►
Description
Greater Richmond Partnership President and CEO Jennifer Wakefield presented a status update to the Chesterfield County Board of Supervisors on February 23, 2022.
A
A
We
have
represented
and
worked
for
the
four
localities
since
1977
in
some
form
or
another
in
1994.
The
private
sector
wanted
to
join
the
public
sector
effort.
The
previous
organization
was
called
medic,
the
metropolitan
economic
development
council
and
in
1994
the
private
sector,
joined
in
on
those
efforts.
So
as
a
region,
the
four
localities
have
been
working
together
since
1977,
but
grp
has
been
in
existence
since
94.,
who
I
am,
I
have
been
in
economic
development
and
marketing
roles
for
the
last
20
plus
years.
I
have
a
bachelor's
and
master's
in
communication.
A
A
I
am
a
transplant
from
florida,
I'm
a
mom
and,
as
mr
giles
was
talking
about
the
importance
of
being
a
part
of
a
team,
I
am
a
team
player
which
is
important,
because
economic
development
is
a
team
sport.
No
one
person
can
do
it.
No
one
organization
can
do
it.
It
requires
a
lot
of
people
all
working
together.
A
Our
partners,
of
course,
are
local
partners
that
we
work
for
including
chesterfield
vedp,
which
is
the
state.
I
know
you
heard
from
jason
l
kuby
just
a
few
weeks
back
and
then
we
work
with
community
organizations
like
chamber,
rva,
richmond
region,
tourism,
venture
richmond,
retail
merchants,
plan
rva
and
many
others,
our
officers
right
now,
leslie
haley
serves
as
our
immediate
past
chair.
She
was
on
the
board
as
the
chair
for
two
years.
Prior
sal
mancuso
from
altria
is
our
current
chair.
A
A
A
When
I
came
to
grp
in
2017,
we
had
a
ceo
who
then
left
us
after
one
year,
I
stepped
into
the
interim
president
ceo
role
for
a
while,
but
I
think
I
told
the
members
of
our
board
that
at
the
time
I
was
not
interested
in
the
role,
but
I
would
fill
it
happily
for
a
short
time
frame.
Until
we
found
someone
we
did
find
someone
she
started.
A
Things
hadn't
always
been
perfect,
and
what
we
wanted
to
do
was
not
that
we
can
make
things
perfect,
but
get
it
as
good
as
we
could.
We
had
real
conversations,
especially
with
our
public
sector
partners
and
said:
how
can
we
best
serve?
You
and
garrett
hart
said
it
best,
and
he
said
you
could
do
three
things
for
us:
generate
good
quality,
leads
market
the
region
and
provide
the
robust
research.
That's
needed
to
do
those
things.
A
So,
to
recap:
we
recruit
companies
by
doing
lead,
generation,
marketing
and
research,
and
that
is
it,
and
that
is
a
difference
from
the
past,
because
in
the
past
we
would
also
work
on
what
is
called
business
retention
and
expansion.
Those
are
companies
that
are
already
based
in
our
market,
many
of
whom
are
in
chesterfield
county,
and
that
was
somewhat
of
a
challenge
in
that
really
those
who
are
based
in
chesterfield
county
garrett
has
a
relationship
with
and
his
team,
and
so
we
didn't
want
to
step
on
his
toes.
A
We
are
very
focused
on
our
targets:
those
who
make
the
executive
decisions
on
where
to
locate
a
business,
c-suite
executives,
essentially
right,
but
half
of
all
projects
they
involve
what's
called
a
site,
location,
consultant
and
then
corporate
advisors,
lawyers,
accountants,
et
cetera
developers
and
brokers,
are
involved
in
this
process
and
then,
as
a
non-profit
public
private
entity.
Our
investors
are
very
important
to
us.
We
focus
on
specific,
targeted
industries,
those
that
you
can
see
right
there
on
the
right,
the
site
selection
process.
A
From
a
proactive
standpoint,
you'll
see,
we
talked
about
marketing
the
region,
generating
those
leads
and
interest
and
responding
to
interest.
