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Episode 58 - Kurt Foreman Transcript

 

Chad Chancellor: I want to thank Research Consultants International for sponsoring today's podcast. They are a globally renowned lead generation firm that helps economic development organizations create real prospects. They've helped over five hundred economic development organizations. Let me tell you exactly what they do.

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As far as I'm concerned, they are absolutely the best lead generation firm in the business for economic development organizations. Call them now. They can help you create real prospects.

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Chad Chancellor: Welcome to this week's episode of the Next Move Group We Are Jobs podcast. This is Chad Chancellor, co-founder of Next Move Group. Today, our guest is Kurt Foreman. Kurt is the president and CEO of the Delaware Prosperity Partnership. Kurt's organization is one of the first members of our movement that we launched last week. So, Kurt, first of all, thank you for joining our movement and welcome to our show.

Kurt Foreman: It's great to be with you. Thanks for doing this.

Chad Chancellor: So, tell us a little bit about the model you all use in Delaware. I get your emails,        so I know you just landed the big Amazon deal. So, I know it's having success.

Kurt Foreman: We are. We are and it’s one of the latest experiments in sort of the public-private models. So, our governor was approached by the business community when he was coming into office and he took the challenge on of seeing if they could do things a different way and ended up downsizing and changing the focus of the state agency and creating a private non-profit to do attraction and other things for the State. So, we’ve been in business almost three years and I’ve been here a little over two. So, we've built a team and lots of good things happening. I think we're getting good visibility; perhaps better than we may have in recent past and we're getting our looks from companies and site selectors and winning projects as well. So, we're excited.

Chad Chancellor: I know you seem to really be making good progress in the manufacturing sector and the logistics sector. So, why don't you talk about both of those?

Kurt Foreman: Sure. Sure. So, it really comes down to our location. So, we're blessed. Most people have heard of Delaware. Not everyone knows where we are, but we're equidistant between New York and DC on the coast. 95 runs through a sliver of our state, but our proximity to the biggest consumer market in the U.S.; right in the smack middle of it, makes us I think attractive particularly to logistics.

We now have a third center for Amazon being built. In fact, their first distribution center in this part of the world was in Delaware. They added another one a few years later and now third. The new one is going to be almost four million square feet, so we're pretty excited about it and the latest technology, lots of robots, lots of people.

And as far as manufacturing goes, again, because of our proximity to the customer, we're seeing a lot of interest among manufacturing particularly small to medium-sized operations. I wouldn't say we have any really large ones, but 50-100 and a lot of those are really I think the future of how manufacturing is going to happen. It’s not going to be 5,000 people necessarily and that works really well for the size of our communities and all that they can help work with that kind of company, but we're really excited about that. More than half our projects that we're working on at any given time are manufacturing-related.

Chad Chancellor: Well, that's really our sweet spot, those small to mid-sized and I appreciate you all for joining The Movement. You are one of our first members in that. Appreciate that. I’ve actually toured the DuPont plant in Delaware. That's something there. I don’t know if most people have realized how big that is. They've got their own hotel, their own country club. In Mobile, they had-- I used to be in Mobile as a project manager and they had a large facility there. For one of the expansions, they invited us to up like and it's like they've got their own city there. You might talk a little bit about that.

Kurt Foreman: One time that was the case. They had 30,000 employees at one time in Delaware. We're less than a million people. So, there are a lot of connections to almost every major institution in Delaware. We're in their old headquarters building while our offices are downtown Wilmington, but yes. They still are a major presence, but very different in today's world, but they've been here since 1802. So, it's a great story of innovation and progress.

Chad Chancellor: Yes, that was probably in 2005. That's been 15 years ago when I did that, but it was just incredible to see what kind of operation that they had. I know about Wilmington. What are some of the other large cities in Delaware? Are most of them small to mid-sized towns?

Kurt Foreman: Well, Wilmington is our largest which is about 72,000-75,000 people. So, we're a state of small communities. Our largest jurisdiction would be New Castle County which is the northern part of the state which is part of the Philly Metro Area. So, about 60% of our state population is the that one county. We only have three counties, so most people are usually shocked to hear that.

Newark, Delaware is a famous community. That’s where the University of Delaware is. Most people have heard of Newark. They may not have pronounced it the way we do. And then obviously, we're famous for our beaches, so Rehoboth and Bethany and Dewey Beach. Lewes, our world-class beach communities and Dover where the Dover Air Force Base is, which is our capital. It's a great city as well and then lots of really cool and really vibrant small towns that are all near each other, but make it a really beautiful place to live.

