Shenandoah Valley Business Journal

BUSINESS JOURNAL A Byrd Newspapers Publication

Shenandoah Valley

Volume 16, No. 3, Jan. 26, 2016

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Retirement Goes Green

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SHENANDOAH VALLEY BUSINESS JOURNAL

Tuesday, January 26, 2016

BUSINESS JOURNAL Inside This Issue Shenandoah Valley

The Shenandoah Valley Business Journal is a monthly publication of Rockingham Publishing Company, Inc., 231 S. Liberty St., Harrisonburg, VA 22801.

Focus Section: Nursing Homes ■ Going Green While Going Gray . . . . . . . . . . . . .Page 4

Harrisonburg, Va.

Contact us By mail: Shenandoah Valley Business Journal P.O. Box 193 Harrisonburg, VA 22803

By email:

Editorial Staff Editor and General Manager: Peter S. Yates

Other Business News ■ Movers and Shakers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 2

By fax:

■ Valley Business Scene . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 2

433-9112

■ Local Ledger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 10

Managing Editor: Jerry Blair

svbjnews@dnronline.com

By phone: 574-6267 (news) 574-6229 (ads)

Columns

Staff writers: Vic Bradshaw

■ Investments by Gannon Irons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 3

Contributing photographers: Nikki Fox, Austin Bachand

■ Investments by Matthew Frakes . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 8

■ Real Estate by Tim Reamer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 6

■ News to Me by Philip DuBose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 9

Von Schuch Now Partner At Wharton Aldhizer & Weaver

Light, Sharp Added To BotkinRose Roster

Chamber Of Commerce Names 2016 Board Of Directors

HARRISONBURG — Wharton Aldhizer & Weaver has made Matt Von Schuch its newest partner.

Von Schuch, who also is a certified public accountant, earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting and finance from James Madison University and his law degree from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. After having worked in the U.S. Justice Department’s tax division, he joined WAW in 2012 and specializes in tax and business issues and estate planning.

Blue Ridge Legal Services recognized him last year for his pro bono work on behalf of needy clients.

His partnership became effective Jan. 1 WAW is a law firm with offices in Harrisonburg and Staunton.

HARRISONBURG — Matthew W. Light recently was brought into the BotkinRose law firm as a partner, while Michael W. Sharp has joined the law firm as an associate.

Light received his law degree from Washington & Lee University after earning degrees in Latin and Greek from Drew University in Madison, N.J. He focuses on corporate, real estate and government law; commercial finance; wills; and trusts and estates.

Sharp graduated from Pennsylvania State University’s Dickinson School of Law after double majoring in sociology and political philosophy, policy and law at the University of Virginia.

He’ll concentrate on litigation, family law, wills, and trusts and estates.

— Vic Bradshaw

See MOVERS, Page 10

HARRISONBURG — The Harrisonburg-Rockingham Chamber of Commerce finalized its 2016 board of directors in January.

Mike Garber of PBMares is serving as chairman of the organization’s executive committee for the year. Union Bank & Trust’s Greg Godsey is the chairman-elect. Glenda Western of MillerCoors is the immediate past president.

Joining them on the executive committee, as selected by board members, are Cory Davies of the RMH Foundation, vice chairman of community relations; Jonah Pence of Farmers & Merchants Bank, vice chairman of member services; Heather Ream of Shenandoah Valley Regional Airport, vice chairwoman of programs; and Joel Shank of Dynamic Aviation, vice chairman of finance.

On The Cover: Nikki Fox / DN-R Elizabeth Franks stands in her master bedroom, which uses wool and natural fiber (nonsynthetic) carpet in the eco-friendly apartment at Virginia Mennonite Retirement Community.

Nine board appointments became official on a vote by acclamation at the organization’s annual banquet and awards ceremony.

Joining the executive committee members on the 2016 board of directors are: Kelly Burkholder, Ameriprise Financial; Gary Calleo, RR Donnelley; Felicia Crawford, Liberty Press; John Downey, Blue Ridge Community College; Fred Eberly, Rockingham County; Carol Fleming, James Madison University; Rob Frazier, Frazier Quarries; Rebecca Haushalter, White Oak Lavender Farm; Jeff Hill, Local Chop and Grill House; Kristin Isenhart, Advantage Physical Therapy; Andy Jackson, Steven Toyota; Chris Jones, City of Harrisonburg; Scot Lilly, Farm Credit of the Virginias; Craig MacKail, Harrisonburg City Schools; Kyle O’Brien, Town of Broadway; Courtney Rogers, Immerge Technologies; Chris See SCENE, Page 7

Harrisonburg, Va.

