The "Smith's" United

Ok so there is really no relation; still Chuck Smith and Patrick Smith local Charleston leaders enjoyed meeting Brad Smith, President and CEO of Intuit at the Charleston Area Alliance Annual Celebration. Intuit just reported a very good quarter on May 20th. How many of our readers use Intuit's products? You might and not even realize you do. Do you use Quickbooks at work? Do you use TurboTax to file your tax returns? If you do, then you use a product of Intuit, which is managed by West Virginia Native, Brad Smith.

(From left to right, Patrick Smith, Brad Smith, Chuck Smith, Matt Ballard, President of the Charleston Area Alliance)

Annual Celebration Brings out Leadership of Business Community to Meet with WV Native

The Charleston Area Alliance Annual Celebration was "the networking event of the year," as one attendee put it.


The event highlighted the success of a successful West Virginian as its keynote speaker, Mr. Brad Smith, a Wayne County native, who is current the CEO of Intuit.

(Featured: Brad Smith, CEO of Intuit, Newton Thomas, Jack Rossi and Matt Ballard talk business at the Charleston Area Alliance Annual Celebration)

Annual Celebration, Celebrates Marshall Graduate.

Brad Smith,CEO of Intuit, and keynote speaker at the Charleston Area Alliance Annual Celebration not only made the Alliance Celebration a great event, but the evening was also a tribute to Brad and his alma mater, Marshall University.

Pictured here:

Dr. Steven Kopp, President Marshall Univeristy, Brad Smith, CEO Intuit, Bill Signorelli, Charleston Area Alliance Board and Security America and Matt Ballard, President of the Charleston Area Alliance

It was wonderful to host Brad Smith, President/CEO at the Charleston Area Alliance Annual Celebration. Here Brad Smith meets with a prospect company who was visiting Charleston from Italy considering Charleston as the location for their new US operations.

Looking on is Matt Ballard, President of the Charleston Area Alliance and Jack Rossi, Chairman of the Charleston Area Alliance.

DPR in West Virginia

It was a pleasure to meet with my friends and our newest international company in West Virginia, D.P.R. LLC. During my recent trade mission to northern Italy I was able to visit the manufacturing facility of DPR in Barlassina, Italy. Enrico Panzeri, President and CEO of DPR welcomed me to his facility and his home during my trip. Also there for the tour was Luca Bortolon, International Sales and marketing Manager for DPR and Enrico's sons Micheal and Manuel.

DPR continues their success in the printing industry through the development of their sturdy an reliable re-winders for labels. They also make a variety of other products as well related to the printing and label industry.

Pictured above from left to right:

Matthew Ballard, President of the Charleston Area Alliance, Enrico Panzeri, Luca Bortolon, and Micheal Panzeri at the home and manufacturing facility of DPR, November 2007.

Return on your Investment

By Jack Rossi, Chairman of the Board and Matthew Ballard, President

There are many reasons to be a member of the Charleston Area Alliance. There’s the tremendous pride that comes from knowing that your membership investment is helping to build a more vibrant community and prosperous economy. Member-supported Alliance projects such as the Capitol Market, recruitment and retention of 600 jobs at CASCI, funding the utility infrastructure for Corridor G for development, creation of 100 jobs at Telespectrum, and providing an incubator for entrepreneurs to grow their new business ventures (just to name a few) have enhanced the economy and quality of life for everyone in our region.

The pro-business policies advocated by our Chamber of Commerce have helped reduce business taxes, increased funding for science and research at our higher education institutions, increased funding for safe roads and infrastructure and helped maintain funding for emergency response, EMS, and public transit. These accomplishments alone are a good reason to invest in the Alliance. There is another way that membership in the Charleston Area Alliance can help you and your business directly through increased revenue. That’s right, increased revenue. How?

A recent survey of more than 2,000 adults nationwide found that chamber membership can have a significant impact on a company’s bottom line. The survey, conducted by two consulting organizations, “The Schapiro Group” and “Market Street Services” (the consulting group for the creation of the Charleston Area Alliance and Vision Shared in West Virginia), was commissioned by the American Chamber of Commerce Executives, with support from the Small Business Network Inc.

Here at the Alliance, we already know that membership can translate to increased sales and revenue. Earlier this month, for example, a new downtown business received nine solid business leads one day after the Alliance helped stage a ribbon cutting event. But don’t just take it from us. Here’s what the national survey of consumers found:

-If a company shows that it is highly involved in its local chamber, consumers are 12 percent more likely to think that its product stacks up better against the competition.
-When consumers know a restaurant franchise is a member of the chamber, they are 40 percent more likely to eat at the franchise.
-When consumers know an insurance company is a member of the chamber, they are 43 percent more likely to consider buying insurance from that
business .
-When consumers know that a small business is a member of the chamber, they are 44 percent more likely to think favorably of it and 63 percent more likely to purchase goods or services from the company in the future.

And remember, this survey only measured public attitudes towards business members of organizations that function solely as chambers of commerce. Our community has taken the progressive step of merging our economic development, community development and chamber of commerce into one organization, making your Alliance membership an investment in your profitability, as well as in the future of our entire area.

We invite you to do well for yourself – and do good for the region – through your membership in the Alliance. Together, we can continue to build a more vibrant community and prosperous economy.

Creating New Bloggers at the Charleston Area Alliance

Up until about 6 months ago, I, Matthew Ballard, maintained this blog as a way to disseminate information about the Alliance and about the principles of economic development in West Virginia and in our local region. As I became President, we are using the blog more now to communicate with our young professionals committee (now over 295 people) and to talk more about the Alliance globally.

About 5-6 months ago, I was able to help Drew Dunlap and Jama Jarrett of our staff to use the blog. They are now both contributing to the content. So welcome to the world of blogging Drew and Jama. It is always good to have a few more of us getting the word out about our wonderful region and state and the Alliance which is truly leading in economic and community development as well as our Chamber issues.

