Roanoke Business

March 2013

Serving the Roanoke/Blacksburg/ new river valley Region

A Geographic Center Roanoke was built on freight hauling; is the region poised for a renaissance?

Bev Fitzpatrick, executive director of the Virginia Museum of Transportation

Hometown bank Full page

Woods rogers Full page

contents Serving the Roanoke/Blacksburg/ new river valley Region

March 2013

Features cover story

6

A geographic center Roanoke was built on freight hauling;

6

is the region poised for a renaissance?

by Tim Thornton

TECHNOLOGY Security in cyberspace

14

Companies can diminish the risks but never eliminate them.

by Rebekah Manley

16

HEALTH CARE Innovations that are saving lives

16

LewisGale and Carilion offer new ways to fight cancer and heart problems. by Rich Ellis

Valley BAnk full page

Education Building connections along the interstate

22

The I-81 Corridor Coalition is working for safety and efficiency.

14

by Joan Tupponce

D

e

p

a

r

t

26 INTERVIEW

Attracting customers and jobs

What’s good for Appalachian Power can be good for local economies. by Kevin Kittredge

28 LIFESTYLES

Riding to work

Roanoke, a bike commuter community in its infancy, is rolling along.

by Sam Dean

2 MARCH 2013

m

22 e

n

t

s

31 ROANOKE NEXT

Creating a network Native returns home to start a business and a young professionals network.

by Rebekah Manley

32 Facts & Figures 33 news from the chamber 33 news from the partnership

FROM THE EDITOR Museum reminds city of its heritage

by Tim Thornton

B

ev Fitzpatrick likes trains. He likes buses more. He likes Roanoke better than either of those.

Fitzpatrick got a job with Norfolk & Western soon after graduating from Virginia Tech. He resigned within weeks, when it became apparent the railroad wouldn’t keep him in Roanoke.

Soon after that, he was drafted. Shortly before he mustered out, Fitzpatrick says, a colonel told him he should go to officer candidate school.

Fitzpatrick asked, “Can you guarantee I can stay in the Washington military district [which includes some Virginia installations] for the next 20 years?”

“Fitz, you know I can’t do that.”

“Yes, sir, I do. That’s why I’m getting out.”

So Fitzpatrick came home, drove a dump truck and looked for another job. Someone asked if he’d ever thought about working in a bank. He hadn’t, but he went to an interview, got hired and spent a career in banking. His employer changed its name, but it didn’t make Fitzpatrick change his address.

Now Fitzpatrick is the executive director of the Virginia Museum of Transportation. Housed in an old Norfolk & Western freight station, the museum’s prize pieces are a pair of old Norfolk & Western steam locomotives. The famous 611 pulled passenger cars. The 1218 hauled fast freight.

Fitzpatrick is steeped in Roanoke and its history, and he can’t understand why everyone doesn’t embrace it all as completely as he does. “To me, we have not yet accepted the fact that we are what we are. We can’t change it. We’re known all over the world for the rail.

People in Roanoke have yet to grasp they wouldn’t be here if not for the Norfolk & Western and its predecessors … People from outside see this a whole lot better than we do.”

It’s not unusual for outsiders to see value where people who’ve grown up in a place — or settled in it a long time ago — see something else entirely. And it’s true that if a Philadelphia banking firm hadn’t decided to headquarter a bankrupt railroad in a little town called Big Lick, Roanoke would be a very different place, and Salem almost certainly would have been the city the U.S. Census Bureau named this metropolitan statistical area after.

“There is one museum in the Roanoke Valley that should never be left behind, and it’s this one,” Fitzpatrick says. “It showcases what this valley is all about. The money people in Roanoke generally don’t give us money because they see us as a blue-collar museum. We are what we’ve turned our backs on.”

Fitzpatrick’s grandfather was a conductor for Norfolk & Western and he’s not ashamed of it — though he thinks other people with a similar family connection seem to be.

I’m not going to get into any argument about who gives money to what and why, but my grandfather worked for the railroad, too, and I think Fitzpatrick has a point. Roanoke — or at least some Roanokers — seems to have a hard time recognizing some of the area’s assets. For too long, Roanoke seems to have been bent on being some other city — Charlotte, Richmond, Atlanta, any place but an Appalachian city that owes its existence to a railroad that hauled — and whose descendant still hauls — a lot of grubby coal.

Thankfully, it seems to me that’s changing. The transportation museum and the O. Winston Link Museum are keeping the area’s railroad history alive. While that history may not be enthusiastically embraced by everyone, a lot of people are recognizing and promoting the mountains, rivers, trails, parks and national forests in and around the city. There’s even a business, the Six-Eleven Bicycle Co, that mixes those two Roanoke identities, naming handmade bikes after a steam engine built in those old N&W shops in downtown Roanoke.

Maybe there’s hope for Big Lick yet.

4 MARCH 2013

Serving the Roanoke/Blacksburg/ new river valley Region Vol. 2

MARCH 2013

President & Publisher

Roanoke Business Editor Contributing Writers

No. 3

Bernard A. Niemeier Tim Thornton Rebekah Manley Rich Ellis Joan Tupponce Kevin Kittredge Sam Dean

Art Director Adrienne R. Watson Contributing Designer Elizabeth Coffey Contributing Photographers Sam Dean

Production Manager Circulation Manager Accounting Manager

Advertising Sales

Kevin L. Dick Karen Chenault Sunny Ogburn LynnWilliams Hunter Bendall

CONTACT: EDITORIAL: (540) 520-2399 ADVERTISING: (540) 597-2499 210 S. Jefferson Street, Roanoke, VA 24011-1702 We welcome your feedback.

Email Letters to the Editor to Tim Thornton at tthornton@roanoke-business.com

Virginia Business Publications LLC A portfolio company of Virginia Capital Partners LLC Frederick L. Russell Jr., chairman

on the cover Bev Fitzpatrick executive director Virginia Museum of Transportation Photo by Mark Rhodes

GENTRY LOCKE full page

cOVER STORY

A geographic center

Bev Fitzpatrick, executive director of the Virginia Museum of Transportation, thinks moving freight — so important to Roanoke’s past — should be an important part of the region’s future.

Roanoke was built on freight hauling; is the region poised for a renaissance?

by Tim Thornton

6 MARCH 2013

Photo by Mark Rhodes

ROANOKE BUSINESS

7

cover story

B

ev Fitzpatrick’s office in the Virginia Museum of Transportation is filled with reminders of how things used to be.

A photograph shows trucks backed up to loading bays sometime last century, when the building was a Norfolk & Western freight station.

“This was probably … the first real distribution center in the valley,” says Fitzpatrick, the museum’s executive director. “Most freight until the early ’50s came into this building if it came into the Roanoke Valley at all. Even automobiles came in box cars back in those days — all your white goods, all your food.”

Moving and distributing goods is an important part of this area’s past. It may be a big part of the future, too. FedEx is in the midst of a multimillion dollar expansion in Roanoke. Norfolk Southern Corp. is still eyeing a new intermodal yard in Montgomery County. And the

area has geography on its side.

“We’re within 500 miles of most of the East Coast’s population,” says Kevin Byrd, executive director of the New River District Planning Commission. “That’s spanning from New York City down past Atlanta, Georgia.”

Fitzpatrick was a bank executive when Orvis was considering a distribution center in Roanoke from among five or six contenders.

According to the bank’s analysis, Fitzpatrick says, being in Roanoke saves the company about $100,000 in annual transportation costs. But it takes more than a favorable location to make a good distribution center.

Byrd ticks off other assets in and near the Roanoke and New River valleys that make them strong destinations for moving parts or products: the intersection of Interstates 81 and 77; the intersection of the railways of the Heartland and Cres-

downtown roanoke 1/3 sq

8 MARCH 2013

Wayne Strickland is executive director of the Roanoke ValleyAlleghany Regional Commission

cent corridors and an international port of entry at the New River Valley Airport.

Wayne Strickland, executive director of the Roanoke Valley-Alleghany Regional Commission, calls transportation and logistics “an important cluster for our area.” In the formulas that measure the concentration of clusters of industries, a score of 1 means an area is at the national average. In the commission’s five counties and three cities, the score for transportation and distribution is 1.37. That’s a higher quotient than health care’s score of 1.31. While not the area’s largest or most concentrated cluster of businesses, Strickland says, transportation and logistics do provide 6,500 to 7,000 jobs.

Those jobs aren’t concentrated in one big corporation as they were when the Norfolk & Western Railway built its headquarters, rail yards, offices and terminals in Big Lick beside the hotel N&W also built and the shops where the railroad created locomotives that kept the whole process moving. No company dominates the area the way Norfolk & Western did.

“Ninety percent of the people employed here work for companies with less than 50 people,” StrickPhoto by Mark Rhodes

Cox communications full page

cover story

cover story

Ethanol shipped into Norfolk Southern’s yard in Roanoke is trucked to tank farms to be mixed with gasolline.

land says. “It’s that whole concept of economic gardening in your area.

You’re growing businesses here — not that we don’t want to have the large plant and companies come in.

We’d welcome them. That building of small companies is helping diversification.”

to the community.”

Some of those companies are big.

UPS and FedEx have regional distribution centers at the Roanoke Regional Airport. FedEx broke ground in October on a $12.6 million expansion that will give the company the ability to handle up to 50,000

“Ninety percent of the people employed here work for companies with less than 50 people,” Strickland says. “It’s that whole concept of economic gardening in your area.

Fitzpatrick wants people to remember that companies participating in some form of distribution are still part of that diversification.

