Initiatives October 2013
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October 2013 Initiatives
New Chamber Members JOINED IN JULY A New Leash on Life, Inc. Angel Investor Management Group Apex Systems, Inc. Attention Medical Supply Brown O’Dell & Partners, P.C. C&A Printing, LLC The Clemons Coding Co. Cost Plus Merchant Solutions Davis Architects, Inc. D’Licous Dining & Smokehouse Grill, Inc.
Downtown Living I Love Sushi Jack R. Morgan Engineering, Inc. JTL Solutions, LLC Kathy Franks Marketing Kiira’s Lunchbox & Concessions METS - M&E Technical Services, LLC Neighborhood Concepts, Inc Newk’s - Whitesburg Drive NMR Consulting (Network Management Resources, Inc.) Sunrise Pizza & Cafe (Rudra, Inc.) Supper Heroes, LLC TARCOG - Top of Alabama Regional Council of Governments Teklinks Thrivent Financial Trinity Performance Solutions
Vanguard Cleaning Systems of Alabama Walgreens #15501 - Jeff Road
JOINED IN AUGUST A Cup of Everything (Square Enterprises) Archarithms, Inc. Art & Soul, Inc. Association of Energy Engineers (AEE) AVISTA Strategies, Inc. Bennett Distribution Services, LLC Chapman Commercial Realty Curse.com Cypress Creek Organic Farms Dreamland Bar-B-Que Faulkner Studio and Fine Art Gallery Futaba Corporation of America Hospice Advantage Huntsville Achievement School IDair, LLC Irvine Sensors Corporation Jersey Mike’s Subs M & M Cleaning Services MAS Consulting, LLC Multitronics VMI, LLC North Shore Components, Inc. Oak Ridge-Huntsville Partnership Office (ORHPO) Rainspace Computing, Inc. Sarrell Dental Center SecurityNational Mortgage Company SouthCrest Mortgage State Farm Insurance, Robby Rowan Insurance, Inc. Sundown Wines WorkOut Anytime Wynsum Communications, LLC
If you want to make a valuable investment in your business and in the community, the Chamber is the place to start. Contact Donna McCrary, Membership Specialist, by calling 256-535-2027 or emailing dmccrary@hsvchamber.org. Initiatives October 2013
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Thanks to Our Investors Huntsville Regional Economic Growth Initiative
Chamber of Commerce of Huntsville/Madison County
Development Partner ($200,000+ annually)
City of Huntsville Development Council ($120,000+ annually)
Huntsville Utilities Chairman’s Council ($75,000+ annually)
Toyota Motor Manufacturing Alabama, Inc. President’s Circle
($50,000+ annually)
Huntsville Hospital Port of Huntsville Regions Bank Tennessee Valley Authority Leadership Forum ($25,000+ annually) ADTRAN, Inc. al.com / The Huntsville Times BBVA Compass Bank The Boeing Company City of Madison Emerson Network Power - Avocent Lockheed Martin Corporation Madison County Commission Redstone Federal Credit Union
Executive Council ($15,000+ annually)
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AT&T BB&T Crestwood Medical Center Intergraph Corporation Northrop Grumman Corporation Parsons PNC Bank Qualitest Pharmaceuticals SES Wells Fargo Bank WEUP Verizon Wireless
October 2013 Initiatives
Chamber Trustees ($10,000+ annually) AEgis Technologies Group Aerojet Rocketdyne Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Alabama Booz Allen Hamilton, Inc. DynCorp International Dynetics, Inc. First Commercial Bank Jerry Damson, Inc. Lamar Outdoor Advertising, Inc.
Progress Partners
Lanier Ford Shaver & Payne, P.C. L-3 Communications Corporation – Huntsville Operations Navistar Diesel of Alabama, LLC Raytheon Company S3 Teledyne Brown Engineering, Inc. Wyle CAS Group
($5,000+ annually)
Ability Plus Analytical Services, Inc. A-P-T Research, Inc. Available Plastics Baron Services, Inc. Beason & Nalley, Inc. The Bentley Automotive Group Bill Penney Toyota-Mitsubishi BlueCreek Investment Partners Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP Cadence Bank Clearview Cancer Institute Coates Transportation Group Colliers International Connected Logistics Consolidated Construction Company Corporate Office Properties Trust ERC, Inc. Goodwyn, Mills and Cawood, Inc. hibu, publisher of Yellow Book Huntsville-Madison County Builders Association iBERIABANK Intuitive Research & Technology Corporation
J. Smith Lanier & Co. Joe H. Ritch Kudzu Productions, Inc. Landers McLarty Corporation LEAN Frog Business Solutions, Inc. LogiCore MJLM Engineering & Technical Services MTS, Inc. The Orthopaedic Center Progress Bank QinetiQ North America Radiance Technologies, Inc. Rosie’s Restaurants, Inc. & Right Way Restaurants, Inc. (DBA SteakOut) SELEX Galileo Inc. Strata-G Torch Technologies Turner U.S. Space and Rocket Center WAFF-TV Wilmer & Lee, P.A. Woody Anderson Ford
Progress Investors ($2,500+ annually) Alpha Beta Technologies, Inc. Anglin Reichmann Snellgrove & Armstrong, PC Averbuch Realty Co., Inc. - Scott Averbuch Aviagen, Inc. Bama Jammer, Inc. BancorpSouth Bryant Bank CB&S Bank Century Automotive CFD Research Corporation Coast Personnel Services deciBel Research Decisive Analytics Corporation Decosimo DESE Research, Inc. Digium, Inc. Ducommun Miltec First Financial Group Wealth Management Fite Building Company, Inc. Foreign Language Services, Inc. 4SITE, Inc. G. W. Jones & Sons Consulting Engineers GATR Technologies Halsey Foodservice HEMSI Hiley Cars Huntsville Huntsville Botanical Garden Huntsville/Madison County Convention & Visitors Bureau Huntsville Tractor & Equipment, Inc. Investor’s Resource/ Raymond James Financial Services
KPS Group Leadership Huntsville/Madison County, Inc. The Lioce Group, Inc. MacAulay-Brown, Inc. (MacB) Moog, Inc. National Bank of Commerce North Alabama Multiple Listing Service PALCO Telecom Service, Inc. PeopleTec PFM Group PHOENIX Pinnacle Solutions, Inc. PROJECTXYZ, Inc. QTEC, Inc. Qualis Corporation Renasant Bank RJ Young scsworx ServisFirst Bank Sierra Lobo, Inc. Sigmatech, Inc. Spencer Companies Incorporated Synapse Wireless, Inc. Systems Products and Solutions, Inc. URS Corporation West Huntsville Land Co., Inc. WHNT-TV WILL Technology, Inc. Worthington Federal Bank
Initiatives October 2013
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October 2013 Initiatives
initiatives
Chamber of Commerce of Huntsville/Madison County
october 2013 on the cover
Keith Bozeman, shutterstock.com
The Path Ahead Are FAA testing, microchip fabrication and digital manufacturing institute new avenues to growth? pages 18-21 Cover image: ShutterStock
features Economic Development Highlights
Mercury & Chase 484
including 20 Local Companies on Inc. 5000 Fastest Growing list, AEgis Technologies Group, AMRDEC, PESA, DynCorp International, HudsonAlpha, Victory Solutions, Correlated Magnetics Research, Moon Express, Alabama A&M University and CFD Research Corporation
mission
The mission of the Chamber of Commerce of Huntsville/Madison County is to prepare, develop and promote our community for economic growth.
contact Chamber of Commerce of Huntsville/Madison County 225 Church Street, Huntsville, AL 35801 main line: 256.535.2000 fax: 256.535.2015
New Chamber Members HREGI Investors Listing Chamber Board Listing Community Profile Chamber Staff Listing Mark Your Calendar Small Business Awards Review Small Business Healthcare
3 4 8 13 17 29 33 34
editorial staff
Publisher Chip Cherry, cce Executive Editor Patricia C. McCarter
Editorial Designer Kristi Sherrard ontributing Writers Kimberly Ballard, Patricia McCarter C and Mike Ward
www.asmartplace.com
Photography Chamber of Commerce staff, publications and archive unless otherwise noted
Submissions for editorial content are not accepted. Information in this and other Chamber publications is at the discretion of the Chamber of Commerce of Huntsville/Madison County. Advertising inquiries go through The Huntsville Times.
Advertising Sales Chad Ludwig al.com / The Huntsville Times cludwig@al.com
online www.HSVchamber.org fyi
Awards & Accolades 2 2 2013 Business EXPO 2 4 Getting Good Grades 2 6 Non-Profit Center Stage 2 8 The Times Are A’Changing 3 0 Central Bank Building Renovation 31 AIDT Programs, Quality Workforce 33
developments
Courtesy of Tate Farms in Meridienville
Huntsville/Madison County, Alabama is located in the middle of the southeastern United States, with more than four million people within a 100-mile radius. The Huntsville community is the economic hub of the northern Alabama/ southern Tennessee region. Huntsville/Madison County’s economy is one of the strongest in the nation, with low unemployment, strong job growth and income levels leading the region. Business growth and investment from U.S. and international companies have made it one of the country’s top “hot spots” for growing a business and raising a family.
