Changing flight plans

Having lived a majority of my life in the Greater Reno-Tahoe area, I spent a good number of years flying airplanes. Whether from the air or the ground, I have witnessed amazing changes in our area's terrain and am convinced that most of them are for the good. While there is a popular tendency to look back at my time as a pilot and flight instructor, perhaps that experience with flight plans gives me more of a tendency to look forward.

The Economic Development Authority of Western Nevada has been a part of my community life for a long time. When I graduated with a degree in agriculture economics with an emphasis on community resource and development from the University of Nevada, Reno in 1983, I had no idea that in 2008 I would be honored to be elected to and serve as chairman of the board of trustees of EDAWN. Although a non-profit, the organization is a corporation led by over 60 community, business and government leaders and staffed by a group of professionals with business experience that result in a goal oriented momentum. We have a "zero" bottom line but a desire to bring new wealth and prosperity to our region of communities.

The focus of EDAWN, appropriate in my view, is on recruiting, retaining, expanding and helping start-up primary companies that bring new dollars into the marketplace by exporting goods and services outside the region. Success in that goal brings wealth to individuals, companies and the community and contributes to our collective quality of life. Yet it is only one version, one measure of economic development which can also include community development, retail, tourism, education, infrastructure enhancement and more. The executive committee and board of trustees decided years ago that EDAWN's efforts are best targeted at quality companies that add to the quality of life in the Greater Reno-Tahoe region. Good businesses are owned by people, employ people and service and sell to people feeding the economy and the tax base of the region and the state. Others, like the cities, counties, RTC, RSCVA, school board among others receive information from EDAWN and its client companies and act on those aspects important to economic development such as transportation and education, etc.

One measure of success is the economic impact of the companies assisted by EDAWN and key partners when they locate to or expand in the region. As I learned in those economics courses I took at UNR, there is an interdependency and ripple effect from those businesses. By calculating companies' payroll, job skill levels, taxable sales, capital expenses and industry categories, we can determine the new dollars, including tax dollars generated by a company's operations. Nearly seven years ago we did research and the EDAWN board of trustees gave the staff both the assignment and the tools to work toward achieving an annual economic impact of $376 million by June 30, 2007. Together, we achieved and exceeded that goal by assisting companies that created $402 million in new annual economic impact to the region.

But like any good group of "bosses" the EDAWN board convened and decided we wanted more than that. Not more in terms of total dollars but more in terms of the quality of those dollars defined by the quality of those companies moving into and growing in our community. Most simply stated, we wanted to ensure that we didn't just grow, but to help shape future growth in our region by creating primary jobs that add wealth to the community. Based on findings from the Target2010 economic planning study we realized that our strength of effort needed to focus on bringing the absolute best companies and jobs to the region.

Working with the board and staff we developed a new formula to evaluate companies as high yield (sustainable) economic development performers. That criteria includes:

* high wages;

* good employee benefits;

* a record of community contribution;

* positive impact on the environment;

* headquarters status

* and be among the six targeted industries most likely to produce those desirable qualities.

So while these companies, along with all other companies that EDAWN continues to assist, will create economic impact our specific goal is ensure this is a place we will all still want to live in 10 or 20 years or more. Higher wages clearly puts more into the regional economy, not the least of which is the ability for citizens to be able to afford to live here. Strong employee benefits packages helps shift the load away from some government and human services agencies. Environmentally friendly companies will help maintain our water and land resources and enhance them. Community contributors companies and individual employees will help make us stronger and more vibrant in arts, culture, recreation, education and so much more. A headquartered company injects those new dollars into the Greater Reno-Tahoe region and typically employs other high paying jobs in banking, accounting, legal and other business services.

After achieving $402 in economic impact last year we will see a drop this year as we retool our effort to focus on high yield economic development. Going back to my flying days, it is not unlike doing maintenance of our aircraft, maybe even some flight training to get rated in a new size or style of plane. It takes a while to learn to fly a high-performance aircraft and the staff at EDAWN, with support of the board of trustees and our regional partners, is learning to make such a change in flight plan and training. They continue to assist virtually any and all inbound, inquiring companies. At the same time they have added new outbound efforts to create specific leads and contacts with companies in the six industries most likely to get us on the right flight path and to our new destination. It is new terrain that we are learning to navigate and it is exciting to make this trip together to a new region called Greater Reno-Tahoe.

Jack Prescott is market president for Irwin Union Bank and chairman of the board of The Economic Development Authority of Western Nevada for 2008-2009.