Regional Economic Development with Nicole Bateman & Ryan McCrady
On Episode #34 of Building BN, CEO Patrick Hoban speaks with two economic development professionals working in the Central Illinois region: Nicole Bateman, President at Decatur Economic Development Corporation and Ryan McCrady, President & CEO at Springfield Sangamon Growth Alliance.
Bateman, from the Decatur EDC website, is “responsible for leading the EDC in efforts to make Decatur an attractive place for businesses to operate by capitalizing on the communities significant workforce, transportation, rail, and utility assets.” An alumni of University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Bateman has worked in economic development for six years. The Decatur EDC, says Bateman, is focused right now “on marketing the community not only for a place to do business, but also from a quality of life standpoint.” One part of this effort is the Limitless Decatur initiative, focused on “business attraction, retention and expansion.” The marketing initiative focuses on the qualities that make Decatur and Macon counties an attractive place to do business because — “There’s something special happening in Decatur.”
McCrady is a Central Illinois native and alumni of both Illinois State University — for his BA in finance — and University of Illinois — for his MBA. He has extensive experience in the financial sector, in both the public and private sectors. The Springfield Sangamon Growth Alliance, originally created as the Land of Lincoln Economic Development Corporation, from their website, is a county-wide endeavor, “helping create and market a financially sound community; able to attract new businesses and skilled talent, while retaining the profitable companies and local workforce who already make Sangamon County their home.”
Bateman discusses one project currently in the works in Decatur — insect farming by InnovaFeed. Because of a co-location model in cooperation with ADM, they have been able to, according to Batemen “reduce their carbon footprint by 80 percent” by making use of waste steam and feedstock created by ADM. She adds that the timing of the news release announcing this project, which coincidentally occurred on the same day that the BNEDC announced Ferrero Rocher $75 million Bloomington Plant expansion, does not mean that the region can expect chocolate covered crickets to be a new specialty from Central Illinois.
You can listen to this episode of the Building BN podcast in its entirety here. For more information about the Decatur Economic Development Council, their website is https://www.decaturedc.com/. For more information about the Springfield Sangamon Growth Alliance, their website is https://www.thriveinspi.org/.
