Are MZM’s Martinsville facility days numbered?
Reader J.A. pointed me to a story that Bill Wyatt ran on the Martinsville Daily a week ago now that I somehow missed. MZM may be closing up shop in Martinsville:
Shakeup at MZM/Athena causes some to wonder if it’s the beginning of the end
According to our sources, a major shakeup has occurred at Athena (formerly MZM) in Martinsville.
We are told Director Richard Berglund has been dismissed by the company apparently due to his ties with MZM’s founder Mitchell Wade.
Also we have learned Joe James, former Marine intelligence officer and number 2 man at the Foreign Supplier Assessment Center operated by Athena in Martinsville voluntarily resigned.
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Our sources in Washington tell us the Foreign Supplier Assessment Center here is at major risk of losing its contract with the Pentagon primarly because of the continuing investigations and indictments by the FBI and U.S. Attorneys related to the corruption scandal involving disgraced Randy “Duke” Cunningham and now includes the CIA’s number 3 man, Kyle “Dusty” Foggo. We are told it is quite likely the Pentagon will try to distance itself from the scandal.
Meanwhile, it becomes more apparent everyday that MZM (now Athena) is not meeting its promise of employee development. Future hires are being told that efforts are “taking longer than expected” citing the unknown future of the FSAC contract.
This would particularly terrible for Martinsville because of the deal that Rep. Virgil Goode brokered with the state for MZM. In short, Martinsville got $500,000 in state grants for MZM, with the deal being that if MZM failed to perform (measured in capital investments and people employed) that Martinsville would have to pay it back. 
If MZM’s Martinsville location gets shut down — or if they simply fail to continue to expand at their initial rate — then Martinsville is on the hook for hundreds of thousands of dollars. That bit of economic genius is courtesy of Rep. Goode, as the Roanoke Times‘ Laurence Hammack explained in his excellent exposé on the highly-unusual deal.
If Bill Wyatt’s sources are right, it looks increasingly likely that Martinsville may end up being put in just that position. The economic damage could be bad, but the blow to morale could be much worse. Their congressman, working with the state, negotiated a deal to get a major federal contractor to open up a sizable office in their town. It’s one of Martinsville’s highest-profile successes in years. To have that crumble less than two years later would be exactly the opposite of what Martinsville needs.
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