Southern Economic Development Hall of Fame - Volume 2 | Southern Business and Development

Southern Economic Development Hall of Fame - Volume 2

By Michael Randle

Editor’s note: Michael Randle has visited about 92 percent of the following people elected in Volume 2 of the “Southern Economic Development Hall of Fame” at their place of business. The results are partly defined by these individuals and their role in turning projects and their overall effect on economic and community development in their territories in the region. The involvement and capture of larger projects were given special emphasis, along with each individual’s involvement in volunteering in a variety of causes, as well as the length of their careers, even their personalities were taken into account by SB&D. Enjoy!

Dave Adkisson
Kentucky Chamber of Commerce; Red River Economic Development

Steve Ammons
Birmingham Business Alliance; Mayor of Vestavia Hills (Jefferson County, Ala.)

Peter Arnoti
Greenwood County, S.C. EDA: Colleton County, S.C. Economic Alliance

The first time I met Peter Arnoti was about 1990 or 1991. He was basking in the glow of landing Fujifilm in one of the largest projects in South Carolina back then. It was a huge capture for Greenwood, S.C., and Greenwood County.

So, we are in downtown Greenwood at lunch and Peter was very excited to show me something “very important.” Back then, the main rail line in Greenwood split Main Street and several road crossings and made it difficult for the traffic when trains ran through downtown. I have heard the rail into downtown Greenwood has been dug up. I haven’t been there since, and need to visit again.

So, Peter and I are walking along the rail line and he says, “Michael, come over here and tell me what you see.” There was a Christian college across the rail line on Main Street with a large sign on top of the college building that read, “Jesus Saves.” So, Arnoti takes my arm and says, “Let’s walk over here.” We walk about 20 feet (not sure south or north), and Arnoti grabs my shoulders with both hands and says again, “Now what do you see there?” I looked again at the sign that read “Jesus Saves” on top of the Christian college. The street behind Main Street had another sign on top of another building a city block away.

There, where I was standing in 1990 or 1991, the two signs were perfectly aligned to read seamlessly, “Jesus Saves at Greenwood State Bank.”

Haley Barbour
Governor of Mississippi; Butler Snow

Gov. Barbour has been a supporter of SB&D for decades and we got to know each other around the time Nissan announced in Madison County in the early 2000s. What Gov. Barbour did post-Katrina was worthy of the “Southern Economic Development Hall of Fame” all by itself.

He always kept me on my toes because Gov. Barbour would never let me forget about an error that I made years ago in citing data, so he always ended the conversation with something like, “Randle, you have been wrong before, remember?” I could never get him off that one mistake I made in about 2006. He just wouldn’t forget about it. Great man, though.

Greg Barker
Economic Development Partnership of Alabama; Alabama Power

Slater Barr
Dyersburg/Dyer County, Tenn. Chamber of Commerce; Carroll Tomorrow (Ga.); East Mississippi Business Development Corporation

Gov. Mike Beebe and Ginger Beebe
Governor and former First Lady of Arkansas

Phillis Belcher
Greene County, Ala. Industrial Development Authority

Chris Berryman
H&M Company (Tennessee); Tennessee Valley Authority

This guy is for real. Great addition to SEDR, which was Roger Cook’s idea. Chris has filled in for Roger since he retired earlier this year. (Roger and his family have purchased a house on Northwest Florida’s Highway 30A.) Chris is very knowledgeable on the practice. Knows things most don’t and he shares his experiences at our SEDR gig in Rosemary each winter. Filling Roger Cook’s shoes at H&M in Jackson, Tenn., will be difficult, but Berryman is way ahead.

David Berzina
Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce; Chisholm Flats; JLL Commercial Development

Jeff Bischoff
Gray Construction (Kentucky)

An outstanding company and Jeff has been a leader for decades right there in downtown Lexington.

Sena Black
Enterprise Florida

I thought Sena was brilliant. Scary smart! She was the glue at Enterprise Florida, which is now defunct. (I liked the old Florida DOC with Roger Miller and Steve Mayberry, and from what I have heard, Roger and Mayberry are still in Tallahassee.)

Sena and I got to know each other during Gov. Jeb Bush’s two terms. She helped me get a meeting with Jeb. And during one of those terms, they captured a huge biotech deal from California-based Scripps Research that they thought would generate 50,000 jobs in Central and South Florida.

In a speech in about 2004 at the Tampa Bay Partnership’s annual conference, I said to the audience, “There aren’t 50,000 people needing a job in Florida right now. And while the Florida population seems to always grow, child births in the U.S. are dropping and fast.” The project did go to Palm Beach County, but Scripps Florida to this day employs about 500 people there, not 50,000.

