September 4, 2015 UBJ

SEPTEMBER 4, 2015 | VOL. 4 ISSUE 36

Proterra CEO Ryan Popple is driving the future of

urban transport - pg. 14

Photo

by J

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09.04.2015 | upstatebusinessjournal.com

Right: E-Merge @ the Garage founder Craig Kinley with e-Spark’s fi rst cohort (left to right: John Tollison, Steven Chabotte, Matt Bauman, Craig Kinley, Alison Youngblood, Snowil Lopes and Torey Mattison).

Left: E-Merge participants include First Flight, a community engagement, fi tness camp and race series company that uses the social media hashtag

“#RunThisTown.”

INFORMATION YOU WANT TO KNOW | ENTREPRENEURS | 3

First Anderson incubator boot camp graduates as founder departsE-Merge was ‘a great opportunity,’ says Craig Kinley

entrepreneurial programming. Kinley also serves as an active found-

ing member of Electric City Angels,

Anderson’s angel in-

vestment group. “He’s given us a way, a path forward

for other things,” said City of Anderson Mayor Terence Roberts, who attend-ed part of the e-Spark Demo Day event in downtown Anderson. “I’m sure that he will stay attached to our program.”

Right: E-Merge @ the Garage founder Craig Kinley with e-Spark’s fi rst cohort (left to right: John Tollison, Steven Chabotte, Matt Bauman, Craig Kinley, Alison Youngblood, Snowil Lopes and Torey Mattison).

Left: E-Merge participants include First Flight, a community engagement, fi tness camp and race series company that uses the social media hashtag

“#RunThisTown.”

entrepreneurial programming. Kinley also serves as an active found-

ing member of Electric City Angels,

Anderson’s angel in-

Anderson incubator E-Merge @ the Garage graduated its fi rst business boot camp cohort, which include startups aimed at challenges in health-care, fi tness, dining and energy.

The program – called e-Spark – specifi cally targets local and regional entrepreneurs with ideas or fl edgling startups that could benefit from mentor and industry connections, business space and 12 weeks of in-depth business development analysis.

The fi ve companies included Light-Food, an application for a one-person restaurant that keeps costs down; I-SMS, a senior health monitoring system; EVI, a patent-pending tech-nology company that optimizes in-home lighting for health and energy effi ciency; Core Kids, a childhood health and fi tness company targeting childhood obesity; and First Flight, a community engagement, fi tness camp and race series company.

“Some were further along, some were further behind, so just bringing them up to speed was a process,” said E-Merge @ the Garage Founder Craig Kinley. “All of them came from different backgrounds and had differ-

ent conceptual ideas of what they wanted to do.”

The e-Spark program is one of several offered through the incubator space, founded a year ago by well-known Anderson entrepreneur Craig Kinley, who also owns The Growler Haus beer stores in Anderson and Spartanburg, with plans to open one in Fountain Inn. Other programs include Cyber Summer Camp to teach electronics and robotics to fourth- and ninth-grade students, as well as LemonADE Stand, which helps Upstate students build entrepreneur-ial skills.

Kinley also announced he would not be leading the program next year, but that he hopes it will continue to energize Anderson with entrepreneur-ial activity.

“We’re very humbled to be able to provide this type of value to the City of Anderson and we want to see this thing fl ourish 10 years from now,” said Kinley. “This was a great oppor-tunity for us and now that we’re transitioning off this product, we hope that this will be successful for years and years to come.”

Moving forward, Kinley says he is working with other state municipali-ties that could benefi t from similar

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UBJ | 09.04.2015

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4 | THE RUNDOWN | TOP-OF-MIND AND IN THE MIX THIS WEEK

VOLUME 4, ISSUE 36

Featured this issue:Craft brewers return to Upstate 10Development plans for former Laurens Road DMV site 12Scansource’s Christy Thompson is One to Watch 19

MONEY SHOT: Past chairs of the Spartanburg Area Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors were invited last week to a review the Plan of Action for 2015-2016. Current Board Chairman Todd Horne and President/CEO Allen Smith presented the plan. Pictured from left: Allen Smith, Dr. John Stockwell, Charlie Boone, Mike Forrester, Jim Thomas, Sue Schneider, Tommy Young, Richard Dillard, Dr. Sidney Fulmer, Ingo Angermeier, Todd Horne, Bob Wynn, Woody Willard, John Poole, Wade Ballard.

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Look for a 24-hour, 1950s diner concept to emerge soon in the

former Charlie’s Steakhouse restaurant site on Coffee Street

downtown.

New York-based franchise Abbott’s Frozen Custard is

coming soon to downtown Greer.

A Michael Kors store will be joining the retailers at Haywood Mall.

09.04.2015 | upstatebusinessjournal.com INFORMATION YOU WANT TO KNOW | RETAIL | 5

The Village of West Greenville has longbeen designated one of Greenville’s food deserts, with local residents having no nearby access to fresh foods. That’s about to change when the new Mill Village Market by Mill Community Ministries opens in early November.

Mill Village Market will be located at 8 Lois Ave., near Pendleton Street, and will feature locally grown produce and regionally sourced foods.

“We’re taking our mobile market concept and making it stationary,” said Dan Weidenbenner, executive director. It will be the fi rst brick-and-mortar location for the nonprofi t organization that also runs Mill Village Farms, a community farm that employs and trains youth in basic job skills.

Weidenbenner says the youth working in the Mill Village Market will gain valuable retail skills. Produce grown at Mill Village Farms will be sold at the store. He is working to accept EBT/SNAP bucks and expects to keep prices “reasonable.”

The approximately 900-square-foot market will

also have room available as a community gathering space.

“The hub will be an inviting and energetic place for sur-

rounding community members and visitors to the Village alike,” said Weidenbenner.

A second phase is expected to include a bike co-op by The Village Wrench, which will provide bicycle maintenance and repair, and a Nasha Co-Work Café with rentable desk space geared towards entrepre-

neurs. Weidenbenner says he sees low-tech, com-mercial-based entrepreneurs in this space who need assistance with resources, including lending and funding. Construction on the fi rst phase of the project, Mill Village Market, has already begun. While local donations and corporate partners have funded the project thus far, Mill Community Min-istries is still seeking tax-deductible in-kind and fi nancial contributions.

For more information, visit MillCommunity.org.

Mill Village Market to open in Village of West Greenville First brick-and-mortar location for nonprofi t hopes to help neighborhood food desert

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UBJ | 09.04.2015

South Carolina’s talent for downtown revitalization is making waves, but this time not just for the city of Greenville.

Fountain Inn, S.C., and Rochester, Ind., kicked off an inaugural sister city partnership program aimed at high-lighting strategies and best practices for downtown development. The three-day schedule included meetings with city and county officials and community leaders as well as tours around Fountain Inn.

Several years ago, the majority of Fountain Inn’s downtown was empty, with around 66 percent vacancy, said the city’s economic development di-rector Van Broad. Today, occupancy sits at 95 percent, and a cal-endar full of events has cut retail and restaurant leakage dramatically, he said. “We’ve really created ourselves as a destination place.”

While Rochester already has several types of commu-nity attractions – a golf course, a lakefront beach, even a path similar to the Swamp Rabbit Trail – economic development efforts could use a boost from local business and communi-ty development, said Shoda Beehler, who volunteers time with the Main Street initiative in addition to working for the city of Rochester.

“A lot of people have this view that if we had the indus-try, if we had the people, then we would have people willing to step up and open business-es because they have confi-dence that it’s going to make it,” she said. “But the problem is, when you’re trying to bring tour buses in, and they say, ‘What do people do on Friday night?’ you can’t say, ‘They go everywhere else.’”

With its similar size, indus-try and development challeng-es – as well as operating as a bedroom community for in-dustry in surrounding areas - the city of Rochester has

much of the same potential as Foun-tain Inn, said Terry Lee, economic development director for the county surrounding Rochester. Though downtown has about 40 percent vacancy, the city has plans for façade improvements, as well as a revolving low-interest loan fund to help busi-nesses grow. Much of the work, however, will be administering grants and improvements, as well as mobi-lizing the community, business owners and key leaders to get behind a plan for revitalization.

“I’ve got some good examples of good things that are happening, and groups being more proactive,” said Lee, who said the next step includes investing in a master plan for devel-opment. “It takes persistence, and it takes a plan, and it takes some money.”

6 | DOWNTOWN | INFORMATION YOU WANT TO KNOW

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South Carolina outpaced North Carolina, Alabama, Georgia and Washington in private sector aerospace employment growth, but it can’t forget workforce development if it wants to be tops in the nation, according to state and business leaders at this year’s S.C. Aerospace Conference and Expo in Columbia.

“We are starting to make massive improvements in K-12, because our students will be working for your companies,” said S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley to a record crowd of conference attendees. “We never take the time to celebrate because we don’t have time for that.”

Despite progress with workforce development efforts – think apprenticeships, workforce training and student curriculum changes – South Carolina has a ways to go. A PricewaterhouseCoopers report ranked the state 29th in the country for education-

al attainment in aerospace and 39th for its existing aerospace cluster size and the vitality of its cluster workforce.

