Recapping Roanoke, The Star City

Hey folks - I'm writing from Blacksburg, where we arrived this evening for dinner with Town Councilwoman Krisha Chachra.  Can't say enough about all the great things happening in and around Blacksburg, many of which are funded/developed by Virginia Tech, but others of which are driven entirely by the local, non-university-related residents.  We had a great conversation about how far Blacksburg has come, the town's future, the "Town - Gown" relationship (i.e., the relationship between the town and university), and the political landscape of Blacksburg from a town council member's perspective.  Fascinating stuff with an impressive woman who is doing great things for her home community.

Before we get too far into the week, I wanted to provide a quick recap of our trip thus far.

And before I forget, I also wanted to make a quick plug for the other HKS trip on the road this week -- HKS in Detroit.  Check out their blog http://hksindetroit.weebly.com/blog.html.

We arrived in Roanoke Saturday afternoon and headed to an event with our Roanoke host and Trip Adviser, Ed Walker.  Ed is a local real estate developer, investor and community activist who has been one of the driving forces behind Roanoke's recent revitalization.  He was our gracious host for the weekend, and played a huge role in putting this trip together.

Roanoke, VA -- The Star City.  Hotel Roanoke in the middle, our temporary residence for the weekend, with the Wells Fargo Tower by its side.

Anyway, Ed hosted an event for us Saturday night with many of the leaders across both private and public sectors in Roanoke.  Fantastic evening with great folks, and really set the tone for the week.

Sunday, we got kicked off with a driving tour of Roanoke, narrated by Brian Townsend, Assistant City Manager, and Chris Morrill, City Manager.  They provided a ton of useful insights into what's been happening in Roanoke, and really gave a great perspective.

Get on the bus!  Chris Morrill and Brian Townsend leading the Roanoke Trolley Tour.  

From there, we met with Beth Macy, a local journalist who is currently on leave to finish her book, Factory Man.  The forthcoming book is about the impact of globalization on Southside VA, told mostly through the story of Bassett Furniture.  It will be a must-read when published, as it details the human element of what happened to this part of the country as outsourcing increased and state and federal government programs just weren't enough.  As the grandson of a former furniture factory worker in Bassett, and the son of a former factory worker in Martinsville, it was quite the conversation.  Check our her blog here:  http://intrepidpapergirl.com/.

Sunday afternoon with Beth Macy.

Sunday afternoon we were with Mike Friedlander from the VT Carilion Research Center, a state-of-the-art facility based in Roanoke.  We toured the building, which includes two massive magnets solely devoted to research.  They're doing some unbelievable work there, researching the brain and other neuroscience things I can't even pretend to understand.  But the big thing will be when it becomes fully integrated into the fabric of the Roanoke business community via the entrepreneurial work done by others in the Riverside Plaza area.

One of the giant magnets -- behind the glass, so best picture I could get.  But wow!

Monday we started with Scott Graeff from Luna Innovations and Eddie Amos from Meridian, two technology companies based in Roanoke.  Luna is a publicly-traded company doing fiber-optic work for companies in a number of end markets.  Meridian is a privately-held software company.  It was great to hear these folks' perspective on working and living in a small city, doing work that people would ordinarily do in Silicon Valley or elsewhere.  They both hammered home the point that a small city's viability is in many ways dependent upon its ability to make sure professionals have opportunities to do cool, interesting and engaging work in a place that they also want to live.

We then spent time with Webb Burns, VP of Strategic Development for Carilion Medical, discussing health care reform and the role that Carilion is playing in the Roanoke Valley through both health and wellness programs but also to spur innovation and entrepreneurship in the health and life sciences communities.

Lunch was at Blue 5, a really cool spot across from City Hall in Roanoke.  We were joined by Wayne Bowers, Director of Economic Development for the City of Roanoke, and Pete Eschelman from the Roanoke Valley Economic Development Partnership (http://www.roanoke.org/).  Wayne is relatively new to Roanoke, but brings a wealth of experience and a great perspective as a former City Manager from several cities in the Southeast.  Pete organizes a number of initiatives aimed at marketing the Roanoke Valley region to companies and potential investors across the U.S., highlighting in particular the outdoors and lifestyle aspects of the region.  Really awesome stuff.

Last, and definitely not least, we did a 90 minute panel discussion with folks from Valley Bank, Virginia Community Capital, and the real estate development community.  In a far-ranging discussion, we dug deep into the way in which investing via both traditional and non-traditional means can have an impact on development of an area like Roanoke.  Arguably one of my favorite discussions of a number of fantastic conversations thus far.

Discussing the importance of community-oriented banking and finance.

That's the quick, albeit verbose, recap.  I'm sure others will chime in with their perspectives thus far.  What I'll say is that I've been so happy with the way in which our group has embraced the communities, and by how excited each member of our team is for the opportunities that exist in this area.  Much more to come, for sure.

DRB