SHENANDOAH VALLEY BUSINESS JOURNAL

Tuesday, January 26, 2016

3

Think About Sending Financial ‘Valentines’ A Investments

mericans spent nearly $19 billion in Valentine’s Day gifts last year, according to the National Retail Federation. Much of this money went for gifts with short shelf lives, such as candy, flowers and restaurant meals (and about $700 million was spent on gifts for pets).

There’s certainly nothing wrong with giving chocolates or roses. But this year, think about going beyond the classic gifts.

Instead, use Valentine’s Day as an opportunity to determine how you can make gifts with long-lasting impact to your circle of loved ones.

Here are some suggestions:

For Your Spouse Or Significant Other As long as your spouse or significant other has earned income, he or she may be able to contribute to a traditional or Roth IRA. So, consider giving a check to be used for that purpose. A traditional IRA can grow tax deferred, while contributions are usually tax-deductible.

Gannon Irons

(Taxes are due upon withdrawal, and withdrawals prior to 59½ may be subject to a 10 percent IRS penalty.)

While Roth IRA contributions are not deductible, any earnings growth can be distributed tax-free, provided the account owner doesn’t take withdrawals until age 59½ and has had the account at least five years. For 2015 and 2016, the IRA contribution limit is $5,500 or $6,500 for those 50 or older.

For Your Children You don’t have to be rich to give your

children a gift worth $1 million — you just have to help them through school.

College graduates earn about $1 million more over their lifetimes than those without a degree, according to research from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

Still, college isn’t cheap: The average annual cost — tuition, fees, room and board — for a private four-year college is more than $42,000, according to the College Board, while the comparable figure for a public four-year school is about $19,000.

Of course, if financial aid is available,

you could get some help. Nonetheless, you may want to start putting away money for college. One popular college savings vehicle is a 529 plan.

Your 529 plan contributions may be deductible from your state taxes, and any earnings growth can be withdrawn taxfree, provided it is used for qualified higher education expenses.

(However, if you take withdrawals from your 529 plan, and you don’t use the money for these higher education expenses, you may be subject to both income tax and a 10 percent penalty on the earnings.)

For Your Parents If you have elderly parents, you may want to find out if they’ve got their retirement and estate plans in place. If they’ve already taken care of everything, you may not need to get involved — but if they’ve left some “loose ends,” your help could be See VALENTINES, Page 8

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Tuesday, January 26, 2016

SHENANDOAH VALLEY BUSINESS JOURNAL

Going Green While Going Gray

By VIC BRADSHAW Daily News-Record

HARRISONBURG — Given the choice between living in a regular apartment or the Virginia Mennonite Retirement Community’s first “green” unit, Elizabeth Franks said she and her husband, Don, didn’t hesitate to take the eco-friendly option.

“They said they had an apartment they wanted to make these changes to and what the purpose was, and we were very much interested in being involved in it,” said Franks, who’s lived in the apartment since May. The Franks — Elizabeth a “professional volunteer,” Don a retired exercise physiology professor who came to Harrisonburg from Knoxville, Tenn. — live in an apartment designed by city-based Blue Ridge Architects to take advantage of natural light and use sustainable and renewable materials.

Harrisonburg, Va.

Retirement Homes Become Eco-Friendly

Retirement communities across the nation are switching to more sustainable designs and products.

Features like LED lighting and lowflow plumbing fixtures provide cost savings in the long run, but they also tap into increased awareness of eco-friendly products and practices by residents.

“There’s definitely interest among some of the consumers our sales team meets with and hears from that it’s important to them,” Maureen Pearson, the Harrisonburg retirement community’s communications director, said of having a more eco-friendly place to live. “It also reflects the concern on VMRC’s part of being an environmentally responsible business.”

Barn Door In Home The eco-friendly apartment isn’t the only step local facilities have taken. However, it

Austin Bachand / DN-R

Josh Lyons, executive director of Sunnyside Retirement Community in Harrisonburg, shows off See GREEN, Page 5 new LED-lighting fixtures during a meeting of its green committee.

Harrisonburg, Va.