C. Britton Bonner
Adams & Reese

Adams & Reese is a law firm that really knows economic development, and Britton is doing an excellent job in the race among law firms to excel at the practice of bird-dogging deals, something law firms started to do — hiring economic developers — to work projects. The hiring of our friend, Laura DiBella, the last CEO of Enterprise Florida, by Adams & Reese was a great choice.

Tim Booras
Chatham County, N.C.

Shelly Jo “The Elf” Jacobs and I met with Tim Booras, the owner of a major beverage company in Chatham County in about 2014. He also owned a bunch of land there with a partner, D.H. Griffin, who is also in this Hall of Fame. We had yet to hear about the new Chatham/Siler City Megasite until “The Elf” discovered it because she lives in Chatham County.

Back then most megasites were chasing the automotive assembly industry, you know, the “Big Kahuna?” I found out the Chatham/Siler City megasite was rail-served, however, there was no double-stack-rail at that time (there is now) for vehicle shipments from Siler City to the Port of Wilmington, where they were then exported. Both BMW and Mercedes plants in the Southern Automotive Corridor export most of their Southern-made models to wealthy clients in the Middle East, China and Europe.

But North Carolina does not have a strong history of automotive assembly. Sure, automotive suppliers have been a big deal in the Tar Heel State for five decades, and Toyota’s battery plant in nearby Randolph County will be operational this year.

I rushed up to Chatham County because I believed we were invited to the PGA or U.S. Open. Michael Smith is now the talented deal maker in Chatham County. It’s where he landed Wolfspeed’s latest chip plant and has been highly successful running economic development for a very hot North Carolina county, Chatham, which is in the Research Triangle. And like Shelly Jo Jacobs has done with several megasites we have walked over the years, she sprinkled fairy dust on the site, lit some sage to wave around the entrance and 10 years later, they landed Wolfspeed, a project that will transform Chatham. After the “christening” of the Siler City Megasite with her hippie potions, she said to Tim Booras, “This site will have a user within 10 years.” It was almost 10 years later that the first user of the site invested in Chatham County.

Phil Bredeson
Governor of Tennessee

I really liked working with Gov. Bredesen and Matt Kisber, Tennessee’s commissioner of economic development back then. Kisber started working on the Volkswagen project in Bredesen’s first term, but the deal, announced in 2008, went into the governor’s second term.

Kisber wanted out because he needed to make more money than what a state job paid in the first decade of this century. So, they went into the second term and landed VW. And Kisber, through his close relationship with Gov. Bredesen, got his dream job. He is the Chairman of Silicon Ranch, a large solar farm development company and a very successful one.

Randy Brewer
Lawrenceburg County, Tenn. Commissioner; Lawrence Chamber

Kingsley Brock
Gibson County Chamber; Tennessee Department of Economic & Community Development

I am one of the few people in the South (other than those in Gibson County) that knows that the Gibson County Courthouse in Trenton, Tenn., is painted red and orange. Brock was one of the better Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development recruiters and he was no “yes man.” Great guy!

Jody Bryson
South Carolina Technology and Aviation Center (SCTAC); International Transportation Innovation Center (ITIC), Greenville, S.C.

Jody is an outstanding practitioner in aerospace and automotive in the Upstate. He is a great contributor to SEDR, our invitation-only black-ops meeting in the winter each year at the Pearl Hotel in Rosemary Beach.

Ron Bunch
Bowling Green, Ky. Area Chamber of Commerce; Business Development Board of Martin County, Fla.; City of Danville, Va.; Abbeville County, S.C. Development Board

Ron and his strategies may seem different, but this practitioner has been successful everywhere he has been. I met Ron first in Danville, then again in Bowling Green in 2014. He runs an outstanding department, and we can always count on deals coming from Bowling Green and Simpson County, just to Bowling Green’s south, which seems to land some overflow deals from BG, site of the only Corvette assembly plant in the world.

Katie Burdorf
WDG Consulting

Katie is one of the economic developers I have not met featured in this HOF, but she was strongly recommended.

Didi Caldwell
Global Location Strategies; Fluor Corporation

I’ve watched Didi’s work for a long time. Her site consultant business has taken off. Great read about Didi that was published by Bloomberg in October of last year, calling her “The Factory Whisperer.” Didi is rolling!

Greg Canfield
Alabama Department of Commerce; Burr & Forman

I first met Greg at Starbucks in Mountain Brook Village, Ala., shortly after he became Alabama’s Commerce Secretary (a position now held by Ellen McNair). He just wanted to have coffee and the only thing that was on his mind was this question: “How is Alabama doing?” Canfield is a great addition to Burr Forman.

Tony Campbell
Kentucky Touchstone Energy/EKPC

Billy Joe Camp
Alabama Development Office

Billy Joe Camp and Anthony Topazi were just two of many who claimed responsibility for capturing Mercedes-Benz in 1993. Everybody has claimed they helped bring in Mercedes. In fact, so many, like me, have lied about it so many times that after 32 years people just believe all of us now.

