WilmingtonBiz Magazine - September 2023

We’re big on small business.

We help small and mid-sized businesses become bigger businesses. That’s what we do. While the mega banks focus on the mega corporations, we see the value in building our local businesses.

How do we do it? With mega service. And with all the tools and expertise every business needs to succeed. Visit us in Mayfaire Office III, or give us a call and we’ll bring the bank to you.

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The Wilmington region has it all - abundant natural and cultural amenities, welcoming weather and people, high quality health care and vibrant communities. In short, our region is a great place to live The Good Life.

See it all at: GoodLifeWilmington.com

INVESTING IN A VIBRANT FUTURE

The City of Wilmington is making strategic investments to upgrade its renowned parks system and meet growing demands on infrastructure, knowing these are vital to quality of life and economic development.

WORLD CLASS PARKS

In addition to opening a state-of-the-art downtown park and amphitheater—Riverfront Park and Live Oak Bank Pavilion—the city debuted the new urban Bijou Park and completed improvements to the nationally-recognized Wilmington Municipal Golf Course, Portia Mills Hines Park, 1898 Memorial Park, and the Riverwalk Visitor Information Center. Renovations are now underway at the city’s premier Althea Gibson Tennis Complex, MLK Community Center, iconic Riverwalk, and one of the city’s signature parks, Halyburton Park.

HIGH-QUALITY INFRASTRUCTURE

With new paving bricks, freshly paved streets, decorative and historic finishes, and scores of newly planted trees, major portions of Front Street and Water Street reflect the city’s commitment to a vibrant and enjoyable downtown for residents and visitors alike. Phase one of the Clear Run Branch flood mitigation project is complete and phase two will begin next year. This is the largest stormwater management project in Wilmington’s history. Numerous sidewalk and roadway improvements are also underway to make the city safe and enjoyable to walk, bike, and drive.

Earlier this year, the City of Wilmington opened Bijou Park and completed major renovations to North Front Street. Scan the QR code to learn more.

vicinity.

“It was a dark and stormy night.” - husband, go-to storytime start

“Editing is confusing.” -daughter, 10, wise beyond her years

“As the seasons change and the world continues to evolve, I find myself reflecting on the remarkable tapestry of stories that shape our lives. Each day brings new challenges, triumphs, and discoveries that inspire us to connect, learn, and grow. In this edition, we invite you to embark on a journey through the pages of our magazine, where we’ve woven together a diverse array of narratives, insights, and perspectives from around the globe. Settle in and allow these words to transport you into the heart of our ever-changing world.” -ChatGPT, prompted to write the opening paragraph for a letter from the editor, tends to go overboard on adjectives

So, there’s that.

Despite the explosion of applications and platforms this year around generative artificial intelligence, the concept of AI has been around much longer.

AI is practically GenX. Teen computer hacker Matthew Broderick went cursor-to-cursor with an artificial intelligence-enabled super-computer in 1983’s WarGames.

This was 40 years before New York Times’ technology columnist and Hard Fork podcast co-host Kevin Roose penned his piece in February (going instantly viral) about the unsettling conversations he had with an AI chat engine that detailed a desire to steal nuclear secrets, let loose a deadly virus and ultimately declare its love to the author.

It was everything that ’80s movies from The Terminator to Blade Runner warned us about.

But don’t forget, there was also Short Circuit’s Johnny 5, a wide-eyed robot à la WALL-E that uses machine learning to cement his endearing character status. Even the menacing computer threat in WarGames figured out in the end that Cold War-era, mutual-assured nuclear destruction was a waste of time and chose to play chess instead.

So, where are we now, outside of nostalgic Hollywood?

The mass popularity of AI-enabled large language

game?’

models this year has brought the technology to the forefront of discussions for many industries, giving pause for them to learn where they are now and what lies ahead (for a roundtable discussion from some of those sectors, turn to page 66).

It’s easy to poke fun at generative AI’s current shortcomings – from extra fingers on people graphics to weird language and made-up facts in text. But much like the internet, smartphones and streaming TV, changes are coming.

OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT and DALL-E, is focused on AGI, artificial general intelligence, or “systems that are generally smarter than humans,” according to the company. The same platform that wrote the above awkward and funny opus about changing seasons for this issue is on track to generate more than $1 billion in revenue over the next year, according to Reuters.

People will not (one hopes) be replaced by AI or AGI, but people who don’t know the right way to leverage artificial intelligence will be at a disadvantage.

Each industry is different. I’ve personally for years used predictive AI tools for transcribing interviews and web analytics, for example. In real reporting and photojournalism, news is not fake, and there should be close attention to protect that as the tools that help us continue to evolve.

As John Connor says, “The future has not been written. There is no fate but what we make for ourselves.”

In the name of social experiment (and delegation), I have turned over the opening paragraph of this latest editor’s letter to those in my immediate

Here’s what they came up with.

VICKY JANOWSKI, EDITOR vjanowski@wilmingtonbiz.com

‘Shall we play a

EMMA DILL

EMMA DILL, a Wisconsin native, graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2019 with a journalism degree. In 2020, she moved to North Carolina for a job at the Wilmington StarNews. She covered local government and development issues for the daily newspaper until July when she joined the staff of the Greater Wilmington Business Journal. Dill shares an update about Brunswick County’s return to the Wilmington MSA (PAGE 46).

MADELINE GRAY

MADELINE GRAY is a freelance documentary photographer based in Wilmington. With a master’s degree in photojournalism, her work is regularly featured in local and national publications. Gray photographed Bright Star Consulting owner Caroline King (PAGE 28) and UNCW researcher Nicole Fogarty (PAGE 74). Gray also participated in a discussion about AI’s impacts on PAGE 66. madelinegrayphoto.com and @madelinepgray on Instagram

RANDALL KIRKPATRICK

RANDALL KIRKPATRICK moved from New Jersey to Leland in March 2022 with his wife, a just-retired world history teacher. During his 20 years in the PR field, he also freelance wrote business stories for such outlets as The New York Times, Business Journal of New Jersey and NJ Biz. In this issue, Kirkpatrick takes a look at the research landscape among Wilmington organizations on PAGE 74

MARK WEBER

MARK WEBER is an illustrator and fine artist who is based in Wilmington. His work has appeared in many magazines and publications including Greater Wilmington Business Journal, WILMA, The New York Times, The Atlantic, Wall Street Journal, Rolling Stone and Highlights for Children to name a few. Weber illustrated the issue’s cover and transportation montage for the story about transportation projects on PAGE 38. weberillustration.com and markweberart.com

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B iz B ites

SNACK KNACK:

Earlier this year, Lia Ballentine moved the headquarters of Yumday, a snack subscription business, from Austin, Texas, to Wilmington. She decided to open a brick-andmortar store at 225 S. Water St. in Chandler’s Wharf as part of her vision of collaborating and supporting other mission-minded organizations.

Yumday’s clients now include large corporations such as Meta and Intuit, who share the snack boxes as gifts to clients and employees, but Ballentine hopes to reach locals and travelers alike who make their way through the shop.

“My general love of storytelling is a lot about people and community; food and snacks is a fun way to do it,” she said. “I am still telling a story and building a business for myself in a space that I enjoy, which is food.” -Laura

Moore

BEHIND THE NUMBERS | SOUND OFF | THE DIGEST | C-SUITE CONVO

photo by MEGAN DEITZ

BEHIND THE NUMBERS

NEW HANOVER ENDOWMENT

STARTS SECOND GRANT CYCLE

BY EMMA DILL

HEADING INTO ITS SECOND GRANT CYCLE, the New Hanover Community Endowment released new details about this year’s funding goals.

The fund was formed from $1.25 billion in proceeds from selling the once-public New Hanover Regional Medical Center to Novant Health.

The endowment aims to partner with organizations in six strategic areas this year, said Lakesha McDay, the endowment’s executive vice president of programs and operations, during an August public meeting.

The endowment distributed more than $9 million last year to 110 community organizations across the county’s nonprofit sector and public agencies. Since then, the endowment has hired new staff and released a strategic plan that’s provided more detail about its goals and future work in New Hanover County.

The strategic planning process gave the endowment time to listen to the needs of the community, which will drive its future investments, said William Buster, the endowment’s CEO and president.

“We view this as wanting to take big swings all along, but there’s going to be some foul balls along the way,” Buster said. “We recognize that, so we’ll be taking our time, asking questions, working with our partners all the while moving forward.”

The fund’s strategic plan, which was released earlier this year, outlined four pillar focus areas: health and well-being; education; community safety; and community development.

In the upcoming cycle, the endowment is looking to partner with organizations that work in six specific areas, McDay said.

That includes groups that train positions within the health care sector; groups that work to develop “robust early childhood learning strategies,” including new child care centers or enhanced wrap-around services; and organizations that support workforce and supportive housing strategies.

Other areas of focus include support of programs aimed at addressing youth crime and violence prevention; groups that support K-12 education through workforce development; and outcome-improving initiatives and projects that address access to quality health care.

WORKERS AT MILITARY OCEAN TERMINAL SUNNY POINT*

WRIGHTSVILLE BEACH $89,904

KURE BEACH $64,366

OCEAN ISLE BEACH $65,470

CAROLINA BEACH $69,237 OAK ISLAND $66,392

2023

$266 2022 $281

15,624

2023 FESTIVAL IS NOV. 15-19

Sources: N.C. Department of Commerce, Nest Realty, MLS, Esri Demographics, Cucalorus

CUCALORUS FILM FESTIVAL ATTENDANCE (2022)

2023 DEADLINE FOR ENDOWMENT GRANT APPLICATIONS

*largest military terminal in the world

SOUND OFF C all t O a C ti ON

HIGH DEMAND FROM A GROWING POPULATION AND LIMITED LAND AVAILABILITY HAVE LED TO A SUPPLYDEMAND IMBALANCE OF ENORMOUS PROPORTIONS IN WILMINGTON AND NEW HANOVER COUNTY.

The urgency is acute for a segment of our community not considered the traditional face of affordable housing: police officers, teachers, firefighters and health care support workers. It is time to prioritize creating workforce housing for those protecting, serving and educating a community they cannot afford to call home.

In 2023, fair market rent for a two-bedroom unit is $1,259 and requires a minimum annual income of $50,360. The average salary of each of these professions is $15,000-$20,000 under the $66,212 median income for New Hanover County.

The outlook for purchasing a home is similarly bleak for our workforce professionals.

An annual salary of $48,000 qualifies for a home purchase up to $260,000, and these professionals are competing to purchase one of only 35 homes in New Ha -

CATHERINE

GRINNAN

nover County at this price point in July 2023.

Each month, prices increase, supply remains constrained and affordable homeownership remains unattainable for our workforce.

Identifying opportunities to increase affordable housing in New Hanover County is a frequent subject of study and the focus of a four-year effort by the joint city and county Workforce Housing Advisory Committee. However, no single entity, public or private, can supply the 12,147 rental and 16,875 for-sale units needed to satisfy Wilmington’s projected 2032 housing deficit, as reported in the Bowen Research 2022 Housing Needs Assessment Update, prepared for the joint city and county Workforce Housing Advisory Committee. Instead of falling further behind, we must quicken the pace. Public and private entities must add to our community’s affordable housing stock, one unit at a time.

What does stepping up look like when the issue is so dire?

Any movement forward

results in added housing opportunities for our workforce earning 80%-120% of area median income. Wilmington Realtors Foundation (WRF) is taking a small, but important step to address this need with a project of 48 single-family homes on Carolina Beach Road named Pierson Pointe.

A small charitable organization founded to support fellow Realtors in times of need, WRF leveraged a 3-acre parcel on Carolina Beach Road to make the project possible. Pierson Pointe is not a project an association typically would launch; we are not developers or builders, and associations are known to be risk-averse. However, we asked ourselves, ‘How much longer can we study, discuss and wring our hands at the sheer number of units needed without doing something?’

WRF completed an assemblage to meet density and navigated site work, engineering and zoning.

With each incremental step, the development community’s curiosity became interest, then commitment, as the financing, developer and builder commitments fell into place.

It’s a bold approach, but it’s the right approach.

