August 26, 2016 UBJ

AUGUST 26, 2016 | VOL. 5 ISSUE 36

ROAST WITH THE MOST The mother-son team at Paradox Coffee aims to turn beans into bucks - page 14

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TOP-OF-MIND AND IN THE MIX THIS WEEK

| THE RUNDOWN | 3

VOLUME 5, ISSUE 36 Featured this issue: Startup wants to resell tickets to true fans only .....................................................6 30 more years for Duke at Keowee-Toxaway ...............................................................10 Could Trump have been defeated by better branding? ...........................................19

Birds Fly South Ale Project plans to produce about 600 barrels a year once production is up and running at its new location at Hampton Station in Greenville. The brewery occupies 9,000 square feet at the former cotton warehouse in Greenville’s West End Water Tower District. For our first look, see page 12.

Photo by Will Crooks

WORTH REPEATING “You can find people and you can find some good people, but it’s hard to find a lot of good people.”

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“We’re working to make Clemson the hardest ticket [to buy] in the country unless you’re a true Clemson fan.”

Page 6

“We’re effectively playing the role of Switzerland amongst hospitals.”

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VERBATIM

On an overeducated population “Good grief, we’re not overeducated. … It’s just that what they have gone to school for is not in big demand as far as the industries we’re recruiting.”

S.C. Small Business Chamber of Commerce CEO Frank Knapp, quoted in statehousereport.com, reacting to a report by the S.C. DEW titled “S.C. labor overeducated for majority of jobs.”

Read the story at bit.ly/scdew-overeducation

4 | WORKFORCE |

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08.26.2016

Providing Commercial Security Solutions Throughout the Southeast

Calvin Roach (left) works as an apprentice at Seneca’s Greenfield Industries, where Donny Edgar (right) has worked for 46 years.

Apprenticeships surge in South Carolina, nation CINDY LANDRUM | STAFF

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workers across a wide range of careers and trades, a growing number of South Carolina companies, including those in the Upstate, and the nation are turning to apprenticeship programs to train their next generation of employees.

Apprenticeships, common in European countries, are an earn-while-youlearn model that combines structured on-the-job training, job-related education and a scalable wage progression.

In South Carolina, there are nearly 6,100 active apprenticeships in 797 programs.

Seneca-based Greenfield Industries, a company that makes industrial cutting tools, offers one such program.

“Hopefully, we can walk them early to a career path,” said Bobby Densmore, the company’s vice president of operations.

Apprenticeship Carolina was formed in 2007 after an S. C. Chamber of Commerce study found that workers who could fill midlevel-skill jobs that required some postsecondary training but not a four-year college degree were

the state’s greatest need. The program, which operates under the S.C. Technical College System’s Division of Economic Development, started with 90 companies and 777 apprenticeships. The program bucked a nationwide trend where apprenticeships were in decline.

Now, as there’s a renewed push for apprenticeships nationwide, South Carolina’s program is still growing faster than the rest of the country’s.

Almost 2,400 people in the state joined apprentice programs last year.

Participation has increased 92 percent in the past five years. That compares to a 51 percent growth nationwide during the same time.

A state tax credit of $1,000 per year for up to four years per apprentice has helped grow the Apprenticeship Carolina program. The tax credit offsets the costs of sending adult apprentices to technical college. But the tax credit isn’t the biggest payoff, said Donny Edgar, a supervisor who has worked at Greenfield for 46 years.

“It’s hard to find a lot of good people.

You can find people and you can find some good people, but it’s hard to find a lot of good people,” he said. “It’s an

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By the Numbers

7

Career clusters targeted by Apprenticeship Carolina are construction technology; health care; advanced manufacturing; energy; information technology; tourism and service industry; and transportation, distribution and logistics.

27

number of counties in South Carolina that have registered apprenticeship programs

786

percentage increase in registered apprenticeship programs in South Carolina since 2007

797

registered apprenticeship programs in South Carolina

6,072

active apprentices in South Carolina investment in the future.”

Calvin Roach is an apprentice at Greenfield. He started in the youth apprentice program as a high school senior who attended the Hamilton Career Center in Oconee County. He attended school from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and worked at Greenfield from 4:30 pto 8:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. This past summer, he worked full-time at Greenfield running a machine that makes drill bits. This fall, he’ll be a fulltime employee as one of the company’s adult apprentices while attending Tri-County Technical College.

“It’s definitely worth the time and effort. It pays off in the long run,” said Roach, who comes from a long line of machinists. “You can’t get the money or experience in any other teenage job.”

INFORMATION YOU WANT TO KNOW

| WORKFORCE | 5

But in South Carolina, apprenticeships go beyond the building trades to fields such as nursing, pharmacy, information technology, finance and horticulture.

“It’s definitely worth the time and effort. It pays off in the long run.

You can’t get the money or experience in any other teenage job.”

Calvin Roach, Greenfield Industries apprentice

The University of South Carolina’s Darla Moore School of Business is currently conducting a return on investment study to quantify the effects of apprenticeship programs in South Carolina, said Carla Whitlock, senior apprenticeship consultant with the technical college system.

“We know that apprenticeships can go a long way to bridging the skills gap so many companies face,” she said.

One of the fastest growing segments of Apprenticeship Carolina is youth apprenticeships for high school students, Whitlock said. One hundred fifteen companies have registered youth apprenticeship programs and there are 103 active youth apprenticeships in South Carolina now, she said.

Youth apprenticeships are for high school students.

“Through that program, high school students can see what it’s like in the real world,” she said. “More times than not, they are offered the chance to continue their education in our technical schools."

One of the newest youth apprentice programs is at the S.C. Botanical Garden.

Patrick McMillan, the garden’s director, said the apprenticeship program would allow the garden to generate interest in horticulture as a viable career pathway. It will also introduce students to public garden horticulture, a field in which one of the job responsibilities is curating a collection of plants.

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6 | SPORTS |

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08.26.2016

Tech startup Bandwagon launches online marketplace for sporting tickets ANDREW MOORE | STAFF

amoore@communityjournals.com Any college football fan will tell you that home-field advantage is crucial to winning. But maintaining that home-field advantage can be tough when opposing fans buy tickets to a home game, filling the seats with the wrong colors and the stadium with boos.

But that might not be happening this season thanks to one Greenville-based startup.

On Tuesday, Bandwagon launched its online marketplace, allowing fans to resell their tickets to other fans of the same team. When users sign up, they join their favorite team’s platform or “bandwagon.” They can then select the “bandwagon only” feature, which restricts the sale to fans of the same team.

That feature creates a “semi-closed resale market” that prevents scalpers and nonfans from stealing tickets, according to La-Vaughnda Taylor, vice president of brand strategy.

“The only thing better than a sellout

crowd is a sellout crowd of your own fan base, and we’re working to make Clemson the hardest ticket [to buy] in the country unless you’re a true Clemson fan,” said Bandwagon founder and CEO Harold Hughes.

In addition to buying and selling, fans can trade tickets and use social networking to plan and coordinate game-day tailgates. The platform features all 252 NCAA Division I teams, including Clemson University, Furman University and Wofford College.

In 2014, Hughes, a Clemson alumnus, came up with the idea after he and fellow fraternity brothers wanted to see games in other stadiums but couldn’t figure out what to do with their season tickets.

“We tried to sell them on StubHub, but then we would be selling to opposing fans,” Hughes told UBJ in an interview last year. “What if you could control who actually got your ticket? You wouldn’t be selling it to a buddy, but you’re selling it to a fellow fan.”

Shortly after developing the business

model, Hughes partnered with Susan Donkers, a user experience designer. The duo decided to hold an Indigogo campaign to raise $5,000 to build online stadium seating maps Harold Hughes (right) celebrates the launch of his tech so that fans could find startup Bandwagon outside Fluor Field. and list seats for sale. just a year. It was also designated a They raised about “qualified business” by the state in late $7,000 through the online fundraiser July, which confirmed the company’s and later put up a prototype site. decision to stay in Greenville rather than In 2015, Hughes and Donkers, who ditch it for tech-centric hubs like Silicon is no longer with the company, were Valley or New York City. accepted into the Founder Institute, a “We’re really, really passionate about four-month startup launch and entrestarting in the Southeast,” said Hughes. preneur training program held in “We’d love to raise our entire round in Greenville. During the final stages of the the Southeast, showing we can not only program, the duo received $25,000 from be the Silicon Valley of the Foothills, but Jason Premo, founder of investment we can also raise the profile of the group Swamp Rabbit Angels, to further region.” develop the platform.

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| NETWORKING | 7

Spartanburg360 hopes to keep top young talent in the area TREVOR ANDERSON | STAFF

tanderson@communityjournals.com A group of young professionals in Spartanburg County hope to expand their community’s sphere of economic and cultural influence by forming a group called Spartanburg360, a volunteer organization that has adopted as its mission a three-pronged strategy to help shape the county’s future growth.

Those strategies include helping local employers or companies recruit and retain talent, breaking down geographical barriers and bridging gaps within the community and celebrating the community’s progress.

“We’re not trying to replace any group or effort that is already in place,” said Sandra Cannon, owner of Sandra Cannon Interior Designs, who is a founding member of Spartanburg360.

“We thought about how we might be an extension of other efforts already in play.

We’d like to see this grow organically so we can maximize the positive impact it will have on the community.”

In addition to Cannon, the group’s members include Martha Albergotti,

vice president of franchise development at the Spartanburg-based fitness chain Pure Barre; David Berry, president of Spartanburg-based Johnson Development Associates’ self-storage division; Hope Blackley, clerk of court for Spartanburg County; Bear Boyd, managing director at Cameron M. Harris & Co., an independent insurance agency; Manning Fairey, account director for Jackson Spalding, an Atlanta-based marketing communications agency; and Carlos Johnson, attorney with Lyles, Darr & Clark, a law firm in Spartanburg.

