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CHARLOTTE, N.C., May 15, 2015 /PRNewswire/ — The SEAL Legacy Foundation’s Fourth Annual Golf Classic will be held on May 17-18, 2015, at the Golf Club of Houston.  The event is held each year to raise funds and increase public awareness for the SEAL Legacy Foundation’s impressive support for United States Navy SEALs and their families.  

This year’s Golf Classic is being presented by the iSolved Network of Certified Partners, some of whom will play in the event in order to support the Foundation. The iSolved Network is comprised of elite, high-growth payroll service bureaus that use the iSolved human capital management platform to service their customers.

The Golf Classic is the Foundation’s most important annual fundraiser for scholarships and other Foundation benefits and activities. As the presenting sponsor, the iSolved Network received VIP tickets that were given to their membership of Certified Partners to attend the event in Houston.

Dave Dawson, CEO at Infinisource’s iSolved Network and Navy veteran responded, “We’re very excited to be a part of the Foundation’s Fourth Annual Golf Classic and also to provide the opportunity for our Certified Partners to participate in this fun event that supports the SEAL community.”  

Each player will receive a special SEAL Legacy Foundation gift and a team photo, with prizes to the top two foursomes on each course, longest drive and closest-to-the-pin winners. On the evening prior to the golf scramble, there will be a Pairings Party and auction at the House of Blues Concert Hall.

About the SEAL Legacy Foundation

The SEAL Legacy Foundation is a 501(C)(3), nonprofit organization dedicated to providing support to families of wounded and fallen United States Navy SEALs, educational assistance for SEALs and their families, and other charitable causes benefiting the SEAL community. The Foundation was established in 2011 by SEALs to preserve their legacy of no one left behind. For more information about please visit www.SEALLegacy.org. The SEAL Legacy Foundation may also be followed via www.twitter.com/SEALLegacy and on Facebook via www.facebook.com/SEALLegacyFoundation.

About the iSolved Network

The iSolved Network is an ecosystem for elite, high-growth payroll service providers who use the cloud-based iSolved human capital management technology to deliver a complete set of workforce solutions to small and medium sized businesses. Launched in the summer of 2014, the iSolved Network has experienced rapid growth and now has nearly one million employees committed to the technology. The iSolved solution delivers a comprehensive approach to workforce management, offering payroll, human resources, time and labor tracking, as well as benefit enrollment from within the same solution. For more information on the iSolved Network, or to locate a Certified Network Partner in your region, visit http://www.isolvednetwork.com/ .

Photo – http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150515/216280   
Logo – http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140908/143813

SOURCE iSolved Network

RELATED LINKS
http://www.isolvednetwork.com

CHARLOTTE, N.C., May 15, 2015 /PRNewswire/ — FairPoint Communications, Inc. (Nasdaq: FRP), a leading communications provider, today announced workforce restructuring actions that will result in a reduction of approximately 260 positions across the 17 states in which it operates, including the closing of its call center in South Burlington, Vermont.  This action, combined with other headcount reductions over the past two years, approximates the level of voice line loss the company has experienced in that period.

“Access lines and legacy revenues are in secular decline, and we are taking these steps to ensure our administrative and operational structures remain aligned with the current size and composition of our business,” said Paul H. Sunu, Chief Executive Officer.  “Faced with the realities of the industry and the competitive landscape in which we operate, we must be keenly focused on managing costs and enhancing productivity.  These steps, while difficult, help solidify our future.  We remain committed to providing great service to business and residential customers and will utilize improved processes to enhance productivity to continue to deliver preferred products and services to our markets,” Sunu concluded.

FairPoint remains focused on transforming its revenue base to more sustainable, data-centric lines of business as technology and customer preferences evolve.  To support this focus, the company plans to expand its staffing and support in areas such as the recently-announced data center in Manchester, New Hampshire, and related lines of business.

To assist impacted employees in their transition, FairPoint will provide severance based on years-of-service and will offer outplacement and transition assistance services to eligible employees. 

About FairPoint Communications, Inc.

FairPoint Communications, Inc. (Nasdaq: FRP) provides advanced data, voice and video technologies to single and multi-site businesses, public and private institutions, consumers, wireless companies and wholesale re-sellers in 17 states.  Leveraging an owned, fiber-core Ethernet network — including more than 16,000 route miles of fiber in northern New England — FairPoint has the network coverage, scalable bandwidth and transport capacity to support enhanced applications, including the next generation of mobile and cloud-based communications, such as small cell wireless backhaul technology, voice over IP, data center colocation services, managed services and disaster recovery.  For more information, visit www.FairPoint.com.

