Business North Carolina August 2024

TRUST AND PAYDAY

Building prized niches managing money for workers and the wealthy, Raleigh’s Captrust soars with leadership from three small-town N.C. guys.

4 UP FRONT

6 POWER LIST INTERVIEW

Richard Childress talks NASCAR, spending time with his grandchildren, and how he started a successful winery.

10 POINT TAKEN

Steps N.C. businesses can take to get more military contracts.

12 NC TREND

From Walmart cashier to six-figure salary; Boom Supersonic remains unfazed over skepticism; Wake Forest golfer discusses her drive; Cone Health’s new partner; Restaurant hits new heights; ‘Dirty Dancing’ hotel sold.

78 SCENE SETTERS

Playling hard at the Best Employers Awards Dinner.

80 PROJECT PLANS

After two straight wins, North Carolina gets a second place in an influential economic development ranking.

30 CORPORATE MEETING GUIDE

COVID-19 isn’t talked about much anymore as the hospitality sector rebounds from its greatest challenge.

42 ROUND TABLE: MANUFACTURING

Traditional industries such as agriculture, furniture and textiles find a new way to do things as North Carolina shifts to a global economy driven by knowledge-based enterprises.

70 COMMUNITY CLOSE UP: GLOBAL TRANSPARK ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT REGION

A thriving agriculture sector, small-town charm and nearby military bases have Greene, Lenoir and Wayne counties flying high.

MONEY MEN

Savvy M&A strategy,

equity backing and small-town values propel

kingpin Captrust.

BY DAVID MILDENBERG

TOP 75 PUBLIC COMPANIES

Many big N.C.-based stocks soared over the past year. Still, 33 of the 75 showed declines.

BY DAVID MILDENBERG, CHRIS ROUSH AND MATT WEST

CAR TALK

Advance Auto Parts hired Shane O’Kelly to drive its finances in a different direction. BY CHRIS ROUSH

GETTING THEIR KICKS

Cary scores economic wins by attracting fans of the world’s most popular sport. BY CHRIS ROUSH

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MINOR LEAGUE BASEBALL IN NORTH CAROLINA

Kevin Ellis UP FRONT

PLAY BALL

Asellout crowd of almost 4,200 people came to McCormick Field in midJuly to watch the Asheville Tourists play the Aberdeen (Maryland) IronBirds. Temperatures had dropped to near 80 degrees when the game ended, making for a perfect night for baseball in the mountains.

Walking out, I saw team owner Brian DeWine handing out team schedules and thanking fans for their attendance. The Tourists lost the game, and are having a rough season, but no one seemed to care.

“At a minor league game, it’s not about winning or losing,” says DeWine. “It’s about being outside and enjoying time with your family and friends.”

North Carolina may long for a major league baseball team, but 10 N.C. towns from Kinston to Asheville are still benefiting from minor league teams playing dozens of home games this summer.

“Our state loves baseball, and we have a lot of thriving communities in our state that can support baseball from the business side and the fans,” says DeWine.

McCormick Field has been around since 1924, but this year could have been its last. Major League Baseball gave its affiliate teams a deadline to bring stadiums up to standards. McCormick Field’s last big renovation came in 1992.

“The deadline was forced upon us, but the ballpark did need renovation,” says DeWine, whose family has owned the team since 2010. Last year, the city of Asheville, Buncombe County and the team agreed to fund $38 million in stadium improvements.

Winston-Salem-based Blum Construction will start the work once the season ends in September and complete renovations to clubhouses, lighting and the field by April 1, 2026, DeWine says.

About 180,000 fans attend games each season at McCormick Field. The county estimates the team has a $10 million annual economic impact. The teams in Charlotte and Durham each attract about a halfmillion fans annually, ranking among the most successful minor-league teams.

Asheville Tourists

Carolina Mudcats (Zebulon)

Charlotte Knights

Down East Wood Ducks (Kinston)

Durham Bulls

Fayetteville Woodpeckers

Greensboro Grasshoppers

Hickory Crawdads

Kannapolis Cannon Ballers Winston-Salem Dash

UNAFFLIATED TEAMS

Gastonia High Point

COLLEGE SUMMER LEAGUE BASEBALL TEAMS

Asheboro, Boone, Forest City, Holly Springs, High-Point-Thomasville, Morehead City, Wilmington, Wilson

A fter improvements, McCormick Field will offer more concerts, movie nights and other events on a year-around basis. “We’re going to try and provide affordable, family entertainment like we do now with baseball,” DeWine says.

Business North Carolina awards

National and state associations recently recognized Business North Carolina for its journalism.

The Alliance of Area Business Publishers awarded Edward Martin a first-place award for best personality profile for a story about Raleigh radio magnate Don Curtis. BNC also was honored for its website.

In state awards, BNC entered the annual North Carolina Press Association contest for the first time.

Chris Roush won a first-place award for describing Kontoor Brands’ use of name, image and likeness deals with college athletes to sell Wrangler jeans to younger customers.

David Mildenberg and Martin won a second-place award for their story on Truist’s performance after the 2019 merger of BB&T and SunTrust.

A third-place award went to writer Shannon Cuthrell for her story on the financial troubles facing Charlotte’s Aldersgate retirement community. Roush also won a third-place award for a story about how Atlantic Coast Conference Commissioner Jim Phillips is handling athletic conference shakeups.

BNC also won first and second place awards for our Power List publication and our North Carolina Economic Development Guide, respectively. ■

Managing Editor Kevin Ellis can be reached at Kellis@businessnc.com.

VOLUME 45, NO. 8

PUBLISHER Ben Kinney bkinney@businessnc.com

EDITOR

David Mildenberg dmildenberg@businessnc.com

MANAGING EDITOR Kevin Ellis kellis@businessnc.com

EXECUTIVE EDITOR, DIGITAL Chris Roush croush@businessnc.com

ASSOCIATE EDITOR Cathy Martin cmartin@businessnc.com

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

Lawrence Bivins, Ray Gronberg, Brad King, Tucker Mitchell

CREATIVE DIRECTOR Cathy Swaney cswaney@businessnc.com

GRAPHIC DESIGNER Pam Fernandez pfernandez@businessnc.com

MARKETING COORDINATOR Jennifer Ware jware@businessnc.com

ADVERTISING SALES

ACCOUNT DIRECTOR Melanie Weaver Lynch, eastern N.C. 919-855-9380 mweaver@businessnc.com

ACCOUNT MANAGER AND AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT SPECIALIST Scott Leonard, western N.C. 704-996-6426 sleonard@businessnc.com

CIRCULATION: 818-286-3106

EDITORIAL: 704-523-6987

REPRINTS: circulation@businessnc.com

OWNERS

Jack Andrews, Frank Daniels III, David Woronoff, in memoriam Frank Daniels Jr.

PUBLISHED BY Old North State Magazines LLC

PRESIDENT David Woronoff

RICHARD CHILDRESS

VICTORIES AND VINEYARDS

Richard Childress joined High Point University President Nido Qubein in the Power List interview, a partnership for discussions with influential North Carolina leaders.

Richard, you are a legend. You have won more than 200 races. Now you have a grandson who’s winning championships. How does that feel?

Here’s a kid with a dream. When I was about 17 or 18 years old I got an old $20 race car that is sitting here today, and I’m having a conversation with you, talking about my grandsons Austin Dillon and Ty Dillon who are driving today, and the history of RCR and racing. It’s just an honor.

What makes racing so popular?

I think the fans are spectators who can relate to someone in their cars. If you win on Sunday, you sell on Monday. We have great corporations involved like General Motors, Ford and Caterpillar supporting our sport. And television has carried us to a whole ‘nother level.

Richard Childress, 78, is a NASCAR icon, as a driver, mechanic and engine builder whose racing team has logged more than 200 victories since 1969. His son-in-law Mike Dillon is general manager of the team, whose drivers include his grandsons Austin and Ty Dillon, along with Kyle Busch and Jesse Love. The Winston-Salem native leads a 450-employee company in Welcome in Davidson County that includes one of the state’s major wineries. His comments were edited for brevity and clarity.

It’s a big business. I toured your place and was surprised by how many engineers you hire.

Today we have close to 50 engineers. e sport is constantly changing and is a moving target to stay competitive, just like in anything. But we’ve been fortunate. We’ve been there now, I think, 55, 56 years. It goes back to people. You have to have the right people for success. You have to have the right partners, which I call our sponsors, to move to the next level. And the race fans, they play such a major part in our sport.

How does this work? You have a team that calls on a company and gets them to sponsor a car? Why are there so many decals on a car?

It takes so many di erent companies involved with the team and drivers. It changes year by year. We have some sponsors that would come to us and say, what are we going to do to get involved with you and whoever the driver may be.

We also have a business development group, and I have a company in New York City that we work with that goes in and makes contact. We work for these companies. I work for every sponsor we have.

How does a racer get into a race? Do you pay to enter? How do they pick which ones are going to race?

We have the Race Teams Alliance, and we have to contract with NASCAR. e 36 positions are guaranteed to start that race. I have two of those positions. I’m guaranteed every week we’re going to start. Austin drives for our company and we pay him to drive. And he has sponsors who he endorses. So that’s how the drivers are compensated.

Tell me about the pit stop. It’s the most fascinating part to me. How many seconds should it be?

It’s like poetry in motion. ese guys know everything. Every movement, every step counts. We do good stops in the high 11 (seconds.) at’s four tires and 18 gallons of fuel. ese guys, every one of them, are athletes. ey work out. We train them. ey practice every week, just like a football team.

with Nido Qubein

Do you miss racing?

I got out of the car in 1981. I ran the rst 20 races and put Dale Earnhardt in back then for the last 10. Going to that rst race and not being a driver, I was totally lost. So I missed it for about the rst year. And then I said, you know, I’m kind of enjoying watching what’s happening.

We won our rst Cup race with Ricky Rudd in 1982 at Riverside, California, and then we brought in Dale in 1984.

Let’s talk about wine. Richard, you built the Childress wineries and vineyards and you’re doing very well with it. What got you in it? Why take such a risk?

I used to go to Riverside, California, in the early ’70s, and Riverside and Ontario were actually bigger wine country than Napa was at the time or as big.

We’d go there a er practice and qualifying, and you’d drink wine. So I said, someday I want to get a winery. en we went to Sonoma and started racing there and the Finger Lakes in New York, and we made a lot of friends. I said, “You know, I’m going to do a winery” and had it all planned.

I was going to do a small winery at my farm, but then 9/11 happened. I changed my mind on how to build all of our company buildings. So we built the winery where it is, and it’s one of the funnest, greatest things I’ve done. It’s become a really good, successful business.

How does one build a winery?

You start out by planting your grapes and having a vision and getting the right people. It’s like in everything that you do. It’s all about people. I’m just Richard Childress. I wouldn’t be here but for all the people that I’ve been able to surround myself with.

How did you know how to hire the right people in a business you knew nothing about?

I knew a little about it from knowing friends and meeting the people in California. I read several books about wine and educated myself a little bit before I just dove in. e rst thing we needed was to get a winemaker that was world-class. Mark Friszolowski is our winemaker and has been there since day one. You have to have a good product to keep growing.

We started out with a couple of thousand cases and today we’re over 80,000 cases. Hopefully in another year we’ll hit 100,000 per year. We have the winery itself and probably do 30% there. en we have a wholesale group and I think we’re in seven states. We sell most of the wine in grocery stores, chains and restaurants.

So, Richard, you have about 450 employees, and 50 are engineers. What do the others do?

We’re self-su cient. We do everything at our race shops. We have a machine shop that builds all of our stu . We have an engine shop where we build all of our engines. We have a big customer base too, building engines for like seven or eight other teams in the Cup Series.

Now we’ve branched out into the military. We just built a concept vehicle for the Special Forces. We do a lot of work for General Dynamics and a lot of companies like that.

You have done a lot in the charitable world, including children’s medical functions at Wake Forest University. What is that?

It’s a children’s institute for pediatric trauma, which is the No. 1 killer of our children in America. Pediatric trauma is everything that you can think of. It’s a small child that falls out of a four-wheeler, or [injured] soccer girls. We do a lot of work with Wake Forest and the University of Virginia, with helmets and prevention. We work with a lot of hospitals all over the country to bring in knowledge.

We’re also working with a group called Rock Solid Foundation. We build play sets for children that have cancer. I think we’ve built maybe 14 or 15 play sets, right where they live. It’s a great team-building opportunity.

Richard, you’re not retired, and you’re very active. Do you direct your companies’ strategic planning?

I try to get in bed at nine and get up at ve usually and go over a lot of stu that I want to do that day. I walk for two-anda-half miles in the morning around the vineyards at my house. I run the board, I’m still the CEO. I have three presidents that run di erent areas of businesses. I don’t like to micromanage. I like to see people go out and do their thing, and I’m there to help them.

If you had to live your life over again, what would you do differently?

I would have served in the military during the Vietnam War. My daughter Tina was born then, and I didn’t get to go in at that time. Today, I do everything we can for our military, because we owe it to them. ey’re the reason we’re all here today. e second thing is I would have spent more time with my daughter. When I was coming up, because I was racing, I was traveling all over the U.S. and didn’t really have the opportunity. Today I spend more time with Austin and the great-grandchildren because they are at the racetracks.

What’s next for you?

I want to write that book [about his life.] I want to win another championship in the Cup. Life is about winning, and I want to be good at it. I want to see success for all of our businesses.

What is it that you want people to remember you for?

That he was honest. He always spoke what he felt. To me, ethics in life are big. I want people to remember me as this guy was a very ethical person and not so much about racing and winning championships. ■

DEFENSE DOLLARS

State remains a laggard in attracting major investment for its military sector.

Six years ago, I wrote my first column for this magazine. I had just retired from newspapers after more than 40 years, but I wanted to keep writing. I started freelancing for Business North Carolina

Time passed. The editor had an opening in the magazine’s Daily Digest newsletter teams so I started writing the Tuesday Digest. Looking for stories, I got interested in the military economy in North Carolina. I kept running into companies in the sector. In retrospect, this is unsurprising. The military makes up the second-largest sector of the state’s economy, behind agriculture. That surprised me, even though I had worked in Raleigh since 1996. The state’s military installations are from Havelock to Jacksonville, where the Marines live. They are in Fayetteville, where Fort Liberty is located. The Air Force is in Goldsboro, at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base.

There are 91,000 active-duty warfighters, 20,000 guard and reservists and nearly 23,000 civilians based at our installation, yet it is easy to live in the cities and be unaware of the opportunities that come with being a defense state. This is a problem. More folks should know about the military in North Carolina.

LEAVING MONEY ON THE TABLE

North Carolina could get more business from the Department of Defense, Homeland Security and the intelligence community if more folks knew how. North Carolina punches below its weight in defense R&D spending relative to defense-related personnel, ranking 26th in contracts but fourth in uniformed and civilian DoD personnel here. This idea was reinforced for me at a June conference at the NC Biotechnology Center in Research Triangle Park. The two-day

military medical conference was sponsored by the North Carolina Military Business Center and the Biotech Center. The purpose of the first day was to help companies understand how to do business with military medical and biodefense agencies.

The last speaker of the day was Liz Powell, a Washington lobbyist whose firm helps life sciences companies get military R&D funding. She has raised $528 million for clients. Powell spoke for 45 minutes, a tour through programs and agencies, their quirks and tendencies. She gave her listeners concrete things they could do to get federal funding. Some were common sense: Attend conferences, meet decision-makers, build relationships. A lot was stuff that would take a long time to learn on your own.

It was a valuable session for folks in the room. But a lot of folks who needed to hear it weren’t there. It was the kind of presentation that should be on the road every week in North Carolina.

GETTING THE WORD OUT

We have a group of folks trying to do this, with limited resources, organizations working to boost our share of the defense budget. This includes the Military Business Center, and its Defense Technology

Liz Powell is a lobbyist who helps life sciences companies secure military R&D funding.

Transition Office. The Defense Alliance of North Carolina. The Biotech Center. The Board of Science, Technology & Innovation. NC State’s Industry Expansion Solutions. The UNC System. First Flight Venture Center at RTP. The Global TransPark in Kinston. The Small Business Center Network and the SBTDC. They are all working parts of the problem as an informal coalition of the willing.

I run into people who are unfamiliar with this support network. One of its biggest challenges is getting the word out. I have been trying to do this since January in a weekly NC Military Report newsletter.

The Military Business Center has a central role in this network. The center’s existence is an example of how things happen when people with clout get behind a good idea. When started 20 years ago, it was supposed to be just a Fayetteville operation. Local leaders wanted something that would help businesses get more military contracts from the former Fort Bragg.

Then the late state Sen. Tony Rand decided it should be statewide. He helped fund the military center within the community college system. Today, its headquarters are at Fayetteville Technical Community College and its staffers are located throughout the state, many of them community colleges. It has helped businesses land nearly $18 billion in contracts since 2005. Scott Dorney, a 22-year Army veteran and former deputy garrison commander at Fort Liberty, has led the group since its founding.

