News from Boyette Strategic Advisors

Aspire Clarksville celebrates success

Clarksville, TN – 06/27/2007

The Leaf-Chronicle
Settle, Jimmy

Aspire Clarksville—the private fundraising and marketing arm of the local Economic Development Council’s initiatives—is now more than halfway through its four-year campaign cycle. Campaign chairman Sammy Stuard says Aspire is already generating “huge returns” for the community.

During its annual investors’ breakfast Tuesday morning at the EDC offices, Aspire celebrated such successes as the creation of almost 5,000 new jobs locally in the past year, the expansion of the Clarksville-Montgomery County Corporate Business Park, certification of the Tennessee Valley Authority megasite and a new industry for Clarksville — Sanderson Pipe Corp., to occupy the last-remaining parcel in the original 750 acres of the industrial park.

Among new announcements, Aspire is now celebrating Montgomery County’s recognition from TVA as a “Targeted and Prepared Community.”

Boyette Levy, an Atlanta consulting firm that provides advice and communications support in economic and community development, presented findings and recommendations and recognized the EDC for its participation in the Valley Targeted and Prepared Community Program.

The new program, offered by TVA Economic Development in cooperation with local power distributors and administered by Boyette Levy, helps communities enhance their economic development efforts.

THE TaP CRITERIA

Montgomery County was one of four communities selected from 47 applicants in the Valley region.

The Valley TaP Program features a planning process that includes an evaluation of a community’s resources and strengths to target and recruit specific industry segments, which are hoped to result in additional jobs and investments.

“TVA applauds Clarksville-Montgomery County on their successful completion of this strategic planning process. It will help prepare the community for continued economic success,” said TVA Senior Vice President of Economic Development John Bradley.

The strategy for Clarksville-Montgomery County was developed using a process that included:

* A leadership audit and assessments related to the existing economic development structure;
* Identification of the community’s economic strengths and weaknesses;
* Community stakeholder interviews; and
* Assessment of certain industry sectors to determine target industries that are appropriate for the community, based on local advantages and assets.

“Our findings show that the best industry targets for Clarksville-Montgomery County in the short-term are automotive, distribution and back-office operations to include customer service and support centers, data centers, and shared-service centers,” said Del Boyette, principal of Boyette Levy.

“Having sites available and qualified labor from institutions such as Fort Campbell and Austin Peay State University are major assets to Clarksville and are critical to the success of all of the targeted industry sectors,” Boyette said.

James Chavez, president and CEO of the local EDC, thanked TVA and Boyette Levy for their involvement. “Our participation in the Community TaP program has already been a valuable experience for Clarksville-Montgomery County and will certainly enhance our future economic development efforts,” Chavez said.