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News Briefs
By Business Journal Staff
Blackbaud announces leadership changes, 2Q expectations
Blackbaud Inc., a provider of software and related services designed specifically for nonprofit organizations, recently announced a restructuring of its executive leadership team and preliminary expectations for its second quarter 2006 financial results.
Germaine Ward, vice president of products, and Tony Powell, vice president of professional services and enterprise sales, “will pursue opportunities outside the company,” the company said in a written statement. A Blackbaud spokeswoman declined to elaborate on the departures.
Lou Attanasi, vice president of strategic technologies, will take over Ward’s responsibilities. Attanasi is a 20-year veteran at Blackbaud, during which time he has also served as vice president of product development, managed research and development efforts and been responsible for software design. Powell’s responsibilities for consulting services will be assumed by Charles Cumbaa, vice president of products and services and a five-year veteran of the company, while his responsibilities within enterprise sales will be consolidated under Christopher Todd, vice president of sales and a six-year veteran of the company.
The company also announced that it expects to report license and total revenue results for the second quarter that are near the high-end of previously issued guidance, and non-GAAP income from operations—excluding stock-based compensation and amortization of intangibles—that is slightly better than the high-end of previously issued guidance.
On May 8, Blackbaud provided guidance for the second quarter for total revenue of $47.0-$48.5 million, license revenue of $8.9-$9.3 million and non-GAAP operating income of $13.2-$13.6 million.
“We are still early in the close process, but we are pleased with the company’s execution in the second quarter and expect that our financial results will be in-line to slightly better than our previously issued guidance,” said Marc Chardon, chief executive officer of Blackbaud.
“Nonprofit organizations continue to recognize the potential benefits to their organizations from increasing their investment in information technology solutions, and Blackbaud is uniquely positioned to capitalize on this trend due to our industry leading domain expertise and breadth and depth of our offerings.”
After the markets close on Aug. 7, the company will issue full second quarter 2006 results.
Metro Chamber launches new Innovation division
The Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce is focused on innovation, so much so it has created a new chamber division called “Innovation.”
The purpose is three-fold: to facilitate the growth of knowledge-based businesses; to provide innovative resources to maintain continuity of operations in the event of a disaster; and to explore innovative chamber services, said Pennie Bingham, vice president of Innovation.
Current chamber initiatives ThinkTEC and FastTrac will be under the new Innovation division. ThinkTEC will continue to host the Homeland Security Innovation Conference and the ThinkTEC Innovation Summit. New endeavors will include an opportunity fair at the Medical University of South Carolina, Bingham explained. The fair plans to bring together scientists from MUSC along with entrepreneurs and venture capitalists interested in turning science into business.
Also, under ThinkTEC, the chamber is creating a Coastal Executive Network in response to member feedback, Bingham said. This network of retired and semi-retired executives would provide leadership and advice to young entrepreneurs.
The chamber will continue to expand its FastTrac program around the state, which provides 10-week courses for entrepreneurs. FastTrac was also the force behind this year’s New Carolina Business Idea Contest and will organize an Alternate Energy Symposium based on the large number of contest ideas focused on alternative energy sources, Bingham explained.
A goal of the Innovation division will be business continuity management—a mission Bingham said is out-of-the-box thinking when it comes to innovation but critical to business sustainability.
“In a disaster, you can have all these great ideas, but if you can’t recover from the disaster, it hinders the (local) economy,” she said.
The chamber will be connecting first responders with business leaders, so businesses can better understand how to prepare for a disaster and what emergency crews can and cannot do for them, Bingham said.
The third focus of the Innovation division is making the chamber’s overall member services more innovative—webcasting meetings, for example, Bingham said.
“We’re asking our staff to think of new ways to deliver our services,” she said.
The chamber’s Web site will include a section for the Innovation division. In fact, the chamber is launching a completely redesigned Web site soon. The new site, Bingham said, will be “resource-rich.”
S.C. technical colleges to get more tuition assistance through lottery
Technical college tuition assistance from the South Carolina Education Lottery will increase to nearly $1,000 for the Fall 2006 semester.
The State Board for Technical and Comprehensive Education and the South Carolina Commission on Higher Education have finalized the amount of lottery tuition assistance available to students attending any of the state’s 16 technical colleges this fall, setting the maximum amount for full-time students at $996.
Part-time students will be eligible for $83 per credit hour.
Barry Russell, president of the South Carolina Technical College System, said lottery-funded tuition assistance helps students who otherwise wouldn’t be able to afford going to, or going back to, college.
The amount of tuition assistance available this fall has increased by $60 from the amount available for technical college students in the Summer 2006 semester. The per-student dollar amount was determined after a review of participation rates for the summer semester.
More information about the Education Lottery and lottery tuition assistance can be found on the S.C. Technical College System’s Web site, www.sctechsystem.com.
NFIB names new state director
The National Federation of Independent Business has hired Jay W. Ragley as state director in South Carolina. Ragley’s responsibilities include lobbying on behalf of NFIB’s 6,000 members in South Carolina, as well as overseeing small-business grassroots activity across the Palmetto State and serving as NFIB’s South Carolina media spokesman.
Prior to joining NFIB, Ragley was political director for the South Carolina Republican Party. Prior to that, Ragley worked as a legislative assistant for U.S. Rep. Gresham Barrett in Washington, D.C.
Ragley’s first goal is to meet many of NFIB’s small-business activists to learn more about their concerns, including their desire for workers’ compensation reform and fiscal responsibility in state government.
“NFIB has built significant momentum in South Carolina with recent small-business victories that include comprehensive tort reform and a small-business tax cut,” Ragley said. “I am eager to meet our members this summer and fall at grassroots gatherings across the state and to take their concerns back to Columbia.”
TTC names new Culinary Institute of Charleston department head
Trident Technical College has named Michael L. Carmel as head of the culinary arts department at the Culinary Institute of Charleston.
A Culinary Institute of America graduate, Carmel has led culinary curriculums at the Orlando Culinary Academy in Florida, the Illinois Institute of Art-Chicago and Kendall College in Chicago.
In addition to teaching, Carmel served as executive chef at three Chicago-area restaurants, worked in research and development for Kraft, Quaker Oats, Tyson Foods and Hillshire Farms and served on national food councils and boards.
Evening Post executive joins Morris Communications
A former general manager of The Post and Courier has left the newspaper’s parent company to become vice president of Morris Communications in Augusta, Ga.
Lucy Talley was most recently publisher of the Salisbury Post, the daily newspaper in Salisbury, N.C., owned by Charleston-based Evening Post Publishing Co.
Talley joined Evening Post Publishing in 1995 as director of advertising for The Post and Courier. She became general manager of the newspaper in 2000 and held that position until joining the Salisbury paper.
At press time, Evening Post Publishing had not announced a replacement for Talley.
Real estate service group supports new S.C. legislation
RealEstate.com, a comprehensive real estate service for homebuyers and sellers with more than a million online home listings, has announced its support for South Carolina’s new legislation lifting the ban on real estate-related rebates and other customer incentives.
The bill was passed in June and enables real estate brokers licensed in the state to offer rebates and incentives to customers buying or selling a home through their companies.
Eric Cunliffe, senior vice president and general manager of RealEstate.com, said the organization applauds South Carolina’s move to offer its residents a break on what is usually the most significant financial purchase they will ever make. Rebate offerings from real estate brokers are atill banned in Alaska, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, New Jersey and Oklahoma.
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