Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Upcoming Event

Best Places to Work in Virginia

Hamburger Menu Hamburger Menu

byline: Joan Tupponce

Firm makes health-services time efficient

This year is working out to be a milestone event for Chesapeake-based Taylor Made Diagnostics Inc. The health-services company is celebrating not only its 20th anniversary but also being named Chesapeake Economic Development Authority’s 2015 Business of the Year. “This is a huge honor,” says Caroline Taylor, the company’s president, who is a registered nurse. “We have always been a big partner with the city and an advocate for revitalization in our area.”

The company has an occupational health clinic and mobile medical teams providing services ranging from drug testing and hearing testing to physicals and injections. Taylor Made says it can reduce the amount of time an employee is away from the office for medical appointments from three hours to about 30 minutes.

“We are equipped with a four-person hearing booth, for example, so we can test four people at a time, and it only takes 10 minutes,” Taylor says. “We can get compliance requirements met in a timely fashion. It’s highly efficient.”

Taylor Made focuses solely on industrial medicine. “We are true to our core. We only take care of employees under the employer, and we have streamlined the process,” Taylor says. “We are a strong one-stop shop.”

The physicals it performs are industry specific. “Our employees are very knowledgeable, and they are certified in performing industry-specific exams,” Taylor says.

Since its founding in 1995, the company’s customer base has grown to more than 1,000 businesses. It works with federal and state governments, city governments, commercial customers and local businesses, such as a private shipyard. It was recently awarded a contract from Virginia’s Department of Military Affairs.

“We are a small business with a national presence and a network of providers,” Taylor says, adding the company has developed a third-party administration program with medical practices throughout the country. The program is aimed at customers with offices nationwide. “We establish a relationship, negotiate the contract and make sure all the components are in place. We make sure that everybody has services in the cities and sites where they work.”

Taylor Made’s revenue rose 30 percent in 2014 over the previous year. “We continue to grow,” Taylor says, noting that the company now has 19 employees. “Many of those have been with us for more than 10 years.”

The company moved into its headquarters in the Gateway at SoNo complex in 2009. This year it began using a new, 30-foot mobile unit with X-ray capabilities.

One of the company’s principles involves being a good community partner. Taylor Made supports many local charities, including the HER (Help and Emergency Response) Shelter. “I work and live in Chesapeake and what we do matters significantly in the community,” Taylor says.

Company ready to develop former Superfund site

What was once a manufacturing site for American Viscose Corp. and Avtex Fibers in Front Royal will become the headquarters for the government-contracting firm ITFederal LLC.

ITFederal first learned about the property from former U.S. Rep. Frank Wolf, R-10th. The land is a former Superfund site, which was released by the Environmental Protection Agency in September 2014.

The company later talked with U.S. Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-6th, who coordinated an introduction to the Front Royal-Warren County Economic Development Authority. “We met with them to see what their needs were,” says Jennifer McDonald, the EDA’s executive director.

She believes the company looked at other areas for its headquarters but opted to go with Front Royal after land was made available. “I don’t think there was any other competition like a project normally would have,” McDonald says.

The EDA offered to give the company 30 acres to kick start development if the company met certain requirements. It will mark the first development on the former Avtex site. “They have to create at least 200 jobs and invest $10 million in the community in order to get the free acreage,” McDonald says, noting the company has five years to meet that requirement.

The $40 million, mixed-use project will be built in three phases. The first phase will include a two-story building with office space, a 10,000-square-foot cloud data center on the top floor and retail space on the bottom floor. “They should be starting construction on the first phase during the first quarter” of 2016, McDonald says. “They are saying within three years they should have all three phases completed.”

The project is expected to create more than 600 high-paying jobs. “On the private, nonservice side this will be the largest employer in Front Royal once it’s fully filled out,” says Tim Darr, Front Royal’s mayor. “This will definitely be a huge economic boon. We are looking forward to having them as part of our business community.”

The area has been trying to attract this type of industry and hopes this will start a trend that will bring in more innovative technology-focused companies. “This will have a huge impact on our community,” McDonald says. “Over half of our labor force commutes to areas out of Front Royal every day. One of our goals is to get our community labor force off the roads and back home. This was a huge win for us.”

