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Mississippi Economic Council MEC Snapshot
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Nissan Revs Up for Murano Production,
Adds 500 New Jobs in Canton
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Production of the all-new 2015 Nissan Murano crossover later this fall means 500 new jobs for Nissan's Vehicle Assembly Plant in Canton.
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Production of the all-new 2015 Nissan Murano crossover later this fall means 500 new jobs for Nissan's Vehicle Assembly Plant in Canton. The all-new 2015 Nissan Murano, which resets the standard in the midsize crossover segment with breakthrough design, premium interior and purposeful technology, will be the first Murano produced in the United States and the eighth model assembled at Nissan's Canton plant. The plant will be the global source for Murano production, creating export opportunities to more than 100 markets. Murano will be assembled on the same line as Xterra, Frontier, Titan and Armada and is the most technically advanced vehicle ever built in Canton.
"Recruiting efforts and preparations for the start of Murano production this fall are underway and current employees are excited to add this vehicle to the list of outstanding cars and trucks built in Mississippi," said John Martin, senior vice president, Manufacturing, Supply Chain Management and Purchasing for Nissan North America. "The addition of Murano to our portfolio, coupled with the continued growth and success of the Canton plant, will move us even closer to our goal to build more than 85 percent of the vehicles we sell in the U.S. right here in North America."
Nissan is an MEC member.
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Atmos Energy Breaks Ground on $2.1 Million Expansion in Attala County
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From left: State Rep. Jason White; David Skinner, Supervisor for Atmos Energy in Kosciusko; Mayor Jimmy Cockroft of Kosciusko; David Gates, President of Atmos Energy MS Division; Billy Atwood, Atwood Steel and North District Public Service Commissioner Brandon Presley were present at the groundbreaking ceremony.
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Atmos Energy Mississippi Division President David Gates and elected officials, including Northern District Public Service Commissioner Brandon Presley, broke ground recently on a project to expand natural gas to the Attala County Industrial Park in Kosciusko.
"Access to natural gas is a key driver of economic development," said Gates. "The work that will be done here will greatly enhance the Attala County Industrial Park's attractiveness to business."
The $2.1 million project came about in part because of a new economic development fund approved by the Mississippi Public Service Commission.
Atmos Energy is an MEC member.
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C Spire Begins Construction on
Fiber to the Home Service
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Gov. Phil Bryant hails C Spire as a technology leader and innovator during a recent news conference to mark another milestone in the Mississippi company's plans to build an ultra-high speed 1 Gbps Fiber to the Home initiative in the Magnolia state. Construction began recently in Ridgeland.
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C Spire recently moved a giant step closer in its quest to make 100 times faster consumer broadband Internet service a reality in nine Mississippi cities by starting construction on its ultra-high speed 1 Gbps (Gigabit per second) Fiber to the Home initiative.
C Spire crews began installing fiber optic cable in Ridgeland's Bridgewater neighborhood and have also begun construction in Quitman - marking another milestone in the Mississippi company's mission to move the Magnolia state from worst to first in national rankings for average Internet speeds and consumer access to super-fast broadband services.
Quitman is the first city to qualify its entire population for the game-changing infrastructure.
C Spire is an MEC member.
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C Spire Hosts Tour of World-Class
Data Center Construction
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Tad Hamilton, Vice President of IT and cloud services for C Spire, gives a tour to customers and potential customers of C Spire's new $23 million world-class data center under construction in Starkville.
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C Spire executives, architects and contractors hosted business leaders, economic developers and news media representatives recently for a briefing and tour on construction progress for the initial phase of the center, which promises to boost regional business technology infrastructure and spur new investment and expansion.
When it opens later this year, the center will be one of only 52 in the U.S. with a Tier 3 or 4 rating, the highest in the industry based on data center certifications by the Uptime Institute. Most of the centers in the two top-tier categories nationwide are owned and operated solely by large private businesses or government agencies and used only for internal operations. C Spire's Tier 3-plus facility will be the premiere data center in the Southeast with ample commercial space available for businesses and government agencies and the only one in its class and capability within 250 miles of its location.
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Venture Technologies Announces Merger with Information Systems Consulting, Inc.
Venture Technologies recently announced its intent to merge with Information Systems Consulting Inc. (ISC), a Denver-based advanced technology solution provider. Founded in 1998 in Casper, WY, ISC provides basic and advanced IT infrastructure solutions throughout Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah and operates a SOC 2 Type II Audited Data Center in Englewood, Colo.
This transaction will create a leading technology and cloud solutions provider, differentiated by its technical expertise, customer service excellence, and four data centers, including Venture's VTCloud� in Jackson, Miss. The company's combined revenues will total nearly $150 million.
Venture Technologies is an MEC member.
