Initiatives February 2013
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February 2013 Initiatives
Initiatives February 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. BBVA Compass Bank The Boeing Company City of Madison Emerson Network Power - Avocent Lockheed Martin Corporation Madison County Commission Redstone Federal Credit Union Verizon Wireless
Executive Council ($15,000+ annually)
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AT&T BB&T CINRAM, Inc. Crestwood Medical Center Intergraph Corporation North Alabama Multiple Listing Service Northrop Grumman Corporation PARSONS Qualitest Pharmaceuticals SES Wyle
February 2013 Initiatives
Chamber Trustees ($10,000+ annually) AEgis Technologies Group Aerojet Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Alabama Booz Allen Hamilton, Inc. Dynetics, Inc. First Commercial Bank Jerry Damson, Inc. L-3 Communications Corp. – HSV Ops Lamar Outdoor Advertising, Inc. Lanier Ford Shaver & Payne, P.C.
Progress Partners
Look Outdoor Advertising, Inc. Navistar Diesel of Alabama, LLC Raytheon Company S3, Inc. SAIC SportsMed Orthopaedic Spine & Surgery Center Teledyne Brown Engineering, Inc. Wells Fargo Bank WEUP
($5,000+ annually)
Ability Plus Analytical Services, Inc. A-P-T Research, Inc. Available Plastics BAE Systems Barge, Waggoner, Sumner & Cannon, Inc. Baron Services, Inc. BASF Catalysts, LLC 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 Coldwell Banker Commercial McLain Real Estate Colonial Properties Trust Connected Logistics Consolidated Construction Company Davidson Technologies, Inc. ERC, Inc. Huntsville-Madison County Builders Association
iBERIABANK Intuitive Research & Technology Corporation J. Smith Lanier & Co. Joe H. Ritch Kudzu Productions, Inc. Landers McLarty Corporation LogiCore MTS, Inc. The Orthopaedic Center Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, Inc. Progress Bank QinetiQ North America Radiance Technologies, Inc. Rosie’s Restaurants, Inc., & Right Way Restaurants, Inc. (DBA Steak Out) Strata-G Torch Technologies Turner URS U.S. Space & Rocket Center Wilmer & Lee, P.A. Yellow Book USA
Progress Investors ($2,500+ annually) Alpha Beta Technologies, Inc. Amanda Howard Real Estate Anglin Reichmann Snellgrove & Armstrong, PC Averbuch Realty Co. Inc. / Averbuch Enterprises Aviagen, Inc. Bama Jammer, Inc. BancorpSouth Brown Precision, Inc. Bryant Bank CB&S Bank Century Automotive CFD Research Corporation Chapman Sisson Architects, Inc. Coast Personnel Services deciBel Research Decisive Analytics Corporation Decosimo Certified Public Accountants DESE Research, Inc. Digium, Inc. Ducommun Miltec First Financial Group Wealth Management Fite Building Company, Inc. Foreign Language Services, Inc. Fountain, Parker, Harbarger & Associates, LLC 4SITE, Inc. GATR Technologies Gray Research, Inc. Halsey Foodservice The HDC, LLC HEMSI
Hiley Cars Huntsville Huntsville Botanical Garden Huntsville Tractor & Equipment, Inc. Investor’s Resource/Raymond James Financial Services KPS Group Leadership Huntsville/Madison County, Inc. Moog, Inc. National Bank of Commerce PALCO Telecom Service, Inc. PeopleTec PFM Group PHOENIX Pinnacle Solutions, Inc. PROJECTXYZ, Inc. QTEC, Inc. Qualis Corporation Renasant Bank RJ Young scsworx ServisFirst Bank Sigmatech, Inc. Spencer Companies Incorporated Synapse Wireless, Inc. Systems Products and Solutions, Inc. The Surgery Center of Huntsville Wesfam Restaurants, Inc. (Burger King) West Huntsville Land Co., Inc. WHNT-TV WILL Technology, Inc. Worthington Federal Bank
Initiatives February 2013
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February 2013 Initiatives
initiatives
Chamber of Commerce of Huntsville/Madison County
Aerial view of Huntsville – Marty Sellers, SellersPhoto.com
february 2013
cover story
BioTECHnology HudsonAlpha continues to advance scientifically and grow exponentially beginning on page 18
features Economic Development Highlights
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Veterans Memorial, downtown Huntsville – Marty Sellers, SellersPhoto.com
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.
Ready for hockey practice
including Twickenham Square, Dr. Casey Wardynski AAI Textron, Moon Express and Dynetics
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
developments HREGI Investors Listing 4 Chamber Board Listing 8 2013 Executive Committee in Pictures 1 0 2013 Board of Directors in Pictures 1 1 Community Profile 22 Small Business Training Series 23 2013 Best Places to Work 24 Chamber Staff Listing 34
editorial staff
Publisher Chip Cherry, cce Executive Editor Patricia C. McCarter
Editorial Designer Kristi Sherrard ontributing Writers Marian Accardi, Lucia Cape, C Patricia McCarter and Holly Ralston
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
Lines of Communication Open 16 Civil Space 2013 2 4 New on Board 2 5 Serious Fun! 26 Spotlight on Small Business 2 8 Holiday Open House in Pictures 3 0 Internships - the New Interview 3 1 Looking for Job Opportunities? 31
Initiatives February 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: One of my favorite passages is Proverbs 29:18, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” Huntsville is a great example of how a series of visions resulted in our community evolving into the dynamic, smart place it is today. Have you taken time to reflect on why Huntsville is what it is today, why it is the hub for so many innovative activities with one of the highest concentrations of degreed individuals and engineers per capita in the world? I can sum it up in one word: Vision. Throughout our history, leaders in our community have recognized opportunities and articulated visions for Huntsville – visions which have resulted in the pursuit of dreams which led to our economy evolving into one of the most dynamic in the Southeast. Without a doubt, the fiscal challenges currently faced by the federal government will impact the activities on Redstone Arsenal. I believe that Redstone is well positioned to deal with the changes that are coming. However, this does not lessen the impact these changes will have on the arsenal’s workforce or the entities/businesses that support them. This budgetary uncertainty will only abate once we transition away from the series of continuing resolutions to a formal budget, stop kicking the ball down field and truly address sequestration. That said, I stand by my belief that the military value of the missions at Redstone Arsenal is significant and essential to the defense of our country. The federal fiscal challenges highlight the need to continue on the path of diversifying our region’s economy. This issue of Initiatives focuses on one aspect of diversification, HudsonAlpha’s efforts to establish a foothold in the biotech industry, a potential game changer of our community. Jim Hudson and Lonnie McMillian have a vision of establishing a biotechnology industry in Huntsville – a vision that has infected many of us and has the potential to have a significant impact on our economy. Dr. Casey Wardynski has a vision for a school system where all students have access to technology, which provides a platform for all students to excel. These visions could alter the economic landscape in Huntsville and Madison County. So, what’s next? We are in the process of updating our economic development strategic plan, which will play into how our community proceeds into the future. More to come on what’s next in upcoming issues of Initiatives.