Cannon described Spartanburg360 as a group of individuals who are “like-minded” in their desire to see Spartanburg reach its full potential. She said each volunteer has their own unique talents, experiences and networks they can “bring to the table” in order to help the community grow.

And the group is open to new members who share the same vision for Spartanburg.

“Every member has something to offer,” Johnson said. “We want people to join the group because they are pas-

sionate about the community.”

Cannon said Spartanburg360 was conceptualized three years ago as a peer group, or a think tank, where volunteers could “put their heads together” and form new ideas to tackle problems or take advantage of opportunities.

In May, the group made its official debut at the Spartanburg Area Chamber of Commerce’s CEO Social.

"We want people to join the group because they are passionate about the community.

Allen Smith, president and CEO of the Spartanburg Chamber, believes the group will be effective, particularly with helping the county attract and retain young talent.

The chamber is currently in the midst of building a five-year community development strategy, and one of the area’s challenges is keeping and retaining

young talent, Smith said. “We really need to work harder in that regard. One of the ways to do that is personal testimony. When you’re trying to sell a product, often the best way is to have that testimonial from someone who has used it… [The group] can tell the story better than any website or print collateral.”

And that’s precisely what the group said it plans to do.

“We don’t have an agenda,” Cannon said. “There are no dues. This is truly about serving your community.”

Albergotti said the role of each member is to serve as an “ambassador” for Spartanburg. That means a little bit of everything, from encouraging other young professionals to move to the county to helping business owners connect with resources they need to succeed.

“If a company thinks they can benefit from our resources, our support networks, then we’re happy to provide that,” Fairey said.

8 | HEALTH CARE |

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08.26.2016

Gibbs Cancer Center database to aid cancer research MELINDA YOUNG | CONTRIBUTOR

myoung@communityjournals.com

The Gibbs Cancer Center and Research Institute is helping create a huge cancer database for research institutes as part of a nationwide initiative called the Guardian Research Network.

“We were first to build this approach in the Upstate,” says Dr. Timothy J. Yeatman, director of the Gibbs Cancer Center and president of Gibbs Research Institute. “Our singular goal is to find clinical trials for patients.”

“Gibbs has been a lighthouse for other cancer centers that are trying to get this right,” Yeatman says. “We’ve used that model and spread the message to the other health systems joining us, including five major health systems nationwide, representing 82 hospitals in about 11 states.”

The network, which includes Bon Secours hospitals nationwide, will use real-world analytics to study patients’ outcomes over time to see how they handle treatment and drug therapies. “This effort is focused on hospitals like Gibbs Cancer Center in the community because that’s where the real need is,” Yeatman says. “The problem is the community has relatively poor access to cutting-edge [research] trials.”

The Guardian Network can improve access by leveraging technology to make it easier for small

hospitals and nonacademic research sites to participate in studies that bring patients the best options for a cure. Cancer patients with rare forms of cancer often cannot enroll in clinical trials in their own communities because there are too few patients like them within the region. The Guardian Research Network’s proposal is to re-engineer the clinical

“You can’t be just one health system fighting cancer alone.

You have to be aligned with hundreds of health systems to bring the very best clinical trials to the patients in the greatest need.”

Dr. Timothy J. Yeatman, director of the Gibbs Cancer Center

trials architecture to make new treatments and research available to patients without their having to travel to a major academic research institution.

“You can’t be just one health system fighting cancer alone,” Yeatman says. “You have to be aligned with hundreds of health systems to bring the very best clinical trials to the patients in the greatest need.”

The network’s database includes electronic medical charts, greatly condensing the time it takes to find patients with particular types of cancer for clinical trials targeting their disease. “We’re effectively playing the role of Switzerland amongst hospitals,” Yeatman says. “They share data electronically, and we use that data and work on behalf of patients and hospitals to find the best trial options.”

The Guardian Network approach also provides an outlet for pharmaceutical companies to obtain real world data on how their drugs work long-term once they’re administered DUI • DIVORCE • PERSONAL INJURY • CRIMINAL DEFENSE to patients. “There are examples of where drugs followed long-term have different side effects than they did in clinical trials,” Yeatman says. “We can follow data on any patient, treated with any drug.”

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life sciences companies and assets to South Carolina.

As the research network grows and brings in research and information technology (IT) investment to the Upstate, the local economy will see an increase in high-salary IT jobs, data warehouse architects, development engineers, researchers, research professionals and other jobs.

South Carolina already has a thriving bioscience industry with about 14,000 employees and 1,300 businesses, according to a June 2016 report by TEConomy Partners and Biotechnology Innovation Organization.

Now, the state is on track to benefit economically from a variety of new projects and investments in biotechnology companies in the next five years. These include expansions planned at the Medical University of South Carolina, the University of South Carolina, Spartanburg Regional Health System’s Gibbs Cancer Center and the Greenville Health System, says Wayne Roper, president of the South Carolina Biotechnology Industry Organization (SCBIO).

“We’re talking about a lot of [scientific] discovery,” Roper says. “No one state or university has the corner on the knowledge base here.”

For instance, the Guardian Research Network involves precision medicine, Roper says.

Precision medicine is an approach for disease treatment that matches a disease to a specific, targeted treatment based on genetics and other factors.

President Barack Obama has promoted the shift to precision medicine with the Precision Medicine Initiative.

“It was Dr. Yeatman’s idea to get all these hospitals with the same protocol for entering their data to share everything,” Roper says. “Everyone knows the latest treatment protocols, so it in essence gives everyone [in the network] the advanced treatment that is available.”

The goal is to produce the best research, data, therapies and results. For example, Yeatman recently published a study in Nature Communications about colorectal cancer. This basic translational research has the potential of leading to clinical research and new treatment options for patients.

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| LEADERSHIP | 9

Greenville Chamber’s Accelerate initiative aims to build region’s future DAVID DYKES | STAFF

ddykes@communityjournals.com The Greenville Chamber has set a $3 million goal and identified four major strategies that form the foundation of a private-sector initiative to build the region to the year 2020.

Those strategies, part of the Accelerate initiative, include growing new company headquarters, positioning the local workforce for the 21st century, increasing the number of minority-owned businesses and leading new transformative projects.

Chamber officials hope for 1,000 new full-time jobs, $200 million in new capital investment, support for 250 high-growth companies and exploration of a new life-science facility.

“When we say ‘grow new company headquarters,’ we don’t mean ‘attract new company headquarters,’” said Toby Stansell, president of Acumen IT and Accelerate’s co-chair. “We’re really giving a home for these bright,

creative technology-centric entrepreneurs to initiate new businesses here that hopefully will evolve and grow into new company headquarters.”

Craig Brown, owner of the Greenville Drive baseball organization, also co-chairs the Chamber effort.

Chamber officials said Greenville has a tightening labor market and employers are finding it difficult to fill many critical positions. The unemployment rate has been at its lowest point since 2001 and more than 20,000 jobs are being advertised in the Upstate, Chamber officials said.

To meet that need, the region must expand, train and place a highly skilled workforce, the officials said.

In addition, diversity is essential to a well-rounded and resilient economy, and the Chamber intends to continue funding efforts to accelerate the growth of minority businesses and foster inclusiveness.

The 2020 goal is to serve 60 minority-owned businesses, increase the

number of jobs announced by minority business executives and enhance capital and financing.

Chamber officials point to the success of the University of South Carolina School of Medicine Greenville as an example of a transformative project that is yielding results.

Of 49 graduates in the inaugural class of 2016, all were placed, 25 percent matched for residencies with the Greenville Health System, and half are pursuing primary care, which is the region’s critical need, Chamber officials said.

The 2020 goal is to support IMED, the overarching brand for a chain of life sciences/biomedical/health care innovation campuses along the Interstate 185 and I-85 corridors.

“We believe having a transformative [project] come out of the ground, a tangible project like that, really helps turbocharge the economic development piece of what we’re doing,” Stansell said.

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Southern First Bank expands to Raleigh DAVID DYKES | STAFF

ddykes@communityjournals.com Greenville-based Southern First Bancshares, Inc., holding company for Southern First Bank, said it is expanding to Raleigh, North Carolina, and the greater Triangle market, its first foray outside South Carolina.

Bank officials said they intend to establish a loan production office initially and then a full-service office.

Southern First is “excited to expand into one of the strongest markets in the Southeast as we enter the Raleigh/Triangle community,” said Art Seaver, the company’s chief executive officer.

Jonathan Taylor, executive vice president and a veteran Triangle market executive, will lead the expansion, Southern First officials said.

Taylor has more than 20 years of banking experience in the Triangle

market, most recently as a banking executive with Paragon Bank. He is a graduate of Appalachian State University, where he also received his graduate degree.

Mike Stellar, senior vice president, and Monica Navarro, vice president, are joining Southern First’s TrianMike Stellar, Monica Navarro and Jonathan Taylor gle market leadership team.

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10 | ENERGY |

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8TH ANNUAL

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08.26.2016

Feds approve 30 more years for Duke Energy KeoweeToxaway hydro project ANDREW MOORE | STAFF

Last ! d n e k Wee

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Commission (FERC) has approved Duke Energy to operate its Keowee-Toxaway Hydroelectric Project for another 30 years. The project includes the Jocasssee Pumped Storage Hydro Station, Keowee Hydro Station and associated lakes.

This is the first time Duke Energy has received an operating license since the project was initially licensed for 50 years in 1966. That license was set to expire in August, but the new one takes effect on Sept. 1.

“The project provides clean, renewable hydroelectric power generation, supports regional public drinking water needs and provides high-quality recreational opportunities for the region. This license ensures the availability of these resources for future generations,” said Steve Jester, vice president of water strategy, hydro licensing and lake services for Duke Energy.

The project creates about 868 megawatts of energy for residents every year. Two powerhouses pump water into two reservoirs at Lake Jocasssee and Lake Keowee. When electricity demand peaks, the stored water is discharged through a turbine, which is connected to a generator that produces energy. That energy is redirected to the power grid.

