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ANDY OWENS PROFILE

Andy Owens
Executive Editor
Connect with Andy
- 843-849-3142
- @CRBJ
- aowens@scbiznews.com
About Andy
Andy Owens is the executive editor for the Charleston Regional Business Journal, Columbia Regional Business Report, GSA Business Report, SC Lawyers Weekly, NC Lawyers Weekly, and the Mecklenburg Times.
Nov 30, 2018
Businesses and residents have collected more than $30 million in incentives from South Carolina’s utilities for launching solar projects since 2014. That’s when a law went into effect allowing privately owned solar operati... Read More
Sep 12, 2018
As larger companies build stronger, more fortified layers of cybersecurity, bad actors are increasingly going after small and midsize businesses they consider more vulnerable, according to an executive from an Atlanta cybersecurity compa... Read More
Aug 14, 2018
The renewables vice president for S.C. Electric & Gas said that businesses should look at electric vehicle charging as a possible workplace benefit, saying such a move could trigger a shift in how people think about electric vehi... Read More
Aug 10, 2018
Cayce’s mayor told a group of business executives and community members that women excel in business and government once they see opportunity open to them. Mayor Elise Partin gave the keynote address Thursday at the 2018 Women o... Read More
Jul 30, 2018
When Isaac Morton started Smithey Ironware Co. in 2014, his goal was to make the kind of cast iron cookware he would use in his own kitchen. Four years later, the company has grown from a small, boxy industrial spot on James Islan... Read More
Jul 02, 2018
The S.C. Department of Transportation has answered some of the lingering questions surrounding the sudden closure and later reopening of the James B. Edwards bridge that snarled traffic across the Charleston region after a cable snap... Read More
Jun 15, 2018
This is the time of year when we usually like to do a short post on shark attacks. There are a lot of tourists here (and newcomers), and we usually feel good about reminding folks they can go into the ocean without a care because your... Read More
Jan 11, 2018
More than a few South Carolinians inadvertently did some drifting in their vehicles as the recent ice storm descended on the Palmetto State more than a week ago. But not long ago, the high-performance drivers at the BMW Performance C... Read More
Aug 08, 2017
Mount Pleasant officially opened the doors on its new, $29 million town hall this morning, next door to the old town hall, which will be torn down and made into a community park. Residents already were doing business Tuesday morni... Read More
May 26, 2017
Sharon Sellers, president of SLS Consulting LLC, wanted to honor an employee’s request to work more than 40 hours one week to give her time to be out with a sick child. But she couldn’t do it. Federal laws require private ... Read More
May 12, 2017
They didn’t make the final cut, but the students at Cane Bay High School did something that 2,950 other schools weren’t able to do: Get the attention of a worldwide brand of shoes and nearly end up having their designs sold. ... Read More
Apr 28, 2017
The Charleston Regional Business Journal’s Power Breakfast was hugely popular on Wednesday. Nine individuals from a mosaic of sectors in business, industry, national defense, finance, marking and community outreach told us what the... Read More
Apr 26, 2017
Before Joe Riley left the mayor’s office, he told the Charleston RiverDogs that plans to enhance the baseball stadium bearing his name should fit into the existing look and feel of the stadium. “We’ve had quite a... Read More
Feb 22, 2017
For 20 years, the Charleston Regional Business Journal has honored 40 individuals under 40 years old for their professional engagement and community service in the Charleston area. An awards ceremony and networking event will be held ... Read More
Feb 16, 2017
A proposal to raise Mount Pleasant’s impact fees to the maximum allowed by state law was tabled just before a Town Council vote Tuesday night. Councilman Joe Bustos, who led the effort, agreed to put his motion on hold after sev... Read More
Feb 15, 2017
Mount Pleasant Town Council passed a six-month moratorium on multifamily developments Tuesday night, but some council members suggested the move didn’t go far enough and is mostly symbolic. The halt, which passed by a 7-2 vote, ... Read More
Feb 03, 2017
Alfred R. Waud was a 19th-century artist who traveled across the United States and drew the things he saw, including the war-torn America of the late 1800s. Back then, he worked as a correspondent, using pencils and paper instead of ... Read More
Nov 30, 2016
State lawmakers representing Dorchester County said Gov. Nikki Haley’s appointment as U.N. ambassador could mean South Carolina’s infrastructure problems might finally be addressed in the next legislative session. Rep.... Read More
Nov 23, 2016
A federal judge in Texas halted a Labor Department rule change that would have made 70,000 salaried S.C. workers eligible for overtime on Dec. 1. In May, the Labor Department, at the direction of President Barack Obama, doubled the th... Read More
Nov 03, 2016
Don’t call it an uber tuber — sweet potatoes are roots, after all — but there’s a patented potato growing beneath the soil in North Charleston that’s good for making chips and could be used as an alternative... Read More
Oct 27, 2016
