Members of the Greater Florence Chamber of Commerce rode a bus to attend the BMW Supplier Diversity Conference in Greenville, SC. We were joined by members of the Myrtle Beach and North Myrtle Beach Chambers.
Thank you to Coastal Carolina Women in Philanthropy and Leadership and BMW for your hospitality and travel accomadations.
by Lauren Owens
Twelve couples jived, salsaed, and swung across the stage during the 2019 Dancing For Our Future Stars fundraiser Thursday evening at the SiMT building on the Florence-Darlington Technical College campus.
More than 800 people attended the sold-out fundraiser to benefit The School Foundation. This is the ninth year The School Foundation has hosted the Dancing For Our Future Stars fundraiser.
The foundation is a nonprofit organization that was created to provide resources and support to the administrators, teachers and students of Florence One Schools.
After all 12 couples performed their dances, five couples competed in a dance-off for receiving all 10s for their performances. Celebrity dancers J.B. Mathieu, Nathaniel Lockhart, Luke Wilcox, Robert LeMaster and Tyler Perry all competed in the dance-off.
Luke Wilcox and Alexis McDonald won the “Technical Skills Award” for their jive dance to the song “Trouble” by Travis Tritt.
“I cannot believe it,” McDonald said. “I did not expect it. I went in knowing that I’d won the year prior and it was for charity more than anything, and then they gave me a good partner. If I have a good partner, we can push to be the best that we can be.”
This is the third time Alexis McDonald has won the technical skills award in Dancing For Our Future Stars.
J.B. Mathieu and Erin Haynes won the most entertaining award for their Salsa dance to “Boogie Wonderland,” which was selected by the judges.
Robert LeMaster and Meggie Baker won the social stars award, which is an award for receiving the most online votes. Kevin Miller and Ethan Welsh won the people’s choice award for raising the most money for The School Foundation.
Celebrity dancer Dr. Veeral Oza, who is a gastroenterologist at McLeod Regional Medical Center, had family from Chicago, Ill., come to Florence to see his dance to “Shape of You.”
“It was a good experience,” Oza said. “I think it brought back a lot of memories from our childhood – especially my sister and I.”
Oza and his sister used to dance when they were children, performing a traditional Indian dance called the Garba. Oza danced with professional dancer Dr. Rachel Fenters, who is also a doctor at McLeod Regional Medical Center.
The School Foundation executive director Debbie Hyler said she loves to see the growth of the dancers from the beginning of practices to the final night.
“You don’t ever know how your dancers are going to be,” Hyler said. “It’s amazing to watch the growth. To see how much they’ve really been able to learn. A lot of them are not really dancers … Some of them are way out of the comfort zones so I just admire them so much because I don’t think I could do it.”
For all nine years that Dancing For Our Future Stars has taken place, Burnadene Kelley-Newman, owner and founder of Kelley’s Fine Arts, has allowed the couples to use her facilities and she has assisted with choreography for the competition.
“It’s amazing,” Kelley-Newman said. “I wouldn’t want it any other way. I do this of course for the children like anybody else who is out here.”
Kelly-Newman said she loves to see the celebrity dancers come out of the competition with a new appreciation and understanding for dance.
To date, The School Foundation has awarded more than $1.5 million in grants Florence One Schools. Past grants have helped provide STEM materials, support the early childhood program and other programs within Florence One.
To read the full article on SC Now, click here.
by Lauren Owens
The R.N. Beck Learning Center is nearing completion, the Florence One Schools board was told Tuesday.
At a called meeting, Michael McGee, vice president of engineering at Industrial Project Innovation, gave the board an update on the project. McGee is working with the district on the Beck construction.
The building is expected to go through Office of School Facilities inspections between April 22 and May 6. McGee said another week of work is expected after the inspection, and then the district will gain access to the building between April 30 and May 14.
This fall, children will attend the R.N. Beck Learning Center. R.N. Beck will be an early childhood development center.
The completion of the building is nearly 12 months late because of storm damage and other construction delays.
This year the construction has had some problems caused by vandalism on Feb. 20, which required the replacement of bathroom tiles and drywall as well as some doors.
According to McGee, it cost the district $1,000 for every day that the building’s completion was delayed.
Currently, the subcontractors are ready to start laying asphalt and they have received approval on the duct work, the ceiling and electrical work, McGee said during his presentation.
Superintendent Richard O’Malley proposed to the Board of Trustees that the district use the “8 percent money” for maintenance and technology. “Eight percent money” is money the district borrows through bonds issued against 8 percent property values in the district.