Also, the project provides cooling water to the Oconee Nuclear Station, according to communications manager Heather Danenhower. The Keowee Hydro Station also serves as one of many back-up power supplies for the Oconee Nuclear Station.

In 2009, about 16 stakeholders, including the Greenville-based environmental organization Upstate Forever, started to discuss the relicensing of the project. In 2013, stakeholders and Duke Energy agreed to specific actions related to water resource protection, public recreational enhancements, land conservation and shoreline management in the Keowee-Toxaway Relicensing Agreement.

Duke Energy applied for relicensing in August 2014.

“Receiving the license allows us to implement operational, environmental and recreational resource enhancements that will result in many benefits to the community and the environment for decades to come,” Jester said.

The agreement provides more than $1 million to protect the Nine Times Preserve in Pickens County as well as $600,000 to the Oconee County Conservation Bank and $350,000 for the S.C. Department of Natural Resources for an observation tower at Sassafras Mountain.

Duke Energy plans to add diver access, a new dock, a new boat, trailer parking area, access for non-motorized boating and bank fishing signs at Devils Fork State Park. The company is also adding about 25 acres, new restrooms and 12 campsites at the Double Springs Campground.

In addition, Duke Energy plans to add new parking areas at three recreation sites, new trails, bank fishing signs, new campsites, fishing stations and 10 cabins at Mile Creek County Park, which is located on Lake Keowee. It will also add a kayak launch, fishing pier and portage at 15-Acre Lake, a project recreation site at Keowee-Toxaway State Park.

Duke Energy will also start a Habitat Enhancement Program that will protect about 2,900 acres adjoining Lakes Keowee and Jocasssee by allowing qualified government agencies and nonprofits to start projects that “ensure habitat creation, enhancement and protection activities for fish and wildlife,” according to Duke Energy.

The program will be funded from a fee charged to developers for lakeuse permits for projects on Lake Keowee and Lake Jocasssee. The Foothills Community Foundation will administer project funding. Accepted projects will be announced sometime in the fall.

For more information, visit duke-energy.com/lakes.

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Miller elected Greenville Chamber’s 2018 chairman DAVID DYKES | STAFF

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The Greenville Chamber's leadership has elected Keith Miller, president of Greenville Technical College, to chair the business organization’s board of directors in 2018.

Miller has been on the Chamber’s board for the past three years and on its strategic cabinet as vice chair of diversity and inclusion since 2015.

Miller will be chair-elect next year when the Greenville Health System’s Brenda Thames chairs the Chamber’s 2017 board of directors. As chair-elect, Miller will chair the board of advisors, a group of business and organization leaders who meet quarterly to review business community progress and needs and plan specific Chamber initiatives.

"Keith is deeply involved in important initiatives for our region, especially in workforce development and inclusion,” said David Lominack, the current Chamber chair. “As president of Greenville Technical College, he is keenly aware of the needs of industry, the necessity of education and how best to intersect the two. I am confident that he will serve our Chamber, our investors and our community well with an eye on the future of our economy.”

“I look forward to leading the Greenville Chamber board in 2018,” Miller said. “The work the Chamber is doing to help position our workforce for 21st century opportunities fits well with the college’s mission of driving personal and economic growth through learning. I am 100 percent behind the Chamber’s vision for a globally competitive Upstate economy where businesses succeed and people prosper.”

Miller became the second president of Greenville Technical College on July 1, 2008. He spent 12 years as a college president in Illinois, first for Spoon River College and later for Black Hawk College.

Miller began his own college education at a community college, earning an associate degree in technical education – radiologic technology from Hutchinson Community College in Kansas.

| LEADERSHIP | 11

Keith Miller

Later, he earned a bachelor’s degree in biology at the University of Kansas, a master’s degree in community college teaching from Pittsburg State University and a doctorate in adult and continuing education from Kansas State University.

Miller has served in many capacities at the colleges where he has worked, including instructor, dean and vice president. From 2008 to 2009, Miller served as chairman of the board for the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC), the leading advocacy organization for the nation’s almost 1,200 colleges and their 11.5 million students.

He has been on the board of directors for the American Council of Education, the higher education organization that represents presidents and chancellors of all accredited, degree-granting institutions in the United States.

He also was chairman of the national steering committee for development of the Voluntary Framework for Accountability, a national accountability system for two-year colleges. He is on the Upstate Alliance South Carolina board, the board of directors for the Urban League of the Upstate and the United Way of the Upstate board, and he was chairman for March for Babies 2010-2011.

In addition, his career has taken him into the private sector, working in health care.

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08.26.2016

First look: Birds Fly South

Birds Fly South’s co-owners Lindsay and Shawn Johnson.

LETY GOOD | STAFF

lgood@communityjournals.com

Birds Fly South Ale Project has officially landed at Hampton Station.

The brewery occupies 9,000 square feet at the former cotton warehouse in Greenville’s West End Water Tower District, and, according to brewer and co-owner Shawn Johnson, it was designed with an “urban farmhouse” feel.

The location will include an indoor tasting room with a standup bar and roll-up doors, long farm-

house-style tables, barrel tables with stools and approximately 2,000 square feet of outdoor seating.

The tasting room will offer 10 craft beer taps, focusing on saisons and sours, but including some IPAs and pale ales. Guests will be able to see the 10-barrel system at work inside the space.

Shawn and his wife, Lindsay, Birds Fly South’s co-owner, said wood and metal elements from the property were repurposed and used throughout the tasting room. A community green space located in front of the brewery will also feature games and a play space for kids.

Birds Fly South is set to open at 4 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 1, before Labor Day weekend. Opening night will feature live music by My Girl Whiskey & Me and food trucks.

The tasting room will be open on Thursdays from 4–8 p.m., Fridays from 4–9 p.m. and Saturdays from 12–9 p.m. Lindsay said they have plans to have live music one Saturday a month.

For more information, follow Birds Fly South on Facebook at facebook.com/bfsbeer.

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| BREWERY | 13

greenvilleheroes.org

Ales produced by Birds Fly South include Brand New Eyes, Rumblefish, Paper Airplanes and Rustic Sundays.

JHM HOTELS THANKS THE COMMUNITY for the tremendous support honoring our local heroes.

GOLD STAR SPONSORS

SILVER STAR SPONSORS

BRONZE STAR SPONSORS

THE JAIN FAMILY

PATRON SPONSORS

Birds Fly South Ale Project plans to produce about 600 barrels a year once production is up and running.

Arthur J. Gallagher Bank of Travelers Rest BNC Bank DeVita & Associates Dwelling Group Find Great People Greenville Technical College Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough, LLP Ogletree Deakins Pepsi of Greenville (Beverage South) Trane

Attorney Steve Sumner Blue Ridge Electric Caring Family Dentistry Duke Energy Fellowship Greenville Gallivan, White & Boyd P.A. International Properties, LLC Larry Wood, Attorney Park Sterling Bank Rick Erwin Dining Group Wells Fargo Advisors

14 | COVER |

PARADOX COFFEE

A FAMILY AFFAIR The mother-son team at Paradox Coffee aims to turn beans into bucks

STORY BY ANDREW MOORE | STAFF

amoore@communityjournals.com PHOTOS BY WILL CROOKS

PARADOX COFFEE

| COVER | 15

To be the best coffee roaster you can be, you have to care for all aspects of the bean. At least that’s the mantra of Rebecca and Bryan Schramm.

From a 4,700-square-foot building at 284 N. Old Buncombe Road in Travelers Rest, the mother-son duo roasts small batches of specialty coffee throughout the week using an American-made Diedrich gasfired roaster. And under the moniker Paradox Coffee Co., they’re hoping to break into the local coffee scene with a different strategy than most.

Instead of wholesales to cafes and restaurants, they’re going to focus on large companies who pay them to roast beans for resale. Some companies might pay for packaging and labeling as well.

“Our philosophy is that everything matters, whether that’s the bean quality or brewing,” said Bryan Schramm. “Servers at restaurants tend to put coffee on a hot plate for too long and then serve it, which isn’t ideal for the coffee’s taste. So our goal is to get our coffee directly to the consumer.”

So far, their toll roasting service has attracted interest from several companies.

It could potentially mean roasting between 300 and 600 pounds per week. The price varies based on who’s providing the beans and who’s packaging and labeling,

according to Bryan Schramm. Large companies might choose to have everything done by Paradox Coffee Co., while small companies save money by doing packaging and labeling themselves.

Just as other specialty coffee roasters focus on the origin of their beans, the duo roasts beans from around the world, including Colombia, Guatemala, Brazil, Costa Rica, Indonesia and Ethiopia. The beans, which are imported through Cafe Imports, are for sale in 12-ounce bags for $14 to $16 and five-pound bags for $60 to $65. Paradox also offers green coffee beans for $8 per a pound for at-home roasting The duo has only sold to local residents and a Michigan-based coffee company called 6.26 Coffee Co. They also do personal labeling, in which they roast and package the beans and then tag the package with a company’s logo.

Then they pitch the finished product to the company in hopes of winning a contract. So far, they have pitched products to Upstate Provisions, a bakery in Travelers Rest, and the Swamp Rabbit Café and Grocery, who said they would give them a try if they used their own label instead, according to Rebecca Schramm.

16 | COVER |

UBJ

PARADOX COFFEE

Rebecca Schramm

sales grow 8.3 percent between 2013 and 2014, according to the Specialty Coffee Association, which surveyed 8,500 roasting companies in more than 12 countries. Most respondents were micro roasters in the U.S. with a single roasting machine – the exact set-up as Paradox.

In April, the mother-son duo purchased their building and a 1992 Diedrich coffee roaster, which can roast up to 16 pounds of beans at a time. Paradox launched in July.

While Rebecca Schramm focuses on business strategy, Bryan spends his days in a 1,000-square-foot space,

and 10 pounds of beans at a time and pay close attention to their origins, Paradox’s early successes are the processing, plant variety and other result of years in the local coffee incharacteristics. dustry, where they learned the failures “Coffee is just booming. that can happen when running a There has been a ton of business. In 2012, Rebecca Schramm growth throughout Greenand her partner John Brown relocatville in the last few years with ed from Houston to Greenville. roasters popping up everyShortly after, the duo purchased where,” Rebecca Schramm Greenville-based coffee shop and said. roasting company West End Coffee.