Chip Cherry, CCE President & CEO Chamber of Commerce of Huntsville/Madison County
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February 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, Digium Kim Lewis, Vice Chair - Small Business, PROJECTXYZ Gary Bolton, Vice Chair - Research & Information Services, ADTRAN Dr. O’Neal Smitherman, Vice Chair - Image Development, 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 Co. Commission Mayor Troy Trulock, Chair-Appointed, City of Madison Chip Cherry, CCE, President & CEO, Chamber of Commerce of Huntsville/Madison County
Elected Board
Joe Alexander, Alexander Consulting Dr. Robert Altenkirch, UAHuntsville 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 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 Alicia Ryan, L-SINC Dr. Gurmej Sandhu, Sigmatech Charlie Sealy, Sealy Management Company Crystal Shell, WILL Technology 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
Initiatives February 2013
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C H AM B E R O F COMMER C E : 2013 EXECUTI VE COM M I T TEE
Ron Poteat
north alabama area executive, Regions Bank
“I’m very excited about being the 2013 Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Chamber of Commerce. We are blessed with a strong team of leaders on our Executive Committee and Board, and I look forward to working closely with them and the Chamber staff to achieve continued success for Huntsville and Madison County.”
Board Chair
Jim Bolte
Tommy Beason
Chair-Elect
Immediate Past Chair
Chamber of Commerce Foundation Chair
Danny Windham
chief executive officer, BlueCreek Investment Partners
president, Toyota Motor Manufacturing Alabama, Inc.
consultant
Joe Newberry
Rey Almodóvar
Rose Allen
Everett Brooks
Secretary/Treasurer
Vice Chair – Economic Development
Vice Chair – Government Affairs
Vice Chair – Membership
Kim Lewis
Gary Bolton
Dr. O’Neal Smitherman
Tommy Battle
Penny Billings
Vice Chair – Small Business
Vice Chair – Research & Information Services
Vice Chair – Image Development
Chair-Appointed
Chair-Appointed
Frederick Lanier
David Spillers
Dale Strong
Troy Trulock
Chip Cherry, CCE
Chair-Appointed
Chair-Appointed
Chair-Appointed
Chair-Appointed
president/chief executive officer, Redstone Federal Credit Union
chief executive officer, PROJECTXYZ, Inc.
senior vice president, J. Smith Lanier & Co.
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Robert Mayes
February 2013 Initiatives
chief executive officer, Intuitive Research & Technology Corp.
vice president, global marketing, ADTRAN, Inc.
chief executive officer, Huntsville Hospital
principal, Booz Allen Hamilton, Inc.
executive vice president, HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology
chairman, Madison County Commission
director, marketing & business development, AEgis Technologies Group
mayor, City of Huntsville
mayor, City of Madison
chief executive officer, Digium, Inc.
Vice Chair – Workforce
division president, BancorpSouth
president & chief executive officer, Chamber of Commerce of Huntsville/Madison County
C H A MB ER O F CO MMERCE : 2013 BOARD OF DI R E C TO RS
Joe Alexander
Alexander Consulting, LLC
Dr. Robert Altenkirch
Bob Baron
Dr. Marc Bendickson
Miranda Bouldin
Greg Bragg
Micah Bullard
UAHuntsville
Baron Services, Inc.
Dynetics, Inc.
LogiCore
Consolidated Construction Co.
Turner
Kevin Byrnes
Kevin Campbell
Frank Caprio
Glenn Clayton
Joe Collazo
Mark Curran
Raytheon Company
Northrop Grumman Corporation
Bradley Arant Boult Cummings, LLP
Appleton Learning
COLSA Corporation
L-3 Communications Corp.- Hsv Operations
Gene Goldman
John Gully
Natalie Hasley
Steve Hassell
John Holly
Tharon Honeycutt
Aerojet
SAIC
Bama Jammer, Inc.
Emerson Network Power - Avocent
Lockheed Martin Corporation
MSB Analytics, Inc.
Dr. Pam Hudson
Dr. Andrew Hugine, Jr.
Tony Jones
Jeremiah Knight
Rich Marsden
Angie McCarter
Crestwood Medical Center
Alabama A&M University
The Boeing Company
Verizon Wireless Call Center
Lanier Ford Shaver & Payne, P.C.
Davidson Technologies
Elizabeth Morard
Jim Owens
George Prueitt, Ph.D.
Alicia Ryan
Dr. Gurmej Sandhu
Charlie Sealy
Qualis Corporation
BBVA Compass
Wyle
L-SINC, LLC
Sigmatech, Inc.
Sealy Management Company
Crystal Shell
Dr. Ashok Singhal
Todd Slyman
Jan Smith
Cynthia Streams
Nilmini Thompson
WILL Technology, Inc.
CFD Research Corporation
Village of Providence
S 3, Inc.
Domino’s Pizza (Valley Pizza, Inc.)
SPS, Inc. Initiatives February 2013
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ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT HIGHLIGHTS CHAMBER OF COMMERCE OF HUNTSVILLE/MADISON COUNTY
Local officials and Twickenham Square developers celebrate the undertaking of the $100 million project. The mixed-use development project on the site of the former Councill Courts public housing property will be home to a new Publix grocery store, office space, and new apartments. Officials at the groundbreaking lauded the new project for its potential to spur interest in the downtown area.
