A community that works together profits together. That’s the germ of the message delivered  Thursday at a Regional Economic Development Symposium hosted by Florida Gulf Coast University.  

Speakers included News-Press Publisher and President Mei Mei Chan.

“I’m a big believer in collaboration and really truly the sum of whole is greater than the parts and we can only be successful if we work together,” Chan said.

The event, which drew about 350 area professionals, comes on the heels of the announcement that the Hertz Corporation is moving its corporate headquarters from New Jersey to Lee County. 

The symposium focused on how to attract the next Hertz – one that brings 700 jobs with it.  Presenters said professional regional marketing strategies can do that. They emphasized that marketers need to know their assets, their data and their challenges.

Having a major educational institution like FGCU also adds to the region’s cachet. FGCU President Wilson Bradshaw said the publicity generated by the men’s basketball team’s entrée into the Sweet 16 this year might have been pivotal to the Hertz move.

“Well I am told, and I don’t know if this official, but I am told that our going to the Sweet sixteen  - that was a determining factor,” he said.

Bradshaw also said one role of a major university like FGCU is to act as a convener for economic development. 

Speakers said Florida as a whole is benefitting from a business-friendly climate, its warm climate and the gradual economic uptick.