In 1993, West End Coffee In 2013, they ended their personal started roasting in downtown relationship but remained business Greenville. Leopard Forest partners. That partnership became Coffee Co. began roasting in strained.

Travelers Rest in 2004, folA year later, they were featured on Bryan Schramm lowed by Due South Coffee in the CNBC television show “The 2014. In July, Methodical Profit,” with multibillionaire and Coffee started roasting its own beans television personality Marcus carefully roasting the perfect coffee. at a satellite location not far from its Lemonis trying to resolve the pair’s When an order comes through, he downtown Greenville coffee shop. conflicts. His efforts ultimately failed. scoops heaps of green beans from a Specialty coffee roasting has conIn 2014, Brown purchased brown sack and places them in the tinuously increased across the nation, Schramm’s shares of the business and roaster, where the beans turn brown showing a promising future for those she left the company, hoping to start and eventually disperse a strong in the industry. her own shop. However, an 18-month aroma reminiscent of a coffee shop.

According to the Specialty Coffee non-compete agreement restricted From there, he spends 12 minutes carefully roasting the beans at about 400 degrees. The process – a combi"While we’re not wanting to necessarily sell nation of art and science – can be tedious as he continuously pulls beans to restaurants or coffee shops, we’re not going from the roaster to check where they to turn down business in our growing period." are in the process.

Rebecca Schramm, co-founder of Paradox Coffee Bryan also uses technology to monitor the beans by connecting the roaster to his laptop, where a program her, according to Schramm. records and charts minute-by-minute Association of America, there are In the meantime, Bryan continued data showing the heat, time roasted about 26,500 more U.S. specialty learning how to roast coffee. He had and amount of air injected into the coffee retailers today than in 1993. started training at West End Coffee roast – aspects that can affect acidity More than half of those retailers are in 2013 to become the shop’s backup and other features of the bean. independent. The growth could be roaster. In 2014, he attended the “It’s really security for the buyer,” the result of modern-day consumpDiedrich Roasting Courses in Idaho, said Bryan Schramm. “I can send tion trends. where he finished his training. them the charts and data, and they Today, people are willing to pay He returned and worked as the can see every detail about the roast. more for a higher quality of coffee. roast master at the Taylors-based So if they get their beans and they The price people pay for a coffee has coffee shop and roasting company want to compare it or make changes increased from an average of $2.98 Due South Coffee throughout most to the roasting approach, they can.” in 2013 to $3.28 in 2015. A pound of of 2015. But then he left and joined After roasting, Bryan tastes the specialty roasted coffee cost up to $50, his mother, who had formulated the coffee to record its flavor profile. But compared to $5 for a pound of Folgers. idea for a micro roasting company, he also sends samples to roaster Craig Also, a typical roaster saw annual meaning they only roast between 5 Schaepkens, owner of 6.26 Coffee Co.

Building from failure

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08.26.2016

Together, they compare notes, ensuring that each blend is crafted just right.

“They will roast and roast and roast, making subtle changes every time until the coffee is perfect. They are doing things right, and I'm glad to be included in a small part it,” said Schaepkens. “Bryan is always looking for the next best thing, and going out of his way to build relationships for the common good of the coffee culture.”

Planning for the future As their client base continues to grow, Rebecca and Bryan Schramm

are considering what an expansion might look like. Their building features another 3,700 square feet that is used only for tasting. According to Rebecca Schramm, many have recommended they use the space as a coffee shop. It’s up for consideration.

“It really depends on how our toll roasting pans out. If we have to do a lot of toll roasting, the room will most likely become storage for beans. If not, we’ll see,” she said.

The duo also plans to start selling gift baskets that feature coffee soap, mugs and more. A price or release date hasn’t been determined. Also, they plan to hold coffee roasting courses next year. Residents will be able to buy 5-pound or 10-pound sacks of their favorite coffee and rent the roaster for up to an hour with instruction.

Coffee fans might also see the mother-son duo at farmers markets next year. They plan to apply for the TD Saturday Market, Travelers Rest Farmers Market and various festivals throughout the Upstate, including Upcountry Provision’s Artober Fest in October.

For more information: paradox.coffee

08.26.2016

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upstatebusinessjournal.com

DAVID DYKES | STAFF

REAL ESTATE DEALS AND DEVELOPMENTS ACROSS THE REGION

| SQUARE FEET | 17

ddykes@communityjournals.com

Zoning approval leads to second space initiative for Centre Stage The Greenville Planning Commission has recommended City Council approval of Centre Stage South Carolina’s application to rezone nearly 1.5 acres on Ebaugh Avenue for a second facility.

“What we are not planning on doing is any additional buildings,” Glenda ManWaring, Centre Stage’s executive and artistic director, told commission members last week.

Approximately 2,300 square feet will be devoted to office space, according to a planning staff analysis. The remaining 19,200 square feet will be allocated to a 225-seat performance theater, smaller rehearsal and performance spaces, set preparation and storage, the analysis said.

For a 225-seat indoor entertainment facility, 75 parking spaces are required, the analysis said. Parking will be provided in an adjacent lot, and an undeveloped parcel on Ebaugh Avenue will be used for overflow parking, staff members said.

Centre Stage said it is negotiating to buy East Park Baptist Church’s property near East Washington Street and Laurens Road and expects to move forward with its plan to complete the purchase and begin renovations.

Theater officials said they are waiting on due diligence results on the site and will seek additional funding for the project.

Planning commission members last Thursday recommended council ap-

The front view of the future Centre Stage facility on Ebaugh Avenue.

proval of rezoning the land from RM-1, single- and multifamily residential; OD, office and institutional; and C-3, regional commercial districts to FRD, flexible review districts.

Because the property is adjacent to a residential community along Ebaugh Avenue, planning staff said expansion of the C-3 zoning district wouldn’t be appropriate.

The uses included in the application, as required for a FRD district, are indoor entertainment and office, planning staff said.

ManWaring told commission

members the arts organization, founded in 1983, plans to keep its main stage and a majority of performances at 501 River St. in downtown Greenville.

The new facility, to be called Off Centre, will be used for business offices, storage of costumes and props, rehearsals and teaching classes, she said.

Neighborhood residents have been supportive of the project.

“We’re thrilled,” John Rainey, who lives nearby on Traxler Street, told commissioners of Centre Stage’s plans.

DEALMAKERS Commercial real estate transactions in the Upstate SPENCER HINES ANNOUNCED: Guy Harris, Andy Hayes and Ben Hines were the agents in the sale of a 2,078 SF office space at 823 John B. White Sr. Blvd., Spartanburg, by Geraldine Stockdale to Wellsprings Living SC. Lynn Spencer and Guy Harris were the agents in the sale of 5.63 AC of property at 139 Interstate Park, Spartanburg, for $1,200,000 by Hastings Parker Novak LLC to ARTEP LLC. Guy Harris was the agent in the sale of 4.38 AC of property on Reidville Road in Duncan, for $140,000

by Sarah Neely, trustee, to Fortino Reynosa.

Craig Jacobs was the agent in the sale of a 1,950 SF property at 155 and 157 Carson Drive, Cowpens, for $110,000

by Sherwood Creek LLC to Charles Lea Center.

Lynn Spencer was the agent in the sale of a 25,251 SF retail space at 187-201 Battleground Road, Cowpens, for

$125,000 by Covenant Partners LLC to Benchmark Investments Inc. Craig Jacobs was the agent in the sale of four parcels on 2 AC of property on Enola Station Road in Spartanburg, for $170,00 0 by Bruse and Margaret Stroupe to Kenneth Moyer and Kevin DiCapua.

Craig Jacobs was the agent in the sale of a 3,000 SF construction property at 7068 Howard St., Spartanburg, for $90,000 by Axles Plus LLC to Jason Hiltabiddle.

Andy Hayes and Ben Hines were the agents in the sale of 9.06 AC of manufacturing/industrial space at 1759 Union St., Spartanburg, for $575,000 by Clement Lumber Co. Inc. to Clement Storage Co. LLC. Andy Hayes, Ben Hines and Craig Jacobs were the agents in the sale of a 2,934 SF retail/business space at 167 Alabama St., Spartanburg, for $87,000 by Westgate Training & Consultation Network to Nittel

Properties LLC. Guy Harris was the agent in the sale of a car lot on 0.55 AC of property at 710 W. Main St., Spartanburg,

by Lynn Pike to Yvon Paul and Pennel Ferdinand.

Guy Harris was the agent in the lease of a 2,760 SF property at 3786 and 3788 Stone Station Road, Roebuck, by Herndon Inc. from Steven and Rosemary Calicutt.

Lynn Spencer was the agent in the lease of a 7,500 SF warehouse/ distribution space at 710 Mt. Pleasant Road, Spartanburg, by PCI Carolina LLC from ARTEP LLC. Lynn Spencer was the agent in the lease of a 1,200 SF property at 807 W. Main St., Spartanburg,

by MLS Landscaping from Greer 29 Assoc.

Lynn Spencer was the agent in the lease of a 1,200 SF property at 5545 Hwy 9, Boiling Springs, by Max & Company from Brian Brown.

Guy Harris was the agent

in the lease of a 1,600 SF hair salon at 821 N. Main St., Woodruff, by Ablam Agoudavi from Lanford Realty.

Andy Hayes and Ben Hines were the agents in the lease of a 2,538 SF general business space at 104 N. Daniel Morgan Ave., Spartanburg, by Hypersign LLC from Warrier DMA LLC. Craig Jacobs was the agent in the lease of a 1,800 SF property at 912 E. Main St., Spartanburg,

by Western Shamrock Corp. from Xiao Ping Guo. Guy Harris was the agent in the lease of a 17,200 SF warehouse at 2995 New Cut Road, Spartanburg, by Viadimer Navmchuk and Sergiy Goluda from ANCP Properties LLC. Bobby Hines and Zach Hines were the agents in the sale of .5 AC of property at 1505 Grove Road, Greenville, for $159,000 by Fred and George Jacks and Rebecca Hadik to Quiktrip Corp.

