SERVING THE ROANOKE/BLACKSBURG/NEW RIVER VALLEY REGION

FREE

DECEMBER 2012

scorecardEconomic The Roanoke Valley is

recovering from the Great Recession; the New River

Valley already has.

Our old bank made us feel like we were always lost in the shuffl e. That’s

why we switched to a bank focused on quick turnaround and great

service, not complicated practices and increasing fees. HomeTown Bank

is always positive, never complicated, and they understand our needs.

They care about accounts of all sizes. That’s what makes them HomeTown.

Bill & Steve Roberts, Yellow Cab

HomeTown Bank understands what drives our business.

Member FDIC

Isn’t it time you turnedover a new leaf?

www.hometownbankva.com345-6000

TTThhe succeesss ooof yyooouuuuuurrrrr oooooooooooorrgaaaaannnnnnnniiiizzzationnn iissssss

dddeependenttt upppppppooooooon yyoouuuuurr eeeeeeeemmmmmmmplloooooyyyyyyyyeeeeees. TTThhhhhhhhhhheeeeeeyyyyyyyyyyyyy

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrreee yyyooouuurr gggrreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaattttttttttttteeeeeeeeeeeesssst assssseeeeeeettt... AAAAAAAAAAAtt RRRRRRRuuuuttttthherfoooooooooooooooooooorrrrrrrrddddddddd,,,

ooooouurr emplooyyyyyyyyeeeeeeeeeeee bbbbbbbeeneefififittttssss ppppppppprrrrroooooooooffeesssssssssssiiiiiiooooonalssssss cccccccccccccaaaaaaaaannnnnnnn

aaaaaaaaaassssiist yoou iiiinnnn dddddddddeeeeevveeelllooopppppppppiiiiinnnnnnngggggggggggggggggggg ppppprrroooooooggggggrrrrrrraaammmmssss tttttttttthhhhhhhhhhhhaaaaaatttttttttt

eeeeeemmpppoower eeemmmmmmmmmppppppppppllllloooooooooooooyyyyeeeess ttttoooooooooo ttttttaaaaaaaaaaaaaakkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee cccccchhhhhaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrgggggggggggeeeeeeeeeeeee ooooooooooooofffffffffffffff ttttttthhhhhhhheeeeiiiiirrrrrr

hhheealth -- inncccccrrrrrrreeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaasssssssiing eeemmmmmmmmpppppllloooooooooyyyyyyyyyyeeeeeeeee ssssssaaaaaatttttiiiiiiiisssssfffffaaaaaaaaccccccccccccctttttiiiiiiooooooooonnnnnnn,,,,

iiiiiimmmmmmmmmppppprrrrrooooooovvvvvvvvvviiingg ooooovveeeeeeerrrrrraaaall eemmmmmmpppppplooooooyyyyyyyyeeeeeeeeee hhhhhhheeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaalllttthhh aaannnddddddd

rreeddddddddddddduuuuuucccciiinnnnngggggggggg bbbbbbbbeeeeenneeefififififittttss coossttttsssss..

ALEXANDRIA, VA

ATLANTA, GA

CHARLOTTE, NC

GLEN ALLEN, VA

GREENVILLE, SC

HAMPTON ROADS, VA

LYNCHBURG, VA

MOBILE, AL

PETERSBURG, VA

PHILADELPHIA, PA

RALEIGH, NC

RICHMOND, VA

ROANOKE, VA

INSURANCE BROKERAGE

RISK MANAGEMENT SERVICES

CAPTIVE & ALTERNATIVE RISK

EMPLOYEE BENEFITS CONSULTING

POPULATION HEALTH MANAGEMENT

ENVIRONMENTAL CONSULTING

SURETY BONDING

INTERNATIONAL

PRIVATE CLIENT

MARITIME

D E P A R T M E N T S

C O N T E N T SS E R V I N G T H E R O A N O K E / B L A C K S B U R G /

N E W R I V E R V A L L E Y R E G I O N

2 DECEMBER 2012

S E R V I N G T H E R O A N O K E / B L A C K S B U R G /

26 INTERVIEW Under one roof Dean Faye Gilbert expects many benefits

from Radford’s new COBE building. by Sarah Cox

28 LIFESTYLES Finding time Exercise can lead to health and happiness,

even if it comes in stolen moments. by Sam Dean

32 ROANOKE NEXT Molding students into ‘perfect job

seekers’ Stuart Mease helps Pamplin graduates and potential employers find each other. by Sarah Cox

33 Facts & Figures34 News from the Chamber36 News from the Partnership

F E A T U R E SCOVER STORY

6  Economic scorecard The Roanoke Valley is recovering from the Great Recession; the New River Valley already has.

by Jenny Kincaid Boone

TECHNOLOGY

16  Opossum or possum?Veterinary Medical Informatics Laboratory is developing a common vocabulary of terms. by Beth Jones

HEALTH CARE

19  Dollars and pounds Va. Tech researchers discover that different labels can lead to different choices. by Joan Tupponce

EDUCATION

23 More than an academic exerciseBusiness centers at Radford and Tech help entrepreneurs and give students hands-on experience. by Betsy Biesenbach

December 2012

2216

19

6

Member FDICEQUAL HOUSING

LENDER

At Valley Bank we believe

Call 342-BANK and let us show you how accommodating our experienced Lending Team can be. Go local. Choose Valley Bank.

S E R V I N G T H E R O A N O K E / B L A C K S B U R G /N E W R I V E R V A L L E Y R E G I O N

VIRGINIA BUSINESS PUBLICATIONS LLC

A portfolio company of

Virginia Capital Partners LLC

Frederick L. Russell Jr., chairman

President & Publisher Bernard A. Niemeier Roanoke Business Editor Tim Thornton

Contributing Writers Betsy Bisenbach

Jenny Kincaid Boone

Sarah Cox

Sam Dean

Beth Jones

Joan Tupponce

Art Director Adrienne R. Watson

Contributing Designer Elizabeth Coffey

Contributing Photographers Sam Dean

Alisa Moody

Mark Rhodes

Production Manager Kevin L. Dick

Circulation Manager Karen Chenault

Accounting Manager Sunny Ogburn

Advertising Sales Lynn Williams

Hunter Bendall

CONTACT:EDITORIAL: (540) 520-2399

ADVERTISING: (540) 597-2499210 S. Jefferson Street, Roanoke, VA 24011-1702

We welcome your feedback.

Email Letters to the Editor to

Tim Thornton at tthornton@roanoke-business.com

4 DECEMBER 2012

Vol. 1 DECEMBER 2012 No. 6

Exchanging ideas to turn adversity into opportunityby Tim Thornton

Upstairs in the City Market Building, there’s a room that used to host boxing matches. But the ring has been replaced with a stage, and a few weekends ago there also was fancy lighting

and sound equipment and cameras. A high-tech projector dropped from the ceiling and put images and colors on a screen behind a troupe of dancers called Salsa Noke.

The chairs in front of the stage fi lled with folks who’d come from all over to attend this thing called CityWorks (X)po. The CityWorks website calls it “a collaborative, co-creative, and multidisciplinary idea exchange and festival conference.” From the front of the room, Ed Walker called (X)po “a celebratory experience with purpose.”

You’ve probably heard of Ed Walker. The New York Times has. In a story that ran in July, Times cul-ture reporter Melena Ryzik wrote about Walker’s projects on Kirk Avenue (most notably the Kirk Av-enue Music Hall), the radio station he saved, the buildings he’s renovated, the positive vibe he’s try-ing to build in the glow of Roanoke’s big neon star. “Roanoke is a really good small-city laboratory,” Walker told Ryzik.

One of Walk er’s experiments is CityWorks (X)po. “It’s about the possibilities of human connectivity,” he said in that former boxing venue. (In the interest of full disclosure, Roanoke Business is a City-Works (X)po sponsor.)

A lot of humans connected with each other and with a lot of ideas that October weekend.

Kennedy Smith, co-founder of the Community Land Use and Economics (CLUE) Group, talked about a candy company that raised money by issuing bonds — and is paying interest in chocolate. A city trying to decide what to do with a dilapidated downtown hotel hired an artist who turned the building into an art installation. A banner hanging from the building’s top fl oors said, “Looking for love again.”

Two chalkboards at sidewalk level invited passersby to share their memories of the building and their dreams for its future. With-in two weeks, Smith says, the community had reached a consensus about what it wanted the building to become.

She told about a mother and son cookie company that didn’t sell enough cookies to pay for a permanent space, so they rented four square feet from different businesses, moving their cookie bar and its window-clinging sign to a different location every day.

Smith’s theme, though she never said it this way, was fi nding op-portunity in adversity. Many community movie houses, for example, are challenged by the costly change to digital equipment they must make if they’re going to continue to show fi rst-run fi lms. But making the change opens up these theaters to other uses such as distance learning and simulcasts of everything from opera to NASCAR.

Sometimes dealing with adversity means creating a new mod-el that draws entrepreneurs into a new collaboration. Smith told of a small-town store that sold quilting material. Business was slowing down. (How many quilts can a person really use, after all?) So the owner set up a website that allowed people to order a quilt they de-signed from a set of patterns produced by the local quilting circles. Now the local quilters are making money from their hobby, and the store owner is making money because the quilters are buying their material from her.

A lot of the ideas fl oating around (X)po were like that — using a resource or a set of skills that’s available and underused and re-purposing it in a way that preserves something that’s important to a community while creating something new and valuable.

Sort of like turning that old boxing venue into a place that can host a gathering like (X)po.

,

on the cover: Historically, recessions here aren’t as

deep or steep as they are in some other places. This time, the Roanoke Valley is still coming back from the Great Reces-sion. The New River Valley looks like it’s

already recovered.

FROM THE EDITOR

Starting out right by protecting your

ideas and intellectual property will get

you further down the road to success.

Forming your company,

operating and ownership agreements,

capital development, nondisclosures,

licensing and noncompete agreements

— that’s what we can do for you.

Innovation can hit you anywhere. We can get you from ink to Inc.

Gentry Locke

10 Franklin Road S.E.

Roanoke, VA

540.983.9300

Toll-free: 866.983.0866

gentrylocke.com

Photo credit

COVER STORY

Economic

Th e Roanoke Valley is recovering from the Great Recession; the New River Valley already has.

6 DECEMBER 2012

by Jenny Kincaid Boone

scorecar

Photo credit

c ECONOMIC

REPORT CARD

ROANOKE BUSINESS 7

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

Tourism spendingSource: Virginia Tourism Corp.

Roanoke, Salem, counties of Franklin, Botetourt and Roanoke$644 million

$657 million$610 million

$651 million$703 million

Montgomery County, Radford, Pulaski $162 million$171 million

$161 million$171 million

$186 million

Home salesSource: Roanoke Valley Association of Realtors 4,964 3,962 3,707 3,269 3,432

Employment (non-farm) (In thousands)

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics

Roanoke MSA

161.9 153.5 153.9 156.7 156.0

Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford MSA

70.3 67.3 66.2 71.4 73.9

rd

Background photo by Mark Rhodes

8 DECEMBER 2012

Four years ago, Southwest Virginia’s economy hit a major snag. Compa-nies cut jobs, businesses closed and commerce slowed to a crawl. The economy tanked across the nation, taking consumer confidence with it. It was hard to escape The Great Recession of 2007-09.

