Nothing brings people together quite like the holidays. To thank everyone who works with the Lake County Economic Alliance, partners were invited to the annual holiday party, and it was a packed house with Northwest Indiana business leaders.
“We appreciate all of your support and Happy Holidays!” said Karen Lauerman of the LCEA as she stood before the crowd filled with representatives from government, industry, construction, technology, banking, and media.
“The partnership is amazing,” said Sue Reed, CEO of Crossroads Regional Chamber of Commerce, “Crossroads was a driving force to form the Lake County Economic Alliance. It helps bring value to our members, it brings investments and jobs in Northwest Indiana and makes our economy stronger.”
Greg Gomolka, Comcast Manager of Government Affairs, talked about how the Lake County Economic Alliance is helping Comcast attract business.
“The Lake County Economic Alliance provides us resources to make sure businesses attracted to Northwest Indiana are aware of the technologies that Comcast can provide, namely Fiber Optic Internet," Gomolka said.
“Tonight’s event is a simple networking appreciation event to engage all of our investors, our board members, our partner organizations, and those companies and individuals that believe in the current success and the future potential of Lake County," Lauerman said. "Part of what we do tonight is to support all of our endeavors and celebrate the accomplishments of this year."
"There are ideas of what economic development is or should be and the guests in this room understand that to properly execute projects, it takes time. They understand that growth doesn’t happen overnight and are willing to be engaged for the long term and strategize to accomplish the mission of bringing jobs to Lake County. We really appreciate that... We will expand our current operations through more business retention calls and visits. We also will cultivate small business by connecting them with our partner organizations, like one of our sponsors tonight, the Regional Development Company, and others who appreciate homegrown opportunity."
Lauerman called 2016 an "amazing" year for the LCEA. "Don Koliboski and I are extremely grateful for the overwhelming support of both the public and the private sector in this collaborative effort for economic development.”
Gear up for 2017, Northwest Indiana. Good things will be coming your way.