Business Buzzzzzzzz

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March 19 – Savannah Area Business Buzzzzzzzz

Georgia economic development leaders had two good announcements last week: Denmark-based Dinex Group plans to open a manufacturing plant in Dublin-Laurens County. The automotive emissions control and exhaust manufacturer will create 250 jobs and invest $15 million in this operation.  “Automotive suppliers are leading the way for the manufacturing rebound in Georgia and we have companies such as Dinex to credit for that,” said Governor Deal. “Our state is uniquely equipped to help manufacturers compete globally, so I am especially glad to welcome this company to Georgia. The company specialized in products for the heavy-duty diesel engine and vehicle industry. The company’s Dublin facility will be its first in the United States and will produce exhaust and emission systems for the off- and on-road markets for diesel engines in North America. Dinex’s customers include Caterpillar, Carrier, John Deere, Case New Holland and Volvo.

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And, CHEP USA, the industry leader in pallet and container pooling solutions and a part of Brambles Limited, will relocate its headquarters to Dunwoody. The company plans to bring 173 jobs to the new facility over the next five years. CHEP manages pallet and container supply chain logistics for its customers in the consumer goods, produce, meat, home improvement, beverage, raw materials, petro-chemical and automotive industries, partnering with a myriad of companies to develop pallet and container management solutions that ensure reduced product damage, offer enhanced delivery efficiencies, eliminate waste and reduce supply chain costs. CHEP expects the facility to be operational by the fall of 2012 and is actively recruiting for open positions in the Atlanta area.

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A recent Golf World survey of TOUR players named Harbour Town as No. 2 in their “Top 10 PGA TOUR Courses,” placing the Pete Dye masterpiece just behind Augusta National. This marks the debut of Heron Point by Pete Dye on the coveted list – giving the Lowcountry destination two of the top 10 layouts in the golf-rich Palmetto State. The 7,103-yard combination of short and long holes lie between newly-created lagoons and centuries-old live oaks. All the Dye signature elements are present – sprawling waste bunkers, railroad ties, fairway mounding and risk / reward greens – creating a classic 18, according to Cary Corbitt, Director of Sports Division of Sea Pines Resort. The Sea Pines Resort also recently received a “Gold Medal” in GOLF Magazine’s 2012-13 edition of “Premier Resorts.”

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Big brother – the FDIC – definitely has its eye on banks, large and small. The FDIC sent a memo to all banks today reminding them about the guidelines regarding the copying and removal of confidential financial institution information. “The FDIC has observed a limited number of instances in which directors and officers of troubled or failing institutions have made copies of financial institution and supervisory records, and removed those copies from the institution in anticipation of litigation or enforcement activity against them personally. This is a reminder to directors and officers that this activity is a breach of their fiduciary duty to the institution and an unsafe and unsound banking practice, which may also violate applicable laws and regulations and contravene the financial institution's information security program. Attorneys who represent an insured depository institution are also reminded that their fiduciary duty, both legally and ethically, obligates them to act in the best interests of the institution. The FDIC will investigate any matter that appears to violate confidentiality and pursue enforcement actions, as appropriate,” it said. And, it added that this applies to community banks, as well.

There are years of litigation ahead where the FDIC is suing bank officers and board members of failed institutions, trying to recover the taxpayers’ money.

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NEWS - Business Buzzzzzzzz

Week of March 12 2012 – Business Buzzzzzzzz

The Lady Bamford Center for Early Childhood Development has expanded to offer service to more children in the Savannah area, a project of JCB, the City of Savannah and the United Way. A dedication event was held recently to announce the expansion plans.  The center is dedicated to providing education and social skills development to children from six weeks to five years of age. 

A new classroom is being added to expand the school’s capacity from 58 to 78 children. 

Lady Bamford, John Patterson, Chairman/CEO of JCB and the mayor of Savannah Edna Jackson participated in a  ribbon cutting ceremony at the new classroom.

