Few people understand the mechanics of rural economic development better than Valerie Gray, the executive director of the Chambers County Development Authority. After all, she and her team helped engineer a reversal of the county’s fortunes after its traditional industry imploded. Gray has led the CCDA for over 22 years. During her tenure, she has…

SELMA, Alabama — Craig Field Executive Director Jim Corrigan announced that City Jet/Turbine Worx plans to open an aircraft maintenance operation and dispatch facility on Craig Field, a public airport and industrial facility. With the newly signed lease agreement, City Jet/Turbine Worx will operate on the flight line in Hangar 251 and create approximately 30…

FAYETTE, Alabama – For Mike Kimple, director of manufacturing at the SHOWA Group  factory in this northwest Alabama city, the mission is clear for the nation’s only domestic producer of single-use nitrile gloves. “We’re just trying to get every single glove we can out the door to fight this pandemic,” Kimple said. Every day, SHOWA’s…

The Alabama Department of Commerce is launching a new digital marketing campaign, including an online site, that focuses on rural Alabama as a great place for doing business and the source of valuable products in demand around the world. The centerpiece of the “RurAL” campaign is a content-rich website that showcases the business advantages of…

Many folks may be unaware of the advantages of doing business in Alabama’s rural counties, but corporate decision-makers from around the world are fully tuned in to the possibilities. Foreign direct investment has been a vital ingredient in Alabama’s economic growth in recent years — and that is true for rural parts of the state…

WOODSTOCK, Alabama – Bibb County is adding hundreds of new jobs, significant capital investment and next-generation automotive industry technology, thanks to the vision of a local timber magnate. More than a decade ago, Scott G. Davis began working to build the 564-acre industrial park near Woodstock that now bears his name. What was once hilly…

MONTGOMERY, Alabama – Governor Kay Ivey announced today that Resource Fiber, a national leader in efforts to manufacture commercial bamboo products, plans to establish its first full-scale production plant in Alabama as part of a project that will create 111 jobs in Sulligent. Resource Fiber plans to invest $3.6 million in the Lamar County facility,…

ROANOKE, Alabama – SteelFab Inc. plans to expand its structural steel facility in east Alabama with a $23.6 million project that will create over 30 jobs and position the plant for future growth, according to the Randolph County Economic Development Authority. The company, one of the nation’s leading fabricator of structural steel, selected the Roanoke…