Inside Memphis Business June/July 2015 by Contemporary Media

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JUNE / JULY 2015

fe a t u r e s

VOLUME IX | NUMBER 5

Small Business Central 2015

ON THE COVER: Lisa Toro of City + State Coffee Shop on Broad Avenue. PHOTOGRAPH BY JUSIN FOX BURKS

Wilson • • •

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“You are as far away from Memphis as you could possibly be anywhere

Forty minutes from Downtown Memphis is a former company town dressed in Tudor and awaiting its spotlight.

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on Earth, right here, and you are only forty minutes away.” That is what chef Joe Cartwright told me as we sat together in his new restaurant, the Wilson Café, located off Highway 61 in the town square of Wilson, Arkansas. Cartwright, a lean young man wearing a flannel shirt and ball cap, was taking a brief break before the dinner rush, or what he hoped would be the dinner rush. Cartwright speaks in a straightforward manner with an accent common to the area, but

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his menu was no fried catfish: That night it was halibut with cannellini

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beans, dressed with basil oil.

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1. Robert E. Lee Wilson (right) with longtime Arkansas senator J. William Fulbright. 2. Landscaped grounds of the Wildwood mansion. 3. Distinctive architecture is a characteristic of the Wilson town square. 4. Jenifer Fox, founding principal of The Delta School, sees Wilson as “the ideal site to start a creative technical education center.” 5. Wildwood, the Wilson family mansion, is destined to become The Delta School. 6. King Cotton: The Wilsons were known as “the unofficial first family of cotton.” The Kaiser gin (circa 1939) in full operation is seen here. [photo by Jack Pryor, Special Collections, University of Arkansas Libraries] 7. Leslie Wolverton, Wilson Gardens manager, has started a Community Supported

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“Last night we fed 25 people; tonight we may feed three,” said Cartwright. “Saturday it may be 100. They are starting to trust me with lunch, but dinner has been a little slower to take off.” We were in a part of the world, he reminded me, where the evening meal is known as “supper” and where there isn’t much nightlife to draw people out of their homes past sunset. Cartwright admits that basil oil may sound a bit highfalutin’ for the Delta town of just under a thousand residents, but he insists that his approach to the food is as simple as it gets. “There is a funny guy I follow on Twitter,” he said, “who made a real poignant tweet recently about how restaurateurs and chefs are taking local and regional staples and manipulating them so much that the people who produced them can no longer afford

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them. That is not what I want to do. If you take good, solid food and you treat it right and you take care of it, you manipulate it as minimally as you can.” Across the highway from the Wilson Café and over a set of railroad tracks, I could see rows upon rows of sprouts destined to become just the kind of “good, solid food” that Cartwright admires. A colorfully lettered sign above the vegetable plots reads “Wilson Gardens” and small decals denote parsley, kale, squash, and basil. It is not much to the naked eye, but Cartwright and I were sitting in the heart of what a few visionaries hope will be the founding site of a Delta renaissance — a place where, as Cartwright put it, people have “the opportunity to have a progressive lifestyle in a very simple town that is all

J U N E / J U LY 2 0 1 5 | I N S I D E M E M P H I S B U S I N E S S . C O M |

WILSON, ARKANSAS A Delta Renaissance ••• BY EILEEN TOWNSEND

DEPARTMENTS 11 T H E H O T S H E E T 14 C O M M U N I T Y P A R T N E R S H I P 15 M E M P H I S B E A T 21 P O W E R P L A Y E R S 41 L E A D E R S H I P 43 I N S I D E T H E A R C H I V E S 44 T H E O F F I C E 47 A P P O I N T M E N T B O O K 48 M A D E I N M E M P H I S

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Small Business, Great Returns

INSIDEMEMPHISBUSINESS.COM EDITOR CREATIVE DIRECTOR

Richard J. Alley Brian Groppe

MANAGING EDITOR

Frank Murtaugh

ASSISTANT EDITOR

Anna Cox Thompson

COPY EDITORS EDITORIAL CONTRIBUTORS

ADVERTISING ART DIRECTOR GRAPHIC DESIGNERS PHOTOGRAPHY

Michael Finger, Marilyn Sadler Eileen Townsend, Douglas Scarboro, David Waddell, Paul Morris, Steve Sutton, Rick Donlon, Sally Lyon, Katherine Barnett Christopher Myers Dominique Pere, Bryan Rollins Justin Fox Burks, Larry Kuzniewski, Amie Vanderford

ADVERTISING DIRECTOR

Bruce Meisterman

ADVERTISING OPERATIONS DIRECTOR

Margie Neal

PUBLISHED BY CONTEMPOR ARY MEDIA , INC . CEO CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER DIRECTOR OF NEW BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT EDITORIAL DIRECTOR DIRECTOR OF DIGITAL/OPERATIONS ADVERTISING DIRECTOR EVENTS MANAGER MARKETING/COMMUNICATIONS MANAGER EMAIL MARKETING MANAGER DISTRIBUTION MANAGER ACCOUNTING COORDINATOR IT DIRECTOR RECEPTIONIST

Kenneth Neill Jennifer K. Oswalt Jeffrey A. Goldberg Bruce VanWyngarden

Opening and operating a small business, whether it employs two people or 200, is a juggling act of customer service, inventory, credit lines and bottom lines, marketing, scheduling, networking, and the list goes on and on. There is, in fact, no end to that list that probably also includes cleaning the bathrooms, running to Costco for supplies, and calling to find out why the wi-fi isn’t working, again. Despite all of the risk, the unknowns, the late nights planning and worrying, more and more people are turning to roles as entrepreneur. More than 90 percent of all companies in

Memphis are small businesses and, nationwide, $375 billion in goods and services are exported by small businesses each year. “Small” may be a misnomer. While generally qualified by the number of employees, when taken as a whole, the economic force of such entities is staggering. While there is no way to go in-depth on every detail of starting up and staying in the black, we’ve tried in this first-annual Small Business issue to touch on some of the more pressing needs, and we’ve called upon the industry experts, as well as rookies and veterans alike, to show us the way.

Molly Willmott Penelope Huston Jackie Sparks-Davila Kendrea Collins

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Britt Ervin Lynn Sparagowski Ashley Haeger Joseph Carey Martin Lane

Inside Memphis Business is published six times a year by Contemporary Media, Inc., 460 Tennessee Street, P.O. Box 1738, Memphis, TN 38101 © 2015, telephone: 901-5219000. For subscription information, call 901-575-9470. All rights reserved. Periodicals postage paid at Memphis, TN. Postmaster: send address changes to Inside Memphis Business, P.O. Box 1738, Memphis, TN 38101. Opinions and perspectives expressed in the magazine are those of the authors, and do not necessarily represent the views of the ownership or management.

My stepfather and father-in-law were both small business owners at points in their careers. For many years I heard stories of their triumphs and their woes and, in 1998, when I was just 28 years old, I bought my own small business. It was a little cigar shop in Downtown Memphis and what I learned from the 10 years that I ran it is that I wasn’t very good at it. I also gained even more respect for those who do it and who do it well.

A 2012 survey conducted by The Chronicle of Philanthropy ranked Memphis second in that magazine’s list of per-capita charitable contributions for America’s 50 most-populous metro areas. Memphis-area residents and businesses give over $700 million to charity annually. Because of this, Inside Memphis Business is partnering with local companies to highlight some of the good being done. We’re calling it our “Dig Deep for Memphis” partnership program. During 2015, we will match every advertising full page purchased by our corporate partners with a donated page for the charitable organization of their choice. As the city’s premier business magazine, we at Inside Memphis Business think we can and should do our part to make readers better aware of

the strengths of our city’s nonprofit sector and to increase community awareness of the ongoing need for strong philanthropic support for area nonprofits. To see our current partners — Triumph, FedEx, and CBRE Memphis — please turn to pages 13, 40, and 46. For more information about our “Dig Deep for Memphis” partnership program, please contact Kenneth Neill at neill@ contemporary-media.com.

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UNRIVALED TALENT. UNMATCHED RESULTS. With a passion for everything that makes our city so special, our firm is the unrivaled leader in commercial real estate services in Memphis. Strategic, forward-thinking and results-driven, our professionals are committed to delivering the best of Memphis to our clients and the community we serve.

For more information on how CBRE|Memphis can assist you with your real estate needs in the Mid-South, please contact: +1 901 528 1000

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COMING

SOON August/September 2015

Selling Memphis

Meet and get to know the 25 very best salespeople in Memphis! Also: our Selling Memphis Cocktail event will be hosted in early August 2015 October/November 2015

The Annual Inside Memphis Business Innovation Awards Our look at the city’s best Big Ideas.

Also: our Innovation Awards event will be hosted in late September 2015 December 2015/January 2016

The 2016 Inside Memphis Business Philanthropy Guide An inside look at business non-profits. Want to find out more about advertising in these issues? Please call Bruce Meisterman at (901) 521-9000. For more information on event sponsorship opportunities, please call Jackie Sparks-Davila at (901) 521-9000. 6|

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The Singapore Model Singapore became an independent nation in 1965 after an acrimonious separation with Malaysia. At the time Singapore housed a population of 2 million, mostly Chinese, while Malaysia housed nearly 10 million “Malaysian Malaysians”. Singapore had a per capita GDP of $516, while Malaysia had a per capita GDP of $333. Today, Singapore contains 5.4 million peovalues. Chief reformer Deng Xiaoping, faple with per capita GDP that exceeds $55,000, mously noted, “The social order in Singapore while Malaysia contains 30 million people is quite good. They run things strictly, and we with per capita GDP of only should borrow from their $10,500. According to the experiences and run things IMF, out of the 183 nations better than they do.” LKY SINGAPORE RANKS 8TH IN in its database, Singapore closely advised every ChiGDP PER CAPITA. WHAT’S IN ranks 8th in GDP per capnese president since 1976 ita, well ahead of Malayand recently said of current THAT SINGAPORE SLING? sia’s 62nd ranking, but also China Chief Xi Jinping, ahead of the United States. What’s in that “He has iron in his soul . . . I would put him in Nelson Mandela’s class of persons.” Singapore Sling? Lee Kuan Yew (LKY) led Singapore as Unmistakably, the “Chinese miracle” rePrime Minister from 1959 to 1990 and held sembles the “Singapore miracle.” However, posts of prominence until his death on March driving a nation with 1.4 billion people compared with 5.4 million invites complications. 23. While Singapore claims to be a democracy, Additionally, not all customers are satisfied. LKY ruled the country as a philosopher king, suppressing any political opposition. With Singapore is often referred to as a “nanny consolidated power and unlimited tenure, state” given its long history of political and LKY conducted affairs as a corporate execeditorial suppression. Drug offenses can lead utive. His highest purpose was to enrich his to the death penalty, wandering naked withshareholders, or in the case on nations, his in your own home may draw pornography people. LKY’s “Singapore Model” contained charges, and public canings for misdemeanthe following key components: ors frequently occur. Economic meritocracies ◗ Be open, tolerant, and multiracial to also tend to lead to poor wealth distribution eliminate divisiveness. over time. Singapore’s income inequality now ◗ Administer the rule of law consistently exceeds that of Europe, Japan, and the United and relentlessly. States. It’s therefore understandable that the ◗ Actively seek to attract immigrants rise of a more “liberalized” younger generand foreign investment by removing ation has degraded support for the ruling regulatory and cultural frictions. party. ◗ Invest in world class infrastructure to The rise of China into a leading world ecopromote trade and livability. nomic power draws attention to a different, ◗ Strike down bloat and corruption within and controversial, governance model. SingaGovernment. pore resisted “westernization,” yet managed ◗ Prioritize education, including national to achieve higher per capita GDP than the fluency in the international language of U.S. China has watched Singapore closely, business — English. emboldening its commitment to “capitalism ◗ Promote (and control) positive messaging with Chinese characteristics.” and behavior within the country. LKY may have died as “the father of Sin◗ Foster competition and achievement to gapore,” but his legacy will continue to inengender a meritocratic society. fluence China’s development path. If China These covenants, paired with the industricould successfully replicate Singapore’s sucous nature of the Singapore people, directed cess, the Chinese economy would ascend to one of the greatest rags to riches economic roughly $77 trillion or the size of the entire stories in human history. Accordingly, LKY global economy today. became sought after as an advisor to many David S. Waddell, CEO of Waddell & Associates, national leaders, most notably the Chinese. is spending a year in China and delving into the LKY and Singapore demonstrate to the economics and culture for readers of inside Chinese that prosperity does not require memphis business. democracy nor the assumption of Western

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S C A R B O R O

the

NOW

usiness is pushed forward by change and evolution, and it is those in the forefront of that evolution — the tinkerers, the questioners, the visionaries — who keep the machine of commerce oiled.

But who are these people? We want to know. Send us your best and brightest nominations for our third annual Innovation Awards issue coming in October. Please include any pertinent biographical or business information, and why the person, business, or organization should be recognized as a leader among innovators.

Email your nomination to richard@insidememphisbusiness.com Deadline for nominations is July 1, 2015. 8|

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To attract a particular demographic, let small business lead the way.