Local group invests in drowning-prevention device

After seeing children die from drowning, Dr. Graham Snyder knew he had to do something to help prevent this type of tragedy. “I think what is so tough about it for me as a dad and an emergency-room physician is that, unlike most of the death we see in the ER, this is so preventable,” he says. “This is most often a perfectly healthy kid who was out having fun and suddenly his or her life is snuffed out.”

Snyder’s company, SEAL Innovation, makes SEAL SwimSafe, a monitor worn by swimmers. The necklace-style device displays a strobe light and sounds a siren if the swimmer seems to be in distress under water. The same signals appear on a device either worn or carried by an adult.

“I simply started the company about seven-and-a-half years ago as an idea for a solution,” he says, noting that moving the product from a rough prototype to mass production has been challenging.

The company, based in North Carolina’s Research Triangle Park, received a boost in April 2014 from The Launch Place in Danville, an organization trying to grow employment in Southern Virginia. The Launch Place originally invested $250,000 from its seed fund in the company and later added another $100,000.

“We have the chance to invest a potential extra $100,000 in the company if it is doing well,” says Eva Doss, the president and CEO of The Launch Place. “The money goes toward finishing product development. That’s what we did with SEAL.”

Companies receiving Launch Place investments must commit to creating during a three-year period at least five jobs in Danville paying salaries of $50,000 or more. “SEAL is scaling up and hiring. They already have two people in Danville,” Doss says.

SEAL was referred to The Launch Place by a member of its seed fund advisory board. “We went through a due-diligence process,” Doss says. “This is a product that is needed, and the company has an excellent management team. It’s a good fit.”

Advance Auto’s leadership is in transition

In January, George Sherman, the president of Roanoke-based Advance Auto Parts, becomes new interim CEO, taking over the reins from retiring top executive Darren Jackson.

Jackson also is stepping down from the board after more than 11 years with the company, eight as CEO.

The change is part of a leadership shift announced in mid-November that also made one of the company’s major shareholders (and critics) a member of the board.

Sherman joined Advance as president in April 2013. He will be considered along with candidates from outside the company to fill the post permanently, says John (“Jack”) Brouillard, who became executive chairman of the board in November.

Jackson stepped down after a tenure that saw Advance double in size, increasing its market value more than $10 billion and raising its share price from $33 to $195. Nonetheless, activist investor Starboard Value LP says the company was not performing as well as its peers.

Starboard bought a 3.7 percent stake in Advance in September. Jeffrey Smith, Starboard’s CEO and chief investment officer, sent a letter to Jackson on Sept. 30 stating his belief that the “current market price of Advance does not fully reflect the value of its businesses and that opportunities exist within the control of management and the board to create substantial value for all shareholders.”

As a result of an agreement between Advance and Starboard, Smith now sits on the board, chairing its nominating and corporate governance committee and serving as a member of the compensation and finance committees.  In addition, Starboard will be able to name two independent directors to the board.

Scot Ciccarelli, an analyst for RBC Capital Markets LLC, wrote that the board’s “recognition that a change was necessary in light of Advance’s underperformance represents a silver lining.” The leadership shakeup was announced on the same day that the company released third-quarter earnings results, which failed to meet market expectations. The company says profits were impacted by its continuing efforts to integrate the operations of General

Parts International. Advance acquired Raleigh, N.C.-based GPI in January 2014.

Ciccarelli, however, believes the GPI deal eventually will improve Advance’s core business. Also helping will be “potential revenue synergies as Advance capitalizes on GPI’s commercial relationships, know-how and distribution.”

Advance has about 75,000 employees and operates more than 5,200 stores, more than 100 branches of Worldpac (a wholly owned subsidiary) and serves about 1,300 independently owned Carquest stores in the United States, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Canada.

Fairfax County Chamber takes a regional identity

After describing itself for 15 years as the “Voice of Business in Northern Virginia,” the Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce is starting the year with a new name — the Northern Virginia Chamber of Commerce.

“The chamber has been talking about this for decades,” says Jim Corcoran, the organization’s president and CEO. “We’ve been serving the wider area for a long time.”

