JANUARY 9, 2015 | VOL. 4 ISSUE 2
What’s
NEXT?
New corporate structure, new digs downtown and a new mentorship program—Greenville’s innovation center has big plans for 2015 - Page 6
In one year, Jon-Michial Carter’s ChartSpan has gone from the Artist’s conception of the Yard interior of accelerator NEXT on Main. Providedto by JSD Architecture. Iron the No. 1 health app on iTunes - page 14
2015 NOMINATION FORM
2015 NOMINATION FORM
W
B
M
Century BMW
3 MINUTES CAN CHANGE SOMEONE’S CAREER. Nominate them now.
WHAT MAKES SOMEONE A WHO’S WHO? The UBJ Who’s Who recognizes 8 people in our business community who are committed to advancing their fields. Whether new to the scene or veterans in the trenches, they’re the professionals to look out for and look up to. Their names are on the tips of colleague’s tongues for making strides and pushing their organizations, their professions, and our community to the next level. They’re asking the hard questions and finding solid solutions. Many have gone uncelebrated. Until now. Areas of professional contribution include but not limited to: Accounting, Finance, Healthcare, Economic Development, Hospitality, Legal, Manufacturing, Politics/Government, Real Estate, and Tech/IT.
THE FINE PRINT:
NOMINATOR CONTACT INFORMATION Name___________________________________________________________ Title/Company___________________________________________________ Relationship to Nominee__________________________________________ Email___________________________________________________________ Phone__________________________________________________________
The 2015 winners will be honored at an awards celebration on March 26, 2015 and highlighted in special edition of the Upstate Business Journal that will publish that same night. The best candidates will quantitatively demonstrate business success (financial results, career growth), community involvement, leadership ability (public profile/reputation), and influence (impact on the Upstate region specifically). Nominees and/or Nominators may be contacted to provide further information. All submissions will be voted on by a neutral, 3rd party panel of Community Leaders. Please submit your nomination(s) by 11:59 pm on Friday, January 30, 2015. Nominees must be residents of the Upstate, South Carolina. Past winners are not eligible to win again.
NAMES DO NOT HAVE TO BE SUBMITTED FOR EVERY CATEGORY IN ORDER TO BE ENTERED. THE LEGEND – An individual with a long lasting impact on the business climate in the Upstate. Name_______________________________________ Title/Company______________________________________________ Email___________________________________________________ Phone____________________________________________________
THE YOUNG GUN – An up and comer. Name____________________________________________ Title/Company_____________________________________ Email_____________________________________________________ Phone_______________________________________________________
THE ENTREPRENEUR – An idea maker and trailblazer. Name______________________________________________ Title/Company_____________________________________________ Email___________________________________________________ Phone____________________________________________________
THE BOSS – A leader.
THE WILD CARD – Based on a pool
Title/Company______________________________
of candidates identified by our Panel and voted on by our social media audience from February 16-22, 2015.
Email__________________________________________________
Name________________________________________________
Phone____________________________________________________
Title/Company_________________________________________
Name_____________________________________
Email________________________________________________
THE CLOSER – A dealmaker.
Phone_________________________________________________
Name_____________________________________________ Title/Company____________________________________ Email_____________________________________________ Phone____________________________________________________
THE INNOVATOR – A mover, shaker, and disrupter
OTHER – Know a deserving candidate, but unsure which category best suits the nominee? No problem. Nominate them here and leave it to our expert panel of judges to determine the best fit. Name__________________________________________________ Title/Company_________________________________________
shaping our future.
Email__________________________________________________
Name____________________________________________
Phone__________________________________________________
Title/Company___________________________________ Email____________________________________________________
Please provide any other information (links to articles or web pages about nominees etc…) you’d like for us to reference here:
Phone____________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________
MAIL THIS FORM TO: COMMUNITY JOURNALS, LLC, ATTN: KATE BANNER, 581 PERRY AVENUE, GREENVILLE, SC 29611 OR COMPLETE NOMINATION FORM ONLINE AT: UPSTATEBUSINESSJOURNAL.COM/WHOS-WHO
upstatebusinessjournal.com
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| REAL ESTATE | 3
Verdae tops out Legacy Square Construction expected to be complete in June SHERRY JACKSON | STAFF
sjackson@communityjournals.com Verdae residents, Greenville city leaders, project partners and construction teams gathered earlier this week to watch a crane hoist the final structural beam into place in the construction of the anchor building for Verdae’s development of Legacy Square. In keeping with the “Topping Out” tradition, the beam was decorated with signatures from project supporters, an evergreen tree and the American flag. Greenville Mayor Knox White was on hand not only as a city leader but as a Verdae resident, saying that Verdae “is an integrated component of the city.” “Having the first corner of Legacy Square in final construction is worthy of celebration,” said Rick Sumerel, president and CEO of Verdae Development. “It creates a livable, walkable environment for our residents and is an incredible benchmark.” The plan for Legacy Square includes 13 acres of property that wraps around the northern end of Legacy Park along Rocky Slope Road. The first phase of development is already home to the Verdae YMCA, Park View (a rooftop event venue), Holliday Dental, NHE Property Management and the Verdae sales office. Completion of the new 20,000square-foot anchor building will add
PROJECT PARTNERS Rendering provided.
more than 7,000 square feet of space dedicated to retail/dining and two additional floors for professional office space. Confirmed tenants, including Caldwell Constructors and KDS Commercial Properties, account for nearly half of the building to date. “We are pleased to be leading the construction process for the anchor building, and we also look forward to relocating our business to the second floor,” said Gary Caldwell, president of Caldwell Constructors. Construction of the building began
on Oct. 20, 2014, and is expected to be completed in June. More than 100 construction team members will be part of the project.
ARCHITECT: Bill Monroe with WGM Design GENERAL CONTRACTOR: Caldwell Constructors CIVIL ENGINEERING: Wes Bolin, Site Design
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4 | THE RUNDOWN |
TOP-OF-MIND AND IN THE MIX THIS WEEK
UBJ
|
01.09.2015
VOLUME 4, ISSUE 2 Featured this issue: 10 12 14
Photo by Greg Beckner
Worthwhile rediscovers its core strengths SC Telco looks back on 80 years NEXT prepares for Main Street expansion
MONEY SHOT: The last beam of Legacy Square’s anchor building is moved into place during a topping out ceremony for the building. The practice of “topping out” a new building can be traced to the ancient Scandinavian religious rite of placing a tree atop a new building to appease the treedwelling spirits displaced in its construction. Read more on page 3.
WORTH REPEATING
TBA
“Bless your heart. We recruit from MIT and Stanford.” Page 8
A zoning change request has been filed that if approved would make way for a new CoWork/LiveWork mixed-use development at the corner of Lawton Avenue and Academy Street in downtown Greenville.
“We didn’t have a very clear growth strategy. What was driving it was customer demand. The company wants to pay you to do [something new], so you say, ‘Yeah, we can do that.’” Page 10 “I credit the board with not rolling up in a fetal position at the outset of the recession.” Page 12
Grille 33 is closing its Haywood Road location. Word is the same owners are opening Pour at 221 North Main, their same location before they departed Main Street a few years ago.
