Lowcountry Economic Network - Beaufort, South Carolina

Network's annual meeting featured in Savannah Business Report and Journal - 7/1/09

Lowcountry Economic Network Holds Annual Meeting

By Lou Phelps
SDN Staff

The Lowcountry Economic Network held its annual meeting last week to report on progress over the past year and outline what the economic leadership group sees ahead for the county.

The Greater-Beaufort Hilton Head Economic Partnership was formed in 2000 by the Beaufort County government when the county's economic development office was dissolved and the budget for that office was placed into the Partnership, which is a public-private 501c3. About two years ago, the Partnership was rebranded as the Lowcountry Economic Network.

Over the past year, the Network and the Lowcountry Economic Alliance have identified four target industries for the two-country region of Beaufort and Jasper counties to focus on - green construction and products, logistics and distribution, aeronautics and knowledge-intensive businesses.

"So much of what we market is quality of life. People already are familiar with our region as a tourist and retirement destination but don't know what we can offer on the business side. That's what we're trying to change. We believe that companies really can work anywhere with today's technology, which is why they should think about our region," according to Ian Leslie, director of marketing.

"Our poster child for that effort is CareCore National. CareCore is a third-party health management firm that is based out of Wappingers Falls, N.Y.," said Leslie. Don Ryan, CEO, whose wife was principal at Hilton Head High School for years, and he would travel up to New York. He told the company to open a call center in Beaufort County, and work primarily from here.

"That first building he built housed more than 150 new employees. Now he's decided to build a second building and bring in another 200 people, including headquarters people," added Leslie, all happening in Bluffton's Buckwalter Place area.

"On the aeronautics side, we're working toward the arrival of the Joint Strike Fighter at MCAS Beaufort. The JSF will be the most high-tech fighter jet in the world, and development will follow it. The Network owns the Beaufort Commerce Park, which is across U.S. 21 from the air station. We're positioning the park's 150 acres for that development associated with the base," he explained.

On the logistics and distribution front, the counties are expecting development from the future Jasper Ocean Terminal.

And, on the green side, "everything is going green, and you need to have that component, but we're also seeing interest in our region in terms of production sites for alternative energy," said Leslie.

The Network's budget is made up 50 percent by Beaufort County and 50 percent from private membership. Membership levels range from $500 to $15,000; with a $15,000 membership comes a seat on the board. There are currently 24 member companies.

The current board of directors includes: 303 Associates, LLC, the Beaufort-Jasper Water Sewer Authority, Beaufort Memorial Hospital, Buckwalter Place, CareCore National, LLC, the City of Beaufort, Okatie Village, Palmetto Electric Cooperative, SCANA Corporation, Technical College of the Lowcountry, the Town of Bluffton, the University of South Carolina-Beaufort, U.S. Land Investments, the Town of Hilton Head Island and Jasper County.

While the Network is not a development authority in the true sense of the term, it is, however, the economic development marketing and prospect arm for Beaufort County.

Last summer, Beaufort County entered into an alliance with Jasper County similar to several regional economic development alliances in South Carolina. The new alliance was named the Lowcountry Economic Alliance. Because the group had just rebranded as "the Network," "we thought it best to go with the same branding and just switch out the Alliance and Network names. The Alliance board is appointed by the county council's of Beaufort and Jasper counties," according to Leslie.

The Alliance's membership includes Jerry Stewart - Beaufort County Council; George Hood - Jasper County Council; Kim Statler - executive director of Lowcountry Economic Network; Andrew Fulghum - Jasper County administrator; Don Ryan - CareCore National; Gregg Malphrus - Malphrus Construction and Dean Moss, general manager of the Beaufort Jasper Water & Sewer Authority.

"While the Network board is more of a day-to-day policy board, the Alliance looks at things regionally - identifies priority areas and projects for the region and deals more on the state/federal initiative level," he added.

The Network has a contract with the Alliance to perform its marketing and clerical work with funds from a pool set aside in last year's and the current year's state budget from the S.C. Department of Commerce when each regional alliance was allocated money.

"Last year we received $150,000 that we had to match. This year, it's $450,000 that we'll have to match. We haven't pulled the $450,000 down yet, and we're looking to secure the match," Leslie said.

http://savdailynews.com/main.asp?SectionID=14&SubSectionID=151&ArticleID=25091

The Lowcountry Economic Network looks into the future from Ian Leslie on Vimeo.