“One of the reasons this rank is important is because when people want to find talent, they want people who have experience, but another way to address that is education,” said PwC Partner and US Aerospace & Defense Assurance Leader Scott Thompson, who presented at the conference. “I think it’s important to make aerospace sexy again like it was in the ’60s with the moon race … The industry could have a PR campaign about how cool it is to be an aerospace engineer or a technician.”

Private aerospace in the state accounts for nearly 103,000 jobs and $17.4 billion economic impact in the state, and the cluster’s growth surpassed some of its southeastern neighbors, according to a Darla Moore School of Business study debuted at the conference. Private sector aerospace employment grew 15.5 percent between 2010 and 2012 compared with 10.7 percent in North Carolina, 2.5 percent in

Alabama and a decline of 2.3 percent in Georgia. But despite its growth, other S.C. clusters dwarf

the aerospace segment, while states with more es-tablished clusters can be larger still. South Carolina agribusiness, for example, accounts for $41.7 billion in economic impact, while Washington’s century-old aerospace cluster employed 267,000 in 2013.

“I think one of the important things to remember is we’re still a young state for aerospace,” said Ann Marie Stieritz, president and CEO of the S.C. Council on Competitiveness, a nonprofit organization aimed at supporting economic development. That can make it hard to recruit, particularly because students, parents and workers simply don’t know their options in aerospace.

“I do think the Upstate has an advantage in that it was an aerospace destination before the arrival of Boeing,” she said. “There is an appreciation and understanding of manufacturing there … that’s a part of understanding the diversity of the opportunities.”

INFORMATION YOU WANT TO KNOW | AEROSPACE | 7

$17B aerospace industry seeks workforce, education answersASHLEY BONCIMINO | [email protected]

Photo provided by SC Council On Competitiveness

UBJ | 09.04.2015

The tastes and smells of several Europeancountries will soon come to Greenville when Euro-pean Market, a specialty grocery store and deli, opens on Woodruff Road.

Several years ago, when Natalia Sokil fi rst moved to Chattanooga, Tenn., from Ukraine, she had to drive to Atlanta to get some of her home country staples she missed and needed to use when cooking. So, she decided to make it easier.

Sokil opened the fi rst European Market in Chat-tanooga in 1999.

At fi rst, Sokil stocked mostly products from Russia and Ukraine. Today, the grocery store and deli features items from 25 different countries, including Germany, Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Greece, Romania, England and Italy.

After moving to the Upstate two years ago, Sokil opened second and third locations in Inman and Spartanburg. Now, after listening to her customers ask for a location closer to home, she is opening her third Upstate location in Greenville.

Everything is imported, says Sokil. In Greenville, more than half of the 2,500-square-foot store will be German products. Bread comes directly from Germany and is baked fresh in the store. Blintzes,

cabbage rolls and marinated mushrooms are all home-made. Meats are the only item that can’t be imported (due to government regula-tions), but Sokil says she keeps that authentic by buying meats only from people who came from those countries.

The store at 1635 Woodruff Road will be the largest one yet and will be located between Aldi and Fresh Market. Neither of those stores are competitors, said Sokil, as European Market carries different items. In fact, Sokil said she expects them to refer customers to her, as has happened with her current stores.

While some may question why she is opening on Woodruff Road, Sokil says that’s where her custom-ers want her to be.

“I listened to my clientele. It’s convenient for them,” she said.

Sokil had planned a Sept. 15 opening, but now says it will be closer to Oct. 1.

For more information, visit europeanmarketus.com.

8 | RETAIL | INFORMATION YOU WANT TO KNOW

European grocery to expand to Woodruff RoadSHERRY JACKSON | [email protected]

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carrier, TPA or the client if self-funded. This form states if the plan met minimum essential coverage.

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UBJ | 09.04.2015

Brian and Nicole Cendrowski of Croxbone (pronounced “cross bone”) Brewing Company are back. After several years of amped-up homebrewing in Tampa, Fla., the couple, who lived in the area for several years, has returned to the Upstate and is working to launch a new brewery. To go with the new location is a new name: Fireforge Crafted Beer.

Brian Cendrowski says the climate for breweries has greatly improved since the Stone Bill passed the S.C. Legislature last year. He plans to open Fireforge Crafted Beer initially in a 2,000-3,000-square-foot brewery and also sell in a tasting room. The ability to allow customers to sample their wares is “critical for a startup,” he said.

Many of the couple’s beers reflect unusual flavor combinations that result in appealing brews, they said. Nicole and her culinary mind are the inspiration for many of the brews, Cendrowski said, including

Tampanian Devil, a tripel (a strong, pale ale that uses three times the malt than a standard beer) featuring guava and anise.

A special-request Ghost Pepper Pale Ale for a wedding produced a well-received brew with back-end heat, he said. It was so popular, the brew

has been added to production rotation. A “ThaIPA” featuring lemongrass and ginger was also a hit, he added.

Fireforge Crafted Beer wants to bring styles learned in Florida to palates in the Upstate, Cend-rowski said. The flavors may be unconventional,

10 | BREWING | INFORMATION YOU WANT TO KNOW

Croxbone Brewing makes a moveFormer Tampa-based brewery to launch in Upstate with new name

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but they should be accessible to both craft beer afi cionados and new-comers, he said.

Fireforge Crafted Beer is still searching for a brewery site and the Cendrowskis say they are anticipating a spring 2016 opening. The four-bar-rel brewery will also feature a limited food menu and potentially an outdoor space, said Nicole Cendrowski.

The two had plenty of preparation for the launch, her husband said. When Nicole landed a training post in Tampa and Brian left his job in website and app development, Brian said he had “no distractions and no excuse not to focus” on the brewing.

Out of that focus also came a honed business plan that they are ready to execute, he said.

Brian Cendrowski wants to always be creating new recipes, noting he already has about 30 different “solid recipes” to choose from and produce when the brewery is up and running.

Until then, the Cendrowskis are continuing to brew and showcase their beers at local events and festivals. Fireforge Crafted Beer will join several other brewers for an event during Greenville Startup Week this month and be pouring at the Euphoria Tasting Showcase and Anderson’s BrewHaHa.

INFORMATION YOU WANT TO KNOW | BREWING | 11

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It’s the Approach that Matters

Brewing up a name Beer trademark in a crowded industry can cause clashes

A limited number of clever names exist to print on labels and cans in the brewing industry. In recent years, several breweries have clashed over trademarks, including Lagunitas Brewing Co. suing Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. over design of an India Pale Ale (IPA) logo and packaging. Natty Greene’s of Asheville was accused by Anheuser-Busch of having a name too similar to its Natty Light trademark for Natural Light.

New Upstate brewery Fireforge Crafted Beer, formerly Croxbone Brewery, opted to change its name before launching a formal operation because of trademark considerations, said brewer Brian Cendrowski.

With a relatively narrow channel of trade and approximately 100,000 brands working in craft brewing, “we’re going to see a lot more collisions,” said Doug Kim of the intellectual prop-erty group at McNair Attorneys.

To avoid confusing consum-ers about the source of the goods and protect customers, the purpose of trademark law, Kim recommends that brew-eries fi rst search pending applications with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and registered trademarks.

“There’s no cheaper time to change a name than before you adopt it,” he said. In the tight market space with intense compe-tition, this vetting removes risk, he said.

One complicating issue is that brewery names are also analyzed with wineries and distilleries, Kim said. A patent attorney can conduct a search within several days and fi le an appli-cation in the same amount of time, he said. Getting approval from the federal government takes a bit longer: four to eight months.

Cost to apply, including the appli-cation and attorney fees, averages less than $1,000, Kim said, and paying for a search and registration can be more affordable than recalling a batch of beer labels.

Just fi ling an application can help, as the fi ler’s pending information is out there for others to search and avoid confl ict or duplication, he said. “If you fi le your own, you’re putting your [information] on the list that everyone else is looking at … your

competitors never even show up.” Taking measures to register

trademarks also helps preserve the community spirit of craft beer, Kim said. “We don’t need to be seeing these trademark disputes … because that’s kind of not the point of the whole [craft beer] industry.”

Bottles of beer on the wallNumber of U.S. trademark applications with beer description • 2001 – 995• 2006 – 1,688• 2014 – 7,769

>>

UBJ | 09.04.201512 | SQUARE FEET | REAL ESTATE DEALS AND DEVELOPMENTS ACROSS THE REGION

A 10-acre site along Laurens Road, once home to the Department of Motor Vehicles, could be one of Greenville County’s newest mixed-use developments.

A local developer hopes to revitalize the property, which also housed Department of Transportation and Highway Patrol offi ces until the site closed in 2008, with a mixed-use project that would include apartments, retail, offi ce and access to the GHS Swamp Rabbit Trail.

Laurens Village, at the corner of Laurens and Airport roads, is still in the planning stages, but developer Marcus McCall with McCall Capital foresees an “urban village” concept with tree-lined streets and entryways, courtyards, parks and greenspace areas.

Preliminary plans for the 10-acre site call for several four-story buildings containing 300 studio, one- and two-bedroom apartments called Enclave at Laurens Village, 17,000 square feet of offi ce space, 13,000 square feet of retail and 8,000 square feet for an anchor restaurant. The project would feature a “village green” entrance on Airport Road, heavily landscaped with trees and greenery, said McCall.