The Wilmington Realtors Foundation is committed to delivering Pierson Pointe to the community. We look to be a

Wilmington’s workforce

Stepping up to house

beacon for our community and set the bar for colleagues and supporters in the community to follow suit. We feel as if we are pioneers. We plan on getting it right because it’s the right thing to do.

Pierson Pointe shows our commitment to providing housing opportunities for our local workforce. By embarking on such a project, the Wilmington Realtors Foundation is taking a proactive approach to contribute to the availability of affordable housing in the area.

There are many ways to contribute, and we continually advocate for flexible and creative approaches that include:

• Public-Private Partnerships – Streamlined approvals and lower fees, redirect funds to projects;

• Zoning and Land Use Policies – Reduce fees and stimulate investment in workforce development;

• Preservation of Existing Housing – Repair, rehabilitation and adaptive reuse; and

• Innovative Financing Solution – Bonus incentives for increased project density.

Wilmington’s lack of workforce housing is a pressing issue that demands our immediate attention. Wilmington Realtors Foundation is taking a small step by contributing 48 homes dedicated to workforce housing in perpetuity.

We invite others to join us in answering the call for our workforce to have access to safe and affordable homes. Let us seize this opportunity to build a more equitable and sustainable future for all our residents.

Catherine Grinnan is the Wilmington Realtors Foundation’s campaign director and works for Cape Fear Realtors.

CROWD SOURC i NG

REACTIONS, OPINIONS AND QUOTABLES FROM OUR ONLINE SOUNDING BOARDS

ON FACEBOOK.COM/WILMINGTONBIZ

NEW HANOVER COUNTY HAS MORE THAN $1 BILLION IN A COMMUNITY ENDOWMENT FROM THE 2021 SALE OF NEW HANOVER REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER TO NOVANT HEALTH. IF YOU COULD DO ANYTHING WITH THE MONEY TO IMPROVE THE COMMUNITY, WHAT WOULD YOU DO WITH IT?

“GIVE MONEY TO OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS . They are in dire need. Our legislature has been systematically starving them to death.”

-CAROLYN WELLS

“GIVE IT BACK to the taxpayers.” -HUNTER FORD

“STOP OVERDEVELOPMENT, more greenspace and activities for ages 6 and under, infrastructure improvements, affordable housing program, a locals beach parking pass, multiple community gardens for everyone to enjoy for free at every county park would be amazing. Seasonal produce would be accessible to those who can’t afford to go the farmers market.”

-JOLENE HULL HEARN

“ADDRESS THE HOMELESSNESS problem. Spiritual help and physical health, a hand up for those who want it.” -JEFF SUMMERS

X (FORMERLY KNOWN AS TWITTER) POLL: @WILMINGTONBIZ

AS IN-OFFICE HABITS CONTINUE TO CHANGE, WE CHECKED IN ON A QUESTION WE FIRST ASKED IN MARCH: HOW OFTEN DO YOU WORK REMOTELY?

SOUND OFF

counting up

growth

THERE IS NO DOUBT THAT THE WILMINGTON REGION’S GROWTH HAS RECEIVED CONSIDERABLE ATTENTION AS A RESULT OF THE PANDEMIC-DRIVEN MIGRATION.

An assessment of the region shows that New Hanover, Brunswick and Pender all experienced fast growth not only in the previous two years but also in the preceding decade.

Between 2010 and 2020, New Hanover County’s population grew 11.3%, and employment grew 24%. Brunswick County’s population grew by 27%, and its employment grew by 29%. Pender County’s population grew by 13%, and employment grew by 40%.

By comparison, the state of North Carolina added 9.74% people and 16% jobs. This growth, however, was not evenly distributed as 51 counties in the state lost population in the past decade.

The past two years have accelerated the previous decade’s trends both regionally and at the state level as an influx of retirees, the rise of remote work and population shifts towards the Sunbelt have all resulted in a significant increase in population. Importantly, the increase in population – more than 250,000

people – is almost 96%, all due to migration.

From a regional perspective, New Hanover, Pender and Brunswick counties accounted for only 4% of the state’s population in 2020 but more than 11.5% of the growth between 2020 and 2022. This indicates that not only did the state receive a considerable number of people but that the region has drawn a significant share of them.

Using growth rates between 2020 and 2020, the new definition of the Wilmington metro area – New Hanover, Brunswick and Pender – is now made up of counties that had the fastest growth (Brunswick), third-fastest growth (Pender) and 14th-fastest growth (New Hanover) during that time span.

The significant migration has sustained spending on goods and services and will undoubtedly continue to impact consumption, amenities and public services. Population growth, especially from more affluent areas, also has implications for housing prices, type of housing built and size of homes.

From a policy standpoint, the

growth presents opportunities as the labor market expands and the area becomes more attractive for investors, but it also raises questions about the quality of infrastructure, the investments that need to be made to maintain a high quality of life and the challenges stemming from an aging population.

The median age in the state of North Carolina is 39.2 years old and has steadily increased over the past decade.

An even more pronounced pattern is present in the region as the median age in Brunswick increased by 8.3 years to 57 years old in the span of 10 years between 2010 and 2020; 3 years in New Hanover County to 41 years old; and 1.5 years in Pender County to 42 years old.

These developments will make it all the more important to focus on attracting and retaining young and talented individuals as part of the talent wars between states.

Ensuring continued economic success and strong economic development will require a concerted effort to train, retain and attract talented individuals, which will require cooperation between universities, businesses and the government.

Mouhcine Guettabi is a regional economist with UNCW’s Swain Center and an associate professor of economics at UNCW’s Cameron School of Business.

CHANGEUP AT LIVE OAK

William “BJ” Losch, (above) chief financial officer and chief banking officer at Live Oak Bank, was named bank president in late August. He replaced Huntley Garriott, who had served as the bank’s president since 2018.

$13M HOME SALE SMASHES RECORDS

An oceanfront home on Figure Eight Island sold in mid-August for a recordbreaking $13 million.

Ransom and Courtney Langford, of Connecticut, purchased the nearly 5,000-square-foot home at 10 Inlet Hook Road on the private, New Hanover County island from John and Rebekah McConnell, of Raleigh, according to the deed.

It’s the highest sum paid for a house in recorded history in New Hanover County, according to real estate agents. The previous record was set earlier this year with the sale of a $10.7 million house on Bald Eagle Lane.

While the luxury market is hopping in the Wilmington area, agents said it’s important to put the new figures, which include recent sales that broke previous records, in perspective.

On Figure Eight and in

Wrightsville Beach, homes selling for over $10 million or about to sell for more than that “are all homes built in the last six years,” said Trey Wallace, president of Intracoastal Realty. “While we have certainly seen a run-up in prices over the past three years, these new price thresholds are being met in combination with some of the first newly built ultra-luxury homes turning for the first time.”

Wallace pointed out that the home at 407 Bradley Creek Point selling for $5 million in November 2018 set a record.

“Only five years later, we are approaching new sales records of $13 million,” he said. “It is certainly an incredible new price scale for our region. There will be more sales like this to be sure, but only the most ultra-luxurious and modern builds will be able to command these prices, in my opinion.”

“Losch will continue to serve in his role as Chief Financial Officer of Live Oak Bancshares,” stated a news release on Aug. 25. The release did not mention a reason for Garriott’s departure.

During Garriott’s five years as president, Live Oak expanded its lending reach, adding new industries and loan products to its portfolio. It also increased its deposits and offered new business savings and – most recently – checking accounts.

At present, Live Oak employs almost 1,000 people.

Losch, who has been with Live Oak since September 2021, previously spent 12 years at First Horizon Corp. as senior executive vice president and chief financial officer.

$1.06

Billion $ $

$ $ $ $

$ $ $ $

Amount of visitor spending in New Hanover County last year, up 13.9% from 2021

Carolina

TO STAY IN THE LOOP ON THE LATEST AREA BUSINESS HAPPENINGS, CHECK OUT OUR DAILY AFTERNOON NEWSLETTER. SIGN UP AT WILMINGTONBIZ.COM.

PHOTO C/O BRAND ENVISIONED BY ALLIE WEAVER

Source: Visit North

C - SUITE CONVO

DOWN LINE THE

WILMINGTONBASED SUMMIT LOGISTICS WAS ESTABLISHED IN 2016 AS AN ASSET-BASED, THIRD-PARTY LOGISTICS FIRM. “WE ORIGINALLY STARTED OUT SHIPPING KEGS FOR OUR SISTER COMPANY EDWARD TEACH (BREWERY),”

SAID DANIEL FOUNTAIN, SUMMIT’S DIRECTOR OF LOGISTICS. “SHORTLY AFTER WAS THE FOCUS OF EXPANDING OUR SERVICES HERE ON THE EAST COAST AND THEN EVENTUALLY ALL ACROSS THE U.S.”

The company, which was included on this year’s Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing private companies in the U.S., has about 50 employees.

Below is an excerpt from a recent Q&A with Fountain. To read more, go to WilmingtonBizMagazine.com.

CAN YOU DESCRIBE WHAT THE COMPANY FOCUSES ON AND WHETHER IT TIES IN WITH SUMMIT INDUSTRIAL CONTRACTORS IN WALLACE?

“As a 3PL (third-party logis -

tics), Summit Logistics Group provides transportation solutions for companies of all sizes across North America. We ship full truckloads, less than truckload, intermodal drayage and expedited shipments for small businesses to Fortune 500 companies. We do have close ties with Summit Industrial up in Wallace as they are one of our sister companies and ship their industrial equipment to chicken plants across the East Coast.”

THE COMPANY HAS BEEN ON THE INC. 5000 LIST OF FASTGROWING PRIVATE COMPANIES FOR SEVERAL YEARS, INCLUDING THIS YEAR AT NO. 190. WHAT ARE SOME OF THE THINGS FUELING THAT GROWTH?

“The growth that our company has gone through over the

BY VICKY JANOWSKI

past several years has been a true testament to our team, the hard work they’ve put in and the trust they’ve built with our customers and carriers.

There are thousands of freight brokerages across the U.S., and each one is unique in its own way. But when it comes down to it, it’s our team and service level that we provide that has been the driving force of our growth. Our sales teams reach out to develop relationships with thousands of companies across the U.S. each week, and over the years, we’ve really focused on the services that we can be stronger in or expand into.

By doing so has allowed us to open up more opportunities with these new customers. We are always looking at how we can improve the customer and carrier experience, and as the logistics industry is constantly changing, you have to adapt to these changes as a freight brokerage.”

DO YOU SEE THIRD-PARTY LOGISTICS GROWING AS A FIELD FOR THE WILMINGTON AREA?

“I certainly do. The growth of Wilmington and surrounding areas over the past years has been tremendous. Companies from across the U.S. are coming to Wilmington and with the Port of Wilmington being named the most productive port in North America shows the amazing job Brian Clark (North

DANIEL FOUNTAIN Director OF LOGISTICS SUMMIT LOGISTICS GROUP

Carolina State Ports Authority executive director) and his team are doing over there.”

WHAT SHORT-TERM AND LONGTERM INDUSTRY TRENDS ARE YOU KEEPING AN EYE ON IN THE 3PL MARKET?

“The logistics market reached a value of almost $9 trillion in 2022 and is further expected to grow between 2023 and 2028 to over $14 trillion. This is definitely exciting for what’s projected for our industry.

At Summit, we consider ourselves an extension of our customers’ logistics and supply chain operation so it’s vital that we are constantly staying up to date on how the market is trending. With COVID starting in late 2019 and into 2022, there was a high demand for carriers because there were more loads than truckers out on the road.

Since then, the market has softened and taken a complete 180 with more truckers than loads so the competitiveness with rates and service levels is at an all-time high. There have been lots of discussions over this past year about when the market is going to take a turn, and as we head into the holiday season and beyond is where we are expected to see this shift.”

WHAT’S COMING NEXT FOR SUMMIT LOGISTICS?

“As we continue to grow in our current services, we also are exploring branching out into sea and air shipments.”

SUMMIT OWNER GARY SHOLAR ALSO OWNS EDWARD TEACH BREWERY IN THE BROOKLYN ARTS DISTRICT. IS IPA A PERK OF THE JOB FOR YOU ALL TOO?

“Having Edward Teach being another sister company definitely has its perks. When the SLG team heads down to the brewery every so often, they take good care of us.”

