting back on how they fund universities. Universities are cutting back on how they fund athletic programs. I probably spend 75 percent of my time fundraising,” Hamrick says. Bonds, tax-increment financing, and interest rates make up the new vocabulary in an AD’s how-to manual. “We’re a little more progressive and aggressive in looking at additional revenue opportunities,” Luck says.

Progressive Plays

Luck has overhauled the WVU athletic program since he entered the position in 2010. He has overseen the planning of a $106 million master plan for WVU’s athletic facilities, including a new baseball stadium. He’s hired or replaced half of WVU’s head coaches. Under his watch WVU relocated from a dying Big East conference to the Big 12—an expensive switch that, ultimately, will mean millions more in revenue. Large NCAA Division I programs like WVU live and die by their conferences. Conferences with a number of big name, competitive schools can get large television deals with major networks. The bigger the fan base, the bigger the game day viewership, the Focus wvfocus.com

more money for everyone—television networks and conference universities. Until 2011 WVU was a member of the Big East, where revenue opportunities and leadership were split among schools with differing focuses on football and basketball. By 2011, a year into his tenure, Luck and the university were in talks with the Big 12 to switch conferences. It was the athletic divorce drama of 20112012. The Big 12 wanted WVU. WVU wanted the Big 12 and out of the Big East. The Big East didn’t want to let go. Everyone at WVU from then-President Jim Clements to the university’s Board of Governors was involved. Senators Joe Manchin and Jay Rockefeller chimed in when it looked like the Big 12 was flirting with Louisville in the final days of the deal, threatening the success of West Virginia’s flagship university. In the end moving to the Big 12 was expensive, but worth it. “We had to pay to get out of the Big East—$10 million,” says WVU Board of Governors member Andrew Payne. “But it’s easy to pay the $10 million if you know you’re going to get $200 million.”

Focus July/August 2014

WVU is signed with the Big 12 for the next decade. The school received a cool $11 million from its first conference paycheck, and that was just the 50 percent share of a conference newbie. Full-share members received $22 million that same year. The move, experts say, has steadied WVU athletics’ financial situation. And it’s not the only revenue play Luck has made. The decision to sell beer at the WVU football stadium on game days brought the program half a million dollars in its inaugural 2011-2012 season. According to Luck, selling beer on game days was an idea WVU athletics had tossed around previous to his tenure, but never acted on. Like the Big 12 move, it was a controversial decision, but business-minded at heart. Selling beer at the stadium seems obvious in retrospect. Professional sports programs have been doing it for years. But the WVU athletic directors prior to Luck who came into the job with less business background never made the call. “Maybe there’s a difference in that businesspeople come in and do things,” Luck says. “We’re probably a little bit more knowledgeable about alternative funding mechanisms.” “Alternative funding” is fancy talk for a business getting someone else to pay for something. WVU’s new $21 million baseball stadium is a fine example. “We’re not paying for it. We’re paying to buy the land, so we have some skin in the game, but it’s a facility that ultimately the state is paying for with sales tax receipts,” Luck says. In the plans to build the new stadium in Granville just outside Morgantown, the state has approved it as a tax-increment financing district, where sales tax at the stadium that normally would go to the state will be kept locally to pay for the new facility. “That is something I’ve done in the past, not in West Virginia, but in Texas,” Luck says. “It’s doubtful that a coach, as smart as he is, would have been exposed to it in his career. Business folks bring more of a wider lens.” Ignoring the

courtesy of wvu athletic communications

The funding of WVU’s new $21 million baseball stadium (above) demonstrates the business know-how of today’s athletic directors. WVU’s existing Hawley Field (below) has been described as “sub-par” by Big 12 standards.

Former Marshall Football Coach Jack Lengyel talks with Thundering Herd Athletic Director Mike Hamrick.

courtesy of marshall university athletics

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States are cutting back on how they fund universities. Universities are cutting back on how they fund athletic programs. I probably spend 75 percent of my time fundraising.” Mike Hamrick, Marshall athletic director

question of whether the state should be paying for a baseball stadium, the move is genius. It’s a relatively cost-free investment for WVU that will result in a net benefit for the university and its athletic programs. “Football and basketball are first among equals because they generate a lot of money,” Luck says. “But you also want to be fair. That’s one of the reasons we needed a new baseball park. What the kids were playing in, particularly for the Big 12, was sub-standard.” Business-minded though they may be, Luck’s methods have made him some adversaries. WVU is in the middle of a lawsuit over Luck’s decision to bid out WVU’s third-tier media rights—things like radio broadcasts, coaches’ shows, and television contracts for the less viewed games and sports—essentially the scraps left over after big bidding for media coverage is over. John Raese, the local media mogul whose company had owned the rights for years, lost them to a national company, IMG College. “My standard when I’m making a decision is what’s best for the university,” Luck says. Controversy aside, the move will net WVU athletics $86 million over 12 years, tens of millions more than the previous contract.

Structuring the Business

With its own communications department and decision-making power, it can seem that university athletics departments oversee themselves with near sovereignty. Luck can hire and fire coaches Focus wvfocus.com

Pay for Play? It’s the question of the day in collegiate sports. With the millions of dollars made off the sweat of student-athletes’ backs, not to mention the intense time commitments and physical challenges they struggle with during a school year, it’s no wonder some are demanding more than just a full financial ride. “The NCAA for decades has been trying to head off the idea that athletes are employees of the university,” says WVU Sports Economist Brad Humphreys. The term “student athlete,” he says, was invented for just that reason, when, in the 1950s, there were workers’ compensation complaints about sports-related injuries. The issue came to head again in 2014 when Northwestern University football players in Chicago began fighting with the school to unionize and be recognized as employees, with all the rights to compensation and bargaining that entails. After reviewing the hours players devote to football, up to 50 hours a week, and the regulations put in place by Northwestern over the players’ lives, the Chicago office of the National Labor Relations Board ruled that Northwestern football players are employees of the school with the right to form a union. The NCAA fears the move would disrupt participation in intercollegiate sports. Northwestern is currently appealing the decision. In similar litigation in March a former West Virginia University football player Shawne Alston filed a class-action lawsuit against the NCAA and its rules limiting student aid and compensation. According to Alston, the scholarship he received for his time at WVU fell short of the advertised full cost of attendance and he ended up taking out loans to cover his expenses. His suit has been consolidated with a handful of similar cases, including one filed by former WVU player Nick Kindler. “I’m against creating an employer/employee relationship because that has all kinds of unintended consequences—lawsuits, agents, claims, workers compensation,” WVU Athletic Director Oliver Luck says. “But I am for increasing the value of a scholarship. It hasn’t changed since the 1950s.” Luck says students should be getting more for their costs of attendance—with the amount of hours they give to practicing, games, and schoolwork, there’s little time for them to get a part-time job to generate spending money—as well as additional health coverage. He would also promote educational opportunities for student athletes after they finish undergrad. Marshall University Athletic Director Mike Hamrick also supports covering the full cost of attendance of student athletes—including books and room and board. “However, in no way are we supporting paying players,” he says. Decisions on some of these changes could come in August when the NCAA board of directors meets. We asked readers on wvfocus.com: Would you support an NCAA rule change allowing schools to pay college players for the commercial use of their names, images, and likenesses? 33% Yes, I would support schools paying college athletes for the commercial use of their names, images, and likenesses. 26% No, I would not support this. 19% I would support schools paying college athletes more, but for a different reason. 17% I don’t support paying college athletes more than they already receive. 5% I don’t have an opinion.

Per year, about how much do you spend attending collegiate athletic events?

36% Less than $400 33% $400-$1,499 26% $1,500-$6,499 6% $6,500+

Focus July/August 2014

and staff and negotiate contracts and only reports to WVU President Gordon Gee. If WVU athletics were General Electric, Luck would be Jeff Immelt. The associate ADs would be his VPs. Then WVU basketball would be the aviation division, and WVU football would be the oil and gas division. Or maybe power and water. Either way, with all of the new building, the student-athlete perks, the airplanes, the coach buses, the headlines telling of a couple hundred thousand dollars spent here and another million spent there, it would be easy to assume dollar bills are just wallpaper in the WVU athletics offices at the Coliseum. “The funny thing is that the only two profitable divisions we have are football and basketball,” Luck says. Those two profit-making divisions help hold up the rest of the programs. Women’s soccer is a prime example. Nikki Izzo-Brown coaches an elite program. Under her leadership WVU has won two Big 12 titles in two years. But there’s no money in WVU women’s soccer. In fact, it loses it. “So we’re also this business that, when you drill down a layer or two, has unusual characteristics,” Luck says. “We support a lot of money-losing propositions, which is fine. I love supporting the soccer team, the volleyball team, the wrestling team. Doesn’t matter if they’re men’s or women’s, everything beyond the two premier sports are money-losers.” Here’s where the analogy of AD as CEO changes a bit. Money-losing propositions wouldn’t happen in private business—not for long, anyway. In college sports there are no shareholders. Athletics programs aren’t driven to make a profit, but they try to cover costs, Luck says. “There’s not more than a dozen self-sufficient athletic programs in the country, and those are the Alabamas, Ohio States, and Michigans in the world,” Hamrick says. Exactly what “self-sufficient” means is a little unclear. Even the University of Michigan, a program with one of the largest athletic budgets in the country and one of those programs deemed “self-sufficient,” receives a small portion of its budget from the university. Experts say it’s hard to figure out if a program is a moneymaker or a drain on a university budget because there are no standard accounting practices across universities. Whether the scholarships provided to student athletes are counted as a department expenses or if revenue from stadium food can be lumped in with general catering revenues differs across schools. Student fees sometimes go to athletics and sometimes they don’t. A USA Today report showed the WVU program received a 6 percent subsidy in 2013. Marshall’s subsidy that year was just over 50 percent. “Evidence suggests that not very many athletic programs at the Division I level are a net gain in a university’s budget,” says WVU Sports Economist Brad Humphreys. “Which raises the question,

WVU Athletics Financial Forecast “We’re between $9 and $10 million each year in the scholarship bill,” says Matt Borman, senior associate athletic director for WVU and executive director of the Mountaineer Athletic Club (MAC). “When we give a scholarship to a kid out of high school, the athletic department has to pay that bill for him to go to school. If the kids are out of state we have to pay out-of-state tuition—the same that everyone is paying.” MAC is the fundraising arm of WVU athletics. Last year the program raised $23 million from season tickets and general donations.