“Sometimes if they’re not big, they’re kind of out of sight, out of mind,” Fitzpatrick says. “But added up, they’re much bigger than one big distribution center in terms of job creation and income and resources 10 MARCH 2013

packages a day, up from its current capacity of 30,000.

Sherry Wallace, manager of marketing and air service development at Roanoke Regional Airport, says FedEx and UPS handle 10,000 packages in a typical night’s work outside the holiday season. Last year, more than 22.7 million pounds of cargo passed through the airport.

Most of that was on FedEx and UPS planes, but passenger airlines and private planes often carry cargo, too. Fresh flowers, live fish and sushi are among the cargo flying into Roanoke — dogs, too. (They fly in a special section in cargo that is climate controlled and pressurized).

“We hear them barking down at the check-in counter,” Wallace says.

Sometimes she sees organ transplant teams, coolers in hand, headed for the general aviation terminal.

When people think of air cargo, says Wallace, “most of us think about shipping our gifts for the holidays, or I ordered something from Land’s End and it came in,” but it’s clearly much more than that.

Strickland notes that, measured by the value of goods shipped, the airport is the main cargo conduit in the area. “It’s got a higher value, but the tonnage is not that great,” he says.

For tonnage, the railroad still wins out. Norfolk Southern spokesPhotos courtesy Norfolk Southern

man Robin Chapman estimates that around 150 million tons of freight pass through the valleys on trains.

That’s a rough estimate, he says, and the number includes what’s simply passing through as well as goods that originate from or end up in the area. “The thing to remember is a lot of that is coal tonnage going east from the coalfields,” says Dan Motley, Norfolk Southern’s industrial development manager for the region.

Norfolk Southern owns a distribution yard in Roanoke. It’s part of a network of facilities serving companies that need things moved by rail but don’t have rail service at their sites.

“The biggest thing we’re doing there is ethanol,” Motley says.

The biofuel is trucked to tank farms where it’s injected into tanker truckloads of gasoline. Using what Motley called “splash technology” — the sloshing inherent in the transportation of liquids by truck — the ethanol is mixed with gasoline as it’s moved from tank farms to service stations.

Fitzpatrick argues that if the area is going to make a significant difference in the amount of freight it ships, it has to change the way it ships freight. It needs, he says, a container terminal — a facility able to move tractor-trailer-size containers between trucks and rail cars.

“The majority of freight is carried that way, but the Roanoke Valley doesn’t have a container terminal,” Fitzpatrick says. “The closest container terminal today to us is in Greensboro … So we are at a competitive disadvantage at the moment for a lot of distribution-based industry.”

The disadvantage extends to manufacturing, too, he says. “Most of those guys are going to go where they have really good access to containerized freight,” Fitzpatrick says.

“That’s why this thing in Elliston is so critical to the future.”

Fitzpatrick is talking about an

intermodal rail yard Norfolk Southern proposed for a 65-acre site at the edge of Montgomery County. Proposed in 2006, it hasn’t been built.

A legal challenge and a reallocation of state funds earmarked for the project due to the delays have put it in limbo, although Norfolk Southern remains interested. (See story on page 13).

Ninth District Congressman Morgan Griffith knows how impor-

tant logistics have been to the area.

“I think it is a part of the economy and it always has been,” Griffith says. “It’s one of the reasons people came here.”

Griffith supports the intermodal rail yard in Elliston. He supports the development of Interstate 73 more or less along the route of U.S. 220 between Roanoke and North Carolina. He advocates the development of a cross between a busi-

brown edwards 1/2 ver

ROANOKE BUSINESS

11

cover story ness incubator and an inland port, a place where fledgling distribution companies can develop and existing distribution companies can try out the area before committing to locate here.

Those companies will bring jobs, he declares. “They won’t be milliondollar jobs,” Griffith says. “They will be good jobs for hardworking, taxpaying Americans.”

Griffith is an amateur historian, so he would appreciate Roddy Moore’s explanation of how vital the pathways that intersect in the Roanoke Valley have been to the region’s people and businesses — and for how long those routes have been important. Moore, director of the Blue Ridge Institute at Ferrum College, talks about the Great Road that carried pioneers west, the Great Valley Pike that carried settlers south into the Roanoke Valley and the Carolina Road that carried

cover story some of them farther south. Commerce moved along those roads, too.

“We’ve got an account book here from a store in Tazewell,” Moore says, “and it was what a wholesaler in Baltimore was sending to Tazewell. Let me tell you, if you could buy it on the coast, you could buy it in Tazewell.”

those roads and cattle drives into Pennsylvania were organized by the end of the 18th century.

The cattle drives are anachronisms, but the roads they followed aren’t. “These roads never stopped because they were just taken up by other roads,” Moore says. The Valley Pike became U.S. 11 and then

“Distribution at every level is still what Roanoke is about.”

Some people may be surprised that imported goods made their way that far into the mountains even when this was the edge of the frontier, but they might be more surprised that the transactions weren’t one-way. “What people don’t realize is that traffic moved both ways on these roads,” Moore says, explaining that everything from feathers to ginseng moved east and north on

I-81. The Carolina Road became U.S. 220. It may one day be part of I-73. Like those roads, Fitzpatrick argues, the region’s role in distribution and logistics never went away.

“Distribution at every level is still what Roanoke is about,” he says. “I’m a firm believer that history repeats itself. The question is how savvy are we at understanding when to make history repeat itself.”

Though some railroad freight is loaded and unloaded in the Roanoke and New River valleys, most of the 150 million tons of cargo that moves by rail in the valleys is only passing through.

12 MARCH 2013

Photos courtesy Norfolk Southern

Will Elliston project be derailed?

Norfolk Southern’s intermodal rail yard is in limbo

by Tim Thornton

I

t’s been more than six years since Norfolk Southern Corp chose 65 acres in Elliston, just on the Montgomery side of the Montgomery County-Roanoke County line, to be an intermodal rail yard. The yard would lie along the Heartland Corridor, a rail system that carries freight from Hampton Roads to Chicago. Recent upgrades allow trains to carry double-stacked containers along the whole route.

According to a state study, the rail yard itself would employ only about a dozen people. However, businesses attracted by it could generate 740 to 2,900 jobs in an area from Lynchburg to Radford, from Franklin County to Monroe County, W.Va. Just as important, the facility could make the region more competitive as a logistics center, because it would bring a container terminal — a facility where tractor trailer-size containers could be moved between trucks and rail cars.

The plan called for the state to pay for the bulk of the project’s cost, spending about $32 million on the site and its preparation, plus another $10 million to $15 million for a road connecting the site to Interstate 81.

Bev Fitzpatrick, a former Roanoke city councilman, says that while Roanoke traditionally has been the center of the distribution industry in this region, the city doesn’t have space for big distribution centers anymore.

“The industry here is going to be to the west if anything, and it’s going to be in Montgomery County, the very people that didn’t want this,” Fitzpatrick says. “It could be as far as Pulaski, but when you couple Virginia Tech and Radford and the mindset of engineers and bright students coming out of those institutions, you have in that particular area huge potential for new business and industry. And fortunately, they have a lot

of land. So this container terminal would be like the next step in our distribution history as a region.”

It’s unclear when the region might take that step. Originally planned to open in 2010, the project was held up by a legal challenge from the Montgomery County Board of Supervisors. The supervisors argued it was unconstitutional for the state to spend public money on what essentially would be a private project. The Virginia Supreme Court ruled in the state’s favor, but by then the economy had slowed and the project had lost momentum, at least temporarily.

“So much time had elapsed since it was first proposed that we needed to take a second look at the economics, the anticipated traffic,” said Norfolk Southern spokesman Robin

Chapman. “I guess the short answer is we haven’t yet decided to go forward with it. It’s still planned, but we just — we haven’t gone forward with it.

“I think at one point the state funds that were available for that were redirected to other state rail projects. To move forward, I think the state would need to reallocate the funds.”

Reallocation shouldn’t be a problem, according to Amanda Reidelbach, spokeswoman for Virginia’s Department of Rail and Public Transportation. The Commonwealth Transportation Board included the Elliston project in the Six-Year Improvement Program for fiscal 2013, so the money is likely to be available if Norfolk Southern decides to move ahead.

goodwill industries 1/3 sq

ROANOKE BUSINESS

13

Technology

Security in cyberspace Companies can diminish the risks but never erase them

by Rebekah Manley Charles Clancy is director of the Ted and Karyn Hume Center for National Security and Technology.

C

yber safety is like house security — all the windows and doors need to be shut and locked. For personal and consumer security, think of a tree house — less to guard, but diligence with secret passwords is essential.

Businesses are mansions with many threats requiring many pre-

14 MARCH 2013

cautions, including employees dedicated to double- and triple-checking intruder passages. These days, people pocket more computer power in their cell phones than NASA used on the first moon mission. As technology progresses, so does the threat. There is no way to secure every single outlet. However, safe practices are available — and es-

sential.

T. Charles Clancy, director of the Hume Center for National Security and Technology at Virginia Tech, says such practices include maintaining a “digital hygiene.”

This hygiene comes down to keeping firewall rules up to date and turning on auto-update features for software. Clancy warns, “Beware of email asking you for personal information or username/passwords.

Don’t click links in emails. Instead, type them in manually to your web browser.”

Universally, experts stress strong passwords and the need to keep them secure. Tad Woods, owner of T&T Software LLC, cautions against reusing logins and passwords. “Your bank could have the most secure systems in the world, but if you use the same login and password with another organization who is vulnerable, then your bank account is vulnerable.”

