The Greenville Eastern North Carolina (ENC) Alliance, a public-private partnership focused on economic development in the Greenville MSA, unveiled its five-year strategic plan during an annual reception for board members and investors on Thursday, March 23. This plan for Fiscal Years 2024 - 2028 outlines a path for Greenville - Pitt County to deepen its role as the gem of eastern North Carolina for economic growth and prosperity.
The plan was led by a steering committee made up of business leaders and community stakeholders. The steering committee along with more than 100 business and economic development leaders, elected officials, and community stakeholders shared their input during group discussions, one-on-one meetings, interviews, and surveys.
“It was with great intention that we utilized this planning process to unite organizations and governments around a central set of priorities. While we have not identified each and every individual task or desired outcome, we have designed a fairly detailed roadmap for how we can work together to reach our intended destinations,” shared Greenville ENC Alliance president and CEO Josh Lewis, CEcD. “For pathways that are maintained by partner organizations, it is the Greenville ENC Alliance’s commitment to support them in accomplishing these critical missions. For the goals that do not have a clear path, we intend to lead the effort of plotting a new course.”
The Greenville ENC Alliance worked with economic development consulting firm EDai on the creation and implementation of this strategic plan. EDai is led by Sean Brazier, PhD, a former executive with Virginia Economic Development Partnership Economic Competitiveness team and consultant with McKinsey & Company. The firm conducted research to provide data on historical and future growth trends as well as peer evaluations. Through analysis, the five-year strategic plan outlined four key objectives for this development process:
Identify shared economic development goals for the metro
Develop the strategies and tactics needed to achieve those goals
Secure alignment on who should do what, when, over what time period, and with what resources
Align on the metrics that we should track to ensure success
What has emerged from this process is a more refined vision for the Alliance to serve as a quarterback within the community’s economic development ecosystem with a mission to attract new businesses and support existing ones to maximize opportunities for investment, job creation, and economic growth. To be this catalyst for growth, the Greenville ENC Alliance will focus primarily on business development, marketing and promotion of the metro, and development of industrial product. The organization will play convening and/or supporting roles for other critical areas for growth including policy advocacy, entrepreneurship, talent development and retention, and quality of life/placemaking efforts.
“Economic development is the ultimate team sport and success can’t be achieved unless every partner thrives in their unique roles while collectively working toward a win,” said Lewis. “As a public-private partnership, the Greenville ENC Alliance was created with the purpose to serve as the primary marketing and industry attraction arm and to lead collaboration between the government and private sectors. We intend to excel at these responsibilities and be a champion for economic development in the metro.”
To achieve this, five key goals were identified to guide the Alliance's efforts to drive impact in the metro and beyond:
Prosperity: Position Greenville - Pitt County to be in the top quartile for job growth amongst its peers over the next 10 years
Partnership: Earn the trust and confidence of our economic development partners in the metro, region, and state
Promotion: Establish the metro as a premier MSA for industrial projects, recognized by industry leaders, influencers, and insiders
Innovative Economic Development Organization (EDO): Execute targeted strategies in “next generation” opportunities to establish and promote the Alliance as a national leader
Long-Term Vision: Serve as the guiding force on economic development priorities for the metro, including enablers that support and unlock economic growth
Over the next ten years, the Greenville ENC Alliance wants to be a driving force in establishing Greenville - Pitt County as more than the gem of eastern North Carolina. The MSA has the education assets, anchor companies, and talented workforce that are critical for economic dynamism and growth.
This plan outlines a path to fill in the missing gaps by identifying the need to increase our supply of industrial product, invest in a shared brand identity that we can use to promote our assets to location decision makers, and deepen partnerships and coordination of our business development processes. With sound execution of this plan and continued collaboration with our partners, we can ensure that decision makers beyond North Carolina know why they should call Greenville - Pitt County home. To view the full executive summary of the strategic plan, click here.
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Media Relations Contact:
Maria Satira Director of Marketing and Communications Greenville - Eastern North Carolina Alliance satira@encalliance.com 252-414-2875