Retail could include a coffee shop and bike shop, and McCall hopes to attract a local restaurateur. The Enclave apartments would include the usual high-end amenities, including a fi tness facility and swimming pool, McCall said. It would be a true

live-work-play concept targeted to millennials, but affordable, he stressed.

Preliminary plans also include a public pocket park area, pathways and access to the Swamp Rabbit Trail. Parking would be plentiful with both a parking garage and street-level parking.

McCall said he is still in the due diligence phase, including a non-responsible party Voluntary Cleanup Program with DHEC. He hopes to close on the property within 90 days. Construction could begin

in the second quarter of 2016 and take approximate-ly 12-18 months.

Greenville-based McCall Capital has been in business since 2003 and has more than $140 million in mixed-use and apartment assets in the Carolinas and Virginia. The company is currently working on a $20 million renovation into the Hotel Bristol, a boutique hotel in Bristol, Va., and this fall will begin phase 2, an additional 174 apartments, at the Enclave Paris Mountain.

SHERRY JACKSON | [email protected]

@SJackson_CJ

Developer envisions ‘urban village’ for former DMV site

Mixed-use project planned for 10-acre property along Laurens Road

Greenville County officials are moving closer to a county government complex on the 30-acre tract where County Square is now located. County Council members set aside $20,000 in the 2015-16 budget and $40,000 in 2016-17 budget for the project. The county now needs to hire an architect, said council chairman Bob Taylor.

A multistory county government offi ce building would use about 5 acres

of the site, most likely located near Church Street where Cobb Tire is now located. The remainder of the site will be sold for development and fund construction of the county office building, he said.

Taylor said county offi cials wanted to leave the best views and properties for developers. Whether one develop-er or several will develop the site is not yet decided, he added. The county may solicit proposals from developers for the site, he said. No timeline is in place for the architectural work, said Taylor.

Greenville County Square project moving toward designComplex could face Church Street

APRIL A. MORRIS | [email protected]

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University RidgeUniversity Ridge

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CobbTire &Auto

Site design conceptual drawing by Seamon Whiteside

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September 14-18, 2015

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UBJ | 09.04.2015

Proterra

Five years after landing in Green-ville, electric bus maker Proterra is scaling up, this time by quadrupling its production capacity with a new West Coast facility and actively optimizing EV bus units for mass-market use in the country’s largest cities.

Both projects show Proterra going all in on the idea that electric vehicles are the future of urban transport – including a move to forgo profi tability in order to reinvest in research and development, according to Proterra CEO Ryan Popple.

“If we were to pull back on R&D and just stop where we are with the product, we could be profi table probably within 90 days,” said the former Tesla employ-ee. “We absorb a pretty high cost per


>>

Five years after landing in Green-Five years after landing in Green-Five years after landing in Green-Five years after landing in Green-Five years after landing in Green-Five years after landing in Green-Five years after landing in Green-Five years after landing in Green-Five years after landing in Green-Five years after landing in Green-Five years after landing in Green-Five years after landing in Green-Five years after landing in Green-Five years after landing in Green-Five years after landing in Green-Five years after landing in Green-Five years after landing in Green-Five years after landing in Green-Five years after landing in Green-Five years after landing in Green-Five years after landing in Green-ville, ville, ville, ville, ville, ville, ville, electric bus maker Proterra is electric bus maker Proterra is scaling up, this time by quadrupling its scaling up, this time by quadrupling its production capacity with a new West production capacity with a new West Coast facility and actively optimizing EV Coast facility and actively optimizing EV bus units for mass-market use in the bus units for mass-market use in the country’s largest cities. country’s largest cities.

Both projects show Proterra going all Both projects show Proterra going all Both projects show Proterra going all in on the idea that electric vehicles are in on the idea that electric vehicles are in on the idea that electric vehicles are the future of urban transport – including the future of urban transport – including the future of urban transport – including a move to forgo profi tability in order to a move to forgo profi tability in order to a move to forgo profi tability in order to reinvest in research and development, reinvest in research and development, reinvest in research and development, according to Proterra CEO Ryan Popple. according to Proterra CEO Ryan Popple. according to Proterra CEO Ryan Popple.

“If we were to pull back on R&D and “If we were to pull back on R&D and “If we were to pull back on R&D and just stop where we are with the product, just stop where we are with the product, just stop where we are with the product, we could be profi table probably within we could be profi table probably within we could be profi table probably within 90 days,” said the former Tesla employ-90 days,” said the former Tesla employ-ee. “We absorb a pretty high cost per ee. “We absorb a pretty high cost per

ASHLEY BONCIMINOASHLEY BONCIMINO | STAFF | [email protected]@communityjournals.com

>>

COMPANY TO QUADRUPLE PRODUCTION OF ELECTRIC BUSES WHILE CEO RYAN POPPLE KEEPS AN EYE ON OTHER MARKETS

14 | COVER

>>

09.04.2015 | upstatebusinessjournal.com COVER | 15

month in terms of product development, but we think it’s worth it because – like the Wayne Gretzky quote – you want to skate where the puck is going to be versus chasing it where it is today.”

For Proterra, that means not only keeping up with its current order backlog, but preparing to meet new orders, which are ex-pected to keep rolling in. In the last three years, Proterra revenue grew 1,100 percent to nearly $29 million, according to Inc., and Popple expects to deliver 1 percent of the country’s new transit vehicles next year.

“The drivers that get you there are the same drivers that get you to 5 or 10 percent,” he said. “It’s just a question at that point of continuing to drive the cost down and getting the word of mouth out there.”

CALIFORNIA DREAMINGBased in San Gabriel Valley in

Southern California, the new 160,000-square-foot West Coast facility could produce as many as 200 units per year, much more than Greenville’s one bus per week average today. Depending on demand, Popple said Proter-ra could make as many as 400 units per year through both fa-cilities by 2018.

“We’re talking up to about $1 billion worth of transit bus orders between now and the end of 2018,” he said. “We won’t book anywhere near that number, but … we’re in discus-

sions with all of the big cities.” One big city already on the books is Seattle’s King County Metro, which

Popple said has been active in helping develop, tweak and opti-mize EV buses for larger metro systems.

“They’ve kind of taken us under their wing and said, ‘Hey, look, you’re going to have to grow up a lot before you can be a vendor to Seattle and King County, but we want you to make that evolution,’” Popple said. “That’s what’s unique about early-adopter

customers. They almost demand to be a part of your process.

They’re willing to invest the time, and in exchange they want it optimized. If you can

survive that process, you end up with a product that’s really mass market.”

ENGINEERING FROM SCRATCH

Part of Proter-ra’s advantage, said Popple, is what he calls the “clean sheet ap-proach,” a process that started EV engineering from scratch rather than adapting existing transit

models. Tesla used the same method, he said, opting to spend half a billion developing the Model S in order to avoid getting stuck in the combustion framework.

“There are two types of electric vehicles on the heavy-duty side. There’s Proterra’s electric vehicle, and then there are metal buses with batteries in them,” said Popple. “If there’s one variable you need to get right, it’s mass. A lightweight vehicle means smaller batteries; smaller batteries means lower cost.”

While Proterra buses are $500,000 cheaper today than fi ve years ago, Popple said there’s much more work to be done to make them more affordable. Once that happens, he sees the technology easily transfer-ring to other light-duty transit applications such as school buses and trucks.

“If you think about it, a bus is a truck with humans as its cargo, so it’s the most emissions-sensitive cargo you can have,” he said. “I really think EVs’ best fi t in the next fi ve years is going to be the urban envelope. If we think about our cities, that’s where we live. That’s where we breathe.”

NATIONWIDE STRATEGYToday, Proterra buses can be found in more than

a dozen cities across the country, partially as a result of the company’s education efforts and par-tially because environmental issues are becoming more frequent topics of conversation and concern, Popple said.

“If we could eliminate fossil fuel consumption in our light-duty driving vehicles, our buses, our school buses, and then our last-mile delivery infra-structure, we would have suffi cient carbon budget to never eliminate diesel in long-haul trucking or trains,” he said.

“If I hadn’t been a part of Tesla, and I hadn’t spent fi ve years in venture capital with Kleiner Perkins, I would say ‘No, that’s never going to happen. The world doesn’t change that fast,’” he said. “I think how Proterra could have that kind of impact is very strategically climbing from one market to the next.”

UNDER THE HOOD Founded in 2004

Offi ces in South Carolina, Silicon Valley and Southern California

185 employees

13 transit customers; more than 100 fi rm orders; 323 contracted options

More than 60 vehicles delivered

More than 1 million miles of customer revenue service in U.S.

More than 4 million pounds of CO2 emissions avoided

CATCH THE BUSES IN:Seattle

Tallahassee, Fla.

Reno, Nev.

Worcester, Mass.

San Antonio, Texas

Stockton and Pomona, Calif.

Nashville, Tenn.

Seneca, S.C.

Louisville, Ky.

THE PROTERRA CATALYST:Dimensions: 42’ 6” long; 102” wide; 135.5” high

Wheelbase: 24’ 8”

Curb weight: 23,310 pounds

Capacity: 77 passengers

Fuel economy: 23 MPGe (miles per gallon gasoline equivalent)

Top speed: 65 mph

1,100%Proterra’s revenue growth in the past three years, to nearly

$29 millionaccording to Inc. 5000

Photos by Ashley Boncimino

>>

UBJ | 09.04.2015

There is an interesting dichotomy in our relationship with technology. We profess to crave simplicity and yet we are constantly looking for higher technology, more complex solutions. “It just can’t be that simple,” we think.