That's
all
grp's
area
and
then,
from
a
gray
standpoint,
you'll
see
where
our
local
partners
come
into
play
as
we're
responding
to
interest
we're
working
with
each
of
our
local
partners
to
respond.
A
But
then,
when
they're
coming
here
to
visit,
oftentimes
they're
still
looking
at
multiple
localities,
and
so
there
may
be
someone
who
comes
in,
for
instance,
that
wants
to
tour
both
chesterfield
and
henrico,
for
example,
and
so
we're
working
with
both
garrett
and
his
counterpart
in
the
henrico
market.
And
then,
ultimately,
it
comes
down
to
real
estate
and
so
negotiating
real
estate
and
incentives
is
done
at
the
local
level,
not
at
the
regional
level
and
closing
the
deal
garrett
and
his
team
are
closing
the
deal.
A
A
This
changes
continually
last
week
that
number
was
15
billion
in
investment
and
one
project
came
in,
which
is
a
very
large
mega
project,
1
000
jobs
and
5
billion
in
capex,
and
so
we're
seeing
these
mega
projects.
What
the
consultants
are
telling
us
is
that
we
need
sites.
Yesterday,
projects
are
moving
along
faster
than
they
ever
have.
They
typically
would
have
taken
six
to
18
months
to
come
to
fruition.
Now,
sometimes
it's
weeks
there's
one
particular
project
that
is
looking
right
now
and
I
was
on
a
call
with
them
yesterday
and
they
said
well.
A
So
when
they're
coming
to
us,
they
typically
have
already
shortlisted
us.
They
have
done
all
of
their
desktop
research.
They've
been
all
over
our
website,
so
we're
trying
to
capture
them
earlier
on.
So
we
have
advanced
analytics
on
our
website
so
that
we
can
see
who's
on
our
website
and
when
they're
looking
and
we'll
share
that
information.
But
there
are
multiple
projects
because
of
these
mega
sites
that
are
looking
at
the
exact
same
sites.
A
I
talked
a
little
bit
about
new
versus
existing,
and
so
this
gray
area
is
really
where
chesterfield
and
our
local
partners
would
work
and
own
that
bre
space,
that
business
retention
and
expansion
and
grp
is
only
focused
on
the
20
or
so
of
those
new
to
market
companies.
And
so,
if
you
saw
that
pipeline,
that's
part
of
the
puzzle-
that's
not
all
of
it!
So
there's
a
lot
more!
That's
out
there,
local
companies
that
are
looking
at
how
they
can
expand
their
operations
here,
competitiveness
of
chesterfield.
I
went
through
and
crunched
the
numbers.
A
I
had
estimated
this
a
few
weeks
ago
to
garrett
and
dr
casey.
I
said
honestly,
I
think
that
you're
up
for
about
95
of
all
of
our
projects-
and
I
was
wrong-
it's
exactly
92,
but
that
is
of
all
those
projects
you
are
being
considered
now.
Of
course,
I
can't
have
favorites
because
we
work
for
all
four
of
our
partners,
but
that
is
not
necessarily
the
case
for
all
of
the
localities,
so
you
have
the
product.
You
are
very,
very
competitive
for
these
projects.
A
A
Additional
sites
will
help
chesterfield
win
more
jobs
and
investment,
and
this
is
something
from
michelle
comerford,
who
is
a
site
location
consultant,
one
of
those
who's
involved
in
half
of
all
of
those
projects,
and
she
said
site
consultants
have
been
preaching
for
years
about
the
importance
of
importance
of
development,
ready
sites.
This
isn't
about
the
middle,
and
she
says
if
you're
still
on
the
fence,
about
investing
by
grading.
A
Bringing
the
utility
lines
doing
environmental
studies
upgrading
roads
now
is
the
time
now
is
the
time
key
strengths
of
our
market
in
of
chesterfield,
specifically
a
diverse
and
ample
workforce.