VERBATIM
On a “hot new destination” “It’s become the new Austin.” CBS News travel editor Peter Greenberg, picking Greenville as one of “2015’s hottest new vacation destinations” on “CBS This Morning.” See the video at bit.ly/CBS-Greenville.
upstatebusinessjournal.com
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| SPORTS | 5
With UBooster, college sports fans become recruiters BEJNAMIN JEFFERS | STAFF
bjeffers@communityjournals.com UBooster, a Greenville-based Internet platform, is looking to give fans the opportunity to actively participate in recruiting high school athletes to colleges. “UBooster is simply a new, fun, innovative platform that is truly designed to fund the future of college athletics,” said Patrick Sapp, former football standout at Clemson University and NFL veteran. Fans can go to the site and pledge money to a college if a specific recruit chooses that college. Sapp said the platform provides additional streams of revenue to colleges while engaging fans in the recruitment process. “As a fan, all of us can be recruiters. That’s what UBooster offers,” he said. Athletes will also be able to see how they rank with fans around the country through a “heat index” that displays how much money each athlete is bringing into the colleges. Once the athlete signs with a school, the company will route the funds to the booster club. Rob Morgan, founder and CEO of UBooster, said the platform improves the experience of donating directly to a college’s booster club because, through UBooster, fans can see whom the schools are recruiting and actively participate in the process. NCAA rules prohibit schools from providing specifics about whom they are actively recruiting. “This is the chance to give fans that direct connection besides being a voyeur,” Morgan said. “It’s one thing to watch it, but it’s another thing to financially participate.”
Morgan said UBooster acts as a third party and complies with NCAA rules. Contributions do not go directly to the athlete, but instead to the booster program of the college the athlete chooses. According to the site, at least 85 percent of contributions will go to the schools. A portion of the contributions goes toward processing fees and operational costs. All NCAA Division 1 schools are eligible to receive funds. The site functions like a crowdsourcing platform similar to a Kickstarter model. “UBooster was started due to the evolving requirements to compensate college athletes for use of their likeness and image, guaranteed full four-year scholarships, and increased stipends to cover an athlete’s full cost of attendance, all of which are quickly creating new financial obligations for hundreds of colleges and universities,” the company said in a press release. “These are challenging times in the world of collegiate athletics and we think we have an answer to help all of these programs solve their problems from a financial standpoint,” Morgan said. The platform launched first for college football programs, but will launch campaigns in February for other collegiate sports such as basketball. Sapp predicted the platform would help prevent schools like the University of Alabama at Birmingham from closing programs due to insufficient funds. “Nobody wants to see these teams go away, [or] these scholarships go away.”
Patrick Sapp announces the launch of UBooster
Photo by Benjamin Jeffers
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UBJ
NEWS
|
01.09.2015
NEXT 3.0
With a streamlined structure, expansion to downtown and collaborations with MIT and Michelin, the entrepreneurial development organization prepares to enter its next phase SHERRY JACKSON | STAFF
sjackson@communityjournals.com With a new corporate structure, new board of directors, new space planned at the Bank of America building downtown, an MIT-backed Venture Mentorship Program and a collaboration with the Michelin Incubator in the works, NEXT has big plans for 2015. John Moore, CEO of NEXT, refers to the activity as NEXT 3.0—an evolution of the NEXT Innovation Center located on Church Street in Greenville. NEXT 1.0 was the beginning, before the economic development Accelerate program was launched by the Greenville Chamber. NEXT 2.0 was bringing on a full-time staff member, Brenda Laakso, who serves as vice president, and getting things more set up, Moore said. Now comes NEXT 3.0, which
includes adding more full-time staff, getting the structure and governance in place and making sure NEXT has sustainable money and funding to carry them into the future. “Almost like these companies we support, we’re growing,” said Moore. “This world is so dynamic and so demanding, that you have to be completely focused.” STREAMLINING THE STRUCTURE Earlier this summer, NEXT raised additional funding that enabled Moore to become NEXT CEO full-time (he previously split duties between the Greenville Chamber and NEXT), and he moved his office into the NEXT Innovation Center building on Church Street. In mid-December, NEXT officially broke off from the Greenville Chamber (with the chamber’s blessing) as a separate LLC. NEXT is still owned by
the chamber, but now is its own company with a new, separate board of directors and its own bank account. The streamlined structure allows NEXT “to deliver service better. To build a better machine,” Moore said. The Greenville Chamber will still provide back office-type functions and benefits, so there’s no duplication of efforts, he added. Previously Moore reported to three different boards, which he says made funding initiatives and decisions more cumbersome than needed. Now he’s only got one 15-member board to answer to. The new board includes a good diversity by industry and by geography, he said, with provision in place to always have a NEXT entrepreneur as the chairperson and representation from the Greenville Chamber, NEXT customers and community leaders.
“We’re making sure it’s representative of our 140-plus customers,” said Moore. The first board meeting is set for February. NEXT GOES TO MAIN STREET One of the biggest changes in the new year is brand-new space at the Bank of America building downtown at 101 N. Main St. The third floor of the building will be NEXT on Main (see story on page 14). Even though the NEXT Innovation Center on Church Street has had a waiting list of entrepreneurs wanting space, Moore considers it important to never do a building model of “build and they will come. What works is that we’ve done this out of necessity. We have demand first and then build the building.” Moore pointed out that NEXT looked at several buildings and facil
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ities, not just ones owned by Hughes Development, but none of them had quite the right fit until they found the space at the Bank of America building. “It was the one that checked all the boxes,” he said. PARTNERSHIP WITH MICHELIN INCUBATOR Another initiative in 2015 will be assisting with the Michelin Incubator program. Michelin North America created the first Michelin business incubator program in Greenville in January 2014 with five internal startups focused on a variety of mobility solutions. Patrick Kirby, director of the Michelin North Amer-
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ican Innovation Incubator, said the new team is focused on looking at innovations that are part of the core business, complementary solutions or new mobility solutions that have nothing to do with tires. The Innovation Incubator at Michelin even created separate offices at CU-ICAR with a startup, entrepreneurial environment, as it was important to be outside of the corporate environment, Kirby said. The NEXT team has already been working with the incubator program to create new NEXT companies as they come along within the Michelin Incubator, and to have those entrepreneurs participate in NEXT meetings. The Tweel, a combination of a tire and a wheel, for example, was one of the innovations that came out of the collective group, said Kirby. In 2015, the NEXT team plans to create events and opportunities for those involved in the Michelin Incubator program to mix even more with the more than 150 NEXT entrepreneurs. Moore said he considers this a pilot project to show how NEXT can interface with bigger companies. “We want to help them get the same attention outside Michelin as they would get inside.”
