Quest Site Solutions

As we approach the Thanksgiving holiday, the final stop on Quest’s November travel calendar is the Missouri Association of Counties (MAC) Annual Conference and Expo from November 24-26. The opening session by Kim Davis will provide insight on the site selection process and ways to strengthen businesses attraction efforts.?Quest will also be part of a breakout session with Kim Gerlt of the Missouri Partnership and Tracy E. Brantner, CEcD, EDFP of the Johnson County (MO) Economic Development Corporation that will highlight actionable strategies that county officials can take to enhance competitiveness for economic development projects, including examples from an initiative currently being led by Taylor Dietz, CEcD. We are thankful for our economic development friends and clients near and far and look forward to spending tie in Missouri next week. #SiteSelection #EconomicDevelopment

Next week, Lindsey Cannon will be out in Salt Lake City for Consultant Connect’s Economix 2024 for a unique blend of connections, inspiration, innovation, and relationship building. She’s looking forward to catching up with our economic development friends across the country during office hours and other conference events. She’ll also be joining Greg Word and Amy Gerber on Wednesday for the breakout session – “Mastering the Art of Telling Your Story.” #Economix #SiteSelection #EconomicDevelopment?

Kim Davis and Lindsey Cannon will each be speaking at the Southern Economic Development Council’s Emerging Leaders Conference in Greenville next week. Kim’s session, Mastering the RFI: How to Submit a Winning Response, kicks off the event and will provide a site selector’s best practices for completing an RFI. Attendees will come away with the tools needed to stand out in the site selection process. Later in the conference, Lindsey will team up with Kris Hopkins of Greylock Midstream to cover the role natural gas plays in site readiness, cost competitiveness, and energy reliability. #YPCon #AmericanSouth #SiteSelection #EconomicDevelopment?

Congratulations to Lindsey Cannon for achieving ESG Level 1 certification through CoreNet Global! ?? ESG - Environmental, Social, and Governance – regulations, including the new SEC climate disclosure ruling that was adopted earlier this year, are impacting corporate real estate. Lindsey's achievement is a step forward in advancing how we help our clients ensure that their site selection efforts complement and enhance their sustainability goals and reporting requirements. #ESG #Sustainability #Leadership

Next week, Lindsey Cannon will be teaming up once again with Sarah White (they are also letting Mac Farr come along for the fun) at the South Carolina Economic Developers' Association Mid-Year Meeting, where all three will discuss hot trends in site selection. #SiteSelection #EconomicDevelopment #SouthCarolina

Taylor Dietz, CEcD will be back in South Dakota next week teaching about marketing & attraction at the International Economic Development Council (IEDC)’s Basic Economic Development Course on Black Hills State University’s campus in Rapid City, SD. As a CEcD herself, Taylor is excited by the week’s them of “fuel the growth” and is looking forward to sharing her knowledge and site selection perspective with economic developers. #economicdevelopment #cecd #fuelthegrowth #professionaldevelopment?

In April 2023, we recertified the 460-acre Lincolnway Industrial Rail & Air Park in Clinton, Iowa through the Iowa Economic Development Authority’s Certified Site Program. Since that time, Atlas Roofing Corporation announced a $200 million asphalt shingle manufacturing facility in the park. Due to this success and the growth in the area, Alliant Energy and Grow Clinton have added an additional 136 acres to the park bringing the total certified area to 596 acres. To learn more about this site, click here: bit.ly/lincolnway #certifiedsites #economicdevelopment #QuestCertifiedSite

Quest’s Kim Davis will be at the Site Selectors Guild Fall Forum in Detroit on September 23rd-25th. Kim will be speaking in a breakout session that will provide a crash course on site selection and how consultants interact with companies and communities. The session will be framed around five top traits of a great economic developer. #SSGFallForum #SiteSelection #EconomicDevelopment

Congrats to Taylor Dietz, CEcD for being named to Greenville Business Magazine’s 2024 Best and Brightest 35 and Under! This honor recognizes young professionals who are making a difference in Greenville and within their organizations. We are proud of Taylor’s accomplishments to date, and we are excited to see the contributions she will make in the years to come – both at Quest and in Greenville. Kudos Taylor!

On Quest’s site selection projects, we see a lot of RFI/RFP responses and conduct a lot of site visits.?And let’s just say there’s plenty of opportunity for improvement…which is why we offer multiple types of training for economic developers to improve their competitiveness on projects through enhanced RFI responses and more effective site visits. Offered as a stand-alone service or as part of a more comprehensive economic development program, we issue?report cards for RFI responses and site visits that include specific recommendations for improvement. Recently, we issued report cards as part of an Industrial Site Audit in South Dakota and as part of the Iowa Economic Development Authority’s Certified Site Program. Quest also leads?in-depth bootcamps to dive into the details of RFIs and site visits. While we have a general bootcamp that appeals to economic developers of all skillsets, we can also customize these trainings for people newer to the industry or those who have been responding to RFIs for many years. Over the summer, we led multiple bootcamps for economic developers in Michigan. Additionally, our team frequently speaks at events and conferences across the country, and many of these recent presentations have been about improving a community’s competitiveness for projects. In just the last few months, Quest has presented at events ranging from statewide conferences to intimate regional meetings. From South Dakota down to Texas, Georgia to Michigan, and places in between, we are helping economic developers become more competitive through their RFI/RFP responses and site visits. #SiteSelection #EconomicDevelopment