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Initiatives October 2013
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Chamber of Commerce
Executive Committee and Board of Directors 2013 Executive Committee
A Message from Chip Cherry Dear Chamber of Commerce Investors, Community Leaders and Friends: The Path Ahead… it’s an interesting concept. Our community has a rich history of shaping the future, of seeing the possible and positioning ourselves for success. As we assess our strengths and look at the market, what are the strategies for ensuring that our region’s economy remains strong and vibrant? We believe the answer is to nurture and grow our existing companies and Redstone/NASA and to leverage the talent and expertise to pursue new market segments. In short, we must diversify our economy by leveraging those areas in which we excel to enter new markets. In this issue you will read about our efforts to be recognized as one of six FAA UAS test sites and the Digital Manufacturing Institute – two programs that would complement our current economic base while positioning us for future growth. You will also learn more about a potential new industry sector for our region – semiconductors. We and our partners are working to identify those areas where the expertise of our existing workforce and companies provides the foundation for us to attract new industry sectors. We will keep you posted on our progress. And now I’d like to quote Dr. Wernher von Braun from his address to the Alabama Legislature in 1961: “Let’s be honest with ourselves about it: It’s not water or real estate, or labor, or power or cheap taxes that brings industry to a state or city. It’s brainpower. Nowadays, brainpower dumped in a desert will make it rich. Right now you could run a profitable electronics firm on the moon, if the company liked the climate. Educational climate, that is.” Solid education is at the heart of every bit of economic development we try to bring to Huntsville and Madison County. That being said, I will address the ongoing efforts to repeal Alabama’s Career and College Readiness Standards (referred to by some as Common Core). Proponents of repeal are framing this as a State’s Rights issue, stating that the federal government has no right to tell us how to educate our children. The truth is Common Core was a movement which began with the states in an effort to ensure that they were teaching core subjects in a similar manner and covering similar content in the different grade levels. Common Core standards were put in place by the States to provide parents with assurance that if they moved from one state to another, their children would transition into a system where they were covering the same subject matter in their core courses. The Alabama State School Board approves the standards under which our students are educated, not the federal government. In fact, the federal government was late to this party, only endorsing the Common Core concept after the majority of the states had already adopted it. As the Common Core battle heats up this fall, I encourage you to ask the hard questions. The arguments of those seeking repeal will not stand up to objective review. I look forward to seeing you at a Chamber event soon!
Chip Cherry, CCE President & CEO Chamber of Commerce of Huntsville/Madison County
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October 2013 Initiatives
Ron Poteat, Chair, Regions Bank Robert Mayes, Chair-Elect, BlueCreek Investment Partners Jim Bolte, Immediate Past Chair, Toyota Motor Manufacturing Alabama Tommy Beason, Chamber Foundation Chair, Consultant Joe Newberry, Secretary/Treasurer, Redstone Federal Credit Union Rey Almodóvar, Vice Chair - Economic Development, INTUITIVE Rose Allen, Vice Chair - Government Affairs, Booz Allen Hamilton Everett Brooks, Vice Chair - Membership, AEgis Technologies Group Danny Windham, Vice Chair - Workforce & Industry Relations, Digium Kim Lewis, Vice Chair - Small Business & Events, PROJECTXYZ Gary Bolton, Vice Chair - Research & Information Services, ADTRAN Dr. O’Neal Smitherman, Vice Chair - Image Development & Communications, HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology
Mayor Tommy Battle, Chair-Appointed, City of Huntsville Penny Billings, Chair-Appointed, BancorpSouth Frederick Lanier, Chair-Appointed, J. Smith Lanier & Co. David Spillers, Chair-Appointed, Huntsville Hospital Chairman Dale Strong, Chair-Appointed, Madison County Commission Mayor Troy Trulock, Chair-Appointed, City of Madison Chip Cherry, President & CEO, Chamber of Commerce Elected Board Joe Alexander, Camber Corporation Dr. Robert Altenkirch, The University of Alabama in Huntsville Bob Baron, Baron Services Dr. Marc Bendickson, Dynetics Miranda Bouldin, LogiCore Greg Bragg, Consolidated Construction Company Micah Bullard, Turner Kevin Byrnes, Raytheon Company Kevin Campbell, Northrop Grumman Corporation Frank Caprio, Bradley Arant Boult Cummings Glenn Clayton, Appleton Learning Joe Collazo, COLSA Corporation Mark Curran, L-3 Communications Corporation - Huntsville Operations Gene Goldman, Aerojet Rocketdyne John Gully, SAIC Natalie Hasley, Bama Jammer Steve Hassell, Emerson Network Power - Avocent John Holly, Lockheed Martin Corporation Tharon Honeycutt, MSB Analytics Dr. Pam Hudson, Crestwood Medical Center Dr. Andrew Hugine, Alabama A&M University Tony Jones, The Boeing Company Jeremiah Knight, Verizon Wireless Call Center Rich Marsden, Lanier Ford Shaver & Payne Angie McCarter, Davidson Technologies Elizabeth Morard, Qualis Corporation Jim Owens, BBVA Compass George Prueitt, Wyle CAS Group Tom Ray, Consultant Alicia Ryan, LSINC Dr. Gurmej Sandhu, Sigmatech Charlie Sealy, Sealy Management Company Crystal Shell, WILL Technology E.J. Sinclair, Science and Engineering Services (SES) Dr. Ashok Singhal, CFD Research Corporation Todd Slyman, Village of Providence Jan Smith, S 3 Cynthia Streams, Domino’s Pizza (Valley Pizza) Nilmini Thompson, Systems Products and Solutions
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ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT HIGHLIGHTS CHAMBER OF COMMERCE OF HUNTSVILLE/MADISON COUNTY
20 Local Companies on Inc. 5000 Fastest Growing list Twenty Huntsville/Madison County companies have just been placed on the Inc. 5000 Fastest Growing Companies List, ranked by three-year revenue growth. Here are the local companies on the Inc. 5000 and their revenue growth:
Rank
Company
3-Yr % Growth
397
Summit 7 Systems
1125%
422
Five Stones Research
1076%
434
Yorktown Systems Group
1057%
853
Connected Logistics
524%
1,046 Bevilacqua Research
407%
1,256 Appleton Learning
327%
1,476 PeopleTec
270%
1,812 Torch Technologies
212%
1,865 GATR Technologies
204%
2,267 i3
161%
2,576 nLogic
137%
2,616 Xarisma
134%
2,645 Media Fusion
133%
2,664 GaN
132%
3,002 AEgis Technologies Group
112%
3,366 PPT Solutions
93%
3,393 A-P-T Research
92%
3,656 U.S. Diagnostics
81%
3,981 IronMountain Solutions
68%
4,097 Manufacturing Technical Solutions
64%
Bold = Chamber member
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October 2013 Initiatives
~ continued on page 12
New EDPA Database to Help Site Searches with Layers of Information The most-visited economic development website in the state is slated for a major upgrade, with the help of Huntsville-based AEgis Technologies. The site and building database maintained by the Economic Development Partnership of Alabama is in the midst of a transformation that will still enable companies and site consultants to find available property for projects but will also be able to do much more. The improved site, to be known as “Alabama Interactive,” will allow users to zoom in on a site with satellite imagery and even look at the topographic map of an area. County profiles looking at everything from population to education levels will also be added. AEgis business management manager Barlow Blake said EDPA is upping the ante when it comes to a website like this. “They are definitely forward-thinking and pushing the envelope,” Blake said. “This is going to be a value-added tool for the entire state.” Blake said EDPA’s work soliciting input from site consultants, corporations, local economic developers and other users of the site are contributing greatly to the final design of the database. The layering capabilities will enable users to bring up a variety of information for the entire state or for a more narrow region. “Because of the platform that is being constructed, we have an unlimited technical ability to add other layers of information,” said Greg Knighton, vice president with EDPA. The current site database at EDPA is already a leading site searching tool in economic development, acknowledged throughout the U.S. as a leader in the industry. The site con-
tains 479 sites and 498 buildings suited for economic development opportunities. The database gets more than 600 searches per day and the website gets 2.4 million hits per year. Knighton said like everything else in economic development, the challenge is to try to stay a step ahead of the competition.
