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byline: Joan Tupponce

An industry ‘pioneer’

People typically don’t associate Roanoke with the NFL or NASCAR, but without the products of Roanoke-based Optical Cable Corp., sports fans wouldn’t have the bird’s eye view of the big game or the stock car race. Broadcast customers use Optical’s cables, connectors and accessories to televise sporting events.  

Optical Cable manufactures a broad range of fiber-optic and copper-data cabling and connectivity products. They include fiber-optic and copper cabling, specialty fiber-optic and copper connectors and wireless distributed antenna systems. The company’s products are used in settings ranging from data centers, sports venues and racetracks to universities, corporate offices and military installations. 

Founded in 1983 by a small group of engineers, the company is known as a “pioneer in fiber-optic cable,” says CEO and President Neil Wilkin. Its first products focused on military applications. Shortly thereafter it began diversifying into cable. In the early 2000s, Optical added copper and connectivity products to the mix. The new products gave the company an opportunity to expand into a variety of industries.

“We started talking to people involved in the gas, mining and broadcast areas,” Wilkin says. “We were moving toward offering our customers and users complete solution connectivity. We wanted customers to know we weren’t just fiber-optic cable anymore.”

The company has grown not only through sales but also acquisitions. In addition to its headquarters and manufacturing facility in Roanoke, it has added manufacturing facilities near Asheville, N.C., and Dallas. Its 145,000-square-foot facility in Roanoke sits on a 24-acre parcel of land near Roanoke-Blacksburg Regional Airport. About 200 of the company’s 400 employees are based in Roanoke. The remaining 200 are split evenly between the company’s two other manufacturing sites.

Wilkin describes Roanoke as the “perfect location” for the company. “There is more going on in this area than people realize,” he says, referring to a growing regional focus on technology.

The area has been a boon to  the company. In the period from 2007 to 2013, sales grew about 65 percent. During the 2013 fiscal year, the company — which went public in 1996 — had net sales of $75.3 million, the second-highest level in its history.

The company’s international business is another strong component of its growth. Last year it represented 30 percent of Optical’s sales. Currently, the company does business in more than 50 countries. It started exporting soon after it was founded. One of its first international sales was to the Scandinavian military. “We have built up a name for ourselves,” says Michael Newman, vice president of international sales, referring to Optical’s export business.

In May the company received the President’s “E” Award for Exports, presented to organizations with consistent export growth based on an innovative international marketing plan. President Kennedy established the award in 1961. A total of 66 U.S. companies were honored this year. “Having won that award brings validity to our methodology and the disciplines we use to enter those markets,” says Newman.

The company sells products through U.S. and international sales teams and also through distributors in the countries it serves. Its two largest export markets currently are Canada and Australia.

Before Optical enters a market, Newman develops a customized sales approach. “In Latin America, for example, we might have one sales model that works well, and in Europe we will have another sales model,” he says. “The key to success is being able to look at different markets and plan a market entry or execution.”

The company does a stable business in Perth, Australia, where it targets the area’s mining, oil and gas industries. “Perth is a city that is thriving on taking minerals out of the ground and selling them,” says Newman. He finds that business people in Perth value their family time and relaxation. “It’s very family oriented. It’s a good place for doing business in that regard.”

Newman has a ritual before he travels to any destination. “I update myself on the local sports team and look at who is winning. I update myself on the local soap opera,” he says. “People want to get to know you when they are doing business with you. It helps to form bonds.” 

Roanoke’s economy
The economy in Roanoke is in transition, moving from a traditional economy to one that is more technology based. Originally a Norfolk and Western Railway town, Roanoke still benefits economically from the Norfolk Southern Railway, the successor of Norfolk and Western. Technology and health care are two of the area’s growing industries. Major players in those sectors include Carilion Clinic and the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine as well as the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute. Because of its strategic location on Interstate 81, the city has several corporate distribution centers in the Roanoke Centre for Industry and Technology. They include retailer Orvis, cosmetic company Elizabeth Arden and Advance Auto Parts. Major employers in the city are Carilion,  Norfolk Southern and Advance Auto Parts (which is headquartered in Roanoke).

