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Red Ventures Announces $15MM Strategic Investment in Ampush

Posted on October 21, 2015 by

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SAN FRANCISCO and CHARLOTTE, N.C., Oct. 20, 2015 /PRNewswire/ –Red Ventures, a technology-driven marketing and sales company, today announced a $15MM strategic investment in Ampush, an industry leading provider of native in-feed mobile advertising on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest. As part of the investment, Red Ventures CEO, Ric Elias, will join the Ampush Board of Directors, and the two companies will leverage their collective technology and digital marketing capabilities to drive incremental growth for partners.

–>SAN FRANCISCO and CHARLOTTE, N.C., Oct. 20, 2015 /PRNewswire/ –Red Ventures, a technology-driven marketing and sales company, today announced a $15MM strategic investment in Ampush, an industry leading provider of native in-feed mobile advertising on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest. As part of the investment, Red Ventures CEO, Ric Elias, will join the Ampush Board of Directors, and the two companies will leverage their collective technology and digital marketing capabilities to drive incremental growth for partners.

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SAN FRANCISCO and CHARLOTTE, N.C., Oct. 20, 2015 /PRNewswire/ — Red Ventures, a technology-driven marketing and sales company, today announced a $15MM strategic investment in Ampush, an industry leading provider of native in-feed mobile advertising on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest. As part of the investment, Red Ventures CEO, Ric Elias, will join the Ampush Board of Directors, and the two companies will leverage their collective technology and digital marketing capabilities to drive incremental growth for partners.

Ric Elias, CEO of Red Ventures. “We look forward to collaborating and leveraging both of our platforms as we continue to evolve in a rapidly changing digital landscape.”

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Ric Elias, CEO of Red Ventures. “We look forward to collaborating and leveraging both of our platforms as we continue to evolve in a rapidly changing digital landscape.”

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“We’ve known the team at Ampush for a long time, tracked their progress, and have developed a strong relationship as they’ve continued to grow,” said Ric Elias, CEO of Red Ventures. “We look forward to collaborating and leveraging both of our platforms as we continue to evolve in a rapidly changing digital landscape.”

Charlotte, N.C., Red Ventures uses advanced analytics and proprietary technology to optimize the entire customer acquisition funnel from demand generation to closing the sale for some of the nation’s top brands. Operating across a variety of high-growth industries, including Home Services, Insurance, Energy, Financial Services and Software, Red Ventures seamlessly connects customers with the products and services they need most.

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Charlotte, N.C., Red Ventures uses advanced analytics and proprietary technology to optimize the entire customer acquisition funnel from demand generation to closing the sale for some of the nation’s top brands. Operating across a variety of high-growth industries, including Home Services, Insurance, Energy, Financial Services and Software, Red Ventures seamlessly connects customers with the products and services they need most.

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Headquartered just outside Charlotte, N.C., Red Ventures uses advanced analytics and proprietary technology to optimize the entire customer acquisition funnel – from demand generation to closing the sale – for some of the nation’s top brands. Operating across a variety of high-growth industries, including Home Services, Insurance, Energy, Financial Services and Software, Red Ventures seamlessly connects customers with the products and services they need most.

San Francisco, Ampush is a full-service provider of native in-feed mobile advertising solutions on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest, specializing in customer acquisition and direct response marketing across these four platforms. The company’s AMP software platform powers ad buying, optimization and insights, helping advertisers in the Travel, Media and Entertainment, E-commerce, Mobile Gaming, and Financial Services verticals profitably acquire customers and achieve their performance marketing objectives. The company has grown substantially, with first half net revenue up nearly 100% YoY in 2015. In recognition for its growth, Ampush is ranked #61 in the 2015 Inc. 5000 and #4 in the software category.

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San Francisco, Ampush is a full-service provider of native in-feed mobile advertising solutions on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest, specializing in customer acquisition and direct response marketing across these four platforms. The company’s AMP software platform powers ad buying, optimization and insights, helping advertisers in the Travel, Media and Entertainment, E-commerce, Mobile Gaming, and Financial Services verticals profitably acquire customers and achieve their performance marketing objectives. The company has grown substantially, with first half net revenue up nearly 100% YoY in 2015. In recognition for its growth, Ampush is ranked #61 in the 2015 Inc. 5000 and #4 in the software category.