Twickenham Square groundbreaking celebrated Ground was broken months ago on the $100 million Twickenham Square lodging/living/retail/office space development on the old Councill Courts public housing site near Huntsville Hospital, but the project was formally celebrated on Dec. 4. The development will be anchored by a Publix supermarket, a 101-room Homewood Suites hotel, 246 loft apartments and a five-story office tower. Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle said the development provides an urban lifestyle feel, something that helps cities recruit a professional workforce: a place to live, work, shop and eat. Such spaces help reduce a city’s carbon footprint, he said. The city will build a nearly $10 million, 920-space parking garage adjacent to the development. Sam Yeager with the Nashville-based Bristol Development Group said four restaurants will be included in Twickenham Square. PGM Properties – also based in Nashville – said Publix should be operating in up to 14 months. Triad Properties, a local development company, will construct the Twickenham Place office tower. Triad’s William Stroud said they already have a tenant: Huntsville Hospital’s clinical laboratory, and when finished it will be in the top ten largest clinical 12
February 2013 Initiatives
labs in the country. The new office tower will be connected to Huntsville Hospital by an elevated enclosed bridge. Battle said the development should generate more than $2 million annually in sales taxes, property taxes, lodging and liquor taxes, plus more than $1.5 million in sales taxes on construction materials. •
~ continued on page 14
Wardynski named top educator Regional Innovation Cluster local Tech & Learning magazine named four educators as winners in its 25th annual Leader of the Year program, including Huntsville City Schools Superintendent Dr. Casey Wardynski. “These visionaries exemplified extraordinary education technology leadership, often working within budgetary restrictions and limited resources,” stated the article.
Here’s what Tech & Learning said about Wardynski: In just one year, Huntsville City Schools completely transformed education for its nearly 25,000 students. And the district owes it all to the plan put forth by a brave and visionary leader, Superintendent Casey Wardynski. His plan, which the board unanimously approved in June of 2012, was to use one-to-one learning and launch a digital curriculum. It is one of the largest school systems to go digital in every school. Wardynski Today, teachers use interactive texts, videos, animations, and other tools from digital instructional programs. Best of all, Huntsville is already seeing positive results from this digital revolution. Teacher reports and school records show students more engaged and interested in learning, and suspensions are down 56% from last year. Wardynski is honored to be recognized as a Tech & Learning leader and hopes other schools will see that change can happen rapidly. "Technology is the great equalizer," he says. "When all students have a common device, it eliminates equity issues and brings everyone up together instead of pulling people down.” •
The Von Braun Center for Science & Innovation (VCSI), a not-for-profit located in Huntsville and the lead for the regional Advanced Defense Technology Cluster, was selected by the Small Business Administration as one of seven Regional Innovation Clusters across the United States. The Huntsville proposal effort lead by VCSI had the strong support of Mayor Tommy Battle, the Chamber of Commerce of Huntsville/Madison County, UAHuntsville and Alabama A&M, the Women’s Business Center of North Alabama and several key small businesses and technical consultants. This award was the follow-on competition to the SBA-DOD Advanced Defense Technology Cluster award the community won two years ago. The initial award led to the creation of the Chamber Technology Committee and the Mayor’s three new regional initiatives – Cyber Huntsville, Energy Huntsville and GEO Huntsville. The new award is anticipated to have an even larger impact. VCSI will be awarded $385,000 a year for the next five years in support of this award. Funds will be invested in activities and training among the partner organizations that better position the region’s small businesses for emerging markets both in the government and commercial sectors. The key focus of this initiative is to sustain regional business growth, collaboration, and the overall competitiveness of North Alabama and to assist small businesses with efforts to diversify the regional economy, access new and emerging markets, and create new jobs and firms. Initial data from the first two years of this activity indicate that participating firms have secured $722.2 million in new contracts and created or retained 11,166 jobs. As a result of the initial award, the Huntsville Cluster has teamed with other clusters in pursuit of two major national initiatives – the creation of a consortium for autonomous unmanned vehicles and a new energy systems and technology validation lab. •
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ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT HIGHLIGHTS continued from page 13
AAI reopens with Textron Systems Integration and Collaboration Lab AAI, which coordinates integration of manned and unmanned aviation systems, held a reopening ceremony on Dec. 4 to commemorate the addition of the Textron Systems Integration and Collaboration Lab. “This lab brings together Bell Helicopter and AAI Unmanned Aircraft Systems to create an unmatched manned and unmanned operations capability development laboratory,” said Robert Mayes, the Chair-Elect of the Chamber’s Board of Directors. “The fact that Textron Systems elected to invest in this lab here makes this a great day for this community and something we can all be very proud of.” Ellen Lord, President and CEO of Textron Systems Corporation, said innovative ideas, approaches and technologies are critical to success in the face of changing federal budgets and priorities. “The new capabilities we’re unveiling are one example of how we collectively stand ready to support your emerging requirements with efficient, affordable innovation,” Lord said. “Our Textron Systems Integration and Collaboration Lab will drive rapid integration of technology, enable the development of new tactics, techniques and procedures, and allow affordable testing and troubleshooting of new technologies to reduce program risk.” Lord said along with colleagues from Bell Helicopter, AAI’s joint manned/ unmanned operations capability development will use live data feeds, highfidelity simulations and field equipment to test drive and optimize manned/ unmanned teaming activities. “Our U.S. Department of Defense customers are facing a period of profound change," Lord said. "Now more than ever, they need affordable technologies that can be deployed rapidly against their most pressing requirements.” • 14
February 2013 Initiatives
Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle, AAI Unmanned Aircraft Systems VP Bill Irby, Bell Helicopter Senior VP Robert Hastings, Textron CEO Ellen Lord and 2013 Chamber Chair-Elect Robert Mayes at the grand re-opening ceremony in December.
AAI/Textron’s updated version of the Aerosonde® small unmanned aircraft system (sUAS)
A ground crew can prepare a launcher and ready a Shadow 200 aircraft for flight in a matter of minutes.