Ticket Sales

Fairmont State University Jason Woodman - $100,606 Jerrod Calhoun - $122,756

Projected Revenue year

2013 Coaches’ Salaries

NCAA Tournament & Broadcast/Radio/ Other Revenues Total Revenue Conference Revenue Television/Internet

2014-2015

$16,680,500

$20,308,533

$8,755,350

$29,022,596

$74,766,979

2015-2016

$20,715,574

$27,138,533

$7,078,000

$29,000,325

$83,932,432

2016-2017

$20,538,426

$29,028,533

$7,428,250

$32,849,508

$89,844,717

Marshall University Doc Holliday - $584,452 Tom Herrion - $437,652

West Virginia University Dana Holgorsen - $2,794,102 Bob Huggins - $2,612,806

Projected Expenses year

Salaries

Student Aid (paid to WVU)

Other Expenses

Debt Service Related to Bond

Total Expenses

2014-2015

$30,477,754

$9,302,188

$33,010,958

N/A

$72,790,899

2015-2016

$32,122,093

$9,581,253

$34,476,885

$5,160,404

$81,340,636

2016-2017

$33,191,081

$9,868,691

$34,990,948

$5,160,404

$83,211,123

‘Why are universities doing this?’” State funding might be one reason. According to Humphreys, public universities at the Division I level can get larger appropriations from state government than public universities without a Division I football program. That’s beneficial to a university in net numbers, he says. Donation dollars could be another reason. Rumors swirl of luxury suites adorning college stadiums, reserved for university fundraising at the top level. “Deans of colleges here at Marshall say their number one fundraising time is when they can invite alums back to a game and entertain them for a weekend,” Hamrick says. “Our dean at the medical school purchases a suite at our football stadium and targets top donors to be with them at games. The president entertains on a football Saturday.” Data show that a winning football program does not necessarily increase a university’s fundraising ability, but there’s no denying it can help. Donors need to be courted. Courted in the wining and dining, bouquet of roses kind of way. A university dean, president, or athletic director can’t just send out a letter asking for several thousand bucks without any cultivation. As budgets expand and ADs come to the job with more business know-how, full departments have been created just to organize athletic fundraising. WVU athletics runs close to breaking even so while it may not be a net gain, it’s not a net drain, WVU President Gordon Gee says.

Is Money the Point?

“We’re not supposed to make a profit,” Luck says. “The point is that we represent the university with students in a variety of sports. Many people consider athletics to be the front porch of a university.” It’s a common analogy—and one that economists, athletic directors, and university presidents all recognize. “It’s difficult for universities to signal to the public at large their quality and the importance of what they do,” Humphreys says.

These numbers reflect state employee payout numbers for each individual during the calendar year, as per the West Virginia State Auditor’s Office, and may not include special contract provisions.

Talk with someone in health sciences who’s working on cell biology and the genetics of slime mold. It’s not glamorous and it’s difficult to communicate to taxpayers that it can be beneficial in the next 20 years. Sports are a little easier to understand. They’re visual and exciting, and there’s a clear winner at the end of the day. “Like our hospitals, our extension services, we have a lot of different moving parts,” Gee says. “Athletics is very much a part of the university. It’s a very small part, in terms of its budget, but it’s significant in terms of telling our story.” Seventy thousand people tune into a weekend game. Far fewer will show up for a lecture on quantum physics. “We’re on television. We’re on radio. We can talk about the qualities of the institution, the importance of the institution, and pride in the institution. Those are the things athletics provides us the opportunity to tell,” Gee says. “If we use it that way. If we don’t, we should get out of the business of athletics.” A welcoming front porch isn’t the only benefit of athletics. Long has the battle of athletics versus academics raged around the Ivory Tower of universities, but the two aren’t mutually exclusive. “I believe sports is about education,” Luck says. “It’s a great opportunity for these kids to get a scholarship. I learned a lot playing sports—it was an excellent complement to my academic career.” It’s a strong tie to the institution, too. Yearly homecomings wouldn’t be the same nostalgic events without football games. Sports provide alumni a reason to keep coming back to campus, to tour hallowed halls of education with their children or retrace old steps to Main Street restaurants and bars, remembering game days past. Inevitably some of those alumni are bringing their checkbooks with them. “I’m a WVU alum, and I’m a season ticket holder for football and basketball,” Humphreys says. “It’s part of the university. It’s part of the emotional connection of alumni for the university, and you can’t just toss that away.” Focus wvfocus.com

At its core an athletic department isn’t profitable. But surely there’s an economic gain for the community, right? “The question is so difficult to answer,” says Tyson Compton, president of the Cabell-Huntington Convention & Visitors Bureau. “On Marshall game day, especially on a nice day, the downtown is packed with a lot of people going out to eat before a game.” Men are decked out in face paint and athletic wear. Ladies match their earrings and scarves with Thundering Herd green. The community is out. “Even people who don’t attend the game like that camaraderie,” Compton says. “But it’s so difficult to get an accurate measure. I’m not sure I would say it’s a huge economic impact, but it’s one that would be felt if it weren’t there.” Few economic impact studies have been conducted in West Virginia to pinpoint the economic benefit of a collegiate game day. Athletic directors Luck and Hamrick say they would certainly hear

Focus July/August 2014

courtesy of marshall university athletics

Town, Gown, and Touchdowns

from the local business community if a program were to play fewer home games. “It doesn’t take an economist to know that on a Saturday football weekend in Huntington you can’t get a hotel room, and you can’t get into a restaurant,” Hamrick says. It’s also true that on WVU home football days, Morgantown becomes the largest city in the state. WVU’s Bureau of Business and Economic research estimated in 2012 that, on average, a single WVU home football game in 2011 gave the Monongalia County economy a bump of $55,000 in tax dollars. Total business volume was increased by about $1.6 million per home game that year. One and a half million dollars is a lot of money, but it’s a drip in the area’s more than $6.5 billion GDP. In addition, game attendance can vary wildly depending on the season, weather, and whether the football team is on a winning streak. The 2011 football season ended with the Mountaineers trouncing Clemson in the Orange Bowl. “We all think it would have a huge economic impact, but it’s overstated,” Humphreys says. Research on college sports in Texas and college football in particular has looked at local economic impact for schools like University of Texas at Austin and Baylor University in Waco—teams WVU plays now in the Big 12. These studies examined local tax revenues collected during periods when there were home football games compared with periods when there weren’t and found the impact wasn’t as substantial as politicians, universities, and sports fans would like to believe. “People go to game towns who would have gone anyway some of the time, but they go for the football game,” Humphreys says. “There was no evidence that hosting those home football games had any persistent positive impact on local taxes collected in those cities.” The idea is money spent on sporting events is entertainment money, and it’s entertainment money that would have been spent at the movies, in restaurants, or at bars anyway. On game days these resources are just concentrated in a specific area—the sports venue. However the line items match up at the end of the day, the sports industry nationally and in West Virginia is only going to grow, and WVU may be well on its way to self-sufficiency. Luck says his long-term goal at WVU is to set up a cash reserve account for rainy days or sports seasons. Over the next few years, WVU will start receiving a full share of Big 12 revenue. “College sports is growing, the top five conferences are asking for more autonomy from the NCAA,” he says. “College sports is at an all-time high in terms of popularity. More and more people are going to college. I think the future is pretty bright.”

PROTECT THE GET YOUR SEASON TICKETS! 800-

Smack in the Middle of Town When drugs come into our downtowns, businesses suffer. Downtown merchants are fighting back. written by Pam Kasey | photographed by Elizabeth Roth

id-June southern West Virginia news brief: “Former Employee Accused of Setting Deli on Fire.” Firefighters spotted the smoke early and doused the downtown Logan blaze before it became serious. Police caught a suspected arsonist and sent him to jail. Crime solved, one might say. But the untold backstory points to deeper issues. Bernie’s Cole Street Deli had let an employee go a few weeks earlier when he started showing up to work high on pills and stealing from the business. “The day after we fired him, he cut our power. He cut our phone lines,” says Bernie’s wife and co-owner Carolyn Sidebottom. “The next day, he busted out the windows. The police took him to jail, but after he confessed to everything they dropped the charges.” That left an addict free to continue his campaign of revenge against a small business in a struggling downtown. We hear a lot about the ways drugs ravage families. Meth cooks breathe in toxic byproducts, and addicts lose their jobs and neglect their children. Prescription pain pills, too expensive for sustainable habits, lead to desperation and crime. Crack cocaine and heroin even bring gun violence. But we don’t talk much about the day-to-day effects of drugs on our downtowns: how the illicit trade gives our small towns the worst of a big-city feel, daunting visitors in the very centers of commerce and culture we’re working to revitalize. Maybe we don’t talk about it because we’re afraid of scaring people away. “Honestly, I haven’t had any businesses express a problem with that locally,” says an economic development manager in a county known to be rife with heroin. It’s a dilemma for Main Street entrepreneurs. While they’re compassionate about addiction and the need for addiction services downtown—indeed, some are themselves addicts in recovery—they also need towns to feel safe and welcoming to their customers. They want to talk about the drug problems: with each other, with law enforcement, and with policymakers. And towns that are having that conversation are finding solutions.