Board member E.J. McIver said continuing the pay-as-you-go plan, which uses the 8 percent money, was the backup plan for the district to continue building buildings, and it is unfair to those in the Southside Middle, Savannah Grove Elementary and Williams Middle communities.
Board member Bryan Chapman said the pay-as-you-go plan has gotten the district in the situation that it is in currently. He also said the district must take care of the problems that have been ignored.
“Everybody is going to learn a lesson now about what the 8 percent money is,” Chapman said. “We’ve got to fix the leaks, and fix the problems now. We’ve got to fix all the other stuff and not build new buildings.”
Porter Stewart said the district has put maintenance on the back burner for a while and pushed hard in many other areas, but it is time for the district to begin investing in the maintenance of the schools again.
To read the full article on SC Now, click here.
by Conor Hale
Thermo Fisher Scientific has moved to acquire viral vector developer and manufacturer Brammer Bio for $1.7 billion in cash, giving it a new foothold in the cell and gene therapy market.
Thermo Fisher plans to fold the CDMO—along with its nearly 600 employees, based primarily in Massachusetts and Florida—into its pharmaceutical services business as part of its laboratory products and services segment.
The lab equipment giant estimated that Brammer Bio will deliver $250 million in annual revenue by the end of 2019, and expects its growth to outpace the 25% rate projected for the larger gene and cell therapy market.
“Gene therapy is an area of increasing focus for our customers and is fast-evolving given its potential to treat a range of genetic disorders,” Thermo Fisher President and CEO Marc Casper said in a statement.
“The combination of Brammer Bio’s viral vector capabilities with our GMP production expertise and proprietary bioprocessing and cell culture technologies uniquely positions us to partner with our customers to drive the evolution of this incredibly fast-growing market,” Casper added. The companies expect the complete the transaction by the end of the second quarter of this year.
The FDA is expecting a new surge in cell and gene therapy applications in the coming years, including at least 200 investigational new drug submissions annually, starting in 2020. By 2025, the agency predicts it will be approving 10 to 20 products each year—driven largely by advances in delivery platforms, such as viral vectors.
More recently, Big Biotech’s has been showing renewed interest in acquiring smaller cell and gene therapy developers—with Pfizer acquiring a stake and future purchasing option in the rare disease-focused Vivet Therapeutics, while Biogen agreed to shell out $877 million for Nightstar Therapeutics and its pipeline of gene therapies.
Elsewhere, Thermo Fisher has been making investments in its own biologic and sterile liquid manufacturing operations, slating $150 million to increase capacity at three sites in its CDMO network.
Each site—including one in North Carolina and two in Italy—will get aseptic filling lines and isolator technology, with construction expected to be finished within the next two years.
To read the full story on Fierce Biotech, click here.
by Staff Reports
Francis Marion University’s unparalleled combination of quality and affordability has been recognized once again.
FMU is ranked in Study.com’s new list of the 50 Most Affordable Colleges and Universities in the United States.
The listing uses reliable data from the U.S. Department of Education and the National Center for Education Statistics. Study.comresearchers say the ranking is based on a combination of “economical tuition costs and availability of financial aid and work-study, as well as it’s career and academic resources for students, graduation rates, and facilities and programs offered.”
Schools from 23 different states are listed in the Study.com rankings. FMU is the only South Carolina college or university listed.
Dr. Fred Carter, president of Francis Marion University, said the new ranking was especially meaningful because of its expanded scope.
“This is yet another national affirmation of our long-standing commitment to keep tuition affordable,” Carter said. “We focus on this constantly at FMU. We are also fortunate to have private contributors whose generosity provides needed scholarship and facilities money. It’s a powerful combination for keeping student debt manageable and institutional debt virtually nonexistent.”
Study.com is a 17-year-old company that assists students with college search and strategies and activities designed to support access to higher education. It reaches more than 15 million students per month.
FMU is a public university. A large percentage of the university’s student body receives financial aid, and a significant number are first generation students – the first in their family to complete, and in many cases, attend, college.
FMU recently launched the First Generation Fund in an effort to obtain still more resources to devote to that constituency
To read the full story on Florence CEO, click here.
Young Professionals of Florence held their March monthly social at King Jefe on Thursday, March 21. Thanks to True Light Photography for these great pictures from that night! To learn more about Young Professionals or to find an application, click here.
by Staff Reports
Darlington Raceway will kick off the NASCAR Playoffs in 2020 with the NASCAR Cup Series Bojangles’ Southern 500 scheduled for Sunday, September 6. It will be Darlington Raceway’s first-ever appearance in NASCAR’s current postseason format.
