Charlotte's Young Professionals - Charlotte Chamber of Commerce

Charlotte’s 

Young 

Professionals 

Charlotte’s Young Professionals 1

We thank the following companies for their support of the 

Charlotte Chamber’s economic development efforts. 

PLATINUM SPONSORS 

SILVER SPONSORS 

Ad Art Company, The 

Artistic Images, Inc. 

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP 

Bryan Cave LLP 

Burkert Contromatic Corp. 

Carolina Handling, LLC 

Carolina Legal Staffing, LLC 

Compass Group North America 

DiscoverReady LLC 

First Citizens Bank 

G4S Secure Solutions (USA) Inc. 

BRONZE SPONSORS 

Garden City Group 

Grant Thornton LLP 

Haynes and Boone, LLP 

Hendrick Automotive Group 

Hollander Home Fashions, Inc. 

Huron Legal 

Insight Global, Inc. A Staffing Services Co. 

Lincoln Harris 

Louis Raphael — Kizan International, Inc. 

Moore & Van Allen PLLC 

National Print Group Inc. 

Otis Elevator Company 

Performance Team 

Phillips-Van Heusen Corp. 

Rust Consulting, Inc. 

Shearman & Sterling 

Sidley Austin LLP 

Special Counsel 

Stanley Convergent Security Solutions 

SteelFab, Inc. 

UGL Services 

Weyco Group 

Charlotte Chamber Economic Development charlottechamber.com 

330 South Tryon Street, Charlotte, NC 28202 USA | 704.378.1300 | twitter.com/cltecondev

Charlotte’s Emerging 

Creative Class 

“For a growing company like ours, looking to hire young professionals, you 

are going to find the talent you want because Charlotte is a destination for 

people looking to get started.” — Court Cunningham, Yodle 

Research shows talent is 

crucial to a company’s success. 

In the last few years, managing 

talent has become a top 

priority for CEOs. In fact, a 

majority of CEOs fear talent 

shortages will constrain their 

companies’ growth. According 

to PricewaterhouseCoopers 

Global CEO survey (pwc/hrs), 

66 percent of CEOs say that 

a lack of the right skills is 

their biggest talent challenge. 

When considering expansion, 

relocation or starting a 

business, location becomes 

paramount as the location 

provides the access to talent. 

The age demographic 

of college-educated 25- to 

34-year-olds is more mobile 

and far more likely to choose 

the city first and then the job. 

Talented people provide the 

intellectual capital a region can 

draw on to build its economy 

and to weather the inevitable 

shocks of competition and 

change. As U.S. Secretary 

of Housing and Urban 

Development Shaun Donovan 

states, “More and more, in an 

economy where companies 

follow people to places where 

they want to live, it’s about 

creating great places to live.” 


Charlotte provides both — 

access to a skilled workforce 

and a place those under 40 

want to call home. Charlotte 

also was recently ranked fourth 

out of 20 cities for “Happiest 

Young Professionals” by Forbes 

and CareerBliss and ranks in 

the top 10 of “Great Cities for 

New Graduates” by Kiplinger. 

As Jim Collins, author of “Good 

to Great” puts it, “Money is a 

commodity. Talent is not. Time 

and talent can often compensate 

for lack of money, but money 

cannot ever compensate for lack 

of the right people.” 

But don’t take our word for 

it that Charlotte can provide 

you with the right talent 

needed to make your company 

a success — the following 

are three employers and their 

perspectives on Charlotte’s 

talent, business-friendly climate 

and quality of life. 

Yodle’s Talent Search 

Meet Court Cunningham, 

Yodle’s chief executive officer. 

If you haven’t heard, Yodle is 

one of the fastest-growing local 

online marketing companies 

in the country headquartered 

in New York with more than 

1,000 employees. Yodle has six 

offices nationwide and has had 

a strong presence in Charlotte 

since 2008. 

So why Charlotte? Court 

provides four reasons why 

Yodle said yes to Charlotte as 

the company looked to grow 

and expand. 

1 

“Value for location space. 

If you want to compare 

Charlotte to the likes of 

San Francisco or Chicago 

you get great value for 

space.” 

2 

“Logistically with US 

Airways as a hub you 

can get anywhere. It is 

very accessible. I can be 

in NYC in 1.5 hours.” 

Charlotte Douglas 

International Airport 

(CLT) is the sixth most 

active airport in the 

world with more than 

700 daily departures. 

Approximately 90 

percent of all flights at 

CLT are operated by 

US Airways. 

Charlotte’s Young Professionals 

4 

Yodel employees review successes.


