Ultimately, all of this improves a company’s bottom line.

Let’s start with a not-so-fun fact: absenteeism costs the U.S. economy $225.8 billion a year or $1,685 per employee, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Payroll and HR company Paychex points out that absenteeism is a pattern of not showing up for work because of a range of factors, including illness, personal emergencies, childcare responsibilities, or car trouble. But not all time off falls into the same category.

The company notes that there is an important difference between absence and actual absenteeism. Taking time off for a scheduled doctor’s appointment or pre-planned vacation is a regular absence that can be managed by leaders and the rest of the team. It’s the instances of often missing the first hour of work due to traffic or frequent unscheduled days away from work that are considered absenteeism. The result can be gutting losses in productivity and higher costs to cover for absent workers (in the form of overtime and/or temp hires).

The topic of absenteeism is timely as more employers are mandating their workers return to the office. The trend since the darkest days of COVID has been to cautiously allow employees to come back to the workplace on their own terms. But recently it has changed from “come back as you can for a couple days,” to “we want you back in all the time.”

As more companies are taking this approach, the rate of absenteeism is climbing. This is especially true for employers that are stricter about how many days workers are in the office.

A National Center for Biotechnology Information paper says the impact of bringing workers back into the office may be more clouded than just a straight boost to productivity. “Sickness absenteeism generally declined during the pandemic among teleworkers, possibly due to increased flexibility and a reduced risk of exposure to workplace-related health hazards.”

By contrast, sickness presenteeism, where people work while they’re sick although they’re not as productive, increased during the pandemic. This was attributed to the blurred boundaries between work and personal life, and the ability to continue to work from home even while unwell.

With absenteeism in mind, companies that adopt a return-to-the-office policy for workers may want to consider the benefits that come with a flexible approach to routines for their employees. Workplace wellness initiatives, including flexibility, are attractive to job-seekers.

There are a number of practical benefits that come from a flexible approach to work, like getting more done while paying for less space. People coming and going at different times means that companies can go with a hotel or hot-desking model where places are not assigned and can be used by different people, reducing the overall real estate footprint. And with a smaller space comes a reduction in rent charges, utility charges, and technology costs.

There is also an actual boost that comes when employees feel they are trusted and empowered to own their schedules.

Human resources company ADP developed an employee sentiment survey that collected monthly data from a random, stratified panel sample of 2,500 U.S. workers dating back to December 2021. Here’s what they noted in the survey results: “One of the strongest relationships we found is when employees have a sense of freedom, flexibility, and autonomy at work.” This refers to being able to choose how work gets done. “Flexibility is the latitude workers have to choose where they work and to set their own schedule. Autonomy refers to an employee’s ability to make daily decisions instead of being told what to do.”

The company found that workers who trust their organization’s senior leadership are 41 times more likely to be highly motivated and committed to the company. If they have the trust of the company in return to give them flexibility and autonomy, that’s a win.

The pandemic was a turning point, forcing employees into the position of working more independently, managing their time, and prioritizing their tasks. From that experience, workers have become used to having flexibility in how they get things done. And those who have enough freedom are both highly motivated and committed to their employer.

Another consideration in workplace wellness is commuting, which puts more strain on the workforce. As CNN reports, commuting is now unaffordable for some American workers. Nick Bloom, Stanford University professor and expert in work-from-home trends, saw the share of days worked from home tick up to an average of 26.2 percent in March and April 2026, compared to 24.6 percent in January and February, according to the Survey of Working Arrangements and Attitudes. “It’s just allowing employees here and there to take an extra day at home,” he says, alleviating some of the very real economic pressures of working.

In the same vein, recruiting and talent retention is another advantage that can come from a more flexible work schedule. Casting a wider net beyond local geography is a better way to find better employees; it can’t be assumed that the best workers are all conveniently living near the office just hoping to be hired. Employers need to be actively looking for the best talent without limiting the geographical proximity.

It is also fair to say that a 9-to-5 workday does not guarantee maximum production for everyone. Some can get in first thing in the morning and crank out a lot of work, while others do the same thing, but their peak starts later in the day or even extends into the evening. But, despite these variations, the traditional 9-to-5 workday, which was invented by U.S. labour unions in the 1800s, is still the standard. That means many people are working outside their preferred hours of peak productivity.

While flexibility may not seem like an urgent issue that needs to be addressed when considering all the other challenges a business must face, it is one of the factors that can put more stress on employees and backfire for the bottom line. When pushed too far, restricted structure can lead to absenteeism that reflects that $225.8 billion black hole, and from there to burnout, which brings its own serious issues and costs of replacing workers.

Consider this: when a specialized employee leaves a company, it can cost between 50 and 200 percent of their annual salary to replace them. Liz Elting at Forbes looked at employee burnout, noting that employers underestimate how many of their employees are experiencing it. She refers to Care.com’s Future of Benefits Report: 69 percent of employees say they’re at a moderate to high risk of burnout, while employers believe only 45 percent of their employees are at risk. Employees benefit from “slack” or “unscheduled, unassigned time in the workday that workers have complete autonomy over.” The benefits of this include a greater sense of accountability for their productivity while not feeling overwhelmed by tasks that they do not feel are as consequential.

While it is true that there are solid benefits to having employees in the office at the same time, employers should also consider what they could gain by providing a level of flexibility to their attendance policy. Balancing having everyone in versus longer employee retention and reduced absenteeism is important for long-term success. Based on the research, workers seem more than willing to make up the time they spend getting to and from the office with productive work.

Striking a balance between how much time in and out of the office is required could be the best move employers make.

The post Staying Flexible<p class="company">How Flexible Schedules Lead to Higher Workplace Productivity</p> appeared first on Business In Focus Magazine.

For decades, the tunnel served as an exit channel for water used to generate electricity. Today, tourists in raincoats can walk its length and emerge at a platform to view the Horseshoe and American Falls at close range. While inoperable today, electricity generated at the plant once illuminated communities in Ontario and neighbouring New York State.

Hydropower is the official term for electricity produced by flowing or falling water. Given that North America is blessed with abundant lakes, rivers, and other waterways, it is no surprise that hydropower is such a common energy source. In 2022, hydropower accounted for 64 percent of all electricity generated in Canada—up from 59 percent in 2005—and six percent of electricity generated in America, although the U.S. figure was once much higher. The future of hydropower seems assured, especially in Canada, which has over 500 generation stations and strong interest in the sector.

The concept behind hydropower is simple. Flowing or falling water is fed through a pipe called a penstock to spin blades on a turbine. This spins a generator, converting the action into electricity. After serving its purpose, the still-clean water is directed out of the plant.

Hydropower plants can be built at existing rivers and waterways or near manmade dams and reservoirs. These sites generate electricity in a non-polluting fashion at a low cost in the long run. A well-built hydropower station can last for decades and utilizes a renewable power source that is available in vast quantities.

While water power has been used for millennia to turn water wheels to grind grains into flour, hydroelectric power is a more recent development. It took technical innovations such as turbines, dynamos, generators, and alternating current transmission to make hydropower a practical reality.

Canada’s first hydraulic generator was installed at Chaudière Falls on the Ottawa River in 1881 by the Ottawa Electric Light Company. British Columbia got its first hydropower plant in 1888, with Newfoundland establishing its first plant a decade later. Unsurprisingly, Niagara Falls, which straddles the Ontario/New York State border, became an early epicenter of hydropower activity. Originally called the Canadian Niagara Power Company generating station, the facility opened in 1905 and produced electricity for over a century before it was decommissioned.

The famous Sir Adam Beck I Generating Station, the largest of its kind on the planet for a time, became operational in 1921. Today, the Adam Beck complex can generate roughly 12,300 gigawatt hours of power each year using water above the falls. Once it has been run through the turbines, this water is released back into the lower part of the Niagara River.

The provinces of Quebec, British Columbia, Manitoba, and Newfoundland and Labrador currently generate between 94 and 98 percent of their electricity from hydropower. These provinces also host some spectacular hydro sites such as the James Bay Project, a massive complex in northwestern Quebec. Construction work for the latter began in the early 1970s, with the first phase costing over $13.5 billion and requiring the diversion of major rivers to create dammed reservoirs.

The Robert-Bourassa generating station, a centerpiece of the James Bay Project, is today among the world’s largest hydro plants. Completed in the early 1980s, it measures nearly 500 meters in length with the installed capacity to produce over 5,600 megawatts of electricity.