I N N O V A Ta wI aOr dNs

ACCEPTED

•••

Young and Restless

PRESENTS

NOMINATIONS

F A R E

At a recent meeting of Memphis business and community leaders focused on the “Young and Restless and the Nation’s Cities” report produced by the City Observatory’s Joe Cortright and the Knight Foundation’s Carol Coletta, I had a conversation with an attendee that went like this: Fellow attendee: “If we do a great job recruiting the ‘Young and Restless’ target demographic (25-to-34-year-olds with a bachelor’s degree or higher level of education) we will have more qualified people than applicable jobs.” Me: “This shows the importance of having small businesses and entrepreneurs involved in talent recruitment, so that we are bringing in people who create jobs.” This has often been a topic of discussion top cities in the nation for creating technology when it comes to the future of Memphis, and jobs. Memphis ranked 10th out of the 52 largest “Yes” is the answer to the question of whether MSAs in technology job creation. it is better to first recruit talent and then create Since Memphis has shown the capacity to jobs, or to first build the jobs and then look for create jobs, a further focus strategy to recruit the talent. the highly sought-after “Young and Restless” Simply put, there is not one best way to go demographic would then make sense to help about solving this equation. However, if we grow the Memphis economy. would like to expand economic growth, it is This demographic is increasingly being evident we must do something. In a situation drawn to the close-in neighborhoods of many without a clear sequence strategy, I’ve alof the nation’s large metropolitan areas, ways found it best to proceed based on your which in turn speeds economic growth and strengths. What are some of our key strengths urban revitalization. They excel at helping here in Memphis? build fast-growing companies, and while they In a 2012 Kauffman are highly mobile in report on small business the earlier years (more and entrepreneurship, it SMALL BUSINESSES REPRESENT 91.2 than 1 million move is clear to see that small across state lines each PERCENT OF MEMPHIS MSA COMPAbusiness is big in Memyear), migration rates fall with age as they phis. According to the NIES AND ACCOUNT FOR 40 PERCENT become tied to their report, small businessOF ITS EMPLOYMENT, WITH 6,262 es represent 91.2 percommunities and their NET NEW JOBS CREATED. cent of Memphis MSA jobs — the typical companies and account 35-year-old is less than — 2012 K AUFFMAN REPORT for 40 percent of its emhalf as likely to move ployment, with 6,262 net new jobs created. In across state lines as the typical 25-year-old. addition, new businesses not only got started, Consequently, their ultimate choice of metthey also had staying power: 67.4 percent of ropolitan area continues to play a key role in Memphis businesses that started in 2010 surbuilding and enhancing that area’s economic vived until 2012, a survival rate 3 percent higher vitality and growth. than the state average. Through education, entrepreneurship, and In addition, NerdWallet last year reported strong, close-in neighborhoods, we can continMemphis to be one of the top 10 cities in the ue to work to make Memphis a top metropolitan U.S. to start a business, thanks in part to its area of choice to attract the “Young and Restless” demographic. having one of the highest rates of commercial and industrial loans lent per capita, as well as having the lowest cost of living index amongst Dr. Douglas Scarboro is Regional Executive/Vice Presthe cities surveyed. The availability of resources ident of the Memphis Branch of the St. Louis Federal that provide strategic support to startups and Reserve Bank. He has a B.A. in political science from entrepreneurs, such as Emerge Memphis, was Morehouse College, an MBA from Campbell Univeralso noted. Even more recently, Forbes highsity, and an Ed.D. in Higher and Adult Education from lighted the Memphis metro area as one of the the University of Memphis.

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The HOT Sheet Inked Financial Federal Bank has arranged the $30 million construction financing of Charleston Place Apartments, which stands as the first new multifamily construction project of the northeast submarket in almost 10 years. WESSCORP Communities, developer of The Orleans at Walnut Grove, will develop Charleston Place, a Class A, 284unit apartment complex on the southeast quadrant of Houston Levee Road and Highway 64 in northeast Shelby County. State Systems Inc. announced the acquisition of Ver-Max Inc., a fire protection company located in Corinth, Mississippi. The transaction was completed Friday, May 1, and State Systems began servicing existing Ver-Max customers the same day. Silicone Arts Laboratories, the company that manufactures the innovative cosmetic Dermaflage, has closed on $1.5 million for its Series A Round. The round was led by GPG Ventures, a venture capital firm with a consumer health focus out of Dallas Texas and Memphis-based Innova followed as the largest investor. Sprouts Farmers Market, one of the fastest-growing retailers in the country, has announced plans to add eight additional grocery stores to its roster in the third quarter of 2015, including one on Village Shops Drive in Germantown. Green Mountain Consulting, a leading Parcel Spend Management company, announced it will officially change its name to Green Mountain Technology (GMT). nexAir, one of the largest distributors of atmospheric gases and welding supplies in the United States, has announced that it has agreed to acquire the assets, branches, and operations of M&A Welding Supply Co., a distributor for welding and safety

supplies with Georgia locations in Calhoun, Cartersville, Douglasville, and Jasper. The transaction closed at the end of March and nexAir assumed operations of the M&A Welding Supply locations immediately. The organization’s 15 employees have joined nexAir’s Georgia operations. Highland Capital Management has acquired the assets of ICC Capital Management. The combination of ICC and Highland increases client assets under management by Highland to $2.8 billion. The Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) is affiliating with the prestigious Barret School of Banking to provide new educational opportunities for the nation’s community bankers. The Barret School, located on the campus of Christian Brothers University, is a non-profit independent school created and governed by a Board of Regents whose members are executives from banks and other firms involved with the financial services industry. Onyx Medical Corporation, a privately-held, Memphis-based manufacturer of medical devices has been acquired by Elos, one of Europe’s leading solution partners in the development and manufacturing of high precision products and components used in medical technology such as dental and orthopedic implants and instruments. McManus Reilly Benefits has merged with Group Benefits LLC effective May 1st, to help navigate the complexities of today’s healthcare offerings, and more specifically, the Affordable Care Act. Avondale Partners, a Nashville-based boutique investment banking and wealth management partnership, is expanding in the Mid-South with the opening of its office in Germantown and the addition of John D. Santi to head the office as Managing Director.

Hired Douglas Scarboro has been named as regional executive of the Memphis Branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. Scarboro is a regular columnist for Inside Memphis Business. Southern College of Optometry has announced Dr. Lewis Reich, former vice president of academic affairs, as the college’s new interim president; and Dr. J. Bart Campbell, former chair of the Department of Optometric Education, as the college’s interim vice president of academic affairs. ProTech Systems Group, Inc. has announced two recent hires: Jeff Pennington as Account Manager, Network Technical Sales; and David Poindexter as Account Manager, Talent Acquisition Sales. The Greater Memphis Chamber announced that John Michels has joined the Chamber staff as Greenprint Coordinator, and Tom Rieger joined as Senior Vice President of membership. Pat Jameson has joined Group Benefits, LLC, an independent, local employee benefits broker and consulting firm with access to national resources and support, as compliance director. In her new role, Jameson will leverage her experience to help clients navigate the complexities of compliance with healthcare and employee benefits regulations. Lori S. Gonzalez, Ph.D., has been appointed Vice Chancellor of Academic, Faculty and Student Affairs at The University of Tennessee Health Science Center. Daniel Spann, PE, PTOE, has joined Barge, Waggoner, Sumner and Cannon, Inc. as

Director of Transportation Services. Deadra Arthur has joined Dunavant Logistics Group, LLC, as Logistics Services & Operations Administrator. Magna Bank has promoted Steve Crocker to Chief Information Officer. In addition, Jeff Hall has joined as Vice President of Commercial Banking, Victoria Barnes-Ragland has been promoted to Retail Corporate Trainer, and Christie McCormack has been promoted to Branch Sales Manager. The Memphis-Shelby County Airport Authority (MSCAA) has selected Terry Blue as its new Vice President of Operations. Blue replaces John Greaud, who retired from MSCAA after 25 years in January. Obsidian Public Relations has added Chelsey Ross to the team as an account assistant. Ashley Barbee has joined Gateway Group Personnel as Sales and Staffing Consultant. Cushman & Wakefield | Commercial Advisors has hired Lauren McCown as Senior Real Estate Administrator, and Mary Leesa Simmons as Vice President, Senior Asset Manager. U.S. Attorney Edward L. Stanton III has appointed Louis Goggans as the Community Outreach Specialist and Public Information Officer for the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Western District of Tennessee. Chelsea Surrett has joined Junior Achievement of Memphis and the Mid-South as coordinator of marketing and special events. Giles Sutton has joined Dixon Hughes Goodman as a partner in the firm’s Tax Practice. Sutton will focus on issues

pertaining to state and local tax. Jackson Lewis P.C. has announced that Craig A. Cowart and Sally F. Barron have joined the firm’s Memphis office as Shareholder and Of Counsel, respectively. Barge, Waggoner, Sumner and Cannon, Inc., announced that Jeff Weis, PE, has joined the firm as Director of the Industrial and Building Services Business Unit.

Appointed The following have been named to the Greater Memphis Chamber’s 2015 Board of Directors: Chairman — Leigh Shockey, Chairman & CEO, Drexel Chemical Co.; Vice Chairman — Calvin Anderson, SVP of Corporate Affairs & Chief of Staff, BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee; Vice Chairman — Duncan F. Williams, President, Duncan-Williams, Inc.; Secretary/ General Counsel — Lodie V. Biggs, Shareholder, Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell & Berkowitz; Vice Chair of Finance/ Treasurer — Carolyn Hardy, President & CEO, Hardy Logistics Solutions, LLC. Samuel Dagogo-Jack, MD, director of the Division of Endocrinology in the College of Medicine at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC), was named 2015 president of Medicine & Science for the American Diabetes Association (ADA).

Honored CrestCore Realty, a Memphis-based property management and realty company, has unveiled its new logo. The company was the winner of Memphis sales and marketing firm, RedRover’s #RoverRefresh contest, which offered a logo re-design for one area start-up business. BTI Consulting Group has

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named Stites & Harbison, PLLC, as a brand leader in its BTI Brand Elite 2015: Client Perceptions of the Best-Branded Law Firms. This annual list ranks the top law firms based solely on in-depth telephone interviews with general counsels and leading legal decision makers. Valerie K. Arnold, MD, chief of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry in the College of Medicine at UTHSC has been inducted into the American College of Psychiatrists. The American College of Psychiatrists comprises more than 750 psychiatrists who have demonstrated excellence in the field of psychiatry and achieved national recognition in clinical practice, research, academic leadership, or teaching. Landon Williams, Senior Associate at Cushman & Wakefield | Commercial Advisors, has been awarded the Certified Commercial Investment Member (CCIM) designation by the CCIM Institute. This designation is awarded to CRE professionals upon successful completion of an advanced analytical curriculum and presentation of a portfolio of qualifying industry experience.

Grants Mohamad Elabiad, MD, associate professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC), has received a $26,818 grant from The Gerber Foundation to investigate whether extremely premature infants can safely handle the amounts of lead and mercury acquired through blood transfusions. Sarah Neuner, Graduate Research Assistant in the lab of Catherine Kaczorowski, PhD, in the Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, College of Medicine at UTHSC has received a $172,480 grant for late-onset Alzheimerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s disease research from the National Institute on Aging, a subsidiary of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). With ten locations across the Memphis area, Healthcare Realty is the go-to source for on Baptist Memorial Hospital campuses. A variety of locations and levels of build-out provide move-in ready suites, time-share space and the ability to build to suit. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s your move.

Tim Saltuklaroglu, PhD, and Ashley Harkrider, PhD, of the Department of Audiology and Speech Pathology at UTHSC received a $417,625 grant from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (part of the NIH) to study brain activity related to stuttering. Teresa Waters, Chair of Preventive Medicine at UTHSC has received a $749,998 grant from the Agency for Health Care Research and Quality, an agency within the Department of Health and Human Services, to study effects of Medicare penalties for hospital readmissions. Subimal Datta of UTHSC has received a $1.4 million grant from the National Institute of Mental Health (a subsidiary of the NIH) to study molecular processes related to Rapid Eye Movement (REM) Sleep and Recovery. Robert W. Williams of UTHSC has received a $300,000 award from Research to Prevent Blindness to fund innovative glaucoma research. Livable Memphis, a program of the Community Development Council of Greater Memphis and ioby, an online platform for citizen-led, neighbor-funded projects, announce $85,000 in match funding for 78 projects across 40 Memphis neighborhoods.

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is proud proud to partner Academy. Triumph is partner with withBinghampton BinghamptonChristian Christian Academy.

Binghampton Christan Academy is a private, Christian PK-8th Grade School serving students from the Binghamption Christan Academy is a private, Christian PK-8th Grade School serving students from the Binghampton Community. Holistic Education School Enrichment, Enrichment,Summer Summer Binghampton Community. Holistic Educationthat thatincludes: includes: Day Day School, School, After After School

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C O M M U N I T Y

P A R T N E R S H I P

Agape North B Y

S A L LY

LYO N

When people hear about what Agape North does, many of them say, “Oh, just like Tom’s.” With every new shoe purchase, Tom’s gives a pair of shoes to school-aged kids in mostly third-world countries who can’t afford to buy their own. But Agape North cofounder Joe Williams is quick to say, “Yes and no.” Yes, Agape North gives school uniforms to kids when customers buy their products.

SCHOOL UNIFORMS MADE AND SOLD ON THE “BUY-ONE-GIVE-ONE” MODEL INCREASE PRIDE AND FOCUS FOR AREA SCHOOLCHILDREN.

14 |

But the program is not exclusively internationally based. It’s local and directly involves the customers. Agape North’s partners get to see the bright smiles of the children when they slide their new sweatshirts and polos over their heads. They hear boys and girls shout with glee at the brand-new boxes of fresh uniform shirts embroidered with school crests just for them. And they get to feel the love, so to speak, by helping children feel better about themselves. The concept for Agape North was born in 2010. “I was in medical sales,” says Williams. “But I needed to do something bigger. I felt a push to do more and saw such need here in Memphis.” It was from this urge to do more that Williams and cofounder Richard Bennett came up with the “shirt for shirt” idea. “We created a private line of clothing manufactured here by us,” says Williams. The polos, t-shirts, hoodies, pullovers, and baseball hats are available online and at 16 local and regional high-end retailers. Each piece is embroidered or screen-printed with the Agape North lion logo. For each of those products sold, the company makes and donates uniform clothing to children in need. Williams was still not satisfied, even with the success of the private label. The company was doing a lot of good in Memphis, but he felt they could do more, be bigger. Eventually, in 2012, “the Junior League of Memphis came to us and wanted to make a custom T-shirt,” he says. “No one in the area does anything like that,” he says of the large-scale custom embroidery with the added feature of giving back to the community. Together, Agape North and the Junior League designed T-shirts for members to purchase. “There are three different ways to donate uniforms,” says Williams. “You can do the one-to-one plan, which means that for every shirt you buy from us, we give one shirt to a child. There are also two-to-one and three-toone options that customers can work with, whatever their budget will allow.” The Junior League of Memphis chose the one-to-one plan and donated over 1,000 uniforms to Memphis schoolchildren. “The opportunity to do something for our members and also do something for the community was what drew us to Agape North,” says Carolyn Danley, president of the Junior League of Memphis. “We chose to partner with

PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY AGAPE NORTH

• • •

two of our G.R.O.W. [Giving, Readiness, Opportunity, and Wellness program] locations: Brewster Elementary and Cornerstone Prep. In the 2013-2014 school year, 500 shirts were donated to Brewster Elementary. This year, over 500 shirts [were donated to] to all students at Cornerstone Prep. We have already met with Agape to discuss the partnership for next year.” What sets Agape North’s concept apart from a philanthropic company like Tom’s is that the customer gets to actively participate in the giving. “The 1,000 percent growth that we’ve experienced in the past two years is proof that people want to be a part of this,” says Williams. “Brand-new school uniforms help kids focus on their education and not on their clothes.” “Students achieve more and are more successful when they feel like they are part of a community, and uniforms are a critical part of creating that culture.” says Drew Sippel, executive director of Capstone Education Group, which runs Cornerstone Prep. “We invite our partners to come with us and pass out the shirts,” Williams adds. “And this is a two-fold step in the process. Our customers get to see how happy they’re making the kids and the kids get to see that successful community members care about them.” Agape North’s client base isn’t limited to nonprofits. They have worked with dozens of universities and colleges, major corporations, churches, and businesses large and small. “Our next push is to go national, even international,” says Williams. “Uniforms have already been donated to schoolchildren internationally. We are working with a ministry in India that employs widows to make scarves, and we sell them on our website. We are hoping to involve them more in the other products we make, bringing the process full circle.” Nearly 30,000 school uniforms have been given away through Agape North partnerships, about 70 percent of those have been in Memphis. They do add in the cost of the uniform shirts to the ones the partners buy, but they still remain very competitive within the industry. “I’ve had people say we are more and less expensive than other companies,” Williams says. “But nobody is doing what we’re doing. People want to be a part of this. People want to give back.”