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TanTec Leather to Locate Tannery Operations in Vicksburg; Create 366 Jobs
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(From Left) Wayne Mansfield, Director, Warren County Port Commission; Vicksburg Mayor George Flaggs; Bill Lauderdale, President, Warren County Board of Supervisors; Governor Phil Bryant; ISA TanTec CEO Thomas Schneider; and Brent Christensen, Executive Director, MDA were on hand for the announcement of TanTec Leather's new tannery in Vicksburg.
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Governor Phil Bryant and officials from ISA TanTec announce the company is locating its first U.S. tannery operations in Vicksburg. The project, which will be known as Mississippi TanTec Leather, Inc., represents a $10.1 million corporate investment and will create 366 new jobs.
German-owned TanTec is recognized by the world's top footwear brands as a supplier of premium quality leathers.
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McDermott International to Create
100 Jobs at Port of Gulfport
Gov. Phil Bryant and officials from the Port of Gulfport and McDermott International announced recently the company is locating pipeline finishing operations on the East Pier of the port. The project will create 100 full-time jobs in addition to the longshoremen that will be employed while vessels are at the port.
McDermott represents the first major jobs announcement of the Port of Gulfport Restoration Project, and it comes two years prior to the completion of the project's construction. The company expects to begin operations at the port in late 2015. The company's tenant lease is for 10-years and includes options for three 10-year extension.
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National Mobile Disaster Hospital
Opens in Louisville
The National Mobile Disaster Hospital opened recently in Louisville to temporarily replace the Winston Medical Center, which was heavily damaged during the April 28 tornado outbreak.
The mobile hospital will serve as an interim medical facility until the Winston Medical Center can be rebuilt. This is the first time the National Mobile Disaster Hospital has been used as a fully operational hospital.
Through the coordinated efforts of Gov. Phil Bryant's office, the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency, the Mississippi Department of Health, the State of North Carolina, Winston County, the City of Louisville, Baptist Men and Women, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the hospital was transported, inventoried, built and opened within three weeks of the April 28 tornadoes.
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Disaster Recovery Efforts Still
Ongoing in Mississippi
Disaster recovery efforts are still ongoing in many regions of the state in the wake of the April 28 tornado outbreak. We still need your help to provide for those in need!
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Nissan Changes Playing Field in Mississippi;
Expansion Giant Step for State's Economy
Game changers - they are the things that you can point to that shift momentum, and so often can be the difference between winning and losing.
Or in the case of Nissan, can change the economic course of a state.
For the past decade Mississippi has seen a significant rise in economic competitiveness and this no doubt is due in large part to the success of Nissan's automotive manufacturing facility in Canton. Fortunately, our state leaders had the foresight to get serious about economic development and it led to Nissan choosing to locate here. However, this wasn't just an ordinary plant.
Nissan would to do something that had never been done. The company constructed the large automotive production plant from the ground up. It set a bold goal of producing five different models in the first year - and accomplished that goal. Since then the plant has expanded, added new lines and announced Nissan would hire an additional 500 employees in preparation of the production of the ever-popular Murano.
Nissan's impact goes far beyond the plant itself. In fact a study conducted by the National Strategic Planning & Analysis Research Center (nSPARC) at Mississippi State University and released in late 2013 points out just how important Nissan has been to the state's economic competitiveness.
The report shows that Nissan:
- Led to the creation of 16,000 new jobs in the area
- Adds an estimated annual average $2.5 billion in state GDP
- Contributes an estimated annual average of $1.2 billion in additional disposable income
- Generates an estimated annual average of $180 million in additional local and state tax revenues
There is also another variable that isn't shown in the report. Nissan highlighted what is capable of happening in Mississippi.
Since Nissan's opening in 2003, there have been numerous projects that have followed their lead and chosen Mississippi. Mississippi's presence in the automotive industry is growing. The projects include PACCAR in Columbus, Toyota in Blue Spring and Yokohama, which is in the process of building a plant in West Point. These facilities have created, or will create an additional 5,000 job opportunities for Mississippians that did not exist 10 years ago.
Mississippi needed a game changer and Nissan provided it. And it was a change that will pay dividends for decades to come.
Keep the Faith,
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You are receiving this newsletter because of your past involvement with the Mississippi Economic Council. For more information about MEC, please visit our website at www.msmec.com.
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ABOUT US
The Mississippi Economic Council has been the voice of Mississippi business since 1949. MEC deals with broad issues that relate to businesses through advocacy, research, resources and leadership. MEC has 8,600 members from 1,100 member firms in 2,400 locations throughout Mississippi.
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Mississippi Economic Council - The State Chamber of Commerce
248 E. Capitol Street, Suite 940 - Jackson, Mississippi 39201
P.O. Box 23276 - Jackson, Mississippi 39225-3276
Phone: 601-969-0022 - 1-800-748-7626
Fax: 601-353-0247 - 1-888-717-2809
Click Here for MEC Web Site
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