Economic Development Highlights compiled by Patricia McCarter
Moon Express acquires Rocket City Space Pioneers, teams with Dynetics in prize quest Moon Express Inc. has reached a teaming agreement with Dynetics for the acquisition of the Rocket City Space Pioneers (RCSP) Google Lunar X PRIZE Team. The agreement brings the substantial space capabilities of Dynetics to Moon Express for the pursuit of commercial lunar missions and will continue the substantial work done by RCSP. RCSP is also supported by Teledyne Brown Engineering, Andrews Aerospace, Draper Laboratory, the University of Alabama in Huntsville, Von Braun Center for Science & Innovation, Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, Moog, Huntsville Center for Technology and Analytical Mechanics Associates. The agreement also allows for the transition of RCSP’s team leader, Tim Pickens, to the role of Moon Express’ chief propulsion engineer. Pickens is an award-winning rocket pioneer and was the lead propulsion designer for Burt Rutan’s SpaceShipOne, which won the $10 million Ansari X PRIZE in 2004. In honor of the legacy and incalculable contribution that Huntsville and the State of Alabama have made to the U.S. space program, the Moon Express lander will carry to the surface of the Moon the “Spirit of Alabama” insignia, a historic artifact that will be developed in collaboration with the RCSP partners to be attached to the lander or one of its mobility systems. Both Moon Express and RCSP/Dynetics were selected by NASA in the fall of 2010 for commercial lunar data contracts worth up to $10 million each. Moon Express and RCSP have been recognized as leading contenders for the $30 million Google Lunar X PRIZE. Both entered the competition in 2010, with RCSP engaging a consortium of highly reputable and experienced partners from the Huntsville area to become one of the most formidable Google Lunar X PRIZE contenders. Selected by Forbes as one of the 15
‘Names You Need to Know’ in 2011, Moon Express (MoonEx) is a privately funded lunar transportation and data services company based at the NASA Ames Research Park in Silicon Valley. The company plans to send a series of robotic
spacecraft to the Moon for ongoing exploration and commercial development focused on benefits to Earth and has signed a partnership agreement with NASA for development of a lunar lander system. •
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Lines of Communication Open Huntsville, Madison gain attraction for customer support call centers
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erizon Wireless could have built a new high-tech call center anywhere. Huntsville made the short list of candidates with several other cities around the U.S. and ultimately was the winner for the $44 million project. The Huntsville Contact Center and Alabama headquarters in Thornton Research Park, which took its first calls in September 2007, handles customer service and technical, HR and government customer support. The number of employees reached 964 early this year, and 330 to 350 more workers are expected to be hired in 2013, said Jeremiah Knight, the facility’s director of customer service. Knight was part of the project team that had evaluated locations for quality of life and an available, qualified workforce. Huntsville/Madison County has lured some of the country’s well-known companies for their contact centers and back-office operations to handle customer service, sales and HR support, employing thousands of people. The Huntsville area is an attractive loca-
tion for this industry because of the high education levels and strong work ethic of its residents, said Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle. These operations are “great for the workforce. They provide good, steady employment.” As some customer support operations return to the U.S. from offshore, “I would expect to see us have gains in call centers in the next decade,” Battle said. The industry emerged here more than a decade ago. The Chamber of Commerce of Huntsville/ Madison County and the community in the late ’90s targeted call centers as part of their marketing outreach, emphasizing workforce, telecommunications and available building space, said Ethan Hadley, the Chamber’s vice president of economic development. A Delta Air Lines reservations call center opened in Cummings Research Park in 1998 and operated for 10 years. The Delta project made it easier to attract West Corp., according to Hadley. West’s call center in CRP started taking calls in July 2000, initially providing technical support
DIRECTV Huntsville Customer Care Center located in Thornton Research Park. 16
February 2013 Initiatives
for DIRECTV satellite service. “We are currently taking calls for three clients” in the credit card, insurance and cable communications industries , “with negotiations ongoing for another client to ramp up our employee base again,” said Sherry Vest, director of human resources. The center, which handles customer service, technical support and sales calls, has 900 to 1,000 employees when at full capacity. DIRECTV opened its own call center in Thornton Research Park in 2004 and now has a staff of 1,125. Teams focus on DIRECTV programming information, premium services, customer retention and bundled products for TV, Internet and phone, handling more than 350,000 customer calls each month. Huntsville provides a strong workforce and solid business climate that attracted DIRECTV to the area, said Anita Hilbun, the director of care operations, and the community offers a well-established network of schools and higher education institutions. The available workforce and success of DIRECTV and West here helped in attracting Verizon Wireless, Hadley said, though the influx of dependent spouses and family members from the 2005 BRAC also influenced Verizon’s decision. The site location consultancy that worked for Verizon also noted that Huntsville hadn’t reached a saturation point for call centers. “All of these call centers came at a time when companies began to focus on more cost-effective second-tier markets,” Hadley said. From 1997 to 2006, Huntsville’s backoffice jobs grew from zero to more than 4,000. Another telecom giant with a local presence is AT&T, whose downtown operation
Desadria McCary, an employee at Comcast’s customer call center in Cummings Research Park. of Alabama opened a service center in Thornton Research Park, initially creating 70 jobs. “Huntsville was at the top of all lists as one of the fastest growing areas in our state,” said Koko Mackin, vice president, corporate communications and community relations, noting that the city has five colleges within a 15-mile radius. “It seemed like a perfect fit and has worked out well for our company and our customers.” The center now has about 120 employees, most of them servicing more than 5,000 calls daily from hospitals, physicians and other professionals nationwide that provide medical services to BCBS customers. Some operations specialize in supporting federal government agencies. FPMI Solutions has provided call center/ back-office services to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Transportation Security Administration and other government and commercial customers through its Employee
Marty Sellers, SellersPhoto.com
handles collections for government, educational, medical and small business accounts in the Midwest, Southeast, Southwest and West. The center focuses mostly on outbound calls to customers that are delinquent, said Lance Skelly, director of communications-media relations with AT&T. “Our call center is currently in the process of bringing on dozens of additional employees,” he said. Among other nationwide brands here are Comcast, which opened a customer call center on Old Madison Pike in January 2008. The facility deals with residential billing and video and Internet repair for areas including Alabama and eight other states and, in an average month, handles 128,000 calls, said Sara Jo Houghland, director of government affairs and public relations. The number of employees has grown from 160 to 220. The next year, Blue Cross and Blue Shield
Resource and Information Center since 2000. ERIC offers recruiting assistance, personnel security processing and other services. “FPMI’s niche has traditionally been in the government arena but we have recently branched out, providing the same HR services to commercial clients around the world,” while continuing support to government clients, said Thomas Swerdzewski, FPMI’s chief of shared services who manages call center operations in Madison. Plans call for growth in commercial markets in the U.S. and abroad with all operations conducted from the Madison center. “Huntsville continues to pop up on the radar of consultants who serve companies looking for additional call center locations,” said Hadley. Most of those projects are on a very fast track he said, and require space that’s available immediately, he said, and many require that the space is already configured for call center/back office use. Huntsville is also home to an out-of-thisworld call center for astronauts. Marshall Space Flight Center serves as the science command post for the International Space Station orbiting more than 200 miles above Earth. The Payload Operations Center manages all U.S. scientific and commercial experiments on the station, coordinates the schedules for running European, Canadian and Japanese experiments, and links researchers around the world with their experiments and the ISS crew. The center, which marks its 12th anniversary in March, has performed more than 1,500 research investigations. It is staffed around-the-clock by three shifts of flight controllers. • Marian Accardi
An aerial view of the Verizon Wireless Call Center located in Thornton Research Park. Initiatives February 2013
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BioTECHnology HudsonAlpha continues to advance scientifically and grow exponentially
Not a single hand was raised .
