Promoting unique things about Texarkana is just one method of recruiting businesses to the area, Rob Sitterley, president and CEO of AR-TX REDI (Regional Economic Development Inc.), told a group of local Republicans Tuesday.
Sitterley spoke Tuesday at a monthly meeting of the Miller County Republican Committee at Big Jakes on Arkansas Boulevard.
"I like to include some 'Did You Know?' things about Texarkana," Sitterley said. "Some things that are kind of cool."
He mentioned the late Ross Perot when he named the architecture of the Perot Theatre as something to be proud of.
"It's a real gem to the community," he said.
He also mentioned Texarkana College being ranked as No. 1 among Texas community colleges in student graduation rates, and Martha and Josh Morriss ranked in the top 50 of Texas elementary schools.
Sitterley was named REDI's first leader early this year.
The organization is working to bring businesses and jobs to the Texarkana region.
"We are both Arkansas and Texas equally, and we can bring to the forefront the great assets of both states," he said.
Sitterley left a position as a principal of the financial advisory firm Merit Advisors LLC in New York to come to Texarkana.
"We've never been more welcome in a community in our lifetime," he said of his and his wife's arrival in Texarkana.
Sitterley also credited the "super friendly" county judges and city managers in Bowie and Miller counties. All four sit on the REDI board, he said.
The colleges and university in Texarkana are also an asset for recruiting new business.
"Logistically speaking, we are a gold mine. These schools are the pipeline of our workforce," he said. "What this community has to offer is second to none."
Previously, Sitterley headed the business development team for Florida's principal economic development organization, a public-private partnership called Enterprise Florida Inc. Under his leadership, the team established 425 economic development projects that created more than 78,000 jobs, retained more than 34,000 jobs and invested $7.9 billion in new capital expenditures throughout Florida.
Before that, Sitterley worked in the private sector for more than 12 years, serving as vice president at Fiscal Advisors and Marketing Inc., the largest privately held financial advisory firm in the state of New York.
While there, Sitterley worked as a public finance advisor for New York's schools and municipalities, specializing in the issuance and marketing of municipal bonds and assisting more than 300 local governments in the planning, coordinating, negotiation, financing and marketing of approximately $7.2 billion in temporary and permanent financing.