Chad Chancellor: Yes, I know Northpoint is building something in Delaware. Is that right? What are they doing?

Kurt Foreman: They are. They are. They are building out a logistics park right along one of our main corridors; the Highway 1 Corridor and they just started the finishing touches on almost a million square foot facility. Dart Containers is going to be going into that facility. That's the maker of SOLO Cup and all that. So, they'll be distributing their products from that site, but they have room to build another million and a half square feet on that site and it’s nice to have national developers looking at Delaware. They are out of Kansas City area as you know and we're pleased to have them and we hope they won't just do one project here, but maybe do other sites over time and we also-- between the Dermody Properties, which is building the Amazon project, there's quite a bit of construction activity happening in Delaware right now.

Chad Chancellor: We’ve done a good bit of work in Kansas City. So, when I saw Northpoint, that surprised me to the good. So, in Delaware, do most of your towns have economic developers? Who do you all partner with from the State on the local level because you only got three counties? Do you just partner with a county or how does that work?

Kurt Foreman: Well, each of the counties has an economic development team and they're quite good. Then we have a number of our communities depending on the size, sometimes we work with the city managers. Sometimes we work with the planning director, who also does economic development, but a number of our communities have an economic development person on their staff and we work with the utilities. We work with the University. Like many parts of the country, we have quite a base. I would say we have 40 or 50 different partners. We also work in the innovation space. So, we work on trying to help the ecosystem in cool tech companies get started here and so we have a lot of special key partners in that space as well.

Chad Chancellor: So, you were actually the first CEO to the organization, right?

Kurt Foreman: Right. I was actually the first full-time employee.

Chad Chancellor: Wow!

Kurt Foreman: So, I’ve hired a team of-- well, we have a team of 13 at the moment and all of them I’ve hired and only one of them had past economic development experience. So, it's been fun to sort of introduce people to the concept of what we do and people really enjoy it and I’ve hired a group of people who are really passionate about the region and bring a lot to the table. So, I’ve been really excited about that.

Chad Chancellor: I used to do that. I would hire people young up-and-coming, didn't know the business and I actually found it made me better because I had to teach them how to do that. So, I couldn't cut corners on the RFP. I had to do it exactly right to show them how to do it.

Kurt Foreman: Absolutely

Chad Chancellor: So, I think there's a lot of value in that. What have you learned from starting one up? We've got a lot of listeners who may be just be getting in the profession and maybe they are starting up just a city much less a state like yours.

Kurt Foreman: No, absolutely. My favorite part of this work is building something and not just driving the bus for the next 20 miles, but actually building something. So, this is-- I’ve done it in different variations, but starting literally from scratch. We had to create the culture. Thankfully, we had a really great group of business leaders engaged. I got to meet them as I came to interview. I think what's been most exciting about it is how excited the communities and the leadership is for what we're trying to accomplish together. I’ve experienced a lot less drama here than anywhere else I’ve ever been. The turf issues are minor at best and people are really excited to tell the Delaware story.

Chad Chancellor: I know we wouldn't have turf issues in Louisiana.

Kurt Foreman: Right, exactly-- Well, no. I mean sometimes. Everywhere has a little bit of that and that's okay. I expect that and that's not a problem. When you're starting something new, you don't want people sort of fighting against you and we haven't had that. It’s been really nice.

Chad Chancellor: Right. Well, I know you spent some time up in the Shreveport-Monroe area and then up in Oklahoma if I remember.

Kurt Foreman: Yes and I was in Pittsburg before that and DC before that. So, I’ve been a rolling stone.

Chad Chancellor: I didn't know you were in Pittsburg. Do you know Subash Alias?

Kurt Foreman: He followed me there. I worked with a number of folks. I went there when Ronnie Bryant went there.

Chad Chancellor: Subash has become a very good friend of ours. He runs the Missouri Partnership.

Kurt Foreman: Absolutely and their model and our model have some similarities. In fact, our strategic consultant TIP Strategies used them and the North Carolina team and all. Those are some of the examples of what we put together here.

Chad Chancellor: You're like them. You get a lot done with a lean team. A lot of state organizations are 300 employees. The Missouri Partnership is like 10. It sounds like yours is 13.

