“Best place to work” award lands in Columbia

By Mike Switzer

Published October 6, 2023 at 6:30 AM EDT

By now, most of us have heard the phrase “call before you dig,” which is an effort to prevent underground cables, wires, and pipes from being damaged. It’s actually a law in our state and part of a nationwide network. Our next guest runs the company responsible for these efforts in South Carolina and was recently named by SCBizNews as one of the best places to work in our state. Mike Switzer interviews Misty Wise, executive director of SC811 in Columbia, SC.

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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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