Representatives from a broad range of business, government and military organizations gathered downtown Wednesday afternoon for the Dayton Development Coalition's annual meeting.
Around 800 people attended the event, which was held at the Benjamin and Marian Schuster Performing Arts Center.
At the meeting, economic development officials touted what they say are signs of economic growth and continued economic recovery. A coalition survey finds the region attracted almost $1 billion in capital investment in 2017.
Coalition President and CEO Jeff Hoagland says the region also added more than 2,000 jobs –– many paying higher average salaries than the year before.
“Having those higher paid jobs, to us, is something that really allows that prosperity to take place in our region. If it’s people buying houses, going to the movies, going to sporting events, going to the arts, whatever it might be –– there is more disposable income. So, those two factors were huge in 2017 and we see a lot of the same moving forward in 2018,” he says.
Themes at this year’s gathering include innovation in the fields of health care, bioscience, tech and the military.
The meeting included a panel discussion focused on topics related to the Dayton region’s bioscience industry.
The panel featured:
-U.S. Air Force Brig. Gen. Mark Koeniger, commander of the 711th Human Performance Wing at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base
-Dr. David Smith, CEO, Community Blood Center and Community Tissue Services -
-Stephen Rozow, an executive vice president at NuVasive
-Joe D’Silva, founder and CEO of Patients’ and Consumers’ Pharma in Centerville, Ohio.
The Dayton Development Coalition promotes economic investment in more than a dozen counties across the Miami Valley.
Read more about the annual meeting.