3 

“The higher education 

school systems in 

Charlotte provide 

excellent talent.” 

Charlotte-Mecklenburg 

Schools was named the 

Top Urban School District 

by the Broad Foundation 

out of 75 school districts 

in 2011. 

4 

“Charlotte is a 

destination for talented 

young professionals 

who are an asset for 

companies like ours.” 

Not only does Charlotte 

have an abundance of younger 

workers, they are highly 

educated, creative and happy. 

According to the Brookings 

Institute, 39 percent of the city 

of Charlotte’s population 25 

The past decade of economic development in Charlotte- 

Mecklenburg totals more than $9 billion in announced new 

businesses. This investment by 7,039 firms created jobs for 57,277 

people and absorbed 93.7 million square feet of floor area. 

years and older has a bachelor’s 

degree, ranking Charlotte 

13th nationwide. Additionally, 

Mecklenburg County has the 

fifth highest rate of migration of 

young, educated workers in the 

nation, and Charlotte ranks 14th 

out of 35 cities on the Creativity 

Vitality Index for 2011. 

So what are Yodle’s thoughts 

on our talent? “The availability 

of talent in Charlotte is terrific. 

There are a significant number of 

qualified, college-educated new 

hires on our doorstep. It makes 

recruiting significantly easier 

and usually means that we can 

find the people we need for our 

rapidly growing Charlotte office.” 

says Court. 

The Charlotte area is home 

to 35 colleges, universities and 

technical institutions that enroll 

more than 182,000 students. In 

the 2011-2012 academic year, 

these institutions awarded 4,004 

certificates, 5,060 associate 

degrees, 7,367 bachelor’s 

degrees, 2,281 master’s degrees 

and 204 doctorates. The 

Charlotte area includes Anson, 

Cabarrus, Gaston, Mecklenburg, 

and Union counties in N.C. and 

York County in S.C. Here is just 

a slice of some of the graduate 

degrees offered: 

JD/MBA, Charlotte School of Law 

(joint venture with UNCC) 

Master of Science in Health 

Informatics, Northeastern 

University 

Master of Health Administration, 

Pfeiffer University at Charlotte 

Master of Science in Executive 

Coaching, Queens University 

Ph.D. in Bioinformatics and 

Computational Biology, UNC 

at Charlotte 

Master of Business 

Administration, Wake Forest 

University at Charlotte 

Charlotte’s Unique 

Blend of Industries 

Industry 

Employment 

Health Care & Social Assistance . . . . . . . . . . . 128,591 

Manufacturing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117,327 

Retail Trade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115,711 

Accommodation & Food Services. . . . . . . . . . . . 92,031 

Administrative & Waste Services . . . . . . . . . . . . 80,076 

Educational Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62,861 

Finance & Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59,185 

Wholesale Trade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52,924 

Professional & Technical Services . . . . . . . . . . . . 51,722 

Construction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47,281 

Transportation & Warehousing . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44,103 

Public Administration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41,128 

Management of Companies & Enterprises . . . . . . . 33,853 

Other Services, Ex. Public Admin . . . . . . . . . . . . 25,589 

Arts, Entertainment, & Recreation . . . . . . . . . . . 22,900 

Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22,777 

Real Estate & Rental & Leasing . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13,294 

Agriculture & Mining . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4,003 

Utilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,783 

Source: Quarterly Census of Earnings & Wages, Q3 2012 

Charlotte by the Numbers 

Mecklenburg County Population Estimates 

Population under 40 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60.1% 

Population with Bachelor’s 

Degree or Higher (25 years & older) . . . . . . . . . 40.4% 

Population with Graduate or 

Professional Degree (25 years and older) . . . . . . 12.6% 

Source: American Community Survey, 2011 5-Year Estimates, US Census. 

Target Industries: 

Aerospace / Aviation 

Automotive / Motorsports 

Bioscience and Life Sciences 

Computer Software Engineering 

Energy Production 

Financial Services 

Headquarters 

International Firms 

Logistics / Distribution 

Optics 

Plastics


Charlotte’s Young Professionals 

8 

Abhishek Mehta, founder of Tresata

Tresata Finds Success 

When describing Charlotte 

in one word, some would say 

“opportunity.” Enter Tresata, 

founded in January of 2011 

by Abhishek Mehta and 

Richard Morris. Abhishek, 

Abhi for short, saw an 

opportunity in the “big 

data” (applying analytics 

to information) space and 

jumped in to claim the 

financial services vertical. “Big 

data” is growing quickly in 

Silicon Valley, so Abhi and 

his partner had to make a 

decision. They could start 

their company anywhere, and 

conventional wisdom would 

have led them to New York or 

Silicon Valley. But they didn’t 

need conventional wisdom 

and a crowded marketplace; 

they needed opportunity. 