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Based in San Francisco, Ampush is a full-service provider of native in-feed mobile advertising solutions on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest, specializing in customer acquisition and direct response marketing across these four platforms. The company’s AMP software platform powers ad buying, optimization and insights, helping advertisers in the Travel, Media and Entertainment, E-commerce, Mobile Gaming, and Financial Services verticals profitably acquire customers and achieve their performance marketing objectives. The company has grown substantially, with first half net revenue up nearly 100% YoY in 2015. In recognition for its growth, Ampush is ranked #61 in the 2015 Inc. 5000 and #4 in the software category.

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As a result of this partnership, the two companies, which share a common focus on performance marketing, will collaborate in multiple ways to fuel growth for their partners. Red Ventures will be able to leverage Ampush’s strength in native in-feed mobile to offer its partners a proven channel for customer acquisition, one that is increasingly essential to marketers as a result of mobile’s rapid consumer adoption. Ampush also will tap Red Ventures’ capabilities to offer a complete suite of customer acquisition tools.

Jesse Pujji, CEO of Ampush. “Red Ventures has built the strongest value proposition of any company that grew up in the search era. This partnership makes a lot of sense because it will enable us to deliver end-to-end performance capabilities and propel more growth for their partners and ours.”

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Jesse Pujji, CEO of Ampush. “Red Ventures has built the strongest value proposition of any company that grew up in the search era. This partnership makes a lot of sense because it will enable us to deliver end-to-end performance capabilities and propel more growth for their partners and ours.”

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“Ampush is known to be the performance leader in native mobile marketing,” said Jesse Pujji, CEO of Ampush. “Red Ventures has built the strongest value proposition of any company that grew up in the search era. This partnership makes a lot of sense because it will enable us to deliver end-to-end performance capabilities and propel more growth for their partners and ours.”

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“In partnering with Ampush, we unlock opportunities to explore new geographies and new industries, while also continuing to build upon the unique value proposition for our partners,” said Elias.

Silver Lake, in January 2015, and the $310MM acquisition of marketing services organization, Imagitas, from Pitney Bowes in June 2015.

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Silver Lake, in January 2015, and the $310MM acquisition of marketing services organization, Imagitas, from Pitney Bowes in June 2015.

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The investment builds upon months of substantial growth for Red Ventures, including the $250MM strategic investment by global technology investing leader, Silver Lake, in January 2015, and the $310MM acquisition of marketing services organization, Imagitas, from Pitney Bowes in June 2015.

About Red Ventures

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About Red Ventures

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About Red Ventures

Charlotte, NC for eight years running. Learn more at www.redventures.com.

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Charlotte, NC for eight years running. Learn more at www.redventures.com.

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Founded in 2000, Red Ventures employs more than 2,700 people and is the country’s largest technology-enabled platform for growing sales and marketing businesses. Its expertise spans across multiple industries including Home Services, Energy, Financial Services, Insurance and Software. Success is driven by advanced internet analytics, proprietary technology and the company’s greatest competitive advantage – the people. Red Ventures has been named a Best Place to Work in Charlotte, NC for eight years running. Learn more at www.redventures.com.

About Ampush

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About Ampush

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About Ampush

San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago. For more information visit: www.ampush.com.

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San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago. For more information visit: www.ampush.com.

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Founded in 2009, Ampush leverages its leading marketing software, AMP, and a managed approach to drive profitable advertising results on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest. The company helps mobile-focused marketers in Entertainment, E-commerce, Financial Services, Mobile Gaming, Travel, CPG and other verticals acquire, engage, and retain new users, generate sales, and maximize return on investment. The AMP software platform powers ad buying, optimization and insights, thereby making it easy for advertisers to reach people with smarter, in-feed ads. Ampush has offices in San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago. For more information visit: www.ampush.com.

