After a decade as South Carolina’s best sales representative looking for a job, Bobby Hitt he insists that he still receives the same charge for an economic development announcement that he received when he took office in January 2011.
“You are absolutely right,” Hitt said to subscribers to the The Post and Courier during a “Inside Business Live” event last week.
“Yes, I still find it exciting every day,” he said. “I think it is very exciting.”
Still, how long Hitt will be around has been a topic of intermittent speculation in Colombia. Over the course of its more than 10-year run, the agency helped recruit $ 43 billion in capital investment and 150,000 jobs, according to department figures. Hitt, the state’s longest-serving secretary of commerce, acknowledged that he is seriously considering when to leave.
“When you reach a certain age, and I’m 71 now, you start looking at the third trimester of life and say, ‘OK, this is a new game here,'” he said. “I know how it ends, so how I want to divide my time. So, this is in my head. Ten years is a long time.”
Hitt was a reporter and newspaper editor before his profile rose, when he became a public relations executive at BMW’s Interior plan. He and his team have conquered some of South Carolina’s best-known chimney industries. They include tire manufacturers Michelin and Bridgestone, manufacturer of commercial vehicles Mercedes-Benz Vans, the home appliance industry leader Samsung and the $ 1.1 billion Volvo Cars campus in Berkeley County.
Furthermore, for each big name, there are dozens of smaller ads.
“Most people don’t know, but we do a lot of modest-sized projects,” said Hitt. “I see all the jobs that are recruited as a family. So when we have a company that has 26 jobs and they want to expand, we are excited about that.”
“Of course, we are most excited when we can say that we hire someone who will invest hundreds of millions of dollars and create thousands of jobs,” added Hitt. “We all like that. It’s a kind of big oak that we plant somewhere and then see all the business grow on the drip line and beyond.”
How many more of these oaks Hitt has left to plant is unknown. The rumor around the Statehouse is that an ad may be on the horizon.
“When I have news, I’ll let you know,” he said.
All Nippon Airways will receive the latest 787 Dreamliner that Boeing built in Everett, Wash. File / AP
Up in the air
Final Boeing 787 built in the Seattle area had its first taste of airtime last week.
The aviation website Simple flight reported that the Dreamliner bound for Japan All Nippon Airways completed its first test flight from Everett, Wash., on March 16.
The 787-9 took off at about 11 am Pacific time, and returned about 2 and a half hours later, after reaching 500 knots and rising to a maximum altitude of 39,000 feet. The aircraft left the assembly line on February 26.
The verification flight marked a bittersweet milestone. Everett was the birthplace of the 787, where up to 900 employees were assigned to the program at its peak. The first Dreamliner was completed at the Washington state plant in 2009 and ended up being the first half of a bookend agreement: it was built for none other than All Nippon Airways, which now operates more than 74 of the jets.
Boeing last year decided to consolidate all production of the 787 at its new East Coast site in North Charleston under a cost-cutting plan.
Teams in the Puget Sound area are still inspecting and handling some cleaning tasks for any Dreamliner Everett built that has not yet been retired, but the South Carolina reconfiguration is almost complete.
The new Folly Beach pier is expected to be completed in 2023. Archives / Lauren Petracca / Staff
Hot sauce, Folly style
A North Carolina company that works in the Folly Beach Fishing Pier replacement is showing its metal.
Galvanic Industries recently announced that it is supplying steel reinforcement bars – better known as rebar – that will be used to strengthen the foundation’s concrete piles in the new structure.
In technical terms, the Harrisburg, North Carolina-based company said its product will be galvanized to “ASTM A767 Class 1The secret sauce: a zinc-based, anti-rust hot-dip coating process.
“This is important,” said Galvan in a written statement. “Rusty rebar can exert tremendous tensile stress from inside to outside on reinforced concrete, which causes chipping or cracking. Hot-dip galvanized zinc coatings form a waterproof metallic zinc barrier around the steel to insulate the surface. of concrete steel, preventing damage and giving the structure a longer service life. “
The Folly Beach pier opened in 1995. Its replacement is expected to be completed in mid-2023.
“I hope our grandchildren will find the new pier standing strong in many, many years to come”, Laurens Willard, president of Galvan, said in prepared comments.
Cool eagle
A Lowcountry native who has worked in court cases for the federal agency that has dealt with complaints of discrimination in the workplace for nearly five decades is now his primary lawyer, for now.
President Joe Biden veteran lawyer hired Gwendolyn Young Reams be interim general counsel for the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission after he defeated the ex-president Donald Trumpappointed to the position.
EEOC announced the appointment of Reams on March 19, a week after its predecessor, Sharon Fast Gustafson, was removed from office after refusing Biden’s resignation.
Reams most recently was an associate general counsel for litigation management services, where she oversaw legal disputes in 15 field offices.
It has some serious antiquity and probably more than a few war stories. Reams joined the EEOC as a lawyer in 1972, about seven years after its founding. She has a law degree from American Universityin Washington College of Law. She has a bachelor’s degree in Howard University.
The EEOC imposes federal laws that make it illegal to discriminate against job candidates or employees because of their race, color, religion, sex, nationality, age, disability or genetic information.