Wilmington 2.0

All Wilmingtonians should have a deep appreciation for the historic contributions made to the Greater Wilmington area by the Committee of 100, who led the modern transformation of Wilmington in the later part of the 20th century with their focus on recruiting manufacturing jobs to the area.

Simply put, many of us wouldn’t be here if it were not for the colossal contributions of that organization. We all now have an opportunity to remake Wilmington i nto more than an industrial center and vacation destination by focusing on recruiting high-tech businesses and entrepreneurs to the area and supporting the ones that are already here. To speak in the language reflective of my own twenty-five year career in the computer software industry, I look to those past and productive endeavors as the delivery of Wilmington 1.0. It is now time for a major 21st century effort around Wilmington 2.0.

Wilmington 2.0 is a place where dozens of enthusiastic entrepreneurs dream to build companies so successful that their towers join PPD’s headquarters in the northern city skyline. It is a place where a good number of existing high technology and life science firms move their
customer-facing operations for sales and service to various corporate campus locations to the Greater Wilmington region.

Talented software developers, web designers, pharmaceutical R&D gurus, and other such knowledge workers demand that their firms open Wilmington, N.C.-area facilities so that they can escape the land-lock and endless traffic tie-ups which are part of daily life in not-so-far away places such as Atlanta metro, Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill, and the Northern Virginia-based Tyson’s Corner and Reston/Dulles tech
centers. In Wilmington 2.0, Research Triangle technology and health science employers look to Wilmington as “the next big thing” in terms of an alternative, vibrant location for their best and brightest to produce intellectual property for the firm, while living a high quality lifestyle featuring our beautiful beaches and our increasingly appealing downtown.

 
In a successful Wilmington 2.0 scenario, we earn the right to recruit an operation from within SAS, one of the most successful companies in the history of enterprise software.  SAS world headquarters is located a two hour drive away in Cary (over 4,000 employees there!), with another 1,300 other employees in offices throughout the United States, and a total of 400 offices globally. SAS is a remarkable firm, from employee and retiree benefits to their environmental leadership (solar power, etc.).

Wherever SAS has a location, there is a strong culture of community relations with a focus on education.  How great would that be!

The Wilmington 2.0 effort is perhaps best crystallized by the Cape Fear Future initiative being led by the Greater Wilmington Chamber of Commerce. And as exciting, the UNCW project under way to create the UNCW Entrepreneurship Center, aimed to serve as another catalyst for successful ongoing growth in Southeastern North Carolina.

Clearly, the Committee of 100 and the talent and experience therein needs to play a role in Wilmington 2.0.  But their preferred brand name, Wilmington Industrial Development Inc., might need to be modernized. Maybe call it, I don’t know, the Committee of 100?  That sounds far more post-industrial, modern and cool to me!

The UNCW Cameron School of Business, led by Dean Dr. Larry Clark, is certainly doing its part. In 2002 Skip Jones and Dr. Dick Verrone launched a wildly successful program by forming the Cameron Executive Network, mobilizing the remarkable executive talent living in the region to mentor students nearing graduation.

It has produced a staggering number of success stories, and is ever-dynamic and growing.  Dr. Steve Harper is another visionary at UNCW who deserves mention for his progressive “real world” ideas in areas such as entrepreneurship and sales, and for his outreach to the business community to test and validate his ideas.

Finally, UNCW’s Jonathan Rowe will surely play a central role in coordinating much of the area’s entrepreneurial firepower with his just-underway Entrepreneurship Center. Jonathan is energetic, innovative and right for the job.

Of course, the flip side to the education equation is the need for constant improvement in our pre-K through 12 public and private school offerings across the region, so that knowledge workers and their employers will more readily agree to move here. Connie Majure-Rhett is President & CEO of the Greater Wilmington Chamber of Commerce and the leader of the Cape Fear Future initiative.

Under her leadership there is renewed focus on what she calls STEM Education, which emphasizes excellence in our schools, with particular focus on the vital disciplines of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. This should serve as wake-up call to all our local school leaders, teachers, and politicians. As my former boss and Silicon Valley legend Steve Jobs would often say, “Dare to be great!”

Heck, let’s ALL dare to be great, and try to play a helpful hand in guiding the Wilmington area to smart, clean growth on the path towards a Wilmington 2.0 reality that we can all be proud of.

Tom Looney has lived in Wilmington for nine years.  He has been in the computer software industry for nearly 25 years, with sales executive stints at firms including Oracle, NeXT (Apple), and Microsoft.  He has served on boards at UNCW, Cape Fear Academy, VisionAIR, and other local interests.