STARTING OUT

you have spent 30 seconds on Sam.gov, which is where everything starts in federal acquisition, you are probably going to want help getting a Unique Entity Identifier and figuring out your North American Industry Classification Code. It also helps to determine if you are a small business or operate in a HUBZone. Help is also available from the SBTDC at the universities, especially its Government Contracting Assistance Program.

That program is good at preparing companies, in general, for federal contracting. The Military Business Center is good at helping companies go after specific contracts. About 24,000 companies are signed up for its free MatchForce.org service, which sends out federal contract opportunities tailored to registered businesses daily. There are more than 200,000 N.C. businesses with less than 20 employees, so more should register. The government has congressionally mandated small business contract goals.

The military buys everything, from shoelaces to cruise missiles. But if you’ve never done business with the government, it can be daunting. The first step isn’t necessarily to call the Military Business Center and say you want to go after a government contract. The first step would be to go to the center’s website and look at a three-page document called “Getting Ready to Sell to the Federal Government.”

What you will probably want to do after you read it is make an appointment with a Small Business Center at the nearest community college, because they can help you get through this document. After

I keep watching efforts to get more help for this network. In his April budget, Gov. Roy Cooper included a $2 million proposal from the Board of Science, Technology & Innovation for the NC Defense Innovation Network. It would “lead and support efforts to significantly grow the defense innovation economy in North Carolina and increase national security by providing enhanced state leadership, targeted strategic priorities, coordinated tactical operations and sustained funding.” The network would operate under the board in consultation with the Military Business Center. It would be a force multiplier for the state’s military-business ecosystem, but it hasn’t gotten traction yet in the legislature.

FEDERAL TECHNOLOGY SYMPOSIUM

One can see the military-business ecosystem in action at events like the Federal Technology Symposium Aug. 6 at Fayetteville Tech, which brings together innovators, academics and DoD folks. Fittingly, it will be at the Tony Rand Student Center.

These events aid entrepreneurs who have a product they want to talk about. But they are also useful in getting acclimated to the defense market. It is cumulative. You can’t expect to attend one event and understand this world. But the good news is there are lots of folks who want to help, and that may be North Carolina’s edge. ■

Veteran journalist Dan Barkin writes the NC Military Report newsletter for Business NC. He can be reached at dbarkin53@gmail.com.

Scott Dorney is executive director of the NC Military Business Center.

Several programs exist to help businesses connect with the military.

BOOM OR BUST

Its Greensboro factory now open, the startup jet maker flies through aerospace industry skepticism.

By Tucker Mitchell

n a mid-June day in a parking lot beside Boom Supersonic’s new “superfactory” at Piedmont Triad International Airport, state and local officials sampled wares from two nearby food trucks, cooled off with personal fans that looked like miniature jet engines and listened to the pounding beat of the X Ambassadors’ pop hit “BOOM.”

OThe song provided a timely tune as the string of politicians and economic development officials marched across the stage to offer glowing portraits of a fast-moving, Mach 1 future.

As they spoke, an overcast day cleared, and it was difficult to imagine how anything could go wrong with Boom’s quest to restart supersonic commercial flight across the globe. The 10-yearold, Denver-based startup is riding a wave of success, including a successful first flight of its XB-1 “Baby Boom” test aircraft; landing 130 pre-orders and orders for its Overture supersonic jet; inking an undisclosed commitment from a Saudi Arabian investment fund; and finishing the 180,000-square-foot factory exterior ahead of schedule and under budget.

In the next few months, Boom officials say, they’ll install manufacturing test pods in the factory and continue seeking Federal Aviation Administration approval for the Overture and then crank up production. The plan is for the first aircraft to roll out in 2029.

It’s a big deal for North Carolina and Greensboro, where the new factory will employ about 1,700 employees and produce 33 planes a year. The PTI site has room for another building of the same size.

Economists for the state project a $32.3 billion impact over 20 years, and the addition of 2,400 jobs, not including suppliers and other aerospace firms attracted to the state because of Boom. That’s the potential payoff for $131 million in state and local incentives.

“It may be time to change the motto on the (North Carolina) license plate,” Blake Scholl, Boom’s CEO and founder, said at the June gathering. “Not just First in Flight, but First in Supersonic Flight.”

The only drag comes from the aerospace industry, where skepticism remains an unwelcome co-pilot.

Ten years after Scholl, a former Amazon software engineer and marketing exec founded Boom, industry insiders still wonder if the startup can overcome a host of headwinds. The most significant is the astonishingly complex task of building an engine from scratch, says Dan Rutherford, senior director of research and the aviation program director at the International Council for Clean Transportation in San Francisco. “It’s really all about the engine,” he says.

In Rutherford’s view, Boom’s fate was probably sealed when it failed to land an engine-building partner from among the industry’s engine design titans: GE Aerospace, Pratt & Whitney or Rolls-Royce.

Instead, Boom is building an engine with a team of partners that includes Florida Turbine Technologies, a division of Kratos Defense; StandardAero, an international leader in engine maintenance and component repair services; and GE Additive, a GE division that builds high-level parts for aerospace and other fields using 3D printing and other techniques.

Boom put the new group together after breaking up with RollsRoyce in 2022.

The engine, called Symphony, is based on the same technology as many other engines, but is being designed from scratch. Boom is hoping to thread the needle between necessary power, fuel consumption, noise, and even weight and maintenance requirements.

The engine-creation project is unprecedented.

“Typically, the (big) engine makers spend a lot of their own money developing an engine, in hopes of sort of buying their way onto a new commercial aircraft,” says Rutherford. “The other way is to hire one of those companies, but that’s very, very expensive. Of course, I imagine building your engine from a clean sheet will cost a bit, too.”

Rutherford points to the failure of Aerion, which attempted to build a supersonic corporate jet and had partnerships with Boeing, GE and NetJets. The company closed in mid-2021, less than six

The Overture can fly at subsonic speeds to handle approaches over land.

months after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis held a press conference with Aerion leaders for a planned $375 million factory at the Melbourne Orlando International Airport.

Boom officials note that Aerion never built a plane in 17 years of operation – Boom’s prototype is airborne in just a decade – and that its struggles involved developing a “boom-free” engine, which is a significant question for any non-military supersonic plane.

Commercial supersonic flight is banned over most countries because of the deafening sonic boom. Boom Supersonic plans to get around that problem by literally flying around it. It believes there is plenty of revenue from routes that fly mostly over water, like New York to London or San Francisco to Tokyo.

The Overture can fly at subsonic speeds to handle approaches over land. Still, Aerion’s woes speak to the complex problems Boom faces, and help explain the arched eyebrow of the aerospace industry.

The aviation world has a vested interest in the revival of supersonic flight, says Pat Anderson, professor of aerospace engineering at Embry-Riddle Aeronautics University in Daytona Beach, Florida. “It’s been studied in the lab, but I think a lot of people want to see Boom, or someone, actually building and fielding a (supersonic) plane in the real world,” he says. “So from that standpoint, Boom has support. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t a lot of skepticism. They face some real challenges.”

Boom’s biggest hurdle is also the broadest, namely economics, Anderson says.

“I mean, that’s what killed off the Concorde, right?” he says. “Flying at that speed is no secret. We know how to do it. But going faster still costs more. A lot more. How will they do it?”

Boom’s Scholl, 41, envisions his company as the Tesla of the air. He’s confident his company can build a plane that will be profitable and filled with passengers paying roughly the same fares as overseas business class customers, typically $3,000 to $5,000.

Asked what remaining hurdles keep him up at night, Scholl instead rattled off a list of what doesn’t keep him up. Everyone wants to fly faster, regulatory issues don’t matter for planes flying over oceans, and “we (Boom) have the technology,” he says.

“So what remains?” says Scholl. “It’s the execution. What we are doing is incredibly complex. The last new commercial aircraft company founded by an entrepreneur was Douglas Aircraft … in 1921. So it’s been more than a century. What we’re building here in the superfactory is a lot more complicated than Douglas’ first plane.”

No one disagrees with that. ■

A WALMART LIFER

Think a career with the retail giant lacks sparkle?

F

Don’t tell 30-year staffer Yvette Braza, now earning six figures.

ive months pregnant and shopping for baby clothes at a Charlotte Walmart, Yvette Braza saw a “We are hiring” sign 30 years ago that changed her life.

Two years a er arriving in the U.S. from the Philippines, she needed a job. She was hired on the spot, starting work as a temporary, part-time Walmart holiday-season cashier. She then took a full-time job at age 24 following her daughter’s birth in 1993. It marked the beginning of a journey with Braza now earning a six- gure salary, with potential to double her base pay in bonuses. Her daughter is now a nurse in Greensboro.

“When you come to the U.S., you believe there’s always an opportunity to have a better life,” says Braza.

Walmart touts stories like Braza’s as the norm, pointing out that 75% of the retail giant’s salaried managers at its stores, clubs or distribution centers started as hourly associates. e company, which over the years has had limited interest in media coverage, encouraged Business North Carolina to tell Braza’s story and didn’t restrict questioning.

Manager’s pay

Walmart is putting a premium on retaining its managers amid competition from other big-box retailers. is year, the Bentonville, Arkansas-based company boosted its average salary for store managers to $128,000 a year from $117,000. e retailer started by Sam Walton in 1962 also updated its store manager bonus program, putting more emphasis on store pro t, with bonuses of as much as 200% of base salary if targets are met.

Braza is also eligible to earn an additional grant of as much as $20,000 in company stock.

A career as a Walmart store manager may lack ash, but many Walmart employees who rate their jobs on online forums agree with their corporate leaders: e No. 1 driver of job satisfaction is an associate’s manager.

“Each of them is the CEO of a multimillion-dollar business. And they’re the driving force behind the development of our next generation of leaders,” a Walmart spokesperson says of store managers. e chain has about 10,600 stores globally, about half of them in the U.S.

Walmart has never required its store managers to have a college degree, and it has dropped college degree requirements for many other roles. It’s part of a national shi to more skill-based hiring, regardless of education achievement.

More than a third of companies analyzed by e Burning Glass Institute and Harvard School of Business hired 18% more nondegreed workers into roles that no longer require college degrees, a recent report shows. Walmart was among those businesses, in the survey that included Apple, Koch Industries, General Motors, Target and others. e remaining two-thirds of companies didn’t show marked changes despite proclamations about their shi ing hiring policies.

Walmart is America’s largest private employer with about 1.6 million U.S. workers, including more than 60,000 in North Carolina. e retailer says its average hourly wage is $18.50 in North Carolina, slightly higher than the national average of $18.

Rise through the ranks

Braza, who has a bachelor’s degree, credits her ascent in leadership to hard work and persistence. She shrugs o a suggestion of being super-ambitious. “I just wanted to have a job so that I could get paid and pay my bills,” she says.

Her progress started in the rst few months with a promotion from cashier to customer service. Within a decade, she was an assistant manager at another Charlotte-area store. en, about ve years later, she became co-manager at yet another Charlotte Walmart, and then a store lead. In 2021, she returned to the Walmart in south Charlotte’s Arboretum shopping center as store manager.

“You can’t be complacent in this job,” she says. “You have to understand, I’m responsible for the 194 people who work under me and the customers who come here. You have to make sure the customer has a good experience when they walk into this store.” at means the store must be clean, items for sale stocked in an orderly fashion and employees ready to help, says Braza. On this day, with the store not busy, an employee is cleaning the glass doors at the store’s front.

Braza estimates she spends about as much time moving around the store as in her o ce. Her Fitbit records between 15,000 and 19,000 steps on most workdays. “ ere’s so much stu going on outside the o ce,” she says. “I’ve got to say ‘hi’ to my customers and take care of my associates. It keeps me busy, too.”

Dressed in blue jeans and a longsleeved blouse, with her employee badge attached, the only visible thing that di erentiates Braza from other employees is a second, yellow-colored “store manager” badge. More than one co-worker describes Braza as a hard worker. Another volunteers that she appreciates how Braza spends time on the oor and understands the importance and di culties of customer service.

Braza expects to grow to $100 million when customers realize it has expanded selections of fresh vegetables, meats and a deli.

She estimates she works 45 to 50 hours per week, usually starting her day at 6:30 a.m. She says her management group of eight coaches and 21 team leads help her keep her life in balance.

“I let them handle it, unless they need me,” she says. Still Braza feels the weight of the store’s success on her shoulders. “Whatever happens in this store, I’m responsible for it, whether I’m here or not. is is my store.”

She says work conditions at Walmart have improved for all employees over the past few years. Average wages have increased 30% over the past ve years. An online education program has been expanded to enable workers to earn a college degree for free.

e company provides a 401(k) match. at initial Walmart job has made a huge di erence for her family, she says.

“Walmart has given me a lot of opportunities to succeed through the years.” ■

A common task is helping customers nd items inside the 114,000-square-foot store, which is on the smaller side of a Supercenter-designated location. Braza’s Pineville-Matthews Road store was remodeled last year to become a Supercenter, one of the rst of 150 stores that Walmart is converting or building over the next ve years.

e store generates about $80 million in annual sales, which

NC TREND ››› Healthcare

VALUE COMBO

Risant Health presses for better outcomes, lower costs as it adds Cone Health to its stable.

By David Mildenberg

Cone Health leaders chose a di erent path than their North Carolina peers when the Greensboro-based hospital system decided to partner with a larger entity in June.

e dominant hospital in Asheville was sold to HCA Healthcare in 2019, followed by Wake Forest Baptist Health’s combination with Atrium Health (now Advocate Health) in 2020 and New Hanover Regional Medical Center’s sale to Novant Health in 2021.

e Asheville and Wilmington sales led to communitybased foundations with more than $1 billion. Advocate has pledged hundreds of millions of dollars in capital investments at Wake Forest Baptist sites, and is adding a medical school campus in Charlotte.

But Cone is merging into Risant Health, a unit of Oakland, California-based healthcare giant Kaiser Permanente, largely because of the promise to expand its “value-based model” focusing on prevention, access and cost containment, o cials say.

“Cone Health has been looking for a while to increase what we do, and value-based care is really important to us,” says spokesman Doug Allred. e Risant deal calls for continued use of the Cone brand and management because the newly-formed Kaiser a liate doesn’t operate hospitals aside from the Geisinger group in Pennsylvania that was acquired earlier this year.

“Risant Health has put a stake in the ground that care focused on evidence, equity, population health and improved outcomes must be the future of healthcare,” Kaiser CEO Greg Adams said in a statement. “Models like that of Kaiser Permanente, Cone Health and Geisinger will help make that possible.” Most healthcare compensation is now based on a fee-for-service model that critics say leads to unnecessary tests and procedures.

Cone Health’s key units

Moses H. Cone Memorial Hospital in Greensboro - 628 beds

Alamance Regional Medical Center in Burlington - 238 beds

Wesley Long Hospital in Greensboro - 175 beds

Annie Penn Hospital in Reidsville - 110 beds

Transaction details weren’t immediately released and regulators must approve the transaction. But merging into the Risant operation is not involving a major cash infusion re ecting the market valuation of the Greensboro system.

Cone o cials said they talked with undisclosed other entities before choosing to align with Risant. Greensboro is an attractive market given Cone’s dominance in Guilford County and because the system receives less than a h of its revenue from the government’s Medicaid insurance program for low-income citizens, according to Fitch Ratings.

Still, Cone faces increased competition from larger rivals Novant and Advocate, which dominate the western Triad region, and UNC Health and Duke Health, which have big market shares in Durham, Orange and Wake counties.

In the Geisinger transaction, Risant agreed to make at least $2 billion available to the Danville, Pennsylvania-based system through the end of 2028 to “support necessary hospital, ambulatory facility, technology and other strategic and routine capital,” according to the Fierce Healthcare website. Risant also committed to hundreds of millions of spending on Geisinger’s health plan, care delivery services and research.

Cone is about a third the size of Geisinger, which reported $6.9 billion in revenue and a $239 million operating loss in 2023.

Kaiser is one of the nation’s largest healthcare enterprises, with $95 billion in annual operating revenue. It had 39 hospitals and 12.7 million insured members as of March 31. By comparison, Charlotte-based Advocate has about $30 billion in annual revenue, while Novant Health is in the $10 billion range.

Cone reported a net pro t of $198 million in 2023, with revenue of $2.5 billion. Overall, Kaiser has pledged $5 billion for Risant with plans to operate about ve hospital systems within ve years. ■

celebration.

NC TREND ›››

DRIVING AMBITION

After an historic round that shocked the world, a youth golfer keeps chipping away.

By Brad King

It’s been nearly three years since Macy Pate, then a sophomore at Reagan High School in north Forsyth County, attracted global fame by scoring an outrageously low 57 at her conference tournament at the Bermuda Run West course. e round included 10 straight birdies and smashed the previous record of 61 by an N.C. high school female golfer. Pate had never broken 70 in competition until earlier that year.