Now, the pendulum slowly is swinging the other way. Some busi-

nesses are expanding, hiring and feeling confident. Still, the

Roanoke region ―like the majority of the metro areas in Vir-ginia ― is in the recovery phase, according to a quarterly analysis by Chmura Economics & Analytics in Richmond.

On the other hand, the Blacksburg area is one of only three metro areas in Virginia that has inched out of recovery, due to substantial job gains since 2008, according to the same report.

While some industries in the Roanoke and New River valleys are thriving, others are taking longer to pick up steam.

Here’s a breakdown on how the local economy is pro-gressing.

Economic Report Card

ROANOKE BUSINESS 9

Photo courtesy Federal-Mogul Corp.

JobsJob growth in the Roanoke met-

ropolitan statistical area is not keeping pace with other parts of Virginia. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in August that Roanoke’s total nonfarm employment dropped 0.7 percent from August 2011. It was the only metro area in the state in which jobs declined dur-ing this period, says Christine Chmura, chief economist and presi dent of Chmu-

ra Economics & Analytics.Employment in the Roanoke MSA

peaked at 163,900 in March 2007 be-fore the recession. It has not returned to those levels. “The Roanoke labor mar-ket continues to struggle,” Chmura says.

The finance, insurance and real es-tate sectors are hiring fewer people than other industries, while manufacturing and health care have seen some of the largest job increases in the area.

Meanwhile, jobs in the Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford MSA rose 3.5 percent in August, from August 2011, ac-cording to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Sta-tistics (BLS).

In addition, local unemployment rates are dropping. In August, the latest month with available data, the unemploy-ment rate for the Roanoke MSA fell to 6 percent, from 6.8 percent in August 2011 and 7.4 percent in August 2010, accord-ing to the Virginia Employment Com-mission (VEC).

For the Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford MSA, the jobless rate was 6.4 percent in August. That is down from 7.1 percent in August 2011 and from 8.1 per-cent in August 2010.

Unemployment across the common-wealth stood at 5.9 percent in September, well below the national rate of 7.8 percent.

Still, the unemployment rate does not always provide a clear picture of jobs in an area, Chmura says. For example, the jobless rate may be lower because of people who cannot find work and leave an area. “That’s one of those indicators that is sometimes hard to interpret region-ally,” she says.

Health careTake a look at the employment

projections for health-care jobs in this region, and the picture is clear — health-care professions are thriving, a pattern that is likely to continue.

The number of people who worked in education and health services in the Roanoke MSA increased 10 percent from 2002 to 2011, according to the BLS. By 2018, jobs for health-care prac-titioners and technicians are projected to rise 23 percent in Virginia, according to the VEC. Health-care support jobs also are expected to increase 40 percent by 2018.

Last year, total employment for ed-ucation and health-care jobs in Roanoke surpassed prerecession levels, according to the BLS. “Because of the aging baby boomer generation, we continue to see health care growing, and it did through-out the entire recession,” Chmura says.

In Roanoke, health-care companies are among the area’s top 50 employers. They include Carilion Roanoke Memo-rial Hospital; HCA Healthcare, which owns LewisGale Medical Center in Sa-lem; and the Friendship Manor retire-ment community.

Carilion Clinic is the area’s larg-est private employer, with more than 10,000 employees, according to the Roanoke Regional Partnership, an eco-nomic development organization.

ManufacturingIn the past year, a Botetourt County

automotive parts manufacturer added $15 million worth of new equipment to its facility and added 95 jobs, with more on the horizon. A Blacksburg automo-tive supplier added at least 90 new jobs and invested $10 million in new equip-ment.

Expansions at these companies, Dy-nax America Corp. and Federal-Mogul Corp., respectively, underscore the im-portance of manufacturing in the Roa-noke and New River valleys.

In the Roanoke MSA, manufactur-ers employed 3 percent more people in 2011 than in 2010, making it one of the leading industries for job creation, ac-cording to the BLS. Overall, manufac-turing jobs accounted for 10.7 percent of the Roanoke region’s private-sector work force in the first quarter of this year, according to the VEC.

Like many industries, transporta-tion-related manufacturing slowed some during the recession, but it appears to be back in growth mode, says Beth Dough-ty, executive director of the Roanoke Regional Partnership.

The same is true in the New River Valley, which was listed in Area Devel-opment Magazine’s top 100 locations for 2012. Many companies that closed other locations around the country have chosen to keep a presence in the New River Valley, says Aric Bopp, executive director of the New River Valley Eco-

Economic Report Card

Growth among automobile

manufacturers has fueled

growth at Federal-Mogul.

10 DECEMBER 2012 Photo by Adrienne R. Watson

nomic Development Alliance.Tax rates lower than the national

average, low labor rates and work-force availability likely are some of the rea-sons these companies decide to stay, he says. “That has resulted in a net gain for us in job creation and investment.”

Volvo Trucks in Dublin is the larg-est employer of all New River Valley manufacturers, with more than 2,000 workers.

In Blacksburg, manufacturers add-ed 818 jobs in 2011, accounting for 69 percent of all new jobs in the region, ac-cording to a Chmura report.

Nationally, manufacturing is on the rebound, Chmura says. Companies are choosing to keep operations in the U.S. because productivity is high and wage rates in other countries, such as China

and India, are increasing, she says.Expansions at Federal-Mogul and

Dynax are tied to growing business from automobile companies. Federal-Mogul’s Blacksburg operation produc-es a bearing product attractive to au-tomaker customers, says Jim Burke, a company spokesman. The company is one of the top 11 largest employers in the New River Valley.

Dynax is considered one of the largest private employers in the Roa-noke Valley. Its expansion was tied to new contracts with several automotive companies, including Ford and Gener-al Motors, says Twyla Elliott, company spokeswoman. Dynax manufactures components for automatic transmis-sions. “Our production is based on what the market is needing,” Elliott says.

TourismImproving economic conditions

statewide appear to be driving up spend-ing by travelers in Southwest Virginia.

Out-of-towners who visited the Roanoke Valley spent $703 million in 2011, up 8 percent from 2010, ac-cording to the latest data reported by the Virginia Tourism Corp., the state’s tourism marketing arm. Similarly, tour-ist spending rose 8 percent in the New River Valley, which includes Radford and Pulaski and Montgomery counties. Travelers to those areas spent $186 mil-lion total in 2011, Virginia Tourism re-ported.

Tourists are considered people who visited the area from more than 100 miles away, according to the Roa-noke Valley Convention & Visitors Bu-reau.

Spending increases could be tied to a ramped-up effort this year by the bu-reau to market the region as “Virginia’s Blue Ridge.” The bureau redesigned its website, created a mobile phone app and pushed out its message through a large advertising campaign, which pub-licizes the region as a metro-mountain mix.

The publicity appears to be work-ing, says Landon Howard, the bureau’s president. Improving economic condi-tions since the recession are another likely reason for the increased spend-ing. “People are not going to travel un-less they feel certain about their job,” he says.

Also, in 2011, lodging taxes for ho-tels in Roanoke, Salem and Roanoke, Franklin and Botetourt counties rose about 11 percent, from 2010, a signal that the area’s hotels are seeing more travelers. “Our goal is to put heads in beds and to get people to our attrac-tions and to our restaurants,” Howard says.

Roanoke’s leisure and hospital-ity industry employed 2 percent more people as of August, compared with the same month of 2011, according to the BLS. It did not report New River Valley jobs figures.

Still, in some ways, tourism’s im-pact on the local economy may not be immediately obvious. “Sometimes,

Economic Report Card

Once owned by Thomas

Jefferson, Natural Bridge

has attracted tourists for

hundreds of years.

Pilots fly airplanes.We drive business.For nearly 85 years, Roanoke Regional Airport has been

a place where people go to work, travel for work, and

get away from work. With just one stop linking Roanoke

to nearly 500 destinations, your airport is your portal

to the world...and an economic engine that produces

an annual regional impact of nearly a quarter of a

billion dollars. But we realize our most important

job is working as your advocate. While the

airlines control fares, schedules, and flights,

we never let them forget that you deserve

the very best service possible. To learn

more visit roanokeairport.com.

12 DECEMBER 2012 Photo by Mark Rhodes

Poe & Cronk

10 South Je erson Street, Roanoke, VA • www.poecronk.com

Individual MembershipsIndividual Memberships

The Region’s LeaderIn Commercial and Industrial Real Estate

Our success is built by working in partnership with our valued clients and focusing on their success. This is re ected in repeat referrals from those with whom we are privileged to serve.

We are proud to welcome “Roanoke Business” to our Region.

Please visit our o ces at The Tower in downtown Roanoke.

someone who travels to a region for tourism activity will decide they like it enough that they retire in the region. That supports overall growth,” Chmura says. “Or when they expand their busi-ness, they expand in the region because they like the quality of life.”

Residential real estate

The region’s real estate market is showing signs of improvement, but the market still isn’t robust.

The number of Roanoke Valley homes sold in 2011 rose 5 percent to 3,432, compared with 3,269 in 2010, according to a report by the Roanoke Valley Association of Realtors (RVAR). Sales have not reached prerecession levels, but the latest increase is a signal to some real estate professionals that consumers are feeling confident again. “The numbers indicate that we are on the backside of the bottom,” says Me-lissa Morgan, a Roanoke-area Realtor and president of the RVAR.

Home sales in the Roanoke Valley slowed dramatically from 2008 to 2010, following the same patterns during the real estate bust that caused home prices and sales nationwide to practically halt in some cities.

Last year, the number of homes sold in the Roanoke Valley topped the three previous years. Also, in August, homes sales jumped above sales totals for the previous four Augusts, based on RVAR data. “It seems as though buyer confidence is on the rise,” Morgan says.

Much of the sales activity has been fueled by investors snatching up low-priced foreclosure properties to reno-vate and resell. The total sales volume of Roanoke-area foreclosed houses is not available, Morgan says.

But there is evidence that fore-closed properties are putting pressure on the region’s housing prices. In an April survey of Virginia real estate pro-fessionals, 50 percent who work in the Roanoke Valley said distressed homes ― which include foreclosures and short sales ― weighed significantly on hous-ing prices. Similarly, 40 percent of New River Valley real estate agents reported the same finding. The survey was con-

Economic Report Card

Home sales have risen in recent years but

have not returned to prerecession levels.

Celebrate with us in Radford and Roanoke

Happy Ho l i days !

The NutcrackerDec. 7, 8 p.m.; Dec. 8, 2 p.m. and 8 p.m.; Dec. 9, 2 p.m.Bondurant Auditorium, Preston Hall, Radford University

RU Holiday Choral Concert Dec. 7, 8 p.m.

