Merrill
Opens New Office in Roanoke
New Roanoke office is Merrill's second prototype office in the United States.
|
|
Roanoke stakeholders participate in recent Merrill Ribbon-Cutting. Mark L. Gobble, Sr. Vice President and Resident Director
is pictured with ribbon-cutting scissors.
|
|
Merrill, along with Bank of America, recently announced the opening of a new office in downtown Roanoke to provide comprehensive wealth management strategies as well as personalized advice and guidance for individuals, families and businesses in the surrounding area. The new Merrill office will be led by Mark L. Gobble, Sr., Vice President and Resident Director,
who has been with Merrill Lynch for 28 years. Merrill has been a part of the local Roanoke community since 1978 and the new office is the second Merrill prototype office in the nation with state-of-art features and benefits to include ergonomic desks and chairs, energy efficient lighting, a work café and more.
“This opening is another exciting step towards broadening our network of strategically located offices in growth regions,” said Ty Bilderback, Director, Market Executive. “Merrill is centered on the enduring relationships between our financial advisors and our clients, and with Bank of America clients have access to even more resources and bank offerings to help them with all aspects of their financial lives.”
The new office is located in the original Norfolk Southern Headquarters Building at 110 Franklin Road and the space will accommodate growth and the addition of new financial advisors and employees. If you are interested in reaching a financial advisor at the new Merrill office, call 540-985-5400 or visit www.local.ml.com/roanoke_va.
Merrill is a leading provider of comprehensive wealth management and investment services for individuals and businesses globally. With 14,761 financial advisors and nearly $2.4 trillion in client balances as of March 31, 2019, it is among the largest businesses of its kind in the world. Bank of America Corporation, through its subsidiaries, specializes in goals-based wealth management, including planning for retirement, education, legacy, and other life goals through investment, cash and credit management. Within this business, Merrill Private Wealth Management focuses on the unique and personalized needs of wealthy individuals, families and their businesses. These clients are served by approximately 200 highly specialized private wealth advisor teams, along with experts in areas such as investment management, concentrated stock management and inter-generational wealth transfer strategies. Merrill is part of Bank of America Corporation.
|
|
|
Bursting with Opportunity
Announcing the New Virginia Program Portfolio
Appalachian Power has three new programs available in Virginia that can provide business customers with the opportunity to save money, save energy, and increase energy efficiency year after year. There is no charge to participate in any of the programs.
The Commercial & Industrial Lighting Program
This incentive program replaces the former Prescriptive Program but continues to provide similar financial incentives to help offset a portion of total lighting project costs. Incentives are calculated based on $.05/kWh saved annually and require pre-approval by Appalachian Power program staff prior to installation. Energy-efficiency projects, including the installation of LEDs, T5 lamps, high-performance T8, and lighting control measures, are eligible for rebates and each measure has its own rebate worksheet. Todd Ewald is the outreach coordinator for this program and can be contacted at 540-397-8633 or
todd.ewald@clearesult.com
.
The Small Business Direct Install Program
Appalachian Power’s Small Business Direct Install (SBDI) Program is designed to provide educational support and energy efficiency upgrade assistance directly to small businesses. This is achieved through no-cost assessments, which include free energy-savings upgrades such as LED bulbs, showerheads, low-flow faucet aerators, and low-flow pre-rinse sprayers. Should a business decide to pursue other measures identified in the assessment, it can receive generous rebates by working with contractors in our Trade Ally Network for installation of the measures. Our energy advisor, Anthony Trail, can assist businesses with this process and can be contacted at 540-312-9650 or
anthony.trail@clearesult.com.
Commercial & Industrial Standard Program
This incentive program assists business customers in implementing non-lighting energy efficiency projects. It is designed to reduce costs in specific retail and industrial sector businesses through financial incentives that are calculated based on $.08/kWh annual savings. Eligible measures include variable frequency/speed drive applications, qualifying packaged terminal heat pumps, qualifying commercial refrigeration measures, and qualifying VFD air compressor measures. This program also requires pre-approval by Appalachian Power program staff prior to installation of measures. The return on investment for this program is worth considering:
Through this program, the lodging sector can achieve paybacks of less than a year from the combined energy savings and program incentives of installing guest room occupancy sensors. The return on installing VFD's on process motors in an industrial setting can be less than two years, depending on operational hours.
Restaurants and convenience stores can use energy savings and program incentives to recover costs of new cooler or freezer doors and anti-sweat heater control devices in less than two years.
Contact us to discuss Standard Program opportunities for your business. Our market outreach specialist, Scott Cronin, can be contacted at 540-529-7397 or
scott.cronin@clearesult.com
.
|
|
Historic Downtown Roanoke Sign, Made New By a Center for Craftspeople and Cooks
|
|
Crafteria: Handmade Food & Goods
recently unveiled a recreated piece of Roanoke history. Back in the 1950s and '60s, a historic sign at 16 West Church Avenue was a downtown beacon for hungry diners, drawing them to S&W Cafeteria. It spelled the word “cafeteria,” one letter at a time in a mid-century style that matched S&W’s unique building.