For those who’ve never gotten close to striking a 57, we wanted to check Pate’s progress. She’s continued to excel at Wake Forest University, and was named the Atlantic Coast Conference Freshman of the Year for 2024. e Deacons won the ACC team title for the third time in the past six years, led by All American Rachel Kuehn, who captured the individual conference title.

Business North Carolina recently enjoyed a conversation with Macy. Here are a few of the highlights:

When did you know your historic round was going to be special?

Shooting 57 still feels unreal to me. inking back on it now, I still get butter ies. I showed up to the course with very few expectations that day. I was just trying to go out and have fun. My putter got hot, and I was just trying to keep it that way. It was like playing a video game.

Describe the thrill of winning back-to-back state high school team championships?

I was on the same team as two of my best friends and being able to share that experience with them was incredible. Playing high school golf taught me so many lessons about golf, but also about being a teammate.

What was it like arriving as a eshman to play for the defending national champions?

Arriving on campus to the best golf school in the country was very surreal. I’ve been able to be a part of a lot of celebrations of my teammates and coaches. I have really enjoyed that aspect. It also motivated me to work hard and help us try to win another [national championship].

You sunk the winning putt at one of your team’s early-season matches. What was that like?

Since I was a little girl, I’ve dreamed of being able to be in a situation to clinch the winning putt while wearing black and gold. I had that opportunity at the Stephens Cup, and I still smile when thinking of that moment.

What’s your daily routine?

I usually get up around 6:40 to head to our team workouts, then I will go to class. I will grab a quick lunch and head over to the golf house to start my practice. A er practice, I grab some dinner, do some studying, and try to get as much sleep as possible.

Are you enjoying attending college so close to home?

It is very convenient. I usually go home once or twice a week to get a break from college life or to see my nephew, Carson. I enjoy getting a home-cooked meal and spending time with my family.

Favorite male and female golfers?

My favorite male golfer of all time has to be Tiger Woods or Arnold Palmer and my favorite female golfer is (Swedish LPGA player) Linn Grant. I just really admire her golf swing.

Aspirations for the future?

My dreams are to play pro golf a er college for several years before settling down and starting a family. I would like to focus on that for a while and then maybe get back into golf. ■

Macy Pate

EATING HIGH ON THE MOUNTAIN

Five years and $2.7 million later, a mile-high restaurant returns to Mount Mitchell.

By Kevin Ellis

isitors wanting to try the recently opened Mount Mitchell Café & Eatery must turn o the Blue Ridge Parkway into Mount Mitchell State Park and continue skyward. Five years a er closing, a mile-high restaurant has returned to the state park featuring the highest mountain peak east of the Mississippi River.

VMount Mitchell’s summit comes in at 6,684 feet, and the restaurant — at an elevation of nearly 6,300 feet — o ers panoramic

views of the Fraser r forest and some of the highest peaks in the eastern U.S.

“ ere’s no better way to enjoy a delicious meal than with a fantastic view,” says Melissa Howell, who operates the restaurant with her husband, Leigh. e Howells describe their menu as “elevated casual.” In comparison, Mildred’s Grill, located inside Grandfather Mountain, has an elevation of approximately 4,700 feet. e state spent $2.7 million renovating the ridgetop building

I‘DIRTY DANCING’ HOTEL SELLS

Johnny and Baby may not have danced there, but but the inn fuels movie memories.

By Kevin Ellis

By Kevin Ellis

t never mattered that no scenes from “Dirty Dancing” were lmed at the 1927 Lake Lure Inn & Spa. e iconic 72-bed hotel still conjured up memories of Johnny and Baby’s summer romance.

e Rutherford County landmark now has a new owner. Husband-and-wife George and Hope Wittmer sold the hotel in June, along with other nearby properties, for $11.1 million to Atlanta-based Ridgeline Investment Partners.

e Wittmers, long-time collectors of antiques, decorative arts, and historic memorabilia, had owned the hotel since 2004. ey lled their hotel with rare nds from around the world, including statutory, paintings, carvings and historic objects. Many items remain and service at the hotel will continue uninterrupted, say the new owners.

e Lake Lure Inn counts Franklin Roosevelt, Emily Post, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Calvin Coolidge as former guests. Actors Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey also stayed at the inn, along with other “Dirty Dancing” cast and crew members while lming scenes in Lake Lure for the 1987 box-o ce hit.

Melissa & Leigh Howell

of native stone, including a full kitchen overhaul, hardwood ooring and new windows that showcase views of the Appalachian Mountains. Customers in electric vehicles have access to an adjacent charging station.

e Howells’ four-year contract with the N.C. Division of Parks and Recreation calls for them to pay 10.5% on total sales as rent. e restaurant operates seven days a week from May through October, then closes for the winter months. e Howells anticipate $1 million in sales during their six months of operation.

“Mount Mitchell State Park gets 380,000 visitors a year, and we hope 10% of them eat here,” she says. Located about 30 miles northeast of Asheville, Mount Mitchell State Park is only accessible via vehicular tra c from the Blue Ridge Parkway by taking N.C. 128 at Milepost 355 to the summit.

Menu prices range from $16.50 for the 6684 Burger, a half-pound sirloin topped with bacon named a er the peak’s height, to $22 for the mountain trout. e restaurant also o ers gourmet soups and salads, and desserts including peach cobbler, cheesecake and lemon pound cake topped with mountain berries.

“We designed the menu to be fresh and approachable, with no unpronounceable items,” says Howell, meaning no multi-syllable food additives.

Leigh Howell, a Burnsville native, incorporated local names into the menu. Elisha’s Turkey and Pimento Melt is a nod to the mountain’s namesake, Elisha Mitchell, a professor at UNC Chapel Hill who fell to his death in 1857 while trying to verify the peak’s height. e restaurant’s Camp Alice Chili also comes with a backstory.

“Camp Alice is at the bottom of the hill below the restaurant. Alice was a cook when it was a logging camp, so we’re paying homage to the park and the people who came before us,” he says.

e 122-seat restaurant will have about 30 employees. Sta goes through food service training and lessons on the mountain’s history.

“We’re a part of people’s experience when they visit,” says Melissa Howell. “We work on engaging, educating and enticing people.”

e Howell’s have owned a Burnsville restaurant, Pig and Grits, for 10 years. e Yancey County restaurants are 47 miles apart.

e Howells believe the combination of nature and food is a recipe for success.

“Whether you’re a family or just an individual hiker looking for a wonderful meal and beautiful views, we have it for you,” says Melissa Howell. ■

With the inn now approaching its centennial, Keaton Nickelsen, a partner at Ridgeline Acquisitions, described it as a “once-in-a-lifetime type of property” because of the natural beauty of the lake and surrounding Hickory Nut Gorge mountains.

“It ts very well with our collection of boutique hotels in thriving mountain towns across North Carolina and North Georgia,” says Nickelsen.

e area remains a tourist attraction, and visitors spent $282.4 million in Rutherford County in 2022, up 3.5% from the previous year, according to NCVisit.

Ridgeline owns four other hotels; the 45-room Monte Vista Hotel in Black Mountain, the 35-room Sylva Hotel, which is currently closed for renovations; e Wells Hotel, a 21-key hospitality redevelopment in Cashier; and the Bridge Creek Inn, a 45-room hotel in Clayton, Georgia.

e sellers were represented in the sale by real estate broker George Carter, who focuses on Hickory Nut Gorge residential on Hickory Nut Gorge residential and commercial property. ■

Lake Lure Inn & Spa

Mount Mitchell Café & Eatery

CHARLOTTE

City Council voted 7-3 to spend $650 million in public funds on Bank of America stadium renovations. Tepper Sports & Entertainment, which owns the NFL Carolina Panthers and Charlotte FC of Major League Soccer, will invest $150 million for upgrades and $421 million for future renovations. The teams are slated to be in Charlotte for at least 20 years.

CHARLOTTE

CHARLOTTE

Honeywell agreed to buy a liquid natural gas technology and equipment business for $1.8 billion. The business is being sold by Air Products, a public company based in Allentown, Pennsylvania. The business has about 475 employees, including a factory in Port Manatee, Florida.

Dollar Tree, the Portsmouth, Virginiabased discount retailer that bought Family Dollar for $8.5 billion in 2015, is exploring alternatives for the chain, including a sale. Family Dollar opened its first store here in 1961. It ended 2023 with 8,359 stores, but closed 513 in the first quarter of its fiscal year.

Starting Sept. 16, The Charlotte Observer will begin publishing a print edition three days a week. The Observer will publish the newspaper on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. The papers will be delivered the same day by the U.S. Postal Service, with the Sunday paper arriving on Saturdays. Seven days of print publication is cost-prohibitive, Editor Rana Cash said.

Hayward Holdings acquired Atlantabased ClorKing for $61 million. ChlorKing manufactures commercial pool saline chlorinators and UV disinfection systems. Hayward’s pool equipment lines include pumps, filters, heaters, cleansers, sanitizers and LED lighting.

Kingsmen Software, a firm offering artificial intelligence strategy, consulting and development to financial technology companies, was sold to Atlanta-based Sparq for an undisclosed price. Founded in 2013, Kingsmen’s clients include some of the largest U.S. financial institutions. The company was previously named Devellocus and was based in Davidson.

This donation will allow us to expand our teen programming by more than 30%, including the addition of college and career readiness courses, high school transition programs, and new mentorship opportunities.

Spencer Hathcock, program manager Neighbor to Neighbor

CAPTRUST Community Foundation aims to enrich the lives of children in communities across the U.S.

The employee-run foundation of Raleigh-based money manager CAPTRUST continues to make an impact on the towns and cities where it operates.

In June, the CAPTRUST Community Foundation named Neighbor to Neighbor as its 2024 Charity of Choice and the recipient of a $100,000 grant.

Neighbor to Neighbor builds pathways to social and economic mobility for families stuck in poverty, through education and employment intervention and services. Based in Wake County, the organization provides afterschool enrichment and mentorship programs to more than 300 youth in grades 1–12, as well as 250 families.

Founded in 2007, the CAPTRUST Community Foundation’s mission is to enrich the lives of children in communities CAPTRUST serves. Since its inception, the foundation has awarded over $5.5 million in grants to charitable organizations across the country that help children.

NC TREND ››› Statewide

NN, a maker of components and assemblies, hired Chris Bohnert as chief financial officer. He succeeds Mike Felcher. Most recently, Bohnert served as an adviser to the CEO at Commercial Vehicle Group. The company also sold its lone plastics product plant, Industrial Molding, to Michigan-based Davalor Mold for about $16 million.

Carrier has been making commercial chillers here for almost 25 years and now has a nearby training center. The 16,000-squarefood center here represents a nearly $4 million investment in training HVAC technicians and sales engineers.

Amusement park operators Cedar Fair and Six Flags Entertainment finalized a roughly $2 billion merger, with corporate headquarters located here. Ohio-based Cedar Fair, which owns Carowinds, will now go under the Six Flags banner. Richard Zimmerman is the CEO.

RXO areed to buy Coyote Logistics, an asset-light freight brokerage business, for $1.025 billion from UPS. At closing, RXO will be the third-largest provider of brokered transportation in North America. RXO expects annualized cost synergies of at least $25 million.

New York-based Diamond Baseball Holdings bought the Charlotte Knights, the minor-league affiliate of the Chicago White Sox from Hickory senior-living investor Don Beaver for an undisclosed amount. Diamond owns 34 of the 120 teams that make up the minor league system controlled by Major League Baseball. Other N.C. holdings include the Hickory Crawdads, the Down East Ducks and the Winston-Salem Dash.

Whistle Express bought Fins Car Wash for an undisclosed price. The newly acquired washes will more than double the brand’s presence in South Carolina’s GreenvilleSpartanburg and Charleston markets, as well as North Carolina’s Triad, Raleigh and Wilmington regions. Whistle has 31 locations in the Carolinas and 150 system wide.

Zara will open its first North Carolina store at SouthPark Mall in 2026. A fast-fashion retail subsidiary of the Spanish retailing group Inditex, the store sells clothing, accessories, beauty products and perfumes. Zara has more than 1,800 stores globally.

More than 70,000 people packed Bank of America Stadium for a Uruguay vs. Colombia soccer match. The least expensive lower-level seat was $232, although sold for more than $300. The Copa America competition was televised globally.

BELMONT

Vallen Distribution, which provides industrial supplies and inspection and certification services, acquired Eastland Engineering Supply from MML Growth Capital Partners Ireland for an undisclosed amount. Vallen, which was purchased by private equity firm Nautic Partners in 2022, provides a wide variety of industrial supplies.

CONOVER

Federal Express plans to close its facility here, resulting in the loss of 69 jobs. The layoffs will begin on Sept. 3. Some workers will move to other FedEx locations.

GASTONIA

The city bus service joined the growing microtransit public transportation trend. Instead of having city buses pick up passengers on fixed routes, the new system will work more like a private ridesharing service.

MOORESVILLE

The North Carolina Association of Certified Public Accountants named Mark Soticheck II as chief executive officer, effective July 1. He has been chief operating officer of the trade association since May 2016. Sharon Bryson, who had led the group since 2016 and been a staffer for 39 years, retired in January.

CHARLOTTE

NC TREND

SHELBY

Spokane, Washington-based Clearwater Paper will invest about $22.6 million and add 13 new jobs in its third expansion since locating here in 2010. The private-label tissue manufacturer makes store-brand bathroom tissue, paper towels and napkins and employs 600 workers.

EAST

ELIZABETH CITY

TCOM, a manufacturer of air surveillance systems, added 25 jobs in Pasquotank County with a $736,000 investment.

Nosakhere Kamau resigned as executive director of Visit Elizabeth City after less than five months in the job, citing health concerns. In February, Tourism Development Authority members voted 6-0 to hire Kamau, who is the son of City Councilman Johnnie Walton, as the successor to Corrina Ruffieux. His resignation takes effect on July 22.

GREENVILLE

Rich Balot, who has built Victra ino the largest U.S. chain of Verizon retail stores over the past two decades, was named a winner of EY’s Entrepreneur of the Year Southeast Award. He now becomes a finalist in the consulting firm’s national competition. Victra has stores in 50 states, and employs between 7,000 and 10,000 people, depending on the season.

KINSTON

Boeing Co. agreed to buy Spirit AeroSystems Holdings for an estimated $4.1 billion. Wichita, Kansas-based Spirit is a large employer at the Global TransPark with about 450 workers making wing and fuselage components for Airbus and other customers in more than 800,000 square feet.

A 6,700-square-foot oceanfront home here sold for $13.9 million, among the highest sales in state history. The New Hanover County property called “The Whale” was built in 2019 by J. Long Custom Homes and designed by the late John Stirewalt. The buyers and sellers weren’t immediately identified.

OUTER BANKS

Virginia Electric and Power, a subsidiary of Dominion Energy, agreed to acquire the Kitty Hawk North Wind offshore wind lease and associated developments, from Avangrid, for approximately $160 million. If approved by regulators and constructed, the CVOWSouth project would connect to the utility’s grid with a capacity of 800 megawatts, enough to serve 200,000 homes and businesses.

WHITEVILLE

Gary Lanier, executive director of Columbus County Economic Development, is the new president of the N.C. Economic Development Association for the 20242025 term. The organization counts more than 950 as members.

WILMINGTON

The Cape Fear Memorial Bridge replacement project received a $242 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation. That funding represents about half of the $485 million cost of the project , which is near the city’s downtown.

Raleigh-based Audio Advice, known nationally for expertise in home theaters and smart home systems, acquired The Audio Lab, which has been in business here for more than 30 years.

Live Oak Bank opened Building 4 on its campus, which has entailed a cumulative capital investment of $150 million. Live Oak broke ground on its first building in May 2012. Between 2013 and 2023, the digitaloriented bank’s assets grew from $450 million to $11.2 billion.

TRIAD

HIGH POINT

The city filed a civil lawsuit against chemical companies it claims are responsible for contaminants in its water system. It seeks to recover costs and damages incurred because of PFAS compounds in the public water supply and related infrastructure. The suit names 3M, DuPont and several other chemical manufacturers as defendants.

FIGURE EIGHT ISLAND

High Point University’s Teresa B. Caine School of Nursing achieved full approval for its bachelor of science in nursing program from the North Carolina Board of Nursing after graduating its first class of students. The inaugural nursing cohort earned a 100% pass rate on the NCLEX, the national licensing exam for registered nurses.

GREENSBORO

City Council paid $950,000 to purchase the former motel known as the Summit Executive Center for an affordable housing project. The city will close on the 6,300 square-feet property by July and hopes to open the apartments by the end of 2025.

Long-time reporter Scott Yost bought the Rhino Times publication from prominent Greensboro real-estate investor Roy Carroll. Yost has worked at the publication for two decades.

