Dear Colleagues,

We are off to a strong start this year with announcements totaling $121.7 million in capital investment and 689 newly created jobs. We enjoyed hosting many of our industry colleagues at our annual Economic Development Review (EDR) on Hilton Head Island, March 22-24.

This year at EDR we kicked-off an unprecedented Labor Study for the state of South Carolina. Our organization is spearheading a comprehensive labor study for the entire state with a multi-purpose approach and flexible usability. Upon arriving at the SC Power Team, I spent the first 100 days traveling the Palmetto State listening to local economic developers, allies and key stakeholders. One of the primary takeaways from those visits was the value economic development practitioners gained from the Pathfinders labor study completed more than 8 years ago. Many of you used that study for years, well beyond its useful life.

Our leadership heard you and your feedback became one of the primary focuses of our five-year strategic blueprint which was adopted by our Board of Trustees. The goal of this effort is to arm you with the data that will help you articulate your labor story.

Site Selection Group (SSG) is conducting our labor study. SSG's principal, Josh Bays, spoke at length about the labor study to our EDR guests. As our valued stakeholders, many of you have already been contacted and your feedback will be critical to the success of this labor study. We appreciate your willingness to do so, and in turn, we look forward to sharing employer and workforce data, and a deliverable, on-going dashboard via our website that will make this important information accessible to all of our stakeholders.

 

We want to express our heartfelt condolences to Deborah Kelley, the wife of the late Brian Kelley, Pee Dee Electric Cooperative (PDEC) President and CEO. We lift up our friends and colleagues at PDEC. The loss of Brian is deeply felt by our Power Team family. Brian contributed a great deal to his community. His passing is a significant loss to the entire Pee Dee community and S.C.

To our colleagues, allies and partners, we appreciate your continued partnership which enables growth and prosperity throughout South Carolina. From your partners in progress and prosperity, we look forward to what 2017 will bring as our team strives to reach set goals.

 

Sincerely,

James A. Chavez

President and CEO

Connect with James on LinkedIn and Twitter

	Best wishes to Rusty in his retirement.

Rusty Reed has served the SC Power Team system for more than 30 years. He began working at Central Electric Power Cooperative, Inc., in 1985. Rusty has been a long serving, dedicated employee. He has supported the organization with his historical knowledge and understanding, especially during the past several years as the five-year strategic blueprint has been in the implementation process.

Officially, Rusty retired January 31, 2017. He stayed on with our organization through the end of April working on special projects. He will be greatly missed by his colleagues at the Power Team. The SC Power Team Board of Trustees thanks Rusty for his service and wishes him well in his retirement.

	Congratulations, Warren! Connect with Warren on LinkedIn.

Warren Darby, Vice President Global Business, has completed the Leadership South Carolina program. The graduation was held in April at Clemson University.

Each year 50 professionals from across the state are nominated for participation in this leadership program sponsored by Clemson University. The participants collaborate to identify a specific need and then create a class project that addresses that need.

This year's class led efforts to establish a program, Inspire A Career, that provides students, particularly those in rural school districts, with greater access to more diverse career opportunities by establishing a direct connection between the education community and business community members willing to participate in career-focused classroom or school-wide events.

SC Power Team had the privilege of partnering with this Leadership SC Class on its project. If you or your company are interested in learning more about how you could change the life of a South Carolina child forever, please visit InspireaCareer.com.

	Pictured left-to-right: Lonnie N. Carter; Franklin M. Looper, Jr.; David F. Singleton; Leighton Lord, II, Vice Chairman; Lawrence "Larry" J. Hinz, Chairman; B. Robert Paulling; Barry D. Wynn; and Robert C. Hochstetler.

We appreciate the service of our Board of Trustees who continues to lead our organization through a time of great transition and development. It is through the forward thinking and continuous commitment of these individuals that SC Power Team has experienced tremendous growth. The board facilitated, created, and adopted a five-year strategic blueprint that is in year-four of implementation. Key board actions during the implementation phase, to-date, include:

SC Power Team appreciates all our board members for leading our team to be, and remain, an essential part of economic development activities in the state of South Carolina. 

	Discover SC Power Sites and Featured Properties

In 2014, the SC Power Team Board of Trustees adopted a five-year strategic blueprint which included a commitment of $30 million to create market-ready sites through a partnership with the electric cooperatives and communities we serve.

Through combined commitments between Santee Cooper and the electric cooperatives, the   Site Readiness Fund (SRF)   has committed $23 million into select sites since 2014, and leveraged an additional investment of nearly $100 million to sites throughout South Carolina.

SC Power Sites  are sites that have received significant investment through the SC Power Team  SRF to create winning sites that are competitive and truly market-ready. Website users can now easily review the details of each SC Power Site on  SCPowerTeam.com. 

The website update included SC Power Sites, plus Featured Sites of properties throughout the electric cooperative service territory. These market-ready sites within our power system are ideal for business and industry location. These featured properties now have a designated space on our website, making your location exploration and decision that much easier.