This is one of the biggest challeng-es facing us as we try to combat the growing scourge of cybercrime. In many, many cases, it is that simple.

Despite the prevalent news stories about hacks of our favorite stores (Target, Home Depot), our health providers (Anthem), and our govern-ment (SC, IRS, NORAD and so many more), it is worth noting that most all had very high-tech infrastructures with much of the latest in technology. But they were exposed by this: an authenticated employee doing some-thing they shouldn’t, either out of ig-

norance, carelessness or complicity.

Billions of dollars are going into developing new hardware and soft-

ware, but very little is focused on hu-manware – the education, training and conscription of our employees to be the fi rst line of defense in this daily battle.

When I talk to business owners about a security review, they frequent-ly say, “Don’t just tell me it’s passwords” or “spotting phishing” or “securing personal devices.” Because, of course, “everyone knows that.” I beg to differ. If everyone knew that, everyone would be working smarter, and many of the attacks on our institutions, our busi-nesses and our charities would never have gained that fi rst critical foothold.

There’s even statistical evidence: A few months ago, Verizon’s annual report on data breaches and cyberse-curity said the percentage of recipients who open phishing emails and click

16 | DIGITAL MAVEN | THE TECHNICAL SIDE OF BUSINESS

on attachments is actually going up – 23 percent in 2014 compared with 10-20 percent in recent years. A secu-rity test using 150,000 emails found it took less than an hour for 50 percent of users to open the emails and click on the links.

It is not hard to design an email that looks like it came from your bank, mortgage company or credit card provider. All I need are some cribbed logos (fi nd those online) and a copy of the typical email formats those providers use. I confess that even though I consider myself fairly knowl-edgeable on this topic, I’ve been fooled once or twice.

On the off chance that maybe ev-eryone doesn’t know how to identify phishing emails, here are some give-aways to look for in more advanced phishing attempts.

TIP 1: Look fi rst for mismatched URLs.

You may get an email where its “friendly name” is Your Bank Customer Service. It’s not hard to create those. But before you do anything, check the actual URL that it came from. Do this by either hovering over the “To” fi eld or right clicking on the name in the “To” fi eld.

TIP 2: Then look for mismatched domain.

Once you see what the real email address is that the email is coming from (hackers assume you’ll not get this far), you should look for a mis-matched domain – that’s the part of the email address after the @ symbol. The last two parts of the domain are the host, so anything coming from your bank will come from yourbank.com, not yourbankSC.com or your-bank2015.com.

You should see the company’s valid domain name just before the .com. You may see a three-part domain name like “yourbank.i’mscammingyou.com.” Don’t be deceived by seeing the correct domain if it is not in the correct position. Note that companies do not usually have more than one domain name. So any variation on the name makes an email highly questionable.

TIP 3: When in doubt, call it in.If you aren’t sure, call the business

purporting to send you the email (not the number that might be in the suspicious email). They want to get these calls. Most large companies like banks, investment fi rms, credit card providers, etc., have large fraud oper-ations. They want to catch and stop this, and you can help.

TIP 4: Sometimes your heart overrules your head.

Urgent messages are the most trans-parent. Companies don’t act like that.

TIP 5: Never click on anything in an email you are not certain of.

Often the button click is tied to re-leasing and installing malware on your computer. In many cases, this is the initial chink in the armor that lets the cybercriminal in the door. And it doesn’t matter if you are the mailroom clerk with little authority. Once in, they’ll get where they want to soon enough.

That’s where the solutions become more technical and more complex. But before we even get there, much can be stopped by employees who are in-formed and trained about how critical their actions are. They are the guard-ians of your business. It can be just that simple.

Let’s go phishingAre you sure you can identify suspect emails? 5 tips help stop scammers in their tracks

By LAURA HAIGHTpresident, portfoliosc.com

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“How are we going to pay for college?” Parents begin asking this question almost as soon as they fi nd out a baby is due.

The question becomes scarier as children approach college age and parents see the cost of college atten-dance increasing at a higher rate than their income. Then the fi nancial aid notice arrives and they learn that most students do not receive enough fi nan-cial aid to cover the cost of attendance. As a result, many families take out student loans, and students graduate with signifi cant debt. Even so, society continues to push all students toward a bachelor’s degree.

Parents should question more than how to pay. Is the bachelor’s degree the best value? What is the return on investment? What are the job pros-pects and career path? These questions provide a much clearer picture of the value of attending college.

It is often reported that students with a bachelor’s degree earn more than students with an associate degree, and that is true after fi ve to 10 years of employment. In a column for The Hechinger Report, Jill Barshay reports that associate degree graduates earn more starting out, but bachelor’s degree graduates catch up over time. On average, after 10 years, a bachelor’s degree student is making approxi-mately $55,000, which is about $13,000 more than an associate degree graduate.

However, there is a secret hidden in these averages. Majors matter. Barshay reports that graduates who earn an associate degree in applied science are making almost the same salary as bachelor’s degree graduates after 10 years, and in many fi elds are earning much more. The job market is changing, and the value of technical skills is becoming more apparent. Averages are not a true refl ection of the value of earning an associate degree in applied science in a high-de-mand technical fi eld.

For example, mechan-ical engineering is a major with one of the highest average salaries upon graduation. Bach-elor’s degree graduates

typically start at $58,000 to $65,000. They often take longer than four years to graduate and end up with about $35,000 in student debt when they fi nish.

That same student who fi nishes high school with a 3.0 GPA can attend Greenville Technical College with 95 percent of tuition and fees paid by the LIFE scholarship. If the student majors in mechatronics, he or she can start a career two years later with a salary of approximately $40,000 plus overtime pay.

At the end of four years, the bach-elor’s degree student has a negative $35,000 due to student loans, while the associate degree graduate has made $80,000 – a difference of $115,000. Even though the mechan-ical engineer is making $25,000 more than the mechatronics technician, it still takes the mechanical engineer almost fi ve years to catch the mecha-tronics technician in money made.

When I present these numbers to industry leaders, they consistently report that I am too conservative. They say that within their industries, it would take eight to 10 years to make up the difference, and one manager reported that in his facility, the difference is never made up. We need more mechanical engi-neers, but we also need more mechatronics technicians. Both paths are valu-able, and stu-

dents should be encouraged to consid-er all options.

Students do not have to take the traditional path to enter the middle class. The alternate path through a two-year college allows them to earn an associate degree and enter the career fi eld – or if they desire a bach-elor’s degree, to earn it at a lower cost, which improves the return on invest-ment of their education. Students should be encouraged to consider hands-on technical fi elds that provide an excellent return on investment. This is not to say that universities are not worth the money, but students and parents should examine the value proposition of educational choices.

The initial starting point in education is not as critical as the pathway. For many students, Greenville Technical College is the logical starting point, and working through one of our technical majors in an apprenticeship program allows a student to get a jump-start on a career and to begin gaining experience right away. This path allows the student to complete a degree without incurring debt or paying exorbitant tuition prices. A student following this path can move from associate degree in applied science to bachelor’s degree at some point and will be well served by receiving practical early career experience that can be applied to greater challenges later in the career.

By JOEL WELCHBusiness & Technology Division, Greenville Technical College

MOVERS, SHAKERS AND DISRUPTORS SHAPING OUR FUTURE | INNOVATE | 17

We need more mechanical engineers, but we also need more mechatronics technicians. Both paths are valuable, and students should be encouraged to consider all options.

Majors matterThe right associate degree can be worth more than

a bachelor’s degree in the long run

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UBJ | 09.04.2015

It’s Monday, the market just opened andthe Dow is down 1,000 points. Yikes! You turn on the TV and the news is reporting that the downturn is due to a global slowdown, China, Greece, Iran, ISIS, the Fed raising rates, student loan debt, etc.

It never stops. There is always a gloom-and-doom “reason” being reported explaining why the market is turning down. However, as we have written in these pages before, news events should rarely dictate your investment strategy when it comes to the markets.

What is currently happening is normal, and you shouldn’t overreact to it. Here are fi ve reasons why.

1. Corrections are frequent and normal. Since 1928, there have been over 90 corrections

of 10 percent or more. That works out to about one correction every 11 months. In Chart 1, you can see that from the recent low in 2009, multiple correc-tions have occurred over that past six years that range from 5 percent to almost 20 percent. These are all part of a healthy trending market.

2. Don’t be like “Overly Paranoid Rob Lowe.” Yes, from the DirecTV commercials. You see,

“Overly Paranoid Rob Lowe” sells at the bottom and buys at the top of the markets because he makes decisions by emotions instead of a disciplined strategy. It’s no wonder that over the past 20 years, the average annual return for an equity mutual fund investor was only 5.89 percent, while the S&P 500 return was 9.19 percent.

3. An economic recession is unlikely. This is mainly due to interest rates being low and

the yield curve steep. Chart 2 shows us every reces-sion in the U.S. since 1956. What they all have in common is that the Federal Reserve has aggressive-ly raised interest rates prior to the recession. As you can see, rates currently remain near 0 percent, and even if the Fed decides to raise them, its members have said it will be minimal and likely not aggressive in nature.