James R. Martin II, an engineer and a vice chancellor at the University of Pittsburgh, will be the next leader of North Carolina A&T State University, the nation’s largest historically Black university. The university announced an anonymous $20 million gift three days after the appointment of Martin as its 13th chancellor. He starts Aug. 15

James M. Pleasants Co., a distributor and sales representative for HVAC, plumbing and industrial equipment, will consolidate its Greensboro operations into a new facility, creating 40 jobs over five years, according to the company. The company known as JMP is making a $30 million investment in Guilford County.

LEXINGTON

LIBERTY

Green Metals, a metals recycling business associated with Toyota, will build a plant to process battery material for off-site recycling and handle other waste streams produced by the Toyota Battery Manufacturing North Carolina plant. It will invest $19.8 million over five years to open the plant, and expects to create 47 jobs.

NC TREND ››› Statewide

Nucor will invest more than $20 million and create 25 jobs as it establishes a rebar fabrication facility in Davidson County, Nearby, Charlotte-based Nucor is building a $350 million micro mill that will make rebar and employ 200 workers. It is expected to begin operations in the first half of 2025.

MONCURE

Vietnamese electronic car maker VinFast is delaying manufacturing at its planned $4 billion Chatham County plant until 2028. In April, the company had said that construction of the factory was scheduled to begin operation by the end of 2025. To attract the plant and an estimated 7,500 jobs, state officials pledged $450 million for infrastructure, including roads, water and sewer and sitework.

WINSTON-SALEM

HanesBrands, the parent of clothing brands such as Hanes, Maidenform and Bali, is selling its headquarters building here and moving into a downtown building. The new location, the Park Building at 101 N. Cherry St., will be occupied next year. HanesBrands has agreed to sell its 470,000-square-foot Oak Summit property in north Winston-Salem to Carolina University, formerly known as Piedmont International University.

After 30 years of operations, the WinstonSalem Journal production plant closed in June, resulting in an undetermined number of layoffs. Lee Enterprises, which owns the Journal, the Greensboro News & Record and several other N.C. daily newspapers, is moving its printing operations to Lynchburg, Virginia, and Bristol, Tennessee.

TRIANGLE

CLAYTON

Novo Nordisk will invest $4.1 billion and add 1,000 jobs at a second fill and finishing manufacturing facility in Johnston County to help meet the demand for its weight loss and diabetes drugs. The average salary for the jobs will be $65,000 to $70,000 per year, which compares with the current county average of about $45,000 a year. The Danish company employs about 2,500 people in the Triangle region.

CHAPEL HILL

UNC Chapel Hill is moving closer to replacing the Dean Dome, home of its men’s basketball team for nearly four decades. UNC is paying Kansas City-based Populous Architects — which has worked on a host of famous sports venues in recent years — about $220,000 to design an athletic facility study.

DURHAM

The U.S. Department of Transportation awarded GoTriangle a $25 million Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity Grant to help build the Triangle Mobility Hub — a transportation center — in Research Triangle Park. The $58.2 million hub will be located at the intersection of N.C. 54 and the railroad corridor owned by North Carolina Railroad Co. The project will also receive funds from a half-cent sales tax for transit in Wake, Durham and Orange counties.

Ionna added Toyota as an eighth investor in its EV-charging development enterprise. The Japanese automaker says it wants to ensure its car owners have access to the planned network of 30,000 EV chargers. Ionna also counts BMW, General Motors, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Mercedes and Stellantis as investors.

California-based Science Corp. will spend $65 million and add more than 50 jobs to its operations. The 57,000-square-foot expansion at its TW Alexander Drive location will support semiconductor manufacturing for new technologies, including for a visual prosthesis. Science Corp. is in the field of brain-computer interfaces.

MEBANE

Walmart is adding more than 500,000 square feet to its distribution center here, bringing the size of the operation to about 1.1 million square feet. The company didn’t disclose its investment and said increased automation at the site will preclude the need to add staff.

RALEIGH

Apple will delay its new North Carolina campus announced in 2021 in western Wake County, the Triangle Business Journal reported. In 2021, Apple said it would invest more than $1 billion in the 3,000-job project, but hasn’t made major progress. The company said it’s working on the project and has been consulting state officials.

Amped, a service for e-commerce direct-to-consumer companies, has been acquired by Intuit Mailchimp. Wilmington entrepreneur Matt Cimino founded Amped about three years ago. Amped’s software helps companies create pop-ups that incentivize a website’s customers to sign up for text messages or email newsletters. Amped has about 15 employees, with other offices in Wilmington and Greece.

NC TREND ››› Statewide

Brian Fork, who had been Senate leader Phil Berger’s chief of staff since December 2020, will be the CEO of Hurricanes Holdings, the business side of the NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes. The team also operates PNC Arena and is planning an adjacent, mixed-use development.

Foley & Lardner, which has 23 U.S. law offices, opened an office here that will specialize in healthcare and life sciences. Partner Leah D’Aurora Richardson is joining the firm’s Raleigh office from K&L Gates. In addition, three associates are joining the group.

WEST

ASHEVILLE

The Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority told the Asheville Buncombe Regional Sports Commission it was cutting its remaining $60,000 in annual funding, effective June 30. Relations have been strained for two years after the TDA proposed absorbing the commission into its operations. The commission wants to remain independent.

Mission Hospital and the Mission Nurses

United union didn’t reach a new labor agrement by July 3, the expiration date for the current contract. Nurses told the Asheville Watchdog that the union and the hospital remain far apart on key issues.

Laura Lynn Ingle Sharp sold her remaining shares of Ingles Markets for about $400,000. Her brother, Robert Ingle II, is chairman and controls 72% of the company’s voting power. Laura Lynn is a private-label brand for the 198-store chain.

BOONE

Chuck Mantooth is retiring as CEO of UNC Health Appalachian hospital, effective Jan. 1. He joined the hospital here in 1992 and has been CEO since 2017. In May 2022, UNC Health approved a 10year management services agreement with Appalachian Regional Healthcare System, the main hospital system serving the High Country area.

CANTON

Tribal members can now legally buy recreational marijuana. Members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians backed the adult use of marijuana on their tribal land and the purchase of medical marijuana in previous votes. The sale is only for tribal members and must be used in the Qualla boundary. Elsewhere in the state, the use of marijuana for medical and recreational use is prohibited. ■

ON THE REBOUND

In the shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic, meetings and conventions are on the rise.

COVID’s not something we talk much about anymore, but it’s always in the back of our minds,” says Chelsea Andujar, director of meetings and events for the Carolinas Association of General Contractors.

Four years ago, the hospitality sector was reeling from the devastating impacts of pandemic shutdowns, but many used the down time to make cosmetic improvements and infrastructure upgrades, and create opportunities for unique conference experiences. While the pandemic is largely in the rearview mirror, a few

stubborn challenges remain, including workforce shortages and inflation. Yet, planners and industry representatives report conference attendance is on the rise and business is bouncing back.

Carolinas AGC, a Charlotte-based trade association that represents construction and contractor firms in North and South Carolina, organizes over 100 meetings and conventions of all sizes each year, topping out with an annual summit that brings in as many as 800 attendees.

For Andujar, life and work are getting back to normal, and while staffing is still a concern, she

recognizes that meeting facilities are striving to serve their clients.

“We have been happily surprised at how the properties have risen to the occasion,” she says. “During our first large summit after the pandemic, our largest dinner event was for over 500 people, and the hotel not only brought in all its staff but recruited their family members to help with banquet service and fill in the gaps.”

Andujar can relate to the staffing struggles. Her association’s members are dealing with the same challenges.

“We’ve had to put our patience hats on and understand we all have

a workforce shortage,” she says.

Rich Phaneuf, CEO and executive director of Association Executives of North Carolina has been on both sides of the event management business. Today, he runs the state organization for business and trade associations and supports the organization’s hospitality partners. Prior to joining AENC, he was general manager of River Landing Companies in Wallace, overseeing a country club and a hotel, hosting 850 events a year and managing a workforce of 250 employees.

While the state’s hospitality workforce isn’t fully at peak, Phaneuf notes progress is being made.

“During the COVID era, we saw a lot of folks in the hospitality industry leaving to pursue other lines of work, and even though staffing is rebounding, we’re facing workforce issues today that we haven’t faced before,” he says.

The biggest challenges lie in hiring workers who are well-trained and paying them the wages they require and the flexibility they need, he adds.

AENC spent its 2024 summer convention at Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort in the North Carolina mountains, one of the largest resorts and casino operations in the state.

In 2021, the resort unveiled a multimillion-dollar expansion project, adding a new hotel tower and a 83,000 square-foot convention center. Today, the facility offers over 115,700 square feet of event space and 1,833 hotel rooms.

State association business has always been the resort’s bread and butter, says sales manager Stacy Pegg, who remembers when the facility was just a fraction of its current size.

“We built our convention center on association business,” she says. “For years, all we had was a 14,000-square-foot ballroom and a 16,000-square-foot event center. “The convention business started with the N.C. Association of Chiefs of Police, which was our first big association booking, and once they started coming, everybody started coming and it has been a great market for us.”

The resort’s sister property, Harrah’s Cherokee Valley River Casino & Hotel in Murphy is currently undergoing a $275 million expansion project expected to be completed this year.

The Harrah’s resorts are now approaching prepandemic levels and the future is bright, says Michelle Patterson director of sales for the portfolio division of Caesar’s Entertainment, which owns the Harrah’s resorts.

“Cherokee is trending higher over the next several years,” she said. “With the additional meeting space, the team there is putting more business on the books than the same time last year, and the next three years are shaping up to be the best we’ve ever had.”

In 2021, the Charlotte Convention Center opened the doors to its $126.9 million expansion project, which added 50,000 square feet of meeting room and prefunction space. The convention center today offers 600,000 square feet of total leasable space.

The investment is paying off for the 25-yearold convention center according to the Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority, which operates the facility. The CRVA’s annual report shows that in 2023, the convention center hosted 374 events with

413,000 attendees, including 42 conventions and trade shows, 19 consumer shows and 297 local events.

Charlotte is a strong draw for visitors, particularly those driving to the Queen City, says Sherri Belfield, senior public relations manager.

“The drive market still reigns supreme,” she says. “Nine in 10 visitors arrive in Charlotte by car, and we focus on a 400-mile radius targeting visitors coming for concerts, performances, festivals and sporting events.”

She adds that Charlotte ranks high among meeting planners as a convention destination.

“This points to the positive reputation Charlotte has among planners and conference-goers and how that perception continues to translate into bookings,” she said.

In Raleigh and across Wake County, business is also booming, says Dennis Edwards, president and CEO of Visit Raleigh, the capital city’s convention bureau.

“Leads for corporate meetings and conventions are up by 25% over last year, and bookings are up by 24%,” he says.

Edwards welcomes the scheduled $387.5 million expansion of the Raleigh Convention Center which he believes will be a boon to the city and a welcome addition for the meetings sector.

The expansion will add 300,000 square feet of meeting space to the convention center, bringing its total to 800,000. Edwards hopes this expansion will help recoup lost revenues due to the lack of capacity.

The Raleigh Convention and Performing Arts Complex vision is to “accelerates sustainable economic growth by increasing convention and entertainment business and stimulates an innovative, artistic, and cultural presence in the community.”

“Over a two-year period, the convention center’s limitations cost us 68 conventions, 181,000 hotel room nights and an economic impact of over $102 million, and that’s just the lost business we know about,” he says. “This expansion will give us the ability to go after larger conventions and meetings, and layer in more than one large conference at a time in the facility.”

Scheduled for completion in 2028, the expansion will include 80,000 square feet of flexible event space and 30 meeting rooms. It will also be the new home for the Red Hat Amphitheater, which is moving one block south from its current location to make room

for a new Omni Hotel with 550 sleeping rooms.

The new hotel will join five other hotels opening in Raleigh within the next year which will provide hotel rooms needed to house conference attendees. Through last May, hotel occupancy in Raleigh and across Wake County was 69.8% compared to a state average of 60.9%.

Events like the recent U.S. Open Golf Championship in Pinehurst and World Championship of 7v7 Soccer in Cary last June caused many area hotels to sell out months ahead of the events.

And the state’s economic development efforts, leading to growth in major sectors

like advanced manufacturing, technology and life sciences, also brings people to the area for work and for meetings and conferences, and expanded air service at the Raleigh Durham International Airport will offer convenient access for both leisure and corporate visitors.

“We now have 69 cities with nonstop service to RDU and 10 international destinations, so we check the ease-of-access box,” he says. “The airport is centrally located in the Triangle Region, convenient to many hotels and meeting facilities.”

Just two months after the U.S. Open Golf Championship, Phil Werz is still reflecting on the impact the

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event had on his small community in the Village of Pinehurst, and across Moore County.

Werz, president and CEO of the Pinehurst, Southern Pines, Aberdeen Area CVB, has been feeling the growing pains in an area that was largely one of North Carolina’s best kept secrets --until the USGA came to town.

Moore County, known for great golf, equestrian events, lush farmland, the peach industry and the arts is now an international shining star, thanks to golf.

Last year the U.S. Golf Association opened its USGA Experience and World Golf Hall of Fame on the USGA’s Golf House Pinehurst campus, and in 2029,

both the men’s and women’s golf championships will return.

For years, the area, featuring the stately Pinehurst Resort has been a popular destination for meetings and conventions, but as golf has risen in stature, demand on the region’s few precious hotel rooms has eclipsed conference space.

“Pinehurst has become one of the best and most recognizable golf destinations in the world,” Werz says. “People still want to come here for conventions, but we only have 2,300 hotel rooms, and only the Pinehurst Resort can handle the larger meetings.”

With 14 hotels in the area, visitors often turn to county’s inventory of 750 short-term rentals

when they travel to Moore County. Werz and the CVB’s hospitality partners are making every effort to add more space.

He believes a hike in the county’s occupancy tax will go a long way toward easing the strain. At 3%, it’s currently the lowest in the state.

Typically, occupancy taxes are charged to visitors spending the night in cities and counties across the state. The taxes are allocated to travel and tourism promotion and infrastructure growth and enhancements for visitors and residents alike.

At it’s June 24 regular meeting, the Pinehurst, Southern Pines, Aberdeen Area CVB voted to

increase the occupancy tax from 3% to 6%.

“We are the 10th highest tourism economy in the state of North Carolina out of 100 counties,” Werz says. “All nine above us have a 6% occupancy tax.”

An amphitheater, luxury hotel, and additional conference facilities are on the CVB’s wish list to prepare for demand which is predicted to grow significantly over the next five years.

Whether large or small, Phaneuf sees value in every conference destination.

“North Carolina has some of the greatest, coolest and most trendy venues I’ve ever seen and the most vibrant environments for conferences in the country,” he says. “We love to take our members to places like Charlotte and Raleigh, but we also love creating unique and different experiences for them in other places, like Cherokee and Pinehurst.”

After a few difficult pandemic years, Phaneuf says he has witnessed the strength and resilience of North Carolina’s hospitality sector.

“People continue to visit the state, corporations and municipalities continue to invest in their communities, and meetings are back,” he says.

And for Andujar and the Carolinas AGC, creating meaningful experiences is key to the success of any conference.

“Unique spaces for receptions and networking are always welcome,” she says. “During the day, we’re in the ballrooms and meeting rooms, and our members

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Many hotels and meeting venues are answering the call and adding unique spaces, including rooftop cocktail bars, which is a trend these days.

Sometimes unique experiences come with a hefty price tag, especially as inflation continues to be an economic factor, but for Andujar, it hasn’t impacted her conferences.

“We are staying at the same places and offering the same quality of programming and our attendance is still holding strong,”

she says. “We have had to increase our registration prices just to match what the hotels are charging, but we try to keep it reasonable.”

Despite the challenges, it’s business as usual, and for the Carolinas AGC, meetings are on the rise.

“Twenty years ago, we only offered our annual convention and our division meetings,” she says. “Today, we’re bringing people together more than ever before.” ■

— Teri Saylor is a freelance writer from Raleigh.

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THE MANUFACTURING SHIFT COMPANIES ARE LOOKING TO ADAPT TO A NEW WAY OF MAKING THINGS.

North Carolina has shifted from a traditional economy based on agriculture, furniture and textiles to a global economy that is driven by knowledge-based enterprises. But manufacturing remains an essential part of this economic transition.

Key N.C. manufacturing industries include advanced manufacturing, aerospace, automotive, aviation, defense, life sciences, software and information technology. In partnership with the state’s universities, community colleges and training programs, help develop workers equipped with the skills that are in demand across the globe.

Business North Carolina recently gathered manufacturing leaders from around the state to participate in a roundtable discussion about the needs of manufacturing and its future. The conversation was moderated by Executive Editor Chris Roush. This transcript was edited for clarity.

The discussion was sponsored by:

• Mertek Solutions

• The Rise Companies

• Robeson Community College

WHAT DO YOU SEE AS THE STATE’S BIGGEST MANUFACTURING ISSUE?

CASPAR: The No. 1 challenge that I would say is it’s going to come down to people, but it’s how do we engage those

people and how do you have the right levels of employees all the way through your operation. Is that engagement and involvement in how we work through that to the manufacturing process. That’s the biggest challenge that I have, because if you have the right people, everything else will work.

