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byline: Joan Tupponce

Construction and security

SERVICE
Axis Global Enterprises, Virginia Beach
axisge.com

Ross Vierra has an eye for opportunity.

The former Naval officer bought a Virginia Beach-based construction company in 2011 and added a Newport News-based security services firm three years later.

From 2012 to 2015, revenue at the combined company, Axis Global Enterprises, grew 1,274 percent, making it the third-fastest-growing company on the Fantastic 50 and the top service firm on the list.

One of the company’s newest security services is “active-shooter” detection.

“The sensory system can be placed throughout a building, and you can track where the shooter takes a shot,” says Vierra, the firm’s CEO and president. “It will give you real-time information, which can be given to emergency personnel, the police or the facility. You can see where the last shot was fired.”

Combined with a security system, the active-shooter service can lock down “different areas [of a building] in real time. Access-control cameras can be integrated as well,” Vierra adds. “It’s a sad thing that we had to go to this technology, but that is the world we live in.”

The security services branch of the company also provides physical security, video cameras, access control, videophone verification and fire alarms. Vierra entered the security services market with his purchase of ASI Security in Newport News.

“We have jobs on the security side of the business all over the U.S.,” Vierra says. “We are now installing under-vehicle detection systems for the U.S. Mint all over the country.”

His construction division, founded in 2009, originally was called Axis Road Markings. “We are a design/build general contractor, and we work with a lot of government facilities as well as other clients,” Vierra says. “We do everything from renovation to new construction.”

In addition to its Virginia Beach and Newport News offices, the company has an office in the Outer Banks of North Carolina.

Both of the company’s divisions are in growth mode with projects evenly divided between construction and security.

“We are seeing tremendous growth on the commercial side of our construction business,” Vierra says. “We are going into 2017 and 2018 and also seeing growth in government projects that have been tabled for so long.”

Vierra is hiring employees to prepare for that growth. “We make sure we have the best people engaged and ready to perform,” he says. “Without the team, we wouldn’t be where we are.”

A ‘franchise-ish’ approach

TECHNOLOGY
GuidePoint Security, Herndon
guidepointsecurity.com

GuidePoint Security founders Michael Volk and Justin Morehouse credit the company’s rapid growth to its focus on customers’ needs in providing cybersecurity services. “We focus on what we do, and that’s security,” says Volk.

The Herndon-based cybersecurity solution provider has a “franchise-ish” operation with regional partners. “While the regions are responsible for their go-to-market strategies and approaches as well as some of the technical requirements, they also take advantage of our centralized teams around information assurance and managed services as well as traditional back-office support functions,” Volk says.

Customers are “never more than one step away from an actual owner, which allows for increased responsiveness and service in meeting our customer needs,” he adds.

GuidePoint recorded a revenue growth rate of 1,276 percent from 2012 to 2015, ending the final year with revenue of $111 million. That pace has continued.

“In 2016 we did roughly around $158 million, and this year we should be around $210 to $215 million,” Volk says.

Incorporated in 2011, the company has grown to 205 employees. “Well over 50 percent of our folks have a technical job function,” Morehouse says. “We have more depth and breadth in the concentration of engineering resources within the company than is typical with similar firms in our space.”

The company has a presence in 12 states. “Our two biggest concentrations of employees are Virginia and Florida,” Morehouse says, noting the company has two security operations centers, one in Herndon and the other in St. Petersburg, Fla.

Two years ago GuidePoint began offering managed services solutions under which it runs a customer’s security operations center or augments an existing security operations center. “That work is in high demand,” Volk says.

GuidePoint was created during the emerging era of cloud-based solutions, and everything the company does is securely cloud-based. “Our team can go into a brick-and-mortar office, or they telecommute and work remotely,” Volk says.

Roughly 30 percent of the company’s work involves the federal government. “The rest is tied to our commercial customers, everything from financial services and health care to insurance and manufacturing,” Morehouse says. “Right now, financial services is our largest sector.”

The market is limitless, Volk says. “Cybersecurity threats and attacks keep evolving and expanding as well as the complexity of the solutions required keep growing to meet these ever-changing threats. Everyone needs to be concerned about this.”

