Eggs & Issues - Regional Collaboration

 

The Worthington Area Chamber of Commerce and the City of Worthington invite you to a quarterly speaker series that will focus our collaborative attention to exceptional learning opportunities for the business community.
The Eggs & Issues breakfast series – an extension of our growing Economic Development Committee and our popular Groundhog Day forecast breakfast – will provide thoughtful discussion on development affairs in Worthington and its surrounding environs. The quarterly events will feature well-regarded regional or statewide subject matter experts in economic development, community development, urban planning, and related matters.
The series debuts Tuesday, April 28, from 7:30 to 9 a.m. at Holiday Inn Columbus-Worthington in the Worthington Room. A buffet breakfast will be served. Check-in and networking begin at 7 a.m.

The Chamber and City are grateful for the sponsorship of Worthington Industries for this event.

The keynote speaker for the first Eggs & Issues breakfast is Alex Fischer, president and CEO of The Columbus Partnership.

Columbus Partnership is a civic organization of Columbus, Ohio’s top business leaders formed in 2002 to improve the economic and cultural base of central Ohio.  The Partnership is helping to lead the Columbus 2020 economic development effort, which is a collaboration of regional economic development organizations, and is involved with education reform efforts with Columbus City Schools.  The Partnership’s members include 15 Fortune 1000 CEOs, as well as the leaders of the nation’s largest university and world’s largest research and development organization.
 
Prior to joining the Columbus Partnership, Fischer was senior vice president for Business and Economic Development for Battelle and served on the company’s executive committee and as a corporate officer.  His responsibilities included commercialization of Battelle’s technologies including six national laboratories managed or co-managed by Battelle.
 
Fischer was previously the Director of Technology Transfer and Economic Development for UT-Battelle at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) where he oversaw tremendous growth in commercialization activities, the development of a new Science and Technology Park on the ORNL campus, the implementation of a technology-focused venture capital fund with local business leaders, and the launch of the successful Global Venture Challenge business plan competition.
 
Before joining Battelle, Fischer served as the deputy governor and chief of staff to Tennessee Governor Don Sundquist.  In this position, he served as the principal advisor to the Governor on all matters of the State of Tennessee including the oversight of the 22 agencies of state government.
 
Prior to his service as Deputy Governor, Fischer served as the Commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development (ECD).  During Fischer’s tenure, the State of Tennessee set numerous economic development investment records including more than $40 billion of new capital investment and was named “State of the Year” for its economic development accomplishments.
 
During his service in state government, Fischer acted as the primary state-liaison in the development of the successful bid by the University of Tennessee and Battelle for the $5 billion management contract for the Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
 
A question-and-answer session will follow the keynote presentation, facilitated by Jeffry Harris, economic development manager, City of Worthington, and Kathryn Paugh, president and CEO, Worthington Area Chamber of Commerce.