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…
Mims Management Group to create 50 jobs with Montgomery headquarters project
MONTGOMERY, Alabama – Mims Management Group, a pharmacy service company, today marked the official opening of its new headquarters in Montgomery, a project that involves a capital investment of $1.7 million and the creation of at least 50 jobs. Mims Management Group, founded by Montgomery native Daniel Mims, is the parent company of Institutional Pharmacy…
Ted Koppel: “Alabama has taken its place among the great states”
BIRMINGHAM, Alabama — Nearly 50 years after walking alongside Martin Luther King Jr. and thousands of others while reporting on the civil rights march in Selma, veteran journalist Ted Koppel says the Alabama of today is a “totally different place” than the Alabama of 50 years ago. “Alabama has taken its place among the great states,”…
Area Development ranks Alabama a top state for business, touts labor force
MONTGOMERY, Alabama — Leading site consultants from around the nation again picked Alabama as a top state for business, citing its competitive labor costs and ranking it highly in numerous other categories that are key to economic developers, according to a survey in Area Development magazine. For the fourth consecutive year, Alabama ranks among the…