Zach Hines was the agent

in the sale of a 1,400 SF office building at 602 Pettigru St., Greenville, for $225,000 by Susan Bridges-Smith to Banker Exchange/Smart Guys LLC. Neal Boyett, Andy Hayes and Ben Hines were the agents in the sale of a 4,600 SF retail space at 136 Southport Road, Spartanburg, for $180,000

by DDBD Services LLC to J & L Reis LLC. Neal Boyett was the agent in the sale of 1.4 AC of property at 2705 Reidville Road, Spartanburg, for $390,000 by Mason McKinney Properties LLC to P.O. Holdings LLC. Andy Hayes and Ben Hines were the agents in the sale of a 6,000 SF restaurant space at 1515 E. Main St., Spartanburg, for $600,000 by Duncan 100 LLC to Spartangreen Restaurant.

Craig Jacobs was the agent in the sale of a 1,800 SF property at 2363 S. Pine St., Spartanburg, by Mitzi McCall to Purple Door Properties.

Robbie Romeiser and Lynn Spencer were the agents in the sale of 1.85 AC of property at 1520 Boiling Springs Road, Boiling Springs, for $218,000 by Smith, McMakin & Owens to Tico Partners LLC. Lynn Spencer was the agent in the lease of a 500 SF law office space at 101 W. St. John St., #7, Spartanburg, by The Shaw Law Group from Spencer Hines Property Mgmt.

Andy Hayes, Ben Hines and Guy Harris were the agents in the lease of a 2,500 SF retail space at 1600 John B. White Blvd., #1008, Spartanburg, by Wellspring Living LLC from Patton Development LLC. Lynn Spencer was the agent in the lease of 4,500 SF of retail sales and service spaces at 13601362 Upper Valley Falls Road, Inman, by Hands on RV from Mike McElrath.

Andy Hayes and Ben Hines were the agents DEALMAKERS continued on PAGE 18

18 | DEALMAKERS | DEALMAKERS continued from PAGE 17

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COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE TRANSACTIONS IN THE UPSTATE

Pete Brett, David Sigmon and Matt Vanvick represented the tenant, Team Brehm LLC dba in the lease of a 4,500 Copper Penny, in the lease SF manufacturing/ of a 2,061 SF retail space industrial space at 390A at 233 N. Main St., Suites Mt. Pleasant Road, 3 and 4, Greenville, from Spartanburg, by LTC 233 Greenville LLC. Health Solutions from Matt Vanvick represented Kinetic Group. the landlord, Stone Avenue Dale Seay was the agent Partners LLC, in the lease in the lease of a 2,752 SF of small office suites property at 126 W. Main at 217 E. Stone Ave., St., Duncan, by Secured Greenville, to Vintage Advantage Federal Credit Construction, Kara Mavar, Union from Lisa Scott.

Jill Schmidt and Upstate Dale Seay was the agent Legal Support Services in the lease of a 2,000 SF LLC. retail space at 1000 N. Rick Cauthen represented Pine St., Spartanburg, by the landlord, Wong Goodwill Industries from Properties LP LLC, in Baker & Baker. the lease of a 1,404 SF office space at 291 Plaza, 408 N. Pleasantburg COLDWELL BANKER COMMERCIAL CAINE Dr., Greenville, to Smart ANNOUNCED: Staffing LLC. Pete Brett, David Graham Howle and Sigmon and Matt Lakin Parr represented Vanvick represented the landlord, Rouse Susan Bridges-Smith in Enterprises LLC, in the the sale of a 1,320 SF lease of an 8,008 SF office building on 0.228 industrial space at 49 AC at 602 Pettigru St., Osage Drive, Greenville, to Greenville, to the buyer, Pro Truck, Bus & RV. Smart Guys LLC. George Zimmerman and NAI EARLE FURMAN Pete Brett represented ANNOUNCED: South State Bank in Hunter Garrett and John the sale of 3.13 AC of Staunton represented the property at 1425 S. landlord, 2355 Hwy 101 Pleasantburg Drive, LLC, in the lease Greenville, to the buyer, 1425 South Pleasantburg of a 3,000 SF industrial flex space in the Lakeside LLC. Business Center in Greer, Robert Zimmerman and to William R. Nash Inc. George Zimmerman Jimmy Wright and Ted represented Spitra Lyerly represented the Technologies, Inc. in the landlord, Fort Hill II purchase of a 3,900 SF office building at 240 and Properties LLC, in the 242 Adley Way, Greenville, lease of a 4,632 SF office space at 977 Tiger Blvd., from the seller, PHT Clemson, to Capital Care Investments, LLC. Rick Cauthen represented Resources of SC LLC. Stuart Smith represented Monica W. Stasney in the landlord, Spartan the sale of a 10,000 SF Leasing Co., in the lease industrial building on 18.51 AC at 2860-B Fork of a 10,000 SF industrial Shoals Road, Piedmont, to space at 113 Belton the buyer, Pittman Living Drive, Spartanburg, to Progressive Cabinets LLC. Trust.

Scott Jones and John Pete Brett, David Stathakis represented the Sigmon and Matt tenant, Hall Engineering Vanvick represented the Inc., in the lease of a tenant, Flynn Wealth 1,300 SF office space Management, in the at 700 E. North St., lease of a 5,409 SF of Greenville, from Thomason office space at 125 The Holdings.

Parkway, Suite 500, Greenville, from Parkway Andrew Babb represented Plaza LLC. the buyer, Patel &

Company Inc., in the purchase of 9.17 AC of vacant land on North Blackstock Road in Spartanburg, from The Deanne Yeomans Revocable Trust.

John Powell represented the seller, Patricia M. Holcombe, et al., in the sale of 9.9 AC of vacant land on Highway 24 in Anderson, to Michael Sellers.

Towers Rice represented the purchaser, Blue Eagle Rentals Inc., in the purchase of 9.86 AC of vacant land on Oak Road in Piedmont, from Joan Gigante.

Hunter Garrett and John Staunton represented the seller, Burrissfb Company LLC, in the sale of a 5,000 SF retail property at 717 Airport Road, Greenville, to RAME Investments Inc. Towers Rice represented the seller, Nix/Dunn LLC, in the sale of a 10,841 SF boat and RV storage facility at 6224 Hwy 24, Townville, to Three R’s Investors LLC. Keith Jones represented the seller, PHT Investments LLC, in the sale of a 3,900 SF office property at 240 and 242 Adley Way, Greenville, to Spitra Technologies LLC. Rusty Hamrick represented the seller, Lewis and Jennifer Platts, in the sale of 7.74 AC of land at 75 Bowater Pass, Fountain Inn, to Adam and Alexandra Haymont.

Keith Jones represented the seller, Illuminati Inc., in the sale of a 2,936 SF retail condo at 640 S. Main St., Greenville, to WE Holdings LLC. Andrew Babb represented the seller, Peggy Davis, in the sale of a 3,784 SF office building at 172 Alabama St., Spartanburg, to Christopher Crowley and Garrow Crowley.

Earle Furman Jr. represented the seller, Hollingsworth Funds Inc., in the sale of an 18 AC parcel of land at 1401 Laurens View Road, Greenville, to Continental Properties Company Inc.

CUSHMAN & WAKEFIELD | THALHIMER ANNOUNCED:Â Brian J. Young and Elliott Fayssoux represented the tenant, LeSaint Logistics, in the lease of a 152,419 SF space at 1201 Woods Chapel Road, Duncan.

Elliott Fayssoux and Laura Harmon represented the tenant, Subsurface Construction Company LLC, in the lease of a 9,600 SF property at 555 John Ross Court, Pelzer.

Edward Wilson represented the tenant, APB, in the lease of a 1,089 SF property at 201 N. Main St., Suite B, Greenville.

of 4,922 SF of former restaurant space at 1515 E. Main St., Duncan, to Duncan 100 LLC. Givens Stewart, Garrett Scott and Brockton Hall represented the tenant, TTI, in the lease of a 1,300,000 SF industrial space at 100 Ryobi Drive, Anderson.

THE MARCHANT COMPANY ANNOUNCED: Bo Matheny and Seabrook Marchant represented the buyer, Habitat For Humanity Greenville, in the purchase of the Hampton Point Shopping Center at 3303 Wade Hampton Blvd., Taylors.

Bo Matheny represented KDS COMMERCIAL the seller, Betty PROPERTIES Richardson, and the buyer, ANNOUNCED: Red Clay Investor, in the Bobby Miller represented sale of 10 residential lots along with 1 house the seller, Cornerstone National Bank, in the sale on Forest Park Drive, of a 1,86 AC outparcel at Simpsonville.

306 Harrison Bridge Road, Bo Matheny represented Simpsonville, to Carroll the buyer, LEAD Academy Companies.

Public Charter School, in Bobby Miller represented the purchase of 8 AC of the seller, Catherine Scott, property at 804 Mauldin in the sale of 3,500 SF of Road, Greenville, from property, a 1,500 SF retail CMH Homes Inc. office and a 2,000 SF warehouse, at 3406 White LEE & ASSOCIATES Horse Road, Greenville, to ANNOUNCED: Luz Galeano.

Randall Bentley represented the landlord, COLLIERS Mark A. Dye, in the lease INTERNATIONAL of a 1,534 SF property ANNOUNCED: at 106 Old Mill Road, Mauldin, to Center of Givens Stewart, Garrett Worship Christian Church.

Scott and Brockton Hall represented the seller, Kevin Bentley represented Pacolet Milliken, in the Bell, Garrett, Lathan, LLC, sale of 20.6 AC of land in the lease of a 2,400 at Clinton 26 Corporate SF property at 1310 Park in Clinton, to Clinton Garlington Road, Suite B, Economic Development Greenville, to the tenant, Corp.