First
thing
that
companies
will
look
for.
Do
you
have
the
talent
now?
Will
you
have
the
talent
into
the
future?
Yes,
chesterfield
is
growing.
Chesterfield
has
been
growing
at
a
stronger
rate
than
many
of
the
other
localities.
A
You
have
strong
partnerships
with
the
universities,
the
community
colleges
and
organizations
like
ccwa,
your
location
and
infrastructure
that
are
here
solid
tax
structure,
incentives
very
attractive
for
companies.
You
are
focused
on
targeted
industries
and
led
by
garrett.
You
have
a
very
aggressive
and
responsive
economic
development
team.
A
Here's
kind
of
an
inside
look
of
inside
the
pipeline
at
17
000
potential
jobs,
how
they
come
to
be
the
lead
sources
that
they
are
generated
of
that
pipeline
68
are
generated
by
grp's
efforts
about
10
are
referrals
we'd
like
that
number
to
be
a
little
bit
higher.
Those
are
some
of
the
site,
location,
consultants.
Those
are
very
large
projects.
A
lot
of
the
vedp
projects
are
site,
location
consultants
as
well.
Then
it
would
include
brokers
and
other
consultants,
et
cetera
of
the
industries.
A
A
I
know
jason
had
kind
of
given
me
the
inside
that
chesterfield
had
been
up
for
the
intel
project,
the
I.t
percentage.
A
lot
of
those
would
be
data
centers,
you
guys
are
fantastic
at
data
centers.
Some
of
that
would
also
be
cyber
security,
bio
and
life
sciences.
There
was
a
very
strong
effort
going
on
with
advanced
pharmaceutical
manufacturing
that
is
taking
place
and
they
are
one
of
the
60
finalists
for
build
back,
better
dollars,
food
and
beverage.
A
1900
degrees
awarded
annually
and
about
31
000
workers
in
advanced
manufacturing
in
this
market
results
from
22,
thus
far
so
we're
on
a
july.
1
fiscal,
as
you
are
seven
projects
that
have
been
won.
Three
more
have
been
won.
The
governor
is
just
waiting
to
make
those
announcements,
2600
jobs,
527
million
in
capex
and
2
million
in
square
footage,
and
these
are
some
of
the
wins
from
the
last
year.
A
We
share
hot
properties
on
flyers
and
distribute
this
information
to
site
location
consultants,
and
then
we
work
to
try
and
influence
lists
and
rankings,
and
so
this
is
a
ranking
from
this
one
specifically
talks
about
chesterfield
economic
development
being
one
of
the
best
places
to
live
in
the
region
and
then
livability.com
came
out
with
their
best
places
to
live.
They
have
a
top
100
place
to
live
in
2019.
A
We
were
number
46.
in
2020.
We
were
not
on
this
list,
and
so
we
went
to
the
editors
and
said:
hey
here's
why
we
should
be
on
this
list.
Here's
all
the
data,
here's
the
methodology
behind
this
and
by
the
way
46,
is
way
too
low.
We
want
to
be
a
lot
higher
than
that.
We
think
that
we
should
be.
We
were
number
27
this
last
year
we
bring
in
site
location
consultants
on
a
annual
basis.
At
least
we
typically
have
brought
in
about
four
site
location
consultants
per
year.
A
We
go
out
to
generate
these
leads
often
trying
to
work
with
these
site
location
consultants,
but
also
to
industry
conferences
and
to
targeted
markets
where
companies
are
based,
and
we
do
that
in
partnership
with
our
local
economic
development
partners.
So
upcoming
missions
are
to
dc
to
new
york
and
new
jersey,
chicago
san,
diego
germany
and
canada,
and
that's
before
june.
A
One
of
our
challenges
is
that
our
region
overall,
is
less
likely
to
be
considered
that
our
competitors,
we've
done
some
perception
research
a
few
different
times
in
2018
2021
again.
In
fact,
they
are
33
percent,
more
likely
to
consider
raleigh
perception,
research
on
a
scale
of
1
to
10.