St. Andrew’s Church, Roanoke

Visit www.radford.edu/arts-calendar to learn more.

14 DECEMBER 2012

ducted by the Federal Reserve Bank in Richmond and the Virginia Association of Realtors.

The real estate market is not out of the woods yet. Although home sales are up, prices remain down compared with the same months in 2011.

Single-family home prices in the Roanoke MSA, for example, declined by 4.9 percent in the second quarter of 2012 from the same quarter in 2011, ac-cording to the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s House Price Index, which measures quarterly price movement. This data represents a stronger price equilibrium, because it analyzes the same houses over time, Chmura says.

Similarly, the price of single-family homes dropped to negative 0.2 per-cent for the Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford MSA in the second quarter of 2012, down from the second quarter of 2011.

Tighter limits on financing continue to stunt some home sales activity for buyers who have less than stellar credit, Morgan says.

In the state survey of real estate pro-fessionals, 93 percent in the Roanoke Valley report that housing inventories remain high or relatively high. For the New River Valley, 90 percent of real es-tate agents believe inventories are high.

Nonetheless, interest rates are his-torically low, at 3.39 percent for 30-year mortgages and 2.70 percent for 15-year loans in October, according to mortgage financing giant Freddie Mac. “Buyers have so many advantages with the ridicu-lously low interest rates,” Morgan says. “If they have credit, they’re golden.”

Retail salesAn uncertain U.S. economy con-

tinues to weigh on consumers’ minds. In some cases, it prevents them from spending money at high levels. Still, a silver lining ― albeit thin ― remains in the Roanoke and New River Valley re-tail markets.

Retail sales perked up slightly in fis-cal year 2012, from fiscal 2011, based on sales tax figures reported by Roanoke City and Roanoke and Montgomery

counties. But consumer spending nationally

has wavered, according to reports by the U.S. Commerce Department. In the Roanoke Valley, some small retailers and restaurants have closed in the past year, citing slow sales.

Also, the troubled Keagy Village shopping center in Roanoke County was bought back by the bank in a foreclosure auction earlier this year. Plans for this 15-acre center were announced in 2004, but the center never could attract a large anchor tenant. Most of its retail spaces are dark, though a few businesses, in-cluding Dunkin’ Donuts and Firehouse Subs, are still there.

In Blacksburg, the First & Main re-tail center was reclaimed by Wells Fargo in 2010, but last year lost many of its ten-ants, including Books-a-Million. This year, a group of Virginia Tech alumni bought the center, even though the ma-jority of its spaces were vacant. The cen-ter opened in 2009 with high hopes of drawing upscale retailers and restaurants.

Meanwhile, there has not been a

Economic Report Card

ROANOKE BUSINESS 15

large influx of new retailers setting up shop in the Roanoke region, according to a second-quarter report from the Roa-noke office of Cushman & Wakefield | Thalhimer.

Describing leasing transactions dur-ing the quarter, “less than a third of those transactions involved a tenant that made their first entry into the market, and only a portion [less than a third] of those transactions included tenants that would be considered a regional or national op-erator,” the report says.

This scenario leaves property own-ers wooing existing local businesses to fill shopping center space. That could be good news for some retailers, who are looking for deals on leasing rates or build-out costs. “This will create an op-portunity for local tenants to upgrade their real estate while also either main-taining their occupancy costs or receiving additional incentives that will offset their build-out costs,” the Thalhimer report says.

Still, a few retail chains are trying out the Roanoke market. The North Caroli-

na-based Cook-Out restaurant chain filed a building permit in August to construct a 3,800-square-foot, fast-food “sit down” restaurant on Hershberger Road in Roa-noke. And several new stores are sched-uled to open or already have opened at Valley View Mall in Roanoke, taking spaces where former retailers closed.

They include Ulta Beauty, a national skincare and make-up chain, and Plow & Hearth, a Virginia-based home and gar-den retailer.

BiotechHigh tech and biotech businesses are

some of the top jobs leaders in the New River Valley, especially in Blacksburg. Employment for these jobs jumped 19.1 percent from 2010 to 2011, according to a quarterly Chmura report.

Similarly in Roanoke, biotech jobs, also known as the life-sciences industry, increased 5.2 percent in 2011, compared with 2010, according to the Roanoke Re-gional Partnership. The sector includes medical devices, clinical and research jobs.

Some of these kinds of companies were born as a result of scientific exploits by Virginia Tech researchers.

Also, there are numerous support services available to help these kinds of businesses grow and develop in the New River Valley, including VT Knowledge-Works. This entity offers business advice and office space for startup companies inside the Corporate Research Center in Blacksburg, where it is located. “We’re in a good position to pursue startup com-panies that move to the area,” says Bopp of the New River Valley Economic De-velopment Alliance.

An example of a growing biotech business is TechLab, a company that researches and manufactures intestinal diagnostics. The company outgrew its headquarters at the Corporate Research Center and last year announced plans to move its manufacturing operation to the 54,000-square-foot Branwick Center in Radford. It kept its CRC office space for research and development. “It is as good of a success story that you can hope for,” Bopp says.

Economic Report Card

16 DECEMBER 2012 Photo by Sam Dean

Pity the cocktail party guest who hits Suzanne Santamaria with the

“and-what -do-you-do?” question.

As a veterinary medi-cal terminologist at the Vet-erinary Medical Informatics Laboratory (VMIL), San-tamaria may begin a given workweek pondering how different scientists might describe a Didelphis virgin-iana. She’ll consult refer-ence books, bounce ideas off her peers, ponder some more.

Didelphis virginiana is the scientific name for a Vir-ginia opossum, an animal sometimes also referred to as a North American opos-sum. Additionally, there can be confusion over the “opossum” vs. “possum” spelling. “All those names can be applied even though it’s the same concept,” San-tamaria explains.

Santamaria’s job at VMIL, part of the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine at Virginia Tech, is to help the computer understand that all those names mean the same thing. “So a com-puter can tell when one lab reports ‘Virginia possum,’ it is the same thing as another lab [that] reports ‘North American possum,’” San-tamaria says. “This helps in collating, comparing and analyzing data.”

“We’re trying to make sure that what gets said is

TECHNOLOGY

Opossum or possum?Veterinary Medical Informatics Laboratory is developing a common vocabulary of terms

by Beth Jones

Veterinary Medical InformaticsLaboratory director Jeff Wilcke says the lab’s work is “based on the work of every biologist who ever categorized a cricket.”

ROANOKE BUSINESS 17

what is intended,” says Jeff Wilcke, director of VMIL and a professor at the veteri-nary school.

If this all sounds like an endeavor for the bookish, that’s because it is. But the work also leads to real-world solutions to problems plagu-ing both pets and people.

Naturally, the projects being completed at VMIL stand to benefit veterinar-ians in private practice and in research. But the office’s efforts also help the govern-ment in detecting outbreaks of disease and even bioter-rorism attacks. Clients of VMIL include the Centers for Disease Control and Pre-vention, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the U.S. Department of Ag-riculture.

Indeed, Joan Knapp, as-sociate branch chief for sci-ence at the CDC, describes the work being undertaken at VMIL as nothing short of “absolutely critical.”

A diverse clienteleMuch of the work com-

pleted at VMIL centers around the Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine-Clinical Terms (SNOMED – CT), a comprehensive, standardized health-care vo-cabulary system originally created by a group of pathol-ogists. Today, SNOMED – CT is digital, and users can search and manipulate that data.

The team at VMIL works to evaluate terms re-lating to veterinary medicine in SNOMED – CT and add new concepts related to vet-erinary medicine.

Because SNOMED – CT is so comprehensive, users can get overwhelmed by its sheer size. To address

that, the staff at VMIL builds subsets of the vocabulary system. For instance, one subset offers the medical concepts used by veterinary clients as well as terminol-ogy not common to human medicine. “It makes it more palatable for everybody,” Wilcke says.

If private-practice veteri-nary offices decide to follow the lead of human health care by creating electronic health records, the veterinar-ians will likely be consulting with VMIL. “To do it you have to have the terminol-ogy we work with,” explains Wilcke.

VMIL also is working with the FDA to help create an electronic labeling sys-tem for animal drugs. Labels stored electronically, San-tamaria points out, can be quickly edited or updated, which is important since “la-bels change all the time.”

Another advantage of having medication labels online is they’re then search-able, meaning veterinarians in private practice can search for a medication best suited, for example, for a boxer who weighs 70 pounds and is suf-fering from pneumonia. “They won’t have to rely on their memory,” Santamaria explains.

Knapp works with VMIL on another project, which will allow laboratories to make testing requests and receive testing results elec-tronically. Again, the goal is to make sure the computer knows what animal the labo-ratory workers are talking about if they call it by dif-ferent names. “We have to have a way of making sure we’re talking about the same thing,” says Knapp.

VMIL also provides

standardized terminologies for the National Animal Health Laboratory Network (NAHLN), a network of state and federal animal di-agnostic laboratories created so the country will be quick-er at spotting emerging dis-eases and bioterrorist events.

The NAHLN Informa-tion Technology System, created with standardized terminology services from VMIL, was designed so that labs across the country could report lab results quickly and accurately.

“It’s all about finding disease when it happens,” says Julie Green, an assistant professor in the Master of Science Veterinary Medical Informatics program at Vir-ginia Tech.

Future of VMILPoliticians are count-

ing on the creation of elec-tronic health records to trim skyrocketing health costs and improve care. “There are billions of dollars to be saved,” says Wilcke, VMIL’s director. That means taxpay-ers are footing a lot of the bill for the transformation from paper to electronic medi-cal data, including paying for the work of medical in-formaticians. “In veterinary medicine we have the same goals, but we don’t have tens of millions of dollars to pay for it,” Wilcke explains.

Building standardized medical terminologies and incorporating their use into computer technology “is an expensive proposition,” says the CDC’s Knapp. “And it’s undervalued because people don’t understand how criti-cal it is. They probably don’t know it exists.”

Even if companies were rushing to finance VMIL,

Wilcke questions the ethics of profiting from creating standardized terminologies. “The fundamental problem of what we do is that it’s based on the work of every biologist who ever catego-rized a cricket,” Wilcke says. “I don’t own the words. We facilitate their proper use in systems. Nobody should be obligated to pay for words. You have to give it away.”

And yet, VMIL also needs to pay the salaries of its highly trained staff. “The weird part for us is our un-certainties of how are we go-ing to continue to pay for it,” Wilcke says.

Additionally, Wilcke has increasingly felt in re-cent years that VMIL’s work doesn’t fit into the mission of a research university. “We’re only nominally do-ing research here,” he says. “By and large what we’re performing for our profes-sion is a service.”

Wilcke believes the solution is for VMIL to be-come a not-for-profit orga-nization. He hopes to soon produce a business plan to detail what that would look like. Whether Santamaria is working for the university or a not-for-profit organization, it doesn’t sound like she will be changing careers any time soon.

