MAY 9, 2014
WORKS IN PROGRESS As Greenville becomes a true arts city, the business side still struggles for recognition
UBJ BANKING
New Greenville HQ Anchors Park Sterling Expansion JENNIFER OLADIPO SENIOR BUSINESS WRITER
joladipo@communityjournals.com Charlotte-based Park Sterling Corporation signed a lease last week for a new Greenville office that will serve as the regional headquarters for Park Sterling Bank. The 15,000-square-foot space at 617 E. McBee Ave. is an important step in securing the bank’s foothold in the Upstate, said Dixon Harrill, Upstate South Carolina president of Park Sterling Bank. “I’m excited that after a year and a half of saying we need more here, the company is investing in us having a nice facility at the end of the year and hiring a couple of key people here and there to make that happen,” he said. “This building gives us something we don’t have in that we’ve got a good location now, but nobody really knows where we are except our customers.” Nor does the current downtown location offer full-service banking. Harrill said the headquarters will allow the bank to consolidate some of its Greenville operations. An asset-based lending group and special
assets group now located in a 1,600-square-foot space on Woodruff Road will relocate downtown, and some mortgage officers also might move to the new space. All retail branches will stay open. The new headquarters will house the Commercial Bankers, Treasury Services, Wealth Management, Mortgage Operations, Special Assets, Asset-Based Lending and Loan Review teams, as well as a stateof-the art Retail branch to service residential and business customers. Renovations are expected to be complete by the end of the year. Harrill said it will serve as the headquarters for the area from the Midlands to the Upstate, noting that 28 of the bank’s 52 branches will be in the Upstate. The bank’s other regions are Charlotte, Gastonia, Raleigh and Charleston. “We have been growing throughout our system on the deposit side, loans growing on the metro side. In smaller areas there’s been slight shrinkage, but if we can keep the smaller markets kind of flat [and] can grow in the
Greenville, Anderson and Clemson markets, also Charlotte, Gastonia, Richmond and Raleigh, then we will be very successful.” Park Sterling’s recent expansions
in South Carolina include the acquisition of Capital Bank with locations in Clinton, Anderson and Newberry. Earlier this month Park Sterling announced its acquisition of Provident Community, which had nine offices in South Carolina including two offices in Simpsonville and Laurens. Park Sterling has $2.3 billion in assets and 52 banking offices in the Carolinas, north Georgia and Richmond, Va., areas.
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May 9, 2014
UPSTATE BUSINESS JOURNAL
3
Volume 3, Issue 19
May 9, 2014
MONEY SHOT: Champagne flutes await the team at Erwin Penland, who announced this week that its parent group became Microsoft’s agency of record for its retail business. More photos on page 5.
TBA
WORTH REPEATING “I think a lot of people think you make art and put it out there and someone will want it. It’s not that at all – it takes a lot of legwork. I don’t know a lot of people who work as hard as many of the artists that I know.” Painter and tattoo artist J.J. Ohlinger, on the business side of the arts.
“I don’t believe that people really understand how long it takes an artist to create good artwork. Many of us have been working for 20-30 years to get to a point where we’re making really good art.” Laura Buxo, president of the Greenville Artists Guild and founder of the Artist Guild Gallery, on the time investment in quality artwork.
“The visual arts is not just creative expression but an individual’s livelihood and contribution to our economy.” Nancy Whitworth, director of economic development for the City of Greenville.
4
UPSTATE BUSINESS JOURNAL
Greenville handmade jean maker Billiam Jeans has moved into the former Community Tap space at 205 Wade Hampton Blvd… A new $6 million mixed-use development with retail, restaurant and office possibilities is coming to 211 NE Main St. in Simpsonville…
May 9, 2014
VERBATIM Freddy’s Frozen Custard and Steakburgers is entering the Upstate market with two locations, Woodruff Road in Greenville and along Highway 123 in Easley…
SC Telco Federal Credit Union purchased 1.1 acres at Verdae Boulevard and Rocky Slope and plans to locate a new branch at the site…
On the Penny Tax… “Everyone says the roads are in terrible shape, and we can spend the next six months deciding who’s to blame. The question is who’s going to do something about it.” Bob Knight, spokesman for Citizens for a Better Greenville County, speaking to Greenville County Council members in favor of a penny sales tax to fund road improvements.
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The Seersucker Suit & Bow Tie
Erwin Penland Snags Major Microsoft Business JENNIFER OLADIPO SENIOR BUSINESS WRITER
joladipo@communityjournals.com Erwin Penland got one of the biggest wins in its existence when it helped its parent company group become Microsoft Corporation’s agency of record for retail business. Microsoft’s multibillion-dollar ad and media business chose Interpublic Group (IPG) – of which Erwin Penland parent Hill Holiday is a part – to handle its advertising and global deployment to 207 countries. The total account revenue is estimated at around $100 million. “It’s one of those once-in-a-decade kinds of pieces that you win,” said Joe Saracino, chief marketing officer
of the Greenville-based advertising and marketing firm.. Members of the Greenville team were part of the high-level pitch process, including recent additions Con Williamson, chief creative officer, and John Dunleavy, managing director. Both hailed from global advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi. Erwin Penland President Joe Erwin said the Microsoft business validates the shop’s investment in major talent. Precisely what it means for Erwin Penland will be hammered out in contracts over the next few weeks, “but we do know it means important staffing opportunities in our Greenville and New York offices, and we’re going for top-level talent,” said Erwin. Account management, strategic planning and translation are just some of the duties for which IPG will be responsible. “It’s funny. I think we’re all admiring the speed at which Microsoft has moved through the process,” Saracino said. “They really essentially put their entire agency business up for review globally. That includes brands like Windows, Xbox, Surface and Nokia.” Erwin said the Microsoft windfall differs somewhat from the relationship with another big-name client, Verizon. “The Verizon account grew organically. We won MetroMobile, which was precedent to what would become Verizon,” he said. “[Microsoft], I would say, is the biggest pitch victory for us in many years.”
23 West North Street, Greenville, SC 29601 864.232.2761 | www.rushwilson.com Open Mon.-Sat. 9:30am - 5:30pm Wed. 9:30am - 1:00pm
May 9, 2014
UPSTATE BUSINESS JOURNAL
J23
Photo Provided
The Erwin Penland team toasts the Microsoft deal.
Southerners love to wear bow ties and seersucker suits during the spring and summer! But, what is the history behind each of these fashion statements? According to ehow.com, New Orleans suit maker Joseph Haspel created the first classic seersucker suit in 1909. The seersucker suit was designed to have working class appeal due to its low cost and light weight fabric. However, the look became very popular with stylish southern gentlemen from preppies to politicians. During the 1950’s the seersucker suit lost a bit of its allure with the emergence of air conditioning, which made dressing for the weather less of a factor. But in 1996, Mississippi Senator Trent Lott announced “Seersucker Suit Thursday” in the Senate. So, once a year in mid-June, men and women of the U.S. Senate wear their seersucker suits as an annual rite of summer. The seersucker suit was revitalized! And what about that bow tie…where did it come from? Bows-n-ties.com states during the Prussian wars of the 17th century, Croatian mercenaries would tie and wear colorful scarves around their necks to denote rank. The French, who fought alongside, adopted the idea as their own and brought it home, now calling the necktie “Cravats.” This emerging new style became very popular with the upper crust of French society. A new tradition was born. At Rush Wilson Limited, we too love to tell the rich history and tradition of our family-run, upscale menswear clothing store in downtown Greenville. Our history began in 1950 in Davidson, NC where Rush Wilson opened the first store. He expanded to Greenville in 1959 and in 1978 moved the store to its present location at 23 West North Street. Today, as always, we specialize in classic American style. Our focus is to offer our customers clothing and products that fit their lifestyle. Although, the physical location has changed a few times, the tradition of Rush Wilson Limited has remained the same, to offer our customers exceptional service and an unparalleled experience in shopping for their clothing. Tradition continues. For Rush Wilson Limited, it is quality, service, honor, history, community, values, experience and above all, a desire to enrich the lives of all of our customers.
5
UBJ MANUFACTURING
Upstate-Made X3, X5 Drive BMW’s April Sales Increase JOE TOPPE | STAFF
jtoppe@communityjournals.com
10TH ANNUAL
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With April sales in excess of 29,500 and a significant increase in the Greer-made X3 and X5 sport activity vehicle (SAV) models, the BMW Group (BWW and MINI combined) in the U.S. is reporting a 2.0 percent increase in sales when compared to the same month one year ago. The carmaker sold an additional 581 vehicles during April 2014 and is up 2.5 percent on sales the first four months of the year with 2,600 more vehicles sold than during the same time in 2013. Sales of BMW brand vehicles in April rose 8.5 percent from the same time last year with the sale of 25,202 vehicles. Year-to-date, the BMW brand is up 10.7 percent the first four moths of the year on sales of more than 97,500 vehicles. The month of April saw the X3 SAV up 85.2 percent to 3,544 units, and the X5 SAV up 27.6 percent to 4,393 units. “April started and ended strong, which is not typical with spring break, holidays and taxes due during the month,” said Ludwig Willisch, president and CEO, BMW of North
America. “The increasing momentum, including launch of new diesel models in the X3 and 7 Series and the first sales this month of the born-electric BMW i3, gives us considerable optimism for May and June.” Sales of BMW pre-owned vehicles increased 14.4 percent during the month of April when compared to the same month in 2013 as more than 2,000 additional vehicles were sold. Year-to-date, BMW used vehicles (including certified pre-owned) are up 13.7 percent on sales of 64,634 vehicles compared to 56,869 vehicles sold in the first four months of 2013. MINI USA reported 1,300 fewer vehicles sold during April 2014 when compared to the same month last year, a decrease of 24.1 percent, while MINI pre-owned vehicles reported a record-breaking month with over 500 additional vehicles sold than during April of 2013, an increase of 31.8 percent. Year-to-date, MINI USA reported a decrease of 34.2 percent from the first four months of 2013 with nearly 7,000 fewer vehicles sold, while sales of MINI pre-owned vehicles increased 25.5 percent with more than 1,600 additional vehicles sold during the first four months of 2014 than the same time one year ago.
