APRIL 2015
SERVING S SE E RV V IN I N G THE ROANOKE/BLACKSBURG/ NEW RIVER VALLEY REGION
Leaving the station
Railroads are moving out, leaving room for health care to dominate Roanoke’s economy
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CONTENTS SERVING THE ROANOKE/BLACKSBURG/ NEW RIVER VALLEY REGION
April 2015
F E AT U R E S COVER STORY
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More than a railroad town
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No industry dominates Roanoke the way railroads once did, but health care is getting close. by Jenny Boone
HOSPITALITY & TOURISM Building a brand
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Hospitality, special events and natural amenities attract tourists and their dollars. by Kathie Dickenson
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TECHNOLOGY Family business
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PSI unravels mysteries, solves problems and celebrates Talk Like a Pirate Day. by Sarah Beth Jones
HIGHER EDUCATION Hollins University
22 Virginia’s first women’s college is still a
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place where women are educated and empowered. by Shawna Morrison
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INTERVIEW: Pearl Fu former executive director, Local Colors
Slowing down Pearl Fu’s idea of retirement would wear out many people. by Beth JoJack
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COMMUNITY PROFILE: Pulaski County
Manufacturing jobs
Pulaski County is building on new and expanding businesses and the New York Yankees. by Donna Alvis-Banks 2
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NEWS FROM THE CHAMBER • • • •
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FROM THE EDITOR
Leaving the station by Tim Thornton
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orfolk Southern’s decision to move the last of its white-collar jobs out of Roanoke is a big deal. Norfolk Southern’s ancestor, the Norfolk & Western Railway, used to be the big dog around here. The Virginia and Tennessee, the first railroad through the area, brought more growth to Salem, the county seat, than it did to the cluster of villages that would eventually become Roanoke. Salem might have been the region’s dominant city if not for N&W. Big Lick became a town the year Norfolk & Western decided to make its headquarters there. Two years later the town became the city of Roanoke. The railroad was the economic driver for the region, and its offices took up a lot of space across the tracks from downtown, just across Jefferson Street from the Hotel Roanoke — which the railroad built. Norfolk Southern’s place in the region’s employment pecking order has fallen far below what N&W’s was at its most influential, but 500 is a lot of jobs to lose to corporate synergy or anything else. And yet Norfolk Southern’s decamping to Norfolk and Atlanta isn’t likely to shove the region into a replay of the Great Recession. With two medical schools, a major research university, liberal-arts colleges and community colleges spread around the region, a lot of ideas are being generated. Some of those ideas become businesses at Virginia Tech’s Corporate Research Center. Some percolate at places like CoLab and Tech Pad. We have manufacturers of auto parts, tires and big trucks, military propellants and military-style rifles. The last remnants of the railroad’s headquarters may be gone, but we still have the headquarters of that homegrown problem-solving software company Meridium and that homegrown Fortune 500 company Advance Auto Parts. N&W’s old passenger station serves as a visitors center and the O. Winston Link Museum. N&W’s old freight station is the Virginia Museum of Transportation. Some former N&W offices became condos. The ex-N&W headquarters building now functions as the Roanoke Higher Education Center. The Hotel Roanoke still hosts visitors as the Hotel Roanoke and Conference Center and, unlike the old days, the hotel has a walkway that connects it to downtown Roanoke. In a couple of years, if things go as planned, people on that walkway can watch passenger trains pull in and out of Roanoke for the first time since Jimmy Carter lived in the White House. Roanoke should remember and retell stories about the romance and reality of the railroad. They’re a big part of Roanoke’s history. It seems that everything anyone is promoting these days — from salad ingredients to downtown housing — needs a story, a provenance, and the railroad that became Norfolk Southern is an important part of Roanoke’s story. It’s just not the whole story.
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SERVING THE ROANOKE/BLACKSBURG/ NEW RIVER VALLEY REGION Vol. 4
APRIL 2015
President & Publisher Roanoke Business Editor Contributing Editor Contributing Writers
Art Director Contributing Photographers
Production Manager Circulation Manager Vice President of Advertising Account Representative
No. 4
Bernard A. Niemeier Tim Thornton Paula C. Squires Donna Alvis-Banks Jenny Boone Kathie Dickenson Beth JoJack Sarah Beth Jones Shawna Morrison Adrienne R. Watson Sam Dean Christina O’Connor Natalee Waters Kevin L. Dick Karen Chenault Hunter Bendall Lynn Williams
CONTACT: EDITORIAL: (540) 520-2399 ADVERTISING: (540) 597-2499 210 S. Jefferson St., Roanoke, VA 24011-1702 We welcome your feedback. Email Letters to the Editor to Tim Thornton at tthornton@roanoke-business.com VIRGINIA BUSINESS PUBLICATIONS LLC A portfolio company of Virginia Capital Partners LLC Frederick L. Russell Jr.,, chairman
on the cover Norfolk Southern is leaving Roanoke Photo of caboose by Sam Dean Photo illustration by Adrienne R. Watson
DRIVING FORWARD AND PRESERVING THE PAST • New Businesses, business expansions, job diversity • Home of Calfee Park – the 9th oldest baseball stadium in the U.S. • Pulaski Yankees - 2015 Season! • Two State Parks: Claytor Lake and New River Trail • Mountain bike trails • Three new recreational fields • Historic Train Depot • The MARKETPLACE – Recognized by the USDA, VA Tourism Corporation and Bon Appetit Appalachia! • Raymond F. Ratcliffe Memorial Transportation Museum (model train exhibits) • Historic theater – Crooked Road venue • Wilderness Road Regional Museum
www.pulaskicounty.org msolomon@pulaskicounty.org www.pulaskitown.org jwhite@pulaskitown.org
COVER STORY
More than a railroad town No industry dominates Roanoke the way railroads once did, but health care is getting close by Jenny Boone 6
APRIL 2015
When the Norfolk Southern building houses other offices, the railroad’s trains will still rumble through downtown.
AP Photo/The Roanoke Times, Erica Yoon
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cover story Brent Williams gave up a business career to become a respiratory therapist.
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ike most soon-to-be college graduates, Brent Williams’ mind was on the job hunt well before his May 2014 graduation from the Jefferson College of Health Sciences. His search didn’t take long. A month before Williams graduated with an associate degree in respiratory therapy, Carilion Roanoke 8
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Memorial Hospital hired him as a respiratory therapist. He began work a few months later, after receiving his state license to practice. “It was very easy,” says Williams, 33, about landing the hospital job, the place where he did his clinical training through Jefferson College and met many of the practitioners with whom he now works. Carilion Clinic typically hires about 65 percent of Jefferson College students upon graduation. Williams’
story is a microcosm of the jobs picture across the nation, state and the Roanoke Valley. He swapped a business career for health care, one of the few industries that grew during the recession. The swift hiring pace for health-care jobs will continue for at least 10 more years in the Roanoke region, with the expected addition of about 4,700 jobs, says Chris Chmura, president and chief economist with Chmura Economics & Analytics in Richmond. In the Roanoke metropolitan statistical area, 22,639 people were employed in the health-care or social assistance field in the second quarter of 2014, outpacing all other industries, according to the Virginia Employment Commission (VEC). That total is well over the number of people who worked for what was once the Roanoke area’s largest employer – the railroad industry. At least 4,500 people in the Star City worked for Norfolk & Western Railway, before a merger that ultimately changed its fate. N&W’s overwhelming presence in the region created for Roanoke a decades-long identity as a railroad town. The tide turned in 1982, when N&W merged with Southern Railway Co. to form Norfolk Southern Corp. The company’s headquarters moved to Norfolk, along with about 1,500 Roanoke jobs. About 3,000 railroad jobs remained in the Star City. That number had dwindled to 1,700 before January, when Norfolk Southern announced it would move 500 Roanoke jobs to Norfolk or Atlanta. Employees who worked in such roles as marketing, information technology and accounting, all considered high-paying jobs, had the option of relocating or leaving the company. Norfolk Southern said the move is about synergy, streamlining and making better use of its real estate. The company has not said what will become of its 203,000-square-foot Roanoke office building. Approximately1,200 people still Photo by Natalee Waters
are employed by Norfolk Southern in Roanoke. They work at a switching yard and locomotive and car maintenance facility at Shaffer’s Crossing and a locomotive overhaul and rebuilding facility in the company’s East End Shops. How long those jobs will remain in Roanoke is unknown. And though the loss of 500 jobs is not good news for Roanoke, Norfolk Southern’s presence in the area already was declining, beginning with the 1982 merger, says Beth Doughty, executive director of the Roanoke Regional Partnership, an economic development organization. “The idea that the sky is falling is not true,” she says of the job loss announcement. In the years after the railroad’s headquarters shifted to Norfolk, Roanoke slowly took on a new identity. Some now consider it a healthcare region. Though employment numbers reveal this trend, not everyone is willing to tie that description to the Roanoke Valley. Doughty points to the diversity of the region’s economy. “The idea that we are a railroad town or a company town is not realistic or accurate,” she says. “I think Roanoke’s strength lies in its diversity. You don’t want to put all of your eggs in one basket.” Even so, three health-care companies ranked in the top 10 largest employers in the Roanoke MSA during the second quarter of 2014, according to the Virginia Employment Commission. They are Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital, the Department of Veterans Affairs, which operates the Salem VA Medical Center, and HCA Virginia Health System. Other companies listed in the top 10 employers include Kroger, school systems in Roanoke City and Roanoke and Franklin counties, Wells Fargo Bank and Walmart. The professional, scientific and technical sector is another growth industry for the Roanoke area, according to Chmura. While this industry employs about 7,300 in the Roanoke MSA, it is projected to add only 1,300 new jobs in the next 10 years, a lot fewer than in the healthTop: AP Photo/The Roanoke Times, Erica Yoon Bottom: Photo by Mark Rhodes
Norfolk Southern hasn’t said what will become of its Roanoke office building.
