http://www.thecharlottepost,com
7C
Cfiarlotte $osit
THURSDAY, APRIL 6, 2006
BUSINESS
PEOPLE OF PROMINENCE
Bryant Glover
Banking
on balance
and career
longevity
Over 23 years,
Rai Glover rises
through BofA
By Erica Bryant
SPECIAL TO THE POST
Rai Glover is senior vice
president and market
development manager for
Bank of America’s Global
Personnel covering head
quarters in Charlotte and
North Carolina.
Glover started working
for the bank while she was
an undergraduate student
at the University of South
Carolina.
This year she will cele
brate 23 years of service
with Bank of America hav
ing worked in more than a
dozen positions for the com
pany. Glover is one of the
honorees for this year’s
Charlotte Post People of
Prominence - Women of
Distinction awards. Join
us as we honor Mrs. Glover
and 4 other prominent local
women on May 4 at 6 pm at
Spirit Square and partici
pate in an interesting dis
cussion.
Among other things, find
out the two questions
Glover constantly asks her
self and others in her pro
fessional and personal life
that help to keep things on
track.
EB: What are some of
your words to live by?
RG: As you are attempt
ing to rise in corporate
America or in any job,
never compromise your
morals. My mother always
taught us, ‘It is nice to be
important, but it is more
important to be nice.” Of
course, you need to remem
ber how far nice needs to go
so you are not run over, but
there is still a lot to be said
for not doing people wrong
and doing the right thing by
people.
EB: How do you work to
achieve balance in your life?
RG: There is something
that I started doing to a
greater extent this year
that I am really happy and
excited about. In the
morning,' I now wake up 45
minutes to an hour earlier
so I can have devotion time
before I come into corporate
America and into this
world. In the past, I’d wake
up and say my prayers, get
dressed, grab some coffee,
and jump in the car to drive
downtown. But now. I’ve
stopped and I take more
time in the morning to real
ly devote myself and get
myself groimded before I
give myself to everything
else that’s out there. It has
given me a new perspective
on how life really should be,
and I appreciate that.
EB: What is something
you refuse to do?
RG: I don’t hang with neg-
'ative people, because I do
not want negativism in my
life. I gravitate to people
who are positive in their
thought process, people
who are action-oriented...
people who like results in a
positive way.
OOi
Organics may shake retail werid
Wal-Mart’s move to market naturally-produced goods targets high-end shoppers
By Marcus Kabel
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BENTONVILLE, Ark. -
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is
throwing its weight behind
organic products, a move
that experts say could have
the same lasting effect on
environmental practices that
Wal-Mart has had on prices
by forcing suppliers and com
petitors to keep up.
Putting new items on the
shelf this year, from organic
cotton baby clothes to ocean
fish caught in ways that
don’t harm the environment,
is part of a broader green pol
icy launched last year to
meet consumer demand, cut
costs for things hke energy
and packaging and burnish a
battered reputation.
Organic products are one
lure for the more affluent
shoppers Wal-Mart is trying
to woo away from rivals like
Target Corp., said Alice
Peterson, president of
Chicago-based consultancy
Syrus Global.
A new Supercenter that
opened last month in Plano,
'Ibxas, features over 400
organic foods as part of an
experiment to see what
kinds of products and interi
or decor can grab the interest
of upscale shoppers.
“Like many big companies,
they have figured out it is
just good marketing and
good reputation building to
be in favor of things that
See WAL-MART/8C
I
PHOTO/CURTIS WILSON
Courtney Tabor, a junior at South Mecklenburg High School scrolls the internet for podcats.
Podcasts can be downloaded music or video and is growing as an advertising vehicle.
Podcasting opens new doors to
programming and profitability
By Eric Bozeman
FOR THE CHARLOTTE POST
There’s profits in them thar
podcasts.
Generation Y is realizing its
potential by creating audio and
video programs by subscribing
to a set of audio or video feeds
by downloading shows from the
Internet.
The vehicle responsible for
the revolution is Apple’s iPod,
which can hold up to 15,000
songs, 25,000 photographs or
150 hours of video. Podcasting
is also considered the launching
of audio and video shows, which
in the case of video podcasts,
are referred to as Vlogs. More
people, especially 20-some
things are launching podcasts
for profit. successful. What makes a good
The revenues generated fixim podcast is to make something
talk shows, music enter-^ that is interesting. Like every-
tainment shows, and?, thing else it is limited to the
videocasts are achieved f, quality put into it.”
by advertisers who payV,S^ Shannan Wooten, 20, a stu-
for commercials. There is V,^ \ dent at UNC Charlotte, said
uaually a nominal feeV'-” ’ —------
charged to approximately i
young people are turning to
podcasting rather than a
tightening job market.
“Because of unemploy
ment and a lack of jobs,
young people just
• want to be their
— own boss,” Wooten
said.
in the field of pod- Apple Inc.’s iPod T^e iPod is
casting. “However, can hold up to 150 directly related to
just because the hours of video.
opportunities are according to Jason
21 million iPod users who
can download programs
from a podcasting directoiy.
