|
Economic development agencies merge
by
Heather B. Hayes
Virginia Business
March 2005
Hampton
Roads Economic Development Alliance and the Peninsula
Alliance for Economic Development will no longer compete
for business prospects. The two organizations merged
on March 1.
Officials
say the merger will make the Hampton Roads region, which
has a population of 1.5 million, easier to market and
more attractive to prospective businesses. The agency
will serve 13 localities. “The single greatest
benefit of this merger is promoting the entire region
and its assets in a uniform manner throughout the world.
We expect there to be efficiencies of cost-savings,”
says C. Jones Hooks, president and chief executive officer
of the Hampton Roads Economic Development Alliance,
which served South Hampton Roads. Hooks will head the
combined organization, which will retain the Hampton
Roads Economic Development Alliance name.
The merger comes at a time when proposed federal budget
cuts could hurt the region’s economy. The area
could lose 5,000 jobs in a plan to transfer an aircraft
carrier from Norfolk to Florida. Also, the budget would
eliminate 1,000 jobs at Langley Research Center in Hampton.
Return to Virginia Business - March 2005 |
