Coastal Alabama Partnership has been working with the Southern Economic Development Council to host the 2018 Conference in downtown Mobile July 29-31 with over 350 economic development professionals from across the American South attending.
The theme of the conference, Navigate. Innovate. Cultivate reflects the multifaceted challenges economic development professionals face in attracting business and industry to their communities. The site of the conference, the Renaissance Riverview Plaza, is just steps away from the Waterfront and Fort Conde, themselves examples of successful approaches to downtown revitalization.
“This is a crucial moment in the economic history of the American South,” SEDC President Gene Stinson said. “More than ever before, communities are working hard to ensure they have a trained workforce and the infrastructures in place to participate in the growth industries of tomorrow.”
Highlights of the conference will include:
- Keynote Remarks from Daron K. Roberts former NFL coach and author
- A panel discussion on Innovative Strategies for Attracting Millennial Talent.
- Remarks from the secretaries of commerce of Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee, on the economic development landscape and what makes for winning projects in current market conditions.
- A session on the current low unemployment environment and what that means in terms of attracting employers.
- An inspirational panel featuring entrepreneurial women and how they navigated hurdles to their success.
For a complete listing of conference speakers please visit their website at www.sedc.org.
The Southern Economic Development Council is a 1,000-member, non-profit organization composed of a broad cross-section of active and influential industrial and economic developers from business and industry, utilities, transportation, financial and education institutions, chambers of commerce, and local, regional and state development agencies. Members in the 17-state area share a common interest: the promotion and enhancement of the economic development profession. The SEDC region includes the following states: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland and the District of Columbia, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia.