This signature sign was scrapped many years ago, but it is now getting a second chance. Crafteria has faithfully reproduced it with a Beautification Grant from Downtown Roanoke, Inc. and help from a team of experts.
Vintage Marquee Lights in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina in partnership with The Color Spot of Marietta, Georgia fabricated the reproduction. They used the original materials—aluminum for the frame and polycarbonate for the letter blocks—and matched the design following the original sign’s specifications.
The one thing the company lacked, however, was the font. “We’re not even sure if it was a stock typeface at the time,” said Andrew Lee, a New York City graphic artist working for Fatback Media. “It may have been made specifically for S&W.”
Andrew recreated the original letters by hand, which were then used for the sign and also the new business’ logo. “We’re just so proud of our historic home and, specifically, this sign. When it came time to make a logo, we had to reflect it,” said Ferguson, who co-founded Crafteria with his partner, Alex Dykes.
Their new business soft launched in April with a makers market. Described as “Etsy offline,” it features craft food and goods from more than 60 makers. Products range from pottery to cocktail bitters to jewelry to chocolates to baby blankets. They’re all made locally or within a few hours of Roanoke, and many aren’t available anywhere nearby.
This month, Crafteria expands to include a fully-stocked community kitchen, which will be home base for area food entrepreneurs. Whether they are aspiring restaurateurs or make small batch BBQ, they will be able to make and even sell their food from the former cafeteria space. Shelf-stable food will be featured in the makers market while fresh food will be sold at a food walk-up window.
Across the country, both of these models—makers markets and community kitchens—have exploded in popularity. According to the economic development consultancy Econsult Solutions, Inc., the number of kitchen incubators, for instance, grew by 50 percent between 2013 and 2016.
Crafteria’s founders are keenly aware of this trend and hope to foster dozens or even hundreds of cottage industries over the next few years. “Our goal is simple,” says Ferguson, “Whether folks are making handmade doughnuts or dog leashes, we want to give them a home. We want to become Roanoke’s largest community of makers.”
|
|
|
From Virginia Business Magazine on May 31, 2019:
The multiplier effect
$50 million gift expected to accelerate biomedical research in Roanoke
|
|
Virginia Tech BUSINESS BITS
Move Over, Millennials:
Welcoming the New Generation
|
Born after 1996, our newest generation is on the workforce horizon: Generation Z. Also called GenZ, iGen, and the Cloud Generation, these post-millennial teens were the first to conduct childhood friendships on portable devices. They’ve mastered the art of achieving an entire conversation with an image (emojis). Independent, pragmatic, stubborn and always in a rush, Generation Z will bring a new challenge to corporations. That’s if they arrive as workers on the corporate scene at all. Most reports say over 75 percent of GenZ want to start their own company and not work for others. How will they want to be trained and supported at work?
Members of our up and coming workforce, whose oldest are about 20 right now, are the ultimate “self-educators”. They simply learn how to do things via YouTube videos. Want to know how to fire someone? Want to understand the differences between management and leadership? Need to change your tire? YouTube is their go-to source. Smart companies have already begun migrating their training “manuals” to video clips, easily accessible from anywhere.
This group also takes in information almost instantaneously and are experts at multitasking in a way prior generations are not. After all, they are our first 5-screen generation (smartphone, laptop, desktop, tablet, TV). They are streamers, not cable watchers. Those new training videos? They fit the “on demand” preference of Generation Z. Furthermore, they are thrifty having grown up the product of Generation X parents in the shadow of the Great Recession, so training programs will have to be economical to resonate with them. They are more likely to request to attend a virtual conference than to take time to fly to a traditional industry conference. They’ll expect virtual and augmented reality training as well.
Note too that they barely use email, so other means of communication will have to be utilized. For instance, imagine a manufacturing company transitioning to SnapChat to send video clips of real time issues they are facing on the line to their supervisor or an industry expert.
While we don’t yet know the enormity of what is on the horizon with these newcomers to the workforce, one thing is for sure. Corporate training and support is not going to look like it used to back in the trade school and apprenticeship days. Let’s hope we can all keep up with Generation Z.
Business Bits
is brought to you by Lesa Hanlin (
Lesa@vt.edu
), Virginia Tech, Executive Director, Roanoke Regional Initiatives (540-767-6100).
|
|
|
International Medical Conference
Hosted in Roanoke
The 2019 International Association of Medical Science Educators (IAMSE) Annual Conference was hosted in Virginia's Blue Ridge on June 8th-11th. This health/medical conference had record attendance with 653 members of the association attending from 28 different countries.
With collaboration between Visit Virginia's Blue Ridge, the City of Roanoke, Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine and Fralin Biomedical Research Institute, attendees were able to experience a "Taste of Roanoke" Street Festival which took place in Market Square, the City Market Building, and Center in the Square.
The conference had more than 650 people registered, coming from across the United States as well as a dozen other countries. Originally, the conference was expected to attract 500 basic science and clinical educators to Virginia's Blue Ridge, but that goal was met two months prior to the conference start.
