Company with a View It’s entirely possible you’ve never heard of Jim Phillips or Luminetx, the Memphis-based bioscience technology firm he heads as president, CEO and board chairman. But if you do business in the 21st Century, you’ve probably got Phillips’ fingerprint all over your office. A pioneer of cellular communication, Internet multimedia and the cable modem, before Phillips, businessmen didn’t carry PDAs. Before Phillips, Web sites didn’t have virtual tours. Heck, before Phillips, companies only used dial-up! It’s also likely… More...
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Business Tennessee's Fast 50 Fast50 nominees must have been in business for at least three years, generate more than $750,000 of revenue, be privately owned and employ five or more people. KraftCPAs, an independent accounting firm with offices in Nashville, Columbia and Lebanon, reviewed nomination information confidentially and tabulated the results. A recent article in Inc. magazine studied the personality traits of some of the founders and CEOs running the fastest growing companies in America. Hallmarks? They are driven…
Scrubbing Bubbles David Trainer is waging war on Wall Street. And as his company, Nashville-based New Constructs LLC, continues to outperform every established research firm in the industry, companies and investors alike are beginning to take notice. A zealous man who frequently quotes Warren Buffet, Trainer began his professional career at Credit Suisse First Boston as an economic valuation strategist. He anticipated a long and successful career on Wall Street. However, disagreements with management at CSFB and Epoch…
Mountains & Mole Hills Could Michael Ross’ good luck streak in selecting land for his Rarity Communities be ending as he moves into Tennessee’s coal country? Rarity Mountain, his latest endeavor, is a $500 million golf course, residential and retail center sprawling across 5,000 acres along the east side of Interstate 75 near Jellico. The upscale crown jewel surrounded by Campbell County’s most picturesque terrain fits in with other Rarity models sprinkled across East Tennessee geared toward the aging baby…
Shooting from the Retro-Hip While Southern baby boomers came of age haunting the local Krystal, their kids are more likely to be found hanging out in cyberspace. That’s the challenge Krystal faces as it promotes its free Wi-Fi next month: appealing to the coveted fast food demographic of 18- to 24-year-olds while tapping into nostalgia for a 73-year-old brand. Krystal began offering free
The Nashville Sound Located in an unpretentious building on 16th Avenue South, there is little in the way of visual evidence to indicate that 615 Music (named for Nashville’s area code) is home to one of the top “production music” providers on Earth. But inside, with little fanfare, 615 Music quietly plugs along creating the background music for the films and television programs that entertain millions of consumers on a daily basis. Whether they know it or not, most…
“Fore!” Sight Post 9-11, in an effort to stimulate the nation’s rural economy, President Bush expanded a program offered through the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) that loaned money to governmental entities and nonprofits in rural areas for the purchase and construction of community facilities like fire stations and recreational centers. As a result, other recreational developments, including golf courses, became loan-eligible projects. Facilitated by a security bank, the loans are guaranteed to up to 90% of…
Catching an Ear Each year in Covington, Tenn., House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh holds his annual “Coon Supper,” a down-home cookout featuring raccoon as the main dish. The event is free and open to the public and has grown to become one of the more popular political “meet-and-greet” events in the state. In past years, the event has attracted dignitaries such as Gov. Phil Bredesen and then Vice President Al Gore. Memphis music icon Isaac Hayes even showed up…
The Franklin Transfer A crowded room filled with passionate people, many dressed in identical t-shirts, rowdy debate and the arrival of the police—it sounds like a hotly contested political issue is at stake. And, in a way, the recent meeting of the Franklin City Planning Commission, on June 22, 2006, was completely political. Two land-use amendments, both involving transfer of development rights (TDR), were up for a vote. With a TDR program, owners of undeveloped land can agree to…
Fuel Engaged Months before Thomas Edison installed Pearl Street Power Station in Manhattan and started selling electricity to New York City, the city of Chattanooga was lit up by the “Dynamo in Dixie.” “In May of 1882, five members of the Brush Electric Light Company of Chattanooga installed carbon arc lights in downtown Chattanooga,” says Terry Boston, executive vice president of power systems operation at Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). “Chattanooga had electric power long before most areas.” The Brush…
Textile Van Winkle Fabric book coverings manufacturer, ICG/Holliston, has some catching up to do. The Kingsport-based company has established its worth as the preferred provider of the blue fabric covers on all U.S. passports for the past 14 years, spinning out enough material to make 12 million booklets annually. It’s a healthy revenue stream, yet ICGH’s new management, led by incoming CEO Lawrence Maston, wants to move the 110-year-old facility into the digital age. The former CEO of Los Angeles-based…
For Sale Street How’s $70 million sound for a national landmark like Beale Street? That’s what appraisers for Performa Entertainment Real Estate, which operates the Beale Street district for Memphis, came up with when asked to assess the buildings along one of America’s most internationally renowned strips of real estate. “We’re eight times bigger than Graceland,” says Performa CEO John Elkington. Actually, by number of visits, Elkington is understating things. The 600,000-plus tourists that pass through Graceland each year…
