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I had the pleasure of welcoming two great colleagues to my second show. Rob Cleveland, President of Cornerstone Alliance in Benton Harbor, MI and Jerry Chavez, President & CEO of the Marshall County Indiana Economic Development Corporation joined me for an inside look at what is happening in their respective areas.
These gentlemen are two of the best in the business and have been important regional partners. We all should be encouraged by the good work they and their teams are doing in their communities. I encourage you to visit their websites and follow them on social media for more regular updates on the work in their communities.
In Berrien County they have a plan to attract over $100 million of new investments and hundreds of new jobs to the area; Berrien County has an aggressive plan to attract new jobs, capital investment and more people to southwest lower Michigan. We've typically known of this area as a great place to visit but we're also recognizing it as a great place to do business.
The show gave us an opportunity to dive a little deeper into business attraction, retention, product development and marketing. Cornerstone has recognized like many economic development organizations how important product development is to economic development success. Cleveland highlighted their efforts in product development and our correspondent George Lepeniotis gave us a look inside a call center opportunity that exists in downtown Benton Harbor.George is an important part of our team at WNIT and is doing a terrific job supporting the show and the topics we bring you each week.
You can't take a look at Berrien County without highlighting the amazing work that has been done with the Harbor Shores Development. I'm a golfer, so I love the course, it is really challenging. The Senior PGA Championship presents an outstanding opportunity to highlight the area as it welcomes visitors from around the world for the event. Look for the event at Harbor Shores every other year, returning in 2018 through 2024.
Michigan currently has the 12th best business climate in the country, boasts the 4th largest high tech workforce in the nation, is one of the top states in the Country for engineers, and has been a leader in research and development at the university level. At Cornerstone, they are tapping into that success and building an important part of our region. Sure they have challenges, all communities do, but if you haven't been there, I encourage you to go visit, you'll be pleasantly surprised.
In Marshall County they've scored big wins with robots milking cows, peanut butter stuffed pretzels, shipping racks and cardboard boxes. The Marshall County Economic Development Corporation has been instrumental in attracting some unique projects to the southern part of our region.
I have a special connection to Marshall County, my grandparents operated a pharmacy there in Bourbon for 50 years, the Cumberland Pharmacy. Because of that connection, I've paid close attention to what's happening in that part of our region, and met many of the key leaders that have helped make Marshall County grow.
Marshall County is one of the smallest counties in our region but that hasn't stopped it from attracting new jobs and capital investment. On the show, Chavez spoke to the successes in all parts of the County, including Argos, Culver, Bourbon, Bremen and Plymouth.
Our correspondent George Lepeniotis took us out into the field for a first-hand look at the spec building that was constructed by the Marshall County Economic Development Corporation to help facilitate future development happen. That recipe proved to be a success as the County was successful in landing Pretzels, Inc. to the building. The building is currently being renovated for their use. George also took a look at a facility near the Pretzels, Inc. building being built by the Indiana Department of Transportation.
This was a fun show for me! We've got a lot to be excited about in this region and we just touched on some of those successes in this show. Stay tuned to future shows for additional looks at the people, companies and stories helping to define and grow our region.
We invite you to tune in each week on Friday's at 8:30 p.m.; Sunday's at 12:30 p.m. or on our website at www.wnit.org. In the meantime, like us on facebook, follow us on twitter, or visit my blog at www.jeffrea.biz .