Move solves growing pains for investigative firm

Trustify hosted a housewarming party in April to celebrate its move from Washington, D.C., to Arlington.

Launched in 2015, the company’s website connects “individuals and businesses with highly trained private investigators nationwide,” says CEO Danny Boice, who co-founded Trustify with his wife, Jennifer Mellon, the company’s president.  

The company home­page asks the user to begin the process by completing this sentence, “I need to ____”  by choosing from a drop-down menu of possible  investigations: “infidelity/cheating;  make sure my kids are safe; locate someone; run background checks; investigate fraud of assets; check data breach; find out something else.”

Now the employer of 35 people, the company has grown rapidly during the past two years, making it necessary to find a larger space. “It was important that we create an office that would also be a ‘home away from home’ for our team,” Boice says.

It was also crucial that Trustify had “sufficient staff to meet our clients’ needs,” Boice says. “Our new office space in Arlington allows us the space we need to continue growing.” 

Priorities during the search phase included a convenient location, a thriving community and sufficient space to incorporate elements such as wellness rooms, a kitchen and living room/library space.

“This is an incredible place for startups,” says Boice of Arlington’s advantages, ranging from its economic incentives to an innovative workforce. “We knew we wanted to be in the Arlington/Washington, D.C., area.”

Trustify is leasing 10,000 square feet in Arlington’s Crystal City neighborhood. “This is an incredible neighborhood of like-minded entrepreneurs,” says Christina Winn, director of business investment for Arlington Economic Development.

Crystal City’s central location and access to the Metro, Metro Bus and the Virginia Railway Express train was a plus for the company.  

“It’s an easy commute for young talent living in D.C. who don’t have cars as well as to those who live further out and might be hesitant to battle the congestion in and around D.C.,” says Boice, who lives in Arlington with his family.

Suffolk seen as a ‘good fit’ for Spanish manufacturer

Spanish manufacturer Atarfil began looking for a site in the United States two years ago. In March, the company announced it will spend $5.1 million to establish its first U.S. manufacturing and distribution facility in Suffolk.

The city is a good fit logistically, says Mario G. Girones, the company’s sales and marketing director. “It was the perfect balance of all our needs.”

The project will create 15 jobs.

Founded in 1955 and based in Granada, Spain, Atarfil makes high-performance products such as thermoplastic geomembranes for safe-containment use in the waste, water and mining industries. The company has operations in Mexico, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates.

“Historically, the U.S. is a market where our products have been welcomed since the beginning,” Girones says. 

Before picking Suffolk, the company looked at several locations, including sites in Maryland.

“All of the options were extremely good with a different balance of advantages and disadvantages,” Girones says. “Key factors are related to logistic needs, energy supply, procurement chain and availability of space. The authorities in Suffolk strove from the very beginning to bring the project to this area.”

One of the biggest challenges for Suffolk officials was finding an existing building large enough to accommodate Atarfil’s equipment.

“Their equipment is about 90 feet in length,” says Greg Byrd, assistant director for Suffolk’s economic development department. “Once they decided on Suffolk, the logistics of moving the equipment had to be taken care of. The equipment came in during February, and now they are installing it.”

Atarfil plans to finalize tests at its new manufacturing site “and start production at the end of May,” Girones says.
The company received a $60,000 state grant from the Commonwealth’s Opportunity Fund as well as a $60,000 grant from the Suffolk Economic Development Investment Program. It also is eligible to receive sales and use tax exemptions on manufacturing equipment and funding from the Virginia Jobs Investment Program to support its training efforts.
“There is a lot of upside to these small manufacturers establishing a beachhead consistent with our advanced manufacturing strategy,” says Rick Weddle, president and CEO of the Hampton Roads Economic Development Alliance, one of the organizations that helped secure the project.

Expansion to create 100 jobs at Buena Vista plant

Munters Corp.’s Buena Vista plant builds some of the company’s most complicated equipment. “This has historically been a $40 to $50 million operation,” says Don Driscoll, Munters’ director of Virginia operations. “About 10 percent of our equipment is exported around the world.”

