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Purpose: Building on nearly 15 years of significant success by the Tennessee Valley Corridor, Inc., in developing innovative scientific and technological collaborations and partnerships to advance the Tennessee Valley Corridor as one of America’s premier high-tech destinations, the Tennessee Valley Corridor Foundation was created in 2005 to support the additional research, scholarly discussions and publications; conferences and meetings; and public communications/education efforts needed to advance innovation and new high-tech job creation in the region and for America.
Board of Directors:
Tom Rogers, Chairman – Director, Industrial and Economic Development Partnerships, UT-Battelle/Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Tom Jensen, Vice Chairman – CEO, National Safe Skies Alliance
Steve Cope, Secretary/Treasurer – Director of Business Development, Avion, Inc.
Etta Clark - Vice President of Communications and Public Affairs, Eastman Chemical Company
Sandy Ponder - Executive Director, Mind2Marketplace
Craig Seabrook - Vice President of Business Development, Teledyne Brown Engineering
Activities: Recent Tennessee Valley Corridor, Inc. conferences and activities illustrate the types of initiatives the Tennessee Valley Corridor Foundation intends to actively support:
- A one-day regional educational conference on New Industrialism featuring examples from the Tennessee Valley of how key institutions in the region are reindustrializing abandoned manufacturing and excess government properties to convert those assets into new affordable industrial properties that will help maintain, protect and grow vital manufacturing jobs in the region.
- A regional educational conference in support of the National Council on Readiness and Preparedness efforts to launch a new national pilot project in the Corridor that develops and promotes the role of the citizen and private sector in community preparedness and emergency response planning.
- Active financial and media relations support for the annual Tennessee Valley Venture Forum, a regional effort to attract more venture capital investment to the region. The Forum offers both institutional and individual investors the opportunity to hear from and connect with promising high-tech businesses from the region.
- Support and facilitation of a strong regional collaboration among public and private sector partners focusing on the nation’s need for more innovative, integrated and cost-effective homeland security solutions – as well as the lead role that key public and private institutions in the Tennessee Valley Corridor can play in developing, deploying and testing such solutions for the benefit of the nation.
Background: Winner of the U.S. Department of Commerce's 2004 Excellence in Economic Development Award as the top region in the country for enhancing regional competitiveness, the Tennessee Valley Corridor, Inc., through the support of the Tennesse Valley Corridor Foundation, and dozens of other institutional partners, serves as a national demonstration model for other regions of the country grappling with the tough task of succeeding locally while growing the "New Economy" opportunities so critical to America's future global competitiveness.