Wi-Fi'ed East End Means More Foot Traffic, Residents, Businesses for East End.

The East End Main Street announcement that an RFP is being issued for Wi-Fi service for the East End of Charleston is a testament to the progressive and innovative model of economic and community development that the Charleston Area Alliance is utilizing. It's no wonder that Charleston was recently named in a national magazine as the 8th best small metro for attracting new business.

So what does this mean? Well how about once the greenspace is complete near the Clay Center, putting your feet up there and being able to surf the web or check e-mail? What if you are at the Power Baseball Park and want to get a little work done while taking in a game? Live on the east end and like to go out on your porch or deck to work or surf the web? Done. All of these possibilities will be available once this project is complete.

The Charleston Area Alliance and its East End Main Street program are clearly providing a return on investment for its members. In short, the Alliance is building a better community and a more vibrant economy.

Picture: Matthew Ballard, President/CEO of the Charleston Area Alliance introduces the wi-fi topic to members of the press and public. Governor Manchin, Mayor Jones, and Councilman Marc Wientraub joined the Alliance and East End Main Street in making the announcement at Contemporary Galleries on Smith Street in downtown Charleston.

New Italian Company Coming to Charleston

The Charleston Area Alliance is pleased to announce a new international business making their home in the Kanawha Valley. DPR, LLC, an Italian manufacturer of products used in the label industry will open their Charleston headquarters in June of 2007. The announcement was made public at the Annual Celebration of the Charleston Area Alliance on Tuesday night April 17, 2007.

The company chose West Virginia because of the relationship they created with the Charleston Area Alliance and because West Virginia is a state known for its support of small business according to Enrico Panzeri, President of DPR LLC. “We believe we can make our business grow in Charleston.” DPR fabricates products for the label industry such as re-winders, splitters, cutters and dispensers.

The flexographic print industry is a target market for the Alliance as it works toward the expansion and attraction of new jobs to the region. The strong academic programs in Print Management and Print Technology at West Virginia University Institute of Technology in Montgomery are one primary reason for this focus.

“DPR is a great addition to our business community and to the print industry growing in our region,” said Matthew Ballard, President of the Charleston Area Alliance. “Our-long term goal is to create an even stronger cluster of print industry businesses in the Valley which will complement each other, maximize profits, and create jobs.”

Picture from left to Right:

Andrew Dunlap, Economic Development Project Manager, Charleston Area Alliance

Enrico Panzeri, President, DPR LLC,

Micheal Panzeri, DPR

Luca Bortolon, DPR

Matthew Ballard, President/CEO Charleston Area Alliance

At the Annual Celebration of the Charleston Area Alliance

Charleston Gazette Features Charleston Area Alliance in "Outlook" pullout "Commerce in West Virginia."

You can read the outlook commerce edition by clicking Here.

Ballard Ready to Lead Alliance

From the Charleston Daily Mail

New agency chief to focus on job creation, education, ambitious marketing

Cheryl Caswell

Daily Mail staff
Monday January 15, 2007

Matt Ballard acknowledges that he is young to be holding the reins of the area's primary community and economic development agency.
But Ballard, 30, considers that an advantage that affords him energy, ingenuity and a particular perspective to the needs of young professionals.
In December, he was named president of the Charleston Area Alliance, a group formed three years ago to merge the efforts and interests of the Charleston Chamber of Commerce, the former Charleston Renaissance Commission and the former Business and Industrial Development Corp. (BIDCO).

He has an ambitious vision for the city that encompasses business and economic development, education initiatives, neighborhood renewal and aggressive marketing strategies.
"We're going to continue to bring jobs into West Virginia," Ballard said. "And we have to market ourselves aggressively because we come to the table with less chips than everyone else.
"We also want to help the businesses we have stay here," he said. "We're going to focus on quality of life issues. We have a lot of what people like -- green spaces, outdoor spaces -- and we need to attract some good jobs to go along with that.

"I'm very excited about the future of the county and state," he said. "This is a multi-faceted organization with a lot of things going on, but that makes this very exciting."

Ballard's career history is relatively brief, but intriguing. A native of Harrison County, he attended Alderson Broaddus College and received a nursing degree. But his experience there in student government and interest in public policy led him to go on to earn a master's degree in public administration from West Virginia University.

His graduate work landed him at the legislature assisting Senate majority leader Truman Chafin and then a job working with state Tax Secretary Brian Kastick.
"I did a lot of special projects and worked with some interesting issues like the sales tax holiday," Ballard said. "Then the southern part of the state was hit with two major floods back to back and I worked on economic recovery of the businesses, especially in Wyoming and McDowell County.

"I became very interested in the economic hardships they were having there," Ballard said. And development people took notice of him, as well. He was appointed executive director of the Hatfield-McCoy Regional Recreation Authority in February 2003. During his three-year tenure, the organization boosted its domain by 200 miles and more than doubled its revenue.
"We made it the hottest tourist attraction in the state with aggressive marketing and appropriate management," Ballard said.

When Ballard learned of the merger of Charleston's three development organizations into the new Charleston Area Alliance, he threw his name in the hat with several hundred other prospectives. He was hired as executive vice-president to work under Bill Goode and took his place Dec. 1.

His office is in a remodeled Smith Street warehouse that also serves as incubator space for a number of start-up companies. But his work takes him out regularly to meet with business owners, consultants, developers and others.

In his spare time, the Elkview resident enjoys golf and spends time with this wife and 10-month-old daughter.

"But work is play for me," he said. "Even when I'm watching television, I'm watching C-Span."

Contact writer Cheryl Caswell at cherylc@dailymail.com or 348-4832.