4. Because your fi nancial plan and risk-manage-ment strategy are in place.

“What is that?” you ask. A realistic and relevant fi nancial plan with a sound risk-management strategy. You don’t have one? Then hire an advisor who will help you build one. If you have an advisor and still don’t have one, then fi re them immediate-ly and fi nd one who will.

Investing without an overall plan and risk strat-egy is much like playing offense with no defense. If you have trouble sleeping at night, then your invest-ments don’t match your risk tolerance. You can easily

fi x this problem with the right plan in place.

5. What the media says and what is actually true are rarely the same.

Which is a sexier headline? “China is committing economic warfare by devaluing its currency and selling U.S. Treasuries,” or “The liquidity the Federal Reserve is providing continues to raise and support asset prices.”

I may have dozed off while writing the second headline. Yet that explains much more about why the stock market is behaving the way it is than what is going on in China. When investors react to headlines with the powerful emotions of fear and greed, they tend to infl uence the markets over the short term. Longer term, it’s the fundamentals and economics that dictate ultimately where the market is going. Always remember, the media sells airtime and advi-sors sell advice.

Volatility in many ways is your ticket of admission to investing in stocks, which historically has provid-

ed positive returns outpacing infl ation. Corrections frequently happen. The difference between a cor-rection and a bear market downturn is the magnitude and duration of the move.

We believe the weight of evidence today does not forewarn a bear market. However, stocks have had a long run and certain risks have increased, so a conservative stock investment strategy would be prudent, in our opinion. If we see a deterioration in the indicators we follow, then we will use our disciplined approach and adjust accordingly.

Having a plan with a risk management strategy keeps us from overreacting to volatility by eliminat-ing emotional decisions, taking advantage of oppor-tunities and helping to limit downside losses.

By BRIAN BOUGHNERCFA, CMT, Parallel Financial Partners

18 | YOUR MONEY | NEWS AND TIPS FOR YOUR PERSONAL BOTTOM LINE

Stop worrying about the bear market5 reasons not to overreact to the stock market volatility

Volatility is your ticket of admission to investing in stocks. If you have trouble sleeping at night, then your investments don’t match your risk tolerance.

Chart 1

Chart 2


In her role as vice president of worldwide marketing at Scansource, an international distrib-utor of specialty technology products, Christy Thompson leads marketing and branding efforts for 25 offi ces with 2,200 employees across North America, South America and Europe. But in her role as children’s health advocate, she is honored if her family’s story reaches just one family who is strug-gling with a pediatric diagnosis.

Thompson grew up on a farm in Spartanburg, attended Clemson and was rising through the ranks of the marketing department at Scansource when her daughter Neely, then 2, was diagnosed with a rare immunological condition in 2009. She discov-ered little information or support was available for those facing challenges like her family’s, so she launched Neely’s Miracle to provide it. She also shares her story and experiences with Greenville Children’s Hospital, the Children’s Miracle Network, the Cleveland Clinic and other health care organizations to make sure families have access to needed resources.

“It’s a different way to use my skills and back-ground, but it’s equally important and fulfi lling,” she said. “Not a lot of companies would allow you to serve all of your passions, but this is one.”

How long have you been in your current role at Scansource?

I’ve been at Scansource for 11 years, and two years ago I moved into this role at the same time it ex-panded. After a corporate reorganization, we became a worldwide team, so we support the marketing function in each of Scansource’s business units in each geography we service. Our marketing team is like an advertising agency or marketing fi rm that sits inside Scansource.

What is your top priority in this role? My goal is to make sure we have a talented, skilled

team and make sure they have the tools and resourc-es they need to create, build and strategize amazing things. After two years as a worldwide group, there is so much opportunity to help groups from different geographies share ideas, best practices, successes and failures. I make sure we don’t build any walls between geographies or teams, because we want to make sure we are collaborating.

As a worldwide team, is it a priority to stay involved in the local community?

We rely heavily on external partnerships, so we do think globally but act locally. To communicate with our customers and communities at a local level,

we have to have a team with feet on the street in that geography. We are linked from a strategy perspective, regardless of geog-raphy, but the way we interact with customers can sometimes be very different.

Everywhere Scansource is, there are employees who love getting involved in their neighbor-hoods and communities. That’s a really cool part of being here.

How did you become involved with the Greenville Children’s Hospital, the Children’s Miracle Network and other pediatric organizations?

When our daughter Neely was 2, she was diag-nosed with a rare immunological condition called ADEM, or acute disseminated encephalomyelitis. Basically, she caught a virus and her immune system got confused and attacked her brain and spinal cord. In 12 days, she went from a healthy, happy toddler to just a heartbeat and a shallow breath. She lost her sight, she was paralyzed, she couldn’t eat or swallow on her own. We found our way to Greenville Chil-dren’s Hospital, and that’s when we say Neely’s fi rst miracle began to happen. The treatment is to basi-cally shut down the immune system and hope the brain can heal itself, and hers did. It basically re-mapped. Her total recovery took about two years.

Tell us about Neelysmiracle.com and why you created it.

We desperately wanted to fi nd hope, but ADEM is rare. We had to become the hope to fi nd it. We thought by sharing Neely’s story, others would fi nd us, and that’s exactly what happened. Within 90 days, 9,000 people had read her story. The market-er in me said, “This is the right thing to do.” I get calls from moms and dads all over the world, and I can empathize so well. It feels good to have something positive come from something so negative.

People talk, particu-larly to women, about work-life balance, but is that even more challenging when you are also an active volunteer for a cause you are passionate about?

I just don’t believe in work-life balance. I don’t think it exists. I think it’s work-life integration. You can’t be everything you are as a person at the same time on the same day. Scansource is a company that allows work-life integration to work very well. My career as a marketer prepares me to support Scan-source and help us achieve great things in the area of specialty technology distribution, but it also allows me to share Neely’s story to be an advocate for all things related to ADEM and epilepsy [an effect of ADEM’s trauma to Neely’s brain].

Is there a piece of advice that has been benefi cial to you in your career?

What I say to myself 10 times a day is, “Let it be enough.” We’re so hard on ourselves, and life can get very complicated. There can be a layer of guilt on ev-erything we do. We might have a great day at work but are an hour late for dinner. Or we may have a great day with our family but not accomplish something at work. I try to let go of that guilt and let it be enough.

What is the key challenge facing your industry? Finding great, talented people. We’ve got to

continue to fi nd and develop talent so we can con-tinue to be a company of innovators, entrepreneurs and creative thinkers. If that pipeline grows cold, we haven’t done our job.

Christy ThompsonVice president, worldwide marketing, Scansource

Leigh Savage | Contributor

ONES TO WATCH: The judges could only choose a handfulof winners from the morethan 130 nominees for Who’s Who in 2015. Over the next few months, UBJ will introduce you to more whose work isworth keeping an eye on.

MOVERS, SHAKERS AND DISRUPTORS SHAPING OUR FUTURE | WHO’S WHO: ONES TO WATCH | 19

POINTS OF INTEREST:Hometown: Spartanburg

College: Clemson University, English and psychology

Family: Husband Jamie, daughters Ava (11) and Neely (8)

Books: “Lean In” by Sheryl Sandberg; “The Treatment of Epilepsy”; historical fi ction

Hobbies: Writing, traveling, family time

UBJ | 09.04.201520 | ON THE MOVE | PLAY-BY-PLAY OF UPSTATE CAREERS

COMMUNITY

Inspiring the American Dream Foundation elected the following members to the board of directors: Ryan Heafy, CEO of iMAGINEXT Solutions LLC and partner at Switch Image Concepts; Patsy Wood Smith, principal of Youth Leadership Academy; and Rick Klausing, senior

project controller at Unisys.

EDUCATION

Nick Gothard will serve as an assis-tant professor of physics at Bob Jones University this fall. Gothard previous-ly served as a visiting research scientist at the Air Force Research Laboratory and a National Research Council re-

search associate, a graduate research assistant in the Nanomaterials Synthe-sis Laboratory at Clemson University and a National Science Foundation

REU research assistant at Florida In-ternational University. He holds two patents, has a provisional patent and another under consideration.

PROMOTED HIRED HIRED APPOINTED HIRED

Shaun C. MalinNamed senior project manager of the South/Midwest region of HRP Associates Inc. Malin, a certifi ed professional geologist, has been employed with HRP for fi ve years. His responsibilities include the technical support of projects and management of hydrogeological staff.

Janice SasserJoins the staff of Clemson Eye. Sasser is a nurse practitioner with 10 years of experience in medical aesthetics. She most recently served at Aesthetics Center in Greenville. She has worked in hospitals and private practices in emergency medicine, community health, diabetes education and health management.

Lisa Marie FieldNamed a business development specialist at GMK Associates Inc. Field most recently served in the hospitality industry as the membership director with Club Corp’s Capital City Club. She has experience in mass media sales management for several companies and as a marketing director for John Crosland Company.

Mona ThorntonNamed to the Continuous Improvement Commission of the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP). Thornton is associate dean of the School of Education at Southern Wesleyan University. CAEP governs more than 1,000 educator preparation programs.

Chelsia Spivey Named public relations and special events director for the Salvation Army in Greenville, Pickens and Oconee counties. Spivey previously worked at The Salvation Army Ray and Joan Kroc Corps Community Center and coordinated volunteers for the 2014 Christmas Angel Tree program.