When she worked in private practice right after finishing veterinary school, Santamaria loved going home knowing she was help-ing animals have better lives. As a veterinary medical ter-minologist, she feels like she’s making an even bigger impact. “The goal of every vet is to treat animals,” she says, “and the work I do now affects millions of animals and people, too.”

Ask a doctor if Aetna Whole Health is right for you.

We’re Aetna Whole Health, a doctor-driven collaboration between Aetna and Carilion Clinic that promises to change the way you think about health care. With a network that includes strategic partners such as LewisGale Regional Health System, we’re striving to align the best physicians with the best technologies to deliver superior patient care at a lower cost. Call your broker or Aetna Sales Agent to learn more. Or visit aetnaACS.com/employers

(We already know the answer.)

2012132

ROANOKE BUSINESS 19Photo by Michael Kiernan courtesy Virginia Tech

Dollars make sense. Calories don’t.

Since the Af-fordable Care Act was signed into law in 2010, res-taurants have had federal guidelines regarding the posting of calories.

In one of the first-ever studies conducted in a real-world setting with children’s meals, researchers at Vir-ginia Tech found that listing calories on a menu may not be as effective as seeing the nutrition bargain price of

food, which shows the nutri-tional value of food in real dollars.

The n utrition bargain price concept stemmed from research conducted by economists and psycholo-gists that involved current

rewards versus future re-wards. “If I give you a choice between $100 today versus $100 three months from now, you would choose to-day,” says Professor George Davis of the college’s De-partment of Agriculture and

HEALTH CARE

Dollars and pounds Va. Tech researchers discover that diff erent labels can lead to diff erent choices

by Joan Tupponce

Elena Serrano and Ruby Cox of Virginia Tech discuss nutrition in a grocery produce department.

20 DECEMBER 2012

Health Care

Photo by Michael Kiernan courtesy Virginia Tech

Applied Economics. He notes that people who were influenced by the nutrition bargain price, got an imme-diate, healthy reward for their choice. “There is a strong bias for immediate rewards.”

To determine the nutrition bar-gain price, researchers divided the cost of food by the nutrient index. “The lower the nutrition bargain price, the more nutrition you get for the price,” Davis says. “It tells you this is the nu-tritional value you are getting for the money you are spending.”

For example, if you have two dishes on the menu and both are the same price, the better value would be the meal with the lower nutrition bar-gain price, which would also have the higher nutritional index.

Associate Professor El ena Ser-rano, who often focuses on childhood obesity in her work at Tech’s College

of Agriculture and Life Sciences, par-ticipated in the study along with Davis and marketing Assistant Professor Jane Machin, who works in Tech’s Pamplin College of Business.

The study focused on foods found on children’s menus in restaurants. Many children consume too many cal-ories when they dine out, a habit that can lead to childhood obesity. The number of children who are obese in the United States has almost tripled over the past 30 years. “In order to most effectively combat the obesity epidemic, we need to find the most ef-fective ways to inform people to make the right eating decisions,” Davis says.

Serrano and Virginia Jedda con-ducted the study, “Comparison of Fast-Food and Non-Fast-Food Chil-dren’s Menu Items,” which was pub-lished in 2010 and looked at the nutri-tional value of fast food versus non-fast

food served in sit-down restaurants. “It found that fast-food children’s meals were generally more nutritious than full-service children’s meals because of portion size and side items such as fruit or vegetables instead of just French fries or potato chips,” Serrano says, adding that restaurants often of-fered children the same size portion as an adult.

The more recent study, published in June in the national nutrition jour-nal, Appetite, helps parents use infor-mation about nutrition to make healthy choices for their families. As part of their work, researchers interviewed restaurant officials to see whether they were willing to create a new menu for the study that would include standard options along with some healthier op-tions.

The participating restaurant used a one-page menu that included six com-

Virginia Tech professors Deborah Good and George Davis conduct research on mice predisposed to obesity.

ROANOKE BUSINESS 21

Health Carebinations and a few a la carte items. For the first two months of the study, no nutritional information was included on the menu. The second menu phase listed the number of calories for each item. During the third menu phase, the calorie information was taken off and replaced with a healthy symbol. The final menu contained the nutritional bargain price for each item.

“One of the novel components was that this was done at the Blacks-burg Country Club, where we had the same people going through,” Davis says. “What had the most impact on shifting people’s choices was the nutri-tion bargain price. It had the effect that we were looking for.”

While listing the calorie infor-mation or using symbols to denote healthy choices did seem to sway some people’s choices, neither method proved as effective as the nutrition bar-gain price. “We were not convinced the calorie information on the menu is the most effective way to communicate

nutritious options to consumers,” Ser-rano says.

Trying to figure out how many calories you are supposed to consume in a day can be challenging, she adds. “There is a wide range. You have kids who need 1,400 calories and active men that get 3,000 calories, for example.”

Also, calories are in a unit that most people don’t understand. “The nutrition bargain price changed units to something that was easily under-standable and that had an immediate impact,” Davis says.

Virginia Tech’s study also has im-plications for businesses and suppliers. Restaurants could raise the price of the meal with a higher nutritional in-dex and still have the nutrition bargain price lower than a meal at the same dollar price that doesn’t have as much nutritional value. For example, if meal A is $4 with a nutrition index value of 2, then the nutrition bargain price will be $2. If meal B is $4 with a nutrition index value of 1, then the nutrition

bargain price will be $4. A restaurant owner could raise the price of meal A to $5, giving it a nutrition bargain price of $2.50, which is still lower than meal B’s nutrition bargain price. “It allows businesses some flexibility to price food based on nutritional quality,” Da-vis says.

Davis and his fellow researchers are working on a grant to extend nu-trition bargain price labeling to more restaurants.

While it is promising, the new la-beling doesn’t work for everyone, es-pecially people who aren’t interested in changing their eating habits. “Menu labeling seems to be effective for in-dividuals that want to eat healthy and make positive choices. If they are not at that point, it may not influence their choices,” Serrano says. “This study il-lustrates that menu labeling content can have a subtle, but significant im-pact on the choices people make when eating out, especially if we consider positive choices over time.”

JANUARY FEBRUARY MARCH

COVER STORY Business of Research

Arts as Economic Development Transportation

HEALTH Dental Services Wellness Innovations in Treatment

TECHNOLOGY Hotels Funding for Startups Cyber Security

EDUCATION STEM Education Design I-81 Corridor

LIFESTYLE Craft Beers Galleries Bike Commuters

INTERVIEW TBA TBA TBA

ROANOKE NEXT TBA TBA TBA

ROANOKE FACTS AND FIGURES Employment Demographics Work Force

ADVERTISING DEADLINES:

AD SPACE 11/13 12/13 1/15

AD MATERIAL 11/20 12/20 1/22

SERVING THE ROANOKE/BLACKSBURG REGION2013 planning calendar

For advertising information, please contact Lynn Williams - (540) 597-2499

Virginia Tech helps the commonwealth weather financial uncertainty and high unemployment by

stimulating economic development and creating jobs. True to our roots, we’re using intellectual capital,

research prowess, and collaborative resources to launch innovative enterprises that improve lives.

Partnerships like the new Rolls-Royce jet engine plant in Prince George County, Virginia Tech Carilion

School of Medicine and Research Institute in Roanoke, and Southside’s Virginia Institute for

Performance Engineering and Research are all examples of how we’re boosting the economy and

creating career opportunities never before available, making Virginia Tech responsible for more than

17,000 jobs and a $1.5 billion economic impact across the state.

To learn more, visit www.thisisthefuture.com.

IMPAC .

ROANOKE BUSINESS 23Photo by Sam Dean

EDUCATION

More than an academic exercise

Business centers at Radford

and Tech help entrepreneurs

and give students hands-

on experience

by Betsy Biesenbach

When Heather Pettus and

her sisters sought a plan to

revive the old Byrd’s store,

they turned to Virginia

Tech’s Pamplin College

of Business and its Small

Business Institute.

24 DECEMBER 2012

Photo by Sam Dean

Education

During the first half of the 20th century, the weathered old building

that held Byrd’s store was the center of Montgomery Coun-ty’s Price’s Fork community.

“Miners would get their supplies here,” says Heather Pettus, who, along with her sis-ters Michelle Berg and Susan-nah Hamel, inherited the prop-erty several years ago. Through the old store’s ledgers, Pettus says, “You can see the lives of people who lived in Price’s Fork.”

Though Pettus says the building is in “really bad shape,” she and her sisters have decided to try to save it. “I had to figure out how to fund it,” she says. To do that, she needed a business plan.

An online search led Pet-tus to Virginia Tech’s Pam-plin College of Business and its Small Business Institute led by Reed Kennedy. His small busi-ness consulting class provided the sisters with marketing in-formation, cost estimates and a computer-generated bud-get that Pettus can plug num-bers into as the project goes along — all at no cost to her and her sisters. Pettus wanted to put some sort of business in the old building but wasn’t sure what type of enterprise might succeed. Kennedy’s class sur-veyed local residents and rec-ommended a coffeehouse and café.

“They were fantastic,” Pe t-tus says of the students. “It was really beyond just trying to cre-ate a business. It wasn’t just an academic exercise. It was a sense of community.”

Kennedy calls the Small Business Institute “a catch-all for people who are interest-

ed in starting a business or im-proving and growing.” While some businesses, such as Pet-tus’, qualify for the 60 or so class projects his students han-dle each year, many others re-ceive business audits, financial projections and other consult-ing services. “We talk about what their need is and direct them to the best resources. We get beyond the Google search-es,” Kennedy says.

Business owners and pro-spective entrepreneurs in the region have two local schools to assist them in planning and improving their operations, Virginia Tech and Radford University. Both are accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, something just 15 percent of

the world’s business schools can claim.

“This is not an incredi-bly highly populated area, but there is a lot of higher educa-tion,” says Derick Maggard, executive director of the Roa-noke Valley-Blacksburg Tech-nology Council, a 200-member association. “It’s really good for our economic system. We’re seeing a lot of students who are being very innovative in what they do and how they do it.”

U.S. News and World Report ranks Tech’s Pam-plin College of Business 40th among the nation’s under-graduate business schools and 84th among graduate business schools. Pamplin offers majors in eight disciplines, including accounting, economics, finance

and hospitality. It has 3,600 un-dergraduates plus 270 full-time and 160 part-time MBA stu-dents.

Radford’s College of Busi-ness and Economics didn’t make the latest U.S. News & World Report rankings, but its MBA program is listed among the Princeton Review’s “Best 296 Business Schools.” This year, enrollment stands at 1,436 undergraduates and 84 graduate students.

Radford’s services to the business community include the Governmental and Non-profit Assistance Center, which serves as a forum for the ex-change of ideas, and the Small Business Development Cen-ter, funded by the federal Small Business Administration.

They provide education-al materials and templates for business plans. Students are in-volved “based on their interest level,” says Faye Gilbert, dean of the College of Business and Economics. MBA students provide assistance with specific projects and internships.

