The Commonwealth Center for Advanced Manufacturing (CCAM) and Southside Virginia Community College are offering a free course to train veterans or transitioning military members as computer numeric controlled machinists.
“This is a huge opportunity worthy of consideration,” Bruce Sobczak, director of workforce development at CCAM, a Prince George County-based research consortium between industry and university researchers, said in a statement. “A lot of job openings exist in this area, and the need for qualified workers is enormous.”
The 18-week program, which launched last year, requires no prior experience or special qualifications. The course will include seven weeks of online training and 11 weeks of lab training at the Southside Virginia Education Center in Emporia. Each class is typically limited to 10 individuals, Sobczak says.
“They are required to get a minimum of five industry recognized certifications before the end of the program, ” he says.
CCAM will help graduates of the course with job placement through its connections with corporations such as Rolls-Royce, Newport News Shipbuilding, Kosmo Machine, BGB Technologies and Enclos Inc.
To apply candidates must contact Soldier for Life – Transition Assistance Program at 804-734-6615. That office will assist with a federal funding approval application under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunities Act. Interested applicants also should contact Debra Smiley, SVCC’s director of workforce development and continuing education at 434-949-1060.
Reston-based information technology solutions provider Network Alliance Inc. has named Byron K. Patrick, managing director, CPA practice.
He will oversee Network Alliance’s strategic growth within the accounting/CPA market.
Patrick is co-founder and former CEO of Simplified Innovations Inc., a Maryland-based technology outsourcing company.
Network Alliance said in a press release that it chose Patrick because of his experience in the public accounting and IT spaces. He is a multi-year recipient of the CPA Practice Advisor’s Under-40 Award; a member of the Maryland Association of CPAs (MACPA) and founding member of MACPA’s New/Young Professional Network (NYPN).
Three airports in Virginia will receive nearly $2 million in funds from the Department of Transportation’s Federal Aviation Administration, according to a news release issued Friday by democratic U.S. Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine.
Airports in Petersburg/Dinwiddie, Front Royal/Warren and Culpeper will receive funds to rehabilitate pavement conditions and improve the safety of their facilities.
Projects and amounts are listed below:
· Dinwiddie County Airport and Industrial Authority – $1 million. This grant will fund milling and overlay to rehabilitate 9,300 square yards of the existing apron pavement and 650 feet of the existing Taxiway D pavement that have reached the end of their useful lives. This is the second phase of a two-phase project.
· Front Royal-Warren County Airport – $618,054. This project will fund the removal of tree obstructions in the Runway 10/28 transitional surfaces. This is final phase of a six-phase project.
· Culpeper Regional Airport – $124,784. This project will fund the design for the rehabilitation of 5,000 feet of the existing T-hangar, taxi-lane pavement that has reached the end of its useful life.
Earlier this week, Warner and Kaine also announced more than $12 million in federal funding to airports in Richmond, Norfolk and Emporia/Greensville.
Toray Plastics (America) Inc., a subsidiary of a Japanese company, said Thursday it is investing $45 million to expand its Front Royal facility in Warren County. The project is expected to create 30 jobs.
Toray Plastics (America) makes films for flexible and rigid packaging, lidding, graphic, industrial, optical, and electronic applications and foams for the automotive and flooring industries. The manufacturer plans to add an extrusion capability and a new production line to its Front Royal facility.
Funding and services to support employee training will be provided through the Virginia Jobs Investment Program.
Toray Plastics (America) Inc. is a subsidiary of Tokyo-based Toray Industries Inc., a major producer of fibers, textiles, plastics, chemicals, pharmaceuticals and high-performance films with annual sales of more than $19 billion.
Three Virginia airports are getting a total of nearly $12 million in federal funds, according to a news release issued Wednesday by the offices of U.S. Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine.
The Department of Transportation (DOT)’s Federal Aviation Administration’s grants aim to rehabilitate existing taxiways, improve the safety of pavement conditions and renovate facilities.
Projects and amounts are listed below:
· Richmond International – $4 million: This project will fund the design and construction for rehabilitation of Taxiways E and L pavements. The grant will provide for the first of two construction phases for Taxiway L.
· Norfolk International –$6.2 million: This project will fund a pavement management program study to establish current airfield pavement conditions and develop a cost-effective program to maintain the airfield pavement in a safe and serviceable condition. The grant will also fund the renovation of the public lobby space and lighting to meet current standards and meet passenger needs. It also will fund the acquisition of three replacement brooms and one replacement blower to keep the airport serviceable during snow periods and aid in the efficiency and safety of operations. This is phase two of a four-phase project.
· Emporia-Greensville Regional—$1.4 million: This project will fund the construction phase of a 2,000 foot taxiway extension to provide a parallel taxiway for Runway 16/34 and allow the airport to meet operational needs.
Last week, Warner also announced more than $1 million in federal funding to improve passenger screening and security at Newport News/Williamsburg International Airport in Newport News and at Louisa County’s Freeman Field.
A startup begun at Virginia Commonwealth University now is calling Hampton Roads home.
In July, Sanyal Biotechnology, which tests the effects of drugs on mice for pharmaceutical companies, moved its headquarters from Chesterfield County to Virginia Beach. The move was the result of a deal with Eastern Virginia Medical School, Tidewater Community College and the city of Virginia Beach.
“It made financial and practical sense to go down there,” says Sanyal Bio’s CEO Rebecca Caffrey, who served as entrepreneur-in-residence at VCU.