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M E M P H I S

B E A T

Ten news items you might have missed since our last issue.

3.27

Henry Turley Co. and Community Capital’s plans for a $55 million renovation of Central Station are revealed. Those plans include a hotel, movie theater, restaurants, and new apartments, along with the possibility of a grocery store. The building and grounds are now home to an Amtrak station, apartments, the Memphis Railroad and Trolley museum, event space, and the Memphis Farmers Market. Construction on the project could begin early next year with completion coming in stages, the hotel being finished August 2017. Much of the funding for the project would come from federal government grants.

4.1

Race for the Cure announces it will partner with new sponsor Raymond James and change its route to Downtown Memphis. The annual Susan G. Komen Foundation 5k race to raise funds for the fight against breast cancer has been at home in Germantown and Collierville for the past 22 years. This fall, it will be held on October 31st with a start and finish line at AutoZone Park. Race organizers are hoping to see 15,000 participants.

4.8

Plans are submitted to the Downtown Memphis Commission by Self+Tucker Architects to reimagine one of the city’s most prominent black business locations into mixed-use office and commercial space. The transformation of the building that once housed Universal Life Insurance, founded in 1921, at the corner of Danny Thomas Boulevard and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue, is projected to cost $6.2 million and be

financed through grants and a $1.8 million loan from First Tennessee.

4.9

Tennessee Brewery: The Revival opens for another season of beer, music, food trucks, and good times. After the success of last year’s Untapped events, the 125-year-old brewery at 495 Tennessee Street was purchased by Billy Orgel and partners for development into a mixed-use facility.

4.13

Triumph relocates its retail deposit activities to a new location at 7550 West Farmington Boulevard. Designed by Fleming Architects and built by F&F Construction, the stateof-the-art facility includes two kiosks built around innovative cash dispensing machines, allowing for efficiency and streamlining customer transactions to reduce wait times. A 4-by-7-foot video wall features educational videos on various online or mobile services, as well as identity theft protection and other information.

4.20

Thunderbird Towers LLC purchases the Adams Place Apartments, a 201-unit, Class C apartment building in the Medical Center for $6.4 million. Purchased from 750 Adams Place LLC, the 148,800-square-foot building was built in 1962, and was appraised at $2.1 million in 2014.

4.29

Bass Pro, the mega-retailer of all things outdoors, opens in the Pyramid to huge crowds and a media frenzy. The massive store features wildlife; Big Cypress Lodge, a 103-room hotel; and Uncle Buck’s Fishbowl and Grill,

a 420-seat restaurant with bowling alley. A freestanding elevator takes the curious more than 300 feet to The Lookout and a staggering view of the Memphis skyline.

5.3

One Beale — the on-againoff-again development from Carlisle Corp. at the foot of Beale Street at Wagner Place — is on again. An application with the Office of Planning & Development requests added amenities for the property. Already, plans included a luxury hotel with spa, restaurants, apartments, and office space. The new request seeks a performance hall and convention center, tavern, spa, hotel, and nightclub with seating for more than 125.

5.4

Plans submitted to the Land Use Control Board by Solomito Land Planning call for the old French Quarter Inn Suites, what many consider the last great puzzle piece of a revitalized Overton Square, to be razed and a more modern boutique hotel built in its place. Hotel Overton, a five-story, 75,500-square-foot hotel with 134 suites, a restaurant, fitness center, and rooftop bar, is the latest venture from local hotelier Artesano Hotel Group.

at the pyramid Bass Pro Shops at the Pyramid is more than just a store; it’s an adventure. The massive destination experience offers something for everyone, from the serious outdoor enthusiast to families looking to have fun. There’s nothing else like it anywhere in the world.

5.5

Plans are announced for two new restaurants to open in two of Memphis’ most eagerly awaited developments. Kimbal Musk and Hugo Matheson, founders of farm fresh and locally sourced food concepts in Colorado and Illinois, will open The Kitchen at Shelby Farms Park and The Kitchen Next Door in the Crosstown Concourse. They will begin operation in 2016 and 2017. memphis , tennessee basspro . com

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D E V E L O P M E N T

Thanks to the visionary leadership of many business leaders, residents, and elected officials, development in Downtown Memphis is accelerating at an unprecedented pace. Long-time vacant eyesores will enjoy second lives as vibrant, mixed-used developments. New construction at the Orpheum Centre for Performing Arts & Education and One Beale are reshaping entire city blocks. The Harahan Bridge, Central Station, and the Pyramid are in the midst of astonishing reinventions. Neighborhoods like South Main and the Edge see new residents and private-sector investment arrive practically every day. The challenge before us is to use this growth to make our urban core as livable and equitable as possible. At the heart of this vision is a relentless focus on the properties, streets, rights-of-way, and public spaces that literally define downtown. Blight depresses the values of adjacent parcels and properties, dragging down the values and investment potential of entire neighborhoods. Removing blight, even a small parcel, often triggers an “upward spiral” of new development, raising values, generating more tax revenue that supports services all over Memphis. Between 2000 and 2013, Downtown saw population spike by 18 percent, even as our metro area as a whole lost population. Downtown appeals to a vast range of workers and families because it is by far the most vibrant and walkable area of Memphis. Blight properties are repellent to that vibrancy and walkability. Removing unsightly, dangerous hazard properties, either through demolition or renovation, typically requires identification of the property’s actual owners — not always an easy feat. Fortunately, Shelby County has a terrific mechanism for untangling these complicated issues — Judge “NOT BY HER HOUSES NEAT, Potter’s Environmental NOR BY HER WELL-BUILT Court, where Barlow has made frequent WALLS . . . A CITY STANDS over the OR FALLS BUT BY HER MEN.” appearances past five years, often on —ALCAEUS DMC’s behalf. Some of (6TH CENTURY POET) the properties we have worked on you would certainly recognize: the James Lee House in Victorian Village, the Toof Building next to AutoZone Park, and the Tennessee Brewery, all of which are now being redeveloped. Others were found to be in such deplorable condition that we had to demolish them — at the owner’s expense — before they caused harm to passers-by. At the entrance to City Hall, an engraved quote from • • • B Y PA U L M O R R I S Alcaeus reads, “Not by her houses neat, nor by her wellbuilt walls … a City stands or falls but by her men.” The Recently, the Downtown Memphis Commission (DMC) Board of wisdom of these words (which I would, of course, also apply to women!) is unassailable. DMC’s anti-blight Directors received a presentation from Steve Barlow of Brewer & campaign is a long-term commitment to keeping our Barlow PLC, the DMC’s “anti-blight attorney,” and Larry Chan, a houses and walls clean, secure, and strong so that the member of our planning and development team, about our ongoing creativity of Memphis’ men and women can flourish for • anti-blight campaign. It was a startling reminder of how far we generations to come.

Eradicate blight, improve the urban core

have come in our efforts to protect the integrity of downtown’s built environment — and how much exciting work remains before us. 16 |

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D O W N T O W N

Paul Morris is president of the Downtown Memphis Commission .

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ILLUSTRATION BY KMLMTZ66 / DREAMSTIME

B A N K I N G

Smart financial relationships foster dreams • • •

B Y

S T E V E

S U T TO N

Break It Down Towing is a small business that has been proudly headquartered in Orange Mound for the last 17 years. Its owner, Antonio “Tony” Anderson, has a proven record of service and dedication, but still he struggled to get the capital needed to expand his business. It was clear from our first meeting that he was an industrious, creative entrepreneur with whom we were going to have a very productive and enjoyable banking relationship. A loan from Financial Federal funded a new tow truck that enables Break It Down to tow vehicles up to 30,000 pounds and, most importantly, be a leader in the local industry and his own community.

“TO AN OUTSIDE OBSERVER, IT MAY SEEM MERELY LIKE THE APPROVAL OF A LOAN, BUT FOR THE CLIENT, IT IS MUCH MORE” —STEVE SUT TON

Banking is rarely characterized as exciting or cutting-edge, but that’s not the perspective I have on my industry. One of the most interesting aspects of being a lending officer at Financial Federal is the variety of people and businesses, such as Tony and his towing company, with which we have the privilege

to interact. We are regularly the first stop for people who are growing businesses, changing lifestyles, and starting new ventures. In most cases the common element is change, and generally it is a positive one. One of the most satisfying roles we play is facilitator for people who are starting or expanding businesses and need the capital to do it. They have invested a tremendous amount of thought and consideration to a monumental undertaking that without question has some aspect of risk. Will it work? Is the product going to be well received? Is inventory adequate? They’ve asked themselves these and volumes of other questions; their answers have been revised and refined. Then it’s our turn to ask the questions: Can you qualify for the loan? Do your assumptions pass the test? This is when we generally have the good fortune to advance the effort and say “yes” to our client’s request. To an outside observer, it may seem merely like the approval of a loan, but for the client, it is much more. It is the accelerator and green light to proceed. There is a feeling of anticipation that turns to energy and then momentum. This transition is truly remarkable to watch and participate in. I have benefited greatly by being a part of these transformative moments on many occasions, and I’ve discovered that the most satisfying are when we are able to help small businesses to succeed. The increased towing capacity of Tony’s new equipment is just one example of the life-altering effect a sound business plan and reliable banking relationship can have. So while banking may not be looked upon as one the most thrilling industries, the feeling of accomplishment that comes from these collaborations is truly motivating. Knowing that our work has benefits — not simply to our customers but to their family, employees, associates, and community — keeps me as excited about my business as our clients are about theirs. • Steve Sutton is Executive Vice President of Financial Federal Bank.

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Myriad healthcare options even the scales • • •

B Y

R I C K

D O N LO N

Shelby County has adequate physician and primary care resources to serve its entire population, but those resources aren’t evenly dispersed. That misdistribution has led to dramatic differences in the severity of disease and even life span for Shelby County residents, depending on one’s zip code. Traditional market forces have led physicians and hospitals to areas populated by patients with favorable means of payment, and away from communities with concentrations of uninsured and under-insured people. In much of the eastern parts of our county, doctors compete with doctors for patients. Conversely, patients compete with patients for doctors in many other areas. Several public and private healthcare agencies have viewed low-income communities as opportunities for growth. They’ve developed “IT’S UNCLEAR WHERE THE nontraditional economic models and used LARGE NUMBER OF NEWLY them to strengthen the medical safety net and combat health disparities. INSURED PATIENTS WILL For many years Regional One Health OBTAIN CARE.” (formerly The MED) has operated commu— RICK DONLON nity-based medical clinics staffed by physicians and nurse practitioners. Uninsured patients pay below-market rates for care, and Regional One Health bills and receives revenue for services delivered to Medicare, TennCare (Tennessee’s version of Medicaid), and privately insured patients. Additionally, both county and state governments provide supplemental revenue to offset the large amount of discounted or free care provided by the hospital and its four clinics. Since 1987, Church Health Center has provided discounted medical and dental care to the working 18 |

poor — those who have jobs but not access to employer-provided health insurance. The majority of CHC’s revenue comes through the philanthropic support of individuals, faith communities, corporations, and charitable foundations. In addition, CHC has a robust system for hosting medical, dental, and nursing volunteers, as well as partnering with specialists and hospital-based doctors in the area. Christ Communit y Health Services and the Memphis Health Center are known as federally qualified health centers (FQHC) — nonprofit organizations located in the most underserved communities, serving overwhelmingly low-income and uninsured patients. The benefits of FQHC status include hundreds of thousands of dollars in direct federal funding, augmented payment for Medicaid and Medicare patients, malpractice protection, and the ability to purchase medicines at the same steeply discounted prices enjoyed by the federal government. Resurrection Health, the nonprofit organization my partners and I recently founded, is a hybrid of the above models. Our physicians, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants work for significantly lower salaries than seen across the rest of the market — and many of them live in the communities of need where they work. We haven’t yet enjoyed much in the way of philanthropic support or government grants, but we’ve leveraged our low personnel and occupancy costs to offer discounted care to uninsured patients. We also participate in the provider networks of all three Medicaid-managed care organizations. The Affordable Care Act has altered the landscape for those who provide care for the poor and uninsured, but the law’s full impact isn’t yet known. The ACA provided billions of dollars for states to expand their Medicaid programs to reach those who earn less than 137 percent of the poverty level and don’t qualify for the state Medicaid programs. However, the Tennessee legislature has thus far rejected Medicaid expansion. Despite the stutters, some form of health insurance expansion is inevitable. When it happens, there will be significantly fewer uninsured patients but more with Medicaid or some coverage like it. It’s unclear where the large number of newly insured patients will obtain care. It’s also unclear if philanthropic and government funders of healthcare for the poor will continue to support the above agencies at the same levels. •

ILLUSTRATION BY KMLMTZ66 / DREAMSTIME

H E A L T H C A R E

Rick Donlon is CEO of Resurrection Health.

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rovid qui quae nonsequi verunt, offictor

S P O R T S

Embrace the 12-month business cycle. This can be a source of anxiety, according to Cannon. There is no quarterly report for the FESJC (though a 10-person board oversees money matters). Adding a new expense in 2015, for instance, may not fully impact the budget until 2017. Plan carefully, with the big picture in mind. Says Cannon, “We measure success 12 months at a time.” Persuade stakeholders to avoid procrastination. “We need to convince people to think about the tournament in August, not April,” says Cannon. “Nobody wants to think about it until after the Masters and, by that time, it’s all said and done.” Selling golf during football season in the Mid-South is a Herculean task. Cannon and his staff aim to renew existing business alliances by December 1st so they can focus on new business as the year turns. Find a hometown title sponsor next door. No company in America has sponsored a PGA event longer than FedEx, the Fortune 500 company whose headquarters are literally adjacent to the TPC Southwind course. According to Cannon, a title sponsor brings in a “high-seven-figure” stream of revenue for a golf tournament. FedEx returned as title sponsor for the FESJC in 2011 after serving the same role from 1986 to 2006.

