
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, October 22, 1995                   TAG: 9510200023
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: F-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: JEFF STURGEON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

DUO COACHES, COUNSELS IN FIGHTING FOR MONEY

Douglas W. Murray Jr. has been called the "bulldog" financing specialist of the Roanoke Regional Chamber of Commerce. But with the physical profile of a buttoned-down businessman who communicates with an understanding nod, laughter and a warm handshake, he's anything but threatening.

Yet, when Murray focuses his laser-beam concentration on deciphering a business' financial statements, no number can run and hide, said those familiar with his work at the Blue Ridge Small Business Development Center.

"He's aggressive at finding financing and getting the best information available," said Loyd Shiffer, co-owner of Roanoke Valley Harley-Davidson, a business that Murray helped get a loan for buying land and building a new store and shop. Shiffer was first to call Murray, 29, a bulldog.

Counseling business owners who are applying for loans, Murray said, "is like lifeguarding in college: You know, you're always watching. You're looking for something to go under and, when you see that, you just jump all over it."

Murray's portfolio of credentials includes a bachelor's degree from James Madison University and fellowship with the Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts. He won a manufacturing management trainee's job with Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. in Danville, during which he oversaw three $30 million rubber-making machines and 24 employees. He was a credit analyst at Dominion Bankshares Corp. and a credit and underwriting analyst at Dominion's successor, First Union National Bank of Virginia. From there, he went to the small business development center as a business financial specialist.

There, he works for the center's director, John Jennings, who has impressed the state's highest official for small business financing with his management of the center.

Jennings, 46, has a bachelor's degree from Emory & Henry College. In his more than 20-year working career, he held management jobs at real estate and marketing companies, an organization that operated a weight-reduction center and most recently a sheltered workshop in Lynchburg for 115 people with mental and physical disabilities. He was hired by the center five years ago and became its director two years later. He is the center's generalist, versed in business planning, financing and marketing.

Rob Blackmore, director of small business and financial services for the state Economic Development Department, called Jennings a statewide leader in his field.

Jennings and Murray are "very aggressive in trying to get financial aid for small business firms, probably more so than many of our other centers around the state," Blackmore said. "They devote a lot of attention to it and it's time well spent."

Keywords:
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