How
likely
are
you
to
consider
the
following
locations
for
a
place
to
expand
or
relocate
a
business?
A
The
red
is
site,
location,
consultants,
the
gray
are
c-suite
executives
and
you
can
see
that
we're
ahead
of
our
peers
in
virginia
in
northern
virginia
and
in
hampton
roads,
but
behind
columbus,
charleston,
raleigh,
nashville
and
charlotte,
and
so
what
is
grp
doing?
We
are
working
very
closely
with
our
partners,
especially
at
richmond
region,
tourism
and
with
chamber
rva,
to
develop
an
image
campaign.
A
There
is
right
now
an
rfp
that
is
getting
ready
to
launch
at
a
campaign
that
we
were
hoping
to
launch
before
the
end
of
our
fiscal
year
in
june,
and
so
we
are
a
marketing
and
sales
organization,
and
so
we
look
at
the
pipeline
right.
How
can
we
create
that
awareness
of
richmond
and
greater
richmond
overall
through
advertising
and
pr
efforts,
content,
marketing,
social
media?
A
Our
website,
of
course,
and
then
we
utilize
a
number
of
sales
tools
and
forms
to
convert
traffic
once
they
come
to
our
website
and
then,
of
course,
there's
direct
outreach
and
competitive
analysis
that
we
do
for
companies
that
we're
working
to
recruit,
and
so
this
is
just
one
of
the
examples
of
strategic
marketing
efforts
and
sponsored
content
and
contributed
content.
And
then
this
is
just
an
inside
look
at
some
of
the
tools
that
we
utilize
to
generate
our
leads,
and
with
that
I
am
happy
to
answer
any
and
all
questions.
B
C
Yeah,
I
was
going
to
say
outstanding
presentation.
I
mean
you
just
have
a
wealth
of
knowledge,
I'm
greatly
impressed
and
I'm
always
looking
at
what
can
we
do
better
and
so
your
ideas
and
suggestions
as
we
continue?
Let
us
know
what
we
can
do
better
things
we
can
tighten
up
and
improve
and
innovate,
but
you're
right.
This
is
a
challenging
and
interesting
time
for
many
companies
because
of
the
way
we
work
now
from.
D
C
A
B
E
E
She
has
done
a
fabulous
job
of
building
relationships
throughout
the
region,
which
is
the
critical
first
step
of
this,
to
bringing
everybody
to
the
table
with
the
same
goals
and
the
same
mission,
and
she
has
done
a
really
nice
job
of
also
defining
exactly
what
the
mission
of
grp
is
and
building
the
team
that
is
focused
on
that
mission
and,
as
you
can
imagine,
mission
creep
can
easily
become
part
of
what
happens
when
you're
tying
together
all
the
pieces
of
the
region.
But
it
in
a
case
like
this
with
grp.
E
It
can
get
really
convoluted
and
create
more
problems
than
solving
issues.
And
so
I
think
that
you
know
we're
in
a
great
place.
We've
got
great
opportunities,
but
you
know
kudos
to
jennifer
for
her
leadership
and
the
team
she's
building,
and
also
to
add
to
that
to
say
that
this
last
piece
of
the
marketing
effort
is
incredibly
important.
Right
now,
because
to
be
quite
candid,
there's
a
reason
that
we're
falling
in
that
category
and
we've
got
to
overcome
what
the
perception
of
this
region
is
in
these
last
two
years,
and
we
have
some
real.
E
It's
been
some
challenges
to
do
that
and
so
partnering
with
others
who
have
that
joint
vision
of
of
elevating
the
region's
perception
with
tourism
and
the
chamber,
and
others
has
really.
You
know,
been
a
collaborative
effort
that
I
think
we're
all
really
really
proud
of
to
say.
This
is
the
way
in
which
we
really
elevate,
who
we
are
and
and
showcase
what
richmond
and
the
surrounding
areas
all
of
this
central
virginia
has
to
offer.