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http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/red-ventures-announces-15mm-strategic-investment-in-ampush-300162830.html

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SOURCE Red Ventures

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Tagged with: Charlotte

Closure of Hatfield-McCoy trail loops causes turmoil for riders, merchants – Charleston Gazette

Posted on October 21, 2015 by

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JULIAN — The recent sale of a tract of land along the Boone-Lincoln county line that contains two loops of the Hatfield-McCoy Trails system has left trail users looking for other places to ride, business owners thinking about closing and trail system officials scrambling to come up with a Plan B to keep trails open in the area if they can’t reach a licensing agreement with the new owner of the property.

The Hatfield-McCoy’s Little Coal River trail system near Julian in Boone County and the nearby Ivy Branch trail system in Lincoln County, each offering about 55 miles of trails to all-terrain vehicle and off-road motorcycle enthusiasts, will close to riders on Monday as the former owners of the land transfer the property to a new buyer, who remains unidentified until the sale agreement is finalized sometime next week.

“When we got the certified letter notifying us of the sale, I was just floored,” said Jeffrey Lusk, executive director the Hatfield-McCoy Trails. “It really caught us off guard. I didn’t know the land was on the market. But one way or another, we will work through this.”

The Little Coal River Trail, which opened 12 years ago, and the Ivy Branch Trail, just three years old, are the closest trails to Charleston in the Hatfield-McCoy system. None of the other six trail loops in the Hatfield-McCoy system, totaling about 600 miles in seven counties, was affected by the sale.

“It’s a shame,” Robert Macri of Akron, Ohio, said of the pending closure, as he and four friends and family members prepared to spend Friday riding the Little Coal River system on motorcycles. “I’d hate to see that happen.

“We rode ATVs here in April and had a great time,” Macri said. “Since it’s already a four-hour drive to get here, we may take a look at other options in Ohio and Michigan before deciding to drive another hour or more” to get to the open sections of the Hatfield-McCoy Trails.

“I hope something can be worked out,” said Macri’s friend, Mitch Hostetler. “We were planning to meet friends from North Carolina here in November to do some more riding.”

Ike and Shawna Walker of Tornado said they like the convenience of having hundreds of miles of trails to ride in their side-by-side ATV so close to home. “Today, we got here in 23 minutes,” said Ike Walker, as he prepared to roll his vehicle off its trailer in the Little Coal River Trail parking lot. “I would miss not having these trails open.

“But what’s more important is that these trails bring in out-of-state people who come here from all over the country to do what we’re doing, and it really helps out the local economy,” he said. “Every day on Corridor G, you see people hauling trailers full of ATVs up and down the highway.”

“We would like to come back and ride when the leaves are a little more at their peak,” said Shawna Walker. “But this might be our last opportunity.”

If the two trails don’t reopen under an agreement with the land’s new owner, “it will be financially devastating to my family as well as to the community,” said Hannah Ball, who operates Big Earl’s Campground, which offers four cabins, 10 RV hookups, unlimited primitive camping and direct access to the Little Coal River Trail. The campground, founded by her father, opened before the Little Coal River and Ivy Branch trails were created, and grew as the trails gained popularity with riders.

“I’ve seen two generations of visitors staying with us while they ride the trails,” said Ball. “It’s become a family tradition. It’s a great way for families to bond and get close to nature. That’s really important in a time when kids are raised as latchkeys and don’t spend enough time unplugged.”

Ball said she learned that the trails would close less than a week ago.

“I hoped it was false, but I made some calls and found out they got it right,” she said. “Then I got on the phone and started refunding the deposits people had made going into November — it was the only moral thing to do. Only two people ended up keeping their reservations.”

Loss of the trails would hurt nearby towns in addition to her business and the other businesses directly catering to trail riders, Ball said.

“These people spend a minimum of $100 a day each on things like gas, food, restaurants and parts and repairs,” she said. With mines closing and the local tourism industry taking a hit, “this area could end up looking like a ghost town.”

Ball said she plans to hold on to her businesses as long as she can keep it afloat.

“It’s the only means of support for me and my two kids,” she said. “My dad started this place when I was six. He put everything he had into it, and he died working here. If I lose it, it will be like burying Dad twice. … I sincerely hope the new owner of the land will consider allowing Hatfield-McCoy Trails to continue using it.”