MIT MENTORSHIP PROGRAM LAUNCHING In February, NEXT will be conducting a soft launch of an MIT Venture mentoring program. NEXT staff members have already attended training at MIT to conduct the program. The plan is to do a pilot launch to work out any kinks, Moore said. He envisions about 12 or so founding mentor members. Those members will be trained and then will start mentoring NEXT companies that are a good fit. “There will be this dynamic of having multiple mentors holding each other accountable,” he said. The program is more formalized than putting two people together, Moore said. There are strict rules to follow, including screening and interviewing the mentors to make sure they know what they are committing to. Mentors will be asked to mentor at least one company per year and attend monthly meetings. “It’s a whole new piece of the ecosystem,” he said. “There’s a lot of mentor programs out there, but there’s a reason this one works.” NEXT FOR NEXT Moore said he plans to spend more NEXT 3.0 continued on PAGE 15
8 | INNOVATE |
MOVERS, SHAKERS AND DISRUP TORS SHAPING OUR FUTURE
UBJ
|
01.09.2015
Plugging the brain drain With millions invested in innovation and entrepreneurship, why is nobody in charge of attracting and keeping top talent in South Carolina? By JOHN WARNER, publisher, SwampFox
The Business Insider website recently shone a spotlight on “11 Mind-Blowing Physics Discoveries Made In 2014.” A revolutionary Clemson discovery enhancing communications over fiber optic cables was No. 4 on their list. We’re surrounded by people who are among the best in the world at what they do. Shortly before the holidays, I visited with a major corporate research group whose objective is to be one of the top corporate research facilities in the world. They are highly selective in recruiting talent from the top 10 research universities across the country. When I asked about recruiting top students from Clemson, their
INSIGHT PRECONSTRUCTION CONSTRUCTION MAINTENANCE
response was the corporate equivalent of, “Bless your heart. We recruit from MIT and Stanford.” This isn’t an isolated situation. Earlier in 2014, the Upstate got a wake-up call when Sealed Air’s research facility announced they were moving to North Carolina. At the eleventh hour, the economic development community
the economic development community had ignored Sealed Air for decades and hadn’t helped build the base of top talent their globally leading corporate innovation center needed to thrive here. About a dozen years ago, the South Carolina Legislature had a burst of energy, spending almost $800 million to develop the state’s innovation and entrepreneurial ecosystem. Around
Science Act. The South Carolina Venture Capital Authority invested $50 million in four venture capital funds to reinvest back into South Carolina companies. Roughly $60 million has been invested in SC Launch, about a third of which has been reinvested directly in South Carolina companies and the remainder used mostly for sponsorships and overhead. There is a scat-
No economic development entity sees its mission as helping this company to attract top talent or these students to find their best career opportunities in South Carolina. did all they knew to do throwing incentives at Sealed Air hoping to change their minds. Sealed Air was clear that what attracted them north was better access to top talent. Unfortunately,
$670 million was spread roughly evenly across three university initiatives: the SmartState Endowed Research Chair program, the University Infrastructure Act, and the Life
tering of other initiatives, from the SC Department of Commerce sprinkling a few million dollars on incubators in the state to a few million dollars allocated to angel tax credits.
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upstatebusinessjournal.com These investments have resulted in some significant successes. The core of the Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research is four SmartState endowed chairs, who attracted 200 of the world’s top engineering students. Clemson’s photonics research program that had mind-blowing physics discoveries also has a SmartState Center. We need to celebrate how far we have come, then we need to finish our work to realize the full potential of these programs to drive our economy. Unfortunately, most CU-ICAR students will leave the state when they graduate, as will most of the photonics students too. Our dominant economic development paradigm is the industrial recruiting of opportunity out there somewhere. We have a corporate research facility striving to be among the best in the country. Some of the world’s best students attend our graduate engineering schools. No economic development entity sees its mission as helping this company to attract top talent or these students to
MOVERS, SHAKERS AND DISRUP TORS SHAPING OUR FUTURE
| INNOVATE | 9
South Carolina faces the challenge of combining innovation and entrepreneurial initiatives fragmented across various agencies so the total is greater than the sum of its parts. find their best career opportunities in South Carolina. Numerous innovation and entrepreneurial initiatives are spread across various state agencies and independent boards with almost no coordination between them. The SC Department of Commerce’s Innovation Office doesn’t align the incubators it funds with the world-class talent recruited by the SmartState program, and the SC Venture Capital Authority doesn’t take either into account in making investments in venture capital funds. There is no central point of accountability to validate the number of jobs the SmartState program created, or the return on the total investment in SC Launch, or whether the SC Venture Capital Authority has made money for
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or attracted venture capital to the state. These independent initiatives don’t connect together to help corporate innovation centers build a pipeline of world-class talent, or even to foster the growth of entrepreneurial companies. With the SC Legislature beginning a two-year legislative session, it is a great time to consider how to develop a more comprehensive economic strategy for the state to reach the next level of prosperity. A new Legislative Oversight Committee is tasked with programmatic review of all state agencies, with full investigative and subpoena powers. South Carolina faces the challenge of
combining innovation and entrepreneurial initiatives fragmented across various agencies so the total is greater than the sum of its parts. No single agency can do this alone, so the answer won’t be found assessing programs in individual agencies without considering how they relate to complementary programs in other agencies and boards. Hopefully the Legislature, perhaps through the new Legislative Oversight Committee or another entity yet to be identified, can provide a clear point of accountability and coordination to help develop and execute the comprehensive economic strategy we need to reach our aspirations as a state.
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A DAY (OR MORE) IN THE LIFE OF AN UPSTATE COMPANY
S EE PAG E 2 FOR M ORE DETAI L S
If you know an up and comer in the Upstate, let us know.
A YOUNG GUN BLAZING
10 | INSIDE WORTHWHILE |
|
01.09.2015
Worthwhile Lessons
One Web development company regains its identity by paring down
From left: Worthwhile team members Dan Dietz, Leslie Ewing, Georg Zimmer and Ruben Hentzchel meet with CEO Dan Rundle.
JENNIFER OLADIPO SENIOR BUSINESS WRITER joladipo@communityjournals.com
For a company that makes ever-growing profits every year, it’s easy to believe all is going well. But Worthwhile CEO Dan Rundle said that for a time his company’s continual growth was much a symptom of underlying problems as a source of increasing revenues. The company was rooted in taking advantage of the “next big thing.” Worthwhile was founded in 1993 as one of the first streaming radio providers in the country. Then it moved into Amazon-style e-commerce in the late 1990s. The company began to get aggressive with growth about 10 years ago, Rundle said—growing about an average of 30 percent each year from 2006 to 2013. Revenues were $2.4 million in 2013 after increasing an eye-catching 79 percent
in the three-year period from 2011 to 2013. Meanwhile, staff size had more than doubled, from 12 to 27 employees from 2009 to 2012. Also in 2012, Worthwhile acquired BigNoise, a young Web design company in Charlotte.
“We just became this pretty amorphous blob of services and structure.” Worthwhile CEO Dan Rundle “Just add; that’s what we were doing. We didn’t have a very clear growth strategy,” Rundle said. “What was driving it was customer demand. I think a lot of small businesses do this. You’ve got opportunity here. This company wants to pay you to do [something new], so you say, ‘Yeah, we can do that.’” Then more staff is added to service the client, or to duplicate responsibilities, he said. >>
“This was the largest company any of us had worked for,” Rundle said. That fostered a sense of optimism, a willingness to challenge the status quo, and creativity as they figured out how to get things done. On the other hand, Rundle said bringing in more experienced staff has shown him how quickly people with experience can address issues they have seen before. In particular, Micha Brandenburg came on board last year as vice president of new business after several years in banking, and Ruben Hentzschel also joined the staff as vice president of customer solutions after several years of business development and customer management at other software companies. “They’ve been where we want to go,” Rundle said. Now Worthwhile is pared back down to 15 employees. The Charlotte office closed last year, a difficult decision. “It’s so clear to me now that we weren’t ready for it,” Rundle said. The clientele has also been honed to consist of mostly businesses that rely on Worthwhile for big jobs such as taking older systems to mobile or doing complete overhauls. There is a preference for midsize regional companies with whom the staff can interact face-to-face. Rundle has said leading the company for him has been a process of “failing forward,” and he is excited about what a slimmed-down, focused company will be able to do in the coming year. He said among Worthwhile’s strengths over the competition is its ability to match serious attention to strategy with its design and development capabilities. From now on, he intends for that strategic thinking to start at home.
