Smith: There is not an impression of there being a major industry. Recently people commented that they thought we were just oil and gas. We show them our service area and it has been a complete surprise to them.
Berger: If you look at the Fortune 500, there are a tremendous number that have operations in Oklahoma. The other overlooked feature is recreational opportunities. People think of us as the dust bowl, but you look at all the lakes, and it's unbelievable.
Reid: Most corporations pretty much know there is a strong work ethic running through the center of our country -- that is known, the training is known. What they don't know is the presence we have in some of these clusters. That's a surprise. And they're surprised at the lifestyle and the amenities, the recreation, and the culture. One consultant told me, "You're just a great place for middle management." That's why you see these facilities for the Fortune 500s. We're not a "major corporate headquarters" location. That's a given. So we're saying, "What is our strength?" Corporate headquarters are being developed, but middle management is our target.
Barry Tapp: It is a quality of life issue that I think is the greatest secret of Oklahoma. People do not realize the value of that, or even know something like that exists if they're from L.A., Dallas or Houston. We tell them they can get anywhere in Oklahoma City in 20 minutes, and they don't believe it.
Gaskins: Once they come, it's a complete perception turnaround, not only from the geography they see, but from the types of companies that are here, and that have grown up here. If you look at Tulsa, there is this whole cluster of telecom and IT, and enormous amounts of broadband that have been laid into the city.
Gaskins: The next hot thing going on is nanotechnology.
Smith: I guess we don't need to neglect the oil and gas technology that has developed, and continues to grow in certain sectors.
Berger: Basically our park is still heavy in manufacturing. We've had companies in our park literally double output while only increasing employment by 10 percent, just through technology. Hopefully these companies can interact more directly with OSU-Okmulgee and their advanced manufacturing technology program.
Gaskins: Because of 9-11, you're seeing a lot of increased activity and awareness in outsourcing data for disaster recovery, because a lot of the companies that went down had all their data housed and stored and lost in the buildings. Deloitte & Touche began a whole separate branch within D&T for this, and now there are five of these centers around the country, with headquarters in Tulsa. In fact, we're working with them on expanding into some of the space that Williams Communications vacated when they moved into their new facility.
Stucky: For the Dollar Tree facility we're constructing with a general contractor in Marietta, we're building a computer facility that will allow them to run the entire Dollar Tree operation. Should something happen at their headquarters in Virginia, they're not going to lose a beat.
Reid: We pretty much position ourselves as Southwest. In site selection, as you know, one of the first things they do is look for a region to serve a marketplace. We're positioned to serve Texas, more than any other state.
Barry Tapp: Who else can boast about being at the intersection of I-40 and I-35, right in the heart of everything?
Reid: The bottom line is we try to understand the needs of the client. We just located a project for Dow Tile, now called Mohawk, and the executives came in and said, "This is what we've got to have, these are our needs." A lot of times, a company may not tell everything up front, but when we get those demands, we match our assets to those needs. We understand how it's done -- market orientation, labor studies, transportation issues, they all cascade down to the final issue of site selection. Communities like Tulsa and Oklahoma City are now understanding that not only are the strategic things important to making a company profitable, but so is lifestyle.