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The group of college students had just been asked, “Who would like to stay in Huntsville after graduation and pursue a career in biotech?” Jim Hudson was likely hoping for a different response to the question he posed about seven years ago to the aspiring scientists and business professionals. According to Joe Ng, Ph.D., director of the biotech science and engineering program at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, a different response is exactly what the co-founder of the HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology would receive today. “Not a day goes by when a student doesn’t come to my office door, call me by phone or send me emails seeking employment or opportunities to be involved with HudsonAlpha,” said Ng. According to Ng, the institute, which opened its doors in 2008, is inspiring many of the university’s science students while also nurturing a professional community recognized as a rising mecca for biotech in Alabama. “The community is betting the institute will grow to be synonymous to Cold Spring Harbor or The Scripps Research Institutes,” he said. “Biotech has gained traction in Huntsville, and the reason is HudsonAlpha. People want to be part of it.” Ng happens to be one of those people in on the bet. In addition to his role at the university, he leads one of the companies located alongside the institute – iXpressGenes. The non-profit HudsonAlpha Institute is the cornerstone of the Cummings Research Park Biotechnology Campus. The campus hosts a synergistic cluster of life sciences talent - science, education and business professionals – that promises collaborative innovation to turn knowledge and ideas into commercial products and services for improving human health and quality of life. Simultaneously, the institute strengthens Alabama’s progressively diverse economy. “While our region has enjoyed great success in aerospace and defense, the Chamber is continuing its efforts to diversify our workforce and industrial base. Biotechnology has become one of our highly targeted industries,” said Ron Poteat, board chair for the Chamber of Commerce of Huntsville/Madison County. “We are fortunate to have pioneers in the worlds of genetics and genomics who have Alabama roots and the vision to grow life sciences in Huntsville.” Since the institute’s grand opening, co-founders Hudson and Lonnie McMillian have seen the roster of resident associate companies expand from a dozen to 22 companies. The relative ease to spin-off companies from knowledge gleaned in the nonFebruary 2013 Initiatives
profit labs is hitting stride, noted institute executive vice president O’Neal Smitherman, with company launch announcements in the offing. Hudson said he expects to see activity on the campus to double in the next seven years, with the institute recruiting companies from outside the state while continuing to nurture homegrown organizations.
ENCODE collaboration Scientists at HudsonAlpha, in close collaboration with a group at the California Institute of Technology, were major contributors to data released by the ENCODE Consortium last year. “The research reported by the ENCODE Project is a crucial step toward deciphering the language of regulation that underlies human biology,” said Rick Myers, Ph.D., president and director of HudsonAlpha. Among important discoveries, researchers found that more than 80 percent of the human genome sequence is linked to biological function through regulation of our genes. Most genes, Myers continued, do not have just on or off switches; rather, there is a detailed hierarchy regulating timing and functionality. Furthermore, genetic differences between people can affect the switches themselves. “Together, these massive data sets help us to better understand when and how disease occurs.” That kind of understanding, Myers said, enables the creation of new ways to anticipate, diagnose, treat and prevent disease. HudsonAlpha is in line to receive almost $16 million in funding from the National Institutes of Health over the next four years to continue work under the ENCODE project. In addition to a wide variety of projects focusing on human diseases, HudsonAlpha researchers study other living organisms that impact a range of quality of life issues. Jeremy Schmutz and Jane Grimwood, Ph.D., are HudsonAlpha faculty investigators leading projects undertaken through a relationship with the U.S. Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute. Most recently, Schmutz, who also heads the plant program for DOE JGI, was among an international team of scientists who compared the high quality draft assembly of the simplest cotton genome, G. raimondii, against other cotton species. “By accumulating genetic markers from a variety of species for a variety of qualities, we can facilitate better and targeted cotton strains,” Schmutz said. Textiles, biofuels production and environmental remediation are among broad categories that could benefit from specific traits, while reducing pesticide use, improving disease resistance and promoting more efficient water usage would provide across-the-board benefits. Data from a recent study on white rot fungus could also benefit biofuels production. “Because these fungi already do what we want to do, and they do it in the real world,” Schmutz said. “They go in and convert sugars (cellulose) into fuel. It’s just that they go ahead and use it to grow and reproduce.”
Biotech workforce From the very beginning, co-founders Hudson and McMillian have understood the importance of ensuring the biotechnology continued on page 20
Opposite page from top: Dr. Joe Ng with the latest model of the iXpressGenes Crystal X2, an automated, LED-based scanning microscope for protein crystallization; Through teacher training programs, HudsonAlpha touches thousands of Alabama students each year.; The CRP Biotechnology Campus. This page from top: The HudsonAlpha Institute is designed to facilitate collaboration; Jeremy Schmutz, faculty investigator, was part of a team that compared the high quality draft assembly of the simplest cotton genome against other cotton species; Jennifer Carden (center) provides assistance to educators participating in Genetic Technologies for Alabama Classrooms. Initiatives February 2013
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BioTECHnology, continued from page 19 – workforce pipeline is filled with motivated, qualified applicants. Neil Lamb, Ph.D., director of educational outreach at HudsonAlpha, has created a vibrant education program through initiatives geared to a variety of audiences: professional educators from throughout the state, students of all ages, the general public and other specific targets. Lamb said several years ago he was searching for a way to visually track the impact of the institute’s education efforts. “I came up with the idea of using beads – one for each student who used a HudsonAlphadeveloped classroom kit, each teacher who attended a training session, each individual who came to an event like Biotech101,” Lamb said. “Each jar also contains a unique bead for every member of the educational outreach team, highlighting the collaborative efforts required across the educational programs.” The growth of the education program has been reflected in the bead jar (see picture). The first bead jar holds approximately 22,000 beads; the 2012 jar contains over 150,000. It’s a tangible reminder of the individuals who directly benefit from HudsonAlpha’s efforts in science education.”
New tenants
Top: HudsonAlpha sponsored Cells: Life at the Pond, a permanent exhibit at the Sci-Quest Hands-on Science Center in Huntsville. Above left: Co-chairmen Jim Hudson and Lonnie McMillan joined in the fun when HudsonAlpha staff created rungs on the double helix ladder pathways – a signature part of McMillian Park. Above right: Dr. Neil Lamb, director of educational outreach, has inspired tens of thousands to learn more about genetics and genomics and how these sciences have personal impact. Below: Dr. Rick Myers, president, director and faculty investigator, with his institute ENCODE team. Four hundred and forty-two researchers from 32 labs in the U.S., U.K., Spain, Japan and Singapore have mapped more than 4 million regulatory regions where proteins interact with the DNA with specificity.
