February 2019 - Business Roundtable · 2019-02-26 · February 2019 President’s Update Our new...
Transcript of February 2019 - Business Roundtable · 2019-02-26 · February 2019 President’s Update Our new...
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• President‘s Update
• Important Dates
• New Members
• Commerce/Workforce News
• Project Updates & Events
• Economic Development Briefs
• Oklahoma Treasurer’s Monthly Report
• Calendar
February 2019
President’s Update
Our new Governor has been inaugurated and the 2019 Oklahoma Legislature has been
convened. What an exciting and important time this is for our Great State! Roundtable
Chairman Bill Anoatubby, Roundtable Chairman-Elect Brenda Rolls and I met with Governor
Stitt and I have met with Lt. Governor Pinnell. We reviewed the Roundtable’s mission and our
processes. These meetings went exceptionally well and set the tone for future successful
collaboration.
Additionally, I had an excellent meeting with our Secretary of Commerce & Workforce De-
velopment Designate Sean Kouplen and Commerce Executive Director Brent Kisling. (See
special message by Secretary Designate Kouplen below).
Executive Briefing - The Roundtable is excited to present an Executive Briefing for our members and their
guests on February 20, 4:00 pm, at the Oklahoma History Center. Governor Stitt and Lt. Governor Pinnell will
be there to welcome Roundtable members. Keynote speaker is Joseph Brusuelas, Chief Economist for RSM
US LLP in New York. Brusuelas has over 20 years of experience in finance and economics and specializes in
analyzing the U.S. monetary policy, labor markets, fiscal policy, economic indicators and the condition of the
U.S. consumer. He will share from a national perspective what is happening with the
economy today and its impact on Oklahoma. Read more about the Executive Briefing later in this
newsletter.
New Roundtable Board Member - Please welcome to the Roundtable Board of Directors Phil
Albert, President of Pelco Structural in Claremore. Phil has been a long-time member of the
Roundtable and we are pleased he has agreed to serve. He fills the unexpired 2-year term of Stuart
Solomon which concludes in 2020. Phil is an advocate of growth and currently serves as the
Chairman of the Claremore Industrial and Economic Development Authority.
Phil Albert
Ann Ackerman
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Important Dates
Accomplishments - Our work with our state’s leaders and economic development partners to enhance
business retention, expansion and recruitment efforts continues. In the coming months, we will also help our
companies and communities market products/services at major trade shows and forums; host several prospects;
and we are targeting national site consultants and corporate prospects at events in Dallas, Atlanta, California,
Washington D.C. and Europe.
This year the Roundtable awarded 18 grants to economic development partners totaling $304,500. These
include targeted projects to promote workforce development, STEM, new business commercialization,
regional development and national/global marketing. Among the projects are First Robotics, Creative
Oklahoma’s MIT Venture Mentorship Program, Unmanned Aerial Systems Tech Forum, Weather Cluster
Development, Select USA Trade Show, Thunder LaunchPad and more.
Annual Meeting - Please mark your calendar for our annual membership meeting to be held June 12, 4:30-
6:00 pm, at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa. Immediately following the meeting will be a networking
reception from 6:00-7:00 pm.
Thank you for your membership and support!
Ann Ackerman, Ph.D.
President and Chief Executive Officer
Keynote speaker is Joseph Brusuelas, Chief Economist for RSM US LLP in New York.
Brusuelas has over 20 years of experience in finance and economics and specializes in
analyzing the U.S. monetary policy, labor markets, fiscal policy, economic indicators and
the condition of the U.S. consumer. Prior to RSM, Joe held top positions at Bloomberg,
LP Moody's Analytics, Merk Investments L.L.C. and IDEAglobal. He regularly appears
on Bloomberg Television, Bloomberg Radio and is frequently quoted by the financial
press on the U.S. and global economies.
