Mobile Home Sales in Manning, SC

Provalus' Newest Operation Will Bring Over 100 New Tech Jobs to Clarendon County

MANNING, S.C., Aug. 16, 2022 /PRNewswire/ --

WHEN: August 18, 2022, 11am

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PARTICIPANTS: Secretary of Commerce, Harry M Lightsey, III, Chair of County Council, Dwight L. Stewart, Jr., Representative Kimberly O. Johnson, House District 64, Mayor Julia Nelson, Community Leaders of Clarendon County, South Carolina Community and Provalus President Laura Chevalier as well as Provalus Vice President of Facilities, Will Ruzic.

WHERE: 34 N. Brooke Street, Manning, SC 29102

Provalus, the managed services brand of Optomi Professional Services, will celebrate the opening of its third technology innovation center in Manning, South Carolina on August 18th with a ribbon cutting ceremony. After two years in a temporary space, the team is grateful for the collaboration and hard work to secure a permanent location in Manning. The downtown facility will provide new business and technology jobs to Clarendon County.

The Central SC Alliance members, Manning Mayor Julia A. Nelson and state and community officials will be recognized for their support of the project, which is projected to have a multi-million dollar economic impact on the local community over the next five years.

The proximity of this technology innovation center to the Optomi Professional Services office in Charlotte, NC increases opportunity for Provalus to provide outsourced managed services to the robust client base of the area. Provalus specializes in Professional Services including Business Process Optimization, Infrastructure Operations (HD, IAM, NOC, SOC) and Application & ITO Support.

Provalus is elevating under-employed individuals by providing technology, business and support positions to undiscovered talent in the U.S. By up-skilling local American talent, Provalus is able to provide Fortune-listed companies with the dependable, quality, and practical services they need.

"The opening of our newest technology center in Manning is the next step in our ongoing mission to bring jobs back to the U.S., especially to rural areas," says Laura Chevalier, President of Provalus. "We want to thank all involved for facilitating the process of making this facility a reality in Manning. The revitalization of this 1919 building is a great step toward rejuvenating the business in town. The local economic growth will be substantial. We believe services that have been traditionally outsourced overseas can be delivered better right here from the U.S. Manning is an ideal town for us to achieve this goal. We look forward to working with the Clarendon County community to develop and employ local individuals to deliver IT solutions."

For its new technology innovation center in downtown Manning, Provalus has renovated the Belk Building, a two-story red brick building built in 1919 that was the first shopping mall in Clarendon County. Located at 34 N. Brooke Street, the previously vacant building is the largest storefront in the main business section of downtown Manning and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

Provalus already employs dozens of people in Manning. Individuals interested in joining the Provalus team should visit provalus.com/apply.

ABOUT THE PROVALUS BRAND OF OPTOMI PROFESSIONAL SERVICES:

We hire and develop the best and brightest undiscovered talent in our small towns and rural communities to deliver a remarkable experience for our technology clients and end-users alike. Provalus offers ITO, BPO and Support services that compete head-on with offshore outsourcing. By creating opportunities where there were none; with companies that believe in America's future, Provalus is generating a superior workforce. We provide Fortune-listed companies the dependable, quality and practical services they need... straight from the heart of America. We are purposefully disruptive... PROVIDING OUTSOURCING VALUE FROM THE U.S.

FURTHER INFORMATIONChristen Black, CMO of Optomi Professional Services678-250-0820342504@email4pr.comwww.provalus.com

SOURCE Provalus

MANNING - What's better than having a delicious lunch and helping out deserving students all at the same time?

Manning High School's Student Council is hosting a fundraiser, Clarendon County Food Truck Friday, from 11 a.m. until 3 p.m. Friday, Feb. 24, in the MHS student parking lot, 2155 Paxville Highway. The students need to raise money to pay for a trip to the South Carolina Student Council State Convention that will be held in Sumter.

"The cost per student will be $110," said Tara Dozier, MHS Student Council advisor. "The money from the fundraiser will help cut the cost for the students."

Dozier said this isn't the first time the council has hosted a food truck event, but it's the first time it will be open to the public.

