Auburn mayor: BCS Championship Game exposure a lift for Alabama city
PASADENA, California – Regardless of how the pigskin bounces in Monday night’s BCS Championship Game, Bill Ham Jr., the longtime mayor of Auburn, Ala., already knows one winner – the fast-growing Lee County city that aims to build on recent economic development successes. “The national and international exposure of this game – you just can’t…
Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson addresses 300 aviation suppliers at event in Germany
HAMBURG, Germany — Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson told aviation company executives at a conference today in Germany that the Alabama city is an ideal location for supplier operations tied to Airbus’ passenger jet production center, now under construction at Brookley Aeroplex. “I’m here today — just a month since taking office as mayor — to…
Alabama leaders travel to Hamburg, Germany for Aviation Forum 2013
MONTGOMERY, Alabama — Alabama Department of Commerce Assistant Director of Business Development Bob Smith and a delegation of Alabama leaders have traveled to Germany to attend Aviation Forum 2013, a conference in Hamburg that largely attracts aviation suppliers looking to work with aerospace giant Airbus. “The Aviation Forum gives Alabama the opportunity to get in…
Nominations sought for Governor’s Trade Excellence Award 2014
MONTGOMERY, Alabama – Applications are now being accepted for the 8th annual Governor’s Trade Excellence Award, presented by the Alabama Department of Commerce and the Alabama Export Trade Alliance. This prestigious program recognizes companies in Alabama that have excelled in selling their products or services overseas. Recipients include large, medium and small businesses as well…
Meet Satoshi ‘Sam’ Kakuda, Alabama’s economic development point man in Japan
TOKYO, Japan — Before Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley arrived in Japan for this week’s economic mission and after he leaves on Friday, the state will continue to have a voice in Japan. For years, Satoshi “Sam” Kakuda, director of the Tokyo office for the Alabama Department of Commerce, has listened to the needs of Japanese…
Alabama team meets with top Toyota executives on Japan trade mission
MONTGOMERY, Alabama — Alabama Governor Robert Bentley and top state economic development officials today met with high-ranking executives of Toyota at the global automaker’s headquarters as the Alabama team marked the second day of a trade mission to Japan. While in Toyota City, Governor Bentley met Toyota Chairman Takeshi Uchiyamada and discussed the ongoing expansion…
Hancock Bank plans Montgomery operations center with 200 jobs
MONTGOMERY, Alabama — Hancock Bank said today it will open a Central Alabama corporate center with 200 positions that will support the Gulfport, Miss.-based banking company’s five-state footprint stretching from southern Alabama to metropolitan Houston. At a press conference, the bank said it will occupy two full floors—approximately 40,000 square feet—at Montgomery’s Capitol Commerce Center.…
Alabama investment by Japanese firms tops $4 billion as expansions continue
MONTGOMERY, Alabama – As Governor Robert Bentley begins four days of talks with Japanese corporate leaders on an economic development mission, business ties between Alabama and the Asian country are strengthening as several Japanese firms add new investment to expand their operations in the state. In Alabama, many Japanese manufacturers have found a U.S. base…
Alabama seeks deeper relationships with aerospace suppliers in Seattle
MONTGOMERY, Alabama — Alabama’s top economic developer traveled to Seattle, Wash., this week to foster deeper relationships with aerospace suppliers as Alabama moves to become the next global center of passenger jet production. Alabama Secretary of State Greg Canfield, who was in Seattle for the British-American Business Council Aerospace Convention, is targeting the development of…
Commerce Department’s Linda Swann named ‘rising star’ by ACE
The Alabama Communities of Excellence (ACE) presented the 2013 ACE Star Awards at the annual Alabama Community Leadership Network Conference Award Luncheon on Oct. 8 in Auburn. The ACE Star Awards recognize those individuals who have performed above and beyond the call of duty and embody the principles of the ACE Program, which is a…
