By Scott Robertson (Editor’s note: When Clay Walker, CEO of NETWORKS Sullivan Partnership met with The Business Journal for this article on Jan. 21, there was half a foot of snow on the ground outside the NETWORKS offices and Walker was, in his own words, “eating cough drops like candy.” Shortly thereafter, he entered the hospital, missing the Pure Foods grand opening he’d worked so hard to facilitate, Jan. ...

By Sarah Colson and Scott Robertson Charles Bowers rises at 3:58 every morning to make it to his manufacturing job by 5 a.m. He works four ten-hour shifts each week and loves his work. The same could be said of all his co-workers. But the difference between Bowers and his colleagues is Charles Bowers is 85 years old. Bowers could teach a master class in work ethic, if there were such a thing, and Greenevill ...

By Jeff Keeling By the time some of his peers are receiving their bachelor’s degrees, Ethan Lyle is likely to be earning a pay packet in the mid-five figures – perhaps more if he’s willing to travel. Many of those who took the four-year (or five, or six) route will be starting to think about student loan debt coming due. Lyle may be starting to think about a starter home. I met Lyle late last month in Scien ...

By Jeff Keeling Since December, Sprint employees everywhere had known the mobile phone company was planning job cuts in the near future. Today, more than 400 workers at Sprint's Blountville call center learned they would be among the casualties. The center will close Feb. 5, Sprint spokeswoman Roni Singleton said in an emailed statement. Sprint leaders spoke in December of plans to take up to $2.5 billion o ...

Click the cover photo to read our entire January issue. It includes stories about two female-led organizations that are major behind-the-scenes players in regional economic development. Plus, 50 years of Northeast State, an area farmer is elected Tennessee Farm Bureau president, and more. ...

By Scott Robertson The National Federation of Independent Business has a great line about the need for businesses to be well represented when state legislatures start to meet: “You are either at the table, or you are on the menu.” As rhetoric goes, it’s an appeal to fear, so it’s not quite as strong with business owners who are naturally confident, or with those who are already well-represented by their loc ...

By Scott Robertson Under Director Susan Reid the First Tennessee Development District (FTDD) hasn’t chased headlines. But behind the scenes the organization has been a regional economic development player for years. It’s not unusual for companies to issue press releases and hold ground-breakings or ribbon-cuttings when they make major hires or purchase a new facility. But what’s rarely said in the releases ...

Pierce’s empathy, experience benefit 300 who were laid off  By Sarah Colson When CSX Transportation announced it would close its Erwin, Tenn., operations, laying off around 300 employees, Kathy Pierce and the Alliance for Business and Technology (AB&T) began working to help those 300 individuals re-enter the workforce. Pierce, AB&T’s executive director, immediately oversaw the opening of a temporary ...

By Thomas Wilson   A U.S. education act long ago breathed life into Northeast State. The simple charge: provide “education for persons of substantially varying needs.” Through the years, there have been name changes, five presidents, several new buildings, and a thousand other transformations. But Northeast State has always lived up to that original mission of serving individuals with diverse needs. Wh ...

By Jeff Keeling Jeff Aiken stood outside a barn at his Bowmantown farm in the crisp December air, one of his most crucial tools in hand. Unlike many of the important implements in his agricultural career to date, this one won’t show its usefulness through a weathered combination of grease, dirt and feed. In fact, exposure to any of those ubiquitous elements of farm life would spell big trouble for Aiken’s s ...