A Conversation with Jerry Howard, Executive Director of the Greenville Area Development Corporation

UpstateBizSC:
What is your education and professional background?

Jerry Howard:
I developed an interest in economics in high school and decided to pursue a degree  in college. I earned a Bachelor of Science in Economics from Clemson University with a minor in history and also city and regional planning. 

In 1979, my first economic development related job was working for the Greenville County Planning Commission and since then, I have spent my entire professional career in economic development. 

UpstateBizSC:
Give a brief history of the GADC?  What is its mission?

Jerry Howard:
Ours is a relatively brief history.  The Greenville Area Development Corporation (GADC) is a 501(c)3 that was formed in 2001 to be the official economic development agency for Greenville County.  Our core competence is project management but we are also involved in a number of strategic initiatives dealing with our work as well as larger community based projects.  When a company is looking to locate in Greenville or expand its existing services, we are their first point of contact for the community.  We assist clients directly with negotiations and permitting, for example, but we can also look outside of our organization for help with other matters such as legal, engineering, and surveying etc.  Our job is to make sure that we facilitate every need that a prospective client may have. 

UpstateBizSC:
Talk about your team at GADC.

Jerry Howard:
Each member of our team brings a somewhat unique but relative unique skill set to the table: planning, research, finance and community development for example.  When the GADC was created we were fortunate to be able to bring Kevin Landmesser over from the Chamber, Patsy McBride from the city of Greenville and Jim Hill from the Anderson County Economic Development Office. Their experience afforded us a smooth transition and start up and of course they have been a major reason for the success of the GADC.

UpstateBizSC:
Where do you get leads for prospects wanting to move or expand?

Jerry Howard:
Our biggest source of leads is direct inquiries generated by our marketing tools such as our website.  We also receive a large number of leads from consultants. Other leads come from the Department of Commerce, the Upstate Alliance, the Greenville Chamber, law firms, CPA firms and realtors. 

UpstateBizSC:
What makes Greenville an attractive location for business expansion?

Jerry Howard:
Three things make Greenville an attractive place in which to locate a business.  Manufacturing is of vital importance to South Carolina, and especially to the Upstate.  Most of our clients are based in some form of manufacturing. Greenville is recognized as a center of manufacturing excellence that is very attractive to a wide range of global companies. When you factor in the sites and buildings that we can offer, the infrastructure, the skilled workforce and the research and development capacity you can see that Greenville truly has developed into a world-class manufacturing environment.

Second, Greenville’s economy is diversified!  We have a wide range of business sectors:  headquarters, manufacturing, warehouse, distribution, and now a burgeoning entrepreneurial sector, to name just a few.  Add into that mix the presence of international companies from Germany, Korea, Japan, France, and you also have great cultural diversity in the city.  Greenville is relatively small compared to Charlotte and Atlanta and other markets we compete with but it really packs a punch economically.

Lastly, the positive impact that the arrival of Southwest Airlines is going to have on this city cannot be underestimated.  Air service has historically been one of the biggest impediments to us reaching the next level in terms of economic development.  Southwest will offer a low cost alternative with additional direct flights to other major cities.   That is a huge advantage for people who want to locate a business here.

UpstateBizSC:
What are a few of the biggest challenges that this region faces?

Jerry Howard:
It’s amazing how things have changed over the past thirty years in terms of roadblocks to growth.  Thirty years ago it was infrastructure – interstate access and waste water – that were the biggest hurdles. Today, the biggest challenge by far is education and workforce development. 

Education is both our strength and our weakness.  As we have shifted out of textiles and into advanced manufacturing, we have made tremendous strides in education over the past decade.  The need to continue to improve workforce readiness is the message that is being sent to us by local businesses.  The shift to the knowledge economy has put a tremendous premium on education, and the demands on our students and our future workforce will continue to grow.  At this moment, there are 10,000 unemployed people in Greenville, yet we don’t have enough people with the right abilities, skills and talents to fill some of the jobs that are currently available.

Greenville recognizes that it needs to come up with a comprehensive strategy for continuous improvements in K-12 up to the university level.

UpstateBizSC:
How do you measure success?

Jerry Howard:
Capital investment and jobs announced are the traditional ways that economic development agencies measure success.  With over $200M in investment and over 2,000 jobs announced in 2010 demonstrates that we have continued to do well in challenging economic times.

The GADC has a strategy of focusing on targeted business sectors that we feel are critical to the future of Greenville County.  They are aviation/aerospace, automotive, health sciences, advanced materials, and headquarters/office.  Our ability to generate economic activity within these targeted sectors is therefore a key measure of our resource utilization.  Proterra was a huge announcement for us on a lot of different levels.  It is in one of our key targeted sectors (automobiles), it will create 1,000 high-paying jobs, and it is on the leading edge of green technology. 

As well as increasing the number of jobs in the region, we are also tasked with increasing the average level of pay and local per capita income.   A key, long-term metric for us will be to track how the average pay in Greenville compares to the national average.

Another key metric for our organization is whether we are generating a satisfactory return on investment for the amount of money that has been invested in GADC by Greenville County.  For every $1 invested in this organization from the county, we have generated $6 in tax revenues for our activities.  We are very proud of that number.

UpstateBizSC:
How has economic development changed over the past decade or so?

Jerry Howard:
The biggest difference is that economic development has changed from a process of selection to a process of elimination.  Companies rarely select sites anymore. Instead they focus on communities and through a complex filtering system eliminate those that don’t meet their basic location criteria. This is often done long before a community even realizes it is under consideration.  As a result, we constantly have to make sure that we are putting our best foot forward at all times. Providing easy to use and correct information to site selectors through the primary tools they use is essential and if not done correctly can cause you to lose a game you never knew you were in.

The other big change for Greenville County is that thirty years ago companies came here because it was a low-cost region with cheap land and cheap labor.  Those days are long gone.  Companies that expand or locate new facilities in today’s world here in Greenville are willing to pay a premium to access the human, financial and institutional knowledge that is available.