This is one of many medical conferences scheduled to come to Virginia's Blue Ridge!
|
Ubadah Sabbagh, a Virginia Tech Translational Biology, Medicine, and Health graduate student working at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC, has received the Ben Barres Fellowship presented by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. This award is presented to the most distinguished graduate student.
|
Neuroscience graduate student receives prestigious Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Ben Barres Fellowship
Virginia Tech Translational Biology, Medicine, and Health graduate student Ubadah Sabbagh was awarded the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory’s Ben Barres Fellowship. Funded by the Grass Foundation, this award is presented to the most distinguished graduate student.
Sabbagh received this recognition earlier this week during Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory’s Vision Course. This elite two-week summit brings together students, postdoctoral fellows and distinguished senior neuroscientists to discuss emerging methods in overcoming diseases that compromise visual function.
“Ubadah continues to bring great honor to the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute, the TBMH program, and to Virginia Tech,” said Michael Friedlander, executive director of the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute and vice-president for health sciences and technology at Virginia Tech. “Early in his career as a neuroscientist, Ubadah has distinguished himself through his research scholarship, educational outreach, service and collegiality. Although I am very pleased for Ubadah at this latest recognition, I am not surprised that others have seen the same qualities in him that we have observed here in the TBMH program at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute on a daily basis.”
Mentored by Michael Fox, a professor and director of the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute’s Center for Neurobiology Research, Sabbagh is working on classifying the cells and molecules present in a relatively unexplored region of the brain’s visual system called the ventral lateral geniculate nucleus.
Ben Barres was a renowned Stanford University neurobiologist whose exceptional research surrounding the role of glial cells revolutionized the field of neuroscience. He was particularly known for his dedication to training the next generation of scientists, and for being a champion for basic science research.
|
|
Also...
Virginia's Blue Ridge has been featured on
Mpora
, Europe's leading adventure sports and outdoor lifestyle websites a result of the Visit VBR public relations program.
Stars and Bikes | Riding the New Capital for Mountain Biking on America’s East Coast
can be found online
here
.
This recent travel article is a result of an individual media tour for Stuart Kenny and has generated the following estimated values:
- Circulation: 126,585
- Advertising Equivalency: $238.00
|
Virginia’s Seasonally Adjusted Unemployment Rate Was Up 0.1 Percentage Point in May to
3.0 Percent
Seasonally adjusted non-farm employment was down 3,200 jobs between April 2019 and May 2019
Virginia’s seasonally adjusted unemploy-
ment rate increased 0.1 percentage point in May to 3.0 percent, which equals the rate from a year ago. In May, the labor force expanded for the eleventh consecutive month by 5,817, or 0.1 percent to set a new record high of 4,368,510, as the number of unemployed increased by 1,748.
|
Roanoke Named All-America City Hall of Fame Winner
The National Civic League has selected the City of Roanoke as the
first ever
All-America City Hall of Fame Winner. Roanoke has a long history with the All-America City Award, receiving this recognition for a record seven times. The Hall of Fame Award recognizes Roanoke’s continued work and advancement of the
Star City Reads
(SCR) initiative, and the impact of Roanoke Public Libraries’ Feed and Read Program.
The SCR initiative works to ensure that all children can read proficiently by the end of third grade. SCR consists of a coalition of more than 30 community partners, led by the Roanoke Public Libraries. Each partner organization supplements the work it already does, whether conducting home visitation, providing social services, or running theatre programs, with efforts that support early childhood literacy. The community’s progress includes a more than 10% increase in reading proficiency rates for low-income third graders.
In summer 2014, Roanoke Public Libraries and its partners—Roanoke City Public Schools and YMCA—piloted the first Feed and Read program. In October 2018, Feeding America Southwest VA joined as a partner and the Feed and Read program expanded to offer meals Monday through Friday, and on Saturdays. The program allows any child, birth to 18 years of age, to receive a free, USDA-approved meal and participate in literacy enrichment activities. Since Feed and Read launched, more than 50,000 meals have been served to children at Roanoke Public Library branches. Feed and Read is made possible by federal funding.
To read more about the Hall of Fame Award,
click here
.
For more information about the programs that earned Roanoke this award, contact Sheila Umberger, Director of Roanoke Pubic Libraries, at 853-2476 or
sheila.umberger@roanokeva.gov
.
|
|
|
Don't forget...BizRoanoke is on RVTV Channel 3!
BizRoanoke is a monthly television program highlighting economic activity and programs
within the City of Roanoke.
Tune into RVTV Channel 3 to learn more, access it on our website at
|
|
Check it Out!
City Owned Available Property
The City of Roanoke has a variety of properties, from existing buildings to buildable sites,
presently available for acquisition. The purchase of City property must be approved by Council; this requires potential buyers to submit a proposal for the property.
For more information on available properties and the proposal process, please visit the links below:
|
|
|
The City of Roanoke Department of Economic Development is on
Facebook
and
Instagram
! Please "like" or "follow" us
today!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