“Our database has served us well,” Knighton said. “However, if we are to remain competitive, we must stay in step with our competition. The new database will not only put us on the same playing field with our competition, but will put us ahead with a unique product.” A different interface will bring up the partners who make up the EDPA, particularly those that have an active role in economic development, such as utility companies and banks. In October and November, EDPA plans to begin testing and training of the new site. The plan is to take the site live to the public on Dec. 16. At that time, Blake said he hopes the entire economic development community takes notice. “We definitely hope it’s groundbreaking for the entire industry,” he said. “This is going to be the way to use technology for economic development in the future.” •
Navy Taps AMRDEC for Presidential Helicopter Cockpit Upgrade The leading helicopter in the U.S. President’s rotary-wing fleet – White Hawk – will soon be upgraded at the Army Aviation and Missile Research, Development and Engineering Center (AMRDEC) Software Engineering Directorate (SED) at Redstone Arsenal. The upgrade will include support of the Common Avionics Architecture System under the Navy’s Cockpit Upgrade Program. The Aviation Mission Planning System team at AMRDEC’s SED has experience developing mission-planning software for CAAS cockpits, including the Marine Corps heavy-lift Super Stallion and the Chinook. SED engineers will develop VH-60N mission-planning software. The Aviation Mission Planning System team produces AMPS, its namesake hardware and software package, for Army
aviation. It also customizes AMPS for various Foreign Military Sales customers, and produces other solutions, from components to systems, for mission-planning workflows across the U.S. military. “Our previous success with Rockwell Collins enabled us to secure this effort,” said Mark Hundschied, project lead for SED’s presidential helicopter mission planning. “Our development team enjoys an excellent relationship with the project office, communicating frequently and candidly to deliver high-quality products.” The VH-60N White Hawk, assigned to Marine Helicopter Squadron One, is a twin-engine, all-weather helicopter that supports the executive transport mission for the President of the United States. •
Initiatives October 2013
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ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT HIGHLIGHTS continued from page 10
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PESA Celebrates 40 Years in Huntsville PESA held a 40th anniversary party on Aug. 16, and part of the celebration was letting the audience know what it is that PESA does in the audio/video realm. “After 40 years of superior products and market success, an energetic attitude of innovation continues here at PESA,” said Howard Sutton, PESA Executive Chairman. “Video and audio delivery and distribution are dynamic industries, and to this day, we still design, manufacture, and test everything right here in our facility. I’m proud of the entrepreneurial spirit that exists throughout our organization.” Frank Zimmerman, PESA’s senior engineering specialist and co-founder, said the company has always shown a commitment to developing reliable, cutting-edge products. “PESA is a special company with a unique culture that fosters and rewards innovation,” he added. “As the company moves forward, I am confident our rich history of innovation will continue to change the way the world works with audio and video signals.” Sutton said much has changed in the television and broadcast markets since 1973, and PESA is proud to have contributed to the advancement of broadcast and communications products. “We are delighted to say the Huntsville community played a significant role in how television and computer data is routed and switched today,” Sutton said. After the ceremony the company hosted an open house event displaying several of their newest products for streaming video and ultra high resolution video switching and routing equipment. Founded in 1973 by two entrepreneurial engineers, the company has evolved into a global AV routing and distribution leader with a versatile collection of products for the broadcast, religious, education, government, and military markets. In 1976, PESA became the first routing switcher company to offer redundant routing with automatic changeover options. Five years later, the company introduced the first ASICbased hybrid video switch. In 1988, PESA created the very first virtual matrix mapping software, which was used by NBC
during the Summer Games in Seoul, South Korea. Other innovations followed. In 1991, PESA produced the first 100MHz RGB routing switcher, later followed by the first 200MHz and 400MHz systems, and in 2002 introduced the first 512x512 digital video routing system with hybrid coax/ fiber I/O and internal redundant power and control. PESA is expanding into new market segments as well, most recently with the introduction of the PESA Xstream multi-channel HD streaming appliance. In addition, several of its Cheetah large-scale router and PESA PRO signal processing products were recently certified by the U.S. Department of Defense. PESA is
the first and only company to achieve listing on the DoD’s Unified Capabilities (UC) Approved Products List (APL) as a Video Distribution System (VDS). “The success of PESA comes from our ability to keep up with the times and keep ahead of design trends,” said Chuck Tillett, PESA president/COO. “Our Cheetah product line changed the way facilities used fiber for signal distribution, and our DRS systems introduced a revolutionary new way to centralize and switch audio. We are also continuing our legacy of innovation for the next generations of digital formats, including 4K and 8K.” •
L-R: Chamber Membership Director Mike Brazier, Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle, PESA co-founder Frank Zimmerman, PESA President Chuck Tillett and PESA Executive Chairman Howard Sutton
Space and Missile Defense Dinner Speaker Warns of Cyber Threats U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers is a congressman from Michigan, but one of his biggest responsibilities is of consequence to the entire country. He’s the chair of the House Intelligence Committee, and he told about 600 people at the Chamber’s Space and Missile Defense Dinner on Aug. 14 that America is bombarded daily with attacks that could cripple the nation. The Republican congressman specifically mentioned threats posed by China, Russia, Syria, Iran and North Korea. And the rest of the world is home to renegades with computer skills who constantly try to thwart fire walls and passwords to wreak havoc on the U.S. economy by infiltrating banks and utilities. 12
October 2013 Initiatives
China alone, he said, has cost the U.S. more than $1 trillion in lost prosperity, “and there has been no consequence.” Rogers – who happens to be the brother of Ret. Gen. Jim Rogers who retired in 2012 as Redstone Arsenal’s commanding general – said the nation must face the fact that “the threat matrix is higher than it’s ever been” and commit resources to this form of espionage and assault. These attacks have happened across the country as well as here at home. In just the past three months, media outlets have reported that some two dozen Huntsville/Redstone Arsenal computer networks were infiltrated by Chinese hackers to gain access to Department of Defense information.
Rogers employed an energizing non-partisan tone to share his message: “Politics stop on our waters’ edge,” he said, adding that “it’s OK to be a super power,” because America doesn’t use its might to take other people’s lands. He authored three bipartisan intelligence authorization bill sin the 112th Congress which were signed into law, and he wrote the leading cyber security bill to protect American innovation and the jobs that come with it from cyber predators. While the Congressman acknowledged he and other House Intelligence Committee members lose sleep at night – including Alabama Democratic U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell who was on the stage at the dinner – he was able to make the crowd laugh. He said his father tells people that he has five sons, and four of them turned out well, but “the other is in Congress.” •
TOP 10 EMPLOYERS Population
Madison County
City of Huntsville
2010 Census
334,811
180,105
42,938
417,593
2012 Census
343,080
182,956
43,685
430,734
% Growth
City of Huntsville Madison Metro Area
2.5% 1.6% 1.7% 3.1%
130,791
15,536
162,405
Avg. Household Income $76,967
$69,581 $110,828
$74,407
Per Capita Income
$29,949
$29,550
$30,845
Huntsville Hospital System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7,129 NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6,000 Huntsville City Schools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,079 The Boeing Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,600 Madison County Schools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,389
Households & Income* # of Households
Redstone Arsenal* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31,500*
75,230
$40,994
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau (www.census.gov), *2011 American Community Survey
SAIC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,229 City of Huntsville . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,206 The University of Alabama in Huntsville . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,675 ADTRAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,522 Source: Chamber of Commerce of Huntsville/Madison County *includes on-site contractors
Aerospace & Defense Huntsville/Madison County is home to the U.S. Army Redstone Arsenal and NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center which combine to drive a thriving aerospace and defense technology industry. More than 37,500 people work at Redstone Arsenal and NASA managing some of the country’s most important and sophisticated technology programs including missiles, aviation and space exploration.
Research & Technology Huntsville’s Cummings Research Park has earned a reputation as a global leader in technology development. The second-largest science and
For more information, visit:
technology park in the U.S., Cummings Research Park is home to more
www.HSVchamber.org
development.
than 300 companies and 29,000 people involved in technology research and
Initiatives October 2013
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ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT HIGHLIGHTS continued from page 12
DynCorp Regards Contractors as Heroes as Helicopters Return When five DynCorp International helicopter mechanics flew into Huntsville International Airport’s Intermodal Center on Aug. 6, the company gave them a hero’s welcome. In an enormous Russian Volga cargo plane, they were bringing in six Hueys that had been in Afghanistan. The mechanics had maintained the helicopters when they were in theater, and Ret. Maj. Gen. Jim Myles – who is now vice president of aviation for DynCorp International and based in Huntsville – reported what those helicopters have accomplished since 2010. They have flown 8,000 hours, 38,000 people and 295,000 pounds of cargo. “They are the backbone of modern Army aviation,” Myles said of the Hueys. Myles said that being contractors such as the mechanics is a dangerous job. DynCorp has lost 67 employees in theater since 2003. But for now, the mechanics will “shake the sand out” of the helicopters and prepare them for their next line of duty, such as fighting fires in California or supporting oil rigs in the Gulf. The work will be done in Huntsville, Myles said, “because they just know how to get the work done.” The repair and refurbishment project is a being done via a strategic agreement with DynCorp, Westwind Technologies and Sierra Nevada. •
R-L: MG (Ret.) Jim Myles and DynCorp International helicopter mechanics
HudsonAlpha, UAB Use Grant to Research Breast Cancer Treatments
