South Carolina Business Review

Ups and downs facing S.C. life sciences industry

By Mike Switzer

Published March 26, 2025 at 6:30 AM EDT

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James Chappell, president and CEO of SCBio in Greenville, S.C.

The annual conference from SCBio was held recently and while it was reported that South Carolina is the sixth-fastest growing life sciences industry in the U.S., there are concerns that certain policies out of Washington may soon negatively affect that growth. Mike Switzer interviews James Chappell, president and CEO of SCBio in Greenville, S.C.

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Mike Switzer

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.

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