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Morgantown: BusinessPolice Cooperation and New Legislation Monongalia County had 2.2 drug overdoses per 10,000 residents in 2012, 27th among West Virginia counties. They say Morgantown has two downtowns. By day, boutiques and restaurants on High Street do a busy trade; a relaxed crowd strolls the sidewalks at dinnertime. But by around 10 p.m., nightlife takes over. Bar- and club-goers migrate in clusters, talking loudly, women’s heels clicking. Neon glows. Walnut, the major cross street, might be a little desolate during the day if it weren’t for the beloved Blue Moose Cafe drawing people a block off High Street for a coffee or pastry and some conversation. In recent years, though, daytime Walnut has taken on a seedier nighttime feel. “There could be people hanging out in dark alcoves, and groups of so many guys they would block the sidewalk and people had to walk around them,” says Blue Moose owner Gary Tannenbaum. “For a person who hasn’t experienced much of that kind of thing it could be kind of scary— and I had more than one customer express that to me.” At least as far back as 2011, Blue Moose and adjacent Sandwich U were caught between X-Hale Hookah Lounge on Walnut and the Mid-Nite Adult novelty store around the corner—both selling synthetic marijuana. Packaged under names like Funky Monkey and Dead Man as potpourri or incense, synthetic marijuana’s unregulated and variable chemistry makes it dangerous for users. But while it’s illegal under “top down” federal laws that ban classes of substances that behave like drugs, it was not illegal under West Virginia’s “bottom up” bans of specific chemical formulas. When first Pennsylvania, then Maryland followed the federal example in 2013, more synthetic drugs flowed into town—and that bred unsavory side activity. “There were entrepreneurs coming in who figured they could undercut the stores’ prices, and it was also bringing in people who were selling other drugs because they saw a fertile field of business,” Tannenbaum says. “The hanging out got steadily worse and worse. It did hurt my business.” Yet, while city police waited for federal agents to build their case, it was hard for the downtown beat officer to do much about that. “The loitering created a feeling of unsafety, but it’s not illegal,” says Police Chief Ed Preston. “That was frustrating for citizens. Morgantown has a very low crime rate, but facts and perceptions don’t always line up and, in this situation, they absolutely didn’t line up.”

Focus July/August 2014

As conditions grew worse, an informal downtown quality-of-life task force took up the issue. The police department increased its presence to address Tannenbaum’s and other merchants’ concerns, and Main Street Morgantown tackled the law. “Several municipalities in West Virginia had passed ordinances against the sale of synthetic drugs, but it was the opinion of our city attorney that those ordinances could be challenged because state code did not have that in place,” says Main Street Executive Director Terri Cutright. “We started talking with our legislators and bringing city council and county commission up to speed on how important this was.” Through an aggressive, cooperative effort, House Bill 4208, introduced by Delegate Barbara Evans Fleischauer, D-Monongalia, was passed, making synthetic marijuana illegal in West Virginia. The law took effect on June 6 and there’s clear indication it will make a difference. On April 29, federal authorities shut X-Hale and Mid-Nite Adult

“

There could be people hanging out in dark alcoves, and groups of so many guys they would block the sidewalk and people had to walk around them. For a person who hasn’t experienced much of that kind of thing it could be kind of scary.” Gary Tannenbaum, Blue Moose Cafe owner

The Stats West Virginia had the highest drug overdose rate in the nation in 2010, the most recent year for which full data are in for every state. One in five West Virginia newborns has a significant drug exposure. The annual cost of health care for substance abuse in West Virginia is more than $166 million. The combined cost of substance abuse-related issues in West Virginia is more than $1.8 billion per year— about $1,000 for every man, woman, and child in the state. Productivity loss in West Virginia for incarcerated people with substance abuse problems amounts to more than $107 million per year—lost wages on which they would otherwise pay state taxes. Employed drug abusers and heavy drinkers cost their employers about twice as much in medical and workers’ compensation claims as their drug-free coworkers. Top 10 County Overdose Rates 2012 (per 10,000 residents)

1. Wyoming 6.9 2. Raleigh 6.8 3. Monroe 6.7 4. Summers 6.6 5. Mercer 5.8 6. Mingo 5.7

down. “Overnight, it changed. Just like that,” Tannenbaum said in June. “There isn’t anything going on out there now. It’s hard to tell yet if my business is picking up, but my guess is people are happier to come out now.” Preston says the police still write citations downtown for more conventional drugs ranging from marijuana to heroin, “but the activity we were seeing before, we don’t see it at all.” The new law is just one part of a collaborative approach for Walnut Street. The city plans to extend High Street’s updated streetscaping down Walnut to improve the atmosphere. “And we’re looking at, how do we get some better tenants in place who can change the culture there?” Cutright says. Preston says a full-time weekday beat cop makes a big difference, and activity—not just commerce, but festivals, arts walks, business after-hours, and all kinds of events—helps to keep loitering down. Cutright is hopeful. “Walnut Street isn’t all the way solved today, but it’s on its way up.”

7. Boone 5.7 8. McDowell 5.6 9. Logan 5.0 10. Webster 4.4

Sources: The T-Center; Trust for America’s Health; West Virginia Medical Journal Vol. 106; WV Department of Health and Human Resources Health Statistics Center

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Martinsburg: Social Services, Downtown Residences, and Commerce a Tough Mix Berkeley County had 3.1 drug overdoses per 10,000 residents in 2012, 19th among West Virginia counties. Situated on a plateau, Martinsburg has an expansive feel that distinguishes it from most West Virginia towns. Its preRevolutionary origins are evident in the names of its main downtown thoroughfares: Queen Street and King Street. Preserved structures give it some of that gracious colonial feel that, in West Virginia, is unique to the Eastern Panhandle. But the location also has its downside. “Proximity to Baltimore,” is how Police Captain George Swartwood identifies it. “Heroin is the prevalent drug here, and it all comes in from Baltimore.” Dana’s Tuxedo owner Dana Knowles thinks it may not affect her as much as some because she runs a destination business that doesn’t rely much on foot traffic. She’s operated downtown for almost a decade and is herself 17 years clean and sober, so she can tell when something is going on. “The people who lived above my old shop, a block from here, were selling drugs. People would park in front and run upstairs for two minutes or five minutes, and not the most upstanding citizens in the community,” Knowles says. It didn’t feel unsafe to her—they just wanted to be left alone, she says—but some customers expressed discomfort. “When the upstanding types of customers I wanted would come to my business and there would be four or five people hanging out on the street, it created a perception.” There’s less unseemly activity at Knowles’ current location. She thinks it’s because there are fewer apartments above the shops. Landlords don’t always do great background checks, she

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Cutting Down on Recidivism At least three quarters of addicts who end up in jail go back to their old habits when they get out, nationally. Drug courts break that cycle. Instead of sending non-violent offenders to jail, they send them to court-supervised programs of treatment and accountability. It’s a model for sustained addiction recovery that reduces recidivism dramatically—by as much as 35 percent. By cutting down on jail and court time, use of the health care system, and other costs, drug courts also save their communities $3,000 to $13,000 per participant. The best part is they straighten out addicts’ lives. Drug courts established over the past 15 years in West Virginia serve adults in 34 counties and juveniles in 18. They’ve graduated almost 600 adult participants and about 400 juveniles, with documented results. “The drug courts in West Virginia are so far achieving better results, in terms of recidivism, at a lower cost to the state,” says Robert McKinney, counsel to the Division of Probation. All parts of the state are required to be served by a drug court by July 2016.

says, and even if they do, a good tenant can turn bad—and that drives good tenants out. “I’ve seen nice, clean people move in and after a month they’re like, ‘I don’t care if I lose my security deposit—I’m leaving.’ Scared to walk out of their door because of the drug dealing.” She attends AA meetings at the VA hospital and thinks the magnitude of the problem may be related to the hospital’s services. “People come there from Baltimore and Washington, D.C. I’ve seen where they get a couple meals, some