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Nationwide nonprofit Susan G. Komen for the Cure is awarding a nearly $1 million grant to the HudsonAlpha Institute of Biotechnology in Huntsville and University of Alabama at Birmingham Comprehensive Cancer Center for work to find a more targeted approach to treating the most commonly diagnosed form of breast cancer. The grant will allow doctors to target estrogen receptor positive, which the researchers say accounts for the largest percentage of breast cancer deaths per year. Rick Myers, the HudsonAlpha president, said researchers have an opportunity “to identify molecular signatures” that could mean quicker, more effective treatments. Myers, along with Katherine Varley, Ph.D., at HudsonAlpha, and Andres Forero, M.D., and Don Buchsbaum, Ph.D., of the UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center, will evaluate the genetic composition of breast cancer cells obtained from an investigator initiated trial that combined two medications; one that blocks estrogen action and the other a monoclonal antibody that blocks formation of vessels in the tumors. The patients with ER+ breast cancer participating in the trial provided biopsy specimens from primary tumors prior to treatment and at six weeks after the initiation of therapy. Physicians and scientists at UAB, including Forero and Buchsbaum, led the clinical trial. “The trial involved a unique combination of drugs,” said Myers, who is also the principal investigator on the nearly $1 million grant recently awarded by Susan G. Komen for the Cure. “And some women responded well to the treatment and others did not. With this Komen award, we will use new technologies to examine all the genes – the entire genomes – in the tumor tissues from the women who participated, in hopes of identifying molecular signatures specific for those who respond versus those who do not respond.” Physicians could then use these signatures, or biomarkers, to test women with ER+ breast cancer prior to treatment, and then use this particular combination therapy for those women with the appropriate signature. “We’re also looking at the genomic data for ways to monitor patients,” said Myers. • October 2013 Initiatives
Victory Solutions Supplier of the Year to Boeing Victory Solutions, Inc. has been named a Supplier of the Year by The Boeing Company. Victory Solutions, headquartered in Huntsville, with a design-to-build prototyping facility in Charleston, S.C., and Guntersville, Ala., was one of 16 companies and one university to be honored in an awards ceremony in San Diego. The Supplier of the Year is one of the highest honors bestowed by The Boeing Company. The selection of winning suppliers was based on statistical measurements of quality, on-time delivery, post- delivery support, cost, and ability to anticipate and respond to changing customer requirements. The Boeing Company issues the award annually to recognize suppliers who are the “best of the best.” This is the first year Victory Solutions has won the award. The Supplier of the Year award recipients were chosen out of a pool of thousands of suppliers from around the world that support The Boeing Company. Kris McGuire, Victory Solutions CEO, stated in response to the award, “Victory is honored to receive such a prestigious award from The Boeing Company. In today’s environment, to be honored with this award means a lot; it means that our customer recognizes Victory’s commitment to providing exceptional service and quality work. We truly appreciate the partnership we have fostered through working with Boeing and look forward to continuing our partnership with Boeing for many years to come.” Victory is a woman-owned, service disable veteran-owned small business that supports Boeing on the Ground-based Midcourse Defense Development and Sustainment Contract. Victory also serves DoD customers in RDT&E programs involving aerospace technology development, design, and prototyping. •
~ continued on page 16
Correlated Magnetics Research Brings in Silicon Valley CEO Huntsville-based Correlated Magnetics Research (CMR) has announced the appointment of Andy Keane from Silicon Valley as the company’s new CEO/president, effective Sept. 12. Keane’s experience includes driving growth of the new Tesla business at computer-graphics giant NVIDIA Corporation and, most recently, guiding the technology and market development of audio technology leader Audience, Inc., of Mountain View, Calif. CMR’s new CEO was instrumental in the development of 3Dfx Interactive and Quantum Effect Devices leading to initial public offerings (IPOs) of both companies. “As co-founder and chief executive of CMR since its inception, I am very pleased to welcome Andy to take the helm at this point in our development,” said CMR’s founding CEO/ chief scientist Larry Fullerton. “His experience and technology business leadership will fit perfectly with CMR growth plans, and it will free me to focus on the science behind correlated magnetics and the extensive research and development opportunity before us.” CMR holds more than 80 patents in the area of correlated magnetics, and the company will leverage Keane’s leadership to put new magnetics technology into the hands of product designers and innovators across global industries. “I am honored to join a company that is poised to fundamentally revolutionize an entire field of science and engineering,” Keane said. “Larry Fullerton’s inventions have touched many industries, and his latest innovations in coded magnets will likely impact everything from high-efficiency automobiles to new ways of generating energy to consumer products with dramatically new capabilities.” Programmable magnet technology has been awarded the Popular Mechanics Breakthrough Award, the Society of Manufacturing Engineers Top 7 Innovations and the TechConnect Innovation Award, and Larry Fullerton is included in Fast Company’s Top 100 People in Business. In May, CMR met with President Obama during his visit to CMR’s satellite office in Austin, Texas, during the Jobs & Opportunity White House Tour. » The revolutionary technology, invented by Fullerton and developed at CMR, is poised to impact major industries including aerospace, automotive, biomedical, construction, defense, electronics, manufacturing, robotics, security and telecom. • Initiatives October 2013
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ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT HIGHLIGHTS continued from page 14
~ compiled by Patricia McCarter
Moon Express Opens Local Propulsion Development Facility Moon Express, Inc., a lunar resource company, today announced the opening of a Propulsion Development Facility in Huntsville that will be key to landing the world’s first commercial spacecraft on the Moon. The announcement was made by rocket pioneer Tim Pickens, who joined Moon Express as the company’s Chief Propulsion Engineer earlier this year. Pickens made the announcement at the 2013 AIAA Joint Propulsion Conference in San Jose, California, revealing that the company has already successfully met several milestones in its propulsion development plans, including: • Successfully test firing a “green” 400 pound demo rocket engine, demonstrating the new test facility checkout, as well as testing engine performance, deep throttling, and efficiency • Developing new mono-prop and bi-prop propulsion systems for the Moon Express lander that range in thrust classes from 0.1-1000 pound thrust • Investments into new local capabilities including design, fabrication, and remote hot fire test capabilities for “Green” propulsion systems “Affordable and innovative propulsion is the key to success,” said Pickens, who is responsible for overall propulsion architectures used in Earth departure stages, lunar breaking stages and lander propulsion systems for Moon Express, which is based at the NASA Ames Research Park in Mountain View, California. Moon Express is a privately funded lunar resource company created to establish new avenues for commercial space activities beyond Earth orbit. The company is engineering a series of low-cost robotic missions to the Moon for commercial and government customers, with a long term goal of locating and developing lunar resources for use in space and on Earth. Moon Express is also a leading contender in the $30M Google Lunar XPRIZE competition for the first private team to land a robot on the Moon. Pickens is a highly renowned propulsion expert who reached public acclaim as the lead propulsion designer for Burt Rutan’s SpaceShipOne, the world’s first private manned spaceship that won the $10 million Ansari X PRIZE in 2004. The Moon Express Propulsion Development Facility will build on his 20 years of experience in the aerospace industry, specializing in design, fabrication and testing of propulsion hardware systems that earned him a reputation as a leading innovator of the commercial space industry. “Tim is an avid inventor, entrepreneur, innovator, engineer and educator,” said Moon Express CEO, Bob Richards. “We’re thrilled to have Tim leading our propulsion efforts and to be establishing a new home for our rocket engine work in Huntsville.” • Tim Pickens Chief Propulsion Engineer
Renewable Energy Grant to Benefit A&M Engineering Students Alabama A&M University received $290,000 grant from National Science Foundation (NSF) for integration of renewable (solar and wind) energy into the engineering curriculum. The funding period of the grant extends through July 2016. Renewable energy is an alternate source of energy aimed at saving the environment by reducing pollution and helping to alleviate foreign dependency on fossil fuel, said Dr. Showkat Chowdhury, professor of mechanical engineering and principal investigator for the grant. With the grant assistance, Chowdhury says AAMU will address the challenge of producing a quality pool of engineers and scientists with experience in renewable energy to meet the national demand. This will be achieved by enhancing the engineering and science curriculum through the introduction of new undergraduate and graduate courses in solar, wind and other renewable energies; hands-on experience in solar and wind energy; and expansion of research opportunities. • 16
October 2013 Initiatives
CFDRC Developing Non-Invasive Stem Cell Analyzer Technology CFD Research Corporation has been awarded a two-year $1 million contract from the Department of Defense Health Program to continue its research into the detection and sorting of stem cells according to their differentiation states. Currently no label-free methods exist to reliably determine the differentiation state of a stem cell in a noninvasive manner. CFDRC researchers say the ability to do so may transform the field of stem cell research and open a clear path to clinical use of stem cells for regenerative medicine. “The emerging importance of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) as research tools and potential cell therapeutics makes this an important class of stem cells to study,” said Kapil Pant, Ph.D and CFDRC director of biomedical technology. Pant said the project will use human iPSCs as a starting point to evaluate the ability of their novel stem cell analyzer to identify and sort iPSCs and derivative cells based on their state of differentiation. “We have demonstrated a non-invasive and label-free technique based upon electrical impedance measurement,” said fellow researcher Yi Wang, Ph.D and principal investigator. The technology includes a high-throughput sorting capability to collect and purify differentiated cells in a targeted pathway. “If you want to repair, for example, bone damage, you want to make sure you only use cells which have already differentiated along the bone cell pathway” said Wang. Wang stressed the importance of non-invasive techniques. “Current methods to determine differentiation states require modification of the cell with biomarkers or destructive techniques leading to statistical population assessments and as such cannot guarantee the purity of the sample population. Our method will directly detect the differentiation state with minimum effects and result in a purified stream of pathway differentiated cells.” Stem cells for regenerative medicine could have both military and non-military applications. It could improve the treatment of burns and wounds, significantly reducing the recovery process for patients. It could also accelerate the growth of cells for use in treating spinal cord injuries and neuro-degenerative disorders. •
Chamber of Commerce of Huntsville/Madison County
STA F F Chip Cherry, CCE, president & CEO Amy Locke, executive assistant Richard McCollum, resource desk coordinator Danae McElroy, resource desk assistant
Economic Development Lucia Cape, vice president, economic development John Southerland, director, Cummings Research Park | project manager
Ken Smith, research & information services director Harrison Diamond, director, existing business | project manager
Karessa Acosta, economic development assistant
Communications Patricia McCarter, communications director Kristi Sherrard, graphic designer Hiroko Sedensky, web designer
Government Affairs Mike Ward, vice president, government affairs Tina Leopold, government affairs assistant
Finance & Administration Christy Nalley, finance & administration director Jamie Gallien, IT manager Mary McNairy, accounting specialist Lori Warner, accounting specialist Joe Watson, facilities supervisor
Membership Mike Brazier, membership director Donna McCrary, membership specialist Melissa Putzier, membership representative Morgan Hopper, membership representative
Small Business & Events Pammie Jimmar, small business & events director Alexandra Gonzalez, events coordinator
Associated Organizations The Community Foundation of Huntsville/ Madison County (communityfoundationhsv.org) The Schools Foundation (theschoolsfoundation.org) WBCNA (www.wbcna.org)
Chamber of Commerce of Huntsville/Madison County 225 Church Street, Huntsville, AL 35801 phone 256-535-2000 / fax 256-535-2015
www.HSVchamber.org Initiatives October 2013
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Are FAA testing, microchip fabrication and digital manufacturing institute new avenues to growth?