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UBJ ECONOMY & MANUFACTURING
SC Economic Outlook a Mixed Bag JOE TOPPE | STAFF
jtoppe@communityjournals.com A report issued by the South Carolina Department of Commerce highlighted an improvement in the state’s real estate market, recorded a mixed bag of weekly unemployment claims, and cited February’s inclement weather as cause for a decline in the month’s weekly manufacturing hours. Year-to-date, the average price of South Carolina homes rose 3.7 percent from $149,000 to $154,500, while a 33.2 percent increase in the total of building permits for new residential construction is expected to promote real estate activity over the next year. When compared to the same time frame last year, foreclosure activity has dropped 13.1 percent, while employment in the construction industry has added 3,500 jobs over the last 12 months. Charleston, Myrtle Beach and the Pee Dee regions experienced a small boost in home sales activity in March 2014 as both Greenville and Spartanburg saw slight drops of less than four percent when compared to the same time last year. Residential business permits issued statewide in March were 9.9 percent lower then the previous month but were 18.6 percent higher than the same month one year ago. The Greenville, Charleston and Myrtle Beach areas are enjoying the highest building demand in the first three months of 2014 with respective permit levels standing at 44, 32 and 92 percent higher than the first quarter of 2013. Both Greenville and Spartanburg saw decreases in home sales in March 2014 by a combined total of 35 fewer sales when compared to the same month one year ago. Although weekly unemployment claims in March of this year were 13
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Precorp Breaks Ground on $14.8M Facility JOE TOPPE | STAFF
KEY S.C. INDICATORS
jtoppe@communityjournals.com
INCOME
Precorp Inc., a manufacturer of machining solutions in the automotive and aerospace industries, broke ground last week on a 60,000-squarefoot facility in Greer. The $14.8 million investment will triple the company’s current space and is expected to add at least 29 new jobs over the next few years while expanding the manufacturer’s existing business development initiatives. The company celebrated its groundbreaking ceremony in front of 200 guests, including Greenville County Council Chairman Dr. Bob Taylor and Greer Mayor Rick Danner.
+0.5% -4.1%
State Personal Income – increased to $171.5 billion in the fourth quarter of 2013. (U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis) South Carolina Stock Index – lost 4.75 points in March, closing at 111.52 on the last trading day of the month. (Bloomberg)
REAL ESTATE
+2%
Single-Family Home Sales Price – increased by $3,069 to $156,000 in March. (South Carolina Association of Realtors)
-9.9%
Residential Building Permits – decreased by 245 permits from the previous month to 2,241 permits issued in March. (U.S. Census Bureau)
Source: South Carolina Department of Commerce
percent lower than the same month in 2013 and 19 percent lower than in March of 2012, key cities such as Greenville and Columbia experienced increases of 4.9 and 6.4 percent. Myrtle Beach experienced the greatest improvement in weekly unemployment claims with a 25 percent reduction in March, while Charleston saw a modest 3.3 percent decline. Weekly manufacturing hours statewide were shortened by February’s inclement weather issues but improved 5.6 percent in March going from 39 hours to 41.2 hours.
The new building will stand as a monument to all of the hard work and sacrifice made by Precorp employees, said Rich Garrick, Precorp’s president. “We are very happy to be here,” he said. The company is expected to relocate operations to the new facility in early 2015.
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UPSTATE BUSINESS JOURNAL
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UBJ WORKPLACE
The Healthy Dozen
Workplaces with successful wellness programs – including those recently honored by LiveWell Greenville – share common traits APRIL A. MORRIS | STAFF
amorris@communityjournals.com In April, LiveWell Greenville celebrated its second Healthy Workplace Awards and honored a dozen companies that were “making the healthy choice the easy choice.” Experts estimate that every $1 spent on employee wellness equals $3 return on investment, and employers are paying attention in the face of chronic disease and rising health care costs. Though the businesses honored range from health care systems (with an obvious eye toward wellness) to manufacturing and vary in size, they share several common traits, said Richard Osborne, workplace consultant for LiveWell Greenville.
KEY COMPONENTS
Two key ingredients are support from the top-level management and employee engagement, said Osborne. Another essential is data collection, which can be as complicated as a biometric screening of each employee or as simple as an employee needs and interests survey. “Many companies start with programs and don’t do up-front data collection,” he said. The data creates a baseline and then helps a company establish priorities. A successful well-
ness initiative boils down to a program, a goal and something that can be measured, he said. After about three years, an employer will see measurable changes, said Osborne. After that, an organizational culture of health begins to exist. A sustainable program can be achieved through employee-driven wellness committees and providing measurable data to the employer, employees and wellness committee to demonstrate success, he said.
SOUTHERN WEAVING
A relatively small company with 190 employees, Southern Weaving was very pleased to garner a gold award this year, said Robyn Knox, vice president of human resources. She attributes the success to the 10member “enthusiastic and creative” wellness team that meets monthly and talks with fellow employees in the meantime to get suggestions on the next month’s events. Management allows employees time, often on the clock, to participate in the wellness team or to walk twice each week, said Knox. “We are reaping the benefits of allowing our employees to have that extra time for walking,” she said. The manufacturer also has a topdown support element, said Knox.
The CEO and other leaders often participate in activities and on the recent National Walk at Lunch Day, “he [the CEO] took us on a little twomile trek,” she said. There are also the financial incentives. If employees participate in annual health screenings and reach the previous year’s health goals, they receive an $11 per week reduction in health insurance premiums, which is also extended to spouses, she said. In a recent job satisfaction survey, 91 percent of those participating in wellness programs reported that they felt it had a positive impact on their health and well being, she said.
THE BLOOD CONNECTION
Employee involvement is also an integral part of the wellness initiatives at The Blood Connection, said Meg Guice, information specialist and member of the wellness committee. She works to send out informational emails, lines up lunch-and-learn speakers and coordinates speakers with the nurse practitioner. “The wellness program is optional, but we’re encouraged to think about health issues in a proactive manner,” she said. The Blood Connection has 260 employees who work varying shifts and at multiple locations. Some well-
2014 LIVEWELL GREENVILLE HEALTHY WORKPLACE AWARD WINNERS BRONZE Hartness International SILVER The Blood Connection Bon Secours St. Francis Drive Automotive Elliott Davis GE Rosenfeld-Einstein YMCA GOLD Greenville Health System Michelin ScanSource Southern Weaving More information: livewellgreenville.org
ness-focused events can help to bring them together, said Guice, citing a walking challenge and a food-tasting that featured a juice sampling and cooking suggestions. The Blood Connection’s on-site clinic has reduced absenteeism and allowed employees to seek treatment before a health issue gets serious, said Guice. “It saves you a copay, saves time lost from work and sitting >>
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UBJ EMPLOYMENT
Report: National Unemployment Rate Drops to 6.3% S.C. unemployment rate stands at 5.5%; labor force participation drops A recent report issued by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics highlighted a rise in total nonfarm unemployment by 288,000 jobs for the month of April, dropping the national unemployment rate to 6.3 percent. Employment gains were widespread, led by growth in professional and business services, retail trade, food services, drinking places and construction, according to the report. April’s 0.4 percent drop in unemployment from March’s 6.7 percent left the number of unemployed persons at 9.8 million, a decrease of 733,000. By comparison, South Carolina’s most recent job report stated the unemployment rate for the month of March stood at 5.5 percent, the lowest recorded in the state for that month since 2008. Year to date, the national unemployment rate and the number of unemployed persons declined by more than one full percentage point and nearly 2 million people, while the
>> in the doctor’s office where everyone’s got the flu,” she said. Patrick Garrett, VP of human resources, said the clinic had moved from a majority of sick visits to up to 60 percent well or preventive visits where employees develop wellness plans. Management has also embraced the
Palmetto State has experienced a similar trend in 2014, with March marking the eighth consecutive increase in statewide employment. South Carolina also saw its number of employed persons rise to a historic high during March, with 2,046,002 working statewide. On a national level, unemployment rates declined for adult men to 5.9 percent, adult women to 5.7 percent, teenagers to 19.1 percent, whites to 5.3 percent, blacks to 11.6 percent, and Hispanics to 7.3 percent, while the rate of 5.7 percent for Asians remained unchanged. The total of long-term unemployed persons, those jobless for more than 27 weeks, declined by more than 275,000 during April to 3.5 million, while the number of the long-term unemployed decreased by 908,000 over the last year. Nationwide, the civilian labor force fell by 806,000 in April following an increase of more than 500,000 the previous month. The labor force par-
ticipation rate fell by 0.4 percent to 62.8 percent during April. The national rate remains higher than the latest number of 57.9 percent documented in South Carolina during March. As reported by UBJ last month, economist Robert Martin said the dip in South Carolina’s unemployment rate could be partially attributed to the state’s decreasing labor force participation. When people drop out of the labor force, the unemployment rate will go down, he said. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the national labor force participation rate does not exhibit any clear trend in recent months, remaining nearly unchanged since October of 2013. Using national data not seasonally adjusted, April recorded 2.2 million persons who were marginally attached to the labor force, meaning the individuals were not in the labor force, wanted and were available for work, and had looked for a job in the
“We are reaping the benefits of allowing our employees to have that extra time for walking.” Robyn Knox
wellness focus, Guice said. The previous CEO had participated in a boot camp and the current CEO is support-
ing the programs, too, she added. LiveWell Greenville offers multiple resources for companies interested
prior 12 months. The remaining 1.4 million persons marginally attached to the labor force in April had not searched for work for reasons such as school attendance or family responsibilities, according to the report. Of the marginally attached, 783,000 discouraged workers were reported during April. Discouraged workers are defined as people not looking for work because they believe no jobs are available. Clemson University economist Bruce Yandle said the Bureau of Labor Statistics produces several unemployment rates monthly, including a report that takes discouraged workers into account. Most are familiar with the unemployment report that includes workforce respondents (those having a job or looking for a job), but a second report includes the percentage of discouraged workers into the data, he said. “The real unemployment rate for the month of April is 12.4 percent,” Yandle said. in starting wellness initiatives, including coordinator guides, budget information, needs and interest surveys and action plan worksheets, said Osborne. Because many businesses “tiptoe in budget-wise,” he said, LiveWell has created several lower-cost tools to get them started.