The province of Quebec has invested heavily in hydropower and aims to increase capacity to four gigawatts by 2035 through upgrades and new builds. Other provinces have big plans as well. Newfoundland and Labrador, for example, wants to build a new powerhouse at the Churchill Falls Hydroelectric Generating Station. Based on the Churchill River in Labrador and completed in 1974, this complex is already one of the biggest underground hydropower stations on the planet. Once this and other initiatives are completed, the province hopes to boost its already impressive 7,280 MW annual output.

While hydropower accounted for only 27 percent of electricity generated in Ontario in 2022, the province is eager to increase this total. The Ontario government has announced $2.6 billion in funding to refurbish and expand a dozen hydro stations, including the Sir Adam Beck complex in Niagara Falls.

The federal government in Canada is equally bullish about hydropower, offering billions of dollars for clean energy programs—including hydroelectricity—and investment tax credits for the sector.

In the United States, the first commercial hydropower plant was opened in California in 1893. Other major U.S. milestones include the massive Tennessee Valley Authority project, a New Deal initiative of the 1930s to control river flooding that also entailed building dams and establishing hydropower plants to bring electricity to poverty-stricken regions. And the majestic Hoover Dam—one of the famous structures of its kind in the world—was finished in 1936 on the Colorado River abutting the border of Arizona and Nevada. The following year, hydropower generators at the Hoover Dam site began generating electricity.

The Hoover Dam was soon surpassed by the even vaster Grand Coulee Dam which is based on the Columbia River in Washington State. Finished in 1942, the Grand Coulee Dam is now the largest hydropower producer in the U.S., with a summer capacity of 7,079 megawatts.

This era was something of a golden age for hydropower in the United States. By 1940, hydropower was generating roughly 40 percent of all electricity in America. Over the decades, this percentage dropped significantly due to the introduction of other electricity production sources, such as nuclear power.

In 2022, the United States generated a total of 4.23 trillion kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity, of which hydropower accounted for six percent. With 2,252 generation plants in total, the American hydropower sector is largely centered in western states. In 2023, a quarter of America’s conventional hydroelectricity was generated in Washington State, followed by California with 13 percent, New York with 12 percent, Oregon with 10 percent, and Alabama with four percent. Washington uses hydropower to generate nearly two-thirds of electricity used within the state, while Idaho and Oregon also rely heavily on hydropower for their own electricity needs.

Hydropower in the U.S. has received a boost from federal legislation such as the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 and the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. Both statutes contain tax credits and other provisions to incentivize the hydropower industry to upgrade its fleet and build new plants.

For all that, hydropower has been on a decline in America. “We expect U.S. hydropower generation will increase by 7.5 percent in 2025 but will remain 2.4 percent below the 10-year average in our May Short-Term Energy Outlook. Hydropower generation in 2024 fell to 241 billion kilowatt hours (BkWh), the lowest since 2010; in 2025, we expect generation will be 259.1 BkWh,” states a May 19, 2025 “In Brief Analysis” posted by the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

In a similar fashion, “We expect hydropower generation in the Northwest and Rockies region to be 125.1 BkWh, which is a 17 percent increase compared with 2024 and four percent less than the 10-year average,” continues the analysis.

Part of this decline can be blamed on weather conditions. While some regions of the U.S. have experienced excessive rain in recent years, other areas have endured droughts and lower than normal rainfall. The paucity of precipitation means there is less water available for electricity-making purposes.

There are other drawbacks to hydropower as well, including flooding and the forced relocation of residents to make way for dams, reservoirs, and power plants. Cree and Inuit peoples were outraged when the Quebec government announced the James Bay Project without consulting them first, although negotiations did eventually take place. This anger is understandable, given some communities had to be moved and over 11,500 square kilometers of wilderness was flooded. When Phase II of the James Bay Project began in the late 1980s, opposition from First Nations groups was particularly fierce.

Dam overflows and collapses can cause catastrophic death and destruction as well.

Going forward, hydro proponents are working hard to ensure their projects are as safe as possible and implemented in collaboration with people living in the affected areas.

The Ontario government “is committed to consulting with Indigenous communities and honouring existing agreements related to hydroelectric development,” states Made-in-Ontario Northern Hydroelectric Opportunities, a 2022 report.

Some advocates dream about taking existing infrastructure a step further and using hydropower to create hydrogen for energy applications. They suggest placing electrolyzers—devices that split water into oxygen and hydrogen—near hydropower plants. Doing so would “provide access to the main inputs needed (electricity and water),” for hydrogen production, notes U.S. Hydropower Market Report 2023, from the U.S. Department of Energy—in other words, using clean energy to produce more clean energy, based on the raw power of water.

The post Hydropower: Harnessing Water for Electricity<p class="company">The Past, Present, and Future of a Clean Energy Giant</p> appeared first on Business In Focus Magazine.

Blaine is safe, affordable, and offers a careful balance of nature and curated amenities, making it an ideal place to raise a family and put down roots—but also a place to visit. Located only 10 miles away from downtown Minneapolis, Blaine offers access, proximity, and a unique character of its own.

Regarded as a premier sports and recreation hub in the Twin Cities metro area, the city continues to find ways to bring people in and get them to stay by investing in the city and its infrastructure to ensure that growth is thoughtful and intentional, a strategy that has proven itself time and time again.

Investing in tomorrow, today
It’s no surprise that people are attracted to Blaine. Recognized as one of Money Magazine’s Top 100 Best Places to Live, the community offers countless draws that continue to drive growth in terms of population, investment, and payoff.

The city has grown its retail, commercial, industrial, and residential footprints, all while seeking to preserve the quality of life enjoyed by its residents in the process. Now with a population of just over 76,000, the growth has been sustainable thanks to continued investments in infrastructure, housing, and quality of life to ensure that the city remains a destination of choice.

“We are developing in an orderly fashion, and our infrastructure is ready for that. Also, we are seeing a lot of improvements through the county infrastructure,” explains Community Development Director, Sheila Sellman. These improvements include efforts to expand water, energy, and highway infrastructure to sustain the growth.

Highway 65, specifically, is a great example of a long-advocated investment being made by the State, County, and City that will have a resounding impact for the residents and businesses in Blaine. This is a north-south corridor that runs through the city and is traveled by over 55,000 vehicles a day and soon, it will receive much-needed improvements, as site preparation is underway for 2027 construction.

This investment will not only improve connectivity and access from a logistical standpoint, but it will also open up additional land for development, which is needed as Blaine approaches its complete build-out.

A community in redevelopment
Like many other markets around the country, construction activity in Blaine has experienced a slowdown, largely due to extenuating circumstances beyond its control including high material costs, interest rates, and economic uncertainty, though the building inspection department continues to be busy.

While residential development has slowed, there continues to be activity, particularly in the retail and commercial sectors in northeast Blaine, which has been an area of development focus for years.

“We do have the northeast part of the town opening up for development; when I say that, I mean that city sewer and water will be extended to the north, which hasn’t been the case. With our development trends heading north on Lexington Avenue, that will open up our city sewer and water for those parcels,” says Sellman.

There is also an effort to make what was old new again. For instance, the Northtown Mall is experiencing a retail awakening thanks to the opening of Asia Village, a new Asian-themed marketplace that will breathe new life and culture into the community. With 11 different restaurants, a well-equipped grocery store, and much more, the development has been in the works for years and is now operating, much to the pleasure of residents from the community and surrounding areas who are willing to travel to take advantage of the plethora of choices.

“We’re hoping to see that really change the landscape of the mall and bring in some new stores to revitalize the area,” says Economic Development Specialist, Ruth Tucker.

There is also a growing focus on the North Meadows neighborhood through projects like Lexington Crossings and Lexington Meadows, multi-tenant mixed-use developments that will see the addition of housing, retail, and commercial tenants in what continues to be a challenging market.

“We continue to see challenges with high rental rates for commercial space, limited space, and limited land availability. We are getting closer to growing up fully and the land we do have left is quite challenging,” notes Tucker. She adds, “We have found some creative ways to get around some of that with public-private partnerships, and in some cases, incentives, when merited.”

From Tucker’s perspective, “We’re being much more strategic about our growth to make sure we’re getting the uses and amenities that our residents want to see and need versus just what we can infill.”

A big part of this strategy and intention has centered around one of the biggest draws to the community: sports and entertainment, which continues to be a driver that is bringing opportunity to Blaine.

Game on!
As a sports and entertainment destination, a great deal of effort has gone into Blaine’s 105th Redevelopment District, the sports entertainment district that is home to the National Sports Center, restaurants, hospitality, entertainment, and residential, and continues to draw the attention of locals and visitors alike.

“There’s been a lot going on out there. They are working on the utilities for that district, so the water and sewer have gone in, and they’re upgrading 105th Avenue by adding another roundabout,” says Sellman of the project, which was under construction at the time of writing.