Never include those passwords in an email. Whether you are sending or receiving personal information, make sure it travels in an encrypted, password protected attachment.

For Woods, preventing attacks is about putting security standards in place and consistently testing and improving them. “Security is part of our design and testing strategy; it is not an afterthought,” he says.

“We use the third-party Trustwave. com to routinely scan our website for vulnerabilities and we address issues when they are reported.”

Businesses need to seal as many entrances as possible and secure those left “open” to conduct busiPhoto by Anne Wernikoff

ness. With Woods, this security includes strict adherence to standards established by the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards Council. Woods points out, “Anyone who captures and handles any personal data can help ensure the safety of this information by becoming and maintaining compliance with the PCI DSS guidelines.”

Clancy disagrees and says small businesses don’t have to do that.

“There’s no reason for the average small business to worry too much about things such as PCI DSS,” he says. “That’s something they pay their banks to worry about.”

Instead, for small businesses, Clancy suggests the focus be on standard digital hygiene. According to Demian Pace, a Microsoft certified systems engineer, PCI DSS guidelines are important for dealing with credit-card companies or the banking industry. Therefore, those running e-commerce websites need to adhere. Most small e-commerce sites use a third party to do that processing and therefore the third party provider has the PCI certification, not the e-commerce site.

As the senior systems administrator for an insurance pool management services company, Vaco Risk Management Programs, Pace must be on top of cyber security risks. Pace thinks businesses of all sizes should be concerned about security and aware of consequences that can result from a loss of data integrity. Problems can lead to a damaged reputation and financial damages, fines and adverse court judgments and proprietary code being copied by competitors.

According to Pace, business risks can often be profound: · Contractual obligations may include direct damages for data loss. · Entire business models can be damaged.

· Relationships with vendors, clients and partners can be adversely affected. · Your reputation in an industry can be lost.

“IT staff should be constantly monitoring new vectors of attack.

Proper standards of infrastructure design and maintenance must be maintained,” Pace says. To keep a site secure, he gives these suggestions: · Separate your internal network and data from your external facing network via good firewalls and other network infrastructure design and equipment. · Virus and spam filter all emails. · Allow only the minimum necessary data to flow out of your network. · Follow best practices in web design to prevent hacking and database corruption. · Keep all software up to date and all security patches installed. · Have a secure remote network connection topology if mobile users need access to internal resources. This topology should allow only minimum access. · Place limits on what internal personnel can and cannot do with their work computers. · Frequent backups and redundant systems should be in place. · Limit physical access to network equipment and servers. · Disallow personal computers, smart phones and other devices from connecting to the internal corporate network. · Database design and security should be a prime consideration. · Implement two-way encryption for all data traveling across the Internet.

Mitigation can be as much of

a financial strain as the threats themselves. Clancy offers perspective, “As to whether or not a business should be worried, it entirely depends on their market and the value of information they have on their computer systems.”

Like Pace, Clancy recommends mitigation and says, “At the end of the day, for most companies it’s an economic decision — the amount you spend on securing your network should not be more than the value of the compromised information times the probability of an intrusion.”

However, this financial factor for small businesses might make them targets. Woods maintains that diligence is needed in all businesses that capture any personal or credit card data. According to him, the need applies equally to brick-andmortar businesses and online businesses. He says they must pay attention, “otherwise, sooner or later they will experience stolen or misused information.”

Still, there is no perfect answer for businesses, only a need to be aware and to seal off as many doors as financially possible. Pace explains, “If your data is available to anyone internal to your company, you are at some risk of data integrity loss either intentional or accidental. If your electronic data is available to the Internet in any form, you are at much greater risk for data integrity loss.

“The only way to prevent all risk of data loss is to store it on a system without any connections to any other system, then lock it in a room with limited physical access.

Now your data is very secure but not at all useful in today’s world.”

Pace also recommends proper management and weighing risk versus reward. With this, Pace says, “Your chances of loss and the severity if one occurs can be greatly lessened, but never completely removed.”

ROANOKE BUSINESS

15

health CARE

Innovations that are saving lives

David Killeen, a pulmonologist with LewisGale Regional Health System, says CT lung scans can detect pea-sized cancers.

LewisGale and Carilion offer new ways to fight cancer and heart problems

by Rich Ellis

T

he region’s two health-care powerhouses — LewisGale Regional Health System and Carilion Clinic — are introducing advancements in imaging and cardiac care. Hospital executives say they are saving patient lives and improving their quality of life.

LewisGale, for example, is using advancements in imaging for the early detection of breast and lung cancer. In fighting breast cancer, the health system is employing Molecular Breast Imaging (MBI), also known as Breast-Specific Gamma Imaging (BSGI). Dr. Jackson Kiser says MBI doesn’t replace annual mammograms, which remain the first line of defense for detecting breast cancer, but the imaging serves as a valuable supplement to those exams. “MBI is used in very specific instances — women who are at high risk for breast cancer, perhaps because a family member had breast

16 MARCH 2013

cancer, and particularly for women with dense breasts that make cancer detection through mammography difficult,” says Kiser, who is a physician with Radiology Associates of Roanoke and the medical director of imaging at LewisGale Medical Center in Salem.

Dense breast tissue, often found in young women, can result in screenings that miss the presence of cancer.

Kiser compares cancer screenings of dense breast tissue using mammography to trying to locate a cotton ball in a snow bank.

In the MBI procedure, which regionally became available only at

LewisGale near the end of February, the patient receives a low-dose radiopharmaceutical tracer, and then specialized cameras capture high-resolution images of the breast.

“Prior to this new technology there was not a camera available specifically designed to image the breast — that’s the breakthrough,” says Kiser.

“Anything we can add as a tool in the fight against cancer is a welcome addition to our arsenal.”

While young women with dense breasts tend to be the main beneficiaries of MBI technology, middleage and elderly patients are benefitting from a new type of screening Photo by Sam Dean

ROANOKE BUSINESS

17

health care offered by LewisGale to detect lung cancer earlier.

A low-dose, CT lung screening is the first type of screening proven to detect lung cancer early. A study by the National Lung Screening Trial found that patients who had lowdose, CT lung screenings reduced their chances of dying from lung cancer by 20 percent in comparison with patients receiving a standard

chest X-ray.

“By the time [lung cancer] patients are symptomatic, the success rate in treating them drops off precipitously,” explains Dr. David Killeen, a pulmonologist with LewisGale Regional Health System. “The low-dose, CT lung scan provides us with a 3-D, high-resolution image of the lungs that allows us to detect cancers as small as the size of a pea.

If we can detect the tumor when it’s this small, we can remove it and possibly cure the disease.”

LewisGale Regional Health System offers screenings at LewisGale Medical Center to patients at high risk for lung cancer: people 55 to 74 years old who are current smokers or former smokers who have quit in the past 15 years and who smoked 30 or more packs annually.

Carilion Clinic’s Dr. Jason Foerst and a procedure called Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement are helping some high-risk heart patients.

Carilion services inc full page

18 MARCH 2013

Photo by Sam Dean

health care The screening, currently available in the region only at LewisGale, is not covered by insurance, which is why the health-care system is offering it to patients for just $150. “It’s not covered [by insurance] now, but hopefully it will be soon,” Killeen says. “I think if you’re going to reduce cancer death rates by 20 percent, it’s worth covering.”

Nationally, cancer trails heart disease by a small percentage as the leading cause of death, according to

the most recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Two medical innovations available locally only at Carilion Clinic, however, are helping improve the function of damaged and diseased hearts, keeping patients alive.

When it’s functioning properly, the heart’s aortic valve opens to allow blood to flow into the aorta and then closes to prevent blood from flowing back into the heart. When the treatment calls for a new aortic

valve on a high-risk patient, Carilion Clinic’s Dr. Jason Foerst, and Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement (TAVR) might enter the picture.

TAVR involves implanting a new, artificial aortic valve crafted from stainless steel and a cow’s pericardium (a double-walled sac containing the heart and the roots of the great vessels) within the defective aortic valve. The new valves are expected to last 10 to 15 years or longer. After being trained in the Carilion Clinic’s cardiothoracic surgeon Scott Arnold has been installing Left Ventricle Assist Devices for nearly a year.

20 MARCH 2013

Photo by Sam Dean

TAVR procedure for a year in Germany, Foerst has been performing it on patients at Carilion since May of last year.

“Essentially, this is a procedure that’s evolved for patients who are very high risk for open heart surgery,” Foerst explains. “These are usually, but not always, elderly patients who have other risk factors as well.”

Compared with traditional openheart surgery, TAVR is minimally invasive, with the new valve and surgical equipment being delivered to the heart after being inserted through a leg artery. For some patients whose arteries aren’t large enough, Carilion offers the procedure through a small incision between the ribs.

“Within the next year, we’ll be able to perform this procedure on a lot more people because the size of the delivery systems — the sheaths and tubes inserted into the leg — is going to come down,” Foerst explains.

“This is the beginning of a whole new revolution, much like coronary stents were in the ’90s. It’s evolving, considered very safe, less invasive, and has a quick recovery time.”

Medical innovations are also helping patients who have weak or failing left ventricles — the heart’s main pumping chamber.

Carilion Clinic and its cardiothoracic surgeon, Dr. Scott Arnold, have been implanting the HeartMate II

by Thoratec, also known as a Left Ventricle Assist Device (LVAD), in patients for almost a year as a specialized treatment for severe heart failure. The failure or weakening of the heart’s left ventricle is most often the result of coronary artery disease but can also be caused by a virus, genetics or as a rare condition some women experience after childbirth.