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Among the first tenants slated to take up residence in Building 3 on the biotech campus is CFD Research Corporation. The Huntsville-based, engineering simulations, design and prototype company has grown beyond its defense and aerospace roots to also target biomedical and energy initiatives. Sameer Singhal, director of biomedical and energy technologies at CFDRC said the proximity to institute scientists and the cumulative business expertise of for-profit tenants has proven to provide a fertile and nurturing environment. “We couldn’t replicate this kind of ready resource on our own,” Singhal said. He added that he and his co-workers are encouraged by opportunities to both receive and give insight about technologies and methodologies. CFDRC has been a resident associate in the anchor facility since the institute opened. “With biotech being the fastest growing segment of the company, we decided to increase our footprint on the campus and consolidate most operations in Building 3,” said Singhal.
Commercializing research The for-profit businesses located on the biotech campus are typically and widely characterized as either putting tools into a researcher’s toolbox, diagnostics, detection, therapeutics or drug delivery. An example of a tools maker, iXpressGenes has pioneered a fluorescent trace labeling protocol to effectively identify crystal conditions at a very early stage. The Crystal X2 is a novel microscope that can detect tiny protein crystals by using trace fluorescent labels. According to Ng, finding crystal conditions is critical to research and pharmaceutical companies as they search for specific proteins to help create new enzymes or to attach to drugs. The company has signed a distribution agreement with Molecular Dimensions, a global provider in the crystallization industry. Ng demonstrated the scope in the U.S. and Europe last year and has recently launched a second, smaller version of the Crystal X2 with modified capabilities. Another tools maker is newcomer transOMIC technologies.
“Since product launch four months ago, transOMIC technologies’ product portfolio has been well received by the life science research market,” said Gwen Fewell, Ph.D., chief commercial officer. “We are already selling both RNAi and gene expression products to some of the world’s most prestigious institutions and cancer centers and are increasing our company awareness and reach every day.” Outside institutions have connected with transOMIC for products, as well as partnerships and collaborations. “In December we launched a new product through a partnership with Clontech, a Takara Bio company, and this news will be released by wire in the next few weeks,” added Fewell. The company’s research tools for gene manipulation provide scientists with high-quality genes, RNAi tools and delivery reagents for gene function analysis in relation to oncology, neuroscience and metabolic disorders.
The Best of What’s New IDair is among companies on campus that step outside the typical characterization of a resident associate. According to Joel Burchan, IDair president, the company’s growth trajec-
tory in biometrics makes the campus an attractive place to work and learn. Company officials are still celebrating after having the product AIRprint recognized by Popular Science in its Best of What’s New list at the end of last year. AIRprint can scan a fingerprint accurately enough to identify an individual from six feet away. Engineers based the software on satellite image-processing programs; resolving the ridges of a fingerprint at six feet is actually quite similar to resolving a car or building from orbit. With AIRprint, people could move throughout secure facilities and sterile labs without touching a pad or surface for access. According to Jay Ange, who handles marketing for IDair, response from the recognition has been fortifying. “We’ve seen interest from 17 countries across North America, Asia, Europe and Africa. Industry sectors have run across automotive, federal government, healthcare equipment and systems, physical access control and international wireless network providers.” • Holly Ralston
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community profile
TOP 10 EMPLOYERS Redstone Arsenal* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30,000
Population
Madison County
City of Huntsville
2000 Census
276,700
158,216
29,329
342,376
Huntsville Hospital System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5,919
2011 Census
340,111
182,956
43,685
425,480
Huntsville City Schools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,079
22.9% 15.6% 48.9% 24.3%
The Boeing Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,600
% Growth
City of Huntsville Madison Metro Area
Madison County Schools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,389
Households & Income* # of Households
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
NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6,000
75,230
$40,994
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau (www.census.gov), *2010 American Community Survey
SAIC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,229 City of Huntsville . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,206 ADTRAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,740 UAHuntsville . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,675 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 36,000 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.
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Huntsville’s Cummings Research Park has earned a reputation as a global
For more information visit:
park in the U.S., Cummings Research Park is home to more than 300 compa-
HuntsvilleAlabamaUSA.com
nies and 25,000 people involved in technology research and development.
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leader in technology development. The second-largest science and technology
The Chamber’s Small Business Training Series is a professional training program designed to address the needs of businesses – large or small – to provide valuable professional development and strengthen its workforce. The series includes a number of topics by local business leaders.
UPCOMING EVENT: 2013 Tax Law Update Monday, Feb. 11 • 8 - 10:30 a.m. Chamber auditorium PARTNERS: Beason & Nalley, Inc. Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP To register for any of these events as well as to check for updates or upcoming events, go to HSVchamber.org. Questions? Call Mitzi Floyd at (256) 535-2089. For SBTS partnership opportunities, please email mfloyd@hsvchamber.org.
SBTS Gold Sponsors: AEgis Technologies Group • Baron Services, Inc. Initiatives February 2013
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Civil Space 2013 set for Feb. 12-13 The Greater Huntsville Section of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics’ (AIAA) “Civil Space 2013” symposium to discuss current challenges, opportunities and emerging technologies relative to space access and orbital solutions within the civil space market. This discussion includes commercial space providers and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and NASA. Civil Space 2013 is scheduled for Feb. 12-13, with Dynetics hosting the symposium at its 160,000square-foot corporate headquarters. This conference provides a unique focus on civil (inclusive of commercial) space access and orbital solutions, challenges, mission assurance, safety, policy, global competition and vision. The invited speakers and panel members will present expert analyses on current and future civil space issues fostering discussion among the government and industry representatives. This agenda will focus on the support of
Earth orbital systems, operations and solutions. It is a working level conference designed to highlight for discussion some of the biggest challenges facing the market today, including technology gaps, market stability, obsolescence, and integration and safety standards. Dr. Michael Griffin, former NASA administrator and AIAA president, will be providing a keynote address regarding the world stage and global competition for civil space. Steve Cook, former manager of Ares I and V programs at NASA MSFC and current Director of Space Technologies at Dynetics, will be chairing the panel session on Commercial Crew Transportation Systems – Qualified Hardware, Requirement, Standards and Certification. Representatives across industry will be participating in the panel sessions. The cost to attend is $75 for AIAA members and $150 for non-members. The complete agenda can be found at http://tinyurl.com/CivilSpace2013.