Centered around the National Sports Center, the world’s largest amateur sports campus. Featuring the world’s largest indoor ice arena of its kind and spanning 600 acres, the NSC is the most visited sports facility in the state, generating over $70 million in annual visitor economic impact. The facility, which features 17 artificial turf fields and more than 30 grass fields, hosts the Target USA Cup, one of the largest amateur soccer tournaments in the world, and its eight sheets of ice are the training grounds of the USA Women’s Olympic Hockey Team and athletes of all skill levels.

The true spectacle of the site has to be the M Health Fairview Dome, a 110-foot-tall space that holds two full-sized soccer fields and two full-sized baseball diamonds, making it the largest of its kind in the Western Hemisphere. Meanwhile, the 58,000-square-foot NSC Sports Hall and a 5,000-seat stadium hosts countless events.

Blaine is also home to Victory Links Golf Course, an 18-hole championship golf course and the only PGA-Tour designed course open to the public in Minnesota, which sees some of the world’s best golfers engaged in competition during the 3M Open each year, Minnesota’s only PGA event. While this event brings with it an impressive economic boost for the community, Blaine has also found a way to maximize the impact of the sport.

Waggle, one of the fastest growing golf apparel and lifestyle brands, has relocated its headquarters and flagship retail store to Blaine’s Radisson Road Business Center, which proves that the city is truly capitalizing on every avenue of growth available to it, doing so in a way that complements the community and its growing assets.

Growing with intention
Not all economic wins are loud, but that doesn’t mean their impact is any smaller. Through continued economic growth and success, Blaine continues to build confidence in its ability to meet the needs of a growing population while maximizing the quality of life and return on investment of these activities.

As it approaches full build-out, there is an acute awareness that the needs of the community must be met, which is why, in addition to new permits and plans, the community is also conducting feasibility studies, including one to identify the viability of a new fire station in the northeast.

Through this growth strategy, Blaine maintains a future-focused approach to development, intentionally building on its strengths, sustaining its growth, and celebrating the many wins that will reinforce the character and identify of this community for the long term.

The post Where Hard Work Is Paying Off<p class="company">City of Blaine, Minnesota</p> appeared first on Business In Focus Magazine.

This is still true, but paired with the low taxes and affordable housing, the area’s population continues to grow as well, with young people and families seeking out the quality of life this oceanside retreat has to offer. For several years running, Myrtle Beach has been ranked amongst the fastest growing metros in the United States, momentum that the Myrtle Beach Regional Economic Development Corporation (MBREDC) continues to ride as it locks in new investments and a sound economic future for the region.

Tending to growth
Growing for growth’s sake is one thing, but tending to that growth is quite another, and since 2013, Sandy Davis, President and CEO of the Myrtle Beach Regional Economic Development Corporation (MBREDC), has not only sowed the seeds of growth herself but also nurtured the work of her predecessors to ensure their work is done.

Nowhere is that more evident than at Bucksport Marine Park, which has sat vacant since before her time—until recently, that is. Now, with the addition of a new road making the area more attractive to potential investors, a new partner in Ocean Craft Marine is expected to bear fruit.

“The company visited different sites in several locations in various states and we were the last stop, and they really loved the Bucksport Marine Park site. They loved the area,” says Davis. “We toured the HGTC boat building program and they said, ‘This is it. You have everything that we wanted. You have a great community. You have the skills for the workforce we need. We’ve met with all your leaders in the area and they’re really supportive.’”

While the deal for the land has yet to close, it is underway and the anticipation is growing, especially given the fact that the land has been vacant for so long. This will serve as a beacon of economic growth and prosperity for the community and will free Davis to seek out new deals with an even greater impact.

Big deals, big impact
The Myrtle Beach region is no stranger to big announcements that come with big investments. That is certainly true of the relationship it has with DC BLOX, which has been located in Horry County’s International Technology and Aerospace Park since 2023. It offers connected data center infrastructure, including its first subsea cable landing station (CLS), the largest on the Eastern Seaboard, with the capacity to host up to five subsea cables.

From Davis’s perspective, “DC BLOX has been a huge asset to our area. They continue to grow, continue to invest in the Myrtle Beach region, and continue to bring in more subsea cable customers.” This includes Segra, which will be taking a fiber line from the subsea cable line from Myrtle Beach to Charlotte.

Noting that, “it is a lot of investment for our area,” there is still further room to grow and economic impact to be had. What started as 20 acres for DC BLOX has now expanded to 40, with more growth potential in the future.

Initially there were opponents to this development, but Davis reaffirms that there has been no strain on local utilities or infrastructure. In fact, many people are unaware that a data center exists in the community.

One investment that people are aware of, however, is Amazon. Home to a 165,000-square-foot, same-day delivery facility that opened in 2024, which sped up deliveries and improved service, a second last-mile delivery center is planned and underway for early 2027 operation. “The community loves Amazon,” says Davis of what has been the most popular project over her 13 years at EDC.

Discussing the second project, she notes, “It will be a lot more product, a bigger distribution area, and more jobs than what we saw with the first one.”

Acknowledging concerns around the strain on infrastructure, as the facility will be located proximate to Highway 501, one of the most utilized roads in the county, Davis explains that Amazon has been a true community partner, working to schedule departures from the facility around the existing traffic patterns to alleviate strain on transportation infrastructure in the region.

Still searching for a hole in one
Further to these big economic wins, any discussion about the Myrtle Beach economy would be remiss to not mention the role of retail and hospitality in the strength of the region, driven by tourism, which is being viewed in a new light.

Golf has long had a respected presence in the community, but beyond its value in tourism dollars, there is untapped potential to grow the economic impact of the sector. For instance, while golf is certainly a regional draw, Davis is exploring the notion of bringing in a golf manufacturer or similar kind of operation that could further reinforce the region as the golf capital of the world.

“It makes so much sense in the golf capital of the world to look at recruiting a golf manufacturer in our area that we can support. That would definitely be a company we have the visitors and the locals to support, and we even have golf courses who are happy to say, ‘If we can get one here, we would love to showcase them at our golf course,’” says Davis of the full-circle potential of such a strategy.

Whether it is a golf ball, a grip, or even carts, there are so many components of the golf industry that can be leveraged to maximize the region’s economic potential. “We are actively searching for that. We attended our first PGA trade show in Orlando in January, and it was the most successful trade show that we have been to in probably the last two years,” explains Davis. To advance the concept, MBREDC is working with Golf Tourism Solutions as a strategic partner to increase attention to the region and help showcase the skills and available workforce that could support investments in this sector.

A place to call home
Strategic partnerships, like that with Golf Tourism Solutions, are a big part of the economic success of the Myrtle Beach region. From the various municipalities to the local Chambers of Commerce, educational institutions, local, county, and state legislators, The Department of Commerce, and the North Eastern Strategic Alliance (NESA), a nine-county regional economic development organization, it is truly a group effort to advance the interests of the region.

Investments continue to be made to keep pace with growth to preserve and elevate the area’s quality of life; this includes investment in housing to ensure that the missing middle has access to affordable and adequate housing, as well as infrastructure.

Regarding housing, Davis notes, “We have a lot of housing, but affordable housing may be the issue, so we have started something new for our target companies that we need to provide for called a Community Land Trust, where we focus on housing for the incomes between the $45,000 to $72,000 range.” This is the group most struggling to secure housing due to the rising rents and home costs in the area.

This is certainly not a problem unique to the Myrtle Beach region, but it is exacerbated by the growing population causing housing prices to rise.

Further to economic development and growth, the region is also focused on the provision of infrastructure and services to sustain the quality of life that has proven so attractive to so many. “We have a lot of plans for our infrastructure as far as roads,” Davis shares. “Our utilities are robust and we’re working on some new projects with utilities as far as gas and electricity. We recently had a gas company and utility company team up to build a generation station together,” which will serve the area well as it seeks to attract manufacturers with high power demands.

Downtown Myrtle Beach is also beginning to see the positive outcome of years of revitalization efforts. These efforts are intended to not only enrich the aesthetic of the city’s core but also improve traffic flows and walkability. And through the creation of opportunity zones and tax credits, more work will be undertaken to breathe new life into the city’s already vibrant energy.

A long-term strategy
Crediting the Myrtle Beach region for how far it has come, Davis continues to be mindful about the future, planting the seeds of change with hopes that they will be tended to and given the opportunity to bloom.

While she acknowledges that she might not see some things come to fruition while she is at the helm of MBREDC, she will continue to advocate for change, particularly around matters like Interstate 73, which could benefit from investment and could further open up the area to opportunities in manufacturing, industry, and other high-wage sectors.

