Agenda
Welcome Reception
Please join us for a pre-event gathering at the Hotel on Monday evening for an opportunity to network with other attendees and speakers in a relaxed and casual environment, before the forum kicks off on Tuesday morning.
Breakfast
One-on-One Meetings with Speakers
Data: The First Impression of Your Community
Gray Swoope, President and CEO, VisionFirst Advisors
The use of data is growing exponentially and driving business decision making. When you hear from a site selection consultant, it is actually the second, third or fourth impression your community makes. While data tells a story, it is up to the EDO to write the missing chapters. In this session Gray will share how labor data is used and how you can improve your competitive position.
A recognized leader in economic development and site selection, Gray Swoope is President and CEO of VisionFirst Advisors. After a successful 30-year career in economic development, Gray launched VisionFirst in 2015. In just four short years, the firm’s clients include five Fortune 500 companies in a variety of industries including data centers, automotive, manufacturing and distribution. Prior to starting VisionFirst, Gray served in Florida Governor Rick Scott’s administration (2011-2015) as Secretary of Commerce and President & CEO of its public/private economic development organization, Enterprise Florida. Under his leadership, Enterprise Florida elevated its economic development presence and delivered the best results in the organization’s history. Florida announced competitive project wins during his tenure that included Amazon, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Hertz, Navy Federal Credit Union, Northrop Grumman and Verizon. Before joining Governor Scott, Gray served as Executive Director of the Mississippi Development Authority (MDA) under then Governor and current VisionFirst board chair, Haley Barbour. During his tenure, Gray played a vital role in recruiting companies such as Toyota, PACCAR, GE Aviation and SeverCorr (now Steel Dynamics).
Courtney Dunbar, Site Selection and Economic Development Leader Burns & McDonnell
Innovative thought-leader and driven professional with 20 years of industry experience in the site selection, economic development recruitment, finance, and planning industries. Manager of the site selection and economic development consulting practice for a Top 10 ENR design firm. Developer of solutions for both corporate and institutional clients.
Break
KEYNOTE
Benton Blaine, Vice President, McGuireWoods Consulting
Benton Blaine assists companies in their expansion and development projects. His experience with site selection, incentives negotiation, and public-private partnerships allows him to provide value added services to a range of internal company stakeholders.
Bill Luttrell, Director Corporate Real Estate, Werner Enterprises
Bill Luttrell is Director of Corporate Real Estate at Werner Enterprise, Inc., a major transportation and logistics company headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, where he is responsible for the firm’s real estate portfolio of over 180 properties located in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, China and Australia. Mr. Luttrell has over 35 years of experience in the Corporate Real Estate, Corporate Site Selection and Economic Development industries.
Bill graduated from both Sophia University in Tokyo, Japan and from the University of Texas in Austin, Texas. Past employment includes executive positions with the World Bank, Deloitte, JLL, and the Texas Department of Commerce. He served in the U.S. Navy as a Russian Interpreter / Cryptologist in Naval Intelligence aboard surface and subsurface platforms. Bill speaks fluent Russian and Japanese.
Bill serves on the Board of Directors for the Industrial Asset Management Council (IAMC) which is a Corporate Real Estate related organization. He serves as Chairman of Blueprint Nebraska’s Mega-Site Industrial Committee and represents Werner on the National Academy of Science’s Transportation Research Board (TRB) in Washington, DC.
Lunch
One-on-One Meetings with Speakers
Group Networking Dinner
Breakfast
One-on-One Meetings with Speakers
Trends in e-commerce fulfillment, site selection and Last Mile Delivery
Scott Belfer, Senior Vice President, CBRE
With the ever evolving world of e-commerce/Consumer Logistics phenomenon, we will discuss the latest trends of today’s users to ship products to the consumer in the quickest and efficient manner possible. In today’s distribution and fulfillment world, companies have to ensure their logistics model is sustainable to meet the consumers needs. For every $1 billion in e-commerce sales, 1.25 million square feet of distribution space is needed, how do they support this growth through their logistics network? Also discussed will be how Last Mile is impacting Industrial Real Estate.
Scott Belfer, a Senior Vice President, began his career with CBRE in 2001 and has more than 20 years of experience in industrial brokerage. He specializes in the acquisition and disposition of industrial properties in New Jersey including, warehouse and distribution facilities, manufacturing facilities, land development and special properties. Scott is known among his peers and clients as a go-to e-commerce expert, appearing in many publications such as GlobeSt, NJBIZ and Real Estate Weekly, to name a few. In addition to his real estate experience, Scott brings an extensive marketing background with national companies.
Allea Newbold, Principal, Ryan
Allea Newbold, CPA, specializes in Federal and State planning for her clients. She negotiates credits and incentives for new and expanding companies nationwide, helping them maximize return on investment. Her tenacity and creativity have built a record of success in property tax abatement, sales tax refunds, cash grants, Opportunity Zone structuring and Tax Increment Financing (TIF). In addition, she assists companies with various credits including research and development (R&D), Retention Credit, Enterprise Zones and WOTC. While retail, manufacturing and data center space leads her list of specialties, clients of all sizes and industries seek out Ms. Newbold’s over 20 years of professional expertise. Before joining Ryan, Ms. Newbold was a member of the national tax accounting groups for both Ernst & Young and PricewaterhouseCoopers. She also participated in a tour of duty with PwC’s Washington, D.C. national tax office, focusing on accounting method issues.
Break
Dean Barber, Principal, Barber Business Advisors, LLC
As the principal of Barber Business Advisors, a consultancy based in Dallas, Dean Barber works with economic development organizations nationwide to help communities become better places for business investment and job creation. BBA also provides consulting services to national and international companies regarding location advisory analysis, incentive negotiation, and startup transition.
Prior to founding BBA, Dean was the director of international development at the Economic Development Partnership of Alabama, assisting companies establish business operations in that state. He also served as the vice president, business development, at Northeast Indiana Regional Partnership.
Prior to his career in economic development and consulting, Dean had a 20-year career in the newspaper industry. He was the business editor of The Birmingham News in Birmingham, Ala. Dean is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin, having received a bachelor’s degree in business and journalism. Dean is married to his wife, Tera, who is a Realtor in Dallas. Dean plays banjo and enjoys travel and craft beer.
Minah Hall, Managing Director, True Partners Consulting
Minah Hall is a Managing Director in True Partners Consulting’s Chicago office and specializes in site selection and negotiating incentives for companies changing their operations footprint throughout the United States. With almost twenty years of experience negotiating and implementing state and local tax credits and incentives for distribution and manufacturing facilities, data centers, back office/call center operations, retailers, and corporate headquarter relocations, Minah creates benefits for companies making extraordinary expenditures. In addition to her client responsibilities, Minah actively participates in state-sponsored focus groups aiding the development of the jurisdictions’ incentives programs – specifically for Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Missouri, Michigan, Ohio, Texas, Utah, and the joint Kansas-Missouri effort focused on Kansas City. Her involvement and relationships with public sector officials makes her a valuable asset when advising corporate clients.
Closing Summary
Tim Feemster, Managing Principal, Foremost Quality Logistics
Lunch
One-on-One Meetings with Speakers
Closing Networking Reception
Media Partner
Conference Sponsors