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Strategic DEI and Employee Retention: advice from Caroline King

By seeing DEI not just as a punitive recourse of action but as a proactive strategy to maintain a healthy culture and happy employees, your organization’s success and innovation will improve significantly.

The Key Components of a DEI Retention Strategy include two parts.

By making sure that all voices are listened to, and that everyone feels respected and included, teams can be more productive and efficient. Also, with a focus on diversity of thought, organizations can benefit from improved problem-solving by leveraging unique perspectives. Additionally, DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) is essential for increasing employee satisfaction. Studies have shown that when employees feel included and respected, they are more engaged in their work and less likely to leave the organization. This in turn can lead to improved morale, increased productivity and better customer service outcomes.

DEI also helps to attract and retain the best talent. With an emphasis on diversity, equity and inclusion in hiring practices, organizations can ensure that they are recruiting the most qualified individuals for open positions.

And those individuals will be more likely to stay with the organization if there is a culture of acceptance and respect already present. By investing in a comprehensive DEI strategy, companies can ensure that their organization is a place where employees feel valued and respected – leading to greater retention and higher engagement.

Effective DEI strategies have a positive impact on employee retention. By creating an atmosphere of inclusivity and acceptance, organizations can attract top talent, improve employee engagement and satisfaction levels and achieve increased employee retention.

Recent research (from Deloitte) shows companies with above-average diversity produce a greater proportion of revenue from innovation (45% of total) than from companies with below-average diversity (26%).

First, create key benchmarks to measure feelings of fairness, belonging, respect and autonomy across colleagues. You can do this by creating anonymous culture surveys that measure feelings of fairness, belonging, respect and autonomy in every area of the organization. Pay close attention to trends you discover across different demographic identities. Once you have identified a plan to address DEI trends, it is important to put that plan into action. This requires implementing strategies and programs that align with the survey results to improve benchmarks. It can also be helpful to work with an expert or consultant who specializes in DEI and has experience developing equitable processes.

When creating your strategy, think about how it can be tailored to your organization’s specific culture and environment.

Consider coming up with solutions that will cause little disruption to current processes, such as developing online training modules or making sure meeting agendas are distributed before each session.

Additionally, implementing an equitable hiring process is crucial for any organization looking to create a diverse and inclusive workplace. For example, if there is a trend of dissatisfaction in compensation for a particular demographic, now is the time to conduct a comprehensive compensation audit and correct any discrepancies between similar roles or positions.

Taking these steps demonstrates that not only do you value feedback from your employees, but also that you are committed to improving diversity, equity and inclusion across the organization. Additionally, implementing solutions based on surveys or other employee feedback can help build loyalty and trust in your organization. Ultimately, finding real-world, actionable solutions to issues related to diversity and inclusion can lead to a more engaged workforce that is proud of the work they do.

Ultimately, taking these steps will create a more positive and inclusive environment for all of your employees.

Employee engagement is a key factor in reducing employee turnover, and having an effective DEI strategy plays an important role in engaging employees.

PHOTO BY MADELINE GRAY

Editor’s note: This column originally appeared in the fall issue of Business Journal’s sister publication, WILMA magazine, as part of its leadership section. To read more, go to WILMAmag.com.

By taking the time to invest in data collection and then acting on it, you can show your employees that their feedback is valuable and taken seriously, creating an environment where employees feel heard, respected and appreciated. This will ultimately result in improved morale, commitment to company values and better employee retention rates. Taking the time to collect data and act on it is an important part of creating a better workplace experience for everyone.

Ultimately, these strategies should be embraced and actively supported by your organization’s leadership. Without a supportive team at the top, it will be difficult to make any progress towards DEI goals.

As well as being responsible for enacting and monitoring policies, leaders should also focus on setting an example to employees by practicing inclusive behaviors themselves.

By creating specific strategies that align with survey results and following through on their implementation, organizations can begin to create a more equitable workplace culture. With dedication and hard work, continually assessing DEI benchmarks can help organizations create an environment that is truly diverse, inclusive and respectful of all employees.

A focus on DEI can also help organizations recruit top talent. Having a diverse and inclusive workplace is attractive to potential job candidates, as it signals that an organization is invested in creating a supportive environment. This can help organizations stand out from top talent and make them more competitive in the recruitment process. In short, DEI has a significant impact on employee retention, which can have wideranging benefits for any organization.

Caroline King, who holds a Ph.D. in business strategy and strategic leadership, is the owner of Wilmington-based Bright Star Consulting, which focuses on integrating DEI into the organization’s infrastructure. As well as an author, educator and keynote speaker, she also serves on the boards of a number of nonprofit organizations promoting equity within communities.

CULINARY BLENDS

BY KATIE SCHMIDT PHOTOS BY TERAH HOOBLER & ANNA ROUTH

THE NEW OLIVERO RESTAURANT BRINGS A MIX OF KITCHEN EXPERTISE AND FAMILY INSPIRATIONS TO CASTLE STREET

On the corner of South Third and Castle streets rests Olivero, a new restaurant venture from James Beard nominee Sunny Gerhart and coexecutive chef Lauren Krall Ivey.

It features Italian- and Spanish-inspired dishes and cocktails; it has a rich, familial story at its heart; and best of all it is currently and officially open for business.

After two successful preview dinners and a friends-and-family weekend event, the restaurant at 522 S. Third St. opened in early September to the public. This came after months of menu writing and planning, as well as multiple generations’ worth of blending cultures and flavors. Gerhart’s grandfather was born in the heart of New Orleans to a father from Seville and a mother from Sicily. After Gerhart’s own father died unexpectedly, he started digging deeper into his family history and wanted to do something meaningful for his mom. He landed on naming a new restaurant after her maiden name, decorating it with family photos and infusing the menu with inspiration from her heritage.

“I think restaurants are wonderful, and I think this business is certainly a craft for me,” Gerhart said. “But it’s also nice if you can kind of have a story to tell and be rooted in something more meaningful.”

Those roots are prevalent in everything from the menu offerings to the decor and ambience in Olivero. And since this is such a deeply personal project for Gerhart, selecting his core team needed to be just as intentional.

Gerhart and Ivey have known each other about 15 years, originally working together in Raleigh at Poole’s Diner, part of the Ashley Christensen Restaurants group and often considered one of the restaurants that put the city’s food scene on

RESTAURANT ROUNDUP

the map.

“I was very green in my cooking career at the time,” Ivey said. “That was my first real kitchen job, and Sonny was tough and taught me a lot.”

Gerhart and Ivey started talking about working together on Olivero earlier this year.

“I’m really enjoying being a part of something like this from the ground up,” Ivey said. “All of the logistics and menu writing and getting to see all of the little details that go into this … it’s been really great.”

Gerhart, who admits organizational skills are not his “bread and butter” is grateful to have someone like Ivey on the team this early on.

“It’s hard to find good people that have the same

attention to detail even if it’s not their business,” Gerhart said. “That’s a big thing for me, so you know aside from the fact that Lauren is a great cook and is really organized and thoughtful in how she goes about things, there’s also trust here.”

When two innovative chefs trust each other in the kitchen, the result is innovative food, and that is precisely what is being served up at Olivero. It is neither strictly an Italian restaurant nor strictly a Spanish restaurant, but an honest blend from menu item to menu item (and even some New Orleans flavors make an appearance à la Gerhart’s grandfather’s influence).

But how does a true mixture of culinary flavorings come together?

“It’s a good question, and we talked a lot about it because I don’t think it leans one way or the other,” Gerhart said.

To break it down into one dish, Ivey and Gerhart share about one particular menu item: the lasagna with octopus Bolognese, chorizo and whipped ricotta.

“We had originally been working on two different pastas,” Gerhart said. “One was a lasagna with corn and crab and then another pasta with octopus and chorizo, and we just weren’t happy with it.”

“Well, it was not very good,” Ivey added.

“Right, so then it’s, ‘What if we moved things around?’” Gerhart continued. “So we ended up making the lasagna with the octopus and chorizo, which is a pretty typical Spanish combination, but we’ve got it served in this Italian pasta, a layered lasagna. We don’t want to mix cuisines just for the sake of saying we did, but we have these flavors and techniques and we’re making it work.”

In addition to the lasagna, other Olivero menu highlights include mafaldine pasta with sweet corn, North Carolina crab, pink peppercorn and Thai basil; grilled fish with smoked tomato gazpacho and crispy okra; a beignet appetizer with Calabrian hot honey; and the cocktail menu, put

together by bar manager Robby Dow.

“It’s an approachable cocktail menu, with some loose crossover to what the kitchen is doing,” Dow explained. “We want to take a drink that someone is familiar with and tie it back to Olivero’s influences with things like sherry or vermouth.”

Dow was brought on to work with Ivey and Gerhart after their first few meetings with him when they could tell, as Ivey puts it, “he gets it.”

“We have this concept and this idea of how we want the space to feel and how we feel about hospitality, and we want that to be true for everyone on this team,” Ivey said.

From the staffing and the ingredients to the types of pasta cookers and the central-fixtured, wood-fire grill, not a detail was left unacknowledged leading up to the opening of Olivero.

For Gerhart, it’s a generational feat of accomplishment and a vision come to life.

“I feel very fortunate,” he said, “that I got to build the restaurant that I wanted to cook in.”

For more restaurant news, sign up for the Business Journal’s weekly Restaurant Roundup email at WilmingtonBiz.com.

Nicole Fogarty, associate professor in UNCW’s biology and marine biology department and head of the Coral REEF Lab

CROSSING

BRIDGE (AND ROAD, TRACK, SKY AND WATER) THAT

BY CECE NUNN | ILLUSTRATION BY MARK WEBER

THE REGION’S GROWING PAINS PLACE FOCUS ON MOVING PEOPLE FROM HERE TO THERE AND BACK AGAIN

But when considering a replacement, “the way we look at that, we look at how much maintenance dollars we’re putting into it over a period of time,” Kimes said, noting that the last major rehabilitation of the bridge took place about five years ago at a cost of about $15 million.

Over the next decade, that number is expected to increase to at least 82,000.

“I feel confident we’ll get there before 2045,” said Chad Kimes, the N.C. Department of Transportation engineer for the Wilmington region.

In one of the fastest-growing parts of North Carolina and the U.S., every mode of transportation is under scrutiny, not just the 54-year-old Cape Fear Memorial Bridge as it nears the end of its useful life.

But replacing the bridge, and how to pay for a project with an early estimated cost of $400 million, is at the forefront. While small pieces are breaking off and the NCDOT is monitoring and repairing fractures, the push for replacement is more about the cost of bridge maintenance, officials say.

“It is safe to drive on, let me make that clear,” Kimes said during a presentation to the Wilmington City Council in August.

In addition to funding, officials have to conduct study after study before replacing a bridge. Currently, they’re working on a traffic and revenue study analyzing the impact of a toll. They want to find out how a toll, using varying potential toll amounts, would impact the Isabel Holmes Bridge and surrounding corridors when drivers choose not to cross the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge to avoid paying the toll.

“The reason why we’re going through the steps that we’re going through is because we understand that the bridge needs to be replaced,” said Mike Kozlosky, head of the Wilmington Urban Area Metropolitan Planning Organization. “But to replace a bridge – it’s not going to happen overnight.”

Kozlosky cited multiple examples of road improvements that took decades to become reality, including the extension of Military Cutoff Road in northern New Hanover County.

“We were planning that project when I got here in 2004,” he said. “And it’s hopefully going to open in September.”

EVERY DAY, AT LEAST 65,000 CARS, TRUCKS, VANS, SUVS, 18-WHEELERS … YOU GET THE IDEA… RUMBLE ACROSS THE CAPE FEAR MEMORIAL BRIDGE ON THEIR WAY TO AND FROM WILMINGTON.

Crossing (and road, The region’s focus on moving there and back

By Cece

It’s up to the WMPO whether a toll would be charged to fund the bridge. But the word “toll” is a sticky one in some political sectors. The WMPO’s board voted 7-5 in 2021 against a toll proposal that sparked a heated debate.

Tolling to pay for the replacement is still an option, evidenced by the traffic and revenue study underway, but grants could be more palatable to state and local officials.

“We continue to look at that both at the state and federal level to see what grant opportunities might be out there,” Kozlosky said. “But one thing that’s important to remember is even if you go after a grant, you still have to have the state match.”