Worthwhile CEO Dan Rundle
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Throughout that time, Worthwhile earned recognitions at home and beyond. It debuted on the Inc. 5000 list of the country’s fastest-growing privately held companies in 2013, and stayed on the list last year. Among Web developers it has bragging rights as the reigning champs of the Django Dash, an international 48-hour programming competition for people who use the Django Web development framework. But Worthwhile was saying “yes” too often, Rundle said. Acquiring BigNoise meant adding a company that dabbled in numerous services, including email and social marketing, and search engine optimization. And Worthwhile had also crept into creating printed materials such as brochures. “We just became this pretty amorphous blob of services and structure,” Rundle said. There was a lack of focus, and a muddying of the company’s identity in the market. Internally, the management team had grown too large—even some of the managers thought so, Rundle said. The realization that something needed to change didn’t come all at once. Rundle, who became CEO in 2011, said staff members occasionally shared concerns such as feeling unsuited or unqualified for certain aspects of their jobs, or being unclear about the company’s mission. He shrugged them off as minor issues. Eventually, though, finances drove the company to ask two important questions: Where are we most profitable, and what do we do best? The answer was: building custom Web and mobile applications. Anything else could fall away. Fostering a more seasoned staff was also an important part of the solution, Rundle said. The attitude that Worthwhile could do anything had been at least in part the product of a staff that was newer to the business world.
| INSIDE WORTHWHILE | 11
ACCOUNTI N G • E CON OMIC D E VE LOP MEN T • FINAN C E • HEALTHC ARE • HOS PITALITY • LE G AL
>>
A DAY (OR MORE) IN THE LIFE OF AN UPSTATE COMPANY
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12 | MILESTONE |
UBJ
A TRIBUTE TO OUR LONG-LASTING ENTERPRISES
|
01.09. 2014
SC TELCO’S MILESTONES
1935
Chartered as Greenville Telco Federal Credit Union by employees of Southern Bell Telephone & Telegraph. Year-end assets total $5,000.
1972
1989
Florence branch opens. Assets reach $3 million.
Named Federal Credit Union of the Year by the National Association of Federal Credit Unions.
SC Telco board meeting in Columbia in 1972.
1966 SC Telco’s office in the 1960s was on Park Avenue in Greenville.
Branch opens in Columbia. Field of membership expands to include all telephone employees in state.
1977
Name changes to SC Telco Federal Credit Union.
SC Telco annual meeting in the 1970s.
SC TELCO BANKS 80 YEARS OF UPSTATE GROWTH The credit union now has more than 40,000 members and over $260 million in assets—but hasn’t forgotten its roots in the Great Depression
80 YEARS
JENNIFER OLADIPO
SENIOR BUSINESS WRITER joladipo@communityjournals.com
Whenever William Wirt Stover rolled into a parking lot in his station wagon 80 years ago, people knew he was open for business. He popped his trunk not to sell cutlery or encyclopedias, but banking services. He took loan applications and deposit slips, and helped start what is now SC Telco Federal Credit Union. SC Telco’s current president, Steve Harkins, said Wirt and 18 employees of Southern Bell Telephone & Telegraph organized and chartered Greenville
Telco Federal Credit Union in 1935, pooling their resources in order to better address their financial needs. It was the same year that Babe Ruth hit his final home run, FDR signed the Social Security Act into law, and Amelia Earhart made the world’s first solo flight from Honolulu to Oakland, California. By the end of it, the bank had $5,000 in assets. The credit union was a volunteer organization until the 1950s, Harkins said. By 1962 Greenville Telco’s assets had reached $600,000. A 2003 merger with NP Employees Credit Union brought assets up to $100 million. Today SC Telco has $261 million in assets and about 47,000 members. Harkins expects that number to reach 50,000 this year.
HARD TIMES, BIG OPPORTUNITIES Born out of the Great Depression, SC Telco weathered the recent Great Recession as well. “I credit the board with not rolling up in a fetal position at the outset of the recession,” Harkins said. Instead, board members chose not to pull back lending when it was determined that the bank was healthy. “The Great Recession really led people to examine who they were doing business with,” Harkins said. Some realized they felt more secure with smaller institutions and the idea that they could be partial owners, contributing to SC Telco’s growth, he said. SC Telco, in return, strives for the personal touch. Harkins said the bank does not rely on automated results when it comes to making decisions about lending. Banking services for “underserved areas” are a priority, he said, and make up a sector where the credit union has seen a great deal of growth. About two-thirds of the bank’s members live at 80 percent of the median household income. >>
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A TRIBUTE TO OUR LONG-LASTING ENTERPRISES
1995
2006
Opens Spartanburg branch.
1993
Home office moves to Toy Street into historical Hayne School building.
| MILESTONE | 13
2013
Merges with Liberty FCU, expanding branch network into Taylors and Liberty.
Timeline photos provided
SC Telco launches mobile banking; assets reach $261 million.
2014
SC Telco relocates headquarters and support center to East Park Avenue, Greenville; named among South Carolina’s best places to work.
SC Telco annual meeting in the 1970s. SC Telco’s logo, in the lobby of the company’s new office.
>> Many members might have dealt previously with
payday and other short-term lenders. Harkins said it’s not uncommon for staff to encourage an impromptu counseling session when people are about to dip into savings the bank knows they’ve worked to build. “We try to look beyond the numbers,” he said. “We do take more risk. We’ll do a $200 personal loan all the way up to jumbo mortgages if it makes sense and they can bring something to the cooperative.” There is some small-business lending, but these days SC Telco is driven by consumer lending, especially car loans. OUTLOOK FOR GROWTH Harkins said a few members who knew Stover, the company’s original “mobile banking” expert, are still around today. SC Telco tries to maintain some of the original spirit. The credit union recently moved to a new space on Park Avenue in downtown Greenville and just finished the renovation with a bright, contemporary design. But one of the first things visitors see in the lobby is a vintage telephone pole, weathered, solid and spanning the height of the room. “It reminds us who we are, where we came from,” Harkins said. Not too far from that is a small lending library, admittedly an unusual site for a financial institution. Harkins said it contains books about banking and
SC Telco’s management team meets in the lobby of their new office, clockwise from left to right: COO Brian McKay, President and CEO Steve Harkins, CFO Toni Davis and CAO Patti Seymore. Photos by Greg Beckner
business, some of which have multiple copies for group study among the staff. Employees sign books out in a simple notebook that serves as a testament to their understanding that their skills and knowledge will have to continually change with the times. The bank has come a long way from car trunks, Harkins said, as regulatory requirements brought more complexity and cost to running the bank, prompting an attendant increase in staff size. Last year the South Carolina Chamber of Commerce named SC Telco the fourth best place to work among small/medium-sized employers. At the same time, “being a smaller niche player in a scale-driven business remains a challenge,” Harkins said.
