Archive for November, 2009

The U.S. Commercial Service is holding a FREE webinar on doing business with Mexico on November 17, 2009 at 10:00 AM MT.  The Santa Fe Export Assistance Center would like to welcome the participation of any of the New Mexico firms that might find it of interest.  Speakers will include the Senior Commercial Officer (Mexico Region) Ann Bacher, the Principal Commercial Officer for Monterrey Geoff Bogart, a representative from FedEx to talk about shipping issues, and a representative from Zions Bank to discuss trade finance issues.  Also highlighted during the webinar will be an upcoming trade mission to Mexico in February.  If you are interested in participating in the webinar or the upcoming trade mission log on directly on the 17th to: http://www.buyusa.gov/utah/mexicowebinar.html

For more information, contact the Santa Fe Export Assistance Center:

Attention: Catherine Spillman
International Trade Specialist
U.S. Export Assistance Center
Santa Fe, NM
T:  505-908-7434
F:  505-827-0211

Catherine.Spillman@mail.doc.gov

During the month of October, MVEDA invested considerable time on its target marketing and prospecting efforts.   Early in the month MVEDA conducted a prospect visit to Washington, D.C. where we met with several site consultants and companies involved with federal contracting efforts.   During the month, MVEDA also attended two trade shows: the International Symposium for Personal and Commercial Spaceflight (ISPCS) in Las Cruces which focused on the commercial aerospace industry; and Solar Power International in Anaheim where over 2,000 companies exhibited.  At both shows, MVEDA sponsored invitation only events where we had the opportunity to engage and develop relationships with companies within each respective industry.  At ISPCS, MVEDA sponsored the conference’s opening reception which received significant attention, and at Solar Power International, MVEDA and Verde Corporate Realty Services co-sponsored an event hosted by the New Mexico Partnership where over 250 company representatives attended.  New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson also attended this event and spoke to the audience about the continued opportunities for solar energy development and manufacturing in New Mexico.

To date during the current fiscal year, MVEDA has created 36 new leads, representing over 3,190 jobs thereby indicating a very healthy pipeline of future projects.   Renewable energy and manufacturing & logistics projects represent the overwhelming greater percentage of our leads.

November marks a critical time period for MVEDA in our prospecting activities.  Economic development recruiting efforts normally have a minimum sales cycle of six months.  Given that we have only eight months left in our fiscal year, this means that we have only two months left to develop new leads that may have a chance of closing prior to July 2010 when our new fiscal year begins.  Therefore, MVEDA will be concentrating significant efforts on getting current leads and prospects to the finish line.

The open projects that MVEDA believes have the greatest likelihood of closing this fiscal year include;

• Project Windtower, an alternative energy manufacturer,
• Project Alimentos, a food processing company, and
• Project Roadrunner and Project X, both alternative energy developers.

If realized, these four projects represent over 200 jobs to Dona Ana County and over $300MM in capital investments.

The Board of Regents of New Mexico State University announced a series of public receptions with the five finalists for President of New Mexico State University and their spouses.

The reception for Richard Herman was held on Monday, November 2nd at the NMSU Stan Fulton Center, 3rd Floor, 1815 Wells Street, from 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

The receptions for the other finalists will be held at the NMSU Golf Course Clubhouse Player’s Grill, 3000 Herb Wimberly Drive, Las Cruces, New Mexico at the following times and dates:

• Barbara Couture, Wednesday, November 4^th, 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

• Lisa Rossbacher, Friday, November 6^th, 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

• Mike Ortiz, Monday, November 9^th, 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

• Jim Oblinger, Monday, November 16^th, 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

Please RSVP by phone to (575) 646-7737 or by email to jolie@nmsu.edu.

Candidate profiles and input forms are available at http://www.nmsu.edu/presidentialsearch/index.html. Input forms will also be available at each reception.