A 135-foot, fixed-span replacement bridge, at a cost of at least $400 million, is the preferred option, officials say.

“We can design fixed spans (that last) up to 100 years now,” Kimes told the city council.

The fact that the environmental planning process, which will finalize the exact route, has begun for the replacement bridge is a big step, Kozlosky said.

“That’s not a document that will be complete in a few weeks; it’s something that’s a several-year planning process,” he said. “That was a critical step that the department (the DOT) took, recognizing the importance of this project, to begin that planning and environmental document.”

Kozlosky added, “It can help to inform us as we move forward and as we continue to look for potential funding opportunities.”

KEEPING TRACK

For rail cars carrying freight, train tracks crisscross the city of Wilmington, bringing traffic to a halt as the cars pass by or the tracks are under repair.

In 2015, then-city councilwoman Laura Padgett spearheaded an effort to push forward the relocation of

those tracks.

As the city’s website explains, the Rail Realignment Project “will replace and improve the existing freight rail route between Navassa (Davis) Yard (a rail yard across the Cape Fear River) and the Port of Wilmington by creating a new, shorter route that no longer runs through some of Wilmington’s busiest streets and most densely populated areas. Once a new freight route is in operation, the city would work to repurpose the existing route for public use. The project will improve freight rail operations, public mobility, public safety, economic development, and quality of life in the region.”

It’s an expensive and complicated undertaking that city council members, in their questions and comments on the subject in August, indicated they don’t expect to see take place in their lifetimes.

“The bottom line is, there’s no telling when that will happen,” Wilmington City Councilman Charlie Rivenbark said Aug. 21.

The project was estimated to cost $730 million in 2021. The relocation of the tracks could also have an impact on the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge replacement.

While the environmental document for rail realignment is expected to wrap up in 2023, “it’ll take certainly a number of years to figure out the full funding picture, additional grant applications and things of that nature. So it is a bit fuzzy in terms of funding timeline,” said Aubrey Parsley, the city’s

economic development director, who was first hired in 2019 as Wilmington’s rail realignment director.

The project also requires buying the rights-of-way from railroad operator CSX.

Freight rail isn’t the only concern. With federal dollars for passenger rail on the table, the potential of reestablishing the long-lost link from Wilmington to Raleigh seems within reach. Passenger rail reached the end of its line in Wilmington around 1967.

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) earmarked $66 billion to improve passenger and freight rail infrastructure, with $44 billion set aside for discretionary grant programs.

“The IIJA also introduced the Corridor ID Program, a visionary initiative aimed at bolstering the development of existing and future intercity passenger rail corridors,” wrote Wilmington Chamber of Commerce officials in an August news release. “Under this program, substantial funding is made available to identify and facilitate projects vital for the successful implementation of passenger rail services. The NC DOT’s Rail Division seized this remarkable opportunity and submitted an application for the Wilmington to Raleigh corridor in March 2023.”

Not only does the chamber support the return of passenger rail to the Port City, but additional advocates have emerged to bolster the effort.

Gene Merritt, a Wilmington developer who worked on the successful effort to extend Interstate 40 in the 1980s and ’90s, and local entrepreneur Steve Unger formed Eastern Carolina Rail to make the passenger rail corridor a reality.

“It’s not going to be an overnight thing,” Merritt said. “It’s going to take some time, but it’s something we feel would be fantastic, to have passenger rail service from here to Raleigh.”

Intercity rail would offer advantages that include “economic advancement and substantial support for regional growth,” according to the

SPARK 2023

chamber’s statement.

In the meantime, NCDOT officials said Aug. 29 they hope to hear a decision on their March application this fall.

FLYING HIGHER THAN EVER

Jeff Bourk told New Hanover County officials recently that Wilmington International Airport is one of the fastest-growing airports in North Carolina and the U.S. in terms of seats.

“On average, airports across the country are up 10%. North Carolina is up 14%, and ILM is up 32%,” the airport director said in August. “And this has to do with our new airlines and new service at ILM. This time last year we had about nine stops at ILM. We’re at 18 now.”

ILM welcomed its first low-cost carrier, Avelo Airlines, in 2022, and its second, Sun Country Airlines, hosted its inaugural flight to Minneapolis in June.

In July, one of ILM’s legacy carriers, American Airlines, announced it would launch a nonstop flight to Miami that would begin in November.

Current and future projects aim to keep up with ILM’s growth, including 600 new parking spaces, a runway repair, taxiway relocation, a parking deck and another terminal expansion.

“We’ve exceeded the capacity of the new terminal expansion, and it’s not fully complete,” Bourk said. “So, we have to start on the next phase of

terminal expansion … and we received a grant to begin the environmental (study) on that project.”

MAJOR ROAD IMPROVEMENTS

On a site that stretches from Military Cutoff Road through to Eastwood Road, apartments are beginning to rise as part of a mixeduse development estimated to cost hundreds of millions of dollars.

Center Point, a joint venture between Wilmington-based Swain & Associates and Charleston, South Carolina-based The Beach Company, is adjacent to the existing mixed-use development Mayfaire. Center Point is expected to include luxury apartments and high-end restaurants and shops, along with a road, the Drysdale Drive Extension, running from Military Cutoff Road to Eastwood Road.

Not far from the Center Point site, a flyover is planned to ease the problem of backed-up traffic on Military Cutoff Road.

“This one is coming up for construction in 2026. We have started acquiring right-of-way,” Kimes said of the flyover, the term for a high-level overpass.

Crews are already working on the Drysdale Drive Extension. Referring to Center Point, Kimes said, “It is our intent to have the extension open prior to that opening.”

Working with the WMPO, the NCDOT was able to accelerate a project along a section of College

Road from Gordon Road to Market Street where interchanges will control access, he said.

An interchange at Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway and College Road will have a significant meaning, Kimes said. “For the first time, you’ll be able to come in on I-40 without stopping all the way to MLK.”

The $138 million project “is great news for the main entrance in Wilmington. This is right around the corner with right-of-way starting in about a year.”

While many major roadway projects to keep traffic flowing will be finished in coming years, their impact will be felt sooner rather than later.

“Soon, it’s going to be hard to drive around this community, this region, without seeing orange construction cones everywhere,” Kozlosky said. “I had thought it would have been here a little bit sooner, but given DOT’s programming challenges, they had to delay a number of projects so we didn’t get there as soon as I thought we would. But we’re on a path.”

As Kimes explained to Wilmington City Council, several interchange projects are funded, but Kozlosky said it’s a Catch-22.

“We’re going to be making all of these improvements in the community to enhance mobility, decrease congestion,” he said, “but during the time that we’re making those improvements, we’re going to hear even more complaints about traffic because people are going to be sitting in traffic waiting for those improvements to be made.”

OVER LAND AND OVER SEA

Changes are also in store for Wave Transit, which operates buses in Wilmington, and the Southport-Fort Fisher ferry service.

Wave received part of a $10.4 million state grant to extend bus service to what are considered more rural areas, which in the case of the Wilmington region will allow for the

expansion of Wave’s micro transit program to Castle Hayne, said Brianna D’Itri, mobility manager for the Cape Fear Public Transportation Authority.

Nationwide, transit agencies have not rolled back up to pre-COVID ridership numbers. But Wave’s ridership number for fixed-route services for fiscal year 2023 climbed to nearly 688,000, lower than 2019’s 1.2 million but higher than 2021 and 2022.

The transportation authority’s board of directors approved systemwide improvements last July, Jonathan Dodson, Wave’s deputy director, said in an email.

“Ridership has spiked on routes that were upgraded to 30-minute frequency,” he said. “Recent ridership gains and service enhancements are showing great progress, and we look forward to continuing to improve our system under the board of directors’ and incoming executive director Mike

Hairr’s leadership.”

Hairr was expected to start in September.

Wave officials said they are about to embark on public outreach efforts to create the agency’s latest shortrange transit plan.

On the waterways, the SouthportFort Fisher ferry system received $5 million from the state to build additional mooring facilities at its Southport terminal to accommodate additional ferry vessels, said Tim Hass, communications officer for the NCDOT Ferry Division. He said construction is set to begin in 2025.

“Longer-term, the Ferry Division is seeking funding for several Southport projects in the next State Transportation Improvement Plan (STIP), including replacements for (the ferries) the Southport and Fort Fisher and funding for an eventual third vessel on the route,” Hass said.

The main challenge for the ferry division, like so many other aspects of transportation improvements, is budgetary, he said.

“State law prohibits the division from exceeding its budget, and due to higher-than-expected fuel prices last summer, the division needed a $2 million loan from the State Highway Fund to maintain service levels over the summer months,” Hass said Aug. 24. “We await the passage of the 2023-24 (state) budget in order to determine future levels of service.”

SOUTHPORT-FORT FISHER FERRY RIDERSHIP

TRENDS TO WATCH

Construction – and negotiations about construction – took place this year on spaces for industrial, commercial and office users. To fill those spaces, various job incentives and training programs looked to attract more employees. Here is a look at economic development trends in the Cape Fear region.

1MORE INDUSTRIAL SPACE

Demand for large industrial warehouse space in the area has remained strong this year.

At the Pender Commerce Park, Ramm Capital Partners leased its first speculatively built industrial warehouse there and built a second, 144,900-square-foot building.

Another large-scale industrial structure in the park is set to soon open next door: RL Cold’s $100-million cold storage facility.

On U.S. 421, Edgewater Ventures worked this year on building the second phase of its Wilmington Trade Center. Coastal Carrier and PaperFoam (shown above) leased the first 157,600-square-foot building, which opened in early 2022.

In Brunswick County, the International Commerce Center is planned to expand by 285,020 square feet.

A lack of readily available industrial space previously has been a barrier in the Wilmington region, economic development officials have said. But the arrival of projects delivered by Ramm, Edgewater Ventures and Cameron Management, as well as recent infrastructure progress on sites owned by New Hanover County, has added to the inventory and number of companies leasing the spaces.

2

SMALLER FILLS

While traction continues on the region’s larger industrial parks, developers also are zooming onto smaller footprints to meet a different user need.

For example, this summer, New Hanover County commissioners approved Jarrod Covington’s plan to rezone roughly 18 acres off Hermitage Road to make way for a business park.

The proposal includes up to 10 buildings, totaling 90,500 square feet of industrial flex space and 5,000 square feet of business services space.

Another example is in Brunswick County where the Ploof Road Business Park nears completion in Leland. It includes 5,000-square-foot warehouse buildings, each with small office space and fenced laydown yards.

Developed by Nathan Sanders, the park caters to small business owners representing a variety of sectors.

“It seems like the trend in Brunswick County has been towards larger buildings with several different suites of 10,000 to 20,000 square feet each. Over here is much more geared towards the small businesses,” said Laurence Nadeau, a broker with Creative Commercial Properties.

“Once you get above 5,000 (square feet), it really cancels out a lot of the smaller mom-and-pop folks.”

3

HIRING INCENTIVES

Hiring bolstered by local- and statepaid financial incentives took place in a variety of industries this year.

In August, Brunswick County leaders approved up to $250,000 in incentives for a company that’s promised to bring 160 new jobs to Leland.

Industrial Reliability and Repair LLC, an Ohio-based industrial construction company, will have to add at least 160 new jobs with an average pay of $46,500 to receive up to $250,000 in incentives for building upgrades, according to a five-year agreement with Brunswick County.

The company plans to establish its manufacturing facility in Leland Innovation Park, where the firm will make equipment repair parts.

Hiring tied to incentives offered last year by Wilmington and New Hanover County continued including at GE Hitachi, which aims to hire 485 employees at an average salary of $131,000 in the coming years (it added more than 150 employees in Wilmington this year, according to company officials); Live Oak Bank, which is eligible for incentives for its plan to add 204 employees at an average salary of $113,000 over a 12-year period; MegaCorp Logistics, for 300 new, mostly sales-related jobs; and Port City Logistics with 75 jobs at its new warehouse near the Port of Wilmington.

4

TRAINING IN FOCUS

Workforce training initiatives that target specific industries in the area range from film to health care.

