News and events affecting business and industry in the east Tennessee and southwest Virginia regions. http://www.alliancetnva.com 2010-09-08T22:20:26+01:00 http://www.alliancetnva.com http://www.alliancetnva.com/images/M_images/rss10.gif text/html 2010-08-27T08:41:04+01:00 http://www.alliancetnva.com http://www.alliancetnva.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=191&Itemid=2 By Chris Mcintosh 11 Connects News The Greeneville-based Niswonger Foundation has announced that it has received a multi-million dollar grant from the U-S Department of Education.The grant will go a long way toward helping prepare area students for their futures in the twenty-first century.Linda Irwin wrote the grant to the U-S Department of Education, seeking an Investing In Innovation or I-3 grant, for the purpose of improving the rigor of high school curriculum, but what does that mean for the average student?According to Irwin, Increasing rigor means that we are going to be adding depth to the curriculum. We also hope to be able to add a lot of dual enrollment courses, so that students can leave high school with some college courses already in place. The I-3 grant money will help to fund the “Northeast Tennessee College and Career Consortium.”The Consortium is made up of the fifteen school systems, all in the First Congressional District.The Niswonger Foundation has partnered with these schools in the past, and because those partnerships were so successful, is part of the reason they were able to obtain the I-3 grant. All of our programs have been implemented and are in place and working today so the practitioner approach to this...they're all there and working and that was recognized at a national level. ,said Niswonger Foundation President Scott Niswonger.For school systems receiving a piece of this grant money, it couldn't come at a better time, because not only will this money help intensify the educational process for students, it should help improve state mandated test scores. According to Johnson City Schools Superintendent Dr. Richard Bales, We changed the standards last year and so those have certainly been ramped up, and I think, you know, we're going to see the need to increase our performance level, not just in Johnson City, but in all the districts. So this will really be a shot in the arm, and we're really pleased.”The Niswonger Foundation is currently researching the needs of each school system, before it allocates the I-3 grant money.More than seventeen-hundred grant applications were submitted for the I-3 grant, the Niswonger Foundation was one of 49 organizations awarded grants. text/html 2010-07-27T13:27:19+01:00 http://www.alliancetnva.com http://www.alliancetnva.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=190&Itemid=2 text/html 2010-07-12T14:34:20+01:00 http://www.alliancetnva.com http://www.alliancetnva.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=189&Itemid=2 text/html 2010-07-07T09:21:20+01:00 http://www.alliancetnva.com http://www.alliancetnva.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=188&Itemid=2 FORT WORTH, Texas, July 2 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- American Eagle Airlines, the regional affiliate of American Airlines, today launched nonstop jet service between Chicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD) and Tri-Cities Regional Airport (TRI), operating the service with 44-seat Embraer ERJ-140 jets. Centrally located between the cities of Bristol, Kingsport and Johnson City, Tenn., the Tri-Cities airport serves the communities of Northeast Tennessee, Southwest Virginia and Western North Carolina. American Airlines was the first carrier to operate at Tri-Cities Regional Airport, launching service Sept. 1, 1937, and we are delighted to bring the American brand back, with service to the Tri-Cities area from our second-largest hub in Chicago, said Gary Foss, Vice President – Planning and Marketing for the AA Regional Network. These new flights to one of American's premier international gateways will offer local business travelers convenient connections to the West Coast as well as destinations throughout American's global network. We're excited to welcome this new service from American Eagle, said Patrick Wilson, Executive Director – Tri-Cities Airport Commission. Having access to American's extensive domestic and international route system will be a great advantage for Tri-Cities travelers. This is a great day for Tri-Cities Regional Airport as we celebrate the launch of nonstop service to Chicago, said Ken Maness, Chairman – Tri-Cities Airport Commission. We know the Tri-Cities community will support American Eagle, and we look forward to a long and successful partnership. The schedule for flights between Chicago and Tri-Cities, Tenn., (all times local) is:Chicago O'Hare to Tri-Cities (ORD-TRI) FLIGHTDEPARTSARRIVESDAYS 412112:50 p.m.3:40 p.m.Daily 41268:25 p.m.11:15 p.m.Daily About American EagleAmerican Eagle operates over 1,500 daily flights to nearly 160 cities throughout the United States, Canada, the Bahamas, Mexico and the Caribbean on behalf of American Airlines. American, American Eagle and the AmericanConnection® airlines serve 250 cities in 40 countries with, on average, more than 3,400 daily flights. The combined network fleet numbers more than 900 aircraft. American's award-winning website, AA.com, provides users with easy access to check and book fares, plus personalized news, information and travel offers. American Airlines is a founding member of the oneworld® Alliance, which brings together some of the best and biggest names in the airline business, enabling them to offer their customers more services and benefits than any airline can provide on its own. Together, its members serve more than 700 destinations in over 140 countries and territories. American Airlines, Inc. and American Eagle Airlines, Inc. are subsidiaries of AMR Corporation. AmericanAirlines, American Eagle, AmericanConnection, AA.com We know why you fly and AAdvantage are registered trademarks of American Airlines, Inc. (NYSE: AMR).SOURCE American Eagle AirlinesRELATED LINKShttp://www.aa.com text/html 2010-06-16T11:32:30+01:00 http://www.alliancetnva.com http://www.alliancetnva.