Upstate SC Alliance Recognized as “Best in Class” By National Site Selection Magazine
April 23, 2013
GREENVILLE, SC – April 23, 2013 – The Upstate SC Alliance has been recognized with the “Achievement in Public Private Partnership Award” from Business Facilities magazine, a national publication oriented to the site selection process.
At the Upstate SC Alliance’s annual meeting, the organization’s president and CEO Hal Johnson read aloud a letter from Business Facilities’ editor-in-chief Jack Rogers. In the letter, Rogers wrote that the Upstate SC Alliance has, “established a standard of service and performance for its region that deserves to be cited as best in class.”
“Certainly we are honored to be recognized in this way,” said Johnson. “But it is really the work that the local economic developers, economic development volunteers and the elected officials in the ten-county Upstate area do that deserves the recognition. We find projects, but they close the deals and win the business.”
“We have a very effective partnership,” said Reno Deaton the city of Greer’s economic developer and co-chair of the local economic developers who meet in the Upstate SC Alliance offices every other month and help shape the Alliance’s work program.
Deaton said the Alliance does a great job of marketing the Upstate to the rest of the world, “by leveraging our resources this way, we are more efficient. We promote the Upstate as one region with one identity and we are able to get included on more searches that each of us would ever accomplish individually because we have more to offer. Then when the company gets here and looks around they can usually find the right fit.”
It is up to his group to listen and figure out new ways of adding value to the program, Johnson said. In 2012, the region’s local economic developers expressed an urgent need for updated labor market information for the region. In response, the Upstate SC Alliance has used grants and sponsorships to purchase a subscription to Economic Modeling Specialists International (EMSI) for more accurate and customizable labor market data.
In closing, Rogers writes, “We believe your solid regional strategy and the cooperative partnerships you have established are prerequisites for success in today’s ultra-competitive economic development. We are confident the Upstate SC Alliance has met this challenge and is putting in place the foundation for future growth and prosperity throughout your region.”
About the Upstate SC Alliance
The Upstate SC Alliance is a public/private regional economic development organization designed to market and brand the Upstate of South Carolina. The Upstate represent the commerce-rich northwestern corner of South Carolina, including the I-85 corridor and the Greenville-Spartanburg-Anderson metropolitan area. Additional information is available through the Alliance’s web site, www.upstateSCalliance.com .