Shoveling Mud

Law enforcement across the state express frustration with the persistence of illegal drug activity. sleep, and some clean clothes and think, ‘OK, I’m fine,’ and then they land on the streets of Martinsburg with all their bad habits. I don’t see people shooting dope on the corners, but the average person who’s not familiar with that type of lifestyle doesn’t want to shop in town because they look or act inappropriately, whether they’re on drugs or not.” Downtown housing is a widely recognized problem. Police Captain Swartwood mentions it, and Main Street Martinsburg Executive Director Randy Lewis says, “Sometimes property owners will just get anybody into their property to rent.” Terry Stotler, substance abuse programs coordinator at the VA hospital, brings it up without prompting, too. “The dwellings downtown have reduced in rent over the years and physically they’ve worn down, so you have a lot of people living in those who are on limited means,” he says, emphasizing that he’s speaking as a native resident and not in his professional capacity. “That seems to breed a place for folks without a lot of income who are leaving the VA or need a place to stay—they get drawn into the low-income housing downtown.” Landlord Lane McIntosh doesn’t have much trouble. He does a simple, free check for criminal history within the county. While he acknowledges that doesn’t cover everything, “My leases are very strict in what they allow and don’t allow,” he says. “Illegal drug use, illegal activity regarding drugs, is not tolerated.” But he knows some landlords could be more vigilant. A property next to him was picked up in foreclosure by an out-of-state owner during the real estate downturn. “Police are there frequently, people loiter in front of the building and on the street, they come on my property, scaring away potential customers for the neighboring commercial space I have there. It appears to be lots of drugs and prostitution in there and the owner could care less what happens.” So far, what’s working for Martinsburg is similar to what works for Morgantown: a dedicated beat cop and close communication between the business community and police. “Officer Bill Parks patrols on bike, in the car, and on foot—it’s oldfashioned community policing,” Swartwood says. “We’re very appreciative of the merchants that have staked their business claim here in Martinsburg, and it’s our way of giving back.” Main Street holds quarterly meetings that the police chief and Officer Parks often attend. “If any business owners have any concerns, they can direct them right there,” Lewis says. “We do live with the perception every day that downtown is unsafe. It’s not. Do we have a drug problem? Yes, we do. But I don’t think everyone sees it every day. And we have activities people come to—like bands on the town square every Friday in June and July. We go on with our business.” Stotler wonders if Martinsburg could take a lesson from Minot, North Dakota, where he served in the Air Force and saw similar problems. “They re-zoned above the stores and changed those to service-type businesses, so you had a lot of insurance companies and doctors there rather than residential,” he says. “Minot reinvented itself through that.”

“I think how we handle the mental health in our state needs to be totally revamped. We’re seeing more and more people who need to be helped both for drugs and with counseling.” Berkeley County Sheriff Kenny LeMaster “I work in the detective bureau. We take care of the stuff that’s not drug-related—but it all ends up being drug-related somehow, it seems like, because people will steal to get money to buy drugs, or they’ll break in and try to steal drugs, or they’ll steal something and sell it or trade it to try to get drugs.” Beckley Police Lieutenant David Farley “The criminal justice system is so overfilled that they’re going out of their way with alternative sentencing these days. We have to have at least two controlled buys to make an arrest, and sometimes we do three, four, five—and if it’s a first arrest, they always get probation or parole or home confinement. So it just goes around.” Morgan County Sheriff Vincent Shambaugh “There are 10 of us here, including the sheriff, for 22,000 to 25,000 residents. Here’s what happens. I’ll go bust a meth lab and two more will take its place. It’s a never-ending battle. If we had 10 more officers it would be great.” Lincoln County Chief Deputy J.J. Napier “What little help we get from neighbors is great. People don’t want to get into it, but the more help we get from our citizens the better.” Ritchie County Deputy Todd Jackson

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Substance Abuse Task Force Governor Earl Ray Tomblin established Substance Abuse Task Forces in 2011 to identify priorities and develop strategies for combating substance abuse in each of six regions across the state. The task forces hold quarterly meetings, and their findings filter into recommendations to the governor. December 2013 recommendations included greater school system and faith-based involvement in the continuum of care, more transitional housing, and connections with the business community for post-treatment employment opportunities. The task forces held their 13th round of meetings in June.

Help Overcoming Addiction Each addict’s recovery process is unique, but a continuum of care that includes three steps typically leads to success. •

Detoxification of perhaps a week clears substances from the body and manages withdrawal symptoms and is often done on an inpatient basis.

•

One to two months of inpatient or outpatient rehabilitation includes therapy to help the recovering addict understand the reasons for the addiction and start to form new habits.

•

Three to six months in a transitional living residence in the home community rebuilds a life that includes regular Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous meetings.

Some services are lacking in West Virginia, especially rehabilitation and transitional living—and that can mean backsliding that could be prevented. “A person may feel good after detox, but they may not understand what triggers them into going back to where they were,” says Jim Wilkerson, director of development for the T-Center, currently in a $10 million capital campaign to build a comprehensive facility in Charleston. “But maybe it’s a parent who can’t go out of state because of family responsibilities or a CEO who is afraid to take 30 days from the job. So they just continue on with the disease of addiction.”

The state’s Bureau for Behavioral Health and Health Facilities lists treatment providers online: visit dhhr.wv.gov/bhhf.

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Hot Cup Coffee in Logan is one example of a downtown business stepping up to improve its community.

Logan: Can the Business Community Itself be the Solution? Logan County had 5.0 drug overdoses per 10,000 residents in 2012, 9th among West Virginia counties. Logan, not quite an hour south of Charleston, hugs the flats along the Guyandotte River. The steep, forested hills press in so close they’re visible even over the tops of the buildings downtown. The five-block-long core of downtown, anchored by the one-way circuit of Stratton Street along one side and Main Street along the other, hosts a couple of bakeries, a café, law offices, jewelry shops, and department stores. It also has its share of pawnshops and dollar stores. But most storefronts are filled, and cars move actively into and out of the 50 cent-an-hour metered spots. Bernie Sidebottom grew up with his family’s popular Valley Market, a couple miles from Logan in Mount Gay. He always wanted his own place and, in November 2013, he and Carolyn opened Bernie’s Cole Street Deli on a downtown Logan side street. “I was going to decorate the front, put some flower pots out there, make it look attractive,” Carolyn Sidebottom says. “But the guys over at City Hall and the police station said, ‘I wouldn’t be doing that. They’ll steal them—or, you don’t know what you’re going to find in your flower pots.’” “They” refers to addicts on the streets, mostly taking prescription pills. “Then we talked about putting tables outside with umbrellas and chairs and they said, ‘You don’t understand. They’ll just take them.’” For the casual visitor, Logan feels as safe as most any downtown. But merchants say doing business there can be a challenge. “It’s very uncomfortable. There’s no way I would walk downtown after dark,” Sidebottom says. “In the last six months I’ve seen things I had no idea about.” She’s not the only one who sees it that way. “In the ’70s and ’80s you could feel comfortable walking down the street with your grandmother to the department store,” says Michael Cline, who opened Hot Cup Coffee downtown with a partner in 2011. “Now you can’t walk down the street without getting asked for a cigarette or a quarter.” As elsewhere, loitering is the visible problem. “We’re on what would be considered the edge of the business district,” says Daniel Johnson, co-owner of Rock City Cake Company, opened in August 2013 to sell creative cupcakes and specialty cakes. “Unfortunately there’s some lowincome housing just down the street. It’s great, it’s needed, but it welcomes a crowd—literally, a crowd. They spend most of their days hanging out 50 yards from the bakery.” Johnson grew up 15 miles away in Man and says he’s lost

many friends to drugs and recognizes the signs among these people. “And it’s constant. I’ve left the bakery at all hours— 4 a.m., 1 a.m., 1 p.m.—and there’s always people hanging out, shoeless, wandering around, fighting and cursing. Most people from Logan don’t care about it because they know they’re harmless. But in the summertime we have a lot of tourists because of the Hatfield-McCoy Trails, and they don’t know. I’m sure it affects the business.” The Logan city police and county sheriff’s office didn’t return multiple calls for this story. But when asked why the town doesn’t enforce its ordinance against loitering, Mayor Serafino Nolletti has a pretty good answer. “If you write them a ticket for loitering, you’re just wasting your paper. They don’t have anything. They don’t even have a license you can suspend,” he says. “We just try to keep them moving.” He thinks the problem is getting worse, though. What are the answers for Logan? Nolletti finds hope in a detox facility and a sober living transitional housing facility, both of which opened in Logan in June. Based on her experience, Sidebottom feels stronger enforcement when people are picked up would help. She’s also been disappointed with the drug court, which she said sentenced a good employee to home confinement, an environment that led her back into drugs. But Johnson, at Rock City, says all the officials can do is shovel mud. “If you take a load out, it just fills up with more mud. If they come and arrest, say, those two people, as soon as they pull out, more will come. The

problem is so much larger than something the police could do.” In spite of everything, Johnson says, Logan isn’t dead. “Downtown is having this weird rebirth. We got a new, multimillion-dollar state building a couple blocks from the courthouse,” he says, and notes the hopeful bloom of new businesses downtown. He and Hot Cup’s Cline believe businesses have to be a big part of the solution to Logan’s problems. “There’s nothing to do in Logan that doesn’t involve going to a club,” Cline says. “One of our hopes when we opened was not just to serve awesome freaking coffee, it was to provide a forum—that level ground where you can meet and talk socially and intellectually.” Hot Cup offers live music, screens movies, and hosts stand-up comedy and poetry readings. It also displays local art and sells quite a lot of it, he says. “We’ve had so many kids who say, ‘This is my sanctuary’—kids who are atheist, Muslim, Buddhist, or gay, who say, ‘This is the only place we can talk openly without getting our cars keyed up.’ That’s a good feeling. That kid who felt he had nobody to talk with, instead of going home and cutting himself at night, he’s going to come here and be himself and not be judged, because I won’t have it.” The solution for Logan isn’t going to come from officials, in Johnson’s view. “I can’t blame the police, the mayor—it falls on our shoulders as citizens and small business owners to support local business,” he says. “If you want a clean city, clean your storefront up and have pride. If everybody would do their part we would have the cleanest city on Earth.” Focus wvfocus.com

inia g r i V t s e W vices r e S n o i t a abilit h e R f o n o visi

Empowering solutions!