Dale Carroll
North Carolina Department of Commerce; Sanford Holshouser Economic Development Consulting; Progress Energy/CP&L; AdvantageWest Economic Development Group (N.C.)

Whoa, this man was great wherever he worked and I followed him as much as I could. We went all the way back to Carolina Power & Light in the late 1980s. CP&L then became Progress Energy if I remember correctly, and then either Duke or FPL bought them.

James Carville
Political consultant (New Orleans)

Man, what theater over the decades James and his wife Mary Matalin have brought to the screens. I visited them at their home in the Garden District of New Orleans on one of Michael Hecht’s (CEO, Greater News Orleans, Inc.) red carpet deals. James Carville and Mary Matalin had this gig they started 25 or 30 years ago, where she was the staunch conservative and Carville the liberal. They played that out perfectly on news channels.

Cathy Chambers
Florida Power & Light; JAXUSA

Cathy Chambers’ gig at FPL has been outstanding. The power company is one of the most creative in the South in recruiting industry. . .just expertly run. Lynn Pitts, who was also named in our HOF along with Cathy Chambers, are two of the reasons why.

The first time I met Cathy was about 1995. She was with JAX USA and Jacksonville was about to land the NFL Jaguars. We were publishing a Florida state supplement at the time. Cathy asked, “Why is someone with your experience selling advertising for Southern Business?” Puzzled, I responded, simply, “I own it. I created it and if the bills aren’t paid, I pay them personally. So, yes, I am proudly selling advertising for my business.”

Mitch Chandler
Arkansas Economic Development Commission; Little Rock, Ark. Chamber of Commerce

Rest in peace, Mitch. A true one-of-a-kind. All who knew him loved him. I certainly do now, still, about a year after his death. Mitch Chandler worked for Jay Chessir at the Little Rock Regional Chamber and also worked for Mike Huckabee when he was governor of Arkansas.

Peggy Chapman
Development Authority of Bulloch County, Ga.; Georgia Southern University

Tim Chason
The Chason Group; Cartersville-Bartow County Chamber of Commerce

Dennis Chastain
GEMC, Atlanta, Ga.

James Chavez
SC Power Team; Clarksville-Montgomery County EDC

One of the best jobs in the entire South is the CEO of SC Power Team. James is a strong practitioner who followed legends Fred Gassaway and Ralph
Thomas (in the HOF) at SC Power Team.

Jay Chesshir
Little Rock Regional Chamber

Highly successful and motivated, and he had to be.

Katie S. Chiasson
CLECO Power (La.)

I haven’t met Katie, but I have heard a lot about her and CLECO’s success in Central Louisiana. Looks like CLECO may be for sale and Katie just retired.

Ted Clem
Alabama Department of Commerce; Pike County, Ala. EDC; Bay County, Fla. EDA; Albany-Dougherty, Ga. EDC

Shoot, I have always liked Ted. He is in a good place in Troy, Ala., where Marsha Gaylard worked and did well for a long time.

Jim Coleman
East Kentucky Power; Winchester-Clark County IDA

Bill Cork
Mississippi Development Authority; Hancock County Port and Harbor Commission; The Aerospace Alliance; TexAmericas Center EDO (Bowie County, Texas)

Last year, I finally met Bill Cork, head of MDA, one of the South’s best state agencies. . .we were at the Mississippi Economic Council annual meeting headed up by Scott Waller in Jackson. By the time I walked up to give my presentation, I was told I had 20 minutes left to speak. So, I began with my standard, “You might be a Southern Economic Developer if. . .” jokes.

You might be a Southern economic developer if your four-year-old daughter tells her kindergarten classmates that you make your living by driving around in the woods with the mayor and one other man.
You might be a Southern economic developer if you have ever cut your grass and found a car.
You might be a Southern economic developer if walking your industrial site requires rubber boots.

So, I had 15 minutes left. I asked, “Do you want me to show you the data or keep telling jokes? All in the audience said, “Keep telling the jokes,” so I finished up with:

You might be a Southern economic developer if you have ever taken a sling blade to freshen up the entrance to your industrial park.
You might be a Southern economic developer if, when you throw a beer can out your truck window, your wife shoots it!
You might be a Southern economic developer if you own a home with wheels on it and six cars without.
You might be a Southern economic developer if you have been on television more than twice describing the sound of a tornado.
You might be a Southern economic developer if you have lost two double-wides — one in a tornado and one in a divorce.
You might be a Southern economic developer if your brother-in-law is your uncle.
You might be a Southern economic developer if your dad walks you to school because y’all are in the same grade.

After that last one, my speech was completed in said 20 minutes. No data. Sometimes, you just go with the flow.