Putting for dough at the FESJC. • • •

B Y

F R A N K

M U R TA U G H

ILLUSTRATION BY KMLMTZ66 / DREAMSTIME

This year’s FedEx St. Jude Classic (June 8-14) will mark the 58th consecutive year the PGA Tour has spent a week in Memphis. Tournament director Phil Cannon has been an eyewitness to most of those tournaments, having first worked as a volunteer at the 1968 Memphis Invitational Open (won by Bob Lunn). I asked Phil for some tips to keeping a PGA tournament profitable. Most of them are healthy for any business enterprise.

Exist in a town with the world’s top charity and embrace them for 46 years. St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital became the local tournament’s sole beneficiary in 1970. That year, the tournament donated $10,600 of its proceeds to the hospital. Last year, the FESJC wrote a check for $1.9 million to St. Jude. Professional golfers, sponsors, and nearly every golf fan on the planet recognize St. Jude’s worldwide impact. That connection is gold for a golf tournament. Educate first-timers about a PGA Tour event. “You’d be amazed,” says Cannon, “at how many people come to the tournament for the first time and are surprised they have to walk.” Attending a PGA event is not like going to an NBA game or a tennis tournament. There are areas where fans can sit (and see multiple holes), but the experience is enhanced when you do the same thing the golfers do: walk the course.

Run a business first. The FESJC sells at least 20 Empower volunteers. Cannon says more than 1,800 products (or experiences), each with a profit/loss comvolunteers contribute more than 25,000 hours a year to ponent that impacts the tournament’s bottom line. the FESJC cause, from picking up garWhether it’s a $625 ticket package (25 bage to administering first aid. That is one-day tickets) or an $8,950 package civic engagement. that delivers access to the all-inclu“A TITLE SPONSOR BRINGS sive, air-conditioned pavilion along The best time to sell next year’s IN A ‘HIGH-SEVEN-FIGURE’ the 18th fairway, a golf tournament event is during this year’s event. must be sold before it can succeed. STREAM OF REVENUE FOR A Like that conversation you heard between Phil Mickelson and his GOLF TOURNAMENT.” Plan for the maximum, not the caddy on the fourth tee? There are minimum. “If you’re going to need — PHIL CANNON more memories to be made, inside 150 carts on Wednesday, but only 100 or outside a hospitality tent. Sign up now. • on Friday,” explains Cannon, “go ahead and get the 150.” Whether it’s transportation, catering, or restrooms, err Frank Murtaugh is managing editor of inside memphis on the side of making your customers comfortable. No business and memphis, and a life-long sports fan. one has ever complained about too much TLC. J U N E / J U LY 2 0 1 5 | I N S I D E M E M P H I S B U S I N E S S . C O M |

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sPeciAliziNG iN

eMPlOYee BeNeFiTs &FiNANciAl seRVices FiNDiNG cUsTOMizeD seRVice sOlUTiONs At the Barnett Group, we have the expertise, experience and flexibility to meet all of your benefit needs, including financial services. Allow our team of professionals to work with you to create a plan that maximizes benefits and minimizes costs. Whether you’re an individual, small company or large corporation, The Barnett Group can tailor a solution that’s right for you. www.gobarnett.com www.barnettfg.com

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7906 Players Forest Drive • Memphis, TN 38119 Phone: 901.365.3447 • Fax: 901.205.1021

5/4/15 9:33 AM

P O W E R

CRAIG BLONDIS Managing Partner, Central BBQ. Educated at the University of Tennessee and University of Memphis. Former manager, Molly’s La Casita, Pig-NWhistle, and Garibaldi’s Pizza; bartender, Houlihan’s, Outlaw, Scruples, and the Poplar Lounge. Member, Memphis Restaurant Association and National Barbecue Association. Contributor to St. Jude, Youth Villages, Rock-n-Romp, Memphis Athletic Ministries, Streets Ministries, Project Green Fork, and Memphis Police Department. Repeat winner, Best Barbecue Ribs, Memphis magazine.

P L A Y E R S

Restaurateurs

KAREN BLOCKMAN CARRIER Chef, President, and Proprietor, Beauty Shop Restaurant, Mollie Fontaine Lounge, Bar DKDC, and Another Roadside Attraction Catering. B.F.A., Memphis College of Art and educated at the New York Cooking School. Former Owner and Chef, Cielo Restaurant and Automatic Slim’s Tonga Club in Memphis; and Lunch Catering, Bon Ton Roule, and Automatic Slim’s “One Bar Under a Groove” in New York City. Honored by Gourmet’s Top 100 Restaurants in 2002 and Conde’ Nast Traveler’s Hot Tables of 2003. GERALD “BUD” CHITTOM Opened approximately 50 restaurants, including Blues City Cafe, in Memphis, mainly on Beale Street, the north side of downtown, and Overton Square. Opened Jerry Lee Lewis’ Cafe & Honky Tonk, and the new Five Spot, a small bar and restaurant behind Earnestine & Hazel’s. For years, a prominent figure on the dining-out scene, introducing new tastes of Creole cooking and chicken and waffles to Memphis. Honored with a Brass Note on Beale Street in 2011.

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JEFFREY DUNHAM Chef and Owner, The Grove Grill. Educated at Culinary Institute of America. Has experience in independent restaurant ﬁne dining, hotel ﬁne dining, hospital food service, and research/development for chain restaurants. Received Ivy Award; Operator of the Year “Silver Plate Award,” International Food Manufacturers Association; and Restaurateur of the Year, Tennessee and Memphis Restaurant Associations. Past President, MRA. Board Member, Tyson Food Service Leadership Network.

Memphis’ long-standing love affair with world-class cuisine has made it one of the premier foodie towns anywhere. While we’re well known for our barbecue, ribs, and fried chicken, most locals know and visitors find out that we have lots more to offer every palate. From fine dining to food trucks, breakfast to desserts, hundreds of vibrant dining establishments line the streets, each offering its own unique taste. With so many worthy restaurants to choose from, this POWER PLAYERS selection was particularly difficult to narrow down. In selecting these POWER PLAYERS, we emphasized prominent and award-winning restaurateurs and chef-owners who have exhibited longevity in the business. They know the way to our hearts, and we thank them from the bottom of our stomachs. Bon appétit.

KELLY ENGLISH Chef and Owner, Restaurant Iris and The Second Line. Chef/Consultant, Magnolia House, Harrahs Gulf Coast. Educated at Culinary Institute of America. Named Memphis Prince of Porc, 2012, Cochon 555. Member, Founder’s Council, Atlanta Food & Wine Festival. Named 2010 Restaurateur of the Year, Memphis Restaurant Association, and James Beard Award Semiﬁnalist for Best Chef, Southeast 2010. Consistent winner, Best Restaurant, Chef, and Service, Memphis, and Best Restaurant and Chef, Memphis Flyer.

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GEORGE FALLS Founder, Paulette’s Restaurant, and developer, Downtown Grill in Oxford, Mississippi, and Three Oaks Grill, Napa Café, and River Inn of Harbor Town in Memphis. Bachelor, Ole Miss. Former Senior Vice President, Holiday Inns. Named Restaurateur of the Year, Tennessee and Memphis Restaurant Associations. Former Chairman, Memphis Symphony Orchestra, Memphis CVB, Baptist Memorial Foundation, and Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Memphis. Member, Society of Entrepreneurs. JERRY FEINSTONE Co-Founder, Boscos and Ghost River Brewery. After 25 years as a stockbroker, started Ghost River, Memphis’ ﬁrst craft brewery, in 2007. Board Member, Wolf River Conservancy. Boscos beer has won numerous awards and has been featured in national publications including Drinking Made Easy, Southern Living, All About Beer, Men’s Journal, Beer, National Restaurant News, The Taste of Memphis Cookbook, The Pocket Guide to Beer, and The World Guide to Beer. JOSÉ GUTIERREZ Chef, River Oaks Restaurant. Educated at Professional Culinary School in France; trained under Chefs Roger Petit, Francis Trocelie, and Paul Bocuse. Former Owner and Chef, Encore Restaurant and Bar; Chef de Cuisine, Chez Philippe, Peabody Hotel; and Chef de Cuisine, Restaurant de France, Meridian Hotel. Named Master Chef of the Year, 2011 and 1996, Maitre Cuisinier de France. Received Great American Chef Award, 1999, and Chef of the Century, 1998, The American Academy of Hospitality and Sciences.

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GLENN HAYS Owner and Operator, Cafe 1912, and Investor, Sweet Grass and Sweet Grass Next Door. Bachelor, Rhodes. Former men’s track and cross country coach, University of Memphis, for 36 years before retiring in 2007. Owned and operated La Tourelle for 30 years before selling it to Kelly English. Received Pioneer Award, 1977, for La Tourelle, by Memphis Restaurant Association. Married to wife, Martha, in charge of accounting and special events at Cafe 1912, for 43 years, with two daughters. MICHAEL HUDMAN & ANDREW TICER Chefs and Owners, Andrew Michael Italian Kitchen, Hog & Hominy, and Porcellino’s Craft Butcher. Both attended Johnson & Wales University and Italian Culinary Institute. Hog & Hominy honored by GQ, Southern Living, and Bon Appetit. James Beard Foundation ﬁnalists for Best Chef, Southeast, 2015; semi-ﬁnalist, Best New Restaurant, Best Chef, Southeast, 2012, 2013, 2014. Food & Wine ’s 2013 Best New Chefs. Named in

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Starchefs.com’s 2014 KY-TN Rising Star Chefs. Authors of Collards & Carbonara: Southern Cooking, Italian Roots. Best Italian, Memphis magazine. JIMMY ISHII Chef and Owner, nine Sekisui restaurants, Sekisui Pacific Rim, Bluefin at Peabody Place, and Robata Ramen & Yakitori Bar in Overton Square; Investor, Bari; Founder, Sekisui International Travel. Bachelor, St. Louis. Previously worked at Benihana of Tokyo in Memphis and Robata in St. Louis. President, Elvis Fan Club in Tokyo. Named Best Japanese Restaurant since Sekisui’s opening, Memphis. Named Restaurateur of the Year, 1999, Memphis Restaurant Association, and Entrepreneur of the Year, 2000, Memphis Business Journal. Cooked at James Beard House in 2002. ERLING JENSEN Owner and Executive Chef, Erling Jensen, The Restaurant. Voted Best Restaurant in Memphis poll numerous times. Native of Denmark who has been cooking since he was a teenager. Has been featured in Food & Wine and Southern Living. Previously worked for Glenn Hays at La Tourelle before opening his own place 19 years ago. Has 40 years of experience in the industry. Has cooked twice at the James Beard House. Supporter of March of Dimes and Special Olympics. WALLY JOE Chef and Partner, Acre, and former Executive Chef, Brushmark at the Memphis Brooks Museum of Arts. B.B.A., University of Mississippi. Grew up in the family business, the legendary KC’s in Cleveland, Mississippi. Named to Fine Dining Hall of Fame, National Restaurant Association. Named James Beard Rising Star Chef of the 21st Century. Honored with AAA Four Diamonds rating and was first Mississippi Chef invited to cook at James Beard House. Lead Chef in dinner honoring King Juan Carlos of Spain. PRESTON LAMM CEO, River City Management, which includes Rum Boogie Cafe, King’s Palace Cafe, Pig on Beale, Mesquite Chop House (Southaven, Memphis, and Germantown), and Spindini. Educated at Mississippi State. Former Board Member, Memphis Convention & Visitors Bureau, Memphis Music Commission, and the DeSoto Arts Council. Received Pioneer Award, 2004, Memphis Restaurant Association, for redeveloping restaurant business on Beale Street. Finalist, 2013 CEO of the Year Awards, IMB. SUHAIR LAUCK Owner and Chef, The Little Tea Shop, since 1982 when she and her late husband, Jimmy, bought the landmark eatery from Vernon Bell. Describes herself as “Palestinian by birth; American by choice,” and makes all dishes without recipes, uses herbs and spices instead of salt and

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lard. Serving only lunch, they originally opened in 1918 and was the first “pork-free” restaurant in Memphis; today it has “forbidden” tables for regular customers. In 2008, featured by Guy Fieri on the Food Network. ANTONIO MARTINEZ Owner and Operator, three locations of Las Delicias. Associate degree in information technology, and previously had a career in IT. Has owned and operated restaurant for 12 years. Las Delicias named Best Mexican Restaurant in 2012 and 2013, Memphis Flyer and Memphis magazine. Food donor for many hospitals and associations, money donor for police and firefighters. Married to wife, Leila, for 35 years, father of Gabriel, Marco, and Mauricio, and daughters-in-law work with with Martinez.

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LAUREN BOGGS MCHUGH President and Co-Owner, Huey’s eight locations where she works closely with family. Partner, Folk’s Folly Steakhouse, Half Shell, and Tsunami. Bachelor and Master, University of Memphis. Huey’s is a consistent winner in Memphis Flyer and Memphis magazine restaurant polls. Previously worked for National Bank of Commerce in the Bank Card and Commercial Lending Divisions. Board Member, Shelby Farms Park Conservancy and Paragon National Bank. Member, Kiwanis Club of Memphis. Graduate, Leadership Memphis. Co-Chair, Feed the Need. BARRY PELTS Co-Owner and President, Corky’s BarB-Q. Bachelor, Rollins College. Started as a busboy for his father at age 13 at the Public Eye; worked as a cashier at the Public Eye and waited tables at Corky’s. Voted #1 barbecue in Memphis by readers of Memphis, Memphis Flyer, and The Commercial Appeal numerous times. Named to “Top 40 Under 40,” Memphis Business Journal. Member, Memphis, Tennessee, and National Restaurant Associations. Contributor and supporter of numerous local nonproﬁts. CORDELL PIRTLE Owner, Jack Pirtle’s Chicken, with eight Memphis locations. 2014 Memphis Distinguished Restaurateur of the Year. After growing up in the business since its opening in 1957, took ownership of restaurants from his parents, Jack and Orva Pirtle, in 1980. Carries on the tradition of homemade seasoning created by his father. Consistent Best Fried Chicken ﬁnalist, Memphis Flyer and Memphis. With his wife, Tawanda Todd Pirtle, lives downtown and believes that being active in and giving back to our community is a major key to success. PATRICK REILLY Owner/Chef, The Majestic Grille. Graduate, Dublin School of Catering & Hotel Management; apprenticeship, Guinness headquarters. Frequent finalist, Best Chef and Restaurant, Memphis and Memphis Flyer. Past

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president, Memphis Restaurant Association. Board, Tennessee Hospitality & Tourism Association, Memphis Convention & Visitors Bureau. Founding Member, Downtown Dining Week. Advised on Food Truck Legislation. CoOrganizer, ‘Made in Memphis’ Dinner at James Beard House, Spring 2014. BEN SMITH Executive Chef and Owner, Tsunami. Educated at Culinary Institute of America. Previously worked at Stars Restaurant and Cafe Mozart, San Francisco; Chesleigh Homestead, Australia; and Lodge Hawaii. Named 2010 Restaurateur of the Year, Memphis Restaurant Association. Frequent winner and finalist, Best Restaurant, Seafood, and Chef, Memphis Flyer and Memphis. Member, Project Green Fork and Memphis Restaurant Association. Past Vice President, CooperYoung Business Association. JOHN C. VERGOS Co-Owner, The Rendezvous restaurant and Vergos International Products, its USDA shipping kitchen. Bachelor, Southern Methodist University; J.D., University of Memphis. Board Member, MATA and Regional One Health. Previously practiced law and worked for Downtowner Hotels and Zuider Zee restaurants. Founder and first Chairman, the Penal Farm for Public Use Committee (group that saved Shelby Farms, 1972). Organizer, Timpani Condominiums (first renovated Downtown condo). Former Member, Memphis City Council. ERIC VERNON Co-Owner and Operations Manager, Bar-B-Q Shop, LLC; Marketing Manager, Dancing Pigs Bar-B-Q Sauce Product Line. Bachelor and M.B.A., University of Memphis. Helped establish restaurant from local favorite into a nationally recognized restaurant featured on Bizarre Foods, Bobby Flay TV shows, Southern Living, and USA Today. Involved in brand development for the Dancing Pigs Product Line. Executive Board Member and Treasurer, Madison Avenue Association. Involved with BRIDGES.