The Lady Bamford Center for Early Childhood Development is located at 1410 Richards Street, Savannah.  

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Aron Stubbins of the Skidaway Institute of Oceanography has had research published this month in the March 2012 issue of Nature Geoscience on the process of carbon-containing dissolved organic matter (DOM) in glacial ice.

Glaciers provide a great deal of carbon to downstream ecosystems. Many scientists believe the source of this carbon is the ancient forests and peatlands overrun by the glaciers. However, Stubbins and his colleagues believe the carbon comes mainly from contemporary biomass and fossil fuel burning that gets deposited on the glacier surfaces. His paper can be viewed on-line at http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/NGEO1403.  The mission of the Skidaway Institute of Oceanography is to provide the State of Georgia with a nationally and internationally recognized center of excellence in marine science through research and education.

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Foundation Financial Group, with local offices at 17 Park of Commerce Blvd. in Savannah, has announced the opening of its sixth retail branch in Wichita, Kan., its first retail branch opened in 2012 of 11 retail branch locations throughout the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic planned this year as the company continues to grow.  Foundation Financial Group named Bobbi Jo Dixon as the Wichita branch manager. Its Savannah office, which was opened in June 2009, is headed by Greg Ludwig.
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Published by Savannah Business Journal.®All Copyrights Reserved ©2012. www.savannahbusinessjournal.com®

NEWS - Business Buzzzzzzzz

Feb 6, 2012 – Business Buzzzzzzzz

South University has expansion into the greater Cleveland area with the addition of a campus located in Warrensville Heights, their first campus in the state of Ohio. The newly constructed 40,000 sq. ft. campus offers 17 classrooms, labs, a library and office space. Classes will begin April 7, 2012. "I am looking forward to meeting our inaugural class of Cleveland students this spring," according to John T. South III, Chancellor for South University. Initially, South University's Cleveland Campus will offer programs in Criminal Justice, Paralegal Studies, Legal Studies, Business Administration, Information Technology, Healthcare Management, Psychology, Clinical Mental Health Counseling and Nursing.

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A bill to allow mega-resort casinos in Florida appears dead this year in the Florida House of Representatives 2012 session. Proposed by Rep. Erik Fresen, R-Miami, he pulled the bill on Friday during committee hearings, according to the Jacksonville Business Journal, before a sub-committee hearing, knowing he did not have support for the legislation to get out of committee.

No final vote was taken. "I think if there had been a vote, it's pretty clear it would have been defeated today,'' David Hart, a vice president of the Florida Chamber of Commerce, which was an influential opponent of the bill, told the newspaper on Friday.

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The Sea Island Company is bringing in the Georgia Dept. of Labor to help them run a Career Fair to staff up for the upcoming season.  The Georgia Department of Labor’s Brunswick Career Center will help the Sea Island Company recruit employees to fill about 250 seasonal job openings at its resort on St. Simons Island. Recruitments will be held Wednesday and Thursday, Feb. 15-16, at the Sea Island Retreat Golf Club, located at 100 Kings Way on St. Simons Island. Wednesday’s recruitment will be held from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., while Thursday’s is scheduled from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Before the recruitments, job seekers are encouraged to apply on-line at www.seaisland.com/careers and browse “open jobs.” Part-time and full-time jobs are available throughout the resort, including those at the Beach Club pools, in the front office, at restaurants, retail stores, golf courses, tennis courts, spas, and yacht clubs, along with others in food service, housekeeping, and stewarding.

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Jan 23 – Business Buzzzzzzzz

Hodges Management Company of Savannah, owned and operated by Inman Hodges, Jr., will present a $33,260 check this week to the Chatham-Savannah Authority for the Homeless, Inc., raised in the company’s “Dishing Out Meals: Fighting Homelessness and Hunger in Our Community” campaign. The amount surpassed its fundraising goal, according to the company.  The twenty-four KFC’s and DQ Grill and Chill stores owned by Hodges Management Company partnered with the  local nonprofit to raise funds and awareness to help end homelessness and hunger in Savannah and surrounding communities.  The campaign was named in the top ten of Best Local Cause Marketing Campaigns for 2011 in the HuffingtonPost IMPACT series, and was created by Maggie Keenan, owner of givingadvice, LLC a cause marketing consultancy located in Savannah.  Congratulations to both companies!