Anthony Byrd, director of Radford’s Small Business De-velopment Center, says most people find it the same way they find Tech’s Small Busi-ness Institute, through an on-line search. The center can help businesses starting from scratch or established compa-nies that need resources for retraining, planning assistance, loan packaging, business data or information about becom-ing a government contractor.

Gilbert says the focus at Radford is on providing stu-dents with experience and pro-ducing “someone who knows how to work on a team.”

Dale Lee, vice president of RGC Resources and a member of Radford’s advisory council, sees herself as an ambassador for the university, encourag-

Anthony Byrd heads up the Small Business Development Center at Radford University, a source of assistance for enterpreneurs.

Kennedy

ROANOKE BUSINESS 25

Education

ing a relationship between the college and the Roanoke/New River Valley community. “I like to think regionally,” she says. The valleys, she says, are close enough together to share costs and concepts.

The school’s MBA stu-dents don’t just sit through classes, Lee says. They partic-ipate in applied projects that “connect with an employer and can identify an issue that makes them vital to the employer.” That provides students with “some level of job experience so they can stand above other graduates.”

Lee says the utility industry is facing an aging work force, and proficiency in social media is vital. “You need someone under 25,” she says. “I think in-terns are invaluable.”

Social media is second na-ture to students, says Kennedy, the director of Tech’s Small Business Institute. Some of his clients don’t know much about advertising on the Web. “Some don’t see the need,” he says. “They don’t want to spend the money for it and don’t see the value in it.” Younger people of-ten “bring a nice perspective to a team,” he says.

Gilbert, the Radford dean, says class work is oriented to-ward having students do real projects. Last spring, students in the social networking class developed applications and tracked their outcomes.

She acknowledges that, because of its national ranking and doctoral programs, Tech can be a bigger draw for pro-spective students, but at Rad-ford, “faculty members often know [students] by name. It’s a more interactive feel.”

The two schools “com-plement each other,” she says. “Both provide a really strong educational base for this re-gion.”

‘Atlas’ explored Grants promote business classes using Ayn Rand’s novels

Radford University and

Virginia Tech are among

dozens of colleges and

universities using grants from

BB&T’s charitable foundation

for classes encouraging the study

of Ayn Rand’s books and her phi-

losophy of objectivism.

Rand, an atheist born in

Russia in 1905, died in New York

in 1982. She was a playwright,

screenwriter and a movie extra as

well as a philosopher and novel-

ist. Her devotees include former

BB&T CEO John Allison, who

championed the foundation’s pro-

motion of Rand’s ideas; Paul Ryan,

who credited Rand’s writing with

persuading him to enter public

service and said she “did the best

job of anyone else to explain the

morality of capitalism, the moral-

ity of individualism;” and Alan

Greenspan, who was a member of

her inner circle decades before he

became chairman of the Federal Reserve.

Rand explained her philosophy in a 1959

television interview with Mike Wallace, say-

ing that man’s “highest moral purpose is the

achievement of his own happiness … Each man

must live as an end in himself and follow his

own rational self-interest.” She called self-sacri-

fice “evil.”

Glen Martin, a Radford philosophy pro-

fessor, says Rand “taught a gospel of pure

egotistic selfishness and survival of the fittest.”

Martin, like the American Association of Uni-

versity Professors and others, is concerned

about the strings accompanying the BB&T

grants. Those strings sometimes suggest and

sometimes require assigning “Atlas Shrugged,”

Rand’s 1,200-page novel. “It’s not a course on

‘Atlas Shrugged,’ ” says Douglas Patterson from

Tech’s Pamplin College of Business. “It’s a book

that business students should be aware of.”

Faye Gilbert, dean of Radford’s College of

Business and Economics says, “We love it. It’s a

wonderful opportunity to explore the moral

foundations of capitalism.”

She says the Radford reading

list has included newspaper and

magazine articles, “War and Peace”

and Shakespeare plays in addition

to “Atlas Shrugged.” The BB&T

grant also has brought speakers to

Radford, sent faculty to Ayn Rand

Institute conferences and to confer-

ences on the moral foundations of

capitalism and “Atlas Shrugged” at

Clemson University’s Institute for

the Study of Capitalism. (The insti-

tute is funded by a BB&T grant.)

Virginia Tech offers one gradu-

ate class and one undergraduate

class each year sponsored by the

foundation. The focus, Patterson

said, is on the study of free-market

economies.

“I run it like a seminar,” he says.

“We talk about contemporary is-

sues.”

In addition to “Atlas Shrugged,”

assigned readings have included

“The Communist Manifesto,” Alan Greenspan’s

“The Age of Turbulence” and Paul Samuelson’s

“Economics.” Speakers at Tech have included

Allison and former Gov. Jim Gilmore. The

grant allowed faculty members to attend a 2011

talk by Nobel Prize-winning economist Thomas

Sargent at Wake Forest University’s BB&T Cen-

ter for the Study of Capitalism.

Last year, Bloomberg.com quoted Allison

saying, “We have sought out professors who

wanted to teach these ideas. It’s really a battle

of ideas. If the ideas that made America great

aren’t heard, then their influence will be de-

stroyed.”

“BB&T has not been overly proscriptive,”

Gilbert says. “We’re not indoctrinating. We’re

exploring all sides of the issue. The beauty of

it is having the support to have the discussion

and the debates.”

Radford began receiving $75,000 annu-

ally in 2009. Virginia Tech’s has been getting

$100,000 a year since 2006. Both grants are for

10 years.

Patterson

Martin

by Betsy Biesenbach

26 DECEMBER 2012 Photo by Noah Magnifico courtesy Radford University

Faye W. Gilbert, dean and professor of marketing at Radford University’s College of Business and Econom-

ics (COBE), has been instrumental in maintaining the school’s accreditation by the Association to Advance Colle-giate Schools of Business and bringing to fruition the new $44 million COBE building that opened in August. Gilbert, who holds a doctorate from the Univer-sity of North Texas, served as dean of the J. Whitney Bunting School of Busi-ness at Georgia College and State Uni-versity from 2003 until 2008 when she became dean of COBE.

Gilbert notes that AACSB accredi-tation is the highest a business school can achieve. “The estimate now is that fewer than 10 percent of schools actu-ally achieve AACSB accreditation,” Gil-

bert says. “There are requirements for faculty qualifications, strategic manage-ment and assurance of learning that con-tribute to the quality of programs over time. AACSB provides thought leader-ship, and many schools are members of AACSB that have not yet achieved ac-creditation.”

Radford’s COBE offers bachelor of business administration majors in ac-counting, finance, management, man-agement with an entrepreneurship con-centration, marketing and economics.

It also offers a bachelor of science degree in economics and a master of business administration (MBA) degree.

Among its many amenities, the new COBE building has a balcony off Gil-bert’s office suite, giving the dean a com-manding view of campus.

Roanoke Business: How is the new COBE building going to affect the quality of Radford Uni-versity’s business education?Gilbert: I believe [it will] in a number of ways. The faculty has offered a qual-ity business education for a long time … alumni have said that faculty focuses on development of individuals, to help them achieve goals in life. It is a very distinctive culture, between faculty and students, and faculty with each other.

The building reflects the quality that is already here; it was designed by them. They can see each other in halls now, as opposed to being in five differ-ent buildings. They still collaborated, at a commendable level, and now when they go down the hall, there are two or three different disciplines just in the

INTERVIEW: Faye Gilbert, Dean, Radford University’s College of Business and Economics

Under one roofDean Faye Gilbert expects many benefi ts from Radford’s new COBE building

by Sarah Cox

RU President Penelope Kyle, center, with (left to right) Angie Hall, field representative

for U.S. 9th District Rep. Morgan Griffith; Virginia 6th District Del. Anne B. Crockett-

Stark; COBE Dean Faye Gilbert; Virginia Secretary of Commerce and Trade Jim Cheng;

Virginia 12th District Del. Joseph Yost; and Linda Whitley-Taylor, rector of the RU

Board of Visitors.

ROANOKE BUSINESS 27

hallways, so the building is a reflection of who they are as a faculty.

And it’s not just the COBE environ-ment, but students from all over campus use the building. There’s room to gather in teams of six or eight, study and talk and share information on computers — it’s their space, and they know it. … It simu-lates what will be expected in many orga-nizations they may work for when they graduate — getting workers together to talk about what needs to happen next. It’s in that space that the best ideas happen.

It also features the latest in educa-tional technology and financial research capabilities, including a trading room. … and it’s being used by faculty and students in finance, marketing and accounting … There are two screens on each desk, so they get to do what people in industry do — stretching a spreadsheet between two screens and maneuvering between them. …The trading room has state-of-the-art software in finance, access to DataStream and a Bloomberg terminal. We’re also a certiport of Microsoft, so students can become certified in Excel here.

RB: How is COBE distinct from Virginia Tech’s Pamplin College of Business? Do you feel pressure to compare or do you attract a dif-ferent type of student?Gilbert: I think Pamplin is in a dif-ferent market. I very much respect and admire what they do and who they are, so I don’t feel we are direct competitors. We are a regional, comprehensive insti-tution, our class sizes are much smaller, our faculty is publishing well, but I don’t believe the students who step on the Vir-ginia Tech campus and just love it reso-nant as well with Radford.

It’s a wonderful resource for this region to have both, as well as commu-nity colleges around us. My recollection is that 85 percent of Radford students stay within Virginia. Our regional focus is also manifested in our centers — the Governmental and Nonprofit Assistance Center … where they do much of the training for treasurers of cities through-out the commonwealth and certification testing nationally.

We also house the Small Business Development Center for Radford and

the New River Valley. Those connec-tions let us help our region grow. Our average class size is 36 across the College of Business — that’s a luxurious place to be. … The smaller class size is an indica-tor of the possibility of a closer relation-ship that is developmental in tone but gets translated here into action.

RB: What is the job placement rate for COBE graduates?Gilbert: The latest survey had showed that 85 percent of 2011 graduates of COBE were employed within three months of graduation. I know for us, that is high. … There was a 60 to 62 percent [job placement rate] on the day of gradu-ation, and in this economy, we have defined that as something we wanted to work on.

RB: Are internships still neces-sary for business students, and does the faculty of COBE help with placement?Gilbert: The students really need to find their own. Internships used to be a luxury; for larger firms, now, they are a requirement. It gives students experience of some sort, with hands-on problems and the confidence that they can manage problems. I do believe it is essential in going forward. I read that 85, 90 percent of companies today feel that internships are required for starting positions — this is for the Fortune 500 companies. The principal thought is that companies want to reduce risk.

RB: There are four directives in the business school’s strategic plan that include goals to invest in your people, programs, society and future.  One of these is to “involve faculty and students in applied learning experiences that are innovative and distinctive.” How is this implemented, and how is the economy affecting this implementation?Gilbert: We have begun [the strate-gic plan] … We are connected virtually with [Université Blaise Pascal] in France [an international business school] where their students present strategic plans, and in spring, our students present business

plans to them. … Many organizations demand intercultural competency. We have then extended that to virtual learn-ing through Kassel University [Germany] … and we are working to develop virtual connections in India, Ireland, Africa and Israel.

