Intense competition for inward investment requires that communities take additional steps to outperform competitors. One way is attracting foreign investment, which is a key source of new jobs, tax revenue, and real estate development activity. Foreign direct investment (FDI) has also been found to attract unique benefits such as enhanced management skills, new technologies, and higher wages, according to the Journal of International Trade & Economic Development. Given these benefits, many communities offer financial subsidies and tax breaks to grab the attention of foreign investors. Your community can develop winning strategies to attract foreign investors, too.
FDI attraction strategies involve active positioning, forming favorable perceptions among target investor groups, and developing targeted lead generation activities. In fact, international lead generation is a must for any economic development organization (EDO) hoping to attract more FDI. Before your community initiates an FDI strategy, understanding the commitment of time, money, and effort is required. It's also important to research the overseas markets, position the community or region for the international markets, and make the actual contacts overseas.
Hear all the factors associated with this form of private investment. Learn how some EDOs have found success utilizing lead generation services, which can be seen as an outsourcing of FDI promotion.
Speakers
Blair Patacairk
Managing Director, Investment & Trade
Invest Ottawa
Blair Patacairk moved into the position of Managing Director of Investment and Trade in November of 2014. Prior to taking on this role, Blair was the President and CEO of Telecom Gateway Services Inc., a full service international business development consulting firm and government specialist. He was engaged as a special advisor to Invest Ottawa in the areas of foreign direct investment, trade and government relations. As such Blair was responsible for the attraction of investment, companies and people to the Ottawa region, the management of Ottawa’s local and global partnerships and the international spokesperson on marketing Ottawa to the world.
Blair has over twenty years of experience in the public and private sectors, including working directly with the former Mayor of the City of Ottawa, Bob Chiarelli. He brings a wealth of knowledge on strategic partnerships and growing both SMEs and Fortune 500 companies. His previous experience includes roles at: Vayyoo Inc., a mobile solutions tech startup where he was Vice-President Business Development; Dell Inc. where he was the Director of Communications, Public Affairs and Business Development; and OCRI as the Director of Investment, Marketing, Media and Government Relations at OCRI, where he used his extensive network of business and media contacts to promote Ottawa-based technologies companies around the world.
A recipient of Ottawa’s Top 40 Under 40 award in 2008, Blair has volunteered his time as a board member with numerous organizations and currently sits on the Board of: Centre of Excellence in Next Generation Networks CENGN); Consider Canada City Alliance (CCCA); and Intelligent Community Forum (ICF). He also shares his experience as a business and marketing/communications mentor in local universities/colleges and high schools.
Nadine Jeserich, Ph.D.
Vice President, Analytics
Research on Investment (ROI)
Platteville, WI
Dr. Jeserich joined the ROI team in early 2016 as Vice President of Analytics. Prior to joining ROI, Nadine was the Principal Economist at GrowthEconomics, Inc. working with Dr. Graham Toft on developing state and county competitiveness reports in over a dozen states, including the Michigan Entrepreneurship ScoreCard, now in its 13th edition. She is recognized as an authority on innovation and entrepreneurship metrics, cluster analysis, and competitiveness benchmarking, having presented work at the Global Entrepreneurship Week, C2ER, and the National Governors Association.
In her role with ROI, Nadine is driving the development of ROI’s new Gazelle data platform, which is a state-of-the art investment attraction/lead generation intelligence platform, combining big data, human curated insights and machine learning to forecast corporate growth. She is also leading ROI’s new Analytics practice focusing on target industry/cluster analysis, emerging market watch, regional benchmarking, and industry suitability analysis to accelerate ROI’s lead generation practice and success.
Nadine received her Ph.D. in Economics from George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, as well as her Masters in Economics and Business Administration from the University of Maastricht in the Netherlands.
Tim Vanderhoof
Senior Vice President, Business Development
Enterprise Florida, Inc.
Tim Vanderhoof is the Senior Vice President of Business Development, leading a team conducting economic development project management, determining and analyzing location criteria, talent pipelines, and incentive negotiation for business prospects. He plays a vital role in identifying and soliciting the interest of businesses best suited to locate or expand a facility in Florida and supports the mission to diversify Florida’s economy by creating jobs and capital investment in Florida through business expansion and recruitments. Additionally, his portfolio includes: Fortune 500 companies comprised of commercial banks, private equity, hedge funds, investment banks, insurance and professional services firms.
Tim comes from one of the oldest and most established accounting firms in Central Florida, where he led in the development of business proposals, bids and implementing new business initiatives. Tim also managed the conception of business ideas, partnerships and the firm’s overall marketing and business development strategy. Prior to joining the accounting sector, Tim spent nearly a decade in Retail and Commercial Banking managing client relationships and new business acquisition for some of the nation’s largest banks.
Tim is a member of CoreNet Global and the CoreNet NYC Chapter as well as a member of the IEDC International Advisory Committee.
Tim earned his bachelor’s degree in History from Florida Southern College in Lakeland, Florida and resides in Orlando with his wife and two children.
Instructions and Technology
Instructions and dial-in information will be sent up to three days in advance and a minimum of two times. If you do not receive an email from IEDC or GoToWebinar 24 hours prior to the start of the web seminar, it is your responsibility to email webinar@iedconline.org. No refunds or credits will be given for not receiving the dial-in information for the webinar.
Audio
- Using a telephone: A touch-tone telephone
Using Desktop VoIP: A computer equipped with the following:
-- a supported sound card
-- speakers or headphones
-- a microphone (for speaking during the conference)
Web
- Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0, Mozilla Firefox 1.5 for Windows/Mac/Linux, or Safari 2.0 for Macintosh
Broadband Internet connection
Learn more about GoToWebinar please review the Attendee Quick Reference Guide(PDF)
Cancellation, Refund and No-Show Policy
- Refunds are available with cancellation until Monday, June 5. There are no refunds for cancellations received after Monday, June 5.
- All cancellations must be received in writing by email, fax or mail to Cherrika Gordon (e-mail: cgordon@iedconline.org/ fax (202) 223-4745). Cancellations by phone are not accepted.
- All cancellations and requests for a refund after Monday, June 5 need to be submitted in writing to Cherrika Gordon and will be considered on a case by case basis. There is no guarantee of a refund or credit after Monday, June 5 and each will be given consideration under unforeseen circumstances.
Attend Web Seminars and Earn Recertification Credits from the Comfort of Your Office
We understand that CEcDs have a constant yearning to grow and improve their knowledge and expertise in economic development. Therefore, the IEDC web seminars have been approved as professional development programs for recertification. The web seminars provide a convenient and cost-effective online environment for economic developers to learn about cutting-edge research, techniques, and tools that are prevalent in the field.
CEcDs participating in a minimum of three (3) web seminars during a three-year recertification cycle can now earn recertification credits. If you have questions or would like more information, please contact Marjorie Rose at mrose@iedconline.org.