RGJ COLUMNS

 

As the incoming CEO of EDAWN, I am excited by the potential of this community and believe that together we can improve the overall economy and quality of life here in the years ahead.

 

During the next several months and years, I will be providing you with my thoughts and insights on our economy, the quality job attraction, retention and entrepreneurial job creation programs of EDAWN, and what we as a community can do even better. I welcome your feedback or ideas on topics you would like to see covered in future columns.

 

This first column is dedicated to providing a few of my observations on "your" community. This will not be as an economic development professional -- we'll get to that in future columns -- but as a newcomer who chose to move here, live here and raise a family here.

 

I chose Reno after careful consultation with my wife and family. (Many of our future prospects will do that as well.) My wife, Margaret, loved her job as a fifth-grade teacher and my two teenage children were happy with their high school life.

 

Having interviewed with other communities that provided similar job opportunities, I found Reno and those that I met here to be different, in a nice way. The people I met were genuine, welcoming, friendly and possessed an optimism about where the region is heading.

 

As I worked through the selection process, I brought Margaret with me to visit the community and she was impressed as well. But the real test came when we brought our two teenagers here to get their view, knowing that they were not happy about moving. After visiting a few of the high schools, a quick trip to Lake Tahoe, a look at some housing and some serious shopping, we got a reluctant thumbs up -- for those of you with teenagers, you know that's as good as it gets!

 

In short, we chose Reno because of all the things that you, too, enjoy and appreciate. The simple way to describe it is "quality of life," but what makes this region different, in my opinion, is the passion and a nearly universal belief that we can be better. A belief that economic development is important and that we must embrace and influence the change that is necessary to grow the economy of the future -- an economy very different from that of the past.

 

As you know, this will not happen without hard work and dedication by all of us, from the governor and his team on down. As we enter a new year, I ask that you take a moment to recognize that there are more than 27,000 unemployed in our community, our neighbors and friends that are counting on us to succeed in growing our economy. With your support and active involvement, we will not let them down.

 

Happy new year!