John Correnti
Nucor; Big River Steel; Severstal Columbus

Glenn Cornell
NationsBank; Bank of America

Glenn of NationsBank back in the day, along with Mike Lott and Billy Payne (Masters), essentially organized all the sponsors of the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

Kit Cramer
Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce

Lots of positive testimonials I have read about Kit. But I never got the chance to meet her.

Bill Crane
CSI Crane; Atlanta Chamber of Commerce; Georgia Trend

Vann Cunningham
TVA; Lockwood Greene; BNSF

Brenda Daniels
ElectriCities (North Carolina)

Brenda Daniels was a bulldog economic developer with ElectriCities of N.C. She was incredibly consistent.

Laura DiBella
Adams & Reese; Enterprise Florida

Probably a little premature because of her younger age among most HOFers, but this lady is already a leader as we got to know her at SEDR@RosemaryBeach this past January. This younger one has “all-star” written all over her.

Dennis Donovan
WDG Consulting

We never really got to know Dennis and we sure had chances to. Dennis has been at it as long as I have, or close to 50 years, maybe longer.

Beth Doughty
Beth Doughty LLC; Roanoke Regional Partnership

Beth was the first person I met through a windshield tour of the Roanoke region that combined true community development through all of the outdoor amenities that the Blue Ridge Mountains offer. I think she launched that outdoors theme in about 1997? That was way before anyone else thought of it. That strategy has really worked for the Roanoke region and has drawn so many to relocate to the “Star City of the South.”

Kit Dunlap
Greater Hall County, Ga. Chamber

Phillip Dunlap
City of Auburn IDB (Ala.)

Jimmy Durham
DeKalb County, Ala. EDA

I met Jimmy in 1993. He showed me all the homes of the members of the band Alabama back in their heyday. They all lived in DeKalb.

Jimmy recently retired after 30 years with the DeKalb County EDA. His memorable career saw Fort Payne and DeKalb County recover from the shock implosion of the area’s sock industry, which abruptly threw over 7,500 people out of work in 2010 (population 70,000). Almost overnight, the county’s jobless rate surged to 16 percent amid fears it would climb much higher. Today, DeKalb County’s economy is humming.

Mike Eades
GeoDecisions; Lexington, S.C. Economic Development; Ascension, La. EDC; IDA of Halifax, Va.; Florence County, S.C. EDP; MEAG Power (Ga.)

I think I visited Eades in every place he worked except for Ascension Parish, La., and he did an outstanding job everywhere he went. All the Southern boys and girls in economic development loved Mike and his wife Charlie Mae, who recently passed away. They were huge in SEDC and they attended one or two SEDRs before he retired.

When Eades was with MEAG Power in Atlanta, his office was perched high on a hill above the I-285 Beltway. I found the office to be incredibly loud, as the roar from Interstate 285 below and its millions of daily cars are like a demolition derby. The roar of the cars not only distracted me, it was deafening, like a NASCAR race. So, I asked Mike, “How do you stand working in this office with this roar coming from the Beltway below?” Eades answer was, “What roar? I guess I am used to it.”

Deepal Eliatamby
Alliance Consulting Engineers

Deepal’s company recently celebrated 20 years with 2,500-plus projects in nine states and over $45 billion in capital investment and 36,000 jobs. Deepal’s personal numbers — $60 billion and 45,000 jobs for his 35 years in the business. As Deepal said, “Not bad for a guy who came on a Greyhound bus to Columbia in August 1984, huh?” Besides his work, Deepal has two other passions — bourbon and South Carolina football (he has a nice condo right across the street from the stadium). I can tell you this, Deepal would walk to our SEDR@RosemaryBeach gig each winter. Attends almost every year. Smart dude and very likable.

Jack Ellenberg
Maxis Advisors; South Carolina Ports Authority; South Carolina Department of Commerce

Jack brought Boeing to North Charleston. Enough said.

Mike Evans
Clarksville-Montgomery County, Tenn. Area EDC

Dr. Glen Fenter
Marion, Ark. Schools; Mid-South Community College

If you don’t know Dr. Fenter, you should. He is the foremost expert on workforce training education and a tireless supporter of public education in Arkansas and really, much of the region. His workforce development model was cited by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the U.S. Department of Labor as the best model in the U.S.

Tom Ferguson
Greene County, Tenn. Partnership

Here is a secret no one knows but me and the aforementioned Jim Anderson in this HOF. Maybe Alan Bridwell up there knows this story.

During our racing (see “Jim Anderson” in this HOF) through the mountains of Northeast Tennessee more than 30 years ago, Jim always said “When I get a prospect visit, I take them first to Greene County and Tom Ferguson. But don’t tell anyone.” I haven’t until now. I am telling you because Big Jim, one of my all-time favorites, passed away a while back.

Susan Fleetwood
North Carolina Department of Commerce

Susan has had a remarkable long-time career with the North Carolina Department of Commerce. We go way back, almost to the Watts Carr, Alvah Ward and Jim Fain eras at NC Commerce.