"We've heard so much talk about the food trucks that we decided to invite the public to attend," Dozier added. "We enjoyed having them for the students, and we hope the community will come and show their support."

Dozier said seven food trucks will be participating in the event, including Mi Promesa Authentic Mexican Restaurant, What the Food Truck LLC, Wood Fire Jamaican Restaurant, George's Funnel Cakes, The BeanHive Café LLC, Smokeology BBQ and Duggie Dogs Express.

Mi Promesa will be serving tacos, dorados, chorizo and birrias.

What the Food Truck will cook up burgers, fried or grilled chicken sandwiches, wraps, Philly cheesesteaks, Nashville hot fried chicken sandwiches and its famous shrimp basket.

The Wood Fire Jamaican Restaurant will offer up its curry and jerk chicken and oxtail meals, vegetarian entrees, sides and soups.

George's Funnel Cakes will have the sweet side of lunch handled with funnel cakes and fried Oreos, along with fish and fries and lemonade.

The BeanHive Café has the beverages under control with lattés, hot chocolate, Americanos and macchiatos.

If barbecue is more your speed, head over to Smokeology BBQ for its famous million-dollar mac and kitchen sink rice, along with its barbecue plates, loaded barbecue spuds, sandwiches and sides.

Duggie Dogs Express will have endless options for toppings on your all-beef hot dogs, and to wash them down homemade Southern sweet tea or lemonade and milkshakes.

"We have something for everyone," Dozier said. "The Manning High School Student Council invites you to enjoy lunch on Friday and at the same time help us raise the money so that all of our student council members can attend the state convention."

Lawmakers wrote to U.N. leadership last week to demand that Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese be removed from her position

A bipartisan group of lawmakers wrote to United Nations leadership on Friday demanding that Francesca Albanese, the special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories, be removed from her position — the second such call since the beginning of 2023.

The new letter, led by Reps. Brad Schneider (D-IL) and Ann Wagner (R-MO) and signed by 16 other lawmakers, cites comments made this month by Albanese regarding recent terror attacks and other incidents. In addition to Albanese’s firing, the letter calls on U.N. leadership to disband the U.N.’s Commission of Inquiry investigating Israel and address “deep-seated antisemitic and anti-Israel bias at the United Nations.”

The letter highlights what the lawmakers describe as Albanese’s refusal to condemn recent Palestinian terrorist attacks targeting an Israeli bus stop and a Jerusalem synagogue, and her condemnations of Israel following these incidents. The lawmakers also point to her praise of the attempt by the mayor of Barcelona to cut ties with Tel Aviv as its “sister city.”

“For an official tasked with serving as an independent, neutral, and expert voice on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, her inexcusable silence against terrorism targeting Israelis and her outrageous and prejudicial remarks clearly reflect the irredeemable bias of her mandate,” the letter reads.

It levels similar accusations about the COI.

“The COI is an unprecedented, open-ended, and unfairly slanted investigation, which completely ignores the role of terrorist groups such as Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. From its inception in 2021, this commission has been a clear attempt by the United Nations Human Rights Council to target Israel,” the letter continues. “Ms. Albanese’s more recent comments only reaffirms and strengthens our assessment that the UN system is riven with bias. Her biased behaviors should have no place at the United Nations, and clearly demonstrate the lack of impartiality.”

The lawmakers ask the U.N. leadership for a “detailed accounting” of efforts to eliminate antisemitic and anti-Israel bias “endemic in the UN system.”

The letter was addressed to U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres and High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk. It was signed by Reps. David Scott (D-GA), Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), David Trone (D-MD), Brad Sherman (D-CA), Andrew Garbarino (R-NY), Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), Doug Lamborn (R-CO), Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), Henry Cuellar (D-TX), Joe Wilson (R-SC), Don Davis (D-NC), Grace Meng (D-NY), Kathy Manning (D-NC), Chris Smith (R-NJ), Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) and Greg Landsman (D-OH).

Snips NewsSheet Metal And HVAC Industry News

Each component of the wall assembly needed to be installed in the exact X, Y, Z position in order to maintain the surface geometry.