“In layman’s terms, HeartMate II is an internal, implantable pump that connects to the left ventricle,” Arnold explains. “It drains blood out of the left ventricle and sits parallel

to the native heart so the left ventricle can rest, and maybe recover, or it serves as a replacement to the left ventricle and provides a good, functional quality of life.”

Patients who receive an LVAD see improvements in energy levels and

tical to that made during regular open-heart surgery, Arnold says.

The pump is inserted in the upper abdomen, beneath the muscles, and connected to the left ventricle about an inch away.

Compared with traditional open-heart surgery, TAVR is minimally invasive, with the new valve and surgical equipment being delivered to the heart after being inserted through a leg artery. breathing as HeartMate II restores blood flow throughout the body.

HeartMate II is neither an artificial heart nor a heart replacement.

It simply assists or takes over — depending on the condition — the left ventricle’s pumping function.

HeartMate II is implanted through an incision nearly iden-

These innovations in imaging and cardiac treatment represent significant and rapidly evolving advancements in health care. Physicians are already looking ahead to the next generation of tools and technology and their promise of even greater life-saving capabilities.

richfield 1/3 sq

ROANOKE BUSINESS

21

EDUCaTION High truck traffic is one of the challenges facing Interstate 81 and its users.

Building connections along the interstate The I-81 Corridor Coalition is working for safety and efficiency.

by Joan Tupponce

22 MARCH 2013

Photo by Alisa Moody

L

ike other drivers navigating the busy Interstate 81 corridor, Rachel Cogburn is sometimes intimidated by the number of trucks barreling down the four-lane highway. “Anytime you are on I-81 you can look at the other side or the side that you are on and count the trucks. There is a lot of truck traffic,” she says. “It does make you nervous when you are driving.”

Cogburn isn’t just any random driver. She serves as executive director of the I-81 Corridor coalition, a post she assumed last August after working for the Atlanta Regional Commission. She was interested in the position not only because of her background in economics and engineering, but also because of her childhood in East Tennessee. She and her family used I-81 when traveling from Knoxville to Bristol to visit relatives. “It was a road I was familiar with,” she says.

The coalition is housed at the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute in Blacksburg. The VTTI is a research arm of Virginia Tech.

The Coalition is funded primarily through the state Department of Transportation, Virginia Tech and contributions from counties and communities along I-81. Virginia’s share of funding comes from the Virginia Department of Transportation and Virginia Tech.

Virginia was the first state to work on I-81, starting construction in 1957. By the mid-1970s, the 855-mile-long interstate was essentially complete from Tennessee to Canada. It is now one of the country’s leading corridors for truck traffic with vehicles traveling from populated urban markets to smaller rural markets.

The coalition that Cogburn heads promotes communication, collaboration and coordination between the states and communities traversed by I-81. “The coalition be-

Photo courtesy of Virginia Tech Transportation Institute

Rachel Cogburn heads the I-81 Corridor Coalition.

gan in 2009 as a small group of local and regional representatives meeting informally to discuss the impacts that I-81 was having on their communities,” Cogburn says. “It was located in the Cumberland County, Pa., area and was formed by County Commissioner Rick Rovegno.”

The coalition now includes local, regional and state organizations from each of the six states that the interstate crosses — Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania and New York. The organization operates through a steering committee that includes representatives from the department of transportation in each of those states as well as the U.S. Department of Transportation and county and regional transportation-related groups. “That makes the coalition unique,” Cogburn says, adding that each of its three program committees focuses on freight movement, public safety or environmental issues, all of which impact I-81.

Each state along the interstate’s route has a stake in the coalition’s goals but the benefits of the coalition’s efforts go far beyond individual jurisdictions. “It’s not about any single county or state; it’s the collective benefit,” says Robert Thomas, county commissioner for Franklin County, Pa., who sits on the coalition’s steering committee. “There are an awful lot of people traveling from one state to another on I-81.

It’s important to have communication between the states in clearing the interstate for an accident, snow emergencies, road closures, etc.

That is the key. That is what we have been encouraging.”

The coalition, which became part of the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute in 2011, holds monthly steering committee meetings as well as an annual conference. “We encourage first responders, trucking companies and trucking associations as well as anyone that is interested in I-81 to come to the annual conference,” Cogburn says. This year’s conference will be held March 25 and 26 in Hagerstown, Md. One of the coalition’s primary goals is to promote ways to improve freight and passenger movement along the corridor. “This is a major freight corridor,” Cogburn says, citing a 2007 study from the U.S. Department of Transportation that showed trucks represented 25 percent of vehicle traffic on all portions of I-81. “That is a heavy volume of truck traffic.”

The number of trucks is continuing to climb. “It’s expected to double in the next 20 years,” says Kevin Cole, who serves on the steering committee as the appointee for U.S. Congressman Phil Roe of the 1st District of Tennessee.

Truck traffic often is diverted from I-95 to I-81 to avoid traffic congestion on that major north/south interstate. Also, the widening of the Panama Canal will allow ships to bring supplies to more ports in the U.S. “Anything coming from those areas and going up north will come through the Tri-City area,” Cole says. “Anything we can do in terms of coordinating with the Corridor Coalition to move freight more safely will be a big help to us.”

The U.S. Department of Transportation points to Roanoke County near the I-581 junction as one

ROANOKE BUSINESS

23

education of the busiest segments of I-81 in Virginia. The interstate travels through the Appalachian region’s valleys and mountains with winding roads and steep inclines. Weather — ranging from snowstorms to hurricanes — can affect safety, and safety is a major coalition concern.

The Roanoke Times reported 266 fatal crashes on I-81 in Virginia from 1998 through 2008.

“One of the first initiatives of the public safety committee established a protocol within the six states to establish communication standards when an incident happens that will last two hours or longer,” Cogburn says. “Transportation operation centers in adjacent states to the incident would be contacted. That gives them time to divert the traffic and take other measures to minimize the backup.”

As part of its mission the coalition hosts workshops for first responders to train in the latest state

Construction on five miles of climbing lanes in Montgomery County should be complete before the year ends.

and federal safety regulations. “We bring together all types of first responders to work through imaginary incidents on the interstate,” Cogburn says. “It’s hard to get all those different agencies to work through that without being at an actual incident.”

Feedback on the workshops has been promising. A police officer told Cole it was one of “the best things” he had ever attended. One of the leaders of the workshop is a former

SPECTRUM DESIGN 1/6 HOR

HOUSE 1/6 HOR

24 MARCH 2013

firefighter who lost his best friend in an accident on the interstate. “If the workshop saves one life, it has been worth it,” Cole says.

The coalition is currently finishing up a truck parking inventory with data that includes information on the number of truck parking spaces at each rest stop along I-81.

“We are getting ready to send that out to participants,” Cogburn says.

“We are looking to find out if we are missing information.”

The goal is to one day be able to provide truck drivers with crucial information regarding I-81. “Getting in touch with truck drivers is important,” Cogburn says. “We want to let them know about reststop parking and any traffic incidents.”

The coalition’s website also provides important information, ranging from corridor statistics to safety data. “We want to be a resource for other agencies,” Cogburn says, noting that the first page of the site shows real-time incidents. “We also have a library resource that links to studies that have been completed on I-81.”

Cogburn is pleased with the coalition’s progress to date. “We want to find ways to add value,” she says.

“I have seen a great tendency for different agencies to work together and get information out to other states and other entities. That is valuable.”

Photo by Alisa Moody

Radford University full page

Interview: John Smolak, Economic Development Director, Appalachian Power

Attracting customers and jobs What’s good for Appalachian Power can be good for local economies.

so ago, the company wanted to bring back the economic development function, reenergize that function, to a greater extent than they had been doing the past seven or eight years. Obviously if we put more people to work, they’re building homes, buying homes. The tax base is good. The community is more viable. We benefit as well.

RB: How many people are on Appalachian Power’s economic development team?

Smolak: For Appalachian Power, you’re

John Smolak’s job is attracting companies to Appalachian Power’s service area.

by Kevin Kittredge

M

ost businesses want more cu s to m e r s . A p pa la ch ia n Power wants more businesses, too. The logic isn’t hard to understand.

When it comes to economic development, what’s good for the region is good for the power company, especially when economic development includes energyconsuming new industries.

New commercial power customers can help offset the cost of new environmental requirements and other capital improvements, says Appalachian Power spokesman Todd Burns. “Energy-intensive customers can ease the load on everyone,” he says.

That, in a nutshell, explains the role of John Smolak, Appalachian Power’s new Roanoke-based economic development director. A graduate of Kent State University and the Economic Development Institute at the University of Oklahoma, Smolak previously was Appalachian Power’s manager of economic development for Kentucky and West Virginia and later led an economic development group in

26 MARCH 2013

Hampton Roads.

His current job, which he assumed last spring, is part of a renewed effort on the part of AEP, Appalachian Power’s parent company, to seek new business as the nation’s economy improves.

Roanoke Business spoke with Smolak recently at the power company’s Roanoke offices at First Street and Franklin Road.

Roanoke Business: Tell us a little bit about where you came from and how you ended up here. Do you have ties to the area?

Smolak : I don’t have any direct ties to

Roanoke. Previously I was with Appalachian Power/AEP for almost 18 years. I worked in Charleston [W.Va.] and Columbus, Ohio. My most recent job was in the Hampton Roads market doing regional and local economic development for a group in that area. Previous to my employment with Appalachian, I was with the West Virginia Development Office for about 12 years as well.