Jim Folsom, Jr./Big Jim Folsom
Governors of Alabama

Mercedes was captured by Jim Folsom Jr. during his term. That fact is enough for me to get “Junior” in this club.

But I have a story about his dad, Big Jim Folsom, who I never met because he ended his terms as Alabama’s governor shortly after I was born. But through my travels, I sure did hear the stories about “Big Jim Folsom.”

In the early 1950s, the Interstate system was being launched, I think by President Eisenhower’s administration. So federal DOT asked Big Jim where he wanted to run Interstate 10 in South Alabama. Big Jim asked someone, “How did they vote for me down in South Alabama?” The answer was, “They didn’t.” So, Big Jim told the Feds, “Then run Interstate 10 through the Florida Panhandle.” Classic story. So, Dothan? Blame it on Big Jim.

Danny Fore
Northern Kentucky Tri-Ed

Fore was successful wherever he went. He was way underrated as a practitioner after a career in the military. He is now retired and living in Lynchburg, Va., one of the states he practiced in along with South Carolina, North Carolina and Northern Kentucky, which is also a much-underrated organization.

Marion “Butch” Fox
Jeff Davis Parish; Louisiana Economic Development

We lost Butch during the Pandemic. She represented part of George Swift’s Southwest Louisiana Alliance territory in Jeff Davis Parish.

George retired at the first of this year after one of the greatest 20-year runs in the South’s economic history. He was “billion-dollar George” before billion-dollar deals were cool. George: “There are so many billion-plus deals here in Southwest Louisiana, that we don’t have the time to send out a press release unless it is $2 billion or more.” Think LNG! SWLA was the birthplace of it.

So, getting back to Butch Fox. I have met all kinds of Cajuns, but Butch took the cake. She was talking about names like Hébert, Guidry, Landry, LeBlanc, Broussard, Boudreaux, Fontenot, Ardoin, Arnaud and Bergeron as common Cajun last names over a bowl of gumbo. Then she said that offshoring is still happening with her workforce. “The Broussards and Boudreauxs, we can’t keep them working here in Louisiana oil and rice country at $60 a barrel. So, Cajuns are all over running the oil business in places like Saudi Arabia. We need more Broussards here for our drilling.”

George Franklin Sr.
Franklin Farms, Landowner, Richland Parish, La.

This might be the greatest success story in the South’s economic development history. I certainly would vote for it as the No. 1 story in economic development history, not just in the South. This story is way beyond that.

George Franklin, Sr., was a 14-year-old runaway orphan from Alabama. He took a freight train from Alabama and jumped off in Richland Parish, La., in the northeast quarter of the state.

Still a teen, George Sr. began his life in Holly Ridge, La. He worked at a local hotel for room and board before working as a land agent for a local lumber mill. Instead of wages, Franklin Sr. wanted to be paid in land, which was so undervalued in Northeast Louisiana way back then. Eventually, George acquired enough land to become one of the South’s largest rice farmers.

I met George and his sons several times. On one visit, I visited the family “big house,” which seemed like the farm’s headquarters. The megasite was the flattest land I have ever seen. There were a few silos of rice near the family HQ, and a couple of trucks loading rice. Now, George’s farm was so flat, you could drive all over it in any direction for miles. He said something really funny to me. While the rice silos and trucks made up maybe one percent of the farm, he told me, “Michael, don’t hit the silos or those trucks with your SUV as you leave.” Really? I could drive in both directions for miles to get around them. I got the joke.

I was there for a reason — to see the “finest, flattest, new megasite in the South.” I would say that was in about 2004? It could have been later.

The megasite was named “Franklin Farms,” and one of the most expensive data centers being built today is about to build there. The Franklins and LED wanted an automotive plant, but a $10 billion data center was good enough.

I visited George Franklin, Sr., and his sons, Tana Trichel (Northeast Louisiana economic developer), Gov. Kathleen Blanco and Michael Olivier, who were there because the state of Louisiana had just bought the Franklin Farms megasite. The Franklin megasite had come in second so many times for an auto plant that LED had to pivot. Louisiana, the Franklins, Gov. Blanco and Tana did just that, with a huge push from LED.

The last time I saw George Franklin and his sons, I had to run to Jackson to meet with Haley Barbour. Three days later, George Franklin was killed as he flipped his ATV on a levee while working his farm. He was in his 80s.

Joyce Inge French
Southside Planning District Commission, Va.; SEDC

Jane Fryer
Meriwether County Industrial Development Authority; LaGrange, Ga. Chamber of Commerce

This story about Jane Fryer is a classic.

I won’t identify who told me about Kia landing in West Point, Ga., four months before its official announcement. The reason? When I identified him in December 2005 as the source, he never spoke to me again. You see, the dude’s county ended up in second place for Kia’s only U.S. assembly plant. Those second-place folks will talk to me and have for more than 40 years. I mean, they have nothing to lose after being crossed off the list. So, sometimes, I know projects before they are announced.