CONTRIBUTE: New hires, promotions & award winners may be featured in On the Move. Send information and photos to [email protected].

PROMOTED HIRED HIRED APPOINTED HIRED

For more information about our mission or to make a donation please visit our website www.treesgreenville.org.

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in Greenville County

09.04.2015 | upstatebusinessjournal.com THE FRESHEST FACES ON THE BUSINESS LANDSCAPE | NEW TO THE STREET | 21

Open for business 1. The Primrose School of Simpsonville at Five Forks celebrated a ribbon-cutting last Saturday. For more information, visit primroseschools.com/schools/simpsonville-five-forks.

2. Hucks Financial Services recently opened at 138 S. Main St., Simpsonville. For more information, visit jasonhucks.website.raymondjames.com.

3. Carolina Vapor Mill recently opened at 3425 Hwy. 153, Piedmont. The store sells e-cigarette products and accessories. For more information, visit carolinavapormill.com.

4. The Simpsonville Area Chamber of Commerce recently opened a new location at 100 W. Trade St., Simpsonville. For more information, visit simpsonvillechamber.com.

CONTRIBUTE: Know of a business opening soon? Email information to [email protected].

1

2 3

4

UBJ | 09.04.2015

United closes merger with Palmetto Bank

United Community Banks Inc. closed its merger Tuesday with Palmetto Bancshares Inc. and its wholly owned subsidiary, The Palmetto Bank.

Palmetto Bank will continue to operate under the Palmetto Bank brand name until conversion to United’s operating systems, which is expected to occur in Feb-ruary 2016.

After conversion, it will operate under the brand name of United Community Bank. Until the conversion, Palmetto Bank customers will continue to use their existing products and services.

Palmetto Bank operates 25 branches in the Upstate, and at June 30 had $1.2 billion in assets, $977 million in deposits and $824 million in loans.

United is based in Blairsville, Ga., and has $9.4 billion in assets. The company operates 133 offices in Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee.

Samuel Erwin, chairman, president and CEO, and Lee Dixon, chief risk and chief operating officer of Palmetto Bank, will join the leadership team of United.

SCRA invests $200K in Servosity SCRA Technology Ventures’ SC Launch

program invested $200,000 in Greenville-based Servosity, which recently moved into NEXT on Main.

Servosity delivers mission-critical disas-ter recovery as a service to managed service providers and IT resellers. During a disas-ter recovery situation, the technology allows for streaming of operating systems, so information is immediately received with no wait time for downloads.

“We are thrilled to be part of the SC Launch program and will use this invest-ment to further our technology and grow high-tech jobs in South Carolina,” Servosity founder and CEO Damien Stevens said in a release. “Locating our operations at NEXT on Main is the next step in our growth as a company, and we thank the team at NEXT for their support.”

Greenville sock company launches Kickstarter campaign

Stesso LLC, a Greenville-based apparel startup, launched a Kickstarter campaign in order to introduce their inaugural sock collection and gather sufficient funds to meet initial manufacturing costs.

The campaign will run until Oct. 5, and the company’s goal is to reach $4,000 in funding.

The company introduced eight sock designs as part of its launch collection. Designers used global and sports influences during the design process.

“We are very excited to have the opportunity to introduce our project after working relentlessly to develop it from concept to creation,” said Mario Cuadros, founder of Stesso. “Offering more than just socks, Stesso prides itself in pro-viding an avenue for individuals to unveil their personality and create their identity.”

Stesso is committed to donating a percentage of their profits to various cancer organizations.

J M Smith acquires IntegraJ M Smith Corporation, based in

Spartanburg, acquired the products and services of Integra, and will manage them as a subsidiary of the J M Smith Corporation known as Integra LTC Solutions LLC.

This acquisition will enable J M Smith Corporation to look at new opportu-nities in the long-term-care pharmacy market. Integra, based in Anacortes, Wash., focuses on the institutional pharmacy market.

Integra products for pharmacies include DocuTrack, a content and document management system that automates paper, fax and electronic processing; De-liveryTrack, which manages delivery processes; and Logix, a business process automation software.

Ogletree Deakins opens Seattle officeOgletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, P.C. (Ogle-

tree Deakins) expanded in the Pacific Northwest by opening an office in Seattle.

“We are very excited to open in Seattle, which comes in direct response to client demand,” said Kim Ebert, managing shareholder of Ogletree Deakins. “We represent a number of clients with substantial operations in Washington and the greater Pacific Northwest and combining this new office with our very successful Portland team will allow us to better serve those em-ployers. It is clear that Seattle was a logical next step in our strategic growth.”

UberXL now offered in Greenville Ridesharing service Uber expanded its operations

in Greenville by offering UberXL. The company’s lower cost service, UberX, was

already available in the market. The UberXL cars offer room for up to six riders. Passengers have the ability to split ride costs with riders.

The company said examples of the cars are Toyota Highlanders, Honda Odysseys and Ford Explorers.

The company said availability may be limited at times due to high demand.

Spartanburg looks to increase access to high-speed Internet

Spartanburg County community leaders this week launched Connected Spartanburg.

The program seeks to increase the number of high-tech companies and jobs, ensure that schools have sufficient access to broadband, and maximize technol-ogy options for healthcare, libraries, local government and citizens.

“By bringing high-speed Internet to our community, we put our region ahead of the curve,” Allen Smith, president & CEO of the Spartanburg Area Chamber of Commerce, said in a release. “Technology puts Spartanburg on the road to success by fostering new jobs, new opportunities, and increased economic de-velopment.”

Representatives from all seven Spartanburg area school districts, Spartanburg County, the City of Spartanburg and business and government leaders are involved in the project.

Multiple teams will be reaching out to others in the community to complete necessary surveys for the assessment of overall broadband and technology in-novation in Spartanburg County.

22 | THE FINE PRINT | BUSINESS BRIEFS YOU CAN’T MISS

09.04.2015 | upstatebusinessjournal.com BUSINESS BRIEFS YOU CAN'T MISS | THE FINE PRINT | 23

TopTec partners with U.K. company

TopTec Event Tents recently launched a new company division, Inflate-AIRmerica, in partnership with Inflate, a U.K. design and produc-tion firm specializ-ing in creating in-flatable structures for immersive brand and event experiences.

“With the launch of Inflate-AIRmerica, our customers will have a unique and eye-catching offering to their clients that will set them apart from the traditional and boring,” TopTec President John Ciniglio said in a release.

TopTec operates two facilities: one in New York and a larger man-ufacturing facility in South Carolina. By utilizing the reach of these two facilities, Ciniglio said that the company will be able to develop the product line and quickly offer it throughout North America while leveraging the innovation and inflat-able products knowledge that suc-cessfully grew the Inflate brand in Europe.

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GEORGIA RETAILER DRESS UP, a women’s clothing boutique, is set to open soon at 103 N. Main St. in downtown Greenville (in the former Wish boutique space). This will be the company’s 12th location and the first outside of Georgia.

AYERS LEATHER SHOP HAS MOVED from its downtown Greenville retail storefront on the corner of Main and West North streets to a smaller space around the corner on North Street.

UBJ | 09.04.201524 | SOCIAL SNAPSHOT | INSIDE THE UPSTATE’S NETWORKING AND SOCIAL SCENE

CONTRIBUTE: Got high-resolution photos of your networking or social events? Send photos and

information for consideration to [email protected].

Photos provided

THE NEXT PHASENEXT on Main offi cially opened its downtown Greenville space

last week in the Bank of America building at 101 N. Main St. Its latest tenant, Servosity, celebrated receiving a $200,000 grant

from SCRA Technology Ventures’ SC Launch program.

09.04.2015 | upstatebusinessjournal.com INSIDE THE UPSTATE’S NETWORKING AND SOCIAL SCENE | SOCIAL SNAPSHOT | 25

CONTRIBUTE: Got high-resolution photos of your networking or social events? Send photos and information for consideration to [email protected].

CHAMBER TEES OFFThe Greenville Chamber’s 23rd

annual golf tournament, held last week at the Chanticleer and

Riverside courses, raised more than $60,000 to support the Chamber’s community improvement initiatives.

Photos provided by Greenville Chamber

UBJ | 09.04.2015

RE: GREENVILLE SWAMP RABBITS> @amorris_CJ “What do you think about Greenville’s hockey team’s new name: Swamp Rabbits?”

> @kelseyjoynelson “LOVE it!”

> @tbirdnturtle1 “Awesome!!! Where can fans buy apparel with the new logo?”

RE: PC HASHES OUT NEW ZONING CLASSIFICATIONS, PERRY PLACE AND BONAVENTURE PLANS> The Marchant Company “Everything you need to know about the zoning meeting earlier this month.”

> Wilson Associates Real Estate “Read the full recap of the August 20 Greenville Planning Commission meeting #yeathTHATgreenville”

RE: ARTISTS AT WORK IN DOWNTOWN TR

> Lindsey Brown “This sounds like fun.”

> Erica Allen “Very cool. Excited to switch it up ... those wine paintings are taking over my attic!”

RE: BON SECOURS ST. FRANCIS CARE CENTER FEATURED IN GREER DEVELOPMENT

> Michael Badeaux’s Engineering Upstate Real Estate > Michael Badeaux’s Engineering

“Bon Secours St Francis fi xing to grow with Greenville and the big boys...”

