ATLANTA — Annual rankings in the May 2019 issue of Site Selection magazine also features awards recognizing the most successful local and regional U.S. economic development agencies.
Kentucky ranks 8th for the second consecutive year among the states in the publication’s list. The Virginia Economic Development Partnership won the Prosperity Cup, which is awarded to the most competitive state-level economic development group.
At the metropolitan area level, the economic development agencies for the Lexington, Louisville and Northern Kentucky areas each are recognized among 21 recipients of the Mac Conway Awards for Excellence in Economic Development. Named in honor of Site Selection founding publisher H. McKinley “Mac” Conway, they are awarded to the top local and regional U.S. economic development groups of 2018. The 21 recipient metro agencies are not ranked but are recognized for the success of their activities.
“Locations throughout the US and in every region of the world compete aggressively for direct investment at home and from abroad,” says Site Selection Editor in Chief Mark Arend. “Those appearing on these rankings have demonstrated with actual project numbers and other measures that they have the location attributes most in demand by capital investors.”
The magazine said the Prosperity Cup and Mac Conway awards recognize the economic development offices that were the most successful in attracting capital investment projects in 2018. The rankings’ methodology is based on an index of data from the proprietary Conway Projects Database (which tracks private-sector facility projects worldwide) and several other global economic data sources.
Mac Conway Awards (in alphabetical order name)
Charlotte Regional Business Alliance
Columbus 2020
Commerce Lexington
Dallas Regional Chamber & Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce
Detroit Economic Growth Corporation
Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce
Greater Des Moines Partnership
Louisville Forward & Greater Louisville Inc.
Greater Omaha Chamber
Greater Phoenix Economic Council
Huntsville/Madison County (Alabama) Chamber
Indy Chamber
Lehigh Valley Economic Development
Metro Atlanta Chamber & Invest Atlanta
Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce
REDI Cincinnati & Northern Kentucky Tri-ED
Regional Growth Partnership (Northwest Ohio)
Savannah Economic Development Authority
The Right Place (Grand Rapids/Western Michigan)
Washington DC Economic Partnership
World Business Chicago
Site Selection Prosperity Cup
2019 2018 State
1 T6 Virginia
2 13 Indiana
3 4 Texas
4 1 North Carolina
5 3 Georgia
6 2 Tennessee
7 T6 Ohio
8 8 Kentucky
9 18 Alabama
10 5 Michigan
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