Anyway, I get a call from this famous practitioner in Mississippi and he tells me Kia is building its new U.S. plant (and the only one in the U.S.) in West Georgia, just across the line from Alabama. He specifically said, “West Point, Ga.” So, who was the economic developer for LaGrange, Ga., at the time? It was none other than my friend Jane Fryer. I picked up the phone and called Jane three days before Christmas in 2005:“Jane, have you heard any news from Kia about locating in your county?” Jane: “No I haven’t.”

Me: “Well, the deal is already done and your county has won it, so you are about to know. It’s a cow field in West Point directly on I-85 and the Kia site searcher who found it was driving from the Atlanta airport to Hyundai’s sister plant in Montgomery.”

Me: “You ready?” Jane: “Ready for what?” Me: “Jane, a large Korean automaker is about to announce a huge deal in West Point — Troup County. They will need 2,000 workers, and suppliers will locate from Montgomery to LaGrange and beyond.” Jane: “You are joking, right?” And the rest is history.

It was a true scoop for us in that we identified the automaker, the site, the place, four months before Kia officially announced in March of 2006. The Atlanta Journal Constitution reported the Kia deal in March of 2006. We published the deal in an “exclusive” in December 2005 ,and gave updates over the months.

And another thing about Korean automakers. . .

I was close to Gov. Bob Riley of Alabama during his two terms. He told me, “I am not sure we need another South Korean plant in Alabama.” So, the next best thing would be Kia just across the line in Mississippi or Georgia. That way we can be part of the workforce. The point man for Riley and other Alabama governors in recruiting industry to the state was one of the handful of “Godfathers of Economic Development in the South,” Neal Wade.

About that time, I am hearing what tough customers the South Koreans were — Hyundai in Montgomery and Kia in West Point — in negotiations on incentives. These were private conversations, but like an idiot, I had to make a statement about what I was hearing.

We used to own the website, SouthernAutoCorridor.com. On that site in the mid-2000s, I repeated the quip, “You tell the Korean prospect that you have left nothing on the incentives table, and the prospect says, ‘What about the table?’ ” I know, a smart-ass comment, but it cracked me up. Soon after, SouthernAutoCorridor.com was hacked, causing $30,000 in equipment damage to our webmaster. The hack destroyed our firewall in three places and we didn’t get it up and running for a month.

My webmaster said, “We put in our standard complaint with the FBI. Their report said they followed the hack from Seoul, South Korea, to the Korean embassy in Washington, D.C., to us and you.” My response: “Wait, wait, wait! That is wonderful! They are reading my work in South Korea? Are you kidding me?”

Edwin Gardner
Entergy Mississippi; PowerSouth (Ala.); Birmingham Business Alliance

Fred Gassaway
SC Power Team

I met Fred and Ralph Thomas way back when they were running the Palmetto Economic Development Corporation, now, SC Power Team. Both are retired and James Chavez has picked up the mantle. James also made our Hall of Fame.

My first appointment with Fred and Ralph went kind of like this in 1991: Fred Gassaway: “Mike, see that ridge across the river there? In 1864, there were 2,000 well-armed Union soldiers camped out on that ridge before they ransacked Columbia, S.C., with cannons two days later.” And then he went on and on and on about the raid, describing it in every detail. It was truly fascinating.

Marsha Gaylard
Pike County, Ala. EDC

Randy George
Montgomery Area Chamber of Commerce

Randy George is a true professional and Southern Economic Development Roundtable (SEDR) supporter. The Montgomery MSA did some great community development during his long career there, and his territory in Central Alabama has been one of the best performing mid-markets over the last 15 years in the South.

Jason Giulietti
Central South Carolina Alliance; Greater San Marcos, Texas Partnership

Jason has been successful everywhere he has been in some really competitive locations and we think he has found a long-time home with the Central South Carolina Alliance. And that agency needed a good change.

Darryl Gosnell
Hampton Roads, Va. EDA; Gainesville, Fla. Area Chamber

Gregg Gothreaux
Lafayette, La. EDA

Gregg was a true leader in Lafayette. Mandi Mitchell and long-time employee, Stacey Zuwacki, have successfully taken over for Gregg. Look for some really good things in Acadiana soon. Gregg’s work will always be remembered in Cajun Country.

Gina Greathouse
Commerce Lexington Inc.; Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development

Gina Greathouse and CEO Bob Quick have formed a long-running partnership in one of the most beautiful and affluent areas of the South — Lexington, Ky. They both have been outstanding for many years in the Bluegrass State. Commerce Lexington is just a solid, consistent economic development agency.

Dale Greer
Cullman, Ala. EDA

D.H. Griffin
Landowner, Chatham County, N.C.