Lusk said the trail system had a good relationship with the former landowner, and hopes to negotiate a new lease with the new owner.

“This is new to us,” he said. “We’ve never had a license agreement canceled before. We’ve got 96 licensing agreements covering more than 1 million acres. But when one gets canceled, we’ve got to be gracious and act in a professional, efficient manner to prove to the landowners that we’re not going to be tying their hands for the next 100 years.”

Starting Monday, Lusk said, the Little Coal River and Ivy Branch trails will be closed and signs will begin to be removed. “But we will be taking the trails offline in such a way that if the new owner agrees, they could be ready for reopening again in a couple of weeks.”

Should the new owner balk at becoming a Hatfield-McCoy Trails partner, “we’ll start making contact with landowners adjacent to the two trails and near Danville and Madison to see what options might be available to us,” he said.

Lusk said the Little Coal River Trail has experienced double digit annual ridership growth each of the past 12 years. The Ivy Creek Trail is the only trail in the Hatfield-McCoy system that accommodates full-size off-road vehicles.

Reach Rick Steelhammer at rsteelhammer@wvgazettemail.com, call 304-348-5169, or follow @Rsteelhammer on Twitter.

Tagged with: Boone NC

Briarcliffe Acres votes against offshore drilling

Posted on October 21, 2015 by

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In a storm of debate over offshore drilling, Briarcliffe Acres surfaced as the latest coastal town to join a united front against seismic testing and drilling for oil and natural gas off of South Carolina’s beaches.

Missing councilwoman Abby Stewart, who has been with family on the west coast, the town council unanimously passed a resolution Monday, joining 23 other S.C. coastal towns in a stance against offshore drilling.

We don’t even know what’s out there. We don’t know if there’s gas, if there’s natural gas or if there’s crude oil.

Congressman Tom Rice

“We understand what damage can ensue from any spill that could happen out there,” said Councilman Huston Huffman. “We don’t want to take the risk of a spill out there polluting the beaches.”

For many the rallying cry against offshore drilling echoes the loss of tourism dollars that could cripple coastal economies. But for Briarcliffe Acres, a “bedroom community” of about 500, any damage would not just hit a tourist destination, it would hit home.

The resolution had been in the works for a couple of months, Huffman said, but other issues pushed the matter to Monday’s agenda.

A news release from the Stop Oil Drilling in the Atlantic Leadership Team on Monday called the vote an “incredible show of unity, and a strong message” appealing to legislators to “stop Washington from forcing this on South Carolina.”

Legislators say the region’s resolutions may do little to stop offshore drilling if the project is ultimately approved.

The Interior Department’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management announced a draft proposed program in January that opened up two planning areas for testing along the coast from the Maryland-Virginia state line to the Georgia-Florida line.

The coast of Virginia was proposed for a potential offshore drilling site five years ago, but plans fizzled in the wake of the disastrous Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Buzz of where the potential rigs will actually go abound among opponents, with doom scenarios marring the coastlines from Georgetown to Wilmington, N.C. Advocates banned together – bridging the gap between party lines – to send a clear message to legislators that residents don’t want the rigs off of the $18 billion tourism-rich South Carolina coast.

Dr. Jim Watkins, a retired Presbyterian minister who lives in Pawley’s Island, helped form the Stop Oil Drilling in the Atlantic alliance, which he describes as a “grassroots citizen’s organization which works on ‘just this one issue of drilling.’”

The group praised Briarcliffe Acres for joining other municipalities like Myrtle Beach, Atlantic Beach, North Myrtle Beach and Surfside Beach that have all passed similar resolutions in recent months.

Briarcliffe Acres’ action brought all of Horry County’s coastal towns on board against offshore drilling, said Jean Marie Neal, a SODA representative.

“The vote today means every coastal municipality in South Carolina has said no to offshore drilling off our beaches,” Watkins said in the release.

Myrtle Beach City Council passed a resolution Aug. 11 saying it wanted to protect the beaches from potential oil spills, joining at least 18 other municipalities opposing offshore drilling at the time. The decision was greeted with applause from 100 spectators in the audience.