Kurt Foreman: We have 12 or 13, yes. We have a couple of stringers that we use. I say that lovingly, but we have some global advisers that we work with part-time that do a great job of supplementing our team, but yes. We don't run the incentive programs and all, so the state team still does that and I think that's appropriate because we're a private group. I don't think we should have control of that. From a startup standpoint, getting out and telling the story and making sure people are hearing our voice is the most important part of it.

Chad Chancellor: So, basically you all do the lead generation, you do the marketing, and what about on the preparation side? Do you help the communities if they are saying we want to develop property? Do you help with advice with that? So, basically, you do everything but the incentives and you turn it over to the State?

Kurt Foreman: We actually will walk a client through that process and we'll advocate for them and we go back and forth on those and deliver the offer from the State to the client, help them with their application. But yes, on the local or county level, we are happy to be a resource to encouraging-- I often joke that we're the concierge at the hotel who knows how to get tickets for something or do whatever, but yes. We try to advocate and encourage and be supportive of ideas they have and help them get to the--

I think a lot of our initial effort has been building capacity; making sure that our communities can win a project when they get the opportunity to. We also advise the State on ideas that might make us more competitive. We work with our chambers and other groups on business. We don't do the advocacy, but we do help share what's going on so that they can hopefully make really good decisions that help Delaware going forward.

Chad Chancellor: I've got a question that I get asked probably once every three or four months and I’ve never had an answer to. Why are so many companies Delaware companies? They form in Delaware.

Kurt Foreman: We're glad they do. Whether we know why-- we do know why, but we over the years have developed some of the best business law in the world. We are known for our case law and the ability for companies to know what they are going to get. Our judges are not elected. They are selected based on their experience. They have to have experience in what they are doing and that's led to a business-friendly environment, but the ability to use that law--

But it represents about 30% of our state funding actually, Chad. Our state budget is funded by those fees that companies from all over the world sometimes in hundreds, two hundreds, three hundred dollars, but it adds up to like $1.3 billion of our state budget. So, it’s just people want to have that surety and it's also allowed a professional services and legal services community to set up here that really brings a lot to bear for companies.

Chad Chancellor: I remember when we set up our LLC and our lawyer said do you want to be a Delaware company or not and I didn't know what the difference was and then I started seeing it everywhere and people ask me. So, I knew there was something.

Kurt Foreman: Well, about 65% of the Fortune 500 are based here. That doesn't mean they are technically headquartered here, but they are registered here and then obviously, lots of LLCs and other things like that.

Chad Chancellor: Thank you, Kurt. We're going to take a quick break for a message for our listeners and be right back with a lot more with Kurt Foreman after this.

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Chad Chancellor: I want to thank LocationOne-- some folks know it as LOIS-- for sponsoring today's podcast. LocationOne has, in my opinion, the best buildings and sites database in the economic development industry. Now, that coronavirus is here and everything has been disrupted, I’ve been thinking a lot about it. If I were an economic developer still, what would I do during this time and I know without question I would transition to LOIS and get my buildings and sites as updated as I possibly could so that when we come out of this economic downturn, we're ready to go.

Let me tell you why I like LOIS. It is the most responsive mobile friendly buildings and sites database I have found. It’s easy to use. It's just as easy to use on an iPad or iPhone as it is a computer. I was browsing around last week on a state economic development building and site database and the thing it just wouldn't work. It wouldn't work properly. You had to be an engineer to figure it out. It was too much. It had this circle you could draw to look at buildings. The circle wouldn’t work when I backed out if I got what square footage I was looking for.

None of that happens with LOIS. This is the best buildings and sites database I have found. I’ve looked far and wide. It is the most easy to use from a site selection standpoint on any platform. I’m told it's just as easy to use for economic developers. It really walks you through inserting your information and putting it in so the prospects can use it. So, I really encourage you take a look at locationone.com. Use this time while we're down to update your buildings and sites. Transition them to LocationOne. You'll be really happy you did.

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Chad Chancellor: So, obviously very business-friendly, great location. Any other points for manufacturers because we do have a handful of them that listen to our podcast. What's kind of your sales pitch to manufacturers?

Kurt Foreman: We're also often ranked as one of the most cost-effective places to do business, not only in our region but in the U.S. and from a tax standpoint, out tax structure is such we don't have sales tax, we don't have value-added tax, we don't have inventory tax. So, there's a lot of flexibility. We're a single factor tax state now based on sales and that means being a small state, most of your product is sold elsewhere. So, your tax liability is going to be quite low.

