From the Director
A Culture of Collaboration
by Ryan Moore
O
ne doesn’t have to walk very far in Athens to
become aware of the diversity that exists in this
community. The breadth and depth of
knowledge and experience in this town is as
dense as any major metropolitan city anywhere in the United
States, and yet in Athens, everyone knows their neighbor. This
is a special place.
I recently participated in a bond rating agency meeting for a
bond refunding to occur in Athens. These meetings are an
opportunity for the participants to impress upon rating
agencies such as Moody’s, Fitch, and Standard and Poor’s the
relative strength of our local economy. A higher rating results
in a lower cost of debt and can make a substantial difference
to the Unified Government’s bottom line given the magnitude
of certain bond issuances. The strength in diversity of our local
economy was a common theme heard from the presenters.
You see, we are a diverse people, but we are also a very
diverse economy. Obviously, the education community is our
stalwart. In many ways buffered from the cyclical nature of
the national and local economy, Athens is bolstered by the
relative consistency of the University of Georgia, Athens
Technical College and the nearly 10,000 educational sector
employees working here in Athens. But our economy is more
than that. Outside of the educational sector, major economic
drivers include healthcare, tourism, retail services, and
manufacturing. There aren’t many places that offer that kind
of variety. Delving further into our private business sector, we
are very diverse. Small businesses, the service industry, heavy
manufacturing, and high tech production all take place in
Athens. Not only does this community produce great talent,
we also produce technology, pharmaceuticals, and fighter jet
parts!
So it is important that we embrace this diversity in our
community, in our economy, and also in our economic
development efforts. Economic development must exist in
many different sectors for our community to be a success. We
are privileged to work with our partners here in Athens such
as the Chamber of Commerce, the Downtown Development
Authority, the Classic Center, UGA, Athens Technical College,
and the CVB among others. We are fortunate to have
professionals engaged in each of these organizations who are
supportive of collaboration.
It is paramount that we all work together. Economic
development is not a zero-sum game which is defined as: a
specific example of constant sum game where the sum of
each outcome is always zero. Such games are distributive, not
integrative; the pie cannot be enlarged by good negotiation.
We must all shift our focus from short term gains to long
terms results.
There are many economic development related organizations
in Athens, and all contribute to the economic development
pie. But to be truly successful, we have to engage and
collaborate in ways that lead to efficient use of resources. In
so doing, we can begin to grow the pie, and not just share it.
Athens is diverse in population, economy, and economic
development. We are proud to work with our partners to
grow together and to create a culture of collaboration.
Spring 2015
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