HARRIS: We always hear the workforce is the biggest issue, and I think that is really addressing the tight labor markets and once you find the right people, how do you keep them? How do you engage them and how do you keep them engaged in the work that you’re doing? That’s also addressing the quickly changing technologies. How do

you train them? How do you take who they are and train them the way they need to train to be the person you need them to be? I think that’s the biggest challenge here.

EVATT: Based on what I have seen in North Carolina, and this is not common to just this state, is that there’s a lot of talk about what future technologies will present. I think there’s a lot of uncertainty there, particularly how artificial intelligence relates to manufacturing. Is it going to be a revolution like robotics? Is it going to be less impactful? That tends to be the most common thing I am seeing in the manufacturing space.

Geoff Foster CEO and president, Core Technology Molding

Jenni Harris executive director of business services, N.C. Department of Commerce

Phil Mintz executive director of N.C. State University Industry Expansion Solutions and director of the North Carolina Manufacturing Extension Partnership

Ramah Campbell dean of public service and applied technology, Robeson Community College

Kathryn Caspar vice president of operations, JELD-WEN

Derrick Evatt vice president of electronic manufacturing services with SMT Inc.

FOSTER: We’re very similar, but the talent pipeline is the No. 1 thing that I look at today. So what we’ve done is to engage with North Carolina apprenticeships. We’re working with colleges. I think the shortage that we’re going to see across the state and in the country is in the skills of the trades, the electricians, the mechanical, HVAC. So we’re trying to have that partnership with community colleges and then have apprenticeship programs for students or employees that don’t necessarily want to go to a university for four years.

The other piece is retention. So we’ve addressed the retention piece over the last three years. We have profit-sharing now for all of our employees. We have tuition reimbursement for all of our employees. We go on a trip with all of our employees. In two weeks we will be going to the Dominican Republic. So our turnover rate is one of the lowest in Guilford County at about 2%. So really retention is very important, but I think more importantly you have to be able to attract talent and get them in your pipeline.

MINTZ: I see challenges not only with the workforce but also the adoption of technology. We have a lot of smaller manufacturing companies who need to understand things like robotics and automation in the way that is needed to help them to continue to grow and be profitable.

CAMPBELL: The biggest challenge is having a trained and qualified workforce. During our advisory board meetings we often hear companies express the need of just maintaining that well-trained workforce to fill their needs. This has led us to focus on training and development of a skilled manufacturing workforce and making the training more

accessible as well. So a big part of it is making sure that these people are able to work. We’ve started stackable credentials and all sorts of things where they don’t necessarily have to go all the way through to a two-year degree.

CAN YOU TALK ABOUT HOW ROBESON COMMUNITY COLLEGE IS WORKING WITH COMPANIES IN ITS REGION TO PROVIDE EMPLOYEES?

CAMBPELL: So recently we hired an apprenticeship coordinator to go out in the field and develop these relationships. We also try to include all of our manufacturing locals in our advisory board. We’re also fixing to build a large building that will be focused on advanced manufacturing, and we’ve asked the local manufacturing industry to come in to help us with that. We’re going to build a flexible workspace to help accommodate some of our local industries. And we really wanted that input on the design so we can make sure that we have the capability to train students with the skills that they need. We really need their feedback to tell us exactly what they’re looking for in these students so when they go out and become employees, they’re ready. We rely heavily on their feedback.

KATHRYN, WHAT ARE SOME OF THE THINGS THAT JELD-WEN DOES TO GET GOOD WORKERS? HOW DO YOU GET THEM INTERESTED?

CASPAR: It’s actually a little bit different depending on what level of employee that you’re looking for. We have a lot of automation that we’re trying to integrate into our process. You’re obviously trying to find people at all

levels to understand the engineering side of it and the maintenance side in order to work through these technical phases. So with that, it’s really great if you can find a school to partner with that is close because then that means that the people want to live in those areas, and a lot of our manufacturing locations are in more rural locations.

In North Carolina, we’re in North Wilkesboro, and we’re one of the largest employers in Wilkes County. So you have to attract people that want to live in those areas. Because if not, you can have issues with the retention of those people. It’s a matter of finding someone who’s got that good baseline. You don’t have to have an employee that necessarily knows robotics, but if they understand the entries and flow in different pieces, we’re open to training them with some of the different applications.

A lot of times, you’ve got to find that partnership with either a recruiting group that knows that specific skill set and recruits for that. So that’s kind of your very technical skills.

When it comes to our hourly workforce, we have to assess what the market dynamics are. What are the other employers in that region and what is the pay scale? What are the benefits? And then we have to make sure that we stay on top of making sure that we’re competitive in the total package. It’s not just what the hourly wage is. It’s what are

the benefits that come along with that and how that works. It’s constant work.

And then with that, the engagement side is once you get an employee, what are the training opportunities that you have? You want your employees to clearly know how they can grow from the operator to a skilled machinist to a manager and making sure that we have that structure in place. And that’s how you’re going to recruit but more importantly to retain.

DERRICK, WHAT IS RISE DOING TO RETAIN WORKERS?

EVATT: Rise has been acquiring different manufacturers with a focus in North Carolina in the South. A lot of these companies that we’re taking over have ownership groups that are either aging out or moving on. Their workforces have been with these plants and factories sometimes 20, 30 or 40 years, so they have a lot of culture built into themselves. So what we try to do is make sure we recognize that culture, get into the rhythm of that. We emphasize that not just with our production supervisors, but also our line leads. And it can be small things such as recognizing personnel, rewarding that either monetarily or doing other things in team building up that culture of recognition. That is one of the hardest things that I’ve seen in manufacturing environments, especially because there’s a lot of pressure to produce. Obviously you’re focused on revenue targets but coming back recognizing high-performing personnel

not only helps retention, but also for development. You want to make sure you’re bringing up these rock stars in your group. That’s something that owner Harry Smith and his crew are really emphasizing, especially among our management team, is trying to make sure we recognize that.

JENNI AND PHIL, CAN YOU TOUCH ON “INDUSTRY 4.0,” THE NEW REPORT FROM THE N.C. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE AND N.C. STATE’S MANUFACTURING EXTENSION PARTNERSHIP AND WHAT IT CALLS FOR MOVING FORWARD?

HARRIS: It’s all about paying attention to what those new technologies are. From the workforce side, it’s also looking at the potential for untapped labor pools. For the first time in history we’ve had five generations of people working together. So how do you incorporate all of that and make that work?

Derrick mentioned recognizing those older workers because that’s what they appreciate, rewarding the younger workers the way they appreciate it, and redirecting the experience and the expertise that the older workers have while also being open to the innovation of the younger workers. Being able to address that and really looking at untapped labor pools, the people who are getting out of jail, the people that maybe haven’t been to work and military spouses, all of the vocational rehab workers. Manufacturers need to look at those areas of talent for your workforce instead of just going back to the same place and looking at the ways to accommodate what their needs are. That’s some of the areas around the workforce.

MINTZ: There’s this need to recognize that adopting technologies is important as well. But we’re still dealing with smaller companies. They’re just apprehensive about adopting technology and not quite sure whether they need all those types of things. So we did some surveys about other states and what they would do to try to be supportive. There are states that have programs that actually help with technology. We wanted to put something together for our state and for our leaders about what needs to be done so that North Carolina can keep up.

PHIL, YOU HAVE A BROAD STATEWIDE POINT OF VIEW. ARE THERE MANUFACTURING AREAS WHERE NORTH CAROLINA IS NOT IN THE GAME WHERE WE CAN GROW?

MINTZ: The interesting thing about North Carolina is that we are everywhere. We are all of these things. We don’t have a factory that builds cars yet, but we’re so broad in terms of manufacturing diversity it’s hard for us to kind of say if we’re not good at one thing.

HARRIS: Yeah, you make a really good point. When we talk about advanced manufacturing, we’re making pieces of parts, but we’re really making pieces and parts for so many subsectors of the other industries, of the pharmaceutical industry, the automotive industry, the aerospace and aviation industry.

MINTZ: We’re still holding on to some of the traditional things like furniture and textiles. We’re in textiles in a specialized way. We’re continuing to maintain some manufacturing facilities in that area. But again, we are integrated into so many different industries, it’s hard to say that we’re not doing something. In the tech area, like artificial intelligence, that’s an area that we may grow.

HARRIS: I think anything clean energy related is our biggest opportunity.

GEOFF, CAN YOU TELL THE OTHERS ABOUT HOW YOU STARTED YOUR COMPANY BASED ON WHAT PHIL SAID ABOUT SMALL MANUFACTURERS?

I WOULDN’T CLASSIFY YOU AS SMALL ANY MORE, BUT WHAT DID YOU HAVE TO DO TO GET UP AND RUNNING?

FOSTER: I think reaching out to the community and getting on advisory boards is important. So when I got on those advisory boards, I was able to get a feel for what industries were coming to the area, what skills are needed. And I think that was really key where I still sit on probably too many advisory boards. But with that I get a lot of information about what’s coming and what kind of training is needed.

I also think attending career fairs is important. Going to these career fairs, I’ve been able to tap into some talent. I’ve been teaching at North Carolina A&T for 20 years, so I kind of cherry pick my best students. Now, we’re reaching out to other schools and other universities where we can hire top talent that’s already in the state. Their parents or their grandparents live here, so I think you know avoiding relocation is important

I would go to bat saying we’ve got some of the best colleges in the country, and I think sometimes we overlook the community colleges, which are really strong.

I think you really have to have a blueprint. And that takes time. It wasn’t something that happened overnight. I think there’s some great resources that you have to utilize in the career services field. I think there’s a lot of talent that is right there knocking on the door.

RAMAH, I’M INTERESTED IN YOUR THOUGHTS ABOUT RELOCATION. ARE YOU FINDING AS A COMMUNITY COLLEGE THAT MOST STUDENTS WANT TO FIND A MANUFACTURING

JOB NEAR THE COLLEGE?

CAMPBELL: You have some students that indicate they’d like to go to larger areas. But for the most part, we have plenty who would like to stay local. We do start recruiting them straight out of high school, and a lot of those tend to want to stick around home. And they know that at a very early age. So you will have a few but for the most part, I think our students here have wanted to stay local, which is a major advantage to us.

KATHRYN, HOW HAS YOUR PLANT IN

NORTH WILKESBORO GROWN IN THE LAST FIVE TO 10 YEARS IN TERMS OF PRODUCTION OR EMPLOYEES?

CASPAR: It’s grown significantly because we added additional capacity. We make fiberglass floors at that facility. Think of your front door of your house, and maybe your back door. It’s grown because we also make all of the parts. We actually make the fiberglass skin and then the whole door, the glass and all those pieces. We’ve been slowly adding more presses over the years to increase our capacity to grow that market sector. So there’s been a lot of growth with that.

We do have a mixture of robotics, but there are still a lot of manual operators. Our biggest struggle is we actually deal with the conditions because the presses get really hot. And we know in the summer, it can get pretty hot. There’s differentials and different allowances that you have to make for that.

We offer at quite a few of our sites a different work schedule. We found quite a few of our sites where we need to implement a 24/7 operation. We actually do it in a way where you work for 10 hours and then three 12 hours so both parents can work without having to have childcare. It really helps a lot to actually recruit different people that you wouldn’t be able to hire by having those different shift schedules.

I have other locations that we work where we have to work the 12-hour shifts and working in a rotational, but we have a lot of success with modifying shift schedules to help us with being able to recruit new employees.

DERRICK, ARE YOU DOING THE SAME THING?

EVATT: We’re looking at modifications there and the way we’re across different industries and manufacturing. That makes it a little bit more complicated because we do have two different workforce needs. You don’t just have internal manufacturing and production, but you have field service personnel, who obviously have to be a lot more flexible. But I think the name of the game in 2024 is flexibility with your workforce. The more rigid you are, the less you will likely find those hidden resources, whether it’s personnel that don’t work standard shifts or just don’t prefer them. Obviously, childcare is important as well.

FOSTER: I do the same thing with continuous work schedules. So we have three 12-hour shifts on the weekend, and then during the week, it’s three eight-hour shifts. Because my workforce is so young, not many of them have childcare concerns, or their parents take care of their kids. So I’m not seeing that today. Probably when their parents aren’t around anymore, that’s going to be an issue. But right now, most of our employees are under 30 years old, and their parents help with their childcare.

WHAT ARE YOU MOST EXCITED ABOUT IN TERMS OF THE FUTURE OF MANUFACTURING?

CAMPBELL: We’re really excited about building strong partnerships with our community and being able to serve their needs with better programs, better pathways and a new curriculum that focuses on automated design and manufacturing. We want to make sure our students are able to adapt to new technology and go out very skilled into a position where they are more than

qualified. We want to make sure we go above and beyond to provide them with what they need.

MINTZ: I’m excited about the continued growth in manufacturing. There’s a lot of massive factories being built and a lot of jobs are going to be created from all of that. It just goes to show that it feels like this is a place for companies to move to where they want to grow here.

EVATT: One of the industries that was touched on a little bit was renewable energy and electrification. I think they are in an excellent position to grow. There are a lot of these large plants that are being built by the manufacturers. They’re needing regional and local support. They have to have manufacturers that are local. My background is supply chain, and a lot of the manufacturers don’t want to have to do all of their manufacturing within their own house. They want to have local partners and smaller businesses that can feed into those sub assemblies. We’re really excited to fit into that.

FOSTER: What I love about the new manufacturing is a lot of them are biotech and a lot of them are for EV. We’re 65% biotech. And these large facilities need suppliers, and they pay well, and we’re able to pay our employees well. So we’re able to be competitive. So that’s the exciting piece where we’re creating jobs but they are high-paying jobs. So there’s no turnover. Ten years ago, we couldn’t compete on hourly wages so we had a lot of turnover. Everyone knows that when you’re training people, there’s a cost to that. So we can train people one time and five years later, they’re still there and they’re growing. You know, you don’’t have that turnover and all those costs and training. So when I see companies that are coming, they’re not small companies. They are strong with growth and the

future with EV, sustainability and biotech, that’s exciting for me. Twenty years ago, we were not doing anything like that.

HARRIS: I think that two major things are the amount of employer engagement in these conversations. We are seeing a whole lot more of it, and they’re being very open and honest about what they need from the workforce and from their supply chain to keep them competitive.

The other thing that I’m excited about is the potential for lawmakers to look at policies to continue to support the growth of business in North Carolina and continue to make North Carolina No. 1. There are things that if we don’t look at those strategies in the “Industry 4.0” report, it’s going to harm North Carolina.

CASPAR: From my perspective, I do think North Carolina has a lot to offer. Personally, I’ve lived in six different states. And I have manufacturing facilities in 15 different ones. So I see a lot of different environments, a lot of different opportunities. And I think there’s a lot that as a state we have to offer. I think there’s something to say about the strong education in our university and colleges and the community colleges. There’s a lot of draw to the state because you’ve got people that are willing to relocate, but then at the same time you have a strong base of people that live here who want to stay here. Either way, it’s going to come down to how we engage with that.

There’s a lot to offer. My family has decided it’s our home. This is where we’re staying. ■

TAKING STOCK

Many big N.C.-based companies soared over the past year. But 33 of the 75 showed declines.

By David Mildenberg, Chris Roush and Matt West

It’s conventional investing wisdom that few individuals can top the long-term performance of the S&P 500 Index. at conviction is borne out in Business North Carolina’s annual report on the performance of the 75 largest public companies based in the state. Only 24 companies on the list did better than the S&P 500’s 22.7% return for the year ending June 30. (Last year, 27 companies made that mark.)

Over the past ve years, 19 companies exceeded the index’s 86% gain. Still, it’s noteworthy that many larger N.C. companies are run so e ectively that they beat the index, which is heavily in uenced by the success of a few Big Tech stocks including Amazon, Google and Meta. None are based in North Carolina.

Eleven of the 25 biggest N.C. companies have made more money for ve-year “buy and hold” investors than the S&P 500 — a lot more money, in some cases, as shown on a page 52 chart. ose companies include a diverse array of sectors, though

industrial businesses such as SPX, Trane Technologies, Curtiss-Wright and Nucor have shown particularly strong performance. None are ashy, but they score with investors.

e report also re ects rebounding performance by nancial companies, which had notably weak results in recent years. Bank of America, Truist, First Citizens, Live Oak, LendingTree and HomeTrust each returned more than 30% over the past year. eir long-term returns still mostly lag the market, however.

Industry consolidation and greater investor interest in larger companies is apparent. Twelve companies now have more than $20 billion in market valuation, compared with only seven N.C.-based enterprises in 2019. e big are getting bigger.

Notable newcomers to the list are No. 31 Six Flags, the Charlottebased theme-park operator that merged with the Cedar Fair chain; No. 38 Fortrea, a spino from Burlington-based Labcorp; and No. 61 yExclusive, the charter-jet operator based in Kinston.

