They're young and involved

By Dick Hughes  

JANUARY 20, 2012 9:23 a.m. (0)

Now nearly 1,000 strong, PULSE, or Professionals United for Leadership and Social Enrichment, is intent on being instrumental in shaping the civic, cultural and social fabric of the city and, though a bigger hurdle, the county.

“We have gone from being a ‘social-only’ type group to becoming a distinguished group of young professionals that people are starting to pay attention to,” said Tammy Johnson, 27, PULSE 2012 chair.

The social aspect remains and the night life is a rich attraction, but PULSE sees elevated purpose in helping attract and keep young talent, enriching its leadership programs and putting people in place to serve in voluntary and elected positions.

“We are constantly receiving invitations from local government and nonprofit groups that want us to be involved in their decision-making.”

She said a PULSE priority for 2012 is to seize these opportunities to gain a voice in decisions that today’s young generation will have to carry out in five to 10 years.

“We want our members to be the voice of Greenville by serving on city and county commissions, non-profit boards and other government seats,” said Johnson, expressing an ambition that others shared in interviews with the Journal.

It is a role embraced by the established power structure of the city and perhaps to a lesser degree by the county. That is quite different from the way decisions were made in the past.

“If you look back at Greenville 20, 30 years ago, all the decisions were basically made around one table, a table of 50- and 60-year-old balding, overweight men,” said Russell Stahl, executive director of Greenville Forward, which was instrumental in creating PULSE.

“Now decisions are made by a much larger group. It looks a whole lot different than it did 25 years ago, and that’s healthy for the community.

“By encouraging participation by young people, by encouraging participation by people of different religions and races, that’s what makes Greenville great, a transformation to a place that is much more inclusive.”

PULSE grew out of focus groups and research for Vision 2025. Reversing past patterns to attract and retain young professionals by creating a “cool” place to live and work is just one of many initiatives.

Stahl said the success of PULSE exceeds everyone’s expectations.

“It is giving young people a voice they didn’t have before, and that’s pretty incredible.”

Dante Russo, 28, is one of those voices. At the urging of a friend who helped him land a job with Red Bull, the energy drink company, a skeptical Russo came to Greenville in 2006 after graduating from the University of Pittsburgh.

“At first it was difficult for me. You don’t have family, you don’t have friends. I only knew one person. I was slightly depressed for awhile, but I thought I have a lease on my apartment and I am here for at least a year.”

Russo joined PULSE in 2007. He said he probably would have left Greenville when his apartment lease ran out if it were not for PULSE.

“It’s a like a big snowball, and I have PULSE to thank for a lot of it, a lot of my business connections, a lot of my friends, a lot of who I am today is because of PULSE.”

He left Red Bull to start South Carolina Insurance Brokers, which began with three employees and today has nine.

Like Russo, Johnson, a Houston native, came to Greenville in January 2009 to manage a Sticky Fingers. She credited PULSE for giving her the skills and confidence to go out on her own. A year ago, she started Liquid Catering.

Russo achieved a PULSE goal of getting members involved in government by winning appointment to the Greenville Arena District Board that manages Bi-Lo Center in Greenville and Charter Amphitheater in Simpsonville.

Kimberly Witherspoon, 27, a lawyer with Haynsworth Sinkler Boyd, is chair of the leadership committee that is identifying openings on boards and commissions.

She sees PULSE’s role as putting members in position to prepare them to run for council or to serve on boards and nonprofits.

Witherspoon and Johnson said another priority for PULSE is to give summer interns working for local companies a fuller view of what the Upstate offers to entice them to return when they graduate.

Witherspoon, who hails from New Zion and who got her bachelor’s degree from Furman and her law degree from Georgetown University in Washington D.C., returned to Greenville two years ago. A year ago, she bought a house in Travelers Rest.

Barri Hicks, 35, and her husband moved to Simpsonville three years ago from Austin, a city Greenville sees as a model, after losing her job and wanting to be close to her parents and her sister and family who live here.

She would like to see a bigger commitment by the city and county to a public transportation system linking Greenville with the suburbs.

While the per capita income of Greenville still lags behind Austin and other magnet cities, Hicks stayed in the same line of employment as a buyer for the Greenville Hospital System. She earns more money here.

Many of PULSE members come from elsewhere and only know what they’ve heard about the hardscrabble downtown that existed before Greenville’s revitalization in the 1980s. Hank Holseberg, 34, who grew up in Greenville, can tell them about it.

In his youth, he helped carry sheetrock into the buildings rehabbed by his father’s company, Morris Construction, which he became president of before joining Flynn Wealth Management.

Holseberg also remembers the turf wars between city and county in the Upstate. Like other young professionals, whether native or newcomer, Holseberg views Greenville and the Upstate as a single whole.

He sees the county and the city “working much more closely together” and credits planning organizations such as Ten at the Top for helping break down border barriers and parochial rivalries.

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