Employment

Consumer Stories

Mondays with Rick: AU is #1 in the U.S.!

Editor’s Note: As ABD first reported on Friday, the AU Hull College of Business is ranked #1 in the U.S. for top online MBA Programs with the lowest tuition rates by the College Consensus Group, a source that aggregates information from U.S. World News and Report,  Forbes, Bloomberg Businessweek and other reliable sources. Our conversation was edited for clarity and impact. ABD: What was your reaction when you heard the news? Rick: I had not heard of College Consensus before, but upon research, really liked the methodology they used. It’s

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Consumer Stories

SIMON SAYS: Poor job outlook in the CSRA

Editor’s Note: Despite hearing companies are willing to hire, the numbers in the CSRA don’t bear that out. Since June, the local economy has struggled to add jobs. With fewer job openings the outlook, at least in terms of overall employment, for the beginning of 2022 isn’t any better. The A.U. and ABD economist, Dr. Simon Medcalfe shares the numbers with some perspective on outside influences. Job openings in Georgia fell by 8.0% to 379,000 and by 6.6% to 170,000 in South Carolina in November 2021 according to data just

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Consumer Stories

Q&A with three female, millennial State Farm agency owners

There are many State Farm Insurance agencies throughout the CSRA (see photo above story), but three of these local agencies, all owned by women in their 20s, opened within the last year. ABD interviewed these agents to learn about the joys and challenges of being a small business owner in the insurance industry. State Farm agents offer a variety of products, such as car, home, health, and small business insurance policies, as well as investments. Morgan Brinson, 28, became an agent in January 2021, and her office is located at

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Consumer Stories

Mondays with Rick: Co-Founder of Mailchimp

Editor’s Note:   Recently, Rick Franza, Dean of AU’s Hull College of Business attended a meet-and-greet with Ben Chestnut, the co-founder of the marketing platform Mailchimp. External media was not allowed to the meet-and-greet or Chestnut’s “fireside chat” (Click here to watch the video) with nearly 100 AU students and faculty. ABD: I know he spent some time with AU President Brooks Keel and AU’s Scott Thorp, faculty coordinator of Innovation Project (see photo above). What were your impressions of him at the meet-and-greet? Rick: He’s proud of his roots

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Consumer Stories

Career fair to support $10 million re-opening

This Friday and Saturday, the iconic Partridge Inn will be using its sister hotel to try and hire up to 75 full and part-time hospitality workers for the grand re-opening scheduled for late February. The Career Fair is from 9 a.m. until 6 p.m. on both days at another North Pointe hotel—the Crowne Plaza in North Augusta on 1060 Center Street. About 20 longtime Partridge Inn employees are staying on through the current six-month renovation and will be part of a workforce numbering nearly 100. Positions that are available include:

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Consumer Stories

Your employee goals for 2022

Goal-setting is something in business done to usually achieve sales milestones. In today’s “Vodcast,” Patrick Reynolds of Cross Link Consulting says, if done well, goal-setting can be a great thing for your staff’s accomplishments.

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Consumer Stories

Simon Says: Nearly 500 jobs created from SRS vendor spending

Editor’s Note: Savannah River Site contractors need staffing companies, printing, off-site event planning and much more. Here is a snapshot of how much money was spent in 2020 and which groups received SRS’s business. This research project was put together by several students in Dr. Simon Medcalfe’s economic class at Augusta University. In 2020, the organizations from the Savannah River Site (SRS) spent over $176 million with small businesses (out of a total nonpayroll expenditure of over half a billion dollars). In the five-county area (Aiken, Allendale, and Barnwell counties

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Consumer Stories

Harlem business owner enters Columbia County commission race

Business owner, Alison Couch chose MLK Day and a Harlem landmark to announce she’d be challenging incumbent Dewey Galeas for the District 4 Columbia County Commissioner seat. The owner of Couch Consulting, LLC and employer of 10 in Harlem, made the announcement at 7:45 this morning at the Harlem Branch Library, on 145 N. Louisville Street, across the street from her firm. “As we celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. today, I would like to share some of his wisdom. Our lives begin to end the day we become silent

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B2B Podcasting

AIS: Successful CSRA business for 40+ years

Augusta Industrial Services is one of the only employee-owned companies in the CSRA. Services make up four different lines of business in Augusta and across the Southeast. CEO David Beckum sat down recently with ABD Publisher Neil Gordon and shared that his employees are part of an ESOP retirement plan and his customers all come from the N.I.C.E. category!

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Consumer Stories

Simon Says: SRS Economic Impact

Editor’s Note: One of the interesting aspects at SRS is the average salary—nearly $100,000 per year! In the next year or so, more than 1,000 jobs will be added by SRNS, the largest contractor. The person who directed a recent economic study breaks down more of the numbers in today’s “Simon Says” report. Augusta Business Daily has covered several stories surrounding the recently published Economic Impact of the Savannah River Site (SRS or the Site), a report written by five of my students (Rachel Boyd, Jessica Collins, Caleb Hawkins, Herick

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