The leader of North Carolina’s new public-private economic development partnership shared details during a Wilmington event Friday about his organization’s efforts to market the state as an attractive place to do business.   

Christopher Chung, CEO of the Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina, whose hiring was announced in January, said the nonprofit corporation he helms uses $17.5 million in state funds, along with money from the private sector, for five main tasks necessary to bringing more jobs and investment to the Tar Heel State.

Those tasks, Chung explained to a group of about 60 people attending a breakfast at Cape Fear Country Club, are business recruitment, supporting existing industry, promoting exports, boosting tourism and assisting small businesses in their earliest stages.

“If you look at these five functions, the common thread that you see throughout all of these is really about marketing and promotion and sales. We are marketing and selling North Carolina as a place,” Chung said during the session, hosted by the Wilmington-based N.C. Foreign Trade Promotion Council and the N.C. World Trade Association’s Cape Fear Chapter. “It’s not a product that fits on a box or on a shelf. It’s the sum total of all the different intangible elements that make this an attractive product to the unique audience that we are targeting.”

Chung addressed the issue of incentives used by some states to try to win companies over by saying that his organization’s role is not to lobby for policy changes, such as restoring the film tax credits that expired last year, but rather to provide policymakers with the reasons why the state loses deals.

“There’s going to be some deals where that [a lack of incentives] could impact our ability to be successful,” he said.

But one of the benefits of a public-private partnership like the EDPNC, Chung explained, is the ability to leverage private sector resources to the tune of an estimated $1 million to $3 million a year in the drive to bring companies here. Other benefits include giving the private sector input, in this case via a 17-member board of directors, Chung said.

When it comes to accountability and being able to reward high-performing workers, “these are sometimes two things that can be very difficult to do within the public sector,” Chung said, who worked for his home state of Ohio for 10 years before heading the public-private Missouri Partnership for seven years.

In North Carolina, the N.C. Department of Commerce used to perform the functions of the EDPNC, and "commerce still pays an important role on the product development side,” Chung said, responding to an audience member’s question about the North Carolina agency in relation to the new state partnership.

Earlier in the session, Chung elaborated on the EDPNC's day-to-day work. For example, the corporation's export promotion team focuses on helping North Carolina companies start or strengthen global sales ties, Chung said.

“When a company here is successful in growing exports overseas, those are dollars that come back here into North Carolina, dollars that pump back into our local, regional and state economies in a way that will hopefully help some of these exporters generate enough new sales where they’re making new investments or adding new payroll to their operations,” Chung said.

That idea coincided with a statement made by John Hayes, president of the NCWTA Cape Fear Chapter and executive director of the N.C. Foreign Trade Promotion Council, before introducing Chung at Friday's breakfast.

"Our vision is growing North Carolina businesses globally, and that says it all," Hayes said. 

In addition to promoting exports, supporting existing businesses is crucial to demonstrate a favorable business environment, Chung said.

“That’s ultimately going to help us persuade even more companies to locate here and do business,” Chung said.

Regarding another of his group's responsibilities, Chung said his team's efforts related to tourism, a $20 billion industry in North Carolina, don’t stop at promoting the state as a travel destination for individuals and families.

“We’re also going after travel agents and tour operators, people who are aggregating tourism decisions on behalf of a large number of customers. We’re going after conferences, conventions and other meeting events as a way to draw outside spending,” Chung said.