Opponents say offshore drilling would hurt marine life, pumping into the Atlantic the potential of spills and sound waves that would send sea creatures scurrying. And the risk to the state’s high dollar tourism industry makes the idea demand a price too high to pay.

Advocates say the drilling can be done safely and tapping into an oil or natural gas reserve could help the country move away from its dependence on foreign oil, helping in turn with national security. The underwater goldmine would mean more jobs and tax dollars.

“The possible jobs and revenue gained from drilling is miniscule compared to the dollars tourists spend in Horry County and the rest of coastal South Carolina,” Watkins said in the release. “Giving our coast to the oil and gas industry simply does not make economic sense.”

A closer look

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has the power to open the Atlantic up for oil leasing with or without any state input, said Congressman Tom Rice.

And the idea that South Carolina would profit from any offshore drilling is not a possibility in federal legislation – yet. Rice said his office is working on a bill that would change that.

The bureau is reviewing if and where oil and gas leases might be issued on the Atlantic Outer Continental Shelf, but the draft plans call for only one lease to be issued. Plans also include a 50-mile buffer from the coastline. The buffer would keep the operation out of immediate sight from a shoreline, but would also keep any potential revenue gain out of the state’s coffers.

The state would only reap revenue if the operation falls within South Carolina’s coastal territory, which is about three miles from the shoreline.

“There’s a special law that allows the Gulf states to get a revenue share of 37.5 percent,” Rice said, but no law exists for the mid- to south-Atlantic coastal states, which have never been opened to federal oil leases before.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) submitted a bill that provides for revenue sharing for the states, but the bill also does away with the buffer zone, Rice said.

The congressman added that they are working on a bill now that would keep the 50-mile buffer zone in play, while giving South Carolina a 37.5 percent revenue share.

“We don’t even know what’s out there. We don’t know if there’s gas, if there’s natural gas or if there’s crude oil,” Rice said.

The last time the ocean floor was scanned for potential reserves, the probe was conducted with technology from the 1980s. Technology has changed since then. “There appears to be formations that would likely have some type of reserves,” Rice said, but we “don’t know what or how much.”

Rice has said the issue of offshore drilling needs more review.

“My position has been let’s do the seismic testing,” he said. “Let’s find out what’s out there and then we can make rational decisions.”

Rice said that he also wants to know what can be done to “safeguard our tourism revenue” and that a study could find the reserves aren’t worth the trouble and expense of drilling.

500 Rough population of Briarcliffe Acres

Rice had planned to call a public forum last Wednesday with a professor from Coastal Carolina University, a professor from the University of South Carolina, a representative from the Coastal Conservation League, a public official from Mobile, Ala., and the director of BOEM to address the issue, talk about the process, the timelines of any project and when and where along that timeline the public will have input. The forum was postponed in the wake of the state’s recent historic flooding. Rice said that his office is working on rescheduling the forum.

In the last six weeks, Rice said he has visited oil fields in two states and the offshore drilling rigs in Louisiana to get a closer look at the operations.

“They opened up oil fields off of Alaska like a month or two months ago,” he said. “And the oil companies have pulled out saying it’s not economically feasible.”

The same could happen here, he said.

“It may be that this never becomes feasible to drill off the Atlantic,” he said.

The potential section of Atlantic coastal exploration fell in an area where state governments have been known to support expanded energy development offshore.

Gov. Nikki Haley supports offshore drilling and is a member of the Outer Continental Shelf Governors Coalition. The coalition operates on a mission to, among other things, “influence a sensible path forward for the development of America’s offshore energy resources.”

Emily Weaver: 843-444-1772, @TSNEmily

Tagged with: North Carolina

Asheville, Buncombe County fire department overhaul begins – Asheville Citizen

Posted on October 21, 2015 by

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Buncombe County leaders have taken some of the final steps in realigning a confusing “mishmash” of boundaries surrounding the county’s fire districts, a move that officials say will simplify record-keeping and insurance issues.

County commissioners at a regular Tuesday meeting held public hearings on a process that will eventually reduce 35 types of fire and emergency districts to 20. Commissioners plan to vote on the changes at their Nov. 3 meeting.