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FELICIA WILLETT Owner, Operator, and Executive Chef, Felicia Suzanne’s and Flo’s Homemade Goodness product line. Bachelor’s degree from the University of Memphis; Master’s from Johnson & Wales. Previously Emeril Lagasse’s assistant; writer and producer, Food Network’s Essence of Emeril and Emeril Live. Co-author, Every Day’s a Party and Emeril’s TV Dinners. Recipient, Memphis Restaurant Association ‘Restaurateur of the Year.’ Co-founder, Downtown Dining Week. Member, Downtown Neighborhood Association, Project Green Fork, Southern Foodways Alliance, and James Beard Foundation. J U N E / J U LY 2 0 1 5 | I N S I D E M E M P H I S B U S I N E S S . C O M |

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Wilson • • •

ARKANSAS

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DELTA

T O W N S E N D

RENAISSANCE

1. Family patriarch Robert E. Lee “Bob” Wilson III (RIGHT) with longtime Arkansas senator J. William Fulbright (SECOND FROM LEFT), ca. 1955. [photo from Special Collections, University of Arkansas Libraries] 2. Landscaped grounds of the Wildwood mansion. 3. Distinctive architecture is a characteristic of the Wilson town square. 4. Jenifer Fox, founding principal of The Delta School, sees Wilson as “the ideal site to start a creative technical education center.” 5. Wildwood, the Wilson family mansion, is destined to become The Delta School. 6. King Cotton: The Wilsons were known as “the unofficial first family of cotton.” Their Kaiser gin (ca. 1939) in full operation is seen here. [photo by Jack Pryor, Special Collections, University of Arkansas Libraries] 7. Leslie Wolverton, Wilson Gardens manager, has started a Community Supported Agriculture program and farm school.

P H O T O G R A P H S

E I L E E N

“You are as far away from Memphis as you could possibly be anywhere

Forty minutes from Downtown Memphis is a former company town all dressed in Tudor and ready for the spotlight.

• • •

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rush, or what he hoped would be the dinner rush. Cartwright speaks in a straightforward manner with an accent common to the area, but his menu was no fried catfish: That night it was halibut with cannellini beans, dressed with basil oil. “Last night we fed 25 people; tonight we may feed three,” said Cartwright. “Saturday it may be 100. They are starting to trust me with lunch, but dinner has been a little slower to take off.” We were in a part of the world, he reminded me, where the evening meal is known as “supper” and where there isn’t much nightlife to draw people out of their homes past sunset. Cartwright admits that basil oil may sound a bit highfalutin’ for the Delta town of just under a thousand residents, but he insists that his approach to the food is as simple as it gets. “There is a funny guy I follow on Twitter,” he said, “who made a real poignant tweet recently about how restaurateurs and chefs are taking local and regional staples and manipulating them so much that the people who produced them can no longer afford

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ABOVE: Black Walnut Groves on the manicured grounds of the Wilson estate. INSET: Rendering of the proposed Hampson Archeological Museum, destined to be the first new building built on the historic Wilson town square in 57 years.

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all about community.” The Wilson Café is only a small part of the equation, but it’s an important one. For a town only recently emerging from several decades of population decline and death of local industry, the café’s revitalization is a symbol of a hopeful new era. If Wilson, Arkansas, is familiar to Memphians, it is most likely because of what it used to be: the most important company town in the South, home to the landrich Wilson Company and generations of the Wilson family. Over the course of 100 years, the descendants of Robert E. Lee (or “Boss Lee”) Wilson built an agricultural empire on the backs of sharecropping labor, meanwhile gaining a regional notoriety as the unofficial first family of cotton. Their holdings eventually came to include upwards of 20,000 acres of contiguous farmland, some of the most fertile in the country. Perhaps it follows that Wilson has its eccentricities: The town square and the Wilson family mansion — an imposing building known as “Wildwood” — were built in the Tudor style, following the return of one of the Wilson heirs from a honeymoon in England. It is strange to find sharply sloping roofs and intricate brickwork amid the flat cotton fields. The buildings stand as a strange symbol

of the enormous power and wealth wielded by the Wilsons at the height of their influence. When the Wilsons sold their land to investor Gaylon Lawrence Jr. in 2010, for an estimated $150 million, it seemed as if the new owner might be merely a portfolio investor interested in the land for strictly financial reasons but distant from the area’s community life. The historian Jeannie Whayne wrote in her 2011 book on Wilson, Delta Empire, “Gaylon Lawrence’s purchase of the Wilson estate mirrors a larger trend among investment firms acquiring agricultural lands, purchases that made sense during the economic crisis that began in 2007. . . . Most of the people represented by these firms, people who now hold agricultural real estate in their portfolios, have no knowledge of or interest in the agricultural process or the people and communities engaged in them.” If anything, the opposite scenario has played out over the past five years in Wilson. Gaylon Lawrence Jr. has invested deeply in the town and developed an ambitious plan for its future. Lawrence, a Nashville-based investor whose other investments include a large citrus operation in Florida and heating and cooling industries in California, is one of the premier agricultural investors

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in the country, but the reputation that precedes him is one of a down-to-earth guy with a genuine interest in people. Even if he flies a private helicopter into town, Lawrence is a familiar face at festivals and in the café. Lawrence hired an educator and artist named John Faulkner to act as town planner and together they began construction of a progressive school, artists’ studios, agriculture education programs, and new housing for residents at different income levels. “There was nothing to buy and nothing to rent in Wilson,” Faulkner told me. Lawrence has also bolstered local public programs and worked to improve aspects of town cultural life such as festivals and the condition of an important local archeological museum, the Hampson Museum. When I asked Joe Cartwright what he thought Gaylon Lawrence’s interest in the region was, he laughed and replied: “It’s a hell of a hobby.” John Faulkner, a northeastern transplant with a background in photography, has another explanation: “Gaylon Jr. has a profound interest in everything agricultural. He bought [the land] for the farming, but what happened is that he became interested in turning Wilson into kind of a remarkable town in the Delta

and really bringing it back alive.” When asked what philosophy drives the redevelopment, Faulkner replies: “Families who live in rural America want a couple of things. They want a safe town, and they want very good education for their kids, because ultimately if the kids are happy, the family is happy.” That was the premise behind the founding of The Delta School, an independent school designated to open this coming fall in a renovated Wilson family mansion. Faulkner gave me a tour of the estate, which looks drawn directly from a C.S. Lewis novel. The interiors of the former home are cool and austere, made of stone and hand-carved wood that was initially imported from an abandoned European abbey. Before 2010, a Wilson matriarch lived alone in the massive property, cultivating a secret garden and horse pastures. The school’s founding principal is a Harvard-trained educator named Jenifer Fox who was hired this past year to design a progressive curriculum. Tuition for the school is $10,500 but there are scholarships available from a unique, agriculture-supported project through which farmers donate land and time, and profits go to providing need-based funding for students.

ABOVE: Prior to 2010, a Wilson matriarch lived in Wildwood, which is made of stone and hand-carved wood imported from an abandoned European abbey. INSET: John Faulkner, the Wilson city planner, inside a Wilson warehouse to be turned into an art gallery.

For More information on the Lawrence family check out this month’s “Spotlight” on Wilson in Memphis magazine, our sister publication, or on-line at www.memphismagazine.com.

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Shary Haley and Joe Cartwright, Wilson Café owner and chef, prepare for the annual Kentucky Derby Day events. RIGHT: Wilson Café.

Fox, a warm and energetic woman in her early 50s, says she was drawn to the project because she saw an opportunity not only to practice her own educational philosophies (which she outlines in the 2008 book, Your Child’s Strengths), but because she sees Wilson as the ideal site to start a creative technical education center. It will embrace an educational program called the “Maker Movement” which, according to Faulkner, is “an interesting merger between industrial arts, computer design, problem solving, the arts itself, and marketing.” Fox corroborated what Faulkner told me: “We believe that whenever you can take theoretical knowledge and ask students to apply it in some meaningful way, that exercise will often be more meaningful than if they got a B-plus on the test.” I also asked Faulkner whether he thinks the legacy of the land, as a symbol of power during a time of deep racism, will be alienating to African-American members of the community. Faulkner replied, “What better way to break that legacy down than to make it a school that is inclusive? You never really heal that wound, but you certainly don’t ignore it. I feel that it would be very different if Gaylon Lawrence had this as his house rather than donating it to a nonprofit.” The school will also include agricultural education and partner with Wilson Gardens, where garden manager Leslie Wolverton has

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engineered a Community Supported Agriculture (or CSA) program and a farm school around gardens that will eventually help to support the Wilson Café.

hen I met Wolverton that same afternoon, she was fresh out of the gardens and looked a little sun-beat. Wolverton, who recently graduated from Mississippi State with a degree in agronomy, was clearly excited as she told me about her plans for the gardens. “I started with a junkyard,” she told me. “I really did.” “Obviously,” she continued, “when I was put forth to design this business, I structured it on commerce because we have to make money [with things like] agro-tourism to get people here to experience this and receive education. [We started] a Saturday farm camp that opens up in June, so the kids will come spend four hours here, run amok over the whole farm, hopefully learn some things, and then end in the kitchen where they can cook what they took from the farm. And I hope to have many more events, like tomato canning workshops for adults and for kids.” Wolverton and her team were in the midst of preparing for a Kentucky Derby Party to be held in the nearby kitchen education building.

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Leslie told me, gesturing towards the set up, “I hope that things like this — posh parties and chefs dinners and farm-to-table weddings and etcetera can help fund the events for the community that might not otherwise be able to enjoy this place.” We looked out across the road, where the Wilson town square sat quietly in the shadow of the Wilson Company’s gutted industrial buildings. The light was growing low and the feeling of a warm southern evening was settling over Wilson. No cars moved through the town, which — many people pointed out to me — does not have a single stoplight.

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The town square was built in the Tudor style following the return of one of the Wilson heirs from a honeymoon in England.

I Friday, June 12th | 7:00pm-10:00pm The Booksellers at Laurelwood | 387 Perkins Extended, Memphis, TN 38117 Come take in live music as you sample cocktails and delicious food, and bid on amazing auction packages. Vote for your favorite drink and enjoy a Martini Showdown utilizing mystery ingredients. Meet bestselling author Marja Mills, author of the Harper Lee memoir The Mockingbird Next Door.

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Straight up fun for a good cause!

20% of all sales at Booksellers the night of the event benefit Literacy Mid-South.

t was hard to imagine, at the moment, someone who would not enjoy this place, if purely for its beauty. The next few years will tell whether the visionary planning that has inspired The Delta School, café, gardens, and other aspects of the project will make a marked change in community life. But no doubt Lawrence’s team is off to a running start. As Wolverton and I discussed her plans for the coming season, I was reminded of what Joe Cartwright said when I asked him whether he thought the town would draw new energy: “There is this movement towards a simpler lifestyle across the country. A real desire for more simplicity.” •

Sponsored by:

Eileen Townsend writes regularly on the arts for the memphis flyer. She is also a contributing editor for memphis magazine.

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Small s s e n i s u B Central PHOTOGRAPH BY KONSTANTYNOV | DREAMSTIME

2015

IMB’s annual focus on small business presents industry-specific experts and showcases best practices from veterans and rookies alike. • • •

C O M P I L E D

B Y

R I C H A R D

A L L E Y

The National Small Business Association (NSBA) released its 2014 year-end Economic Report earlier this year and noted a positive economic outlook among small business owners. Most notably, there was a 14 percent increase in small businesses that are projecting economic expansion in the coming years. Small business by the numbers* 93.5 — Percentage of all new net jobs created by small businesses since 1989. 21.9 million — Number of new jobs that percentage represents. 4,000 — New jobs per day represented. 13 — Times more patents were created per employee than large ﬁrms.

75 — Percentage of small business owners citing economic uncertainty as one of the most signiﬁcant challenges they face in growing their business. (43 percent cited cost of health insurance, 33 percent said access to capital, and 32 percent were concerned about federal taxes.)

49 — Percentage of all small business owners who rely on credit cards as a source of ﬁnancing for their businesses. 69 — Percentage who report their credit card terms are worsening. $375 billion — Goods and services exported by small businesses each year.

[*source NSBA] J U N E / J U LY 2 0 1 5 | I N S I D E M E M P H I S B U S I N E S S . C O M |

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The Small Business Checklist There is a seemingly endless To Do list on any entrepreneur’s agenda before a new small business is up and running. And any veteran will tell you one item (or two) is more important than another. The experts at SCORE (Service Corps of Retired Executives) Memphis enumerate many. We’ve chosen a handful of some of the most critical and spoken with those industries’ leaders to learn best practices when considering a new venture. Banking

or many nascent entrepreneurs with an idea that will surely set the world afire, the first inclination might be to visit their bank and discuss financing. It needn’t be so urgent says Will Chase, president of Triumph Bank. He, instead, recommends acquiring the services of an accounting firm and a good attorney. “Along with those two and your banker, you ought to think of those three as your primary care physician that you’re coming to for some general help,” he says. “What you’re trying to do is get as healthy as you can so that you can Will Chase live as long as you can.” Make those connections quickly, Chase advises, because what your bank will want to discuss is your financial accounting system, sales outlook, gross profit margin, and how payroll taxes will be paid. The banker will need personal tax returns, a personal financial statement, and verification of liquidity (bank statements, brokerage statement, 401k accounts) to document and verify their existence to comply with regulators. Loans may be customizable based on need as well. In the case of someone without much of a track record or credit history, loans may be guaranteed by the government’s Small Business Administration and amortization can be stretched out longer than a conventional loan.

