Southern Economic Development Council
Board of Directors Meeting
The Westin Hotel, Charlotte, NC
Saturday, August 19, 2017
Minutes
An asterisk (*) indicates participants present below:
Officers: *Chairman- Bob Leak- Winston- Salem, NC
*First Vice Chairman- Sam Powers, Asheville, NC
*Second Vice Chairman- Raul Peralta - Greensboro, NC
*Secretary/ Treasurer- Will Williams
*Immediate Past President- Chuck Whipple – Lexington, SC
*President- Gene Stinson, Atlanta, GA
Board Members:
StateState DirectorAlternate Director
Alabama*Matt Arnold*Rick Clifton
Arkansas*Ivy Owen*Chris Clifton
Florida*Keith Norden*Troy Post
Georgia*Elyse Davis*Scott Poag
Kansas*Beth JohnsonMurray McGee
Kentucky*Bob Helton*Tonita Goodwin
Louisiana*Rachel PiersonDelamainGeorge Swift
Maryland *Shawn HirschbergerJennifer Tanner
MississippiPablo Diaz*Blake Wallace
Missouri*Scott SattlerKevin Welch
North Carolina*Andy Coe*Loren Hill
Oklahoma*Andy McMillanVacant
South Carolina*Stuart Ames*Brian Gwin
Tennessee*Lindsay Frilling*Kathy Knight Price
Texas*James O’Donley*Frank McCrady
Virginia*Chris GullicksonMegan Lucas
West Virginia*Mark Whitley*Robbie Morris
Others present:*Matthew Darius, Operations Manager
*Kevin Johnson, Education Committee
*Eric Miller, Legislative Affairs
*Wiley Blankenship, 2018 Conference Local Chair
Call to Order-Bob Leak, Chairman
Bob called the meeting to order at 2:08 PM. Ronnie Bryant, Local Conference Chairman, welcomed everyone to Charlotte. Bob call for approval of the minutes from April 18, 2017.XX Moved, XX Second, all were in favor, minutes approved 2:14 PM
Reports
Chairman- Bob Leak
StateBook Proposal - Calandra Cruikshank was in attendance to give overview and Bob called upon her to speak at 2:15 PM. She stated: created to give site location intelligence, EDA’s need access to do their jobs, grants, strategic plans, labor studies, etc. Alliance provides 20% discount to SEDC members through 2017. If all 17 states join by the end of 2017, an additional 5% off will be offered. 20% discount to license StateBook data for their own website.3 hours free consulting. SEDC Can earn 5%, state can earn 10% revenue from ads. Bob informed everyone that the Executive Committee has approved moving forward. XX Moved, XX second, all were in favor, approved at 2:24 PM.
EAIC Alliance agreement
Executive Committee recommends, XX moved, XX seconded, all in favor, approved at 3:50 PM
Secretary-Treasurer
Bob Helton gave statement on candidacy. Gene Stinson gave statement on having others toss their hat in the ring.
President- Gene Stinson
Recent and Upcoming Travel
2020 Site selection process in TN and VA. EDAA with Sam.
State Association Visits for Remainder of 2017
KY in Nov, TN possibly
Board Elections
Gene handed out submitted interest forms to state directors. New membership and renewals are the top priority for the board going forward. New board positions take effect Jan 1, 2018
State Caucus Meetings
Caucus meetings are held on the 20th to elect state alt director every year, every other year for state director.AR, GA, LA, MS, NC, OK, TN, WV elect new state director
Silent Auction “Handbid” app
Matthew Darius gave tutorial.
New Copy MFP Machine
The executive committee recommended up to $4,200 expenditure to purchase or lease.XX moved, Stuart, seconded, approved 2:55 PM
Committee Reports
Finance & Administration Division- Will Williams
Treasurer’s Report-Will Williams
P&L - Overall, we need to push renewals very hard. Costs are in line with expectations.
Balance Sheet - Being given to full membership on Tuesday
Investment Policy – Asked for a motion to approve. XX moved, XX seconded, all were in favor, approved at 3:02 PM.
Audit – The organization is inan appropriate position, accounts are reconciled, we are in good standing. Asked for a motion to approve the audit, XX moved, XX seconded, all were in favor, approved at 3:03 PM.
SEDC NMTC, LLC- Chuck Whipple/Gene Stinson
None
Past Chairman- Chuck Whipple
2017 HLM has been decided and we will reveal on Tuesday, August 22nd, at the awards lunch.
Long Range Planning- Sam Powers
Fall Planning Retreat/Board Meeting November 13-15th, 2017. Monday afternoon and Tuesday will be strategic planning. Wed morning BoD business meeting. Looking at locations will have news soon. Matt Arnold – makes apitch to bring the planning committee to Mobile. Wiley has secured a sponsor for a planning meeting reception.
Membership Division- Raul Peralta
Recruitment & Retention Committee- Peralta/Robbie Morris
Robbie Morris – we reached our goal of 1100 members. We have 1111 members as of today. Raul reiterates that state directors and alternate directors most important job is to secure renewals.
State Associations Committee- Gene Stinson
Staff gathering information on programming from state associations. Creating a database of past programs to compile topics and speakers for future programming ideas.
Young Professionals Committee- Garrett Owens
Bob Leak - Garrett Owens is leaving WSBI, Tyler Chaffee to replace. YP’s have a reception Sunday and a speaker on Monday. YP MTC to be held November 1st and 2nd in Chicago. There is an opportunity for state associations to have their own YP programs and to feed their members into SEDC.
Professional Development Division- Wiley Blankenship
Contracting – Wiley Blankenship
We need to look at learning sessions to explore how to train members on contracting. Neal Wade – Economic Development advance training program might be an opportunity for SEDC to collaborate. Masters type program. Will compile more information
Education Committee - Kevin Johnson
We’veupdated the how-to page and SEDC U with a fresh look and layout, new documents, and more timely updates.We had Creative write an article for us. We should leverage our members to create content for us. Researching how to draw traffic to SEDC U and How To page. Would like to do an email blast.
2017 Capital Connections- Bob Leak
We decided to do it again this year. Frank McReadystates – October 3-4, or December 12th. Requests have been submitted and we are waiting on Speaker of the House Approval. Last year was packed, looking at room 201A/B for this year which holds 180.
Annual Conferences
2017-Bob Leak, Jr.(Charlotte, August 20-22)
We are going to have a magnificent event that everyone will enjoy. We are having a long break on Monday to accommodate eclipse, this is not SEDC sanctioned. SEDC not providing any glasses.Make sure to say hello to people with new member/sponsor ribbons.Thank you to Silent Auction donors.
2018- Sam Powers (Mobile, July 29-31)
Had a great meeting with EDAA and conference committee members. Logo and theme have been selected. Wiley/Matt Arnold – we are working on securing a nationally known speaker.
2019-Raul Peralta(New Orleans, August 4-6)
We are well on our way, will be respectful of the 2018 committee regarding fundraising.
2020- Will Williams (Mid-Atlantic Region, TBD)
Toured Nashville, Norfolk, and VA Beach. We haven’t decided on a location yet. There will be no announcement during this meeting.
Communications Division- TBD
Communications Committee- Amy Lopp
Not in attendance
Legislative Affairs- Eric Miller
The crux of the matter is deciding on October or December for Capital Connections.
Old/New Business
Dept. of Commerce FDI Council – Chuck
The Council is focusing onRegulatory Reform and Workforce Development. There is a meeting in Novemberand I will keep theboard posted of council recommendations.
Adjourn – 3:53 PM