John Gutshaw
WDG Consulting

George Harben
Prince William County, Va., Department of Economic Development; Greater Paducah, Ky. EDC; South Carolina Department of Commerce; Virginia Economic Development Partnership; Fort Worth, Texas Chamber of Commerce

Tom Harned
Logan Economic Alliance (Ky.); Virginia Economic Development Associaton

Garrett Hart
Chesterfield, Va. Economic Development

Larry Hays
Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development

I met Larry in Frankfort for the first time about 15 years ago. I walked in and he had one of my magazines in his hand and asked, “Why wasn’t the Glendale megasite (Hardin County, Ky.) on your top 25 megasites in the South? It is the best one!” So, we put it in the next list of megasites and shortly after, Ford gobbled up the entire site.

Michael Hecht
Greater New Orleans, Inc.; Louisiana Economic Development; New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s administration

Michael Hecht is an outstanding modern economic developer in New Orleans. Look up his work post-Katrina.

Bob Helton
Dry Branch Consulting (Kentucky); Morehead-Rowan County, Ky. EDC; RJ Corman Railroad Group

Kathleen Hess
Winston-Salem Business Inc.

Kathleen and Bob Leak, Jr. did great things at Winston-Salem Business, Inc. for almost 30 years. Bob made Vol. 1 of the “Southern Economic Development Hall of Fame, as did his father.

Donny Hicks
Gaston County, N.C. EDC

Quietly, Donny has been with Gaston County for almost as long as I have been with SB&D. A quiet leader.

Joe Max Higgins
Golden Triangle Development Link; Paragould, Ark. Chamber

Everyone knows Joe Max. His success is unprecedented in the Golden Triangle of Mississippi, anchored by the city of Columbus.

During the Kia deal in the mid-2000s, Joe Max used Federal Go Zone money (Katrina) and state incentives to come up with a $900 million incentive package for the Korean automaker. Back then, that was the highest potential incentive package in the South’s history.

I called and asked Joe how he had come up with a $900 million incentive package when Katrina didn’t even touch Columbus? And why spend it all in one place? Joe’s response was, so far, one of my favorite economic development quotes of all time: “No sense in taking powder home, boys! Let’s shoot it!”

Joe Hines
Timmons Group

Rodney Hitch
Kentucky Touchstone Energy/EKPC

Horace Horn
PowerSouth Energy (Ala., Fla.)

David Hudgins
Old Dominion Electric Cooperative (Va.)

Fred Humes
Aiken-Edgefield; Western South Carolina; Humes & Associates

Fred was a trailblazer, ex-military guy, whose territory included the top-secret Savannah River Site where all kinds of “Secret Squirrel” military stuff happens every day. He also should be recognized for the hydrogen center he started in Aiken. Will Williams took over for Fred years ago and there has been no slowdown.

Kim Huston
Bardstown-Nelson County, Ky. Economic Development

A nomination well deserved. Bardstown, under Kim’s leadership, was named “Best Small Town in America” numerous times from multiple media sources. Nelson County is “bourbon central,” too. I loved meeting Kim in historic Bardstown. She sure did love Peyton Manning.

Woody Hydrick
Economic Development Partnership of Alabama; Fluor Daniels; Cushman & Wakefield; Global Location Strategies; Prattville, Ala. Chamber of Commerce

Daryl Ingram
ECG, Ga.; MEAG Power

Robert Ingram
Baldwin County, Ala. EDA; Greenwood-Leflore-Carroll EDF

Robert was huge in SEDC and set the table at the megasite he helped create in Baldwin County, Ala.

Hal Johnson
NAI Earle Furman; Upstate SC Alliance; Orangeburg, S.C. Development Commission

Oppie Jordan
Carolinas Gateway Partnership

Dr. Vicki Karolewics
Wallace State Community College, Hanceville, Ala.

Vic Lafont
South Louisiana Economic Council

Mandy Lambert
Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development; Mandy Lambert Consulting

Mandy was the glue of the Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development during more than one administration.

Gary A. Lanier
Columbus County, N.C.; North Carolina EDA

Jennifer Lantz
Wilson Economic Development Council, N.C.

Matt Largen
Willliamson, Inc. (Tennessee)

Matt has one of the top 10 jobs in the South, and is a true professional. Nashville is “headquarters central” and Matt has captured many, including Nissan’s headquarters from California.

Alex Leath
Bradley Arant; Balch & Bingham

Michael Lehmkuhler
Virginia Economic Development Partnership

Dara Longgrear
Tuscaloosa County, Ala. EDA

David Luckie
Griffin-Spalding Development Authority

Walt Maddox
Mayor of Tuscaloosa, Ala.

Mary Matalin
Political consultant

No way Mary Joe is a “staunch conservative,” but she certainly plays one on TV.

