Mississippi Prospects

Special Guest: John Longshore, Principal, VP of Innovation, Global Location Strategies Description: State and local economic developers often place their primary focus and their attention on the site selector themselves, but is it possible that the site selector is merely a small piece of the larger puzzle? John Longshore will discuss the role of the site selection consultant and other important factors to consider that could benefit your community.

Special Guest: Gray Swoope, President & CEO, VIsionFirst Advisors Description: British Prime Minister Winston Churchill said “Plans are of little importance, but planning is essential.” You also may have heard the Maxim, “those who fail to plan, are planning to fail.” Gray Swoope will walk us through the key elements to developing and implementing strategic plans that can benefit your economic development organization.

Special Guest: Josh Bays, Partner, Site Selection Group Description: In the eyes of many people Mississippi is still primarily an agriculture state, but what they don’t know is that we have made tremendous strides in the manufacturing sector. Agriculture and manufacturing actually go very well together. You have a population that is very comfortable working with their hands and making things. We like to say “if you can make it, we can make it in Mississippi.” Josh Bays will share his perspective on the North American trends of industrial site selection.

Special Guest: Carol Henderson, Senior Director, Business Incentives Practice, Cushman & Wakefield Description: High tech jobs are desired by many communities due to the higher salaries and what it can mean for the community, but these jobs require a workforce with a higher skill set that often seeks out a certain quality of life within the community before committing to live and work there. Do your community and workforce have what it takes to secure these high tech industries?

Special Guest: Jeannette Goldsmith, Vice President, Strategic Development Group Description: When competing for economic development projects, the main goal across the country is pretty simply “don’t get cut”. Jeannette Goldsmith will critique RFI responses and discuss the “why” or “why not” for why some communities get cut and other keep moving to the next round.

Special Guest: Chris Schastock, Senior Vice President, CBRE | Advisory & Transaction Services Description: Site selection is sometimes based more on site elimination and risk mitigation than selection. Companies want to be successful and profitable through a safe investment. How are your and your community building a team to formulate core pillars for success when the opportunity comes?

Special Guest: Tim Mask, President, MWB Creative Description: “You can go farther faster in Mississippi”, yet between 2010-2014 we still lost ~8,700 total graduates from Mississippi colleges to opportunities out of the state. With Mississippi experience low employment, how do we address the brain drain in order to attract and retain our future workforce?

Special Guest: Christine Chmura, CEO and Chief Economist, Chmura Economics & Analytics Description: In the corporate site selection world, data is king! It is easy to say, “We have the workforce to do the job.” “Our economy is growing.” But site selection consultants want more than just your word. They want the data to back up these claims. CEO & Chief Economist of Chmura Economics & Analytics, Chris Chmura will help us better understand how to turn labor and economic data and tell a compelling story to site selection consultants.

Special Guest: Rhea Steele, Chief Operating Officer, DECA, Inc. Description: An organization's ability to adapt with a rapidly changing world can be the difference between success and failure. Each day organizations are faced with new internal and external challenges which require small or even big changes. Building resilience within an organization can set an organization on the path for sustainable growth. Strategy advisor, Rhea Steele will talk about common changes or disruptions and how to handle them to keep your organization on the path to sustainable growth.

Special Guest: Aaron Brossoit, Chief Executive Officer, Golden Shovel Agency Description: If you’ve watched any science fiction movie or television show in the last decade chances are you have seen virtual reality devices used as unique tools. These uses are sometimes beyond even our own imagination. However, our next guest is here to tell us how virtual reality isn’t just science fiction or a novelty entertainment item. It is a powerful tool finding its way into our workspace, including the economic development world.

Special Guest: Chat Phillips, Senior Consultant, Navigator Consulting Description: Mississippi has done very well in recruiting foreign direct investments to the state. All you have to do is look at our mix of corporate partners like; Nissan, Toyota, Calbee Foods, Ajinomoto Windsor, Continental, and Schulz Xtruded Products, just to name a few. Since 2016, the state has announced 16 foreign direct investment projects accounting for more than 4,300 new jobs worth a total of 1.93 billion dollars in new corporate investments. Listen with us as we hear from Chat Phillips of Navigator Consulting on what makes Mississippi attractive for FDI.