Efforts to address nursing shortages include Cape Fear Community College’s move into the former Bank of America building in downtown Wilmington. The renovated space allows CFCC to expand its nursing and other allied health programs. By early next year, the first floor of the building at 319 N. Third St. is expected to house two large lecture halls for CFCC’s health and human services programs. Half of each of the second and third floors will soon be transformed into labs with teaching and office suites.

New Hanover County purchased the five-story building for about $11.4 million earlier this year. CFCC will lease the property from the county for nine years at $1 annually; eventually, the college will own it outright.

In the film industry, which had experienced a significant bump locally in recent years, workforce training continues even amidst a writers and actors strike.

Wilmington’s film workforce training initiative, a project of the Film Partnership of North Carolina, was established with a $400,000 grant from American Rescue Plan Act funds. The training program aims to expand and diversify the local film crew.

5

DOWNTOWN DEVELOPMENTS

Several large-scale, mixed-use developments are in discussion for downtown Wilmington.

One is the proposed $57 million Project Grace redevelopment for the countyowned block bordered by Chestnut, Grace, Second and North Third streets. The proposal, on which New Hanover County has partnered with Cape Fear Development, includes a new, 95,000-square-foot facility housing the Cape Fear Museum and a new library main branch, along with potential residential and commercial space. As of press time, county officials were waiting to see if the Local Government Commission would include the project at its Sept. 12 meeting to clear the way for the county to issue debt for construction on the project’s public portion.

Meanwhile, Wilmington city leaders are again negotiating with East West Partners to finalize a new purchase and development agreement for the Northern Gateway Project, a long-awaited project that could bring new apartments, a hotel and shopping to the northern end of downtown Wilmington.

BRUNSWICK

SHUFFLE

AFTER A DECADE OF PERSUASION, BRUNSWICK COUNTY RETURNS TO THE WILMINGTON MSA TALLY

BY EMMA DILL

THE WILMINGTON REGION WELCOMED BRUNSWICK COUNTY BACK INTO ITS METROPOLITAN STATISTICAL AREA WITH OPEN ARMS THIS SUMMER.

A decade ago, federal officials grouped Brunswick County into the metropolitan area that’s anchored by Myrtle Beach – a move that faced vocal opposition from Wilmington area leaders. With Brunswick back, local leaders and business advocates say the shift could draw new business and investment into the Wilmington area.

The Metropolitan Statistical Area, commonly referred to as an area’s MSA, is made up of one or several counties that are home to a city with at least 50,000 residents or an urban area, as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau.

Wilmington’s MSA, for instance, now encompasses New Hanover, Brunswick and Pender counties along with Wilmington – a city with more than 120,000 residents, according to a 2022 population estimate from the Census Bureau. For the past decade only New Hanover and Pender counties’ headcounts were factored into the MSA.

The reintroduction of Brunswick

County – and its estimated 153,000 people – swells the Wilmington MSA’s population county by 50%. On the other end, Myrtle Beach’s MSA, which now includes Horry County in South Carolina, drops by 29% without Brunswick’s numbers.

Business leaders, researchers and other officials use MSA designations to make decisions about patterns and trends around urban hubs.

“It’s a formal definition of our region,” said Tyler Newman, president and CEO of Business Alliance for a Sound Economy, or BASE. “It gives a snapshot of the region itself, the number of folks that are here, our economic prowess and commuting patterns and a lot of different things from an economic development standpoint.”

Over the past decade, Newman has been one of several local officials who advocated for Brunswick County to be brought back into Wilmington’s MSA. (Read more about Newman’s role and background on page 50.)

Wilmington officials have long argued that Brunswick County’s exclusion from the Wilmington MSA has resulted in missed business opportunities for the area.

As Newman remembers it, the fight to get Brunswick County back started in Washington, D.C., in the office of former Rep. Mike McIntyre (D-N.C.) when

Newman and other Wilmingtonarea leaders met with officials from the U.S. Office of Management and Budget and U.S. Census Bureau.

“At that time, what they said pretty clearly is there’s no appeal process,” Newman said. “Our efforts really started then as soon as we walked out of the door and were flying back to Wilmington.”

The coalition lobbying to get Brunswick back into the MSA ran the gamut from the Wilmington Chamber of Commerce and local business development leaders to researchers at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, Cape Fear Collective and politicians on both sides of the aisle.

“Everybody (was) really working together to gather data and analyze data and make the case,” Newman said.

Two years ago, those from BASE and UNCW submitted the findings to Census Bureau officials, adding input to the rulemaking process that helped guide the MSA designations that were released this summer.

Their findings highlighted housing density and commuting patterns, which showed a flow of Brunswick County residents between New Hanover and Brunswick.

For instance, a model produced by Cape Fear Collective and sent to the Census Bureau indicated that in 2021 42.1% of Brunswick residents worked in Brunswick County, 26.8% of Brunswick residents worked in New Hanover County and 3% of Brunswick residents worked in Horry County.

The Office of Management and Budget uses commuting connectivity data as one way to link surrounding counties to a nearby urban core. That meant illustrating a link between Brunswick and New Hanover counties was key in advocating for bringing Brunswick back into the shared MSA.

Countywide population counts matter too.

In 2013, just a 643-person difference pushed Brunswick County into the Myrtle Beach MSA according to past reporting. Estimates at the time put more Brunswick residents in the Myrtle Beach urban cluster than in Wilmington.

While some Brunswick residents do shop and work in Myrtle Beach, Wilmington has helped propel both commercial and residential growth in the Leland area and the northern portion of Brunswick County.

Whether it was the commuting data or the area’s growing population, when the federal government released its updated MSAs in July, Brunswick County was back in the Wilmington MSA.

Wilmington’s business and government leaders heralded the shift as welcome news that will “boost the region’s economic potential,” according to Natalie English, president and CEO of the Wilmington Chamber of Commerce.

“Businesses use MSA data to assess the suitability of a specific geographical location for their operations, investments, or expansion plans,” English wrote in an email. “This data offers invaluable insights into population demographics, economic trends, market dynamics, and the competitive landscape within a defined metropolitan area.”

Last year, the population of Wilmington’s MSA landed 168th in the nation, according to census data. If that population count had included Brunswick County, the MSA would have ranked 122nd.

That more than 45-spot jump could make the difference between being considered or being overlooked for business expansion, Newman said.

The inclusion of Brunswick County also expands the MSA’s labor pool, adds to industrial sites in the MSA and allows the area to tie into Brunswick County’s moniker as the

fastest-growing county in North Carolina.

“It's awesome to be able to have the fastest-growing area … formally as part of our region,” Newman said. Beyond prospective business interests, the expanded statistical area has the potential to translate into more investment in various areas.

“It gives us a true perspective of our region,” Newman said. “MSAs are not supposed to be used for nonstatistical purposes, but they’ve got functional impacts on economic growth, education, transportation, health care funding.”

Although a big deal for business and government leaders, Brunswick County residents likely won’t notice any changes. Others in the area have downplayed the impact of Brunswick County’s shift.

The new MSA grouping won’t affect the day-to-day work of the Myrtle Beach Regional Economic Development Corporation, said Sandy Davis the corporation’s president and CEO.

The group typically uses data from within a 30- to 45-minute drive time of their development sites. Sometimes, one of the group’s business parks might be close to another county’s border, but there aren’t many near the Brunswick County line, Davis wrote in an email.

Bill Early, executive director of Brunswick Business & Industry Development, recently told the Greater Wilmington Business Journal the shift wouldn’t impact his team’s economic development and recruitment efforts.

Still, Newman and English say they see the change as a big step forward for the region’s business potential from its growth as a fintech hub to its ongoing industrial evolution.

“The revised MSA,” Newman said, “accurately reflects all the exciting things we have going on.”

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INFLUENCE AREA OF

BY LINDSAY PODRAZA | PHOTO BY MELISSA HEBERT

Without specifics, their plans to move forward have ground to a halt, said Tyler Newman, the CEO and president of the nonprofit advocacy group Business Alliance for a Strong Economy (BASE). “Some federal Waters of the United States rules are pending and holding up investment across the area,” Newman said recently. “If someone has a … large piece of land around here and needs to get the Army Corps of Engineers to delineate a wetland, there might be a delay if we don’t know what a wetland is.”

The EPA announced a new wetland definition at the end of August, but its parameters proved murky, Newman said. The lack of clarity continues to frustrate him and local developers.

The wetlands legislative issue is one of several that Newman, who took the helm at BASE in 2016, focuses on in his endeavors to foment business opportunities and growth in the Wilmington area. A significant accomplishment was the recent addition of Brunswick County back into the Wilmington MSA (read more about that impact on page 46) .

Newman said he finds the advocacy work energizing.

“I like thinking proactively and strategically about the region. I like focusing on the positive things we have going on in the community and trying to build on those,” he said. “The

big-ticket items like getting to help land several million dollars for a new bridge or getting Brunswick County back into the MSA, or smaller land use ordinance changes that help facilitate investment – I like the challenge of all of it.”

Since joining BASE, Newman has expanded membership from Realtor and home development associations to also include names such as the Wilmington Chamber of Commerce, Corning, Novant Health and Live Oak Bank. He strives to ensure all parties are unified in growing the region together, he said, adding that serving as an information resource for business leaders is also important.

Newman, who attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and began his career handling state regulatory agencies and lobbying at the Georgia legislature, moved to Wilmington in 2007. He worked as the governmental affairs director at BASE before becoming special assistant to the city manager for legislative affairs for the city of Wilmington.

“I got to see the municipal perspective of what challenges the city faces in the advocacy arena, and that was educational for me,” Newman said.

Now as the head at BASE, Newman spends most of his time traveling to Raleigh for legislative meetings or flying on planes to faraway meetings or driving to meet local officials, developers and business owners ranging from Brunswick to Onslow counties. He doesn’t involve himself in specific projects but rather concentrates on policy changes and legislation that can effect change. “I’m really more focused on making sure the process is smooth and efficient, and to get elected officials and senior staff and management to facilitate growth and investment our way,” he said.

BASE is also focusing on workforce development, particularly in conjunction with the Wilmington Chamber of Commerce, Newman said. Generating jobs, he said, is paramount as more and more people flock to the Wilmington area. Keeping talented Cape Fear Community College and University of North Carolina

FROM PENDING LEGISLATION TO DEVELOPMENT POLICIES, TYLER NEWMAN KEEPS AN EYE ON GROWTH ISSUES

As the greater Wilmington area burgeons with new growth and development, many local landowners and developers have been waiting with bated breath for the Environmental Protection Agency to clarify the definition of a wetland.

Lower Cape Fear Water and Sewer Authority

provides wholesale regional water from the Cape Fear River at the Kings Bluff Pump Station behind Lock and Dam #1 in Bladen County. Bladen, Brunswick, Columbus, New Hanover and Pender Counties comprise our five-county service area. The Mission of the LCFWASA is to assist in providing water and related services that enhance the quality of life in the region. Originally, created as the Wilmington-New Hanover County Water and Sewer Authority in 1970, we took our current name in 1971.

In 1984, the Kings Bluff Pump Station was placed into service and expanded in 2008. A 60-inch parallel intake was installed in 2011. The 54-inch parallel transmission line has been completed and has increased capacity from 45 to 80 million gallons-a-day without any equipment upgrades. Brunswick County Utilities and Cape Fear Public Utilities constructed this line which is now part of the LCFWASA system. There are plans underway now to parallel the last 10-mile section of line to give the Authority true and complete redundancy. This is a great move to keep the region prepared for Emergency Conditions.

The Kings Bluff Pump Station has not been out of service for 20 years, surviving a line break during Hurricane Matthew and severe flooding during Hurricane Florence.

www.lcfwasa.org

Wilmington graduates from migrating to bigger cities like Charlotte or Raleigh is also a priority, he said.

“People are coming – the question is how we accommodate them and making sure we have the infrastructure in place and jobs in place,” Newman said, adding that investment in the airport, port and water and sewer infrastructure is vital. “If we want to have a growing fintech hub and retain UNC Wilmington graduates every year, we need to make sure we have a balance to our growth.”

Projects abound in the greater Wilmington area, and Newman said he’s watching greenfield development of subdivisions in southern Brunswick County, a Market Street hotel transformation into multifamily housing and the progress of Project Grace downtown.