Thirty-five percent of the chamber’s membership is based outside of Fairfax County in areas throughout Northern Virginia. “We are regional already,” Corcoran says. “We need one chamber to represent the voice of the business community, elected leaders and others in Northern Virginia.”

Mitchell D. Wein­­­­­­­traub, the Fairfax Chamber’s chairman, says the renamed organization would “seek to complement, not compete with, the other chambers.”

The initial reaction from local chambers in the region was cautious. Some told the Washington Business Journal they are concerned about possible confusion in the business community about the roles each group plays.

Regional chambers are not new in Virginia. The Greater Richmond Chamber of Commerce, for example, represents Richmond, Ashland and the counties of Charles City, Chesterfield, Goochland, Hanover, Henrico, New Kent and Powhatan. The region for the Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce includes Chesapeake, Hampton, Newport News, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Suffolk and Virginia Beach.

The Fairfax Chamber says it will be the largest regional chamber in the commonwealth in terms of employment. Its members have more than 500,000 employees. The group says it also is following Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s call to work regionally. “That is the hallmark of his administration,” Corcoran says.

The chamber hopes to collaborate with other business organizations and chambers not only in Virginia, but also in Washington, D.C., and Maryland.

The organization already hosts a number of regional events, including the annual Greater Washington Government Contracting Awards (in partnership with the Professional Services Council in Arlington), which draws more than 900 people, and the Greater Washington Innovation Awards.

“We also have partnered with other chambers when it comes to hosting debates and town hall forums in the past,” Corcoran says.

In examining a possible rebranding and restructuring of the group, Fairfax chamber members studied other business groups across the nation, an exercise that reinforced the idea that “regionalism is important for economic success everywhere,” Corcoran says. “It’s hard for one place to do it alone.”

“I think the saying ‘United we stand, divided we fall’ says it all,” he adds. “If we all work together as a region, we all grow.”

ImmunArray developing tests for lupus, brain injuries

ImmunArray, a molecular diagnostic company operating in Richmond and Rehovot, Israel, is making a name for itself in detecting disease and brain injury.

In October the company rolled out a blood test for systemic lupus erythematosus (known as SLE or lupus), a disease in which the human immune system becomes hyperactive and attacks tissues. Lupus affects 1.5 million Americans, mostly women between the ages of 18 and 60. Author Flannery O’Connor died of lupus in 1964 at the age of 39.

ImmunArray’s SLE-key Rule-Out Test provides a way to determine whether a patient has lupus. “This is the first test to definitively rule out lupus on the market. It has been extremely well received,” says Donna Edmonds, the company’s CEO and chairman of the board. “We already have about 17 customers that are now ordering regularly. We have a rapidly growing base.”

Rheumatologists have been looking for a test that would clearly say, “You don’t have lupus,” Edmonds adds. “That is what we developed.”

The company is beginning to talk with large health systems about the test, which can eliminate the need for a battery of tests. “It saves overall doctor visits and it streamlines diagnostic and therapeutic costs,” Edmonds says. “It has a positive impact on health-care costs.”

ImmunArray, established in Israel in 2006, relocated its research laboratory to Richmond last July. Virginia Life Science Investments, founded by Edmonds, invested in ImmunArray in 2008. “We have been growing, building and investing in the company since then,” Edmonds says, noting that over 70 percent of ImmunArray’s shareholders are U.S. based.

The company also is making news with technology that can aid in the early detection and diagnosis of blood-based biomarkers released as a result of acute brain injury.

ImmunArray was awarded a $300,000 grant from General Electric and the NFL for research to develop a simple, convenient test. The test would be used at the location where an injury occurs to provide quick diagnostic results to those treating athletes or military personnel for brain injuries.

The grant supports research at ImmunArray’s VERACIS service and development laboratory in Richmond. The company also is collaborating with a Fortune 500 company on research and development.

“The goal is to both detect if you have a brain injury or if you need a CT scan,” Edmonds says. “Also, looking at the prognosis post injury. We will develop a test that will give you clearance as to when and whether you can return to work or play.”

