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North Carolina is in a strong position for economic recovery, N.C. Lt. Gov. Walter Dalton told investors and directors gathered for the Union County Partnership for Progress Annual Meeting June 23.
Biotech, military, allied health and entrepreneurship have all shown strength through the recent recession, Dalton said. Research companies are revolutionizing modern medicine through careful study. Military contracts are awarded to companies in 85 of the state’s 100 counties. The aging population depends on good health care. And some people are starting their own businesses as corporate jobs disappear.
 Dalton praised Union County’s economic development efforts. “With all you are doing in aerospace and your Legacy Park plans, you are headed in the right direction.”
Dalton, chair of the Governor’s Logistics Task Force, also noted that widening highways and building bypasses, like the one planned for Monroe, will make road transport faster for economic activity. The task force is also exploring other ways of moving goods like inland ports and advanced rail transport.
“With the new Bypass and the excellent rail connections you have here, Union County is well positioned to benefit from any statewide initiative to make North Carolina a key east coast distribution hub,” Dalton noted.
Wells Fargo Senior Vice President Ken Harris, who has been active on the Union County Partnership’s Board of Directors for more than four years, was elected chairman for the 2011-2012 fiscal year at the Annual Meeting June 23.
Other new officers include Mike Lutes, vice chairman; Alan Gold, treasurer; and Tammy Whaley, secretary. Lutes is President and CEO of CMC-Union Hospital, Gold is CFO of Goulston Technologies and Whaley is Manager Economic Development with Duke Energy.
 Elected to the Board of Directors were:
• Rhett Brown, Vice President of Student Life and Enrollment Services, Wingate University
• Chris Carmichael, CFO of Fifth Third Bank’s North Carolina operations
• Mike Collins Jr., Director of Strategic Marketing, CEM Corporation
• Dr. Ed Davis, Superintendent, Union County Public Schools
• William H. Heidenreich IV, ARM Vice President, Wells Fargo Insurance Services
• Rick McInnis, Vice President of Finance, Greiner Bio-One
• Dr. Stan Sidor, President of South Piedmont Community College
• Jackie Redmon, Human Resources Manager at Berry Plastics
• Brad Sandford, Vice President for Goodrich’s Customer Services Division
Continuing their service on the board are:
• Cindy Coto, County Manager, Union County
• John Hendley, President, Brewer Hendley Oil Company
• Tom Moyer III, President, Moyer, Smith and Roller, P.A.
• Bill Norwood, President, State Utility Contractors
• John Williams, Principal, Davis Williams Wealth Management
Partnership President Maurice Ewing gave a concise report on Union County’s economic development for the 2010-2011 fiscal year at the recent Annual Meeting.
 “This year our Partnership worked with four companies that have announced $28 million dollars of new investment and have announced 300 new jobs,” he reported. “That was better than fiscal 2010 and far better than 2009 which was our worst year ever.
“The County’s unemployment rate through May was 8.5% compared to 10.3% during the same period last year. That’s better than the 9.1% national rate, better than the 9.7% state rate and better than the 10.1% rate for the Charlotte Region. Union County has maintained the lowest unemployment in the region for the entire period of the Great Recession,” Ewing continued. “Our diversified economy is a major reason.”
He summarized recent client activity as follows:
• “Since July 2010 we have responded to 63 new business inquiries (companies that do not currently have a local presence).
• “This year we have conducted 63 on-site visits with companies presently located in Union County. These contacts have surfaced 7 qualified expansion opportunities and we continue to work with those companies to assure that every public and private resource is made available to them.
• “To sum up business recruiting, we are currently working with a total of 27 active projects, several of which show great promise.”
The Union County Partnership for Progress hosted two intensive meetings in late March focused on creating a strategic plan for economic development in Union County.
 These planning sessions, facilitated by Bill Schaperkotter (courtesy of Duke Energy), sought insights and opinions from all sectors of the County, including Commissioners Todd Johnson and Tracey Kuehler, County Manager Cindy Coto and executives from key businesses. The nature of economic development and what it means for each of the County’s 14 municipalities was examined, the results of which will be critical elements in the strategic plan.
The Partnership also orchestrated four community meetings in Monroe, Indian Trail, Marshville and Waxhaw. These meetings were aimed at including the concerns of interested citizens and highlighting the results of January’s County-wide survey on economic development. Participants were invited to share their opinions and suggestions.
The Partnership intends to use the input from the planning and community meetings to develop a County-wide strategic plan for economic development that can be recommended to the Board of Commissioners for their consideration.
 The International Economic Development Council (IEDC) will hold its 2011 annual conference in Charlotte Sept. 18-21, with the Union County Partnership serving as one of several sponsors. The conference will highlight how ED professionals are rewriting the rules for economic development in a changing economy.
Topics of the conference include current forces influencing economic development and the strategies needed to respond, new forms of infrastructure investment, how to catch the next wave of innovation and secure a place in the global economy, and more. Partnership President/CEO Maurice Ewing serves on the IEDC Board of Directors and the host committee for the conference.
Learn more at: http://www.iedconline.org/AnnualConference/index.html
 CEM Corporation of Stallings, a leading global provider of laboratory instrumentation, is pleased to announce that AOAC International, a non-profit scientific association, has approved an official method for measuring the protein content in raw and processed meat and meat products used by the company’s award-winning Sprint Rapid Protein Analyzer.
Mike Collins Jr., son of the company’s founder, has just been elected to the Partnership Board, and CEM is a Partnership investor. See details at http://www.cem.com/content650.html
Besam Entrance Solutions of Monroe received an Advanced Manufacturing Award in June from the Centralina Economic Development Commission (CEDC). The award for Best Process Improvement is part of CEDC’s “Minds That Manufacture,” designed to support and encourage advanced manufacturing in the greater Charlotte region. Besam is the world's largest automatic door company.
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