care industry, she says. These kinds of jobs encompass a variety of categories, such as law, accounting, engineering, landscaping, biotechnology, veterinary and more.
Nationally, a study by the Center for Health Workforce Studies at the University at Albany, State University of New York, found that between 2010 and 2020, jobs in the health-
Roanoke may have been created by the railroad, but the region’s modern economy is much more diverse.
ROANOKE BUSINESS
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cover story care sector are projected to grow by 30 percent, more than twice as fast as the general economy. The report analyzes data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In the Roanoke MSA, healthcare and related jobs make up more than 17 percent of the region’s employment, compared with about 12
percent 20 years ago, Doughty says. Other industries with employment growth in the past 20 years include educational services, with 7.5 percent of jobs, compared with 6 percent 20 years ago, she says. When considering a new job, the stable nature of the health-care field attracted Williams. He earned
Roanoke’s headquarter companies
Besides Norfolk & Western Railway, other businesses, from banks to a global software company, have established headquarters in the Star City, though not all have stayed.
Advance Auto Parts Arthur Taubman founded the automotive parts and accessories retailer in Roanoke in 1932. It became a publicly traded company in 2001 and remains the only Fortune 500 company based in Roanoke, where it employs 1,600. Of that total, 1,000 people work in Advance’s corporate office. Last year Advance opened a new office in Raleigh, N.C., where 600 people work, including CEO Darren Jackson, President George Sherman and CFO Mike Norona.
Meridium Bonz Hart, who grew up in the Roanoke area, started this software technology company in an office above his Bedford County garage in 1993. The company continues to grow, with offices in Houston, India, Dubai, Singapore, Australia, Spain, South Africa and Brazil. A division of General Electric recently purchased a 26 percent stake in Meridium, a private company. Meridium would not disclose its total number of employees.
Carilion Clinic Carilion Clinic is a private health-care organization based in Roanoke, employing more than 650 doctors in 70 specialties. It operates seven not-forprofit hospitals in the Roanoke and New River Valleys and Lexington. With about 8,880 employees in the Roanoke Valley, Carilion is considered the valley’s largest private employer.
Dominion Bankshares In 1992, Charlotte, N.C.-based First Union Corp. acquired Roanoke-based Dominion Bankshares, a major blow to the Roanoke region. At the time, Dominion was the Roanoke Valley’s fourth largest employer, with 2,259 employees. The First Union buyout resulted in hundreds of layoffs in Roanoke. First Union was later bought out by Wells Fargo, which has a presence in Roanoke.
Valley Financial Corp. BNC Bancorp, a bank holding company based in North Carolina, is buying all of the common stock of Roanoke-based Valley Financial Corp., the holding company for Valley Bank, in a $101.3 million transaction. The move allows BNC to take over nine Valley Bank branches in the Roanoke Valley. Valley Bank was founded in 1995 in Roanoke. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2015. Sources: Advance Auto Parts; Meridium; Carilion Clinic; BNC Bancorp; AP 1992 news article “Merger a blow to Roanoke”
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a bachelor’s degree in business from Brigham Young University in 2006, and soon after that he began a business serving as a vendor for gumball and soda machines. He mostly worked with Macy’s stores throughout the country and managed nine employees. Much of his work, Williams says, focused on figuring out how he could make as much money as possible. But the job wasn’t rewarding, he says. Also, he began worrying about the risks of running a business and its future security. He ended up selling half of the business to go back to school. “What I liked about health care, it’s solid,” says Williams, a Roanoke Valley native who is married with two sons, ages 2 and nearly two months. “It’s going to be there for a long time.” Now, he works 12-hour shifts three nights a week in the intensive care unit and the emergency room at Roanoke Memorial Hospital. As a respiratory therapist, Williams helps patients who have trouble breathing by using therapies or supplementing oxygen through a breathing tube. Because of his new position, Williams’ wife was able to leave her job as a buyer at Advance Auto Parts to stay at home full time with their two children. Williams now has a better benefits package with Carilion, which has helped his family, he says. As for his pay, Williams says his starting salary is comparable to his earnings with his vending business. The starting salary range for respiratory therapists is $45,000 to $60,000, he says. Carilion Clinic, a nonprofit organization, employs 8,880 in the Roanoke Valley, a 26 percent increase from 7,011 in 2005, according to spokesman Chris Turnbull. Carilion operates about 134 health-care facilities in the Roanoke Valley, including four hospitals, 25 primary-care centers and other practices that include specialty care, imaging, rehabilitation and more. There are several reasons for Carilion’s steady rise in employment, and they mirror national Background photo by Mark Rhodes
trends, says Debbie Lovelace, senior director of human resources at Carilion. The baby boomer generation, which includes people born between 1946 and 1964, is aging and requiring more health-care services. Also, the introduction of the Affordable Care Act allows more Americans to have health insurance. Therefore, more people are seeing doctors and requiring health-related services. The Roanoke Valley’s large senior citizen population and reputation as a good place to retire is likely a significant factor driving the healthcare industry as well, experts say. Lately, Carilion has hired an increasing number of people to work in the fields of analytics and informatics, such as financial and information technology analysts, Lovelace says. These positions research healthrelated trends in the community, and their annual pay ranges from $50,000 to $60,000 and may reach $90,000, she says. Also, there’s a particularly strong demand for nurse practitioners who help reduce the patient load on doctors by treating common illnesses, Lovelace says. Additionally, entry-level jobs, such as medical assistant positions, are popping up at more physician offices within Carilion. Medical assistants take patients’ vital signs and do other intake work, reducing the responsibilities for a doctor or a nurse practitioner, Lovelace says. Some nurse practitioners can earn about $90,000 a year, while medical assistants generally start at $20,000, Lovelace says. A new outpatient center for orthopedic and neuromuscular services in Roanoke may create more Carilion jobs, though employment figures for the facility are not yet known. Carilion is in the midst of renovating the 65,000-square-foot space of a former Ukrop’s Super Market store on Franklin Road in Roanoke for an outpatient facility specializing in neuroscience, orthopedics, spine surgery, rehabilitation therapy, pain management and more. It is expected to open in 2016. This new location will expand
space for Carilion’s orthopedic outpatient services currently located on Postal Drive and at its Riverside location in Roanoke. Both have averaged 250 patient visits a day in past years, according to Carilion. The organization’s Roanoke Valley footprint has grown substantially in the past decade, with the addition of the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine and Research Institute, located adjacent to Roanoke Memorial Hospital in a growing biomedical
health sciences campus. The institute and medical school opened in 2010, and the school’s first class of 40 students graduated last year. Carilion also owns Jefferson College of Health Sciences. Though Carilion is the largest private employer in the Roanoke Valley, it’s not the only provider of health-care jobs. One of its competitors, LewisGale Regional Health System, part of HCA Inc.’s Capital Division, operates a hospital in Salem,
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ROANOKE BUSINESS
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cover story
Victoria Altizer landed her job as a physician’s assistant before she graduated from Jefferson College of Health Sciences.