Perth’s economy
Located in Western Australia, Perth has a large presence of mining and mineral companies, thanks to the large deposits of coal and metal ores in the region. The economy also includes oil- and gas-related industries as well as agriculture and tourism. Western Australia is one of the leaders in the production of liquefied natural gas.  Perth is home to more than 30 international oil and gas companies. One of its largest export partners is China. Employers in the city include consulting firm Velrada, Woodside Petroleum, the cooperative grain exchange CBH Group and iron ore producer Fortescue Metals.

Discount airline expects to add flights, workers

Air travelers in the Newport News area looking for low-cost, nonstop flights are in luck now that PeoplExpress is in town.

The original PeoplExpress airline operated from 1981 until 1987 when it was taken over by Continental. “This is a totally separate incorporation of PeoplExpress,” says the airline’s CEO Jeff Erickson, a 40-year veteran of the airline industry.

“We are using Las Vegas-based Vision Airlines to operate flights for up to a year until we get our FAA certification.”

Many smaller cities like Newport News have lost low-cost air service because of consolidation in the airline industry. AirTran, for example, pulled out of Newport News after being purchased by Southwest. Erickson wants to bring service back to markets that are underserved.

“The Peninsula area is very interesting,” he says. “It has business travelers that come here, and it has business travelers that originate from here and fly to other cities. You also have visitors that want to come to Virginia Beach and Williamsburg.” Military families also could be potential travelers, he says.

The carrier currently is flying to Boston, Pittsburgh, Newark, N.J., and West Palm Beach, Fla. It plans to start service to Atlanta, New Orleans and St. Petersburg, Fla., in August. It will fly Boeing 737-400 aircraft operated by Vision Airlines.

The launch of the new PeoplExpress is expected to create more than 100 local jobs initially, growing to 200 by the end of the summer.

Each of the airline’s three 737-400 aircraft have 150 seats – 138 with coach seating and 12 large seats featuring more personal space for a fee. Fares start as low as $76 each way. Customers can choose to fly at a low price with minimal frills or they can opt to purchase extras such as priority boarding, preassigned seating or an upgrade to a large seat.

Erickson’s goal is to offer daily service in all of the markets the carrier serves and to also expand to other cities that have lost service. “People look for a year-round schedule and nonstop flights,” he says, adding that he hopes to re-create the high level of customer service “that the original PeoplExpress was known for.”

W&L center aims to be a ‘window to the world’

Washington and Lee University is furthering its emphasis on international studies with the May groundbreaking of its new Center for Global Learning. The center will give students a “window to the world,” says Laurent Boetsch, director of the university’s Center for International Education. “This fits with our culture. It will bring the Washington & Lee community together.”

The $13.5 million center, targeted to open in January 2016, will connect 8,600 renovated square feet of the existing duPont Hall with a new 17,700-square-foot building. It will house classrooms, seminar rooms and instructional labs. It also will house several language departments, offices for visiting international scholars and the Office of International Education.

Public areas will include an atrium, garden, courtyard and international tea shop. These gathering spaces “will encourage student and faculty interaction” as well as provide a venue for special events and exhibits, Boetsch says.

The university began taking a strategic look at global learning in 2008 as a way to help its students prepare to work and live in a “global and diverse society,” Boetsch says. “We wanted to integrate global learning across all of the disciplines and schools at Washington and Lee and ensure that all of our students understand the global aspects of their discipline.”

The new center will be the hub of the school’s global learning effort. “It will be a marketplace for ideas as well as the interchange of ideas that cut across boundaries,” Boetsch says. Classrooms will be open to anyone on campus. “It is a campuswide building with spaces where students and faculty can work.”