SHENANDOAH VALLEY BUSINESS JOURNAL

Tuesday, January 26, 2016

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Cork Floors A Green, Favorable Option Green

FROM PAGE 4

conservation or water usage.”

Grow-Your-Own Efforts does stand out.

At Bridgewater Retirement CommuThe list of the apartment’s “green” features covers a page. They include a re- nity, Tom Carper said energy efficiency is claimed barn door as the study door, cab- a key priority.

The community’s director of facilities inets made from reclaimed barn flooring, wool carpet in the master bedroom, a management said LED lighting and enrooftop garden, and the balcony convert- hanced insulation are part of every renoed into a sunroom with windows across vation project, and high-efficiency windows are installed when possible. A new the east-facing wall.

The couple also opted for cork flooring chiller also runs a variable-speed drive motor. over bamboo.

“It only uses the amount of power it “The cork floor is wonderful,” she said.

“It’s easier on the feet and legs because it actually needs to,” said Carper.

The community has placed a high emhas a little cushion to it, and they’re making cork floor now so that it doesn’t phasis on recycling paper, cardboard and look like a bulletin board, it looks like metal, too.

The owners of an assisted-living facilflooring.”

The Franks have held open houses so ity under construction just southeast of people can see what’s possible. Residents the city have sustainability in mind, too.

Todd Dofflemyer, president of CEO of can opt for one feature or a full The Cathcart Group, said the project is makeover.

Sunnyside Retirement Community incorporating as many energy-efficient and water-conservaeast of the city has ention features into Bellisted the help of its enWe’ve got to appeal laire at Stone Port as vironmentally conit can afford. scious residents to to the masses “We’ve got to apidentify more ecoand balance peal to the masses and friendly practices. cost-constraints. You balance cost-conExecutive Director can drive your straints,” he said. “You Josh Lyons said the can drive your leasing community has created leasing costs out of costs out of market a Green Committee to market feasibility. feasibility.” work on ways the SunThe facility also nyside can be more eco Todd Dofflemyer, will use recycled supfriendly. They’ve alpresident and CEO, plies when possible, ready championed enThe Cathcart Group Dofflemyer said, and hanced recycling efwill have herb and forts, which led to provegetable gardens to grams being instituted support dining operations. in several main buildings on campus.

VMRC already is on the farm-to-table LED lighting is being installed during health care center renovations, he said, bandwagon.

Pearson said its Farm at Willow Run and motion-activated lighting has been placed in areas where it can be more effi- is a 1½-acre vegetable farm it owns and operates to supply vegetables for dining cient.

Sunnyside also is looking off-campus services. Five to six Eastern Mennonite for sustainability help. Lyons said two University students and resident and James Madison University seniors are community volunteers work the garden, working with the Green Committee on a and VMRC residents snap beans and project at the campus, identifying poten- bake zucchini bread.

The community also composts food tial changes.

“They’ll determine what we are doing scraps in two independent-living commuthat is sustainable, and what is out there nities that almost 200 people call home, in the industry that we might want to she said. Nearly five tons of compost was think about,” he said. “They’re helping created in the first six months of operaus identify where we are on the sustain- tion. ability meter. It may cause our organizaContact Vic Bradshaw at 574-6279 or tion to adopt more sustainable policies, vbradshaw@dnronline.com take on some bigger projects for energy

“

Nikki Fox / DN-R

Hayley Smith, a café cook at Virginia Mennonite Retirement Community in Harrisonburg, disposes of old food into a compost bin Wednesday afternoon. Amenities in the community’s “green” apartments include reclaimed barn doors, wool carpet, a rooftop garden and a sunroom with windows across the east-facing wall.

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Tuesday, January 26, 2016

SHENANDOAH VALLEY BUSINESS JOURNAL

Harrisonburg, Va.

What Drives Value In The Absence Of A Driver?

Real Estate Tim Reamer

I

don’t like driving. Like is probably and humans largely don’t; people are fairtoo kind of a word — I abhor driv- ly easily distracted and the same can’t be ing. Beyond the everyday nui- said of computers.

In addition to saving lives, driverless sances like nonsensical traffic lights and slowpokes, aggressive drivers and those vehicles save time, save fuel, save money. who are seemingly confused — driving is Still, adoption of the technology by the frustrating, and in my mind, a terrifically general public will be a tough sell. The unproductive and wholly inefficient waste majority of consumers in several studies have rejected the idea of not being in conof time.