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October 2013 Initiatives
With economic diversification comes security, or so say the no-collective-eggs-in-one-basket theorists. Huntsville/Madison County officials have known this for a long time, hence their efforts to pursue development in fields beyond those that make up more than 50 percent of the current landscape: aerospace and defense. Those two segments provide jobs that attract the best and brightest to our community, but the need to ever broaden the scope is most apparent during this time of sequestered federal budget. That’s why our other economic drivers of advanced manufacturing (automotive engines), information technology (design/manufacture of electronics) and life sciences (pharmaceuticals, biotechnology) are equally valued. The Chamber of Commerce of Huntsville/Madison is always marketing the area to potential industry. Usually, these are clandestine efforts. There are closed-door meetings, data-driven reports never seen by the public and hush-hush site visits, all which – hopefully – end in favorable economic development announcements. Currently, though, there are three projects being pursued that can be discussed. Only time will tell if the chase will lead to back-slapping news conferences. We want to differentiate from what we already have, but we also want to build on our strengths. Because the Army’s Unmanned Aircraft Systems Project Office is headquartered on Redstone Arsenal, why not seek to be one of six test sites the Federal Aviation Administration will choose to help develop a system allowing for non-defense related unmanned flight within the national airspace? Because our research and development culture relies on the possibilities hidden within micro computer chips, why not explore becoming a hub for the R&D and manufacture of these integrated circuits? Because we are home to the highest per capita engineering workforce, why not pursue designation as a digital manufacturing and design innovation site for the National Network for Manufacturing Innovation? Yes, why not?
1 U
Federal Aviation Agency Unmanned Aircraft Test Site
nmanned aircraft are well-known for their defense applications, but there are also myriad potential civil uses for them, such as search and rescue, disaster recovery, petrol pipeline monitoring, power restoration and precision agriculture. To explore the safe integration of these vehicles into domestic airspace, the Federal Aviation Administration will select six environmentally diverse test sites by the end of 2013. More than 50 entities initially expressed interest in being considered, but that number was whittled to two dozen by the formal proposal deadline. An alliance between Alabama and Tennessee is thought to be a top contender, and here’s why: There’s so much of what is needed already in place. “The Huntsville/southwestern Tennessee region is in a unique competitive position
to benefit from the economic development opportunities that will present themselves as drones evolve into commercial platforms, said Chamber CEO Chip Cherry. “This is why we are seeking to be one of the regions selected to test these new platforms and integrate drones into commercial airspace.” The University of Alabama in Huntsville is leading the consortium of more than 160 companies and universities working towards the joint Alabama/Tennessee site, led by Sue O’Brien of UAH’s Rotorcraft Systems Engineering and Simulation Center. Members include Alabama A&M University, University of Tennessee at Martin and numerous corporate partners. Projections suggest that the FAA test site could generate up to 4,700 jobs and $1 billion in earnings in its first three years of operation. It is expected to generate as much as $93 million in tax revenue across the region. Even though defense doesn’t play into the FAA test site equation, it matters that the Army’s Unmanned Aircraft Systems project management office is headquartered at Red-
Chip Wafer Fabrication
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our cell phone has them, as do your computer, your camera, your television, your microwave oven, your pacemaker and maybe even your pet. A microchip is a set of interconnected electronic components – transistors and resistors – that are imprinted onto a tiny chip of semiconducting material, such as silicon, used to relay information. Texas Instruments first used the chips in Air Force computers and the Minuteman Missile in 1962. It’s predicted that in the not-so-distant future, chips will be implanted in paint and contact lenses. With the increasing demand for faster, more powerful chips, the question becomes: Where does Huntsville fit on the spectrum? The Chamber of Commerce and the Tennessee Valley Authority commissioned the international consulting firm Deloitte to conduct a “chip wafer fab” (computer chip manu-
stone Arsenal. It means that the UAS culture is understood here and that the necessary contractor brain power for UAS development and logistics exists here. (Initially, the plan included hosting the continued on page 21
UASRTC senior engineer David Simmons with unmanned rotorcraft at ISR Group’s event in Savannah, Tenn.
2 facturing) study to provide a better understanding of the industry and to determine if Huntsville/Madison County could become a player in this growing industry. Deloitte looked at key industry drivers and what would be required to secure a foothold. On Aug. 21, more than 60 local business leaders, educators and elected officials gathered to hear the highlights of the report and work in small groups to craft a strategy for establishing a presence in the industry, if they deemed it was a smart thing to pursue. Deloitte’s Darin Buelow said the microchip industry has four key players: designers, continued on page 20 Initiatives October 2013
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Chip Wafer Fabrication, continued from page 19 – manufacturers, suppliers and buyers. Huntsville’s engineering base makes it a natural in the “design and solution” component. And there’s much designing still to do. Buelow shared that Intel co-founder Gordon Moore predicted in 1965 that the amount of transistors on a chip would double approximately every two years. Moore’s prediction, later dubbed Moore’s Law, proved true, as the semiconductor industry has evolved to 300-millimeter silicon wafers. The next step, Buelow said, in wafer technology will be the 450-millimeter silicon wafer, which will provide 2.25 times more surface area than the 300 millimeter wafer. He estimated the cost to build a 450-millimeter wafer fabrication facility at more than $10 billion. Currently, the microchip hot spots in the U.S. are Texas, California, Oregon and New York.
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untsville’s aerospace heritage has spawned several local industrial clusters in related high technology pursuits. Nowhere is that more evident than in the world of manufacturing, which has become increasingly digital in its nature. What once took hundreds of engineers to design and thousands of craftsmen to fabricate can now be rendered in a virtual environment and moved into production without ever experiencing the direct contact of a human hand. Advanced Manufacturing Enterprise (AME) technologies are focused on the creation of 3D Technical Data Packages (TDP) based on CAD/CAM (Computer-Aided Design & Modeling) output. Huntsville’s own Intergraph was a pioneer in the field of CAD/CAM software and the beefy computer systems that were required to run the sophisticated programs. In an effort to make U.S. manufacturers more competitive, the federal government has proposed the creation of several new manufacturing institutes. Huntsville is pursuing one of these, and an alliance has formed in the southeast, armed with a bold plan to revolutionize manufacturing. 20
October 2013 Initiatives
Once the presentation was made, the general consensus was one of intrigue, even though no one suggested that city leaders immediately go build a giant, pricey factory. The chip wafer fab “ecosystem” can take years to build. It was recommended that the first step be to hire faculty and researchers at local universities to show the city is serious about entering the semiconductor manufacturing market. UAH public affairs director Ray Garner said the university has hundreds of students enrolled in electrical and computer engineering programs and has 10,000 square feet of clean room space that would support chip wafer fab efforts. Deloitte also recommended increasing the relevant labor pool, creating a comprehensive incentives pack-
age, developing site infrastructure, producing marketing material and getting involved in relevant associations and industry events. The discussion is ongoing to see if and how the community will pursue the possibility. “Huntsville has a rich history of looking over the horizon and identifying the possible, the next economic driver,” said Chamber of Commerce CEO Chip Cherry. “Given the synergies between the needs of the semiconductor industry and the skill present in our community, we believe there is potential for us to establish a presence in this industry sector. “It is exciting to work with community leaders to evaluate this opportunity and determine if this is good diversity play for us and if so how do we establish a foothold in the semiconductor industry.” • Patricia McCarter
digital manufacturing institute
This plan has manifested itself in a new organization named the Alliance for Innovative Manufacturing (AIM), a subsidiary of the National Center for Manufacturing Sciences, formed to serve as the Digital Manufacturing and Design Innovation (DMDI) Institute in Huntsville. The idea behind the DMDI Institute is to create an integrated systems engineering framework with sophisticated tools and design methodologies riding a smart, connected infrastructure, spooling a digital thread across the whole of product lifecycle, propelling national producibility optimization, workforce development and enterprise process enhancements. Creating a unified, national digital design and manufacturing network requires strong cross-disciplinary collaborative connections. Administration of such an immense cooperative system will in turn require the expertise of a collaborative management agency with a proven track record of joint program oversight. AIM will provide a centralized national resource for multi-agency government stakeholders, educational institutions and industry to collaborate on technology projects.