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Georgia Southern University’s Master of Science in Nursing - Family Nurse Practitioner program has been ranked in the top 20 nationally by U.S. News & World Report along with Yale University, Duke University, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, Columbia University and Johns Hopkins University. “To be named among the top 20 in the country by U.S. News & World Report is a major honor not only for our University, but for the state of Georgia,” said Jean Bartels, Ph.D., dean of the College of Health and Human Sciences which includes Georgia Southern’s School of Nursing.  

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Savannah area logistics industry leaders are gearing up for the 4th Annual Georgia Logistics Summit set for February 7 – 8 at the World Congress Center in Atlanta. So far over 1,200 people and 51 exhibitors are registering to attend, according to Page Siplon of Georgia’s Center of Innovation for Logistics in Savannah. Registration closes this Friday, Jan. 27.

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NEWS - Business Buzzzzzzzz

Jan 16 – Savannah Area Business Buzzzzzzzz

The Statesboro Herald, located in Bulloch County and owned by Morris Multimedia of Savannah, is getting ready to celebrate its 75^th anniversary, according to the company. The Statesboro Herald’s first form was as the weekly the Bulloch Herald. Randy Morton is the current publisher.   
“One of the projects I’m most excited about is a special hard-back pictorial book we’re putting together for release in November,” Morton said in a recent article in The Statesboro Herald.  “It will be called “Statesboro Through Our Eyes” and we need the help of all our readers to make it truly special,” he said.

Joe McGlamery is president of the Statesboro Herald.  Charles Morris of Savannah is president and CEO of Morris Multimedia.

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Monty Lee, who joined The Colony Bank in November, has returned to First Chamber Bank as of last week. He had been hired by The Colony Bank to grow the local Colony brand and market share.  Tommy Hester is the newly appointed president of The Colony Bank in the Savannah area, one of Georgia’s largest state-chartered banking companies.  Lee is a native of Hinesville.

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Four of five Republican candidates in the race for Georgia’s 12th District Congressional seat currently held by Congressman John Barrow, participated in a Bulloch County Republican Party forum last week.  Rick W. Allen, Georgia State Rep. Lee Anderson, Wright McLeod and Maria Sheffield were on hand.

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NEWS - Business Buzzzzzzzz

Jan 9 – Savannah Area Business Buzzzzzzzz

Cora Bett Thomas, one of Savannah’s most influential and ‘connected’ Realtors in the region. has announced plans to move Cora Bett Thomas Realty back to its roots, in the garden level of her home at 16 E. Jones Street in Savannah’s Historic District.  The company will close its current residential and commercial real estate office on Oglethorpe Street, but maintain its property management division’s office on E. York Street, as well as their real estate office in Beaufort County. Thomas is a member of the board of directors of the Savannah Economic Development Authority.

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News from around Georgia:  Daewon is bringing Jobs to LaGrange. The Seoul, South Korea-based Daewon America will open a manufacturing facility in the Troup County city, creating 100 jobs over three years. Daewon America manufactures springs and torsion bars for the automotive industry. The company will purchase and expand an existing facility in LaGrange, investing $14 million. Daewon is one of a growing number of KIA suppliers locating in the west Georgia region near the automotive manufacturer’s Georgia operation. The company is a direct supplier to KIA and Hyundai, and also supplies Mando, Powertech and Mobis.