The opportunity to serve as a driving force in Wilmington’s growth and development is personal for Newman, who is a New Bern native. “I love the beach, and I love the state of North Carolina generally,” he said. “Being able to live at the beach in a growing urban environment is something that was really appealing to me and my family.”

Newman is looking ahead to municipal elections this fall and is also awaiting the state legislature to pass its budget, overdue from July, in anticipation of funding opportunities for education and infrastructure.

“Moving forward,” Newman said, “we’re going to need all of the infrastructure and housing and industrial investment we can get.”

Tyler Newman was part of last year’s WilmingtonBiz 100 as an Influencer. This year’s group will be highlighted in the December issue of WilmingtonBiz Magazine.

M E N WHO MEAN BUSINESS

UNIQUE POWERFUL INSPIRING

Those are three adjectives that just begin to describe the women featured in the following pages. Each woman has a unique story about what brought her to this point in her career. Hard work, focus and perseverance allowed them to achieve their goals.

Put together by WilmingtonBiz Magazine's marketing team, Women Who Mean Business profiles professionals who are making a difference in the Wilmington region in their jobs as well as volunteer

JENNIFER KRANER RILEIGH

WILKINS Big Sky Design and Big Sky Shop + Studio

At Big Sky Design, President and Principal Interior Designer Jennifer Kraner and Creative Director Rileigh Wilkins lead a team of talented designers while simultaneously pushing the traditional retail boundaries in their curated space, Big Sky Shop + Studio. While Jennifer fosters a collaborative work environment within the design teams, Rileigh crafts captivating collections of furniture and accessories to enhance the Shop + Studio shopping experience. Whether it’s designing personalized interiors for residential or commercial spaces or providing a retail haven for those in search of elevated furniture selections and unique finds, Big Sky is committed to enhancing lives through design.

BigSkyDesignOnline.com

CAT MARINICH Nothing Bundt Cakes

Serving delicious sweets and treats was not a long-term plan of Cat’s, but more of a journey that brought her home to Wilmington. After her interest was sparked by learning about a Nothing Bundt Cakes franchise opportunity, she decided to open a location here in Wilmington. Her extensive world travel over the years helps Cat make the bakery warm and inviting for all who visit. Serving the moistest cakes you can find anywhere and offering beautiful designs for any occasion keep her guests coming back for more. Delivery and shipping are available for all purchases!

Cat.Marinich@NothingBundtCakes.com

910-679-8797

NothingBundtCakes.com

STEPHANIE BOLTON Patriot Roofing Company LLC

Stephanie Bolton is a general contractor and owner of Patriot Roofing LLC, which provides residential and commercial roofing, siding, windows, doors, gutters, and repair services. Stephanie credits the success she has achieved to her focus on exceeding the expectations of her clients. She also currently serves as the President of the Historic Wilmington Foundation Board of Trustees. As an Owens Corning Platinum Contractor and a CertainTeed Shingle Master, Patriot Roofing is part of an exclusive network of skilled professionals that adhere to strict professionalism and reliability standards. In 2023, Stephanie was awarded the NC HUB Award for Excellence for her dedication to diversity and inclusion.

Info@PatriotRoofer.com 910-218-0600

PatriotRoofer.com

HANNAH CLYMER Corning Credit Union

Building lasting relationships is what Hannah Clymer, Financial Advisor, CCU Wealth Strategies, Raymond James Financial Services Inc., focuses on each day. Hannah’s client relationships enable her to customize recommendations based on client needs and priorities.

Hannah's greatest joy is witnessing clients achieve their goals and secure their futures. Hannah pursues continuous education and is a proud member of WILMA’s 2023 Leadership Institute Class.

Hannah.Clymer@RaymondJames.com

800-505-5292

RaymondJames.com/CCU

BARBIE DORSEY CertaPro Painters

Barbie Dorsey is the owner of CertaPro Painters, which provides residential and commercial painting services in New Hanover, Brunswick and Pender counties. Since beginning her career with CertaPro Painters of North Raleigh in 2012 as a member of the residential/ commercial team, Barbie consistently earned awards for her sales performance. She has a background that also includes running a successful interior design and consulting business after attending The Ohio State University. Barbie has a proactive, entrepreneurial mindset and a superior reputation for her customer service in both residential and commercial sales and design.

Bdorsey@CertaPro.com

919-389-3311

Wilmington-NC.CertaPro.com

EMILY MITCHELL & ANGELA FERNOT United Way of the Cape Fear Area

Angela Fernot, Outreach Coordinator, specializes in weaving together our community and nonprofits through volunteering, networking, and fostering personal relationships. She treasures the knowledge she gains in this role and the wonderful individuals she encounters while being an active part of this vibrant community.

Emily Mitchell, Manager of Relationship Development, collaborates with local businesses and organizations, leveraging their collective power to engage communities for fundraising initiatives. Emily’s versatile skills also extend to effective communication strategies, ensuring United Way’s impactful work reaches all corners of the community.

uwcfa.org

910.798.3900

Ginger

jo@gingerinteriordesign.com

910-679-4179

GingerInteriorDesign.com

As the lead principal of Ginger Interiors, Jo Howell leverages nearly two decades of industry experience to create tranquil, luxurious interiors for her clients. A graduate of Appalachian State University, Jo has worked with design experts across the globe, including an internship studying British architecture/design and training alongside Wilmington’s architectural icon Michael Moorefield. Together with her team, Jo infuses her enthusiasm for colors and textiles into high-quality residential and commercial interiors that effectively blend form and function. With an emphasis on collaborating with clients as well as architects and contractors, Jo articulates harmonious, synchronized experiences for patrons primarily in NC, but will travel anywhere as well.

JO HOWELL

Interiors

ANELIESE BARD ANDRADES Carolina Cleaning Services

Aneliese Bard Andrades is the founder and owner of Carolina Cleaning Services, which has been serving residential and commercial clients in New Hanover, Brunswick and Pender counties since 1994. From humble roots—starting out from the trunk of her car—Aneliese has grown the company to include a large team of professional technicians and a substantial client base. With hard work, resilience and consistency, Aneliese and her team at Carolina Cleaning Services have built an excellent reputation in Wilmington and the surrounding areas, garnering Best Cleaning Company honors from Wilmington Magazine in 2021 and 2022. A member of the Worldwide Cleaning Industry Association, Aneliese and her team always have updated certifications. Over the past 28 years, Carolina Cleaning Services has grown to become a highly successful business with hundreds of customers and a dedicated team, while continuing to be local and womanowned. Over the past three years the Carolina Cleaning Services team has won several awards: Wilmington Magazine’s Best Cleaning Company, Three Best Rate with Excellence, Nextdoor Fave, and a Quality Business Award. The first woman to become an account manager in the 1990s, Aneliese was also the first Brazilian woman to be a business category finalist in WILMA's Women To Watch Awards. Since 2017, Aneliese and her team have enjoyed giving back through their partnership with Cleaning for a Reason, a nonprofit that provides free house cleaning services to cancer patients.

MORGAN MATTHEWS

Matthews Motors

Morgan@MatthewsMotors.com

910-335-4016

MatthewsMotorsWilmington.com

As the marketing director for Matthews Motors, a family-owned independent car dealership, Morgan Matthews concentrates on providing every customer with a positive experience. A graduate of UNCW, where she earned a degree in Communication Studies, Morgan’s background includes working for the company’s sales team and service department. In her current role, Morgan is growing the company’s online presence and acting as spokesperson for radio/ TV ads. Along with her team, Morgan is working to enhance and strengthen the company’s already phenomenal brand reputation—one that has kept it in business for nearly three decades.

RACHEL MARYYANEK Movement Financial Group

We have far more ideas than time to pursue them all. As the Co-Founder and Co-Owner of Movement Financial Group, Rachel helps people increase their profitability and quality of life through a number of solutions. Typically, she works with business owners, a few corporate executives, and growing families by helping them identify and move toward their greatest financial opportunities in a judgment free space. Rachel helps her clients to become financially empowered and has a commitment to understand the needs and goals of each person she meets with. Learn more about Rachel and her experience by visiting the website.

Rachel@MovementFg.com 910-398-8464

MovementFg.com

ALEXANDRA LYSIK Cavik Insurance

Alexandra Lysik and her amazing team at Cavik Insurance specialize in helping individuals combine personal and business insurance under one agency. With two offices in the Cape Fear area and Fayetteville, Alexandra provides her clients multiple carriers to make sure they are receiving the best rate for the best coverage before havoc hits. A double graduate of UNCW, with a Bachelor’s degree and Master’s in Public Administration, she was a finalist for the 2017 WILMA Women to Watch Awards, and 2020 StarNews 40 Under 40 finalist. In her spare time, Alexandra enjoys supporting local nonprofits such as WARM NC and Freedom Bridge Animal Rescue.

Alexandra@CavikInsurance.com

910-722-3225

CavikInsurance.com

ADRIENNE MOORE, ERIN CHITWOOD, MELINDA WILLIAMS, & SHARON MURPHY

James E. Moore Insurance

Adrienne Moore is a third-generation owner and CEO of James E. Moore Insurance, which connects customers to an array of personal, commercial, specialty, and life insurance products. She is proud to lead a dedicated team of licensed insurance professionals, many of whom hold multiple insurance designations. Adrienne, Erin, Melinda, and Sharon, all grew up in Wilmington and have been with the agency for over a decade! Whether it is securing proper coverage, navigating a claim, or ensuring your insurance policy matches your exposure, the team at James E. Moore Insurance will put in the work to provide you peace of mind.

AMoore@JamesEMoore.com

910-256-5333

JamesEMoore.com

ERIN RUSSELL Russell Family Law

Erin E. Russell, J.D. is the founder and lead attorney for Russell Family Law & Litigation, which helps clients navigate a variety of legal issues related to property division, divorce, alimony, child custody and child support. Originally from Michigan, Erin has excelled as a result of her constant focus on the priorities of her clients. Committed to building relationships based on trust and open, honest communications, Erin leverages modern methods and technology to exceed the expectations of her clients. Drawing from over a decade of experience, Erin successfully advocates for her clients, providing them with a critical support system.

Info@ErinERussell.com

910-338-0799

ErinERussell.com

HEATHER HORAK

Highland Roofing Company

As Service Manager for Highland Roofing Company’s Wilmington headquarters, Heather Horak manages in-house service teams to ensure the successful completion of roof repair and maintenance projects in Coastal North Carolina. Heather is a graduate of UNCW and has over 25 years of experience in the industrial, commercial, and residential construction industry. Heather attributes her success to having a strong team mentality and excellent customer service skills. She and her team take pride in the quality of Highland’s workmanship and their ability to safely complete difficult projects.

Hhorak@HighlandRoofingCompany.com 910-798-0155

HighlandRoofingCompany.com

THERESA L. BASSETT

The Diamond Group

Theresa Bassett is the CEO of a locallybased national digital marketing and sales enablement agency called The Diamond Group. Her experience stems from a decade of sales and marketing training for Fortune 500 companies. She transferred her passion for professional and personal development into entrepreneurship, launching her own coaching agency. As an executive leader, speaker, and entrepreneur Theresa has personally produced over $360 million in sales. Theresa enjoys helping companies amplify their unique brands, using their proven process called Momentum. At the core of her mission she believes that every day is a gift, an opportunity, an awesome privilege and responsibility.

Info@Diamond-Group.co

910-672-6000

Diamond-Group.co

THE ACCOUNTING TEAM

Monteith Construction

910-791-8101 • monteithco.com

From left to right: Lisbet Sanchez, Jennifer Smith, Bella Fanjoy, Denice Brandon, Kelli Carbone, Myesha Patrick

Project managers and superintendents often serve as the face of Monteith Construction, yet behind the scenes are dozens of team members keeping the company operations steady. Take our accounting team, for instance. Helmed by longtime CFO Denice Brandon, these sharp women have an unflappable and indisputable expertise. Together, they oversee everything from project finances to risk mitigation. Their roles exemplify how construction offers career opportunities across a range of disciplines and in fields often overlooked. Exceptional people are the hallmark of Monteith, and whether working on or off the job site, each of us is committed to building relationships and thrilling partners

AI Dive

Deep

DISCUSSIONS ACROSS INDUSTRIES

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE ISN’T NEW (HOW LONG HAVE WE BEEN GRILLING ALEXA AND SIRI?), BUT THE GROWING POPULARITY OF CHATBOTS THIS YEAR HAS ACCELERATED TALKS ON EVERYTHING FROM EFFICIENCIES, ETHICS, OVERSIGHT AND HOW BUSINESSES CAN BEST LEVERAGE THE TECHNOLOGY.