As part of the deal, Sanyal Bio is using EVMS’ lab and vivarium (a space for keeping animals involved in research) in Norfolk. The company now has its headquarters in a 1,500-square-foot space at the VABeachBio Accelerator on Tidewater Community College’s campus in Virginia Beach. The facility includes lab space that the company can use as it expands.
The Virginia Beach Development Authority provided a $25,000 Economic Development Investment Program grant, based on the company’s projections to add eight jobs in the area (it currently has a staff of seven).
Caffrey says Sanyal Bio was spending too much money on overhead costs in Chesterfield, where it had 8,000 square feet of space but was using only 3,000. Its initial plan was to build out the extra space for the company’s wet lab and vivarum. The company, however, wasn’t able to raise the funds needed for the expansion and was considering moving to a New Jersey facility before the EVMS arrangement was made.
“I don’t think that Virginians realize how little lab and vivarium space is available for biotech companies to locate in,” Caffrey says.
Pharmaceutical companies hire Sanyal Bio to study the effectiveness of medicines on its mice, which were developed by the company’s president and chief medical officer, Dr. Arun J. Sanyal. (Despite the company’s move, Sanyal will remain based in Richmond.)
The mice get sick in the same way people do after being fed a high-fat, high-sugar diet, Caffrey says. “They are really the only animal model that does this, and that’s why the pharmaceutical companies are so excited because they haven’t had a model like this to test their drugs on before.”
Most of Sanyal Bio’s customers are researching treatments for NASH (nonalcoholic steatohepatitis). That is a disease that resembles alcoholic liver disease but is found in people who drink little to no alcohol. There is no cure for NASH — a major cause for liver transplants — but the market to develop a drug to treat the disease is valued at $80 billion, Caffrey says.
Although Caffrey can’t provide the company’s revenue or number of clients, she says the average cost of a contract with a client is $150,000. The company has raised $550,000 of capital and is looking to raise $450,000 more.
“We anticipate growing fairly quickly and staffing up fairly quickly, so that we can meet the demand,” she says.
Georgia-Pacific’s Big Island mill in Bedford County is marking a major milestone this year.
The mill, which makes containerboard, has been operating for 125 years. Like many manufacturing sites, it employs fewer people than it used to because of recent technological advancements. Its workforce today numbers 330 workers, down from 450 in the mid-1990s.
Nonetheless, it remains the second-largest private employer in Bedford County.
“We have not had … any layoffs and have been able to deal with this through attrition as employees retired,” says Zoe S. Myers, the mill’s public affairs manager. She recently wrote a book for the anniversary, titled “A Mill and its People: 125 Years of Papermaking.”
The book outlines the mill’s history. Built on the banks of the James River over a former lock in a 19th-century canal system, the mill produced its first roll of paper in 1891. Since then, it has faced several challenges, some of which threatened its existence.
The mill, for example, was rebuilt after it burned to the ground in 1914. Also, employees and the Big Island community rallied to reopen the mill in 1985 when flooding from Hurricane Juan caused a temporary shutdown.
“That’s a key event because it would have been so easy to say, ‘There’s no way we’re going to get this mill up and running again,’” Myers says.
The mill also has been through many ownership changes in 125 years. Since 1990 it has been owned by Atlanta-based Georgia-Pacific Corp., which was acquired by Koch Industries more than a decade ago.
In addition to the publication of Myers’ book, Georgia-Pacific is celebrating the mill’s anniversary through a series of events throughout the year, culminating with “Fine & Dandy Day” on Oct. 8. The event will feature antique automobiles and machinery plus live music, food trucks, children’s activities and a beer garden.
Although Georgia-Pacific is celebrating the mill’s history, it’s also looking ahead. Last year the company completed a $50 million expansion of its pulp mill, the oldest part of the plant. Myers couldn’t share specifics about the project but says the goal was to improve reliability and upgrade technology.
The Big Island mill also celebrated another milestone last year. It hired its first fifth-generation employee, Hunter Tolley, whose father, uncle, grandfather, great-grandfather and great-great grandfather worked at the mill.
“We are always looking for ways to innovate … so we can stay competitive and continue to employ the good people that work here,” Myers says.
Gov. Terry McAuliffe announced Tuesday that Anne Holton has stepped down as secretary of education following the selection of her husband, U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, as Hillary Clinton’s vice presidential running mate.
The resignation was effective July 25. McAuliffe has appointed Deputy Secretary of Education Dietra Trent to serve as Virginia’s new secretary of education, effective immediately.
“I wish Anne the very best, and I know she will take her passion for education to the national stage and continue to make the commonwealth proud,” the governor said in a statement.
Trent has served as the deputy secretary of education since 2014. She also served as deputy secretary of education for Kaine when he was governor and as director of constituent services and director of the council on human rights under then-governor and current Sen. Mark Warner.
She earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology and criminal justice from Hampton University, and completed her master’s and doctoral degrees in public administration and policy from Virginia Commonwealth University.
Virginia Business again will honor Virginia's best employers in our 2017 Best Places to Work in Virginia project. Apply today if you think you offer a great workplace environment. The deadline to apply is Sept. 2, 2016.
Winners will appear in the February 2017 issue of Virginia Business magazine and will be honored at an awards ceremony at The WIlliamsburg Lodge.
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Caffrey says Sanyal Bio was spending too much money on overhead costs in Chesterfield, where it had 8,000 square feet of space but was using only 3,000. Its initial plan was to build out the extra space for the company’s wet lab and vivarum. The company, however, wasn’t able to raise the funds needed for the expansion and was considering moving to a New Jersey facility before the EVMS arrangement was made.