Getting ready for primetime

University of Virginia graduate Dasha Tyshlek used the W.L. Lyons Brown III i.Lab at Darden School of Business to see whether being an entrepreneur was right for her. Her company, Sensibility Care, develops products to reduce complications and promote healing among orthopedic patients.
The i.Lab provides funding, faculty and student support, office space, access to technological expertise and free legal services.

“When you build a venture, you’re experimenting by making decisions and then seeing how they affect your business and yourself,” Tyshlek says. She went through the i.Lab process “with all the other entrepreneurs. It doesn’t matter that they’re not in the same market I’m in — what matters is that they’re really creative.”

The i.Lab, which falls under U.Va.’s Batten Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, is just one example of how business schools are meeting the needs of the students and business owners. Schools today are putting more emphasis on innovation and experiential learning as well as adding new methods of instruction.

Entrepreneurship  
Entrepreneurship is one of the hottest trends on business school campuses today. “The Jumpstart Our Business Startups [JOBS] Act [signed into law in 2012] makes it easier to offer equity crowdfunding,” says Larry Pulley, dean of the Raymond A. Mason School of Business at William & Mary, which has 550 undergraduate students and 630 graduate students.

Courses in entrepreneurship and innovation are available at the graduate and undergraduate levels at George Mason University School of Business, says Dean Sarah Nutter, adding that the school’s Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship “is available to all students and alumni.” The center serves as a central hub of entrepreneurship education and innovation activity at the university.

The center’s Mason Innovation Lab, similar to the i.Lab concept, provides not only space to support teams of innovators and entrepreneurs in business model and product development but also mentoring by faculty and business experts. “Our students compete to get space in the lab,” says Nutter, whose school has 4,000 students, 3,500 of whom are undergraduates.

Many students hoping to start businesses also are interested in making “a difference for the good in the world. They want to be part of the creative solution, both large and small,” says Pulley at William & Mary, noting that teams in the school’s Ukrop  Innovation & Design Studio have a very strong not-for-profit focus. For example, teams in the “Sustainability Inspired Innovation and Design” class focus on applying design concepts toward solving problems involving sustainability.

Global emphasis
Business education is becoming more global each day, Virginia deans say. “Not only are strong competitive MBA programs emerging all over the world, [but] at the top business schools, the focus is on developing managers ready to operate in an ever more complex, global and interconnected world,” says Scott Beardsley, dean of Darden, which has 900 graduate students. “This translates into a global war for talent at the student, faculty and administration level.”

Next year, the Pamplin College of Business at Virginia Tech plans to open its Center for Global Business. It already is diversifying its student body. Business recruiters who visit the school want a “diverse population of students” for hiring purposes, says Candice Clemenz, Pamplin’s associate dean for undergraduate studies. Pamplin has 4,000 undergraduate students, 36 executive MBA students and more than 150 evening MBA students. In diversifying the student body, the school is recruiting more students classified as underrepresented in business programs, such low socio-economic and first-generation college students.

Business schools and the business community interact in a variety of ways, often collaborating in “solving active business problems,” says Jeff Tanner, dean of Old Dominion University’s Strome College of Business, which has 3,200 students, including about 170 MBA students.

Strome is in discussions on projects with a number of potential business partners. “We started putting the program together in May,” Tanner says. “We have companies that are ready to engage, and we are putting the fine print together to get some projects kicked off after the start of the year.”

The school also is responding to the needs of the businesses by starting a master’s degree in maritime supply chain. The degree would encompass supply chain issues such as operating and project management, leadership and logistics as well as international maritime law. “We are waiting on final approval now,” Tanner says. “It will be the only North American one of its kind.”

Soft skills
Business schools today also are interested in producing students that are well rounded. Students need to be able to express themselves and identify problems — the soft skills that go hand-in-hand with academic expertise. Virginia Commonwealth University School of Business offers students a class called “Winning Presentations.”

“That is one thing that is unique to VCU,” says Dean Ed Grier. “When students finish, they are able to give good presentations. The unique thing about this course is that we partner with the Theater Department. Teachers in that department come in and teach, because an actor understands the audience.”  The VCU business school has 4,000 students, 3,800 of whom are undergraduates.