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Raycom, owners of WTOC-TV in Savannah, has announced that the company will switch to

Rentrak’s StationView Essentials for local market household and demographics ratings versus Neilsen ratings service.  This more comprehensive service includes the integration of the Polk Automotive and Political Segmentation information that will allow Raycom to sell not only the size of its audiences, but also its “strength” of a particular auto purchaser or political segment, according to Rentrak and Raycom. “We believe Rentrak’s measurement can change the way our industry does business because there are significant advantages for both buyers and sellers of ad time,” said Paul McTear, Raycom president-CEO.  “We need to take the focus from measurement issues and put it back on the efficiency and effectiveness of local television.”

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Margaret “Meg” Heap will hold a press conference this week at The Mulberry Inn to formally announce her intention to challenge Chatham County’s District Attorney Larry Chisholm. David Simons of Simons & Associates, political consultants headquartered in Savannah, will manage her campaign. She spent 18 years in the D.A.’s office, primarily working under Spencer Lawton.  She resigned in Chisholm’s first year in office. Heap charges that 35 employees in Chisholm’s office have resigned or been fired in his first three years in office.  There are currently a number of lawsuits against Chisholm and Chatham County for various personnel matters pending in the courts. 

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Tanger Factory Outlet Centers, Inc. in Hilton Head has announced the opening of The Olive Garden restaurant as of today, January 9, in the Tanger 1 center. “The opening of an Olive Garden has been long awaited in our area,” according to LaDonna Shamlou, General Manager of the Tanger Outlet Centers in Hilton Head. “We are thrilled to be welcome this popular restaurant as an addition to our center for locals and vacationers to enjoy.”

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Hancock Askew & Co., LLP was recently named as one of the 2011 Best Accounting Firms to Work for. The annual list of “Best Accounting Firms” was created by Accounting Today and Best Companies Group. The Best Accounting Firms to Work for list is made up of a total of 100 companies, split into three groups: 50 small-sized companies (15-49 employees), 45 medium-sized companies (50-249 employees) and 5 large-sized companies (more than 250 employees). For the third year in a row Hancock Askew & Co., LLP has been named one of the Best Accounting Firms to Work for.  This year, Hancock Askew ranked #27 in the small firm category.

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The FDIC-insured institutions reported an aggregate profit of $35.3 billion in the third quarter of 2011, an $11.5 billion improvement from the $23.8 billion in net income the industry reported in the third quarter of 2010. This is the ninth consecutive quarter that earnings registered a year-over-year increase, according to a report issued by the FDIC on Monday, Jan 9, 2012.   Lower provisions for loan losses were responsible for most of the year-over-year improvement in earnings. Third-quarter loss provisions totaled $18.6 billion, almost 50 percent less than the $35.1 billion that insured institutions set aside for losses in the third quarter of 2010.

Editor's Note:  Join the Buzzzzzzzz.  Email Publisher Lou Pheps at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

NEWS - Business Buzzzzzzzz

Dec 19 – Savannah Area Business Buzzzzzzzz

Coastal Logistics Group of Savannah announced the arrival of the 500th rail car into its Sonny Perdue facility in Savannah this month. Rail service has only been in place for 8 months at CLG and the volumes are increasing daily, according to the company. CLG is owned by Chad Barrow, president and Richard Barrow, CEO. “There is still capacity to grow with existing infrastructure but with new customer’s coming on board each month, CLG anticipates adding a second rail spur to accommodate additional needs in 2012,” they state. Rail cargo remains strong throughout the Southeast.

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Phil Ivey, vice president for Georgia Power Co. told board members of the Georgia Department of Economic Development last week that they believe they are only weeks away from gaining permission to start to finish building the new nuclear power reactors at Waynesboro. GaDEC held its board meeting in Augusta, and then took a tour of Plant Vogtle. There are currently 1,800 people working on the new plant, which will eventually reach 3,500.

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Goodwill Industries of the Coastal Empire has used recent generous donations to help its Job Connections Center in Lyons, Georgia purchase a new SMART Board, creating the most modern classroom in the local Goodwill system. The interactive whiteboard helps improve learning outcomes by combining the simplicity of a whiteboard with the power of a computer. It allows the instructor to deliver dynamic lessons, write notes in digital ink, and save work - all with the simple touch of a finger, according to Jan L. Bass, Director of Marketing for Goodwill Industries of the Coastal Empire, Inc.’

