MARCH/APRIL 2015 VOL. 36 NO.2 INTERNATIONAL HOSPITALITY Inland Port in the Upstate NLRB’s Quickie Election Ruling Baby Boomers Seek New Careers USC’s Moore School Turns 40 Women’s Distribution Services CONNECTING CUSTOMERS AFL, a subsidiary of Fujikura Ltd. of Japan, connects customers around the world with advanced fiber optic technologies, exceptional products and reliable services. For over 30 years, customers have relied on AFL’s fiber optic solutions to provide faster and more dependable communication networks. As technology changes, AFL stays at the forefront of innovation with superior R&D and engineering excellence. At AFL, we connect. 170 Ridgeview Center Drive Duncan SC 29334 www.AFLglobal.com 864-433-0333 NAVIGATING YOUR BUSINESS LANDSCAPE Your job is to grow business and protect your company’s bottom line. Charting your course can be daunting. 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(Nick) Nicholson, Jr., Managing Director, ONE North Main, 2nd Floor, Greenville, SC 2015 SC Business - Intl.indd 1 3/4/2015 9:55:53 AM March/April 2015 contentsFEATURES Volume 36, Number 2 SOUTH CAROLINA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE 1301 GERVAIS STREET, SUITE 1100 8 10 16 20 COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA 29201 800.799.4601 WWW.sccHAMBER.NET Community Colleges The Darla Moore Meet South Carolina’s Cross-sector Training Baby School at 40 Speaker of the House Collaboration Drives Boomers 10 12 Economic 8 By Kendall Roth Competiveness By Mary Sue Vickers 13 By Ann Marie Stieritz M MEMBER SPOTLIGHT PRESIDENT & CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER NLRB’s Quickie A Worldly Woman Inland Port Makes Lighting Them Up TED PITTS Election Ruling 16 Easy Job of Economic 22 ASSocIATE VICE PRESIDENT 14 By Penny Delaney Cothran, APR By Penny Delaney Cothran, APR Development OF COMMUNIcaTIONS By Michael D. Carrouth, Esq. & 20 JULIE SCOTT Reyburn W. Lominack, III, Esq. By John Lummus MULTIMEDIA MANAGER PENNY DELANEY COTHRAN, APR GRapHICS & WEB ADMINISTRATOR REID PRICE ECONOMIC DRIVERS STATUS: EXemPLARY .................................6 SELECT HEALTH TURns 20 .........................7 M • Penny Delaney Cothran, APR • Michael Saia SOUTH CAROLINA BUSINESS MAGAZINE INFRASTRUCTURE FUNDING MUST GET ON TRACK .....................................................7 EDITOR • Brian Newman PENNY DELANEY COTHRAN, APR ART DIRECTION & DESIGN TIM MCKEEVER / TMCA INC. PRODUCTION & PRINT CooRDINATION DEPARTMENTS TMCA INC. Message from the Chairman ............................ 3 Member News .................................................. 30 PUBLISHED BY CONVERGING MEDIA LLC Message from the President ............................. 3 Welcome, New Members ................................ 31 ADVERTISING SALES CONVERGING MEDIA LLC Business Briefs .................................................... 4 I am S.C. Business ..................... Inside Back Cover DEIDRE MACKLEN 803.318.3923 After the Event Advertiser Index ............................................... 32 2015 Business Speaks .......................................... 24 5th Annual Manufacturers Conference .............. 26 2nd Annual Infrastructure Forum ........................ 28 Copyright © 2015 by the South Carolina Chamber of Commerce and Converging Media LLC. All foreign and U.S. rights reserved. Contents of this publication, including images, may not be reproduced without writ- ten consent from the publisher. Published for the South The opinions and views expressed by the contributors to this publication do not necessarily reflect the opinions and views of the Carolina Chamber of Commerce by Converging Media South Carolina Chamber of Commerce, its staff or members. LLC. 803.256.3010 2 | S OUTH C AROLINA B U S INE ss Palmetto State Poised for International Stage BY TED PITTS outh Carolina’s international presence continues to catapult companies into the reading adequately by the third grade, improving Sglobal marketplace. Today, more than 1,200 international firms have facilities high school graduation rates and ensuring that located in South Carolina, and the residual positive impact on home grown firms is post secondary graduates are truly ready for the immense. Think about how many jobs follow headquarters like Michelin, Boeing, great jobs available; we have a lot of work to Sonoco, Honda, Bridgestone, Bosch and BMW Manufacturing? Consider the impact do. State agencies and businesses are working of our newest family members: Toray Carbon Fibers, Continental Tire, Giti Tire, Nephron together like never before. Business leaders are and adidas. invested in ensuring we are “open for business” FROM THE PRESIDENT Here