“My long-term goal is to have a footprint on the progress of bringing manufacturing, distribution, and technology into our areas,” she shares. “That will create a lot more opportunity for people moving here, having children, to be able to keep their children here to build the skills that diversify our economy.”

This diversity has been the area’s strength—not just economically but also from a population standpoint. Now, never resting on its laurels, MBREDC and its partners are working to ensure there will always be opportunities for all, making the Myrtle Beach region a great place to visit and to stay.

The post Planting the Seeds of Change and Reaping the Rewards of Investment<p class="company">Myrtle Beach Regional Economic Development Corporation (MBREDC)</p> appeared first on Business In Focus Magazine.

The second-largest city in Wayne County and the seventh-largest in the state, Dearborn hosts a strong small business environment alongside major players like the Ford Motor Company, Carhartt, Hollingsworth, and Shatila Food Products. In keeping with this entrepreneurial commitment, and in order to increase job possibilities for locals and business owners, the Economic Development Department’s Workforce & Business Development Division strategically leads and strengthens projects that promote economic growth, community well-being, and individual prosperity.

Forging an identity
“Our modern economic identity began with Ford Motor Company, established here in the early 20th century,” says Kelli Vanden Bosch, President, Dearborn Area Chamber of Commerce. “But that did more than build cars here in Dearborn; it built a strong middle class and a culture of entrepreneurship.”

As the automotive industry matured, Dearborn evolved beyond a single-industry town, investing in the future via the University of Michigan, Dearborn and Henry Ford College, both located in the city and providing thousands of students with opportunities to further their education.

“We have 20,000 children who attend public schools here every year, and a 93 percent graduation rate,” says Vanden Bosch, adding that the past two superintendents of the State of Michigan also came from Dearborn.

A culture of celebration
As for community, Dearborn is a welcoming, family-oriented city that embraces its rich diversity. “Our culture is reflected in everything we do—from our incredible Middle Eastern cuisine and vibrant coffee shops to the locally owned businesses that give our city its character,” says Vanden Bosch. “Whether you’re stopping for coffee, enjoying a meal, or exploring our neighborhoods, you’ll find a strong sense of community. While Dearborn is known around the world as the home of Ford Motor Company, it’s also become a destination for people seeking authentic food, culture, and experiences.”

Other local tourist attractions include the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village, which bring a sizeable number of visitors to the area.

When it comes to planned tourism events, the Chamber’s yearly Taste of Dearborn, a restaurant crawl in the west downtown area on Michigan Avenue that piggybacks on the food scene, takes place every third Wednesday in June, enticing thousands of people to experience the wares of 30-plus participating restaurants.

There’s also the Dearborn Summer Market, formerly known as the Dearborn Farmers & Artisans Market, overseen by West Dearborn Downtown Development Authority (WDDDA), who strives to foster community cohesion and bolster local small businesses and entrepreneurs. The 2026 season of “Under the Stars,” held at Dearborn PEACE Park West, is proudly presented by the City of Dearborn and brings a diverse range of entertainment to the community.

The seasonal Take in the Holiday Lights, hosted by PEACE Park West, is a new city tradition combining public art with holiday joy. Over the course of three months, this free, family-friendly event showcases three top-notch, interactive light displays created by artists from across the world.

And in keeping with Dearborn’s deep appreciation of education, there are the Teacher of the Year awards, which work hand-in-hand with the Dearborn public schools to honor those who strive to provide quality instruction to students. The Women of Inspiration Lunch, meanwhile, focuses on supporting women entrepreneurs. Finally, there’s the Dearborn Homecoming Festival, a three-day event taking place the first full weekend of August each year. Founded in 1979 and hosted in Ford Field Park, this celebration features reunions, carnival rides, historical reenactments, and massive fireworks.

Committed to its people
In order to guarantee the provision of Dearborn’s top-notch public services, Mayor Abdullah Hammoud collaborates closely with more than a dozen city department leaders and their employees. Born and raised in Dearborn, Hammoud is devoted to creating a community where everyone has the chance to prosper and contribute to its success. A graduate of both Dearborn Public Schools and the University of Michigan, with bachelor’s degrees in science and master’s degrees in public health and business administration, Hammoud also represented Dearborn’s 15th District in the Michigan House of Representatives before becoming Mayor.

While serving in the state legislature, he supported several programs that protected public health and air quality and enhanced access to healthcare, education, and economic growth for Michigan residents. He was elected mayor of Dearborn in November 2021 and has been carrying out his shared vision of a more affluent, lively, and inclusive neighborhood ever since, prioritizing public safety and economic development, implementing public health in all programs, making historic investments in public parks, and reinventing the way the government provides services to its more than 100,000 residents.

Part of the government’s commitment to its people includes bringing to fruition numerous projects, such as authorizing a $31 million, 111-unit townhouse project with reasonably priced units at 15625 Lundy Parkway. The project consists of a variety of one- to four-bedroom residences, amenities, a clubhouse, and green space, and is scheduled to begin construction in 2026 with an anticipated 2028 completion. According to a 2025 market estimate, Dearborn needs roughly 1,500 new housing units by 2035, and the development will assist in addressing this need.

A brownfield tax incentive plan that would reimburse up to about $11.4 million in eligible development costs over 28 years supports the project, which is anticipated to generate more than $5.6 million in revenue for the city during the incentive period while remaining cost-neutral, with projected service costs of approximately $5 million. Later in the incentive period, the plan calls for converting around 49 percent of the units from rentals to owner-occupied housing alongside new construction.

Indeed, in one of Michigan’s most competitive housing markets, the city is pushing forward with hundreds of millions of dollars in rehabilitation projects that are intended to create new housing. The east side of Dearborn is currently the main focus of the housing push, which includes the construction of a new residential neighborhood with roughly 300 houses and apartments on 21 acres of city-owned land close to Carhartt’s global headquarters. The city is also developing a plan to create dozens of new residences on about 40 city-owned lots in the Lonyo neighborhood, while Waza Construction is erecting 111 new townhouses. Additionally, Village Plaza, a 12-story office skyscraper on Michigan Avenue that has been abandoned since 2018, is being demolished and the city is preparing a 20-plus-acre site near Michigan Avenue and I-94 for future development.

Development in Dearborn goes beyond housing, with a mixed-use office complex on vacant ground at Michigan Avenue and Howard Street and the former Hyatt Regency site on Town Center Drive being actively developed by an architecture firm. A city code reform to permit indoor leisure facilities in more commercial locations is also being championed by a local company, Just Play. And, in late 2026 and early 2027, the city intends to invite developers to apply for its pre-approved sites.

A great place to grow
For Kelli Vanden Bosch, a deep love and abiding pride for the city and its residents runs deep, both personally and generationally. “Not only do I work in Dearborn, but I’ve proudly called it home for more than 30 years,” she says. “My husband works for Dearborn Public Schools, and we raised our children here. Dearborn is a community that invests in its families, and it’s been a wonderful place to live, work, and build a life.”

With about 110,000 residents, Dearborn offers plenty of activities and a bright future. Local leaders put words into action, always striving to improve the quality of life for residents. And initiatives like the Dearborn Advantage aim to set the city apart in the face of a population surge, a surge it intends to maintain with fresh expenditures in parks, workforce development, and early literacy.

The post Grow, Connect, Belong: Dream Big and Do Good Things in Dearborn<p class="company">City of Dearborn, Michigan</p> appeared first on Business In Focus Magazine.

That reputation is supported by a highly specialized workforce. ICE employs program managers, project managers, chemists, logistics specialists, health and safety officers, engineers, and field technicians who collectively manage a broad service portfolio spanning rail, truck, and marine transportation; logistics support and fleet management; staff augmentation; waste management support services; and transloading and transfer operations. For customers operating in high-stakes environments, that breadth offers a distinct advantage: one partner capable of managing the full scope of a project from packaging and movement to final disposition.

Headquartered in the greater Pittsburgh area, with offices in New Jersey, South Carolina, Florida, and Tennessee, as well as field and project locations across North America, ICE serves clients throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean.

Experience remains one of the company’s defining differentiators. With nearly 20 years of practical field expertise, ICE has completed projects safely, efficiently, and economically, building a reputation for dependable execution in demanding operating conditions. Its value proposition is straightforward but powerful: deep industry knowledge paired with a true turnkey model that helps clients save time, reduce complexity, and maintain control over cost and schedule.

“The four partners—myself, Gus Chirgott, Mark Delfratte, and Steve Lipecky—have worked together in this industry for more than 30 years,” says Dennis D. Morgan II, Chief Strategy Officer / Principal. “We’ve built that relationship across multiple companies and multiple stages of our careers.”

