Radius Indiana’s Stakeholder Meeting Attracts Area Leaders

BEDFORD, Ind. (March 10, 2017) — Radius Indiana saw record attendance this week at its annual stakeholders luncheon at the French Lick Resort. Nearly 150 attendees gathered to learn about the organization’s accomplishments from the past year and to hear about initiatives and key focus areas for 2017.

Radius Indiana Board of Directors’ Chair Becky Skillman opened the program by recognizing the region’s artisan community and its important contribution to the fabric of the region. This year’s luncheon featured woodcarving artist Larry Green, from Washington displaying his wood carving skills for guests. Radius partnered with area artisans to provide gifts from the regional including wine from the French Lick Winery, a signed carving from Green, cookies from the Sisters of St. Benedict in Ferdinand, and tickets to the Indiana Artisan Marketplace later this month.

Jeff Quyle, Radius Indiana president and CEO, explained the Southern Indiana economic development landscape and how Radius functions compared to neighboring regional economic development organizations. He also touted that the region recorded nearly $92 million in investment for new or expanding businesses and an impressive $270 million is tourism spending by visitors to the eight-county region.

Regional Opportunity Initiatives Interim CEO Tina Peterson offered the keynote address. Peterson gave an update for a variety of Southwest Central Indiana initiatives. ROI facilitates the 11-county grant from Lilly Endowment awarded to the Radius counties plus Brown, Monroe and Owen in 2015.

Peterson shared a preview of the ROI’s recently completed occupational needs assessment, which garnered information from employers in the region representing advanced manufacturing, defense and national security and life sciences. A key finding of the study shows an urgent need for STEM education in the region as well as a need to create viable pathways for high school students to fill jobs from production to engineering. Peterson also announced the first stakeholder meeting for the Regional Opportunity Initiatives will be held April 26 at the French Lick Resort as well.

ABOUT RADIUS INDIANA: Radius Indiana is a regional economic development partnership representing eight counties in Southern Indiana: Crawford, Daviess, Dubois, Greene, Lawrence, Martin, Orange, and Washington. Formed in 2009, Radius Indiana also serves as a point of contact in Indiana for Naval Support Activity Crane and leads regional collaboration by leveraging the diverse assets of Southwest Central Indiana to drive attraction, retention and expansion of business, thereby increasing employment and investment opportunities and quality of life within the region.