During the planning process, school officials visited a variety of buildings on other campuses, including Duke, William & Mary and the University of Richmond, to look at their functionality. “We knew we wanted our building to have a natural engagement space where people can wander around and engage in conversations,” Boetsch says.

Students from 40 countries attend Washington and Lee, and almost half of the student body studies abroad or performs an international internship.

As of this writing the fund­raising campaign has raised $10.2 million toward its $11.5 million goal — $2 million of the project was generated by internal sources. Fundraising efforts are part of the continuing $500 million Honor Our Past, Build Our Future capital campaign. “We think the new center will be the centerpiece that will represent a new kind of Washington and Lee education,” Boetsch says. “It will be the place that helps students prepare for living in the world.”

Global student business competition is growing

When the VT KnowledgeWorks Global Student Business Concept Challenge was first held in 2010, the competition attracted seven teams from universities around the world. Now in its fifth year, 14 teams from as far away as Australia, North Africa and South America will compete in August for a $25,000 grand prize and a chance to gain exposure for their business ideas.

The competition is part of VT KnowledgeWorks Global Partnership Week, which offers students, faculty and businesspeople from around the world a chance to exchange ideas and collaborate. Students are housed with local families and spend time with successful local technology companies. The program also gives the Roanoke/Blacksburg area international exposure.

VT KnowledgeWorks, which is housed at the Virginia Tech Corporate Research Center in Blacksburg, encourages entrepreneurship by helping market-worthy ventures organize, form a strategy and obtain outside investments.

“It’s quite clear to any reasonable observer that markets for technological advances are global markets,” says Jim Flowers, executive director of VT KnowledgeWorks. “We all will be doing business all over the world for years to come and people tend to do business with people they know and trust. We are building bonds with bright, influential people from population centers from all over the world.”

He believes those bonds will help the area become a “meaningful player in the global economy.” He hopes that students will go back to their countries “impressed, with a positive image of the region.”

One of the teams competing in the global challenge will be Vestigo, the winner of this year’s VT KnowledgeWorks Entrepreneurship Challenge, a local contest held in April. Vestigo won $10,000 in scholarships and start-up services for a proposed system that includes an app helping people find parking places.

Some of the winning teams from past global competitions have opened businesses. Team Auticiel, the 2013 winner, pursued its business idea: “Applications-Autisme.com.”

The team partnered with the Orange Foundation and UNAPEI, a federation of associations in France representing people with intellectual disabilities, to launch the first interactive site that enables caregivers and the parents of those who suffer from autism to find specially designed applications.

“We feel like we are executing our plan effectively,” Flowers says of the organization’s original goal. “We do know that countries want to play each year and that we have gained traction. We are recognized.”

Danville business combines winery and brewery

Craft beer lovers consumed half of the beer Julie Brown and her husband, Ethan, made for the May opening weekend of their new 2 Witches Winery and Brewing Co. Inc. in Danville. Now the couple is “trying to ramp up our beer production,” says Julie Brown, adding that the beers consumed included everything from an IPA named the Witching Hour to a stout called the Mother of All Witches. 

The Browns came up with the idea of co-locating a winery and brewery after visiting breweries and urban wineries in North Carolina. “We started wondering if we could combine a brewery and a winery and use the same equipment,” she says.

Brown has access to her parents’ 2 Witches Vineyard in Pittsylvania County — a name that reflects a Halloween photo of Brown and her sister in witch costumes when they were young. The vineyard processed both white and red wine last fall. Brown hopes to serve a few varieties of white wine — Vidal Blanc, Traminette and a blend of the two — soon. “We probably won’t release the reds until winter,” she says, noting that the red wines are aged in American oak barrels.

The couple has been using a small one-barrel brew system to make the beer they now offer. “We will have one release each month,” Brown says. “So far we have made eight different styles. We want to have six varieties on tap at all times.”