SOURCE FairPoint Communications, Inc.

RELATED LINKS
http://www.fairpoint.com

The Athletic Club of the Sandhills announced Friday that it plans to build a 14-field multi-sport athletic complex at the corner of U.S. 1 and N.C. 24/27 in Cameron.

The $8 million project would be constructed in phases under a lease-to-purchase agreement with landowner Frank Maser.

“The agreement will have performance benchmarks that satisfy and protect all parties — AC Sandhills, Mr. Maser and Cameron,” AC Sandhills Executive Director Todd Abbey said. “The last thing we want to do is sit on this project for five years. Our goal is to start clearing the land this fall or winter.”

Maser said he agreed to a lease-to-purchase to save AC Sandhills “money on the front end.”

“I’ve never put the land on the market,” he said. “I want to try to help them get the park started. I’m just trying to facilitate a good, safe place for kids to play. Anything that is good for kids is good for the community. I think it’s a positive thing.”

The announcement comes on the heels of a feasibility study conducted by the town of Aberdeen and the local Convention Visitors Bureau (CVB) that found a similar complex on U.S. 15-501 south of Aberdeen would cost $15.9 million to build.

Caleb Miles, president and CEO of the CVB and a proponent of the Aberdeen project, said he did not know enough about the proposed AC Sandhills complex to determine if both are sustainable.

“There are some needs and opportunities in our community for sports tourism,” Miles said Friday. “But we have to get the correct equation put in place so it can all be sustainable. Maybe there’s a way we can work on this together.”

AC Sandhills is also partnering with John O’Malley, owner of the former Gulistan carpet plant in Aberdeen, to turn a portion of that 650,000-square-foot building into an indoor sports and entertainment complex. There is also room at the 69-acre site on N.C. 5 for five new outdoor soccer fields.

AC Sandhills currently hosts soccer games at the Morganton Road athletic complex owned by Southern Pines, Rassie Wicker and Cannon parks owned by Pinehurst, and fields at Pinecrest High School. Earlier this year, the group also reached an agreement with the village of Pinehurst to construct three fields at West Pinehurst Park.

“Our motives are not money,” Abbey said. “Revenue will be used to maintain the facilities, grow the club and put back into our programming. And we’re not leaving our current fields. This is where our roots are. Going north allows us to generate more interest in the club in Cameron, Carthage, Robbins, Woodlake, Vass and western Harnett County.

“There’s a lot of potential. It makes sense for us.”

The demand for more fields is being driven in large part by the changing demographics in Moore County. In 2010, there were 16,541 residents under the age of 18, compared to an estimated 19,508 last year, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

AC Sandhills has grown from 1,500 members in June 2010 to almost 3,000 today. In addition to soccer, it offers lacrosse, volleyball and youth triathlon programs.

“We’ve been working on this project for three years,” Abbey said. “Owning our own park is a huge benefit. It’s always been one of my goals here.”

The local boom in soccer played a role in the recent decision by three former AC Sandhills Board members and another individual to launch the Sandhills Area Soccer Club, an alternative for youth who only want to play on travel teams. Tryouts for those teams start Monday.

Abbey said an initial phase of the Cameron project calls for three artificial turf fields by the end of 2016. A second phase calls for eight of the 11 natural grass fields by the end of 2017; the final phase would build out the three remaining fields. One of the natural grass fields would be a “stadium” with a minimum of 1,000 seats.

Plans also call for concessions, bathrooms, locker rooms and maintenance and storage sheds.

“The complex will allow us to implement new programming, host tournaments, and conduct clinics and camps,” Abbey said. “We also want to make sure this is a community park. We want other organizations to be able to use it.”

Abbey said a percentage of net revenue from events and tournaments would be donated to local nonprofits that support cancer care through a new program called Fields 4 Life.

“This is not for cancer research,” he said. “This is to provide financial assistance to families exposed to the hardships of cancer.”

Abbey added that the complex would be set apart from others in North Carolina by technology.

“We hope to have kiosks at every field, for example,” he said. “We have other ideas, but can’t divulge them at this time due to confidentiality agreements with our potential partners.”

