The Regional Growth Partnership’s recent annual meeting provided the opportunity to recognize the previous year’s successes across Northwest Ohio as well as to look ahead at new initiatives and possibilities to further elevate the region.
RGP President Dean Monske reported more than 3,300 new jobs created by businesses across Northwest Ohio in 2022. The corporate expansion and attraction projects which created those jobs were built behind $3.4 billion of capital investment.
“We celebrate the new jobs and investment created by businesses across the 17-county region, and we celebrate in collaboration with our economic development partners in Northwest Ohio – all of them critical to our regional accomplishments.”
– Dean Monske, President & CEO, RGP
A sampling of those business successes included:
- Abbott Laboratories – 450 jobs/$570 million investment
- Procter & Gamble – 135 jobs/$501 million investment
- Church & Dwight – 80 jobs/$50 million investment
Moving ahead, Monske said, the RGP will continue focusing on its core industries, but in addition, will enhance areas of focus on some new initiatives designed to elevate competitiveness in the global economic development arena. Specifically, the RGP and its partners will be implementing aggressive strategies to attract white-collar businesses and knowledge-based workers.
Some of those strategies will be drawn from a recently completed Target Market Study intended to serve as a roadmap for white-collar corporate attraction. Bob Hess of Newmark Global, the consulting firm which conducted the study, presented a data-driven perspective at the meeting on a path forward for the RGP in shaping a growth strategy for years to come.
In addition, Monske unveiled a new talent attraction initiative in collaboration with the Toledo Regional Chamber of Commerce. The new lead-generation marketing program, managed by the Chamber, will recruit people in targeted markets with customized messaging. The Chamber describes the initiative as a game-changer for talent attraction.