Best Places to Work® nominations are open The deadline to nominate a business for the Chamber’s annual Best Places to Work® awards is Friday, Feb. 15. Nomination forms can be found at www.hsvchamber.org. To qualify, businesses must: • Be Chamber members or must join the Chamber prior to survey start date, Feb. 19. • Be located in the Huntsville Metro Area (Madison and Limestone counties). • Have a minimum of 10 full-time employees in the Huntsville Metro Area. • For companies with multiple offices or branches, all must be Chamber members by Feb. 19 (survey launch date). Surveys will be administered and results will be tabulated by Quantum Workplace, a specialist in measuring workplace satisfaction. Anonymity is guaranteed regarding participation and results. Surveys will be conducted Feb. 19 - March 22. On May 15, the Chamber, North Alabama Society of Human Resource Management and the Best Places to Work® sponsors will host a high-energy awards luncheon to unveil Huntsville/Madison County’s outstanding companies whose benefits, policies and practices are among the best in the metropolitan area. It will begin at 11:30 a.m. in the North Hall of the Von Braun Center. The competing businesses will be rated based on results in the following criteria: 24
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- Team effectiveness - Alignment with goals - Individual contribution - Trust in senior leaders - Work engagement
- Retention probability - Trust with co-workers - Manager effectiveness - Feeling valued - People practices
New on Board Ritch only second Alabamian on the authority since 1933
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ith the historic mural entitled “The Tennessee Valley” as a backdrop, Huntsville attorney Joe Ritch was sworn in as a member of the TVA Board of Directors on Jan. 11. The Tennessee Valley Authority is responsible for supplying electricity to nine million people in seven southeastern states, including much of north Alabama. It also provides flood control, navigation and land management for the Tennessee River system and assists utilities and state and local governments with economic development. Ritch, an attorney with Sirote & Permutt’s Huntsville office who has volunteered his time and resources with the Tennessee Valley Base Realignment and Closure committee for years, has also been instrumental in the repositioning of several Army commands and assets to Redstone Arsenal. His place on the TVA board has long been urged by local business leaders and elected officials as a natural fit for his involvement in economic development of north Alabama. His nomination to the board by President Barack Obama last fall and approval by the U.S. Senate in early January means that the region has a voice on the authority, something it hasn’t had often. The only other Alabamian to serve on the TVA board was also from Huntsville, former ADTRAN president Howard Thrailkill, who left in late 2010 after serving more than four years. TVA was formed in 1933 to modernize the region hit especially hard during the Great Depression, using experts and electricity to combat human and economic problems. TVA developed fertilizers, taught farmers ways to improve crop yields and helped replant forests, control forest fires, and improve habitat for fish and wildlife. After U.S. District Judge Lynwood Smith administered the oath of office at the Fed-
Joe Ritch, his wife Lana and U.S. District Judge Lynwood Smith at the swearing-in ceremony for the Huntsville attorney’s appointment to the TVA Board of Directors. eral Courthouse in Huntsville, Ritch said he was initially encouraged to seek a spot on the board in 1994. He said he thought it wasn’t in the cards, but his bipartisan supporters – many of whom crowded the courtroom for the important occasion – kept recommending him to key leaders in Washington. Ritch thanked them – as well as community representatives in neighboring counties – for their letter-writing and phone calls that helped him get approved. “It's an honor to be nominated and confirmed, and I am fortunate to be practicing with a firm that supports community involvement of this type,” Ritch said. “I appreciate the efforts of Senators (Jeff) Sessions and (Richard) Shelby. I have a whole lot to learn and I am looking forward to working with the board and TVA. Since TVA serves about onethird of our state, I hope to become an advocate for Alabama issues and concerns.”
In Alabama, TVA operates three hydroelectric dams (Guntersville, Wheeler and Wilson), two coal-fired generating plants (Widows Creek and Colbert), one nuclear power plant (Browns Ferry), and one natural gas-fueled combustion turbine site (Colbert). TVA owns or maintains 79 substations and switchyards and 2,370 miles of transmission line in Alabama. Ritch has worked as an attorney in Huntsville since 1982. He also served as a member of the University of Alabama Board of Trustees from 2005 to 2011. Ritch serves on the Board of Directors at several other companies and nonprofits, including Axiometrics and the Von Braun Center for Innovative Science. He received a B.S. from the University of Alabama in Huntsville, a J.D. from Samford University, and an L.L.M. in Taxation from New York University. • Patricia McCarter Initiatives February 2013
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Serious Fun! AEgis creates a video game with powerful training potential
“Raptor 1, provide route reconnaissance for the convoy en route to the motor pool. Your primary mission is to detect and identify all vehicles on the country road. We have friendlies out there, so target discrimination is required.” You are Raptor 1, operating an unmanned aerial vehicle providing recon for deployed forces. You have just seconds to spot and identify ground vehicles as friendly or hostile before the convoy has to make the decision to shoot.
“Raptor 1, Cobra 6 requesting ID of unknown target 1 click from our position on MSR.” You zoom in on the vehicle, partially hidden beneath an outcropping of rocks. Only the front bumper is visible from
your position. Is it a M998 Hummer – a friendly – or a Nissan Frontier being used by hostile forces? “Raptor 1, target acquired and ready to engage. Send ID, over.” You switch to infrared to try and narrow your options, but you are still not sure. “Negative contact, Raptor 1! Round on the way! Out!” Too late. The convoy has eliminated the target, and it might have been one of ours.
