Jeff Franklin
2015 Chairman of the Board
Through some unprecedented cooperation among multiple local and regional economic development partners, seventeen representatives of private business, governments and non-profits will be headed to Calgary in a few short days to attend and exhibit at the Global Petroleum Show.
It has been exciting to see this effort come together since last November for a large energy related show with over 2,000 exhibitors and worldwide attendance. Our goals for the show are to:
- Help some of our local businesses make connections with potential customers that could ultimately lead to their expansion and job creation
- Visit with manufacturing businesses related to the energy industry that may be looking for a Central Rocky Mountain region to establish branch locations for servicing their customers
- Locate potential investors for partnership with firms already active in the region to deliver natural gas. The partnership between EnCana and Nucor Steel being one example of opportunities that may be available to assist the industry in Western Colorado
- Visit corporate headquarters of companies that already have a presence on the Western Slope to thank them for their contribution to our area economies and see if there is anything we can do to assist them
Diane Schwenke, Dave Cesark, Mike Anton and I will be attending from the Chamber and we will be joined by Grand Junction Mayor Phyllis Norris, Mayor Pro Tem Marty Chazen, Mesa County Commissioner John Justman, Garfield County Commissioner Mike Samson, Jeff Kirtland, WPX, Sandy Kent, Encana and ED Partner staff from the Business Incubator Center, GJEP, City of Grand Junction, Mesa County, WSCOGA and AGNC.
I am personally excited to visit the corporate headquarters of Chamber member Encana and to attend a meeting with Veresen, the developers of the Jordon Cove LNG export terminal that is currently in the review process. Energy is a key part of the Western Slope economy but there are many aspects to it outside of extracting the resource from the many rock formations that surround us. It is time to look beyond that side of the business to what we can do to assist our existing manufacturing base that services the industry grow and explore opportunities for recruiting more manufacturing to the Valley that can serve the regional market and put our people back to work.
I want to thank the City of Grand Junction, Mesa County, Garfield County, Rio Blanco County, WPX and Conquest Development for providing the financial resources to purchase exhibitor space and the trade show amenities and materials needed to show everyone that Western Colorado is indeed “open for business.”
We will share our experiences with Chamber members and discuss the outcomes of this effort at the August Energy Briefing on August 19th as we will know a lot more about how successful we have been by then…eh?
Jeff Franklin, Chairman
Click here to download the Grand Junction Area Chamber of Commerce June 2015 Newsletter.