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CertusBank Announces New Leadership Amid Losses JENNIFER OLADIPO SENIOR BUSINESS WRITER
joladipo@communityjournals.com CertusBank announced a new management structure that will have nine executives reporting directly to the CEO. The company said as part of this restructuring, several executive-level positions have been consolidated, reassigned or eliminated. The new arrangement simplifies and streamlines the organization to speed decision-making, encourage cross-functional teamwork and make the company more nimble. The team will report to interim president and CEO John Poelker, who was named head of the company when the previous management team was dismantled through a combination of firings and one resignation. The announcement comes just after the company reported $9 million in losses for the quarter ended March 31. It continues a downward trend for a company that lost $64.2 million in 2013. Assets dropped to $1.57 billion from $1.67 billion the previous quarter, a $95 million loss. All members of the new management team were appointed from within the company. Poelker, a banking veteran known for turning around struggling banks, was appointed after Milton Jones, Walter Davis and Angela Webb were terminated from their respective posts as executive chairman, co-CEO and president. Cofounder Charles Williams had resigned as vice chairman shortly before that. The upheaval of CertusBank’s top brass in March came after a report by industry magazine American Banker alleging egregious mismanagement at the company. Davis, Jones and Webb subsequently filed a lawsuit against the bank and an investor for defamation, libel and contractual interference that resulted in the loss of owed compensation.
The suit alleges investor Benjamin Weinger of New York “waged a campaign of misinformation and half-truths against the Plaintiffs to convince fellow investors and a majority of the CertusBank Board of Directors to remove the Plaintiffs from their jobs and destroy their business and personal reputations.” It also accuses some board members of encouraging and condoning some of the activities for which the plaintiffs were publicly maligned. Poelker said the new management team “brings deep knowledge and expertise in banking, strong leadership in the community and a proven track record in business management.” The named executives and their areas of responsibility are: Core Banking: Kelly Owens
more honors Whether it’s the 47 programs nationally ranked by U.s. news & World report or the nation’s no. 1 public university honors college, UsC boasts more honors than any other higher education institution in the state. That’s the kind of excellence you expect from south Carolina’s flagship university.
NO LIMITS.
Mortgage: Gary Suess Small Business Finance: John Handmaker Operations: Meril Thornton Risk and Credit: Mark Abrams Finance and Accounting: Chris Speaks Investments and Treasury: Len Davenport Legal: Thomas Simpson Audit: Deborah Ledford, a direct report to the board of directors “This team is committed to the board’s vision of an agile bank that delivers the best service and solutions to our customers,” said Dr. Robert L. Wright, board chairman, in a statement. “This is a formidable bench of talented decision-makers, and they have our full support as we forge ahead as a stronger bank. I firmly believe they will help CertusBank continue to build the trust and confidence of customers, investors and all of our stakeholders.”
May 9, 2014
UPSTATE BUSINESS JOURNAL
11
UBJ INNOVATE
By FRANK MOBLEY
Is the Cloud Right for My Business? As a cloud and data center services provider, the three most common questions we are asked from business owners and executives are: What is it? How do I use it? Is it safe? As you might imagine, the answers to these questions differ from company to company depending on business size, internal IT resources and overall IT strategy. However, virtually every business organization either currently utilizes the cloud in some form or soon will. Cloud computing has become a necessary component of business operations.
WHAT IS THE CLOUD? In general terms, the cloud is the hardware, software and other computing resources made available as a service through the Internet. As high-speed data connections have become more affordable and more prevalent, cloud computing has grown in popularity and acceptance. Adopting a cloud environment allows businesses to reduce capital expenditures while increasing flexibility, by taking advantage of the scalability and on-demand features of a virtual environment. Cloud computing is available in three primary service models: software as a service (SaaS), platform as a service (PaaS) and infrastructure as a service (IaaS). This article will focus on SaaS and IaaS, the two most commonly used
The InnoVision Awards Program, founded by Deloitte in 1999 and presented by McNair Law Firm P.A., is South Carolina’s premier organization dedicated to the advancement of technology in the state through communication, education and recognition of the spirit of innovation and technological progress. 12
by small and medium businesses.
SOFTWARE AS A SERVICE (SAAS) SaaS is the most common utilization of cloud computing, used for business applications and by general consumers. SaaS has eclipsed physical media, such as CDs, as the preferred model for distributing and maintaining software applications. Gmail, Google Apps, Dropbox, Office 365 and Salesforce.com are just a few examples of applications available over the Internet. Most “off-the-shelf” industry-specific applications are also available as a subscription via the Web. There are many benefits to the distribution of software applications through the cloud: • The ability to quickly expand or contract monthly license scope as business conditions dictate. • Assurance of consistent and secure applications across the organization through uniform update and patching services. • Consistent software versions and access from geographically diverse locations. • Lower capital and labor costs due to external sourcing of disk storage, hardware components, and multisite software deployment.
INFRASTRUCTURE AS A SERVICE (IAAS) Because applications require integration, custom modifications and/ or control that are not possible in the SaaS model, many companies elect to utilize cloud-based hardware resources, or infrastructure, as a service (IaaS). In this model, disk space, memory, CPU and other hardware computing resources are provided on an as-needed basis. Like the SaaS model, these resources are usually
UPSTATE BUSINESS JOURNAL
May 9, 2014
accessed by a high-speed connection to the Internet. IaaS providers generally manage a large pool of disk, memory and CPU resources. These resources are separated into secure virtual machines (servers) by hypervisor software. Once implemented, the virtual servers operate and appear to applications like local physical servers. Amazon, Google, Microsoft and a number of other national providers offer commodity cloud servers. Immedion, a Greenville-based cloud and data center services provider, offers cloud infrastructure solutions customized to an organization’s specific business need. These solutions are often tailored to interface seamlessly to an organization’s existing applications and hardware infrastructure as a hybrid physical/cloud deployment. Like SaaS, the cost of cloud infrastructure is usually on a subscription basis. Predictable monthly costs are determined by the amount of disk, memory and CPU utilized. Advantages to the IaaS model include:
ture can be accessed anywhere there is an Internet connection.
• Rapid scalability to quickly meet business demands or seasonality. Disk space, memory and CPU can usually be added or removed in minutes and most always within a 24 hour period.
• Ensuring the cloud provider has audited (SSAE-16) policies in place for secure provisioning of cloud servers, including strong separation between customers.
• Cost-effective disaster recovery or data backup. • More control of applications as compared to SaaS. Like SaaS, IaaS cloud infrastruc-
SECURITY For obvious reasons, data security has been and will likely remain a prime topic of conversation. Most business managers want to ensure that their business’s lifeblood, its data, is secure. As many of the recent well-publicized security breaches evidence, valuable data that is connected to the Internet or transferred electronically is vulnerable to some extent. While leveraging the public cloud introduces new security concerns, there is little evidence to suggest that adopting a cloud environment materially increases the risk that data will be compromised. Organizations can minimize risk of data breaches by diligently addressing the following areas: • Encrypting data stored on drives and data being transferred from system to system or system to user. • Enforcing strong authentication (login) policies.
• Performing in-place data backups with periodic testing of restorability. Deploying these policies and processes, along with standard firewall and intrusion detection systems, will significantly reduce the risk of lost or stolen business information.
Frank Mobley is founder and CEO of Immedion LLC, which owns and operates four enterprise-class data centers in North and South Carolina. Services include co-location, disaster recovery, managed services and cloud hosting. Immedion helps customers achieve full redundancy, compliancy and a level of up-time that they couldn’t achieve on their own. Immedion is the sponsor of the Technology Application Award for the InnoVision Awards.
UBJ PROFESSIONAL
By COOPER LITTLEJOHN
Health Care Reform: The Cooperative Way How to fix health care without raising taxes or mandating health insurance Like many other Americans, I have become frustrated with the Affordable Care Act. My frustration did not stem from political beliefs about the mandate but from our determination to put a Band-Aid on a health care system that is on life support and complicate an already impossible system. The goal of the health care bill is to provide health insurance for the 49.9 billion Americans who are uninsured. Why aren’t more people insured? The simple answer is that health insurance is not affordable. A fuller explanation is that it is unaffordable because, from the consumer all the way to the insurer, the business model is broken. For more than four years, my colleagues and I worked through the South Carolina Department of Insurance to create the South Carolina Health Cooperative, a new approach that allows small businesses to join together so that rates are based on the total group instead of on the individual member companies. I have seen firsthand how difficult it is to convince the government, insurers and health care providers that other options exist. But we can fix this broken system – without mandates, without raising taxes, and in a bill of fewer than five pages.
PAGE 1: RETHINK PREEXISTING CONDITIONS Currently an insurer can refuse to cover a health problem that existed before the individual became its client. Changing jobs or other movement from one insurer to another can bring burdensome costs and nightmare stories of families plummeting into debt because of uncovered preexisting conditions. Instead of punishing people for not buying insurance, let’s reward
those who do. Require companies to cover preexisting conditions and disallow large rate increases for individuals continuously covered for at least two years. For those without continuous coverage, require insurance companies to offer two policies: one covering everything except preexisting conditions, and a second, more expensive one for all preexisting conditions. Completely denying health coverage for preexisting conditions, including denials based on abuse-related injuries, should be considered a discriminatory practice. After two years, an individual with a preexisting condition should be allowed to buy insurance at the lower rate. This incentivizes both the individual and the insurance company, making health care more affordable while assuring that private insurance remains viable.
