Yesterday morning (Friday), I attended the Legislative and Community Leadership Breakfast at Columbia State Community College. Columbia State Community College serves Hickman County as well as eight other counties.
There was the expected networking and discussion of Columbia State’s role in our community. One thing that I felt was especially noteworthy for economic development was a presentation on CoSCC’s new Film Crew Technology Program. The program was developed in response to a shortage of qualified film crew technicians identified by television and movie projects attracted to the state. Not a bad attribute of our economic development environment: a deficiency in our labor force’s ability to meet the needs of a recruited industry was identified and Tennessee (and our local community college) responded.
The presentation of an example of the students’ work was quite impressive. To see more, check out their MySpace Videos page.
About Daryl Phillips, CEcD
I am a professional economic developer. I presently work for communities and companies in developing and implementing workforce and economic development solutions as CEO of Phillips Economic Development Solutions (Phi EDS).
Prior to September 2017, I was the economic development professional who served a community team of elected officials, business people, community leaders and dedicated stakeholders for economic development in Cheatham County, Tennessee (pop. 39,880) and its four towns. During my five-year tenure, I served the team as Cheatham County grew over 1,700 jobs, turned around population declines at the start of this decade into healthy population growth, increased tourism expenditures 20.3% and local tax revenue from tourism 25.4%, grew sales tax revenue 36%, focused on developing the local workforce and was recognized by SmartAsset as having the 9th highest Incoming Investment Index of all the 95 counties in Tennessee.
I am a member of International Economic Development Council, Southern Economic Development Council, Tennessee Economic Development Council and International Council of Shopping Centers.
I have earned the designation of Certified Economic Developer (CEcD) from International Economic Development Council (IEDC), the Economic Development Finance Professional (EDFP) certification from National Development Council and hold a Master of Business Administration from Tennessee Technological University.