in the Palmetto State, we have a lot going for us, and I’m not just talking by fostering a world class workforce. about our great climate, miles of beaches or mountain peaks. We are the nation’s top Even though we are making strides in many tire producer and exporter. We rank second in high-tech employment growth. And, we areas, we must improve the link between our are the world’s largest ATV producer. In South Carolina, we make things, and we make graduates and the skills they possess to fill critical – them really well. The word is getting around. Yet as always, while we make strides so and well paying – jobs in this state, especially as we do our closest neighbors in the Southeast, and we always have to be one step ahead. recruit international firms. We have to continue the Our port system is poised to be the deepest on the East Coast. In a world where collaboration and measurements - from childhood speed to market, seamless processes and flexibility are essential to international to adulthood - to ensure our students are ready for the future. Initiatives like Read to commerce, our ports deliver. Charleston currently offers the deepest harbor in the region. Succeed, TransformSC, SC GEAR Up and the most recent Succeed plan put forth by Deepening Charleston Harbor to 52-feet removes the tidal restrictions and opens our the governor will go on a long way to keeping South Carolina on the cutting edge of port to the larger neo-Panamax container ships 24 hours a day. That is a global game workforce development and economic development. changer. We must continue to listen and work with our employers to improve our education Governor Nikki Haley and our state’s policy makers are some of the best in the nation system and training. We must constantly be improving and building for an ever increasing when it comes to creating a landscape that is conducive for businesses to thrive, grow global future. I am reminded of the great Wayne Gretzky who said, “I skate to where and create jobs. We should always be improving our tax policies, tort climate, energy the puck is going to be, not where it has been.” and environmental landscapes. The broader issue of workforce development requires a more evolved strategy and Ted Pitts is president and CEO of the South Carolina Chamber of Commerce. long-term approach to ensure global competitiveness. From early childhood education, Welcome to South Carolina! Destination of Choice. BY MIKEE JOHNSON ust recently, Barbara Melvin, Chamber board member and senior vice president of of the Succeed SC program. This program will Jexternal affairs for the South Carolina Ports Authority met with our South Carolina demonstrate to companies around the globe that Chamber Small Business Council. Melvin shared with the group countless and fascinating our Departments of Workforce and Commerce, details describing our Port and its role within our state’s economic engine. Regardless our Technical College System and our Governor’s of your interest in international trade and shipping through our Port, everyone left that office are marching in lockstep in attracting FROM THE CHAIRMAN meeting excited about our great state! I hope you will enjoy this issue of South Carolina businesses to South Carolina. This program will Business magazine and share in our enthusiasm. further fuel our workforce in South Carolina and Just last month, our magazine outlined the importance of workforce and distance us from our competition. infrastructure in South Carolina. We talked about these two assets as invaluable areas With a family business that has benefited from of focus for both our membership and all of our citizenry. With these efforts coupled with the world of international commerce through our attractive geography, we have been quietly building the DESTINATION OF CHOICE shipping our state’s home-grown Southern Yellow for foreign direct investment (FDI). Many in our state do not realize that South Carolina Pine products around the globe, I celebrate South is a destination of choice for global businesses. In 2013 alone, the state attracted more Carolina as a destination for companies with a than $2.3 billion in foreign direct investment capital projects that created over 2,600 jobs. global trade perspective. Since 2011, FDI projects have created more than 15,600 employment opportunities for Together we lead. Together we succeed. the residents of our state. We ranked first in per-capita job creation by foreign-owned Lastly, thank you for your support of the South Carolina Chamber of Commerce. firms investing in 2012, according to the IBM-Plant Location International (IBM-PLI) Global Location Trends report released in late 2013.