York County Regional Chamber of Commerce adds members
The York County Regional Chamber of Commerce recruited 136 new members during its recent membership drive.
The chamber now has 982 members.
Membership campaign volunteer chairs were Bernie Ackerman (BNA CPAs and Advisors), Bryant Barnes (Comporium), David Vehaun and Gerry Schapiro (City of Rock Hill), Jeff Perez (Winthrop University), Ed Brock (BB&T), Ellen Byrd (First Citizens), Matt Sy (Comfort Systems), Keith Wilson (Founders Federal Credit Union), and Pam Morrell (Keller Williams Realty). Amanda Stewart of Winthrop University Foundation was also a key volunteer involved in the campaign.
Top individual recruiters were Sy and Jack Leitner of Leitner Construction. Leitner’s team, led by Perez, had the highest number of new members with 26.
As a result of the successful campaign, the chamber is donating $680 – $5 for every new member – to assist in community rebuilding efforts in the Columbia area due to the devastating recent storm.
For information about the York County Regional Chamber of Commerce, go to www.yorkcountychamber.com or call 803-324-7500.
Business News
▪ GoodCall, a Charlotte-based tech startup backed by Red Ventures of Indian Land, has acquired SchoolSoup.com, the world’s largest online database of college scholarships. The acquisition increases GoodCall’s private and school-sponsored scholarship listings.
“We’re excited to bring our technology and data science expertise to the 700,000 students who currently rely on SchoolSoup. Together, we can create a truly great scholarship search experience for students and their families,” said Eppie Vojt, president of GoodCall. “College isn’t getting any cheaper. The average cost of a 4-year degree now totals more than $130,000 – and is continually climbing. It is more important than ever that families have access to tools and resources to help make college more affordable. This acquisition helps GoodCall.com be that resource.”
GoodCall’s scholarship search platform uses data science to forecast the number of students who will apply for each scholarship. Students can use this information to spend more time applying for scholarships they have a greater likelihood of winning.
The GoodCall database is free for all users.
For information, or to start searching for scholarships, visit GoodCall.com.
▪ Ashley Berry has opened a State Farm agency in Fort Mill at 506 Mercantile Place, Suite 105 in the Springfield Town Center.
Prior to becoming a State Farm agent, Ashley worked in sales for more than 15 years. He is a longtime Rock Hill resident and has a business degree from the Citadel.
The Ashley Berry State Farm Agency has extended evening and weekend hours.
▪ According to a survey by Honeywell Sensing and Productivity Solutions, with an office in Fort Mill, and YouGov nearly nine in 10 distribution center operators expect to adopt new mobile devices and voice-direction technology.
The survey of hundreds of IT decision-makers across the United States, United Kingdom, France and Germany shows that use of mobile solutions are expected to increase, driven by the need for increased order fulfillment accuracy and improved customer service requests.
With distribution centers losing on average more than $400,000 every year on picking errors, distribution center are looking for a technology edge to improve accuracy and reduce costs. The technologies include mobile computers, printers and scanners featuring more reliable data capture technology, as well as equipping workers with wireless headsets that provide voice direction to improve accuracy and speed.
Bruce Stubbs, director of industry marketing, Honeywell Sensing and Productivity Solutions said “Consumers want their purchases delivered as quickly as possible, which puts extreme pressure on distribution center operators to deliver the right products to the right place at the right time. Connected workers using mobile solutions with data capture technology such as those delivered by Honeywell offer higher accuracy and productivity and have a positive impact on the bottom line.”
▪ Atlas Copco Airpower of Rock Hill is one of the first companies in the compressed air filtration industry to receive ISO certification for its UD+ QDT filter train.
Atlas Copco’s two-in-one coalescing UD+ filter, combined with the newly redesigned activated carbon tower QDT, allows for an oil content far below 0.01 mg/m3, the maximum allowed total oil content for class 1, said Isabelle De Wolf, head of the filtration R&D team of Atlas Copco Airpower.
▪ Continental Tire of Fort Mill donated $115,000 to the American Red Cross for recovery efforts following the recent catastrophic flooding events in South Carolina. The donations, $100,000 from Continental AG and $15,000 from Continental Tire the Americas, LLC , will help residents affected by the floods.
Continental has approximately 1,300 employees and three facilities in South Carolina: the tire plant in Sumter, the headquarters for Continental Tire the Americas, LLC in Fort Mill, and a fuel systems facility in Fountain Inn. Continental was unaffected by any direct damage to its facilities, but many employees and their families in the Sumter area were affected.
Employees from the Fort Mill headquarters delivered more than 16,000 bottles of water to their colleagues at the Sumter facility.
“It is incredibly important that we help each other during difficult circumstances,” said Jochen Etzel, CEO Continental Tire the Americas, LLC. “The time and resources our employees have dedicated to helping one another during this time shows a great sense of pride in South Carolina and our Continental family.”
Calendar
▪ SATURDAY – The House of Beauty, 801 Saluda St., Rock Hill is holding a 40th anniversary community celebration from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. This free event includes food, vendors and a health fair.
This story was originally published October 17, 2015 at 5:22 PM with the headline "York County Regional Chamber of Commerce adds members."