Jessica Kerman
Anderson has a lot to offer.
That’s the message Mayor Kevin Smith and other Anderson leaders wanted to communicate to two representatives from an Indianapolis-based economic development group who visited Anderson on Monday morning.
Carol D’Amico, president and CEO of Conexus Indiana, and Lisa Laughner, executive vice president of Conexus, toured several businesses Monday to get an idea of Anderson’s needs, goals and strengths from an economic development standpoint.
Conexus Indiana, a new part of the Central Indiana Corporate Partnership, is a group that works on economic development for communities in the state. Specifically, the group focuses on advanced manufacturing and logistics. The Central Indiana Corporate Partnership has four components: Conexus; Bio-Crossroads, which focuses on life sciences; TechPoint, which focuses on information technology; and Indy Partnership, which does work in advancement and economic development.
During their trip, D’Amico and Laughner sped through the Flagship Enterprise Center, Altairnano Technologies, Nestle, North Star Areo-Space and Continental Inc.
Laughner said she was impressed with Anderson.
“I think the proactive stance that Anderson’s taking to go seek the businesses in fantastic,” she said.
A lot of communities that are working on economic development take a passive role in trying to find businesses, Laughner said.
“Greg Winkler’s job is to figure out where Anderson’s assets are best placed, and obviously, he’s doing that,” she said. “That’s great.”
Winkler, a consultant to the city who is in charge of marketing and promoting the city, set up the tour of Anderson for D’Amico and Laughner.
“It’s all about connections,” he said.
For example, Laughner was a vice president for Rolls Royce, which is a company Anderson is trying to pursue as a source for existing companies in Anderson such as Altairnano, Perfect-o and Anderson Tool and Engineering, Winkler said.
Laughner and D’Amico have traveled across the state looking a regional and statewide assets that could help the Indiana economy grow, Laughner said. Out of all the communities they’ve visited, Laugner said Anderson was the only one that had taken a proactive role.
“Anderson is extremely well organized,” she said. “The city invested in the Flagship... The government is engaged with what’s going on in the city.”
Laughner said Winkler did a good job of assessing Anderson’s strengths and going after the companies that fit those strengths.
“Anderson knows what its assets are, i.e. it’s already done its homework,” she said. “From an economic development standpoint, that’s a very important step.”
