Economic development forum focuses on aiding small businesses

Southern University, Shreveport held its Fourth Annual Economic Development Forum Friday, March 14, at the Shreveport Convention Center. This year's theme, "Southern University at Shreveport: Empowering, Embracing, and Enhancing Small Business Development," focused on small business and non-profit organizational development. The mission of the forum is to network with local and state leaders from business, industry, and government to improve the economic welfare of Shreveport and Louisiana through collaborations with higher education.

Shreveport native Ronnie Bryant was the keynote speaker during forum luncheon. As the president and CEO of the Charlotte Regional Partnership, Bryant leads the economic development organization that promotes the 16-county Charlotte USA region as a premier location for businesses considering expansion or relocation. With more than 30 years of technical, managerial and economic development expertise, Bryant is nationally known for establishing and implementing successful economic development programs, with a strong emphasis on existing industry expansion and retention, regionalism and marketing.

Bryant has been recognized for excellence in the field of economic development by the editors of Site Selection magazine, by twice naming organizations led by him in Pittsburgh and St. Louis to its list of Top 10 economic development groups in the nation. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ranked him 25 on its list of top 50 business leaders, and Charlotte-The City Magazine named Bryant 30th in its list of Charlotte's 50 Most Powerful.

Bryant is a graduate of Louisiana State University in Shreveport and the Economic Development Institute (EDI) at the University of Oklahoma in Norman. He is a recipient of the American Economic Development Council's (IEDC) Robert B. Cassell Leadership Award for excellence in Leadership and scholarship that was given to him while in attendance at EDI. Additionally, he holds the distinction of Certified Economic Developer (CEcD), which was granted in 1991. Bryant currently serves as a member of EDI's Board of Directors and faculty, where he lectures on issues related to economic development marketing, professional development and organizational management.

Bryant is well known in national economic development circles and is actively involved with the International Economic Development Council (IEDC), where he has been designated as a Fellow Member (FM) and currently serves as Vice Chairman of the Board.

Morning speaker for the forum was Loren Scott, president of Loren C. Scott & Associates, Incorporated. Scott's career started at Louisiana State University in 1969 and he has spent the last 33 years rising through the ranks from assistant professor to the prestigious Freeport McMoran Endowed Chair of Economics and the Director of the Division of Economic Development and Forecasting. From 1983-1996, he was the chairman of the Economics Department at LSU. Scott's 23-year old economic consulting firm's clients include BellSouth, Capital One Financial, Entergy, ExxonMobil, and J.P. Morgan Chase. He is one of the 32-member National Business Economic Issues Council, which meets quarterly to discuss issues of state, national, and international interest.