Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear

A native Kentuckian, Andy Beshear grew up in Fayette, Franklin and Clark counties. He is the son of Steve and Jane Beshear, the 61st Governor and First Lady. On the economic front, Gov. Beshear has captured more than $35 billion in private sector investments, landed more than 900 projects and created in his first term nearly 50,000 full-time jobs. The state has seen double-digit wage growth and record low unemployment under Gov. Beshear’s two terms. 

Continuing its long history with Ford Motor Co., Beshear helped guide the automaker to the former Glendale Megasite in Hardin County where Ford’s BlueOval SK Battery Park is being built, a $6 billion investment that will create 5,000 jobs. 

While Gov. Beshear’s accomplishments rival his father Steve’s two terms as governor, it is the same bipartisan approach that Andy brings to his politics that impresses us.

During his acceptance speech after winning his second term, Andy Beshear said the election was about choices. “It was a victory that sends a loud, clear message, a message that candidates should run for something and not against someone. I think what you saw last night was a rejection of anger politics, of attempting to divide us and of gross partisanship,” said Beshear. “People are tired of the constant bickering, of seeing the world in red or blue or Team D or Team R. I think everybody who runs for office ought to come with the very best ideas about how to move us forward.”

 

Bill Cork, Mississippi Development Authority

Bill has only been the executive director of the Mississippi Development Authority since December of 2023. It is no coincidence to us that Mississippi landed two of its biggest projects in history shortly after; AWS, a subsidiary of e-commerce giant Amazon, and the joint venture to make electric batteries by Daimler, PACCAR and Cummins. Both projects combined represent a total investment in the two projects of over $12 billion.

 

Ellen McNair and Ed Castile, Alabama Department of Commerce

We put these two together because the transition from former Secretary of Commerce Greg Canfield to new secretary Ellen McNair has been seamless. And Ed has been a constant at AIDT and the Alabama Department of Commerce for decades. Alabama is in fine shape at the top with these two. 

 

Greenville, South Carolina Mayor Knox White

Have you been to Greenville lately? Specifically, downtown Greenville? In less than two decades and under the leadership of Mayor Knox White, the central business district in Greenville is one of the finest we have seen. (We recently held the Southern Auto Corridor Summit at the Grand Bohemian Lodge that sits on top of the Reedy River and its rapids that run through the heart of downtown Greenville.)

 

Georgia Governor Brian Kemp

Southern Business & Development has named Georgia “State of the Year” in our annual SB&D 100 for three straight years now. The record for consecutive years of “State of the Year” is held by both Alabama and Louisiana with four each since 1993. We will see in the next issue whether Georgia can make it a four-peat. 

 

 

Pat Wilson, Commissioner,
Georgia Department of Economic Development 

Working directly with Gov. Kemp, Pat Wilson has recruited some of Georgia’s biggest deals in state history. The first that comes to mind is Hyundai and its $7.5 billion investment in the Savannah region, specifically Bryan County. Job creation just from that one deal, counting suppliers, will be in the tens of thousands. 

  

Trip Tollison, CEO, Savannah Economic Development Authority

Tollison completes the trio with Gov. Kemp and Commissioner Wilson as the local contact that helped recruit Hyundai’s EV metaplant that was announced in spring of 2022. The $7.5 billion plant, which is aided by suppliers that also have spent billions, is about to begin EV production less than three years from its announcement. 

 

John Bradley, Senior VP of Economic Development, TVA 

There has been one constant in the recruiting of companies to the Tennessee Valley and that would be the work of John Bradley and his cohort, Heidi Smith. If you recall, it was then TVA Chair, Glenn McCullough, Jr., John Bradley, Heidi Smith and the former site consulting firm McCallum Sweeney that came up with the certification of megasites in TVA’s territory. 

Since then, almost all of TVA’s megasites are now home to major corporations like Volkswagen in Chattanooga, Mazda Toyota in North Alabama, Ford’s BlueOval City north of Memphis and more in Mississippi, including Steel Dynamics in Columbus and Toyota near Tupelo. 

 

Brent Christensen, CEO, Greensboro, N.C. Chamber of Commerce

Few economic developers have experienced more success than Christensen, who took over the top role as CEO of the Greensboro (N.C.) Partnership in 2015 after a stint as Executive Director of the Mississippi Development Authority. Brent is credited with landing Boom Supersonic to Greensboro and Toyota in neighboring Randolph County. 

Sometimes economic development is foretelling. SB&D’s Michael Randle walked a site in the town of Liberty with the late North Carolina Secretary of Commerce Jim Fain III and the retired site guru for Toyota, Dennis Cuneo, more than 20 years ago. That site search was for the Toyota plant that went to San Antonio. And 20 years later, Toyota is now completing its battery plant on that very same site. 

 

Harry Lightsey, III
Secretary, South Carolina Department of Commerce 

Under Lightsey’s leadership that started in the summer of 2021, South Carolina has landed some of its best projects, including Volvo with its first-ever assembly plant in the Western hemisphere. He also assisted in multi-billion-dollar deals like that of AESC in Florence and Redwood
 Materials in Berkeley County.