Again, it's the logistics. We have a great and growing port and we have a workforce that is regularly viewed highly and a very active community college and technical college system that can help people get what they need when they need it and it works well. And ag is our biggest sector. It’s interesting most people assume the east coast is very industrial and not agricultural, but our actual biggest sector in our economy is ag and all the things that go around that whether it's poultry, but all the supply chain around that.

Chad Chancellor: Yes, I would not have guessed that and if I remember you all have pretty reasonable power rates. We had a project look up there one time. It’s been maybe probably before you were there, but I remember your electric rates were also very competitive.

Kurt Foreman: We do. We have actually one of the-- I think I’m biased, but I think we have one of the best electrical co-ops in the country and we also have good municipal and investor-led companies as well, but yes. Particularly for the region, our rates are quite competitive.

Chad Chancellor: Well, let’s sort of transition into your story because a lot of economic developers are going to want to hear from a man who worked in Pittsburg and Oklahoma City and now running the State of Delaware. So, how did you get into this field?

Kurt Foreman: Well, I actually got into it on purpose. So, most people don't. I actually took a course in college many, many decades ago with a guy who had been an economic developer and he shared what he did for a living in the class and I was like that's what I want to do. And so I intentionally got into this work. I started out my career at the Fairfax County Economic Development Authority in Northern Virginia; one of the most successful groups ever in economic development history.

I started out in research, which I think is a great place to start out. I was the young person that had to go find the answers for our sales team and track the real estate in the market place. Our database was a spreadsheet. That was about as exotic as it got back then in the ‘80s. So, I’ve done that. I’ve also been a site selector. I worked for Moran Stahl & Boyer, which is really not a firm anymore, but back in the days, sort of fan tiffs were MS&B were sort of Coke and Pepsi and I worked for them in New York and Atlanta.

And I have been a single practitioner. I was in Oshkosh, Wisconsin at one time by myself as a one-person shop, but I’ve also run some of the larger regional groups in the country as well. So, this is sort of my-- Delaware is a bit-- acts more like a region than a state just from a scale, but this is my fifth time working in a more regional setting which I love. I love that sort of working with lots of partners and bringing people around the table, but I’ve always looked at the opportunity as the most important part, not where it was.

My dad was a military chaplain, so I moved around a lot growing up. So, I’m okay with that. This brought us back to near my family. I grew up in this area of the country, not Delaware but in this area. So, I’m back home sort of. We've had some great adventures and in beautiful communities, wonderful places that I never would have thought to live, but I’m proud that my kids got to grow up in Louisiana and part of the time in Oklahoma and both great places to raise a family.

Chad Chancellor: Well, what sort of tips would you give folks if they are maybe just getting into the profession like you? They’re interested in it. What are your success habits I guess is what I ask? What have you learned that you would tell other people these are the two or three things you probably ought to be able to handle to do this?

Kurt Foreman: Well, one of the things I tell people when I interview them if they are interested in this field is if you are a person who likes to go from point A to point B on the most direct and most uninterrupted path and you get frustrated if that's not the case, you won't like this work. That doesn't mean I like bureaucracy, but occasionally and often or often depending on the situation, you have to pause and bring someone along, update them, get them to come along with you and you need to be able to do that.

I think the other thing that I like to do is I’ve become a-- I’m a bit of a geek about board governance. I really think how boards work and how an organization works is really important. That's probably dry for some people, but I really find that interesting and I think it's important for you to know how a board works and to be-- it's not like a company necessarily, so you have to be ready for that.

The other thing I would say is that you should be open. If you over plan your career, you're going to miss an opportunity you wouldn't have had an opportunity to do whether it's a particular role or a particular place and I had good mentors early on that said don't over plan because if you over plan, the next great thing is not going to happen for you. So, I’ve always been open to that.

And I think staying in touch with colleagues and building a network for yourself that you can call and talk to someone because in your own community, you can’t always talk honestly about something that's on your heart or your mind. Not that you're being disingenuous, but sometimes when you are struggling with something, you need to find someone who's outside that local circle who can listen and go oh, yes. I’ve dealt with that or yes, I hear you. I understand what's going on and that's helpful as well.

That's why I’m active in IEDC. I’m active with a lot of other groups and enjoy my network of contacts. So, I can call and also ask what did you do in this situation and borrow a good idea. As one of my friends says, there are no more new ideas. It’s just a matter of how you bring them together. Yes, I think those are the things that I would say to someone; is be prepared to deal with those kinds of things.