The institute will be located at Cummings Research Park. This environment will act as a microcosm of U.S. industry, helping the Institute better develop national solutions. It will also leverage the University of Alabama in Huntsville’s School of Industrial & Systems Engineering and Engineering Management to provide integrated, applications oriented education and research programs in industrial engineering, systems engineering, and engineering management to support the needs of government and industry. Locations in Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee will be networked with the Huntsville institute, serving as loading docks for design and production. To create a national footprint and foster the necessary support affiliations between manufacturing and systems engineering communities, AIM will collaborate with the Systems Engineering Research Center and leverage the expertise of all 23 affiliated universities. The Institute will work with SERC to identify applied R&D opportunities and curriculum development areas to close critical roadmap gaps as the Alliance for Innovative Manufacturing stands up its operations. • Mike Ward
FAA Test Site, continued from page 19 –
Alabama A&M faculty associate Gerald Vines with an unmanned Raven at ISR Group’s event in Savannah, Tenn. test site on Redstone Arsenal, but the FAA won’t allow testing facilities to be collocated on existing federally-owned property.) Also crucial in the equation is the physical space where the testing can happen. ISR Group in Savannah, Tenn., – about 120 miles away – is home to the country’s largest private UAS testing facility with 6,000 remote acres. ISR vice president Dallas Brooks said the unmanned aircraft never have to leave company property for testing, so there’s no concern about privacy issues, as all cameras on the drones are directed toward the ground below. The airfield features a dedicated UAS runway, control towers, FAA-certified pilots and safety observers, launch and recovery sites for small and medium unmanned systems, air traffic detection radar and academic partnerships with leading aerospace and agricultural universities. FAA officials have stated they plan to announce the six selected site by the end of the year and that those sites need to be operational within six months of the announcement. The test sites will be given a blanket Certificate of Authorization for research and development and would be in line for future FAA UAS work as it becomes available. “Right now in order to fly a UAS legally, a Certificate of Authorization, which requires approval by the FAA, is required. That process can be very involved and time-consuming,” O’Brien said. Working in the Alabama/Tennessee alliance’s favor is the number of aerospace companies already doing business here. Unmanned vehicles now come in the form of rotorcraft as well as traditional fixed-wing form, and the engineering/maintenance/retrofitting of those systems is already a staple in the Cummings Research Park/Redstone Arsenal/ Marshall Space Flight Center landscape. • Patricia McCarter Initiatives October 2013
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A wards &
A ccolades
Burritt museum receives Pinnacle Award The requirements for this year’s competition involved a target altitude of 750 feet; 50-second flight duration; one raw egg payload; recovery by a 15-inch parachute; and lift-off weight of no more than 650 grams. A recent survey of TARC alumni showed that exposure to aerospace through the Team America Rocketry Challenge results in impact on students’ career choices, as 81 percent of past participants plan to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and/or math. Burritt on the Mountain has been awarded a CILC Pinnacle Award for providing top ranking videoconferencing educational programs to K-12 students. Just 39 providers across the U.S. and beyond earned this award for the 2012-2013 school year from the Center for Interactive Learning and Collaboration. The CILC helps schools by advancing learning through videoconferencing and other collaborative technologies. Kelly Fisk is Burritt on the Mountain’s video conferencing educator. Burritt on the Mountain CEO Leslie Ecklund said, “We have been providing educational experiences to classrooms across the nation with videoconferencing for several years now. We find this to be a very exciting way to share our programs and regional heritage.” The awards are presented annually to providers who post topranking programs to www.cilc.org for K-12 students or professional development for educators and are based exclusively on feedback from teachers who have used the content in their classrooms or for their own professional advancement.
Huntsville’s student rocket team excels in summer contest The Falcon Rocketeers placed 11th out of 625 teams in the U.S. at the nationals of Team America Rocketry Challenge this summer. Team members included students from Butler High, John Paul II Catholic High, Westlawn Middle and Hampton Cove Middle schools. 22
October 2013 Initiatives
Space & Rocket Center CEO receives NASA’s highest form of recognition NASA Administrator Charles Bolden and Deputy NASA Administrator Lori Garver awarded Dr. Deborah Barnhart the at NASA Headquarters recently. On July 29, NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center recognized her in Huntsville for the achievement. Barnhart, CEO and executive Director of the U.S. Space & Rocket Center, joins astronauts, authors and the nation’s top business leaders for this prestigious award. This is NASA’s highest form of recognition that is awarded to any non-government individual or to a person who was not
a government employee during the period in which the service was performed, whose distinguished service, ability, or vision has personally contributed to NASA’s advancement of United States interests. The individual’s achievement or contribution must demonstrate a level of excellence that has made a profound or indelible impact to NASA mission success, therefore, the contribution is so extraordinary that other forms of recognition by NASA would be inadequate. “This award is reflective of the dedication and passion of the entire staff at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center to tell the NASA story as a Smithsonian Institution,” Barnhart said. “We all want to ensure this legacy is here when people return from interplanetary missions in the future.” The USRRC – a Smithsonian Affiliate – is home to Space Camp, Aviation Challenge, the Apollo 16 capsule and the Saturn V Rocket. It is also the official visitor’s information center for NASA’S Marshall Space Flight Center. •
NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver and NASA Administrator Charles Bolden present Dr. Deborah Barnhart (center) with the Distinguished Public Service Medal at the 2013 Agency Honor Awards.
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Business EXPO 2013 A Lot of Networking at One Time, One Place
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ould your business benefit from 1,500 potential customers getting an up close look at your goods and services in just one day? If yes, then you should consider renting a booth at the Chamber of Commerce’s Business EXPO and Health & Wellness Showcase at the Von Braun Center South Hall on Nov. 8 from noon until 6 p.m. For those merchants who feel like they wouldn’t know what to do or what to say to those 1,500 people, exhibitor training will be held in the Chamber’s auditorium on Oct. 8, from 8 a.m. until 10 a.m. and from 5 p.m. until 7 p.m. Exhibitors will be walked through the EXPO planning process, given tips on how to draw traffic to their booths and how to implement successful pre-show and post-show promotion.
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October 2013 Initiatives
There will also be live testimonials from past vendors who have attracted new customers due to EXPO exposure. The cost of a 10-foot by 10-foot booth is $425; nonprofits and home-based businesses will pay $275. The Chamber will provide a skirted table, back drape and two chairs. The deadline to reserve space at the Business Expo is Oct. 24. Typically more than 200 vendors participate. An entire section of the EXPO will be devoted to those Chamber members who focus on the fields of health and wellness. The event is free and open to the public, but vendors must be Chamber members. Monaco Pictures is the presenting sponsor. Prizes will be given away every hour at the EXPO. Attendees who wish to have their names put into a drawing for an iPad mini
must register on the Chamber’s website, but they don’t have to be present at the time of the drawing. Pammie Jimmar, manager of the Chamber’s Small Business division, said the EXPO is one of the Chamber’s premier events because it allows members to highlight what they have to offer to customers in Huntsville and Madison County. “If you want to grow your business, there is no better way to let the public know who you are and what you do,” Jimmar said. “You can get your products and services in front of hundreds of people who are looking for people to do business with. “Reserving a space at the Chamber’s Annual Business EXPO is one of the smartest things you can do if you want to be successful.” • Patricia McCarter
BUSINESS EXPO
2013 Business EXPO Vendor Listing
Booths sold at time of publication
If you want to purchase a booth for your company, please contact Donna McCrary by calling 256-535-2027 or emailing dmccrary@hsvchamber.org. Exhibitors must be Chamber members at time of purchase as well as at time of event.
AL.com / The Huntsville Times . . . . . . 65 Alabama A&M University . . . . . . . . . 95 Allegra . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 America’s Party Pro’s . . . . . . . . . . . 9, 10 Calhoun Community College . . . . . . . 33 CB&S - Huntsville Downtown . . . . . . 113 CenturyLink . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 Charter Media . . . . . . . . . . . . 7, 57, 58 ColorXPress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 Cotsco Wholesale . . . . . . . . . . . . 27, 28 First Commercial Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 Happy Tails Ranch . . . . . . . . . . . 61, 62 hibu, publisher of Yellow Book . . . . . . 59 Huntsville Botanical Garden . . . . . . . . 81 Huntsville/Madison County Convention & Visitors Bureau . . . . 79 It it’s Wood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 J.R. Enterprises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Jimmy John’s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 Lauren Tomasella Photography . . . . . . 82 Leadership Huntsville/Madison County, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 Madison Weekly News . . . . . . . . 45, 46 Magnolia Trace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Marco’s Pizza - Madison . . . . . . . . . . 47 Monaco Pictures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1, 2 NETWORx of Huntsville . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Phoenix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Port of Huntsville . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 Print Two Impress . . . . . . . . . . . . 37, 38 Pure Water Technology of North Alabama . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 Quality Quick Printing Inc. . . . . . . . . . . 3 Redstone Federal Credit Union . . . . . . 21 Regions Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 RJ Young Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90 Rocket City Broadcasting . . . . . . . 35, 36 Ruth’s Chris Steak House . . . . . . . . . . 43 Schlotzsky’s Deli . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25, 26 Shane’s Rib Shack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Small Business Admistration . . . . . . . . 94 Sound Source Productions . . . . . . . . 108 Sterling Travel American Express . . . . . 52 Tom Jeffreys Sign & Banner . . . . . . . . . 6 UAH Small Business Development Center . . . . . . . . . . . 86 United Way of Madison County . . . . . 80 Valpak . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Verizon Wireless . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . WAAY Television . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . WAFF-TV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . WAY-FM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31, WBCNA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . WLRH Public Radio . . . . . . . . . . . 12, WTKI/Focus Radio Communications . . . . . . . . . . 19, YP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
56 34 51 32 49 13 20 96
HEALTH & WELLNESS AREA Alabama Psychological Services Center, LLC . . . . . . . . . . . . A Bio-Identical Hormones . . . . . . . . . . . . C Crestwood Medical Center . . . . . . . . Y, Z Green Mountain Soap . . . . . . . . . . . . DD SportsMed Orthopaedic Surgery and Spine Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B
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Getting Good Grades What News Outlets Are Saying About Huntsville/Madison County
CNN Money ranked Huntsville No. 7 in the country for the best place to get a job, noting its job growth for the past dozen years has been 11.5 percent. “The U.S. military and private defense contractors are commanding growth in Madison County. Army base Redstone Arsenal is rapidly expanding its 37,000-strong workforce. Defense companies Yulista Management Services and SAIC have both snapped up buildings in the Jetplex Industrial Park, adjacent to Huntsville’s International Airport. Cummings Research Park, the secondlargest research park in the country, is central to the county’s jobs success. It’s a hub around which large employers, high-tech businesses and U.S. space and defense agencies revolve. But the military isn’t the only game in town. Toyota recently broke ground on an expansion of its V-6 engine operation there that will add more than 100 jobs by early next year, while Carpenter Technology has selected a site for a new manufacturing facility that’s expected to employ 200.”