Photo by Natalee Waters
Employment by industry: Roanoke MSA Health care and social assistance Retail trade Manufacturing Local government Accommodation and food services Administrative, support and waste management Construction Professional, scientific and technical services Wholesale trade Transportation and warehousing Finance and insurance Other services (except public administration) Management of companies and enterprises Federal government State government Educational services Real estate, rental and leasing Information Arts, entertainment and recreation Agriculture, forestry, fishing, hunting Utilities Mining, quarrying, oil and gas extraction
22,639 17,846 15,226 14,753 12,775 8,046 7,465 7,143 6,703 6,519 5,939 5,211 4,775 3,958 3,419 2,325 1,845 1,684 1,579 380 345 123
Source: Virginia Employment Commission, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, 2nd Quarter (April, May, June) 2014
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and others in Montgomery County, Pulaski and Low Moor. The health system employs a total of 3,200 people, plus 250 contracted workers, says R.J. Redstrom, its vice president of human resources. This total has remained relatively steady in the past five years. Registered nurses make up the largest employee segment across the health system’s hospitals, he says. “They allow us to be open 24/7,” Redstrom says. Similarly, nurses and nurse practitioners, along with doctors and physician assistants, are the jobs in most demand at the Salem VA Medical Center, which has about 2,000 fulltime employees, says spokeswoman Ann Benois. Physician assistants earn much higher salaries than medical assistants, with one news source citing $62,000 as the low-end range for this group. Other high-demand jobs there include pharmacy, lab and imaging personnel. Lately, LewisGale has had a difficult time finding and keeping nurses. Nurses have options to work in doctor’s offices, in schools and elsewhere, creating a competitive hiring landscape for the health system, Redstrom says. Plus, nurses who have been in the profession for many years are retiring, and more are needed to replace them. “The same things creating the need are creating the void,” Redstrom says. Nursing is Jefferson College’s largest undergraduate academic program. Registered nurses are projected to earn an average of $69,110 annually, says Mark Lambert, spokesman for the college. A survey of all Jefferson College graduates from the classes of 2011, 2012 and 2013 combined showed that about 74 percent landed jobs in the Roanoke Valley and adjacent areas, Lambert says. Victoria Altizer, a Franklin County native, is a recent Jefferson College graduate who chose to stay in Roanoke after she graduated last December with a master of science degree
in physician assistant studies. Before that, she received a bachelor’s degree in health psychology at Jefferson College. “[As an] undergraduate, I worked in the emergency room at Roanoke Memorial, and I got to see the PAs [physician assistants] in action,” Altizer says. “I wanted to work in the midlevel practitioner role. We’re trained in kind of a primary-care role. We are taught a little about everything.” Like Williams, Altizer landed a job before her graduation, as a physician assistant at Avenues to Wellness, (formerly Walnut Avenue Associates) a psychiatric practice in Roanoke. She is one of five physician assistants there who work with two psychiatrists. Altizer did her clinical rotation at the practice last year. “Every rotation was kind of like a job interview,” she says. Now her schedule is packed with appointments each day. Altizer, 25, sees new patients and follow-up appointments and writes drug prescriptions. “I just like that I’m able to work with patients,” she says. “I feel like the program that I went through trained us very well for patient education.” Though Altizer represents a growing generation of professionals in the Roanoke Valley, its history in the railroad business isn’t entirely forgotten. Several Roanoke museums, such as the O. Winston Link Museum and the Virginia Museum of Transportation, tell the railroad’s story. Also, the seal of the city of Roanoke still bears a train image. As the railroad’s corporate presence slowly fades from the Star City, another railway service is making a comeback. Intercity passenger rail service by way of Amtrak will make its way to Roanoke by 2017. The rails will take people directly to Lynchburg and then on to Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Boston and elsewhere. It’s been 36 years since N&W ended passenger rail service in the Star City. “In some ways,” says Bev Fitzpatrick, executive director of the Virginia Museum of Transportation, “Roanoke will always be a railroad town.”
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HOSPITALITY & TOURISM
Building a brand Hospitality, special events and natural amenities attract tourists and their dollars by Kathie Dickenson
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alem tourism director Carey Harveycutter tells the story of the 2009 NCAA Division III football championship as if it happened yesterday. “We had 20 inches of snow, but we held the event with a fivehour delay,” he recalls. City workers spent the night before the game clearing the field and stands under falling snow; a second crew started in the morning. According to a D3football.com video made the day before the game, Northside High School football players, who had used Salem’s stadium to prepare for a championship game of their own, volunteered to help shovel snow. “It’s the commitment of the community,” says Harveycutter, that brings events and people back. Salem has hosted every Division III football championship — the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl — since 1993.
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Photo courtesy City of Salem
Thanks to city crews and volunteers, a 20-inch snowfall wasn’t enough to keep Salem from hosting the 2009 Stagg Bowl.
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hospitality & tourism Planning and hospitality help attract visitors, but having lots of outdoor attractions helps, too.
With the exception of Omaha, Neb. — the site of the College World Series — Salem has hosted more NCAA championships than any other U.S. city. These include Division III football, softball and men’s basketball and Division II women’s laHarveycutter crosse. “We have excellent facilities, but we also have great individuals in charge of the facilities, and we have good Southern hospitality,” says Harveycutter. Mix in cultural learning opportunities, history and outdoor assets including the Appalachian Trail; the New, James and Roanoke rivers; and the Blue Ridge Parkway, and the region’s brand begins to emerge. Special events such as festivals, youth athletic tournaments and college sports, NASCAR races and art exhibits are part and parcel of building familiarity with the brand. The brand’s core message is this: The Greater Roanoke Valley — the largest metropolitan center in the Blue Ridge Mountains — provides a mixture of urban cultural vibrancy, natural serenity and outdoor adventure. 16
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Sometimes that occurs by design and sometimes by “happenstance,” says Lisa Bleakley, Montgomery County’s regional tourism director. A local event, such as a small wine and food festival, “gives depth to the experience of someone who happens to be visiting” and reveals a vibrant, active community. Fostering active community residents is key to building and sustaining a brand that attracts outsiders. Pete Eshelman, director of Roanoke Outside, an arm of the Roanoke Regional Partnership, says that by engaging the community “we turn our residents into our ambassadors, and the brand sustains itself because it’s real.” Roanoke Outside started with a website that focused on listings and information to help local consumers find outdoor opportunities. “Then we looked at gaps, things that were holding us back from being an outdoor community,” says Eshelman. Efforts to fill those gaps ranged from changing how user fees were paid at Carvin’s Cove to adding more bike lanes, to working with the Small Business Development Center to holding workshops on starting outdoor businesses.
