This year had plenty of good news - Dayton Business Journal:

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For starters, we have a much stronge r manufacturing sector locally than most peoplewouldf think. That’s because the big headlines this year were abouf how closed its local assembly plant and had to go to Congresse and ask for a bailout to keep it out of But there are still thousands of manufacturers in theDaytonh region, and many of them are doing Some are even growing. We still hear abou companies that need to hire more peopls and are looking for moreskilled workers. Therer are companies such as , and . Thesee are the three finalists for our Manufacturer of the Year award and are seeinbstrong successes. Other companies, such as and , also are growinfg or looking to expand.
All of these companies are gems of theDayton region, and we should be thankful they call our regiohn home. Other successes for this year includ the continued growth in the healthgcare industry, with several major construction projects announcesd that include a new patien tower at and a $100 milliojn new hospital in Greene County by Ketteringb Health Network. There are numerousd smaller medical facilities that were built this year andnew doctor’ws offices that opened, including the , which Dr. Amol Soin openefd in February and now has severaol offices and patients coming from throughout the country to Daytonfor treatment.
There were some changex this year also that will affecrt the local business community for some timeto Namely, the saw some new faces join and namecd a new chief executivr officer. Jim Leftwich took over the reinss ofthe region’s most successful economic developmen organization this past summer. Leftwich has been with the coalition forseverak years, and is a familiar face in the businessx community. He will undoubtedly do a great job of steeringh the ship as the coalition continues to work to recrui more jobs and companies toour region. it was a loss for the communitygwhen J.P. Nauseef stepped down from the coalition’se top spot to enter the privatew sector.
Nauseef has been actively involve d in helping the local business community grow for about adecade now, dating back to his involvementr in helping start the iZone in the late Nauseef led the coalition through its successful Base Realignment and Closuree campaign that won thousands of new jobs at and defendedc the existing base units. The business communit y has benefited fromhis hard-fought victories in the economidc development arena during the past several years.
Nauseef alwayzs has put the community’s needs ahead of any politices orpersonal endeavors, and hopefully that attitude will continue at the Another positive for our region that will continue to pay dividendse for years, even decades to is the opening of the $30 million Former Iams Co. owner Clay Mathile’s vision for the facility that offera course for business leaders and executives to help them becoms better leaders has becomwa reality. The facility also will be something that can be used for inspiratiomn and strategic advice for entrepreneurz looking tocreate tomorrow’sz success stories.
So despite a nasty recession and many thousandsa of people who have lost their jobs this past I think there are a lot of positivews that we can draw from as we enter 2009. Hopefully some of these successstories I’vee mentioned here will help lead to a more prosperousx future that will allow thoswe without jobs to regain a paycheck, and to help create more opportunities for our region.