They will provide tastings of wine and beer as well as flights of beer at the winery and brewery. “We can sell a bottle of wine and you can consume it onsite or offsite,” she says. “The only offsite offering of beer is a 64-ounce growler you can take home.” They also hope to provide craft beer to the Danville market.

She would like to grow both grapes and hops in Danville on the couple’s two-acre business site on the Dan River. “We will probably start the hops farm next February or March,” she says. “We are looking at research from North Carolina State to find out what varieties will grow here.”

The couple plans to add al fresco seating at the winery and brewing company. The site also will host weddings and private functions. Currently, the couple is not offering food at 2 Witches, “but we have a food truck that comes on site and we will probably do more of that,” Brown says.

Trademark decision increases pressure on Redskins

What’s in a name? If you point Shakespeare’s question to the Washington Redskins, the answer is: a great deal of controversy. In June, the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) decided to cancel six of the team’s federal registrations for trademarks that include the term “Redskins,” saying the name is offensive.

What does that mean for the Redskins brand? “This doesn’t mean that the Redskins can’t call themselves the Redskins anymore,” says Mark Schultz, senior scholar at the Center for the Protection of Intellectual Property at George Mason University School of Law. “It doesn’t mean that other people can use the Redskins trademark on competing merchandise and sports services. The Redskins still have other federal and state trademark remedies. They can even use copyright to protect their logos.”

The greater story is the symbolic message the decision  conveys, he adds. “The fact that the government decided to take away the trademark sends a message of disapproval and increases pressure.” 

In recent decades, several colleges have changed the names of their sports teams to avoid offending American Indians. Players at Miami University in Ohio, for example, now are known as the RedHawks instead of the Redskins. Marquette University teams, once known as the Warriors, are now the Golden Eagles.

“The term Redskins can easily be interpreted as derogatory,” says James Rubin, assistant professor of business administration at the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business. “It’s one of those words that has a negative connotation.”

Rubin points to an op-ed piece in the New York Times in late June written by Michael Lewis and Manish Tripathi, professors at Goizueta Business School at Emory University. They analyzed the impact of changing team names and mascots and found an “insignificant effect on revenue in the year immediately following a name change and a positive revenue trend in the subsequent years,” pointing out that there can be benefits to dropping a derogatory American Indian name. 

“When an organization’s name might cause offense, the organization should engage in a dialogue with stakeholders or affected groups — as suggested in the New York Times editorial — and not dismiss criticism, which could help them understand changing contexts,” Rubin says.

This isn’t the first time that Pro-Football Inc., which owns the Redskins, has had to deal with a TTAB decision canceling trademarks. In 1992 an Indian activist petitioned the board seeking the cancellation of several trademarks owned by Pro-Football. The trademarks were canceled by the TTAB in 1999, but a federal district court reversed the decision in 2003.

“Much of the evidence considered in the first proceeding was cited in the second,” says Christopher Seaman, an assistant professor of law at Washington and Lee University. “In legal terms, the impact will be limited. This is yet another source of applying some degree of pressure to change the name. I don’t think we will see any immediate change.”

By no means is this debate about the trademark over “if the Redskins don’t want it to be over,” says Schultz. “But this changes the game in terms of social pressure and perception of the trademark.”

Ready-made for retail

There was a round of cheers from foodies across Central Virginia when sought-after grocer Wegmans announced it was building not one, but two, stores in the Richmond market. No one was happier than the woman who brokered the deal, Connie Nielsen, senior vice president and head of the retail services group for Cushman & Wakefield|Thalhimer.

She knew Wegmans’ reputation for being extremely selective in expanding the company’s footprint. But she was determined to set the deal in motion.

Nielsen started talks with Wegmans seven years ago and was in front of company officials continuously pitching sites she thought would work. “I wouldn’t leave them alone,” says Nielsen, who describes herself as “intense.” “I am persistent, but in an understanding way.”