So a pretty extensive background in economic development. About a year or

talking to him right here. It’s me. But our team consists of other people within the company that do different functions as well, like our customer services group, our external affairs group, our communications group. We all kind of work together to help support what I do. Other operating companies within AEP have a person like me as well. Sometimes they have more than one depending on their situation.

AEP also has a small group in Columbus, that provides suppor t for the operating companies.

RB: How large is your territory?

Smolak: Appalachian Power covers not

only Virginia but also a good portion of West Virginia in the southwestern part of the state and also Kingsport, Tenn.

RB: Is it difficult to balance the interests of these different areas?

Smolak: Not really. Everybody sort of

has the same goals and missions in mind as far as business development and new industry and new growth. Everybody does it sometimes a little bit differently depending on the goals of each individual region or each individual state that we’re working with. But the basic mission and goal remains the same: new investment, new jobs, new growth.

RB: How do you work with others outside the utility who are trying to bring new business to the region?

Smolak: It’s a partnership. It’s a partnership with the state of Virginia and its economic development group, the regional economic development groups such as the Photo by Sam Dean

Roanoke Regional Partnership, and other regional groups in Virginia, and then down in the local areas, where you have the city of Roanoke’s economic development, Franklin County, Botetourt County — those groups as well. It’s a partnership to work with everybody to make things happen.

One of the key things I do on a daily basis is staying in touch with the regional groups on projects they’re working on, on some of the marketing activities they may be performing, to make some new contacts, to build those relationships. I attend their marketing meetings. I meet with the local economic development groups on a kind of a regular basis, depending on the situation, help them out.

RB: How do you go about bringing new business and industry to the area?

Smolak: We market directly to compa-

nies that are targets of the areas we serve.

We work with site consultants. A site consultant is a person that a large company or even a small company would hire to help them find a new expanded location or a new location for their business in the U.S. We work with them in many ways, making sure they understand our service area, who we are, what we do, the benefits, the strengths and weaknesses of the areas we serve. We would provide complete location type of services to them. We would make the introductions to the regional partnership. We would make the introductions to the city of Roanoke. We would talk to them about infrastructure that’s here, the type of industry that’s here. We can arrange for them to have a site tour of the area. We would arrange for them to talk to existing industry in the area, talk about the labor force, skill sets, those kinds of things as well. It’s kind of a comprehensive look at what a company might need.

RB: Would new infrastructure sometimes be part of the conversation?

Smolak: It’s possible. What we try to do

is to show them proper ties or locations that have good infrastructure in place already. But if their requirements are a little bit more than what’s there, we have those kind of discussions about how we would upgrade a substation, or upgrade a distribution or a transmission line to that location, and we would provide them a cost estimate and how long that would take and how that would play into their decisionmaking process.

RB: Is there a certain type of business or industry that you’re looking for?

Smolak: We work with the state and lo-

cal and regional groups on all the projects they bring to us, but our particular focus happens to be on … the energy-intensive industries: automotive, chemical, data centers. We’re making some concerted efforts to meet and discuss our service area with some of those larger energy users as well.

RB: Do you have a standard pitch?

Smolak: One of the great things is the

quality of life type issues. Some of those are more important to certain industries than others. Others are very cost driven. If those cost factors are satisfactory to them and reasonable, they’ll locate there. You have to have a good dialogue and discussion with those industries to find out what is the decision-making process they’re going through, find out more about their business model. What’s driving this project? Is it because they want to be closer to their customer base? Do they want to establish a new customer base? Is it because of raw materials? It’s kind of a laundry list of things that you try to draw out of them so you understand their needs. You can tailor then the kind of location and property that they would require for their new operation.

RB: What’s a typical work day like?

Smolak: I have to say there‘s probably no

two days the same. That’s what makes this job really fun and really interesting. There will be some days where you’re doing research on companies that you want to contact. Some days you’ll be making calls to companies you want to talk with. Some days I’ll be out in the field on a site tour with a prospect. Or I’ll be meeting with a regional group to talk about their marketing activities, what they’ve been doing.

RB: How many miles a year do you put on your car?

Smolak: Fifteen or twenty thousand a year

… With today’s world of electronics and email, there’s a lot that can be done. Prospects today also want information quickly.

We have to have information that we provide them in an electronic format so we can email that to them that day. They don’t want to wait several days to get information. They want it now. The information exchange is quite rapid, and you’d better have your information on your website, or have information that you can send them quickly.

RB: Who are you competing with for new business and industry?

Smolak: Everybody. Specifically, we’re

looking at North Carolina, Maryland, all the adjacent states around. It’s kind of a regional perspective.

RB: Isn’t this an unusual thing for a company to do — recruit other businesses?

Smolak: Utility companies were probably

one of the first companies that did economic development work. In the 1950s and ’60s and ’70s it was called area development versus economic development. A lot of utility companies had people assigned to certain areas within their service area to do some of the very basic things we’re still doing today; to identify the sites and locations and strengths that certain industries would be looking for and to focus on energy-intensive companies that would be a good user of our product. There’s a long history of the utility companies being involved in economic development.

The key to everything, I think, is working collaboratively together in a partnership. Everybody wins. When you have a 200- or 300-job company come to your area, it’s a domino effect … It becomes a regional type thing, and you really have to focus as a region for new growth. It’s got to be a concerted effort of people working together to make it happen.

RB: Any successes that you’re particularly proud of?

Smolak: Yeah, I do have a few. Toyota Motor Manufacturing is one of those, their engine facilities and transmission facility in the Charleston area, and several Japanese suppliers that actually supply components to them, was a big thing that I was involved with during my tenure up there …

It’s always good to know that you’ve helped in some way provide somebody a job, or a community to grow. It does provide a lot of job satisfaction. It’s not always that way. When you do succeed, it is a great feeling. It’s a fun thing.

RB: Is there anything you can talk about that’s in the works right now?

Smolak: Not really. We are working with several prospects. There are several that are in the final stages of trying to make a decision. And so you may hear something in the future.

ROANOKE BUSINESS

27

lifestyles

I

Riding to work Roanoke, a bike commuter community in its infancy, is rolling along

by Sam Dean

Jamie Helmer commutes to her job at Norfolk Southern in downtown Roanoke.

28 MARCH 2013

Photos by Sam Dean

t’s a dark, cold and wet January morning.

So nasty, in fact, that it would be easy to grab an extra cup of coffee and show up half an hour late to work, but that’s not Jamie Helmer’s style. By 6:30 a.m. she has buckled her bike helmet, turned on her flashing safety lights and started pedaling the six miles from her home off Plantation Road in Roanoke to her downtown office at Norfolk Southern.

“The only thing that keeps me from riding is ice,” she says. “There is always going to be some obstacle; you just have to figure out a way to overcome each new one as it arises.”

Plastic bags seal out the elements on particularly cold and wet days, and before her workplace installed showers, she freshened up on hot summer days with baby wipes.

Helmer is a bicycle commuter.

To her, the benefits of better health, a greener world space and maybe even a few dollars saved on gas are worth the extra effort it takes to get rolling on a dreary morning.

She’s not alone. The number of Roanoke-area bike commuters is small, but growing. According to the 2010 census, bike commuting in the region has more than doubled in the past decade. In fact, biking as a whole is becoming a force for social and economic growth in the region.

Pete Eshelman, director for outdoor branding for the Roanoke Regional Partnership, says it’s about time. “I think as a whole, we’re just catching up,” he says. “People are starting to see the value in it for many reasons.”

For many people, it’s about fitness. As the pace of the workplace seems to accelerate, leaving little time for family or civic life, fitness often takes a back seat.

So for many, bike commuting affords the opportunity for a regu-

lar workout.

“It’s forced exercise,” says Shane Sawyer, a regional planner with the Roanoke Valley-Alleghany Regional Commission who also sits on the greenway commission and is a father to young children. With his schedule, Sawyer doesn’t have much time for a workout. “I ride hard my 13-mile commute.”

of the greenway into her commute.

“It’s peaceful and quiet and it keeps me off of the main roads,” she says.

Staying off main arteries is a safer, more pleasing way to travel.

Partially because of the development of the greenway system, the city of Roanoke received a bronze level designation from the League of American Bicyclists in 2010 and

The number of Roanoke-area bike commuters is small, but growing. According to the 2010 census, bike commuting in the region has more than doubled in the past decade.

But the draw isn’t just health benefits; it can be measured in dollars and cents, too. As health-care costs continue to soar, businesses are promoting healthy living in whatever way they can, and area civic and business leaders are beginning to recognize the value of investing in quality-of-life services, such as developing the region’s potential as a biking community, as a recruiting tool.

“Young professionals consider many factors in choosing to take a job. Quality of life and the outdoors is very important to many of the people relocating to the area, so developing outdoor resources is a tool to recruit and retain talent,” says Eshelman.

Eshelman is a bike commuter, and part of his job for the partnership is to clear a path for cycling and other outdoor pursuits in the area.

One of the main resources he and other regional development professionals and volunteers promote and cite as a key to the growth of biking in the Roanoke Valley is the greenway system. “I consider it a gateway resource,” he says. “People try it out, and it leads to their involvement in other activities.”

Helmer incorporates a portion

joined Alexandria, Arlington and Charlottesville as Virginia’s fourth bicycle-friendly city. Among other factors cited in the award was the city’s commitment to develop and implement a street-planning system that considers bike routes.

