Charleston finished at 48 in this year’s list. Milken’s best-performing cities index ranks U.S. metropolitan statistical areas (MSA) by how well they are creating and sustaining jobs and economic growth.

According to the U.S Census Bureau, MSAs are geographic entities defined by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for use by federal statistical agencies in collecting, tabulating, and publishing federal statistics.

The Charleston MSA consists of five counties: Kanawha, Putnam, Boone, Lincoln and Clay.

To see the list and study results, click HERE.

The components for the list include job, wage and salary and technology growth. Milken rates 379 metropolitan areas in the list. Charleston was ranked in the largest metro category.

“The positive factors for our MSA included job growth, wage and salary growth. Where this study shows we have room for improvement is in the high-technology gross domestic product growth,” said Alliance President and CEO Matt Ballard.

“The Alliance is keenly aware this is an area needed for growth. That’s why we are working together to move the needle on technology progress along with our partners at the Chemical Alliance Zone, MATRIC, TechConnect WV, the WV Angel Investors Network and others.”

The Alliance acknowledges the hard work of all five counties, all the businesses within and community leaders that have helped our MSA achieve new levels of success.

We are confident that the efforts of our elected officials, community leaders and the Alliance to create jobs, enhance our community and invest in people, will help Charleston continue to climb the list.

Working together, the best is yet to come!

In 2008, Kureha announced its plans for construction inside the DuPont plant’s fence line in Belle. Also that year, the leadership team and engineering staff of Kureha, who were responsible for designing, constructing and operating the $100 million facility, made their professional home in the Charleston Area Alliance’s business incubator at 1116 Smith Street.

The Alliance partnered with the West Virginia Development Office and then-Gov. Joe Manchin to help recruit Kureha to the Kanawha Valley. Kureha is just one example of how the Alliance works to attract new jobs and investments, helps businesses accelerate profitability, launches visionary community and cultural enhancements and develops the talent and resources that promote success and opportunity for all.

The Alliance is proud to have Kureha call the Kanawha Valley home.  We congratulate the company on its grand opening.

Manufacturing-equipment loan rates lowered
State hopes action spurs economic development

By Eric Eyre

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The West Virginia Economic Development Authority is lowering the interest rate on loans used to purchase manufacturing equipment in hopes of spurring companies to invest in their operations.

The Development Authority agreed Thursday to decrease its 10-year loan interest rate from 4 percent to 2 percent.

For years, the agency typically distributed about 20 loans a year to manufacturers wanting to purchase equipment at plants. More recently, the Development Authority has issued only about a half-dozen such loans a year.

“We’re not seeing a lot of new loan activity,” said David Warner, the development agency’s executive director. “We’d like to generate a little more activity.”

Statewide, West Virginia lost 1,582 manufacturing jobs in 2010, according to a West Virginia University study released earlier this year. Also, between December 2007 and May 2011, manufacturing employment in the state dropped by 14.9 percent — from 57,900 to 49,300 jobs.

Warner said the Development Authority would loan a maximum of $800,000 to each manufacturer. The companies would have to invest 45 percent of the total equipment purchase price.

The agency plans to make $10 million in loans available at the lower interest rate.

“We’re targeting equipment loans [only],” Warner said during Thursday’s board meeting in Charleston. “This would be for manufacturing equipment.”

Warner said the nation’s struggling economy and uncertain business climate probably have more to do with the drop in Development Authority equipment loans than the 4 percent interest rate.

Also Thursday, the Development Authority board:

| Authorized Collins Hardwood of Richwood to issue up to $2.7 million in tax-exempt bonds to expand its sawmill in Nicholas County. The company is upgrading its lumber finishing equipment, and building a new office.

“It will allow them to do more finishing work at their Richwood facility,” Warner said. “The past three years have been challenging for the wood industry.”

| Reviewed a preliminary “draft” audit of the agency. The Development Authority’s net assets increased by $4.31 million during the past fiscal year. Liabilities decreased by $2.27 million.

Board members said the agency received a “clean” audit, however, auditors identified issues that could affect the agency’s finances.

The repayment of a $5.2 million loan for improvements at Stonewall Jackson Lake State Park isn’t certain, according to the audit. Previous audits in recent years also have mentioned the loan.

The Development Authority also had an unexpected $300,000 in expenses after the agency agreed to help pay to demolish the former Reichart Furniture building in downtown Wheeling. The state, which owned a 70 percent stake in the building, plans to sell the lot after demolition is completed.

| Authorized the refinancing of $14 million in bonds the state issued in 1999 and 2001 to pay for a new parking garage at the state Capitol Complex and a government office building in Huntington. The state wants to refund the bonds and issue new bonds because current interest rates are lower.

The amount of the expected savings wasn’t disclosed at Thursday’s meeting.

Reach Eric Eyre at erice…@wvgazette.com or 304-348-4869.