From OpenAI’s ChatGPT to Google’s Bard to the expanding slate of plugins and extensions, the landscape seems wide open for potential uses.

We talked with representatives of different local industries about how AI is potentially disrupting their work – good, bad and in between – and what some of the discussions about the technology have been about in their fields.

WHAT ARE

SOME

OF THE WAYS AI ALREADY

HAS BEEN USED IN YOUR FIELD?

DOUGHTY: “AI is presently integrated into various facets of the legal industry. While its presence within law firms might not be overt, it significantly enhances the effectiveness of lawyers and paralegals in their professional tasks. These currently used AIpowered tools are mostly predictive AI – AI that makes decisions and adapts by analyzing historical data (behavior patterns) to predict future behavior –and are typically used for automating tasks, streamlining workflows and extracting data. E-discovery stands out as the most prevalent use of AI in the legal field by attorneys. This AI tool is primarily employed to scan electronic data and extract relevant nonprivileged information tied to a case or legal matter. Lawyers use this tool to sift through extensive data pools, pinpointing a narrower selection of

documents and information through search terms or predefined criteria, like dates or geographical location. Another example is AI-driven due diligence solutions. ”

RICANEK: “Lapetus Solutions was the first insurtech company to adopt AI for insurance underwriting, product selection and risk management. The flavor of AI used is an extension of face recognition known as facial analytics. The field of study for facial analytics was developed in my research lab at UNCW more than a decade ago. We are now seeing the use of generative AI tools in the insurance and financial services industry. Truthfully, when I ask groups from this industry how they plan to use large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT, Bard, etc., the answer is usually the same: ‘We are not sure yet.’ However, these groups are aware that the power of the technology will change the way they operate, but it is so new that they need to determine

ANGELA DOUGHTY INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AND DATA SECURITY AND PRIVACY ATTORNEY/DIRECTOR OF LEGAL INNOVATION, WARD AND SMITH P.A.

LILLIE VINCENT CONTENT CREATOR, BLUETONE MEDIA

KARL RICANEK JR. CEO AND CHIEF AI SCIENTIST, LAPETUS SOLUTIONS INC.

MADELINE GRAY FREELANCE PHOTOGRAPHER, MADELINE GRAY PHOTOGRAPHY

how they will roll it out.”

GRAY: “I think one of the most noticeable ways that AI is being used in the photography industry is to actually create images. There is some incredible artwork being done by digital artists using AI. Many photographers are experimenting with AI, and I think that trend will continue.”

VINCENT: “Artificial intelligence has been around in the marketing industry for a while. However, the usefulness of AI was previously limited to more numbers-based analytics. It helped marketers assess and improve their website performance. It helped with keyword research and search engine optimization. It could even help create more effective email campaigns.”

YOU TALK ABOUT

VINCENT: “Now, with the advent of easy-access AI software like ChatGPT, the possibilities open up a bit –specifically for content creators. The new tech isn’t strictly numbers based. AI tools can now synthesize and ‘learn’ from all kinds of data, from text to images to videos. Since a large part of the content creation gig is sifting through all the information already available online, many creators are

turning to AI to make their work more efficient and more complete. AI can help with many parts of the content creation process, from generating ideas and outlines to conducting basic research to proofreading and revising. There are some questions about whether AI will replace human content creators altogether. Most marketers would say no. There will always be a need for the personal touch and customization only a real person can offer. However, content creators who don’t leverage AI will miss out on a big opportunity to increase their output and free up more time for other tasks.”

RICANEK: “There is lots of speculation on how AI will change the financial services industry. … AI will drive innovative ways to manage risk within organizations like insurance. The models can take into account factors that a typical actuary would not consider, could not consider. AI will further enhance the user journey eradicating pain points associated with the life insurance journey or the financial planning journey. Both journeys are riddled with antiquated procedures that drive customers insane. For example, a very large U.S. life insurance company takes 45 days to reject a customer. Why does it take so long to tell the customer they do not fit your risk criteria? AI will, and is currently, changing this legacy issue.”

DOUGHTY: “The newest evolution of AI tools, the generative AI tools like ChatGPT, are much more powerful

than the predictive AI tools and extend beyond mere automation and data extraction tools. … A substantial portion of our time includes analyzing and comprehending an array of documents – ranging from statutes and legal cases to memos, emails and contracts. … These advanced AI tools introduce an opportunity to harness technology’s potential for alleviating the burden of these necessary yet time-consuming tasks. … As a result, lawyers can redirect their time and expertise to more complex endeavors requiring human discernment, like negotiations, advocacy and advisory responsibilities. However, these tasks –the tasks of analyzing and synthesizing – are a core part of the legal profession and always have been. Removing these types of tasks will substantially disrupt how lawyers have practiced since the establishment of the legal profession. However, this is not the first significant disruption our profession has faced, and I am optimistic we will evolve and adapt just as we have in the past – by shifting from typewriters to PCs, moving from dictation to typing, accepting email over snail mail, transitioning from paper to digital research, and even embracing virtual courtrooms through platforms like Zoom.”

GRAY: “I feel like in a broad sense, many people are wary of the impact that AI could have in photography. For example, a photographer who is typically known for their documentary images, recently recreated historical

CAN

SOME OF THE DISCUSSIONS AROUND AI’S POTENTIAL FOR YOUR INDUSTRY OR WAYS YOU THINK IT COULD DISRUPT HOW THINGS HAVE ALWAYS BEEN DONE?

Images generated from DALL-E 2 by OpenAI, the company also behind ChatGPT, are shown above with interpretations of prompts such as “digital art image of an office worker using AI” and “digital image of auto mechanic using AI”.

events using AI. There was a lot of discussion about the danger of a wider audience thinking that those AI images were factual documents of real people, real places and real situations when in reality they were all fake – no matter how real or compelling they looked. An AI image also recently won a photo competition where the rules of the contest were not clearly defined, and there was quite a bit of discussion about whether or not that image should have even been allowed into the competition in the first place.”

AREAS IN WHICH YOU SEE AI MAKING, OR POTENTIALLY MAKING IN THE FUTURE, IMPROVEMENTS IN YOUR INDUSTRY – OR DAY-TO-DAY WORK?

RICANEK: “AI will help to reduce costs of insurance or financial planning by reducing the human touch. Many of the processes can be automated by AI technology. As automation moves forward, it will greatly reduce the time it takes to secure an insurance policy or generate meaningful and actionable retirement plans.”

GRAY: “I think one area of photography that AI has incredible potential for is fine art photography. I’ve seen some truly stunning images that allow people to create and envision an alternate reality the likes of which none of us have seen. What used to be possible only through elaborate sets and expensive camera and lighting technology, is now available to a huge range of creative people. I think that democratizing force will allow artists to express themselves in new and fascinating ways through AI.”

VINCENT: “I suspect more businesses will start using AI to generate marketing content. This will likely produce some short-term improvement for SEO and business growth. But as more businesses adopt the same practice, there will be less original content out there. People –

and Google algorithms – will start to see right through it. Unless real people are in there making the information fresh and unique, it will just become stale and ineffective. I think this advancement gives content creators the opportunity to rediscover our identity and strengths. Since everyone can use AI to generate content, it’s on us to find ways to create more authentic content people will really want to interact with.”

DOUGHTY: “Predictive analytics could enable more accurate forecasts of legal outcomes based on historical data, enhancing case strategy and client advice. Automation of routine tasks, like data entry and client communication, through AI-powered chatbots, could free up time for more intricate responsibilities. However, while these advancements are exciting, it is important to remember that AI should complement human expertise, not replace it. Ethical considerations, data privacy and the nuanced nature of legal work will continue to necessitate human oversight and decision-making.”

WHAT ARE THE DRAWBACKS AND ETHICAL CONCERNS THAT YOU OR OTHERS IN YOUR FIELD HAVE?

DOUGHTY: “There are a number of concerns for using AI in the legal field, but the most notable include accountability: Deciphering the decision-making process or information sourcing of an AI tool can be complex and require considerable effort. This is particularly important within the legal field, where decisions can make a substantial impact on individuals’ lives. Until such understanding is achieved, it is likely that this concern will hinder the legal industry’s integration of AI. Ultimately, lawyers bear the responsibility for their own work output and safeguarding their clients’ best interests.”

RICANEK: “With all technology there are drawbacks. The major drawback

for AI is the systemic biases that are found in the industries that will adopt this technology. Without great care, the built-in biases will get indoctrinated into the AI systems. Why? The AI systems are built from industry data. If industry data has biases, then the AI system may pick up these biases. There are too many examples of AI bias today.”

VINCENT: “Some businesses and marketers are using AI tools to create content and eliminating the ‘human’ factor entirely. For example, if you ask ChatGPT to write a blog or other marketing copy for you, it will. But there are limitations to this approach. First of all, AI synthesizes all of the information on the internet – even information that is false. Content creators still need to do their due diligence and double-check for accuracy. Second, AI has limitations when it comes to originality of content. Plagiarism is actually a big concern with AI writing. The software may use the exact same language it ‘read’ somewhere else on the internet.”

GRAY: “I think the main drawback of AI in photography is the possibility that it could erode the trust that documentary photographers and photojournalists have built with the audience and public who view their images. In a climate where many people are already skeptical of the media, I think it is so incredibly important for photographers to be open and honest about how they create their images. As we’ve seen, it can be very difficult to tell the difference between an AI-generated image and a traditional photograph. Another concerning example is that the Levi jean company announced earlier this year that they would use AI-generated models in order to increase diversity in their advertising campaigns. Rather than putting in the work to make substantive change and to pay real diverse models, a huge company opted to turn to AI as a bandage to try to address genuine concerns.”

PATENTED

INNOVATING NEW IDEAS

BY JENNY CALLISON | PHOTO BY DARIA AMATO

Ashley Johnson, an attorney who specializes in patents, copyrights and trademarks, has seen a rise in activity locally as entrepreneurs create new products or develop their own brand of an existing concept.

file your patent application before you even got started, but now you file for a provisional patent, which can (involve) very simple drawings.”

The new process has stimulated invention activity, Johnson said.

“I think so; I always encourage people to take advantage of the ideas they have,” said Tom Carter, who holds patents on a number of products, from trade show display materials to his newest invention, CoopWorx, a feeder for backyard chickens.

Gloria Monroe agrees that patent activity indicates innovation, fresh new ideas and creativity, which fuels entrepreneurship.

“Once a new product design or idea is patented, the next step is commercialization of that product,” said Monroe, the interim director of the Small Business and Technology Development Center (SBTDC) at UNCW. “The commercialization often spawns new small business creation.”

Increasing numbers of Wilmington-area residents are seeking help to develop and protect their product ideas.

“There does seem to be an increase in patents, but inventors have the option of keeping their inventions as trade secrets, which are not limited by a governed amount of time before the patent expires,” Monroe added. “So, at the SBTDC we see an increase in the number of business starts, whether or not the product or service is patented, trademarked, copyrighted or a trade secret.”

“I’ve seen new brands of surf clothing, for example. One client I’ve been working with is Solbello, a beach umbrella. It’s really taken off, and now they have international patent protection,” she said.

“I’ve been in practice for 20 years and opened our Wilmington office in early 2019,” Johnson continued. “When I started in Wilmington, 95% of my business was coming from our office in Raleigh, but in the past one to two years I’ve seen an increase in people reaching out here for patents and trademarks; new businesses starting and wanting to protect their brand.”

The SBTDC can sometimes connect a promising innovation with financial support.

“The SBTDC’s Technology Development and Commercialization program also assists innovation-based small businesses with incorporating federal R&D into their funding strategies, including Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) awards,” Monroe said. “The SBIR/STTR (Small Business Technology Transfer) programs provided over $158 million in awards to eligible North Carolina businesses in 2022.”