The goal of the Logan Airport Terminal E modernization was to “create a sustainable, high-performance, resilient and resource efficient building that is a comfortable and healthy environment for passengers and workers alike.”

Completion of Boston’s newest eye-catching facility, including the installation of aluminum composite material (ACM), larson® by Alucoil, took more than four years. Modernizing the facilities included the addition of four new gates, including three approved in 1995 but never built.

“The project required 400,000 square feet of 4mm FR Core larson by Alucoil, which we fabricated into a rainscreen system,” says Dan Nadeau, vice president – preconstruction at LYMO Construction Co. of Londonderry, N.H. “The design criteria was very specific on all aspects of the ACM’s performance, color, finish, paint application and fabrication tolerances. The specification called for a prismatic (color shifting) paint system with multiple gloss levels to achieve the iconic design.”

Nadeau says each component of the wall assembly – metal studs, thermally broken cladding supports and rainscreen system – needed to be installed in the exact X, Y, Z position in order to maintain the surface geometry. That requires a full-time team of onsite surveyors and engineers to support the installation crews.

“The design team’s vision to create an ‘orb’ using an architectural metal was the biggest challenge,” Nadeau says. “Maintaining a surface with a geometry this complex required a year of collaboration and innovation. Rather than engineering rainscreen panels for fabrication using traditional methods like CAD, innovative softwares like Rhino and Grasshopper were used to ‘script’ the final panel layout to ensure the final orb surface geometry was achieved. Each component of the wall assembly was embedded with X, Y, Z coordinates tied into the project’s site control.”

Grason Cook, Commercial Director of Alucoil North America, says design teams from both Europe and the United States collaborated on the Terminal E project. “It takes a manufacturer like ours with a global reach and sales people on the ground to coordinate a project like this,” Cook says. “The specified paints were from Monopol in Switzerland and coated at Euramax in the Netherlands with panel production out of South Carolina. It was an undertaking to ensure communication was flowing properly.”

The specialty paints used for the façade were also used for the roofing elements.

Customers will notice roughly 320,000 square feet of additional space and renovations including four new aircraft gates, comfortable waiting areas at those new gates, new local and internationally inspired food and retail options, and glass that provides shade from sun glares. According to the Massachusetts Port Authority website, sustainability initiatives include the lowering of energy usage and greenhouse gas emissions, water conservation, additional waste management and recycling, air quality improvement and reduced energy consumption.

“The finished product absolutely achieved the goal of being the new icon at Logan International,” Nadeau says. “The surface geometry, color, gloss and design all make a dramatic statement. We couldn’t be happier with the outcome. It could not have been done without commitment, collaboration and new innovations.”

About Alucoil North America

Alucoil North America, LLC is a domestic manufacturer of aluminum and metal composite material located in Manning, S.C. It is part of Grupo Alibérico, a family-owned Spanish multinational manufacturer of aluminum products with global sales exceeding $300 million. It has industrial operations on five continents, employing over 1,200 people and generating sales in over 80 countries. Alucoil globally offers a diverse line of products, leveraging unique product and coating technologies including powder coated coil; flat sheet; larson® aluminum and natural metal composite panels; and larcore® A2, a continuous process aluminum honeycomb building panel. To learn more, visit www.alucoildesign.com.

Architect: Aecom and Luis Vidal + Architects

Fabricator/Installer: LYMO Construction, Londonderry, N.H.

Completed: 2023

When F.L.Putnam Investment Management Co. acquired New York-based Atrato Advisors LLC in 2021, it was the next logical step in a growth strategy that also included new hires, the launch of a new research platform, additional acquisitions and an infusion of capital.

“The growth reflects interest and demand for our services,” says Tom Manning, president and CEO of F.L.Putnam. “As we’ve had the ability to grow, we’ve looked to expand our capabilities.”

Wealth management firms are undergoing transformations, new hires and promotions, acquisitions, moves to larger quarters or expansions in other ways.

Factors driving growth include evolving client expectations in a volatile economy. There’s a shift in the wealth management field toward a comprehensive approach to all aspects of a client’s financial management needs and expanding opportunities across all asset classes.

