Five business people from the Roanoke and New River valleys discussed starting up a small business in this morning’s Cox Business Executive Discussion, co-sponsored by The Roanoke Times and roanoke.com at the Sheraton Roanoke Hotel and Conference Center.

Reporter Brian Kelley has more on the story here.

The current issue of TIME magazine has a cover story entitled: “Where the new jobs are.”

There’s also a sidebar: “Where the jobs aren’t.”

Among the highlights: The jobs being created in this recovery don’t always match the skill set of the workers available. Workers with college degrees will be a lot better off than those who don’t. And many of the fastest-growing fields are ones dominated by women, while fields dominated by men continue to lag.

If you’re interested in these topics, we call your attention to the second installment of the Cox Executive Discussion Series on January 26 at the Hotel Roanoke, where a panel of local experts will discuss where jobs in Western Virginia will be created in 2011.

The event is free, but registration is required, and the deadline is about a week away — January 19. You can find the registration form here.

You can find more on the event here.

It’s co-sponsored by Cox and The Roanoke Times.

The next installment of the quarterly Cox Executive Discussion Series will be Wed., Jan. 26 at the Hotel Roanoke & Conference Center. Free breakfast begins at 7:30 a.m., with panel discussion from 8 a.m. to 9:30 a.m.

The topic: “Employment Growth 2011: Where will the jobs be?”

The panelists will be:

* Nathaniel Bishop, president, Jefferson College of Health Sciences

* Stan Breakell, chairman and CEO, Breakell Inc.

* Doug Chittum, director, Roanoke County economic development

* Mary Guy Miller, president, IDD Inc.

* Sumati Srinivas, associate professor of economics, Radford University

Julie Newman of Blue Ridge Public Television will moderate the discussion, then take questions from the floor.

The event is free, but seating is limited and advance registration is required. You can sign up for it here. Registration ends Jan. 19; the previous Cox Executive Discussion Series forum in October filled up.

Regional cooperation: Where do we go from here?

It’s not a new question, of course. But two regional projects – the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine and Research Institute and the Creative Connectors’ “81 Reasons to Connect” initiative – have returned the issue to the forefront.

These projects have raised both hopes and questions in the business community: How much growth can they bring? What happens next? And how does the community leverage these initiatives?

Join the Blue Ridge Business Journal and Cox Business Oct. 13 at the Hotel Roanoke and Conference Center for a discussion about the future of regional cooperation. Panelists Beth Doughty, Jay Foster, Elmer Hodge, Ray Smoot and Ralph Whatley will share their perspectives, and we’ll leave plenty of time for questions.

The session is free and open to the public. Sign up!