Enabling and empowering people with disabilities to work! Your business resource for job retention and disability-related employment issues West Virginia Division of Rehabilitation Services 1-800-642-8207 â&#x20AC;˘ www.wvdrs.org

10 Things

Leadership

Before you make the hire, ask yourself these questions.

Follow these simple steps to manage your time wisely.

pg. 78

pg. 79

The Online Interview How to excel during Skype interviews.

There’s a weird new dimension opening up in the world of job interviews. It is half phone interview and half in-person interview, and it has its own set of awkward hiccups to throw you off your game. Chances are an applicant or employer will run into an invitation for a Skype interview or other video conferencing interview at least once during the hiring process. Don’t be afraid to take the leap. In many ways a video interview can be easier than an in-person interview or phone call, and refusing in today’s computerdriven world will make you look behind the times.

Tip: A successful interview requires no biting.

Set the scene Skype interviews should be held against a neutral backdrop with good lighting so your interviewer/interviewee can see you clearly without distractions. Your computer should be on eye level, such as on a table in front of you. It looks unprofessional to be staring down at a laptop or up at a camera much higher than your head.

Do a sound check Check your Internet connections and sound and video quality before you start the interview. If connections are dropped or words are garbled mid-interview, apologize for the technical difficulties and deal with them immediately. If you’re unfamiliar with the program you’re using to make the video call, try using it with a friend a few days before the interview.

Avoid interruptions Turn off alarms, close other computer programs, and close the door of the room where you’re holding your interview. Let anyone in your office or house know not to disturb you, and put the family pet somewhere where it won’t be a nuisance. Fluffy will likely choose the moment you’re introducing yourself to a potential employer to jump on the keyboard with her tail held high.

No Starbucks Don’t try to hold this interview in a coffee shop or restaurant, even if the place is your usual work spot. The reason is obvious: noise.

istock

Get out of your pajamas This isn’t a phone interview, so you can’t lounge on a couch with bed head and a cup of coffee for your 9 a.m. call. In many ways

the same rules for in-person interview attire apply. Employers and interviewees alike should dress professionally, but in line with the job requirements and office culture. No updos and suits for a casual tech startup, a job where Skype interview situations are particularly prevalent. At the same time, remember your pants.

Keep some notes on hand A great thing about Skype interviews is that your interviewer or interviewee can’t see your keyboard. Keep a few talking points on hand to help yourself stay organized. Tape a calming mantra just to the side of your camera to help you stay focused and on point. Still, don’t fall into the age-old trap of an open book test. You don’t want to be shifting dozens of papers around to help you answer a basic interview question.

Smile, engage, and look at the camera As you would engage with an interviewer in person, you need to engage with your body language on camera, too. Do not look only at the screen. Looking into the camera causes the visual effect of looking directly at the person. Only looking at the screen makes you look distracted. Smiling and nodding in a Skype interview is just as important as verbal affirmation on a phone call.

Send a thank you note It’s common courtesy in all interview situations. Send a thank you note that points out a highlight of your interview, while keeping it short and to the point. Focus wvfocus.com

Lessons Learned

A VISION IN CHOCOLATE Holl’s Chocolates finds room for technology while maintaining timeless personal touches.

Timeline

ominique Holl knows the creation story of his business as well as any founder, but he only considers part of that story his own. “The most interesting part is really what happened before I got involved,” he says. Holl is the president of Holl’s Swiss Chocolates, but the company was started by his father, Fritz Holl, in 1986. And the company’s creation story begins long before that—in Switzerland in the 1940s. That’s where Fritz Holl learned to make Swiss chocolate as an apprentice at his uncle’s chocolate shop, a skill he brought with him to the United States when he immigrated to Marietta, Ohio, in 1958. But for decades the elder Hall worked for a dairy company and only made chocolate at home. “When we were little my dad would pretty much only make chocolates at Christmas and Easter,”

1938

Fritz Holl spends three years in Zurich, Switzerland, as an apprentice in his uncle’s conditorei—a combination pastry shop, chocolate shop, and café.

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Holl says. “I remember those holidays really well—there was always chocolate around.” When his father retired in 1986 he decided to make chocolate in his home kitchen and sell it around town. The business grew quickly. A local wine shop sold 400 pounds of Holl’s chocolates in the first eight months, so he decided to open a storefront in Parkersburg. A few years later the business moved to a larger location in Vienna, where the company is headquartered today. Holl attributes the early success of the company to two things: his father’s delicious Swiss chocolate, and his mother’s exceptional Swiss hospitality. His father’s chocolate was expertly made, with quality ingredients and the eye of a master. And his wife, Elisabeth, excelled, too, as she greeted customers by name with samples of their favorite chocolates—

1958

Fritz Holl emigrates from Switzerland to Marietta, Ohio, and answers an ad for a Swiss-trained chocolatier placed by an Ohio dairy company, Broughton’s, that wants to offer Swiss chocolates and pastries in its ice cream shops. When that plan doesn’t work out, he spends more than 25 years working for the company, but not making chocolate.

something she learned working in an upscale flower shop back in Switzerland. When Holl graduated from college and got involved with the family business, he faced a challenge: How could he help the company grow without neglecting what made it special to begin with? “It was interesting because my dad had done his apprenticeship in the 1940s and then had not worked in the chocolate business for 40 years—so there was a special connection to that time,” Holl says. “He wasn’t doing things like a modern Swiss chocolate maker would. He was doing it the old-fashioned way, the way you did it when you had five apprentices in your shop and didn’t have to pay them anything. The way we were doing things then just wasn’t practical in a modern sense.” When the younger Holl came on board, for example, the company was still hand-making and filling chocolate truffles the way his father had learned—a tricky, labor-intensive process that involved working chocolate ganache against a marble countertop until it was just the right consistency, rolling it into little balls, and dipping it in chocolate. “If you’re turning out thousands of these a day and need to put them out as efficiently as possible, that is obviously not the way to do it,” Holl says. So he did some research and found a machine that many modern Swiss chocolate makers use—it makes the outer chocolate shell and the filling inside in one step, removing all that hand labor. “Not only does it do it much faster but it does it in a much more hygienic way and a much more consistent way,” Holl says. To re-create his mother’s uncommonly good customer service, he developed systems to help his employees—who mean

1986

Fritz Holl retires from Broughton’s after 25 years and, at the urging of friends and family, starts to make chocolate in his kitchen and sell it in and around Marietta.

1987

Holl’s Chocolates moves to a storefront about 10 miles away in Parkersburg. The tiny space was about 600 square feet and located on a steep hill, with only enough parking for four cars. Customers came in droves anyway.

written by

Shay Maunz

photographed by

carla witt ford

Dominique Holl’s

Words of Wisdom:

There’s this misconception that anything that is not done by human hands is somehow inferior. The reality of it is that if you go into any chocolate shop or bakery in Switzerland today and look in the back room, they have the same equipment we have. It’s the only way we can provide these things to people at a cost they can afford.

well, but don’t always have his mother’s extraordinary gift for hospitality. The store keeps profiles of each customer on file so if, say, Mr. Smith wants to buy a gift for Mrs. Smith, Holl’s can tell him which flavors she’ll like. “My mom used to do that by memory because she knew our customers so well and there were few enough of them that it was possible,” Holl says. “We can still do it, but we have to use these forms to help us.” The business also allows and encourages sampling— another of its founders’ personal touches that is crucial to its reputation.

1990

Holl’s moves to its current headquarters in Vienna. Fritz Holl’s son, Dominique, gets involved in the family business and begins to modernize production.

“There’s a balancing act to making things more efficient,” Holl says. “The changes we have made are all ones that, in addition to improving efficiency, also improve quality.” Fritz Holl passed away in 2010 and passed the business on to his son long before that, but Holl says his father was happy with the changes he saw happening at the company. “He would always say the quality of the chocolates we’re making today is better than what he was making back in 1940,” he says. “And I believe him.”

1999

Holl’s does a major remodel of its Vienna shop, hiring a retail store designer to design a layout that could better manage rushes of customers.

2012

Holl’s celebrates its 25th anniversary. With Dominique Holl at the helm, the company looks toward beefing up its Internet presence and opening more retail stores in the future.

The processes we’re replacing with automation are basically processes that are hidden to the consumer. There are changes you can make that improve efficiency at the cost of quality, but we don’t make those changes. The short answer to maintaining what is great about our business is often technology. We’ve developed all these things in the past 40 years that let us make chocolate that is just as good as or better than what my dad made back in Switzerland decades ago. The reality of running a business is different than anything you would learn in a class about business. The trick is to just jump in and do it, and you’ll learn along the way.