Chad Chancellor: Well, I’m interested in your research background, too. I find that a lot of the big organizations-- some of the ones we have mentioned, there are always very good at that and I’m a nerd when it comes to what to target and how to do it, what workers can transfer to that, what size waterline do you need. I get into all that kind of stuff. And I find a lot of the smaller towns their person-- maybe it's a one-person shop and they are dealing with politics all day or existing industry and they don't have that research expertise. So, talk about-- I’m sure that now because that's your background I bet you've got a good researcher on your team. They can do what you want.

Kurt Foreman: We're very blessed. We're very blessed. I found a great research team and that was the thing I knew I needed the most for success. I’m really blessed with a great team overall, but the research team really I think can set the pace for everything. We also view our research as a shared resource. So, if a community has a question or even a company has a question, we're happy to help them. So, it's not just for us. It’s sort of a shared resource for others as well and I think that's really important.

But yes, I think it's helpful to know your targets and we've also used consulting firms. So, we used TIP Strategies when we got the organization going and they did a really good job of helping us set the pace and what we're focused on. You can win by winning hearts and I always tell our staff we're out to win their head and their hearts and that’s important, too. It's not just data. You want them to feel comfortable and feel like you're actually can be a trusted partner to them.

And I think we've won projects in places I’ve been even if we quote weren’t the best place because of the rapport and the relationship we developed. Sometimes your solution can win even if it's technically not the one that meets the most criteria, but yes, it's super important and being able to answer questions quickly and well and not just hem and haw is super important.

Chad Chancellor: Well, nowadays we can do so much. You probably remember getting to sites and having to go into the boardroom and roll out the big maps on the boardroom table.

Kurt Foreman: I used to draw. I used to take clear plastic and put it over maps and draw with grease pens sometimes before a meeting and then we could use it again and when I was a site selector, we used to do commute patterns on maps; real maps and we would draw it out.

Chad Chancellor: Yes, it's just unbelievable how much that's changed and it puts pressure on you too to respond quickly now because people-- you don't have an excuse. Back then, you might have must ship your FedEx or UPS package with all your maps in it.

Kurt Foreman: Well, we were the king of FedEx. We sent out-- we would send out dozens of FedEx a day when I was a consultant back in the day then, but yes, you're right. I think timing has changed and sort of collapsed the time frame. It used to take months. Now, it might take days or weeks. You have to be able to meet that. I think people that are in it now and didn't work in it before don't really realize that it used to take quite a while and now, they almost expect it to be a black box and there are some solutions out there that make it seem very simple to just put in a few criteria and up pop your three communities, but obviously there's a lot. When people are involved, there's a lot of stuff behind it that's not just the data on the page.

Chad Chancellor: Well, your advice to folks; you got your start I think you said at Fairfax County. For young up-and-comers, to me, the best thing you can do is get on with an organization that knows what it's doing, that you're going to see project activity and learn. Even if you don't make a lot of money, the two or three years you spend there will set you up. That's what happened to me in Mobile, Alabama. I was the bottom person of the totem pole and every day we had a project and I just think back that’s so much more valuable than if I had went and just been in a rural town as the number one person and see two projects a year for like 20 years. You just learn more getting that deal flow being around successful organizations.

Kurt Foreman: I viewed my time as a site selector the same way. It gave me-- I did that for a little over three years and it gave me a chance to do more projects in that period of time than I would have in a community and I went from a one-man shop to my next ED job was running a sizable regional group in the DC area after time as a consultant. So, it really-- I think that helped me as well.

That's something people might think about too is. Don't think you can only work on just one side of the table. You may spend time like you have now that you started your own firm, but working on different sides of the shop. I also was an executive recruiter for a while. I got out of economic development for about three years and I worked for the largest search firm in the world and did searches all over the country and being an economic developer really helped me in that regard, too.

Chad Chancellor: Well, you're exactly right. There is so much I have learned now sitting on this side of the table that I say I wish I had known that when I was an economic developer. I would have been better. I would have done something better. Just what you say, a lot of our deals on the site selection side don't end up going to the place with the cheapest cost. Usually, we do proformas on like all our top ten sites. Usually, it goes to the place with top three or four, but once you get down to that level, then it's more they're going where they want to be.

They figure what difference-- is there a big difference in one and two? Maybe not. I think that's great advice that I really never understood. I always knew how to go recruit and market, but I never understood really what you are trying to accomplish when you're dealing with the prospects. Well, Kurt, thank you for being with us. Is there anything that I didn't ask you that you'd like to share with our audience about your story or Delaware; either one?