That shared history became the foundation for ICE in 2007, when the group decided to build an enterprise of their own—one shaped by the operational discipline, market knowledge, and leadership experience they had developed over decades in the field.

Without outside financial backing or private equity support, the founders invested their own capital to launch the business. That decision established an ownership culture that still defines the company today. “As we move into our 20^th year, we’ve grown from a startup into an industry leader,” Morgan says.

That growth has included expanding the leadership bench with professionals who strengthen project execution, operations, and business development, while also continuing to pursue strategic innovation.

One example is ICE’s partnership with Strategic Packaging Systems (SPS) in Madisonville, Tennessee. SPS was founded to provide advanced custom design, manufacturing, and distribution of soft-sided packaging, making it a natural fit for ICE’s broader service model and customer base.

“Al Beale, the founder and owner, is widely regarded as a pioneer in the soft-sided packaging business, and we had known him for years,” Morgan says. “ICE and SPS had worked together for about a decade when he began considering retirement and the sale of the company.”

Although Beale had multiple offers, Morgan and his partners made a straightforward commitment: they would preserve what he had built while giving SPS the resources and support to grow. That approach ultimately secured the deal in August 2017.

“Al built a strong company,” Morgan says. “Our role was to add resources, scale, and operating support—and we’ve grown SPS substantially since 2017.”

That same long-view discipline shapes ICE’s own governance model. The four founders, who have worked together for more than three decades, operate with a high level of trust, shared accountability, and alignment. “We manage the company by committee; it’s not majority rule,” Morgan says. Whether the discussion is about new equipment, acquisitions, or staffing, each major decision requires full agreement among the partners.

“Part of our success comes from knowing our strengths and how we complement one another,” he says. “That extends to many of the people we’ve brought into the business as well—professionals we’ve known and trusted for years.”

For clients, one of the most meaningful aspects of that structure is direct executive involvement. Each project is assigned to one of the four founders as an executive owner representative, ensuring leadership remains close to delivery. If additional equipment, personnel, project management support, or issue resolution is required, one of the owners is engaged immediately.

“We stay closely involved,” Morgan says. “Our clients know they have access to decision-makers.”

As the company has grown, it has also expanded into new markets and geographies. “We all come from hazardous waste, remediation, and decommissioning backgrounds,” Morgan says. “Those are markets we’ve worked in throughout our careers.”

Today, ICE provides waste management support services across North America, helping clients identify authorized, permitted, and licensed facilities to accept, recycle, treat, and dispose of a wide range of liquid and solid by-products. That includes chemicals and off-spec products, hazardous waste regulated under RCRA, TSCA and PCB waste, and low-level radioactive waste (LLRW).

Not every assignment involves hazardous materials, however. On occasion, the company is asked to move cargo that is memorable for very different reasons.

“We once received a call to move specialty sand from Ohio to Dubai for a golf course project,” Morgan says. “It sounded unusual at first, but that’s the nature of this business—you have to be prepared to solve whatever logistics challenge the client puts in front of you.”

As ICE continues to scale nationally and internationally, the company remains focused on preserving operational control without compromising safety, execution, or cost management. Its current footprint spans roughly 30 states, but the company’s standards do not vary by geography.

“We operate both ICE and SPS under an ASME NQA-1 (Nuclear Quality Assurance-1) Program, and that discipline carries through everything we do,” Morgan says. “Our vendors, our partners, and our internal operations are held to the same expectations regardless of where the work is taking place.”

Talent remains another critical factor in long-term performance. Like many employers, ICE faces an increasingly competitive market for skilled labor, but the company continues to pursue measured, disciplined growth. “We believe in steady growth,” Morgan says. “We work to keep our equipment utilized at a very high level, and we’ve been successful in doing that.”

That consistency has helped ICE stand apart in a market where endurance matters. “We’ve been in our footprint longer than most,” Morgan says. “A lot of companies have come and gone over the past 20 years, and the ones that have lasted as long as we have typically don’t offer the same breadth of capability.”

That breadth remains one of the company’s clearest points of differentiation. While many competitors focus narrowly on equipment leasing, transportation, waste management, or project management, ICE integrates those functions under one roof.

“Many projects require end-to-end coordination across packaging, transportation logistics, training, product management, and waste management,” Morgan says. “We bring that full range of capability to the table.”

The company also maintains a strong field presence on major engagements. Larger projects include onsite project management working alongside customers each day to ensure materials are packaged and loaded correctly, whether into trucks, railcars, or barges. That hands-on approach applies across the portfolio, regardless of contract size. A $5,000 assignment is treated with the same seriousness as a $5 million project because, in ICE’s view, execution standards are not negotiable.

“Every project matters,” Morgan says. “The expectation is the same: do it safely, do it correctly, and deliver on schedule.”

That philosophy has translated into durable customer confidence. “We’ve never failed to complete a project, we’ve never been removed from a project, and we’ve never walked away from a project,” Morgan says. “That track record matters in this market.”

It has also produced a steady stream of repeat business from clients who value performance over promises. “We don’t sell on price,” Morgan says. “We sell on our history and on what we’ve demonstrated over the past 19 years.”

In the end, that may be ICE’s strongest competitive advantage. In an industry where complexity is high and tolerance for failure is low, the company has built a model centered on accountability, operational depth, and long-term trust. For Morgan, the clearest evidence of success is simple: clients continue to come back.

“We still have customers who have been with us since the day we opened our doors,” he says. “That’s the best proof of all.”

The post Strong and Steady: Superior Service through Controlled Growth<p class="company">I.C.E. Service Group, Inc.</p> appeared first on Business In Focus Magazine.

“Since the Riverport Authority was created almost 60 years ago, we’ve provided real value to Louisville, the state of Kentucky, and even to the entire nation,” says Steve Miller, who became the authority’s Executive Director in August 2024. “We’re actively shaping the future, not waiting for it.”

To understand where the Louisville Riverport Authority is headed, it helps to understand what it already is. Miller describes its value through three interconnected pillars.

The first is the authority’s two vibrant industrial and commercial parks in southwest Louisville, which are home to more than 120 businesses employing more than 6,500 people. These parks have developed over 2,000 acres of industrial and commercial real estate and continue to offer investment opportunities across available parcels and buildings for sale or lease.

The second pillar is Foreign Trade Zone 29. For businesses engaged in manufacturing and assembly, this can significantly ease cash flow pressures and reduce operating costs. With more than 300 foreign trade zones now operating across the country, businesses facing the complexities of today’s shifting global trade environment are looking more closely at what these zones can offer.

Miller notes that FTZ 29 closed 2024 with record growth across jobs and trade activity, a sign that the zone’s advantages are resonating. In early 2026, Foxconn announced a $173 million investment at its Riverport facility, further underlining the appeal of the park’s business environment.

The third pillar, and perhaps the most distinctive, is the authority’s role as a multimodal logistics hub. Louisville’s central geography within the United States makes it a natural crossroads for freight movement, and the Riverport takes full advantage of that position.

Barge traffic on the Ohio River, rail connections, and truck access converge at the authority’s 300-acre port facility, creating what Miller calls a river-rail-road connection. And sitting just minutes away is UPS Worldport at Louisville International Airport, one of the most significant air logistics operations in the world, adding a fourth dimension to an already formidable freight infrastructure.

“We’re a strategic logistics hub that brings together these various ways to move freight based on Louisville’s central location in the country,” Miller says. “And we are working hard to be an entity for investments in Louisville’s future.”

When Miller arrived in August 2024, he brought with him a career spanning public policy, nonprofit leadership, and state and national politics. He quickly worked with the board to develop a new strategic framework, the Five Pillars strategic plan, which governs the authority’s full scope of operations across its entire footprint. That includes the 2,000 acres near the river as well as an additional 200 acres the authority owns near Dixie Highway in Louisville.

Alongside the strategic plan, the authority secured a federal grant through the office of Congressman Morgan McGarvey to fund the development of a comprehensive master plan focused specifically on the 300-acre port facility, the area where the rail, barge, and truck operations all come together.

The master plan was publicly launched in February 2026. When complete in early 2027, it is expected to serve as a transformational roadmap to modernize the port into a more resilient, future-ready logistics facility. The scope is broad: modernizing marine terminals and road and rail infrastructure; optimizing land use and site readiness; improving environmental sustainability; and positioning the facility to attract advanced manufacturing and logistics operations.

“The master plan is not just about what has been successful over decades,” Miller says. “It’s about the future. Through this master planning process, which is a very comprehensive one, we will position Louisville Riverport to better compete with our peer inland ports regionally for the decades ahead.”