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=187&Itemid=2 text/html 2010-06-09T09:55:06+01:00 http://www.alliancetnva.com http://www.alliancetnva.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=186&Itemid=2 text/html 2010-05-25T07:42:10+01:00 http://www.alliancetnva.com http://www.alliancetnva.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=183&Itemid=2 By JEFF KEELING - KINGSPORT TIMES NEWS“Managing their clients’ chaos” is paying off these days for Advanced Call Center Technologies, which just added 300 employees in Johnson City and expects to add another 300 by year’s end.Producing that kind of growth in the midst of high national and regional unemployment is a point of pride for a company that first established a presence here in 2000 with 200 people, Kevin Chalupka, who heads ACT’s human resources department, said this week.“We’ve been experiencing a 30 percent growth rate in the company for the last two years, and 2010 is shaping up to be the same,” said Chalupka, who has overseen ACT’s human resources department since 2008.“That’s phenomenal for any company, but even more so in the economic climate that we’re in today.”The increased business comes as ACT gains additional contracts to provide back office support services for existing clients and as new companies choose it as an outsourcing provider. The majority of jobs are centered around the financial services sector, including the 300 new positions that involve two new projects for a national consumer finance and mortgage servicing company.Even in a day when many people are looking for work, that level of growth and a steady turnover rate makes Chalupka’s job — finding a steady flow of people who will work for $8 to $15 an hour in what can be a stressful environment — a challenging endeavor.“There’s continuous hiring,” Chalupka said at ACT’s main local site in Boone’s Creek, where about 1,100 people work. Another 300 or so are at the former Wyndham call center in east Johnson City, and ACT also has call centers in Texas, New Mexico and Arizona.“It’s not a position that people aspire to stay in forever. We offer a great professional, office-type environment; you’re indoors working, and you get to learn some great things about clients and practical skills you can apply.”ACT’s overall success story has paralleled its rise in Johnson City, where the company moved from Atlanta when costs there rose too high. A small, privately held firm that had jumped into the “business process outsourcing” market early, ACT had 200 people here and another center in Harlingen, Texas, at that time.A few years later, a private equity group out of Berwyn, Pa., bought ACT, but kept most corporate functions in Johnson City. Since then, ACT has grown to 3,400 employees, including the current 1,400 here, but Chalupka said that still makes it a smaller player in the outsourcing world — something ACT works to its advantage.“We provide a more personal contact and relationship than they can get from bigger business processing outsourcers,” he said. Among those bigger competitors are Convergys and Teleperformance, public companies with dozens of worldwide locations and employment numbers approaching 100,000. Chalupka said ACT has no plans to open centers outside the U.S., another element that separates them from the huge competitors.“Not that they can’t provide great service, because they do (but) our niche as an outsourcing vendor is that we are easy to work with and flexible to meet companies’ demands.”Maintaining that reputation requires the right employees as much as anything, Chalupka said.“The cost of labor and quality of labor has been very beneficial for our operations here.“This is a very labor-driven sector. Our job is to manage customer contacts, so without people we can’t do it. We like to say we manage our clients’ chaos, so employees we hire have to have some of that same flexibility, and the work force here understands that.” If one of the typical 18- to 2 9 - y e a r- o l d s who make up ACT’s production ranks finds the work interesting, there’s a good chance for p r o m o t i o n , Chalupka said. More than 100 employees in the Johnson City area are in supervisory, management or other higher-paid positions, and those numbers will grow with the company. The new project, for instance, requires 15 supervisors and support staff in addition to the 300 production workers.Motivated employees get chances for what Chalupka called “stretch assignments” — covering for a vacationing supervisor, traveling to a clients’ site to learn more about their operations, launching a new product or site location among them.