More than 50 complete 2014 South Carolina Economic Development Institute

December 3, 2014

COLUMBIA, SC – On Friday, November 14, more than 50 local leaders and development professionals from across South Carolina completed the 2014 South Carolina Economic Development Institute. Institute attendees received their Certificates of Completion during the final day of the 2014 Institute held at the City of Greer Events Complex. 

During the quarterly, two-day sessions, participants traveled to different locations throughout the state that have been successful in community development and attracting and expanding their business and industrial base. Attendees gained insight into issues relating to: water and wastewater infrastructure, available industrial or business buildings and the importance other community development components necessary to attract investment.

The Institute is a partnership between the South Carolina Department of Commerce and the South Carolina Economic Developers’ Association (SCEDA). The program emphasizes elements necessary to be competitive in today’s global economy and educates supporters of economic development on emerging trends in community and economic development.

The Institute is open to participants from a wide variety of organizations and entities including city, town and county councils, local economic development practitioners, county economic development boards, county school boards, regional economic development boards, utility companies and local and state government employees.

Next year’s program will mark the silver anniversary for the Institute. The 2015 sessions will focus on leadership and communication skills, community development, business and industrial development and product development. The program will kick-off February 5 and 6 at the Palmetto Electric Cooperative in Hardeeville, S.C.

For more information on the 2015 Institute, interested attendees should visitwww.sceda.org or contact the South Carolina Economic Developers’ Association at 803-929-0305.

For photos of all participants that received a certificate of completion on November 14, please visit the S.C. Department of Commerce’s Flickr page.

2014 South Carolina Economic Development Institute graduates, listed alphabetically by last name:

Name

Organization

Debbie Amell

Greenville Area Development Corporation

Shaun Barnes

Comporium

Shawn Bell

City of Abbeville

Julie Bolen

Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein

Darrell Booker

OCDC

Dolly Bristow

City of Columbia

Ransom Bryan, III

Greenville Small Business Development Center

William Byrd

William Levan Byrd, CPA, PC

Jackie Calvi-Mack

SC Rural Infrastructure Authority

Billy Cassidy

Town of Chesterfield

Sherrie Chapman

Northeastern Technical College

Buddy Collins

Marion County Council

Charles Edens

Sumter County Council

Yates Giles

City of Union

Bernie Hamby

McCormick County Council

Michael Hemingway

City of Florence

Les Hipp

Newberry County

Rick Jiran

Duke Energy

JoAnne Jones Evans

Marlboro County Economic Dev.

Rick Kiernan

Convergent Nonprofit Solutions

Martin Lane

Rock Hill Econ. Dev.

Clint Leach

SC Department of Agriculture

Chanel Lewis

City of Hardeeville

Ted Luckadoo IV

Town of Batesburg-Leesville

Darath Mackie

Cely Construction Company

Brandon Madden

Richland County

Sneha Minisandram

SC Department of Commerce

Joe Mole, III

Allendale County

Kelley Morabito

SCBT

Paul Newhouse

Wallace Thomson Hospital Dist.

Julie Norman

Marion County EDC

Cynthia Pitts

Upper Savannah REC

William Quantz

TD Bank

Brian Rauschenbach

Apprenticeship Carolina

Chuck Reynolds

Commission of Public Works

C.D. Rhodes

Pope Zeigler

Lisa Robbins

Catawba Regional Education Center

Liz Rosinski

SC Rural Infrastructure Authority

Torrey Rush

Richland County Council

Sue Ryan

City of Columbia

Kenneth Sales

WC Development Corporation

Kay Self

Greenwood Partnership Alliance

Jim Shrift

readySC

Brandon Spence

Apprenticeship Carolina

Joshua Stephens

Oconee County

Lauren Thompson

SC Department of Commerce

Phil Thompson-King

Chester Sewer District

Brian Tucker

Georgetown County Economic Dev. Comm.

Mike Tyler

Public Private Partnership – Dillon County

Shawn Wood

W.B. Guimarin & Co, Inc.

Sandi Worthy

City of Chester

 

 

About S.C. Department of Commerce

As South Carolina’s leading economic development agency, the Department of Commerce works to recruit new businesses and help existing business grow. Commerce has recruited world-class companies to South Carolina such as Boeing, Bridgeston, Continental, Monster.com, ZF Group, BMW and Google Inc. and also supports small and existing business, rural development initiatives and community development. Commerce partners with the S.C Technical College System via readySC to support workforce training and recruiting, and with the S.C. Department of Employment and Workforce, which provides worker training and employment opportunities within the state. South Carolina ranked first in the nation for attracting jobs through foreign investment, according to IBM-Plant Locatioin International reports in both 2012 and 2013. The state won the Gold Shovel Award and the Project of Year Award from Area Development magazine in 2012. For more information, visit www.SCcommerce.com.