The vision for the modernized facility includes a redesigned port with enhanced barge, rail, and truck integration, and the potential creation of a second dock on the river to expand capacity. Environmental stewardship near the Ohio River is also a core consideration, as is a forward-looking economic analysis to guide infrastructure investments that will need to remain relevant for decades.

Governance is another area where the authority has undergone a meaningful shift. Board member Rick Blackwell, a lifelong South End Louisville resident and former Jefferson County Metro Council member who served for 22 years, describes the change in tone and ambition as substantial.

“My main focus is on it being something that’s for the city and especially the opportunities for the South End,” Blackwell says. “With Steve’s leadership, I think it really has taken quantum leaps in terms of being the authority.”

Blackwell’s perspective is rooted in deep community knowledge. He has watched the Riverport develop from its earliest days and, during his time on the council, worked to consolidate its political representation to ensure more coherent support from local government.

He acknowledges that in previous years, the authority’s role was not always well understood or well communicated. “There was always confusion about the role of the Riverport Authority as opposed to the Riverport Business Association and individual businesses,” Blackwell says. “It didn’t come across to the community or to the Mayor’s office as an authority that was really driving economic development for the city.”

That perception has shifted, and Blackwell describes the current board as a group of active participants rather than passive overseers. “This is a board that’s very, very active,” he says. “Steve, to his credit, is not threatened by that in any way. He wants the feedback, seeks the feedback, listens to the feedback, and responds to it. We’re all on the same team.”

Indeed, Miller frames the board-staff dynamic as one of the authority’s key leadership assets. Alongside proactive planning and clear external communication, he says the alignment between staff, board, and community partners is what will ultimately determine the authority’s long-term success.

The timing of the authority’s transformation is not incidental. The global supply chain landscape has shifted dramatically in recent years, and the dynamics at play—tariff volatility, reshoring and near-shoring of manufacturing, the rise of e-commerce, and the rapid evolution of automation and smart logistics—all point toward the kind of infrastructure the Louisville Riverport Authority is working to build.

Miller is closely watching how these trends intersect with the authority’s role. “Both the political decision makers and the business communities are committed toward bringing manufacturing back on shore and expanding it here in the United States whenever possible,” he says. “We’re analyzing the impact of e-commerce and how distribution chains and demand are working. We’re also trying to keep our minds focused on automation, robotics, and how smart logistics are changing the entire global supply chain.”

To serve a facility seeking to modernize its infrastructure with investments that must remain effective for decades, the master plan is being designed not just to address today’s freight volumes but to anticipate how goods move, where they come from, and what kind of infrastructure will be required to handle them in a future defined by technological disruption and geopolitical complexity.

The authority’s proximity to UPS Worldport, one of the most significant global import-export hubs on the planet, gives it an asset few inland ports can match. Combined with rail access, river connectivity, and the regulatory advantages of FTZ 29, the Riverport’s multimodal offering is positioned to become even more competitive as supply chain pressure continues to favor consolidated, flexible logistics operations.

Beyond the strategic and infrastructure plans, the authority has also taken concrete steps to raise its profile in the community. It recently purchased a new building a mile down the road from its previous offices, a more visible location that will allow it to function as a genuine community hub, hosting meetings with Riverport businesses and building the kind of relationships that have historically been harder to cultivate.

For Blackwell, this is as meaningful as any element of the master plan. Having spent decades watching the authority operate largely behind the scenes, he sees the move as symbolic of a deeper cultural shift. “We’ll be able to invite Riverport businesses there to have meetings about how we work together to improve the area, to improve access to the rails, improve access to the river, and make it much more vital,” he says.

The authority’s sense of renewed purpose extends to its advocacy work as well. Miller says the authority has become more aggressive in pushing for both the public funding and the policy environment its infrastructure investments require, a posture the board has actively encouraged.

The Louisville Riverport Authority is, at its core, a special purpose governmental entity. Its six-person board and Executive Director are charged with managing and overseeing a riverport and a set of commercial and industrial parks on behalf of the public. But the authority’s leadership is clear-eyed about the gap between what the institution has been and what it can become.

As the master plan takes shape over the coming months, built with input from businesses and community stakeholders across Louisville and Kentucky, the authority is making the case that a modernized, proactive riverport is good for everyone—for the companies that rely on its infrastructure, for the workers they employ, and for the region’s long-term competitiveness.

“This is the new Louisville Riverport Authority and the new Louisville Riverport,” Miller says. “It’s an exciting time for businesses and government and local leaders to partner with us.”

The post Charting a New Course<p class="company">Louisville Riverport Authority</p> appeared first on Business In Focus Magazine.

“We don’t take them all,” says the Mayor. “They have to be a fit that we feel can help our community. Can we see ourselves forming a partnership with them to advance our community in the future?”

A third-generation resident, Mayor Gregory has devoted much of his personal and professional life to Elizabethtown (often called E-town) and Hardin County. Following a career in law enforcement spanning over 20 years as a Kentucky State Trooper, he entered politics. Successfully becoming Mayor in 2018, Gregory was re-elected in 2022. A determined leader, he has helped to oversee exceptional economic growth and job creation for workers of all ages as well as veterans.

Celebrating 70 years
Mayor Gregory is quick to credit others with Elizabethtown’s ongoing success, including city staff and Andy Games, President and Chief Operating Officer at the Elizabethtown-Hardin County Industrial Foundation (EHCIF). Previously serving as EHCIF Vice President, Andy took over from his father, Rick Games. Serving as President for 25 years, Rick is now Vice President of the Foundation, which was originally formed in January 1956.

All those years ago, the EHCIF launched thanks to some local business executives focused on creating jobs for Elizabethtown. By the early ’60s, the city was recruiting well-known companies like Dow Chemical, Crucible Magnetics, and the Gates Rubber Company. The EHCIF’s mission, it states, is “to create jobs and elevate Hardin County as the top destination for advanced manufacturing, distribution, and industrial companies from across the nation and around the world.”

Another factor behind E-town’s success is vision for growth and prosperity. “We’ve had great leadership forever,” says Games, “and a lot of good Mayors over the last 50 years.” Mayor Gregory agrees and praises James R. Pritchard. Serving as Mayor in the ’70s and into the ’80s, Pritchard and other community leaders spearheaded Elizabethtown’s industrial boom starting about 50 years ago. This saw the city recruiting industry, developing industrial parks long before many other communities, and implementing an Occupational Tax. “They’re the ones who bit the bullet—and got a lot of the political pressure at the time for doing it—but it’s made all the difference in what we look like now,” adds Games.

Location, low taxes, and tailored training
For years, Rick Games liked to say that Elizabethtown was a day’s drive from two-thirds of the United States. On Interstate 65 in the heart of Kentucky, it is easy to get east or west with the Bluegrass Parkway (officially the Martha Layne Collins Blue Grass Parkway), and the Western Kentucky Parkway (Wendell H. Ford Western Kentucky Parkway), just five minutes from two industrial parks. The city also has the nearby Elizabethtown Regional Airport (EKX), and two major railway lines. “Our central location has always been our calling card,” says Mayor Gregory.

Along with its prime location, Elizabethtown-Hardin County stands out for many other reasons, including low taxes and quality education. Long-established school districts are highly ranked, and the area is home to the Elizabethtown Community and Technical College (ECTC), part of the Kentucky Community and Technical College System (KCTCS). Offering classes at five locations within Hardin County, Washington County, Grayson County, and Meade County, the KCTCS serves residents in 10 counties.

“Our community college is one of 16 regional campuses within the KCTCS and our campus has been here since the late ’60s,” says Games. Along with courses in accounting, business administration systems, and health sciences, the KCTCS offers classes in air conditioning and refrigeration, manufacturing, mechanical engineering, and other hands-on trades. This includes training for industrial partners and certificates in electrical, welding, plumbing, and more.

“If you come in and need training in something specific to your industry, they will build a program and train your people,” says Mayor Gregory. “Whatever industry comes in, they will work with that industry to develop a curriculum that is specific to them, and they will train their people at our community college. It is basically tailored training.”

Welcoming major players
In late 2021, Kentucky announced the $5.8 billion BlueOval SK Battery Park in Glendale, Kentucky. This saw KCTCS and ECTC build a new, specialized training facility and in May 2024, Governor Andy Beshear was joined by community and business leaders for the park’s ribbon-cutting. The park—home to the world’s biggest battery plants—was slated Kentuckians for thousands of new jobs. The massive facilities opened and started making batteries in January 2025, with about 1,500 employees, but by December, it was announced the facility would close, with the joint venture dissolved.