Accounting

any people starting out in business don’t have a clue as to the mechanics of such an undertaking. “They know how to do what they’re in the business to do, but don’t know how to do the books,” says Patricia Redmond, Business Consulting Group manager for DHG. A good accounting firm in your corner is a must. The professionals will help with the basics such as registering with the State of Tennessee for business taxes, sales tax, and other ground-level details. “It depends on how detailed they need us to be,” Redmond says. That level of hands-on help can be determined by size of the company. An outside firm can come in at the beginning to facilitate the structuring of your business and all internal organizational controls, designating who is responsible for writing checks, making Patricia Redmond deposits, payroll, etc. For companies with 34 |

their own accounting department, an outside firm will come in for the month-end close, spot check the books, or to help prepare for an annual audit. This delegation of duties and getting the books in order will help lessen the danger of errors and employee theft. Have the firm come back in at regular intervals to look over the books. “A lot of times they [small business owners] don’t deal with the tax accountant except for year-end where they’ve got property taxes due once a year, business taxes due, they may have sales tax due monthly. So they’re going to be dealing with somebody like us probably monthly or quarterly where, with their tax accountant, it’s only going to be once a year. With our department, you’re going to be trying to talk to somebody like us all the time, so that’s why we try to develop a relationship with them right from the get-go.” It can be as simple as spending a couple of hours per month for the first few months with a professional to save a lot of headache and heartache in the end. “It’s a safety net, it’s another set of eyes on the business.”

Legal

had Roberts, a tax attorney with Harris Shelton Hanover Walsh, PLLC, says that there are three points any promising small business owner should consider before launching an endeavor: Liability protection — what kind of business, what kind of assets will the business have, what personal assets need to be protected, and how many members or investors; regulatory restrictions — depending on the type of business you’re going into, it may need to be a corporation, though the default is a limited liability corporation (LLC); and taxes — the business should be structured to minimize taxes as much as possible. In addition, there should be a partnership agreement and that agreement should address the four Ds: death, disability, disagreement, and divorce. “A lot of businesses fail,” Roberts says. “You don’t know what’s coming down the Chad Roberts road and that’s kind of our job, to think ahead of how things could go poorly.” This is human nature, the natural inclination to fear the worst and one of the main reasons to acquire the services of an attorney is to protect against failure. But there is also the stress of prosperity and growth. “Depending on how you’re structured and who you’ve got involved — who makes those decisions, who puts in the money in that instance — how those decisions are made needs to be covered as well. ” As seen throughout this small business section, relationships are what make the business world go around — relationships with clients, relationships with consumers, relationships with vendors and professional services. ”Every time there’s a significant change in the business, they need to have an attorney help them go through that because it does have a large impact whatever may be happening.”

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Real Estate

Small Business Central

ne of the first issues to consider with a new business is its location. And something new business owners will come to understand is that it’s oftentimes more advantageous to lease space rather than buy because leasing is a lower capital, lower risk situation. Another thing they need to understand, says Kelly Truitt, executive vice president at CBRE Memphis, is that “everything is negotiable within certain market conditions — the terms, the rental rate, amount of improvement dollars, concessions such as free rent. And we’ll see a lot more negotiating in a space lease, whether it be an office or retail or industrial, much more so than in a residential lease.” Things to consider when leasing office space are location, type of building from an image and service standpoint, and whether or not it’s a full-service lease with the tenant paying a single rate and the landlord paying utilities, handling janitorial and build-out, and maintenance or repairs, which allows the Kelly Truitt tenant to focus solely on the business. Buildout is typically handled by the landlord, but there might be instances where a tenant may have some exposure to operating expense increases. This is normal, but the tenant needs to be aware and budget accordingly. The amount of space needed is key as well — a one-person shop may only require an executive suite because of the equipment, services, and flexibility offered. They are, however, typically more expensive on a per-foot basis. “Doing a lease is somewhat of a low-frequency, higher-risk project for someone who doesn’t do it all the time,” Truitt says. “It’s like having a buyer’s agent for a house. We recommend that a tenant utilize the resources of a good tenant advocate that does this every day because this allows the tenant to focus on their business and have someone go through this process that knows the market and knows what concessions are available to assist them in this process.” This is a service that is usually already in place and paid for in the leasing commission.

Insurance

ew ventures are one of the toughest pieces of business we have to place for someone because there’s no historical performance to determine what sort of operator they are,” says Stephen Oseman of Oseman Insurance Agency. Having a well-written business plan, a personal resume showing some prior experience in the industry, and solid financials are what’s needed to acquire insurance and a reasonable rate. “A lot of times, startups are opened on a hope and a prayer.” Stephen Oseman

2015

General liability will be necessary to protect against bodily injury or property damage to a third party. “That’s where all the lawsuits generally are,” Oseman says. Depending on the number of people employed, workman’s compensation can also be an issue. “The State of Tennessee doesn’t require you legally to have worker’s comp unless you have five or more employees, but it doesn’t relieve you of the liability of those employees in the event they’re injured on the job.” Your policy should also protect against employee theft and automobile accidents. “You want to make sure you include it because your people might be running company errands in their own personal vehicle and if someone finds out they were on business they would sue the business entity as well.” The general liability limits required for business and property are typically set by the landlord. Policies are renewed annually, making a solid relationship with an insurance agent from the beginning paramount— they can know where you stand and where you want to go, and protect you and your business along the way.

Marketing

ne of the greatest challenges in starting up a new small business, according to Tim Sellers, a partner with inferno, the advertising, marketing, design, and public relations agency, is leveraging limited resources in fighting for market share and a voice in the marketplace. “For that reason,” he says, “positioning, messaging, being very focused, having absolute clarity on how they [small business clients] are positioning and differentiating themselves is very important. Ideally, that carries through in every aspect of their business operations in terms of personality, attitude, being able to deliver all the promises that they’re making, and sort of living up to whatever attitude that they’re expressing in the market.” Tim Sellers Working with a marketing and public relations firm from the beginning can help bring clarity to an idea and a focus to strategy. Where an accountant helps to build a bookkeeping structure and a lawyer sets up the paperwork necessary for a smooth operation, the identity of a business broadcasts to potential clients and consumers exactly who you are and what you offer. When a business is started, says Sellers, “there is typically more emotional equity than financial equity, so there’s a lot of passion. “Where we add value, from a stewardship standpoint, is understanding how to do fewer things better and not attempting to spread themselves thin from a resource standpoint, trying to speak to too many people or trying to accomplish too many things too quickly. We enjoy working with smaller companies, it’s where we get to do our best work, we get to really shape the direction and have a lot of influence on how they go to market.” J U N E / J U LY 2 0 1 5 | I N S I D E M E M P H I S B U S I N E S S . C O M |

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Three Case Studies: See How They Grow...

PHOTOGRAPH BY JUSTIN FOX BURKS

It is the acceptance of the unknown that separates the true entrepreneurs from the risk-averse who may turn back when the going gets tough. That element of risk, whether embraced or tolerated, is what defines small business. In talking to the owners of three small businesses — each in distinct phases of their operations — it becomes apparent that flexibility may be the secret to success.

City & State

--- FOU NDED 2015 ---

ocation, location, location. It’s a mantra for anyone looking to open a brick-and-mortar small business. For Lisa and Luis Toro, it wasn’t a factor when they began considering an online retail operation. But then they drove down Broad Avenue. “When I saw this space on Broad Avenue and I knew what was happening on Broad, and that it had great 36 |

Lisa Toro and husband Luis opened a specialty retail and coffee shop on Broad Avenue with a combination of savings and a loan from the Small Business Administration.

energy and has strong momentum, this building being what it is was ideal.” There was also a niche to be filled, another key. “As I looked around Memphis, there wasn’t anything like this that had this type of product offerings. Memphis has done really well at supporting local, and so this was an idea of taking the next step and expanding local into something bigger that’s happening all over the country.” What began as an idea floating in cyberspace and meant to be worked on from home in off-hours, became City & State, a specialty retail store-slash-coffee shop opened last April. Lisa was not completely new to startups (she was one of the founding partners of the web design agency Rocket Fuel), but she’d spent more than four years in a corporate setting as Senior Director of Digital Brand Marketing for Hilton. While that career taught her to “think big and act small,” she still had a taste for being her own boss, making her own way with her own vision. Along the way, she learned a lot about what to do, and what not to do. “We were clueless on build-out of any kind,” she says. “So signing a lease and then finding out after the fact that we have to be able to prepare coffee this way and I don’t have adequate plumbing, it’s kind of a big smack in the face. So we had to go back and rework those numbers to see if we could even make it happen. It was a pretty stressful period of time. Permits, that was another process we were completely clueless about, when you’re ready to open the doors and your fate lies in the hands of all these people who are coming through to tell you if you did it right or wrong. The designer should have been brought in at the beginning, not midway. As much as I knew in my head what I wanted this space to be, I also did not have the experience to actually be able to make that happen.” Despite detailed planning, the Toros had a baptism under fire, learning along the way the importance of vetting contractors and having that contractor come in to vet the space as a matter of due diligence before signing a lease. The initial investment to open the doors was $200,000. Lisa readily admits that this figure could have (and should have) been less had they been a little better prepared for the “surprises.” The couple used savings and $40,000 from an SBA loan. To better prepare, the Toros created a detailed business plan, a necessity for the SBA loan and to simply get everything straight in their minds. “We knew we were going to invest a lot of money and to do that I wanted to look at all the numbers and do projected financials.” And because of that plan, Lisa says, the space she stands in today as she greets customers and arranges inventory with some of her seven employees, “feels like it was supposed to.” Though that seems an ephemeral idea, and one that might not translate from a spreadsheet, it’s a prerogative of the small business owner to

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Small Business Central work from feel and by gut to a certain extent. The Toros’ collective gut when it comes to business, to location, and to filling a niche seems to be working for them so far. Since opening, customers have come in droves, eager for the hand-made merchandise they’re selling and for a coffee in the middle of the city. Social media, that modern-day word-of-mouth, has been virtually buzzing with photos and details of City & State, leading the owners to think that success might be just around the corner. And how is success defined? Lisa explains: “This, honestly, feels like success to me, meaning the way I envisioned it, the way I wanted it to feel, and the way I wanted people to respond is what’s happening. I had no idea whether or not people would get it, so that is very much success for us.”

2015

Resource Entertainment Group

--- FOUNDED 2004 ---

Resource Entertainment Group books an eclectic roster of musicians and acts, including Ruby Wilson, seen here onstage at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival in 2013.

PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY RESOURCE ENTERTAINMENT GROUP

esource Entertainment Group was founded in 2004 by partners Rollin Riggs, Howard Stovall, and Paul Chandler, as an entertainment services company managing and booking bands, and producing live events. They have worked with clients that include the Memphis Grizzlies, RiverArts Fest, casinos, the Peabody and Madison hotels, and an eclectic group of entertainers. In its 10 years, REG has proven to be a model of efficiency. The three partners and two em-

ployees put “somewhere north of $20 million a year into the pockets of local and regional musicians and music industry personnel,” says Riggs. There were several things that provided the impetus for starting REG 11 years ago: FedEx Forum construction and Cook Convention Center renovation were nearing completion, and the 50th Anniversary of Rock-n-Roll event at Sun Studio was taking shape. Each would be in need of performers. “It’s provided a good living for us for over a decade,” says Riggs. “It’s allowed us to work with some of the most talented and creative people in the region. It has allowed us to support the music industry in our region in ways that we never imagined that we could.” Small businesses are almost always in flux, whether in the services and goods they provide, or in the make-up of the company itself. In 2005, Mike Brocato was brought on as a partner and in 2013, Chandler was bought out by the remaining partners. To mitigate contention during such a transition, both Stovall and Riggs advise to have the wording in place ahead of time, even if such an evolution is not on anyone’s radar. Stovall was given some advice he’s come to rely on: a company is only as good as the paperwork you build it on. “We have in our partnership agreement a buy-sell clause which automates the process of valuing the company for partner changes,” Stovall says. “That’s a good mechanism because it very plainly says how the process

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“You find a way to say yes to anything you can say yes to. So, you find yourself being very flexible because you want to get as much business out of a small marketplace as you can.” — Howard Stovall

It’s this ability to adapt to provide what the market needs that can make or break any business, but especially when your market is a smaller one, as the Memphis entertainment market is compared to Atlanta or Charlotte. “You find a way to say yes to anything you can say yes to,” Stovall says. “So, you find yourself being very flexible because you want to get as much business out of a small marketplace as you can. We have found ourselves going in sometimes unexpected directions because that’s where the opportunity has led us. Fortunately, we found out very quickly that saying ‘that’s not what we do’ was not a good way to grow the business.’”

Running Pony Productions

R Running Pony Productions has 24 employees and 6,000 square feet at their East Memphis headquarters which features executive offices, editing suites, and a studio complete with green screen.

--- FOUNDED 1994 ---

od Starnes puts his fingertip on the top of a conference table and then draws a circle around that imaginary point. “Our core purpose hasn’t changed,” he explains, “but everything around it has.” What the co-owner of Running Pony is illustrating is the f lexibility any small business must embrace. The company was founded in 1994 (and then, in essence, refounded in 1999 when Starnes became a partner) and its driving mission has been to tell the stories of their clients. Storytelling — both visually

PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY RUNNING PONY

unfolds and, in large part, avoids the possibility of a stalemate by putting in a process that will ultimately lead to a conclusion.” The business plan is the map of any small business. It’s necessary for entrepreneurs to make sense of the myriad needs and wants, obstacles and surprises that might arise. Many times it’s also necessary to acquire funding or negotiate a lease. But what many business owners don’t consider is what that plan looks like a year or two or five down the road. How did projections meet expectations? How does reality fare against the spreadsheet of dreams? Stovall says he pulled their original plan out about four years into business and what he found there was surprising. “I went back and looked at our original business plan and our original financial projections and it was eerily accurate, surprisingly so because, if you broke it down into components, the one piece that really never grew to be as important a part of the company as we initially thought it would be was convention work.” Though the convention side didn’t work out, due, in part, because the conventions that tend to come to Memphis have gotten smaller, another facet was above expectations: casino entertainment. “It was more significant than I think we ever imagined it would be.”