One gap was the lack of an outdoor event that would attract people from beyond the region. The Roanoke Outside team looked at research and found that running is the No. 1 activity with regard to frequency of participation. That led to creating the Blue Ridge Marathon “as our signature event,” says Eshelman. Instead of seeking the flattest possible route, organizers made it “uniquely Roanoke” by planning a route that showcases the “Blue Ridge Parkway, the mountains, the rivers, the greenways and the neighborhoods, as well as our urban core,” explains Eshelman. Last year participants came from 42 states and six countries. Overall, the marathon had a $2.1 million economic impact — new money coming into the area from outside, says Eshelman. But the top priority of the event, he emphasizes, is “image building. It helps us tell our outdoor message.” The outdoor message is critical to an image that the Roanoke Valley Convention and Visitors Bureau (RVCVB) calls the “metro-mountain mix,” says its president, Landon Howard. Whether visitors come to the area for the Commonwealth Games, an Opera Roanoke performance or a concert at Franklin County’s Harvester Center, he says, they can enjoy the mountains, the rivers and urban cultural experiences — all in one day if they wish. “Tourism, as it relates to the outdoors, is really serving as our bullhorn industry to let people know that Virginia’s Blue Ridge is here,” says Howard. Special events attract tourism dollars, which support the region’s economy and supplement local taxes. When the American Softball Association’s national under-16 girls’ softball tournament was held in the Roanoke Valley last summer, says Harveycutter, “thousands and thousands of teenage girls were here. They weren’t just playing softball, they were tubing on the river, shopping at the malls, staying in the hotels and eating in the restaurants.” Photo by Sam Dean
Other local businesses benefit as well. Howard points out Larry Landolt, founder and owner of Roanoke Food Tours. Besides offering food and craft beer tours, “Larry has started offering transportation to concerts at the Harvester Performance Center in Rocky Mount,” a 25mile drive from downtown Roanoke. Landolt picks up people at three Roanoke sites, including the Roanoke Valley Visitor Center on Shenandoah Avenue, and brings them back after the concert. “He’s one example of small businesses that are cropping up around special events and tourism,” says Howard. The RVCVB, which is supported by the governments of Roanoke, Salem and Roanoke, Botetourt and Franklin counties, has 900 business partners and is involved in bringing special events to the area. “It’s not just our agency working as a team, it’s the entire industry and the governments working in lock step together,” says Howard. “I will say that it’s not all that common throughout Virginia to have all these jurisdictions working together side by side.” For example, the RVCVB’s Sports Advisory Council includes parks and recreation directors from all five jurisdictions and representatives from several private entities. “We sit down every quarter,” says Howard, “and look at sporting events that we could possibly lure to the region, which ones we’re going to provide bids for, and we work with all five jurisdictions in going after these events. I will say that in comparison to most in the state we’ve got it down really well.” As of February, a partial listing included more than 70 major athletic tournaments scheduled for the Greater Roanoke Valley this year. “As we grow as a destination,” says Howard, “not only are we concerned about groups coming in, but we also are working closer with our attractions to put together development schedules so that we know when special events and blockbuster exhibits and so forth are coming in. We have to work together with our partners so that our customers have a quality experience Photo courtesy Roanoke Food & Craft Beer Tours
Roanoke Food Tours mixes food and drink with local history and culture — and offers rides to the Harvester Performance Center in Rocky Mount.
and are encouraged to bring 10 more people with them next time.” All this effort is not just about tourism, says Howard, but about building the workforce of the future. “In order to bring in young professionals that would be interested in
occupying some of the great jobs that we have in high-tech and medical, it’s very important to use the tourism industry to get the word out about what a great place we are, not only to experience as a visitor but also a great place to live as well.”
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Innovative Partners for Your Vision Polymer Solutions
TECHNOLOGY
Family business PSI unravels mysteries, solves problems and celebrates Talk Like a Pirate Day
Cynthia Rancourt, Caleb Rancourt, Caitlyn Scaggs, Jim Rancourt and Joshua Rancourt: the family behind Polymer Solutions.
by Sarah Beth Jones
O
ther than the sterile spaces and occasional lab coat, the new Christiansburg home of PSI — Polymer Solutions Inc. – looks nothing like an emergency room. Yet that is exactly how Jim Rancourt describes the business he founded in 1987 while completing his degree in polymer chemistry. “We don’t need results in five years but now, because a client’s production line has shut down when an adhesive failed to work and they need it fixed immediately,” he says. “First, though, they need to understand what caused the breakdown.” As an independent lab with a worldwide reputation for topnotch expertise, PSI often is called upon to get to the root of complex puzzles. “There was the case of the fish fillet mystery,” says Caitlyn Scaggs, Photos by Christina O’Connor
director of communications and marketing. “An elderly man choked on a piece of plastic that lodged in his lungs and led to invasive surgery. Our job was to discover who was at fault: the people who made and packaged the fillet or the cafeteria where it was cooked.” “Or did the fish swallow the plastic?” postulates Rancourt, demonstrating the level of creative thinking that has kept PSI growing through several economic downturns. “The TV shows make it look easy, like a computer just prints out a clear answer, when in reality the equipment gives information that’s then clarified by the expertise of a scientist,” says Scaggs. “The outcome was that the liability belonged to the people who made and packaged the fillet,” says Cynthia Rancourt, COO of PSI.
As Jim’s wife, Cynthia has been involved with the business since its inception but became a member of the team by accident. About 10 years ago, she offered what was intended to be a brief helping hand at the front desk, but she soon realized her nursing training gave her a unique understanding of the quality processes implemented at PSI. “So I trained in ISO 17025,” Cynthia says, referring to the standard for testing and calibration for laboratories. “We added FDA registration in 2005.” Cynthia isn’t the only family member on the PSI team. Scaggs is the Rancourt’s middle child and only daughter. A former police officer, her social media work with PSI has garnered attention from giants LinkedIn and HootSuite. Their oldest, Joshua, is an equipROANOKE BUSINESS
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technology ment and facilities manager with a prestigious IFMA (International Facilities Management Association) certification. Younger son Caleb, who is currently studying industrial design at Virginia Tech, was instrumental in both helping Jim understand the complex workflow of the ever-growing lab and in rebranding PSI after more than two decades of a staid IBM-blue personality. Despite the level of excellence to which members of the PSI team hold themselves, “staid” is hardly the word for a company culture that earned a 2013 recognition from Virginia Business magazine for being one of the Best Places to Work in Virginia. The company, recognized in the small employer category, was cited for its familyoriented policies that include a sizeable break room with games, a board for team members to give one another public recognition and an annual “Talk Like a Pirate Day” celebration. PSI’s innovation in team building, though, pales in comparison with the company’s innovation in the lab. It was PSI’s creative scientific thinking that first gained Bruce Smith’s business and has kept it for nearly two decades. Smith is a chief scientist at the Floyd facility of Hollingsworth and Vose, a high-tech materials manufacturer. He was first referred to PSI when a major part of the product line was causing consistent problems in the marketplace. The product? A floppy diskette. “We had narrowed the problem down to one raw material but all of our information and in-house testing indicated there weren’t any issues,” says Smith. After an initial meeting with Smith, Jim threw out the standard means of testing as not sensitive enough for the job at hand. He instead suggested a blend of spectroscopic analyses he imagined on the spot. “That got us down to the backbone of the material, down to 20
APRIL 2015
PSI does serious work, but the crew keeps a sense of humor.
the structure of how the polymer was put together,” says Smith. “Lo and behold, he was able to show the microscopic contamination.” As Jim’s entrepreneurial spirit has guided him toward greater innovation and more expansive services, PSI has taken on testing of everything from ammunition and tear gas to breast implants and medical devices that are safely absorbed into the body. (There
The PSI break room’s snaps board provides a place for team members to compliment each other’s work.
was even one case involving a red smudge on a shirt that turned out to be lipstick. “We didn’t say much after that,” says Caitlyn.) The team of scientists and support staff has grown to 32 members alongside the lab’s ever-expanding capabilities. “It’s a great group of folks, very personal,” says Smith. “Jim’s business has grown and prospered over the years, and I’ve never seen that level of personal attention compromised.”
This image from an electron microscope shows the microscopic texture of floor tiles. With the right glasses, it shows that texture in 3D.
“We focus on excellent customer service from the first contact to a handwritten thank-you card once a project is complete,” said Scaggs. “We’re relational, collaborative and
personal from start to finish.” They’re also politic, as demonstrated by a large, wall-mounted monitor attached to an optical microscope. This big screen allows op-
posing sides of brewing legal cases to see testing results at the exact same time. With a third to a half of Jim’s time spent as an expert witness in legal cases, this kind of transparency has won them fans of even those they have cost cases. “It’s been a segue into a new market segment,” said Josh. “We’ve had people who were found at fault [through PSI testing] turn around and hire us a month or two later.” The company’s new 20,000square-foot building, which opened in January, gave the office 5,000 square feet of new lab space complete with technology and cuttingedge features that would have been cost-prohibitive without Josh’s mechanical know-how. Following PSI’s growth arc for the last 27 years, the building was designed to be easily expanded by another 10,000 square feet of lab space. Proof that the company expects more business in the future.
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“Getting a master’s degree from Hollins University was a life-changing event. The combination of a diverse curriculum and top-notch professors challenged me to learn and grow exponentially. I cannot overstate the value I received with my M.A.L.S. degree. I give Hollins University the highest possible accolades for academic excellence.” INFORMATION SESSION Tuesday, April 14, 2015, 6 pm Hollins Room, Wyndham Robertson Library
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HIGHER EDUCATION: Hollins University
Hollins University founder Charles Cocke said in 1857, “young women require the same thorough and rigid training as that afforded to young men.”