DEPARTURES FROM THE

MARKET MOVERS

THESE COMPANIES SHIFTED UP OR DOWN IN SIGNIFICANT WAYS:

No. 14 Albemarle

No. 64 Piedmont Lithium

Hopes that lithium demand would soar due to surging interest in batteries powering electric vehicles were dashed, denting the shares of these two N.C. mining companies. Albemarle, the largest lithium producer, lost more than $15 billion in market value over the past year.

No. 18 SPX Technologies

Strong sales for boilers, towers and other products used in the heating, ventilation and cooling (HVAC) market have helped make little-known SPX a market hero. It’s the top–performing N.C.-based public stock over the past five years with a gain of 331%.

No. 29 Wolfspeed

Making computer chips is a tough racket, unless you are Nivdia. The market cap of Durham-based Wolfspeed declined by more than half amid investor doubts that its multibillion dollar capital budget will pay off in higher profit. The company maintains $2.5 billion in liquidity as it opens its Chatham County plant this year.

No. 36 NET Power

The popularity of natural gas as a replacement for coal-fired power plants is making this Durham-based business hot as it builds its first utility-scale plans. Its key owners include oil-and-gas powers Occidental, Baker Hughes and Constellation. It ended 2023 with $639 million in cash and no debt.

No. 37 Driven Brands

Weakness in its car-wash business pushed shares of the Charlotte-based auto-services company lower, including a one-day decline of 20% in May. Shares have slumped by more than 50% since the 2021 IPO. Atlanta PE firm Roark Capital controls 61% of shares.

No. 53 Humacyte

The Durham-based biotech shot up in value as the FDA gave preliminary acceptance for its artificial human tissue that is intended to replace weak blood vessels, including for battlefield injuries. More than $30 million in revenue is projected next year by Cantor Fitzgerald, pending final approval by regulators.

No. 71 Cato

The steady slide of the Charlotte-based women’s apparel retailer, famous for siting many of its 1,178 stores adjacent to Walmarts, continued over the past year. Shares now trade at their lowest level since 1998. Founder Wayland Cato Jr. and his son, Wayland Cato III, died within several days in November. CEO John Cato has 52% of the voting power.

TOP-PERFORMING CEOs

Gene Lowe SPX

331% return

CEO since 2015

$7.7 million (total compensation in 2023)

Frank Holding Jr.

First Citizens

277% return

CEO since 2008

$9.9 million

Frank Harrison III

Coca-Cola Consolidated

271% return

CEO since 1994

$19.8 million

Marty Freeman

Old Dominion Freight Line

267% return

CEO since 2023

$9.5 million

Dave Regnery

Trane Technologies

253% return

CEO since 2021

$22.9 million

Leon Topalian Nucor

207% return

CEO since 2020

$22.5 million

Vicente Reynal

Ingersoll Rand

182% return

CEO since 2020

$15.5 million

51 TO 75

Data for the Top 75 Public Companies was provided by Matt West, Capital Investment Cos. and Nottingham.

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Headquartered in Wilmington, NC,

Live Oak Bank isn’t your typical financial institution.

Since opening in 2008, its founders had a vision to revolutionize the industry, turning the traditional banking model on its head. They’ve become the leading SBA lender in the country,* focused on serving small businesses across the nation.

Revolutionizing Small Business Banking

A Digital Revolution: Live Oak operates entirely online, leveraging technology to streamline the banking experience. Without any brick-and-mortar branches, they offer efficient and accessible digital services from anywhere in the US.

SBA Expertise & Beyond: Live Oak is the most active SBA lender in the nation,* helping businesses secure government-backed loans with favorable terms. Their expertise extends beyond SBA, offering USDA and commercial loans as well. With lending teams dedicated to over 30 different industries, including veterinary practices, independent pharmacies, and franchises, they can tailor financial solutions for each customer’s unique situation.

Exceptional Service at the Core: Customer service is a cornerstone of Live Oak’s philosophy. They believe in building strong relationships with their customers, fostering a collaborative approach. Unlike traditional banks, no one at Live Oak is commission-based, ensuring their focus remains solely on the customers’ needs.

More Than Just Loans: Live Oak offers a suite of FDIC-insured business banking products, from checking accounts with treasury management features to savings accounts and CDs. Personal savings and CD accounts are also available. They recently introduced a new express loan program, getting capital in the hands of business owners with speed and simplicity.

An Inimitable Culture: Live Oak fosters a unique company culture, prioritizing employee wellbeing with the belief that happy employees lead to happy customers — and ultimately, happy shareholders. The bank’s teams embrace bold ideas and push beyond the status quo, all in the name of purpose-built products and services. Live Oak is committed to attracting, building and retaining top talent who continue to reinforce their mission to be America’s small business bank.

In 2015, Live Oak filed for its initial public offering on the Nasdaq and transitioned to the NYSE in 2022, trading under its current ticker symbol LOB.

*The data supplied by the SBA reflects 7(a) highest dollar volume FY 2023.

Unlike traditional banks, no one at Live Oak is commission-based, ensuring their focus remains solely on the customer’s needs.

1757 TIBURON DRIVE

WILMINGTON, NC 28403

866-518-0286

liveoakbank.com

LIVE OAK BANK

Aging Well

Savvy M&A strategy, private equity backing and smalltown values propel growth at retirement-plan kingpin Captrust.

By David Mildenberg

Perhaps it’s a coincidence that four key people involved in the rapid growth of Raleigh’s Captrust nancial services company hail from small North Carolina towns. But these guys don’t think so.

Fielding Miller, Wilson Hoyle and Ben Goldstein say spending their youth in Lenoir, Henderson and Windsor, respectively, has a lot to do with Captrust’s success. So does Jim Burr, a native of unincorporated Lucia in Gaston County who is now a managing director at Carlyle Group, a giant private-equity group that bought a stake in Captrust last year.

We’ll share details on how the company’s valuation has soared to the multi-billion dollar range, with its payroll tripling to more than 1,600 over the past ve years. Captrust is pro ting from increased demand for corporate-sponsored 401(Ks) and other retirement planning vehicles and, more recently, nancial advice desired by wealthier families. It's made 75-plus acquisitions.

But let’s start with the human roots of that success, embodied in lyrics from John Mellencamp’s “Small Town,” penned in 1985: “I cannot forget from where it is that I come from. I cannot forget the people who love me. Yeah, I can be myself here in this small town. And people let me be just what I want to be.” at’s for real, says Hoyle, who joined Miller’s company in 1997. “ e three of us bene ted from the three things that most high-performing organizations and people need: Stability, belief and support. When I grew up in Henderson in the ’70s and ’80s, you were surrounded by a vibrant economy, you were surrounded by successful people, and it created a belief that you can do it.

Captrust timeline

The three of us never wondered for a second if we could do it.”

Goldstein, president of Captrust since 2010, grew up in Bertie County, where his Russian immigrant family had moved after stops in Baltimore and Rocky Mount. “It was a very impoverished area, but I’m the better for it.”

Folks in big cities “can behave one way and get away with it because not everybody knows about it,” he says. “But that’s not the case in a small town. And in a company, if you say one thing about the mission, and behave in a different way, that sends the absolute worst message to employees. They will notice. So you better be who you say you are.”

In Lenoir, the county seat of Caldwell County, Miller says one couldn’t exhibit road rage because of the community’s tight-knit ways. “It would get back to your parents before you’d gotten even 100 yards past the other car.” The blue-collar city famous for its furniture factories also instilled “a sense of humility. You better grind it out and make your own way. The world can come apart economically, but you better get after it.”

That proved prophetic for Miller, who graduated from East Carolina University and worked for a bank in Fayetteville before joining the Interstate Securities brokerage in Raleigh in 1986. One year later, the stock market crashed, forcing many brokers to leave the business.

But Miller was too young and had too much personal debt to quit. He’d borrowed money to buy some rental properties in Fayetteville. In a time when cold-calling was the norm, he became one of the Charlotte-based brokerage’s top commissioned-based salesmen. at helped him gain the con dence of key company leaders, says Kel Normann, who also joined Interstate in Cary in 1986 and is a close friend of Miller.

Company formed by Fielding Miller and 12 former Interstate/ Johnson Lane colleagues.

Ben Goldstein joins as president; company moves into Raleigh headquarters.

Rush Benton joins as head of wealth management M&A; resigned in 2024.

Tops 500 employees.

Capital partner GTCR buys 25% stake; Company has $390 billion under management.

25th anniversary; 1,300 employees, $770 billion in assets.

Tops 1,000 employees.

Assets top $1 trillion, more than 1,600 employees in 34 states and the District of Columbia.

Capital partner Carlyle Group makes investment. Valuation set at $3.7 billion.

Road Warrior

A er a decade in the business, Miller and colleague David Perkins saw a bigger opportunity beyond their own nancial advisory practices. eir plan was to o er retirement plan services to employers, which were increasingly o ering 401(k) savings programs for their employees. A key early hire was Hoyle, a star kicker for Wake Forest’ University’s football team from 1986-89.

Supported by the brokerage and Wachovia, the WinstonSalem-based bank that bought the securities rm in 1999, Miller traveled across the Southeast to sign businesses, colleges and other institutions. In 2002, Captrust became an independent business because Wachovia and its new owner, First Union, were focused on their merger.

Around that time, Congress passed the Sarbanes-Oxley law that required companies to pay closer attention to managing their employees’ retirement accounts. e new rules were a catalyst for Captrust’s growth.

By 2010, a er 13 years in business, the company had 140 employees and was overseeing $50 billion in client assets, mostly corporate retirement plan accounts. at same year, Miller hired Goldstein as chief operating o cer, selecting him over two people

Captrust senior leadership

Fielding Miller

CEO

Joined Captrust: 1997

Hometown: Lenoir

Education: Bachelor’s, East Carolina University

with strong banking industry backgrounds. While running his consulting business in Raleigh, Goldstein had worked with many smaller real estate, technology and nancial services companies.

“He had a small-company mindset and knew how to get a lot of things done,” Miller says. “He was like my Swiss army knife coming in the door, which really freed me up.”

A decade later, when Goldstein was promoted to president, Captrust had grown to 650 employees and $368 billion in assets under management.

By 2020, a majority of the company’s income still stemmed from fees charged to retirement plan clients. e fee tends to be ve or 10 cents per $100 under management, according to industry experts. In other words, $386 billion could kick o $200 million or more in revenue.

Four years later, that business has doubled in size, aided by more acquisitions and the stock market surge that boosts the value of accounts. Captrust’s clients now oversee retirement plans for more than 5 million employees and others.

“ ey are THE industry big cats,” says Fred Barstein, a Jupiter, Florida-based consultant, trainer and data provider for wealth management and retirement services clients. “Captrust is far and away the biggest aggregator of retirement plans.”

Ben Goldstein

President

Joined Captrust: 2010

Hometown: Windsor

Education: Bachelor’s, UNC Chapel Hill

Wilson Hoyle Managing director, head of advisory group

Joined Captrust: 1997

Hometown: Henderson

Education: Bachelor’s, Wake Forest University

Culture Club

at’s only part of the story at Captrust. Having specialized in quarterbacking funds that manage money for millions of workers with relatively small retirement savings, o cials also saw opportunity in “wealth management,” industry jargon for advising wealthier people.

In 2013, Miller hired Rush Benton to lead Captrust’s M&A e orts in buying well-run nancial advisory rms whose leaders wanted a change and a payo for building their operations. Before he le Captrust this spring to start a consulting business, Benton had worked on more than 40 acquisitions of successful investment advisers nationally, many with 10 to 30 employees. e biggest had 60. Miller called him “the primary face of our wealth management M&A strategy.”

e diversi cation is attractive for Captrust because wealth management clients typically pay fees of about 1% of their assets annually, or $10,000 on an $1 million account. By comparison, the company might earn less than $1,000 per $1 million as a retirement-plan duciary.

at disparity is why Captrust, since 2021, is taking in more revenue from wealth management than its much-larger retirement planning business, Goldstein says.

Many companies compete to acquire the best nancial advisers because it’s a lucrative business, especially with the stock

Jim Burr

Director

Co-head, Financial Services Group, Carlyle Group

Captrust board member

Hometown: Lucia

Education: Bachelor’s, Appalachian State University

market heading steadily higher. Some sellers are fetching more than 15 times their pretax pro t, a historic peak.

Captrust has excelled over the past decade in attracting new partners, without always o ering the highest price, Barstein says. “Advisers pick Captrust because they like the brand, the culture and the system.”

In 2023, Captrust acquired nine wealth management rms with a combined $14.7 billion in assets, the company says. ose deals include the 12-person advisory company that Miller’s friend Normann had developed in Sanford. It had $1.3 billion in client assets. Last November, he sold the business to Captrust, reuniting with his longtime friend.

“I couldn’t be happier because I’m not having to deal with all of the headaches of owning and managing my own business, and I can spend more time working with my clients,” Normann says.

Miller and Normann “started our careers together. We said ‘let’s nish our careers together,’” he adds.

Captrust takes over most back-o ce functions of the acquired rms and oversees brand marketing. Normann’s company is now called Captrust Sanford.

When agreeing to partner with Captrust, investment advisers have options on how much cash they will receive versus equity in the Raleigh company. “I rolled my equity into Captrust, so instead of selling my business, I was buying into Captrust,” Normann says.

Robert Miller

CFO

Joined Captrust: 2021

Hometown: Georgetown, S.C.

Education: Bachelor’s UNC Chapel Hill

Managing directors

Christina Markell-Balleza general counsel, San Antonio

Scott Matheson client solutions, Raleigh

Rick Shoff advisor group, Doylestown, Pennsylvania

Edward Welch Jr. head of wealth management, Montgomery, Alabama

MIchael Vogelzang chief investment officer, Boston

Principals

Eric Bailey head of endowments, foundations, Tampa

Michael Hudson head of investment plan consulting, Raleigh

Captrust’s private-equity partners

GTCR

HQ: Chicago

Year founded: 1980

Assets under management: $25 billion

Captrust board members: Collin Roche, Michael Hollander, KJ McConnell

Recent investments: Sotera Health, Park Place Technologies

Carlyle Group

HQ: Washington, D.C.

Year founded: 1987

Assets under management: $425 billion

Captrust board members: Jim Burr

Recent investments: Canoe, Coreweave

PE steps in

Captrust’s equity has surged in value in recent years, partly because two major private equity companies bought stakes, company o cials say. When Chicago-based GTCR bought a quarter of Captrust’s equity in 2020, the company was valued at about $1.5 billion and had about $390 billion under management.

By September 2023, when Carlyle bought an undisclosed stake, the valuation was $3.7 billion, Captrust said. Assets under management had soared 80%, to $714 billion. Both GTCR and Carlye are committed to holding their Captrust shares for at least seven years while not seeking majority ownership, Miller says.

With dealmaking continuing and the stock market remaining robust, Captrust hit the $1 trillion mark in assets under management this summer.

“Private equity is chasing the nancial planning and retirement adviser market,” Barstein says. “Captrust didn’t need the money, but PE rms were knocking at the door, which allowed them to take some money o the table.”

Miller o ers a more nuanced view, noting that Captrust saw great growth potential in wealth management but didn’t want to take on major debt to nance its acquisitions. Having strong nancial partners is a winwin, he says. About a dozen potential investors were considered before Miller picked Carlyle because of its expertise in technology, leadership development and risk management.

“We see an amazing opportunity in the consolidation of our industry,” Hoyle says. “We made the decision that it would work as long as we found a really good partner and that it wasn’t all about the money or the valuation.”

Burr co-leads a group that has made dozens of investments in global nancial companies, typically putting up $200 million to $2 billion, according to Carlyle’s website. He had numerous talks with Miller and Hoyle for more than two years before an agreement was signed.

“Our model is to invest in good companies and great management teams,” he says. “ ey’re all people businesses. I can own 95%, but I don’t control it. e assets go up and down the elevator every day,” referring to Captrust’s employees.

When it sought outside investment in 2020, Captrust expected strong growth because of the rising stock market and industry consolidation as baby boomer investment advisers look for a pro table exit. “We expected a lot of growth, but maybe not quite as much as we got,” Goldstein says. “It’s not all due to our credit. We’re very blessed to be in a great industry where people like Jim and others are still interested in rms in this space.”

Shared equity

Loyalty to Captrust’s culture is aided by the company’s emphasis on making most of its sta part-owners of the business. Of the 1,550 employees, 976 had equity as of March 31, Miller says. Sta ers of newly acquired rms are exceptions, but most employees have to work for Captrust for three years to qualify. “If you don’t have it a er three years, it’s probably a signal that you aren’t in the right place,” he says.

Sharing equity widely is an unconventional nancial model, Miller notes. Captrust’s stock has risen by 30% or more annually for the past ve and 10 years, while the company could borrow money at 4% or so and pay cash for its acquisitions, he notes. Hence, its approach dilutes the stakes of existing owners.