Community involvement has evolved over time as well. SC Telco sponsored a Habitat for Humanity home for the first time last year, and is in the early stages of looking at how it could participate in social impact investing. The outlook for 2015 includes a new branch, an enhanced platform to speed up the lending process, and keeping an eye on how developments such as Apple Pay impact the state and the credit union’s members, Harkins said. The new space will house seven tenants besides SC Telco. There is a lot of extra room in SC Telco’s part of the building that Harkins said will house operations and support “well into the future.”
Clems n Every Game
14 | SQUARE FEET |
UBJ
REAL ESTATE DEALS AND DEVELOPMENTS ACROSS THE REGION
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01.09.2015
NEXT on Main slated for Bank of America building SHERRY JACKSON | STAFF sjackson@communityjournals.com @SJackson_CJ
The third floor of the Bank of America building downtown is about to be transformed into a tech hub called NEXT on Main, as NEXT continues its evolution (see accompanying story on page 6). “The hope is to take a lot of the things that we’ve learned at the NEXT Innovation Center [NIC] that have been successful, and from visiting other spaces around the country, and use them here in this new space,” said Robert Hughes, project developer with Hughes Development. “It’s more of an urban approach,” said John Moore, NEXT CEO, who will have an office at the new location. “We’re continuing to improve the model.” Hughes said the project was a collaboration more than a year in the making with input from many different people, and “it’s finally coming together.” The third floor is about 20,000 square feet in entirety. Hughes has three tenants already lined up and ready to move in May when the build-out is complete. Foxfire Software, which develops warehouse management software, will relocate to the new space from its current office on Markley Street. Chartspan, a health records management app that
has become the No. 1 health app on iTunes, will be relocating from the NIC on Church Street. OpenWorks, a collaborative work environment space, will relocate from its current 2 North Main basement location. Hughes said about 5,000 square feet are still available. “We are excited to be a part of the technology ecosystem in Greenville. NEXT on Main gives us a remarkable tool to fuel our culture and attract great talent. We can’t wait to move in,” said Chartspan CEO Jon-Michial Carter. Hughes said one of the biggest benefits to NEXT customers will be the ability to hold meetings in either the new NEXT on Main space or the NIC on Church Street. The new space will be an open concept, much like the current NIC. Glass walls—some reclaimed from an old hockey arena—will provide transparency. Multiple sized meeting spaces will be available with some of the conference room doors and walls able to move and slide to accommodate different space needs. Areas for quiet and solitude will also be available via 15 or so phone booths equipped with a bench and table. These will be scattered throughout the space, allowing for private phone calls, conference calls or just a place to have some alone time.
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upstatebusinessjournal.com The third floor will also offer direct access to both the Richardson Street garage and the new parking structure under the new Aloft hotel now under construction. A shared workout facility will also be located on this floor, along with a shared kitchen/café area. “It will be a high-traffic floor as other tenants will be accessing elevators from this floor, and that’s part of what makes it exciting,” Hughes said. The NIC on Church Street will also get some upgrades in the coming year, with the addition of phone booths, reformatting of some of the conference rooms and technology updates. “We want to make sure it has all of the same amenities and benefits as the new space does,” said Hughes. As with the NIC, Hughes owns and manages the Bank of America building, while NEXT and its incubator companies will be tenants. If there is sufficient demand for the same type of space, Hughes said he would be open to converting other available floors, such as the second floor, into a similar concept. NEXT 3.0 continued from PAGE 7
time onboarding new companies as they move into NEXT spaces in the coming year to make sure the companies understand how everything works and the collaboration opportunities. A new website was just rolled out, and capital workshops are planned. He said they are also looking into possibly creating a NEXT manufacturing center in 2015. There has been “an echoing chorus in the background” of companies that are interested in being co-located with
REAL ESTATE DEALS AND DEVELOPMENTS ACROSS THE REGION
| SQUARE FEET | 15
SEE THE PLAN See the floor plan of NEXT on Main on page 7.
So far, “the demand has been phenomenal,” he said. Moore said a tech community is growing in the ONE City Plaza area. Condry Corp, also a NEXT company, recently purchased a building on Laurens Street, behind Mast General Store and diagonal to the Bank of America building, for its corporate headquarters. The Iron Yard is also set to relocate its headquarters this month into the fourth floor of the Bank of America building. With the Iron Yard moving out of the NIC location, Hughes said vacancy opportunities may become available there, but he’s not sure yet as some of the current tenants are looking to expand and that facility has had “a waiting list since it opened.” “It’s an exciting time for tech space in Greenville,” Hughes said. other companies that make things and have access to amenities like loading docks. Further down the road, a NEXT medical center could be conceivable, located near a hospital so those innovation companies could have access to testing products. In two or three years there could be whole NEXT innovation communities, Moore said. Whatever happens will be based on NEXT’s entrepreneurial customers, he said. “The reason we’ve been so successful is that we’re built for our customers, by our customers.”
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1116 SOUTH MAIN STREET 8 6 4 . 4 6 7 . 9 8 0 0 | N N P W E A LT H . CO M Nachman Norwood & Parrott is a local wealth management consultancy for top-tier individuals and qualified retirement plan sponsors. Investment products and services are offered through Wells Fargo Advisors Financial Network, LLC (WFAFN), Member FINRA/SIPC. Nachman Norwood & Parrott is a separate entity from WFAFN. *Using averages from 2012 Client Satisfaction Survey results.
16 | THE FINE PRINT |
UBJ
BUSINESS BRIEFS YOU CAN’ T MISS
Chick-fil-A opens in Powdersville Chick-fil-A opened its first new restaurant of 2015 in Powdersville on Thursday. The opening will create 60 new jobs in the area. Chad Saxon, an Easley High School graduate, is the operator of the new restaurant. He transferred from the Duncan Chick-fil-A where he was operator. The location can seat 149 in the dining room with additional outside patio seating, and includes dual drive-thru ordering lanes, an indoor play area and free Wi-Fi. The first 100 adult customers in line at the opening had the opportunity to win free meals for a year. Saxon also collected unused children’s books on Wednesday to put in a free library exchange Book House. The Powdersville Chick-fil-A location is the fourth stand-alone restaurant to open in the region in the past nine months. South Carolina’s first Chick-fil-A restaurant opened in August 1970 in Columbia’s Dutch Square Mall, with the Powdersville site becoming the 85th location in the state. The new Chick-fil-A in Powdersville is one of 88 new restaurants the chain plans to open across the country in 2015.
Confluence Outdoor acquires California company Confluence Outdoor in Greenville recently acquired California-based Boardworks.