Although a decade ago there were few marked bike lanes, the number is growing, admittedly not fast enough for some. “It’s unrealistic to think that a city the size of Roanoke can just go lay down 20 miles of bike lanes, but we are making progress,” says Jeremy Holmes, coordinator of sustainability programs for the Roanoke Valley-Alleghany Regional Commission (RVARC) and a bike commuter. “There’s a perception that cities like Portland [Oregon] with a great reputation for being bikefriendly have miles of bike lanes, but what they have is great routing, planning and signage.”

With a little planning and creativity, cyclists in Roanoke can find routes just as easily as in cities like Portland, he believes.

Holmes directs Ride Solutions, an RVARC program that promotes alternative transportation, including cycling. The program’s website (ridesolutions.org) offers a wealth of cycling tips, including bike-

ROANOKE BUSINESS

29

lifestyles friendly routes. Additionally, the program offers members a guaranteed ride home should weather or some other emergency circumstance require it.

“It takes a lot of the stress out of it,” says Helmer, who as a mom has to factor her kids’ needs into commuting plans. Still, the thought of leaving the security and convenience of a car is daunting for some.

Will it take longer to get to the office? What about work attire?

“My commute is four minutes faster by bike than car,” says Eshelman, who always keeps a spare change of clothing in his office as an insurance policy that he can still maintain a professional appearance.

Helmer was encouraged to give it a try by a coworker who commuted by bike from the base of Bent Mountain. If he could come in all that way, then surely she could manage her own commute, which

Thalhimer 1/3 sq

30

Next

Bill Meador, founder, Roanoke United Network

march 2013

ROANOKE

Creating a network

Pete Eshelman regularly commutes by bike to his job at the Roanoke Regional Partnership where his duties include promoting cycling in the region.

Native returns home to start a business and a young professionals network

by Rebekah Manley

is much shorter, she reasoned.

He even offered to mentor her.

“We met in the parking lot at Target and he helped me find a route,” she says.

Her advice for picking a route?

“Start small, not during peak hours — say on a Saturday — and test the route before you try it on a week day.”

Equipment is key, too, according to veteran commuters; not the bike necessarily — almost any bike will suffice for commuting — but a good helmet, cold weather gloves, a spare tube and, most importantly, safety lights and reflective clothing are key.

Bike safety and best biking practices are fundamental elements in growing a vibrant community on two wheels. “We’re a biking community in its infancy,” says Eshelman. “It’s up to current cyclists to ride defensively and set a good example of what safe biking should be.”

Three years into the bike commuting lifestyle, Helmer hopes to see the community grow and wouldn’t change a thing about how she travels to work. “It gives me such a sense of accomplishment,” she says. “I’ve never once regretted riding into work, but I’ve regretted it many times when I haven’t.”

Photo by Sam Dean

C

all it insurance for a growing young professional population. Bill Meador, a 30-year-old Cave Spring and 2005 James Madison University graduate, not only returned to his hometown — where he owns an independent insurance agency — he star ted a networking group for young professionals in the Roanoke area.

In November, Meador formed the Roanoke United Network, a young professional networking group that meets once a month after work at various restaurants. “This is a great oppor tunity for young professionals here in the Roanoke Valley to come together, share sales ideas and techniques that have been proven successful, and also just come out to meet new friends and unwind after a long and stressful day at work,” says Meador.

“I strongly encourage anyone who is new to Roanoke to attend one of our monthly meetings to socialize and meet other like-minded individuals,

Photo by Sam Dean

both on a personal and business level.’’

While Meador’s insurance business is currently a one-man show, he has plans for growth in the next few years. He envisions a five-plus person team including one or two customer service representatives along with a few sales associates, each specializing in a particular line of insurance.

Meador visits clients as insurance agents have always done, but he also reaches out to clients online, updating his Facebook page weekly with pitches and tips for clients and potential clients.

A January post read: “For any brides-to-be out there, make sure to stop by my booth at the bridal show this weekend…” Another one: “Please take a minute to read the attached article from my website...some good information about lessons learned from Super s tor m Sandy! ” Mixed in with the information was a picture of his daughter’s first Christmas.

Roanoke Business: How do people get connected to Roanoke United Network online between meetings?

Meador: I created a Facebook group, Roanoke United Network, to post information about upcoming events, as well as to allow business owners and those who work in sales to post information about their company or product to the young professional demographic here locally. This is a great way to make an informal sales pitch and let everyone know why and how their product or service is better than the rest. As of right now there are more than 160 members in the group, and it is growing day-by-day.

RB: What could happen to encourage young professionals to move here?

What would you say to someone interested in moving to Roanoke?

Meador: I believe that slowly but surely Roanoke is becoming an attractive place for

young professionals to live and begin their careers. I remember when I graduated from college in 2005, the last thing I wanted to do was move back home to Roanoke. However, as the years have gone by, I’ve begun to truly appreciate what Roanoke has to offer. With all the building renovations and new businesses in downtown Roanoke, this will attract — if it hasn’t already — more young professionals to move to this area, or in my case, move back to this area after college. Not to mention all the outdoor activities Roanoke has to offer!

RB: How do you find balance with family and work?

Meador: My wife and I have an eight-month-old daughter named Emerson. Sometimes it is tough to balance the work/ home life since every day is different, but I always make time to spend with my baby girl before she goes to bed each night.

ROANOKE BUSINESS

31

Facts& Figures

Roanoke Regional Chamber of Commerce | Sponsored Content

Roanoke Regional Chamber recognizes Chamber Champions and event sponsors Chamber Champions BB&T Brown Edwards Blue Ridge Copier Cox Business Gentry Locke Rakes & Moore Grow Inc. LifeWorks REHAB (Medical Facilities of America) Lumos Networks

Numbers tell a puzzling story

L

ook at pages of numbers for too long and you’re bound to see some odd things.

For instance, according to the running averages compiled through the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, the population of the Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford Metropolitan Statistical Area is pretty close to the work force in the Roanoke Metropolitan Statistical Area. The median age in the BlacksburgChristiansburg-Radford Metropolitan Statistical Area is nearly 11 years younger than the median age in the Roanoke Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Maybe that’s why the median household income in Roanoke is more than $3,400 higher — but is that why it’s higher in every education category? Is it just a coincidence that the Roanoke MSA’s work force fell by 2,900 between November 2011 and the same month in 2012, while the Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford work force rose by 3,100? And how is it that, in a world in which it seems only families on old sitcoms have a stay-at-home parent, at least one spouse in more than 45 percent of the married couples in the BlacksburgChristiansburg-Radford MSA isn’t in the work force?

In the Roanoke MSA, that’s more than 47 percent. It can’t be because of unemployment. That was at 5.6 percent in Roanoke, 5.4 percent in the Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford MSA.

Labor force Unemployed November November 2011 2012 2011 2012

Virginia

4,321.1 4,332.2

249.9

228.2

Blacksburg-ChristiansburgRadford MSA

87.4

90.5

5.1

4.9

Roanoke MSA

162.5

159.6

9.9

8.9

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics. Numbers in thousands.

32 MARCH 2013

rev.net Spilman Thomas & Battle PLLC Trane Tread Corp.

Wells Fargo Woods Rogers Attorneys at Law Pepsi Bottling Group

Note: Chamber Champions are members who support the Roanoke Regional Chamber through year-round sponsorships in exchange for year-round recognition.

Event sponsors 123rd Annual Meeting of the Membership LewisGale Regional Health System First Citizens Bank Gentry Locke Rakes & Moore Appalachian Power Salem Printing Co. xpedx Business Before Hours — Jan. 17 Goodwill Industries of the Valleys Doctors Express

2013 Capital Dinner Lanford Brothers Co. Norfolk Southern Corp.

Verizon Casino Night Market Building Foundation Spilman Thomas & Battle PLLC Blue Ridge Catering Fun Times Party Warehouse

Motley to chair Roanoke Regional Chamber The Roanoke Regional Chamber of Commerce, Western Virginia’s largest business organization, has elected officers and directors for 2013.

Dan Motley, industrial development manager of Norfolk Southern, has been elected chair. Other officers are: John Francis, First Citizens Bank, past chair; Barry Henderson, SunTrust Banks, chair-elect; F.B. Webster Day, Spilman Thomas & Battle, vice Motley chair economic development; Ken Randolph, Rockydale Quarries, vice chair membership; Vickie Bibee, Scott Insurance, vice chair of public policy; Jonathan Hagmaier, Interactive Achievement, vice chair at-large; Melinda Chitwood, Brown, Edwards & Co., treasurer; and Joyce Waugh, Roanoke Regional Chamber, president and secretary.

New members of the 2013 Board of Directors are: Jeffrey Marks, WDBJ7; Greg Freeman, Roanoke Stamp & Seal; Ellis Gutshall, Valley Bank; Tye Campbell, SFCS; Phil Anderson, Frith, Anderson & Peake PC; Karen Turner, StellarOne Bank; and Dr. Cynda Johnson, Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine.

