2004 In Review At DTIA

In an article earlier this week, I shared my top wishes for economic development in the coming year.

I would like to take a few minutes to share what I define as my company's (Donald T. Iannone & Associates) major contributions to economic development during 2004.

First of all, 2004 was a great year by all standards. 2004 started with a bang. Several new consulting projects moved into the starting block as January began.

Many of my contributions in 2004 were in Pennsylvania. Working closely with Jack Allston at the Northwest Pennsylvania Commission (NWC), a number of new strategy consulting projects were initiated, starting with a new regional ED strategy for the Commission and the 8-county region. I am pleased to see that the NWC has re-aligned itself and moved to a performance-based approach to regional economic development. There were some difficult organizational issues associated with this project, but the NWC's leadership rose to the challenge and got the job done. I offer my congratulations to Jack and his Board.

A countywide ED strategy project began in May in Crawford County, PA, which is in the wrap up phase now. A final version of the Crawford County Economic Roadmap was delivered just before Christmas. There were many organizational, leadership development, and consensus-building issues associated with this project, but once again local leadership met the challenge head-on and got the job done. I tip my hat to Tommy Lang (Chairman, Dad's Pet Care Products), Morris Waid (Chairman, Crawford County Commission), Jack Lynch (Crawford County Planning Director), Mark Turner (the new CEO of the new Crawford County Economic Progress Alliance), and once again Jack Allston (NW Commission), who exhibited extraordinary leadership with this important project.

Two other Pennsylvania projects are underway. I find myself partnered with the Northwest Commission on both of these projects as well. A new countywide ED strategy process was set in motion in September in Clarion County, PA, where County Commissioner Donna Oberlander and Randy Rice, from Clarion University, have exercised excellent leadership in building a new integrative and performance-based strategy for Clarion County. This project is expected to be concluded by March 2005.

Also in September, I began work on an exciting new economic development leadership training program for rural Pennsylvania. My clients in this case are Penn State University's Rural Leadership Development Program (RULE) and the NW Commission. Congressman John Peterson, who represents a large number of rural counties in Northwest and Northcentral PA, was instrumental in securing a federal grant to fund the new leadership initiative. Work is progressing well on the new program, to which I give credit to JD Dunbar (Executive Director of PSU's RULE Program) and again Jack Allston (NWC) for leading the charge.

I was pleased to help two Ohio counties update their economic strategies in 2004. The first is Wayne County, where I worked in 1997 to help the Wayne Economic Development Council to create its first strategy. The current effort is the first major update to that strategy. It was a pleasure to work with Steve Matthew (Will-Burt Company) and Steve Schmid (Smith Dairy) in re-vamping the Wayne Development Council and equipping the organization with a new performance-based strategy. The new plan was adopted by the Council's leadership and is now being implemented. The second Ohio county project was Washington County, where I worked with leadership to help them create a strategic action agenda to guide future economic development efforts. The Washington County CIC, Marietta Area Chamber, and other leadership groups are taking the agenda to the implementation stage now. Mark Bradley (Peoples Bank) and Charlotte Keim (Marietta Area Chamber) played a very key role in getting this project accomplished.

In the workforce development area, I was pleased to help the Governor's Ohio Workforce Policy Board to develop a policy focus on how global business strategy impacts job creation in Ohio. It was a pleasure to work with the OWPB's Chair Donna Alvarado and its Executive Director Daryl Hennessy to undertake this important piece of work. I am pleased to see the Policy Board move forward with this important piece of work. Secondly, I enjoyed working with the U.S. Department of Labor's Employment Training Administration's Region 2 Office (Philadelphia) to develop new initiated strengthening collaboration between workforce development and economic development in the Mid-Atlantic Region. It was a pleasure to work with DOL's Regional Administrator Lenita Jacobs-Simmons and her staff to undertake this important assignment.

I began work on the Economic Development Element of a new joint Comprehensive Plan for Fort Wayne and Allen County, Indiana. That project is still underway, after a short pause. I expect work on this important project to conclude by late Spring 2005. I will have more to report on that project in next year's accomplishments summary.

I was involved in a number of smaller projects during the year, which I am very pleased to have assisted. These included projects for Cuyahoga Community College (Cleveland, Ohio), Beachwood, Ohio, Solon, Ohio, the new Team Northeast Ohio, CAMP, Inc. (the advanced manufacturing center for Northern Ohio), Greater Phoenix Economic Council, Michigan Economic Developers Association, The Economic Development Institute (University of Oklahoma), Lake Havasu City Town Hall, Wood County, Ohio Economic Development Commission, and the Northeast Indiana Corporate Council. I give thanks to all these organizations and their leadership for allowing DTIA to be of service.

I was pleased with the progress made in my ongoing effort to promote national and global partnerships by ED organizations in 2004. This involved several keynote speeches and the publication of a stage-setting article in Economic Development America on how ED organizations can build new and strengthen existing national and global partnerships. I have received several invitations to continue speaking on this topic in 2005. I expect growing interest in this subject in the coming year as the global economy advances and as ED organizations strengthen their strategies.

Finally, ED Futures has progressed during 2004. There are now nearly 9,000 people worldwide who subscribe to ED Futures newsletter and nearly 200,000 visitors to the ED Futures website during the past year. Most of all, I have enjoyed the dialogue with ED professionals, their Board members, and business executives about economic development issues worldwide. This has been a great source of learning for me, and chance to give something back to the profession. I am grateful to all of you for helping to make 2004 a successful year for ED Futures.

Happy New Years!

Don Iannone, ED Futures Publisher