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01.09.2015
Boardworks’ product line includes paddleboards, surfboards, paddles and accessories. “We have been carefully and patiently watching the [stand-up paddleboarding] market since it emerged as a growth category in our industry several years ago,” Sue Rechner, president and CEO of Confluence Outdoor, said in a release. “We knew SUP would be an integral part of our strategic plan, and we have enjoyed watching the success of Boardworks as we worked towards entering this category.” Boardworks’ operations will continue business as usual at its Carlsbad, Calif., campus. The management teams from both Boardworks and Confluence will collaborate to optimize the strengths of each organization to achieve future goals, she said. Boardworks owner Mike Fox said he is “proud of the achievements we’ve realized as an independent Boardworks brand, and I know that with the support of a powerhouse like Confluence, we can achieve more success to better serve our partners and customers.” This acquisition is the first since J.H. Whitney acquired Confluence in 2014. With the support of J.H. Whitney, Confluence Outdoor announced a plan to grow the business into a full-service outdoor recreation company, with stand-up paddleboarding being a key component of this plan. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Zaxby’s opens prototype restaurant in Easley Zaxby’s in Easley reopened Monday as a prototype restaurant. “We’ve left no stone unturned” for this prototype, Robert Baxley, COO of
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BUSINESS BRIEFS YOU CAN’ T MISS
Zaxby’s, said in a release. He promised customers a highend, fast casual experience, noting a new, upscale dining area and new standards “to make our food even fresher. We also listened to feedback from our customers and made improvements to increase the speed of service and quality of food.” The new restaurant features a farmhouse design that the company said better reflects the company’s brand. The company also updated the interior with wood-beam ceilings and handmade metal lamps. Seating options include countertop-style stool seating, farmhouse tables for large groups and booths with higher partitions. The drive-thru features two lanes for ordering. The original Easley location opened in 1997. Earlier this year ZAX Inc. purchased the adjacent land, allowing for both the restaurant and parking lot to double in size. Zaxby’s has more than 655 restaurants in 16 states.
Facade Improvement Program helps commercial corridors The City of Greenville’s Commercial Corridors Facade Improvement Program (FIP) is making a big impact on commercial corridors, city officials announced. The program supports revitalization by stimulating private investment to improve buildings and properties and eliminate blight and non-conforming design standards, the city said in a release. FIP applicants are eligible for a 50 percent reimbursement on expenses equal to or less than $10,000 for voluntary facade improvements. The city will reimburse the applicant up to 20 percent of eligible expenses above $10,000, officials said. “By focusing our efforts along smaller-scale corridors in select areas of the city, we’re able to make a greater impact,” said Tracy Ramseur, development coordinator for the City of Greenville. Ramseur said 43 projects have been completed since the program’s inception. Recent beneficiaries include Dahlia A Florist on Stone Avenue, Community Journals on Perry Avenue in the Village of West Greenville and Carolina
Architectural Lighting + Design on South Pleasantburg Drive. Another eight businesses have been approved for funding and have projects pending. Eligible applicants include owners of commercial properties and owners/managers of businesses located in the following commercial districts within the city of Greenville: Augusta Street, Laurens Road at Pleasantburg Drive, Pete Hollis Boulevard, Rutherford Street, Stone Avenue, Wade Hampton Boulevard and West Greenville.
| THE FINE PRINT | 17
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Study shows Habitat’s impact on Greenville Habitat for Humanity of Greenville County recently surveyed families living in Habitat homes to measure their quality of life. “We have long known that Habitat is really in the business of transforming families—not just building homes,” Monroe Free, president and CEO of Habitat Greenville, said in a release. “This study shows exactly how much lives have been changed.” Last fiscal year, 1,541 volunteers participated with Habitat Greenville, contributing more than 19,000 hours of service, he said. In 2013, Habitat Greenville and its funding partners made a total investment of $1.2 million in Greenville County and Habitat homeowners paid county property tax revenue of $142,974. According to the release, the organization maintains a foreclosure rate of less than 1 percent, and 88 percent of mortgages are paid on time. Of the 239 Habitat families surveyed, 52 returned the questionnaires. Survey highlights: • 98 percent said their home life is more stable. • 94 percent report feeling hopeful about their future. • 93 percent said they spend more quality time at home. • 89 percent expressed satisfaction with construction quality of their home. • 72 percent earned an associate, technical or bachelor’s degree. • 64 percent said their children’s school attendance increased. • 58 percent reported family members attaining academic degrees. • 32 percent said their employment situation has improved.
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18 | ON THE MOVE |
UBJ
PLAY-BY-PLAY OF UPSTATE CAREERS
ELECTED
HIRED
PROMOTED
ELECTED
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01.09.2015
APPOINTED
David Crigler
Bryan Horton
Laura Pollard
Stephen Edgerton
Zoran Filipi
Elected as chairman of the South Carolina Real Estate Commission. Crigler is executive vice president and COO for C. Dan Joyner. He was previously appointed to a three-year term on the commission and has served since 2013. The Real Estate Commission protects public interest in real estate transactions.
Joined VidiStar LLC as a support specialist. Horton previously owned SEC Sports Store. He formerly worked as an information security assurance officer/security guard for the Department of the Army. Horton served as security forces in the United States Air Force from 2001 to 2005.
Named associate director of the Greenwood Genetic Center’s Biochemical Genetics Laboratory. Pollard’s interests include the diagnosis and management of mucopolysaccharide (MPS) disorders. She has published numerous scientific articles on the subject and presented her research at international conferences.
Appointed as chairman of the Coldwell Banker Large Office Group (LOG). The role includes conducting meetings, leading group discussions and being the facilitator for the organization. Edgerton is president and CEO of Coldwell Banker Caine. LOG is an invitation-only group of owners in the top 2 percent of Coldwell Banker firms.
Named chair of Clemson University’s Department of Automotive Engineering and executive director of the Carroll A. Campbell Graduate Engineering Center. Filipi will be the second chair in the department’s history. He began work in Clemson’s automotive engineering department in 2012.
DEVELOPMENT O’Neal Inc. hired Shannon McKamey and Ryan Smith as project mangers. McKamey has over 20 years of experience in the engineering, procurement and construction industry, having worked with Alstom Power and Parsons Corporation. He most recently gained experience at Jacobs Engineering. Smith has almost 20 years of construction and project management experience, having worked with Whiting Turner in Atlanta.
EVENTS The Old Cigar Warehouse hired Christie Early as venue sales manager.
Early has worked in various aspects of event management including setup crew, serving, bartending, office manager, rental manager and day-of coordinator. She will focus on creating more partnerships and events at the Old Cigar Warehouse.
officer. He most recently served as executive vice president of Agility 360. Taggart was also senior vice president at Wingspan Portfolio Advisors and executive vice president of REDC Default Solutions LLC, a startup division of Auction.com LLC.
FINANCE
LEGAL
Regional Management Corp. appointed Daniel Taggart to the newly created position of chief risk
Haynsworth Sinkler Boyd P.A. elected Denny P. Major, Meg R. Scoopmire and Seth R. Swan as shareholders
CONTRIBUTE: New hires, promotions & award winners may be featured in On the Move. Send information and photos to onthemove@upstatebusinessjournal.com.
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in the firm. Major primarily focuses on the prosecution and defense of employment-related disputes involving trade secrets, copyright and contractual issues. Scoopmire is the leader of the firm’s real estate team. Her practice focuses on commercial real estate transactions and commercial real estate finance. Swan is a real estate, finance and business lawyer who focuses on all aspects of commercial real estate and finance transactions and brewery and distillery law.
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MARKETING/PR Hughes Agency hired Ashley Shelley as account executive and Jordan Bell as office manager. Shelley’s past experience includes an account executive position at Erwin Penland where she oversaw the development of various Midwest area projects including traditional print, radio and billboard advertising for Verizon Retail. At Hughes Agency, Shelley will be responsible for client projects including public relations, media relations, marketing campaigns and coordination of special events. Before joining the Hughes Agency, Bell was an account executive at Clear Channel Media and marketing coordinator at Honeysuckle Hill Farm. At Hughes Agency, she will assume all responsibilities associated with office management. Additionally, she will assist with client projects and events.