“It’s hard for people to work with three or four service providers,” says Manning. “If they can work with one firm that can help them think through their retirement plan, think through their estate plan, think about education or long-term care planning — there’s real demand for that.”

Alternative investments

The acquisition of Atrato illustrates F.L.Putnam’s expansion into the alternative investment space, as clients demand opportunities for investments away from the volatile public markets and into alternatives such as private equity, real estate, infrastructure and precious metals.

“Alternatives provide diversification,” says Manning.

Now called Atrato Consulting, the practice also introduced a platform to allow registered investment advisors to access investment manager research, market strategy content, and execute direct investments in alternatives through a technology partnership with +SUBSCRIBE, an alternative investment order management system for non-traditional product transactions.

As registered investment advisors grow and scale, “the need for sophisticated investment advice, tools and capabilities increases exponentially,” says Manning.

Other acquisitions in recent years include Wolfeboro, N.H., financial planning firm Financial Focus and Woburn, Mass., independent registered investment advisor Salem Capital Management.

In December, New York-based Emigrant Partners, specialist capital and advice partner wholly owned by Emigrant Bank, made a capital investment in F.L.Putnam. The investment will help add staff, expand capabilities and acquire other firms, says Manning.

Recent hires include wealth management professional Jill Hibyan in Portland.

Since 2019, the firm has grown from 47 employees and $2.1 billion in assets under management to 84 employees and $4.4 billion in assets under management for over 1,400 clients. Headquartered in Wellesley, Mass., its largest office is Portland, with 19 employees.

“We’re in conversations with a number of individuals in Maine who could potentially become part of our company in the coming months,” Manning adds.

And future acquisitions are envisioned. “We’re looking at new geographies and new opportunities,” he says.

Conscious capitalism

Just three years since it debuted, Portland independent wealth management firm Great Diamond Partners has ambitious plans for growing the number of employees, clients and assets under management.

A 10-year strategic plan completed last November includes a mix of hiring, promotion, talent optimization and a commitment to “conscious capitalism.”

“When it comes to growth, we want to have an even greater impact on our key stakeholders — our clients, employees, owners, strategic partners and the community,” says Steven Tenney, the firm’s CEO.

In 2019, four former UBS Financial Services bankers led by Tenney launched Great Diamond Partners.

In 2022, the firm promoted founding team member and CFO Helen Andreoli to president to oversee day-day-day operations at the firm.

Andreoli’s promotion leans into personnel strengths, says Tenney, a founding partner.

“We’re leaning on our strengths in terms of where Helen and I focus,” Tenney says. “She’s dealing with day-to-day operations and I’m focused more on strategic direction.”

The firm is working on hiring other advisors.

“These are advisors at the associate level — newer, younger — or the well-established level, people coming with one or two decades of experience, who can support the team and move the whole firm forward,” says Tenney.

In order to have great impact, the company needs to grow, he says. In 2022, it had more than $670 million in assets under management.

The vision is to grow. “We want to be substantially larger,” he says.

He adds, “We expect to double in size and will do it in a prudent way by attracting ideal clients and colleagues. Staying true to our values is not negotiable, even if it means going a bit slower.”

Then there’s the qualitative side. The firm seeks to optimize employee talent by allowing them to focus on one or two areas of responsibilities. Most advisors at other firms, he says, handle multiple responsibilities. The focused approach is designed to create a team ecosystem that works well for clients and fosters job satisfaction, flexibility and opportunity for employees.

“We want everybody to work at their unique ability,” says Tenney. “Instead of handling five different, big responsibilities, we want people to handle one or two responsibilities for the firm.”

With a mission of “conscious capitalism,” the firm provides support to nonprofits such as Big Brothers Big Sisters of Southern Maine and the Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital at Maine Medical Center. It’s developed a relationship with Portland nonprofit Conscious Revolution, a consulting practice that works with CEOs and founders to build conscious businesses. Conscious capitalism, Tenney says, permeates the company’s culture.

“It all goes together,” Tenney says of the various growth goals. “You can’t have a massive impact to more employees without having the assets to generate the revenue. You can’t offer more and better services for clients without having more people to provide those talents.”