Huntsville has been tapped for Entrepreneur Magazine’s list of best U.S. cities for high tech start-up businesses. Entrepreneur bases its findings on a report from the technology policy coalition Engine and entrepreneurship research association the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. This particular research project, according to Entrepreneur, “focuses on high-tech startups specifically, defining them as new businesses with a concentration of employees in 26
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the fields of science, technology, engineering and math.” The announcement comes as no surprise to Mayor Tommy Battle. “We brand ourselves as a smart city, where technology marries engineering to provide a vibrant, progressive economy,” said Mayor Battle. “Through the years of Huntsville’s proven performance in space and missile defense technologies, we have created an ecosystem that is now supporting start-ups in new fields such as energy, cyber and geospatial. It is an exciting time to live, work and play in Huntsville!” Huntsville is the only Alabama city on the list, and one of the few from the Southeast. The North Carolina cities of Raleigh-Cary (13) and Durham-Chapel Hill (22) were also in the top 25.
The Rocket City has come in as an impressive No. 2 on the consumer finance site ValuePenguin of the best southern cities for computer programmers, based on salary, cost of living and location quotient. ValuePenguin co-founder Brian Quinn said the location quotient measures the concentration of computer programmers in each city as a proportion of all jobs related to the national average. Palm Bay/Titusville/Melbourne, Fla., was named No. 1. Following immediately behind Huntsville were Dallas, Atlanta, Fort Worth and Chapel Hill/Durham, N.C. Birmingham-Hoover was No. 12 and Montgomery was No. 13 on the list. “We’ve found this to be a strong indicator of higher demand for a particular profession,” he said. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports there were 363,100 computer programmers in the U.S. in 2010, while the annual aver-
age salary was $71,380 per year, or $34.32 an hour. The field, which typically requires a bachelor’s degree for entry-level positions, is expected to grow 12 percent from 2010 to 2020. Earlier in the summer, Huntsville ranked No. 3 on a list of America’s top 10 best metro areas for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) graduates.
The Rocket City was ranked No. 4 on Business Facilities’ Economic Growth Potential list released last week. The magazine noted that Huntsville “signaled it intends to defend its turf as a leading national center in aerospace.” In July, Moon Express Inc. announced the opening of a propulsion development facility in Huntsville that will be key to landing the world’s first commercial spacecraft on the Moon, the publication said. Business Facilities said its Economic Growth Potential ranking is based on its evaluation of successful growth strategies, diversification of growth sectors, recent projects and available incentives, among other factors. Baton Rouge, La., ranked No. 1. This is the ninth installment of the magazine’s economic growth potential rankings. Mobile ranked No. 2, “on the strength of its success in landing a crown jewel of aerospace manufacturing – the North American assembly hub for Airbus.” The aviation giant broke ground on its plant at Mobile Aeroplex in April. Business Facilities previously ranked Alabama No. 2 among the states for automotive manufacturing strength, calling the state a “rising automotive powerhouse.”
TravelNerd included Huntsville in their Top 10 Best Destinations for Green Travelers. 66% of Americans plan to travel this summer, which can add up to a huge environmental impact. Travelers are looking for greener ways to explore the world. For example, more than 44% of travelers look for environmentally-friendly programs when choosing hotels, and hotels are listening. TravelNerd highlights the ten top destinations in the U.S. for green travel options. We specifically looked for cities that have initiatives to green the city as well as access to a plethora of nature and eco-friendly activities. Huntsville was named one of the top Green Cities in the U.S. by The Green Guide because of its green initiatives. Operation Green Team was founded in 1977 and is focusing on reducing the amount of electricity and water used by the city buildings by more than $3 million over the next 20 years. Visitors at the Huntsville Botanical Garden will see thousands of native Alabama species such as butterflies, frogs, quail and turtles. Be sure to see Alabama’s state tree, the Dogwood, on the western corridor of the garden – in full bloom, this is not to be missed. Harmony Park Safari offers visitors a chance to see antelope, buffalo, ostriches and crocodiles free-range.
STEM jobs make up 20% of the total job market and 29% of government jobs. Our economy’s growing dependence on STEM knowledge makes this specialty extremely valuable. What are the best metro areas for STEM grads? According to a recent ranking on NerdScholar, Huntsville comes in at No. 3, receiving a significant amount of economic support from the presence of Redstone Arsenal, the Army missile program facility and the home of the Marshall Space Flight Center. Huntsville has strong science, technology, architecture, engineering, and computer and math sciences industries. • Initiatives October 2013
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Huntsville Inner City Learning Center Mr. Art is at the Heart of HICLC
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he kids know him as Mr. Art, and he is a legend among children living in Huntsville’s low-income neighborhoods. He is a force to be reckoned with when it comes to discipline, and that force is born out of love and compassion for the children living in Huntsville’s Section 8 Housing Projects. He is a father figure, disciplinarian, teacher, preacher and mentor. “You do not have to be a product of your environment,” Art Leslie proclaims, and that message has resonated with the Huntsville Inner City Learning Center (HICLC) founder/president since it was preached to him as a child growing up in a single-family home with his mother in the Benford Court housing project in the 1950s. The message was repeated by church groups who visited his neighborhood every Saturday. Seven years ago, while teaching English and math at Stone Middle, the principal asked Leslie if he cared to move HICLC from a local church to the school to help students struggling with their studies. When Stone closed and the kids transferred to Westlawn Middle, the principal asked him to move with them. After two years, HICLC received an offer to move to Butler High School, where the learning center occupied an entire unused wing of six classrooms and 85 students. “It is almost impossible for a single mother to raise a male child into a man,” Leslie said. “They need a male authority figure. With no father living in the home and 75 percent of the mothers not having finished high school, there is no one to make them do homework, go to bed or exert any discipline, so I am that figure. But if you have a problem with your child saying ‘yes, sir’ or 28
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‘no, sir,’ this is not for your child.” Leslie said most HICLC beginners are in special education but after a few weeks, they show marked improvement. “Their teachers will say, ‘This is not the same child!’ That’s because it is not an ability issue but an availability issue,” Leslie said. HICLC has a mandatory attendance policy. “Students must attend if they sign up,” he said. “No exceptions.” Last spring, changes in the rules for after school programs left HICLC with some big decisions.
came from donations and volunteers, from school supplies to tables, chairs, and the floor. “We had to Google how to lay tile, but we did it,” Leslie said Volunteers and the children landscaped the back area into a well-manicured lawn where the kids can play, exercise and garden. Exercise is part of the curriculum and the kids “train” for the HICLC annual 5K run. A donor working with Fleet Feet bought every child a new pair of sneakers. The $4,000
“There are a lot of people outside of myself that wouldn’t let the learning center die,” Leslie said. In April, Leslie moved HICLC into the former Trav-Ad building on Brahan Avenue, on the corner of Butler Terrace, Huntsville’s largest housing project. “In a way it is symbolic,” said HICLC Community Outreach Director Kerry Coker. “Art feels it is important we are located near the community where the majority of our kids live.” Every aspect of the new learning center
they raised this year went to Vapor Sports Ministries, an organization that provides humanitarian aid in third-world countries. HICLC offers after school classes, Monday through Friday for second-throughsixth graders. There is no cost to the parents or child. Also, the HICLC Summer Camp consisted of eight, 40-hour weeks from June through July. Jesse and Carol May of Hampton Cove offered up their residence and swimming pool for the camp, complete with a licensed lifeguard. • Kimberly Ballard
MARK YOUR CALENDAR The Marshall Space Flight Center Partnerships Office will sponsor an event to encourage collaboration and provide information to the partner community. The Marshall Collaboration Forum: Partnerships for the Future will be held on Monday, Oct. 7, at the Jackson Center. Discussions include core capabilities center priority areas, improvements made in the partnering process, specific business opportunities, and outreach plans to keep partners informed. Additionally, the Partnerships Office has coordinated with Marshall’s Office of Strategic Analysis and Communications and Technology Transfer organizations to provide breakout sessions for more in-depth discussions on topics of interest in these areas. Members of these offices will be available during the event to answer questions on how to do business with Marshall. Register at nasa.gov/centers/marshall/ partners •
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Photos on pages 30-31 by Bob Gathany
The Times Are A’Changing AL.com/The Huntsville Times Moves Downtown
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n 1928, The Huntsville Times moved into an ornate, 12-story downtown building, which was the tallest in the city at the time. It relocated to larger space on South Memorial Parkway in 1956 where it would publish the newspaper for the next 57 years. In late August, the newspaper and its digital companion, al.com, made the trek back downtown, this time in a 1960s-era 10-story structure (known as the Central Bank Building) at 200 West Side Square across from the Madison County Courthouse. It was a year ago that The Times went from publishing daily to Wednesday, Fridays and Sundays, and it transferred its printing to Birmingham. With a much smaller staff and no printing press, The Times needed much less space, so the 12,000 airy, high-ceilinged square feet on floors one and two offer ample room, with a modern flair. The Alabama Media Group, as the parent company is known, now employees about 50 reporters, sales staff and administrative personnel. Although the news delivery method has been altered, Community News Director Anthony Cook said the manner in which news is generated hasn’t. Writers and photographers publish their stories and pictures to al.com first, and then the content is updated and published in the newspaper: “We’re working in a space that was built with digital production in mind.” “The new site has already showed how it’s going to pay off by putting us in the heart of the city,” Cook said. “Just walking to restaurants on the Square for lunch allows us to bump into newsmakers and decision-makers in Madison County. That proximity allows us to develop more relationships and deeper relationships with those sources, and it raises our profile in the community.” The bright space welcomes customers and curious people who just want to see what’s been done with the place. It’s all open concept, and photo murals that depict Huntsville over the last several decades capture visitors’ attention. “The slogan I’ve personally adopted is, ‘Come see us,’” Cook said. “The space and openness of the new workplace encourages interaction and collaboration and engagement. We want the public to come downtown and drop in on us from time to time. We’re here to serve the public, and we welcome their feedback and ideas.” • Patricia McCarter
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Central Bank Building Renovation Continues
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he California-based group that purchased the Central Bank Building on the west side of the courthouse square originally had plans to convert the 145,000-squarefoot structure into condos. But Charlie Grelier, President of Chase Commercial Realty which manages the building, said it became apparent that the space worked better as an office building. The largest tenant is Alabama Media Group – which takes up much of the first two floors – but numerous other entities are also leasing space. He said the building is “probably 55 percent full.” Other tenants include an information technology provider, attorneys, accountants, financial professionals and government contractors. Formerly, the entrance and lobby of the building faced Big Spring, not the West Side Square. It is now reoriented, and much of the deck space has been turned into future retail space. He said he’s met with “fast/casual restaurants” considering locating there to serve the tenants of the building as well as much of downtown. “There are stunning views in this building,” he said. “And we’re replacing all of the windows with energy efficient glass. We’re hoping to get a martini bar on the first floor, overlooking the spring. “There are some challenges with retrofitting a building of this era, but it’s very structurally sound, and it has some of the best views in the city. I can’t wait for people to come in and see what a great site it is.” • Patricia McCarter Initiatives October 2013
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Boot-Kickin’ Good Time Held at the 2013 Small Business Awards The Chamber of Commerce recognized the efforts of some of the most generous and hardest working companies and individuals at the 28th Annual Small Business Awards Celebration Sept. 12 at the Von Braun Center. Almost 1,000 Chamber members came out in their cowboy boots and jeans for the western-themed event sponsored by Regions Bank and hosted by WHNT’s Jerry Hayes and country music singer/songwriter Cristina Lynn. “The Small Business Awards celebration was a huge success as we took time to recognize the accomplishments of our members,” said Pammie Jimmar, the Chamber’s manager of the Small Business division. “We could not have done it without the dedication and support of the SBA committee, led by Louis Michetti of Regions Bank, our Chamber staff, our sponsors and technical support team.” The seven winners were chosen from 200 nominated companies and individuals.
