With over 35 years of industry and consulting experience, Feemster specializes in supply chain and distribution network strategy, operations management in manufacturing and distribution environment, supply chain cost improvement, distribution center master planning, and economic development business planning.  Before joining FQL Logistics, Feemster was a senior manager in three manufacturing companies, a consultant, an executive in two third-party logistics providers, and a practice group leader in two real estate companies.

For a copy of Feemster’s presentation, please click here to download the PDF. If you would like to link to or use any portion of this presentation, please source “Tim Feemster, Managing Principal, Foremost Quality Logistics.”

The post LiveXchange Update: Trends in Supply Chain and Logistics appeared first on Business Facilities.

The message of Burghard’s presentation was “It’s NOT About Jobs. It’s About Enabling Residents To Better Achieve The American Dream.” Burghard argues that the ability to realize the American Dream is different depending on where you live. The ideal location is one that delivers the assets a company requires AND enables employees to achieve the American Dream. Locations where the American Dream is perceived to be more achievable have a competitive advantage in capital attraction that can be leveraged in their branding efforts.

Click here for a copy of the presentation.

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By Ed Burghard

This post provides my notes from the second day of the Business Facilities LiveXchange Conference.  The overarching theme over the two days has been the growing importance of skilled labor as a differentiator between locations and the need for economic development professionals to have effective strategies in place to ensure their communities are places people want to live and grow in.  This is a paradigm shift from the model of attracting companies to attract people.  The new world paradigm is to attract people to attract companies.  Every EDO should evaluate their strategic plan to assess if changes are required to deal with the new reality.

Read Burghard’s full blog post >

Burghard, CEO & Manager, Burghard Group and a Business Facilities LiveXchange speaker, wrote this post about his experience at the 2013 event.

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Business Facilities LiveXchange has announced it will hold its 10th annual event at South Carolina’s Myrtle Beach Marriott Resort & Spa at Grande Dunes April 6-8, 2014.

LiveXchange gives corporate executives who are searching for locations in which to relocate, expand, or consolidate their facilities an opportunity to learn site selection strategies, network with other executives, and meet one-on-one with sponsoring economic development organizations from across North America.

Since the inaugural LiveXchange in 2005, corporate executives attending the event have represented:

• Over 51,000 potential new jobs
• Over $868 million in payroll
• Over $5.5 billion in capital investment

For more information on attending or sponsoring LiveXchange in 2014, please click here.

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This was the message that former regional FEMA director John Copenhaver delivered in his keynote address at the ninth annual Business Facilities LiveXchange event held this week at the Westin Stonebriar in Dallas, TX.

“For several years now, we have been in a time of diminishing national and local resources,” Copenhaver said, noting that the FEMA budget was slashed in the most recent round of federal spending cuts.

Speaking to LiveX attendees just a few days after several deadly tornadoes ripped through the region,  the former FEMA director stressed the need for self-reliance when preparing to meet today’s looming disasters. “Approaching threats may require immediate action, and ‘wait until help arrives’ could do more harm than good,” he said.

Copenhaver urged businesses to be proactive in disaster response planning. “You need to know the right people to call and which buildings are going to be safe to search. You also need to know whether the right plan is to evacuate a site or the opposite, to bring people inside,” he said. “Self-reliance has to be where it starts. If you want something done right, do it yourself.”

LiveX attendees, including site selection professionals and representatives of major economic development agencies, were urged by the keynoter to conduct an extensive risk analysis of candidate sites for new facilities or relocations. Copenhaver urged them to seek out established businesses in an area they are considering as a facility location and question them about the adequacy of disaster response resources.

“You need to know the site history. For example, has the topography changed? If open ground has been paved over for large parking lots, an area that did not flood 30 years ago may now be flood prone,” he explained.

A site should be evaluated in terms of how critical infrastructure, including power, water and waste disposal could be impacted by a major disaster. Special considerations, including the storage of toxic chemicals, should be investigated.

Copenhaver encouraged professional site selectors to seek out crisis management experts and contingency planners to assist them in risk assessment.

Asked to explain the primary reasons for the government’s poor response to Hurricane Katrina, the former FEMA director said the agency was ill equipped to deal with what he termed a “cascading catastrophe,” in which a hurricane caused levee failures that ended up flooding New Orleans. “Katrina is now a textbook example of a really bad response,” he said.

The post LIVEXCHANGE 2013 KEYNOTE: Self-Reliance Will Save Lives appeared first on Business Facilities.

The event begins on Sunday with a golf tournament at the Stonebriar Country Club or a tour of the Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza/Dallas Cowboys Stadium, followed by a Welcome Reception and Dinner. On Monday morning, John Copenhaver, Chief Executive Officer, Contingency Management Group, Inc. will open up the conference program with his keynote presentation, “Self-Reliance: The Key to Disaster Recovery.” The talk will focus on the need for locations to have their own resources in place to cope with disasters and will touch on the growing importance of disaster recovery capabilities as a factor in site selection decisions.

The balance of the LiveXchange conference program will present comprehensive, practical and strategic information to help corporate executives better plan and manage their companies’ relocation or expansion projects. This year’s all-star list of guest speakers includes:

• Dean Barber, President/CEO, Barber Business Advisors, LLC
• Ed Burghard, CEO & Manager, Burghard Group
• Tim Feemster,President, Foremost Quality Logistics
• Jason Hickey, President, Hickey & Associates
• Mark Lautman, CEcD, CRE, Principal, Lautman Economic Architecture
• Anatalio Ubalde, Co-Founder & CEO, GIS Planning Inc., ZoomProspector.com and SizeUp
• Mark Williams, President, Strategic Development Group, Inc.