The Charleston Area Alliance is focused on maximizing job creation, economic diversification, building the tax base, and keeping the value of the Marcellus Shale to benefit West Virginia and her citizens.   One of the most interesting parts of the Marcellus discovery is that the deposit is rich (or what some call “wet”) in ethane.  The percentage of the whole that ethane represents of the different types of gases extracted in the Marcellus (others being methane, propane etc) can be as high as 15-20%.  Ethane can be converted into Ethylene which is a building block of many other products we all use on a daily basis. 

You have likely heard about the Charleston Area Alliance efforts to attract an ethane “cracker” to West Virginia and specifically the Kanawha Valley, where ethane would be converted to ethylene.  Such a facility would cost upwards of $1-2 billion dollars to build, creating approximately 2000 construction jobs in the process.  Once operational, the facility would likely employee approximately 750 full time employees.  Additionally, an ethane cracker would create new feedstock for the region which would likely attract more new manufacturing facilities to locate nearby.

In a recent radio interview, Charleston Area Alliance President and CEO Matthew Ballard talks about the Marcellus and the ethane cracker in part one of this radio interview (more to be posted later):

 Ballard Radio Interview on Marcellus Shale Part 1

What sets the most profitable businesses apart is their ability to connect with customers. And that starts with a persuasive brand story.

For 25 years, MotionMasters, an award-winning multimedia company based in Charleston, has been helping organizations and businesses around the world reach – and connect with – target audiences through compelling videos, DVDs, commercials, print collateral, websites and streaming video.

Stories have the power to galvanize an organization around defined business objectives, says MotionMasters CEO Diana Sole Walko. “They can spark action, transmit values and foster collaboration.

“If you look back through history, the best and most memorable leaders are the ones who can communicate through story. Unfortunately, businesses are often the worst at that,” she observes. “They want to bombard you with facts and statistics about why you should purchase their product or service. But people are justifiably suspicious of that type of approach.

“Instead, tell them a story,” she says, “by explaining what those facts and figures mean and why they should matter to the customer.”

The Charleston Area Alliance is a good channel for sharing your story with potential customers and fellow business owners, says Diana.

“Early in my career as a business owner, I felt very isolated. I had questions about so many things, and didn’t really have someone to bounce issues or ideas around with,” she says.

Membership and active participation in the Alliance gave her the chance to interact with others facing the same challenges. “All these years later, I still have questions — and so do they…. We learn from each other. And that’s made us, and our companies, stronger.”

The Alliance offers a wide range of programs and services that help businesses and our community succeed.

“Membership has very practical, present value, like the ability to send your employees, or yourself, to training seminars, attend Business After Hours to mine new business, participate in Art Walks, etc.,” says Diana, adding that “for me, however, the real value of my membership is its future value — the community we can build by acknowledging no man is an island.”

At the Alliance, we’re proud to provide a forum for businesses to share their story, and we’d love to hear yours.

Join us at upcoming event and help create “happily ever afters” for you, your business and our region.

To see how the Alliance tells its story through video (many produced with the help of MotionMasters), visit our YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/CharlestonArea.

Should our region or our state be successful in attracting the investment of an ethane cracker facility, training programs like these will be even more important.  A chemical operator can make an annual salary of over $50,000 in the Kanawha Valley!

Let’s show them why Charleston is a great place for living, working and playing!

Gates open at 6:30 p.m., and the Power take on the Lakewood Blueclaws at 7:05 p.m.

Tickets are $15. The price includes admission, food (hamburgers, hot dogs, grilled chicken, pulled pork and more) and beverages (keg beer, soda and water).

Click here to pre-register. Tickets also are available at the gate.

Fireworks follow the game.

By Eric Eyre
Charleston Gazette

The U.S. economy is “kind of sputtering along,” but that’s not a bad thing, BB&T CEO Kelly King told Charleston business leaders Wednesday night.

“That’s the way an economy has to rebuild itself during recovery, especially after a recession that was so deep and so broad,” said King, who heads the nation’s eighth-largest commercial bank.

Speaking at the Charleston Area Alliance’s “Annual Celebration” at the Clay Center, King said Americans shouldn’t expect a robust or “boomerang” economy during the next three to five years. Instead, he said, they’ll see slow, steady growth.

“What we need is jobs, jobs, jobs,” he said. “The recession is over. We are in recovery.”

King also spoke about the credit crisis in 2008. He said “billions and billions of dollars” of loans were made that shouldn’t have been made.

Even so, King said government leaders overreacted, “whipped the public into a frenzy” and destroyed confidence in the banking system. The fallout put “additional handcuffs” on banks, King said.

“I’m not saying banks had no culpability,” he said. “I’m trying to give perspective on this. If we want to play the blame game, there’s enough responsibility to go around.”

King said additional restrictions on bank lending were a mistake.

“If banks had less scrutiny, we could do better at what we do best. We create jobs,” said King, who became BB&T CEO in January 2009. “We’re not as capable of doing that today as we were before. That’s the sad reality.”

In 2008, BB&T accepted $3.1 billion in bailout money through the U.S. Treasury’s Troubled Asset Relief Program.

To prevent future collapses, King recommended that the Federal Reserve and U.S. Treasury create a system that would “aggregate, integrate and correlate” financial lending information.

“Nobody knew what was going on with the proliferation of subprime mortgages around the globe,” King said.