Russell G. Brown Executive Leadership Award Winner: Miranda Bouldin Finalists: Jonn Kim and Sandra Cepeda
Young Professional of the Year Winner: Courtney McCool Finalists: Cassie Scott and Regina Burnett
Nonprofit of the Year Winner: HEALS, Inc. Finalists: Junior Achievement of North Alabama and Leadership Huntsville/Madison County, Inc.
Small Businesses of the Year: 51-350 Employees category Winner: A-P-T Research, Inc. Finalists: Progress Bank and PeopleTec, Inc.
Government Contracting category Winner: PPT Solutions, Inc. Finalists: Connected Logistics and LESCO
Business/Professional Services category Winner: NETWORx of Huntsville Finalists: BID Designs, LLC and 4SITE, Incorporated
Technology category Winner: Cepeda Systems & Software Analysis, Inc. Finalists: Bangham Engineering, Inc. and Brockwell Technologies, Inc. HASBAT also presented a Small Business Advocate for Excellence Award to Phil Carey, vice president of Army Programs for WaveLink Inc. and president of HASBAT board of directors. The WBCA presented a Start-up of the Year went to AVISTA Strategies, Inc. •
AIDT Programs Deliver Quality Workforce Helping Alabama prepare for the jobs of tomorrow is Alabama Industrial Development Training, the state workforce development program that has provided assistance to 3,000 companies. AIDT was established and charged to build a healthy state economy by recruiting and training a skilled workforce to attract new industries. Job-specific pre-employment and on-the-job training programs are provided at no cost to employers and to the trainees. Leadership training programs are also available. AIDT also provides trainee recruitment and screening, safety assistance, industrial maintenance assessments and continuous process improvement assessments. Training is conducted by AIDT staff or contracted instructors and delivered through classrooms or 38 Mobile Training Units deployed directly to sites and customized to meet specific company needs. The training development is the first state workforce training organization in the United States to earn international certification for its quality management system. SRI Quality System Registrar auditors certified AIDT’s conformity to requirements specified in ISO 9001:2008 standards developed by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). This registration includes the development and execution of AIDT’s preemployment and on-the-job training programs. One of AIDT’s most impressive assets, the Robotics Technology Park (RTP), located in nearby Limestone County, is proving to be a major recruiting tool for companies locating in Alabama and those seeking to expand here. RTP consists of three training facilities each targeted to a specific industry need. The three buildings, when completed, will have an investment of approximately $73 million including robotics equipment. The RTP represents collaboration between the state of Alabama, Calhoun Community College, AIDT and robotics industry leaders across the nation. Phase I, known as the Robotics Maintenance Training Center, houses industry training programs where technicians are trained in industrial safety, robotics and Programmable Logic Controllers. Training is offered at no cost to Alabama industries. The 60,000-square-foot facility is staffed by trainers certified by top robot vendors and is home to several major robotics and automation brands such as Fanuc Robotics, Kawasaki Robotics USA, Mitsubishi Automation and Rockwell Automation. Phase II, known as the Advanced Technology Research and Development Center, features a test facility for companies currently in the automation manufacturing industry. The 43,000-square-foot facility is used for the purpose of research, development and testing of leading edge automation and robotics used for industry, military projects and space exploration. One of the very first activities in Phase II of the park was announced in 2011. Calhoun Community College, in partnership with PeopleTec, Inc., announced the award of a five-year, $18.8 million grant from the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command to fund the Adaptive Robotics Technology for Space, Air and Missiles (ART-SAM) program to promote a robotics and unmanned systems testbed environment to offer cutting-edge robotics enhancements in support of the Nation’s warfighters. The final piece, which is now in the pre-construction stage, is the Integration, Entrepreneurial and Paint/Dispense Training Center. This phase will allow companies to build and adapt automation for new and existing manufacturing processes. The facility will allow companies to train in manual pain spraying techniques and robotic dispense training. As manufacturing continues to evolve and the demands for a high skilled workforce continue to grow, Alabama will be ready to provide workers needed to make existing companies successful and to attract new investment. Existing companies looking to take advantage of the many programs offered can find more information at www.aidt.edu and www.alabamartp.org. • Staff Reports Initiatives October 2013
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Small Business Healthcare Getting Ready for Affordable Care Act Implementation
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ttendees of the Chamber’s “Affordable Care Act 101” seminar were told that small businesses now pay, on average, 18 percent more for health insurance than larger firms for the same group of services, according to the National Federation of Independent Business. At the same time, small employers have historically had few choices available for quality, affordable health coverage, said Tom Todt, the director of the Small Business Administration’s Alabama District Office. The Affordable Care Act, signed into law by President Obama in 2010, is designed to help small companies by lowering premium cost growth and increasing access to quality, affordable health insurance. Still there’s fear and trepidation among small employers over the ACA, a “huge piece of legislation” of some 2,500 pages, said Todt, discussing the law’s provisions. The Chamber will schedule additional health care seminars later this fall, which we will publicize in our Calendar and ChamberLink emails. The ACA now limits insurance companies’ administrative spending, and most insurers must now spend at least 80 percent of consumers’ premium dollars on medical care, Todt told the group. Insurers must disclose and justify proposed rate hikes of 10 percent or more, and states or the federal government may review those increases. Starting next year, he said, insurers can’t charge higher rates or deny coverage because of a chronic or pre-existing condition, and they can’t charge higher rates for women. Insurers also face limits on charging additional premiums for older employees. They are prohibited from having annual dollar limits on coverage, Todt said, and must offer plans that provide a core package of essential health benefits equal to typical 34
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employer plans in the state. Starting Oct. 1 this year, self-employed individuals and small businesses can buy benefit plans by enrolling in the new Individual and Small Business Health Insurance Options Program (SHOP) Marketplaces, according to the SBA. Four levels of benefit packages – bronze, silver, gold and platinum – will be offered and the amount that workers will pay for items like deductibles and copayments and the total amount they spend out of pocket for the year depends on the category they choose. Then, on Jan. 1, 2014, Individual and SHOP Marketplaces will open in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, Todt said. Tax credits for eligible small businesses taking part in the SHOP Marketplace increase to 50 percent, and 35 percent for nonprofits. Individuals and the self-employed may also qualify for individual tax credits and subsidies on a sliding scale, based on income, through the Marketplaces. Alabama is among 26 states choosing to participate in a federal marketplace run by Health and Human Services, according to Todt. According to the SBA, as of Jan. 1, selfemployed individuals must have health insurance that meets the minimum essential cover-
age standards, qualify for an exemption or be subject to an assessable payment. How the act will impact small businesses, Todt said, often depends on the size of the firms. Companies that provide coverage and have 24 or fewer full-time equivalent workers may qualify for the Small Business Health Care Tax Credit but they must have average annual wages below $50,000 and contribute 50 percent or more to employees’ self-only premium costs. The maximum tax credit is available to employers with 10 or fewer full-time equivalent workers and average annual wages of less than $25,000, according to SBA information. Starting in 2015, employers with 50 or more full-time or full-time equivalent employees must provide coverage to all fulltime workers or be subject to a potential employer shared responsibility payment. Todt said about 96 percent of businesses nationwide aren’t affected by these rules because of their size. The Small Business Administration is hosting weekly webinars to get small business owners up to date on the law. Go to www.sba.gov for the webinar schedule. •
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