“If you spoke with any of our supervisors or managers, the story they would probably tell is, ‘yeah, I started on the phones and this is the direction I went.’”With the combination of growth and natural turnover, Chalupka said, entry-level workers with drive and ability will get noticed and have a good chance to be among the 80 percent of managers and supervisors who were promoted from within.“Those who perform well, have the work ethic and desire, will see there’s opportunity here, and that’s what I like about the company.”Those who stay in what’s called production typically stay no more than a few years, often while attending college, but Chalupka said even they can make decent money. Along with the $8 base pay, a variety of incentives that can put a good worker in the $30,000 a year range, and the company offers health insurance, a 401k, paid time off, paid holidays and several other fringe benefits.The majority of the calls are “inbound” and don’t involve trying to sell something, so the bonuses tend to be for meeting certain production levels rather than making sales.Chalupka said the most likely scenario for back office functions is that more large companies, not fewer, will contract out work to companies like ACT. As the company continues trying to gain more business from current clients, its leaders also hope it can take business away from competitors by offering a better mousetrap.Beyond those avenues for growth lies the simple fact that more and more companies are jettisoning in-house back office departments.“As companies analyze their own books and their expenses and revenue streams, I think more of them are realizing that outsourcing certain amounts of work makes more sense,” Chalupka said.“They’ll put their toe in the water and ... sometimes they’ll use a smaller company like ACT rather than these enormous outsourcers that are out there.”So just how big might ACT get in a metro area that doesn’t have a shortage of call centers? Even if demand for ACT’s services continues growing quickly, several factors will determine the local results, Chalupka said.First, the Tri-Cities labor market hasn’t become saturated with available call center jobs yet, but it could happen.“A saturation of call centers can have a negative impact in your staff and management ranks, because people will jump ship. We need to sustain a certain level of experienced production workers and supervisors.”Hitting a ceiling in that regard remains a ways off, but space is a more immediate consideration. Expending the capital to secure the former Wyndham building and its roughly 300-seat capacity clearly paid off, as ACT should be maxed out locally by the end of the year. The company manages excess capacity carefully, since that represents a cost of doing business without an immediate return. Chalupka said ACT’s very good relationship with the local Economic Development Board has made it easier for ACT to pull the trigger on local investment — and the company wouldn’t want to miss a chance to grow.“You have to have something available, because if one of your existing clients says, ‘here’s another 100 full-time positions we need you to manage,’ and you say, ‘well, we can’t get that for 90 days,’ they’ll move you down their list.” text/html 2010-05-14T10:03:57+01:00 http://www.alliancetnva.com http://www.alliancetnva.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=182&Itemid=2 text/html 2010-05-13T14:27:09+01:00 http://www.alliancetnva.com http://www.alliancetnva.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=181&Itemid=2 Plant expands Tritan production to meet increased market demandBy Sharon Hayes, Kingsport Times NewsKingsport, Tenn. — It’s been less than three years since Eastman Chemical Co. introduced its new Tritan copolyester to the world, and already the product has surpassed expectations with record sales and growing demand.On Thursday, Eastman celebrated that success by inviting local community leaders and elected officials to tour the new Tritan plant in Kingsport.“How often do you come up with a new product like this? It shows that we’re still innovating, we’re still looking for green solutions to what the people want, what our customers want,” said Eastman President and CEO Jim Rogers.Eastman introduced Tritan in the fall of 2007, not just as a “next generation” of a product already in existence, but as a “new generation” of copolyester. The product delivers the advantages of traditional copolyesters such as clarity and chemical resistance, but it also offers higher heat resistance, improved design flexibility, and ease of processing.“It’s got great durability, great clarity, it’s tough, and it’s BPA-free,” said Parker Smith, Eastman vice president and general manager, Worldwide Manufacturing Support. “When you add it all up, it makes a great package.”It’s created a lot of buzz in the marketplace. Initially the product had customers in three market areas — reusable sports water bottles, housewares and small appliances.But business has quadrupled in the past 12 months, and today the product is used in seven market areas including medical, infant care, bulk water and signs.It’s even made the movies. A Tritan bottle is featured in the new film “Iron Man II.”