AC Sandhills also has a high-profile soccer celebrity to help with marketing. It has secured the services of Clint Dempsey, who captained the U.S. National Team at last year’s World Cup and is a member of the Seattle Sounders professional team. Dempsey will make appearances, do promotional ads and help with the capital campaign.

“Clint Dempsey brings validity to corporate sponsors,” Abbey said. “His reputation within soccer and around the world is tremendous. He is someone we can lean on. We’re very excited that he’s on board.”

Dempsey is married to Bethany Keegan, a Union Pines High School graduate. The couple, who met at Furman University, have a house at Beacon Ridge.

“He knows this area, and he likes this area,” Abbey said. “There will be a Dempsey Field at the complex in perpetuity.”

AC Sandhills has also hired Charlie Slagle, who coached the men’s soccer team at Davidson College for 21 years, spent 12 years as CEO of Capital Area Soccer League in Raleigh, and played an integral role in building WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary.

“Charlie brings a wealth of experience and vision,” Abbey said. “He has helped us with direction, feasibility and build-out plans. We trust his capability to help AC Sandhills realize its goals in Cameron.”

Slagle said it took six months of negotiations to sign Dempsey.

“It was a shot in the dark, but it was important to get Clint,” Slagle said. “He is the top name in U.S. soccer. I don’t think he would have been interested had it been anywhere else in North Carolina. I also don’t think he would be involved if he didn’t think it was very viable.”

Slagle said the capital campaign will focus on “securing naming rights in perpetuity.”

“We’re going to initially be looking for sponsors for the complex and each field,” he said. “Dempsey Field will be in the stadium. We’ll seek individual donors later, unless someone wants a field named after them.”

Slagle said the park’s proximity to Charlotte, the Triad and the Triangle is critical, not to mention leveraging the Pinehurst name.

“You don’t have to say where it is because Pinehurst is a well-known brand,” he said. “I think something like this is needed in the center of the state. I’m excited about it.”

Jim Miller and his wife, Linse, have found a unique business niche, one that makes perfect sense when you think of Sarasota as a southern outpost for the nation’s Amish and Mennonite communities.

Miller, a former Mennonite pastor in Sarasota, and his wife have become the largest Internet-only marketers of Amish-made furniture.

Operating as JMX Brands from offices in east Sarasota, and with no showroom, they are now taking more than $6 million a year in orders that they route to 190 Amish craft shops, mostly furniture makers in Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

Many of these factories have no telephones or computers, in keeping with the Amish tradition of living simple lives free of technological distractions.

The lack of voice and email communications made it tough for the Millers to set up their business. But now it helps discourage potential competitors.

Sarasota’s history as an Amish resort dates back to the 1920s and, like many other Florida transplants before them, the Millers were following in their parents’ footsteps when they came to Sarasota in the 1990s.

He had graduated from Goshen College, a well-known liberal arts college associated with the Mennonite Church USA, and took a job here as an assistant pastor. He later moved to another Mennonite congregation as its pastor.

But that was before the Millers found what must be their true calling.

They started their online marketing business in 2003 with just $1,000.

“We had to make money from the very beginning,” Jim Miller said.

After a modest success with hand-made mailboxes, they found “this Amish guy who had these lighthouse replicas,” Miller said. “We hit it just right with those lighthouses and sold them like crazy.”

That craftsman in Pennsylvania introduced the Millers to others.

“The more success we had, the easier it was for us to convince these Amish guys to let us have a try,” Miller said.

JMX operates several websites, but the main one is DutchCrafters.com.

Toward the end of 2003, their first year, Linse Miller convinced her husband to try dealing in furniture.

“We see this beautiful hardwood indoor furniture. I said ‘Nah, that is not going to work. Nobody would spend that much on indoor furniture they haven’t seen in person. And it’s hard to ship,'” Jim Miller said.

“But she pushed it,” he added.

They made their first furniture sale at the end of 2003 and never looked back. In 2004, their first full year online, they did half a million dollars in furniture sales.

While wooden furnishings are its core business, JMX is not against plastics, as long as they are used right. In fact, one of their hottest sellers is a line of heavy-duty lawn furniture made from recycled milk bottles.

Some items, like birdhouses and mailboxes, are what Jim Miller calls “UPS-able,” meaning they are easily cartoned up and shipped.

But for delivering big pieces of furniture, the couple has found that their best method is to hire two guys with a truck, an approach Jim Miller calls “blanket-wrapping.”