Hollins University by Shawna Morrison
I
n 1842, a small college called Valley Union Seminary opened in the Roanoke Valley. It spent its first 10 years as a co-educational school, but its founder dreamed of a place that would focus on educating Southern women. In 1852, it became the first women’s college in Virginia. Three years later, it was renamed Hollins Institute, later Hollins College and, in 1998, Hollins University. While many women’s colleges
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across the nation have closed or gone co-ed — Sweetbriar College announced last month it will close at the end of this year’s summer session — Hollins has grown, staying true to its philosophy that a school for women is the best place for them to develop into leaders. Nancy Oliver Gray, who has served as the school’s 11th president since January 2005, says Hollins’ leaders “believe strongly that there is still a place for education
that is single-sex. In that environment, the women’s voices are empowered, their confidence is developed, and they grow in leaps and bounds in what truly is a transformational educational experience.” Asked what makes Hollins different from other schools, Gray cites its commitment to women’s education as well as to liberal arts education and opportunities for experiential learning. Every student is given the opportunity for Photo courtesy Hollins University
Hollins University Founded in 1842 as Valley Union Seminary Charles Lewis Cocke, a Richmond mathematics professor, became Valley Union’s principal in 1846. Renamed Hollins Institute in 1855 after generous benefactors John and Ann Halsey Hollins 550 undergraduate women and 160 co-ed graduate students Students from 44 states and 17 countries Offers 27 undergraduate majors Has a nationally recognized equestrian program Three writing program graduates are Pulitzer Prize winners Sources: Hollins University
Virginia’s first women’s college is still a place where women are educated and empowered an internship and to study abroad. The school offers programs in Paris and London and holds an annual service-learning project in Jamaica. “We are educating students today to be prepared, to build lives and hold jobs that have not yet been established, technology that has not yet been invented, in a world where flexibility, creativity and critical thinking are essential skills,” Gray says. “And the best way to develop those skills is through
a liberal-arts education. By both a broad exposure of different ways of organizing and thinking about information as well as depth that comes from the major, our students develop critical thinking skills, creative problem-solving skills, the ability to communicate orally and in writing, the ability to work well with diverse groups of people, and the ability to learn.” Hollins sits off Williamson Road in a section of Roanoke County
filled with businesses and restaurants. Yet this commercial strip is left behind after turning into the entrance of the 475-acre campus. Here vast expanses of lawn offer stunning views of the mountains and stately brick buildings, some of which are more than 100 years old. The school boasts that within a year of graduation, 97 percent of students are employed or enrolled in graduate school. There is one faculty member for every ROANOKE BUSINESS
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higher education eight students, with an average class size of 11 students. Almost all of the school’s professors – 99 percent – have a doctoral or terminal Gray degree in their field. The Center for College Affordability and Productivity has twice named Hollins to its list of 25 Colleges with the Best Professors. The school is well-known for its creative writing program. According to the Hollins website, Hollins has one of the highest publishing records of any graduate school in the country. It has produced many writers, including three Pulitzer Prize winners: Annie Dillard, Henry Taylor and Natasha Trethewey, who also was a U.S. poet laureate. Hollins graduates Henry Taylor, Natasha Trethewey and Annie Dillard are all Pulitizer Prize winners. Tretheway was also U.S. poet laureate.
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Students keep many traditions. The most well-known and wellloved is likely Tinker Day. That falls in October when classes are canceled, and students and faculty dress in their wackiest costumes to hike Tinker Mountain. Tandy Cooke Boynton of Augusta, Maine, graduated from Hollins College in 1997 with a bachelor’s degree with honors in English and a minor in philosophy. Boynton initially was hesitant about attending a women’s college. “But in retrospect I think it was a perfect fit,” she says. “I was a bit shy and not terribly outgoing. I did not speak up in class as much as I could have. And overall I think this is a common occurrence with women, especially young women.”
Boynton, the administrative assistant at the president’s office for the Maine Community College System, is now pursuing a master’s degree in education. She notices that even in graduate classes she is taking at Thomas College, the men tend to speak up much more frequently than most of the women. “But when the classroom is filled with all women, the dynamic changes,” she says. “We had some of the most thoughtful and engaging conversations. Women opened up and blossomed. There is even this, cliche as it may sound, feeling of sisterhood with the women there. A real connection that words can’t quite do justice.” Boynton describes the Hollins professors as “stellar” and the caliber of most of the courses she took as “exceptional.” She also was impressed with the wide array of athletics offered, including horseback riding. The best opportunity she was given at Hollins, she says, was to study abroad, spending most of an academic year at the University of London. “I really do believe travel is one of the best educational experiences one can have, and I am so grateful that I was able to do so then,” she says. “It also gave me a passion to continue to travel and explore.” Jeremy Holmes, director of alternative transportation programs for RIDE Solutions in Roanoke, graduated from Hollins in 2007 with a master’s degree in liberal studies. “As a working professional looking for opportunities to broaden my education, Hollins presented the perfect balance of flexible scheduling and quality instruction,” he says. “Through the MALS [master of arts in liberal studies] program I was able to tailor the program to my educational goals and take classes from professors who were some of the best in their fields, all while maintaining my career and my family.” Recently, Hollins has begun to partner with the community. Mill Photos courtesy Hollins University
Mountain Theatre is showing two new plays written by Hollins graduate students, and the Roanoke Children’s Choir rehearses on campus. Hollins announced in January that it has partnered with 14 other private nonprofit colleges in Virginia that will use a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy SunShot Initiative to support implementation of solar power. And the school recently raised millions to renovate its theater and some residence halls and install geothermal wells to provide energy to part of the campus. Thanks to the help of donors, Gray says, the school was able to pay off about $15 million in debt several years ago and has remained free of debt while often raising money for capital projects and growing the endowment to more than $180 million. Gray calls financial aid a “high priority,” saying there is great value that comes from investment in independent higher education and not wanting the cost
On a random October day, instead of attending class, students and faculty put on wacky costumes and hike Tinker Mountain.
to be a deterrent to women who want to attend school here. “I meet students in high school, and you cannot believe the change” after they become Hollins students, Gray says. “Their posture changes, their ability to communicate in an
articulate, forceful, effective way is truly transformed. I’ve been in higher education all my life, but the change that I see that takes place as a result of a woman’s education is truly extraordinary and transformational.”
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Photo courtesy Hollins University
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Pearl Fu has proven she can charm virtually anyone — even Alice Cooper.
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INTERVIEW: Pearl Fu, former executive director, Local Colors
Slowing down
Pearl Fu’s idea of retirement would wear out many people by Beth JoJack
P
earl Fu says she’s slowing down. She’ll tell you about the impact that Parkinson’s disease, diagnosed more than a dozen years ago, has had on her speech and mobility, particularly in the past year. She’ll tell you about her fluctuating blood pressure. She’ll talk about her October move, officially stepping down as executive director of Local Colors, the Roanoke program that celebrates the diverse cultures of people living in the Star City. It culminates with an annual festival, which in 2014 drew an estimated 25,000 attendees to watch the Parade of Nations and sample food and performances from different cultures. Roanoke Business: I can’t find where you’ve ever gone on record about your age. Why keep that a secret? Fu: I feel like my life is an open book. I tell everybody everything. So I need to have a little mystery. I like suspense. I watch all the suspense shows. RB: How are you feeling these days? Fu: I’m afraid the Parkinson’s has affected my public speaking. There are some words I can’t remember. Words I am very used to saying. It just won’t come out. The brain is blank. Empty. When I write an email, sometimes it’s the wrong tense. It’s horrible writing. Now I [use voicerecognition software to write emails], but then it sometimes comes out with curse words. I didn’t realize that until later on. I said, “Oh, my gosh. How many have I sent out?” RB:You take classes in the pool at the Kirk Family YMCA regularly to help with your mobility? Fu: I try to come every day. I feel it if I can’t come, I can’t move. It’s a big difference when I do and when I don’t … I don’t have the tremors, but I have stiffness and immobility. I can’t put things in bags. Intricate things I can’t do, like folding paper. Photo by Sam Dean
With her next breath, Fu starts with how she loves to introduce people to new things. That’s why she works as an usher for Mill Mountain Theatre and at the Jefferson Center. She explains how much she enjoys volunteering at the Rescue Mission because she wants people from all socioeconomic backgrounds to feel welcome here. She talks about being eager to do more to raise awareness about Parkinson’s. Fu, born in China’s Yunnan province, then mentions a presentation she’s getting ready to give on the Chinese New Year at a local retirement community. Then she asks for ideas about places in the community that could use her help. “I push myself a lot,” she admits.