Steve Mayberry
Florida Department of Commerce

Scott Millar
Catawba Development Corporation

Calvin Miller
Talladega County EDA

Roger Miller
Florida Department of Commerce; Enterprise Florida

Jeremy Nails
Morgan County, Ala. EDA

Jim Newsome
South Carolina Ports; Hapag-Lloyd (America); JimNewsome3 LLC

I first met Jim Newsome in South Carolina about 10 years go at the SCEDA (South Carolina Economic Developer’s Association) annual meeting where we were both speaking. I fully expected his presentation to consist of a long list of port jargon like TEUs and port capacity statistics. Boy, was I wrong. While Jim is not an economist, you could have fooled me as he surrounds himself with great economists from all over.

Jim has that rare gift of being able to explain with humor the massive world of logistics, as he was the CEO of both SC Ports and Hapag-Lloyd (America). Not only does he speak with authority on logistics as it pertains to the South and the world, but also the economy in general.

Since then, we have been lucky enough to have Jim speak at our events, and he never fails to deliver. No wonder he was named to the Maritime Hall of Fame as well as our list here.

Jim retired from SC Ports a few years ago, but has formed his own consulting firm. He has been a blessing to SEDR, along with his wife, Kathy.

Barbie Peek
Port of Huntsville

Raul Peralta
ECS Southeast

Matthew Phillips
CNN

I wanted to give some credit to journalists who are really in tune with economic development. Matthew Phillips, assistant editor at CNN, is just that. He has interviewed me many times and his work is top-shelf. He has no biases at all, which is close to impossible today.

Liz Povar
Virginia Economic Development Partnership; RiverLink Group

Luther “Butch” Roberts Jr.
Port of Huntsville

Tucson Roberts
Tucson/Atlantic Consulting; Covington County, Ala. EDA; Dothan Area Chamber of Commerce

Allyson Rothrock
Harvest Foundation, Martinsville, Va.

What Martinsville and Henry County, Va., started years ago with the Harvest Foundation, every single economic development organization in the South needs to implement.

David Rumbarger
Community Development Foundation (Tupelo, Miss.)

You can’t spell Hall of Fame without Rumbarger in it. We even went to the same high school in Birmingham, Ala. Did anyone know that Rum was an Auburn cheerleader? He took the Tupelo job to heights not seen after taking over for the legendary Harry Martin at the Community Development Foundation. Harry was my first pick for the “Southern Economic Development Hall of Fame.”

William “Skip” Scaggs
North Mississippi IDA; Mississippi Development Authority

Jim Searcy
Economic Development Association of Alabama

Phil Segraves
Mayor of Guin, Ala.

Fred Smith
FedEx

Michael Smith
Chatham County Economic Development Corporation; North Carolina Department of Commerce

Michael Smith could have earned his HOF entry simply for some massive projects, like Woflfspeed, that he has captured just in the last three years or so. Chatham County, N.C., is one of the hottest counties in all the South. Michael is a solid veteran in this business and is one of the best recruiters the South has currently.

Sandy Smith
Mayor of Monroeville, Ala.; Monroeville Chamber of Commerce

Sandy Smith is Monroeville, site of To Kill a Mockingbird.

John Smolak
Sanford Holshouser Economic Development Consulting; AEP

Smolak brought in Richard Florida to SEDC one year over 30 years ago to speak. I have been a fan ever since.

Kyle Spurgeon
Greater Jackson, Tenn. Chamber of Commerce; Jackson Energy

Mitch Stennett
EDA of Jones County, Miss.; Community Development Foundation, Tupelo, Miss.

Kirkley Thomas
Electric Cooperatives of Arkansas

Lee Thuston
Burr & Forman

Angela Till
Alabama Department of Commerce

Norris Tolson
Carolinas Gateway Partnership; North Carolina Department of Commerce

Anthony Topazi
Alabama Power; Mississippi Power

Phil Trenary
Memphis Area Chamber of Commerce

Tragically, Phil was taken in 2018 in an act of violence in downtown Memphis, a city he had served so well. I knew and respected him.

Cindy Vincent
Morgan County, Ala. EDA

By far the backbone of MCEDA for more than 30 years.

Mark Williams
Strategic Development Group

Mark Williams, the noted site consultant from South Carolina, has just updated his book Corporate Site Selection and Economic Development. Mark is a mainstay at the Southern Economic Development Roundtable and is scheduled to speak Dec. 11-13 at the Pearl Hotel at Rosemary. Want a ticket? Call me.

Roy Williams
Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce

Robert Wood
Georgia Department of Economic Development

Steve Yost
North Carolina’s Southeast

Yost is an outstanding economic developer who represents North Carolina’s southeast region. Yost has pulled off the impossible in that of the original eight to 10 regional groups — going back to Alvah Ward and Watts Carr — not many have made it to today. . .North Carolina went regional in the 1990s.

Sharon Younger
Younger & Associates, Jackson, Tenn.