As the region begins to feel the impact of explosive, unprecedented growth, state and area leaders are embracing the change.
“The world’s attention is on Taylor, Texas,” said Adriana Cruz, executive director of economic development and tourism in the office of Governor Greg Abbott. “The impact that this is having is not just for you and for all your citizens and for your children and grandchildren, but really for communities all across the state of Texas.”
This growth is made possible through the arrival of Samsung Austin Semiconductor and other high-tech manufacturers.
Cruz shared this message, along with why Texas has been a global leader in growth, as part of her keynote address at the Greater Taylor Chamber of Commerce’s first ever Pre-Legislative
“ The world’s attention is on Taylor, Texas.”
- Adriana Cruz, director of economic development and tourism for the office of Gov. Greg Abbott Summit Sept. 7 at the Williamson County Expo Center.
“We are the tenth largest economy in the world if Texas was its own country — and we used to be our own country,” Garcia said. “We are the nation’s jobs leader, with 694,000 jobs added in 2021, and we are the top exporter in the country for the 20th year in a row with exports valued at $375 billion.”
Cruz said in addition to the state’s natural resources and infrastructure, the decentralized approach leaders take to economic development has been a key factor in attracting large global manufacturers like Tesla, Inc. and Samsung.
“It’s the partnership with the local community, that Texas team effort,” she said.
“We saw that work to great effect with Samsung for example, working with the city, the county, the utility, the landowner, Taylor EDC, the school district,” she said.
“Everybody was on the same page, singing from the same hymnal.”
Cruz said that this unity of purpose gave Samsung the information that they needed so they could make their decision.
While large manufacturers may be the ones in the news these days, Cruz said Texas is also seeing an unprecedented growth at the lower levels of the economy too.
“Texas is ranked number one in the nation for small business growth,” she said.
“As we are seeing these announcements take place, the ripple effect is going to be happening.”
At the summit, a who-iswho of leaders at the city, county and state level joined with Samsung and other business representatives for a day of panel discussions and other presentations on topics such as managing water and electricity resources, economic development, infrastructure, workforce development and how to build strong partnerships.
About 175 people attended the sold-out event.
Speakers, panelists, sponsors and attendees of the event included organizer and chamber President Tia Rae Stone, Commissioner Will McAdams of the Public Utility Commission, Commissioner Bryan Daniel of Texas Workforce Commission, Mayor Brandt Rydell and other members of Taylor’s City Council and staff, as well as County Commissioners Terry Cook and Russ Boles.
Jesse Ancira, Taylor’s former mayor and senior legislative advisor for the Texas Municipal League, said he found common themes running throughout the summit. “Local partnerships, team sport, opportunities, planning-is-key, forwardthinking, all-hands-on-deck regarding financing, tellus- your-plans, waiting-forfailure- is-not-an-option, teamwork, planting-seeds, tell-us-your story,” Ancira said. “Think about that as you conduct your business.”
“And speaking of business, I know it’s all about Samsung, but I appreciated that Adriana mentioned its about small business too,” added Ancira, the owner of Ancira Salsa in Taylor.
“Taylor is proud to have a number of small businesses that make our local engine run.“ After the event, Stone said she was encouraged by feedback from attendees and is planning for another similar event in about a year.
“Yesterday was a good day for Taylor and for the region,” Stone said. “It was packed with information on how to prepare for growth and was a good step toward developing the partnerships across the region that will facilitate that growth.
As business and community leaders, it is incumbent upon us to look forward and plan. That is what the summit was all about. We took a big-picture look at many of the issues that pose challenges to sustainable and resilient growth as the first step in planning for it.
We were encouraged by the support we received and are already planning the next one.”
