July 2004

In this issue:

Interning Aboard the Enterprise

By Andy McCleaf

Questions for a Fairy-Tale Graduate

By Mackie Boles, Chris Gore, Kirk Rhodes, Clark Waldrep

Where Are They Now?

By Max Ballard CGPS '03

Interning Aboard the Enterprise

By Andy McCleaf

Remember your college days? Finishing your college requirements? Looking forward to being able to go out in society, hoping to apply all that you had learned? If you were lucky, you were able to add credits, practical experience, and some resume material with a good internship placement. Some internships might have been valuable. Some might have been closer to monotonous slave labor. However, very few internships, I imagine, helped to plot the course to new medical discoveries. Grant Brewer, a Citadel College MBA candidate, is boldly going into this new realm.

Grant Brewer is a Biomedical Engineering undergraduate from the University of Georgia. Upon his graduation he worked for a small biotech company, Serologicals, working his way up to the Director of Operations. However, at the end of 2000, the spiraling economy and layoffs led Grant back to school again to enhance his business knowledge. Through orchestrated efforts of several key people, he was able to obtain a college internship which is designed to use the cooperative efforts of SC Bio and The MUSC Foundation For Research Development to aid local life science companies and ideas.

SC Bio works to turn new, innovative ideas from local medical professionals into small businesses. Its mission to foster and promote a biotech industry in South Carolina is clear in it's charter, which reads, "to support and promote growth and development of life sciences technology in South Carolina. So, SC Bio's mission could create the possibility of replacing dwindling textile jobs and the local dependence on naval positions with the creation of several life science companies.

Again, imagine your college achievements. At SC Bio, Grant Brewer takes an innovative bio-medical idea or a new medical product and maps it into a small business. He plays a role in valuating patents, researching new ideas, and writing new business plans, leading SC Bio and the idea's originators where no one has gone before. In his own words, he has become very knowledgeable about many cutting-edge biotechnologies, as well as the companies that occupy different markets.

This internship was a collaborative product between the Citadel's Director of Career Services, Brent Stewart, SC Bio's CEO, Karl Kelly and the Executive Director of The MUSC Foundation for Research Development, Dr. Ken Roozen. Karl Kelly and Dr. Roozen liked the idea of matching local talent with local industry opportunities. However, Grant confides, "Brent Stewart was also instrumental in creating the internship, helping to keep the idea afloat." And why not? What a great experience the internship can be for current and future Citadel prospects.

Grant indicates the idea for SC Bio originated with Kenneth Roozen, Ph. D. at MUSC's Foundation For Research Development. The relationship between SC Bio and the MUSC Foundation for Research Development attempts to harness the knowledge of community business leaders with MUSC's ideas, or intellectual property. The MUSC Foundation for Research Development also evaluates MUSC inventions and, if warranted, seeks patent protection and commercial opportunities for certain ideas. If opportunities exist, the intellectual property is rolled into an incubator development project. Grant Brewer enters the picture by trying to piece together a business plan for Mr. Kelly. He conducts research on the intellectual property, trying to take it to patent. He, MUSC, and SC Bio incubate the idea from patent to business plan, and ultimately to a small, entrepreneurial business.

So, with SC Bio and MUSC's Foundation for Research Development the benefits for South Carolina and South Carolinians are bright with the wide variety of promising, potentially lucrative jobs becoming available. That was part of Karl Kelly's business model, taking local talent with local industry opportunities. When asked, "Why Charleston?" Grant Brewer responds, "because of MUSC generating some great ideas by similar brilliant minds." Those brilliant minds could broaden expansion of several new bio-medical companies in South Carolina's future, creating many more bio-medical jobs and improving the local economies. And each new company brings the potential to develop life changing products or services.

When asked how his involvement with SC Bio benefits him, Grant sat back in his leather chair and smiled for a second. He admitted he has become a lot more knowledgeable. Through Karl Kelly's and Dr. Roozen' s procedures he has learned and practiced the idea-to-business plan experience (incubator), marketing research, and patent involvement. He has gained some reasonably sound resume material and he is even paid a fair salary. Plus, he adds, he has the opportunity to hop aboard a new company if a great initiative is created; boldly going where no intern has gone before.