A 20-year veteran of the commercial real estate industry, Nielsen has produced more than $150 million in transaction volume since 2006. Her national clients range from Chipotle to Gold’s Gym.  Nielsen’s first big deal 15 years ago was a rollout for Panera Bread when the chain came to Richmond. “That took me three years, and it wasn’t easy,” she recalls. “They have been a great client ever since, and I have expanded my territory with them.”

Today, Panera has nine locations in the Richmond market. Kirk Esherick, senior real estate manager for Panera, appreciates the fact that Nielsen “understands the mechanics of getting deals negotiated and stores opened while simultaneously staying focused on the long-term development strategy of the companies she represents.”

A native of Fort Worth, Texas, Nielsen, 49, happened into the industry when she took a four-hour temporary assignment in commercial shopping center management. She moved into lease and asset management before working as a broker in commercial real estate. “I am a broker that can read a lease and not all brokers can do that,” she says. “It helps you understand what a deal entails.”

All of her deals start with a vision, from a strategy to a location she feels suits a specific retailer. She has a “creative approach,” says Laura Lee Garrett, a partner at Hirschler Fleischer who has worked with Nielsen on real estate transactions. “She drives around and looks at sites over and over again. She thinks about what works, and she presents that to potential clients.”

When it’s time to negotiate, she is hands-on. She handles all the details that go into the lease, from location and signage to terms and rent. “My clients appreciate that,” she says. “It goes back to my background. Understanding the intricacies of the deals and terms and how they play out is very important.”

Many of her deals are years in the making. Carytown Place in Richmond, which now houses a Fresh Market and Panera Bread, took 10 years to complete. “It was a $5 million purchase but at the end of the day it was over $12 million with leases,” she says.

Neilsen also takes on smaller deals in the range of 1,200 square feet. They can be “just as difficult as the 100,000-square-foot deals,” she say, “because I work both sides, landlord and tenant representation.”

Her best advice regarding the art of the deal: “Don’t give up and think like your client. It’s not just about today’s deal, it’s about tomorrow’s deal. This is a relationship business. That’s the bottom line.”

Irish company targets U.S. markets

Ireland-based Anord Con­­­­­­trol Systems Ltd. works with several U.S. multinational corporations in Europe, so it made sense for the company to open a subsidiary across the pond. “We wanted to follow our clients and satisfy their needs in the U.S.,” says Kevin Finegan, managing director of Anord and president of its new U.S. subsidiary. “The U.S. is the largest data center market in the world. Moving here was the next logical step.”

Anord Critical Power Inc., is settling into offices in Henrico County near the airport in Interport Office Park after opening this past February. It will sell and manufacture the Anord AMS switchgear system, used primarily in data centers.

The U.S. data center market represents billions of dollars, and there is growing interest in this type of system. Anord’s parent company is investing nearly $1 million to develop a full-scale manufacturing facility in Henrico to help meet the demand.

“We plan to be manufacturing product here within the next 18 months,” says John Day, Anord Critical Power’s vice president of sales and marketing. “We are in start up mode now.”

The company currently has three employees and is in the process of interviewing for other positions. When it fully ramps up production, Day expects to have as many as 70 employees. 

Anord considered other locations in the U.S. before settling on the Richmond area. “There were three agencies in the area that helped us understand this market – Virginia Economic Development Partnership, Virginia Department of Business Assistance and the Greater Richmond Partnership,” says Day. “They did a great job in promoting Virginia. It was very compelling.”

Several factors came into play before making its decision: real estate, access to a skilled local workforce and the number of data centers in the market. “The data center market in Virginia is large and growing, particularly in the Ashburn region,” Finegan says.

Anord’s AMS switchgear system is a part of the power chain for data centers. It distributes power out to other components such as generators and HVAC and mechanical systems. “We distribute power to the rest of the facility,” explains Day.  One of the company’s strongest selling points is the segregation of internal components. “We compartmentalize individual components within the switchgear so the damage due to an electrical fault will be contained to an individual component,” explains Day.