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Economy

West Virginia’s Exports E

xport markets have always been a key source of demand for West Virginia businesses. However, they have become increasingly important in recent years and also served to buoy the state’s economy during the Great Recession. In 2000 the total value of goods exported from West Virginia equaled just over 5 percent of the state’s GDP, but it exploded to a share of more than 16 percent of total state output by 2012. Although exports did weaken in 2013, falling nearly 25 percent to $8.6 billion, they still represent the equivalent of nearly 12 percent of the state’s economic output. In addition, even with the decline in export activity that occurred in 2013, the inflationadjusted value of goods and commodities shipped to other countries from West Virginia businesses has increased at a pace of 11 percent per year in the past decade. Most of the state’s fortunes in export markets have been driven primarily by foreign coal demand. In 2003 exports of minerals and ores, which in West Virginia’s case are made up largely of bituminous coal, totaled $300 million in inflationadjusted dollars, accounting for 10 percent of all exports. By 2010 this share increased to 43 percent, as the real value of exports reached $2.9 billion. The gains did not end there as coal exports reached an inflation-adjusted value of $7.6 billion in 2012, accounting for nearly two-thirds of the state’s entire export base. International coal shipments from West Virginia fell over the course of 2013, declining to $4.6 billion, but still accounted for 53 percent of state export activity. Of course, coal is not the only good or commodity exported from the state. Indeed

Focus July/August 2014

Billions of $ (adjusted for inflation)

Source: International Trade Administration

West Virginia Exports

11.6

10 9.3 8.6

8 6.8

6.1 5.1 4.4

3.9 2.9

2.8

2.9

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

3.7

3.6

2005

2006

the chemical industry is the second largest source of exports from West Virginia, representing approximately 19 percent of the value of goods shipped internationally out of the state last year. Much of this can be attributed to the healthy concentration of chemicals manufacturers throughout the Ohio and Kanawha valleys. During 2013 approximately $1.6 billion in products from the chemicals industry was exported from West Virginia to other countries. This marked a 1 percent gain over 2012, but in general the inflation-adjusted value of chemicals exports from the state has been relatively stable since the mid-2000s. Aside from coal and chemicals, transportation equipment such as auto

2007

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2013

engines and gear boxes as well as civilian aircraft components make up the state’s other major source of exported goods. More than $1.2 billion of transportation equipment shipped during 2013, a 3.3 percent increase from the previous year. Overall, automotive and aircraft exports (on an inflation-adjusted basis) from West Virginia increased at an average annual rate of 15 percent between 2003 and 2013.

Where Do West Virginia Exports Go?

Exports connect West Virginia’s economy to countries around the world. West Virginia businesses exported to 146 countries in total during 2013, with most of the state’s exports going to familiar

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West Virginia’s Top 5 Exporting Industries

Scope of WV Trade Expanding

Billions of $ (adjusted for inflation) 8

Minerals & Ores Chemicals Transportation Equipment Primary Metals Industrial Machinery

John Deskins and Brian Lego

Governor Earl Ray Tomblin honored 37 West Virginia companies in June for exporting into countries they’d never exported to before in 2013. The top three awardees alone expanded into 29 new countries:

Wheeling Truck Center Wheeling, Ohio County

Product: Truck parts

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

Source: International Trade Administration

destination countries in North America, Europe, and Asia. Canada was easily the largest destination market for goods and commodities produced in the state, as our neighbor to the north received more than $1.8 billion (or 21 percent) in exports. The Netherlands checked in as the second largest export destination country in 2013, but saw a significant decline compared to the previous year due to a drop-off in Dutch demand for coal. Rounding out the top five export destination countries during 2013 are China, Brazil, and Italy. Interestingly, Brazil and Italy replaced India and Japan respectively in the top five from the previous year.

Overall, despite the weakening of exports from the state during 2013, international demand for manufactured goods and commodities produced in West Virginia will play a major role in supporting the state’s economy going forward. While we anticipate an improvement in export demand over the near term, geopolitical risks do remain a threat to global economic growth and competition on the international coal supply market remains fierce, particularly from countries like Australia, possibly jeopardizing a rebound in coal exports from West Virginia.

John Deskins serves as director at the Bureau of Business and Economic Research at West Virginia University, leading the bureau’s efforts to serve the state by providing rigorous economic analysis and macroeconomic forecasting. Deskins holds a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Tennessee. His research has focused on U.S. state economic development, small business economics, and government tax and expenditure policy.

Countries: Dominican Republic, El Salvador, India, Kingdom of Bahrain, Maldives, Morocco, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Portugal, Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka, Thailand Almost Heaven Saunas Renick, Greenbrier County Product: Barrel saunas Countries: Finland, Mexico, Norway, Qatar, Romania, Russia, South Africa, Switzerland, United Arab Emirates TROY Group Wheeling, Ohio County Product: Security printing products Countries: Argentina, Bulgaria, Ecuador, Gabon, Ghana, Greece, Yemen

Brian Lego serves as research assistant professor at the Bureau of Business and Economic Research, a division of the West Virginia University College of Business and Economics. Lego holds a master’s degree in agricultural and resource economics from WVU and specializes in economic forecasting and applied economic research.

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Law

written by

Brian J. Moore

What You Need to Know About

West Virginia Employment Law Employment law in West Virginia is constantly evolving, and employers must stay up-to-date to avoid problems. Here are the top 10 laws you should know.

The minimum wage is increasing January 1, 2015. In the past, a state-level hike would only impact employers not otherwise covered by federal law. The West Virginia Legislature, however, took action to make sure the increase will apply to all employers. The rate increases from the current $7.25 per hour to $8 per hour on January 1, 2015, then to $8.75 on January 1, 2016.

Pregnant workers recently gained greater protection. The West Virginia Pregnant Workers’ Fairness Act now in effect requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations to pregnant applicants or employees to allow them to continue working. As with disability law, there is an exception if an accommodation would create an undue hardship on the employer.

Same-sex sexual harassment is illegal. In addition, subordinate employees and non-employees can be the cause of sexual harassment claims if the employer knows about the conduct and fails to take action. Thus, sexual harassment encompasses more instances than you might otherwise think.

Sexual orientation is not (yet) a protected class in West Virginia. A bill is introduced every year in the Legislature, but it has not yet gained much traction. Nevertheless, some localities, including Charleston and

Focus July/August 2014

Morgantown, have enacted ordinances prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

Video surveillance of common areas is permissible. Employers should not, however, engage in audio surveillance or they risk running afoul of the West Virginia Wiretapping Act.

Brian J. Moore is a labor and employment lawyer practicing throughout the state. He is a partner with Dinsmore & Shohl and the author of The Pocket Guide to West Virginia Employment Law available at amazon.com and the West Virginia Employment Law Blog at wvlaborandemploymentlaw.com.

Drug testing employees is tricky business. Because privacy rights are at issue, private employers in West Virginia may generally only drug test employees under two scenarios: 1. where there is a reasonable, good faith, objective suspicion that an employee is presently under the influence; 2. where an employee works in a safety-sensitive position. The only “random” drug testing that is legal is for safety-sensitive employees. Employers may, however, drug test applicants on a post-offer, pre-employment basis.

Employers must pay employees every two weeks. Twice per month is not the same thing. The only exception is if the employer has a special agreement with the West Virginia Division of Labor. This rule also means that an employer cannot hold a paycheck for disciplinary or other reasons.

Employers must pay discharged employees within four business days or the next payday, whichever comes first. Employees who quit or are laid off must be paid by the next payday.

Certain deductions from pay require a notarized wage assignment. If an employer overpays an employee or the employee owes money for meals or merchandise, the money cannot automatically be deducted from the next paycheck. The employer needs a notarized wage assignment from the employee. A form is available on the West Virginia Division of Labor’s website. This rule does not apply to “legal deductions,” such as those for taxes, health insurance, and union dues.

Twenty-minute meal breaks are required for employees who work six or more hours. The only exception is if the employer otherwise provides breaks or lets employees eat while working.

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Marketing

Luke Nesler and Jeff Welsh launched Impakt Creative Marketing and Branding in 2013 to help businesses integrate with the digital age of fast-paced marketing.

DIY Social Media by Luke Nesler Respect each social media platform. The notion that you can take one post and publish it to all social media platforms in the same way is incorrect. A person may engage on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest all in the same day but they are doing so in vastly different ways. You have to craft your content according to how the audience will consume it on each individual platform.

Go Social

Social media should be top on any business’s priority list.

o you’ve perfected your product, your sister-in-law designed a great logo, you’ve moved into your storefront, and you’re ready to open

for business. Stop there, and go back about two steps. While your sister-in-law may have fantastic design skills and that green flower looks great on your price tags, have you considered your brand image any further? “A brand isn’t just a logo—it’s more than visuals. It’s the experience a customer or a client has with a company,” says Jeff Welsh, co-founder and director

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of design for the Morgantown-based branding firm Impakt Creative Marketing and Branding. A brand is an attitude, an image, or an emotion your customer feels when interacting with your product. It’s the fundamental personality of your business, but it’s something Jeff and his co-founder Luke Nesler say few small businesses really understand. The two created Impakt a year ago after meeting in a shared creative office space in downtown Morgantown. They began working on different projects for the same clients and, as they coordinated work, they found they shared more than

Twitter is for listening. Twitter is not made for constantly broadcasting your message. It is most powerful when used as a listening tool. For example, if I’m a restaurant in Morgantown, I would use the Twitter search tool to look for everyone saying the phrase, “I’m hungry.” I can see up to the minute results and jump in on their conversations to showcase how my restaurant can help them solve their problem and curb their hunger. Provide value. No one wants to be sold, but everyone wants to buy. If you’re constantly pushing your sale on Facebook, you will lose. Give value in the form of advice, fun facts, or making someone laugh. Once you’ve provided enough value it validates your ask for the sale. Micro content. We live in a fast-paced world, and we engage on social media for quick fixes. If you’re posting lengthy content on anything other than your blog, you’re doing it wrong. Keep it short. Keep it interesting. Keep it engaging. Produce snack sized content rather than a fourcourse meal. Don’t be afraid of change. Everything changes over time and marketing is no different. The best way to connect with your audience used to be billboards and radio. Today it may be Facebook, LinkedIn, and Snapchat, and tomorrow it may be something else. You have to adapt in order to win in today’s business world.

written and photographed by

Katie Griffith

“A brand isn’t just a logo—it’s more than visuals. It’s the experience a customer or a client has with a company.”