I volunteer at the Rescue Mission, and they have me greeting the people who come in for lunch and have me folding napkins. I did it. I said, “OK, this is a challenge.” And, I enjoyed doing it. RB: How do you stay so active despite your physical challenges? Fu: I’m not that active. I felt the difference a lot this year more than any other year. Before, I just kept doing my regular routine. But this year, I felt I declined … Now, I’m on a walker. Last year. I was on a cane. RB: Was it hard to make that change? Fu: I didn’t like it. I felt like I was in people’s way when I go out. I don’t drive any more. I totaled three cars. RB: When did you stop driving? Fu: About six or seven years ago. My husband is the one that drives me. He drops me at the places I need to go. He’s retired. Sometimes for the evening events a lot of my friends drive me. They’re very helpful. My friends are almost like family to me. RB:You’ve been involved since Roanoke hosted its first multicultural festival in 1991. How do you feel about stepping down from Local Colors after so many years?
Fu: Relieved. I don’t have deadlines to keep and programs to coordinate. Those were very time consuming and very nerve wracking. I’m the kind of person who has to have everything in place. I think of it at nighttime when I go to bed, so I can’t fall asleep. RB: How are you going about handing off the baton to Beth Lutjen, who took over as executive director of Local Colors, and Taylor Willis, who steps in as director of marketing and education? You’ve said you will continue to help as a consultant and will be visible at this year’s festival (scheduled for May 16). Fu: First, I give them the whole program notebook — who to call and all those things. Then they call me. Then I call them. I ask, “Did you get this one? Did you get that one?” We have very competent directors. RB: Has it been hard letting go? Fu: I tell my friends what I’m worried about. They all say, “Relax, Pearl. Don’t worry.” It’s new people who are taking over, and they haven’t done it before. I get worried. I give them all the notes and everything. You still worry. ROANOKE BUSINESS
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interview RB: When you decided your health was requiring you to slow down, did you worry that Local Colors might dissolve all together? Fu: I felt people can continue everything. I love to teach people what I do. Once you have the interest and the passion, it will be successful. RB: How has Local Colors helped new immigrants acclimate to Roanoke? Fu: Local Colors has done a lot to help them to acclimate to life in America, which is really important. Some people say, “You’re spoiling them. You’re not showing them they’re in America.” They can keep both. They can be very positive citizens but still be proud of their heritage. I remember when I first came, I asked somebody [from Japan] to be an interpreter. She said, “I don’t speak that language. I’m an American. I speak English only.” She hadn’t been here that long even. I was saddened by that. I want people to know to be proud of your heritage. The more languages you speak the … better you are in helping the community. RB:You told me that when companies recruit employees from other countries, Local Colors will help connect them with local people also native to those countries and that the organization does a similar thing with international students at area colleges. Fu: It’s all the things we do that are never put down on paper. That’s where a lot of people don’t know the things we do. RB:They just think the festival. Fu: Yes. That wasn’t my main goal. My main goal was these other things and advocacy … That’s why I’m so proud of Local Colors because we reach out and embrace everyone regardless of race, religion, gender, age, socioeconomic level. RB: Have you seen a change in Roanokers’ level of cultural sensitivity since you moved here from New Jersey in the mid-1980s? Fu: I think they’re much more open to people that are different.They’re welcom-
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ing to different cultures, to people of different backgrounds. There’s like 105 cultures here. When I first came, I didn’t see that many. That’s when I started looking. RB: What mistakes do you still see Roanoke residents making in their interactions with people from other cultures? Fu: Don’t see them as strangers or people they can’t communicate with. Very often people look at someone who looks different and right away assume they can’t speak the language … People tend to be with people that are very much like themselves. I’m just the opposite.The more different you look, the more I want to run to you … I think you learn so much from people from different areas and different backgrounds. RB: What’s been the secret to your success here? You’re a Roanoke celebrity. Fu: I’m fearless. Maybe too stubborn. When I have something in mind, I really don’t stop until I achieve it. People intrigue me. I’m fascinated by people. That’s how I got my volunteers [for Local Colors and other events]. When I’m at Kroger. I’m short. I can’t reach the top shelf. I’ll stop someone. “Excuse me, would you help me get that?” Then I start talking, and that’s how I recruit them. I recruited a lot of high officials and presidents of companies like that. People are very kind. RB:You’ve said some people are aghast that you walk up to strangers and ask them about their backgrounds. Fu: People will say, “Don’t they feel offended when you ask that?” I say, “No, not if you’re sincere. People can tell.” RB: When you first moved to Roanoke, you worked as a hotel concierge? Fu: When guests stayed, we really made them feel special and no question went unanswered. A lot of celebrities stayed [in Roanoke]. That was so funny. You know the Washington Redskins were here for a week? Everyone was going goo-googaga over them, except me. I knew nothing about football. The leader, I think he
was called Gary Clark. He said, “Hi, Ms. Fu. We’re very famous people.” He told me about the Redskins. I said, “Oh, OK. Good to know. Welcome.” I treat everybody the same. I don’t treat anybody special because they’re famous. They gave me their poster, a oneof-a-kind poster. Isn’t that sweet of them? I gave that to a guest who was a football fan. So many celebrities. Who was the one that was a rock star with all the hair? Alice? RB: Alice Cooper? Fu: Yes. He would kiss my hand every morning. “Your majesty,” he said. He insisted I go to his concert, and I did. RB: Was it awesome? Fu: Yes. I love music. All kinds of music. RB:You moved to America to study music and performing arts at Baltimore’s Peabody Conservatory. Do you think your young self would be surprised to find she would become, as one local columnist put it, “Roanoke’s dame of diversity”? Fu: I never thought I’d be doing that. It came as a surprise. I wanted to go on Broadway. But I got married one week after graduation and had children immediately. Now there are no more roles for my age, only Bloody Mary [the Tonkinese character from South Pacific]. I used to memorize all the Broadway shows, you know, every single song, and I still have them memorized. But the new songs, I can’t even understand what they’re singing. I do watch American Idol. RB: What are your plans for this new chapter of your life? Fu: My husband and I live in this huge house, just the two of us. It’s English Tudor, two floors with four bedrooms. He is retired. It’s too much for him. We don’t even hire a cleaning woman. So I have to think, “What’s the next step?” I was looking into these independent living apartments. But my husband is the opposite of me. He’s an introvert. He doesn’t want to go there. He says, “You can go there.” “But what happens to you?” I ask. I don’t like to be separated. That’s why we can’t come to an agreement.
COMMUNITY PROFILE: Pulaski County
Manufacturing jobs Pulaski County building on new and expanding businesses and the New York Yankees David Hagan and his partner Larry Shelor bought historic Calfee Park and made it the home of the New York Yankees’ rookie league club. “Pulaski is a quaint little town that needs to be revitalized,” Hagan says. “This is a starting point. We hope to invest even further in the community.”
by Donna Alvis-Banks
“T
he Yankees are coming!” is the Pulaski County buzzword as baseball fans among the county’s 34,507 residents gear up for the 2015 Appalachian League season. A week after the Seattle Mariners pulled their rookie league baseball team from Pulaski last September, Larry Shelor and David Hagan of Christiansburg’s Shelor Automotive Group an-
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nounced the arrival of a new team with ties to the New York Yankees. Shelor and Hagan, New River Valley natives who own a lot of land and a number of businesses in Montgomery and Pulaski counties, bought Pulaski’s 79-year-old Calfee Park and its Appalachian League affiliation just when it looked like minor-league baseball was striking out at the deteriorating ballpark.