RB: In the strategic plan, some of your most pressing concerns were listed as having underdeveloped connections with alumni, donors and members of the Advisory Council, as well as an undefined image for COBE among key con-stituents. How has that improved?Gilbert: We wrote that plan in 2008. Since that time, we’ve had well over 30 spaces now that are named in the new building, so donors are stepping up, alumni and friends are on board, and those relationships are much more de-veloped than in ’08. The economy has been scary for higher education, but leadership here has been gifted in guid-ing us through this economy with a mini-mal amount of pain and agony. We are still frugal and want to be good stewards, but we feel very for tunate compared to many institutions around country. So, the challenges going forward are similar to any college of business — refining what you want to be known for, and refining your connection with external constitu-ents. But at Radford we are good part-ners with our region, as well as beyond, and we have some strengths here. We’ve strengthened our image actively, globally and entrepreneurially … we are talking about the intersection of analytics and innovation. We are talking about what skills we want to develop in our students. Our constituents are employers of all kinds — the large companies, small orga-nizations, outreach and nonprofit — all of those — and parents and relatives who help students, the students and what they want from life; potential donors, alumni and friends; the faculty and their families and staff. We have over 55 members of the Advisory Council for the College of Business and Economics, and many are alumni. We have over 10,000 alumni for COBE, so we certainly want our alumni to come back, see our building, meet students and tell their stories.

28 DECEMBER 2012

LIFESTYLES

Finding time

Exercise can lead to health and happiness, even if it

comes in stolen momentsby Sam Dean

Hollie Flynn runs through

her Salem neighborhood.

ROANOKE BUSINESS 29Photos by Sam Dean

Lifestyles

A little after three in the after-noon, an inter-com crackles and a voice echoes through the halls

of Stonewall Jackson Middle School in Southeast Roanoke: It’s time to go home. Find your bus or your ride; an-other day is done.

A wiry man carrying a walkie-talkie, wearing a tie and a Virginia Tech maroon sweater vest monitors a stairwell as the students come tum-bling from their classrooms, flowing past him like a river. “It’s all about aerodynamics,” says Principal Ed Shepherd, as he stops to chat with one student, fist bump another and radio a teacher to advise that a boy’s pants are riding a little too low.

Shepherd knows a thing or two about the need for streamlining. In addition to leading a Roanoke city school, he’s a competitive athlete who was part of Virginia Tech’s na-tion al championship cycling team in 1998. He was ACC conference champion the same year.

Oh, and he raced against Lance Armstrong, too — back in the pre-scandal days.

Moments after the students are safely on their way home, Shep-herd is pedaling his bike on the Roa-noke River Greenway, having done a quick change in his office.

Like many, the busy professional and family man has come to see the value in keeping fitness at the heart of his day.

Actually, he never had to be told that he should make it a priority. He knows he needs it as much as food or air. Without it, he says, he’s not the husband, father or professional he needs to be.

But it’s not always easy: Work

keeps him late at times. His kids get sick. His wife has a life of her own. It’s on the home front that finding a balance is difficult.

In Salem, Hollie Flynn is a sin-gle mom who started her first busi-ness at 26.

She owned three Roanoke-area fitness centers for 14 years before founding Wellness Spark, a compa-ny that offers holistic life design and strategy services. She has co-owned Odyssey Adventure Racing (a race promotion organization that special-izes in ultra-distance and extreme sporting events) since 2005.

“You have to learn to manage expectations,” she says. “Balancing work and fitness is easy compared to

fitness and family.” Always an avid runner, she remembers preparing for the birth of her daughter, Tay-lor Angell, by purchasing a new run-

ning stroller and envisioned trotting through her neighborhood as the cool, uber-fit new mom.

Baby Taylor would have none of it. “A few yards down the road, and she would just start scream-ing,” says Flynn. “I wanted to run, hike and share all those things with her, but it wasn’t happening like I had planned.” Still, Flynn knew she would be a better mom if she placed a high priority on her own fitness needs.

Time for Plan B.“They say it takes a village to raise

a child. I was thinking, ‘Where’s our freaking village?’” she says. “We had to create it and to not be afraid to ask for help.”

She learned some valuable les-sons during that season. “If you’re a solo mama or dad and can’t trade-off with a partner to grab a workout, you

Hollie Flynn and her daughter Taylor Angell share a snack at

Flynn’s home in Salem.

30 DECEMBER 2012

Photo by Sam Dean

Lifestyles

must enlist the help of grandparents or trade off with friends,” she says.

Support is key, echoes Shep-herd, who shares parenting duties with an understanding wife, herself an athlete.

Still, juggling it all can be a chal-lenge. “You have to learn to be an opportunist,” he says. “And if you only have 30 minutes, make it a quality 30 minutes. It’s always about quality rather than quantity.”

Shepherd keeps workout gear stashed in key places, such as his of-fice and car. Recently, after drop-ping his daughter off for an evening gymnastics practice, he hit the gre-enway for an 8-mile tempo run and was back before her final tumble.

Neither Flynn nor Shepherd ac-cepts the excuse that one is too busy to exercise. “If you have time for television, then you have time for a workout,” says Flynn. “Accept that

there will never seem to be enough time. You have to decide that this is important to your life and overall well-being. Claim it and commit to it, and recommit often.”

Shepherd points out to his stu-dents and staff that he has no more hours in a day than they do. “We all get 24,” he says. “It’s a question of what you do with them.”

The tough-love approach might not work for everyone. Maybe your goal isn’t to run an ultra-marathon or race Lance Armstrong. You just need help getting out of the office or off the couch. Flynn’s advice is to find what works for you.

“If you can’t stand running or lifting weights, then you’ll never stay committed,” she says. “If ballroom dancing gets you moving, then do that. Whatever it is, it shouldn’t bring more stress into your life.”

Stress is one of the main reasons Shepherd stays active. “People always wonder how I can have what can be a stressful job and still maintain low blood pressure. It’s because of exer-cise. It’s a release. If you have a rough day, you just get out there and get it out, then you have more energy and focus for the other areas of your life.”

The greenway route Shepherd pedals and Flynn runs traces the Ro-anoke River as it flows through the Roanoke Valley. The river spills and trickles down from the mountains, finding a way around barriers while building momentum on its unstoppa-ble course to the sea.

Each pedal turn or footstep on the winding path along its banks charts a course for wellness. Shep-herd and Flynn, who keep fitness at their cores, like the relentless cur-rent. It isn’t selfish. They know ev-eryone in their lives will benefit from better mental and physical health.

Like the river, it’s all about flow.

Ed Shepherd rides the Roanoke River Greenway

moments after finishing work at Jackson Middle School.

Photo by Sam Dean

THE RIGHT CHOICEFOR THE RIGHT LAWYER.

w w w. m e r i t a s . o r g

170 full-service, independent law firms

7,000 experienced lawyers

Local representation in 70 countries

Meritas understands the inherent challenges of

choosing the right legal counsel, especially when

searching outside of your jurisdiction. That’s why

our law firms undergo rigorous vetting and

are required to maintain quality standards for

membership.Whether you need a firm next

door or halfway around the world, Meritas

offers exceptional service, local insights, local

rates and the assurance of a wise decision.

CHOOSE WISELY.

WE HAVE.

CHOOSE WISELY.

WE HAVE.

GLENN FELDMANN DARBY & GOODLATTE37 Campbell Avenue S.W., Roanoke,VA 24011Post Office Box 2887, Roanoke,VA 24001540.224.8000 | www.gfdg.com

– MERITAS LAWYER –MARK FELDMANNRoanoke,Virginia, USA

32 DECEMBER 2012

NextROANOKE

Photo courtesy Virginia Tech

Stuart Mease, director of Undergraduate Career Services, Pamplin College of Business at Virginia Tech

Stuart Mease, director of Undergraduate Career Services at Virginia Tech’s Pamp-lin College of Business, helps stu-dents connect with potential employers.

Before joining Pamplin, Mease was a recruiting leader for the Blacksburg division of Rack-space, a publicly traded cloud computer company. He also worked as a job placement direc-tor in Pamplin’s management de-partment and at Tech’s Center for Regional Strategies.

In 2005, Mease created the “Connecting People” blog, original-ly to engage others in the “brain-drain” issue, the loss of young pro-fessionals to larger metro areas. A year later, Roanoke hired him as special-projects coordinator to create programs and events to at-tract and retain young adults.

Author of the book “The Perfect Job Seeker,” Mease earned his bachelor’s degree and MBA from Virginia Tech. He is a strong believer in assisting what he calls the “unserviced work force” and explains jobs are available to those who have “a billable skill set” in ac-counting, health care and engi-neering. Mease explains, “Compa-nies that need these workers will contract with headhunters to get these people because these peo-ple mean money.”

Mease says he was attracted to his current job at Pamplin be-cause it offered him an opportu-nity to interact with more people. Roanoke Business: Explain

what the “unserviced work force” is and how that ap-plies to Pamplin students.Mease: These are people that … are looking for a professional job and have good skill sets but not billable skill sets, and there’s no one there to help them with their job search. … At the Pamplin school, you have people that get a college degree and believe they should be in a college-educated job, but they have already opted out of majors or sectors that are really hiring right now. They will now circle back around and say there are no jobs, and that is just not true … the fundamental idea that people lose sight of — the number one, primary reason the company hires — is to make mon-ey off of them. What people fail to realize is that when you go into higher education, if you are not se-lecting a major that is in demand by the market, it is not the gov-ernment’s or the college’s fault, be-cause you selected the wrong ma-jor, or you don’t want to do a job that is available, and that is where the disconnect is.

RB: What happens to these graduates?Mease: If you’re a college student and the only jobs you’re seeing are call-center jobs or warehouse jobs, the college student thinks they’re too good for that. So, what happens to them? One, they will hopefully acquire new skill sets to meet the needs of the employ-er. Two, they humble themselves. Three, they won’t do anything, go-ing back and forth laterally. Four,

… they start microbusinesses and create a job for themselves. Five … they will leave the area, saying that there are no jobs in this area, which is not true. Six, they will stay unemployed, which is a drain on everybody.

RB: What do you do for stu-dents in terms of career counseling at Pamplin?Mease: We do three things. First, we make them understand the market for the major they are se-lecting and give them data to show them market rate, placement rate, salary and who are the em-ployers. Second, we connect stu-dents to employers through the job fair and company days (there have been one or more compa-nies in the lobby of our business school almost every day). Third, we make them “perfect job seekers.” They need to understand this pro-cess, because what they have been told their whole lives is that you go to college, get a degree, and they will fi nd you. That is not accurate. Not all majors are created equally. There are 78 majors at VT, and six of the top nine interviewed majors are business majors. The top three are accounting, fi nance and busi-ness information technology. For-ty seven percent of all interviews conducted on campus are for busi-ness majors, and that’s less than 20 percent of all majors at VT. That’s why they need to be proactive, select the right major and under-stand the market for opportunity.