Look, I can appreciate the sense of trol of their vehicle.

However, don’t think for a moment dripeace some gain from getting behind the wheel for what has largely become a verless cars won’t reach a point where mindless activity to enjoy the downtime, they are as pervasive as smartphones. but given unlimited wealth, the first in- The Institute of Electronics and Engineers project that 75 percent of the dulgence for me would be a hiring vehicles on the road will be a chauffeur. driverless by 2040.

So, naturally, I am excitGoogle hopes to make ed about a future that inits car available by 2018. cludes driverless vehiIf driverless vehicles Regardless of when cles. It has all the beneprove themselves to mass adoption occurs it fits of a chauffeur withwill be disruptive. If be substantially out the small talk. The driverless vehicles idea, in some form, has safer, how does prove themselves to be been around since the auto insurance substantially safer, how 1920s — seriously. But, does auto insurance funconly recently have comfunction? tion? If we are safer and panies like Google, along automated to the point speed with most major auto manulimits can be increased, do we facturers, made strides into making the concept a reality available to the need airlines?

In an environment where cars selfpublic.

The government is creating guidelines park and are available to us again with a and throwing $4 billion in marketing be- tap of a smartphone, do we need as many hind the idea in the hopes it will convince parking spaces? If we don’t need as many the public the vehicles are safe. The fun- parking spaces, are entire cities reshaped ny thing is they are, but there is still the to include new development be it buildings or pocket parks? issue of trust and control.

Do we move closer to population cenIt’s true, driverless cars have a higher rate of crashes than nonautonomous vehi- ters or farther away? What if the system cles, but well, only because of nonau- for shipping products is driverless, do tonomous vehicles. In other words, hu- warehouses and retailers shrink because man drivers cause the crashes, not the smaller inventory levels are required computers. The reason: The computers operating driverless cars follow the laws See DRIVER, Page 7

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Harrisonburg, Va.

SHENANDOAH VALLEY BUSINESS JOURNAL

Tuesday, January 26, 2016

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Humans Still Prone To Planning Failures Fourth Quarter Good For Union Bank Driver

FROM PAGE 6

since product can be moved around the clock without driver fatigue?

In this world, is a supremely visible corner lot still worth $2 million? Does any highly sought after and currently valuable commercial real estate have the same attractiveness in an environment where the benefits of visibility, access, parking, and activity are essentially replaced by search engine optimization or its future equivalent?

Maybe. No matter how much technology we surround ourselves with, we’re still human. And as humans, we are likely to continue craving the same social environment that leads us to retailers and restaurants today. We are still prone to the same planning failures that force us to the convenience store at 11 p.m. (though drones could take this away).

We will still longingly look out the window during our commute aching with the need for instant gratification pushing us toward convenient retailers. We still respond to the experience retail can create.

Driverless technology would allow those experiences to be quite elaborate. And still, none of these examples guarantee the corner is worth $2 million or the key elements of site selection still matter.

The world is almost certain to be different for most industries, including commercial real estate. Automobiles forced changes to our communities and industries from their introduction. They reshaped and helped create new cities in the 1950s.

Driverless vehicles will cause a more severe disruption. I expect business and communities will respond with the same human creativity, ambition and adaptability as in the past. I wouldn’t count on utopia, but history suggests we can continue to create something better, even if it is different.

Tim Reamer provides commercial real estate brokerage and consulting services with Cottonwood Commercial and specializes in retail representation, investment property (multifamily | commercial | NNN), and development projects. Learn more at www.timreamer.com.

Scene

FROM PAGE 2

Rooker, Kline May Realty; Jennifer Shirkey, Lenhart Pettit; Andy Vanhook, Appeal Productions; Ryan Waid, BotkinRose; and Skip Weakley, LD&B Insurance.

— Vic Bradshaw

Union Bank Closes 2015 With A Solid Upswing HARRISONBURG — A solid fourth quarter helped Union Bankshares Corp. (NASDAQ: UBSH) close 2015 with net income of $67.1 million, up from $52.2 million in 2014.

For the quarter that ended Dec. 31, the parent company of Union Bank & Trust reported net income of $17.8 million, or 40 cents per share, according to a press release. That topped the $15 million, or 33 cents a share, it netted in the fourth quarter of 2014.