The Charleston area shouldn’t be too concerned if the national economy takes a dip, said an economist and banking executive during a World Trade Center Charleston luncheon on Wednesday. The local economy already outshines the re... Read More
Sep 21, 2016
Economic development begins with businesses serving as envoys for their communities, Summerville Mayor Wiley Johnson told a group of business leaders this morning. “You guys probably know about economic development before we fin... Read More
Aug 26, 2016
The Charleston Regional Business Journal is a member of a national trade association of business publications. Our counterparts in Baton Rogue, La., asked us to ask you to consider helping Louisiana businesses recover from the devastatin... Read More
Aug 26, 2016
The Columbia Regional Business Report is a member of a national trade association of business publications. Our counterparts in Baton Rogue, La., asked us to ask you to consider helping Louisiana businesses recover from the devastating f... Read More
Aug 26, 2016
GSA Business Report is a member of a national trade association of business publications. Fellow members, the Baton Rouge Business Report, asked us to ask you to consider helping Louisiana businesses recover from devastating flooding tha... Read More
Aug 05, 2016
Project managers expect Mount Pleasant's new town hall to open late next summer. With the multimillion dollar project 50% completed, we took a tour of the construction site and talked to town officials about the changes coming wi... Read More
Jul 13, 2016
Mount Pleasant Town Council considered and then rejected a 120-day moratorium on any building permits, which could have then led to a permit allocation program, during a meeting last night. The vote was 5-4. In April, Town Council ins... Read More
Jun 20, 2016
The Charleston Regional Business Journal has announced the 2016 class of Forty Under 40 honorees. Each year, the Business Journal and its partners recognize 40 individuals under 40 years of age who represent some of the highly engaged... Read More
Jun 16, 2016
The Palmetto State has long been known for fairly high car insurance compared with the rest of the nation. Theories run across a lot of lanes, including financial, risk, education, socioeconomic levels and legal. However, the latest data... Read More
Jun 15, 2016
Mount Pleasant Town Council took steps Tuesday night to determine the true cost of growth for the fast-growing municipality by launching a nine-month process to re-evaluate impact fees for businesses. Council voted unanimously t... Read More
Jun 02, 2016
Visitors touring a 180,000-square-foot refrigerated warehouse and distribution center in North Charleston asked whether they really needed to wear the large, orange parkas provided, when most had been pouring sweat in the June heat m... Read More
May 18, 2016
State Sen. John Matthews Jr. said employers in Orangeburg County can’t find enough workers to fill more than 2,300 open positions even though many in his district don’t have jobs. Orangeburg County had the fifth-highest un... Read More
May 17, 2016
Lawmakers are pitching a $4 billion plan laid out over 10 years as a good starting place to start filling in the $35 billion pothole of South Carolina’s roads. With about three weeks left in the legislative session, state lawmak... Read More
Apr 19, 2016
Mount Pleasant Mayor Linda Page has asked Town Council members to make recommendations and nominations for a possible Shem Creek task force. No details have been decided about the tasks the group would undertake. Page is seeking ideas... Read More
Apr 13, 2016
Mount Pleasant Town Council approved a 180-day moratorium on multifamily developments in the town during its meeting Tuesday night. For the next six months, the town will neither accept nor consider applications for new multifamily de... Read More
Nov 05, 2015
Developers and Mount Pleasant officials broke ground this morning on one of the central projects that helped spark a grass-roots movement to limit growth in the town. The 42,500-square-foot office building at the corner of Mill St... Read More
Feb 16, 2015
Porter Airlines began nonstop weekly flights between Charleston and Toronto during the weekend, mirroring a business strategy the airline also deployed in Myrtle Beach in 2010. Porter, which has a fleet of 26 Bombardier Aerospace ... Read More
Nov 18, 2014
Executives, government officials and Kion Group employees simultaneously cut ribbons wrapping a line of seven palmetto trees outside the company’s North American headquarters in Summerville last week. The moment was intended... Read More
Apr 08, 2013
When Crocs and Silly Bandz were in high demand, you might have found yourself at Palmetto Moon. Before word spread that those products were going to be in short supply across the country, the lifestyle retailer had signed contracts with ... Read More
Mar 26, 2013
The lawyer for a Charleston attorney accused of aiding and abetting a financier charged with fraud over the sale of fake pre-IPO shares of Facebook has denied his client’s guilt in the case. Charleston attorney John “Jay&r... Read More
Mar 05, 2013
Monday afternoon, Nate DaPore, the CEO of Charleston-based PeopleMatter, walked down four flights of stairs to sit down to talk about a new $19 million investment in his company. He couldn’t use the elevator at the PeopleMat... Read More
Jul 14, 2009
Published July 14, 2009 In a made-for-TV moment, two Ponzi rip-off artists have landed in the same federal prison in North Carolina. The Lowcountry’s notorious Ponzi schemer and former Charleston Southern University economist... Read More