Two recent business announcements focused on the downtown Wilmington area.

Wilmington Downtown Inc. last week introduced officials with Parastream Development, which bought more than 7 acres in the historical Soda Pop District that includes the former Coca-Cola building on Princess Street. From the $8 million sale, the developers plan to add manufacturing, retail and residential space.

And market research firm Suzy said it will bring 40 jobs and open an office in the former Bank of America building on North Third Street, the Wilmington Chamber of Commerce announced. The chamber has created a new position for small business development and business retention, supported in part by funding from the county as part of its spending on economic development.

Joining us today are the heads of WDI and the chamber to share updates on those announcements and how they came together as well as their focus on economic development projects going forward.

The Panel:

HOLLY CHILDS, Wilmington Downtown Inc. President & CEO
Holly Childs was named in December 2020 as the head of WDI, a public-private group tasked with promoting economic development and growth in the downtown district. Childs, who started in the role at the beginning of this year, moved from Morgantown, West Virginia, where she worked with a commercial real estate company.

NATALIE ENGLISH, Wilmington Chamber of Commerce President & CEO
Natalie English has been a chamber of commerce executive for more than 20 years. She began her role as president and CEO of the Wilmington Chamber of Commerce in 2017, after serving 11 years with the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce, including as its chief public policy officer.

In recent years, efforts to aid military veterans in the pursuit of employment and in the creation of businesses have been on the rise in the Wilmington area.

For example, Bunker Labs, a nonprofit that provides resources for veteran entrepreneurs, launched a Wilmington chapter in 2019 to help military veterans and military spouses start and grow successful businesses.

On the Veterans Day edition of WilmingtonBiz Talk, veteran Avery Washington II, the city ambassador for the Wilmington chapter of Bunker Labs, and fellow veteran Chayse Roth, founder of the Veteran Business Collective in Wilmington, discuss their organizations and the plight of veterans seeking opportunities to start their own businesses.

The panel:

AVERY WASHINGTON II, City Ambassador, Bunker Labs
Avery Washington II is the city ambassador for the Wilmington chapter of Bunker Labs as well as a real estate broker with Wilmington-based Coldwell Banker Sea Coast Advantage’s Hampstead office. He is also the vice president of Suiting Warriors and a member of the board of Cape Fear Collective.

CHAYSE ROTH, President & Founder, Veteran Business Collective
Chayse Roth, who has started several businesses in various industries, founded the Veteran Business Collective in Wilmington and currently serves as president. The VBC has seen tremendous interest and growth from the veteran community with chapters open in New Bern and Asheville, and more openings scheduled throughout the Southeast.

WilmingtonBiz Talk is a weekly interview program on Facebook Live, which is rebroadcast on YouTube and numerous podcasting platforms. The Business Journal newsroom selects guests based on current events so our community can hear directly from newsmakers.

Wilmington-area stores and businesses are seeing the same impacts from supply chain bottlenecks as the rest of the country. Triggered by the pandemic, a ripple effect has hit a variety of sectors.

From waitlists for vehicles because of the chip shortage to fewer frozen turkeys ahead of Thanksgiving, supply chain disruptions have popped up in a variety of ways.

To explain what’s going on and when goods might loosen up – as well as reasons behind consumer price increases and business costs – experts from UNCW’s Cameron School of Business join this week’s BizTalk.

The Panel:

L. DREW ROSEN, Supply Chain Management Professor, UNCW
L. Drew Rosen is the Duke Energy/Gordon Hulbert Distinguished Professor of Supply Chain Management in UNCW’s Congdon School of Supply Chain, Business Analytics and Information Systems. Rosen served as the Cameron School of Business MBA director from 1996 to 1999. He was also elected as the 2002 International President and CEO of APICS (Association for Supply Chain Management).

REBECCA SCOTT, Business Analytics Assistant Professor, UNCW
Rebecca Scott, an assistant professor of information systems and operations management and a lieutenant commander in the U.S. Navy Reserves, has experience in finance, marketing, contracts, logistics, inventory and supply chain management.

WilmingtonBiz Talk is a weekly interview program on Facebook Live, which is rebroadcast on YouTube and numerous podcasting platforms. The Business Journal newsroom selects guests based on current events so our community can hear directly from newsmakers.

On today's BizTalk, we’re covering significant state funding issues for transportation as well as the future of the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge.

Our guests today are Chad Kimes, the area’s division engineer for the N.C. Department of Transportation, and Mike Kozlosky, head of the Wilmington Urban Area Metropolitan Planning Organization.

They’re talking transportation, including how the state agency plans to address budget shortfalls for future projects because of higher construction and land costs; a recent toll bridge proposal that was blocked to replace the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge; what’s next for the aging bridge; and other topics.

CHAD KIMES
NCDOT, Division 3 Engineer

Chad Kimes is the N.C. Department of Transportation’s Division 3 engineer, covering a six-county area that includes New Hanover, Brunswick and Pender. Kimes previously served as deputy engineer for the division and has worked for NCDOT since 1990.

MIKE KOZLOSKY
WMPO Executive Director

Mike Kozlosky joined the Wilmington Urban Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (WMPO) in 2004 and serves as its executive director, leading a staff of 12 people. At the WMPO, he has been responsible for completing many short- and long-range transportation planning efforts for the region.