Customers for larger pieces are told up front that, even after a custom piece if made, they should allow extra time for delivery.

The logistics folks at JMX will put together batches of orders coming from one of their regions and heading for the Northeast or the Western U.S.

“We are busy enough that it usually doesn’t take any longer than two weeks. We always have a truck going to the Northeast,” Miller said.

“So, we would contract with a specific driver, say Matthew, and Matthew would go to eight different workshops in Indiana and Ohio and do all his pickups and take a full load of furniture out west,” Miller said.

Having shippers they can trust, and then double-checking everything by phone from Sarasota is critical.

“You can’t get to California and say, ‘Oh, this is the wrong stain color,’ or ‘We forgot the leaves for the table,'” Miller said.

The company now has a quality-assurance team of four people whose job is to keep incidents like that from happening, and to straighten out any that do.

The online business the Millers created is benefitting not only from their own growing sense of what represents quality and what will sell, but also from two trends:

. Each year, more people are willing to make a big-ticket purchase online.

. Amish furniture, made in America and emphasizing quality, is hot.

“The e-commerce channel is becoming a much more important channel for furniture,” said Larry Thomas, business editor at Furniture Today, a trade publication based in Greensboro, N.C.

“Our research department estimates that 10 percent of furniture sales were done online in 2014, which is not an insignificant number. They project it could hit 17 percent by 2020.”

JMX made it on three lists of the fastest-growing private companies in the United States last year: the 2014 Gulf Coast 500, Inc. 5000, and Internet Retail 1000.

In 2012, the company employed 10 people and grossed $2 million. By 2014, sales had hit $6 million and the payroll had risen to 24.

For the first quarter of 2015, revenues were up 70 percent, Jim Miller said.

“Nobody in their right mind would expect 70 percent growth to continue,” he said. “We do have some growth projections that are progressive, but they are well short of that. We are realistic.”

From the beginning, the couple has been making at least one trip each year, sometimes more, to Amish regions in Indiana, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.

These days, they typically arrange for two or three staff members at a time to join them as they meet with their vendors, tour their factories and get a feeling for how the goods are assembled.

Alan Miller, an Amish man who is not related to the Sarasota Millers, runs a 30,000-square-foot furniture factory in Dundee, Ohio, supporting a payroll of 40.

But like most of the roughly 600 furniture makers in his two-county region, he shuns some of the conveniences of modern life that most Americans take for granted, such as electric power supplied by a utility company.

He does use electrically powered equipment to make his all-wooden dining-room, living room and office furniture. But the power comes from his own natural-gas- powered generator.

“We have some machinery and stuff like that,” Alan Miller told the Herald-Tribune in a telephone interview. “But everything is hand made. Everything is made for that specific customer.”

In Sarasota, Jim Miller, explained that, in general, it is not that the Amish are averse to technology.

“They are interested in degrees of separation from the world,” Jim Miller said.

The customs for a given Amish community typically are set by the local bishop. There are also variations from church to church.

Alan Miller will talk on a phone, but he avoids going on a computer, ruling out receiving email, let alone selling furniture on the Internet.

To follow up on the telephone interview, Miller provided a reporter with an email address. But emails to him are routed to a service that sends the messages to Miller as faxes, so he reads them on paper, not a screen.

Other Amish craftspeople whose goods are handled by JMX prefer not to have a fax machine, either. In those cases, JMX will send the furniture order to a courier service, which will receive the fax, then hand carry it to the factory.

In some cases, business owners have built a wooden phone booth at the end of the family driveway, so it is neither in the home or the shop.

The owner would typically go to the booth to retrieve messages in the morning, make return phone calls, and then make a second round in the evening before quitting for the day.

“It is refreshing for us as we get to go up there and visit farms and woodshops, to see this sort of other-worldly style that is off the grid,” Jim Miller said, “where people actually talk to each other in the evenings, or just sit and watch the kids play.”

Alan Miller’s company, Genuine Oak, has been in existence for 19 years. Just three years ago, he began selling some of his production through JMX.

“In several cases, including Alan’s, we are very near the top of their customer list or at the top,” Jim Miller said.

Before the Internet, Alan Miller said that his most important way of winning customers was through Amish craft fairs.

The Internet has augmented that old-school approach, he said.

“They get the customers who don’t want to go out and fight the crowd.”