Roundtable Membership Meeting
Wednesday, June 12, 2019
Southern Hills Country Club, Tulsa
4:30-6:00 p.m. Membership Meeting
6:00-7:00 p.m. Networking Reception
Roundtable Executive Briefing
Wednesday, February 20, 2019
Oklahoma History Center, Oklahoma City
4:00-5:00 p.m. Executive Briefing
5:00-6:00 p.m. Networking Reception
EVENT UPDATE: Governor Kevin Stitt, Lt. Governor Matt Pinnell, Secretary of Commerce & Workforce
Development Designate Sean Kouplen and Department of Commerce Executive Director Brent Kisling will be
in attendance to converse and interact with members.
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The Roundtable welcomes the following new members:
• Carl Edwards, Oklahoma City
• GE Renewables, Washington D.C. - J. C. Sandberg
• Marathon Oil, Oklahoma City - Katie Altshuler
• Regent Bank, Tulsa - Sean Kouplen
• Verizon, Austin - Darlene Brugnoli
Commerce/Workforce News
New Members
Kouplen and Kisling Lead Commerce Team
Governor Kevin Stitt has named Sean Kouplen as Secretary of Commerce and Workforce
Development and Brent Kisling as Executive Director of the Department of Commerce.
Upon confirmation, Sean Kouplen will serve on the Governor’s Cabinet in an unpaid
capacity, casting vision for the Commerce Department and playing a strategic leadership
role in recruiting business growth and in the development of Oklahoma’s workforce.
Kouplen will also continue his role as Chairman and CEO of Regent
Bank in Tulsa. Under Kouplen’s leadership, the bank has grown in size
from $72 million to almost $600 million in 2018.
As Executive Director, Brent Kisling will oversee the operations of the Department of
Commerce and will report to the secretary of commerce. Kisling is the former Executive
Director of Enid Regional Development Alliance where he worked since March 2009.
Previously, he served 8 years as the State Director for the USDA Rural Development in
Oklahoma, an appointed position under the George W. Bush Administration and has been a
small business owner.
Message from Secretary of Commerce & Workforce Development Designate Sean Kouplen
Dear Oklahoma Business Roundtable Members,
On behalf of Governor Kevin Stitt, Lieutenant Governor Matt Pinnell and Department of Commerce Executive
Director Brent Kisling, I wanted to take a moment to tell you how excited we are to work with the Oklahoma
Business Roundtable. We are extremely grateful for your past support and look forward to taking our partner-
ship to a new level in the future.
All four of us have been business owners and, like you, we are extremely passionate about economic growth.
Brent and I are tasked with making Oklahoma a top 10 state economy and we will not rest until we have
achieved this goal. As you know, Oklahoma has many advantages including excellent quality of life, low cost
of doing business, low tax burden, centralized geographic location, an abundance of natural resources and
honest, hard-working people. We will utilize these strengths to aggressively attract new business into our state
and work to expand existing businesses throughout all of Oklahoma.
Sean Kouplen
Brent Kisling
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The Oklahoma Department of Commerce is made up of 91 dedicated professionals and I have
seen firsthand their passion to make Oklahoma the best in the country. Our commitment to you is
that we will operate the department like a business, provide excellent customer service, and hold
ourselves accountable to key performance indicators that will be made public on our website. We
will be innovative and aggressive in our efforts to grow Oklahoma’s economy.
Our vision for a top 10 Oklahoma economy includes:
Streamline and market our workforce development program to become known as the best in the
country. Companies can only move to Oklahoma if they believe they can secure a quality workforce.
Oklahoma has an amazing educational and training system. We want to streamline our efforts
and brand ourselves to make sure we are known as the nation’s best in workforce development.
Continue to diversify Oklahoma’s economy by aggressively targeting regional headquarter prospects in
the key industries of Aerospace, Agriculture & Biotech, Energy, Healthcare, Transportation, and
Technology. We will utilize our industry and state advantages to target key out-of-state prospects
including regional headquarters companies and expansion opportunities for companies already
located here.