Earnings for the year were $1.49 per diluted share, well above the $1.13 per share posted last year.

G. William Beale, president and CEO of the Richmond-based holding company, said in the release that loans grew 9.2 percent in the fourth quarter while deposits were up 10 percent on an annualized basis.

“During the fourth quarter and throughout 2015,” he said, “we made measurable progress towards our strategic growth objectives that will enable Union to consistently generate profitable growth for our shareholders through the combination of net loan, core deposit and household growth and our efforts to improve efficiency.”

Union operates 124 offices in Virginia and has mortgage, insurance and wealth-management divisions. It has branches in Harrisonburg at 440 S. Main St. and 190 University Blvd. and at 106 Sixth St. in Grottoes.

— Vic Bradshaw

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SHENANDOAH VALLEY BUSINESS JOURNAL

Tuesday, January 26, 2016

Consultant, Legal Adviser Can Be A Valuable Gift Valentines

FROM PAGE 3

a valuable gift. So, ask them if they have drawn up the necessary legal documents.

Do they each have a will? Have they created a durable power of attorney, which allows them to name someone to make financial and health care decisions on their behalf if they become incapacitated? If it appears they have much work to do in these areas, you may want to offer to arrange a consultation for them with a legal adviser and a financial professional.

None of these ideas are “traditional” Valentine’s Day gifts — but all of them can prove of great value to your loved ones.

This article was written by Edward Jones for use by local Edward Jones financial adviser Gannon Irons.

Harrisonburg, Va.

Charting Course For Family Giving A ffluent families have long supported the notion of giving back to society as a way of expressing appreciation for their good fortune.

Nurturing a tradition of family giving — of both assets and time — may bring a family closer together and develop a shared value system that can be passed down to future generations.

Identifying Your Mission As a starting point, a family may want to outline a purpose or mission for its philanthropic endeavors. Holidays or family get-togethers are perfect times to begin the discussion. Adults and older children can share rewarding experiences that have impacted their lives, while younger children should be encouraged to identify role models they admire.

Outlining these thoughts and feelings can help the family craft a mission statement to focus their charitable efforts.

Mission statements don’t need to be lengthy, but they should address three key criteria: ■ The cause a family plans to support; ■ The goal the family would like to achieve; and ■ A plan to achieve the goal.

As part of their deliberations, families should consider the issues, interests or causes that they care most about, and whether they want to focus their efforts on locally, regionally, nationally or internationally.

The following hypothetical statements offer some examples: ■ We will help to lift the spirits of the homeless during the holiday season by

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Matthew R. Frakes sponsoring and serving dinner to shelter residents.

■ We will raise awareness about a disease or affliction (e.g., Alzheimer’s disease, autism, pancreatic cancer) by competing in a road race, promoting our participation and securing pledges for research dollars.

■ We will help finance art projects for inner-city youth, meet as a family three times annually and identify groups to receive donations generated from the activity.

Making A Lasting Difference With the mission established, your family can explore opportunities to make a difference in the lives of individuals, or to help support a cause or organization.

For instance, many organizations, including religious affiliates, sponsor annual trips to the world’s troubled regions matching volunteers with host communities to build schools, clinics and/or homes for the needy. Habitat for Humanity is perhaps best known among Americans for its work building housing for low-income families and for those whose homes were destroyed by disaster.

Families can also work together to support a specific charitable event. For in-

stance, Project Bread’s Walk for Hunger focuses on eradicating hunger in Massachusetts, while The Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure provides financial and social support for families affected by breast cancer.

Of course, a family’s charity event of choice need not be as high profile as these examples.

Opportunities to participate in fundraisers in local communities abound: Active families can compete for pledges in a walking/running event; technology savvy individuals may volunteer to organize and manage an event’s website; cooks can provide refreshments for sale at an event; children can create posters or volunteer at a craft table.

The only real criteria for involving the whole family in charitable activities is a common passion for doing good and a commitment to achieving tangible results.

When these shared values are in place, families can foster a charitable mission that is both rewarding and lasting.

Article by Wealth Management Systems Inc. and provided courtesy of Matthew R. Frakes, a Morgan Stanley financial adviser in Harrisonburg. Contact Matthew at www.morganstanleyfa.com/thefrakesgroup.

Harrisonburg, Va.

