Regional economic development entity Columbus 2020 was just named the silver medal winner in the High Performance Economic Development category for economic development organizations by Atlas Advertising. Atlas produces the annual High Performance Economic Development Benchmarking Survey, where Columbus 2020 was recognized for the creation of more than 4,000 local jobs over the past 12 months.
“We’re proud to be recognized among our economic development peers for achieving real, measurable results over the last year,” said Kenny McDonald, chief economic officer of Columbus 2020 in a statement. “These efforts reflect a true collaboration between our economic development partners in the Columbus region, and hopefully set the tone for what’s to come in the next decade and beyond.”
Between January 2011 and July 2012, the Columbus region announced 208 economic development projects with nearly 25,000 jobs created or retained, totaling $1.9 billion in capital investment.
Columbus 2020 is committed to achieving its 10-year goals of 15,000 new jobs by the year 2020, a 30 percent increase in per capita personal income and $8 billion in new capital investment.
The High Performance Economic Development Awards were presented at the International Economic Development Council’s annual meeting last week in Houston. Winners were selected based on self-reported results over a one-year period for website visits, inquiries received, jobs announced and capital investment announced.
More information about Columbus 2020 can be found online at ColumbusRegion.com.