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Partnership honors investment fund board as Partner of the Year

Investment fund board members accepting Partner of the Year award were Chip Gould, Tommy Thompson, Kelly Leonard, Adam Shealey, Will Buie and Dave Modaff. Board member Beau Waddell was absent.

By Bill Moss, Published: September 15, 2023

Ten years ago, a big challenge facing industrial recruitment efforts in Henderson County was the steady disappearance of large tracts of land that could be marketed for new job creation.

The land shortage was partly a result of the Partnership for Economic Development doing its job too well, attracting high profile employees like Sierra Nevada, GF Linamar and others. As the Partnership put it: "Henderson County’s successful economic development efforts over the past decade have depleted the inventory of the county’s quality industrial property."

The solution, which immediate past Partnership board Chair Steve Gwaltney touted as a turning point, came when the organization formed the Economic Investment Fund, a separate nonprofit that works with interested landowners to identify, study and preserve property for future industrial employment. One of its first big successes was to guide a joint effort by the Partnership, Henderson County and the city of Hendersonville to form the 41-acre Garrison Industrial Park, which led to the recruitment of Jabil Inc.'s $38 million plant, bringing 150 jobs.

For their work with the fund since its creation in 2016, EIF board members were honored Thursday night as the economic development agency's Partners of the Year. Members on hand to accept the award were Chip Gould, Tommy Thompson, Kelly Leonard, Adam Shealey, Will Buie and Dave Modaff. Board member Beau Waddell was absent.

During the annual dinner and awards event at Camp Greystone, Gwaltney and current chair Mark Russell praised the work of the Partnership's staff and board. In 2022, the Partnership recorded its third highest mark in economic development investment, $147 million, attracting new plants or expansion that resulted in more than 200 jobs.