SHENANDOAH VALLEY BUSINESS JOURNAL

Tuesday, January 26, 2016

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Eating Together Enhances Group Performance S

uch an assertion may seem entirely too simple to be believed. However, research discussed in the December issue of Harvard Business Review indicates that it’s absolutely correct.

Over the years, companies have used a wide array of team-building activities, ranging from “adventure races” or “eco weeks” at one end of the spectrum, to the utilization of more mundane approaches, such as ropes courses and different forms of “game playing, at the other end of the spectrum.

While such endeavors consume a great deal of time, attention, and money, their value is often minimal. However, that’s not the case when it comes to eating with co-workers.

Eating together is a primal activity that is extremely meaningful, and sharing a meal involves a special type of intimacy that makes a team feel like a family, and creates a focus above and beyond the actual work being done. In one part of the study, cooperative behavior was found to be about twice

as high among teams that ate together as it was among teams that didn’t.

Companies should carefully consider how to effectively incorporate eating activities into organizational routines. Providing free food onsite will not only make employees more productive, as a result of reduced transit time, but will increase the likelihood that workers will eat together.

And when an off-site activity is being considered, it might be more effective — and less costly — to have employees prepare a meal together rather than attend another ropes course.

Change Essential To Evolution Advances in technology, increasing customer demands, shifting workforce demographics, and new laws and regulations require organizations to change, and do so effectively. The December issue of Talent Development offers some guidelines about how this can be accomplished.

Senior agency leaders must be transpar-

ent, and must clearly articulate the real reasons they believe that change is necessary.

Employees must be engaged from the start, and that engagement must continue throughout the change effort.

This will not occur if employees view the reasons for change as being contrived, and they will recognize such contrivances quite easily.

Engagement is a two-way, reciprocal process, where organizations must work to engage the employee, who, in turn, decides how much to engage. Each reinforces the other. To succeed, organizations must have clear values, and provide leadership that’s committed to engagement.

There must be investment in first-line supervisors, in order to strengthen their supervisory and communication skills. In addition, there should be investment in all employees through training, career growth opportunities, and a clear solicitation and

See TOGETHER, Page 11

NEWS to

ME

— By Philip B. DuBose

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SHENANDOAH VALLEY BUSINESS JOURNAL

Tuesday, January 26, 2016

Represents Clients In Va., W.Va., D.C. Movers

Harrisonburg, Va.

Local Ledger

FROM PAGE 2

BotkinRose is a Harrisonburg firm that represents clients in courts in Virginia, West Virginia and Washington, D.C. — Vic Bradshaw

Messinger Joins Miller & Jameson As Accountant HARRISONBURG — Miller & Jameson recently added Rebecca Messinger to its roster of staff accountants.

A Pottstown, Pa., native, Messinger earned a bachelor’s degree in finance from James Madison University in 2002, according to information provided by the firm.

The Penn Laird resident has 14 years of experience providing accounting services for business and individual clients. She has experience working with multiple types of accounting software.

Miller & Jamison is a Harrisonburg firm that provides a broad range of services for individual and corporate clients.

— Vic Bradshaw

Home Sales

Unemployment Nov. 2015 Harrisonburg 4.4% Rockingham County 3.6% Page County 6.2% Shenandoah County 3.8% Augusta County 3.8% Staunton 4.0% Waynesboro 4.5%

Nov. 2014 4.9% 4.1% 7.1% 4.3% 4.2% 4.6% 4.8%

Source: Virginia Employment Commission

Labor Force Harrisonburg Rockingham County Page County Shenandoah County Augusta County Staunton Waynesboro

Nov. 2015 23,865 39,996 11,359 20,812 35,698 11,664 9,934

Oct. 2015 23,994 40,185 11,436 20,929 35,656 11,605 9,765

Nov. 2014 24,001 40,333 11,566 20,704 36,572 11,962 10,040

Source: Virginia Employment Commission

Aittama Earns Masters In Photography From PPA HARRISONBURG — Local photographer Don Aittama has earned a master of photography degree from the Professional Photographer’s of America, according to a press release.

The degree signifies that the McGaheysville photographer has met the PPA’s standards of excellence as demonstrated through photo competition, advanced education and professional service.

Aittama, a certified professional photographer, received the degree at the PPA’s annual convention, Imaging USA, held Jan. 10-12 in Atlanta.