Hagan played baseball at Shawsville High School in his youth and says owning the team is a dream come true. The move symbolizes the diehard spirit of Pulaski County. The county, graced with scenic natural beauty, is a place of blue-collar people who enjoy outdoor activities, support local sports teams and weather hardships, such as the 2007 shutdown of Pulaski FurPhoto by Amanda Loman
niture’s last domestic manufacturing plant. Closure of the 52-yearold plant left 260 workers without jobs and a slew of buildings and storefronts vacant in Pulaski, the county seat. Now, the county seems to be in a seventh-inning stretch. It’s looking for strategic ways to move forward while maintaining its serene quality of life. Currently, one-third of its labor force works in manufacturing, 12 percent in retail and 17 percent in state and local government, according to the Virginia Economic Development Partnership. Shelor and Hagan hope continued investment in Pulaski County will pay long-term dividends. In 2004, they bought New River Valley Speedway near Dublin (the second of the county’s two incorporated towns) for $1.5 million. They renamed it Motor Mile Speedway and poured $10 million into racetrack upgrades. “It went through its struggles because we made it so nice,” Hagan says, “but last year we had the biggest crowds we’ve had since we purchased it.” In September, the two bought Calfee Park (built in 1935 as a Works Progress Administration project) from the Town of Pulaski for $100,000 plus a revenue-sharing agreement on ticket sales and concessions. The deal also gives the town first refusal to repurchase if the park is sold. Shelor and Hagan are investing $6 million in the ballpark and an extended-stay hotel to house players. Team members previously were bused to Wythe County because the town lacked suitable facilities. The hotel (under construction inside an existing historic warehouse) will be called The Jackson Inn. Set to open June 15, it will have a restaurant and conference center in addition to guest rooms. “Pulaski is a quaint little town that needs to be revitalized,” Hagan says. “This is a starting point. We hope to invest even further in the community.” Photo by Michaele L. White, Office of Governor of Virginia
Pulaski County Administrator Pete Huber says the investment will make a “significant difference” to the county, as well as the town. “This builds on the other things that are happening,” he notes, pointing to new industries that have started production. Mexico-based Red Sun Farms opened a $30 million organic tomato greenhouse operation on 45 of the New River Valley Commerce Park’s 1,000 acres in Dublin last year. It’s partnering with Pulaski County High School to offer activities for students interested in horti-
culture-related careers. Production also is underway at Korona S.A., a Poland-based candle maker that set up shop last year in an empty Dublin factory, bringing 170 jobs and an $18.3 million investment. And James Hardie Building Products, which opened a Pulaski County plant in 2005, recently invested $25 million in an expansion that promises to add 69 jobs. “We’ve got a couple other [industries] looking at expansion which is just as good news as new companies coming in,” Huber says.
Red Sun Farms is the first tenant at New River Valley Commerce Park.
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community profile
Volvo’s Dublin truck plant is a major economic force in Pulaski County.
Volvo’s Customer Experience Track shows off the company’s trucks and its employees’ resourcefulness.
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He notes that MTM Inc. — a medical and transportation management company — has increased its space and workforce in Pulaski’s Maple Shade Plaza. Alexander Industries, a British firearms manufacturer, last year announced plans to expand and move from the Radford Army Ammunition Plant to the Dublin Industrial Park, but Huber says construction has not started yet. Volvo Trucks North America, the county’s largest employer, with more than 2,300 employees, has a 1.6-million-square-foot truck assembly plant in Dublin. It opened a “Customer Experience Track” on its 300-acre site last summer. The paved 1.1-mile track with two-lane straightaways and banked curves was designed and built by employees to showcase Volvo’s Class 8 (over 33,000 pounds) vehicles. Volvo’s economic impact, notes Huber, is evident in the presence of smaller companies. Imperial Fabricating, for example, supplies truck parts and accessories, and Fontaine Modifications provides installation and modification services for truck chassis and cabs. “The feedback we get from manufacturers is about the great resourcefulness of the workforce,” Huber says. At the track’s August opening, Volvo’s former New River Valley general manager, Lars Blomberg, credited “employee engagement and project ownership” as the impetus for the track, calling it “an investment in our future.” Education supports the county’s manufacturing focus. “There is a local STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) academy being established at the high school for youngsters who may want to participate in specific trades,” says Anthony Akers, former activities director and current interim assistant county administrator. Pulaski County High School has 1,310 students, and the county also has two middle and five elementary schools. The Southwest Top photo courtesy Office of Governor of Virginia Bottom photo courtesy Volvo Trucks
Pulaski County by the numbers Area 318 square miles Population 34,507 Percentage of adults age 25+ with a 81.8% high school diploma or higher Median household income (2009- $44,312 13) Annual budget (2014-15) $58.5 million Interstate 81 passes through the county, close to Interstate 77, and the county has the New River Valley InterTransportation national Airport & Foreign Trade Zone/Customs Port of Entry Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, Pulaski County, Virginia Economic Development Partnership
Virginia Governor’s School (with 140 students from eight school divisions) is in Pulaski. Dublin is home to New River Community College, providing certifications and associate degrees in 31 programs. Huber says Akers was responsible for establishing self-sustaining after-school programs at all of the county’s elementary schools. The county’s greatest current need, he adds, is to replace aging middle schools in Dublin and Pulaski and provide an indoor recreation center. Pulaski County has ball fields, pools and public parks, as well as two state parks — Claytor Lake and the New River Trail state parks. Gatewood Reservoir is another popular outdoor attraction, while the historic Pulaski Theatre in downtown Pulaski and the Draper Mercantile and Trading Co. in the village of Draper are among venues providing music and entertainment year-round. Last fall, Pulaski County won three state awards, two for public safety and a third, the Governor’s Housing Conference award for recovery efforts from a freakish 2011 tornado that swept through Draper and parts of Pulaski, causPhoto courtesy Wikipedia
ing damage to 267 homes and an estimated $8.5 million in damage, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The
community rebuilding effort was recognized for “Best Housing Program or Service,” further evidence of the county’s resilient spirit.
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SPONSORED CONTENT | Roanoke Regional Chamber 2015 CHAMBER CHAMPIONS BB&T Brown Edwards Cox Business Gentry Locke Rakes & Moore LeClairRyan LifeWorks REHAB (Medical Facilities of America) MB Contractors
Pepsi Bottling Group rev.net Richfield Retirement Community Spilman Thomas & Battle PLLC Trane Valley Bank Woods Rogers Attorneys at Law
Note: Chamber Champions are members who support the Roanoke Regional Chamber through year-round sponsorships in exchange for yearround recognition.
EVENT SPONSORSHIP Business Before Hours Jan. 28
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NEW MEMBERS The following businesses joined the Roanoke Regional Chamber from Jan. 10 through Feb. 10, 2015:
Abuelo’s Mexican Food Embassy Big Lick Entertainment Bristol Motor Speedway Cedar Holdings Inc. CitsLinc International Inc. Doug and Evie Enterprises Inc. Eli’s Provisions LaConexion.org Mindful Energetics LLC Oak Hall Industries Signature Properties LLC Source4Teachers The Advancement Foundation The Candy Store LLC The Comfort of Home LLC VOLATIA Language Network W.S. Connelly & Co. Inc. Western Virginia Regional Jail Wildflour Market & Bakery
Member news & recognitions Advanced Logic Industries has announced the hiring of two new employees. Sarah Miller, an IT and telecommunications executive, has joined AdMiller vanced Logic Industries as a senior client executive. Jeremy Rasor has been hired as the company’s business develop- Rasor ment executive. The Kirk Family YMCA has appointed Bruce C. Bryan, president of B2C Enterprises, chairman of its annual support campaign for the second year in a row. The annual campaign fundraiser Bryan helps provide financial assistance to families and children who cannot afford the YMCA’s services.
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APRIL 2015
Balzer and Associates, an architectural, engineering and surveying firm, welcomed five new associates to its leadership group in January 2015. They are: Chris Barba, Chris Burns, Ben Crew, Daniel Hansen and Brad Schurman. Chateau Morrisette Winery has announced its most recent award-winning wines from the San Diego International Wine Competition and San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition. The winery’s 5 Red Grapes, Our Dog Blue, Nouveau Chien, Chambourcin and Archival 1 – all of which retail for under $20 a bottle – won awards. The City of Roanoke is giving residents a new way to follow departments on social media. With the launch of the city’s first ever Social Media Center, residents can now connect with city departments in one central location. By clicking on the “Social Media Center” icon at the top of the http:// roanokeva.gov homepage, residents have
the option of viewing combined Facebook posts from city departments on one page or selecting streams from individual departments through the “City Facebook Streams” drop-down menu. Residents can also view Twitter streams, city videos and news releases and sign up for MyRoanoke e-mail alerts, and the city’s electronic newsletter, City News at a Glance.