RB: How important is social marketing in fi nding a job?

Mease: The most important thing for students, I think, is to have a LinkedIn profi le. The student can misuse Facebook and Twitter. It can hurt them. But opportunities can exist in LinkedIn, and so many recruiters are using it.

RB: How important are in-ternships in job placement of your graduates?Mease: Because companies have power in hiring right now, they can dictate terms — “we will not hire you full-time unless you go through internships.” They want to be safe. Companies want to hire interns who can, in the quick-est time, help increase profi tabili-ty. They will want the junior with more skill sets, and two, that ju-nior will graduate quicker than the sophomore. If you don’t have an internship after your sophomore year, it’s not the end of world, but it certainly does help. The intern-ship experience, with leadership experience, plus GPA [grade point average] — companies look at those factors.

RB: How do you rank the Pamplin school, and who are your biggest competitors?Mease: Our three biggest com-petitors, when I ask employers, are Penn State, Maryland and JMU. The two you would think from state-wide — William & Mary and U.Va. — are more secondary. They are a different group interested in differ-ent opportunities. Employers like Virginia Tech students, who have good, blue-collar work ethics with white-collar intelligence.

Molding students into ‘perfect job seekers’ Stuart Mease helps Pamplin graduates and potential employers fi nd each otherby Sarah Cox

ROANOKE BUSINESS 33

Government doesn’t create jobs. That was a mantra in the recent presidential election, but statistics from the Roanoke and New River valleys seem to contradict that no-tion. According to the Virginia Employment Commission, 11 of the top 25 employers in the Roanoke Metropolitan Statistical Area are government entities.

Advance Auto Parts, the area’s only Fortune 500 company, is 18th on the list of Roanoke Valley’s big-gest employers. Various pieces of Carilion came in 43rd, 26th, 12th and first on the VEC list. (The 10th largest employer in the New River Valley is a Carilion property, too.)

Government, with 21,603 em-ployees in the Roanoke Valley, beats out health care and social assistance, which employs 21,361 people. Retail comes in next with 18,058 employ-ees. Manufacturers employ 14,561 people. Accommodation and food services employ 11,632 people.

In the MSA that most closely fits the New River Valley, 10 of the top 25 employers are government entities. An 11th operates the Ar-my’s ammunition plant in Radford. Government employs 18,206 people in the New River Valley. Manufac-turing, which includes the ammuni-tion plant, provides 10,766 jobs. No other category has as many as 8,000 jobs.

Here are the valleys’ largest em-ployers, according to the VEC:

The valleys’ largest employers New River Valley

1 Virginia Cooperative Extension - Virginia Tech

2 Volvo Group North America Inc.

3 Montgomery County School Board

4 Radford University

5 Walmart

6 Alliant Techsystems Operations LLC*

7 Pulaski County Public Schools

8 Moog Inc.

9 HCA Virginia Health System

10 Carilion New River Valley Medical Center

11 Echosphere Corp.

12 Kollmorgen Corp.

13 Celanese Acetate

14 New River Valley Community Services

15 Lexington Rowe Furniture Inc.

16 Kroger

17 Town of Blacksburg

18 Giles County Public Schools

19 Federal-Mogul Corp.

20 Town of Christiansburg

21 New River Community College

22 County of Montgomery

23 Corning Glass Works

24 DBT America Inc.

25 Shelor Motor Mile Inc.

*BAE Systems has taken over operations at the Radford Army Ammunition Plant since the VEC compiled these statistics.

Roanoke Valley1 Carilion Memorial Hospital

2 Roanoke County Public Schools

3 Roanoke City Public Schools

4 Veterans Affairs

5 Kroger

6 Wells Fargo Bank NA

7 HCA Virginia Health System

8 City of Roanoke

9 Walmart

10 Franklin County Public Schools

11 County of Roanoke

12 Carilion Services

13 Allstate Insurance Co.

14 Warsaw Health Care Center

15 Yokohama Tire Corp.

16 M.W. Manufacturers

17 Botetourt County Public Schools

18 Advance Auto Parts Inc.

19 Postal Service

20 U.P.S.

21 City of Salem

22 City of Salem Public Schools

23 Virginia Western Community College

24 General Electric Co.

25 Lowe’s Home Centers Inc.

Advance Auto Parts, a leading retailer of automotive aftermarket parts, accessories, batteries and mainte-nance items, has announced that the company and its vendor partners raised $2 million for four charities at its recent inaugural charity pro-am golf tournament. Proceeds benefited JDRF (formerly known as the Ju-venile Diabetes Research Foundation), the American Cancer Society, Boys & Girls Clubs of America and Building Homes for Heroes. Celebrity teams from the PGA Tour and entertainment industry golfed with ven-dor sponsors, with each team representing one of the charities and competing for a share of the $2 million purse.

The Botetourt Sports Complex has been selected as the 2012 Amateur Softball Association of America Complex of the Year. The Botetourt Sports Complex features four championship-level fields, which are built around a three-story, central tower. In addition to soft-ball, the facility also hosts baseball games throughout the year.

Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital was recently named by Becker’s Hospital Review as having one of the top orthopedic programs in the country. Becker’s Hospital Review compiled a list of 101 hospitals that demonstrate continual innovation in orthopedic treat-ments and services while emphasizing patient-cen-

SPONSORED CONTENT | Roanoke Regional Chamber of Commerce

Roanoke Regional Chamber recognizes Chamber Champions and event sponsors

CHAMBER CHAMPIONS

BB&T

Brown Edwards

Blue Ridge Copier

Cox Business

Gentry Locke Rakes & Moore

Grow Inc.

LifeWorks REHAB (Medical Facilities

of America)

Lumos Networks

rev.net

Spilman Thomas & Battle, PLLC

Trane

Tread Corporation

Wells Fargo

Woods Rogers Attorneys at Law

Pepsi Bottling Group

EVENT SPONSORS26th Annual Small Business

Awards Dinner Sponsors

Cox Business

First Citizens Bank

Gentry Locke Rakes & Moore

City of Roanoke

County of Roanoke

Sir Speedy Printing & Marketing

Services

xpedx

Lanford Brothers Co.

Member One Federal Credit Union

34 DECEMBER 2012

Member newsMember news & recognitions & recognitions

Note: Chamber Champions are

members who support the Roanoke

Regional Chamber through year-

round sponsorships in exchange for

year-round recognition.

The Roanoke Regional Chamber of Commerce and Roanoke Regional Small Business Development Center have named EHS Support Services the 2012 Small Business of the Year. The company, which offers mul-tiple therapeutic programs to individuals with mental ill-nesses, was recognized at the Chamber’s 26th Annual Small Business Awards dinner held Oct. 4 at The Hotel Roanoke & Conference Center. The annual awards program showcases the accomplishments of the small business sector, which makes up 99 percent of the area’s business community.

Founded in 2005 as the first private mental health support services provider in Southwest Virginia, EHS Support Services has seen phenome-nal growth in revenue, clients served and number of employees. The com-pany assists clients in learning about their illnesses and developing ways to live their lives as independently as possible.

“As in years past, the selection committee was faced with a very dif-ficult decision because of the number of outstanding companies repre-sented in the competition,” says Joyce Waugh, president of the Roanoke Regional Chamber of Commerce. “The Small Business Awards selection committee was impressed with how EHS Support Services has grown to be the largest private mental health agency in Southwest Virginia and contin-ues to assist individuals with mental illnesses to live their best lives.”

A committee of local businesspeople evaluates nominees in terms of increased sales, employee growth, staying power, innovativeness and contributions to the community. To be eligible, companies must meet SBA small business standards and be at least three years old.

Award winners by category are:• Small Business Advocate: Robert “Pat” Barnes, Complete Small

Business Solutions

• Small Business Veteran of the Year: Larry Lamanca, American Door &

Glass

• Construction/Real Estate: F&S Building Innovations, a class “A” general

contractor specializing in home improvements, commercial renovations,

sunrooms and new construction.

• Micro-Business: Ardell Stone School of Dancing, which offers classes

to students from age three to adults in ballet, pointe, tap, jazz and lyrical

dance.

• Technology: NetVentures, which specializes in creating e-commerce

software for membership-based, nonprofit organizations.

• Business-to-Business Services: CBIZ Payroll is a leading provider of

outsourced solutions that help reduce administration time and costs.

• Business-to-Consumer Services: EHS Support Services

• Wholesale/Retail: Fleet Feet Sports – Roanoke, which gives runners,

walkers and fitness enthusiasts of all abilities unparalleled customer

service and support.

• Legacy Award: Oak Hall Cap & Gown, the largest cap and gown

manufacturer to the collegiate market. The 123-year-old manufacturer has

a staff of 325.

• Not-for-Profit, Arts & Culture: Center in the Square, a cultural complex

dedicated to serving the community as an active participant in economic

development.

• Not-for-Profit, Health & Human Services: The F.R.E.E. Foundation,

which provides reused medical mobility equipment to those who need but

cannot afford it.

Previous small business of the year winners include Interactive Achievement (2011), Magnets USA (2010), Home Instead Senior Care (2009), Virginia Prosthetics (2008), Luna Innovations (2007), Blue Ridge Medical Imaging (2006), and Plastics One (2005).

Randi Paxton (left) and Alyce Dantzler of EHS Support Services accept the 2012 Small Business of the Year award from Joyce Waugh (right), president of the Roa-noke Regional Chamber of Commerce.

Chamber names EHS Support Services Small Business of the Year

Photo by Jim Markey Photography

ROANOKE BUSINESS 35

| SPONSORED CONTENT

ROANOKE BUSINESSSS 335

| SPONNSSOOORRREED CCOONTENNT

tered care and forward-thinking research. Hospitals included on the list have orthope-dic surgery departments with outstanding reputations, making them worthy of recog-nition.

Harvard’s Ash Center for Democratic Gover-nance and Innovation has recognized the City of Roanoke’s “Technology Initiatives for Building Placards” program as one of 111 innovative government initiatives for its 2012 Bright Ideas in Government cohort. The city’s building inspections division submitted an entry for its initiative to apply quick response codes to permit placards for new building ac-tivity, allowing contractors and applicants to view the daily inspections calendar online via smartphones or tablets. The codes also link the customer to the online permit center, where they can request inspections, view permit his-tory and inspection results, as well as receive notification of required inspections to finalize the permit and complete the job.

Some of the youngest citizens in the City of Roanoke — kindergarten students from the city’s public school system and children from local child-care centers — recently gathered on Mill Mountain for a kickoff ceremony to cel-ebrate Roanoke’s recent recognition as an All-America City. The city was selected by the Na-tional League of Cities as a winner for its “Star City Reads” campaign, a plan to ensure that more Roanoke children are reading at grade level by the end of the third grade.

Serena G. Ratcliffe has joined the Roanoke accounting firm Cole & Associates CPAs as an accoun-tant.

