From NCEast Alliance

 

The NCEast Alliance and NC’s Northeast Alliance have signed a letter of intent to merge operations. The nonbinding letter of intent was recently signed by the two organizations with anticipation of a memorandum of understanding being signed soon which would be effective Jan. 1, 2015.

“Our board is dedicated to leadership and problem solving in economic development as we seek to grow eastern NC,”said Paul Buchanan, chairman of the NCEast Alliance Board of Directors. “We believe that unifying the two regions is in the best interest of our individual counties and each region. It is a unanimous decision of our board of directors to accept the letter of intent from NC’s Northeast Alliance,” added Buchanan.

The two areas’ shared culture and heritage, industry clusters and rural landscape provides a synergy, that when combined together creates a stronger and more dynamic region. The linkage between the regions’ defense/homeland security, motor vehicle assembly and parts manufacturing, life science, aerospace, marine, and tourism industries as well as shared economic goals, will result in a stronger combined organization.

“It would be extremely difficult and very expensive for Carteret County to reach our economic development targets without the marketing efforts of the NCEast Alliance. It is an expensive but vital effort to track down prospects and identify projects … coming together as a region heightens the message and manages the cost,” said Myles Stempin, executive director of the Carteret Economic Development Council and chairman of the NCEast Alliance Economic Developers Advisory Group. “Carteret County has and will continue to benefit from a strong regional economic development strategy,” Stempin added.

While details of the merger will be more clearly defined in the memorandum of understanding, NCNE Alliance will use its remaining funds to procure affiliation with the NCEast Alliance. Additionally, the NCEast staff will expand to serve its new, larger geography and have a branch office in the northeast region. The NCEast Alliance will also relocate its headquarters to 1020 Red Banks Road, Greenville, NC 27858.

“Even without state funding, we now have a long term operational plan. As a result, we can more successfully raise private funds for marketing and we will continue to have a strong collective voice for rural issues. The economic clusters of importance to NC’s Northeast will mesh nicely with those identified as important to the NCEast Alliance. I look forward to joining the NCEast team,” said Vann Rogerson, president and CEO of NC’s Northeast Alliance.

“Our board unanimously supported signing a Letter of Intent with NCEast,” said Roland Vaughan, chairman of NC’s Northeast Alliance. “During its first five months as a private nonprofit, our board realized that we could not raise enough money to sustain a permanent operation. That’s when we instructed staff to pursue any new options that would reduce expenditures and maximize our effectiveness. The letter of intent gives us representation on the NCEast Board, maintains an office and senior staff in the region, and allows us to pay for our counties to participate with the NCEast Alliance for four and a half years for free. During this time, each of our counties can decide if they want to remain in the alliance or pursue other avenues for economic development,” Vaughan added

Counties joining the NCEast Alliance as a result of the merger include Bertie, Camden, Chowan, Currituck, Dare, Gates, Halifax, Hertford, Hyde, Martin, Northampton, Pasquotank, Perquimans, Tyrrell and Washington.