Practitioner Perspective: Anatomy of the Deal

Ann Stevens
President, BioMed SA
San Antonio, Texas

At this summer’s annual convention in Milwaukee we invited two speakers, Mark Kleinschmidt from the New Castle (DE) Chamber and Ann Stevens from BioMed SA (San Antonio), to dissect how their respective regions won two of last year’s biggest corporate investments.  Mark discussed Fisker Automotive’s first commercial production facility, and Ann shared information about a new Medtronic Diabetes complex. The session, called “Anatomy of the Deal,” highlighted the importance of regional cooperation and leveraging existing assets for successful economic development.

For the benefit of those of you who couldn’t make this session, I sat down with Ann to recap some of the most salient lessons she shared.  Our interview is below:

ACCE:  Your organization is focused on growing one specific industry cluster – healthcare and bioscience – and you’ve had some noteworthy successes.  How did regional leaders decide to focus on this Industry?  

Ann Stevens:  BioMed SA was formed in 2005 with financial support from the city, county and local utility, in addition to the industry itself, but we can trace our roots to the Greater San Antonio Chamber of Commerce.  The Chamber began conducting an annual economic impact study of our sector in the mid 1990’s, and through those studies discovered that healthcare and bioscience constitute one of the leading engines of the regional economy.  Another study conducted by the city reached a similar conclusion.  With multiple studies pointing to the importance of our sector, leaders from the chamber joined with former Mayor and HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros to launch BioMed SA as an industry cluster organization.

ACCE:  Let’s talk about one of your most high profile success stories, the 2009 Medtronic project.

AS:  To select a location for its new Diabetes Therapy Management and Education Center, Medtronic conducted an exhaustive 16-month search nationwide. They started with 936 cities, virtually every major urban area in all 50 states, and whittled it down to three finalist cities – and ultimately San Antonio -- based on multiple criteria including labor data, demographics, community attractiveness, bioscience assets, and overall business climate.  The Medtronic project will create 1,400 new jobs and validates our overall growth strategy for the biomedical sector. 

ACCE:  To what extent was talent an issue for the Medtronic project, and how did you meet their needs?

AS:  Workforce was a huge factor in Medtronic’s decision, and making the ‘educational case’ for San Antonio was our first, and perhaps biggest, hurdle.  We knew we were up against Austin, home to the state’s flagship public university.  Without one big, nationally recognized institution to tout, San Antonio’s strategy was to assemble the chief placement officers from our 14 colleges and universities to meet with visiting Medtronic executives.  They came bearing lots of resumes from qualified students preparing to graduate, and we were able to demonstrate that, while not having a single mammoth university, San Antonio is an education center, home to nearly 125,000 students.

ACCE:  Multiple organizations and public officials played a role in landing the Medtronic deal.  How did you all facilitate close cooperation?

AS:  BioMed SA was one of the many players that helped land the project.  The San Antonio Economic Development Foundation was the lead marketing organization that shepherded the project from start to finish.  The city and county offices of economic development addressed incentives and infrastructure needs, along with our municipally-owned utility.  The mayor and county judge were both personally involved, and several similar local companies played host to visiting Medtronic executives.   BioMed SA was called in as a sector expert in the latter stages of the project.  We were ready, willing, and eager to play a role in recruiting an important medical technology company like Medtronic by showing them that if they selected San Antonio, Medtronic would become a leading player in the city’s leading industry with a built-in support network in the form of BioMed SA.  The recruitment process was a team effort that worked because the players had well defined roles, work together on a collaborative basis, and shared a common end goal.

ACCE: In your opinion, what ultimately won the day for San Antonio on this project?

AS: Collaboration is the “yeast” that has enabled our community to rise above everyone’s expectations, and the Medtronic project was a perfect example.  San Antonio knows how to pool its resources, leverage its strengths, and work together.  In doing so, we are able to rise to the occasion when game-changing opportunities like the Medtronic project come our way.
 
Read about this project and some of last year’s other biggest investments in Site Selection magazine.

Resources Spotlight

Ready, Set, Go! Why Business Should Support Early Childhood Education
This new report, produced by the U.S. Chamber’s Institute for a Competitive Workforce with funding from the Pew Charitable Trusts, sheds light on the tremendous impact that early childhood education has on the national economic security and the viability of the American dream

The Role of Local Elected Officials in Economic Development: 10 Things You Should Know
The publication from the National League of Cities, with help from IEDC, can help you build a stronger partnership with local elected officials on economic development. The guidebook outlines the “top 10 list” of things elected officials should know about economic development in order to be effective leaders.

City Vitals
Developed by Portland-based economist Joseph Cortright, in partnership with CEOs for Cities, City Vitals lays out the rationale for four dimensions of success for regions: talent, innovation, connections and distinctiveness.  The study also outlines a new set of 20metrics to measure progress in those four areas.  This report is a quick read and well worth your time.

Creating Prosperity Blog Digest

This month ACCE launched the Creating Prosperity Blog, a forum to discuss trends and concepts in economic and community development from a uniquely chamber perspective.  Check out these recent posts from the Creating Prosperity Blog:

• Educate for the Economy
  In a recently adopted five year strategic plan, the Dallas Regional Chamber listed education improvements as one of their top economic development priorities.  Find out what the Dallas Morning News Editorial Board had to say.

• Invest Now?
  According to Washington Post columnist Ezra Klein, if government was run like a business, it would take advantage of the current economic climate and invest in infrastructure.  Read more about his rationale.

• Katz on the Next Economy
  Watch the Brookings Institution’s Bruce Katz in a video for Time explain why regions must leverage their assets and invest in infrastructure to prosper in the globally competitive 21st Century economy.  This is gut check level stuff.

• Kotkin on Smaller Metro Growth
  Why is Joel Kotkin, noted author and thinker on urban development, geography and demographics, so high on the prospects for smaller metros, and what does his argument mean for growth in your region.