Citadel selects new president

The Citadel board of visitors selected Lt. Gen. John W. Rosa Jr. as the college’s 19th president subject to his release from active duty. Rosa, a member of The Citadel’s class of 1973, is currently serving as the superintendent of the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs.

“I am extremely honored to be selected as The Citadel’s next president, and I sincerely appreciate The Citadel board of visitors’ vote of confidence in me,” Rosa said of his appointment.

Rosa, 53, took over as superintendent of the Air Force Academy in July 2003. A command pilot with more than 3,600 flying hours, Rosa was commissioned in the Air Force in 1973 after graduating from The Citadel with a degree in business administration. He has a master’s degree in public administration from Golden State University and has completed programs at Harvard, the U.S. Army War College, the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, and the Air Command and Staff College.

“With his first-hand knowledge of the college and his vast leadership experience, John Rosa is the ideal person to be our next president,” said board of visitors’ chairman Billy Jenkinson.

In February, Maj. Gen. John Grinalds announced he would step down as president. Grinalds will leave The Citadel Aug. 1.

The board of visitors named Brig. Gen. Cliff Poole, a business professor and former vice president for academic affairs, to serve as interim president.

Tennessee businessman Bill Sansom chaired the search committee that worked with Academic Search Consultation Service to narrow the field of 77 candidates to six finalists.

Publication analyzes bounced check fees vs. payday loans

The Consumer Credit Research Foundation released an analysis concluding that bounced check fees can be more costly to consumers than payday loans, and that not enough consumers are aware of this.

The publication is authored by Thomas E. Lehman, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Economics, Indiana Wesleyan University.

“There seems to be a fallacy that says bounced check fees are a less expensive alternative to payday loans. On the contrary, the real cost of a bounced check is higher than a typical payday loan. Moreover, because overdraft protections are not subject to Truth in Lending requirements, these fees represent a significantly larger economic cost than they are understood to be,” says Lehman.

The paper explains the tremendous growth these two sectors have been experiencing in the past decade, but more importantly, it provides a great detail of analysis as to why payday loans can be a better option for consumers.

Payday loans are subject to certain government requirements that translate the cost of a payday loan into an easily understandable annualized percentage rate. Conversely, the bounce check fees that banks and other financial institutions charge when a checking account is overdrawn are not subject to the same requirements. This paper attempts to level the playing field by expressing bounced check fees as an annualized percentage rate.

The average amount of a bounced consumer check is believed to be $155. Applying the average nonsufficient (NSF) fee, which is known to be $28.51 to the $155 bounced check yields an interest rate of 18.39% per occurrence. If this were extended to an annualized interest rate, the resulting APR becomes 478%.

Moreover, it is often the case that if a consumer encounters one bounced check fee, there will be additional outstanding checks that will experience the same fee again. For example, if a consumer has five outstanding checks and the largest one is cashed by the bank first, the other four remaining could bounce the account. As a result, four fees of $28.51 will be applied totaling $114.04.

A copy of the report is available online at http://www.consumercreditresearchfoundation.com .

Aviation engineering regional headquarters to locate in Greenville

D3 Technologies Inc. announced the selection of Greenville as the site for the company’s new regional headquarters. They will occupy space at the Global Trade Center located off I-85. Initially, the company will hire 25 engineers, and they anticipate employing 100 engineers within five years.

D3 Technologies is headquartered in San Diego, Calif., with satellite offices in Colorado, California, Maryland, and Washington state. The Greenville location will serve as the directorate and major engineering design center for D3 Technologies in the southeastern United States.

D3 Technologies has more than 23 years of aerospace design engineering experience, providing solutions to commercial and military aviation/aerospace customers as well as to marine and industrial markets worldwide. The company provides design engineering, technical analysis, FAA certification and design industrial tooling for the aerospace industry.

Grant Forest Products brings 240 jobs, more than $400 million in capital investment to South Carolina

Gov. Mark Sanford and the State Department of Commerce announced that Grant Forest Products Inc., an industry leader in the manufacture of wood panel products, is bringing 240 jobs and more than $400 million in capital investment to two rural South Carolina counties.

The Canadian-based company will build two manufacturing plants, each employing roughly 120 people, in Allendale and Clarendon Counties. Additionally, Grant Forest Products announced that it will buy locally-grown timber for use at both facilities, which will be the company’s first two U.S. manufacturing facilities.

“Our goal from day one has been to make South Carolina more competitive in attracting jobs and capital investment,” Gov. Sanford said. “This announcement is clearly a big win on that front as it relates to our rural economic development efforts, our state’s timber industry and South Carolina’s economy as a whole. We’re going to keep pushing for additional jobs and capital investment in all corners of our state—something that starts with additional income tax relief for working South Carolinians which will put more money into our state’s economy and less into the growth of government.”

South Carolina currently has the nation’s fourth-highest unemployment rate at 6.5%. Unemployment in Allendale County is currently 10.1%, the 6th-highest figure in the state. Unemployment in Clarendon County is currently 8.7%, the 12th-highest figure in the state.

Wilmington Trust acquires Charleston Captive

Wilmington Trust, a provider of specialized management and fiduciary services to corporations worldwide, signed a definitive agreement to acquire Charleston Captive Management Co., a captive insurance management company headquartered in Charleston.

CCMC provides a variety of administrative services that support the establishment and operation of captive insurance companies, also known as captives. These services include bookkeeping and regulatory reporting. The firm’s expertise complements the entity management services that Wilmington Trust already provides to corporate clients.

“This acquisition broadens the service offerings of our Corporate Client Services business line by giving us an established presence in a growing industry,” said Ted T. Cecala, chairman and CEO of Wilmington Trust.

Captives are insurance companies that are owned by their insured. Because they are insurance companies and bear risk, they are regulated and must be licensed. They usually are formed by companies that wish to better manage the cost and administration of their insurance coverage.

Founded in 2001, Charleston Captive Management Co. was the first captive management service provider to operate in South Carolina, which has developed into a leading U.S. jurisdiction for captives.

CCMC’s five staff members will remain with the company, whose services will be marketed as Wilmington Trust Captive Management Services. CCMC’s revenue and expenses will be consolidated into Wilmington Trust’s financial statements.

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