“My customers rely on me and I rely on Internet service from Frontier Business Edge.”

Jeff Welsh, co-founder and director of design

a space—they shared a philosophy. “Our approach is a lot more forward thinking, more along the lines of what companies on the West Coast do. We’re heavily influenced by technology and staying on top of the industry,” Welsh says. “We realized our work was more powerful when we worked together rather than separately.” Impakt’s location in Morgantown puts it in an emerging tech corridor in West Virginia, and it also continues to expand nationally. Tech is a big part of the founders’ approach, including web and graphic design, videos, and online marketing. You won’t see Nesler or Welsh pushing a client to put up a billboard anywhere, but you will get a lot of social media coaching. “What West Virginia needs to learn is that things do change overtime. People don’t see social media as a serious marketing platform in this state, but it’s a huge focus nationally, in Fortune 500 companies and mom-and-pop stores,” Nesler says. “You want to spend your money where your customers will see it.” It’s not that customers won’t see your product on a billboard or in a television commercial, he adds—it’s that these days people are more likely to connect via smartphone or computer. That said, their attitude is less about forcing Twitter or Instagram on clients and more about understanding a business’s needs and facilitating a marketing strategy. “We sit down and talk to them. We ask a lot of questions. We’re big on being quiet and listening to the client,” Nesler says. One of the most shocking things to customers, he says, is the depth of social media marketing and the amount of client reach and clout it can bring a business. “We’re always thinking about the experience,” Welsh says. “When you walk into a store, you want to have a good experience. You want a clean store with friendly staff that carries what you’re looking for. We look at the digital realm in the same way. The user experience should be friendly, simple, and easy.” thinkimpakt.com

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B2B

Strengthen Your Network How adding a bit of structure to your networking could net you thousands in sales.

Rock Manchin of WCO Flooring America gives a 15-minute presentation about his business to the Mountaineer BNI chapter.

t’s hard to stop the blush that creeps across your face at the thought of walking into a room full of strangers and introducing yourself. Even the most unreserved extrovert can get chills before approaching someone to ask a favor. Networking happy hours? Name tags? Business card prize draws? Perhaps you’d

Focus July/August 2014

rather land an airplane blindfolded than do any of these things. Unfortunately entrepreneurs can’t spend their lives looking at Excel spreadsheets or holed up in storefronts and expect business to expand. Networking is essential, and along with it comes meeting strangers, asking favors, and doing favors in return. Still, it doesn’t have to be as hard as

landing that airplane sans optical functionality. When WDTV 5 News media salesman Pat Shaffer joined the Mountaineer chapter of Business Network International two years ago, it changed the way he connected with potential clients. “I rarely call on a potential new client without a positive introduction, and the overwhelming majority of those now come through BNI,” says Shaffer, now chapter president of Mountaineer BNI. Founded in 1985, BNI is a professional networking organization with more than 6,000 chapters across the world and 15 in West Virginia, but the organization handles interactions more formally than typical networking events. Chapter members aren’t gathering with strangers at cocktail receptions. They aren’t desperately handing out business cards to passersby hoping a beneficial relationship forms out of three or four contacts. BNI chapters allow businesspeople the opportunity to bond with chapter members on a weekly basis. Chapter members get to know each other well enough to feel comfortable giving

written and photographed by

Bob Pirner’s Networking Tips Networking is about giving. The goal of networking should be to help other people. If you constantly self-promote, you will soon be alone. If you genuinely try to help others out, they’ll want to do the same for you.

You have two ears and one mouth. You should listen twice as much as you talk. I often ask people, “What do you like best about what you do?” to start the conversation.

Create an elevator pitch. An elevator pitch is a personal blurb that sums up the professional you and can be delivered quickly—in the time it would take two people to share an elevator ride.

Volunteer. Volunteering for a good cause is a great way to network. You will meet people that will enrich your life and you will be doing something for the greater good.

Always keep a few business cards in your pocket. You never know where you might meet someone.

Always be positive. We all have problems from time to time. Talking about them are for friends and family, not business associates.

Be genuine. People know when they are being schmoozed. Honesty builds trust and people do business with those they trust.

business referrals on behalf of other members. “Knowing you will see your fellow members every single week really puts your responsibility to them on your radar at all times,” Shaffer says. “When I meet someone in need of the services of a member of the group, not only am I happy to refer them, but my clients turn to me as a resource now more than ever before because they know I am well connected.” The Mountaineer chapter, one of the largest BNI groups in the state with 50 members, was recently awarded the BNI Founder’s Award for 2014, a prestigious acknowledgment of the group’s success as a chapter. The award places the group in the top 10 percent of chapters worldwide, recognized for performance in member referrals, recruiting, and enthusiasm. To join you must apply, be sponsored by a member, and pay dues, and there must be an open slot in your business category. BNI groups accept only one member of a professional specialty per group. You won’t find two commercial real estate lenders in one BNI, though you might find one commercial lender and one family mortgage lender. “We want to protect members’ categories,” says Bob Pirner,

Katie Griffith

“When I meet someone in need of the services of a member of the group, not only am I happy to refer them, but my clients turn to me as a resource now more than ever before because they know I am well connected.” Pat Shaffer, WDTV 5 News media salesman

director of development at PACE Enterprises. PACE is a nonprofit organization providing vocational services to North Central West Virginians with disabilities, and Pirner is Mountaineer BNI’s one employment services member. “Though there are several members related to the same categories, they have to stay in their lanes,” he says. Pirner joined the chapter in 2009 and also functions as its education coordinator, responsible for doling out nuggets of networking and business wisdom at each meeting. Each week chapter members take a few minutes to mingle with friends and contacts before sitting down to business. The meetings stick to a strict 90-minute schedule of business presentations. “People keep it fresh,” Shaffer says of the group networking. “In any advertising it’s about frequency and consistency. Sometimes members will focus on new or different aspects of their business, but it’s just about hearing from businesses over and over again. Buzzwords and keywords start to sink in. It jogs the memory later when you’re talking to someone.” Members use meetings to consider specific referrals or to set up one-on-one meetings with other members. Having joined the group, members are expected to be active and attend the meetings regularly, or face being fired from their chapter positions. “Part of the process with someone new to the group is a period of building credibility. I never want to get a phone call from someone saying, ‘Why the heck did you refer that person?’” Pirner says. Not that it’s a cutthroat organization. New members are offered mentorship opportunities and introduced around the group. The Mountaineer BNI is full of close friends but views networking seriously as a business function. “Last year we totaled $1.3 million in our pockets just through referrals—net. That’s profit,” Shaffer says. The chapter claims members see a 20 percent increase in sales in just their first years of membership. Since Mountaineer BNI’s inception 10 years ago, its members have gained approximately $8.3 million in revenue through referrals, Shaffer says, adding that he alone has benefited by hundreds of thousands of dollars in his two years with the group. Focus wvfocus.com

10 Things

written by

Shay Maunz

10 Questions to Ask yourself before you 7

the business up to $5,000. “It’s huge,” Rhea-Richards says. Being thoughtful during the hiring process can have a huge impact on that turnover rate—and the bottom line.

Make The Hire

obody wins when the wrong person is in the wrong job. The hire feels too stressed or totally bored, the co-workers who are picking up the slack feel like they’re being taken advantage of, the boss is frustrated that things aren’t running smoothly, and the bottom line—well, it’s not pretty. “Human capital is our most precious commodity,” says Kathleen Walker, who, along with Kathi RheaRichards, owns Epiphany Consulting in Charleston. “Placing the right people in the right jobs helps everyone be successful.” Epiphany specializes in assessment tools— online personality and aptitude tests that help businesses make decisions as they hire, train, and retain employees—and Walker and Rhea-Richards spend a lot of time thinking about the hiring process. Here are their insights in the form of a checklist every hiring manager or business owner should consider before bringing on a new employee.

Do I need to fill this position?

Don’t rely on your gut for the answer here—crunch the numbers. “You often think it’s going to bring you automatic wealth when you bring someone new in, but that’s not always the case,” Walker says. If you’re going to pay a new employee $30,000 every year, but they’re only bringing in $8,000 in profits, it’s probably not the right thing to do.

Is bringing in someone new the best way to go? It’s natural to jump into hiring mode when you need to fill a gap in your organization, but take a look at the bench before you bring someone new up to bat. Maybe there’s a hidden gem who deserves a promotion, or someone whose

Focus July/August 2014

personality and skill set is even better for this position than for the one they’re already in.