“It’s a fascinating business,
said AUen Weiner of
Gartner Ink in
Charlotte, an expert
there doesn’t mean it can be
See PODCASTING.8C
Know what to expect from investments
By Debra K. Coleman
THE TRIANGLE TRIBUNE
If your investment portfolio is
even moderately diversified, you
probably own both stocks and
bonds. -And that’s a good idea,
because diversification is essen
tial to your success as an investor.
But you also should know what to
expect from different types of
investments, because the more
you know, the more likely you are
to meike the right moves.
Unfortunately, some people’s
expectations get distorted, due to
what may be happening with
their investments. For example,
a couple of years back, many
investors saw the value of their
bonds rise sharply, causing some
to look at these investments as
growth vehicles. But is that an
accurate assessment?
Probably not, although some
recent statistics are quite inter
esting. From Dec. 1999 through
Feb. 2003, long-term government
bonds rose about 13 percent,
while the S&P 500 - one of the
most well-known stock market
indices - fell by about the same
amount. This is the second greab
est period ever of superior bond
returns relative to stocks, and
one of the few in the past 80.
years, a time in which stocks
have consistently outperformed
all other investments.
And so, while you can’t base aU
your investment decisions on
what has gone before, it’s gener
ally a good idea not to plan on
- selling your bonds before they
mature and make a profit.
Instead, plan for what bonds do
provide: current income in the
form of monthly or quarterly
interest checks. As long as you
own your bond, you will always
receive the same amount in inter
est (assuming the issuer doesn’t
default), no matter how much the
bond’s current value fluctuates.
Many stocks also provide cur
rent income in the form of divi
dends. But if you’re like a lot of
people, you buy stocks for their
growth potential. In other words.
Morlal
when you buy stocks, you antici
pate the price going up, so that
when it’s time to sell, you can
make a profit.
And, although past perfor
mance is not an indication of
future results, over the long term,
stock prices historically have
risen, In fact, from 1926-2005,
large-company stocks provided
an average annual return of more
than 10 percent, while small-
company stocks returned, on
average, more than 12 percent,
according to Ibbotson Associates,
an investment research firm.
Small company stocks do fluctu
ate more than that of larger com
panies.
Of course, you can’t -assume
that, for a given year, your stocks
will return 10 percent, 12 per
cent, or anything at aU. In the
short term, stocks go down as
well as up, so you shouldn’t be
shocked at losing principal over a
single year, or perhaps a couple of
years in a row.
Income
gap still
exists on
color line
Improved US. economy still
hasn’t led to racial parity
By Erin Texeira
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK - Even though the U.S. economy
has picked up, stubborn gaps between blacks
and whites remain _ a reality
highlighted by Hurricane I
Katrina and its aftermath, the !
National Urbein League reports !
in a new study. i
“Two years ago, we saw that I
things were tough, but there was ;
a recession,” Urban League i
President Marc H. Morial said.
“Now that things are better,
we’re still suffering. The jobless recovery is a
real thing for black Americans.”
The Urban League’s annual State of Black
.America report, released Tuesday, pulls togeth
er government data and academic analysis to
measure black progress and problems. The
nearly 300-page report includes charts, essays
and su^ested policy changes.
For three years, blacks’ overall well-being
compared to whites has stagnated, the report.
says. Though some Afncan-Americans are pros
pering, in economics, health, education, social
justice and civic engagement, blacks generally
fare about three-quarters as well as whites, the
report noted, citing figures firjm Global Insight,
Inc., an economic analysis company.
Government data show that black Americans
have more than double the rates of infant mor
tality, unemployment and poverty as whites,
the report also notes.
See POST HURRICANE.8C
Post-storm New
Orleans economy
a question mark
By Alan Sayre
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW ORLEANS - Most of Big Oil has
returned to New Orleans since Hurricane
Katrina, Mardi Gras got the city back in the
tourism business and the skilled construction
trades can’t get enough workers. The city’s
population - 455,000 before Katrina and
almost zero after storm evacuations - is now
near 190,000 and expected to climb.
But Tim and Renee Baldwin likely won’t be
part of any long-term recovery.
“It’s hard to make a judgment about the
future,” said Tim Baldwin, a French Quarter
bartender who lives in the city’s Uptown sec
tion, which was largely spared from flooding.
“It’s a matter of day to day, a question of who’s
staying and who’s leaving. We’re probably
leaving.”
Meanwhile, for Ida Manheim, the owner of
a French Quarter antique store that’s been in
her family for four decades, there’s no ques
tion.
“I’m going to help rebuild New Orleans,”
Manheim said. “It’s a wonderful city.”
While economists and think tanks struggle
to come up with a quantitative prediction of
the citys future, there is a common theme:
New Orleans will be a much smaller city with
an economic growth that will be fragile for
years to come. There are simply too many
unknowns and no other modern disaster with
which to compare Katrina, leaving residents
and businesses acting largely on faith.
Shell Exploration & Production Co. sur
prised many by bringing its 1,000 employees
See RACIAL/8C