Investments worth hundreds of millions at stake for Oakland County leaders traveling abroad

Posted on June 22, 2017

Oakland County economic development leaders will be traveling to Washington D.C. and Europe next week in hopes of securing foreign investment projects worth hundreds of millions.

Matthew Gibb, deputy county executive, will be traveling to Europe for the International Paris Air Show while Irene Spanos, the county’s director of economic development and community affairs, will head to D.C. for the 2017 SelectUSA Investment Summit.

According to Spanos, 16 international companies from six countries either located or expanded in Oakland County, investing about $140 million and creating or retaining more than 3,900 jobs through the first five months of 2017.

Gibb said he is traveling to Europe for five days to focus on five investment projects of interest to Oakland County that involve mobility and aerospace companies. The air show is the largest and longest-running aerospace trade show in the world.

“The in-person aspect of trying to finalize the business package for these companies is important,” said Gibb. “Most of these foreign companies are looking to complete their projects in other states, not just Oakland County. It’s great to be able to present our plan in-person to the company executives.”

Gibb said about a month ago the county realized it was getting closer to the finish line in terms of securing some of these foreign investments. That’s when he decided to make the trip along with a delegation that includes Gov. Rick Snyder, regional business leaders, the Michigan Economic Development Corporation and Oakland County-based Automation Alley officials, one of Michigan’s largest technical and manufacturing business associations.

“If we land one or two of these projects, it could result in over $100 million worth of foreign investments right here in Oakland County,” said Gibb. It’s better to finalize these investments in-person rather than a conference call. This trip will be specific to projects we have been working on to secure. It’s worth the $2,000 travel expense for the millions in investment.”

Oakland County companies attending the airshow include Acromag, Classic Precision, Detroit Engineered Products and Vanderplaats Research and Development.

Steve Arwood, Michigan Economic Development Corporation CEO, said Michigan companies will build new relationships with companies in the aerospace sector.

“The 10 companies participating in the Michigan Booth at the Paris Air Show exemplify the broad range of manufacturing, engineering, and intellectual talent contributing to the global aerospace supply chain, and this show is an excellent opportunity to showcase those products and technologies,” said Arwood.

Spanos will be attending the SelectUSA Investment Summit, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Commerce. which attracts more than 2,000 attendees from economic development organizations as well as domestic and international firms from 42 countries each year.

She will be meeting with companies explaining why Michigan is a good place to invest.

“This event is a must for us,” said Spanos. “MY trip will be purely business attraction. I have meetings scheduled with 14 companies from six to seven countries. These are all new company introductions, new prospects for Oakland County. The first ‘sell’.”

Spanos is a member of the U.S. Investment Advisory Council, which offers counsel to the U.S. Department of Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross on ways to make the country more attractive for foreign direct investment,

Spanos and Mark Adams, a senior business development representative will be focusing on automotive, aerospace, information technology, medical

devices and industrial machining/robotics investments.

They have 20 meetings scheduled with companies from various countries including Brazil, Canada, Germany, India, Italy, the Netherlands South Korea, Taiwan and the United Kingdom.

“They are so interested in learning more about Oakland County,” said Spanos. “We’ve had five successes in the past two years from SelectUSA and we’re still working on leads we got from those two years.”

A success is an investment that involves either a company locating to or expanding within Oakland County.