Partner with Oklahoma’s existing businesses to help them grow. Every business owner, economic
development professional and local leader in Oklahoma will know about our state’s excellent business
growth programs. We will also work to streamline processes to create a one-stop shop for new businesses
to get started.
Increase collaboration with economic development professionals and government leaders throughout our
state. The Department of Commerce does not create jobs. Businesses and communities create jobs and
we support them. We will embrace a culture of partnership and collaboration with economic
development professions and local leaders throughout our state.
Embrace a culture of innovation by uniting the entrepreneurship efforts from all across the state
under one consistent brand and mission. Oklahoma must grow jobs from within by increasing
our number of startup and growth companies. We must focus on commercialization of new
technology and support existing efforts to help Oklahoma businesses get started and grow.
We will also facilitate capital investment by exploring ways to bring private equity and entrepreneurs
together. We know the brightest business minds in the state belong to the Oklahoma Business Roundtable and we
are asking for your help. If you have ideas for growing Oklahoma’s economy or companies we should
recruit, please email us directly at [email protected] or call my cell phone at
918.740.4440.
Thank you again for your generous support of the state of Oklahoma and please let us know if we can
serve you in any way.
Sean Kouplen
Sean Kouplen is Oklahoma’s 10th Secretary of Commerce and Workforce Development and also serves as
the Chairman & CEO of Regent Bank.
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Project Updates & Events
Recent Groundbreaking Events
Heartland Payments, Oklahoma City Whirlpool, Tulsa
Name Location Jobs/Investment
Spirit Aerosystems Tulsa 250/$80 million
Salem Tube Durant 140/$40 million
SynQ3 Oklahoma City 300
OMNI Oklahoma City $241 million
Stryve Biltong Madill 75/$10 million
Selected New Statewide Location/Expansion Announcements
Oklahoma Team Targets Dallas-based National Site Location Consultants
Lt. Governor Matt Pinnell and Commerce Executive Director Brent Kisling joined the Oklahoma Governor’s Marketing Team in hosting over 50 key national site selection, real estate and finance executives at a business reception in Dallas on January 17.
The Oklahoma Team outlined the many advantages of an Oklahoma location for both expansion and new location. Dallas is one of a few U.S cities that is home to a large percentage of global and national site selection firms, many of which include Oklaho-ma in their search efforts.
Joining the Roundtable as host partners were AEP/PSO, OG&E, OU Price College, Choctaw Nation, Great Plains Technology Center and development representatives from Ardmore, Bartlesville, Bixby, Broken Arrow, Claremore, Duncan, Enid, Oklahoma City, Lawton, Muskogee, Norman, Ponca City and Tulsa. Lt. Governor Pinnell
addressing site consultants
In December, the Roundtable partnered with The State Chamber and the Oklahoma Economic Development Council (OEDC) to host an economic development day as part of the three-day seminar for new Oklahoma legislators.
The goal was to increase the new legislators understanding of complex issues related to business development and site location. There were 31 new legislators in attendance.
Keynote speaker was Josh Bays of the Site Selection Group, a global corporate site loca-tion firm headquartered in Dallas. Bays conducts research and location searches for na-tional and international corporations seeking new or expanded facilities in the U.S.
Josh Bays
Economic Development ‘Boot Camp” held for New Oklahoma Legislators
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He provided these observations to the Oklahoma group:
• 90% of our projects are in the 100-300 job range, $30 million in investment.
• Oklahoma needs to focus on workforce and real estate. These are the two biggest issues facing communi-
ties. It is important that you have a facility or site that is ready to go.
• Rail is becoming a bigger player in distribution - over trucks.
• A strong workforce ecosystem is critical, plus support from the state and utility team.
• Incentives, a key need for many companies, is some up-front cash incentive to help offset the dollars they
now must spend on infrastructure.
• Oklahoma is still competitive but has gaps with available sites and there are concerns over education.
• Oklahoma is weak on private sector development in sites/spec buildings.