PAGE 2: LOWER COST STRUCTURE FOR PROVIDERS While much of America worries about outsourced jobs, I worry about outsourced medicine. America is at the forefront of medical innovation, but medical developers are migrating to Europe because of stifling FDA regulations that cost them nearly 10 years and $494 million for approvals, according to a 2009 Fast Company report. Consumers pay the cost of innovation, in inflated drug costs – in many cases 1,000 percent
We can fix this broken system – without mandates, without raising taxes, and in a bill of fewer than five pages. over the cost of manufacturing. Allowing innovators and entrepreneurs to capitalize and deduct more of these expenses over the life of a patent rewards medical innovation without making the cost unbearable for consumers. The other large cost in medicine is claims processing. We should simplify and standardize rules for how claims are inspected, filed and appealed, so that doctors are not left waiting in January to be paid for an August office visit and offices don’t employ more billing personnel than nurses.
PAGE 3: CREATE TRANSPARENCY In this information-abundant age of Facebook and Twitter, consumers still do not know the actual cost of a prescription or hospital stay. Consumers cannot compare medical quality and price as they might with other products or services and may be unaware that sometimes the best medical care is also the cheapest. Hospitals such as the Mayo Clinic tend to have lower costs and higher success rates for certain procedures because high volume has created efficiencies. Allowing consumers to compare prices and success rates, and to choose their medical care based on quality and price, not just on insurance networks or physician referrals, can significantly reduce costs.
May 9, 2014
PAGE 4: PROMOTE EMPLOYER-BASED HEALTH BENEFITS Businesses can reduce the number of uninsured. If we more effectively utilize existing Medicare and Medicaid programs serving retirees and the poor, then we only need to insure working Americans. Current small-business tax credits for providing health benefits should be offered to all businesses. Such financial incentives create overall savings that businesses can use to expand and hire more people. Yes, I said it: Affordable health care can create jobs. This solution is not a fantasy. We at the South Carolina Health Cooperative have been building this model for five years. We have no preexisting conditions for those with prior coverage. We work with providers to lower costs, educate consumers and give them access to information to make informed care decisions. Now, hundreds of South Carolina small businesses are learning the value of running their own health insurance program. They see the costs because they as owners pay the bills. They want to make health care work for their employees but they don’t want to break the bank, either. Health care has always been about giving people the information and the right to choose. The Cooperative gives its members the information, the right and the cost of their choices, creating a totally transparent insurance system.
Cooper Littlejohn is the founder and CEO of the South Carolina Health Cooperative. For more information, visit theschc.com.
UPSTATE BUSINESS JOURNAL
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By Sam Patrick, president, Patrick Marketing & Communications
UBJ THE TAKEAWAY
‘A Great Place to Do Business’
Hitt, GADC celebrate economic development success in Greenville EVENT: 2014 GADC Investor Meeting & Luncheon WHO WAS THERE: Nearly 200 business and political leaders from Greenville County and across South Carolina TOPIC: “Greenville County: Connecting Companies and Communities for Prosperity” SPEAKERS: S.C. Secretary of Commerce Bobby Hitt, keynote speaker; Bob Howard, GADC chairman; Tim Justice, GADC investor relations committee chairman; others
The Greenville Area Development Corporation, created by Greenville County Council and charged with enhancing quality of life in Greenville County by facilitating job growth and investment, revealed results from another strong year in economic development at its annual Investor Meeting & Luncheon at The Poinsett Club. The GADC also took time to honor Dr. Larry Brotherton, CEO of Ortec Inc. – a leading polymer technology, medical material and custom chemical synthesis company serving the pharmaceutical and other industries – as Greenville County’s Economic
Development Ambassador for 2014. In saluting Dr. Brotherton, Howard cited his significant and ongoing efforts to advance a diverse and sustainable economic development climate in Greenville County and the Upstate. Here are other highlights from the event.
GADC IS DELIVERING RESULTS
GADC Chairman Bob Howard told the standing-room-only gathering of private- and public-sector leaders that in 2013 the GADC worked with 21 relocating and existing companies to create 1,001 new jobs and attract new capital investment of $239 million. Since 2001, the GADC has announced over 17,500 new jobs and $3 billion in capital investment in the county, he added, while returning $7 to Greenville County for every public dollar invested in GADC initiatives. “That’s a heck of a return,” Howard noted.
new sites for development, and to grow the work force. “It’s about all the people in this and neighboring counties and the willingness to work across county lines that makes this work,” Hitt said. Such relationships will be needed for continued success, he said. “We need all of the economic development community, the professionals as well as our allies, which is what GADC represents, to continue to be involved,” Hitt said.
FOCUS AND EFFORT CREATES MOMENTUM
“THE BEAST OF THE SOUTHEAST”
Howard emphasized that the GADC plans to continue its focus on recruiting organizations in the advanced materials, automotive, aviation-aerospace, biosciences, data centers, distribution and logistics, and office/headquarters sectors. “These businesses pay an average of at least 18.4 percent above our current existing per capita ➤ BY THE NUMBERS wage rate,” Howard said. “So, when we add these kinds of jobs, it means increased prosnew jobs created in 2013 by GADC working with perity for Greenville County 21 relocating and existing companies and its citizens.”
1,001
$239,000,000 $7 in capital investments attracted
returned to Greenville county for every $1 invested in GADC initiatives
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COLLABORATION IS KEY TO S.C.’S SUCCESS
S.C. Secretary of Commerce Bobby Hitt stressed the need to work together to encourage businesses to locate here, to add
May 9, 2014
Howard thanked the attendees for their support of economic development in Greenville County and across the Upstate, and said the organization’s focus on those particular clusters doesn’t mean it is not recruiting businesses from other sectors. “We will welcome any business, any investment in Greenville County that’s going to help the quality of life and help Upstate citizens find jobs,” he said. Hitt seconded the point, commending officials for their success in leading Greenville County from 9 percent unemployment in 2011 to 4.4 percent today. “We have gotten to the point where some trade publications are now referring to South Carolina as ‘the beast of the Southeast’ due to its economic development success,” Hitt said. “We no longer think regionally. We un-
derstand that what’s good for Greenville is good for the entire state, so we can deliver a coordinated message to the world that all of South Carolina is open for and a great place to live and conduct business.”
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IS A TEAM SPORT
Tim Justice, GADC investor relations chairman, noted that private-sector support of the organization remains at an all-time high, thanking attendees from the more than 140 investor organizations now contributing to the GADC’s success for their support. “Without all of our investor companies, the Greenville Area Development Corporation’s ability to produce such great returns for the people of Greenville County – in quality jobs, increasing tax revenues and a robust and vital economy – would be severely restricted,” said Justice. “Every penny our investors provide goes to our marketing budget, and every penny you invest is working hard and producing better jobs and a brighter future for this community.” The Greenville Area Development Corporation is a nonprofit organization established by Greenville County Council to promote and enhance the economic growth and development of Greenville County. For more information, call 864-2352008 or visit goGADC.com.
UBJ DIGITAL MAVEN
By LAURA HAIGHT
What’s Wrong With Email? Why the perfect email client eludes us
In the 43 years since the first message was sent across a network, email has grown to be our most-used and most-misused communication tool. Email is a moving target because our needs, our uses for it keep changing. Early email was a plain-text affair. No signatures, no attachments, no embedded videos, no animated emojis. Today, we use email for everything. • At work, roughly 25-28 percent of our time is spent reading, responding to and sorting email. (goo.gl/ YydX5A) • 294 billion emails are sent every day from the world’s 3 billion email accounts. Seventy-eight percent of those are spam. • And the biggest email provider online in the U.S.? Not Outlook, not Gmail. Yahoo.com has 44 percent of that marketplace, followed by Hotmail/Live (30), Gmail (15), Inbox (5), Me.com (Apple icloud accounts – 2), Outlook.com (1), and miscellaneous (3). (goo.gl/SCMBUa) Despite all this use, we still hate email. Email clients (Outlook, Apple Mail, Gmail) are imperfect tools used by imperfect users who, in large part, are unfamiliar with the features that are available to help us manage and streamline email. Two questions: • Developers, if you worked on something for 43 years, wouldn’t it be perfect by now? Why is it so hard
Developers, if you worked on something for 43 years, wouldn’t it be perfect by now? Why is it so hard to get email right?
to get email right? • Users, you use email at minimum 10 hours per week but still haven’t learned to use many of the tools you already have. Why?
meeting requests or reminders (Outlook does this very well, although the average user may be unaware of the functions or how to use them – and those functions aren’t in all versions).