He added that companies must resist accumulating too much debt without building sufficient assets.

“It’s a good idea not to borrow too much money, and it’s a good idea to be diversified in your assets,” said King, who has worked for BB&T for 39 years.

King said global geopolitical issues and the U.S. government’s “out of control” $14.3 trillion debt threaten the nation’s future economic growth.

“We simply can not go many more years like this,” King said. “We have to get our fiscal house in order.

“We’ve been overspending, under-saving and over-borrowing. It’s important we have people in Washington willing to make the tough decisions.”

Winston Salem, N.C.-based BB&T has $157 billion in assets, more than 30,000 employees and 1,800 locations in 12 states and Washington, D.C. The bank is the largest mortgage lender in West Virginia and the state’s 31st largest employer.

BB&T purchased the former West Virginia-based One Valley Bank in 2000.

King concluded his talk by listing “five characteristics of top achievers”:

• Believe in what you’re trying to accomplish.

• Commit the time, energy and resources to make it happen.

• Train relentlessly to develop the skill set you need to accomplish your goals.

• Enjoy the journey.

• Keep a positive attitude.

By George Hohmann
Daily Mail Business Editor

If the federal government hadn’t overreacted to the 2008 financial crisis, “which whipped the country into a panic frenzy, we would have survived fine,” said Kelly King, chairman and chief executive officer of BB&T Corp.

“Several big firms would have failed, we would have had 30 days of anxiety, then we would have moved on,” King said. “We would have had a tough recession,” but not a catastrophe.

King delivered the keynote speech Wednesday at the Charleston Area Alliance’s Annual Celebration. More than 400 business leaders from the region attended the event at the Clay Center.

Given that the federal government did create a panic, “there were days you could see the whole system collapsing,” he said. “Given that we were in that situation, you had to step in. In that context, TARP (the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program, which pumped money into banks, General Motors, AIG and some other companies) was a good thing. But it did not have to happen.”

Although TARP gave the banking business a black eye because people still refer to it as the bank bailout, “when the dust settles the whole TARP program may actually turn a profit,” King said.

The federal overreaction was unfortunate, King said, because “when you have a big panic and the government steps in, it so undermines the system. The system is built on confidence. Before this, we bankers were fairly well thought of. Right after this we were down there with the lawyers.”

In 2008 BB&T took $3.1 billion in TARP money. The company repaid all of it in 2009.

In a speech last year at the University of Charleston, John Allison – King’s predecessor at BB&T – said he adamantly opposed TARP but failed.

King said, “When (former Treasury Secretary Hank) Paulson said, ‘We’re going to give this money to healthy banks so they can make loans,’ the statement contained three inaccuracies.

• “It was not a gift,” King said.
• TARP wasn’t really for healthy banks. “They gave it to BB&T to disguise other,” unhealthy banks, he said.
• “For most of the good, healthy banks, all through the cycle, there’s not been a problem having capital, liquidity or willingness to make loans.”

In the early 1970s, when he started out in the business, the retail banks controlled about 80 percent of the loans made, King said. Recently that figure was 30 percent. “What happened to the 50 percent? They went to the ‘shadow banking system,’ a substantially unregulated system. That’s primarily what caused the problem.

“The banking system does a relatively good job of rationing credit,” King said. “We take in deposits, get requests for funds, approve the good investments – and get it right about 90 percent of the time. When 50 percent of the loans left the banking system, the new system did not work well.

“Loans were packaged into securities, the securities were rated by the rating agencies, and the Wall Street bankers distributed them all around the globe,” he said. “The problem was, the basic underlying securities were sub-prime loans. But through the miracle of securitization, they were rated Triple A. Investors thought they were low risk. They were sold at low interest rates. Billions of dollars of deals were done that should not have been done.”

When some of the underlying sub-prime mortgages began defaulting, “fear entered the market, people lost confidence,” King said. “The president and congressional leaders started talking about the banks,” and “it really got whipped into a frenzy in late 2008 and early 2009. “Then we had TARP. But the real problem was, these loans should never had been made. They would not have been made if they had entered through the normal banking system.”

If anybody wants to play the blame game, “there’s enough responsibility to go around,” King said. “Companies and individuals alike lived beyond their means for about 30 years. They under-saved, over-borrowed, created too much debt and there wasn’t enough productivity.”

King said there are two big takeaways from the Great Recession:

• “At the system level there was a complete failure in integrating and correlating information so we could really understand what was going on.”
• “Companies forgot about a truism in finance – they took on too much leverage and there was too much of a concentration in their investments.” Companies like Lehman Brothers and AIG, which failed, “had way too much debt, too much invested in sub-primes,” King said. “It’s a good idea not to borrow too much money and to be diversified in your assets.”

Prior to King’s speech, the Alliance honored the College Summit scholarship winners: Donavia Beltran and Ashley Pondexter of South Charleston High School, Roseanna Bradshaw of Capital High School, and Jacob Lutsy of Riverside High School.

Each winner received a $2,000 scholarship, a laptop computer and extras. The Maier Foundation and Generation Charleston support the scholarships.