Impact Housing Group, a premier manufacturer of modular design housing, announced plans to establish operations in Oconee County. The company's $30 million investment will create 215 jobs over the next five years.

Impact Housing Group is a fully integrated, volumetric modular housing company that provides solutions for more affordable homes that are assembled off-site in a controlled environment.

This leads to faster delivery of environmentally sensitive homes that help open the door to home ownership for today’s families. 

Located on Oconee Business Parkway at the Oconee Industry and Technology Park in Westminster, Impact Housing Group’s new operation will address the increased affordable housing demand across the region.

“Impact Housing Group’s investment and related jobs will increase choices for all South Carolinians,” said S.C. Secretary of Commerce Harry M. Lightsey III.

“We look forward to the impact this company will have on Oconee County and the state, as well as a strong partnership for years to come.”

Operations are expected to be online by August 2023. Individuals interested in joining the Impact Housing Group team should visit the company’s careers page.

The Coordinating Council for Economic Development has approved job development credits related to this project. The council also awarded a $250,000 Set-Aside grant to Oconee County to assist with the costs of site preparation and building construction.

Southern First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ: SFST), holding company for Southern First Bank, announced the appointment of Cal Hurst to president. 

Hurst has served as Chief Banking Officer and executive vice president of Southern First since 2019, contributing to the bank’s strategic growth and planning as well as overseeing the company’s retail banking, deposit operations, and marketing divisions.

Hurst has over 16 years of experience in the banking industry and is passionate about positively impacting everyone he connects with.

In addition to his work, Hurst is a highly engaged member of the Upstate community, serving on the board of directors for the Greenville Chamber, United Way of Greenville County, and Greenville First Steps.  

“Cal’s charismatic leadership has been integral to our continued growth and strong company culture. This promotion is in recognition of his tremendous talents and deep commitment to our mission of Impacting Lives. I look forward to building on our accomplishments with Cal’s talents in this new role,” said company CEO Art Seaver.

PCT LTD., operating through its wholly owned operating subsidiary Paradigm Convergence Technologies, Inc (PCT) announced that it is in the process of segregating its Healthcare and Oil & Gas technologies into separate wholly owned subsidiaries to capitalize on marketing opportunities.

The PCT Healthcare division is being rebranded with assets transferred into 21st Century Healthcare, Inc. while the PCT Oil & Gas division will be rebranded with assets transferred into 21st Century Energy, Inc.

21st Century Healthcare, Inc. intends to build and market equipment and fluids specifically to the healthcare industry.

21st Century Energy, Inc. intends to market oil and gas technologies and services to the Oil & Gas industry.

Both new entities anticipate marketing directly to their customer base and form strategic partnerships with companies that are heavily engaged in both Healthcare and Oil & Gas, respectively.

PCT believes that this will open additional investment and strategic alliance opportunities. PCT has found there is much more opportunity to attract the necessary investment and alliances to assure the funds will be used in the areas of investment interest while each company focuses on their specific market.

South Carolina-based Blackbaud, the cloud software company, announced that it has acquired Kilter.

The acquisition will allow Blackbaud to expand activity-based peer-to-peer fundraising engagement, to support activity-based health and wellness initiatives for socially responsible companies, and to grow the ways individuals can connect with the causes they care about most through the activities they love.

Kilter is an intuitive, gamified, activity-based engagement app boasting virtually limitless activity type choices. Kilter expands activity-based engagement beyond the familiar options of running, walking and cycling, enabling users to track new, popular and personally relevant activities, from pickleball to meditation.   

Blackbaud will leverage Kilter to support activity-based fundraising for Blackbaud TeamRaiser, the event-based fundraising software, offering a robust set of capabilities for nonprofit organizations hosting events.

With the addition of Kilter’s intuitive app, Blackbaud will offer an unmatched experience for event participants, meeting their new expectations for digital engagement and for event experience, while enabling nonprofit customers to drive fundraising growth and expansion. Kilter will also support activity-based health and wellness activities for Blackbaud’s YourCause CSRConnect platform, a leading solution for employee engagement leveraged by companies in support of their social responsibility goals. 

“Activity tracking, like logging workouts, sharing goals, and exchanging virtual encouragement with friends, is quickly becoming part of daily routine for millions of people around the world and an essential part of peer-to-peer fundraising,” said Mike Gianoni, president and CEO, Blackbaud.

“Our acquisition of Kilter will allow us to serve nonprofits by expanding the ways they can engage with their supporters to prepare for their existing fundraising walks, runs and rides, and to create totally new types of engagement opportunities that aren’t tied to a specific date or place.”