Many of the county’s original fire departments were established about half a century ago. When the county grew and fire departments wanted to extend services beyond their original district boundaries, it was often easier to add “service districts” right next door instead of going through a more cumbersome process to expand the existing fire district. But over time, that practice created a jumble of areas that often confused residents and officials dealing with insurance and tax issues, Board of Commissioners Chairman David Gantt said.

“It’s kind of a mishmash what we’ve got now. We’ve got a lot of unnecessary districts,” Gantt said at the meeting.

Officials worked to assure the public that only the lines would change. A department now serving individual homes and businesses as well as the property tax rate paid for fire service should not change because of the boundary adjustments, they said.

“Everyone needs to understand there is no change in the service that a citizen is receiving,” said Michael Frue, the county’s senior staff attorney.

One exception is six properties in the former Haw Creek fire district that will be absorbed by the Riceville fire district. Those land owners will see their fire service taxes rise from 9 cents per $100 of assessed value to 11 cents.

Despite assurances and explanations, several residents expressed confusion. A few said they thought the changes would lead to a tax increase, regardless of what they had been told.

Dale Aitken, 65, rents a home whose property backs up to U.S. 74A in Fairview. Aitken, who is disabled said he’s seen his rent climb hundreds of dollars from the $390 a month he paid in 1989. He said he was worried the fire boundary changes would lead to a tax increase, which would cause his rent to rise.

“There are no other fire departments servicing this area, so why change it if it is not broken?”

The only way taxes would go up for most residents is if their fire department asks for an increase, officials said. That type of change can happen on July of every year and isn’t affected by the boundary adjustments, they said.

Hotel tax board appointment

Commissioners delayed the appointment of a new member to the Buncombe County Tourism Authority, the board that controls the county’s $14 million hotel room tax.

Only one of the two applicants was able to participate in an interview, said Gantt, so commissioners will take up the appointment in November. Applicants are Managing Director of the Grove Park Inn Gary Froeba and Craig Madison, vice president of hospitality for the FIRC Group, the company founded by Tony Fraga that owns the Haywood Park Hotel. Though commissioners and the City Council make appointments to the authority by state law, the two local governments have found themselves at odds with the authority over whether some of the tax revenue should go to infrastructure and other public services. State law says the revenue must go toward marketing and projects that boost hotel business.

Tagged with: Asheville

Junxure Cloud Continues Award Season Sweep with WealthManagement.com …

Posted on October 21, 2015 by

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RALEIGH, N.C., Oct. 20, 2015 /PRNewswire/ — Junxure Cloud, the cloud-based CRM platform for financial advisors, was recently recognized as the Best CRM solution at the inaugural WealthManagement.com Industry Awards. Junxure is an industry-leading technology and CRM solutions provider for the financial services industry.

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The WealthManagement.com Industry Awards honors outstanding achievements by companies and organizations that support financial advisor success. Thirty-seven winners were named from among 95 finalists in 10 categories. A panel of judges made up of top names in the industry determined the 2015 award winners who were judged based on quantitative measures of their initiatives—such as scope, scale, adoption and feature set—along with qualitative measures such as innovation, creativity and new methods of delivery.

“We are incredibly proud of the recognition Junxure Cloud has received for its design and functionality for advisors,” said Greg Friedman, President and CEO of Junxure. “This award validates the hard work we’ve put into developing Junxure Cloud for our customers, and gives us added momentum to continue what we’ve started.”

Junxure Cloud was designed for an advisor’s individual workflow and processes, from onboarding to tracking contacts for marketing and compliance purposes. The system has deep custodial integrations and adapts to an advisor’s way of working.

“Technology never stays still, and with Junxure Cloud we have created a unique platform that gives advisory firms the flexibility of an industry-specific CRM that scales along with the growth of the firm,” Friedman said. “Junxure Cloud’s multiple releases over the past 12 months show a continuous enhancement process, delivering unparalleled responsiveness to client suggestions, industry integrations, and innovative features.”

The Wealthmanagement.com award caps off an awards season sweep for Junxure Cloud, which was also recognized with the XCelent Award for Best Technology for a Vertical CRM, the Most Promising Workflow Management Solution by CIO Review, and the Best Automated Workflow Improvement by Orion’s FUSE. In addition, InvestmentNews recently recognized Private Ocean, Friedman’s wealth management firm based in the Bay Area, with its Best Practices Award for Best Overall Use of Technology. Private Ocean uses Junxure as its CRM platform.

