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A power networking session and champagne reception will be held Oct. 6 at The Peninsula Club in Cornelius in honor of Business Today’s 2010 Top Women Business Leaders. The sixth annual event recognizes the contribution of women in business in the Golden Crescent. Former winners include Realtors Abigail Jennings, of Lake Norman Realty, and Diane Honeycutt, of Team Honeycutt in Concord; Pat Horton, president of Cabarrus Bank & Trust; Robin Smith of Lake Norman Chrysler Jeep Dodge; Dakeita Vanderburg Johnson, CEO of Southgate Masonry & Lumber in Concord; and Ginger Griffin of Ginger Griffin Marketing and Design in Cornelius. Business Today columnist and UNCC instructor Cheryl Kane will conduct the power networking sessions, after which the 2010 winners will receive their awards, complete with champagne toasts. The event, which starts at 6 p.m., is $12.50 to attend, Visa and MasterCard accepted at time of reservation. More info: Phone BusinessToday at 704-895-1335 or email nebiztoday@gmail.com for more information. Registration opens at 5:30 p.m.
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Heart Group of the Carolinas, with offices in Concord and Albemarle, has merged with Sanger Heart and Vascular Institute. The practice will now begin operating under the Sanger name. |
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More than 100 Denver area business owners will meet at Verdict Ridge Golf Club Sept. 16 from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. for the annual Denver Area Business Association networking luncheon. Non-members are invited to attend the event which will honor long-time Denver business leader Joe Turbyfill and his wife Jean. Michael Thompson, director of corporate communications for the Charlotte Bobcats, will discuss overcoming adversity in the business world. The cost is $17 for pre-registration at www.dabanc.org or $20 at the door. More info: Denis Bilodeau, dbilodeau@aquestainsurance.com |
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Jim Trogdon, the chief operating officer for NC DOT, will be the featured speaker at a Lake Norman Chamber of Commerce luncheon Friday at NorthStone Country Club. Trogdon will discuss local road improvements including HOT lanes, commuter rail and the diverging diamond interchange planned at Exit 28 on I-77 in Cornelius. Tickets are $16 for members and $20 for non-members. More info: 704-892-1922. |
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During its 2009-2010 fiscal year, Rowan-Cabarrus Community College was awarded $2.654 million in grant funding from public and private organizations. From July 1, 2009 to June 30, 2010, the 21 grant awards produced a single-year grant-funding record for the college. Funded projects include scholarships for students with financial need, a major updating of RCCC’s IT infrastructure, the JobsNOW certificate programs, initiatives to develop new curriculum, and programs to help students quit smoking and assist local citizens adversely impacted by changes in the tobacco industry.The funding agencies include the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Margaret C. Woodson Foundation, the Blanche and Julian Robertson Family Foundation, the North Carolina Health and Wellness Trust Fund, the North Carolina Tobacco Trust Fund, the North Carolina Community College System, the Proctor Foundation, and the N.C. BioNetwork. |
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| LAWRENCE |
What does a professional planner really do to help clients?
Let’s say you want to hold a customer appreciation event but you want it to be more than just a party. Your company’s reputation is on the line. You have to make a decision whether to leave this important function to a professional or to unskilled hands? In this case, a planner can be a valuable asset |
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| DeMAO |
In the last of this three part series, Sherre explains how reviewing your current involvements can help you achieve your goals through putting you in direct contact with your ideal target market, in direct contact with those who could refer you to your ideal target market, or to help you gain needed support or resources for growing your business. |
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Since the dawn of mankind we have been buying and selling “stuff”, and over the centuries a predictable pattern has developed between buyers and sellers. The buyer-seller dynamic can spell “commission catastrophe” for the sales professional who lacks the artful skill of effective questioning. |
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Diversity effort benefits from first-hand knowledge |
Is the word “minority” going to disappear from the lexicon of business? Indeed, a better word is “diversity,” according to Eric Lewis, a business and leadership consultant with OneSCSI. A member of the Lake Norman Chamber of Commerce board, Lewis is also heads up the chamber’s Women & Minority Business Development Program.
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| ERIC LEWIS |
Its first effort is a seminar entitled “Doing Business with the Government.” Archibald Black, procurement counselor for the Small Business Technology Development Center, is the key speaker.
The chamber’s efforts around diversity come at a time when the face of American business is perhaps more colorful and textured than any other country’s. International companies have operations all over the Golden Crescent even as companies and organizations throughout the region recruit top talent from all over the world.
Small businesses owned by Latinos, Asians and African Americans are everywhere, said Lewis, explaining that the word “minority” is starting to fall out of favor in HR circles and Fortune 100 companies. The word suggests something or someone might be less than another. “As we get more diversity conscious, we are starting to realize how we use words,” said Lewis, who was born and raised in Trinidad before moving to New Jersey with his family.
A graduate of the University of Maryland, Lewis worked for Intel and M&M/Mars on supply chain issues. He developed an international following and launched his own consulting company in California, before moving it to Lake Norman based on the cost of living, quality of life, weather and the “wide open” nature of business.
The push for diversity at the Lake Norman Chamber suits Lewis fine. He says the first seminar, June 16 at the chamber, will help diverse business owners, men and women of all colors, learn about opportunities in government contracting.
Does Lewis hope that one day business people will become color-blind? No way. “We should not be. Color blind is not the right direction. The right direction is seeing color and acknowledging differences and working with those differences. For people of my complexion, or Asian, or white, or simply those who are not white, the only way to look at and embrace the diversity is to understand that diversity is what makes us richer and stronger,” Lewis said.
For more information on the seminar entitled “Doing Business with the Government,” contact Patty McIlroy at the chamber at 704-892-1922 or mcilroy@lakenorman.org |
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| RUSSELL |
By Bill Russell
Wouldn’t it be nice to pick up a paper and read only pleasant headlines for a change? The news in Washington this week is that we have retired the national debt, unemployment in North Carolina has sunk to it’s lowest levels since 2006, and a group hug broke out in the streets of Baghdad.
Unfortunately that’s not the headlines we read. According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the annual difference between what our federal government collects in tax revenue and what it spends will be $1.3 trillion this fiscal year alone. Combat troops are leaving Iraq, however, we are still a stretch from a tension free region. Closer to home, North Carolina’s unemployment rate dipped to 9.6 percent in July and has declined for five consecutive months but still remains higher than the national average of 9.5 percent. |
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| GILROY |
Many of us were chilled to the bone a few weeks ago at what Charlotte City Councilman David Howard said at a Lake Norman Transportation Commission meeting. Howard, a Democrat who has focused on inner city affordable housing issues through his position as vice president of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Housing Partnership since 1997, was quoted several times:
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It’s a mixed bag in the luxury market. Some homes are closing at steep discounts, while some pristine homes in superb locations are closing near their asking prices.
Prices per square foot edged upward about 1 percent in Lake Norman during the second quarter vs. 2009 levels, but realized values are still off 20 percent to 25 percent compared to 2007 levels, according to Reed Jackson of Ivester Jackson Distinctive Properties in Cornelius. |
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These home sales and property transactions in the Golden Crescent were recorded by the Register of Deeds in Mecklenburg, Cabarrus and Iredell. |
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These new businesses in the Golden Crescent have registered with the N.C. Secretary of State. |
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Staff directory, emails, phone and fax numbers along with other general and subscription information |
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