The company is investing $2.5 million to expand operations and upgrade equipment in Buena Vista, a project that will create 100 jobs. The company already has filled about half of those positions, bringing the plant’s total employment to about 250.

Munters makes energy recovery and dehumidification systems as well as custom air handling equipment for a wide range of industries. The Buena Vista plant specializes in HVAC systems with energy recovery components for data centers. “There is a real growing demand for our data-center products,” Driscoll says.

The company’s roots in the area date back to 1991 when Des Champs Technologies moved to Natural Bridge Station in Rockbridge County. Des Champs eventually had two local facilities, one in Natural Bridge Station and one in Buena Vista. The company consolidated operations in Buena Vista in 2000 and sold its building in Natural Bridge. Munters acquired Des Champs in 2007.

“The irony is that, because of our growth, we are now leasing 50,000 square feet in the building in Natural Bridge Station we started in,” says Driscoll.

The company already has moved part of its operations to Natural Bridge Station and upgraded that facility. “We are almost doubling the capacity in the Buena Vista facility,” Driscoll says. “We also bought new equipment and fixtures for production lines.”

Munters officials began planning for expansion early last year, considering several sites around the country. It chose Buena Vista because the plant is known within the company for having a highly skilled workforce and strong engineering capabilities.

“The lynchpin to our success is finding skilled employees that can come in and build this type of complicated equipment,” Driscoll says. “Finding the right people with good mechanical aptitude and the right skill set is key to keeping up with demand.”

The Virginia Jobs Investment Program will give the company $800 for training each of its 100 new employees.

The expansion deal “happened quickly, in the course of 90 days,” says Brian Brown, Buena Vista’s director of economic development. “That was extremely fast for an economic development project.”

Loan program promotes solar power systems

Shenandoah Valley business owners are among those around the state taking advantage of a low-interest rate loan program for solar power systems.

Virginia Community Capital (VCC), a Christiansburg-based community development financial institution, recently received a grant to offer loans with subsidized rates to companies wanting to install solar power.

“We are offering 2 to 2½ percent fixed rate for five years to credit-qualified companies,” says Bill Greenleaf, a vice president and loan officer at VCC.

In offering the low-rate loans, VCC is working with three Virginia solar companies — Sigora Solar in Waynesboro, Sun Tribe Solar in Charlottesville and Integrated Power Sources of Virginia in Richmond.

The subsidized-rate loan program began in January. Since then, the majority of borrowers have been businesses in the Harrisonburg and Charlottesville areas.

Greenleaf started a solar-power lending program at VCC after he joined the organization in 2015. “We did about $3 million in solar lending in 2016 across the state,” he says, noting the interest rates for loans at the time ranged from 5 to 5½ percent.

The total amount of money available for loans in the current subsidized-rate program is $600,000.

Businesses wanting to install solar power systems also can use federal tax credits to offset the cost. However, the percentage of the costs covered by tax credits will decline in coming years.

Currently set at 30 percent, the tax credit will fall to 26 percent in 2020, 22 percent in 2021 and 10 percent after 2021. (Residential tax credits meanwhile will be eliminated after 2021.) 

Selling solar power to Virginia businesses is difficult, Greenleaf says. While the U.S. solar market grew 95 percent last year according to the Solar Energy Industries Association, the commercial and industrial sector represented only a small portion of that increase. “That growth is what we are trying to jumpstart,” Greenleaf says.

The payback on the cost of installing a solar system is approximately seven to eight years, according to VCC. “For a lot of business owners, that is too far out,” Greenleaf says. “A lot of younger companies are still trying to invest [in building their operations]. More mature companies are the ones interested in solar.”

Greenleaf believes that all the money in VCC’s subsidized-rate program will be loaned out by the middle of the year, if not sooner. “It’s a first come, first served program,” he says. “It ends when the money is gone.”

Firm buys tobacco at expanded facility

Starting in July, Southern Virginia farmers will be able to bring their tobacco directly to JTI Leaf Services’ new buying station in Danville.

“Our new onsite location gives us further interaction with growers and cuts back on costs,” says Ward Anderson, the company’s manager of corporate affairs and communications.