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Small Business Central and aurally — remains their passion, but what has changed, and what Starnes and founding partner Jonathan Epstein have come to embrace, is how quickly technology has advanced their industry since those first years in the business. When Epstein started Running Pony, it was as side work outside his day job at WMC-TV. In the beginning, he focused on nonprofits that needed help telling their stories. But demand soon exceeded those off-hour hours, and the news industry was in a state of f lux, distancing itself from the in-depth features Epstein prided himself on. When the commitment to full-time entrepreneurship was made, it was more of an easy merge onto that fast-paced interstate, having had a running start for several years. There was no formal business plan put down on paper, in part because the partners would not be seeking outside investment. There was early startup money from an angel investor, a relatively small amount that was paid back quickly. The business has expanded through reinvesting earnings. “We had an initial investor that we paid back almost immediately and have not taken on debt since then, and have been able to fund ourselves based on operations,” Epstein says. “I think that [this is] one thing that’s hard a lot of times for small companies when they start up. They’re reliant on an investor, and sometimes the vision of the people wanting to do something, whether it’s a creative endeavor or a business endeavor, doesn’t always mesh with the goals and desires of the investor or investors.” Though there was no formal business plan, there was a partnership agreement put into place. That would be a crucial piece of the small business puzzle when Epstein’s co-founding partner was bought out in 2005. “The more you have in place from the get-go, the better off you are,” Epstein says of what began as three pages and ended as a 33-page document. “It’s a lot easier to look at all the potential things that might go wrong on the front end and decide how to deal with it, rather than at a place of stress or acrimony.” Growth was so immediate for the first two years that the team couldn’t find the time to put together a demo reel to be used to attract new clients. Handling that growth was a learning experience and is where the flexibility of a small business comes into play. They grew physically by taking over suites adjacent to theirs in a small business park. The first employee was added in 1999 and the second a year later. Now with 24 employees, and having moved into 6,000 square feet in the Forum III building at Poplar Avenue and Kirby Parkway, their client list includes AutoZone, Baptist Memorial Health Care, FedEx, the Memphis-Shelby County Airport Authority, and the National Civil Rights Museum, and their walls and shelves are full to overflowing with industry awards.

2015

Advice from the veterans Lisa Toro, City & State

“Talk to a lot of people who’ve done it. Try to get some lessons learned and have them look at the lease documents and know what you’re getting into.”

Howard Stovall, Resource Entertainment Group

“You never leave the ofﬁce and that should not be a problem because the challenges of running a business will wake you up at 2 o’clock in the morning and will keep you at the ofﬁce until 7 o’clock at night. As long as you continue to relish the challenge and to love at least part of what you do, that should be okay. If you want a safety net, be an employee. But if you want to get out there and experience the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat, be an owner. You can’t have both.”

Jonathan Epstein, Running Pony Productions

“We built our business primarily on word-of-mouth advertising — one client would refer us to another. So make sure you take care of your clients and make sure you help them to succeed.”

Local, state, and national resources: EMERGEMEMPHIS — emergememphis.org START CO. — neverstop.co TENNESSEE SMALL BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT CENTER — tsbdc.org IRS SELF-EMPLOYED INDIVIDUALS TAX CENTER — irs.gov SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION — sba.gov ALLIANCE FOR NON-PROFIT EXCELLENCE — npexcellence.org BLACK BUSINESS ASSOCIATION — bbamemphis.com MEMPHIS HISPANIC CHAMBER OF COMMERCE — memphishispanicchamber.org NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF WOMEN BUSINESS OWNERS — nawbomemphis.org

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COMMITMENT

COMMUNITY

Our reputation for reliability extends well beyond delivery routes. FedEx is proud to support St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and other worthy causes in our local communities. If it’s important to you, it’s important to us. ©2015 FedEx. All rights reserved.

THIS PAGE DONATED BY FEDEX AND CONTEMPORARY MEDIA, INC. AS PART OF THE INSIDE MEMPHIS BUSINESS "DIG DEEP FOR MEMPHIS" PROGRAM. FOR MORE INFORMATION, SEE PAGE 4.

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L E A D E R S H I P

Kenneth Robinson • • •

B Y

F R A N K

M U R TA U G H

Every day of Dr. Kenneth Robinson’s life can be considered a bonus. The new CEO of United Way of the Mid-South and longtime pastor at St. Andrew AME Church exudes energy and vigor the moment you first shake his hand. But the second of James and Mary Robinson’s two children was born prematurely and given little chance for a full and normal life. Not only did Robinson survive his fragile infancy and childhood asthma, he thrived, matching his older brother’s distinction as valedictorian of Nashville’s Pearl High School in 1971 (the school’s final year as a segregated institution). He went on to earn bachelor’s and medical degrees at Harvard, setting the course, it seemed, for a career in medicine. Then everything changed.

PHOTOGRAPH BY AMIE VANDERFORD

“As a young man of faith, I felt a very strong calling to be a physician,” explains Robinson. “I was a biology major [as an undergrad] at Harvard, and was delighted to get into medical school. But the summer after my first year Dr. Kenneth Robinson, longtime pastor of St. Andrew AME Church, in medical school [1976], I is the new chief executive officer of had a spiritual epiphany United Way of the Mid-South. and the Lord called me to preach. I was sitting in a church and found myself at an altar, acknowledging a Turns out she married both. calling upon my life to not only practice medicine, but Robinson arrived in Memphis in 1991, not all that to preach the gospel.” Robinson grew up with church happy with uprooting his family (he and Marilynn have as much a foundation of his character as academics, his twin daughters) from Middle Tennessee. “My bishop,” paternal grandfather having been a minister himself. says Robinson, “knew of a church in Memphis — St. AnRobinson completed three more drew — in a distressed community, with a distressed years of medical school, returned to congregation of about 75. Our bishop appointed me Nashville (where he became a pastor in to be pastor of that church. Neither my wife nor I was HIS WIFE MARILYNN SWORE THERE 1983), and earned a master’s of divinity at excited at all. But we had a [church] model the bishop WERE TWO TYPES OF MEN SHE WOULD Vanderbilt. “God was not changing my wanted replicated in Memphis.” path or diverting me from medicine,” So why didn’t Robinson decline the assignment? NOT MARRY: A DOCTOR OR A MINISsays Robinson. “He was calling me to “I should have been consulted prior to [the bishop] TER. TURNS OUT SHE MARRIED BOTH. do both, to be in ministry and medicine, making that appointment,” says Robinson. “I was not. to use the very unique but applicable set of skills as a It was disconcerting to our congregation. But I considphysician to also do ministry in a very different way.” ered the vows I’d made as a Methodist minister, that I Robinson met his future wife, Marilynn, at Harvard. would go where I was sent. I decided I would go. That During their courtship, she swore there were two types has been one of the singular elements of the testimony of men she would not marry: a doctor or a minister. that I share with people of faith, people who make J U N E / J U LY 2 0 1 5 | I N S I D E M E M P H I S B U S I N E S S . C O M |

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“To those police oﬃcers who gave their lives unselﬁshly in the performance of their duties...

PHOTOGRAPH BY AMIE VANDERFORD

We remember them all.”

commitments to serve. If we will do what an opportunity to do ministry on a different we’re called to do — even when it’s posiscale,” he says. “At least this time I don’t tively nonsensical — God will ensure that have to get on a plane every Monday and all things work together for good.” Today, go to Nashville. I’m here to help strategize St. Andrew’s congregation numbers greater what can be done with this extraordinary than 1,700 with a staff of 83. In 2003, Circles of engine: access to the corporate community, Success Learning Academy opened its doors access to the nonprofit community, access to as one of Tennessee’s first charter schools, philanthropy. We have more than 80 agenfurther extending the ripple effect of Robcies and more than 35,000 donors, all here inson’s venture west. (The school is housed in Shelby County and its seven surrounding within the St. Andrew’s building and is subcounties. People know who I am. I’ve been sidized by the church.) blessed to have extraordinary relationships, Robinson’s rise in and Memphis is a relationship town.” Memphis was steady What kind of leadand rapid, his influence enough to capership is required to steer Memphis ture the attention of toward the kind of Tennessee Governor g rowth Robinson Phil Bredesen, who na med Robi nson has personified at St. Tennessee’s ComAndrew? “The key missioner of Health to leadership is the capacity to execute in 2003. In that role, on the vision,” says Robinson spearheadRobinson. “Vision is ed what he describes central and critical. as “data-driven, community-health-foBut to articulate that cused integration of in a way that can be governmental public rationalized within health into the lives of the sectors that have individuals in lower capacity to implement and under-resourced the vision, and in the areas of the state.” sectors that will be (Robinson served a the beneficiaries of the executed vision full four-year term in the governor’s cabi. . . to build that bridge “[UNITED WAY OF THE MID-SOUTH net.) He later served is critical.” as an advisor to ShelTo no surprise, HAS] MORE THAN 80 AGENCIES AND Robinson stresses by County Mayor MORE THAN 35,000 DONORS, ALL HERE A C Wharton and early education as the IN SHELBY COUNTY AND ITS SEVEN Wharton’s successor, ingredient most essential for the future Mark Luttrell, before SURROUNDING COUNTIES.” of this city’s leaders: assuming his current role with United Way last February. “Foundational education — for the vast majorRobinson turns back to his parents when ity of children in this city, in the public-school context — can and will change the trajectory asked about the kind of leaders who have of a child’s life, who becomes an adult, who beguided his own decisions — however chalcomes a parent, who becomes part of a family lenging — in shaping a unique life. “I was that changes communities. born to two leaders,” he says. “Extraordinary educators, humanitarians, leaders in the ear“Academic success,” he continues, “is a prely civil rights movement in Nashville, early dictor of health status, a predictor of income, proponents of integration. They were quinta predictor of professional attainment. To essential leaders in a segregated south who narrow the gap in a place like Memphis will displayed both high education and vision, and require consistent, continual longitudinal approaches to public-education improveexecution on vision.” Robinson learned at an early age that transformational parenting ment. I’m thrilled that we’re in the cauldron of a lot of exciting educational experiments. could extend well beyond a household. “Our house was the after-school program for many I have the scars to prove that we were at students,” he says. “Mom set them on trajecthe forefront of charter-school education, tories similar to her own sons.” not for elite students, but for struggling, A longtime volunteer (and former board second-chance students. It’s long term. But member) with United Way, Robinson sees I’m a public-health physician. I understand his new job as a test of his own leadership the timeline for fruition of those prevention skills, and for an organization and city that efforts is long. Our leaders must have the each stand to gain from the other. “This is tenacity to stick with it.”

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Firestone Tire and Rubber Company • • •

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One of the Mid-South’s largest manufacturers opened here in 1936, moving into a massive factory in North Memphis that had been vacated by a wood-products company, and greatly expanding it. Over time, the huge, ultra-modern facility that was home to Firestone Tire and Rubber would cover almost 40 acres. It was considered such an important link in the national company that Raymond Firestone, son of company founder Harvey Firestone, came to Memphis to oversee it. In a matter of years, the Memphis plant served more than 25,000 tire dealers in a marketing region that stretched from Key West to southern Illinois. During World War II, the plant even produced rubber life rafts, gas masks, and raincoats for servicemen.

By the late 1960s, Firestone was rolling out more than 20,000 car and truck tires a day. On July 1, 1963, the company celebrated a remarkable milestone — the production of its 100 millionth tire in Memphis. Beginning with just a few hundred employees, Firestone had grown into one of the largest industrial employers here, with a workforce exceeding 3,200. The Memphis plant became the largest tire manufacturer in the company’s worldwide operation. But then the new radial tires hit the market, involving a different manner of weaving the nylon and steel cords that reinforced the rubber sidewalls and treads. Everybody soon wanted them for their cars because they handled better and lasted longer. The Memphis

THE MEMPHIS PLANT BECAME THE LARGEST TIRE MANUFACTURER IN THE COMPANY’S WORLDWIDE OPERATION.

ABOVE: The ultra-modern facility covered almost 40 acres and employed more than 3,200. ABOVE RIGHT: The occasion of the 100 millionth tire produced was a special one. RIGHT: The entry to the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company.

PHOTOS COURTESY SPECIAL COLLECTIONS,

plant had produced radial tires at one time, but the company decided — wrongly, as it turned out — to invest millions of dollars in machinery to specialize in producing the older-style bias-ply tires. Very quickly, that market dwindled and disappeared. The company faced labor problems, too, and the old newspaper files at the University of Memphis Special Collections department are filled with stories about strikes and layoffs. It was the beginning of the end. In 1983, just one month after International Harvester shut down its massive farm-equipment plant in Frayser, Firestone announced it was closing its Memphis factory. For years, empty shops and warehouses sprawled over an entire block along Firestone Avenue. Those buildings were eventually cleared away, and at one point a developer stepped forward with plans to convert the empty site into a golf course — a challenging task for such a flat and treeless expanse. That never happened, and today only the plant’s old smokestack stands as a reminder of one of our city’s largest industries.

UNIVERSITY OF MEMPHIS LIBRARIES

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The Office Terri Lee Freeman

President, National Civil Rights Museum

• • •

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••• PHOTOGRAPHS BY LARRY KUZNIEWSKI

Though she claims she didn’t initially set out to do this kind of work, Terri Lee Freeman, the new president of the National Civil Rights Museum, certainly has a knack for it. Fresh off of a career at the Community Foundation in Washington D.C., spanning nearly two decades and garnering numerous accolades, Freeman says she was drawn to Memphis because of the impact the opportunity at the museum represented. 4

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“I was attracted to the ability to create positive social change based on the history that resides in these walls, and helping people understand that the history didn’t end,” says Freeman. “In fact, we can create new, positive history in the times we live in right now.”

The Chicago native moved to Ohio for college and then to D.C. for graduate school in business communications. Aftewards, she took a job for the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Association [Freddie Mac] for 13 years. Through a series of circumstances and shifts within the organizations where

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she worked, Freeman slowly but surely found her way into community engagement and never looked back. “I don’t think that I individually, singularly have any ability to make the path easier for those who are disadvantaged. But I think collectively, using the knowledge that we have and mobilizing that knowledge, we can make those pathways easier; helping people understand how to advocate. The beauty of this [position] is to work in this incredibly historic place, and to use that history to propel us forward. It’s not simply to tell what happened, it’s how it affects what’s happening and how we have an obligation to make this story continue. Realize that none of the people chronicled here are extraordinary people — they were just regular ordinary people like you and I. We see them as these incredible heroes and heroines, but they came together because of the circumstances. With that message I like to tell people: All of us are ordinary people who have the ability to do extraordinary things. If I can push that forward over my time here, that’s what I would like to do.”