Do I have a really clear idea of what this job is? Even if you think the answer is yes, take some time to reconsider. Maybe your business’s needs have changed since the last time you filled this position. Maybe you know what has to be done, but you need to define the way you want your employee to go about doing it. Take some time to think about it—and write it down. That way you can answer yes to the next question.

Do I have an accurate job description? This is important for the person who is doing the hiring as well as for the person who is being hired. “This is where you set your expectations,” Walker says. “You have to clarify what you expect them to do, and people respect it when you do that.”

Am I rushing into a decision? Losing an employee—or growing quickly without making a hire—can easily throw you into crisis mode. But that’s not a great place to be when you’re making such a critical decision. “I hate that fog-in-themirror mentality, where you’ll hire anyone with enough breath in them to fog up a mirror,” Walker says. “Instead, stop to figure out where you’re bleeding the most, and how to stop the blood flow while you work through the hiring process deliberately.”

Do I understand what a big deal this is? Most small businesses don’t consider the impact turnover can have on the bottom line—and it’s a big one. If an employee leaves a standard minimum-wage position in less than six months, it can cost

Am I looking at the big picture? “When people walk into an interview it’s kind of like watching an iceberg float across the water,” Walker says. “All you see is that beautiful ice on top, but what’s underneath the surface is what matters.” Your hiring process should be multi-pronged. One prong is the interview, sure, but just as important are empirical factors, like education, experience, and things like personality assessments.

Do I like this person because they’re right for the job—or because they’re right for me? “We tend to hire people we have that instant 30 second connection with—we tend to hire people just like us,” Walker says. “But to have a business that runs well you have to have a lot of different kinds of people working together.” It might be tempting to offer the job to the person you like the best, but you’re looking for an employee, not a buddy. Instead, try to pick the person whose traits make them right for the job they’ll be expected to do.

Are you picking the person who is the best for the job—or the best at interviewing for jobs? “A person can come in for an interview process, and they’re very well prepared, and they coax you into hiring them,” Walker says. “But what if there’s someone who is just as talented, but they don’t have the same self assurance?” An interview is an important part of the hiring process—but it needs to be considered with a grain of salt.

Will this person fit in here? Your new hire won’t work in a bubble—they have to fit into your business culture. “A person can be really well educated and have all the skills desired, but if they don’t fit into the environment, they won’t be happy and they won’t do a good job for you,” Walker says. epiphanywv.com

Leadership

Managing Your Time W

written by

David C. Hardesty, Jr.

courtesy of david hardesty

There are only so many hours in the day. How should you spend yours? hat is time? The Oxford American Dictionary defines time as “the indefinite and continued progress of existence and events” in the past, present, and future. In brief, we use time to keep track of our existence. We use the concept to plan events in the future and to offer some idea of how events in the past relate to one another. We often develop and employ habits that intentionally or unintentionally allocate our time. In the morning we enjoy drinking our coffee and reading the paper or checking out our favorite websites. We retire to bed and get up about the same time every day. Without knowing it, we budget our time. Leaders need to manage and make the most of their time. Two important concepts in time management are the concepts of urgency and importance. Some things we need to do are important—that is, directly related to our ability to achieve our goals: answer a client’s call, offer support to a friend in need, tend to a crying baby, prepare our tax returns. Urgency is a different matter. Urgency denotes the time frame in which something must be accomplished. We need to pay immediate attention to a family accident or a client crisis. Early in the year our tax returns can wait, but they must be filed by April 15. One of the most educational time management learning activities you can undertake is to track how you spend your time. Professionals accustomed to billing for professional services use time increments—try recording five- to 10-minute time increments for an entire week or even a month. This exercise should include your personal time as well as your work time. Doing so will be very instructive and may have a profound impact on your life. You will find social media, emails, and phone calls interrupt your completion of much more important tasks, you will see just how much time you spend sleeping, eating, bathing, traveling to and from work, and you will soon learn if you are spending enough time with friends and family. The best advice is probably this: Determine your goals and allocate your time in order to achieve David C. Hardesty, Jr., your goals. If you do this well you are is professor of law and likely to find that you will have more president emeritus at West energy to do the things you know are Virginia University where he teaches courses related important because you are spending to leadership, law practice less time doing things that are truly management, and trends unimportant, even as others press in the legal profession. their ideas of urgency upon you.

Time Management Tips Set priorities in your life. Be honest with yourself and plan according to your real priorities. Set aside routine times for reading reports, returning calls and emails, and writing thank you notes. Try to do these activities without interruption. Keep an ongoing “to do list.” Try thinking of the urgent/importance distinction when making your list. Budget an hour a day (for example, right after lunch) for unexpected demands on your time. When you don’t need it, invest in your future, for example, by reading an article on leadership or a book related to your work. This is a practice used by many of the busiest executives and professionals. Try to arrange your work schedule so you can commute at the best possible times. Avoid procrastination. If you know something is important, act on it. Don’t waste time worrying about it. Use voicemail to leave messages that don’t require immediate interaction with the recipient. Use auto responses for email effectively. Hunt down your bad time management habits and

set out to change them.

Keep your office organized so you don’t have to waste time cleaning up for an appointment or hunting important documents lost in the shuffle. Make your filing systems simple and straightforward. Keep your appointments. Show others you respect their time and they will respect yours. Teach your subordinates good time management skills. Learn from those who seem to have “more time than

anyone” you know!

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POWER POINTS

Don Nehlen

INTERVIEWED BY Katie Griffith | PHOTOGRAPHED BY Elizabeth Roth

who said to me, “Coach, you didn’t know this but you were my father figure.” It’s a great feeling. We had basically three rules. 1. Do what’s right. 2. Treat other people like you want to be treated. 3. Whatever you do, give it 100 percent. Would I change anything? No. I can think of a few passes I wish I had run and a few runs I wish I would have passed, things like that. Wherever I coached I never cheated, I never got a program in trouble, and when I left I was respected for doing things right. What is success? I don’t know, but down deep I know I treated people right.

The most famous and beloved figurehead attached to West Virginia University and WVU athletics, Don Nehlen served the Mountaineers as head football coach for more than 20 years. He led the team through 17 winning seasons and 13 bowl games, retiring with a record of 149-93-4 in Morgantown. He began his career as a high school coach, then went on to work as head football coach at Bowling Green State University and as a quarterbacks coach at the University of Michigan. He signed to WVU in 1980 and was awarded coach of the year honors multiple times. He was president of the American Football Coaches Association, was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame, and ushered in the Flying WV logo. He may be retired, but he continues to watch the workings of college sports closely. Nehlen is the first to admit times have changed. Running college sports was, in many ways, a simpler game back in the heyday of his career. Does this football legend think the changes are for the better or the worse?

Focus July/August 2014

The money has really changed since I retired. It seems like everybody is almost in a race for the best facilities, and the coaching salaries have gone completely out of sight. I don’t deny anybody the opportunity to make money because coaching at this level is hard work. It’s not one job. It is 24 hours a day. But there’s a point that it starts to become ridiculous. For me to ever think someone was going to make $6 or $7 million coaching college football, I’d have said, “You’ve got to be crazy.” But that’s happening today. I’m not sure that sends the right message to the kids. When you’re going to pay coaches that kind of money, everyone has to win. Unfortunately, when two teams play, someone is going to lose. The more coaches get fired, it’s easier for the next guy to get fired, and I hate to see that. I hope guys are still going into coaching for the right reasons. Through our program we took a bunch of boys and made men out of them. If you can go through an intercollegiate football program and the discipline, chances are you’re going to be able to survive pretty well when you get out into the real world. You’re used to getting knocked down. You’ve got to pick yourself up. Coaching—you’re a preacher, you’re a father, you’re everything to a bunch of kids. If I had a nickel for every guy

If players unionize that will be the death of college football. If we’re going to unionize and kids can get together to say, “If we don’t get this then we aren’t going to play Saturday,” that’s going to kill college football. Now, to give them a stipend, that’s different. So many athletes come from disadvantaged families and they can’t go home. On the weekends they don’t have money. You can’t even take a gal to a movie anymore and go get a pizza for less than 30 bucks. I wouldn’t think a stipend of $100 or $200 a month is out of line at all. The five conferences who can afford it and the schools that generate revenue will be the ones to give the stipend. In college sports in general I see the Haves and the Have Nots. What are the mid-major conferences going to do? If WVU can pay a full scholarship plus $200 a month, and all those mid-major conferences can’t do any of that, it’s obvious those mid-majors won’t be able to recruit those kids. It’s going to kill them. Their television contracts will go down to nothing. I feel badly because those are really nice schools and they’re pretty competitive. I have felt this was coming for a long time. Thank goodness West Virginia is in the Big 12. If we had stayed in the Big East we’d be in a lot of trouble. I miss the kids the most. I miss all the people. We had a really close family-type thing. You touch so many people when you’re the head football coach. I miss Saturday and playing Xs and Os with that other guy. But I don’t miss Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday any.

When we listen, discoveries and partnerships happen. Like when West Virginia University listened to the need to preserve one of our nationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s greatest treasures â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the Green Bank Telescope. And then we partnered. So that discoveries by researchers at WVU and around the world could continue. So that jobs in Pocahontas County could be saved. So that everyone could experience extraordinary science nestled among extraordinary mountains.

research.wvu.edu

Photo credit: Jiuguang Wang via Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike.

We learn by listening.