Business leaders convened for the Greater Richmond Partnership’s annual meeting at the Richmond Fed building. (Jonathan Spiers)
Local leaders in business and government converged on the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond this week for the Greater Richmond Partnership’s 22nd annual meeting.
The economic development group, which represents the city and Chesterfield, Hanover and Henrico counties, reported results of fiscal year 2016 that included the attraction of 19 projects into the region, bringing with them nearly 1,100 new trade jobs and $200.4 million in new capital investment.
Of those 19 projects, five were from international prospects that added more than $63 million in capital investment to the region – a statistic highlighted by the meeting’s keynote speaker, Vinai Thummalapally, executive director of SelectUSA.
Vinai Thummalapally, executive director of SelectUSA.
Part of the International Trade Administration of the U.S. Department of Commerce, SelectUSA is a federal government initiative to attract foreign direct investment in the U.S. In his role, Thummalapally – who roomed for a summer at Occidental College with a young Barack Obama – manages strategy and implementation of SelectUSA, prompting Forbes to give him the title of America’s chief marketing officer.
In his remarks, Thummalapally said 175,000 Virginians are employed by foreign majority owned firms. He said foreign direct investment in Virginia largely comes from the United Kingdom, Germany, Canada, Japan and France.
Citing GRPVA’s role in attracting new companies to the region, Thummalapally noted several recent successes for the Greater Richmond area, including the addition of two more companies to Richmond’s contingent on the annual Fortune 500 list; the $2 billion in capital and 2,000 jobs to be created by the forthcoming paper and fertilizer manufacturing complex for Tranlin Inc., the U.S. subsidiary of Shandong Tranlin Paper Co. in China; and 600 jobs from a customer support center for Minacs Worldwide, whose parent company is based in India.
Other companies assisted with site selection and other services last fiscal year included: European venture Polykon; U.K.-based firms Detectamet and Erodex; New Jersey-based Avepoint and Hohokus; New York firm Thermal Gradient; Ohio-based Fifth Third Bank; Arizona firm Fajon Manufacturing; and locally based Aqueous Solutions Global and SunTrust.
GRPVA CEO Barry Matherly.
GRPVA CEO Barry Matherly said the partnership surpassed $11 billion in new capital investment last year and is moving toward announcing its 500th assisted project this year.
He noted a recent investment by mutual funds company ICMA-RC of $10 million and 200 trade jobs in the region, and he said an announcement would be coming in the next few weeks of a UK company that has verbally committed to locate here.
Of its current pipeline of companies that could possibly locate here, Matherly said 65 percent are international companies.
“We continue to see this trend occurring, and we continue to see more investment not only by U.S. companies but increasingly by international companies in this region,” he said.
The meeting was followed by the announcement that California-based Niagara Bottling plans to invest $95 million to build a manufacturing and bottling operation in Chesterfield County.
Business leaders convened for the Greater Richmond Partnership’s annual meeting at the Richmond Fed building. (Jonathan Spiers)
Local leaders in business and government converged on the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond this week for the Greater Richmond Partnership’s 22nd annual meeting.
The economic development group, which represents the city and Chesterfield, Hanover and Henrico counties, reported results of fiscal year 2016 that included the attraction of 19 projects into the region, bringing with them nearly 1,100 new trade jobs and $200.4 million in new capital investment.
Of those 19 projects, five were from international prospects that added more than $63 million in capital investment to the region – a statistic highlighted by the meeting’s keynote speaker, Vinai Thummalapally, executive director of SelectUSA.
Vinai Thummalapally, executive director of SelectUSA.
Part of the International Trade Administration of the U.S. Department of Commerce, SelectUSA is a federal government initiative to attract foreign direct investment in the U.S. In his role, Thummalapally – who roomed for a summer at Occidental College with a young Barack Obama – manages strategy and implementation of SelectUSA, prompting Forbes to give him the title of America’s chief marketing officer.
In his remarks, Thummalapally said 175,000 Virginians are employed by foreign majority owned firms. He said foreign direct investment in Virginia largely comes from the United Kingdom, Germany, Canada, Japan and France.
Citing GRPVA’s role in attracting new companies to the region, Thummalapally noted several recent successes for the Greater Richmond area, including the addition of two more companies to Richmond’s contingent on the annual Fortune 500 list; the $2 billion in capital and 2,000 jobs to be created by the forthcoming paper and fertilizer manufacturing complex for Tranlin Inc., the U.S. subsidiary of Shandong Tranlin Paper Co. in China; and 600 jobs from a customer support center for Minacs Worldwide, whose parent company is based in India.
Other companies assisted with site selection and other services last fiscal year included: European venture Polykon; U.K.-based firms Detectamet and Erodex; New Jersey-based Avepoint and Hohokus; New York firm Thermal Gradient; Ohio-based Fifth Third Bank; Arizona firm Fajon Manufacturing; and locally based Aqueous Solutions Global and SunTrust.
GRPVA CEO Barry Matherly.
GRPVA CEO Barry Matherly said the partnership surpassed $11 billion in new capital investment last year and is moving toward announcing its 500th assisted project this year.
He noted a recent investment by mutual funds company ICMA-RC of $10 million and 200 trade jobs in the region, and he said an announcement would be coming in the next few weeks of a UK company that has verbally committed to locate here.
Of its current pipeline of companies that could possibly locate here, Matherly said 65 percent are international companies.
“We continue to see this trend occurring, and we continue to see more investment not only by U.S. companies but increasingly by international companies in this region,” he said.
The meeting was followed by the announcement that California-based Niagara Bottling plans to invest $95 million to build a manufacturing and bottling operation in Chesterfield County.