“We chose Charlotte for 

multiple reasons. Our vertical 

is financial services, and the 

majority of our clients are on 

the East coast, which makes 

Charlotte the perfect choice in 

terms of accessibility.” 

Charlotte-Mecklenburg 

workers who drive to work 

have a mean commute time 

of 28 minutes, which is less 

than those of Atlanta (35 

minutes) and Washington, 

D.C. (41 minutes). However, 

the Charlotte Area Transit 

System (CATS), the largest 

transit system between 

Atlanta and D.C., offers over 

70 local, express and regional 

bus routes, a light rail line 

and vanpools. When opened, 

the LYNX light rail was so 

successful that it doubled its 

projected weekly ridership in its 

first year of operation. 

“Second on the list was 

talent. The talent war in the 

big data space is very 

competitive in the [Silicon] 

Valley, which makes it difficult 

to hire. We have been pleasantly 

surprised by the universities in 

the area and recently hired three 

interns from UNCC’s science 

department.” 

“Third is the unique blend 

of industries. We believe that 

with the unique combination 

of industries in our area, 

Charlotte should become the 

second hub of big data.” 

“The final reason and 

cherry on top is quality of life. 

People come to Charlotte 

not just for the money but 

looking for something else — 

a balance that is difficult to 

get in larger cities. When you 

combine all of those, it is a 

unique and easy sell for us to 

pick Charlotte.” CareerBliss 

recently ranked Charlotte fifth 

out of 10 cities for “Happiest 

Cities for Working Dads.” 

Starting a business is never 

easy, just ask any entrepreneur. 

But there are ways to make 

the rollercoaster ride a little 

easier. Abhi agrees. “From an 

entrepreneur’s perspective, 

“You can start a business in Charlotte for a fifth of what you 

can in NYC or California. Money goes farther, and that is a 

massive, massive advantage.” — Abhishek Mehta, Tresata 

there are three main things 

you need to find success. 

Those three are to get the right 

talent, start the business with a 

low investment and be able to 

get to anywhere you want to 

be. It’s pretty cool because you 

can get all three in Charlotte.” 

Charlotte was ranked the fifth 

“Most Desirable Place to do 

Business” out of 100 cities 

by Area Development Special 

magazine. 


Comfortable Lifestyle 

The available talent and the 

lower cost of doing business 

make Charlotte a pretty 

attractive place to start or 

expand your company. But 

as Abhi mentioned, the one 

facet you cannot succeed 

without is the lifestyle that 

Charlotte provides and talent 

demands. It is the combination 

of balance, entertainment 

and uniqueness that makes 

Charlotte an easy sell to 

important — the environment, 

climate, social aspects, etc. 

Charlotte was on both of our 

lists — mine and my husband’s. 

So we came to visit and found 

that the opportunities we 

needed for employment in the 

hospitality industry and passion 

in the film industry were here. 

We took the plunge.” 

In terms of the 

environment, sustainability 

is a top priority in Charlotte. 

energy consumption in the 

Uptown Charlotte area by 

20 percent in five years. The 

program is already being 

replicated in other cities. 

“After we closed on our 

house we looked up the 

closest beer garden. There 

wasn’t one in Charlotte, and 

it is our favorite environment 

to hang out. My husband said 

we should open one, and six 

months later we opened VBGB 

10 Charlotte’s Young Professionals 

relocating talent and their 

families. That is the ultimate 

competitive advantage. 

Just ask Kara and Tom 

Taddeo. Their reason for 

choosing a new city had 

nothing to do with opening 

a bar, but Charlotte had 

different plans for them. Not 

wanting to raise their kids in 

New York City, Kara and Tom 

turned to online dating … for 

relocation. “We started looking 

for alternative cities and went 

online to find where we 

should consider for relocation. 

We actually used an online 

website that asked us what is 

“People who call Charlotte home have lived 

and been everywhere, but Charlotte draws 

them back, pulls them back. And 

they choose Charlotte as their final 

destination which says a lot about our city.” 

— Kara Taddeo, VBGB Beer Hall & Garden 

Launched in early 2011, 

Envision Charlotte is an 

award-winning, measurable, 

community sustainability 

program that is part of the 

Clinton Global Initiative. The 

program’s goal is to reduce 

Beer Hall & Garden. This was 

not the plan, but Charlotte 

knew better.” Unsurprisingly, 

the Charlotte metro area was 

recognized as being highly 

conducive to the creation and 

development of small business, 

Tom and Kara Taddeo, owners, VBGB


anking fourth on the smallbusiness 

vitality index by the 

American Business Journals. 

