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New Carolina Returns to Original Name to Re-focus on Competitiveness

If you are a regular listener of this program, you have probably heard many interviews with representatives from New Carolina, the non-profit organization in our state set up many years ago to put into practice the cluster economic theory espoused by Harvard professor Michael Porter.  By most measures, these efforts have been very successful, however our next guest says that since competitiveness is their core focus, the name has officially been changed back to it's original.

Mike Switzer interviews Ann Marie Stieritz, president and CEO of South Carolina's Council on Competitiveness.

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After almost 20 years, Mike Switzer retired from Wells Fargo Securities in 2001 as Senior Vice President/Investment Officer and Certified Portfolio Manager. In 1999, he and his wife, Maggie, purchased and operated for eight years the Baskin Robbins ice cream store on Forest Drive in Columbia. They grew the store from a bottom-tier operation in the Baskin Robbins franchise system to one in the top 5% nationwide within three years, tripling sales along the way. While operating the ice cream store, Mike and Maggie received patents for a portable ice cream sink and fold-down sneezeguard they invented and in 2002 started Magnolia Carts, an ice cream cart manufacturing company, which they sold in 2013.