Team NEO Launches International Business Attraction Strategy
5/20/2010
With funding in place, partnerships developed and new staff on board to manage the program, Team Northeast Ohio (Team NEO) officially launched its proactive international business attraction effort this week. Developed in partnership with The Cleveland Foundation, Team NEO’s international business attraction strategy will complement existing regional international business attraction efforts by adding focus on attracting new business investment from Europe, Asia and Canada.
To lead the program, Bernardine R. van Kessel joined Team NEO this week as Director, International Business Attraction. Van Kessel will be responsible for developing and implementing strategies for active recruitment of new business investment in Northeast Ohio. She will collaborate with Northeast Ohio cities, counties, chambers of commerce, economic development organizations and industry groups that are already actively recruiting international investment to help enhance message consistency and deal assistance region-wide.
“With Bernardine proactively working with regional, state, and international partners to increase promotion and prospecting, we can significantly expand business attraction opportunities for Northeast Ohio,” said Thomas A. Waltermire, Team NEO’s CEO.
Team NEO will focus initial proactive international efforts in Europe, which remains the largest foreign direct investor into the State of Ohio. The area is home to many growing advanced energy and biomedical firms that would benefit from expansion into Northeast Ohio. Van Kessel will oversee PM&P Consultants, the German international business consulting firm contracted by Team NEO to serve as “Cleveland Plus Business Europe.” She will work with PM&P to identify opportunities, promote the region and prospect specific firms to expand into Northeast Ohio. PM&P has offices in Munich, Frankfurt, and Berlin.
The Cleveland Foundation awarded a $1 million, 2 year grant to Team NEO in December 2009 to launch this effort. In addition to activities in Europe, the grant will support additional proactive business attraction efforts in China and Canada for renewable energy, biomedical and advanced manufacturing opportunities. Van Kessel will work with regional partners and the State of Ohio to develop these efforts.
Van Kessel joins Team NEO with more than 15 years experience in international economic development with a wide range of experience in the public, private as well as non-profit sectors. Most recently she was with Kennemer Consulting and the City of Hudson. As Economic Development Director for the City of Hudson, van Kessel was responsible for all of the City’s business retention, expansion and attraction efforts. In her three years with the city, she attracted 14 new companies to Hudson, resulting in almost 650 new jobs and investment of more than $45 million.
Ms. Van Kessel also worked as Director of the Northeast Ohio-based International Trade Assistance Center (ITAC) and has assisted the state of Ohio in its world-wide marketing efforts by participating in the State’s international trade and marketing missions.
She speaks Dutch, German, and French, and is the Founder & President of the Netherlands Ohio Chamber of Commerce. Van Kessel holds a degree in Public Administration from the Universiteit Leiden, Leiden, the Netherlands as well as a BA in International Relations from Kent State University.
“Adding Bernardine van Kessel as our focused Director in International Business will increase our opportunity for success,” adds Jay Foran, Sr. Vice President of Business Attraction for Team NEO. “With our proximity to major markets, skilled workforce, deep supply chain and expertise in emerging industries, international businesses will find that they have access to more opportunity and profit in the Cleveland Plus region.”
Team NEO advances Northeast Ohio’s economy by attracting businesses worldwide to the 16-county Cleveland Plus region. The organization is a joint venture of the region's largest metro chambers of commerce. Since 2007, the organization has attracted 34 new company expansions or relocations, 3,200 new jobs and $100M in annual payroll to Northeast Ohio, leading to a total annual regional payroll benefit of $260M.
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