CEO Update

It is not slowing down. For those of you that love the half empty glass and are waiting for the next bust, it could be a long wait as our prospect activity continues to be robust. In fact, in August, which is traditionally a slow month, we had 14 prospect visits, just one shy of the record.  Additionally, there have been several great announcements recently and most of our activity has nothing to do with Tesla, which is currently ramping up their hiring.  So, let’s stop the boom-bust talk and do our best to prepare for this exciting new growth.

Another great year for Burning Man – While San Francisco was the birthplace of Burning Man, Nevada has become its home. Since 1990, Burners have made the pilgrimage two hours north of Reno to the Black Rock Desert.  Each year they leave a larger and larger footprint in Northern Nevada’s business market. In the 1990s, Burners passed through town looking for hardware and goods to create their structures and sculptures.  Since then the event has continued to grow, from only a few hundred, and then a few thousand people, to tens of thousands, now 70,000, coming from across the globe. Here is the RGJ Article.

The Save our Schools School Funding Initiative Is Really taking Off. The Coalition to Save our Schools has gained community-wide grass roots support with the Save our Schools Challenge.  Below is one of the school challenges.  WC-1 is an important issue for our community so we need your help to save our schools.  Here is one of the upcoming ads for the campaign.

Key upcoming events. There are many great things happening in the coming weeks but a few events that pertain to economic development that you may want to calendar include TMCC’s, Food, Wine and the Future event on September 22nd, in support of our Community College’s efforts to ramp up their programs for the incoming jobs.  Visit their website here.

You’re invited! EDAWN’s Arts, Culture and Economic Development community luncheon will be held at the Eldorado Resort Casino/Convention Center on September 22, 2016. Please read more here or register in advance.  Tickets will not be sold at the door.

The EPIC Report with Actual Numbers updated through July. Now 19 months into the 5 year EPIC report projections of over 52,000 and we are still on track, even before Tesla, Panasonic and Switch ramp up their hiring efforts.  Here are Actual Numbers Graphs.

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Business Development Update

The Business Development team announced 3 companies in August, including 2 headquarters and a total of 616 new jobs added  to the region.

Thrive Market, e-commerce, 400 jobs – Press Release.

CAEK, Inc., a software technology/service, 171 jobs, HQ – Press Release.

Revision Brewing, manufacturing, 45 jobs, HQ

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The team hosted 14 site visits and met with 22 site consultants. 31 new leads and projects were added to the pipeline.

Stan Thomas attended the Logistics Development Forum in Chicago where economic developers and site consultants discussed strategies for new manufacturing/warehousing locations and marketing to this industry sector. He met with 16 site consultants during this trip.

Chris Ault, Jr. attended the IEDC (International Economic Development Conference) in San Diego to discuss and share knowledge regarding best practices and overcoming challenges to build an ecosystem that supports regional growth.