Running businesses that employ 100-240 people is not the usual career path for accountants, most of whom tend not be to entrepreneurial risk-takers.

But soft-spoken, low-key Anders fits no stereotypes, except for one – true to his Mennonite upbringing and church affiliation, he doesn’t flaunt his success. All things considered, he lives simply. Married for 25 years to Teresa (class of ’85), he, Teresa and their three children have lived in the same decent-sized, but not mansion-sized, house near Mt. Clinton since 2001. He drives a Toyota pickup with 85,000 miles on it.

The transition from engaging in audits to running a business happened toward the end of Anders’ seventh year as an accountant at PBGH, one of the three companies that became , the largest CPA firm in Virginia. A pair of his clients – Jerry Morris and Wayne Ruck, owners of – asked if he would join their management team as their in-house accountant. Soon after Anders joined the team in 1993, Packaging Services started a warehousing division. This has grown to be the core of several intersecting businesses that Anders now oversees, minus the original Packaging Services, which was sold in 2000.

Today Anders is the president of , which provides storage, transport, logistics and land-development services from its base on the southern edge of Harrisonburg, right beside I-81, to companies operating throughout the East Coast. InterChange has about 100 employees. In addition, Anders is on the executive management team of Classic Distribution (doing business as ), which has about 50 employees, and of , which has about 90 on its payroll.

Given his background as a CPA, Anders remained the de facto controller of InterChange, as he gradually hired managers in operations, sales, and transportation to meet operational needs. Finally the day came – it was Nov. 1, 2005, to be exact – when he brought in Kevin Longenecker ’91 to manage the company’s finances. (Longenecker had been 91����Ƶ’s controller and director of finance for the previous seven years.)

Anders was raised in Souderton, Pa., the son of a banker, whose other son has developmental disabilities. Familiar with his brother’s needs for familial and community support, Anders has found ways of partnering with , a Harrisonburg non-profit employing persons with disabilities and other barriers to employment. Several years ago, after about five years on Friendship’s board, Anders arranged for InterChange to work collaboratively with Friendship Industries, using Friendship personnel to do food repackaging for InterChange clients.

“I believe if you’re successful, you need to help those around you,” says Anders. “I don’t wake up in the morning thinking of my next deal or bigger bonuses. I wake up thinking about ways to sustain our workforce – I wake up aware of many mouths to feed. ‘How do we make this work?’ That’s what’s on my mind.”

His parents and his Mennonite heritage inculcated a strong work ethic in him – “perhaps too strong,” he says with a smile. Anders appreciates having the same underlying ethical values as his business partners, along with an interest in keeping InterChange privately held – all of which permits Anders and his management team to take the longer view in building their business, absent the pressure to deliver quarterly performance on the stock market.

One of their ventures is developing small office parks around Harrisonburg, such as the one that houses on Route 33 in McGaheysville.

Anders adopted Harrisonburg as his hometown in the late 1980s after heading south from Pennsylvania to enroll in what was then Eastern Mennonite College, where he says Del Snyder and Ron Stoltzfus gave him a solid foundation in accounting. Anders satisfied his cross-cultural requirement by spending nine weeks in China with the first group that 91����Ƶ sent to that country. “I was excited about it – it changed my world perspective,” he says.

It also did something that he could not have foreseen then: it enabled him to feel comfortable about venturing back to China as a businessman in 2009, and to return every year since then, as he considers deals involving the importation of cabinetry and other products. His most recent trip to Asia, in November 2013, lasted for 16 days, with stops in China, South Korea, Indonesia and Vietnam.

His biggest challenge? “Anticipating the market.”

Anders was not the only alumnus in the spotlight at the annual award ceremony held by the Harrisonburg-Rockingham Chamber of Commerce on Jan. 9. The Farm Family Stewardship Award went to Riverhill Farms of Port Republic, owned by the Rodes family. Glenn Rodes, featured in a short film on the farm, is married to Sheri Beth (Petersheim) Rodes, a 1988 91����Ƶ graduate who majored in early education. Their family raises 270,000 turkeys annually, operates a 150-cow dairy, and cultivates 600 acres, using conservation practices designed to protect the adjoining Shenandoah River.