“What makes Junxure Cloud unique is that we are able to test out every innovation in CRM technology in a real-world environment like Private Ocean,” Friedman continued. “We are then able to enhance, improve, and share the successes that we experience with our Junxure Cloud customers.”

Considered the industry standard for CRM technology, Junxure serves 12,000 active users across 1,500 firms on their two CRM platforms – Junxure^® and Junxure Cloud^®.

About Junxure
Junxure was established in 2001 by Ken Golding and Greg Friedman, MS, CFP^®, a financial advisor who developed the initial Junxure software to help him streamline operations at his growing firm. Today, Junxure is an industry leader of advisor technology and practice management solutions with more than 12,000 active users and a client retention rate of 96%. Greg Friedman serves as both President of Junxure as well as President of Private Ocean, one of the West Coast’s most innovative wealth management firms. The inspiration for Junxure consulting, training and software comes from Mr. Friedman’s day-to-day experience running his practice and helping his clients achieve their personal financial goals. For more information, please visit www.junxure.com.

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Greg Friedman
Junxure
415.526.2900

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Martin: Good for Nicholas Sparks, good for NC

Posted on October 21, 2015 by

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D.G. Martin hosts “North Carolina Bookwatch,” which airs Sundays at noon and Thursdays at 5 p.m. on UNC-TV. Preview the upcoming program on UNC-MX digital channel (Time Warner #1276) on Fridays at 9 p.m.

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‘Goodness Grows in Watauga County’ – 60th Annual Farm City Banquet Nov. 12

Posted on October 21, 2015 by

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The 60th Annual Farm City Banquet will be held on Thursday, Nov. 12, at 6:00 p.m. at the Boone United Methodist Church located on New Market Boulevard in Boone.

The theme for this year’s banquet is “Goodness Grows in Watauga County” as we celebrate connecting our city and farm’s agricultural heritage.

Following dinner, supplied from local farms, several organizations will recognize individuals for their contributions and support of our local agricultural economy. Charlie Jackson, the executive director of the Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project, is our keynote speaker and will address the importance and future of agriculture and specialty crops in western North Carolina.

Awards will be given out to individuals and/or businesses that have made significant contributions to agriculture; organizations, service or civic, that have benefited the community and our agricultural economy. Awards will also be given out to those that have made significant contributions to volunteerism, local agri-tourism, and socially-sustainable agricultural practices.

Commodity groups also will award their respective producers of the year, and Watauga Soil and Water will present the Farm Family of the Year award. The Boone Chamber of Commerce will present the Tuckwiller Award presented for Community Development in memory of the late Lake Ernest Tuckwiller, past Watauga County Farm Agent.

Organizations as well as the general public are invited to nominate candidates for these awards. Nominations forms can be picked up at the Extension office.

Door prizes will be given out at the end of the program and will include baskets filled with locally produced foods and other items. Acclaimed local artist Richard Tumbleston will be on site to finish an original painting highlighting this year’s banquet, which will be given away as the final prize.

The Watauga County Farm Bureau is our Platinum Sponsor this year and encourages both farm city folk alike to join in on an “old fashion supper.”

Tickets are $10.00 per person (children 5 and under eat for free; children 6-12, $5) and can be purchased at the NC Cooperative Extension Office, 971 W King St., Boone. Tickets must be purchased in advance. No tickets will be sold at the door and ticket sales are limited to 250.

For more info, please call 828-264-3061.

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Tagged with: Boone NC

Protections in place for land near Blue Ridge Parkway

Posted on October 21, 2015 by

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The historic Orchard at Altapass area beside the Blue Ridge Parkway was once ripe for development.

But motorists driving the parkway this fall won’t see intrusive second homes and out buildings.

Instead, they’ll view forested mountains and grassy meadows. That’s because 4,200 acres of land here have been protected through purchase or by conservation easement. The century-old, 125-acre orchard north of Marion, N.C., got permanent protection in March.

