Fast-track California companies targeted by EDAWN

Coming off a fiscal year in which it helped 17 companies create 743 jobs in northern Nevada, the Economic Development Authority of Western Nevada is undertaking a fine-tuned approach to woo California companies.

The target: Fast-growing companies that appear ready to expand.

EDAWN is working with the Nevada Commission on Economic Development, which contracted with Whittaker Associates of Holland, Mich., which crunches through data to identify prospects.

While the program has been running for only about 90 days, it's generating about 50 good-quality leads a month, said Tina Iftiger, director of business development for EDAWN.

EDAWN is enlisting the support of Reno-area executives to extend invitations to their California counterparts to take a close look at Reno. For instance, a Reno software executive might make contact with a software company identified as a prospect by the Whittaker Associates data-crunching.

"The goal is to get them here so they experience what a great community we have and what a great business climate we have," Iftiger said.

At the same time, she said relocation decisions increasingly are driven by cost considerations. EDAWN is preparing industry-specific cost studies that focus on the potential benefits of northern Nevada locations.

The industry-specific studies are important, Iftiger said, because executives in one industry might pay particular attention to inventory taxes, while workers compensation rates might be the biggest worry to executives in another sector.

EDAWN, like other economic development agencies in the state, feels the heat to move quickly to generate jobs to reduce the state's unemployment rate, which has hovered at eleven percent.

"The focus in the past year was jobs, not the number of companies," says Iftiger.

Two big customer call centers a 300-employee facility launched by AT&T and a 150-employee center opened by The Hartford accounted for about 60 percent of the new jobs reported by EDAWN during the fiscal year that ended June 30.

The total of 743 jobs created in the past 12 months compares with 658 a year earlier.

The first-year economic impact of the jobs created in the past 12 months was estimated by EDAWN at nearly $112 million. That compares with an economic impact of $162 million for the jobs developed in the previous fiscal year.

Chuck Alvey, EDAWN's president and chief executive officer, said inquiries about the region from potential new employers are running about 15 percent ahead of year-earlier figures, and Iftiger said EDAWN is working about 200 leads today.

But she said decision-making about business relocations and expansions remains slow.

On one hand, Iftiger said, companies are looking for new facilities to make sure they're well-positioned to take advantage of the economic recovery. But they're also wary of using their cash reserves for relocation projects during a time of economic uncertainty.

While much of EDAWN's focus is on generation of jobs quickly, it hasn't forgotten about the goal it set a couple of years ago to generate higher-quality, higher-paying jobs.

Its prospecting of California companies, for instance, gives special notice to fast-growing companies that have relied on federal programs to encourage technological innovation.

"We're trying to find the gazelles of tomorrow," said Alvey.

Iftiger said EDAWN also is putting energy into attracting headquarters and research operations of geothermal companies, hoping to take advantage of the city's proximity to the extensive geothermal resources of northern Nevada.