The name of Gov. Bill Haslam’s new economic development strategy says it all. His Jobs4TN plan is intended to make Tennessee the Southeast’s leader in the creation of high-paying jobs.

“My top priority is for Tennessee to be the number-one location in the Southeast for high-quality jobs,” says Haslam. “Our Jobs4TN plan is a blueprint for doing just that. By leveraging our existing assets in each region, we will be able to attract new businesses to the state while helping our existing businesses expand and remain competitive. We will also be making significant investments in innovation to position Tennessee as a national leader well into the future.”

The plan to attract new businesses to Tennessee – while assisting the existing businesses that accounted for 86 percent of job growth in 2010 – is freshly minted, but it is already having an impact. Early successes include:

• Windham Professionals' decision to build a new regional headquarters in Hendersonville and create 100 new jobs, bringing the company’s total employment in Hendersonville to more than 300. The account services company is building 24,000 square feet of new, Class A office space. Windham specializes in account collections for institutions of higher education, guaranty agencies and accounts in the commercial, consumer, government and health-care sectors. “This announcement reaffirms our commitment to Hendersonville,” says Ed Sheehan, executive vice president of Windham Professionals. “The outstanding teamwork between the state, the city, TVA and Forward Sumner made a strong case for growing here, and even though we had opportunities to expand elsewhere, Hendersonville is the right place for this expansion.”

• Carlisle Transportation Products' locating its newly created company’s corporate headquarters in Franklin. The company has manufacturing operations in Jackson and Clinton as well as multiple manufacturing and distribution facilities in North America and China. “The Nashville region provides Carlisle Transportation Products a central location and ready access to customers and manufacturing locations across the country. Our ability to attract key talent to a highly regarded community like Franklin was a key part of our decision-making,” says president Fred Sutter.

Setting Priorities

Jobs4TN has four key strategies:

• Prioritizing target clusters and existing industries: Recruitment is focusing on six clusters in which the state has a competitive advantage. They are automotive; chemicals and plastics; transportation, logistics and distribution services; business services; health care; advanced manufacturing and energy technologies. The state will focus on helping existing businesses expand and remain competitive through a targeted outreach program. A new “existing business toolkit” of incentives and resources will be available for Tennessee companies.

• Establishing regional “jobs base camps”: Jobs base camps in nine regions across the state will work with local partners on a regional economic development plan and align existing federal and state resources. A key function of these jobs base camps will be reaching out to rural counties to incorporate them into broader regional economic development strategies that leverage existing resources and maximize their assets.

• Investing in innovation: The $50 million INCITE program will focus on innovation, increasing commercialization of research and technology, investment and entrepreneurship across the state.

• Reducing business regulation: The administration is working with existing Tennessee businesses, business advocacy groups and state agencies to identify federal and state laws and regulations inhibiting job growth.

Leveraging Tennessee's Assets

“In a global economy, a focus on innovation along with raising our achievements in education is the best approach to moving our state’s economy forward," says Haslam. "Tennessee has remarkable assets in research and development. We need to do a better job of leveraging these assets and growing innovative new companies to reach our goal of becoming the number-one location in the Southeast for high-quality jobs.”