New hires, larger quarters

Spinnaker Trust, a Portland-based wealth management firm with more than $2.5 billion in funds under management, said in December it hired two new assistant portfolio managers, growing the staff to 40 employees amid a bullish outlook for business in 2023. The firm said 2023 would be a year to focus on developing and mentoring hires who joined since the start of the pandemic.

Portland-based financial advisor HM Payson announced internal promotions of two long-standing members of the research team. In January, Saco-based financial firm S&B Financial Services said it added three new employees to the team, including a senior advisor.

In Hallowell, J.M. Arbour, a private wealth management firm with an additional office in Arizona, is planning a move to larger headquarters in Gardiner to accommodate its growing team.

The firm’s founder and CEO, Jac Arbour, has eight people on his private wealth team but expects that to grow this year. Arbour attributed the growth to a fee-based model that provides comprehensive in-house services and works with outside vendors through all aspects of a client’s financial management needs.

Work is underway to prepare the new headquarters, in an 8,000-square-foot office building dating to 1875. That includes new floors, walls, carpeting, lighting, and plumbing and heating systems.

Photo / Courtesy of Means Wealth Management

Erin Barry, CEO of Means Wealth Management, says the firm made strategic hires in the past year in client-facing and support roles.

Beefing up services

Bangor-based Means Wealth Management’s overall growth strategy has been to ensure its business model keeps clients and their needs at the forefront at all times, providing them full-scale planning in a fiduciary capacity, says CEO Erin Barry.

“This has been achieved largely by some of the strategic hires we’ve made in the past year — seven employees, five in client-facing roles and two support — but also because we are passionate about changing the industry,” Barry says. “We believe the ‘broker’ is the way of the past, and that investors should be looking for advisors that are true fiduciaries, operating in a fee-only capacity.”

In 2021, the firm promoted Barry from CFO to CEO after Zachary Means, the firm’s third-generation leader, moved from CEO to president. Barry is the first non-family member to serve as CEO.

Founded in 1935, the family-owned has offices in Bangor, Presque Isle and Greenville and Greenwood, S.C.

It has $766 million in assets under management; $676 million was in Maine. The figures represent a doubling of assets under management in the past five years.

Barry says she believes the activity is due in large part to Means Wealth’s service model. Barry says clients are “tired of poor service levels and the lack of quality advice they are receiving from others in the industry. They want advisors who are accessible and transparent. They also want full-scale planning, which is why we have been beefing up our services to ensure that it’s not just investments — it’s retirement planning, tax advice and estate protection, among many other things.”

Additional growth activity includes recently moving their Greenville, S.C., location to a newly renovated building in the heart of downtown Greenville.

‘Business of life’

Over the past couple of years, Portland-based wealth management firm R.M. Davis Inc. added a dozen or so employees, today employing about 60 people and managing approximately $6 billion in assets for clients in 45 states and several foreign countries.

In recent months, the firm has named five new managing directors and added new hires to its Portsmouth, N.H., office. Plans also include growing their research department.

Photo / Courtesy of R.M. Davis Inc.

“We’ve grown in a deliberate and meaningful way,” says CEO Geoffrey Alexander.

It also has undergone substantive strategic planning over the last few years that touches technology, operations and — most importantly, Alexander says — human capital. One goal is for more opportunities for professional development and promotions with an eye toward supporting a culture of collaboration.

Decades ago, says Alexander, the industry focused largely on investment management.

Today, he says, “Our responsibility is to look beyond the portfolios and provide insight and direction that caters to all financial aspects of life.”

He describes a conversation with a client who needed budget guidance.

“That has little to do with investments,” he says. “We’ve been involved in real estate and business transactions. We do comprehensive insurance analysis and help with Medicare Part D or help people figure out private pay insurance — and yet we don’t sell insurance. It really does cover a spectrum.”

Alexander characterizes the industry’s shift as “helping people with the business of life.”

“That dovetails back to organization’s structure and business plan – do we have the talent and the resources to help people with the issues they face?” he says.

He adds, “These are the reasons that we are looking to the future to continue to provide dynamic services as financial needs shift while also expanding on a regional and national level.”