Potential customers in­­­clude data centers, utilities, oil and gas companies, nuclear power and rail and infrastructure firms. Most of Anord’s competitors take about 22 weeks to deliver their products to customers. “We can deliver in 12 to 16 weeks,” says Day.

Anord’s parent company targets many of the same industry sectors. It provides critical low-voltage switchgear and power equipment to many of the world’s leading cloud computing, co-location and enterprise data center businesses.

Anthony Nordon founded the company in 1969 in Dundalk, Ireland. It currently has 106 employees companywide and two locations in the United Kingdom in addition to Ireland and the U.S. It has reported 20 percent revenue growth each of the last four years and is looking at the new subsidiary as a substantial part of its growth plan.

Originally a domestic-based company, Anord Control Systems built systems for other companies as an OEM (original equipment manufacturer).  It entered the export market in 1982 and moved into manufacturing only its own product line. It has sales in more than19 countries with substantial projects in the Middle East, Asia, the U.K., Europe and South America. “We are primarily an export-led business at the moment,” Finegan says. “Export is in our DNA.”

The U.S. subsidiary, which already has one customer on the books, also will look at opportunities in Canada and Latin America. “Canada has been very aggressive on the data center market, especially in Toronto and Ontario,” Day says, adding that Brazil has one of the largest data center markets in Latin America. “That’s an area of the world we intend to cover from the U.S.”

Doing business in the U.S. and Ireland is very similar, according to Finegan. “It’s fairly seamless. In Ireland businesses have a culture of commitment and delivery so you can depend on the Irish as a supplier.”

Economy in Dundalk
Located on the East Coast of Ireland, Dundalk sits between Belfast and Dublin. It was selected as a Gateway Centre for Development, which will help spur growth in the area. The region is home to a number of companies, including Xerox, Coca-Cola, eBay, PayPal, global technology company BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company) and Heinz. It attracts technology-related companies because of the Dundalk Institute of Technology and the nearby Finnabair Business Park.

Economy in Henrico
Henrico is home to the headquarters of four Fortune 1000 companies – Altria, Genworth Financial, Brink’s and Markel Corporation. The county has more than 25,000 businesses and multiple enterprise zones. More than 60 foreign-based companies from at least 12 different countries are located in the county, including German-based Allianz Global Assistance. Other businesses in Henrico include financial services giant Capital One, Hewlett-Packard, systems integrator Sycom Technologies and Aderis Pharmaceuticals. The county also is home to Richmond International Raceway, which hosts NASCAR Sprint-series events, and Richmond International Airport, which handles approximately 105,000 landings/takeoffs annually.

Peninsula focuses on retaining young workers

The Peninsula Coun­­­­cil for Work­­­­­force Development is using the results of April’s annual “Greater Peninsula State of the Workforce Report” to help shape its strategic plan for the seven cities and counties it serves.

“We are looking at trends that are emerging and making sure we focus on the right industry clusters,” says Matthew James, the council’s president and CEO. “We want to make sure we remain relevant and look at the needs of employers going forward.”

Two of the council’s key goals are keeping young people in the area and making sure the workforce is properly trained for the jobs available.

The retention of young people is an issue that is not unique to the Peninsula, council officials note. Many other cities and counties around the nation are losing young people. The council is taking steps to encourage students in high school as well as community college students to look for jobs in the region. “There are a lot of good careers here. It’s a growing, vibrant area where you can make a good living and career,” says James.

The council also is involved in career-path work, focusing on youth and early adult programs. It supports the Youth Career Expo, Youth Career Café and Youth Workforce, all of which help raise awareness of area career opportunities. “We think a lot of kids leave because they don’t know about the career opportunities,” James says. “We’re also running a summer camp to train high school counselors. We want to raise their awareness so they understand the careers are here.”

As part of its strategic plan, the council plans to maintain its focus on the six industry sectors it has identified as key areas of workforce demand. They are hospitality, construction, health care, manufacturing, finance and insurance. 