In the past, growers have delivered their tobacco crops to other receiving stations in Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky and North Carolina. “We will still offer that for growers out of the area, but those in the area can deliver directly to us now,” says Anderson.

The buying station represents the second phase of a $7 million expansion announced by the company last December. During the first phase, JTI Leaf Services added a 106,000-square-foot storage facility for raw and processed tobacco.

The company’s 75-acre campus also includes an administrative building and a processing facility. “The new onsite station is being built as an extension of a currently unused part of our facility,” Anderson says.

JTI Leaf Services was established seven years ago in Danville to procure and process leaf tobacco for Japan Tobacco International, which is based in Geneva, Switzerland. (JTI’s parent company is Tokyo-based Japan Tobacco.) The Danville operation is JTI’s first tobacco processing facility in the U.S. Since arriving in Danville, the company’s local investments have totaled $70 million.

Danville was a good choice for JTI because it had “an available workforce with experience and knowledge of tobacco,” Anderson says. “This area is rich in tobacco history.”

The company’s expansion will not add employees, but it will “help us secure existing jobs,” Anderson says. “During our peak season, we employ 300 workers. During the offseason, we employ 75.”

The new storage facility is expected to improve efficiency and cut costs, helping the company become more competitive. “We are very active in the global market,” Anderson says.

To help with the expansion, the company will receive an industrial enhancement grant from Danville based on meeting investment targets for taxable property. Located in an enterprise zone district, the company also will qualify for additional state and local incentives.

Law firm concludes a high-growth year

The Richmond-based law firm Williams Mullen says its recently concluded fiscal year was the best in its 108-year history.

Virginia’s third-largest firm based on the number of lawyers employed in the state, Williams Mullen had gross revenue of $125.5 million in fiscal year 2016, up from $116 million in FY 2015.

The firm’s profits per partner, a metric of law firm performance, grew 23.8 percent in 2016 after rising 29 percent in 2015. Those percentages are much higher than the national average of 4 percent for the nation’s 100 largest law firms in 2015.

Williams Mullen’s higher-than-normal averages are largely the result of higher revenues and reduced expenses, says CEO Woody Fowler. “You see increases in revenue of 3 to 4 percent and expenses of 3 to 4 percent nationwide. Our numbers have been higher because our expenses were only going up at under 2 percent, while revenue was going up 8 to 10 percent.”

The firm had 235 attorneys last year, 75 of whom were shareholders. Profit-per-partner numbers (net profit divided by the number of shareholders) amounted to $525,000 in FY 2015 and $650,000 in FY 2016. By comparison, profits per partner at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, a New York law firm, were $6.6 million in 2015, according to The American Lawyer’s annual Am Law 100 ranking.

“New York is a different market. Plenty of firms there are billing more than $1,000 an hour,” Fowler says. “We are in more middle-market cities.”

Profit per partner, Fowler adds, “can be misleading, depending on where you started and where you finish. What our numbers tell you is … we are running our business better, and we have been fortunate to have clients who have trusted our legal work.”

Williams Mullen has eight offices, including five  in Virginia, but it attracts clients from around the country, Fowler says. “Businesses are realizing you can get the same quality work here at half the cost of bigger firms.”

The firm’s expanded focus on its health-care and environmental practices has been a factor in its growth. “That has improved our depth and level of expertise in those areas,” says Fowler.
During the past 12 months, the firm has added more than 20 lawyers. In March it announced the addition of Scott Richter, Ben McCall and Alyson Harter, who previously worked at LeClairRyan.

Startups have a fine February

February was a rewarding month for two startups at the Prince William Science Accelerator.

On Feb. 27, Ceres Nanosciences Inc. announced it had received $750,000 from the U.S. Department of Defense’s Advanced Research Projects Agency to develop more effective diagnostic tools to detect the Zika virus and other infectious diseases. “We have a novel technology that we are commercializing to address a number of diagnostic testing needs,” says company CEO Ross Dunlap. 

Dunlap is referring to Nanotrap, a nanoparticle technology that detects markers of disease at extremely low levels from urine samples. The technology also has been used to detect malaria, Ebola, tuberculosis and Lyme disease. Nanotrap was invented at George Mason University and developed under funding from the National Institutes of Health.