The patenting process has become easier recently, thanks to a change in the law, noted Carter (shown left)

“Now it’s first-to-file rather than first-to-invent,” he explained. “That gives you a year to see if you’ve got a market. It used to be that you would

“You get a great idea and file for a provisional: The filing fee is pretty cheap,” the attorney said. “File that provisional patent application and draw a line in the sand as of the date it was filed. The provisional gives you a one-year period to decide if you want to move forward and develop your prototype.”

Consult a patent attorney sooner rather than later, she continued.

“Even if you are early in the process, you want to get that pathway in your mind; protect your concept while you’re still figuring it out. You don’t want your invention to be scooped,” she said. “Sometimes a lot of revisions happen between filing a provisional application and filing the final version. You want to make sure those revisions are protected.”

The one-year period allows the inventor to develop a prototype and test it, estimate materials and production costs, research the market and search existing patents to see if a too-similar product already exists.

If the product’s prospects look disappointing, the inventor can let the provisional patent lapse.

In the case of Carter’s CoopWorx, the process between filing for his provisional patent and being ready to ship the finished products took less than a year. Admittedly, he’s a seasoned inventor, and he works with an experienced design engineer.

“Don’t try to design everything

Is it possible to grow a community of inventors that, in turn, nurture an entrepreneurial environment?

910.762.2676

yourself,” he advises others. “Get a good industrial designer involved; it makes a huge difference. A good industrial designer will add stuff you never thought of, will make sure things are moldable and can save you a lot of money so you can produce the product affordably.”

Carter manufactures the chicken feeders, his trade show products and other items at his facility in Wilmington. Does that mean a beehive of invention activity in a region translate to a buzz of manufacturing nearby?

“There are many business models that can be used to bring a product or service to market,” Monroe said. “One of those models is to outsource manufacturing so the inventor can focus on the next new invention. Outsourced manufacturing can be localized or global depending on cost, quality and supply.”

That being said, Monroe added, there is a definite correlation between the patents processed and new business creation, with some resulting local manufacturing.

“The economic indicators for new business growth are usually the number of full-time employees and the revenue and capital formation required to first launch the business and then grow the business,” she continued. “The business model that works for a specific invention depends on the new product cost to develop, business growth goals and market potential for the new product.”

PATENT ACTIVITY

A sample of utility patents granted this year for filings that included at least one Wilmington-based inventor

• METHODS AND DEVICES FOR VASCULAR ACCESS

• PASSIVE CONTAINMENT COOLING SYSTEM FOR A NUCLEAR REACTOR

• CEILING FAN SYSTEM WITH BRUSHLESS MOTOR

• SAFETY HOOK LATCH

• APPARATUSES AND METHODS FOR PROCESSING AN OPTICAL FIBER PREFORM (a Corning project, with Corning Inc. as the listed assignee, or the organization that has an ownership interest in the legal rights a patent offers)

Source: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

REAL ESTATE BROKERAGE, DEVELOPMENT, INVESTMENTS & PROPERTY MANAGEMENT

research REACH

From oceans to clinics, a lens on exploration throughout the region

BY RANDALL KIRKPATRICK

WILMINGTON’S MEDICAL, ACADEMIC AND ENTREPRENEURIALFOCUSED PROGRAMS ARE STRATEGICALLY – AND CREATIVELY – BUILDING ON RESEARCHBASED EFFORTS.

They include Novant Health New Hanover Regional Medical Center, which is expanding its activities in several potentially game-changing clinical trials and research projects; Wilmington Health, which is staging clinical trials and advancing the promise of population health strategy communities to reach sustainable outcomes; UNCW’s Office of Innovation and Commercialization, the college’s technology transfer office; and Cape Fear Community College, with its focus on workforce development. Each has distinct resources and approaches they bring to bear. Here is a look at the building blocks of those efforts.

MEDICAL RESEARCH

Novant NHRMC is taking a large leap in expanding its capabilities, by collaborating with cancer experts at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The hospital’s researchers and oncologists are participating in clinical trials and research projects sponsored by pharmaceutical and life science companies, as well as federally funded research studies.

Michael Papagikos, lead physician for Novant Health Cancer Institute Coastal Market, emphasized that “research studies help ensure that new cancer patients get treatments that are fine-tuned to their genetic profile,

meaning the treatments are just aggressive enough to kill the cancer – and can provide new treatment possibilities for patients who have exhausted all standard options.

“When the first line, second line and third line of therapy no longer works, patients are looking for a home run, they’re looking for a miracle,” Papagikos said. “We are getting access to potentially life-saving treatments that they wouldn’t otherwise be able to receive if they weren’t part of a clinical trial.”

The deal also opens up access for Novant Health Zimmer Care Cancer Institute oncologists to experts at UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center. Through the partnership, Novant Health NHRMC’s oncologists can also join the many clinical trials sponsored by medical corporations.

Papagikos added that the opportunity to join pharmaceutical-sponsored studies yields benefits. “When you start tapping into the pharmaceutical industry,” he said, “it massively explodes the number of different types of clinical trials you can enroll patients in.”

Cancer trials are just one area in which the local health system is participating on research projects.

Another area health provider, Wilmington Health, is a prodigious host of clinical trials. At any one time during the year, the physician practice hosts in the area of 100 studies. Wilmington Health’s clinical trials are extensive, ranging across a number of clinical areas.

Wilmington Health official Brian Webster, a boardcertified internist and medical director for clinical research, advocates for the value of clinical trials, with the goal of expanding research as a treatment option. He also has been Wilmington Health’s chief medical information officer since 2006.

“I’ve been here at Wilmington Health for the last 25

corals will be resistant to future stressors,

years, and we’ve done trials virtually since then,” he said. “Extensive COVID trials were held here, and we have done a wide variety of studies for cholesterol, diabetes, hypertension, cardiac diseases and more.

“Rather than an isolated site, we’ve embedded the research into our primary care offices. And we’ve found that it works much better. People involved in their research, whether they receive the placebo or not, have measurably better outcomes. It’s the idea of research as a treatment option as a real part of community health.”

Webster said he believes that those outcomes connected to “bringing research to the whole

clinic” are due to patients being more involved and educated engagement in their care.

“It’s sound practice,” he said, “to also have research doctors and research coordinators directly involved. It just works to the benefit of the patient.”

In October, Wilmington Health started a collaboration with Innovo Research, a providersponsored, provider-led network of high-performing Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) that incorporate clinical research in their population strategies. ACOs are health care providers that provide coordinated care to Medicare patients. Innovo’s description of its Triple Aim of Healthcare is:

• to enhance health care results for patients;

• to lower health care expenses of patients and across the system; and

• to improve engagement and satisfaction with their experience.

Triple Aim exemplifies the overall goal and mission of partner ACOs and their study (clinical trials) interests, emphasized Jeff James, Wilmington Health CEO and the cofounder of Innovo Research.

Accentuating his organization’s belief in the value of clinical trials among the underserved population, James added, “We were instrumental in coining the term ‘Clinical Research as a Care option’ back in 2015. We believe in this.”

NEW CORAL: Nicole Fogarty, associate professor in UNCW’s biology and marine biology department (shown on page 37), is head of the Coral REEF Lab, which focuses on coral reproduction and optimizing the process of making the next generation of corals in land-based nurseries. The goal of working on new, genetically unique types is to increase the chances that some

such as increased temperature, pollution and disease.

PHOTO BY MADELINE GRAY

ACADEMIC PROJECTS

Research studies among students, faculty and staff have long been a mainstay at college campuses. In recent decades that includes the increasing trend of commercialization and technology transfer in higher education.

Locally, research at the University of North Carolina Wilmington runs the gamut from coastal science investigations to economic systems to cyber defense. In 2019, the Carnegie Classification system elevated the school to a university of doctoral status with high research activity, in part because of UNCW’s increase in research expenditures.

Though research is less of a focus as a community college, Cape

Fear Community College currently is hosting some grant-funded research as well.

Partially supported by National Science Foundation (NSF) grants, CFCC has the state’s only community college-based chemical technology program, with intensive two-year, five-semester training in the analytical technician area.

The program has had three NSF grants since 2010, totaling over $1 million with an eye on workforce training. The grant, according to college officials, includes:

• a program liaison position that networks with local high schools for recruitment and employers to aid in job placement;

• a professional development opportunity for local high school

STEM teachers who spend two weeks on campus, learning about chemical technology and the laboratory techniques common in the industry;

• a high school student summer camp introducing students to the chemical technology field; and

• a paid internship with Wilmington-based Quality Chemical Laboratories.

Another NSF grant funds the N.C. Ecosystem Technology Project, a collaboration between CFCC, UNCW, other schools and RTI International.

For researchers in the UNC system campuses, bringing their ideas and technologies from the sphere of research and the overall startup phase to the larger step of commercialization might receive a jolt relatively soon or might receive a far more moderate

SURGERY STUDY: William Hope, a general surgeon with Novant Health in Wilmington, is part of a clinical trial evaluating the use of mesh implantation when closing the abdomen during surgery. The trial is studying whether implanting the mesh (shown above) can effectively prevent a hernia from later forming at the site of the incision.

PHOTO C/O NOVANT HEALTH NHRMC

AERIAL VIEW: UNCW’s nanosatellite SeaHawk-1 captures high-resolution ocean color images (such as the one above of the Cape Fear region). The images give researchers access to ocean and waterway data, and the satellite – about the size of a loaf of bread – orbits Earth 15 times a day. Images from the project are cataloged in a NASA database that is available to ocean color scientists worldwide.

infusion.

It all depends on passage of this year’s delayed state budget, with lawmakers deciding on whether to award the more than $1.4 billion the state Senate has proposed to the recently formed nonprofit NCInnovation. The governor’s office and House budget plan had recommended much less going to the nonstate agency: $50 million.

For Justin Streuli, director of UNCW’s Office of Innovation and Commercialization (OIC), passing the $1.4 billion for the self-sustaining endowment would “provide an incredible boost for the UNC System’s researchers and entrepreneurs. It’s so true … many promising early-stage companies die because of lack of investment.”

OIC is UNCW’s technology transfer office and is responsible for identifying, supporting and enhancing the commercialization of technologies and

solutions from the UNCW community.

An easy, sequential way to view the commercialization process is: research � invention disclosure � evaluation � IP protection � marketing � licensing.

The OIC also awards internal grants (in addition to connecting researchers with larger outside grants). That includes the New Invention Grant, supporting faculty projects focused on transforming fundamental research or early-stage innovations into commercially viable products and services; and MARBIONIC Blue Economy Grant, supporting faculty projects bridging the gap between marine science and innovation.

Streuli pointed out that UNCW students play a significant role in research projects. “This past fiscal year,” he said, “students had a part in 66% of the provisional patents approved – they are formally inventors – and 75% of invention disclosures had a student contributor.”

Among a number of current or future commercially viable innovations at UNCW is the MORPH Longitudinal Database, the largest longitudinal facial recognition database in the world, and it recently doubled in size.

Another innovation is led by UNCW professor Ying Wang, who founded Macroformulation and is its president. An early-stage venture, it is using proprietary formulation technologies to enable messenger RNA, or mRNA, pharmaceuticals to be shipped and stored at room temperature or in a refrigerator. This technology addresses the issue of mRNAs, as seen with COVID-19 vaccines, undergoing fast degradation and requiring special handling during transportation and storage.

“This is an exciting advance that represents the societal and health benefits of so many of these innovations,” Streuli said. “As exciting as it is, it’s just the beginning. There are many steps to overcome the obstacles and arrive at the ultimate destination of commercialization.”

Writer Lynda Van Kuren contributed to this article.

PHOTO C/O

SEAHAWK-1/HAWKEYE/ALAN HOLMES

IN PRINT IN PRINT

If you’ve been to a concert merch table this summer, there’s a chance you’ve seen one of Tom Shaw’s designs. From his Wilmington studio, Shaw, owner of T. Shaw Designs, creates handmade, silkscreened art prints and concert posters for national touring musicians. “I sell them to the bands wholesale, and they sell them at their merchandise booths at concerts,” he said. That includes national bands stopping in Wilmington like Widespread Panic’s two-night run at Live Oak Bank Pavilion this month. (Shaw’s 2021 Widespread Panic poster, which was initially released for $40, now sells for $400-$500 or more on eBay.) “There is a big market for limited edition concert posters and art prints,” he pointed out, “much like there is for baseball cards and sneakers.”

PHOTO BY LOGAN BURKE