Vicky Janowski

A recent report placed Wilmington among the top cities nationally when it comes to job growth over the past decade. The city ranked fifth among the 150 largest metro areas in the U.S. for percentage growth of total employment (29.6%) between 2015 and 2025, according to a September report from Economic Leadership, a Shallotte-based research group. And that bump wasn’t just in the early part of the decade. Wilmington continued to see 16.4% employment growth since 2019.

Jhaniqua Palmer, CEO YWCA Lower Cape Fear Assuming the role of CEO of the YWCA Lower Cape Fear is a full-circle moment for Jhaniqua Palmer, who joined the organization in 2019 as coordinator of its Grandparent Support Network. Now, nearly eight years after first walking through the doors of the Wilmington organization, Palmer has returned to lead it into its next chapter. “The YWCA’s mission has always resonated deeply with me because it reflects both my personal and professional journey.

When Hurricane Fran hit the Wilmington area in 1996, Paul Dent lost power at his home. The event started the path to eventually work with Stephen Burnett and others at Koolbridge Energy on an energy management system for homes to better switch between power sources on both good and bad weather days. “The Smart Load Center (SLC) is a very intelligent residential energy management system,” Burnett, chairman of locally based Koolbridge Energy, said about the company’s product.