There is a lot of room for improvement on both sides of the desk. Over the past couple of months, I’ve tested some new email clients looking for “the one.” Unfortunately, I’ve found that every one has benefits and every one has flaws. Some of those flaws are game changers; some are just small aggravations. But I’m not interested in giving up any functionality I currently have, so I am back to where I started. Here’s my wish list for better email. 1. Operating system agnostic – that’s tech speak for a program that runs on a Mac, a PC, a Samsung tablet, a Blackberry smartphone or an iPad. While Outlook does have a Mac “version,” it is nowhere near as good as the PC version. 2. Seamless synchronization across platforms. Why do most Apple users have ALL Apple products? Because they do just talk to each other. Why risk investing in a non-Apple product – no matter how much better a feature(s) may seem – if you’re going to have all manner of syncing issues? It’s a risk. 3. Mail was designed as a quick messaging system. But we’ve changed that dynamic and turned it into a massive file storage, time management, task assignment, CYA system. At its heart, email is a GTD (getting things done) tool. Email programs need to fully support that effort by providing intuitive ways to turn emails into tasks, appointments,
4. Flag and tag email across all operating systems and devices. I’m throwing this gauntlet down because apparently this is a big challenge. Most email clients have some method of doing this – on your desktop. But that doesn’t pull over or translate to your other devices. Apple email has the most flaws here. In order to organize email as I need to for my business, I have a third-party client (MailTags). That works very well, but only on the desktop. The best I can do on my phone is to add a flag to an email and then tag or file it later, meaning I have had to handle the one email
twice. Not good. 5. HTML signatures (hello, Apple!) stored in the cloud so they can be used on any device anywhere. Create – or change – once and use everywhere. 6. Smarter reminders. Those ubiquitous badges you see that tell you how many unread messages, overdue tasks, or new notifications you have are useless. We have become immune to their messages. If your email tells you have 4,578 unread messages, what are you supposed to do with that info? Based on input from us, mail needs to learn who are the important people in our worlds and remind us when we have things undone or unread for them. An overdue task from my boss is not the same as an unread newsletter from Golf Now. 7. A respond/delete function. A high percentage of emails require just a single response. In addition to forward, reply and reply all, add a respond/delete function. One of my test products had this function and it was incredibly useful. No matter what developers do, however, you are still the key driver in how your email is used and managed. Learning the capabilities you already have can make a big difference in saving significant time for yourself and your staff.
Laura Haight is the president of Portfolio (portfoliosc.com), which works with small businesses to incorporate emerging media and technology into business communications, operations and training.
May 9, 2014
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PROFIT AND PASSION To make Greenville a true art destination, area creators are focusing on the bottom line
COVER STORY
By Jennifer Oladipo | senior business writer | joladipo@communityjournals.com
There are places around the country where it’s clear that the arts
“I think a lot of people think you make art and put it out there and someone will want it. It’s not that at all – it takes a lot of legwork. I don’t know a lot of people who work as hard as many of the artists that I know.”
are integral, if not central, to the economy. Think Santa Fe, or Nashville. But there are also cities of all sizes – including Greenville – that promote themselves as arts destinations. It begs the question: What makes a true art city? And in a business-forward community like Greenville, where does art fit into conversations about homegrown companies and target industries?
VISUAL STIMULATION This business side of art is mostly a discussion of the visual arts in Greenville. Performing arts here are mainly the purview of nonprofit and educational organizations, of which there are several. Visual artists, however, without large venues and organizations, tend to have to go it alone. Nancy Whitworth, the city’s director of economic development, said artists help stimulate creative approaches and diversity across sectors, but maybe the business side of their work isn’t yet visible enough. “Every business sector is important and all adds to the mix,” she said. “I do believe that there is a growing number of art-related businesses, and critical mass does provide more opportunities. Perhaps a heightened awareness of the value of the visual arts and related businesses is in order, and better understanding that the
Artist J.J. Ohlinger
The Artisphere festival in downtown Greenville has become the city’s main claim to cultural fame. Below: Works by artists featured in this year’s Artisphere festival.
LYNN GREER
JARYD WALLEY FURNITURE
DANIELLE MILLER GILLIAM JEWELRY 16
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visual arts is not just creative expression but an individual’s livelihood and contribution to our economy.” The authors of the 2011 Creative Cluster report by the University of South Carolina’s Darla Moore School of Business came to a similar conclusion when looking at statewide impacts of the arts in general (see sidebar). Yet Whitworth said there is already recognition that a dynamic cultural scene makes cities attractive to individuals and businesses, and is important to Greenville’s economic success in competing for talent and investment globally. “The visual arts are a very important component to that,” she said. “The most obvious example is through art in public places.” >>
May 9, 2014
Images Provided
>> The city’s Art in Public Places Commission operates out of the economic development office and leverages public investment with private investments in the art among other duties, Whitworth said. The Artisphere festival, which celebrates its tenth year this weekend, has become the city’s main claim to cultural fame. But just 15 of more than 125 juried visual artists featured this year are local. A handful more will do demonstrations or participate in the Artists of the Upstate exhibition. For the other 51 weeks of the year, local artists struggle for wall space to sell their work in a limited number of venues. COLLECTIVE WORKS One group of artists has managed to maintain the tricky balance between profit and passion by going into to business together. The Greenville Artists Guild runs a gallery downtown where 20 or so artists own and operate the Artist Guild Gallery in a prime location on Main Street. “Most artists don’t like the business side of art – the market-
ing, accounting, paying the bills and so forth. So a cooperative gallery for many artists is ideal,” said Laura Buxo, president of the Greenville Artists Guild and founder of the Artist Guild Gallery. “You can spend a day working the business, and also meeting with the public and getting a sense of people and their response.” Each member spends one day a week working at the gallery in the capacity that best matches their skills so they can spend rest of time making art. About two-thirds of them are full-time artists. “Certainly you want the best art you can have, but you also want people who have the same interest in running a business and providing services to the community,” Buxo said. Like many small businesses, the Guild makes an annual charitable donation of art to local nonprofits. But for all their professionalism, Buxo said she doesn’t feel artists’ work is recognized as business. “I don’t believe so, only because ARTISTS continued on PAGE 19
BY THE NUMBERS In the Metropolitan Arts Council’s Open Studios in 2013:
Core Creative Industries contribute:
visual artists
jobs
78,682 124 $9.2 $247,771 billion $6,217 $5,500,000 in total sales
in economic impact
average sales
econ
e community omic impact on th
e Cluster Source: 2011 Creativ Moore report by USC’s Darla School of Business
From Canvas to Dermis
Artist J.J. Ohlinger makes a living at fine art, tattoos Greenville artist J.J. Ohlinger has always made his living creatively, whether it was illustrations for the music industry or graphic design. However, over the last few years, he has been able to shift to producing fine art full time.
Painter and tattoo artist J.J. Ohlinger.
The Nebraska native began his career as an illustrator for an archaeology firm after training in scientific illustration at the University of Georgia. While living in California, he created illustrations for the music industry and in computer software. He later moved to Charleston in the late 1990s and started his own graphic design and Web development firm, eventually employing nine people. However, he was frustrated with dealing with clients who commissioned an essential service for their business only to later deprioritize it. When he met his wife and fellow artist Darlene Fuhst, they started to use extra office space for an art show. In early 2003, he began shrinking the commercial business and focusing on art. Fuhst took a post as an editor in Greenville and that’s when Ohlinger began to create fine art full time. He gives Fuhst much credit for her support and helping him take the plunge. Nearly two years ago, Ohlinger also branched out into a new medium: tattoos.
You do commission portraits of people and pets. How do you obtain that work? There are some galleries I work with, and you do get some gallery sales. I think a lot of people think you make art and put it out there and someone will want it. It’s not that at all – it takes a lot of legwork. I don’t know a lot of people who work as hard as many of the artists that I know. The portrait work is a lot of word-of-mouth and doing shows, letting them know I’m available. I don’t do art fairs and it’s a tremendous amount of work. There’s a woman I know who does it and she can spend up to $20,000 a year just on entry fees. At that point it is product. A lot of people don’t want to think of the art world as working like that, but unless you want to eat Ramen noodles every day, there is that aspect to it. There’s sort of that sacrifice between what I want to make just because it’s art that I enjoy and what can I do to help pay some bills.
How did you move into working in the tattoo field?
How do the mediums overlap? I approach a tattoo how I approach a painting. I like to have background information [for both] – I don’t always get it, but I think those come out as the strongest pieces. I think one of the biggest issues is customer service. You don’t think about that with art or tattooing. I call people after they’ve had a painting for a while. I want somebody to feel like they’re getting the concentration they deserve. I did a show where a lot of the paintings I’ve done lately are people I’ve tattooed. Some of my art clients have become tattoo clients. It’s very humbling to have somebody expose their body to you and say, “Change it.” There’s a big responsibility that comes along with that and I don’t take that lightly.
Has the tattooing contributed financially? Tattooing pays the bills now. It’s a big stress relief. Now I don’t have to do as much commission work and can concentrate on painting. I’m curious how to see how my work [painting] evolves over the next few years.
What has surprised you about this new medium? People agonize over spending money on a painting, but have not thought as much on a tattoo – and they may still spend thousands on tattoo work. There are also people who have come back to me for 12 tattoos in just two years. The fact that they’re willing to keep coming back, I think, is really incredible. Eighty percent of my time is booked a month out and for only doing this for nearly two years, that’s pretty amazing.
What advice would you give I’ve always been interested and drawn up to other artists looking to make friends’ tattoos for them, but was not jazzed a go at full time art creation? about how they were looking. About two years ago, thanks to my wife’s full-time job, we The only way to make a go of it is to go all in. were at the point of meeting bills and I was Now that takes a healthy dose of selffree to tackle this new medium and confidence, an intense work effort, a talent experiment. I think I’ve still got a long way as and a lot of stupidity, but if that describes far as learning, but I feel very fortunate that you, then ditch the backup plan. A backup I’ve been able to cultivate a support group that plan only gives you permission to fall back. is so interested in helping meMay through this. 9, 2014 UPSTATE JOURNAL 17 Also: MarryBUSINESS really, really well.
UBJ INSIDE ‘From One Great Idea to Another’ Five partners bring complementary skill sets to Graycliff Capital
W
By Sherry Jackson | staff | sjackson@communityjournals.com
WHAT DO FIVE REAL ESTATE EXPERTS WHO HAVE VERY DIFFERENT SKILL SETS
do when they meet and find out they get along and share the same values? They create a company together and start tackling the rehab of “tired” apartment complexes to give them a fresh look. “We believe in this market. It’s one of the best corridors in the country.” Paul Aiesi
The Azalea Hill Apartments at Verdae, a Graycliff Capital project.
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ARTISTS continued from PAGE 17
LLYN STRONG
it seems that everybody that has a fundraiser reaches out and kind of expects an artist just to give away their work,” she said. “I don’t believe that people really understand how long it takes an artist to create good artwork. Many of us have been working for 20-30 years to get to a point where we’re making really good art.”