But that’s not all. In early February, Ceres Nanosciences also announced it had received $3 million in investment led by Massachusetts-based GreyBird Ventures, an early-stage venture capital fund. The funding is part of a larger planned series of investments totaling $9 million. The investment is aimed at accelerating  Ceres’ use of the Nanotrap technology to detect Lyme disease.

Ceres wasn’t alone in receiving funding during February. Caerus Discovery LLC received a $50,000 grant in the middle of the month from the Prince William County Economic Development Opportunity Fund  to work with George Mason’s Biomedical Research Laboratory on an antibody for the Zika virus.

Ceres Nanosciences was founded and spun out of George Mason eight years ago. In 2015, it moved from a lab on campus to the accelerator, which is adjacent to the university’s science and technology campus in Innovation Technology Park.

When Prince William County launched the accelerator in 2014, it created Northern Virginia’s first commercially available public-private wet lab spaces.

The wet lab facility is a plus for Ceres Nanosciences. “It allowed us to stay in Virginia and close to George Mason,” Dunlap says. “We had been looking at Maryland.”

The ties between George Mason and the accelerator are intended to create a synergy for biotech startups. “Prince William sees the university as a fountain of innovation,” says Sean Mallon, the university’s associate vice president for entrepreneurship and innovation. “They are interested in being part of an ecosystem that allows new companies to be formed, as well as bringing new companies to Prince William.”

Staying relevant

Mary Baldwin University is celebrating its 175th anniversary this year, but the Staunton-based institution has not reached this age by dwelling on the past.

This year, Mary Baldwin expects to complete an $80 million capital campaign while admitting its first undergraduate male residential students to a new program called University College.

The co-ed program will be located on the university’s Staunton campus but will be separate from Mary Baldwin College for Women.

The University College announcement, made last November, caught many of its women’s college graduates off guard.

“My gut reaction was a little ping in my heart because it’s another change for Mary Baldwin,” says Theresa Cash Lewis of Midlothian, who is president of Mary Baldwin’s alumni association. “We are celebrating 175 years, and I have to appreciate the fact that the school has always been innovative to stay relevant. First and foremost, we want to see Mary Baldwin College for Women succeed.”

University officials said they decided to begin the new program after looking at ways to develop its pool of potential applicants.

“This was an opportunity not only to build on the strength of our programs and what makes us Mary Baldwin but also to draw on a larger pool that did include men,” says Karen Bailey-Chapman, the university’s interim vice president for external affairs.

The creation of University College follows the recent decision to rename Mary Baldwin College as Mary Baldwin University.

The name change helps the institution reflect “who we are today and who we will continue to become,” says Mary Baldwin President Pamela Fox. “It is now more appropriate than ever to emphasize we have always been courageous and entrepreneurial. We have kept the institution relevant to the women and men of our times. It’s in our DNA.”

Evidence of Mary Baldwin’s evolution can be seen in its geographic and academic reach. In addition to its main campus in Staunton, the university includes the Murphy Deming College of Health Sciences in Fishersville and a dozen regional education centers across Virginia.

At its commencement this May, the university will hand out its first doctoral degrees in physical and occupational therapy as well as its first bachelor’s degree in nursing.

“Commencement is always a special day at Mary Baldwin, but this year will bring an added sense of significance,” Fox says. “Handing out the first Mary Baldwin University diplomas in May will be doubly meaningful, both because of the institution’s new name and its 175th anniversary.” 

Pioneering educator
The school’s name honors pioneering educator Mary Julia Baldwin. She was one of the first students to attend the school, which was founded as Augusta Female Seminary in 1842.

Baldwin became the school’s principal in 1863 and led it until her death in 1897. During her tenure, she founded the South’s first music conservatory and introduced university-level study. The school changed its name to Mary Baldwin College in 1923 when it became a four-year college.

During its history, Mary Baldwin has instituted a number of firsts in Virginia. The list includes the state’s first adult degree program, begun in 1977 (now offered online as well as at the Staunton campus and at the regional centers). In 1995, the college began the Virginia Women’s Institute for Leadership, still the only all-female corps of cadets in the nation.