––––– Fratricide – also known as “friendly fire” – is the accidental killing of one’s own troops or allies in war. It is an unfortunate reality, even on today’s high-tech battlefield, but AEgis Technologies has developed an app that could help. Combat ID™ is an interactive game that takes the player through a training session in a virtual garage, then into the field to assist a convoy in identifying vehicles along its path. The free app places you on a country road in what looks to be Iraq or Afghanistan. The 99-cent version includes an urban setting, a destroyed highway and a night mission. Using its modeling and simulation expertise and resources, a team of six designers, programmers, graphic artists and database developers took the game from concept to virtual reality in less than six months. “The original objective was to build our corporate competency in commercial game engine technologies for use in our training simulator products,” said Steve Hill, President and CEO of AEgis. “At the same time we were able to create a much more effective paradigm for training warfighters on the identification of friend versus foe weapon systems.” 26
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The game was entered into the Serious Games competition in December as part of the Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference, known as I/ITSEC, the largest modeling and simulation conference in the world. Thousands of developers, training specialists and end users attend the conference to learn about advancements in the field and try out new products. Serious Games selected 18 entries as finalists to compete in six different categories, and Combat ID™ won the prestigious People’s Choice award. AEgis plans to modify and improve the game while exploring its training applications. Nearly 40 percent of the company’s revenue comes from training, and through various contracts, AEgis has a role in instructing more than 100,000 people each year. “While things are extremely exciting for AEgis and our customers right now, there is definitely more to come,” said David King, AEgis Vice President of Simulation Development. “Combat ID™ is the first in a series of projects where AEgis will continue to utilize the latest technology to better train the warfighter and create high quality, realistic and relevant training applications in game format.” To boost play time and encourage user feedback, AEgis will be launching a local contest in which high scores could win you an iPad or other tech toy. To learn more, check out Combat ID™ at http://www.aegistg.com/CombatID.htm or follow on Twitter @AEgisTG. Download the game in its free or full version and start practicing now to improve your chances of winning. Search “AEgis Combat ID” in iTunes or Google Play. While the subject is serious, the game is fun – and could dramatically reduce friendly-fire casualties in future combat situations. • Initiatives February 2013
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SPOTLIGHT ON SMALL BUSINESS: 2012 Small Business Award Winner Young Professional of the Year
Antonio McGinnis Antonio McGinnis was selected the Young Professional of the Year at the Chamber’s 2012 Small Business Awards. Here’s an interview with the winner. A brief educational and professional background ... I received my bachelor of science in journalism from Texas A&M University in 1995 on a full athletic scholarship in basketball. In 2011 I completed my MPA in public administration from Strayer University. After college, I played professional basketball in Slovenia and Australia. I returned to Huntsville and started working with the Boys & Girls Club as the health and physical education director. I eventually went on to become the club director. After eight years at the Boys & Girls Club, I became the youth service coordinator at the Huntsville Housing Authority, where I served the needs of children residing in public housing. After serving five years there, I was named executive director of the Harris Home for Children.
Q: What is the Harris Home for Children? A: It is a non-profit childcare agency that was founded in 1954 to be a safe haven for children. Licensed by the Alabama Department of Human Resources as a foster care and child placement agency, the Harris Home for Children provides a wide array of services for abused, neglected and abandoned youth between the ages of 12-21.
Q: What are your goals for the next 10 years? A: I want to expand our services into other states. We also would like to purchase some land where we could grow our own food and teach our residents to live off the land. We would also like to partner with local businesses to train the next generation of leaders. I would like to use what I have learned and train people all across the country on best practices in social services. I would also like to train former residents to share their stores of survival with those who are challenged with similar difficulties. I want to write more books and educate groups on the norms and tendencies of people living in certain areas.
Q: What does this award mean to you? A: Receiving this award means so much to me personally. I never have been a person who did anything to receive any glory, but when you are recognized for doing what you love to do, it gives you a 28
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Above: Antonio McGinnis being escorted by Sherika Attipoe to accept his award for being named 2012 Young Professional of the Year. Below: McGinnis receiving his award from the 2011 winner, Natalie Hasley, of Bama Jammer, Inc.
new level of energy and determination to keep moving. I was so excited to know that I was a finalist, and when I was announced the winner, I was truly humbled because I knew it was the efforts of those around me that help me be the 2012 recipient. Professionally, this award showed me that I could be taken seriously even though I wasn’t the president of a large corporation. This is an awesome achievement to add to my resume. When people see that I was the 2012 Young Professional of the Year for the Chamber of Commerce of Huntsville/Madison County, it will add more value to my credentials. There were so many great candidates this year, and just to be named in that group would have been exciting. I hope this award will help get me through some doors that I may not have been able to get through otherwise. I plan to continue growing, and this award is not my final stop. To me it symbolizes the start of something great for me professionally.
Q: What has being active in the Chamber meant to you? A: It has allowed me the opportunity to meet some great people and to see the wide variety of services the Chamber has to offer. I encourage each organization in the city to get involved with the Chamber so that their employees can learn what resources are available for them. The networking is great, but the friendship connections are even better. • Compiled by Patricia McCarter Initiatives February 2013
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2012 holiday open house
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Internships – the New Interview To help local employers and students take advantage of internships, the Chamber has partnered with Internships.com to create a landing page for Huntsville/Madison County. The site features sections for students to create profiles and for employers and educators to post opportunities. Employers can also search for students in their priority fields. The site also includes valuable resources for students and employers and is tied into Facebook and Twitter to promote easy access and visibility. A survey of more than 300 companies conducted by Internships.com shows that internships are on the rise. The number of companies that offered internships in 2012 rose 36 percent from 2011, and 53 percent of companies plan to hire more interns in 2013. Internships are seen as a way to “test drive” potential employees, and they provide students with valuable real-world experience as they finish their degrees. Of the companies surveyed, 47 percent have a structured internship program, and 85 percent say hiring interns was a positive experience. Of the 7,300 students surveyed, 86 percent say the internship was a positive experience. The Chamber is working with its members to populate the internships database in time for students to apply for summer and fall opportunities. To learn more, visit the Chamber’s landing page at internships.com/group/huntsville. •
Looking for job opportunities? Go to ASmartPlace.com! Huntsville/Madison County routinely makes national headlines for being a smart place to work. Did you know that more than 3,000 jobs are listed every month from 500 or more employers on the Chamber’s job website at ASmartPlace.com? In December there were more than 300 open jobs in each of the following categories: sales, healthcare, computer and mathematical, office and administrative, management, transportation and material moving, business and financial, architecture and engineering, and production. Registering as a new job seeker is quick and easy, and the site is free to job seekers and employers, ensuring the greatest number of open jobs available on one website. Your name will only be accessible to employers if you create or upload a resume, and even then you can choose to hide it from employers unless you initiate an application to a job. The only information you have to provide is a user name, an email address, and a zip code. ASmartPlace.com does not send emails or share its member listing with anyone. To take the first step in finding a new career opportunity, go to www.ASmartPlace.com, click on “work” and then “find a job.” •
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Chamber of Commerce of Huntsville/Madison County
2 0 1 3 S TAF F Executive Staff Chip Cherry, CCE, president & CEO Amy Locke, executive assistant Ashley Shady, resource desk coordinator Richard McCollum, resource desk assistant
Economic Development Ethan Hadley, VP, economic development Lucia Cape, VP, workforce & industry relations John Southerland, director, Cummings Research Park | project manager
Ken Smith, research & information services director Harrison Diamond, project manager
Communications Patricia McCarter, communications director Kristi Sherrard, graphic designer Hiroko Sedensky, web designer
Government Affairs Mike Ward, VP, 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 Amy Brantley, membership representative Melissa Putzier, membership representative
Small Business & Member Services Pammie Jimmar, small business & events director Mitzi Floyd, small business coordinator Amanda Bishop, events assistant
Associated Organizations The Community Foundation (communityfoundationhsv.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 34
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