1. Picture of Dr. Dorothy Height: “She was the founder of the National Council of Negro Women. I was speaking, and I mentioned Oseola McCarty and Dorothy Height, and she literally walked through the door as I said her name. It was as if it was totally planned, an awestruck moment for me.” 2. Award: “This one is kind of funny. The Washington Business Journal started ‘The Women Who Mean

Business’ award. The joke in my office was that they called it ‘the mean women who do business.’ I wasn’t mean at all!” 3. “This is neat; I love this. Washington Life had an award called ‘Women of Substance and Style,’ and they partnered with Saks Fifth Avenue. You got to pick an outfit to be photographed in for the magazine and then you did the fashion show. My husband [surprised me and] bought

the outfit for me afterwards.” 4. Photo: “Yes, that’s me with Laura Bush. The Community Foundation would do a ‘Philanthropist of the Year’ honor. She had a foundation — Laura Bush’s Foundation for America’s Libraries — and it was housed at the Community Foundation. [Hurricane] Katrina hit and Laura invested a ton of money into the libraries there to make sure that they were all able to come back online; so, we gave her an award for that work.” 5. Picture of Freddie Mac Foundation Board: “I look like a crazy person, please understand this is 1980-something,” she says with a laugh. “This is the late Barbara Jordan, a director for the corporation of Freddie Mac. Because I studied communications and she was one of one of the great orators, I always admired her ability to speak. She was the most incredible woman ever, and that picture is really important to me.” 6. Cruise photo: “That’s me and my husband, 22 years into marriage on a cruise to Bermuda.” Married since 1984, Terri and her husband, Dr. Bowyer G. Freeman, have three daughters — Corryn, Camille, and Carmen — all of whom are already

following in their mother’s footsteps of advocating for change. 7. String Drawing: Gift from her youngest daughter who was playing piano at the time. 8. Washingtonian of the Year: “If I were to die today, this really makes me feel like I have accomplished so much because of the work that we did around September 11th. I was chosen as a ‘Washingtonian of the Year’ in 2002; we set up the largest fund for the victims of the Pentagon attack. We were part of the effort in New York, but we knew people would want something specific for our area. I worked with the Washington Post and the Meyer Foundation. The Post said, ‘You start a fund and we’ll put an article in the paper.’ September 11 was a Tuesday, it was in the paper on Sunday. That Monday we had bins of mail full of donation checks. What made it doubly interesting was we had an anthrax scare in D.C., and they told everyone not to open envelopes with handwriting you didn’t recognize. Well, we had bins of letters from people we didn’t know. I had to literally tell my staff you don’t have to open them if you aren’t comfortable, but nobody stopped.”

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5/7/15 3:00 PM

Teaching valuable life lessons through the unique environment of youth tackle football. Memphis Gridiron Ministries (MGM) is an outreach ministry created to administer, support and oversee youth tackle football programs in the Binghampton community. Memphis Gridiron Ministries is unabashedly a Christ-centered youth football organization for early grade school boys, focused on sharing and modeling the Gospel of Christ through spiritual coaching, mentoring, relationship building and defeating the “Win-at-all-Cost Mentality” that is pervasive in many youth sports today. We are able to run this 501(c)(3) non-profit thanks to the generosity of donors. IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN VOLUNTEERING OR GIVING, PLEASE CONTACT US.

5100 Poplar Avenue, Suite 813 Memphis, TN 38137 901.412.5731 • info@mgmfootball.org mgmfootball.org MGMfootball

@MemGridMin

THIS PAGE DONATED BY CBRE | MEMPHIS AND CONTEMPORARY MEDIA, INC. AS PART OF THE INSIDE MEMPHIS BUSINESS “DIG DEEP FOR MEMPHIS” PROGRAM. FOR MORE INFORMATION, SEE PAGE 4.

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A P P O I N T M E N T

B O O K

Business events, networking opportunities, and cultural highlights: June / July 2015 • • •

C O M P I L E D

JUNE 6 A DAY OF MERRYMAKING:

10:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. Bring the kids and the dogs to the Overton Park Greensward for a day of entertainment, fun activities, and delicious treats. A Day of Merrymaking, presented by Orion Federal Credit Union, is Overton Park Conservancy’s annual family festival complete with live music from Alexis Grace, Artistik Approach, and others, along with food trucks, local vendors, and so much more. Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare offers hot air balloon floats over the park, and Hollywood Feed will be on hand with all kinds of fun for the dogs to celebrate the third anniversary of opening Overton Bark. This event is $5 suggested donation. Overton Park, 1814 Poplar Avenue. 214-5450.

JUNE 6 BILL O’REILLY AND DENNIS MILLER: Don’t Be A Pinhead:

8:00 p.m. Bill O’Reilly and Dennis Miller continue their wildly successful U.S. tour — but this time around, there are no pinheads allowed! With their unique mix of political commentary and good-natured humor, in addition to the duo’s great rapport, this is one show you do not want to miss. The Orpheum Theatre, 203 S Main Street. 525-3000.

JUNE 9 ST. JUDE PRESENTS JOHN RICH AND FRIENDS CHARITY EVENT AND CONCERT: 6:00

p.m. Teeing off the 2015 FedEx St. Jude Classic Golf

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Tournament, country artist John Rich, along with a dazzling array of special celebrity friends, hosts an exclusive event benefiting the kids of St. Jude. Guests will enjoy an intimate acoustic setting while mingling with PGA Tour players and bidding on one-of-a-kind live auction items. For the first time ever, they are offering a unique opportunity for corporate friends to purchase group tickets at a 25 percent discount in packages of 12, 24, and 36. Cannon Center, 255 N. Main Street. lisa.ellis@stjude.org.

JUNE 12 4TH ANNUAL LITERATINI:

7:00 – 10:00 p.m. Take in live music and a Martini Death Match as you sample cocktails and delicious food from top local bars and restaurants. Meet Marja Mills, best-selling author of the Harper Lee memoir The Mockingbird Next Door. Proceeds benefit the students of Literacy Mid-South. Tickets: $50/person or $75/couple. The Booksellers at Laurelwood, 387 Perkins Extended. literacymidsouth.org.

JUNE 17 SALES AND MARKETING SOCIETY OF THE MID-SOUTH LUNCHEON: 11:30 a.m. Kevin

Kane, President/CEO of the Memphis Convention & Visitors Bureau will be the keynote speaker. In his Memphis community, Kane is dedicated to maintaining a strong awareness of tourism and conventions, and their value as local economic generators. Since

joining the CVB 20 years ago, he has grown the organization with new offices and visitor centers, an expanded sales team, a satellite office in D.C., and representation in Europe and the United Kingdom. Kane serves as chairman of the Memphis Rock ‘N’ Soul Museum, executive committee member and past chairman of the Blues Foundation, and executive committee member of Memphis-Shelby County Sports Authority. This event is $35 for non-members. Chickasaw Country Club, 3395 Galloway Avenue. sms-midsouth.org.

JUNE 17

BUSINESS VALUATION — What

Tennessee Attorneys Need to Know: 5:30 - 6:30 p.m. Hosted by the Memphis Bar Association, the speaker — Rob Vance — will provide an overview of the business valuation theory, detail of calculations and methods most commonly used in divorce cases involving closely-held businesses and professional practices, and highlight key items for attorneys to identify what impact the most common differences through a review of Tennessee cases including Hazard, Witt, Eberting, Hartline, and Barnes. The Grove Grill, 4550 Poplar Avenue. memphisbar.org.

JUNE 18 FEMALE BUSINESS LEADERS LUNCH: Noon - 1:30 p.m. This

female-focused lunch is always a hit, bringing business and upand-coming leaders together for the opportunity to share

Let us know about your group’s events at anna@contemporary-media.com.

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and discuss various topics, as well as serve as a brain trust to cultivate programs focused on women in business. Lunch is Dutch treat for simplicity. Please RSVP at thelpbc.com. Napa Cafe, 5101 Sanderlin Avenue.

JUNE 27 SHELL OUT FOR THE ARTS

FOOTPRINT: Noon. Presented by Brian Sullivan, Principal/ CEO of Sullivan Branding, and hosted by the Society of Entrepreneurs. Cost: $25 per person. Reservations are required, please go eventbrite. com or email Pearson Crutcher at pearson@soememphis.com. Jim’s Place, 518 S. Perkins Road.

DINNER: 6:30 p.m., Concert 7:30 p.m. Support the arts while you lounge on the lawn at the Levitt Shell. Includes wine, beer, and dinner by ECCO on Overton Park in a private tent before and during the Stax Music Academy concert. Admission is $25 for adults, free for kids 12 and under; vegetarians welcome. Proceeds support arts organizations and artists across the community through ArtsMemphis. Rain Date is June 28. For more information, contact pkennedy@artsmemphis.org or 901-578-2760. Levitt Shell in Overton Park.

JUNE 19

JULY 18

JUNE 18 5 SIMPLE STEPS TO MAXIMIZE YOUR DIGITAL

BIG WIG BALL: 7:00 - 11:00

p.m. Fundraising gala to benefit Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital. Grab a wig in any length, color, or shape and join us for a night of hair-raising fun at the Annesdale Mansion! Guests will enjoy a night of food, drinks, live entertainment, and dancing. The evening also sports a trendy silent auction with something for everyone. Cocktail attire. If you have any questions contact the Le Bonheur Foundation at 901287-6308. DISCLAIMER: This is a 21 and up event. All guests will have their I.D. checked before entering. Regular tickets are $75 individual, $130 couple. VIP tickets are $125 individual, $230 couple. For tickets, visit events. lebonheur.org/BWBTickets. Annesdale Mansion, 1325 Lamar Avenue.

ADULT TUTOR TRAINING:

10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. Help make a difference in someone’s life by helping them learn to read. Literacy Mid-South has adults on the waiting list who are ready and willing to learn, but need a special person in their life to help them. Facilitate learning in the life of an adult who struggles with reading, writing, and math through Literacy Mid-South’s Adult Learning Program. Volunteers attend a one-day training session that provides the tools for moving adults forward. Opportunities are available during the day or at night. Must be 18 years or older to participate. For more information email searly@ literacymidsouth.org. Benjamin L. Hooks Library, 3030 Poplar Ave, Room C.

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Pressing On:

The Rebirth of Vinyl in Memphis • • •

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A 2007 newspaper article hangs on the coffee-colored walls of Audiographic Masterworks, heralding the company’s move from a small office on Summer Avenue to its 11,000-square-foot Bartlett location. In retrospect, the details are ominous. Published less than a year before the Great Recession, the headline itself is a sign of the times: “Local Musicians Building CD/DVD Business.”

VINYL SALES IN THE FIRST QUARTER OF 2015 INCREASED NEARLY 50 PERCENT

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Over the next eight years, stocks fell, real estate slid, music streamed — and Audiographic Masterworks (AGMW) and its founders, Brandon Seavers and Mark Yoshida, pressed on. Last year, they made that phrase a reality. For decades, vinyl records were the way Americans listened to music. When CD sales surpassed record sales in the 1980s, the expensive and time-consuming process of pressing vinyl records essentially became a lost art. Production slowed and even stopped at many of the vinyl presses in the U.S. over the next several years, as did production of the heavy, expensive machinery used in the pressing plants. Today, only around 20 vinyl record pressing plants exist in the country. One of those now calls Memphis home. Memphis Record Pressing, the newest branch of AGMW was created in partnership with Oxford, Mississippi-based Fat Possum Records after the purchase of several vinyl presses from a closed New York plant in June 2014. “When we bought this equipment, vinyl was really hot, so we saw the demand for it, and it hadn’t really made the headlines yet,” says Seavers. By the end of 2014, the industry was bursting at the seams. The new company is already aiming to produce 1.5 million records a year. “It’s a really tightknit industry; everybody knows everybody. And because there’s so much demand, there’s really not a lot of competition. Most of the other guys are so glad [we’re starting up] and relieving some of the pressure in the industry.” Behind the smooth neutrals and album covers of AGMW’s halls, massive metal machines tower just below a maze of silver pipes, part of the extensive steam system that drives power to the presses. Black vinyl beads come together from a deposit in the corner of a machine to become what looks for an instant like a round black tire, immediately pressed on both sides by metal plates with a negative design of the record’s grooves. The finished album is stamped with a label and dropped smoothly into a stack of identical copies. After that, the machinery stops. White-gloved hands carefully go over each record searching for scratches or imperfections. Across the room, someone actually puts the album on and listens to every note, front and

back. Because of the steam power system, the smallest change in temperature or humidity can create errors on vinyl. If the set is approved, it reaches an assembly room where the final products are also put together by hand, one record at a time. The plant is currently operating six presses and has two more waiting to be installed. AGMW has hired around 15 employees along with a significant number of temporary workers since adding the new equipment last year, raising the question: How do you find someone who knows how to operate a machine that hasn’t been made for 30 years? “We were looking for people who had either operated machinery in the past, could work on their own car, a couple of guys were auto mechanics,” Seavers says. “One of our best press operators had never done anything like this; he’s just very attentive to detail and he’s got a mechanical mind.” Memphis Record Pressing employees spend 17 hours each day at the presses, and Seavers is hoping to get to 20 hours by summer 2015. “The reason we got into this is because demand over the last three years has grown tremendously,” he says, noting a 40 to 50 percent increase in vinyl sales just in the first quarter of 2015. “Most of the plants in the world have a three- to six-month lead time right now to get a project done; most plants aren’t even taking orders right now. We have people calling every day. We had people calling before we even had one machine operating.” Orders filled at the studio come from a variety of sources, including artists featured on the Fat Possum label like The Black Keys and Modest Mouse. Sony executives toured the plant recently for a potential addition to their vendor list. Memphis Record Pressing is also manufacturing all of the Hi Records catalog, known for historic Memphis artists like Al Green. Carrying on this legacy is something that Seavers is proud to bring back to the area. “Early in the 1950s, ‘60s, a lot of the records in the country were made in the Mid-South,” Seavers says. “I think it’s really cool that we’re bringing a vital part of Memphis back to such a rich musical heritage.” Today, artists from Justin Timberlake to Black Sabbath have albums on vinyl in stores across the country, marketed to millennials alongside colorful record players, trendy headphones, and throwback siblings like Polaroid cameras. The newfound interest in vinyl is a flashback to the days when the slow spin of a record made listening an experience. “You have to actually sit down, put the record on, and you have to invest some time in it,” Seavers says. “That’s what’s so cool about the resurgence, the people that are actually listening to it, they’re invested in that music, and that’s why they’re willing to pay more.” Maybe it’s the novelty of an old record or the desperate search for anything that offers a chance to slow down our instant world. Whatever the cause, vinyl is thriving. With a coveted seat at the height of demand and an undeniable cool factor, the presses are rolling in the Bluff City, and Memphis Record Pressing is just getting started. Katherine Barnett is a freelance writer and former intern for Contemporary Media Inc. who now works full-time at Chi Omega Executive Headquarters in Memphis.

PHOTOGRAPHS BY YAKUB88 | DREAMSTIME

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