“It is truly just the beginning,” said Dante Rutstrom, Eastman’s vice president and general manager, Specialty Plastics Business. “We expect to take Tritan to many more markets and many more applications.”Eastman opted to manufacture the new product here in Kingsport and began construction on the Tritan line in December 2008. Construction was completed in August 2009, and the new line began producing Tritan in December 2009. It now operates 24 hours a day, seven days week, manufacturing 30,000 metric tons a year.Smith said Eastman plans to convert a second manufacturing line, which will double the plant’s capacity to 60,000 metric tons a year.And with the new operations come new jobs. Smith said that more than a dozen experienced operators and mechanics from within Eastman were reassigned to work on the Tritan operations. Eastman hired several new employees to fill the vacancies created from those job transfers, Smith said.He said new jobs are expected to be added as demand for Tritan grows. If demand increases as projected, Eastman will eventually have to expand its monomer plant that feeds into the Tritan production process, and that could result in more jobs, Smith said.He said potential employees are being trained at the new Regional Center for Advanced Manufacturing in downtown Kingsport.Smith pointed out that the Tritan production processes are part of Eastman’s Project Reinvest, a plan to pump $1.3 billion into the Kingsport manufacturing complex to ensure its viability into the future.Mark Costa, Eastman executive vice president, Specialty Polymer, Coatings, Adhesives, and chief marketing officer, said Eastman has a 90-year history of caring and consideration for its community and its employees. He noted that Eastman was named among the top 100 companies in the United States last year for its green practices by Newsweek magazine.“We believe that sustainability and environment is a critical driver, not just doing the right thing, but it’s also the smart thing for us to do,” Costa said.He said Tritan fits well with that philosophy. The product is made without bisphenol A (BPA), a chemical found in hard plastic polycarbonate bottles. Studies have shown that when those bottles become worn and scratched, they can leach BPA, causing health concerns.On Thursday, Eastman released new third-party test results showing that its Tritan is free of BPA as well as estrogenic activity (EA) and endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs).Rutstrom said the company is committed to producing safe products.“These tests went beyond the requirements needed for regulatory clearance and are intended to provide our customers with even greater confidence in the safety of this product,” Rutstrom said.“Eastman is really all about developing innovative approaches that lead to practical solutions. That’s what we do,” Rutstrom said. text/html 2010-05-12T08:22:17+01:00 http://www.alliancetnva.com http://www.alliancetnva.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=180&Itemid=2 By DAVID MCGEE | Staff Writer / Bristol Herald Courier BRISTOL, Va. – From drawing board to Tuesday’s groundbreaking, Alpha Natural Resources’ new $21 million corporate headquarters already has grown by more than 20 percent.It has been that kind of meteoric rise for the nation’s third-largest coal company, which formed just eight years ago.On a bluff overlooking Sugar Hollow Park on Tuesday, state and local officials joined about 200 company employees to celebrate the start of site work for the 130,000-square-foot, five-story building. Alpha CEO Kevin Crutchfield recounted some of that growth during the ceremony.“When [Alpha Chairman] Mike Quillen got a gleam in his eye back in 2002 about something called Alpha, it was in a little office on Main Street in Gate City, Va.,” Crutchfield said. “When it became apparent this [Alpha] was going to go forward, he really upgraded and got a small office on Main Street in Abingdon – 4,500 square feet.“We really thought at the time that office was all we were going to need. ... But after a few more acquisitions, we were spread all over town and it was clear that wasn’t going to be enough. When we moved into our current 46,000-square-foot building, we really thought that would hold us for a good, long while.”The company, which now employs about 6,400, outgrew its present Abingdon headquarters after a 2009 merger with Foundation Coal of Baltimore, Md. Employees are again working at five different locations around town. The merger touched off an intense recruiting battle eventually won by the city, which beat out Washington County, Va., and prospective suitors from Maryland and Tennessee.Originally conceived as 80,000 square feet, the building plans quickly expanded to 100,000 and then the current level – something not all company officials knew about Tuesday.The facility is expected to be completed in about 18 months and employ more than 200.“Part of the reason it grew a little bit was many of the Baltimore people began making the transition much earlier than we thought they might, so we’ve had an influx, which necessitated more space. Rather than add onto the building in three or four years, we decided to bite the bullet now and create a building we can grow into over time. I hope it will be sufficient for the foreseeable future,” Crutchfield said later.About 40 former employees of the Maryland company have already moved to the region, he said.Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling, who attended the ceremony, said he was initially concerned the merger might mean another state could lure Alpha away.“We think you made the right decision – not just to remain in Virginia – but to remain in Southwest Virginia. This is your home,” Bolling said.Crutchfield said the company weighed a number of potential incentives and tax breaks before accepting the city’s offer – free land and a $7.4 million package of financial incentives from the Governor’s Opportunity Fund, the Virginia Tobacco Indemnification and Community Revitalization Commission, the city and Bristol Virginia Utilities.