RE: GREENVILLE, S.C., IS A REFINED CITY THAT CHERISHES HISTORY (VIA NY DAILY NEWS)> Upstate Business Journal “Photos of the Greenville, South Carolina skyline quickly become outdated because of continual building, but the nearby Blue Ridge Mountains aren’t changing.” Check out New York Daily News’ article on #yeahtTHATgreenville’s history: http://nydn.us/1JH15V2”

> Gary Mattingly “Welcome to my world”

> Avana Carolina Point “Greenville is truly beautiful! Love Love Love this city!!”

26 | #TRENDING | INFORMATION YOU WANT TO KNOW

BIZ BUZZ The top 5 stories from last week’s issue ranked by shareability score

1. NEXT on Main opens doors

2. Neighbors voice concerns over proposed West End apartments

3. Bon Secours St. Francis care center featured in Greer development

4. RiverPlace tops out Phase III

5. North Main Flats renovations near completion

OVERHEARD @ THE WATERCOOLERDistilled commentary from UBJ readers

>> 188

>> 91

>> 89

>> 76

>> 136

UPSTATEBUSINESSJOURNAL.COM

>> WEIGH IN @ THE UBJ EXCHANGEGot something to o� er? Get it o� your chest.We’re looking for expert guest bloggers from all industries to contribute to the UBJ Exchange. Send posts or blog ideas to [email protected].

DIGITAL FLIPBOOK ARCHIVE >>

The layout of print meets the convenience of the Web: fl ip through the digital edition of any of our print issues at >> ustatebusinessjournal.com/past-issues

AUGUST 28, 2015 | VOL. 4 ISSUE 35

The Southern Connector has gone from “road to nowhere” to

the backbone of a potential new economic corridor in

southern Greenville County - pg 14

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EXECUTIVE EDITORSusan Clary [email protected]

MANAGING EDITORJerry [email protected]

STAFF WRITERSAshley Boncimino, Sherry Jackson, Benjamin Jeffers, Cindy Landrum, April A. Morris

MARKETING & ADVERTISING

SALES REPRESENTATIVESNicole Greer, Kristi Jennings, Donna Johnston, Annie Langston, Lindsay Oehman, Emily Yepes

DIRECTOR OF EVENTS & ACCOUNT STRATEGY Kate Madden

DIGITAL TEAM Emily Price, Danielle Car

ART & PRODUCTION

ART DIRECTORWhitney Fincannon

OPERATIONS Holly Hardin

ADVERTISING DESIGNMichael Allen

CLIENT SERVICES Anita Harley, Jane Rogers

EXECUTIVE ASSISTANTKristi Fortner

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UBJ welcomes expert commentary from business leaders on timely news topics related to their specialties. Guest columns run 700-800 words. Contact Executive Editor Susan Clary Simmons at [email protected] to submit an article for consideration.

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IN THIS WEEK’S ISSUE OF UBJ? WANT A COPY FOR YOUR LOBBY?

Order a reprint today, PDFs available for $25. For more information, contact Anita Harley 864.679.1205 or

[email protected]

20 Upstate bUsiness joUrnal November 1, 2013

UBJ milestone

Solve. Serve. Grow. Those three words summarize Jackson Marketing Group’s guiding principles, and ac-cording to owner Larry Jackson, form the motivation that has kept the firm thriving for the past 25 years.

Jackson graduated from Bob Jones University with a degree in video and film production and started his 41-year career in the communications industry with the U.S. Army’s Public Information Office. He served during

Vietnam, where he said he was “luckily” stationed in the middle of Texas at Fort Hood.

He left the service and went to work in public affairs and motorsports at Ford Motor Company in Detroit. After a stint at Bell and Howell, where he was responsible for managing Ford’s dealer marketing and training, the entrepreneurial bug hit and he co-founded Jackson-Dawson Mar-keting Communications, a company specializing in dealer training and product launches for the auto indus-try in 1980.

In 1987, Jackson wanted to move back south and thought Greenville would be a good fit. An avid pilot, he

learned of an opportunity to purchase Cornerstone Aviation, a fixed base operation (FBO) that served as a service station for the Greenville Downtown Airport, providing fuel, maintenance and storage.

In fact, when he started the Green-ville office of what is now Jackson Marketing Group (JMG) in 1988, the offices were housed on the second floor in an airport hangar.

“Clients would get distracted by the airplanes in the hangars and we’d have to corral them to get back up-stairs to the meeting,” Jackson said.

Jackson sold the FBO in 1993, but says it was a great way to get to know Greenville’s fathers and leaders

Jackson Marketing Group celebrates 25 yearsBy sherry Jackson | staff | [email protected]

>>

Chairman larry Jackson, Jackson marketing Group. Photos by Greg Beckner / Staff

November 1, 2013 Upstate bUsiness joUrnal 21

UBJ milestone

with a majority of them utilizing the general aviation airport as a

“corporate gateway to the city.”In 1997, Jackson and his son,

Darrell, launched Jackson Motor-sports Group. The new division was designed to sell race tires and go to racetracks to sell and mount the tires. Darrell Jackson now serves as president of the motorsports group and Larry Jackson has two other children and a son-in-law who work there. Jackson said all his children started at the bottom and “earned their way up.”

Jackson kept the Jackson-Dawson branches in Detroit and others in Los Angeles and New York until he sold his portion of that partnership in 2009 as part of his estate plan-ning.

The company now operates a small office in Charlotte, but its main headquarters are in Greenville in a large office space off Woodruff Road, complete with a vision gallery that displays local artwork and an audi-torium Jackson makes available for non-profit use. The Motor-sports Group is housed in an additional 26,000 square feet building just down the street, and the agency is currently looking for another 20,000 square feet.

Jackson said JMG has expand-ed into other verticals such as financial, healthcare, manufac-turing and pro-bono work, but still has a strong focus on the auto industry and transportation. It’s

also one of the few marketing com-panies in South Carolina to handle all aspects of a project in-house, with four suites handling video production, copywriting, media and research and web design.

Clients include heavyweights such as BMW, Bob Jones University, the Peace Center, Michelin and Sage Automotive. Recent projects have included an interactive mobile appli-cation for Milliken’s arboretum and 600-acre Spartanburg campus and a marketing campaign for the 2013 Big League World Series.

“In my opinion, our greatest single achievement is the longevity of our client relationships,” said Darrell Jackson. “Our first client from back in 1988 is still a client today. I can count on one hand the number of clients who have gone elsewhere in the past decade.”

Larry Jackson says his Christian faith and belief in service to others, coupled with business values rooted in solving clients’ problems, have kept

him going and growing his business over the years. He is passionate about giving back and outreach to non-prof-its. The company was recently awarded the Community Foundation Spirit Award.

The company reaffirmed its com-mitment to serving the community last week by celebrating its 25th an-niversary with a birthday party and a 25-hour Serve-A-Thon partnership with Hands on Greenville and Habitat for Humanity. JMG’s 103 full-time employees worked in shifts around the clock on October 22 and 23 to help construct a house for a deserving family.

As Jackson inches towards retire-ment, he says he hasn’t quite figured out his succession plan yet, but sees the companies staying under the same umbrella. He wants to continue to strategically grow the business.

“From the beginning, my father has taught me that this business is all about our people – both our clients and our associates,” said his son,

Darrell. “We have created a focus and a culture that strives to solve problems, serve people and grow careers.”

Darrell Jackson said he wants to “continue helping lead a culture where we solve, serve and grow. If we are successful, we will continue to grow towards our ultimate goal of becoming the leading integrated marketing communications brand in the Southeast.”

jackson Marketing Group’s 25 Years1988 Jackson Dawson opens in Greenville at Downtown Airport

2003 motorsports Division acquires an additional 26,000 sq. ft. of warehouse space

1998 Jackson Dawson moves to task industrial Court

1997 Jackson Dawson launches

motorsports Division

2009-2012 Jackson marketing Group named a top BtoB agency by

BtoB magazine 4 years running

2012 Jackson marketing Group recognized by Community Foundation

with Creative spirit Award

2009 Jackson Dawson changes name to Jackson

marketing Group when larry sells his partnership

in Detroit and lA

1988 19981993 2003 2008

1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

1990 Jackson Dawson acquires therapon marketing Group and moves to Piedmont

office Center on Villa.

2011 Jackson marketing Group/Jackson motorsports

Group employee base reaches 100 people

pro-bono/non-proFit Clients

American Red Cross of Western Carolinas

Metropolitan Arts CouncilArtisphere

Big League World SeriesThe Wilds

Advance SCSouth Carolina Charities, Inc.

Aloft

Hidden Treasure Christian School

CoMMUnitY inVolVeMent & boarD positions

lArry JACkson (ChAirmAn): Bob Jones University Board chairman, The Wilds Christian Camp and Conference Center board member, Gospel Fellowship Association board member, Past Greenville Area Development Corporation board member, Past Chamber of Commerce Headquarters Recruiting Committee member, Past Greenville Tech Foundation board member

David Jones (Vice President Client services, Chief marketing officer): Hands on Greenville board chairman

mike Zeller (Vice President, Brand marketing): Artisphere Board, Metropolitan Arts Council Board, American Red Cross Board, Greenville Tech Foundation Board, South Carolina Chamber Board

eric Jackson (Jackson motorsports Group sales specialist): Salvation Army Boys & Girls Club Advisory Board

>>

AS SEEN IN NOVEMBER 1, 2013

IN THIS WEEK’S ISSUE OF UBJ? WANT A COPY FOR YOUR LOBBY?