Oct. 2015 5.0% 3.7% 5.5% 3.8% 4.0% 4.2% 4.5%

Building Permits* November 2015 Permits Estimated Issued Cost

Harrisonburg 7 Rockingham County 17 Page County 1 Augusta County 14

$820,000 $3.76M $89,000 $1.56M

Median Price Harrisonburg Rockingham County Page County Shenandoah County Augusta County Staunton Waynesboro

Dec. 2015 $155,000 $216,000 $175,000 $168,500

Dec. 2014 Pct. Change $188,500 — 17.77 $174,000 + 24.14 $150,000 + 16.67 $170,000 — 0.88 Not Available Not Available Not Available

Days On Market Harrisonburg Rockingham County Page County Shenandoah County Augusta County Staunton Waynesboro

Dec. 2015 46 35 288 158

Dec. 2014 Pct. Change 81 — 43.21 60 — 41.67 124 + 132.26 149 + 6.04 Not Available Not Available Not Available

Units Sold Harrisonburg Rockingham County Page County Shenandoah County Augusta County Staunton Waynesboro

Dec. 2015 35 47 14 51

Dec. 2014 Pct. Change 29 + 20.69 67 — 29.85 16 — 12.5 44 + 15.91 Not Available Not Available Not Available

Sources: Funkhouser Real Estate Group; RealEstate Businesss Intelligence

November 2014 Permits Estimated Issued Cost

Retail Sales (in millions)

5 $765,250 21 $4.9M N/A N/A 16 $1.78M

Source: censtats.census.gov/bldg/bldgprmt.shtml *Permits are for residential construction only, single- and multifamily buildings, as recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau. The figures do not reflect the actual number of units associated with each permit issued for multifamily construction.

November 2015 $114.37M $51.53M $14.64M $34.18M $40.57M $35.34M $40.87M

Harrisonburg Rockingham County Page County Shenandoah County Augusta County Staunton Waynesboro

— Vic Bradshaw

BUSINESS JOURNAL Shenandoah Valley

Source: Virginia Department Of Taxation

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Harrisonburg, Va.

SHENANDOAH VALLEY BUSINESS JOURNAL

Today’s Employees Face Big Pressures Together

FROM PAGE 9

valuing of their input on work processes and innovation.

Over time, organizations that operate as described above will develop an engaged workforce that feels valued, facilitating the change process. The result will be an organization able to evolve and continue to be effective.

Organizational Cultures Of Fear This timely topic is the focus of an article in the December/January issue of HR Magazine. The article stresses the importance of understanding the genesis of such cultures, and it describes ways to remediate such situations when they arise.

Today’s employees face continually escalating pressures to meet ambitious goals with smaller teams and fewer resources, and in most cases, failure to do so will result in serious repercussions. In addition, technological advances are eliminating more and more jobs, which continues to fuel uncertainty and fear, resulting in a culture of fear in the organization.

The signs that your organization is plagued by a culture of fear are quite apparent. Leaders are in a “command and control” mode as far as managing the organization.

At meetings, employees sit quietly, afraid to speak until leaders leave the room.

They do what’s required of them, but seldom go “the extra mile.” They also tend to keep a low profile, and will frequently exit the organization. Fortunately, this type of environment can be changed.

It starts with building trust by being straightforward, admitting mistakes, keeping promises, showing vulnerability, and letting go of grievances. It’s essential to improve your listening skills and focus on what employees are saying to you, both verbally and nonverbally.

Maintain an open attitude, don’t judge, encourage risk-taking, and reward courage.

An overarching goal is to acknowledge employees’ worth and help them succeed.

Philip B. DuBose is a management professor in the college of business at James Madison University.

Tuesday, January 26, 2016

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VMRC Executive Director Recertified As Fundraising Professional HARRISONBURG — Les Helmuth, executive director of the VMRC Foundation, has been recertified as a certified fundraising executive by CFRE International, according to a press release.

CFRE certifications signify that the person has met standards set by the organization, including education, tenure in the profession, fundraising achievement and commitment to service for nonprofit organizations. The certified ex-

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ecutive also has agreed to uphold accountability standards and the Donor Bill of Rights.

Certifications are awarded for three years.

The VMRC Foundation is the fundraising arm of the Virginia Mennonite Retirement Community.

— Vic Bradshaw

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Tuesday, January 26, 2016

SHENANDOAH VALLEY BUSINESS JOURNAL

Harrisonburg, Va.