Bailey-Chapman, a board member and 1999 graduate, was in the corps’ first class. “It was an incredible opportunity,” she says. “We gained experience on the leadership side with regard to military and also public- and private-sector careers.”
Today, the VWIL Corps of Cadets includes 100 women. Since its inception, it has produced more than 400 graduates and attracts nearly half of its cadets from out of state.

A shrinking pool of students
Virginia was home to 11 women’s colleges in 1970. Mary Baldwin today is one of three. The others are Hollins University in Roanoke (which also is celebrating its 175th anniversary) and Sweet Briar College in Amherst County (founded in 1901).

There are only about 35 women’s colleges or universities in the U.S., Fox says. “The numbers have been declining over the last two or three years.” 

Mary Baldwin currently has 1,761 students enrolled in all of its programs compared with 1,797 in 2012-13 before it opened the Murphy Deming College of Health Sciences.

Recruiting students to any college in the U.S. today is a challenge. The number of first-time college graduates (students who are getting their first associate or bachelor’s degree) in the 2015-16 academic year declined 1.4 percent from the previous year, according to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center.

The even bigger challenge is recruiting students to a women’s college. “Less than 3 percent of female high school students indicate to the College Board [which administers the SAT college admissions exam] that they are interested in attending an all-women’s college after graduation,” Fox says.

Many of the university’s students, she adds, came to the campus not knowing they wanted a women’s college-experience, “but they fell in love with it. It’s a very special, important, empowering approach for women, and we believe in that strongly,” Fox says.

Lewis was one of those students. “It was the best four years of my life,” she says. “I was surrounded by other women that felt the same and valued single-sex education. I had the freedom to grow myself as a leader. I always had that drive to succeed, but Mary Baldwin helped me grow that.”

A range of reactions
Because of what Mary Baldwin means to her, Lewis says she understands why some women’s college graduates are worried about University College.

“I think their passion is rooted in the amazing experience they received here,” she says, adding that the school vows to preserve that type of experience through the College for Women.

The creation of University College doesn’t mean the “residential college for women becomes stagnant,” Bailey-Chapman says. “It’s a way to help grow it and move it forward, have it relevant in today’s world.”

Since University College was announced last year, Mary Baldwin has had a wide range of reactions. “We made a concerted effort to listen to the ideas of graduates. We did a five-city tour and a summit on campus,” Fox says. “We want to take all the engagement and passion that our alumnae have and move forward together. We are confident we can do that.”

Emily Oehler, a 1993 graduate, was surprised and disappointed when she heard the news. “Those of us that have an all women’s education are proud of that,” she says. “We didn’t know this was on the table.”

She reached out to the school to get more information. “I wanted justification,” she says. “Over time I got the information collectively from different individuals. It did make sense. In my mind, I understood, but my heart still felt sad about it. I did have a sit down with President Fox, and she was forthcoming with information.”

University College will be home to three co-ed living and learning communities — Education Leaders, Shakespeare and Performing Arts and Murphy Deming Scholars in Health Professions.

Each program offers students the opportunity to earn their bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in four years or a bachelor’s degree in three years. “Being able to have students get their undergraduate and graduate degrees in four years was something that was important to us,” Fox says. “It’s not just a fast way but also an intensive and extensive way. There are very few programs like this in the U.S.”

Students that qualify for early entrance into the program are able to skip their senior year of high school. By mid-February, Mary Baldwin had received  more than 600 applicants for the new co-ed programs with only 75 slots to fill. Twenty-five percent of the applicants are men.

In addition to University College, Mary Baldwin continues to add programs. This fall the health sciences college will begin an online master’s program in health-care administration, and the College for Women will launch its own living and learning community called Women Entrepreneurs that develops leadership and networking skills.  Students consult with local entrepreneurs and have access to peer mentors that can offer entrepreneurial support.

A new MBA program is based on the premise that business should not only generate a profit but also have a positive impact on society or the environment. “We create programs that are unlike other programs in the U.S.,” Fox says.

This past year and the upcoming year are evolutionary, she adds. “We never stand still.”