REAL ESTATE David M. Snyder with Allen Tate Realtors was awarded the Seniors Real Estate Specialist (SRES) designation by the Seniors Real Estate Specialist Council of the National Association of Realtors. Snyder joins more than 16,000 real estate professionals in North America who have earned the SRES designation. All were required to successfully complete a comprehensive course in understanding the needs, considerations, and goals of real estate buyers and sellers aged 55 and older.
THE NEW WAL-MART NEIGHBORHOOD MARKET IN GREENVILLE, scheduled to open this winter, moves closer to completion as associates have begun stocking shelves in preparation for its grand opening. The approximately 41,000-square-foot store, located at 5009 Old Buncombe Road at the intersection of University Square, will include a full line of groceries and an assortment of merchandise.
PLAY-BY-PLAY OF UPSTATE CAREERS
| ON THE MOVE | 19
20 | NEW TO THE STREET |
THE FRESHEST FACES ON THE BUSINESS LANDSCAPE
UBJ
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01.09.2015
Open for business Carolina Architectural Lighting and Design recently opened its new facility at 1205 S. Pleasantburg Drive, Greenville. The company is a manufacturer’s representative for more than 100 lines of light fixtures. For more information, visit cald-lighting.com or call 864-335-5065.
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ESOP Financing
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FIVE ADVANTAGES OF AN ESOP SALE OVER A TRADITIONAL LBO
By Amy Hartnett, ESOP Finance Group, Fifth Third Bank
2. OWNER SUCCESSION/ MINORITY SHAREHOLDER. An ESOP transaction can provide for continuity of ownership and continuity of management while allowing owner(s) to maintain control of the business following sale to ESOP. Furthermore, it provides a venue for minority shareholders seeking to exit a business. 3. CAPITAL GAINS DEFERRAL. Under certain circumstances, leveraged ESOP transactions allow the seller to sell stock to
5
The
< TAX BENEFITS. In the event an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) is used to finance a buyout, not only will interest on the loan be deductible, so will principal repayments up to the statutory limit for a C corporation. The sponsoring company can deduct dividends it pays on employer securities held by a leveraged ESOP if dividends paid are either paid in cash directly or through the ESOP to plan participants, or used to repay an ESOP loan. A leveraged ESOP enables the ESOP trust to borrow cash from a bank to purchase shares of the company. The company stock is pledged as collateral and the trust repays the loan with the contributions contributed by the sponsoring company. S corporation ESOP (100%) company’s income will be shielded from all federal tax obligations. an ESOP at its current fair market value and not incur immediate capital gains taxes. The selling shareholders can elect to defer capital gains taxes by using the proceeds of the sale to purchase securities of domestic corporations. 4. RETIREMENT PROVISIONS. The enhanced cash flow that results from the structure of an ESOP buyout means that very often there is more cash available to enhance operations, retirement packages
and other employee reward packages. ESOP companies typically provide higher wages and retirement benefits, on average, than their non-ESOP counterparts.* Each participant has an individual account, the value of which is generally distributable following death, disability, retirement, or separation from service. As the company does well and stock appreciates in value, the account balances of participants will likewise increase in value.
5. EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE AND RETENTION. ESOP companies have experienced an increase in productivity as employees gain ownership and an appreciation for their financial stake in the company’s success.* Implementing an ESOP tends to encourage employees to think like owners and promotes employee retention. It can provide a means for rewarding employees who have promoted the employer’s success. To arrange to meet with a Fifth Third Bank ESOP specialist, call Charlie Arndt at 864-558-2470.
*Source: The National Center for Employee Ownership (NCEO). Fifth Third Bank does not provide tax or legal advice. Please contact your accountant or attorney for advice pertinent to your situation. Deposit and credit products provided by Fifth Third Bank. Member FDIC. Subject to credit review and approval. Equal Housing Lender.
22 | PLANNER |
UBJ
EVENTS YOU SHOULD HAVE ON YOUR CALENDAR
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TUESDAY JANUARY 13 UNDERSTANDING FINANCIAL STATEMENTS NEXT Innovation Center, 411 University Ridge, Greenville; 6-8:30 p.m. Practical training by analyzing financial statements by Piedmont SCORE COST: $29 REGISTER: piedmontscore.org/ workshops/register/139
WEDNESDAY JANUARY 14 DIVERSITY CONNECTIONS LUNCHEON
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CityRange Steakhouse Grill, 774 Spartan Blvd., Spartanburg; noon-1:30 p.m.
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TOPIC: Four marketing systems every business needs to optimize and maximize growth
90 Days. No Surgery. Real Results? Now that’s a resolution you can take to the bank. Or the beach. In your new bikini. Cindy Jackson and Angela Mathews are part of the Back to 30 Rejuvenation Centers team. With three locations in the Upstate, their latest opened at McBee Station in October 2014, they are industry experts in the area of skin care and total body wellness.
WEDNESDAY– THURSDAY JANUARY 14-15
Highway 29 Corridor MORE INFO: sbarrett@ upstateforever.org, 864-327-0090 or upstateforever.org/ active-living-event-series
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864.244.8730 | 864.663.1930 | 864.234.7900
Greenville; 5:30 p.m. cocktail reception, 7 p.m. dinner KEYNOTE: Jim Newsome, president and CEO of SC Ports Authority COST: Chamber members $65, nonmembers $75
BUSINESS ANALYTICS WORKSHOP
REGISTER: bit.ly/ greer-meeting
Greenville ONE, 1 N. Main St., Greenville; 8:30 a.m.-1 p.m. Industry professionals give input on analytics skills needed by organizations COST: Free REGISTER: bit.ly/ analytics-workshop
TUESDAY JANUARY 20 SMALL BUSINESS SUCCESS SERIES Comfort Suites Simpsonville, 3971 Grandview Drive, Simpsonville; 8-9:30 a.m. TOPIC: Dress & Success: Do they have anything in common?
SATURDAY JANUARY 24 TOASTMASTERS LEADERSHIP INSTITUTE ITT Technical Institute, 6 Independence Pointe, Greenville; 8:30 a.m.–2 p.m. Education and training for club officers to perform their duties effectively and with the right skill sets. COST: $15 REGISTER: bit.ly/ tli-january
Speaker: James Carter, Empire Ltd. COST: Chamber members $39/ class or $199/series, nonmembers $49 or $230 RSVP: 864-862-2586
THURSDAY JANUARY 22
Greer City Hall, 301 E. Poinsett St., Greer; 5:30-6:30 p.m.
GREER CHAMBER ANNUAL MEETING
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Embassy Suites Greenville Golf Resort & Conference Center, 670 Verdae Blvd.,
WEDNESDAY JANUARY 28 ENTREPRENEURS FOR A CAUSE Bailey’s Sports Grille, 2409 Laurens Road, Greenville; 6-9 p.m. Brides Against Breast Cancer is raising funds for programs for families impacted by cancer. TICKETS: $35 advance, $45 at the door REGISTER: bit.ly/ for-a-cause
TM
TO
01.09.2015
FRIDAY JANUARY 16
LINKING OUR FUTURES: SHAPING A TRANSIT-READY CORRIDOR
To learn more about Back to 30 Rejuvenation Centers, you can visit them online at:
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A QUICK LOOK INTO THE UPSTATE’S PAST
| SNAPSHOT | 23
In 1922 the Parker School District was created and named in honor of Thomas F. Parker. As president of Monaghan Mill, Parker had shown genuine concern for the welfare of the mill operatives.
vide d His toric photos pro
A traditional curriculum was combined with vocational education, which included actual on-the-job training in the textile industry. Parker High School graduated its first class in May 1924. The last class graduated from Parker High School in 1985. The old high school building then became the Parker Middle School.