The land was set aside by the Conservation Trust for North Carolina as part of a campaign to preserve the pastoral Southern Appalachian landscape that borders the 469-mile scenic highway.

The nonprofit trust since 1996 has protected 57 N.C. properties embracing 32,465 acres along the parkway, in part with state funding. Other land trusts, including The N.C. Nature Conservancy and The Conservation Fund, have preserved 25 more properties totaling 30,330 acres. Together, that’s more than 62,000 acres.

Without protection, “I think there would be a lot more housing developments next to the parkway,” said Reid Wilson, executive director of the trust in Raleigh.

In fact, owners of the nearby Jackson Knob Cove had already surveyed house lots before they decided to sell to the trust in 2008. The 101-acre cove contains a section of the Revolutionary War-era Overmountain Victory National Historic Trail, wildlife habitat and a half mile of headwater streams.

As a result, most short-distance vistas along the N.C. part of the parkway remain uncluttered. Houses intrude occasionally around towns such as Blowing Rock, including those structures visible from the nearby Raven Rocks Overlook.

National forest lands protect large swaths. At Asheville, a screen of trees blocks views of the city. The parkway corridor averages 800-1,000 feet wide so adjacent private lands remain vulnerable to development.

The “drive awhile, stop awhile” parkway from Shenandoah National Park in Virginia to Great Smoky Mountains National Park is a major economic engine. In 2014, 13.9 million visitors in both states spent $863.5 million to sight-see, camp, hike and stay in nearby towns, according to the National Park Service.

The Conservation Trust was tapped to lead and coordinate land protection in 1996 by the Governor’s Year of the Mountains Commission. “One of the important recommendations was that more land needed to be protected along the Blue Ridge Parkway…to maintain the tourism economy,” Wilson said. “They recognized that if the scenic views were destroyed, fewer people would come to the parkway.”

The conservation trust has spent $28.2 million in public and private money to buy land or to pay landowners for a permanent easement. The bulk of public money comes from the N.C. Clean Water Management Trust Fund; the 2015 legislature gave the fund about $19 million a year for the next two years.

Clean-water projects for the parkway, like elsewhere, must protect water quality, natural heritage and cultural values. Wilson said philanthropists Fred and Alice Stanback of Salisbury contribute matching money. The Conservation Trust also gets donations from the public (Disclosure: I’ve contributed $25-$35 a year in some recent years.).

Wilson said 29 properties have been donated or sold to the parkway, the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission, state parks or Pisgah and Nantahala national forests; 12 others await transfer.

Parkway Superintendent Mark Woods commended the work of conservation groups. “The thing I hear from visitors the most (is that) the number one experience is that scenic view,” he said. “What a wonderful gift.”

Woods said money for land protection comes from general operations. “Typically, we don’t receive appropriations for land acquisition.” The parkway since 1996 has added 2,681 acres.

Legislation introduced in 2010 by Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., and others to provide $75 million to buy up to 50,000 acres surrounding the parkway got a committee hearing but nothing more.

Wilson said land-protection along the parkway will remain an unfinished task. “This is a long-time endeavor.”

Recently protected lands

• Stone Mountain Overlook, Alleghany County, 232 acres, between the Blue Ridge Parkway and Stone Mountain State Park.

• John’s River Gorge, Watauga County, 192 acres, next to Blowing Rock once targeted for a housing development.

• Waynesville Watershed, Haywood County, 8,030 acres provide protection along 10 miles of the parkway.

Source: The Conservation Trust for North Carolina

Tagged with: Blowing Rock NC

Liver Mush: The delicay of the Piedmont region

Posted on October 20, 2015 by

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Local News

Liver Mush: A delicacy of the Piedmont region

Liver mush is a North Carolina delicacy. In fact, it’s so special to the piedmont region, there’s a festival dedicated to it.

The Mush, Music and Mutts Festival in Uptown Shelby, North Carolina has been around since 1987.

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Closure of Hatfield-McCoy trail loops causes turmoil for riders, merchants – Charleston Gazette

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Protections in place for land near Blue Ridge Parkway

Liver Mush: The delicay of the Piedmont region

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Liver Mush: A delicacy of the Piedmont region

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