Kurt Foreman: No. I hope that people-- I felt really blessed to be an economic developer. I can’t imagine now having done really anything else. It’s such an interesting kind of work and the ability to do something different almost every day. The last 12 or so weeks of sitting in my house have been the most strange of all of my career, but we had a site visit this week. So, we had site selectors then a company in town this week. It’s the first time I had had a face-to-face meeting in a while, but we were excited and our activity, which has surprised me a little bit, our activity has remained pretty strong.

Chad Chancellor: I will ask you that before we leave. You've been around a long time doing this, what changes do you think might come because of COVID? Do you think this is all temporary or do you think a year from now there will still be more virtual site meetings and more Zooms? I got people saying that we can do all our executive search work now by Zoom. I’m used to flying into the town and interviewing people. I don't know if they are right or not. So, what would your opinion be?

Kurt Foreman: Well, it will be interesting to see. I think there's a strong possibility that the technologies that are out there-- I don't remember using Zoom maybe but once before all this happened and now, I do three or four of these a day depending on what the audience is, but I think that it's very likely that you can get a lot of the pre-work done this way.

Even when I was an executive recruiter almost 20 years ago, we did video conferencing. We would send them to a place. They would dial in. It was very expensive, but to do your first pass and talk to someone and get a sense, I think you can do that. I think there's no question you have to be on the ground for the last part of the process. You can't buy-- yes, I know you can buy a house online, you can buy a car online, but at some point, you need to be part of it and see it. So, I think that will continue.

As far as activity, the big thing we focus on or are talking a lot about is supply chain and how that's going to change. I don't know that it's going to all reshore. I’m hearing things now that people think the reshoring is probably overblown, but I think you'll see people operate in multiple sites rather than just be far away. So, we're hoping with our logistics and all to be part of that and have our local companies get more business out of people's supply chain.

I think at some point some of this will-- people will lose the lesson that they learned during this and it will all go back to old habits. I think you'll see maybe offices staffed a little differently, but I think people are hungry for community and hungry for connection and that may seem a little different, but I think that won't go away. People will stay connected and in many cases, want to be part of a community and I think that's exciting.

Chad Chancellor: Well and on the reshoring side, I think what's going to happen-- I think a lot of small to mid-sized companies who've been depending on China to supply them just by contracts-- they didn't physically have a plant over there-- I think a lot of them are going to look for American companies to give those contracts to now because they found it risky. I think that's going to-- whether it's plants coming back or not, I think a lot of American companies are going to pick up new contracts.

I talked to a company in Nebraska that makes scooters of all things; little electric scooters and they guy told me-- he said he's a 20-person shop, but he said I depended on China for 100% of my supplies. I assembled it here and he was having trouble now getting it because of the whole supply chain disruption. So, he was looking for an American company to do that. So, I think that's going to be the first thing we see on that effort.

Kurt Foreman: No, I agree. We've already had a few anecdotal evidence situations where a small company here-- we had a company that's in the fabric textile business that started supplying people with fabric during this time to make masks and all and probably never would have bumped into each other if it weren't for some of this stuff, but now, it's just a growing small company in a great town and yes, I think you're going to see lots of those stories and lots of those opportunities for companies to be part of that.

Chad Chancellor: Well, Kurt, thank you for being with us today.

Kurt Foreman: Absolutely.

Chad Chancellor: And thank you for joining our movement. All those videos and on some we talk about for a long time economic developers ask us over and over. We never had time to do it till COVID. So, that was our-- that's where we spent our time doing. I think a lot of businesses they were probably like us. They were shocked right at first and then they thought okay, what can we do now that we've been putting off? So, that came out of that. So, I appreciate it.

Kurt Foreman: Absolutely. Keep up the good work.

Chad Chancellor: Thank you.

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Chad Chancellor: Next Move Group has launched a new initiative designed to both grow the American economy and improve the quality of lives of economic developers. So, we're going to grow the American economy in multiple ways. We've got all kinds of different ways to really help economic development organizations be more successful including helping them bring back jobs from overseas and China, reshoring that production into the United States and we're going to help economic developers improve their quality of lives.

So, you always hear this; the economic developer's job is to improve the quality of life of everybody in their community. Well, whose job is it to improve that economic developer's quality of life? And Next Move Group we're taking that task on for ourselves. So, to learn more about the movement that we're creating go to thenextmovegroup.com\movement.

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