The region initially lagged the state average in job growth after the Great Recession, but the Peninsula is now on an uphill climb. “We are still down about 10,000 jobs, but we are outpacing the state” in job growth, says Shawn Avery, the council’s vice president. “Advanced manufacturing is growing big time.”

Manufacturing (13.6 percent of the region’s economy) was the area’s fastest-growing sector between the second quarters of 2012 and 2013, growing 8.6 percent. “Newport News had the largest increase in manufacturing,” says Avery.

Health care, representing 12.8 percent of the economy, has posted employment gains even during the recession. “We do a lot around promoting health care,” Avery says. To that end, the council in 2011 was awarded a $5 million U.S. Department of Labor grant that supports advanced training in several health-related fields. To date 379 workers have received training, surpassing the enrollment goal of 333, Avery says. 

The region also is seeing substantial job growth in professional and technical services (engineers, economists, lawyers, etc.). “In the past that was under-represented in the Peninsula, so it’s an emerging sector for them,” says Fletcher Mangum of Richmond-based Mangum Economics, which prepared the report. “They need to pay attention to that.”

Foundation head has perspective on Russian tensions

The new president of the Lexington-based George C. Marshall Foundation, Rob Havers, hopes Americans will look to it for a historical perspective on growing tensions between the United States and Russia.

“If you cast your eye across the news media, everybody is looking at what’s happening in the Ukraine,” he says. “Is this the beginning of a new Cold War? I’m not sure that is the case.”

Havers knows about the Cold War. Before coming to Lexington in May, he headed The National Churchill Museum on the campus of Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri. In 1946, Winston Churchill delivered his famous “Sinews of Peace” speech at the college in which he remarked, “an ‘Iron Curtain’ has descended across the continent” of Europe. The Iron Curtain became synonymous with Soviet domination of Eastern Europe during the Cold War.

Havers believes that studying the past can offer guidance for leaders wrestling with current problems. “We certainly live in challenging times,” he says. “The challenges that Marshall faced evaporated a bit, but they haven’t gone away.”

The foundation preserves and promotes Marshall’s legacy. A graduate of Virginia Military Institute, Marshall served as the Army chief of staff during World War II. Under President Harry S. Truman, he served as secretary of state from 1947 to 1949 and secretary of defense from 1950 to 1951, the beginning of the Korean War.

He is best known for the “Marshall Plan,” the European Recovery Act that helped a devastated Western Europe rebuild its economy after the world war, preventing the spread of communism. Marshall was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1953.

He died at age 78 in 1959.

“When you have a man like Marshall who lived a very long life and was involved in major events of the 20th century you can use him as a thread to discuss history more broadly,” Havers says.

He considers Marshall to be the antithesis of the contemporary world leaders who promote themselves relentlessly. “He was a self-effacing, modest man who sought nothing for himself,” Havers says. “Marshall’s qualities may seem different to the modern world, but if anything, they are more important today than they once were.”

This year celebrates the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Marshall Library, which along with the Marshall Museum falls under the umbrella of the foundation. The foundation also provides leadership educational programs and is working with the Stimson Center in Washington, D.C., to offer the best ideas of the Marshall Plan to North Africa.

The foundation’s most important ongoing project is the editing and publication of the Marshall Papers. It recently received $29,700 in continuing support from the National Historical  Publications and Records Commission for the publication of the final volume of the papers. “In the next one and a half years, it will be completed,” says Havers. “It gives the sense that the Marshall Foundation is reimagining its place in the world.”

The foundation also is converting paper-based documents, such as maps and Marshall’s correspondence, into a digital format.

“We are also rebuilding our website to make it easier to research,” says Rick Drake, the foundation’s director of corporate relations. “Our Internet traffic has more than doubled in the last four years, and traffic keeps increasing. Many of the people who access information online tend to come to the research library to read documents. That is an unexpected development for us.”