“We mulled our way through that [offers] from a financial perspective. But in the end, I think we tested our hearts on where we thought it made sense to be,” Crutchfield said. “I guess somebody could have thrown a deal at you, where you had no choice. But the city made it easy to stay in the area with the financial incentives package. And it felt like the right thing to do, for us. We love this area and we like to be able to contribute to our communities.”While Washington County will experience diminished revenues once the move is complete, Board of Supervisors Chairwoman Dulcie Mumpower said they’re not upset.“It’s a good day for the region,” Mumpower said. “I’m happy Southwest Virginia beat out Maryland and those other places and those jobs are remaining here.”Commercial developer Steve Johnson, who built the company’s current headquarters and is handling the new one, also praised the project.“This will give them the flexibility they need and room for growth,” Johnson said. “They’ve only been in their present space for about five years, but getting this land from the city gives them room – if they need to expand later.”Johnson’s company will develop the project and sell it to Alpha on a long-term lease. BurWil Construction, of Bristol, Tenn., will be the building contractor.Long-term growth and economic vitality – in the face of mounting pressure on the coal industry – were also on the minds Tuesday of state lawmakers.“Alpha is leading the way to make Virginia the East Coast energy leader,” Bolling said. “We believe there is a great place for energy in the future for Virginia. We want to do more to develop the coal industry, more to develop nuclear power and to safely and responsibly develop our offshore energy resources.”Legislators are concerned whether coal can remain a viable energy source well into the future, state Sen. William Wampler, R-Bristol, said.“The Southwest delegation remains committed to people whose livelihood is dependent upon coal and we will work vigorously to beat back all efforts to effectively shut down this industry through direct or indirect extreme regulatory policies or laws. The Southwest delegation will never waiver,” Wampler said.Crutchfield acknowledged that the industry faces a mounting number of challenges.“But the fact remains 50 percent of [U.S.] electricity comes from coal and nothing can be done overnight to change that,” he said. “Now long term, that may be a different story.”dmcgee@bristolnews.com (mailto:dmcgee@bristolnews.com) | (276) 645-2532 text/html 2010-04-11T18:00:00+01:00 http://www.alliancetnva.com http://www.alliancetnva.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=185&Itemid=2 Tri-Cities Business Journal - www.bjournal.com (http://www.bjournal.com/) Mitch Miller has been selected as the new Director of Marketing and Recruitment for the Tri-Cities Regional Alliance for Economic Development. Miller held a similar position with the Lincoln Economic Development Association located in the Charlotte, NC region.“Mitch has the exact skill sets we were looking for in this position,” said Ferguson. Mitch has been responsible for research, prospect management, business and prospect development and has experience in integrating GIS with planning, development and data collection. We welcome Mitch to the Alliance team.Miller who is set to begin his new duties on April 12 commented, “The Tri-Cities Region offers great opportunities for development and I look forward to helping this region grow.”Miller was born and raised in Lincolnton, NC and is a graduate of Appalachian State University. He served an internship with the Lincoln Economic Development Association in his final semester of 2006 and was hired upon his graduation. Miller’s wife is a Northeast Tennessee native and they reside in Jonesborough, TN.For more information about the Regional Alliance, visit www.alliancetnva.com or contact Tom Ferguson at (423) 323.8107, tferguson@alliancetnva.com (mailto:tferguson@alliancetnva.com) text/html 2010-04-08T09:17:04+01:00 http://www.alliancetnva.com http://www.alliancetnva.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=179&Itemid=2 text/html 2010-03-29T10:24:40+01:00 http://www.alliancetnva.com http://www.alliancetnva.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=178&Itemid=2 text/html 2010-03-16T11:16:26+01:00 http://www.alliancetnva.com http://www.alliancetnva.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=177&Itemid=2 text/html 2010-03-10T14:19:36+01:00 http://www.alliancetnva.com http://www.alliancetnva.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=176&Itemid=2 text/html 2010-03-03T10:43:55+01:00 http://www.alliancetnva.com http://www.alliancetnva.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=175&Itemid=2 text/html 2010-02-23T15:00:05+01:00 http://www.alliancetnva.com http://www.alliancetnva.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=174&Itemid=2 text/html 2010-01-13T18:00:00+01:00 http://www.alliancetnva.com http://www.alliancetnva.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=172&Itemid=2 text/html 2009-12-21T18:00:00+01:00 http://www.alliancetnva.com http://www.alliancetnva.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=171&Itemid=2 text/html 2009-11-24T18:00:00+01:00 http://www.alliancetnva.com http://www.alliancetnva.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=163&Itemid=2