By Michelle Sutherlin
The Norman Transcript
 
When the Norman Economic Development Coalition started 10 years ago, Executive Director Don Wood didn’t have a single brochure to hand out, not one piece of letter head to write on and not even a phone to call prospective businesses.

A decade later, Wood drives through the Norman Business Park and looks at the businesses NEDC has brought to Norman.

“There are cars in the parking lot, and there are lots of them to see,” Wood said. “That translates to people who have jobs due in large part to the efforts of NEDC.”

NEDC Board Chairwoman Lois Lawler Brown said although she has only been on the NEDC board since 2002, she was on the Norman City Council when NEDC was developed.

“We have come a long way from our initial idea,” she said. “The NEDC is an effective mechanism to coordinate the efforts between the chamber, the city and the university. There is a strong synergy base there.”

Sooner Centurions

Wood said there are many things to be proud of that have happened at the NEDC during the last 10 years.

One of those accomplishments is the forming of the Sooner Centurions, which is a group of more than 100 individuals and businesses that each donate $1,000 to the chamber so the chamber can meet the NEDC’s funding needs of $100,000 annually.

The NEDC is funded by three local entities for $100,000 each: Norman Chamber of Commerce, City of Norman and the University of Oklahoma, Wood said.

Anna-Mary Suggs, executive director of the Norman Chamber, said the Centurions speak well of the Norman business community.

“We started off with just 100 people in the Centurions,” Suggs said. “But it was clear more people wanted to do it. That points to the fact that the business community is pleased with what the NEDC is doing.”

Lawler Brown said besides the key funding from the Centurions, the feedback from the business community on where they would like to see the NEDC go is also a key to the group.

Norman Business Park

Wood said another major accomplishment of the NEDC is creating the Norman Business Park on SH 9 in southeast Norman. The business park was designed to host companies who could buy and build at build-ready sites in Norman. Some major employers are already located in the business park, including Boise Cascade, ClientLogic, Albon and IMMY.

The former Saxon complex, 44 acres of the business park, includes the office building that is now a “Corporate Center” and probably will be used completely by CNI, Wood said.

Wood said not just developing the business park, but adding a park, ponds and walking trails between the business park and local residences is something to be proud of.

“That’s something many other communities wouldn’t have even bothered with,” Wood said. “We looked at that and designed what is a very compatible environment to both areas.”

Lawler Brown said the Norman Business Park has been a fundamental base for NEDC’s success.

“The business park gives incoming businesses a place to establish in Norman without a great deal of overhead,” Lawler Brown said.

Business incubator

Another major accomplishment of the NEDC is creating the 10,000-square-foot business incubator called eTec. The incubator, 710 Asp Ave., is owned and operated by the NEDC, Wood said.

Lawler Brown said eTec is filling a very important need in Norman.

“There is so much research coming out of the university,” she said. “It’s a great place for a growing business to establish themselves. There is also a great mentoring capacity there.”

Wood said eTec is at capacity with 14 tenants, including: Agilan, Atmospheric Technology Services, Centaurus Technologies, Cleveland County Workforce Investment Board, Commons Development Foundation, Consulting Services Inc., Data Expedition, Ekips Technologies Inc., Keybridge Technologies, Nanolight Inc., OK Solutions, Online MedSource, PDS Engineering and WebEprint.

Suggs said Wood not only brought in companies, but he helped local companies.
“Don has worked hard on a lot of different projects and helping companies that were already here,” Suggs said.

Not only is the incubator at full capacity, it has already graduated several tenants. Graduates include: Front Row, Weather Decision Technologies, Albon Manufacturing, Eye Opener, Information Technology Management Solution and Telogical System.

Emerging employers

Wood said among others, there are several emerging employers in Norman, including Albon. The company is expected to eventually employ about 200 people. Other emerging employers in Norman include: CNI, with 500-plus employees, RiskMetrics, with 100-plus employees, Software Development Technologies, with 100-plus employees, and Immuno Mycologics Inc.

Sean Bauman, president and CEO of IMMY, said the NEDC played a major role in bringing the 28-year-old company to Norman. Bauman, who is now also a board member of the NEDC, said he wanted to relocate his business from Goldsby and contacted Wood.

“The NEDC sold us land at a price that was great for us with instant equity,” Bauman said. “The Norman Business Park already had all the infrastructure there. We wanted to move to Norman for a larger pool of employees and to be closer to the university.”

IMMY makes diagnostic kits they sell to hospital laboratories, Bauman said.

“We are so excited about the NEDC,” Bauman said. “It has the potential to do incredible things in Norman.”

Economic impact

Wood said not only has the NEDC indirectly brought hundreds of jobs here, it also has had a major affect of the local economy.

According to research from the Center for Economic Management Research, Price College of Business at the University of Oklahoma, companies brought in by the NEDC made a major impact in the last year. There were 3,391 jobs with salaries totaling $108,394,535.

According to the same study, the tax impact on Norman also has been huge, with Norman sales tax getting a boost of $1,327,833.

Wood said that is a major return on the city’s annual $100,000 investment.
But the financial investment is just the beginning.

Ten years ago Norman Mayor Harold Haralson was a Councilmember from Ward 8 when the NEDC was born.

“Today as Mayor, I credit Don Wood with creating the organization we see today,” Haralson said. “He has brought it from an idea to a full fledged economic engine in our community. High paying jobs and opportunities are what it is going to take to keep our children and our students in Oklahoma. It does not make any economic sense to educate our children and then have them leave because we don’t provide the opportunities to work, live, play and raise families in a manner that they are able to in other states. Intellectual capital is a valuable asset that we need to retain.”

OU President David Boren said the impact of the NEDC has been huge.

“The jobs and economic opportunities created by the Norman Economic Development Coalition during the past 10 years demonstrate what can be accomplished when a university and a community work closely together in strong partnership,” Boren said.

Suggs said the NEDC is a great success.

“I can’t believe it’s been 10 years,” she said. “It’s every bit as successful as I thought it would be when I started working on it.”