Although this saw job losses, it revealed the area’s resilience. The facility is now in a reboot, and will see Ford Energy (a wholly owned Ford Motor Company subsidiary) take over the site, which will be used for making U.S.-assembled, grid-scale battery energy storage systems (BESS). Set to be up and running by 2028, the property will be the home to over 2,100 workers, with a second facility coming online soon after. In the middle of the pandemic, Canadian packaging giant Kruger opened a massive new facility, representing one of 14 different countries with a presence in the industrial park.

Managed by the Elizabethtown-Hardin County Industrial Foundation, the area is also home to the T.J. Patterson Industrial Park and the Gil Niceley, Sr. Industrial Park, named in honor of the long-time farmer and furniture store owner. Nicely served in the Army Air Corps and during WWII, he was aboard the Straight Flush, the B-29 aircraft that served as the lead weather reconnaissance plane during the bombing of Hiroshima. “Gil had a lot of history here,” says Mayor Gregory. “He was a great citizen, and we thought that it would be appropriate to continue to name that area after him because of all the things he’s done, not only for the city but for the country.”

Some of the largest manufacturers in the area include Metalsa, which makes truck frames for Ford, and Altec, which manufactures products like telecommunication and electrical utility trucks. And, apart from the County school system, other key employers include Baptist Health Hardin and Fort Knox, a sprawling military base home to about 12,000 individuals and a big draw to the area.

A rich business landscape
Along with large manufacturers, many other businesses are coming to E-town. The area’s sixth McDonald’s is in the works, and the city is home to two Chick-fil-A’s. On the grocery side, there is Publix, and Elizabethtown’s third Kroger’s will be the largest in the state of Kentucky. The city also punches above its weight in hotels, while numerous other restaurants, clubs, entertainment venues, shops, and the Lincoln Trail Area Development District (LTADD) also boost the area’s popularity.

The LTADD encompasses seven counties, with Elizabethtown serving as a hub. Many drive to Elizabethtown for work, and the area sees an estimated daily daytime population exceeding 110,000. And for those wanting to permanently settle in the city, Elizabethtown has seen the creation of several thousand housing units since 2021.

A great place to build a business, Elizabethtown is also building a reputation as a sports and entertainment hub. Opened in 2012, the multi-million-dollar Elizabethtown Sports Park is a sprawling, 158-acre complex with dozens of baseball and soccer fields, pedestrian trails, and more. The Sports Park is a major destination from March to October for anything sports-related in the eastern half of the U.S., with people coming from all over to play baseball, soccer, football, and lacrosse. The area recently hosted about 100 soccer teams and 50 baseball teams, most of them from out-of-state.

To attract concert-goers, construction is underway for a new 10,000-seat outdoor concert venue. Estimated to cost about $40 million, the venue will host between 35 and 50 shows a year. “What we are trying to do is fill the space in between the weekends,” states Mayor Gregory. “So for your Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday crowds, we are bringing people into our city for concerts, while the weekends are usually maintained by the Sports Park. We want people here just about every day of the week, and think the concert venue and Sports Park will be very compatible and complement each other.” Set to open in the first quarter of 2027, the yet-to-be-named venue will be large enough to host big-name acts.

Ranked number one for startup growth in the nation, Elizabethtown is the fastest-growing city in the state of Kentucky. The city’s success stems from extensive planning and solid leadership. “We’ve never had anybody come in and deflate the balloon. The balloon keeps getting bigger, and keeps going up,” says Games. “Jeff has done a phenomenal job for seven years now, and it’s been the case that each Mayor has been a building block on what the previous Mayor has done.”

Quality of life
Along with solid business attraction and retention, Elizabethtown provides an outstanding quality of life for its residents. With robust police and fire departments, 2023 saw Elizabethtown ranked as one of the five safest cities in the United States per capita by the FBI. Public safety remains a top priority.

“I’ve said this a million times over seven and a half years, but if people feel your city isn’t safe or clean, you can’t do the rest of the work,” says Mayor Gregory. “You need those pillars in place as a foundation to build upon. So we work hard on public safety and making sure we keep a good, clean city to be attractive to people who want to come here, so we can do the rest of these things.”

Preparing to run as Mayor for the third time and buoyed by a strong and enthusiastic team, Jeff Gregory welcomes the coming years and looks forward to continuing to raise the profile of Elizabethtown and Hardin County.

The post Strong Leadership and Long-Term Vision<p class="company">Elizabethtown-Hardin County Industrial Foundation (EHCIF)</p> appeared first on Business In Focus Magazine.

Todd Andrus, Vice President and Executive Director of IAAPA North America, describes the organization’s purpose in simple terms. “Our mission really is about connecting,” Andrus says. “We bring the industry together. We create opportunities or environments for people to come together to network, to learn best practice.”

That mission plays out across three core areas: networking events, education, and advocacy. IAAPA works with governments to help shape policy affecting the attractions industry, from workforce development to emerging safety legislation around new technologies like drones. But it is the organization’s ability to bring people together physically, and to keep them informed, that Andrus points to most often as its defining strength.

Robust regionalization
IAAPA operates worldwide, but its growth strategy has leaned heavily on regionalization. Andrus oversees North America, encompassing the U.S. and Canada, while the organization also maintains dedicated Latin American, Asian, and European regions. On July 1^st, IAAPA opened a new Middle East region, created to support what Andrus describes as one of the fastest-growing tourism and entertainment markets in the world. “We find that through regionalization, we get closer to our membership,” he says. “We can interact with them better.”

That regional structure shows up most visibly in IAAPA’s events calendar. The organization recently hosted a North American meetup at the Harley-Davidson Museum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, drawing close to 100 industry professionals for tours, networking, and exploring event best practices. IAAPA also runs regional expos alongside its flagship global event in Orlando, including a recent Asian expo in Hong Kong, which allowed attendees to conduct business in their own language and currency.

Identifying industry shifts
Education runs through nearly all of these gatherings. IAAPA curates sessions using experts drawn from within the industry, covering topics ranging from safety and sustainability to marketing and food and beverage operations. The organization also runs monthly webinars—two to three each month—some of which are global in scope with others tailored to regional concerns.

One recent North American webinar series addressed a growing operational challenge of coordinated “social takeovers” in which large groups of teenagers target a specific attraction and overwhelm it. IAAPA produced both a webinar and a white paper on the issue, focused on helping operators recognize the warning signs and coordinate with local law enforcement before an incident occurs. For attractions professionals looking to formalize their expertise, IAAPA also offers certification programs at both the professional and executive levels.

Andrus points to personalization as one of the clearest trends reshaping the attractions business right now. Ticketing platforms increasingly allow parks to tailor the guest experience based on past visits, offering targeted perks or front-of-line access, while some attractions have begun incorporating guests’ own likenesses directly into rides and displays.

A larger, more structural shift is happening alongside this trend. Many theme parks and attractions are working to own the guest’s entire visit, not just the time spent inside the gates. “They are looking to own the full funnel experience,” Andrus says, describing how operators now aim to manage everything from airport arrival through overnight accommodations, rather than ceding that part of the trip to outside hotels or booking platforms.

He cites several examples taking shape in the U.S. market. Nickelodeon is opening a hotel in Orlando with an accompanying water park, while a Mattel-branded theme park under development in Arizona will include its own hotel. Disney and Universal have run this model for decades, Andrus notes, but the approach is now spreading to a broader range of regional and mid-sized operators across the U.S. and Canada.

Shaping the future workforce
IAAPA’s own staff numbers around 150 people, and Andrus is candid about the qualities the organization looks for when hiring: direct, lived experience within the attractions industry itself, ideally paired with some history of involvement with IAAPA specifically.

Andrus’s own path illustrates the pattern. He brings 26 years of industry experience, having worked at SeaWorld, Busch Gardens, Merlin Entertainment, and Premier Parks, a North America-based attractions group. He spent six years volunteering with IAAPA, including helping curate educational programming for IAAPA Expo, before joining the organization’s staff six months ago. “I’ve always gone to Expo,” he says. “I helped curate our educational experiences that we showcased at IAAPA Expo. Having that kind of involvement is super important from an IAAPA perspective.”

Andrus also speaks to the industry’s broader role as a training ground for new workers. Attractions and parks are frequently a person’s first job, and IAAPA treats that responsibility seriously. “We take great pride in that, that we’re shaping the workforce of the future,” Andrus says. He points to the soft skills a first job in attractions instills—showing up on time, engaging with customers, and staying approachable—as lessons that stay with workers well beyond their time in the industry, even for those who eventually move into other fields entirely.

Celebrating sustainability
Every IAAPA region maintains a sustainability task force made up of member companies tasked with advising the organization on best practice and helping guide the industry’s long-term approach to environmental responsibility. That work has produced tangible results. IAAPA Expo Europe, scheduled for late September in London, has been certified as a sustainable event, with the organization’s sustainability team working directly with the venue and exhibitors ahead of the show.