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Liz Johnson of Statesboro has elected as a new member of the Democratic National Committee, representing Georgia. She is the owner of Brooke Insurance of Statesboro.

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The Savannah Downtown Business Association sponsored a toy drive over the past few weeks in order to bring Christmas to local children in need. The toys were presented on Saturday, and kids got an extra surprise when Santa made a special visit. “This will be the only gifts that some of these kids will receive this year. It’s important to give back this time of year,” said Ruel Joyner, president of the SDBA.

The SDBA would like to thank everyone who gave toys. Special thanks go to Shane’s Rib Shack for donating food for the event and Althea Street and Shante Brown for all of their hard work including wrapping all of the presents, according to Joyner.

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NEWS - Business Buzzzzzzzz

Dec 12 – Savannah Area Business Buzzzzzzzz

Foundation Financial Group, headquartered in Jacksonville, with a Savannah office, reports that the company grew its insurance business at a record pace in November, resulting in $30 million in new property, auto and life insurance policies in 30 days - a company record, according to CEO Mark W. Boyer. The company launched its insurance services in January 2011, offering property, casualty and life insurance to its customers. Since that time, the company has added tax and retirement services to its established mortgage services. This fall, Foundation Financial Group opened new branch financial services locations in Dayton, Ohio; Indianapolis; Kansas City, Mo.; St. Paul, Minn.; and Toledo, Ohio. The company also made the 2011 Inc. 500|5000 list.

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Savannah Daily News reported last week that while Georgia Tech plans to continue to operate its campus in Savannah, but acknowledge that it is a campus in transition.  The future of Tech’s satellite campus here has been the subject of conjecture by both students and faculty awaiting information on the plans of the Georgia Board of Regents about their future.  “We continue to work with individual students to make sure that their academic needs are being met. In fact, 33 students from the Georgia Tech-Savannah campus will be degree candidates for fall commencement that will be held next week,” according to Lisa Grovenstein, spokesperson for Georgia Tech in Atlanta, a small number by anyone’s measure.  The Board of Regents are currently conducting market research, she said, to determine the campus’ future, but one decision appears to have been made – to keep the campus open.

“As the focus of Georgia Tech-Savannah transitions from an undergraduate degree program to one that will eventually focus on a variety of programs ranging from professional and executive education to programs for the military, research is underway to determine the specific market needs. This is an ongoing process, and there are no results to share at this time,” Tech states.

“As we define the "Path Forward," Georgia Tech-Savannah will remain a campus. While its mission and programs are being further evaluated and defined, it will continue to be one of Georgia Tech's "global" campuses serving a vital part of the Savannah community.

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The Board of Directors of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) announced last week that they were cutting the regulatory groups operating budget by 15.4 percent due to a projected reduction in bank failures next year.  Good news, for sure. "It appears that the peak of the recent banking failures may have passed and the FDIC is now positioned to begin reducing budget and staffing levels while continuing to fulfill our mission and maintain readiness to handle remaining bank failure and supervisory challenges," said FDIC Acting Chairman Martin Gruenberg.  Over one-third of the FDIC's total staffing authorized for 2012 will be temporary hires to assist with bank closings; perform follow-on work related to the management and sale of failed bank assets; and support supervision of a continued high number of problem banks. There were 157 bank failures in 2010 and 90 to date this year.

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As reported last week by The Savannah Business Journal, remember that applications are still being accepted to nominate a Bryan County company as ‘Business of the Year’ by the Richmond Hill/Bryan County Chamber of Commerce. Applications are due at the RHBC Chamber office no later than Friday, December 23, 2011.  Applications are available online at www.rhbcchamber.org. The presentation of the award will take place during the RHBC Chamber’s Annual Meeting & Banquet on Thursday, January 12 at the Richmond Hill City Center.