DAVIS, CRAMER ENCOURAGE COOPERATION ACROSS TENNESSEE VALLEY
Congressmen Host Second Regional Economic Development Summit April 10, 2007

HUNTSVILLE, AL -- U.S. Representatives Lincoln Davis (TN-4) and Bud Cramer (AL-5) brought together forty-eight economic development leaders and elected officials from the Tennessee and Alabama border counties for a summit to discuss regional economic efforts.

This is the second summit Davis and Cramer have held with the goal of spurring greater cooperation among the border counties. Davis hosted the first meeting in September 2006 in Fayetteville, Tenn.

"As a result of the first meeting, we have introduced the partners and opened channels that were not there previously," Davis said. "We must continue to think and work beyond our respective borders on economic issues."

Davis cited a major grant awarded to the region by the Department of Labor earlier this year as a great foundation to grow a stronger regional workforce and strengthen ties between our communities. The WIRED (Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development) Initiative is an effort to integrate economic and workforce development as ways to drive economic transformation in regional economies.

Among those participating in the summit from Tennessee: Captain Robert Roof, Arnold Engineering Development Center; Tim White, Arnold Engineering Development Center; Bill Comer, Coffee County Industrial Development Board; Ted Hackney, Coffee County Industrial Development Board; Susan Carver, Franklin County Board of Education; Richard Stewart, Franklin County Executive; John Payne, Franklin County Industrial Development Board; Terry Wallace, City of Lewisburg; Dan Speer, Mayor of Pulaski & Giles County Economic Development Commission; Bill Shuff, Middle Tennessee Industrial Development Association; Joe Clayton, Middle Tennessee Industrial Development Association; Paul Rosson, Lawrence County Executive; Bob Moore, Lawrence County businessman; Diane Bryant, Tullahoma Chamber of Commerce; Peggy Bevels, Lincoln County Executive; Nathan Ward, Fayetteville Lincoln County Industrial Development Board; Jerry Mansfield, South Central Tennessee Development District; Lucy Carter, Elk Valley Times; Ron Mahal, Fayetteville Lincoln County Industrial Development Board; Jason Rich, Wayne County Executive.