Order a reprint today, PDFs available for $25. For more information, contact Anita Harley 864.679.1205 or

20 Upstate bUsiness joUrnal November 1, 2013

UBJ milestone

Solve. Serve. Grow. Those three words summarize Jackson Marketing Group’s guiding principles, and ac-cording to owner Larry Jackson, form the motivation that has kept the firm thriving for the past 25 years.

Jackson graduated from Bob Jones University with a degree in video and film production and started his 41-year career in the communications industry with the U.S. Army’s Public Information Office. He served during

Vietnam, where he said he was “luckily” stationed in the middle of Texas at Fort Hood.

He left the service and went to work in public affairs and motorsports at Ford Motor Company in Detroit. After a stint at Bell and Howell, where he was responsible for managing Ford’s dealer marketing and training, the entrepreneurial bug hit and he co-founded Jackson-Dawson Mar-keting Communications, a company specializing in dealer training and product launches for the auto indus-try in 1980.

In 1987, Jackson wanted to move back south and thought Greenville would be a good fit. An avid pilot, he

learned of an opportunity to purchase Cornerstone Aviation, a fixed base operation (FBO) that served as a service station for the Greenville Downtown Airport, providing fuel, maintenance and storage.

In fact, when he started the Green-ville office of what is now Jackson Marketing Group (JMG) in 1988, the offices were housed on the second floor in an airport hangar.

“Clients would get distracted by the airplanes in the hangars and we’d have to corral them to get back up-stairs to the meeting,” Jackson said.

Jackson sold the FBO in 1993, but says it was a great way to get to know Greenville’s fathers and leaders

Jackson Marketing Group celebrates Jackson Marketing Group celebrates Jackson Marketing

25 yearsBy sherry Jackson | staff | [email protected]

>>

Chairman larry Jackson, Jackson marketing Group. Photos by Greg Beckner / Staff

November 1, 2013 Upstate bUsiness joUrnal 21

UBJ milestone

with a majority of them utilizing the general aviation airport as a

“corporate gateway to the city.”In 1997, Jackson and his son,

Darrell, launched Jackson Motor-sports Group. The new division was designed to sell race tires and go to racetracks to sell and mount the tires. Darrell Jackson now serves as president of the motorsports group and Larry Jackson has two other children and a son-in-law who work there. Jackson said all his children started at the bottom and “earned their way up.”

Jackson kept the Jackson-Dawson branches in Detroit and others in Los Angeles and New York until he sold his portion of that partnership in 2009 as part of his estate plan-ning.

The company now operates a small office in Charlotte, but its main headquarters are in Greenville in a large office space off Woodruff Road, complete with a vision gallery that displays local artwork and an audi-torium Jackson makes available for non-profit use. The Motor-sports Group is housed in an additional 26,000 square feet building just down the street, and the agency is currently looking for another 20,000 square feet.

Jackson said JMG has expand-ed into other verticals such as financial, healthcare, manufac-turing and pro-bono work, but still has a strong focus on the auto industry and transportation. It’s

also one of the few marketing com-panies in South Carolina to handle all aspects of a project in-house, with four suites handling video production, copywriting, media and research and web design.

Clients include heavyweights such as BMW, Bob Jones University, the Peace Center, Michelin and Sage Automotive. Recent projects have included an interactive mobile appli-cation for Milliken’s arboretum and 600-acre Spartanburg campus and a marketing campaign for the 2013 Big League World Series.

“In my opinion, our greatest single achievement is the longevity of our client relationships,” said Darrell Jackson. “Our first client from back in 1988 is still a client today. I can count on one hand the number of clients who have gone elsewhere in the past decade.”

Larry Jackson says his Christian faith and belief in service to others, coupled with business values rooted in solving clients’ problems, have kept

him going and growing his business over the years. He is passionate about giving back and outreach to non-prof-giving back and outreach to non-prof-giving back and outreach to non-profits. The company was recently awarded the Community Foundation Spirit Award.

The company reaffirmed its com-mitment to serving the community last week by celebrating its 25th an-niversary with a birthday party and a 25-hour Serve-A-Thon partnership with Hands on Greenville and Habitat for Humanity. JMG’s 103 full-time employees worked in shifts around the clock on October 22 and 23 to help construct a house for a deserving family.

As Jackson inches towards retire-ment, he says he hasn’t quite figured out his succession plan yet, but sees the companies staying under the same umbrella. He wants to continue to strategically grow the business.

“From the beginning, my father has taught me that this business is all about our people – both our clients and our associates,” said his son,

Darrell. “We have created a focus and a culture that strives to solve problems, serve people and grow careers.”

Darrell Jackson said he wants to “continue helping lead a culture where we solve, serve and grow. If we are successful, we will continue to grow towards our ultimate goal of becoming the leading integrated marketing communications brand in the Southeast.”

jackson Marketing Group’s 25 Years1988 Jackson Dawson opensin Greenville at Downtown Airport

2003 motorsports Division acquires an additional 26,000 sq. ft. of warehouse space

1998 Jackson Dawson moves to task industrial Court

1997 Jackson Dawson launches

motorsports Division

2009-2012 Jackson marketing Group named a top BtoB agency by

BtoB magazine 4 years running

2012 Jackson marketing Group recognized by Community Foundation

with Creative spirit Award

2009 Jackson Dawson changes name to Jackson

marketing Group when larry sells his partnership

in Detroit and lA

1988 19981993 2003 2008

1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

1990 Jackson Dawson acquires therapon marketing Group and moves to Piedmont

office Center on Villa.

2011 Jackson marketing Group/Jackson motorsports

Group employee base reaches 100 people

pro-bono/non-proFitClients

/lients

/

American Red Cross of Western Carolinas

Metropolitan Arts CouncilArtisphere

Big League World SeriesThe Wilds

Advance SCSouth Carolina Charities, Inc.

Aloft

Hidden Treasure Christian School

CoMMUnitY nitY nit inVinVin olVolVol eVeV Ment& boarD positions

lArry JACkson (ChAirmAn):Bob Jones University Board chairman, The Wilds Christian Camp and Conference Center board member, Gospel Fellowship Association board member, Past Greenville Area Development Corporation board member,Past Chamber of Commerce Headquarters Recruiting Committee member, Past Greenville Tech Foundation board member

David Jones (Vice President Client services, Chief marketing officer): Hands on Greenville board chairman

mike Zeller (Vice President, Brand marketing): Artisphere Board, Metropolitan Arts Council Board, American Red Cross Board, Greenville Tech Foundation Board, South Carolina Chamber Board

eric Jackson (Jackson motorsports Group sales specialist):Salvation Army Boys &Girls Club Advisory Board

>>

AS SEEN IN NOVEMBER 1, 2013

SEPT. 18: THE SMALL BUSINESS ISSUEDreaming big, starting small.

OCT. 16: THE MANUFACTURING ISSUEWomen are thriving in this growing fi eld.

OCT. 30: QUARTERLY CRE ISSUEThe state of commercial real estate in the Upstate.

Got any thoughts? Care to contribute? Let us know at [email protected].

UP NEXT

INSIDE THE UPSTATE’S NETWORKING AND SOCIAL SCENE | PLANNER | 27

CONTRIBUTE: Got a hot date? Submit event information for consideration to [email protected].

DATE EVENT INFO WHERE DO I GO? HOW DO I GO?

Friday

9/4First Friday Leadership Series Speaker: Bob Barreto, president GBS Building Supply

Clemson at Greenville ONE1 N. Main St., 5th Floor, Greenville5:15-7 p.m.

Cost: Free Register: bit.ly/fi rst-fridaysep2015

Thursday

9/10High Performance Leadership Series Topic: Leading with Vision

Commerce Club55 Beattie Place, 17th Floor, Greenville11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m.

Register: 248-766-6926

Tuesday

9/15Understanding Financial Statements Fundamentals of understanding business fi nancial statements

NEXT Innovation Center411 University Ridge, Greenville6-8:30 p.m.

Cost: $29 Register: piedmontscore.org/workshops/register/175

Wednesday

9/16Tech After Five Networking for tech entrepreneurs

Pour Lounge221 N. Main St., Greenville5:30-7:30 p.m.

Cost: Free Register: bit.ly/taf-sep2015

Thursday

9/17NEXT Capital Series: Demystifying Venture Capital

Clemson at Greenville ONE1 N. Main St., 5th Floor, Greenville3-5:30 p.m.

Cost: Free Register: bit.ly/vc-sep2015

EMV IS COMINGBut it doesn’t have to be scary.Upgrade your terminals to EMV formatting before the October deadline. It’s an important shift to a more secure chip and signature card technology.

Learn more at www.tandempayment.com/EMV

Tandem Innovative Payment Solutions 728 N Pleasantburg Dr, Greenville, SC 29607

(864) 672-1570 www.tandempayment.comTandem is a registered ISO/MSP of Chase Paymentech Solutions, LLC

September 4, 2015 UBJ

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