“But when [employees] get an equity plan, this starts adding up,” he says. “And it’s usually their biggest asset, and then you’ve got them. ey’re not going away and they’re very concerned about how the company’s performing and what they can do.”

Adds Goldstein, “We can show case a er case where people took 50% equity and in a few years, the appreciation on the equity they took is more than what they sold their business for.”

While Miller, Goldstein and Hoyle are in their 50s or 60s, succession isn’t a major concern at Captrust, Barstein says. “It’s a deep bench, and they have plenty of good young people. It’s a system they have created.”

A keystone of that system are the company’s underlying values, rooted in those small towns. “It wasn’t Mayberry for crying out loud, but it was kind of close,” Hoyle says. “We do have an underdog mentality, or a chip on our shoulder. I know the three of us have it. None of us went to Wall Street or to the Ivy League.

“To think of being the largest retirement adviser in the country, I mean that’s really an incredible outcome. I think it’s absolutely amazing.” ■

Captrust moved into its North Hills neithborhood offices in 2010, when the financial markets were recovering from a severe recession.

Photos from their youth show Miller, top, and Goldstein, left, in athletics. But Hoyle, middle, became the star, with kicking skills making him one of the highest point-scorers in Wake Forest football history.

&Repair REPLACE

Shane O’Kelly aims to turn around Raleigh’s Advance Auto.

Here’s how.

By Chris Roush

Shane O’Kelly readily admits he’s a car guy. He used to own a Porsche 911 that he’d drive around the Road Atlanta track. He drives an Audi to work and admits to owning a Honda Odyssey minivan, primarily because of his three kids and two dogs. During a June weekend, he watched on television the 24 Hours of LeMans and the Iowa Corn 350 NASCAR Cup race, won by Ryan Blaney, who drives a Ford sponsored by Advance Auto Parts, where O’Kelly is the CEO.

“I will drive anything,” says O’Kelly. “I will watch anybody who races. For me, driving is relaxing.”

His current drive, however, may be the toughest road that O’Kelly has traveled. He joined Advance in September 2023 with a mandate to get it back to receiving the checkered flag. Since 2022, Raleigh’s only Fortune 500 company’s stock has declined more than 70%, dramatically underperforming the market and competitors AutoZone, up more than 40% during the same time period, and O’Reilly Automotive, up nearly 50%.

Profits have fallen over the past two years, while same-store sales, a key barometer of a retailer’s health, fell 0.3% during the most recent fiscal year. Formerly based in Roanoke, Virginia,

Advance moved to Raleigh a er its $2 billion purchase of General Parts in 2014. e deal expanded Advance’s revenue by $2.9 billion, but the company has spent the last decade unsuccessfully trying to merge two separate distribution systems.

With Advance performing so poorly, the company’s board changed leaders, with Tom Greco stepping down a er seven years as CEO. Earlier this year, two activist hedge funds successfully pressured management to add three preferred directors to the board, a move applauded by O’Kelly.

O’Kelly, who had been CEO of Home Depot’s HD Supply subsidiary for nearly three years, is steering the company through the rst steps of a reorganization. In November, he announced a plan to cut $150 million in costs, including reducing sta at the North Hills headquarters, and to explore options for its Canadian stores and Worldpac parts business. He’s brought in more than a half-dozen new executives, including a new chief nancial o cer from home improvement chain Lowe’s and a new chief merchant from Target.

He also set in motion a plan to consolidate the company’s two distribution systems and placed a new focus on securing more business from neighborhood repair shops, which already account for about 60% of sales. Advance has also adjusted prices where they were higher than competitors. O’Kelly is visiting many of the chain’s 4,700-plus stores to see what needs a small tune-up and what needs an engine rebuild.

Happier staffers

“He’s impressive, and everything he’s announced so far sounds good on paper, so I am hoping that the execution follows,” says Phillip Blee, an analyst at William Blair who has a “market perform” rating on the company. “It will be interesting to see how things shape up over the next year or so.”

Advance’s stock price, a er surging earlier this year, is barely changed from when O’Kelly started. Net pro t slipped by $8 million to $40 million in the rst quarter of the scal year, while same-store sales were down 0.2%.

Advance Auto Parts headquarters is in north Raleigh.

Kelly views a better customer experience as crucial for the turnaround. To that end, Advance has raised compensation for hourly team members by an average of 8%, which has helped reduce turnover by 18% in recent months.

“I prefer being in the stores,” says O’Kelly. “We don’t sell anything in the headquarters, and with every visit, I see something in terms of what’s working and what’s not working or get an idea for something we could do. I see things from our customers' eyes.”

Advance faces two rivals with much stronger reputations with investors because of their more consistent performance. Memphisbased AutoZone has 7,140 locations, and Spring eld, Missouri-based O’Reilly has about 6,100. AutoZone has a market capitalization of more than $50 billion while O’Reilly’s valuation tops $60 billion. Advance’s market cap was $3.8 billion in mid-July.

Advance Stores opened in 1932 in Roanoke and Lynchburg, Virginia, and originally sold auto and home supplies. Six years later, it entered North Carolina with a store in Winston-Salem. e company didn’t focus exclusively on auto parts until the 1970s. e name was changed to Advance Auto Parks in 1974.

In October 2013, the company agreed to pay $2 billion for Genuine Parts International, the Raleigh-based owner of the Worldpac and Carquest auto parts brands. It was among the Triangle’s largest and best-known private companies a er signi cant growth led by founder Temple Sloan, who also was a key investor in the Highwoods Properties real estate business.

e headquarters for the combined company moved to Raleigh in 2018, with the state chipping in $9.3 million in nancial incentives a er Advance pledged to create 435 jobs.

But the acquisition has led to many of the company’s current issues. Carquest’s distribution centers were generally smaller than those operated by Advance and as a result sometimes ran out of parts faster. at meant un lled orders at the stores, which aggravates shoppers.

Greco, a former Frito-Lay North America CEO, earned initial kudos at the company he joined in 2016. Advance was the fourthbest performing stock in the S&P 500 in 2018. It purchased Sears’ DieHard battery brand for $200 million in 2020. But revenue growth slowed from 8.8% in 2021 to 1.4% in 2022 and 1.2% last year.

STRUGGLING TO KEEP PACE

Cumulative return for the past five years through July 12.

Source: Morningstar

In comparison, AutoZone’s annual revenue gained 16%, 11% and 7% over the past three years.

In May 2023, Advance’s shares declined 35% in a single day a er it announced a gloomy outlook and cut the quarterly dividend from $1.50 to 25 cents. A few months earlier, Greco had said he would retire at the end of the year, a change that accelerated with the new CEO’s hiring.

Commanding authority

O’Kelly grew up in rural, upstate New York, where he says getting your driver’s license meant freedom because it was “seven miles for milk and 20 miles for a movie.” His rst car was a 1982 Toyota Celica Supra. He graduated from West Point in 1990 with a degree in mathematical economics and served seven years as an infantry o cer in the U.S. Army. During his service, he graduated from both Airborne and Ranger schools and served as a ri e platoon leader and company commander. He later earned a Harvard MBA and worked for consulting rm McKinsey. His military experience and a decade working at Home Depot shaped his management strategies. Both focused on training and preparing the front line for any task. Home Depot founders Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank were known to regularly visit stores, wearing orange aprons. “You have to be able to follow before you can lead and you have to listen before you can talk,” O’Kelly says. “And don’t ask people to do anything you wouldn’t be prepared to do yourself.”

Advance has a good shot at reviving its fortunes, O’Kelly says. Only 90 million of the 286 million vehicles in operation in the U.S. are less than six years old, according to S&P Global Mobility. With electric vehicle sales taking o at a slower pace than expected, many consumers are spending more money keeping their aging Fords, Toyotas and other brands in tiptop shape. “We’re in a situation where for want of architecting the right path forward, we can participate in the industry’s upside and be in a better position from a performance perspective,” says O’Kelly.

Cutting 400 mostly white-collar workers as part of the costcutting e ort was “really hard to do, never easy. But that helped provide the funding needed to make the investment in the eld. And it also signaled that we genuinely view the eld as the most important part of the organization,” the CEO says.

Visiting stores and distribution centers prompted O’Kelly to notice some issues a ecting Advance’s performance. For example, sales so ware would o en reboot and be down for several hours, causing stores to lose sales. He also noticed many store workers were spending an inordinate amount of time on paperwork and receiving new parts for restocking shelves. e company is now addressing its point-of-sale system, and changing the training for core employees. “I’ve looked to have a eld- rst orientation in terms of how we do things and how we think about where the priority should be,” he says.

Bradley Wells, a district manager for Advance in Alabama overseeing 13 stores, says O’Kelly has shown greater interest in listening to rank-and- le workers. “He’s turned the focus to a bottom-up standpoint instead of a top-down, and he’s very much attuned to the stores,” says Wells, who has been with the company for seven years a er 17 years at Walmart. “He’s been in the stores more than I have seen leaders in the past. He has excellent communication with the eld.”

While no decision has been made on whether Worldpac and Carquest t in the overall enterprise, O’Kelly says it’s important to review the businesses when “the overall performance has been less than what everybody expects. [ en] you take stock of each part of the business and say, ‘How does that t? If it doesn’t t, what would I do with it?’”

Je eries analyst Bret Jordan says a sale of Worldpac “should unlock the next level of the turnaround story” by simplifying Advance’s supply chain and providing cash for other investments. e company’s smaller distribution warehouses are being converted into “market hubs,” which will receive parts from the larger regional warehouses. Raymond James analyst Bobby Gri n says the uni ed distribution system likely won’t be completed until 2026. “We have learned from other retail turnarounds, major supply chain changes and culture revamps take time and are very challenging,” he says.

As far as adding new stores, O’Kelly wants to grow where Advance already has a large presence. “Look for us to broaden depth where we have it,” he says. “ at stems from having strong talent and a reputation in the market.”

Earlier this year, New York hedge funds ird Point and Saddle Point bought a combined 8% stake in Advance because they viewed its shares as undervalued. In March, they struck a deal with the company to add three new board members whom O’Kelly says have deep industry expertise: former O’Reilly executive Tom Seboldt,

former Walmart supply chain executive Gregory Smith and Brent Windom, who had been CEO of Uni-Select, a Canadian auto parts distributor acquired last year by a larger peer, Chicago-based LKQ. Advance shares have declined 15% since that agreement.

Advance is projecting revenue of about $11.4 billion this year, barely higher than the $11.3 billion reported in 2023. But Wall Street analysts, on average, project revenue growth of 2.5% next year, while pro ts should surge 20% because of O’Kelly’s various initiatives.

“It’s still early days, and it’s going to be a long process, particularly around the e orts to revamp the distribution network, but we have been encouraged by the team’s initiatives to improve its inventory position, right size the cost structure, streamline and focus on the core business,” says William Blair analyst Blee. “ e plan has a lot of potential, but there isn’t a lot of visibility yet into the timeline around when we can expect a more signi cant in ection.” at visibility, O’Kelly hopes, is right around the next corner of his drive. ■

▲ CEO O'Kelly with Reese Markell, driver at its store in Hesperia, California, completing the “red basket challenge.” This is a training exercise for team members, where teams bundle items together to propose to potential customers for their auto projects.

PITCH PERFECT

The world’s most popular sport is an economic force in Cary.

By Chris Roush

Cary Mayor Harold Weinbrecht remembers attending matches at the former SAS Soccer Park nearly 20 years ago. “It was rare to see it full,” says the city’s mayor since 2007. Now, he sometimes has a hard time nding a good seat for North Carolina Courage women’s soccer games at the facility, now sponsored by the WakeMed hospital system.

With the bigger crowds and surging interest in the sport, Cary sees opportunity. It’s looking to leverage its status as a destination for soccer events to boost economic development. Steve Malik, the majority owner of the Courage and North Carolina FC, would like to expand the stadium by 40%, and the mayor dreams of a mixed-use development around the 10,000-seat Sahlen’s Stadium and 150-acre complex, which has hosted NCAA and ACC championships, World Cup training camps, as well as international friendlies. e ACC plans to host its women’s and men’s conference tournaments there for the next ve years.

It also is the home of e Soccer Tournament, which in June brought in $15 million in economic impact, compared with less

than $2 million in 2023. It will be back next summer.

“I think the town of Cary is a national treasure in terms of hosting soccer,” Malik says.

Still, Cary has a ways to go to become the state’s undisputed soccer capital. e city may have more soccer events than anyone else, but Charlotte and owner David Tepper have the state’s Major League Soccer franchise. e Charlotte FC averaged 35,544 fans per match last year, trailing only the Atlanta FC among 29 MLS teams.

Average attendance for North Carolina FC, a United Soccer League men’s team based in Cary, was 2,389 in 2023, up 25% from the previous year, and the Courage averaged 5,384, up 18.5%.

Soccer sells well elsewhere, too. An exhibition match between England’s Wrexham and Chelesa clubs drew more than 50,000 to UNC Chapel Hill’s football stadium in 2023, sparking an economic impact of $15 million. e Manchester City vs. Celtic match in late July was expected to report similar results.

Meanwhile, youth soccer tournaments are big attractions across other regions. e 2024 Fusion Cup, held in May in several Triad region venues, attracted 413 teams, up from 281 in 2023. It had $4.5 million in economic impact, lling nearly 2,000 hotel rooms.

Other parts of the state have additional professional teams in various sports. But soccer, from youth to high school to college and professional, is the main game in Cary. e Soccer Tournament, which brought global teams such as Wrexham, Borussia Dortmund, West Ham, and Wolverhampton Wanderers, is patterned a er e Basketball Tournament, with the winning male and female teams each receiving $1 million. In June, the tournament attracted more than 42,000 fans to Cary for 118 games, two dozen or so games broadcast live on ESPN+.

“A lot of new stadiums are popping up, and they would all like to host championships,” says Malik. “Every team from a facilities perspective has upgraded so much. We de nitely need more seating, and we de nitely need more premium” suites. An expansion could be funded by the same county taxes and a town bond issue, says Mayor Weinbrecht.

Organizers selected WakeMed Soccer Park because of its high-quality natural grass elds, says founder Jon Mugar, who wanted an East Coast location that would be an easy travel location for European teams and fans. “ ere are not too many facilities that have these elds,” he says.

Cary employs seven nationally certi ed sports eld managers. e turf consists of two varieties of hybrid Bermuda grass, called Tif-Tuf and Tifway 419. Tournament sponsors included Coca-Cola, Adidas, Chevrolet and Verizon.

Brendon Mendelson, the marketing manager for soccer goal manufacturer Kwik Goal, sponsored its own team this year a er being the o cial goal of the 2023 event. e Quakertown, Pennsylvania-based company paid the $40,000 entry fee and recruited players globally, including former U.S. men’s national team players Jimmy Conrad and DeMarcus Beasley. Placing managers and sta in the area for a week cost thousands more, with an expectation of boosting soccer goals sales, which average between 6,000 and 7,000 a year.

Cary’s soccer park opened in 2002, with the stadium seating 7,000. It was paid for with $14.5 million in Wake County hotel room and food and beverage taxes. WakeMed took over the sponsorship rights in 2008, paying $300,000 a year. A $6.3 million expansion in 2012 added 3,000 seats, luxury suites and locker rooms. Additional elds around the complex are used by youth and high school soccer clubs. e park also hosts cross country, lacrosse and other sports. Fi y-one of the 88 events held in 2023 were soccer-related, creating an economic impact of $6.8 million last year, according to Cary o cials.

Malik lauds Cary o cials for building an eight-minute walkway between WakeMed Soccer Park and Fenton, a $1 billion mixed-used development with ample parking and more than a dozen bars and restaurants. He recently added investors to North Carolina FC, including Damian Mills, CEO of Mills Automotive Group, which owns car dealerships in several states.

Last year, Cary lost out to Fayette County south of Atlanta as the main training location for the Chicago-based U.S. Soccer Federation. Its training facility is now in Carson, California. Georgia bene ted from partial funding from billionaire Arthur Blank, the Home Depot co-founder who owns the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons and the MLS’s Atlanta United.

“One thing we didn’t have was huge philanthropy,” says Shelley Curran, Cary Assistant Town Manager. “ What we had was a stadium and a town that was going to maintain it and put a dome over one of the elds.” More shaded areas are in the site’s future, she adds.

Weinbrecht believes a planned expansion of Trinity Road near the Cary park will spur adjacent development opportunities. Professional sports stadiums such as Truist Park in north Atlanta are increasingly surrounded by amusement parks, retail and restaurants, he says. In nearby Raleigh, plans call for a mixed-use district around PNC Arena, home of the Carolina Hurricanes, to include entertainment, retail, a music venue, apartments, o ces and a hotel. e capital city has the area’s largest soccer complex, the eastside WRAL Soccer Park that has 22 soccer elds, a clubhouse and a tness center.

Malik says the main stadium needs at least 4,000 more seats for the Courage to keep up with other arenas in the 14-team National Women’s Soccer League, which has average attendance topping 10,000. Last year, Cary replaced some seats and upgraded the locker rooms, and revamped the stadium’s air conditioning.