People in the area are invited to the 91����Ƶ Campus Center Lehman board room, 301, to meet co-directors, s and , current students and learn more. People interested in joining classes virtually should contact mba@emu.edu about how to log in to join the open house virtually.

For more information on the MBA program or to let 91����Ƶ know you’re coming, call 540-432-4150 or email mba@emu.edu.

Athletic Director Dave King led the evening.

“This has become a tradition that helps us get the school year off to a good start,” said King.  “It is really exciting to have all the athletes together and sense the anticipation and hope of a new year.  It provides freshmen athletes an opportunity to understand that they are part of something much larger than their own team.  It also gives us an opportunity to connect the athletic department to the rest of the university.”

Ron Stoltzfus, the Faculty Athletics Representative, was one of the speakers to the approximately 200 student-athletes.  91����Ƶ President Loren Swartzendruber also spoke.

“It is a humbling experience to recognize how many lives we, as athletic staff and an entire campus community, will have the opportunity to impact through our relationships with them on and off the field,” King said afterwards.  “Gathering together helps build a bond between players on each team as well as between other sports teams.”

King introduced each coach and staff person to the students after recognizing the players by team.  As part of his talk, he helped student-athletes understand the expectations the school has for them, and he also introduced a brief set of guidelines for 91����Ƶ athletes.

Daniel Leake from Special Olympics Virginia also talked to the gathering.  The NCAA and D-III are making specific efforts to join with Special Olympics around the country, and Leake pointed out that 91����Ƶ and the rest of the Old Dominion Athletic Conference have been leading the way in building those relationships already.

“It was great to have Daniel, the local coordinator, with us to represent their programming and talk about ways in which our athletes can become involved,” King said.  “While the men’s basketball teams have been involved in the past, I am excited about getting additional athletes and teams involved locally.”

Andy Richter (Perkasie, PA/Christopher Dock), a senior of the baseball team, spoke to his peers about 91����Ƶ’s chapter of Fellowship of Christian Athletes and then also closed the program with a prayer of dedication for the year.

After the students were each given an 91����Ƶ t-shirt, a group photo was taken with President Swartzendruber and everyone enjoyed pizza.

King said the photo was a fitting way to end the night.

“We hope that the photo will be a constant reminder to athletes, parents, faculty and staff of the great potential these students bring to the school year,” he said.

A team of 91����Ƶ senior tied for fourth place in the final round of competition with a team from the University of Virginia in the ninth annual Goodman & Company Accounting Challenge.

91����Ƶ seniors tied for fourth out of 33 teams

The following students made up one of 33 teams from colleges and universities from Virginia and Maryland who took a six-hour business exam the second week of October:

• Heidi A. Boese, Hesston, Kansas
• Jason D. Ropp, Iowa City, Iowa
• Brittany S. Snyder, Raphine, Virginia
• Eric B. Yoder, Narvon, Pennsylvania

The 91����Ƶ team was one of only five to advance to the final round of the competition held Nov. 5 in Richmond, Va.

Here, the 91����Ƶ students took another intensive, six-hour exam of practical business questions.

Team and individual rewards

For finishing tied for fourth place, the team was awarded $750 for the 91����Ƶ business and economics department, and each student received $250 from Goodman & Company.

Another team from U.Va. finished first in the contest, followed by teams from William & Mary and James Madison University.

“Participating in the Goodman Accounting Challenge was hard work, but very rewarding,” said Eric Yoder. “We’re extremely excited with our accomplishment and the recognition we have brought to the accounting program at 91����Ƶ.”

Heidi Boese said she “valued the experience,” because “it affirms the great education I have received at 91����Ƶ and could possibly lead to job opportunities in the future.”

‘Affirmation of our curriculum’

“I’m really proud of these students,” said , professor of business and economics and co-director at 91����Ƶ. “It was definitely a team effort.

“It’s great to have this kind of external validation of our business program and our students, Dr. Stoltzfus added.

“It’s an affirmation of our curriculum and says that our students are well prepared to enter the job market go on to graduate school,” he added.

91����Ƶ 91����Ƶ’s business and economics program

91����Ƶ has around 90 students currently enrolled in its , which offers majors in: