NASHVILLE, Tenn. ― Site Selection Magazine recently announced the 2020 Mac Conway Award winners, featuring two longtime Tennessee Valley Authority economic development partners in the Memphis community:  Economic Development Growth Engine and the Greater Memphis Chamber of Commerce.

With this award, EDGE and the Greater Memphis Chamber of Commerce are among the top 20 local and regional economic development agencies in the U.S. for their roles in helping deliver prosperity to their communities.

“Congratulations to EDGE and the Greater Memphis Chamber on receiving the Mac Conway Award,” said John Bradley, TVA senior vice president for Economic Development. “Both organizations are committed to raising the quality of life in the area, and their efforts continue to bring high quality jobs and attract business and industry to the region.”

Over the past eight years, TVA has partnered with the Chamber, EDGE, MLGW and others to attract or retain more than 40,000 jobs and $5.4 billion in capital investments in the Memphis area, including Amazon’s 1,000 new jobs and $200 million investment.

Among the programs that elevated these organizations to the award are the Payment in Lieu of Taxes initiative and workforce training and education efforts, including UpSkill901. PILOT is an EDGE initiative allowing for a temporary, partial reduction of future real and/or property taxes for projects that benefit the community that would not otherwise launch. UpSkill 901, sponsored by the Greater Memphis Chamber, is aimed at aligning local workforce stakeholders to shape a skills-based approach to hiring and connecting workers to opportunities.

“Since EDGE’s inception, we have sought to be innovative and aggressive in our pursuit of investment in this area, using our resources to effectively stimulate local growth,” said EDGE President and CEO Reid Dulberger. “Through PILOT, Tax Increment Financing and other programs, we remain laser focused on this goal, and this type of recognition from industry leaders shows the rest of the country is taking notice.”

“With more than $19 billion in new, planned and completed investment, Memphis is gaining national and international recognition as a location of choice for global brands and expanding small businesses alike,” said Beverly Robertson, president and CEO of the Greater Memphis Chamber. “This recognition is a testament to the strong economic development partnerships in our region. We are grateful for the continued collaboration with our public and private sector partners who continue to share with the world what we already know – Memphis is a great place to do business.”

This year’s Mac Conway Award winners were determined by an index that examined 2019 corporate facility investment projects in U.S. metro areas as tracked by Site Selection’s proprietary Conway Projects database. Scores were awarded based on six criteria: total projects, total investment associated with those projects, jobs associated with those projects and three criteria that represent a per capita calculation of those same metrics.

Created in 2011 to strengthen and streamline city and county economic development efforts, EDGE provides and coordinates public resources to drive economic development in Memphis and Shelby County. EDGE focuses on developing and fostering public/private partnerships to create jobs, grow the local economy, revitalize neighborhoods, attract investment and encourage entrepreneurship.  EDGE offers a variety of programs to generate jobs, revenue and community investment. To date, EDGE has assisted in the creation and retention of more than 38,000 jobs, received more than $6 billion in capital investment and generated more than $1.4 billion in tax revenue for Memphis and Shelby County. To learn more, visit growth-engine.org.

The Tennessee Valley Authority is a corporate agency of the United States that provides electricity for business customers and local power companies serving nearly 10 million people in parts of seven southeastern states. TVA receives no taxpayer funding, deriving virtually all of its revenues from sales of electricity. In addition to operating and investing its revenues in its electric system, TVA provides flood control, navigation and land management for the Tennessee River system and assists local power companies and state and local governments with economic development and job creation.