WilmingtonBiz Talk is a weekly interview program on Facebook Live, which is rebroadcast on YouTube and numerous podcasting platforms. The Business Journal newsroom selects guests based on current events so our community can hear directly from newsmakers.

A month after a deadly shooting at the home of TRU Colors’ COO that killed two people, including one tied to the brewery that employs active gang members, the head of the company will be on BizTalk today.

On July 24, Koredreese Robert Tyson, 29, and Bri-yanna Emily Williams, 21, were killed in a shooting while at the house of George Taylor III, company COO and son of TRU Colors founder George Taylor. Last week in connection with the shooting, law enforcement officials announced the arrest of three people, all validated gang members who now face murder charges.

In 2016, Taylor began working on TRU Colors, a for-profit brewery hiring active gang members as an approach to addressing gang-related violence. This spring a partnership with national beverage company Molson Coors was announced, with plans to distribute TRU Colors’ first beer line. The launch of that product was delayed in early July.

Last Friday afternoon, a new abatement order went into effect requiring indoor face coverings in New Hanover County. That covers businesses, offices and other public spaces.

Meanwhile, the health rule around indoor masking is being considered by the county health board and is under a public comment period.

Joining us on this episode of BizTalk is New Hanover County Public Health Director David Howard and health board vice chair Kim Thrasher Horne to explain the order’s details, discuss how the mandate will work, including how it would be enforced, and answer questions about it.

DAVID HOWARD, New Hanover County Health Director
David Howard started as the county’s public health director in April after serving as New Hanover County’s interim public health director since the beginning of the year. Before that, he was the county’s assistant public health director, a role he held since 2017.

KIM THRASHER HORNE, HHS Board Vice Chair
Kim Thrasher Horne is a pharmacist and serves as vice chair of New Hanover County’s Health and Human Services board.

WilmingtonBiz Talk is a weekly interview program on Facebook Live, which is rebroadcast on YouTube and numerous podcasting platforms. The Business Journal newsroom selects guests based on current events so our community can hear directly from newsmakers.

This year's Coastal Entrepreneur of the Year Award winner, Topsail Steamer, is the realization of a dream for Danielle Mahon.

Topsail Steamer offers customers ready-to-cook low country boils in pots. Including two in the Wilmington region, the growing company now has six locations, with a seventh coming to Florida and more planned in years to come.

To discuss being a successful entrepreneur and her company's growth, Mahon joins us for this week's WilmingtonBiz Talk.

DANIELLE MAHON
Founder, Topsail Steamer
Danielle Mahon left a corporate career to start Topsail Steamer, a company that offers ready-to-cook low country boils in pots, in 2017. The company has six, soon-to-be seven, locations, including one on Topsail Island and one in Wrightsville Beach.

WilmingtonBiz Talk is a weekly interview program on Facebook Live, which is rebroadcast on YouTube and numerous podcasting platforms. The Business Journal newsroom selects guests based on current events so our community can hear directly from newsmakers.

The COVID-19 delta variant has prompted several recent changes locally, from health providers requiring employees to be vaccinated to renewed masking policies for many K-12 and higher education students.

So, what do the numbers show? New Hanover County Health Director David Howard joins us for this week’s BizTalk to fill us in on where things stand locally with cases and which age groups are seeing the most impacts.

DAVID HOWARD, New Hanover County Health Director 
David Howard started as the county’s public health director in April after serving as New Hanover County’s interim public health director since the beginning of the year. Before that, he was the county’s assistant public health director, a role he held since 2017.

WilmingtonBiz Talk is a weekly interview program on Facebook Live, which is rebroadcast on YouTube and numerous podcasting platforms. The Business Journal newsroom selects guests based on current events so our community can hear directly from newsmakers.

A study released this week showed that only about half of the households in the U.S. donated to charitable organizations in 2018, down to the lowest point in decades. Giving from corporations and foundations, however, increased then, according to the annual Giving USA report.

With the latest national look, we’ll take the opportunity on today's BizTalk to check on the local landscape on giving trends and impacts on the nonprofit sector.

PATRICK BRIEN, Cape Fear Collective CEO, and SARAH DANIELS, the recently appointed director of UNCW’s Quality Enhancement for Nonprofit Organizations (QENO), share what they are seeing from their research and years of working with local nonprofits.

Dr. PAUL KAMITSUKA, infectious disease physician at Wilmington Health and chief epidemiologist at NHRMC, joins BizTalk today to talk about the COVID-19 delta variant.

Cases and hospitalizations have been dropping locally. Some parts of the country, however, are beginning to see spikes because of the delta variant, which is now the dominant COVID strain in the U.S. and causing hospitalizations and deaths largely among those who have not received vaccine doses.

Kamitsuka updates us on what the region is seeing, what to know about how the variant is affecting vaccinated and unvaccinated people and what he’s keeping an eye on for the months ahead.

DR. PAUL KAMITSUKA, Wilmington Health infectious disease physician 
Paul Kamitsuka, an infectious disease specialist, graduated from Harvard Medical School and completed his internship and residency at Massachusetts General Hospital. He is board-certified in internal medicine and infectious diseases. Kamitsuka serves as chief epidemiologist at NHRMC.

WilmingtonBiz Talk is a weekly interview program on Facebook Live, which is rebroadcast on YouTube and numerous podcasting platforms. The Business Journal newsroom selects guests based on current events so our community can hear directly from newsmakers.