L. Fishman & Son Inc. Brantley Anderson and Randall Bentley Taylor Allen represented represented the seller, the landlord, Cryptomaria MBVB LLC, in the sale of LLC, in the lease of a 128,606 SF property a 2,350 SF office at 1224 Old Stage Road, space at 16 Mills Ave., Simpsonville, to R&K Greenville, to New South International II LLC. Construction Supply.

Randall Bentley Lyn Tyner represented the represented the landlord, buyer, Innkeeper Motor Brookfield South Lodge West Inc., in the Associates LLC, in the purchase of 16,352 SF of lease of a 4,046 SF land at 1515 E. Main St., property at 48 Brookfield Duncan.

Oaks Drive, Suite D, Lyn Tyner represented the Greenville, to Berliner Seilfabrik Play Equipment seller, Duncan Highway Corporation.

290 LLC, in the sale

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08.26.2016

Randall Bentley represented the landlord, Tylan Plantation LLC, in the lease of a 1,468 SF property at 330 Harrison Bridge Road, Suite A, Simpsonville, to Springleaf Financial Services Inc. Randall Bentley represented the landlord, Ora Properties LLC, in the lease of a 15,000 SF property at 121 McDougall Court, Mauldin, to Graebel/South Carolina Movers Inc. Ashley Trantham represented the tenant, William R. Nash Inc., in the lease of a 3,000 SF property at 2355 Hwy 101, Greer, from 2355 Hwy 101 LLC. Randall Bentley represented the tenant, DH Pace Company Inc. in the lease of a 20,500 SF property at 2920 Grandview Drive, Simpsonville, from Blind John LLC. Willz Tolbert represented the landlord, Diane McDowell, in the lease of a 600 SF property at 200 E. Trade St., Suite A, Simpsonville, to Boggs Financial Services LLC. Willz Tolbert represented the landlord, Diane McDowell, in the lease of a 300 SF property at 200 E. Trade St., Suite B, Simpsonville, to George Wood.

Willz Tolbert represented the landlord, Diane McDowell, in the lease of a 1,200 SF property at 200 E. Trade St., Suite D, Simpsonville, to Conveyor Design and Engineering LLC. Willz Tolbert represented the landlord, Susan Bright, in the lease of a 1,000 SF property at 520 S. Main St., Simpsonville, to B.W. Clark Incorporated.

Willz Tolbert represented the buyer, Heard and Heard Two LLP, in the purchase of a 9,864 SF property at 198 Roper Mountain Road, Greenville, from Creekview LLC and TNB Financial Services.

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STAYING ON MESSAGE WITH YOUR CLIENTS AND YOUR COLLEAGUES

| COMMUNICATE | 19

Winners and Losers Where did Trump's Republican competitors go wrong in marketing their brands?

By TINA ZWOLINSKI CEO and Founder, ZWO Branding & Marketing

One of the fascinating parts about my work is being able to translate and apply insights and principles from one industry to other industries. During the past two articles, I've looked at branding principles that businesses can use from the fascinating world of politics, particularly in the rise of an industry "revolutionizing" brand in the candidacy of Donald Trump. In future articles, I'll be examining branding principles that businesses can glean from other aspects of the presidential race, including what the two main presidential nominees and their parties will need to do in order to compete against one another for "consumer dollars" — that is, votes.

In this article, I want to try to answer this question: Without commenting on his style, substance or politics, what marketing and branding principles might Trump's competitors for the Republican nomination have used to effectively compete against "the Trump brand" and earn consumer support, i.e., votes? How might they have improved their branding and marketing?

And where did they go wrong?

leaders like it or not, a revolutionary brand is responding, however crudely, to some perceived deficiency in the market. We can always learn from our competition, even if only what not to do. Occasionally we may look at our competition and recognize that they know and are responding to something we don't know.

waited, vacillated, dismissed and sputtered, Trump's audience and market share grew.

At the very least, the candidates needed to address the lack of a level playing field within the debates — the unwillingness of the moderators, each time, to cut Trump's microphone when it wasn't his turn to speak.

The unpredictable behavior, the uncertainty and the fireworks that

2) If you are genuinely close to the consumer — aware of his needs and fears — you will use language like "we" and "us" rather than "I" and "my team."

It's been ironic to watch the richest man in the race continually identify himself with the middle class and blue-collar workers. If we are genuinely serving a market through our products and services, then we are able to claim identification with that market.

Their problems are our problems. Their frustrations are our frustrations. Their triumphs are our triumphs because we are a part of the market ourselves. It's when we stand outside of the market that we refer to what "I" will do for "you" rather than how "we together will meet our challenges."

3) Stay true to yourself.

Knowing and studying your competitor and the market's needs is a good thing.

But pretending to be your competitor and to share in his strengths and weaknesses is a mistake. The most obvious example of this is Rubio's decision in one of the final debates to mimic Trump's brash rudeness and bullying. Audiences were startled at Rubio's behavior — it wasn't "like him" and it came across as fake and shrill.

The decision to mimic a competitor means that you haven't examined the needs of the market enough to know how to offer the best of your products and services to meet those needs.

Further, you'll probably never be the revolutionary brand as authentically or as well as the revolutionary brand itself.

1) Never underestimate a competitor, especially if that competitor is engaged in responding to serious customer dissatisfaction in an industry.

I believe the greatest mistake Republican candidates made over the past year was to dismiss Trump and the desperate, deeply dissatisfied consumers who supported him. Other nominees didn't adequately prepare for the "Trump political brand," his rise, his rhetoric, his debate style or much of anything else. They dismissed him, and they dismissed the market to which he appealed.

Had they been more aware of the anger of the dissatisfied market — and the perceived urgency for change from that market — they would have been at least a little wary of a revolutionary, industry-changing product like the Trump brand. Whether industry

works, the remaining candidates needed to present a united front to the networks on the principle of uninterrupted speaking time for candidates.

4) Discover your message and stick to it.

Photo by Gage Skidmore One way the lack of preparation most revealed itself was during the debates.

In each debate, the candidates seemed to be taken aback by Trump's aggressive behavior and rhetoric, and didn't seem to know how to respond. While they

Trump provided on the debate stage fed into the media's desire for more eyeballs, and thus more ad revenue (see my point in a previous article about Trump's earned media). Because of this bias toward fireworks from the net-

Be prepared to speak about the things that your competitors aren't addressing. In branding terms this is called "positioning." Positioning a product, service or brand in the market simply means meeting needs and providing the benefits that others are not providing.

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STAYING ON MESSAGE WITH YOUR CLIENTS AND YOUR COLLEAGUES

So often over the past year, Trump has, in a crowd of competitors, acted as the master of ceremonies, sucking his competitors into his conversation, his methods and ruling the stage. His competitors reacted to him and his provocations. They fed his story with their own responses — but rather than knock down his positions, they merely highlighted them further in front of a watching world.

Along the way they didn't have their own conversation with the market, share their story or differentiate their brand in the market. Trump's outrageous behavior and speech flooded the debate stage, the airwaves, the sets of the talking heads and analysts and the living rooms of everyday citizens; it sucked the air out of the room so that his competitors often forgot to put their ideas and message forward in their zeal and frenzy to address his latest insults, generalizations, errors in fact and more.

Generally speaking, when a watching market sees — in a sea of products and services — a "Trump" brand and various "not-Trump" brands, the Trump brand will win. It's hard to tell your authentic story and to reveal your

The greatest mistake Republican candidates made over the past year was to dismiss Trump and the desperate, deeply dissatisfied consumers who supported him.

distinct strengths by simply demonstrating that you're not-that-competitor-over-there.

5) Be talkable.

Yes, I am shamelessly stealing my company's slogan, but it's the shortest way I know to say that if you are the owner of a company or the creator of a brand, you must make your own news.

I mentioned in a previous article the power of earned media over paid media.

But you can't have earned media unless you… earn it. That means discovering the genuine news about your brand and making certain that reporters and customers and friends and employees and referral sources know that news.

Every moment you spend responding or reacting to your competitor's earned media is a moment wasted — you're effectively talking about him rather than yourself, his brand over your brand.

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08.26.2016

• How many times have you gathered a dozen of your customers in a room and peppered them with substantive questions about their lives, their work, their industry, their competitors, their greatest fears, the hardest thing about their jobs, the costs of doing business, where they feel like they're failing and succeeding, their favorite movies, their favorite music, their families?

• This year, have you sat down with your leadership team and created a list of five things your closest competitors are doing right?

• If a reporter from a business magazine told you that she had been told to find a "good news" story on a company in your industry, what good news would you have to share with her about your company?

For further conversation, contact Tina Zwolinski at tinaz@betalkable.com or linkedin.com/in/tinazwolinski.

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MOVERS, SHAKERS AND DISRUP TORS SHAPING OUR FUTURE

| INNOVATE | 21

A woman’s place is in the repair shop – or anywhere else she wants

By EDEN MAYS Teaching Lab Assistant, Greenville Technical College

I have been interested in the automotive industry since I was a young teenager. While at T. L. Hanna High School in Anderson, I took all the automotive classes offered and did extremely well even though I was the lone female in each of them. I wanted to have a career as a custom fabricator and custom painter in the automotive industry working on antique cars. My dream was to turn a rusted hunk of junk into a beautiful piece of art.

To me, everything about a car is art, from the beautiful slick paint job to the handcrafted metal body. As I tried to turn my dream into reality, I looked at many different colleges. I even toured and got accepted to the Nashville Auto Diesel College. However, that college was too far from home, and the timing wasn’t right.

In the years after high school, people encouraged me to pursue jobs traditionally employing a high percentage of women. While my family was supportive of whatever I wanted to do, other people talked to me about health care and teaching. If I mentioned my artistic side, I was encouraged to be a graphic designer or a sculptor, and the idea of applying that love of art in the automotive field never came up.