Photo by Greg Beckner
Today the former Parker High School is home to Legacy Charter School’s Middle School and Early College High School. The Early College High School prepares students for college and career via a customized learning approach that centers on students qualifying to take college courses at Greenville Technical College while in high school.
Historic photograph available from the Greenville Historical Society. From “Remembering Greenville: Photographs from the Coxe Collection” by Jeffrey R. Willis
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JANUARY 16: THE FUTURE What trends and tech will shape the Upstate in 2030?
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PHOTOGRAPHER Greg Beckner
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SALES REPRESENTATIVES Sarah Anders, Kristi Jennings, Donna Johnston, Annie Langston, Lindsay Oehman, Pam Putman, Maddy Varin, Emily Yepes
jackson Marketing Group’s 25 Years 1988 Jackson Dawson opens in Greenville at Downtown Airport
1988
1997 Jackson Dawson launches motorsports Division 1993
1990 Jackson Dawson acquires therapon marketing Group and moves to Piedmont office Center on Villa.
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with a majority of them utilizing the general aviation airport as a “corporate gateway to the city.” In 1997, Jackson and his son, Darrell, launched Jackson Motorsports Group. The new division was designed to sell race tires and go to racetracks to sell and mount the tires. Darrell Jackson now serves as president of the motorsports group and Larry Jackson has two other children and a son-in-law who work there. Jackson said all his children started at the bottom and “earned their way up.” Jackson kept the Jackson-Dawson branches in Detroit and others in Los Angeles and New York until he sold his portion of that partnership in 2009 as part of his estate planning. The company now operates a small office in Charlotte, but its main headquarters are in Greenville in a large office space off Woodruff Road, complete with a vision gallery that displays local artwork and an auditorium Jackson makes available for non-profit use. The Motorsports Group is housed in an additional 26,000 square feet building just down the street, and the agency is currently looking for another 20,000 square feet. Jackson said JMG has expanded into other verticals such as financial, healthcare, manufacturing and pro-bono work, but still has a strong focus on the auto industry and transportation. It’s
Chairman larry Jackson, Jackson marketing Group. Photos by Greg Beckner / Staff
Jackson Marketing Group celebrates 25 years By sherry Jackson | staff | sjackson@communityjournals.com
Solve. Serve. Grow. Those three words summarize Jackson Marketing Group’s guiding principles, and according to owner Larry Jackson, form the motivation that has kept the firm thriving for the past 25 years.
Jackson graduated from Bob Jones University with a degree in video and film production and started his 41-year career in the communications industry with the U.S. Army’s Public Information Office. He served during
Vietnam, where he said he was “luckily” stationed in the middle of Texas at Fort Hood. He left the service and went to work in public affairs and motorsports at Ford Motor Company in Detroit. After a stint at Bell and Howell, where he was responsible for managing Ford’s dealer marketing and training, the entrepreneurial bug hit and he co-founded Jackson-Dawson Marketing Communications, a company specializing in dealer training and product launches for the auto industry in 1980. In 1987, Jackson wanted to move back south and thought Greenville would be a good fit. An avid pilot, he
learned of an opportunity to purchase Cornerstone Aviation, a fixed base operation (FBO) that served as a service station for the Greenville Downtown Airport, providing fuel, maintenance and storage. In fact, when he started the Greenville office of what is now Jackson Marketing Group (JMG) in 1988, the offices were housed on the second floor in an airport hangar. “Clients would get distracted by the airplanes in the hangars and we’d have to corral them to get back upstairs to the meeting,” Jackson said. Jackson sold the FBO in 1993, but says it was a great way to get to know Greenville’s fathers and leaders
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2003 motorsports Division acquires an additional 26,000 sq. ft. of warehouse space
1998 1998 Jackson Dawson moves to task industrial Court
also one of the few marketing companies in South Carolina to handle all aspects of a project in-house, with four suites handling video production, copywriting, media and research and web design. Clients include heavyweights such as BMW, Bob Jones University, the Peace Center, Michelin and Sage Automotive. Recent projects have included an interactive mobile application for Milliken’s arboretum and 600-acre Spartanburg campus and a marketing campaign for the 2013 Big League World Series. “In my opinion, our greatest single achievement is the longevity of our client relationships,” said Darrell Jackson. “Our first client from back in 1988 is still a client today. I can count on one hand the number of clients who have gone elsewhere in the past decade.” Larry Jackson says his Christian faith and belief in service to others, coupled with business values rooted in solving clients’ problems, have kept
2009 Jackson Dawson changes name to Jackson marketing Group when larry sells his partnership in Detroit and lA 2003
2009-2012 Jackson marketing Group named a top BtoB agency by BtoB magazine 4 years running
him going and growing his business over the years. He is passionate about giving back and outreach to non-profits. The company was recently awarded the Community Foundation Spirit Award. The company reaffirmed its commitment to serving the community last week by celebrating its 25th anniversary with a birthday party and a 25-hour Serve-A-Thon partnership with Hands on Greenville and Habitat for Humanity. JMG’s 103 full-time employees worked in shifts around the clock on October 22 and 23 to help construct a house for a deserving family. As Jackson inches towards retirement, he says he hasn’t quite figured out his succession plan yet, but sees the companies staying under the same umbrella. He wants to continue to strategically grow the business. “From the beginning, my father has taught me that this business is all about our people – both our clients and our associates,” said his son, Darrell. “We have created a focus and a culture that strives to solve problems, serve people and grow careers.” Darrell Jackson said he wants to “continue helping lead a culture where we solve, serve and grow. If we are successful, we will continue to grow towards our ultimate goal of becoming the leading integrated marketing communications brand in the Southeast.”
2011 Jackson marketing Group/Jackson motorsports Group employee base reaches 100 people
2008 2012 Jackson marketing Group recognized by Community Foundation with Creative spirit Award
pro-bono/non-proFit Clients American Red Cross of Western Carolinas Metropolitan Arts Council Artisphere Big League World Series The Wilds Advance SC South Carolina Charities, Inc. Aloft
JANUARY 30: COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE QUARTERLY The biggest deals and latest developments in CRE
Hidden Treasure Christian School
CoMMUnitY inVolVeMent & boarD positions lArry JACkson (ChAirmAn): Bob Jones University Board chairman, The Wilds Christian Camp and Conference Center board member, Gospel Fellowship Association board member, Past Greenville Area Development Corporation board member, Past Chamber of Commerce Headquarters Recruiting Committee member, Past Greenville Tech Foundation board member David Jones (Vice President Client services, Chief marketing officer): Hands on Greenville board chairman mike Zeller (Vice President, Brand marketing): Artisphere Board, Metropolitan Arts Council Board, American Red Cross Board, Greenville Tech Foundation Board, South Carolina Chamber Board eric Jackson (Jackson motorsports Group sales specialist): Salvation Army Boys & Girls Club Advisory Board
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