Now that the first quarter of 2015 is coming to a close, I’m ready to assess. What did we accomplish (if you know me, you know how impatient I am!)? Did we move the ball forward this quarter on our way to creating the strong, thriving business ecosystem that the Transforming Greater Gainesville strategy was developed to achieve? There are three key questions I’m quickly asking to sum up the first quarter report card:
1. Do more businesses and workers throughout our region, state, nation and the world know the Gainesville story than when we started our efforts in January?
2. Did more business leaders, site selectors and investors reach out to our region with questions, inquiries and projects? Did we gain new jobs and capital investment?
3. Did we connect and bring together the corporate leadership of the region to grow our target industry sectors?
I’m pleased to report we made progress on all fronts with thanks, as always, to numerous residents, business leaders, elected officials and organizations throughout our area.
I’m happy to report the new CEO marketing campaign is underway, our project numbers and successes continue to grow and our business leaders are creating a new dialogue about doing business in greater Gainesville through the three industry councils created and managed by the chamber.
Thanks to regional business leadership in the advanced manufacturing and software/IT sectors, a template was formed that allowed us to easily organize our next key council of existing business leadership, the Agriculture Science Council.
The leadership of these groups is strong, diverse and incredibly talented. They are an amazing representation of what this community offers.
What’s next you might ask? (Please ask — we want you to ask!)
Our first marketing delegation of 2015 will be April 26-28 to Silicon Valley. Thanks to strong leadership from our city and the University of Florida as well as Santa Fe College, we will undertake 15 to 20 out-of-market meetings throughout the San Francisco and Silicon Valley region. (A special thanks to Mayor Ed Braddy and Dr. David Norton of the University of Florida for leading this trip). We now have a template for proactively creating our own projects as we work with our partners undertaking new regional opportunities such as Plum Creek, Celebration Pointe, the Power District and many others. Having these opportunities underway is key to our success and our ability to create a stronger future for the area.
Finally, please mark your calendars for a momentous event in Gainesville on the weekend of October 2, 3 and 4: Gatorade’s 50th birthday. We will use this opportunity to bring in key contacts in the site selection and media realm to leverage the event and remind everyone that we have a long history of innovation in this region — it really is in our DNA.
We hope all the greater Gainesville businesses and residents will get engaged in the key activities the chamber and the Council for Economic Outreach are undertaking. We know these efforts and the myriad of others that there is not enough room to mention will make the difference in creating opportunities and jobs for all our residents. Remember, we want everyone in greater Gainesville to benefit from our efforts. Please get engaged — we need you at the table.