Job Listing: Director of Talent Strategies

The Roanoke Regional Partnership is looking for someone to enhance and grow their program focused on talent outreach strategies, partnerships, communications, and marketing to attract talent for our region and its employers. The Partnership has already changed the region’s narrative to that of an active, outdoor mecca through the work of the Roanoke Outside Foundation. This is an opportunity to leverage that narrative to attract and retain top talent in the Roanoke region. 

This position calls for someone with an entrepreneurial mindset who can create connections with academic institutions, employers, local governments, students, and other stakeholders, and market the region as a destination for top talent. The ideal candidate relishes the challenge of building a program from the ground up, is a creative yet strategic thinker, and a self-motivator who will not shy away from constructing plans and setting goals. 

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Roanoke Named as a Booming Zoom Town

The Roanoke Region of Virginia made yet another nationally recognized list as one of the 10 Unique Zoom Towns You’ll Want to Move to in 2022 by Rent.com. So what is a Zoom town? In the article, they refer to it as a community experiencing consequential population increases as remote workers and digital nomads move to town.

Most sources specifically reference Zoom towns as a community that has seen a significant population increase in the wake of the pandemic, with the shift occurring largely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The notable move toward remote work is expected to have significant economic implications. Pre-pandemic only 10% or less of the population worked remotely full-time, but those statistics are rapidly changing. 

Towns listed in the article were recognized for their livability-related amenities and low cost of living. Remote workers have the luxury of moving anywhere in the country, which gives a clear advantage to outdoor destinations where biking, hiking, skiing, paddling, or other outdoor activities provide an easy escape regardless of COVID status. 

The Roanoke Regional Partnership’s decade-long effort to brand the Roanoke Region as an outdoor wonderland has paid dividends during the pandemic as people flee larger cities for clean air, open spaces, and affordable housing. The article in Rent.com is just one of many national features in the past several months highlighting this phenomenon.

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Stik-Pak Solutions Opens New Franklin County Facility

ROCKY MOUNT, Va. (July 27, 2021)Stik-Pak Solutions Inc., a contract packaging firm, cut the ribbon on an expansion that will create 52 new jobs in Franklin County.

The company’s $10 million investment includes a 50,000 square foot building and new equipment. The company currently employs 60 people in Franklin County, having already created more than half of the 52 jobs anticipated in the expansion announced in 2019. The project will accommodate a future expansion to 100,000 square feet in the coming years as demand for the company’s product grows.

“Today, Stik-Pak Solutions celebrates its new facility and all the hard work of the management team and associates who now number over 60 strong, said company CEO, Kennon Marshall. “This group of hard-working individuals who hail largely from Franklin County are what make Stik-Pak successful.”

“On behalf of the Franklin County Board of Supervisors, I congratulate Stik-Pak on its new facility in the Summit View Business Park and we look forward to working with the company for many years to come,” said Board Chairman Ronnie Thompson.

Stik-Pak Solutions is one of three announced tenants in the Summit View Business Park.  The 550-acre project includes numerous recreational and event-related amenities, such as a self-service, 24-hour library, multi-use trails, event space/festival grounds, in addition to fully-served business and industrial sites. 

Stik-Pak Solutions was established in the Franklin County Commerce Center in 2013.  The company provides contract packaging solutions in a variety of flexible pouch options.  The company serves the food industry and is SQF 2 certified, FDA registered and certified USDA Organic. 

For more information contact john@roanoke.org