AN ARTS CITY?
Graycliff Capital Partners is comprised of five partners who each bring a unique area of expertise to the company. Don Spalding, who leads acquisitions, was an investment banker for LaSalle Bank in Chicago. Paul Aiesi, a Furman grad who had been CIO of TIC Properties, now handles operations. Andrew Reiken, who worked with Spaulding at LaSalle Bank and also spent eight years at Goldman Sachs, is in charge of capital markets. Taylor Davis, also a Furman graduate, oversees all the property management and also serves as president of NHE, a Greenville real estate firm that’s been around since 1969. Will McCauley, president of Greenville-based Creative Builders, serves as general contractor. “It started off as two guys in Chicago who had great ideas and went from one great idea to another great idea,” said Spalding. “We’ve tried to create a unique platform that’s different from what others are doing in the Upstate and across the region,” said Aiesi. “That’s to take existing principals and companies in their respective fields and put them under one banner called Graycliff Capital.” “Each partner has their own business expertise that they bring to the investment process,” said Spalding. “Not only does it help achieve the synergies, but it helps achieve the value-add proposition that we provide.” The team says they are able to draw from their in-depth local experience to identify “high-value, high-quality locations.” They refer to their partnership as “the three legs of the stool” – capital markets, real estate operations and construction management. “Some companies may have one or two of those, but I don’t think there’s another firm [in Greenville] that combines all of those under one roof,” said Aiesi.
“And we don’t get surprised,” added Spalding. “We do complete due diligence on the front end. Through each partner we’re able to bring value to each project.” The firm’s forte is to find multifamily properties and rehab them to provide more value for their investors. They look for opportunities on the outskirts of the main center of the markets they enter. “We don’t create value going where others already are,” said Spaulding. Each partner votes on the deal and one “no” vote will kill the deal. “It takes five yes votes to buy any property,” Spaulding said. McCauley said the team is “not chasing a market; we’re chasing opportunities.” “We like best a C property in a B location or a B property in an A location,” said Davis. Graycliff typically targets properties with $5 million to $25 million in assets and rehabs about eight to12 properties per year. The company upgrades the properties with “a light to moderate rehab, including upgrades and amenities such as clubhouses and dog parks, and inside the apartments with new lighting, hardware – a fresh, clean look,” Davis said. Since the company was founded in 2010, Graycliff Capital Partners has successfully completed more than $100 million in real estate investments in the Southeast. Projects in the Upstate include Azalea Hill Apartments at Verdae and the Addison Townhomes in Greenville, East Ridge and Park Square Apartments in Spartanburg and the Villas at Lawson Creek in Boiling Springs. “We believe in this market. It’s one of the best corridors in the country and is often overlooked by some of the bigger firms,” Aiesi said.
Milly Hough of the South Carolina Arts Commission counts Greenville among the state’s arts cities, in addition to places like Charleston and Columbia. She said Greenwood is an excellent example, a city that just this week was presented with the Elizabeth O’Neill Verner Governor’s Award for the Arts, the highest honor the state gives in the arts. Greenwood was recognized for “intentional progress in developing the arts and culture into an economic engine for the city, county and region,” and its 2004 master plan had a heavy focus on revitalizing arts and culture, according to the commission. Often the kind of downtown revitalization that Greenville has experienced bolsters the arts, Hough said. As for what specifically makes someplace an arts city, Hough said the Commission is trying to pass a “cultural districts” program through the state legislature that might help answer that question. “Other states have this program,” Hough said. “It is a marketing tool. We’re still working on the guidelines, what are you saying when you say [someplace is a cultural district]. Right now it’s kind of self-defined for each city, and that’s okay.”
“I don’t believe that people really understand how long it takes an artist to create good artwork. Many of us have been working for 20-30 years to get a point where we’re making really good art.” Laura Buxo, president, Greenville Artists Guild
May 9, 2014
ARTIST RYAN CALLOWAY
JANINA ELLIS
ARTIST MICHAEL MCDUNN
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UBJ THE FINE PRINT
Greenville Chamber Honors Diversity Leaders Upstate leaders were honored Tuesday at the 10th Annual Upstate Diversity Leadership Awards Dinner at the TD Convention Center. The awards recognize organizations and individuals for outstanding achievement in promoting diversity and inclusion in the Upstate community. The event was presented by TD Bank and hosted by the Greenville Chamber and the Riley Institute at Furman, in partnership with the Anderson, Greer and Spartanburg Chambers of Commerce. BMW Manufacturing Co. won the
Outstanding Business Award for developing a diversified supplier network and having “a positive impact through extensive community involvement.” Its annual Supplier Diversity Matchmaker Conference promotes networking between Minority Business Enterprises, Women’s Business Enterprises and BMW Tier 1 Suppliers, and over the last two years, BMW has increased its Tier 1 Minority Spend by over 230 percent and Tier 2 Spend by over 500 percent. Kinneil Coltman, chief diversity officer for the Greenville Health
serving the hospital’s diversity needs since 2007. She is currently responsible for overseeing one of the largest language services departments in the Southeast and the largest in South Carolina, with more than 40 interpreters on staff. Other winners included The Year of Altruism, Outstanding Nonprofit Organization; Berea Middle School, winner of the William “Bill” T. Wylie Valued Lives Award for School Excellence in Diversity; and Darien Smith of Clemson University, winner of the Outstanding College Student Award.
System, won the Calder D. Ehrmann Outstanding Individual Award for
Delta Apparel Brand Opens Flagship Store in L.A. Delta Apparel announced the opening of the flagship Junk Food retail store in Venice, Calif. The 2,700-square-foot retail store opened May 3 on renowned Abbot Kinney Boulevard, offering Junk Food brand premium tees for men, women and children. The store will also carry a variety of
third-party brands that complement the Junk Food aesthetic, the company said in a release. The Junk Food creative team sought to create a union of vintage iconic imagery, modern interpretation and surprise technological twists to paint the perfect picture in its first-ever retail location. Housed in a building from the early 1900s located in a histor-
ically rich coastal village, the design of the flagship space was created to reflect both the heritage of the location and the Junk Food brand. “We are excited about the opening of the Junk Food store. Junk Food is a growing lifestyle brand and we feel the retail presence on Abbott Kinney will allow us to directly connect with our consumers
in a relaxed and engaging environment,” said Robert Humphreys, Delta Apparel’s chairman and CEO. “The flagship store, along with our online retail store, gives us a great opportunity to showcase new Junk Food products to consumers along with an extensive breadth of Junk Food favorites.”
950 AM/1330 AM/ 97.1 FM/ WFBC-HD3
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UBJ THE FINE PRINT
TATT to Host Forum on Knowledge-Based Culture Regional collaboration nonprofit Ten at the Top will focus the first Our Upstate Vision Forum of 2014 on the topic “Cultivating a Knowledge-Based Culture in the Upstate.” The free forum takes place 3 p.m. Tuesday, May 20, in the AT&T Auditorium at CU-ICAR.
Featured speaker Lynn Safrit serves as president of Castle and Cooke North Carolina, and will discuss how the North Carolina Research Campus, a research community of 300 disease research scientists and support staff, has successfully created a knowledge-based culture
in a traditional mill community. The theme for the 2014 Forum
UCB Acquires Business Carolina United Community Banks Inc. announced this week that its subsidiary, United Community Bank, reached an agreement with Columbia-based commercial lender Business Carolina Inc. (BCI). The deal includes about $25 million in loans and $6 million in other assets. BCI staff will operate as a division of United Community Bank and under its trade name of BCI Lending in Columbia and throughout United’s footprint. The asset purchase transaction will
SVP & Russillo 1-4 P
allow United to significantly expand its tradition of funding small businesses throughout its existing footprint, the company said. “We have been looking for a partner to help fuel our efforts to become one of the leading small-business lenders in the Southeast, and this transaction with BCI is a perfect fit,” said Lynn Harton, United’s president and chief operating officer, in a statement. “BCI was founded by the state of South Carolina as a vehicle for economic development and has a strong history of growth. We intend to carry on that tradition. United Community Bank is dedicated to small-business lending, and we are pleased to continue BCI’s goal of putting funds in the hands of businesses and individuals who support our local economies.”
Series is “Destination 2030: Thinking BIG and BOLD About the Future of the Upstate.” Each forum will focus on a different topic and look at short-, middle- and long-term opportunities that can help ensure that the Upstate in 2030 is universally recognized as a leader in that particular area.
State Approves Duke’s Anderson Gas Plant The state Public Service Commission approved Duke Energy Carolinas’ 750-megawatt, combined-cycle power plant at the W.S. Lee station in Anderson County. The new plant will use both a gas-fueled turbine to make electricity and a steam turbine fueled by the waste heat from the gas turbine. Set to open by 2018, it will replace the current coal-fired plant, which will be retired. Duke and the North Carolina Electric Membership Corporation, which will own 100 mega-
Greg McKinney 4-7 P
watts of the plant’s capacity, will jointly own the operation. In April Duke had also announced jointly with Piedmont Natural Gas a request for proposals for a natural gas pipeline to North Carolina. The pipeline would service a planned natural gas-powered plant at Lee Station in Anderson County, currently powered by coal, in addition to several more gas plants in North Carolina.
