The Broward Alliance Announces Economic Development Successes and Installs New Chairman

The Broward Alliance Announces Economic Development Successes and Installs Nova Southeastern University President Ray Ferrero, Jr. as New Chairman

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE / PRURGENT

Broward County, FL – The Broward Alliance, with private and public sector support during fiscal year 2008:

Directly assisted 421 companies; helped create 1,110 new value-added jobs; helped retain 1,576 jobs; facilitated $58.1 million in capital investment for South Florida's economy; and in Film and Television, assisted 66 major productions (with budgets of $100,000 or more including USA's Burn Notice, and the 20th Century Fox Movie Marley and Me) that generated a record $40.9 million in revenue for the local economy.

The announcement of these results was made by Broward Alliance Chair Kathy Koch, president of Ambit Advertising and Public Relations, during The Broward Alliance's Annual Meeting on Thursday, November 13, 2008. "The Broward Alliance had exceptional results in all of our major goal areas, which were global business development, diversifying Broward County's economy, building outstanding talent and leading public / private sector collaboration," said Koch. "Much of our economic prosperity is driven by high skill/high wage job creation and new capital investment. In this regard, we have taken a lead role in marketing our county to companies around the world, in attracting new companies to invest in Broward County and in growing and retaining existing businesses."

Companies that announced plans to relocate or expand in Broward County in FY 2008 (October 1, 2007 - September 30, 2008) included Cbeyond, Eastland Food Corporation, General Dynamics C4 Systems, Foxconn, the U.S. General Services Administration, Goodwin Biothechnology, KEMET Corporation, Propulsion Technologies International and Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines.

During the event, Ray Ferrero, Jr., J.D. , was introduced as the fiscal year 2009 Broward Alliance Chairman of the Board. Ferrero is President of Nova Southeastern University, the largest independent not-for-profit university in the Southeast and the sixth largest in the United States with 28,000 students.

Ferrero is a graduate of the College of Law at the University of Florida and was a partner in the firm of Ferrero & Middlebrooks, P.A. He is a former president of the Florida Bar, the Broward County Bar Association, the Academy of Florida Trial Lawyers, and the Broward County Trial Lawyers Association. He also served as the state delegate to the American Bar Association.

He is past chairman of the Broward County Educational Consortium Policy Council, past president of the Florida Association of Colleges and Universities, and past chair of the President's Council of the Independent Colleges and Universities of Florida. He and his wife, Raquel, have two children.

As part of the annual meeting, Koch and Ferrero presented an update on The Broward Alliance's strategic three year economic development initiative for Broward County called "Excellerate Broward." The purpose of Excellerate Broward is to emphasize corporate and regional headquarters attraction, grow existing businesses, promote a world-class brand for Broward County as an outstanding location for business, and expand private sector leadership in economic development in Broward County. Highlights of the initiative have been the formation of the CEO Council, a CEO-led group of business and community leaders focused on attracting new headquarters operations to Broward County, and other new councils (Governor, Leadership, Corporate, Entrepreneur, Partner) that will be working on a number of economic development programs and issues. These will include such items as focusing on developing existing and emerging industry clusters, "growing our own" which involves working to address company-specific business climate issues to ensure Broward's companies have the tools and support necessary to grow and thrive, enhancing Broward County's economic competitiveness and working to develop and promote an enviroment where local entrepreneurs succeed and grow. Examples of action teams that will be working in these areas will include education/workforce development, industry intelligence, minority and women entrepreneurs, international investment, film industry, creative economy and next generation leadership. Earlier this year, The Broward Alliance announced a goal of raising $1.8 million in private sector support for the Excellerate Broward initiative. To date, more then $1.3 million has been raised or 75% of the goal.

"We live in the one of the best places in the world and we have the infrastructure, educational system, talent, and one of the most favorable business and tax climates in the country for businesses to grow and prosper," said Ferrero. "We just have to work together to let others know. As a team, and with all that we have put in place, we will do amazing things together. We are truly dealing from a position of strength."

"The Broward Alliance has had an outstanding year of success under the leadership of Kathy Koch, and we have truly transformed our organization in many ways," said James P. Tarlton, President and CEO of The Broward Alliance. "We are looking forward to President Ferrero's chairmanship and know that with his tremendous leadership skills, 2009 will be another strong year for Broward County and The Broward Alliance, as private and public sector leaders work together to continue to strengthen and diversity our economy."

The Broward Alliance also presented its World Class Faculty member award to Dr. Frederick "Rick" Driscoll, associate professor in the department of ocean engineering at Florida Atlantic University (FAU), director of technology for the Center of Excellence for Ocean Energy Technology at FAU, and a commissioner on the Florida Energy Commission. The World Class Faculty Award is part of The Broward Alliance’s “Educational Excellence Builds Business” campaign. The major components of the campaign are to improve the perceptions of business leaders about the quality of our PreK-20 education assets and workforce, recruit business leaders to serve as peer-to-peer advocates, applaud businesses that are investing in supplemental educational programs and salute post secondary faculty who are world renown in their respective academic specialties.

J. Antonio (Tony) Villamil, Dean of the St. Thomas University Business School and Principal Advisor, The Washington Economics Group was featured speaker at the event. He discussed the outlook for South Florida's economy and the role the private sector can play in accellerating the the community's economic recovery.

The Broward Alliance is Broward County’s official public/private partnership for economic development. Its mission is to lead Broward County in building a stronger and more diverse economy by stimulating the creation of new jobs and capital investment while facilitating the growth and retention of businesses in Broward County. Services offered by The Broward Alliance include assistance with business relocation or expansion and site selection; incentive programs and information; market research; small, minority- and women-owned business assistance; film permitting, government liaison and community resource referrals for film and television; and serving as a liaison for workforce development between educational institutions and the business community. To learn more, visit www.browardalliance.org or call (954) 524-3113.