NEWBERRY — Wayne Adams and Charlie Banks, Newberry County residents, were recently named to the 2018 50 Most Influential list by Columbia Business Monthly.
On the cover of the list it states, “Columbia Business Monthly celebrates another year of honoring the region’s most influential people. The selection of our 50 individuals is a result of staff research and community nominations.”
Adams is the Newberry County administrator, a position he has held since 2006. In the write up naming him one of the 50 most influential, Columbia Business Monthly references the opening of Samsung in January 2018, as well as MM Technics, a BMW supplier that is located in Prosperity, prior to that.
The magazine further notes Adams received the President’s Cup from the S.C. Association of Counties in 2018, as well as “keeping his county’s financial reserves high and its debt low.”
When it comes to being named to the list, Adams said he was notified by the magazine.
“I was kinda taken aback, I think Newberry has been in the news a lot over the past year. I work as a public manager, my being selected for this honor means a lot of different people are doing their job well,” he said.
For example, Adams notes Samsung locating in Newberry, investing $350 million and hiring 1,000 people. This was recognized as one of the biggest projects in the state.
“Samsung doesn’t come here or anywhere because of one person, we’ve got a County Council that works very hard, Newberry Electric Cooperative Board and Keith Avery, our Economic Development department and there are a lot of heavy hitters on the state level,” he said. “Maybe I’m representative of the efforts of a lot of people.”
When it comes to two Newberry County people being named to the list, Adams said he thinks Newberry is a progressive county, with a lot of good people.
“I’m glad to see that our community is being recognized as an important area of the Columbia metropolitan region. I think that we are rapidly becoming a more important part of that region,” he said. “I think recognition comes to people and communities that work hard and plan to make the right moves, and you don’t really think about the recognition itself. I think because of the people we have here in Newberry County, recognition is bound to increase.”
Adams was thankful for the magazine recognizing what Newberry County is doing, noting that a lot of people deserve credit for what they are doing.
Banks has now been named to the list four years in a row. Banks is the managing director, and one of the co-founders, of VentureSouth, one of the country’s largest early stage investment firms.
The magazine notes that in 2018 the organization continued to expand its footprint by adding investors from across the country, including Canada, and now is comprised of nearly 300 private investors.
“It is certainly an honor, we’ve put our blood, sweat and tears and time into building VentureSouth. Always good to get recognized for years of hard work,” Banks said.
Last year was really VentureSouths break out year, according to Banks. He said they had record growth across all the metrics they track. For example, in 2017 investment capital was four and a half million dollars, but in 2018 it was seven million dollars.
VentureSouth has nearly 300 investors, which is up from 230 in 2017.
“Everything we do hinges on our ability to exit the companies, we’ve invested in 64 companies, in 2018 we successfully sold three of those companies. We re-returned six and a half million in profits to our investors last year,” Banks said. “Terms of what we do in the industry, that is a major significant victory for VentureSouth.”
VentureSouth was founded by Paul Clark, Matt Dunbar and Banks, Banks said they have a fantastic team of people around them.
“We started what’s called our Palmetto Venture Fellowship Program, Alex Durham and Ryan Sandifer (Newberry College graduates). Both graduated, Alex is getting his MBA from Clemson and Ryan just graduated in December and moved back home to work in a family business,” Banks said.
When it comes to being recognized to the list, as well as Adams, Banks said that often times people forget Newberry is in the Midlands.
“A lot of growth in Newberry can be contributed to people like Wayne who can attract industry, and City and County Council that continue to put in place the necessary infrastructure to attract that type of growth,” Banks said. “Newberry is a player, no doubt about it, not just a bedroom community anymore, a place people live, work, raise a family, invest and grow companies.”
In the future, Banks believes more Newberry County names will make the list.
“People in economic development office, people in the non-profit world, they’re doing big things in Newberry,” Banks said.
When it comes to the person who nominated him, Banks gave a sincere thank you.
“Anytime someone recognized your hard work, it is humbling and it is exciting. We’ve worked real hard to do what we’ve done, for someone to take the time to notice that, it means a lot,” he said.