Students at VCU as well as other business schools in the state also are taking advantage of experiential learning. “They are learning by doing,” Grier says. “They are taking the theoretical things they learn in the classroom and putting them to work.”

The school’s International Consulting Program gives undergraduate and graduate students the opportunity to work with local and international companies on the resolution of real business issues. Students have traveled to a variety of countries, including Greece, Spain and Morocco. “When they come back they are much more ready to take on bigger problems,” Grier says.

Darden professors use the case method and simulations to immerse students in real-life situations, preparing them to become skilled decision-makers.
“In the field, we offer our MBA students a selection of global business experiences across the world, including Cuba, France, Sweden, Spain, Uganda and Argentina, among others,” says Beardsley. “Darden’s Global MBA for Executives program includes two-week residencies in Brazil, China, India, Western Europe and the U.S.”

University of Richmond Robins School of Business says it is dedicated to helping students with their professional development. “We help prepare students for interviews,” says Dean Nancy Bagranoff. “We help them think about what careers they want and help them improve their skills. We do this through competitions. Students love competitions. If you tell them they are going to compete on teams, they will spend hours preparing, and they will learn along the way.” UR has about 300 undergraduates and more than 30 MBA students.

Analytics and digital marketing
Courses geared toward analytics also are becoming more prevalent at business schools. “Information technology is playing more and more of a role in the curriculum in the MBA program,” says Parviz Ghandforoush, Pamplin’s associate dean for external campuses. “Our Center for Business Intelligence and Analytics focuses on the application of big data.”

James Madison University’s College of Business is addressing the shifting role of management in society.  “How do we get students to think about their roles as business professionals and leaders in terms of bringing profit and purpose together in a meaningful way, conscious capitalism?” says Dean Mary Gowan.
The college, which has 4,885 undergraduate and 257 graduate students, is a leader in digital marketing instruction.

“We have more wins in the Google Online Marketing Challenge than any other school in the world,” Gowan says. “Google sent a team out here to highlight what we have been doing. But more important to us than participating is the fact that our students have won $50,000 for nonprofits. It’s an example of doing business things for good purpose. They are thinking about how they can make a difference in their communities.”

A ‘soft’ market continues

Industry experts use words like “steady” and “consistent” to describe the commercial property and casualty insurance market in 2015.

“Overall the market is very competitive in virtually every area,” says H.B. Whitmore, president and managing partner of Willis of Virginia, a Richmond-based insurance broker.

The current “soft” market, which results in lower insurance premiums and heightened competition, is being fueled not only by ample market capacity — the supply of insurance available to meet demand — but also by an improving economy.

Brokers expect the soft market to continue into next year, with a few notable exceptions, such as insuring against cyber risks.

“There continues to be capital coming into the insurance marketplace, and as a result, buyers should see the general softening of the market to continue, barring any unforeseen catastrophic events,” says John Stanchina, president and CEO of Rutherfoord, a Marsh & McLennan Agency, in Richmond. “This excess capacity will likely continue to drive consolidation with both carriers and brokers, such as the merger of ACE Limited and The Chubb Corp.”

ACE announced in July that it would acquire Chubb for $28.3 billion in cash and stock, creating one of the biggest property-casualty insurance companies in the world.

Rates in 2015 have been “stable to slightly down depending on the account itself,” says R.C. Moore, chairman of Tabb, Brockenbrough & Ragland, a Dawson Co./Assured Partners firm based in Richmond. “Good accounts are seeing decreasing in pricing, which I would expect to also see in 2016. Companies that have had losses are seeing increases.”

Most types of coverage have ample capacity, thanks to the low number of hurricanes and catastrophic events during this year. “There hasn’t been enough catastrophic activity to move the market,” says Charlie Fumagali, managing director/risk practice-DC Metro for USI Insurance Services in Falls Church.

Getting insurance for cyber risk, however, doesn’t follow this soft market trend. The issue looms especially large for retailers, financial institutions and health-care institutions.

“There is an old adage … that says ‘I rob banks because that’s where the money is,’” says Whitmore. “There is a huge amount of personal and credit information in those types of companies. That’s attractive to cyber criminals.”

