As we delve into 2019, I wish everyone a Happy New Year. I hope you are still clinging tightly to those resolutions and have moved well past any regrets from your New Year's Eve celebrations. We certainly had plenty to celebrate the last three months of 2018.

The region came together as work began in earnest on the development of Aerospace Park, with a $4.1 million TDOT grant nearly completing the funding of the 167-acre park at Tri-Cities Airport. The region has stepped up over the years in support of the airport, but especially in the development of this incredible industrial site, notably with the cities of Bristol, Johnson City, and Kingsport, along with Sullivan and Washington counties contributing $8.5 million toward the $20.5 million project. The airport staff pulled the region together in October for a celebration, made all the better by incredible weather and heavy equipment moving large amounts of dirt!

The work that has begun is a milestone when marketing the park as we continued to do in lockstep with Mark Canty of TRI. NETWORKS Director of Business Development Michael Parker joined Mark at the NBAA Show in Orlando once again, something we have done together for the past five years.

Aerospace Park is just one example of the region pulling together the past year, with plenty of news to report on the regional economic and community development front in the final quarter, highlighted by the first of its kind joint meeting of the Sullivan and Washington county commissions, held at Tri-Cities Airport in October. The commissions approved a resolution signaling more collaboration lying ahead and mayors Richard Venable and Joe Grandy gave it teeth in December, announcing their Blue Ribbon Task Force on Regionalism, on which I am honored to serve.

Just last month, Sullivan and Hawkins counties became our region's first counties to be certified under the ACT Work Ready Community program. The other six counties in the Northeast Tennessee region are working toward certification through the First Tennessee Development District.

Our NETWORKS family was once again represented on the Tri-Cities Business Journal's 40 Under Forty with Michael being among the honorees, joined by the City of Bristol's Jon Luttrell.  (Dana Glenn was an honoree in 2017.)  The Bristol IDB honored the retiring Mike Sparks, a mainstay in the city's economic development efforts and partner to NETWORKS.

There was plenty to report on from our neighbors and partners just up the road at Northeast State Community College. They followed up the opening of the RCAM Academy earlier this year with a groundbreaking ceremony for the Technical Educational Complex at its Blountville campus in October. They were in the news again in November, introducing Dr. Bethany Flora as the college's next president. Dr. Flora was most recently at East Tennessee State University where she served as the director of the Center for Community College Leadership and associate professor of postsecondary leadership at ETSU's Clemmer College of Education.

The big news in November across the state was the election of our 50th Governor, Bill Lee. Governor Lee is certainly familiar with our region, as Eastman was the site for a pivotal debate in October. That was just one of many trips he has made to Sullivan County; then-candidate Lee visited our suite at Bristol Motor Speedway in August during our Northeast Tennessee Red Carpet Tour, and I was fortunate to spend some time with him. I'm confident he is going to be great for our state and for all of us here Where Tennessee Begins Its Business Day.

The folks at Speedway Motorsports, Inc., made news in December with the announcement that SMI, the owner of Bristol Motor Speedway and several other notable tracks, had reached an agreement with Tony Formosa, operator of Nashville-owned Fairgrounds Speedway. While Formosa will still organize and host several races each year, the alignment with SMI and BMS could open the door for NASCAR to return to the historic track.

When that happens, I know I will be among the many folks making the trip down to Music City to celebrate more short-track racing in our state... which hopefully will be just one of many things to celebrate in 2019.