Continuing to serve on the board are: Josh Bradley, First Citizens Bank; Steve Cronemeyer, Verizon; Beth Doughty, Roanoke Regional Partnership; Kay Dunkley, Virginia Tech; Roger Elkin, Hall Associates; Tamea Franco, Global Metal Finishing; Nancy Oliver Gray, Hollins University; Betsy Head, Home Instead Senior Care; Scott Hodge, AECOM; Landon Howard, Roanoke Valley Convention & Visitors Bureau; Joe Jones, Appalachian Power; Penelope Kyle, Radford University; Dale Lee, RGC Resources; Michael Maxey, Roanoke College; Thomas L. McKeon, Roanoke Higher Education Center; Joe Miller, E.J. Miller Construction; Curtis Mills, Carilion Clinic; Todd Morgan, MB Contractors; Garry Norris, Express Employment Professionals; Todd Putney, Medical Facilities of America; Angela Reynolds, LewisGale Medical Center; Robert Sandel, Virginia Western Community College; Kim Stanley, Cox Communications; Steven S. Strauss, Strauss Construction Corp., Wayne G. Strickland, Roanoke Valley-Alleghany Regional Commission; and Leonard Wheeler, Wheeler Broadcasting.

Member news & recognitions Advance Auto Parts, a leading retailer of automobile aftermarket parts, accessories, batteries and maintenance items, has completed the acquisition of B.W.P. Distributors in an all-cash transaction. BWP, a privately held company that supplies, markets and distributes automotive aftermarket parts and products principally to commercial customers, was founded in 1962 and is based in Armonk, N.Y. The acquisition will enable Advance Auto Parts to continue its expansion.

Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital was recently named the Roanoke Valley’s preferred health-care provider by consumers. National Research Corp. awarded Carilion Clinic’s

Roanoke hospital the 2012/2013 Consumer Choice Award, recognizing it among the top hospitals in the country.

This is the ninth year in a row that Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital has received the Consumer Choice award.

podiums; building a new amphitheater stage designed to the scale of the park and with improvements to enhance both the performer and audience experience; creating seating arrangements for amphitheater patrons; building a concesSix million dollars worth of improve- sions plaza to bring food vendors into ments are under way at Roanoke’s a central area for easy access during Elmwood Park. MB Contractors festivals and other activities; creating of Roanoke began construction interactive water fountains; building a Oct. 26. The reopening is projected trail connection to Mill Mountain Grefor August. Scheduled work includes: enway to draw outdoor enthusiasts into revitalizing the magnolia-lined entrance the park; installing new signage and enfrom Franklin Road; landscaping and trance gateways; making improvements improving storm-water runoff with rain for pedestrian access and on-street gardens on Bullitt Avenue; creating an parking to Williamson Road adjacent to art walk complemented by new street the park; and improving the connection lights, trees, landscaping and sculpture to the park from the downtown library.

The city of Roanoke has invited residents to register their cell phones to receive voice and text messages on local emergency alert notifications, and pertinent information regarding the city’s response to emergency situations at https://roanoke.onthealert.com/.

Harvard’s Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation has recognized the city of Roanoke’s “Technology Initiatives for Building Placards” program as one of 111 innovative government initiatives for its 2012 Bright Ideas in Government cohort. The city’s Building Inspections Division submitted an entry on a project that applies quick response codes to permit placards for new buildings, allowing

ROANOKE BUSINESS

33

Sponsored Content | Roanoke Regional Chamber of Commerce contractors and applicants to view the daily inspections calendar online via smart phones or tablets. The codes also link the customer to the online permit center, where they can request inspections, view permit history and inspection results, as well as receive notification of required inspections to finalize the permit and complete the job. For more information, call 540-853-6877.

The city of Roanoke has named Chris Chittum as the director of the Planning, Building and Development Department after a national search that resulted in 56 applicants for the position.

In his new position, Chittum will be Chittum responsible for leading code enforcement, planning and neighborhood services, development review, building inspections and the HUD Community Resource Team.

Rakes, antitrust law, banking and finance law, bet-the-company litigation, commercial litigation, corporate law, litigation – banking and finance, litigation – mergers and acquisitions; J. Scott Sexton, commercial litigation, oil and gas law; Bruce C. Stockburger, trusts and estates, Dill tax law, leveraged buyouts and private equity law; Charles L. Williams, environmental law, litigation – environmental; and Clark H. Worthy, real estate law.

The Virginia law firm Gentry Locke Rakes & Moore has been named one of the 2013 U.S. Top Ranked Law Firms. The list appeared in Fortune magazine’s Special 2013 Investor’s Guide, as well as in the January 2013 issues of Corporate Counsel and The American Lawyer, published by American Lawyer Media.

Roanoke City Council has named the Rev. Carl T. Tinsley Sr. as the 2012 Citizen of the Year for the city of Roanoke. In recognition of this honor, Mayor David Bowers bestowed the key to the city on Tinsley at the city’s annual volunteer reception.

The Delta Dental of Virginia Foundation recently awarded its inaugural oral health grants to 36 organizations across the state, totaling more than $1.1 million. The initial grants were awarded to programs that have a significant impact on improving oral health with sustainable solutions through improved access to oral care, oral health education or oral health research.

Motley

The Southern Economic Development Council (SEDC) has announced that Dan Motley, industrial development manager of Norfolk Southern, has been elected chairman of the SEDC board of directors. Motley will serve a one-year term on the board.

Roanoke County Administrator Clay Goodman has announced important information for residents with property located in flood hazard zones. The county has maintained a Class 8 designation in the Community Rating System (CRS).

Gentry Locke Rakes & Moore has announced that 23 This means all National Flood Insurance program of the firm’s attorneys were named “Legal Eagles” in policies renewed on property in flood hazard zones the April 2012 issue of Virginia Living magazine. The in Roanoke County will receive a 10 percent discount honored attorneys and the category for which they on flood insurance premiums. Properties not deemed were selected are: J. Rudy Austin, personal injury to be in a flood hazard zone, but whose owners want litigation – defendants; Thomas J. Bondurant flood insurance coverage, will be offered a preferred Jr., criminal defense – white collar; Matthew W. risk policy. For more information on the Community Broughton, product liability litigation; David Rating System and Roanoke County’s Floodplain N. Cohan, copyright law, trademark law; Lewis Management plan, contact Butch Workman at 540A. Conner, corporate compliance law; Wilburn 772-2096, ext. 234.

C. Dibling Jr., municipal law; G. Franklin William F. “Bill” Hunter has been Flippin, banking and finance law, corporate law, named the new director of Roanoke mergers and acquisitions; W. William Gust, County’s Communications and Informaemployee benefits law, tax law; Gregory J. Haley, tion Technology Department. Hunter commercial litigation, eminent domain and condemhas worked for the county for more than nation law, government relations practice; Guy Hunter nine years.

M. Harbert, insurance law; Kevin W. Holt, The Roanoke County Board of Supercommercial litigation; Paul G. Klockenbrink, visors has elected Mike Altizer, employment law, management litigation, labor and who represents the Vinton District, as employment; Todd A. Leeson, employment law, chairman of the board. Charlotte management litigation, labor and employment law; Moore, who represents the Cave K. Brett Marston, construction law, litigation Altizer Spring District, was chosen as the – construction; Monica T. Monday, appellate vice chair. practice; S.D. Roberts Moore, personal injury Members of the Roanoke County litigation – defendants, personal injury litigation – School Board have elected Hollins plaintiffs; G. Michael Pace Jr., banking and District representative Jerry Canfinance law, corporate law, litigation – real estate, ada as 2013 chairman. Drew Barreal estate law, land use and zoning law; W. David rineau, representative of the WindPaxton, employment law – individuals, employsor Hills District, was elected vice ment law – management, labor law – management, Canada litigation – labor and employment; William R. chairman.

34 MARCH 2013

The Roanoke Regional Chamber of Commerce honored t wo of ficers of the year, ambassador of the year and the Backbone Club’s Jack Rogers C. Smith Top Producer award at the organization’s 12 3rd A nnu al Meeting of the Membership. Ivy Dill with First Citizens Bank was Hicks Wygal named the Jack C. Smith Top Producer in recognition of her outstanding service to the Backbone Club. Amanda Rogers with Bright Services was honored as the 2012 Ambassador of the Year. Roanoke City Police Department Sgt. Jason Hicks was named the city’s 2012 Officer of the Year. Officer R.J. Wygal was honored as the Roanoke County Police Department’s 2012 Officer of the Year.

The Roanoke Valley-Alleghany Regional Commission has received a 2012 innovation award from the National Association of Development Organizations (NADO) for its Save-a-Ton campaign. The campaign was recognized for its regional approach to the energy conservation education awareness program and the effort to reduce duplication across local governments. Save-a-Ton was started in 2011 by Roanoke County, the city of Roanoke and a number of nonprofits and other partners. The commission assumed management of the program in July. The program uses its web presence, including a website and social media, to share information about local energy efficiency/ conservation programs and to connect residents with businesses that provide energy-related goods and services across the Roanoke and New River valleys.

The Science Museum of Western V ir gini a h a s n a m e d M i c h a e l Hemphill as its new director of development and marketing. Hemphill will direct the Science Museum’s Hemphill membership, special events, fundraising and promotion initiatives as the museum prepares for its return in the spring to a revitalized Center in the Square in downtown Roanoke.

Spectrum Design has announced that its vice president and director of design, David L. Bandy, AIA, has been promoted to president.

Bandy Missell Bandy succeeds John Garland who retired from the firm Dec. 31. The firm also announced the hiring of John A. Missell, AIA, as chief operating officer.

Roanoke Regional Chamber of Commerce | Sponsored Content The law firm Spilman Thomas & Battle has announced that M. Mallory Mantiply of its Roanoke office was elected as a new member effective Jan. 1. Mantiply’s practice focuses on trials Mantiply and litigation of all types. He earned his Cecere undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Virginia.

Witt

SunTrust Bank, Western Virginia has announced that Tiphanie A. Witt has been promoted to assistant vice president. Witt serves as the branch manager at the Vinton K roger of fic e loc ation within it s retail division.

