EVOLVE Business and Professional Magazine May 2020 | Page 37
Team Volusia Economic Development Corporation played a
leading role in the project, having established contact with Amazon
officials as far back as 2013 and maintaining contact ever since.
Duke Energy selected the site for its Site Readiness evaluation
in 2014 in partnership with McCallum & Sweeney. Four years
later, the Duke Energy Foundation provided the City of Deltona
a grant to support the creation of an economic development plan
for the industrial park. As site analysis and selection discussions
sharpened, Team Volusia worked in partnership with the City
of Deltona. Among other organizations working with Team
Volusia and the city were CareerSource Flagler Volusia, Volusia
County Government, Enterprise Florida and RMA, an economic
development consulting firm that
presented Deltona’s Portland
Industrial Park as a prime site,
meeting Amazon.com's requirements.
“Obviously, as the project evolved
and as the economy evolved, the team
that brought the project to Volusia
County evolved,” said Team Volusia
President and CEO Keith Norden,
Keith Norden
CEcD.
“This is a great project for the City of Deltona and for Volusia
County and it illustrates the power of collaboration in the economic
development process."
Norden’s organization is one of three primary organizations that
lead economic development efforts in Volusia County. Predictably,
the three organizations emanate from both the public and private
sectors.
Team Volusia derives its funding from the public sector and the
private sector, with the private sector providing slightly more than
half the organization’s revenues.
Team Volusia has become more muscular in recent years, but it
had to overcome many obstacles when it was formed ten years ago.
Community meetings were held throughout the county to
generate support for the formation of a new organization, which did
not come easy, despite compelling presentations by business icon
J. Hyatt Brown and others who recognized economic development
as essential to diversifying and strengthening the local economy.
But the concept was new – and it meant change, so enthusiasm was
guarded.
Efforts by Brown and other community leaders, including the
president of the Daytona Beach Chamber of Commerce, George
Mirabal, finally resulted in the birth of the organization as Team
Volusia Economic Development Corporation. However, early
thoughts were to call it Metro Daytona Economic Development
Corporation.
“While that name was highly marketable outside the area, here
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