Special Guest: Guillermo Mazier, Vice President, Global Innovation, Conway, Inc. Description: In the world of economic development if you don’t tell your community’s story, then someone else will. In some cases, you may not like that narrative. This is why marketing your community is a critical component of economic development. The marketing world has changed dramatically in recent decades. Gone are the days where printed pieces alone will get the job done. Today, you need video content to go with a strong digital marketing campaign. Guillermo Mazier, Vice President of Global Innovation at Conway, shares information on digital marketing campaigns and how to use them to leverage your communities competitiveness.

Chamber membership sales strategies, techniques, and skills to help you build your membership base week to week, month to month and year to year.

Special Guest: Jim Carroll, J.A. Carroll Consulting Predicting the future is not an easy game, but making database predictions based upon trends and careful observation certainly up your success rate of accurate prediction. Jim Carroll shares growing trends that could change industry recruitment within economic development. Host: Jeff Rent Studio: Podastery Studios (twitter.com/Podastery) - http://podastery.com Learn More: MEDC - http://medc.ms/

Special Guest: Kim Moore, Managing Director, Newmark Knight Frank Description: Today’s workers need “21st Century skills,” which include technical literacy, critical thinking and problem-solving, adaptability to new work environments, and social/communication skills. Earnings gaps between those proficient and not proficient in 21st Century skills will continual to grow. States and communities that develop creative solutions for meeting the changing labor force training needs of today’s companies will have an edge in the “War on Talent.” We will discuss how Mississippi’s target industries could be impacted by mega-trends and proactive solutions to keep Mississippi at the top of their competitive game for retention and recruitment of talent in this century and the next.

Special Guest: Ben Teague, Vice President of Strategic Development, Biltmore Farms Description: Mississippi native, Benjamin Teague,has had a well-rounded economic development career. Over the past 16 years Benjamin has worked to place more than 60 economic development projects and over $1.5 Billion dollars in capital investment in multiple states. Ben was selected as North America’s Top 50 Best Economic Developers by Consultant Connect in 2017 and Top 40 under 40 for economic developers internationally by Development Counselors International (DCI) in 2017 as well. Ben has shared with us his 5 most powerful lessons learned during his economic development career in this episode. Host: Jeff Rent Studio: Podastery Studios (twitter.com/Podastery) - http://podastery.com Learn More: MEDC - http://medc.ms/

Special Guest: Mark Williams, President, Strategic Development Group Description: Mark Williams discusses his process and fundamentals for site selection along with current trends in the Southeast. You don’t want to miss hearing about drivers for key decision makers! Host: Jeff Rent Studio: Podastery Studios (twitter.com/Podastery) - http://podastery.com Learn More: MEDC - http://medc.ms/

Special Guest: Didi Caldwell, Founding Principal, Global Location Strategies Description: The success of attracting economic development projects depends on many corporate location issues such as; workforce, incentives, corporate taxes, permitting speeds, cost of doing business, etc. This list changes depending on current trends and issues of importance. Recently, available ready sites has been near or at the top of this list. Learn from Didi Caldwell on what site selectors are expecting from your site for projects and how to be prepared for maximum success. Host: Jeff Rent, Senior Vice President of Economic Development, Greater Jackson Alliance Studio: Podastery Studios (twitter.com/Podastery) - http://podastery.com Learn More: MEDC - http://medc.ms/

Special Guest: Darin Buelow, Principal and National Practice Leader, Real Estate and Location Strategy, Deloitte Consulting LLP Is the opioid crisis depleting your workforce? Tainting your community's quality of life? How is it eating into your municipal budget? Explore how the opioid crisis can impact corporate location decisions. Host: Jeff Rent, Senior Vice President of Economic Development, Greater Jackson Alliance Studio: Podastery Studios (twitter.com/Podastery) - http://podastery.com Learn More: MEDC - http://medc.ms/

Special Guest: Chad Newell, President, Area Development Partnership Description: It’s something we have that is infinite, but yet there is never enough of it, and that is time. We’ve got travel, dinners, work meetings, and work breakfasts. We’ve got to get the kids off to school and to sporting events. Finding a work life balance, especially in economic development, can be incredibly challenging. Host: Jeff Rent Studio: Podastery Studios (twitter.com/Podastery) - http://podastery.com Learn More: MEDC - http://medc.ms/