Roane Chamber Launches Major Industry Visitation Program
Thursday September 27, 2007
Roane Chamber Launches Major Industry Visitation Program
Friday, September 28, 2007
The Roane County Chamber of Commerce is kicking off a major industry visitation program this week with a campaign geared toward getting a current snapshot of the health and needs of Roane County's economic portfolio.
The Chamber's team of volunteers will be making personal visits with the heads of local industries to get a face-to-face understanding of the needs of our industrial sector in Roane County in an effort to better serve the businesses and citizens in Roane County.
This major initiative by the Chamber's Economic and Community Development committee - chaired by Chamber Board Member Vicki Watts -- will expand and enhance The Roane Alliance's already active business retention and expansion efforts.
"In the coming weeks and months," Watts explained, "a team of volunteer community and business leaders will be contacting company officials to set up meetings to learn about their company, trends in their industry, the community as a place to do business, and other business tools."
The committee will be using the E-Synchronist program in this effort, in partnership with TVA. The E-Synchronist program provides a professionally-created survey for this purpose.
"This program was used successfully two years ago by The Alliance," said Leslie Henderson, President and CEO of the Roane Alliance, "and it will be very helpful for our economic development planning to be able to update that information and see what may or may not have changed in that period. This information will help give us a solid foundation for making economic development and program decisions, while giving more information to decision-makers in our community as they are allocating resources."
"Nothing is more important to Roane County's economy than the industries that operate here generating payroll, local spending, and taxes," said Watts. "The future of these individual companies will have a substantial impact on the growth of the area's economy and since 80 percent of the new jobs created by existing industries, we must learn more about their needs and be ready to serve those needs."
Chamber Board Chair Kathy May-Martin emphasized that the participation of the company executives will be critical and that the results of the surveys will be confidential and will only be reported in the aggregate.
"We encourage the industry executives contacted to take the time to meet with us and be willing to share their views for this effort to be a success," May-Martin said. "We at The Chamber feel strongly that this effort will help the entire county better grow and prosper."
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Contact:
Wanda Pinkerton
865-376-2093
