G Profile: The Culture Club

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Viktor Hanuska

▶Birthplace: Solka, Slovakia
▶Family: Wife, Mireille, a French native; daughter Nathalie and son Alexander; and five grandchildren
▶Employment: Retired Michelin executive, including past president of Michelin China & Korea (1997–2002) and director for project “Challenge Bibendum” (2002–2004)
▶Hobbies: History, politics/international affairs, sports (hiking, cycling, former soccer player), and reading, especially biographies
▶Community Involvement: Board member, International Center of the Upstate in charge of International Relocation Program; Lifelong Learning Program (OLLI) of Furman University

The city is fast becoming a study in global gastronomy, not to mention an increasingly eclectic population: from Cuban (Mojitos) and Persian food (Pomegranate on Main) to Indian (Handi) and Thai (Lemongrass), a range of cultures and cuisines are coming together. It seems only fitting, then, that tucked inconspicuously into the first floor of the City Hall building on Main Street is the International Center of the Upstate, whose eponymous tagline is “Sharing a World of Cultures.”

The mission of the ICU is one that Viktor Hanuska, a former Michelin executive who first moved to Greenville in 1990, holds close to his heart. More specifically, the ICU is a nonprofit organization “devoted to promoting cross-cultural understanding among local and international residents of the Upstate.” And as the world gets smaller, Greenville’s global connections have never been more apparent.

Hanuska helped establish the International Relocation Program, one of the cornerstones of the ICU, which helps ease the transition of an international newcomer into a new life here. It’s something Hanuska himself has done on more than one occasion—and from an early age. He was only three years old when his family was evacuated from their German community in Slovakia when Russian soldiers arrived during World War II. After more than a year and a half of living in camps, shelters, and on trains, he and his parents, sister, and brother settled in southern Germany where he grew up.

He has nothing but fond memories of the U.S. soldiers he met as a little boy. “I would sing for them, and they would give me chocolates,” he remembers, a smile spreading across his distinguished face. He attended business school, served in the German army, and subsequently joined Michelin Germany in 1968. The next three decades saw him with stints in Greenville, Charlotte, France, and China. He returned to Greenville in 2002 and by 2005 had retired here with his French-born wife of forty-three years, Mireille. In addition to being world travelers (Perigord, France, a region hailed for its fine food, is a favorite destination), Viktor and his wife are avid hikers—one more aspect of Greenville that makes it appealing for newcomers and longtime residents alike: the proximity to both the mountains and beach.

“It’s a human-sized city,” says Hanuska. Their two children, who have dual-citizenship like their parents, lived on the East Coast at the time of his retirement. Their son is now in California, and their daughter is in Washington State. “If you follow your children, you’re constantly on the move,” he quips.

The ICU has been around for ten years and, at its most basic level, has a two-fold approach: to support the influx of international residents and companies (which support Greenville and the Upstate’s economic growth) and to foster an understanding and greater awareness of the cultures and communities coming into Greenville. With more than 230 international companies based in the Upstate, the ICU “promotes a platform for new arrivals to have contacts,” says Hanuska.

“You know where to go for your international resources,” further explains Wendy Anthony, the center’s executive director. “You know where to find friends. It doesn’t mean, ‘I’m Cuban, I only want to hang out with Cubans.’ Instead, it’s, ‘Let’s hang out with like-minded people,’ so your next-door neighbor doesn’t say, ‘Where’s Spain? Isn’t that part of Mexico?’”

Michelin, one of the very first international companies to help form Greenville’s big-city- in-a-small-town identity (and a supporter of the ICU since its inception), requires all of their international employees to go through the International Relocation Program, which Hanuska, who joined the ICU board in 2006, has been instrumental in making possible, says Anthony. “Vikor helped to expand our relocation services by bringing in business with more companies, as well as working with a team of ICU board members to train more relocation consultants from different countries in order to expand our reach.”

The ICU also helps with the nuts and bolts of daily problems for new transplants, such as getting a driver’s license and a Social Security number, setting up a bank account, and learning how to drive—even how to speak to a police officer should you get pulled over. (Shouldn’t we all take that class?) There are countless cultural programs and events, workshops, English conversational clubs, as well as book and film clubs, and the International Women’s Club, with events like belly-dance lessons, potlucks featuring dishes from around the world, and a traditional tea ceremony that celebrates the lunar New Year each February.

The ICU goes beyond being a personal resource, though. The strength of Greenville’s economy depends on the foothold that international businesses place in the community. Keeping Greenville an attractive destination for employees from the more than seventy countries the ICU has helped (from Afghanistan to Wales) to stay and settle and raise a family helps everyone. “We are living in a global world, and there is no alternative anymore because the global world is evolving and Greenville, South Carolina, cannot stay closed,” offers Hanuska.

It’s good to know that, thanks to the tireless work of volunteers like Hanuska, the doors to the ICU are wide open—both to natives and the newly arrived—to help that evolution along.