• Don’t overlook foreign direct investment – about half of my projects are currently from Western Europe.
• Texas is becoming more expensive – exploit that. Target companies who are looking at Texas.
• Incentives should never be the main driver of a company location. Usually it is the last differential in a site
search – so you must be prepared to compete.
National Site Location Consultant Visits State
South Carolina–based site location consultant Hal Johnson of NAI Furman visited
Oklahoma in December. Johnson visited several communities and conducted presen-
tations with Oklahoma’s professional economic developers and several community
leaders.
The fact-finding visit was hosted by the Greater Oklahoma City Partnership, Tulsa
Regional Partnership and Governor’s Economic Development Team.
Johnson stressed the importance of “community readiness” for today’s fast-paced
site selection process. “You must have product identified and ready. You must have
competitive real estate options or you will not win a project.”
He encouraged the Oklahoma economic developers to be more engaged with the development community and
“show them the return they get for working with you.” He said, “Oklahoma remains competitive on electric
costs and overall cost of doing business. However, community attitude is critical and you must invest in your-
selves. Other communities will beat you if you do not have a good quality of life and education program.” He
added, “Oklahoma offers a good location versus Texas. The overall costs are higher in Texas and companies
can be a big fish in small pond here.”
Lisa Powell of the Enid Regional Development Alliance/Governor’s
Economic Development Team welcomes consultant Hal Johnson
to Oklahoma.
Economic Development Briefs
• The World Economic Forum has estimated that 65 percent of children will end up in careers that don’t even exist yet. Soft skills like critical thinking, communication and collaboration will become increasingly important.
• Tinker AFB has been selected by the Air Force to be the maintenance and sustainment center for the B-21 Raider, the next generation long-range strike bomber.
• The George Kaiser Foundation has announced the launch of Tulsa Remote, which offers $10,000 grants and benefits to eligible applicants who move to and work remotely from Tulsa for a year. The program is part of an effort to attract new workers with full-time remote employment.
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Oklahoma Treasurer’s Monthly Report
Click here to read Oklahoma State Treasurer
Randy McDaniel’s latest Economic Report.
• BusinessStudent.com recently named Tulsa (No.1) and Oklahoma City (No. 3) among the 25 Most Af-fordable Cities to live and work.
• The City of Durant has been named a top ten finalist in Season 4 of the hit show Small Business Revolu-tion by the Deluxe Corporation. Deluxe is a proponent of revitalizing small businesses in main street rural America. The prize for Season 4 is $500,000, which will be used for downtown improvements and renovations of selected downtown businesses.
• Oklahoma City has received one of America’s Most Livable Community Awards by Partners of Livable Communities.
• The Gathering Place in Tulsa has been selected as the winner of the USA Today’s 10 Best Readers’ Choice 2018 Best New Attraction award.
• Tri-County Technology Center in Bartlesville has been named one of five 2018 recipients of the prestigious Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. This presidential-level honor recognizes exemplary management practices among American companies and organizations.
February 7, 2019 Oklahoma Manufacturers Alliance Networking Meeting
Enid
February 20, 2019 Oklahoma Business Roundtable Executive Briefing
Oklahoma History Center, Chesapeake Room, Oklahoma City, 4:00 p.m.
March 7, 2019 Oklahoma Manufacturers Alliance Networking Meeting
Oklahoma City
March 28, 2019 Oklahoma Manufacturers Alliance Networking Meeting
Muskogee
May 4-8, 2019 International Asset Management Association (Site Selection)
Santa Barbara, California
May 8, 2019 Oklahoma Manufacturers Alliance Networking Meeting
Tulsa
.June 10-12, 2019 Select USA Trade Show
Washington, D.C.
June 12, 2019 Oklahoma Business Roundtable Annual Membership Meeting
Southern Hills Country Club, Tulsa, 4:30 p.m
June 17-23, 2019 Paris Air Show (Business Expansion Recruiting)
Paris, France
Calendar