After working my way up from hostess to manager at a local restaurant, I decided to go back to college when I was 25. I chose Greenville Technical College’s auto body repair program; I graduated in May with an associate degree. As I took each required class, my goal was to show all the people who thought a woman shouldn’t be pursuing an automotive career what we are capable of doing. I was motivated to earn the highest grade in the class and to be the best at what I did.

Recently, I got to demonstrate what I’ve learned at the Skills USA national championships. My answer to people who had discouraged me from pursuing this field was to earn third place in the nation in the automotive refinishing technology category out of 33 competitors from across the country.

While I was there, I got to meet Petra Schroeder, chair of the executive committee for the Women’s Industry Network, a nonprofit organization dedicated to encouraging, developing and cultivating opportunities to attract women to collision repair. A pioneer in the industry, she has encouraged me to get involved in extending the organization’s outreach to the Upstate.

My goal now is to serve as a role model. I want to help women build the confidence that took me years to develop, so that they will feel free to pursue what they are passionate about. I’ve been hired as a teaching lab assistant at Greenville Technical College, and this fall, I’ll switch from student to teacher, helping women and men learn the skills to succeed in this industry.

Repairing an automobile is an artistic endeavor.

We’ve come a long way, but there are still many people who divide career fields into two columns by gender, and that shouldn’t happen anymore.

It requires creativity, attention to detail and a perfectionist nature. We need to change the thinking about the field so that teachers, guidance counselors, parents and community members understand that someone who enjoys art should consider collision repair, along Eden Mays took the bronze medal in the Skills USA national championships with interior design, architecture, photography, film and other art-related avenues.

We also need to be sure that we support women and men in whatever field they have an interest.

We’ve come a long way in this regard, but there are still many people who divide career fields into Register for The Activate Series two columns by gender, and join others who are already seeing and that shouldn’t happen results and closing new business. anymore.

My instructors at GTC made sure I knew that I Sessions are held could accomplish anyWednesdays, 4-5:30pm. thing. I love the thought that I may be able to have You can begin attending at any time. an impact on someone’s life in the same way. I want to be able to help women enter male-dominated technical trades. Women have so often been discouraged from pursuing technical trades because “it’s a man’s job.” I believe that if you have a passion for To register and view the syllabus: something, you should pursue it. Go after what 864.451.7676 you love and forget about 2activatesales.com the rest

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UBJ

THE TECHNICAL SIDE OF BUSINESS

|

08.26.2016

Think Twice Nonprofits can be a high-value target for hackers

By LAURA HAIGHT president, portfoliosc.com

Community service is highly valued in the Upstate and we are home to thousands of local nonprofits, churches, educational institutions and local chapters of national organizations. But few of us are probably concerned with whether or not our favorite nonprofit might be victimized by a hacker.

Two factors, however, should make us think twice.

First, when the National Center for Charitable Statistics was breached in February 2015, hackers got a treasure trove of information about more than 700,000 U.S. nonprofits from the exposed 990 database.

Second, in a 2015 survey of U.S. CFOs by Duke University, more than 80 percent of companies reported that they had been hacked.

But the truth is nonprofits have been a highly ranked target of opportunity for hackers all along.

Why? • Nonprofits are often understaffed, utilize volunteers rather than paid professional staff and don't have the expertise or the infrastructure to implement and maintain best practices for security.

• Most nonprofits use a reputable online payment system to protect credit card information. But sensitive information that is of interest to hackers goes well beyond a credit card number: User names, email addresses, physical addresses and, potentially, passwords can all be put to use.

• Copies of databases removed from centrally managed systems by well-meaning employees or volunteers are prevalent in nonprofits. Those shadow databases are often targeted through phishing efforts and frequently account for costly breaches and exposed data.

• Because they can. Sean Parker, co-founder of Napster and founding president of Facebook, says, "This is core to the hacker mentality: We hack systems that can be hacked and leave the rest."

Hackers embed malware into websites, gaining a foothold to push a message or to spread malicious code to your donors and constituents.

Phishing schemes and ransomware often find fertile ground at nonprofits with limited IT support.

How can nonprofits protect themselves?

Lock out / lock down external devices.

In the vast majority of cases, staff or volunteers are not trying to damage the organization by exposing sensitive information. But the ability to plug in a USB, transfer information to hard drives or export information out of a more secure cloud-based system onto a local hard drive or laptop are all costly be-

haviors. According to the Verizon 2015 Data Breach Investigations Report, 45 percent of all the health care breaches were the result of stolen or compromised devices; 22 percent of those were laptops stolen from employee vehicles.

In many theft cases, the nonprofit was probably not being targeted. They were just easy. The likely scenario is that thugs saw the laptop as a target of opportunity. Once they had it, they realized they had a valuable commodity to sell. And whether the data was sold or not doesn't change the way the nonprofit must — both legally and ethically — respond: Notify those whose records were exposed, potentially offer compensation such a fraud monitoring and take the hit. Programmatically restricting the use of external devices closes a big security hole.

thing to damage the organization. So it is important to have written policies and procedures for both staff and volunteers to follow. Included in those should be a policy ensuring no organizational information be maintained outside of primary systems and the office location; limiting the use of mobile devices and home computers remotely to secure networks; and having an email policy that prohibits sending and receiving sensitive documents.

Nonprofits need to take additional steps to protect organizational data and the loss of reputation as well as expense if it is exposed.

Taking the Hit The hit from a cyberattack is twofold: An organization can be shut down for days, a website for weeks.

That costs the organization donations that are often made online. Record loss in 2014 carried an average price tag of $145 per compromised record. A lost laptop with a 30,000-record database on it could carry a price tag of $50,750 on average.

"This is core to the hacker mentality: We hack systems that can be hacked and leave the rest."

Sean Parker, founder of Napster and founding president of Facebook

Encryption, clouds and codes.

Many small nonprofits have little IT support or lack the ability to effectively manage outside IT contractors. You don’t know what you don’t know.

Even if you use a cloud-based storage service like Dropbox, Google for Work or Office 365, you still need to encrypt your local computer drives to protect downloaded documents and data.

Understand the human factor.

A reliance on volunteers and often the passion and commitment of staff is both the core strength and the greatest vulnerability for nonprofits. And employees certainly would not knowingly do any-

That is a big ticket for any business, but particularly crushing for a small nonprofit. And the reputational damage can be even worse. Donors have many places they can give, and while anyone can be hacked or victimized, the perception that a hacked or defrauded nonprofit wasn't diligent enough can turn their heads.

For that very reason the depth of nonprofit hacks and frauds may never be fully known. They are often kept as quiet as possible so as not to engender bad press, or raise doubts among its donors and major supporters. Hackers are egalitarian: Nonprofits are no safer than any other business.

08.26.2016

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upstatebusinessjournal.com

PROMOTED

PLAY-BY-PLAY OF UPSTATE CAREERS

HIRED

HONORED

| ON THE MOVE | 23

HIRED

HIRED

HARRIS J. DARVER

PAMELA WILCOXSON

NIKA WHITE

TYLER MOREY

ALISSA RICCI

Named senior manager at the Greenville office of McGregor & Company LLP. Darver has been with the firm since 2008 and previously served as a manager. He is a graduate of the Darla Moore School of Business at the University of South Carolina with degrees in accounting and finance.

Named media and sourcing director with VantagePoint Marketing. Wilcoxson has more than 15 years of experience in media management and is a graduate of the College of Charleston. In her new role, she will coordinate and direct media strategy and conduct market and trends research.

Named MBE Advocate of the Year by the Carolinas-Virginia Minority Supplier Development Council (CVMSDC) and a Top 100 under 50 Executive by the national Diversity MBA Magazine. White is vice president of diversity for the Greenville Chamber.

Named an account executive/ digital specialist with Crawford Strategy. Morey previously worked with Risdall Marketing Group. He is a graduate of Clemson University with a degree in marketing and earned a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh.

Named media supervisor with Jackson Marketing, Motorsports & Events. Ricci has experience with digital media placement and most recently served as a local account planner for Spectrum Reach. She is a graduate of Furman University with degrees in communication studies and Spanish.

DEVELOPMENT

FINANCE

MARKETING/PR

NONPROFIT

O’Neal Inc. received a platinum level national safety award by the Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC).

The ABC Georgia chapter presented the firm with the STEP Award plaque in recognition of its achievements in safety training and self-evaluation.

Entegra Bank hired Art Wray as a mortgage-lending officer for the new loan production office in Clemson.

Wray has more than 25 years of experience in mortgage lending in South Carolina. He is the past chair of the Clemson Area Chamber of Commerce and past recipient of the Duke Energy Citizenship and Service Award.

Jackson Marketing, Motorsports & Events hired Christiana Pusateri as marketing office coordinator. Pusateri is the creator of Zusa Life, an online business that offers handmade knitwear to customers across the country and beginner knitting classes in the Greenville area. In her new role, she will be responsible for the organization and coordination of agency activities.

Rebuild Upstate added Chip Reaves of Bigger-Brains, Adam Artigliere of McNair Law Firm and Les McCall of Pendleton District Commission to its board of directors.

CONTRIBUTE: New hires, promotions & award winners may be featured in On the Move. Send information and photos to onthemove@upstatebusinessjournal.com.

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THE FRESHEST FACES ON THE BUSINESS LANDSCAPE

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08.26.2016

Open for business 1

1. Caviar & Bananas, a gourmet market and café, recently opened at 1 N. Laurens St., Greenville. For more information, visit caviarandbananas.com.

2

2. Stisa Talent Agency recently opened at 464 E. Main St., Spartanburg. For more information, visit stisatalent.com.

Photo provided

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CONTRIBUTE: Know of a business opening soon? Email information to aturner@communityjournals.com.