Downtown Roanoke Inc. has announced the hiring of Price Gutshall as the economic de-velopment specialist. He will be responsible for the continued ad-vancement of DRI as an econom-

ic development partner in the Roanoke Valley.

Tammy White-Halsey has joined the Gateway Health team as a marketing and sales representa-tive for Southwest Virginia.

The Homestead and Canyon Ranch have an-nounced a partnership to create a new spa and fitness experience in the Allegheny Moun-tains of Southwest Virginia. Canyon Ranch SpaClub at The Homestead will combine the finest attributes of the birthplace of Southern hospitality and the pioneer of the wellness life-style. Services that have made Canyon Ranch among the most-renowned names in the spa industry will now be available to guests of The Homestead. The SpaClub will debut in spring 2013.

The Greater Blue Ridge Chapter of JDRF recently held its annual meeting and elected four new board mem-bers. They are: Amy Sheetz, Nor-folk Southern; Beth Anderson, Liberty Medical Supply; Kim Gilbert, Bayer; and Susan Woodie-Wil-liams, Richfield Re-tirement Community.

Jefferson College of Health Sciences has been named to the 2013 “Military Friendly Schools” list by GI Jobs Magazine, a publi-cation of Victory Media, the premier media entity for military personnel transitioning into civilian life. The 2013 Military Friendly Schools list honors the top 15 percent of col-leges, universities and trade schools that are doing the most to embrace America’s military service members, veterans and spouses as students and ensure their success on cam-pus.

The law firm Johnson, Ayers & Matthews has announced that eight of its attorneys were selected by their peers for inclusion

in the 2013 edition of The Best Lawyers in America. Those recognized are: Ronald M. Ayers, Joseph A. Matthews Jr., John D. Eure, William P. Wallace Jr., Kenneth J. Ries, Jonnie L. Speight, David B. Carson and Bryan Grimes Creasy.

LewisGale Regional Health System has an-nounced the appointment of Dr. Gary Winfield as its new chief medical officer. Winfield brings more than 20 years of experience to his new role, most recently as acting division chief medical of-ficer for HCA’s South Atlantic Di-

vision. As the chief medical officer for Lewis-Gale, Winfield will oversee the health system’s quality and patient-safety agendas, the Quality and Risk Management departments of all four LewisGale Regional Health System’s hospitals and the newly created Market Transfer Center that is presently under development.

American Medical Technologists, the premier certification and membership organization for allied health professionals, recently recog-nized National College’s medical assisting program for its commitment to professional advancement. The organization commended National College for preparing medical assist-ing students for the Registered Medical As-sistant exam, a professional certification that helps medical assistants validate their edu-cation and experience as they enter the work force.

The Roanoke Region was recently recog-nized by AARP Magazine as one of the top 10 best places to live on $100 a day. Roanoke’s pleasant climate, its 22 miles of greenways and the backdrop of the Blue Ridge Mountains helped land the city on the list.

All 26 schools in the Roanoke County Public Schools System remain fully accredited by the Virginia Department of Education in 2012. The schools join 85 other accredited school systems statewide. Across the state, 93 per-cent of Virginia’s public schools are fully ac-credited and meeting all state standards for achievement in English, mathematics, history and science and for high school graduation rates.

The Roanoke County School Board has named Ashley Williams the new assistant principal at Green Valley Elementary School. Williams replaces Marcee Cook who earlier was named the assistant principal at Hidden Valley Middle School.

Center in the Square and the Roanoke Sym-phony Orchestra have announced a new partnership. Roanoke Symphony Orchestra will become a new beneficiary organization of Center in the Square, joining the other seven organizations that are part of the affiliation. The symphony will be moving its administrative of-fices and studio space to the historic Shenan-doah Hotel building at 128 E. Campbell Ave. in downtown Roanoke.

The Roanoke Valley-Alleghany Regional Commission has received a 2012 innovation award from the National Association of Devel-opment Organizations for its Save-a-Ton cam-paign. The campaign was recognized for its regional approach to energy conservation ed-ucation awareness program, and the effort to reduce duplication across local governments. Save-a-Ton was started in 2011 by Roanoke County, the City of Roanoke, and a number of nonprofits and other partners.

Source4 recently announced plans to move from 4721 Starkey Road to a larger facility in the Roanoke Valley. For Source4, a national provider of integrated business and market-ing solutions, the new facility will allow room for growth and expansion with improved effi-ciencies for clients and employees. The new address will be 3473 Brandon Ave.

Sheetz Anderson

Gilbert Woodie-Williams

WallaceEureMatthewsAyers

Carson CreasySpeightRies

36 DECEMBER 201236363 DECEMBER 20122

SPONSORED CONTENT | Ronaoke Regional Partnership

36 DECEMBER 2012

News from the Roanoke Regional Partnership Jobs being added in Roanoke Region

The Roanoke Region is adding jobs, according to preliminary fig-

ures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Seasonally adjusted employ-

ment figures for July show that the Roanoke MSA has seen employment

increase by 1,200 jobs year over year. Meanwhile, unemployment has

decreased by 867 individuals from the same point last year, according

to seasonally adjusted unemployment data for the MSA.

The data show a dramatic improvement in employment from June

and hopefully portend a stronger employment growth trend heading

into the end of the year. Manufacturing employment continues to show

strength as does employment in transportation/utilities and leisure/hos-

pitality.

Roanoke’s unemployment rate is lower than more than 80 percent

of other metros in the United States, including all competitor regions in

North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee.

Western Virginia colleges and universities earn top honors

Several of the Roanoke Region’s colleges and universities were

recognized by U.S. News and World Report in its annual feature, “Best

Colleges 2013.” Virginia Tech, Radford University, Ferrum College, Hol-

lins University, Virginia Military Institute, Washington and Lee University,

Roanoke College, Sweet Briar College, Lynchburg College and Liberty

University all received high rankings.

Virginia Tech ranked 28th out of 115 national public schools and

72nd among national universities overall.

Virginia Tech’s overall rankings were bolstered by the university’s

engineering and business schools. Virginia Tech’s College of Engineer-

ing was ranked 16th of 162 schools in the country. The Pamplin College

of Business was ranked 40th best undergraduate business program out

of more than 350 schools ranked.

Roanoke College, Hollins University, and Sweet Briar College were

recognized by the publication as national liberal arts schools. Roanoke

College was also included on a list of institutions identified as having

made some of the most promising and innovative changes in the areas

of academics, faculty and student life.

In the northern reaches of the region, Washington and Lee Univer-

sity and Virginia Military Institute were ranked among the best national

liberal arts schools. Washington and Lee University ranked 14th out of

178 national liberal arts schools, and its law school was ranked in the

top 20 percent of law schools nationally. Virginia Military Institute ranked

in the top 50 percent of national liberal arts schools.

Rounding out the list of schools taking honors, Radford Univer-

sity was ranked 21st among regional public schools in the South, and

Ferrum College was ranked 42nd among Southern regional colleges.

Lynchburg College was ranked 41st among regional universities in the

South, while Liberty University was 65th in the same category.

The greater Roanoke Region boasts more undergraduates per

capita than the Research Triangle, Boston, Austin or San Francisco.

Top-ranked educational institutions are creating the talent to fuel future

growth and innovation in the Roanoke Region.

Roanoke credit scores higher than national average

The average credit score among Roanoke consumers is 754, plac-

ing it in the top half of all cities ranked and above the national average

credit score of 750, according to the “Experian State of Credit 2012”

report.

Roanoke was 62nd out of 143 cities included in the Experian rank-

ing, beating Richmond, Charlotte, Knoxville, Raleigh, Chattanooga, At-

lanta, Savannah and Memphis, among others.

Moody’s has noted recently that household balance sheets are

strong in the Roanoke Region largely as a result of the muted housing

boom in the region, which left fewer households “underwater” on their

home loans. The high ranking is also likely a result of stronger econom-

ic performance. Per-capita personal income growth in the region out-

paced growth at the state and national level between 2008 and 2010.

Meanwhile, Roanoke’s low unemployment places it in the top 20

percent of all metros nationally. Data from the Roanoke Valley Associa-

tion of Realtors shows more existing homes were sold in August 2012

than in any other month since June 2010, when buyers were still eligible

for the federal first-time homebuyer credit.

As the recovery gains speed, Roanoke is poised for further growth

as incomes grow. Roanoke households will better be able to purchase

homes, automobiles and consumer goods than in many other metros.

Roanoke featured in Garden & Gun magazine Another national publication has its eye on the Roanoke Region

— this time Garden & Gun magazine, which features an eight-page

spread on the Star City.

The October/November issue in-

cludes a story on Roanoke, with the

headline, “City on the Rise, Roanoke, Va.”

The piece is a portrait of Roanoke

— from the Mill Mountain Star and some

history, to its natural beauty and out-

door events, and the recent explosion of

downtown living. The series of three ar-

ticles goes on to highlight some of Roa-

noke’s hot spots and stars.

From the main story: “If you ask me,

Roanoke’s star shines brightest when

it elevates the authentic over the aspirational. The railroad can go to

Norfolk and the textile plants to China, but folks are finally realizing that

our natural amenities can’t be outsourced or outdone. A paved green-

way that grows longer by the year snakes from Salem to Roanoke and

Vinton, following the Roanoke River as well as the Tinker Creek made

famous in the Pulitizer-winning book by Hollins University alum Annie

Dillard. Visitors can rent bicycles at UnderDog Bikes and ride

the rare-for-Roanoke flat path past herons, wildflowers and a

former silk mill that now houses entrepreneurial upstarts like the

custom teardrop camping trailer company Silver Tears.”

Garden & Gun publishes six issues each year with a fo-

cus on how to live a life that is more engaged with the land,

the literature, the music, the arts, the traditions and the food of

the South. More than 740,000 people look at each issue of the

magazine.

Maybe you’ve found yourself stuck in your search for a rewarding career. Maybe you need to upgrade your skills to advance in your current job, or perhaps you want to explore an entirely new career. Maybe you are a business manager who needs to find cost-effective ways to train your team to stay current.

nd yourself stuck in your search for a rewardingu need to upgrade your skills to advance in or perhaps you want to explore an entirely new u are a business manager who needs to find ys to train your team to stay current.

develops programs and training by working hand-in-hand with employers. It provides students with the real-world skills they need. Businesses can contract Workforce Solutions to provide on-site training in the latest technology and software.Workforce Solutions can also helpemployers find the best workers for job openings. At Virginia Western,you really can .

AND GET TO WORK

ABOUT THIS SMALL.

CarilionClinic.org/daVinci | 800-422-8482

Less than half an inch. That’s the length of incisions

when you’re talking about the da Vinci® Surgical

System. With that small cut, surgeons at Carilion can

accomplish big things, and offer you less discomfort

and a shorter recovery. It’s a revolutionary approach

to care, and only Carilion offers it here. Ask your

doctor about da Vinci. You may have less to talk

about than you ever imagined.

The da Vinci Surgical System is available at:• Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital• AND NOW at Carilion New River Valley Medical Center