Andrus also points to a recent trip to Xcaret, an ecological resort in Mexico that combines multiple parks with several hotels on a single property, as an example of sustainability and guest experience working in tandem. IAAPA hosted its IAAPA Honors awards ceremony there, and Andrus came away impressed by the property’s approach to photography. Guests receive an RFID wristband at check-in, allowing them to scan stationed cameras throughout the park and have photos automatically routed back to their hotel room for review that evening.

“It just took that whole ‘whipping your phone out’ aspect out of the picture, and you could be present,” Andrus says of the experience, noting how it let multigenerational travel groups, including relatives back at the hotel, follow along with a family’s day without anyone needing to stop and reach for their phone or camera.

Benefits of belonging
Asked what members gain most from their involvement with IAAPA, Andrus breaks it down into three areas: connections, insight into industry innovation, and education. The connections, he says, function almost like a standing professional support network. Because IAAPA brings together operators from non-competing markets, members can speak openly about shared challenges in a way that would be difficult with a direct competitor.

“I was able to pick up the phone and call somebody that I had met at an IAAPA event,” Andrus says, describing how that kind of relationship has helped him work through business challenges in the past.

The organization’s expos also give members early exposure to new technology and equipment before it reaches wider adoption, while its education sessions, delivered in 45-minute to hour-long formats, cover practical operational ground in marketing, food and beverage, and safety.

The center of IAAPA’s calendar remains its flagship expo in Orlando, scheduled for November 16^th through 20^th. This year’s event is set to be the largest in the organization’s history, with more than 40,000 attendees and over 1,100 vendors expected across a single week. IAAPA is expanding into a new hall for the first time, adding its west building alongside the existing north-south space and increasing total floor space by roughly 50 percent.

The education program is expanding alongside it. Andrus says this year’s Expo will include the most education sessions IAAPA has ever offered, with more than 20,000 attendees expected to take part in programming over the course of the week. “It’s really all designed for attraction professionals to be able to come in and move their business forward,” he says.

For an industry that depends on creating memorable, in-person experiences for its guests, IAAPA has built its own version of that model for the professionals who run it—bringing people together, keeping them current on where the industry is headed, and giving them a network to lean on when new challenges arise. As the attractions industry continues to expand its footprint, from full-funnel guest experiences to new hotel and resort partnerships, IAAPA’s role as a connective hub looks set to grow along with it.

The post Bringing the Attractions World Together<p class="company">The International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions (IAAPA)</p> appeared first on Business In Focus Magazine.

After 115 years of helping to connect Canadians by forging premium, mission-critical transmission, distribution, and communication infrastructure and hardware, Slacan Industries Inc. has built a fine reputation for excellence and trustworthiness. The company has achieved this through commitment, reliability, tight quality control, and in-house fabrication, producing even its smallest parts in its own facility.

Standing apart
Here, product longevity and resilience guide a daily mission to be Canada’s best in its industry. As a result, continuous investment in technology has brought Slacan’s count of next-generation machinery to 10 units—and that number is growing. During a recent visit of around 20 engineers, all from a prospective client company, the company’s value proposition once again became as clear as ever. The longevity of its products and its capabilities speak for themselves.

Slacan Industries is not only known for service and hardware excellence, however. The company is also the proud owner of a vast cache of historic dies and hardware worth a few million dollars, which it maintains to continue servicing older infrastructure. In the process, the team serves most of Canada’s largest utility providers through distribution partners; some have been customers for the past half-century, while another giant served by Slacan is Bell, one of Canada’s leading telecommunications providers. And with in-house processes including Steel Forging, Hot & Cold Stampings, and Casting, among others, the team is able to serve a variety of other markets as well, including OEM, Agricultural, and Mining.

The company is in fact so robust in its capabilities that it asks clients removing spent parts from their old infrastructure—anywhere from 30 to 70 years old—to return worn parts to Slacan’s factory for in-depth study and further product development and improvement. With fully-fledged engineering design and product engineering teams, the company takes both pride and pleasure in improving on earlier designs, and with a collection of around 30,000 products, it receives requests to reproduce about 10,000 of these annually.

While it is common amongst competitors to source raw materials, engineering, and fabrication from foreign suppliers, Slacan is proud to source most of its raw materials for forging on Canadian soil. Because here, price and product are not the only important considerations. Slacan’s legacy, quality, generational knowledge, and product guarantees are as much a part of its value proposition as its engineering prowess, and these attributes are not necessarily the case when working with offshore facilities.

Service above all
Located in a 200,000-square-foot facility on a 14-acre property in Brantford, Ontario, with both Toronto, Ontario and Buffalo, New York just 70 miles away, Slacan Industries is perfectly situated to serve customers across an impressive footprint. Serving the breadth of Canada from coast to coast, its superpower resides in having developed the foundational elements of many of these service providers’ hardware components itself.

Trading in this industry at such a high level is an expensive endeavour, however, as many of the tools needed to maintain such lines cost in the region of $30,000 to $40,000. For this reason, Slacan historically outsourced its large tooling while making its own smaller tools. But that recently changed when it invested in acquiring the appropriate equipment to become self-sufficient in all its tooling needs. Now, when customers call in with the name of a broken line under its care, replacing old hardware with new hardware—no matter how long ago it was installed—has become significantly easier.

Once, when a client called in to request repairs on towers that collapsed under six inches of ice during an extreme weather event, the team was able to go back to its records, find the original part designs, and then locate the dies in its die store. “They had helicopters landing on our 14 acres here to pick up parts because they were so desperate. There was no power there at all,” shares Director of Sales and Marketing, Tom Lepera. “We’re not just here to sell; we’re more of a partner. We take the good with the bad,” he adds, describing the company’s approach to loyalty.

Lepera notes that some clients arrive with requests for small-volume, high-cost component fabrication. Fulfilling such orders is expensive, but the company takes the work on anyway, even when it takes four to five hours to set up the machines needed to fabricate the parts. This is just one way in which it demonstrates its commitment to its customers’ success.

A top team
Of course, none of this would be possible without the people behind its success. “We have a tremendous amount of respect for our people as we realize how hard they work in our factory, especially as temperatures get hot and they are working in a very hot forging environment with very heavy steel parts,” Lepera says. For this reason, the company has invested in exoskeletons to minimize physical fatigue for team members stationed at its forging hammers. As this is a heavy and laborious industry, Slacan ensures that the team’s health and safety are protected as much as possible in the workplace by maintaining high standards.

It also honours legacy staff. To this end, the company took the opportunity to invite a number of former team members who had been retired for some time on a tour to show them its latest transformation. Most of them had started working for the company 50 years before the major overhaul, which, of course, now includes extensive automation and robotics.

“It was thanks to them as the pioneers that led the way to perfecting the quality and operation of our processes that led us to build what we have today,” Lepera says, noting how much the company’s owner also appreciated the letter of thanks that followed their visit.

The road ahead
With roads and other infrastructure being installed to service Canada’s Ring of Fire, the famous mineral-rich area in James Bay’s lowlands of Northern Ontario, Slacan will be providing poleline hardware to which it also holds the patents.

Moreover, as the demand for utilities drives U.S. companies to reach out to poleline hardware fabricators in Canada, Slacan Industries is ready to expand its presence across the border. Currently, the projected expansion includes a possible new fabrication facility in the Chicagoland area. The strategy will allow for U.S.-made products alongside its existing Canadian-made ranges to serve a wider audience.

The time is ripe for such expansion; the past few years have seen Slacan making significant capital investments, bringing its collection of large, updated automation machines to about 10. Preparing for the inevitable has meant tripling its capacity over the past half-decade and securing supply chains.

“We will continue to make huge investments in equipment and people as well as alternate facilities to support our growth in both Canada and the USA,” Lepera tells us. “There is and will continue to be huge projects across North America in the next 15 years with electrical infrastructure of 340KV to 765KV, which will put massive demand on all products associated with transmission towers and our high-quality hardware,” he continues. Such Extra-High Voltage (EHV) infrastructure is responsible for minimal energy loss when transmitting large volumes of electricity over impressive expanses of land.

By positioning itself as a high-quality engineer and fabricator serving the critical utilities market across the United States and Canada, Slacan Industries is committed to remaining relevant in the high-voltage market over the next century. Once prospective customers visit its facilities and understand the level of long-term quality and top safety standards its products provide, any quibbling about price goes out the window. And a new customer walks in the door.

The post Forging Bonds: Hardware Solutions for Canada and the United States<p class="company">SLACAN Industries Inc.</p> appeared first on Business In Focus Magazine.