122-acre WRAL Soccer Park has 22 soccer elds including eight full-sized turf elds, a clubhouse, and an indoor tness center.

Cary’s plans require “a big investment and a big commitment,” says Weinbrecht. “ e potential is there to do something great. I would love to see soccer continue to grow in Cary, and I’m sure it will.” ■

GREENE, LENOIR & WAYNE COUNTIES PROSPER

As an Economic Development Region, home of Global TransPark.

On a Tuesday morning in June, state, federal and local officials gathered near Kinston for the groundbreaking of the Fleet Readiness Center East complex at the North Carolina Global TransPark.

It’s a $400 million investment that will create 444 jobs in maintenance and repair of Havelock-based Navy C-130 and HH 60W aircraft. The complex is an extension of the Navy’s Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, where 4,000 engineers and technicians work at FRC East, the state’s largest employer east of Interstate 95.

“We are not taking away from Cherry Point. We are creating space,” says Mark Pope, president of the North Carolina Global TransPark Economic

Development Region and economic director of Lenoir County. “This is a new workload for them. We have land availability.”

The complex is a giant stamp of approval on an idea Pope and neighboring economic leaders had four years ago to combine resources in Greene, Lenoir and Wayne counties as the Economic Development Region. Their goal is to change a relatively rural patch of the state into an attractive site for business

development, particularly for aviation and transportation employers.

Gov. Roy Cooper validated that effort at the June groundbreaking, saying, “As the most military-friendly state in America,

I’m proud that the Global TransPark has become a magnet for aerospace investment that supports the mission of our fighting men and women.”

Before the first planes arrive in two years, 700,000 square feet of buildings will be constructed. Temporary statewide impacts from construction could equal 4,828 jobs with a labor income in excess of $262 million, according to a release.

“It is our largest and most significant collaboration to date, offering unparalleled support for military aviation maintenance while also boosting economic prosperity in our community,” adds Tom Hendrickson, chair of the North Carolina Global TransPark’s board of directors.

The three-county EDR boasts Lenoir and Wayne community colleges, plus the University of Mount Olive; a thriving agricultural sector; county seats with small-town charm; proximity to several major military bases; interstate and rail transportation; convenient access to three ports; and a Foreign Trade Zone within the North Carolina Global TransPark.

June’s announcement is the latest chapter of the region’s success story.

“It’s a good partnership between the GTP and Fleet Readiness-East (in Havelock) and the Navy,” Pope says. “The Navy just received a contract at Cherry Point for C-130s and the HH 60W, and they will be doing their complete MRO (maintenance, repair and overhaul) here at the GTP on those planes. We’re very fortunate to have that. We’re making room here so they can do the work they want to do down there. As long as we can make room for the vertical lift for their type planes, it helps them.

“It’s a win-win for them, the state and for creating jobs.”

STRENGTH IN NUMBERS

The ripple effect from the GTP touches each of the three counties.

In the Region’s first two years, 18 industries set up shop in its towns and industrial parks. On June 18, they got No. 28.

That’s the day that Pope and Wayne County announced that Latin-American

The Fleet Readiness Center-East “is our largest and most significant collaboration to date.”

— Tom Hendrickson Global TransPark board chair

company Alianza-Team Foods USA is investing $36.4 million and will create 16 jobs at ParkEast Industrial Park.

“That’s our 28th announcement (since 2020),” Pope adds. “That put us over 3,400 jobs in four years, with more than $900 million in capital investment. That says a lot about eastern North Carolina.”

Officials at the Global TransPark celebrate the groundbreaking for the $400 million Fleet Readiness Center East complex. It is expect to create 444 jobs.

In Greene County, economic development director Trey Cash cites more than $12.5 million in new capital investment and the creation of more than 175 jobs at wages that are above the county’s median average.

“This regional partnership has strengthened our economic foundation, providing more opportunities for our residents and contributing to the overall prosperity of Greene County,” he says.

Precision Graphics moved into a 55,000-square-foot industrial building in late 2021, the first out-of-state acquisition for the county in several years. “Since then,” Cash says, “we have seen HM Alliance acquire property in the Arba community to export meat to Korea and Corporate Ladder Brewery establish operations in Walstonburg to export dessert beer to foreign markets.

“The EDR worked directly with both companies to facilitate their move,” he adds. “Our focus remains on attracting industries in advanced manufacturing, life sciences and agribusiness. Additionally, existing companies like Building Envelope Erection Services, H&T Trucking and Heritage Family Health and Wellness have expanded, creating new jobs and capital investment, further boosting our local economy.”

Places such as Snow Hill, county seat of Greene County, plan to keep the small-town atmosphere.

“Snow Hill is a charming and safe town where everyone knows each other, fostering a close-knit community atmosphere.” Cash says. “It is home

to major industries such as Waterfront Products, Worth Products, Yamco, Precision Graphics and Contentnea Health. The town offers high-speed fiber internet, ensuring residents stay connected. Snow Hill also boasts numerous ball fields and the renewed Greene Ridge Racquet Club, providing ample recreational opportunities. Despite its small-town charm, Snow Hill’s location allows easy access to Greenville, Goldsboro, Wilson, the GTP and Kinston, all within a 30-minute drive.”

Kinston is also benefitting in several ways, Mayor Don Hardy says. “In the downtown area, we’ve just been approved by the ABC to have a Social District in the Queen Street area, so that’s a big deal for us and will attract more people downtown,” he says. “We’re looking at doing a lot of cleaning up, painting, and adding more housing as more jobs come in. As the EDR continues to grow, there will be more small businesses coming in, so the Social

District will be a place people will like to visit. And our water park (Lions Water Adventure) will attract people as well. There’s nothing like it.”

Kinston, he says, is $11.4 million into a goal of receiving $16 million, mostly from grant funding and state agencies, for construction projects to help combat flooding. (Hurricane Matthew damaged 200 homes in October 2016 when the Neuse River rose above flood stage.)

“Hurricane Matthew is the reason I ran for mayor,” says Hardy, a Kinston native. “I try to reach out in every way to help us move forward.”

Back in 2020, Pope says, “We knew there was growth potential. We knew we were closer to completing infrastructure with roads and rail, so we wanted to be able to compete in the world and take a step forward in economic development and change the look of eastern North Carolina. A lot of folks put their heads together, and we’ve been proactive and really emphasized the quality of life here.”

PLANES AND MORE PLANES

The North Carolina Global TransPark Economic Development Region’s main cluster is its escalating aviation and military presence.

“We found a niche that we’re good at, and these companies can recruit. The NCDOT has the highway system in

place, and we keep growing with I-42, and we can get anywhere in a mile-aminute. We pull from 13 counties; that’s our radius,” Pope says.

The Kinston airport, originally built by the Navy in 1944, has an 11,500foot runway, capable of handling military needs, and a 26,000-squarefoot terminal. The Department of Defense has a 25-year agreement to use the airport for training. Other key employers are Draken International, which uses its fighter jets for combat training with active-duty military pilots; flyExclusive, a private jet charter company; and SpiritAerosystems next door, with its Composite Center of Excellence training center operated through Lenoir Community College.

A fuel farm under construction next to the runway should be completed in August with three vertical steel tanks, each with 500,000-gallon capacity. Former capacity for the airport was 40,000 gallons. “We had a growth in military presence, so we had to grow the fuel farm,” Pope says.

The day after the MRO Complex ceremony, Lenoir Community College broke ground on its Jim Perry Aviation Center for Excellence (ACE), a place where high school juniors and seniors can study aviation for free and earn college credit through the Private Pilot Essentials Certificate Program.

The center honors N.C. Sen. Jim Perry, who did not run for re-election this year.

“What this Aviation Center of Excellence will provide is state-of-the art training facilities and programs at the airport,” said Preston Hunter, North Carolina Global TransPark executive director.

The Perry Center will include an aircraft hangar, traditional classrooms and maintenance laboratories.

“The groundbreaking of the Aviation Center for Excellence is historic and transformative for the college, for

aviation and for the region,” says Lenoir Community College President Rusty Hunt. “The college is training the workforce of tomorrow.” The community college partners with East Carolina and Elizabeth City State universities in several aviation programs.

Also in the North Carolina Global TransPark, the community college’s Aerospace & Advanced Manufacturing Center offers classes in aviation, computer-integrated machining, industrial maintenance

and mechanical engineering, as well as customized training and short-term workforce training.

“The AAMC has the faculty and equipment to provide customized training to meet the demands of the aviation and aerospace industry both now and for the 21st century,” Hunt says. “The future Aviation Center for Excellence will expand its programs and services and strengthen its role in economic development in the region.”

Growth at the North Carolina Global Transpark means growth in neighborhoods.

“We are seeing more residential homes being built in Greene County, from homes at our amazing golf course, Cutter Creek, to homes on secondary roads,” Cash says. “The town of Hookerton, one of the closest towns to the Global TransPark, offers a safe and welcoming environment with high-speed fiber internet throughout

the town. Additionally, we have added a new EMS Station and a new public works office building to help enhance our infrastructure. This increased residential development has strengthened our community, making Greene County an attractive place to live and work.”

WORKFORCE TRAINING

Last March, a busload of instructors from ECU toured the GTP, Draken International, flyExclusive, and Lenoir’s AAMC before hearing a presentation on the aerospace industry and its link to the Department of Defense. The tour emphasized job demand and industry training.

Aviation Management programs at Lenoir Community College in Kinston prepare students for several highpaying careers, such as: aerospace engineers ($63.76/ hour); pilots and flight engineers ($55.77/ hour); avionics technicians ($28.44/ hour) and several other roles. About 35 students are enrolled in online and in-person classes.

Wayne Community College’s enrollment includes 4,400 students taking college credit courses; its

70 credit programs include several that transfer to four-year schools. Work-based learning paths include agribusiness technology, which transfers to the University of Mount Olive’s bachelor of science in agricultural production systems curriculum.

Greene, Lenoir and Wayne counties are state leaders in agriculture, each ranking in the top 10 in two or more categories of production of turkeys, hogs, peanuts, soybeans, wheat, crops, fruits and vegetables and livestock, according to 2023 USDA statistics.

“I grew up on a family farm, just like many citizens here in Greene County, and we do not forget our agricultural roots,” says Cash. “That is why we focus on agribusiness, ensuring that farming remains a key component of our community’s identity and livelihood. A significant portion of Greene County is agricultural land, making it a vital part of our local economy. Our agricultural sector not only provides essential products to the market but also supports many jobs and businesses within the county.”

“Agriculture still is so important. You can’t forget that,” Pope says. “Lenoir County is looking at these areas – what is farm, what is residential, what is industrial. You have to figure out our capacities; do we have the capacity for sewer and water at some of those places that are isolated? There are areas we need to protect. You can’t be haphazard with planning.”

THE PHILANTHROPY OF PICKLES

One of the best-known nonaerospace places in the EDR is Mount Olive Pickle Co. on the Wayne County line. Its gift shop welcomed a record 10,000 guests last year.

The company sources about a third of its cucumbers from N.C. growers and also is a major contributor to civic and charitable organizations.

“Local business leaders here in Mount Olive nearly 100 years ago established the company to create a new market for area farmers,” says public relations manager Lynn Williams. “The reasoning was that the whole local economy would benefit. For FY 24, we gave over $1 million in financial and product contributions to organizations large and small. Our largest beneficiaries are the University of Mount Olive and the Make A Wish Foundation. Other significant gifts locally go to Wayne Community College, United Way of Wayne County, the Boys & Girls Club of Wayne County and the Goldsboro Family YMCA.”

The company also partners with Operation North State and the Carolina Patriots DAR. “Operation North State is just one of many examples of the organizations we partner with. For years we have provided pickles for

This December will be the 25th year for the New Year’s Eve’s Pickle Drop at the University of Mount Olive. The celebration includes free pickles, food trucks, fireworks and a food drive for the Food Bank of Central and Eastern NC. The pickle drops early – at precisely 7 o’clock.

their Christmas boxes for shut-in veterans across the state,” Williams says.

“We love the community events where we either present ourselves or partner with others – the New Year’s Eve Pickle Drop we do at the University of Mount Olive, as well as the North Carolina Pickle Festival each April, and coming this fall, the fourth annual Pickles, Pigs & Swigs event in downtown Mount Olive. Fun stuff.”

WHAT’S NEXT?

Leaders of the North Carolina Global TransPark Economic Development Region’s three counties are optimistic about its partnership and growth. For Kinston, Hardy sees priorities in housing and transportation. “In the next five years, I see the city growing in population, with some retired folks

and people looking for housing,” he says. “People will migrate down from the Triangle area looking for affordable housing, so I see that growing. We also need to move forward with having a bus route, or Uber in place to help not only our youth but our age-friendly community. We need an on-demand or route system people can go to. And, I’d like to see more livability and shops downtown, with residence space on the second floor. We want more retail and chain restaurants.”

Greene County also eyes more investments, and more jobs.

“Over the past few years, we have attracted significant new investments and created numerous high-paying jobs, demonstrating our county’s potential for growth. With quick access to I-587, I-95, Wilson, Goldsboro, the TransPark, Kinston and Greenville, we have access to a large trained workforce in a business-friendly environment,” Cash says. “I often say our work in economic development is to build better futures. I believe that as part of the Global TransPark Economic Development Region, we are building better futures for all of our communities. In the next five years, we hope to see continued economic advances, including more capital investment, job creation and infrastructure improvements. Our goal is to build a prosperous future for Greene County, ensuring it remains a great place to live, work, and grow.”

Pope adds: “I want to be able to say we created job opportunities for your youth, and that our region has grown in creating those jobs and quality of life. I hope people will want to be a part of what we’re doing. We want to market eastern North Carolina, and rural North Carolina, as a place that has something to offer, and we’ve done that.” ■

— Kathy Blake is a writer from eastern North Carolina.

Crowds gather for the 38th-annual N.C. Pickle Festival in Mount Olive, which includes a pickle eating contest.

Best Employers Awards Dinner

June 13, 2024

The 11th annual Best Employers Awards Dinner was held at Grandover Resort in Greensboro. The opening reception was followed by an awards dinner honoring each company and recognition of the top three company winners from each category.

Photos by John Gessner

Congratulations to Highland Roofing.

Graham Personnel Services dances down the aisle.

Aspida dancing the night away.

Clancy & Theys Construction Company boogie.

Blackman and Sloop on the big stage.

Chad Treadway from Cube Creative Design showing his moves.

Summit Credit Union celebrates the win.

Golden Corral grooving in red.

Master of ceremonies.

Jackrabbit Technologies makes the list once again.

DMJPS winners enjoying dinner.

PROJECT PLANS ››› Insights on the state’s growth

NO THREE-PEAT

After two straight wins, North Carolina gets a second-place in an influential economic development ranking.

BY RAY GRONBERG

winning CNBC’s Top State for Business ranking in 2022 and 2023 has been a key selling point for Gov. Roy Cooper and state economic development o cials. Now, the state has to settle for No. 2 in the competition developed by the business news channel. Virginia tops this year’s list.

Just three points separated Virginia and North Carolina.

North Carolina remains only the second state named to the top spot back-to-back since CNBC started the rankings in 2007. Virginia, which last won in 2021, has received the top honors six times.

Last year North Carolina ranked No. 1 in workforce, then the most important category in the study. is year it came in third, while ranking second in “business friendliness” and fourth for its strong economy. North Dakota was rated most business-friendly, while Florida led the economy category.

But CNBC this year made infrastructure the highest-weighted category, and North Carolina ranked 20th nationally, versus Virginia’s thirdplace showing.

North Carolina water utilities face more than $20 billion in repair and maintenance needs over the next 20 years, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. CNBC also cited a shaky electrical grid, with N.C. customers dealing with nearly eight hours without power per year, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

at was the typical outage rate for Duke Energy customers

in the Charlotte and Triad areas, while those in eastern North Carolina and Asheville lost power for about 11 hours, on average, in 2022. By comparison, the rate was less than three hours per year for big utilities in Arizona and Georgia, the top two states for reliability, according to CNBC.

As for water infrastructure, CNBC relied on EPA estimates that track a previous agency report indicating about $14 billion in aging pipes and other distribution equipment, plus $3.2 billion in water-treatment needs. e agency also projects that North Carolina needs to invest $1.4 billion in additional reservoirs and other storage capacity.

e EPA estimated Virginia has $9.4 billion in unmet water needs, far less than North Carolina. Virginia has about 8.6 million residents, compared with 10.7 million in the Tar Heel State.

North Carolina, the ninth-most populous state, ranked 32nd in “quality of life,” and 31st in “cost of living.”

e CNBC study scores the 50 states on 128 metrics across 10 categories of competitiveness. e methodology grades the states based on factors that companies consider when making site selection decisions, and that states emphasize in their e orts to win business.

en, every state’s economic development marketing pitches are analyzed to determine the appropriate weight for each category.

e more weight a category carries, the more metrics it includes ■