Atlanta, April 23, 2012: Site Selection magazine has named the Virginia Economic Development Partnership (VEDP) the winner of its Competitiveness Award, which recognizes excellence on the part of a state-level economic development group, and its Top Economic Development Groups of 2011. These agencies were honored with plaques at an awards ceremony today at the Industrial Asset Management Council's Spring 2012 Professional Forum at the Hyatt Regency Lost Pines Resort and Spa in Austin, Texas. The Competitiveness Award goes to the state with the most points earned in a 10-factor index based mainly on Site Selection publisher Conway Data Inc.'s New Plant Database of new and expanded facilities. For 2011 performance, Virginia scored 420.5 points. Texas (395), Ohio (387.5), Louisiana (382.5) and North Carolina (381.5) round out the top five. p>"We've worked very hard these past two years to bolster Virginia's reputation as a place to work and relocate businesses to, and we've earned some high spots on various measures of that," says Governor Bob McDonnell. "This Competitiveness Award recognition is terrific, as we have put a lot of resources into economic development incentives and grants and are spending a lot of time on the road telling Virginia's story."

Site Selection magazine has also named its top non-state-level economic development groups in the U.S. for 2011. The full list of Top Groups and Honorable Mention designees appears below. Coverage of these awards, as well as the Top Deals of the Year (see below) appears in the May 2012 issue. Web editions of the stories will be posted at SiteSelection.com on May 1.

“For the most part, the strategic plans that were implemented in these winning, Top Group communities were formulated during the depths of the country's worst recession since the Great Depression of the 1930s,” says Ron Starner, general manager and executive vice president of Conway Data Inc. and Site Selection magazine, who authored the Top Groups report. “The ensuing turnaround stories catapulted these locations to record levels of economic development performance. The proof is in the numbers.” Local economic development groups were first ranked according to four objective categories: new jobs, new jobs per 10,000 residents, new investment amount and new investment per 10,000 residents. Then they were scrutinized for more subjective attributes, among them innovation, leadership and customer service.

Top Deals: Repurposing, Reshoring and Re-Thinking
The Top Deals of 2011 (see lists below) were determined by level of capital investment, degree of high-value jobs, creativity in negotiations and incentives, regional economic impact, competition for the project and speed to market. “Among the themes to emerge among last year's Top Deals were repurposing, reshoring, the flight toward emerging markets, the flight away from risk, energy innovation, the convergence of high-end services with high-volume data, and the convergence of high fuel costs with the next wave of transportation manufacturing,” says Adam Bruns, managing editor of Site Selection.

Site Selection magazine, published by Conway Data Inc., delivers expansion planning information to 44,000 executives of fast-growing firms. Now in its 58th year, Site Selection is also available via Site Selection Online (www.siteselection.com). The SiteNet Dispatch, a weekly e-newsletter, and the monthly Site Selection Energy Report and Site Selection Life Sciences Report e-newsletters, also go to more than 44,000 industry professionals. Site Selection is the official publication of the Industrial Asset Management Council (www.iamc.org). Conway Data is an international publishing and association management company headquartered in Atlanta. The firm manages the Industrial Asset Management Council, the Development Hall of Fame and the World Development Federation (WDF), offers consulting services and awards the annual Conway Safe Skies Award.

Top North American Deals of 2011 (in alphabetical order by company)
Amazon.com, Charleston, Chattanooga, Cleveland and Lebanon, Tenn.; $350 million, 3,500 jobs
Continental Tire the Americas, Sumter Co., S.C.; $534 million, 1,650 jobs
eBay, Draper, Utah; $110 million, 2,200 jobs
GE Transportation, Forth Worth, Texas; $100 million, 750 jobs
Honda, Celaya, Guanajuato, Mexico; $800 million, 3,200 jobs
Intel, Chandler, Ariz.; $5 billion, 1,000 jobs
The Jackson Laboratory, Farmington, Ct.; $1.1 billion
Navistar, Muscle Shoals, Ala; $87 million, 1,800 jobs
Pratt & Whitney Canada, multiple locations in Canada; $1 billion
Sasol, Westlake, La.; $10 billion, 850 jobs

North American Honorable Mention
Bloom Energy, Newark, Del., 900 jobs
Boeing, Kennedy Space Center, Brevard Co., Fla., $163 million, 550 jobs
Bridgestone Americas, Graniteville, S.C., $894 million, 550 jobs
Calisolar, Columbus, Miss., $163 million, 951 jobs
Carpenter Technology, Athens, Ala., $500 million, 203 jobs
Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Isle of Wight Co., Va., $180 million, 800 jobs
Halliburton, San Antonio, Texas, $50 million, 1,500 jobs
Mazda/Sumitomo Corp., Salamanca, Guanajuato, Mexico, $500 million, 3,000 jobs
Nephron Pharmaceuticals, Lexington, S.C., $313 million, 707 jobs
Panasonic Corp. of North America, Newark, N.J., $190 million, 1,000 jobs

Top International Deals of 2011
Amazon.com, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India; $98 million, 3,300 jobs
Audi, Gyor, Hungary; $1.3 billion, 2,100 jobs
Caracol Industrial Park, Caracol, Haiti; $224 million, 20,000 jobs
China Motor Corp., Harrismith, Free State, South Africa; $1 billion, 2,500 jobs
Ford Motor Co., Sanand, Gujarat, India; $1 billion, 5,000 jobs
GCL-Poly, Jiangsu Province, China; $2.2 billion
General Electric, Dammam, Saudi Arabia; $250 million, 2,000 jobs
IBM, Cyberjaya, Malaysia; $318 million, 3,000 jobs
Infosys Technologies, Shanghai, China; $130 million, 4,000 jobs
Nissan, Resende, Brazil; $1.5 billion, 2,000 jobs

International Honorable Mention
Asahi Glass, Sao Paulo, Brazil, $470 million, 500 jobs
Bosch Solar Energy, Arnstadt, Germany, $666 million
Bridgestone Corp., Hai Phong City, Vietnam, $461 million, 1,900 jobs
Convergys, Montego Bay, Jamaica, $20 million, 1,000 jobs
Covidien, San Isidro, Dominican Republic, $45 million, 1,000 jobs
Hankook Tire, Bekasi, Indonesia, $353 million, 1,400 jobs
IBM, San Jose, Costa Rica, $300 million, 1,000 jobs
Kale/Pratt & Whitney, Izmir, Turkey, $200 million, 700 jobs
Merck & Co., Beijing, China, $1.5 billion, 600 jobs
Nokia Siemens Networks, Quezon City, Philippines, 1,000 jobs

Top Economic Development Groups of 2011
Greater Houston Partnership, Texas
World Business Chicago, Ill.
Pittsburgh Regional Alliance, Pa.
Baton Rouge Area Chamber, La.
Dallas Regional Chamber, Texas
New York City EDC, N.Y.
Kansas City Area Development Council, Mo.-Kan.
Select Greater Philadelphia, Pa.
Greater Statesville Development Corp./Mooresville-South Iredell EDC, N.C.
Nashville Area Chamber, Tenn.

Honorable Mention Economic Development Groups of 2011
Wayne County EDC, Wooster, Ohio
Southwest Louisiana EDA, Lake Charles, La.
Columbus 2020, Ohio
Cincinnati USA Partnership, Ohio
Fort Worth Chamber, Texas
Metro Atlanta Chamber, Ga.
Greater Washington Board of Trade, D.C.
Wayne County EDGE, Detroit, Mich.
Morgan County EDA/City of Decatur, Ala.
Greater Phoenix Economic Council, Ariz.