So what is important to 

someone like Kara when it 

comes to Charlotte’s lifestyle 

advantage? 

Neighborhoods: 

“Charlotte is becoming its 

own mini-Manhattan with its 

diverse neighborhoods, like 

Plaza Midwood, South End 

and more. At face value you 

wouldn’t think it would be 

eclectic — it almost seems 

white collar or urban, and it 

doesn’t seem like there is as 

much in-between. But when 

you really do branch out and 

go into these neighborhoods, 

you start to see how diverse 

and wonderfully engaging 

the neighborhoods are, 

not just what they look like 

on paper.” [See map and 

demographic information on 

page 17.] 

Diversity and inclusion: 

“We love how eclectic and 

diverse the area is…it reminds 

us of NYC as there is a little bit 

of everything here.” 

Recreation: “Charlotte 

does a really great job of 

having something going on 

every weekend. There is always 

something to do, rarely a 

stale weekend.” 

BBQ and Blues Festival 


Plaza Midwood has numerous 

good restaurants.

Cam Newton, quarterback 

of the Carolina Panthers. 



U.S. National Whitewater Center

Culture & Arts: “There 

is a lot of art going on. My 

husband is a filmmaker by 

passion, so we knew there 

were opportunities in film 

and in the commercial world, 

music venues and theatres — 

they bring in artists and shows 

that you would never expect 

to see in Charlotte, very cool 

artists.” 

The Charlotte area plays 

an active role in the film and 

television industries, offering 

competitive film incentives and 

a robust crew base. The area 

has more than 40 feature films 

and numerous independent 

films and television shows. 

Nightlife, Music and 

Cuisine: “I love exploring 

new restaurants. The nightlife 

is diverse; you can find what 

you want.” As Kara explains, 

“Charlotte is on the verge of 

turning into a cosmopolitan 

city with burgeoning, cool 

growth.” 

So what does Charlotte 

have to offer? We can’t list 

them all, but here are a few 

highlights: 

U.S. National Whitewater 

Center, 210 parks and 

facilities, 7 disc golf courses, 

6 dog parks, an equestrian 

center, numerous hiking 

trails, 35 miles of developed 

greenways, 150 miles of 

undeveloped greenways, 

16 miles of mountain biking 

trails, Carolina Panthers, 

Charlotte Bobcats, NASCAR 

Hall of Fame, NC Music 

Factory, Verizon Wireless 

Amphitheatre and more. 

Some of our festivals 

include Time Warner Cable 

BBQ and Blues, Taste of 

Charlotte, International 

Festival, Food Lion Speed 

Street, Festival in the Park, 

Latin America Festival, 

Yiasou Greek Festival and 

Oktoberfest. 

The Charlotte area is 

rich with museums and 

performing arts organizations, 

which include the Bechtler 

Museum of Modern Art, 

Charlotte Museum of History, 

Harvey B. Gantt Center 

for Arts + Culture, Levine 

Museum of the New South, 

McColl Center for Visual 

Art, the Mint Museum, the 

Light Factory Contemporary 

Museum of Photography 

and Film, Actor’s Theatre 

of Charlotte, Charlotte 

Symphony, NC Blumenthal 

Performing Arts Center, 

NC Dance Theatre, Opera 

Carolina, Theatre Charlotte 

and Carolina Voices. Most 

of these organizations also 

host young affiliate groups 

for young professionals 

from the Charlotte 

Symphony Orchestra Pulse 

to Young Affiliates of the 

Mint to BRAVO!, Opera 

Carolina’s group for young 

professionals. 