Virginia Tech’s Personal Touch Catering has been awarded the National Association of College and University Food Service (NACUFS) 2012 Loyal E. Horton Grand Prize in the Catering Online Menu category. Personal Touch Catering’s online menu received a gold medal in the large school division last spring and was then showcased at the national NACUFS convention in July, where it was judged against gold medal winners from the small- and medium-school divisions and ultimately named the top online menu.

All Virginia Tech undergraduate students may enroll in science, engineering and law, a unique and intrinsically interdisciplinary minor. The new minor was introduced last fall and was developed under the prestigious Howard Hughes Medical Institute Science Education grant.

With more than $450 million in research expenditures for fiscal year 2011, Virginia Tech continues to rank in the top 5 percent of research universities and colleges in an annual survey of more than 900 institutions conducted by the National Science Foundation. Rising three places to No. 41, Virginia Tech remains the top university in Virginia for funds expended in pursuit of science, engineering and other scholarly activity, and the only Virginia institution in the top 50.

Bachelez

Dr. Andreas Bachelez has joined the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine at Virginia Tech as a clinical assistant professor of small animal surgery in the Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences.

Dr. Tom Cecere has joined the ment head after serving for two years.

Virginia-Maryland Regional College Richard E. Sorensen, dean of of Veterinary Medicine at Virginia Tech the Pamplin College of Business at as an assistant professor of anaVirginia Tech, received an honorary tomic pathology in the Department doctorate from the Grenoble Ecole de of Biomedical Sciences and PathoManagement during Pamplin’s blackbiology.

Sorensen tie donor recognition celebration in Yohna Chambers has been named Blacksburg. assistant vice president of human Senior Vice President and Provost Mark resources at Virginia Tech. In her new McNamee has announced the appointposition, Chambers oversees benefits, ment of Robert T. Sumichrast as compensation, performance managedean of the Pamplin College of Business Chambers ment, staffing and recruiting and wellat Virginia Tech. Currently serving as ness.

Sumichrast dean of the Terry College of Business at Virginia Tech’s Thomas E. Cook Counselthe University of Georgia, Sumichrast ing Center has received notification of will begin his appointment at Virginia Tech on July 1. its accreditation from the International He will succeed Richard E. Sorensen, who will retire Association of Counseling Services. The June 30 after 31 years as dean. accreditation signifies that the counselSherrie Whaley has been named ing center adheres to the highest stanFlynn director of communications at the Virdards of professional counseling. ginia-Maryland Regional College of Christopher Flynn, director of Cook Counseling Veterinary Medicine at Virginia Tech.

Center, recently was elected to the 14-member InterWhaley will be responsible for strategic national Association of Counseling Services board. communications, including internal and Whaley Dr. J. Claudio Gutierrez has external communications, branding, returned to the Virginia-Maryland media relations and marketing of programs. She will R e gio n a l C oll e g e o f Ve t e r in a r y also manage the college’s Office of Public Relations Medicine at Virginia Te ch a s an and Communications. anatomy instructor in the Department Doug Witney has been named director of Gutierrez of Biomedical Sciences and Pathoproduction services for the Center for the biology.

Arts at Virginia Tech. Witney brings almost D r. S hir e e n H afe z re c ently 30 years of production experience, rangjoined the Virginia-Mar yland Reing from lighting and sound design to gional College of Veterinary Mediproduction and operations management, Witney cine at Virginia Tech as an anatomy to the position. He will oversee event ins t r u c tor in t h e D e p a r t m e n t of production and technical operations for Center for the Biomedical Sciences and Pathobi- Arts programs, which will be presented throughout the Hafez ology. center’s 147,000-square-foot facility currently under Lara Khansa, an assistant profes- construction on the Virginia Tech campus. sor in the Department of Business Brian Yohn has been named creative Information Technology at Virginia services manager for the Center for the Tech, has developed and taught the Arts at Virginia Tech, bringing a blend university’s first-ever online healthof creativity and innovations, as well as care information technology graduate Khansa extensive experience managing print course. and digital publications. He also manYohn ages the creative services work for the Sara W. Leftwich has been named manager of dual career and special proj- Center for the Arts and the Institute for Creativity, Arts ects in the Department of Human Re- and Technology. sources at Virginia Tech. Leftwich will Virginia Western Community College lead the university’s dual career program was ranked as the safest college of 2012 in Virginia Leftwich which provides job search assistance to and eighth nationally in the annual list compiled by the spouses and partners of the new StateUniversity.com. The Safest Schools findings are faculty who are relocating to the New River Valley. based on incidents of campus crime as reported by

Myra Blanco, leader of the Safety and Human Factors Engineering group with the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute’s Center for Truck and Bus Safety, will receive the J. Cordell Breed Award for Women LeadBlanco ers, to be presented at the SAE International 2013 World Congress April 16-18 in Detroit. The award recognizes a woman active in the mobility industry.

Smith

Robert L. “Bob” Smith has been appointed interim head of the Department of Sustainable Biomaterials of the Virginia Tech College of Natural Resources and Environment. Smith follows Barry Goodell, who stepped down as depart-

campus safety officials. As part of the Safest Schools rankings, StateUniversity.com analyzed crime statistics for 450 colleges and universities, and assigned a safety rating to each school. Other regional colleges and universities ranked in the top 10 for Virginia include, Virginia Tech, sixth, and Radford University, tenth.

ROANOKE BUSINESS

35

Sponsored Content | Roanoke Regional Chamber of Commerce

News from the Roanoke Regional Partnership Forbes.com recognizes Virginia as a top state for business Forbes.com named Virginia second in the nation for business-friendliness in its 2012 rankings.

Virginia was the top state east of the Mississippi River and was ranked behind only Utah. Virginia has consistently been named a Forbes top state for business based on business costs, labor supply, regulatory environment, economic climate, growth prospects and quality of life.

Forbes ranked Virginia as the No.1 state for a businessfriendly regulatory environment and among the top 10 in labor supply, economic climate and quality of life.

Roanoke featured by Virginia Living Another magazine has a headline about the Roanoke Region on its cover. Virginia Living featured “A Small City Bursting with Big Ideas” on the cover of its December issue.

Titled “The Little City That Could,” the story details some of Roanoke’s history, its present and plans for the future. It features a handful of downtown hotspots and the outdoors.

Writer Daryl Grove wrote: “I rented a bike from the Cambria Suites hotel and enjoyed a leisurely early-morning ride through Smith Park and Wasena Park, alongside and then over the Roanoke River, around Vic Thomas Park and then up onto the road to find the legendary Black Dog Salvage, home of reclaimed and repurposed architectural and antique wonders (two men were unloading what looked like a torpedo). Along the way I passed families, joggers, dog walkers and fellow bikers enjoying a traffic-free commute to work and exchanged cheery hellos with them all.”

Homestead Creamery to expand Homestead Creamery, known for its farm-fresh dairy products and back-in-fashion home delivery, plans to expand its facilities and introduce a line of cheeses as part of a $1.1 million expansion supported by a new state grant designed to support Virginia’s agricultural industry.

The expansion is expected to create 20 new full-time jobs over three years at the dairy’s Franklin County production facility.

Announcing the expansion at the Homestead in December, Gov. Bob McDonnell said, “Awarding the first-ever Agriculture and Forestry Industries Development (AFID) 36 MARCH 2013

Fund grant to a company like Homestead Creamery, with its full commitment to Virginia farmers and Virginia grown products, is the perfect way to launch this new program from my administration’s economic development and jobs creation agenda.

“Homestead is just the type of company for which this program was built, one that can take the high-quality agricultural products Virginia has to offer and turn them into value-added products consumers are seeking. I’m certain the AFID will provide further growth opportunities for Virginia’s diverse agricultural economy, the commonwealth’s largest industry.”

Homestead will receive a $60,000 grant through the fund, established last year by the General Assembly as a new economic development tool to develop incentives helping the creation or expansion of businesses that use Virginia agricultural and forestry products, particularly in rural areas.

The expansion also is made possible by a $45,000 grant through the Tobacco Region Opportunity Fund from the Tobacco Indemnification and Community Revitalization Commission and a Franklin County grant of $30,000. The company will also receive training assistance from the Virginia Jobs Investment Program.

“Agriculture is big business in Franklin County, and we’re delighted to be the first locality in the commonwealth with a business benefiting from a new state incentive program that recognizes the economic benefits and contributions of local farmers and growers,” said David Cundiff, chair of the Franklin County Board of Supervisors and a commissioner of the Virginia Tobacco Indemnification and Community Revitalization Commission. “A strong and prosperous agricultural industry, coupled with manufacturing and services, helps us maintain a diversified economy that improves our quality of life.”

Agricultural product revenues totaled nearly $54 million in Franklin County, according to the latest data from 2007, up 40 percent over 2002. Revenues from milk and dairy product sales accounted for two-thirds of all agricultural sales activity in Franklin County.

Homestead Creamery plans to invest in real estate, building improvements and expansion, and new equipment. It will include two new home-delivery trucks, freezer, cooler, storage tanks for milk, pumping station, yogurt tank, cheesemaking equipment, mixer for flavored milk and an expanded sewage treatment system.

Since 2001, the creamery has produced milk, butter and ice cream at its Burnt Chimney production facility and delivered it to stores such as Kroger, Whole Foods and other retailers in Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina and Tennessee. The company also offers home-delivery.

VA Western Comm College full page

Back Cover VT University Relations Full page