844-47 7- 3 7 7 6 844-GSP-ESPN
May 9, 2014
UPSTATE BUSINESS JOURNAL
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UBJ SQUARE FEET
From Auto Detailing to Townhomes Former Blandin’s Clean Up Shop in West End will be location of 18 units SHERRY JACKSON | STAFF
sjackson@communityjournals.com When the owner of Blandin’s Clean Up Shop on Main Street in Greenville’s West End retires in a few months, a group of local developers already have plans to transform the auto-detailing business property and two adjoining parcels into a new townhome development. The property is located at 1027 S. Main St with the two adjoining lots at 410 and 414 Vardry Street. M West will be comprised of four buildings
with 18 townhomes. The twoand three-bedroom units will have three floor plans to choose from and will be priced from $370,000 to $560,000 depending on the size and placement within the development. “We are excited to be delivering a unique townhome community to the downtown housing market,” said Trevor Ream, one of the development partners. “We believe the urban design, unit size, amenities and location of M West offer a tremendous value for the consumer and will be an asset to the energetic landscape of the historic
West End community.” All townhomes will have two-car garages and private rooftop terraces with views of downtown. Upgrade options will include an elevator, luxury finish package and rooftop gas fireplace. Pocket gardens will be incorporated into the community and the homes will have stainless steel appliances, hardwood floors and modern finishes, said Nicole Ream, real estate consultant with The Parker Group, which will be handling sales. Construction is expected to begin September 2014 with delivery of Phase I in late spring 2015.
For more information, contact The Parker Group at (864) 326-5047 or visit mwestgreenville.com.
PROJECT PARTNERS DEVELOPER: The 1027 Partnership, a local development group led by Trevor S. Ream LENDING INSTITUTION: NBSC ARCHITECT: Batson Associates CONTRACTOR: Triangle Construction INTERIOR DESIGN: Cuffie Creek Incorporated MARKETING/BROKER: The Parker Group
Cottage Community a ‘Milestone’ for Hartness Family SHERRY JACKSON | STAFF
sjackson@communityjournals.com With the amenities of a resort, the convenience of an apartment and the luxury of a single-family home, Homestead at Hartness, a new community off Garlington Road in Greenville, is offering a unique housing development concept with all cottage homes in the community available only for lease. Thirty-five acres have been carved out for the development on the eastern side of the sprawl-
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ing 395-acre tract of land owned by the Hartness Family near Pelham Road. “Home ownership is trending lower and lower now,” said Sean Hartness, whose family owns the property along with the adjacent Hartness International, a manufacturer since 1940 of packaging equipment and conveyors for bottling and material handling. “Greenville has an influx of people with BMW and Michelin. We knew we had a great location. We’re trying to respond to a market need that hasn’t >>
UPSTATE BUSINESS JOURNAL
May 9, 2014
UBJ SQUARE FEET
Lakeside Place Celebrates Relaunch New lease on life for former Mallard Cove apartments SHERRY JACKSON | STAFF
sjackson@communityjournals.com
>>
been met yet.” The 140 single-family cottage homes will have floor plans ranging from one to four bedrooms but will primarily be two- and three-bedroom homes. Homes will feature large front covered porches and will have hardwood floors, granite countertops and stainless steel appliances and range from $1,200$2,050 per month. Surrounding the community is a 12-acre grove of pecan trees, five lakes, eight miles of walking trails (including a one-mile walking path around the homes) and a 90-acre private green-space reserve. “Homestead at Hartness represents a milestone in our family’s involvement in the Greenville community,” said Hartness. “We hope to leave a legacy that reflects three generations of commitment to strengthening
families, building stronger communities and preserving nature.” The clubhouse should be completed in August and will feature an extensive fitness room, yoga studio, clubroom and catering kitchen. Plans call for a trainer to be on site six days a week,
sits on concrete piers on the lake and every unit has a view of the lake, said Sheiner. The complex con. sists of 211 units with DR Y R 121 of those being U NT two-story, three CE bedroom, three-bath units. “With more than half of the apartments being three-bedroom units, this community would be ideal for growing young families,” said Sheiner. Along with the clubhouse renovations, Living Well has put in a gym, business center, fishing wharf, barbecue grills, pergolas and new dog park. A new playground and swimming pool are also in the works, said Sheiner. All the interiors of the units are being renovated as they become available. “We put a lot of care into it and our tenants are very happy,” said Sheiner. “By the time we are done, we will have invested in excess and resort-level concierge service will be available. “We’ll have a team on site that will pretty much cater to every need you want,” said Shon Duren, community manager. Along with maintenance items like changing a light bulb or fixing a garbage disposal, services will include watering plants while residents are away or arranging for pet sitting. The property will be professionally managed by Greystar. A saltwater pool with cabana is also under construction and should be open this summer. A canoe/kayak dock, picnic shelters, a 1.5-acre dog park and extensive new trails to the
May 9, 2014
. GREENLAND DR
. NTBURG DR N. PLEASA
Once a run-down apartment complex with a bad reputation, the former Mallard Cove apartments on Villa Road, near Pleasantburg Drive and I-385, have a new owner, new name and new look. A public launch event was held on May 7 where officials conducted a ribbon-cutting for the new community features at the property now called Lakeside Place Apartments. New owner and management company Living Well Homes, a privately held real estate investment firm with offices in Canada and the U.S., has completed extensive exterior and
interior renovations on the apartment complex since taking it over in October 2013. “It’s a very unique property,” said Lloyd Sheiner, president and CEO of the Sheiner Group, the company’s Canadian parent company, and chairman of Living Well Homes in the U.S. “It was built in the 1970s and was really the place to live in Greenville.” The property had fallen into “significant disrepair,” said Sheiner. “It hadn’t been painted, the clubhouse has been closed for six years and it had a 25 percent vacancy rate.” The apartment community has a lake with active waterfowl including geese and ducks. The main clubhouse
VIL LA RD.
I-385
of $1 million into the property.” The community has also launched a new after-school program with clubhouse space devoted to a supervised after-school drop-in center where kids can play games, do crafts, watch a movie, or get homework help. Rental rates range from $610 for a one-bedroom, one-bath to $895 for a three-bedroom, three-bath. The average size is 1,252 square feet. “You’re really getting a home with that size more than an apartment,” said Sheiner. reserve are also planned. “We’re really trying to provide a different lifestyle for folks – a turnkey lifestyle,” said Hartness. “We’re providing a single-family lifestyle without all the headaches of home ownership.” The first residents moved in May 1 and construction is currently underway. For more information, call 1-855-781-8676 or visit homesteadathartness.com.
PROJECT PARTNERS DEVELOPER: Homes Urban LLC, an affiliate of Davis Property Group GENERAL CONTRACTOR: Triangle Construction ARCHITECT: Davis Architects FINANCED BY: NBSC PROPERTY MANAGED BY: Greystar
UPSTATE BUSINESS JOURNAL
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New hires, promotions & award winners can be featured in On The Move. Send information & photos to onthemove@upstatebusinessjournal.com.
UBJ ON THE MOVE HIRED
William F. “Bill” Tiller Named president and CEO of Make-A-Wish South Carolina. Tiller was the development director for the Meyer Center for Children in Greenville and executive director of the United Way of Laurens County.
HIRED
HONORED
Alexander Raimondi
Dr. Richard Hawkins
Howell Clyborne
Dr. Jeffrey Plumblee
John Dargan
Joined The Reserve at Lake Keowee as the property’s new community club manager. Raimondi has served as general manager/chief operating officer at the Wilderness Country Club in Naples, Fla.; The Polo Club of Boca Raton, Fla.; and The Nashawtuc Country Club in Concord, Mass.
Selected by the Bioengineering Department at Clemson University as the 2014 Samuel F. Hubert Award recipient. Hawkins is the chairman of the Hawkins Foundation Board and program director and physician for Steadman Hawkins Clinic of the Carolinas.
Received the Executive Excellence Award from the South Carolina Public Relations Society of America. This award is given annually to a boss who supports the public relations function in his organization. Clyborne is vice president of community and governmental affairs at Greenville Health System.
Named the Clemson Engineers for Developing Countries’ Outstanding Young Alumnus, for his work with six other civil engineering students to upgrade the 30-year-old water system in Cange, Haiti. He currently works in Fluor’s Business Continuity and Disaster Management Solutions department.
Named Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System’s new senior director of philanthropy for the Spartanburg Regional Foundation. Dargan previously served as president and CEO of Spartanburg County Foundation. He spent 25 years in the banking industry before joining the Foundation in 1997.
EDUCATION: The Clemson University Foundation board of directors elected new members and selected its chairman and vice chairman. Charles L. Sullivan Jr. was elected chairman and E. Mitchell Norville was elected vice chairman effective July 1. Sullivan is a retired executive vice president of Sonoco Products and Norville is a retired executive vice president and chief operating officer of Boston Properties. The six people joining the board of directors are: Celeste “Clete” D. Boykin, senior manager for DuPont Government Marketing and Government Affairs; Michael C. Crapps, a founder of First Community Bank who has worked as its president and CEO and has been a board director since its opening in 1995; James “Jim” Creel Jr., the vice president of the Creel Corporation; Gerald M. Glenn, retired chairman, president and CEO of Chicago Bridge & Iron Co.; Thomas “Larry” Sloan, retired CEO of Electrical Power Products Inc.; and Joseph L. von Rosenberg III, retired chairman and CEO Omega Protein Corp.
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Gov. Nikki Haley and the South Carolina Academy of Science recently presented the 2014 Governor’s Award for Excellence in Science to Dr. John Ballato, vice president for economic development at Clemson, and professor at the School of Materials Science and Engineering at Clemson University; Dr. Brian Powell of the Department of Environmental Engineering and Earth Science at Clemson University; and Dr. Apparo Rao of the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Clemson University. The South Carolina Governor’s Award for Excellence in Science was established in 1985 in order to promote wider awareness of scientific activity by honoring individuals whose achievements and contributions to science deserve special recognition.
HUMAN RESOURCES/ STAFFING: Innovate HR recently announced the addition of Mark Webber as its new COO. Most recently, Webber was the COO/HR executive for Super Duper Publications. Prior to his role
UPSTATE BUSINESS JOURNAL
May 9, 2014
HONORED
HONORED
with Super Duper Publications, he has served in executive HR management roles in the Southeast including vice president of HR for Dornier Medical Systems, a subsidiary of Daimler-Benz, and US Healthworks, a nationwide network of medical clinics focused on occupational medicine.