The track will host its throwback festivities on Labor Day weekend for the sixth consecutive year after returning to its traditional race date in 2015.
“To be able to host our Labor Day throwback weekend as the first race of the NASCAR Playoffs will create tremendous excitement and enthusiasm for our fans,” said track President Kerry Tharp. “Darlington Raceway, considered one of the toughest tracks on the circuit, will definitely challenge the drivers right from the start of the postseason. To combine our throwback weekend, which celebrates the sport’s past, present and future, with the initial start to the championship run, should provide plenty of additional excitement, and energy to the entire weekend.”
To see the full 2020 NASCAR Cup Series schedule, visit www.NASCAR.com.
You can keep up with all of the latest news from Darlington Raceway at DarlingtonRaceway.com, on Facebook at Facebook.com/DarlingtonRaceway and on Twitter at Twitter.com/TooToughToTame. Fans are encouraged to post their Bojangles’ Southern 500 stories and memories at, #BojanglesSo500 and #SportClips200.
To read the full article on SC Now, click here.
Florence News Journal
Nicole Echols of Harvest Hope Food Bank received the Fred R. Sheheen Award for Excellence in Nonprofit Leadership.
The award recognizes individuals of the statewide nonprofit membership organization Together SC, who have utilized organizational and resource development to effectively manage a nonprofit group. It is sponsored by the Fred Sheheen Non-Profit Leadership Institute at Francis Marion University.
Echols is the 13th recipient of the award. In 2018, Nicole returned to Harvest Hope Food Bank after three years with the American Red Cross. She had previously worked there from 2011-2015.
The mission of Harvest Hope is to provide for the needs of hungry people by gathering and sharing quality food with dignity, compassion and education. Upon returning, Nicole had a vision of where the organization was going and began to implement necessary and positive changes. This included recruiting a diverse advisory board, a referral-based food pantry, and a giveaway for government employees impacted by the government shutdown. In addition to her work with Harvest Hope, Echols is an active board member for various other nonprofit groups including Women in Philanthropy, MINGLE of the Pee Dee, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc. and Florence First Steps.
“When your paycheck, passion and purpose all align, you are destined for excellence and great things. I am truly humbled, but I didn’t do anything different than any of you, or our Harvest Hope team and our donors and wonderful volunteers and supporters did this morning. You all woke up with a passion to help someone in need. For that, each one of us deserves this award,”said Echols.
To read the full article on Florence News Journal, click here.
by Matthew Robertson
Florence’s business community turned out by the hundreds Tuesday afternoon for the Greater Florence Chamber of Commerce’s Annual Outlook Luncheon at the Florence Center. Florence Chick-fil-A’s Blake Pate was name small business person of the year at the event.
To view the full gallery on SC Now, click here.
by Matthew Christian
Dr. Atiya Stokes-Brown provided the keynote address at the Greater Florence Chamber of Commerce’s Building Bridges Diversity and Leadership Summit.
Stokes-Brown’s speech focused on developing a diverse and inclusive workforce. A portion of her talk also was about avoiding implicit biases.
Implicit biases, according to Stanford University, are relatively unconscious judgments and relatively automatic judgments of social behaviors.
In response to a question, Stokes-Brown talked about the need to explore implicit biases on an age-appropriate level with children so that the implicit biases do not become an ingrained habit.
Stokes-Brown is the assistant vice president for diversity and inclusion at Coastal Carolina University at Conway. She joined the Coastal Carolina faculty after a 10-year career at Bucknell University, a liberal arts college in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, where she served in the department of political science, as an assistant dean in the college of arts and sciences, and as an interim associate provost for diversity and inclusion.
She is a graduate of Randolph-Macon Women’s College, Temple University, and the University of Maryland-College Park.
Other panelists and speakers at the event included Florence City Councilwoman Teresa Myers Ervin, Greater Florence Chamber of Commerce Director of Community and Minority Enterprise Les Echols, Dr. Louis Venters from Francis Marion University, Toyinda Smith of Leadership Strategy and Consulting, Luncida Fountain of Honda of South Carolina, Starlee Alexander of State Farm, Pamela Elliott of McLeod Health, Twana McRae of the South Carolina Federal Credit Union, Dr. Erica James of Francis Marion University, and Dr. Marc David of Florence-Darlington Technical College.
The mission of the Building Bridges Summit is to enable the community address issues of diversity by a process of changing attitudes through education.
The mission of the Florence Chamber is to “promote and enhance a favorable business climate and improve the quality of life to make Florence the best community in which to live and operate a business.”
To read the full article on SC Now, click here.