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BUSINESS BRIEFS YOU CAN’ T MISS

| THE FINE PRINT | 25

Michelin reaches settlements in litigation Greenville-based Michelin North America Inc. reached favorable settlement agreements with Atturo Tire Corporation and Svizz-One Corporation Ltd. regarding its patent infringement suit it filed on May 13 in U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina in Greenville. The Michelin suit alleged that Atturo Tire Corporation and Svizz-One Corporation Ltd. infringed design patent U.S. D483,322 covering the Michelin Latitude Tour tread design. The parties agreed that the specific terms of the settlement would remain confidential.

“We are pleased with this litigation settlement,” said Scott Clark, Michelin North America COO. “In addition to recognizing the hard work of our employees, Michelin’s patents represent our company’s commitment to providing quality products to our customers.”

Greenville, in your inbox.

Agfa HealthCare awarded government DIN-PACS agreement Agfa HealthCare, a medical diagnostic imaging center with a presence in Greenville, recently announced that the U.S. government awarded the company its fourth DIN-PACS IV (Digital Imaging Network/ Picture Archiving and Communication System) contract.

The contract allows U.S. government health care providers to purchase diagnostic imaging IT and related technology solutions on-demand, providing flexibility, cost savings and quality enhancement in service to its health care consumers, according to a release.

“Agfa HealthCare has worked extremely hard over nearly 20 years to establish our dominant position in the U.S. government’s DIN-PACS market,” said Tim Artz, VP and general manager of Agfa HealthCare’s Global Government Program.

“The high-value partnerships we have developed and continue to grow with our government customers demonstrate our unwavering commitment to deliver the most advanced solutions and level of quality and security that this complex, demanding market requires.”

2016 InnoVision Award Finalists Named Finalists have been announced for the 2016 InnoVision Awards, a program “dedicated to the advancement of technology in the state through communication, education and recognition of the spirit of innovation and technological progress,” according to a statement from InnoVision. This year’s finalists include: Technology Integration: Milliken & Company - Milliguard UVX200 (Spartanburg); Milliken & Company - Westex G2 (Spartanburg); tForm (Williamston) Technology Development: Clemson University, Department of Materials Science & Engineering (Clemson); Milliken & Company - Shield TEC (Spartanburg); Zverse (Columbia) Community Service: Pursuit Alert, LLC (Pickens); Village Talk (Greenwood) Innovation in Education: SC Future Minds (Florence) Small Enterprise: Crowdr TV Inc. (Charleston); Net3 Technology (Greenville); VC3, Inc. (Columbia) Sustainability: Atlas Organics (Spartanburg); Milliken & Company - DeltaMax (Spartanburg); Smart Vista, LLC (Duncan) The Charles Townes Lifetime Achievement Award winner will be revealed at the awards dinner, held at the Hyatt Regency Greenville on Thursday, Nov. 3.

To RSVP, email angela@innovisionawards.org or call 864-271-4940.

Subscribe today!

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UBJ

INFORMATION YOU WANT TO KNOW

OVERHEARD @ THE WATERCOOLER Distilled commentary from UBJ readers

|

08.26.2016

BIZ BUZZ The top 5 stories from last week’s issue ranked by shareability score

>> 678 1. Downtown Deli and Donuts will open in Spartanburg

Our version of the real food network.

Get your all-inclusive tickets now.

>> 351

2. First Look: Birds Fly South

>> 259 3. Menkoi Ramen House to open on North Main

>> 134

RE: MENKOI RAMEN HOUSE TO OPEN ON NORTH MAIN Fionna Kathleen Marley “It’ll be so close to work!!!!”

@MPIFBlog “Their place on Woodruff is great. Excited to have them downtown.”

Brendan Whatley “When are we going?”

RE: PRINT IS DEAD, LONG LIVE PRINT

Katie Thompson “Can we substitute duck bun Thursday for ramen Wednesday?”

Andrew Huang “YES.”

euphoriagreenville.com

Remember To Mark Your Calendars SEPTEMBER ����� Proudly Supported by

RE: 3 GREENVILLE CHAMBER TEAM MEMBERS RECEIVED 2016 LIFETIME SALES ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS @GvilleChamber “We heart these awesome ladies!”

@CWHaire “Pro-tip: Get the spicy ramen. It will cure whatever ails you, whether it’s a cold or a hangover.”

@CarlosPhillips “Congrats Ladies! @ GvilleChamber”

We’re great at networking. @CWHaire @AndersonTrev @andrewmooreGVL @clandrum

@daviddykes @melindagyoung @EPietras_CJ @jerrymsalley

>> 122 5. Riley Institute selects 43 Upstate Diversity Leaders Initiative fellows

Beth Kelley Fann “Smart.”

Andrew Van, Realtor “Downtown is getting trendier by the minute”

>> CONNECT WITH US

4. Young professionals seek to bolster progress in Spartanburg County

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08.26.2016

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DATE

EVENTS YOU SHOULD HAVE ON YOUR CALENDAR

| PLANNER | 27

EVENT INFO

WHERE DO I GO?

HOW DO I GO?

8/31

Women Mean Business networking event

Cantina 76 103 N. Main St., #101, Greenville 5:30–7:30 p.m.

Cost: Free Register: bit.ly/wmb-aug2016

Thursday

Greenville Chamber Netnight Networking event for business owners and professionals

Aloft Greenville Downtown Hotel 5 N. Laurens St., Greenville 6-8 p.m.

Cost: $10 investors, $15 non-investors Register: bit.ly/netnight-sept2016

Clemson University MBA Info Session

Clemson One Building 1 N. Main Street, Greenville 5:30–7 p.m.

Cost: Free Register: bit.ly/mba-sept2016

Ten at the Top Upstate Regional Summit: Creating Leading Region

TD Convention Center 1 Exposition Drive, Greenville 7:45 a.m.-1:30 p.m.

More info: bit.ly/tattusummit-2016

Piedmont SCORE Basic Small Business Start-Up workshop

NEXT Innovation Center 411 University Ridge, Greenville 6–8 p.m.

Cost: Free Register: bit.ly/bsbs-sept2016

Wednesday

9/1 Thursday

9/8 Thursday

9/13 Monday

9/19

CONTRIBUTE: Got a hot date? Submit event information for consideration to events@upstatebusinessjournal.com.

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MARKETING & ADVERTISING SALES REPRESENTATIVES Nicole Greer, Jenny Hall, Donna Johnston, Annie Langston, Lindsay Oehmen, Emily Yepes

UBJ milestone jackson Marketing Group’s 25 Years 1988 Jackson Dawson opens in Greenville at Downtown Airport

1988

1997 Jackson Dawson launches motorsports Division 1993

1990 Jackson Dawson

acquires therapon marketing Group and moves to Piedmont office Center on Villa.

>>

with a majority of them utilizing the general aviation airport as a “corporate gateway to the city.”

In 1997, Jackson and his son, Darrell, launched Jackson Motorsports Group. The new division was designed to sell race tires and go to racetracks to sell and mount the tires. Darrell Jackson now serves as president of the motorsports group and Larry Jackson has two other children and a son-in-law who work there. Jackson said all his children started at the bottom and “earned their way up.”

Jackson kept the Jackson-Dawson branches in Detroit and others in Los Angeles and New York until he sold his portion of that partnership in 2009 as part of his estate planning.

The company now operates a small office in Charlotte, but its main headquarters are in Greenville in a large office space off Woodruff Road, complete with a vision gallery that displays local artwork and an auditorium Jackson makes available for non-profit use. The Motorsports Group is housed in an additional 26,000 square feet building just down the street, and the agency is currently looking for another 20,000 square feet.

Jackson said JMG has expanded into other verticals such as financial, healthcare, manufacturing and pro-bono work, but still has a strong focus on the auto industry and transportation. It’s

Chairman larry Jackson, Jackson marketing Group. Photos by Greg Beckner / Staff

Jackson Marketing Group celebrates 25 years By sherry Jackson | staff | sjackson@communityjournals.com

Solve. Serve. Grow. Those three words summarize Jackson Marketing Group’s guiding principles, and according to owner Larry Jackson, form the motivation that has kept the firm thriving for the past 25 years.

Jackson graduated from Bob Jones University with a degree in video and film production and started his 41-year career in the communications industry with the U.S. Army’s Public Information Office. He served during

Vietnam, where he said he was “luckily” stationed in the middle of Texas at Fort Hood.

He left the service and went to work in public affairs and motorsports at Ford Motor Company in Detroit.

After a stint at Bell and Howell, where he was responsible for managing Ford’s dealer marketing and training, the entrepreneurial bug hit and he co-founded Jackson-Dawson Marketing Communications, a company specializing in dealer training and product launches for the auto industry in 1980.

In 1987, Jackson wanted to move back south and thought Greenville would be a good fit. An avid pilot, he

learned of an opportunity to purchase Cornerstone Aviation, a fixed base operation (FBO) that served as a service station for the Greenville Downtown Airport, providing fuel, maintenance and storage.

In fact, when he started the Greenville office of what is now Jackson Marketing Group (JMG) in 1988, the offices were housed on the second floor in an airport hangar.

“Clients would get distracted by the airplanes in the hangars and we’d have to corral them to get back upstairs to the meeting,” Jackson said.

Jackson sold the FBO in 1993, but says it was a great way to get to know Greenville’s fathers and leaders

>>

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-prof 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 lients 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 nit inVolVeMent nitY in olV inV olVe VeMent & boarD positions

OCTOBER 14 THE HOME BUSINESS ISSUE When your boss is the person in the mirror.

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

20 Upstate bUsiness joUrnal November 1, 2013

AS SEEN IN

NOVEMBER 1, 2013

Kristy Adair | Michael Allen

NEW HIRES, PROMOTIONS, AND AWARDS:

Danielle Car

UBJ milestone

UBJ welcomes expert commentary from business leaders on timely news topics related to their specialties.

Guest columns run 700-800 words.

Contact managing editor Jerry Salley at jsalley@communityjournals.com to submit an article for consideration.

Circulation Audit by

UP NEXT SEPTEMBER 16 THE DESIGN ISSUE What will the workplace of tomorrow look like?

1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

LAYOUT

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