Executives will also meet one-on-one to discuss their projects with the economic development agencies from across the U.S. who are sponsoring the event:

• AdvantageWest Economic Development Group(NC)
• Choose New Jersey, Inc.
• Clarksville-Montgomery County Industrial Development (TN)
• Greater Houston Partnership/Centerpoint Energy (TX)
• Greater Oklahoma City Chamber
• Hernando County Florida & Brooksville-Tampa Bay Regional Airport
• LocateSC
• Louisiana Department of Economic Development/AEP:SWEPCO
• North Carolina’s Northeast Commission
• Overland Park Economic Development Council (KS)
• Piedmont Triad Region of North Carolina
• Quad Cities First (IA)
• Regional Growth Partnership [Toledo] | JobsOhio
• Rio South Texas Economic Council
• Santee Cooper and Myrtle Beach Regional Economic Development Corporation (SC)
• Seymour-Jackson County/Harrison County, Indiana: South Central Indiana
• Tennessee Department of Economic & Community Development
• The Joplin Regional Partnership (MO)

To learn more about LiveXchange, click here.

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John Copenhaver, Chief Executive Officer, Contingency Management Group, Inc.

John Copenhaver, Chief Executive Officer, Contingency Management Group, Inc. will join the all-star list of guest speakers featured at the upcoming Business Facilities LiveXchange event.  The ninth annual event will take place May 19 – 21, 2013 at the Westin Stonebriar in Dallas, Texas.

Copenhaver’s keynote presentation, Self-Reliance: The Key to Disaster Recovery, will focus on the need for locations to have their own resources in place to cope with disasters and will touch on the growing importance of disaster recovery capabilities as a factor in site selection decisions.

Copenhaver has been a licensed Georgia attorney since 1979 and has a wealth of experience in Management/Leadership, Emergency Management/Disaster Response and Recovery, and Strategic/Tactical Planning. During his more than 30–year career, he has served in a number of senior executive roles, including as a Presidential appointee to FEMA and as President and CEO of the Disaster Recovery Institute International (DRI).

As CEO of Contingency Management Group, Inc., he is responsible for provisioning of executive management services, as well as emergency management and business continuity consulting to clients including IBM, the governments of Peru and El Salvador, and the City of New York.

To learn more about LiveXchange, or to apply to attend, please visit http://www.bflivexchange.com/.

The post LIVEXCHANGE 2013: John Copenhaver to Give Keynote Presentation at Business Facilities LiveXchange appeared first on Business Facilities.

Searching for a new location for your business is both time-consuming and expensive.  In just two days out of the office at Business Facilities LiveXchange, you’ll be able to narrow your site selection search through pre-scheduled one-on-one meetings with locations nationwide and conference sessions focusing on site selection strategies — all at no cost to you.*

Registration closes this Friday, May 3, so don’t put it off any longer:
Click here to register today!

Previous attendees have given LiveXchange rave reviews:

“It’s like speed-dating and it works.  I like the combination of seminars and one-on-one meetings. This has very much exceeded my expectations.”
- Partner, Greenfield

“LiveXchange is a different venue than I’m used to. It’s a lot of quiet one-on-one time so I can get more in-depth with service providers. It’s time well spent.”
- Manager, DuPont

“This has been a wonderful opportunity to begin the search for the right place to be.”
- COO, National Hemophilia Foundation

Don’t miss out on your chance to attend this once-a-year event.  Save your company a significant amount of time and money.  Register for LiveXchange today!

*  Attendance at LiveXchange is limited and all applications are subject to approval.  All approved attendees will receive a travel stipend of $350.  Conference admission, 2 night hotel stay, participation in our networking events and all meals at LiveXchange are free. 

The post Registration For LiveXchange Ends Friday, May 3 appeared first on Business Facilities.

Four economic development organizations representing five Plains states have signed on to sponsor the ninth annual event, which will take place May 19 – 21, 2013 at the Westin Stonebriar in Dallas, Texas.

LiveXchange sponsors from the Plains will include:

• Joplin Regional Partnership (Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma)
• Overland Park Chamber of Commerce (Kansas)
• Quad Cities (Iowa, Illinois)
• Greater Oklahoma City Chamber (Oklahoma)

Sponsors representing the U.S. South, Southwest, Great Lakes, and New England/Mid-Atlantic will also be participating. A current list of all sponsors can be found by clicking here.

To learn more about LiveXchange, or to apply to attend, please click here.

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To date, four economic development organizations from four Great Lakes states have signed on to sponsor the ninth annual event, which will take place May 19 – 21, 2013 at the Westin Stonebriar in Dallas, Texas.

LiveXchange sponsors from the Great Lakes will include:

• Regional Growth Partnership (Northwest Ohio/Southeast Michigan)
• JobsOhio
• Harrison County Economic Development Corporation (Indiana)
• Seymour/Jackson County (Indiana)

Sponsors representing the U.S. South, Southwest, Plains, and New England/Mid-Atlantic will also be participating. A current list of all sponsors can be found by clicking here.

To learn more about LiveXchange, or to apply to attend, please click here.

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