Cyber insurance is one of the hottest trends in commercial insurance today. The insurance can aid companies in deferring forensic costs and provide help with credit monitoring, legal fees and lawsuit settlement.

“The wave of hacking attacks on U.S. companies over the past two years has prompted some insurers to increase premiums and deductibles and in some cases, depending on the type of business, restrict coverage availability,” Stanchina says. “There is also an increased focus on the risk management side of cyber. Brokers and carriers that have the tools to help guide clients on how to protect their networks will continue to win business.”

Eighty-one percent of health-care executives say that their organizations have been compromised by at least one malware or other cyber attack during the past few years, according to the 2015 KPMG Healthcare Cybersecurity Survey.

Millions of customer and employee records, for example, were stolen in cyber attacks on health insurers Anthem, CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield and Premera BlueCross BlueShield. As a result, insurance capacity for the health-care industry has been reduced.

“Coverage is still out there, but rates and capacity have tightened,” says Whitmore. “We have seen a huge increase in requests for helping companies and entities identify and quantify their cyber exposures.”

Moore continues to talk to clients about insurance protection for cyber exposure. “We are focusing on businesses being prepared if they have a cyber attack,” he says. “We want to make people aware that these kinds of things are happening. That will be one of our main thrusts in 2016.”

There have been some unusual recent breaches. “We don’t just see a breach of the typical information [employee and credit card data], but we also see exposure to sensitive information on the businesses and strategy,” says Greg Longest, senior vice president of Marsh in Richmond.

Because of these attacks, executives and their brokers need to “develop a risk profile, manage that risk and develop procedures to respond,” he adds. “If a cyber insurance policy is pursued, it is critical that the language is customized to meet the specific needs of each client’s risk profile.”

Another exception to the soft market involves proposed revisions to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Fair Labor Standards Act. “[The revisions are] expected to increase wage-and-hour claim filings, which could put pressure on employment practices liability coverage in late 2015 and early 2016,” Stanchina says. “Employers need to pay attention to the changing laws in this area.”

Insurance companies that underwrite policies outside the U.S. are also keenly aware of the threat of terrorism. During the last “hard” insurance market, which occurred after 9/11 in 2001, concerns about terrorism were just emerging. “That cost billions of dollars, and it caused a scare in the U.S., therefore shrinking capacity,” says Fumagali. “Nobody gave terrorism too much thought before 9/11. Now, everybody thinks about it automatically.”

There also is increased interest in political risk insurance. Political risks are the unpredictable threats posed by political upheavals or social change.

“Companies have more assets and exposures outside of the U.S. that are subject to political violence, trade restrictions and embargoes and confiscation of assets,” says Whitmore, noting that Willis and Oxford Analytica, an analysis and advisory firm, have introduced a new political risk model called VAPOR (Value at Political Risk).

The model helps companies assess and compare the financial implications of exposure to various political risks in a country, a region or around the world. For example, companies in Russia can expect to lose $30 in every $100 in investment as a result of international sanctions and trade tensions —  making it the riskiest of all the major emerging economies.

“A company can model its risk for exposures around data and analytics. Any time you can model and quantify helps us position our clients’ risk in the marketplace,” Whitmore says.

Many clients today want a broker and carrier “that can speak their language,” says Stanchina. “They want industry specialization. The risks in construction, for example, are vastly different than the risks in life sciences. We find that clients want a broker partner that understands the specific nuances of their business and is actively engaged in their industry.”

Overall, Moore of Tabb, Brockenbrough & Ragland is upbeat about the commercial insurance outlook for 2016. “People are more optimistic,” he says. “Things are beginning to awaken again, and as a result I think 2016 will be a better year.”

Training program keeps Amthor growing

Business is booming at Gretna-based Amthor International, but growth is presenting challenges for Brian Amthor, the fourth-generation owner of the truck tank manufacturing company.

“We have so much work that it’s more than we can handle at times,” he says.  “We need to have additional folks to handle the additional work that is coming in. Our growth is hindered if we don’t have enough employees.”