Select Mecklenburg County Areas 

Ballantyne 28277 

Zip Codes: 28277 

2010 Population: 64,164 


2010 Per Capita Income: $47,360 

2010 Median Age: 36.7 

2010 Population (Age 25-44): 37.4% 

Bachelor’s Degree or Higher: 57.7% 

Myer’s Park 28209 








Myers Park 


Ballantyne 

Southend 

SouthPark 

Huntersville 

Cornelius 28031 








Davidson 28036 








Dilworth 28207 








Elizabeth 28204 








Huntersville 28078 








Plaza Midwood/ 

NoDa 28205 








Southend 28203 








SouthPark 28210, 11 

Zip Codes: 28210, 28211 







University 28269, 62 

Zip Codes: 28269, 28262 







Uptown 28202 








Plaza Midwood 

Dilworth 

University City 

Uptown

Select Mecklenburg County Areas 

Lake 

28031 

DAVIDSON 

Norman 

28036 

Lake 

Norman 

77 

28031 

KANNAPOLIS 

21 

28078 

28078 

Mountain 

Island 

Lake 

28269 

16 

485 

85 

29 

C a t a w b a 

85 

R i v e r 

28214 

28216 

21 

77 

28269 

28206 

28262 

28213 

28262 

485 

49 

74 

CHARLOTTE / DOUGLAS 

INTERNATIONAL 

AIRPORT 

28278 

28217 

521 

28208 

277 

02 28205 

04 

203 

207 

28209 

16 

28211 

74 

212 

28215 

485 

51 

28227 

27 

28273 

49 

21 

77 

485 

521 

28210 

28226 

28270 

227 

28105 

MATTHEWS 

MINT HILL 

Lake 

Wylie 

28278 

NC 

SC 

miles 

0 1 2 3 

0 2 4 

kilometers 

6 

4 

51 

PINEVILLE 

28 

134 

28277 

51 

28277 

16 

28270 

C 

485 

28104 

simpsonmaps 

2010 


Major Employers in the Charlotte Region 

Company Employees Industry 

Carolinas HealthCare System 32,500 Health Care & Social Assistance 

Wells Fargo Company 20,600 Finance & Insurance 

Bank of America 15,000 Finance & Insurance 

Walmart & Sam’s Club Stores 12,220 Retail Trade 

Novant Health 10,573 Health Care & Social Assistance 

Lowe’s 8,500 Retail Trade 

Food Lion LLC 7,734 Retail Trade 

Duke Energy Corp. 7,700 Utilities 

US Airways 7,060 Transportation & Warehousing 

Daimler Trucks North America LLC 6,400 Manufacturing 

Harris Teeter 5,206 Retail Trade 

Gaston Memorial Hospital 3,850 Health Care & Social Assistance 

Compass Group 3,660 Accommodation & Food Services 

TIAA-CREF 3,500 Finance & Insurance 

Source: Charlotte Chamber of Commerce, 2013 

Top 10 Largest Foreign Firms in Mecklenburg County 

Company Parent Country Employees Description 

Food Lion Belgium 1,765 Grocery Store 

Siemens Energy Inc. Germany 1,750 Sales/Service: HVAC Security 

Ingersoll Rand Co. Ltd. Ireland 1,080 Air & Gas Compressors 

Compass Group United Kingdom 1,025 Food & Vending Services 

Ingersoll Rand Industrial Technologies Ireland 1,000 RHQ: Air & Gas Compressors 

Maersk Inc. Denmark 850 Containerized Cargo Carrier 

HMSHost Italy 800 Caterers 

Electrolux North America Sweden 750 Household Vacuum Cleaners 

AXA Equitable/National Operations Center France 700 Financial Services 

AREVA NP France 560 RHQ: Nuclear Engineering 

Source: Charlotte Chamber of Commerce, 2013 

Published by: Charlotte Chamber of Commerce 

330 South Tryon Street, Charlotte, NC 28202 

704.378.1300 charlottechamber.com 

Copyright 2013 by Charlotte Chamber Services Inc. All rights reserved. No part of the publication may be reproduced 

or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any 

information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the Charlotte Chamber. The information in 

this publication is carefully gathered and compiled in such a way as to ensure maximum accuracy. The Charlotte Chamber 

and Charlotte Chamber Services cannot, and do not, guarantee either the correctness of all information furnished them 

nor the complete absence of errors and omissions. Hence, responsibility for same neither can be, nor is, assumed. 

6/13 .25M 

President: Bob Morgan, CCE Chair: Brett Carter 

Senior V.P., Economic Development: Jeff Edge, CEcD 

V.P., Research & Communications: Natalie Dick 

Dir., Economic Development Marketing: Andrea Ware 

Director, Research: Andrew Bowen 

Associate, Research: Madeline Caryl 

Director, Advertising & Campaign: Allie Thomas 

Words: Stacey Randall 

Design: Andrea Ware 

Photos: PatrickSchneiderPhoto.com

Charlotte is one of the fastest-growing cities in the nation. 

With our great location, world-acclaimed international hub airport, 

professional sports, low energy costs, diverse and talented labor, 

and a nationally ranked education system, it’s easy to see why 

more businesses are flocking here every year. 

charlottechamber.com 

©PATRICKSCHNEIDERPHOTO.COM

Charlotte's Young Professionals - Charlotte Chamber of Commerce

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