Questions for a Fairy-Tale Graduate

By Mackie Boles, Chris Gore, Kirk Rhodes, Clark Waldrep

When Allen Urgelles graduated from The Citadel in 2003, he believed in fairy-tales. The ring does not guarantee a job, but a hard work ethic and determination may. One year out of college, Allen is not Donald Trump's apprentice, but a lowly sales rep for an undisclosed chemical company. In fact, his job is extremely boring and entails long hours on the phone every day. Allen has discovered the same discipline necessary to carry him through The Citadel is the driving force needed to carry him beyond such entry-level positions.

We met with Allen to ask him these questions:

How has your Citadel education and experience affected you in your career?

My Citadel education helped me to get into the career that I am in now by giving me confidence and teaching me perseverance while I was a cadet.

What is the most valued aspect of your Citadel experience that you use in your daily life?

I would say leadership potential; opportunities to lead, setting the example, and being accountable for your actions are all things I took away from The Citadel.

In your opinion, how has The Citadel prepared you for the business world better than a typical college would?

After being at The Citadel, I truly believe that the school prepares its graduates better than any other college. Because of the discipline I learned as a cadet, I feel that I am ready for the stresses that the world has to offer me. The Citadel taught me how to deal with difficult situations more effectively.

With your role as a leader in the Corps of Cadets, has it been easier for you to communicate with your superiors on a more professional level?

Yes it has. When I have dealt with an executive on a bad occasion, I didn't look for the easy way out. I accepted my fault and held myself accountable for my mistakes.

How about dealing with subordinates?

Different people require different ways of communicating, and that's the biggest key to maintaining good relationships with subordinates.

Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

In 10 years I hope to be using my business skills that I have learned in my current career to create my own business.

Have you been faced with a moral/ethical dilemma since you have begun your career?

Yes I have. Somehow I found a way to get more days off than the maximum amount given, but I knew it was wrong and that there would be a chance that I could get caught. I decided that the right thing to do is not to take the days, not because I could have been caught, but because it just wasn't the right thing to do.

Who has been the most influential leader in your life, and why?

Actually, it is Lee Iacocca, the man that turned the Chrysler Corporation around from near disaster. I read his biography and it was inspiring to me to see a man like that succeed.

How about at The Citadel?

Major General Poole, a finance teacher of mine. He was very smart, driven, and professional in all that he did.

What is the one piece of advice that you would give me as a soon-to-be graduate, seeking a job?

I would tell you to find a career field that you enjoy and something you'll be happy with.

Allen has found the Citadel chemistry to be the main ingredient of his success--not in what it did for him, but what it instilled within him. He no longer believes in the Citadel automatic job fairy-tale, but because of the lessons he learned in college, he is well on his way to making an unbelievable career.

Where Are They Now?

By Max Ballard CGPS '03

In October of 2003, I had the rare pleasure of interviewing two Citadel alumni who have chartered a new bank in Charleston. The two alumni are Robert "Chip" Coffee and Kenneth "Ken" Pickens. The bank they have chartered is Tidelands Bank and has one local office located at 875 Lowcountry Boulevard in Mount Pleasant.

Chip graduated from The Citadel in 1970 with a BS in Business Administration and has been a career banker ever since. In 1986 he started a community bank in Little River, SC called 1st Atlantic Bank, which merged with Anchor Bank in 1993. After the merger, Chip hung up his CEO hat for that of an Executive Officer of Anchor and in April of 2000, that bank merged in with Carolina First Bank. In February of 2003, Chip was bank in banking again and became CEO and Director of the newly formed Tidelands Bank.

Ken graduated from The Citadel in 1982 also with a BS in Business Administration. Ken was the 1982 recipient of the John O. Willson ring and has been in banking ever since graduating. Ken also completed his MBA at the Citadel in 2002 and this was where I had the pleasure of meeting him. Ken's business focus has been primarily on Commercial banking and he was Vice President and Business Services Officer with BB&T for 11 years. Ken is a Vice President and Commercial banker at Tidelands Bank.

Both Chip and Ken have many accolades in the banking industry and both were graduates of the Stonier Graduate School of Banking. Chip completed his course work at Rutgers University in 1978 and Ken at the University of Georgetown in 2003. Both men have lofty goals for the newly formed bank and anticipate expansion along the southeast coastline over the next several years.

Chip's philosophy on banking is quite simple and straight forward- "Time is money, we give you more." The bank officially opened October 7th of 2003 and the core focus will be on small business entrepreneurs and consumers initially with the Mortgage Company rolling out in December of 2003. The website for the new bank is www.Tidelandsbank.com.