One year after Danny Chavez arrived as the chief business recruitment officer at the Charlotte Regional Business Alliance, he has assembled a six-person economic development team and installed county-specific playbooks to better tailor pitches as needed.
The playbooks provide constantly updated information on assets such as transportation and infrastructure for CLT Alliance recruiters and partner agencies in surrounding counties as they collaborate to bring in new companies and encourage existing ones to grow. CLT Alliance encompasses 14 counties, including Mecklenburg, and the city of Charlotte.
The nonprofit organization develops and hands off recruiting leads and promotes the region for economic expansion. Beyond economic development, CLT Alliance is the business community’s voice on public policy matters, provides research and analysis to member organizations, and helps set the agenda for broader topics, such as education and transportation.
The changes directed by Chavez mentioned above include a new identity, too. CLT Alliance’s economic development efforts are now known as “Select CLT,” a moniker that plays off what Chavez — and many others — view as the region’s top recruiting asset: Charlotte Douglas International Airport, known as CLT.
Ultimately, the efficacy of what Chavez has changed and instituted will be borne out in the next year or two by CLT Alliance’s ability to help generate leads and land projects with economic development agencies in the various counties, the city of Charlotte, the state commerce department and other partners.
Chavez told CBJ that he spent much of his first three to four months on the job sifting through what had been left behind as he laid the foundation for what became Select CLT. Chavez said that the pipeline he inherited consisted of 93 projects.
“Now, we’re able to track it,” Chavez said. “They didn’t separate between leads or projects. (The process) needed to be upgraded.”
Chavez, during a recent interview at CLT Alliance’s uptown offices, outlined the early results of the new approach. He noted that leads and projects alike require vetting before being classified as such, something he said went overlooked at times in the past.
Beginning with the second quarter of 2022, Select CLT — Chavez’s group has adopted the name, too — will be tracking and presenting detailed statistics of their activity.
Between April and June, for example, Select CLT started work on 17 newly qualified projects, distributed 17 requests for proposals (RFPs) to area economic developers, generated 46 new qualified and general leads, made 13 site visits, went on 14 marketing trips to promote the area to various industries, companies, and site selectors, and held 112 meetings with site selectors overall.
In the third quarter — a slower period because of summer vacations — Select CLT added 14 qualified projects, distributed 14 RFPs, generated 44 new qualified and general leads, made 12 site visits and seven marketing trips, and conducted 93 meetings with site selectors.
Chavez and Select CLT are actively tracking their most active projects, ones they are most ardently pursuing. According to that tracking, the 10 most active projects represent 10,900 potential new jobs, $6 billion in capital investment, 2.89 million square feet of industrial and office space, and a split of 18% office projects and 82% industrial.
Select CLT boasts a mix of domestic and international business expertise combined with geographic and sector experience and knowledge, Chavez said.
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