Nelson
Draper Aden Associates has announced that Michael J. Nelson has joined the environmental division as a senior project engineer in the Blacksburg office. He is a graduate of Virginia Tech.
The Collegiate Advertising Awards has named Jefferson College of Health Sciences the gold award recipient in two national categories for the school’s “Be Next” advertising/branding campaign. Jefferson College was recognized for its television
Roanoke Regional Chamber | SPONSORED CONTENT commercial, produced in partnership with Abandon Films, and its student recruitment brochure, designed by Mark Lambert, the college’s coordinator for communications and college relations. Foti, Flynn, Lowen & Co. has named David Booth and Ethan Cook, both CPAs, as shareholders of the accounting firm. Booth has Booth more than 17 years of experience in public and private accounting. Cook has 15 years of accounting ex- Cook perience.
Goad
The law firm Johnson, Ayers & Matthews has announced the promotion of Joshua D. Goad to a member of the firm. Since joining the firm in 2007, Goad’s practice has focused on civil litigation and insurance defense litigation
matters. LeClairRyan has been named Virginia State Litigation Firm of the Year by Benchmark Litigation for the third time. The firm was recognized at the third nationwide U.S. Benchmark Litigation Annual Awards banquet held in New York City. Vernon E. Inge, Jr. of the Richmond office, and W. Michael Holm of the Alexandria office of LeClairRyan accepted the award on behalf of the firm. Poe & Cronk Real Estate Group released the results of its 28th annual Office Market Survey in January. The report said occupancy and rental rates in all three major Roanoke office sub-markets remain unchanged as overall occupancy remained at 86 percent after previous year declines. As job growth continues to improve in the valley, many employers have limited capacity within their existing space for new hires. As this capacity is absorbed and the business environment continues to improve, it is anticipated that employers will be actively seeking new office space in 2015. Virginia Tech’s Pamplin College of Business celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2015. The college kicked off a yearlong series of events, displays and publications
marking the milestone with a reception Jan. 30. The Pamplin College of Business is a nationally ranked program offering undergraduate and graduate programs in accounting and information systems, business information technology, economics, finance, hospitality and tourism management, management, and marketing.
Hubard
Gauldin
Morris
Musselwhite
Pendergrass
Poe & Cronk Real Estate Group has recognized its top producers for 2014. They are: Thom Hubard, overall top producer award; Darrell Morris, largest number of sales transactions; Bryan Musselwhite, largest number of lease transactions; Jessica Gauldin, largest number of total transactions; and Stephen Pendergrass, named the firm’s “rising star” award winner for outstanding achievement as a new agent. Richfield Living has named Sue Devine as administrator of Richfield Recovery & Care Center and The Rehab Center. Devine has been a registered nurse for more than Devine 30 years and a licensed nursing home administrator for the past 15 years.
Doughty
Beth Doughty, the executive director of the Roanoke Regional Partnership, has been named one of the top 50 economic developers in North America. The group Consultant Connect put together the list of top economic developers.
Virginia Tech has jumped forward two positions in the ranks of the nation’s top research institutions, reaching No. 38 in
the National Science Foundation’s annual survey of higher education research expenditures. With more than $496 million in research and development activity for fiscal year 2013, Virginia Tech remains the No. 1 academic research institution in Virginia in the foundation’s annual census. A workforce education center would give a needed boost to the wine industry in Loudoun County, near Washington, D.C., a Virginia Tech study confirms. The Virginia Tech team surveyed owners and managers of more than 100 wineries and vineyards in Northern Virginia who identified a need for better marketing acumen to promote the industry. The center would be the first of its kind in Virginia. A partnership has been created at Virginia Tech to help forge a distinct path from student creativity to innovation and entrepreneurship. The Institute for Creativity, Arts, and Technology is partnering with the Pamplin College of Business to expand and refine efforts to prepare students for entrepreneurial opportunities. Pamplin College of Business Dean Robert Sumichrast has appointed Doyle Rowley four new members to the Pamplin Advisory Council at Virginia Tech. The new Lam Zuch members, all Virginia Tech graduates, are: Cecil Doyle, Todd Rowley, Bob Lam and Kurt Zuch. Each will serve a three-year term. Nena Bauman has joined the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine at Virginia Tech as senior director of development. Bauman will lead fundraising activities Bauman for the veterinary college’s operations, capital and endowment and serve as its chief major gift officer. ROANOKE BUSINESS
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SPONSORED CONTENT | Roanoke Regional Chamber
Member news & recognitions, continued Warren Bickel, a professor at the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute, thinks the addiction treatment system in the United States is largely broken. Bickel, director Bickel of the institute’s Addiction Recovery Research Center, has dedicated his professional life to researching how and why people make choices that lead from addiction to recovery. The Academy of Behavioral Medicine Research recently recognized Bickel and his work by selecting him as a fellow. Dana Cruikshank has been named marketing and communications manager for Continuing and Professional Education, part of Outreach and International Affairs Cruikshank at Virginia Tech. Cruikshank will guide the creation and execution of marketing and communication strategies for Continuing and Professional Education. Dennis Dean, director of the Fralin Life Science Institute, will serve as interim vice president for research at Virginia Tech. Dean assumed the duties on Feb. 1. Robert Dean W. Walters, vice president for research, had announced his retirement effective in September but had requested to step down earlier to pursue research opportunities. An international search is underway, and a permanent vice president for research will be named this summer.
Haga
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The Virginia Tech Police Department has promoted Tony Haga to lieutenant of investigations. In his new position, Haga will oversee the department’s investigations unit, which in-
APRIL 2015
cludes five detectives. He will also manage the threat assessment process. Haga has served as detective sergeant and managed all criminal and administrative investigations at the university. Lawrence “Larry” Hincker, associate vice president for university relations at Virginia Tech, has announced he will retire from his position later this year. Hincker, Hincker who has served as university spokesperson and the senior communications officer under four Virginia Tech presidents, will remain with the university until his replacement begins work. He has been at the university for 25 years. He was the public face of Virginia Tech as it dealt with the largest media gathering on any university campus after the shooting tragedy of April 16, 2007. Virginia Tech Senior Vice President and Provost Mark G. McNamee has announced his plans to step down from his position later this year. McNamee, a professor of McNamee biochemistry and biological sciences, has served as Virginia Tech’s chief academic officer since 2001. He will remain with the university and continue to serve as provost until a replacement assumes the role. Lu Merritt, the senior director of development for intercollegiate athletics who has managed the university’s athletic fundraising since 1994, will retire from Virginia Merritt Tech in July. A national search will be conducted for his replacement. The Virginia Western Community College Educational Foundation has announced new members and officers for its 2015 board of directors. Eight new at-large members have joined the board, including: Nancy Howell Agee, Carilion Clinic; J. Spencer Frantz, Gra-
ham White Manufacturing; William Farrell, Berglund Automotive Group; Leon Harris, Keltech Inc.; Drew Parker, Carter Machinery; Garnett Smith, Advance Auto Parts (retired); Dr. Charles W. Steger, Virginia Tech; and Nicholas F. Taubman, Mozart Investments. The board of directors officers for 2015 are: J. Kenneth Randolph, Rockydale Quarries Corp., president; Warner Dalhouse, vice president; Bertram Spetzler, M.D., secretary; Neil D. Wilkin Jr., Optical Cable Corp., treasurer; and Edwin C. Hall, Hall Associates, immediate past president. Robert Parker, L.S. Randolph Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Virginia Tech, has cowon a best paper award from the Journal of Sound and Vibration for Parker his research on instability of high-speed planetary gears inside the likes of airplane engines. He won the 2014 Doak Award with Chris Cooley, an assistant professor at Southern Illinois University and a former doctoral student. Michael Stowe has been named communications director for Virginia Tech News, the university’s news and information service for students, faculty, staff, alumni and Stowe the broader community. In his new position, Stowe will oversee the daily operations of all Virginia Tech News products, including written and multimedia content and the university’s social media accounts. Before coming to Virginia Tech, he had worked at The Roanoke Times for more than 20 years. Dan Summerlin has been elected as the new president of Woods Rogers. Summerlin assumed the role of president in February and succeeds Tom Bagby, Summerlin who served as president from 2008 to 2014. Summerlin joined the law firm in 1997.