PROMOTED
Riley & Scarborough LLP, with a Compleat Lawyer Award in the Silver category (15 or fewer years of practice). Recipients are individuals who have made contributions to the legal profession and exemplify the highest standard of professional competence, ethics and integrity. Sherard was the only recipient in his category this year practicing in the Upstate.
INSURANCE: Greenville entrepreneur Brad Hughes, who runs his own Allstate agency, was recently named as a finalist for the 2014 Ray Lynch Award – Allstate’s top national honor recognizing an agency owner for the way he gives back to, and makes a difference in, his community. Hughes was the only 2014 recipient chosen in the Southeast. He supports organizations including: the Ryan Harless Foundation, Camp Greenville, YMCA of Greenville, Loaves & Fishes, Clemson University, and the Youth Outpost.
LEGAL: The University of South Carolina School of Law has honored Reid Sherard, a partner in Nelson Mullins
PUBLIC RELATIONS/ MARKETING: Jackson Motorsports Group (JMG) recently hired Jonathan Baughman as program manager, Christopher Blair as CDL event specialist, and Trey Andrews as performance service specialist. Before joining JMG, Baughman was a manager in the automotive retail industry, holding managerial positions in customer service, parts and sales. A veteran of the U.S. Air Force, Blair will serve as CDL event specialist providing transportation and logistics for races and events. Andrews holds an associate degree in civil engineering technology and is a NRA/SLED certified firearms instructor.
FOR OUR
60TH BIRTHDAY
UBJ NEW TO THE STREET
CELEBRATION
1
1. The Stuff and Such Gift Shop recently opened and held a ribbon cutting at 113B S. Main St. in
WE PROUDLY PRESENT OUR NEW, STATE-OF-THE-ART LAUNDRY DEPARTMENT.
Fountain Inn. 2. Grimes Teich Anderson LLP recently opened its Spartanburg office at 229 Magnolia St. It is the third South Carolina location for the law firm, which also has an office in Gaffney and a principal office in Greenville. For more information, visit grimesandteich.com 2
3. Roses Express recently opened at 17 Farrs Bridge Road in Greenville’s Westowne Shopping Center. The store returns to the same location it once held 30 years ago. For more information, call
3
864-246-5300 or visit rosesdiscountstores.com. 4. HTI Employment Solutions hosted a grand opening celebration at its new Spartanburg location in the Westgate Crossing Shopping Center, located at 660 Spartan Blvd., Suite 150. At this new location,
4
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potential associates can apply for available positions. Regular application hours
Serving the Upstate for 60 years
for the Spartanburg branch are Monday and Wednesday from 1-4 p.m. and Tuesday and Thursday from 9 a.m.-noon. For more information, call 864-467-0330 or visit htijobs.com.
May 9, 2014
Personalized Cleaning & Hand Finishing 1707 Augusta Street | Greenville 864.242.5606
UPSTATE BUSINESS JOURNAL
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GOT A HOT DATE?
UBJ PLANNER FRIDAY MAY 9 NORTH GREENVILLE ROTARY CLUB The Poinsett Club, 807 E. Washington St., Greenville; 12:30-1:30 p.m. COST: Free to attend, lunch $16 CONTACT: Shanda Jeffries at 864-968-2319 or sjeffries@flynnwealth.com
MONDAY MAY 12 GCS ROUNDTABLE The Office Center at the Point, 33 Market Point Drive, Greenville; 8:30-9:30 a.m. TOPIC: Best Practices
Contribute to our Planner by submitting event information for consideration to events@upstatebusinessjournal.com
for Buying a Business
greenvillechamber.org
Call Golden Career Strategies at 864-527-0425 to request an invitation
REGISTER AT: greenvillechamber.org
WEDNESDAY MAY 14
TUESDAY MAY 13
BUSINESS BEFORE HOURS
BUSINESS BEFORE HOURS
Simpsonville Chamber of Commerce, 211 N. Main St., Simpsonville; 8-9:30 a.m.
Commerce Club, 55 Beattie Place, Greenville; 7:30-9 a.m.
COST: Free to attend
COST: $8.50 to pre-register or $12 at the door. Open only to Chamber members. CONTACT: Lorraine Woodward at 864-239-3742, or if you are a Commerce Club member, contact Dot Drennon at ddrennon@
CONTACT: Jennifer Richardson at jrichardson@ simpsonvillechamber.com REGISTER AT: simpsonvillechamber.com SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS’ FORUM Greenville Chamber
presented by
26
UPSTATE BUSINESS JOURNAL
May 9, 2014
of Commerce, 24 Cleveland St., Greenville; 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. TOPIC: Cut the Chaos and Work on What Matters COST: Free to attend. Open to Greenville Chamber member, small business owners only. Attendees are asked to bring lunch, drinks will be provided. CONTACT: 864-242-1050 REGISTER AT: greenvillechamber.org DIVERSITY CONNECTIONS LUNCHEON CityRange Steakhouse Grill, 774 Spartan Blvd.,
Spartanburg; noon-1:30 p.m. SPEAKER: Todd Dunlap, business development manager, Psi Design COST: Free to attend, but attendees must pay for lunch CONTACT: 864-594-5000 REGISTER AT: spartanburgchamber.com YOUNG PROFESSIONAL TOASTMASTERS Commerce Club, 55 Beattie Place, Greenville; 6 p.m. COST: $5 to cover meeting space and one drink at the bar FOR MORE
INFORMATION: visit yptm.toastmastersclubs. org
THURSDAY MAY 15 2014 MANUFACTURERS ROUNDTABLE Greenville Spartanburg Airport District (GSP), 2000 GSP Drive, Greer; 3:30 p.m. TOPIC: Development Tour: Inland Port and GSP Airport COST: Free to Greenville Chamber members, $15 for guests and includes lunch CONTACT: Darlene Parker at 864-239-3706 REGISTER AT: greenvillechamber.org
UBJ SNAPSHOT
Historic photograph available from the Greenville Historical Society. From “Remembering Greenville: Photographs from the Coxe Collection,” by Jeffrey R. Willis
Today none of the buildings from William Coxe’s 1920s photo remain. The Ivey’s store building, constructed in the 1940s, on the right, and the Hyatt Regency Hotel, mostly hidden behind trees, occupy the 200 block of North Main Street’s east side.
MARKETING & EVENTS Kate Banner
DIGITAL STRATEGIST PRESIDENT/CEO Mark B. Johnston mjohnston@communityjournals.com
UBJ PUBLISHER
Emily Price
ART & PRODUCTION ART DIRECTOR Kristy M. Adair
Ryan L. Johnston rjohnston@communityjournals.com
OPERATIONS Holly Hardin
EXECUTIVE EDITOR
Michael Allen, Whitney Fincannon
Susan Clary Simmons ssimmons@communityjournals.com
MANAGING EDITOR Jerry Salley jsalley@communityjournals.com
SENIOR BUSINESS WRITER Jennifer Oladipo
STAFF WRITERS
Sherry Jackson, Cindy Landrum, April A. Morris, Joe Toppe
CONTRIBUTING WRITER Jeanne Putnam
PHOTOGRAPHER Greg Beckner MARKETING & ADVERTISING SALES REPRESENTATIVES Kristi Jennings, Donna Johnston, Annie Langston, Lindsay Oehman, Pam Putman
ADVERTISING DESIGN CLIENT SERVICES Anita Harley, Jane Rogers
HOW TO CONTRIBUTE STORY IDEAS: ideas@upstatebusinessjournal.com
EVENTS: events@upstatebusinessjournal.com
The 200 block of North Main Street, east side. Prior to the 1920s, this block of North Main Street retained many of its 19th-century residences. During the building boom of the 1920s, a range of new commercial buildings appeared. On the right is Cohen’s Department Store. On the next street level are a shop and the Majestic Theater. Next is the Jervey-Jordon Building or Library Building, so called because the Greenville County Public Library was housed on the second floor. In 1927, in an effort to begin a museum of art, several plaster copies of statues from ancient Greece and Rome were placed on display in the library. After an outcry against public nudity (and a momentary rush of visitors) the offending statues were removed to the library’s upper floor. Not even the placing of shorts on the statue of Apollo had saved the exhibit. To the left of the Library Building is Cabaniss-Gardner, perhaps the most fashionable store for women in the city. Between SearsRoebuck and CabanissGardner is the Ottaray Drug Store. Looming at the top of North Main is the Ottaray Hotel. GREG BECKNER / STAFF
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LINKED IN: Upstate Business Journal Copyright @2014 BY COMMUNITY JOURNALS LLC. All rights reserved. Upstate Business Journal is published weekly by Community Journals LLC. P.O. Box 2266, Greenville, South Carolina, 29602. Upstate Business Journal is a free publication. Annual subscriptions (52 issues) can be purchased for $50. Postmaster: Send address changes to Upstate Business, P.O. Box 2266, Greenville, SC 29602. Printed in the USA
IN THIS WEEK’S ISSUE OF UBJ? WANT A COPY FOR YOUR LOBBY? 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
UBJ milestone
UBJ milestone jackson Marketing Group’s 25 Years 1988 Jackson Dawson opens in Greenville at Downtown Airport
1988
>>
Chairman larry Jackson, Jackson marketing Group. Photos by Greg Beckner / Staff
NEW HIRES, PROMOTIONS, AWARDS:
Jackson Marketing Group celebrates 25 years
onthemove@ upstatebusinessjournal.com
20 Upstate bUsiness joUrnal November 1, 2013
UBJ welcomes expert commentary from business leaders on timely news topics related to their specialties. Guest columns run 700-800 words. Contact Executive Editor Susan Clary Simmons at ssimmons@communityjournals.com to submit an article for consideration.
1997 Jackson Dawson launches motorsports Division 1993
1990 Jackson Dawson acquires therapon marketing Group and moves to Piedmont office Center on Villa.
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
>>
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
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 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
November 1, 2013 Upstate bUsiness joUrnal 21
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