Amthor’s tanks carry any type of fuel. Their uses range from construction to septic-system care. “We are the largest truck tank manufacturer in North America,” Amthor says. “We are constantly expanding and growing the company and our distribution channels.”

The company now has more than 100 employees in Virginia and about 35 more at a smaller distribution and assembly site in upstate New York.

The majority of Amthor’s customers are in the U.S., but some are overseas. “This is a growing business because it’s diverse in so many markets,” Amthor says. “It’s a niche industry. It’s very unique. Everything we do is different to a point.”

When the company began pushing out the dates for deliveries as a result of its growing workload, Amthor contacted Laurie Moran, president and CEO of the Danville Pittsylvania Chamber of Commerce, asking for help in finding trained personnel.

Amthor realized that hiring employees with no experience in a specific area would be counterproductive because he would have to take a seasoned employee off the floor to conduct training. “Now that person is off the job, and that affects the bottom line,” Amthor says. “Every minute and every hour is crucial.”

The solution: an off-site company-specific training program. “This is probably the most comprehensive work we have done for a company to date,” says Moran of setting the project in motion. “We see this as an opportunity to not only help Amthor but to set up a model for other companies as well.”

Amthor was able to partner with the Virginia Technical Institute in Altavista to put together a series of three training modules specific to the company. The modules provide training in welding, tank mounting and tank electrical work.

“We offer a 160- to 200-hour training module,” Amthor says. The first module started Oct. 19 and the remaining modules start every two weeks thereafter. Classes run eight hours a day, five days a week with a minimum of 10 people per module.

The company is primarily looking for second-shift employees but will be adding workers to the first shift as well. “We have grants that are covering the entire training expense and a stipend,” Amthor says. West Piedmont Workforce Investment Board and the Dan River Region Collaborative are providing the funding.

“This is unique in that there are multiple partners that have come together to do this,” Moran says. “We try to be a connector and navigator through the process. It’s all about meeting the needs of the employer.”
Amthor hopes to continue the modules as the company grows. “We have to see where things are as far as people after the first module,” he says.

Wise County company makes wastewater clean

Karen Sorber, the founder and CEO of Micronic Technologies in Wise County, describes participating in the AG Innovation Showcase in St. Louis as “the best experience of our company’s life.”

Micronic was one of only four women-owned companies focused on renewable agricultural technology among the 19 businesses making presentations at the September event. The annual AG Innovation Showcase brings together entrepreneurs, researchers, corporations and investors involved in agriculture and agriculture technology.

“I have done so many different things over the last number of years to get traction for the company,” Sorber says. “We were thrilled to participate. There was a lot of interaction and interest.”

Micronic has developed a sustainable water desalination and purification technology. Its water treatment system, MicroDesal, is capable of taking water from any source and cleaning it to potable water standards, Sorber says.

Sixty-nine percent of water used every day in the United States is wasted, she notes. “That equates to 90 trillion gallons of wastewater suitable for reuse. What we need to do is reuse that water. In our case, we do what no other technology can do — with one pass you have clean water.”

Micronic is heavily focused on serving the agricultural market as well as targeting acid mine drainage, abandoned mine lands and community wells. The company also is working with the Office of Naval Research in designing a MicroDesal water treatment system for the U.S. Marine Corps. “Seventy to 80 percent of fresh water in the country is used by agriculture,” Sorber says.

Micronic has been awarded three patents and is pursing two additional ones. It has doubled its number of employees to 10 since moving from Loudoun County to Wise County last year.

The company has received $3 million in grant funding in the past seven years. It is developing three pilot projects that are expected to go into the field next year. One project is funded by a U.S. Department of Agriculture grant while the other two will be funded by the state’s Tobacco Region Revitalization Commission.

Sorber says Micronic has been well received in Southwest Virginia. “University of Virginia-Wise was the first to commit to support us,” she says. “Wise County provided phenomenal financial and infrastructure support to us. The Virginia Coalfield Economic Development Authority introduced us to the region and then approved our lease arrangements for the building.”

Sorber expects to find customers across the U.S. “Wherever there is water, there is wastewater, and wherever there is wastewater, we can clean it up,” she says.