Mark Lautman, CEcD, will be the featured speaker at the December MVEDA Business in the Borderplex Forum. Mark has been asked by House Speaker Martinez and Senate Pro Tem Papen to take the leadership of the House and Senate through a process to clarify an economic development agenda for the state. Mark will provide an update on recent findings of a series of statewide workshops at the meeting. The final results and recommendations will be presented to the New Mexico Legislature in January.

The forum will be held on Tuesday, December 2, 2014 from 11:30 AM until 1:00 PM at the Hotel Encanto de Las Cruces, 705 S. Telshor. The meeting will begin with a hot entrée buffet followed by a brief update from MVEDA staff.

The work of the Jobs Council is the most thorough and inclusive job creation planning in state history. Based on this work, specific legislation will be introduced during the 2014 legislative session with the hopes of creating jobs in the next five to seven years if not sooner.

Using a process that Lautman developed, his team of specialists guided groups of community officials to develop estimates of how many jobs would be required to support projected population growth or decline over the next 10 years. The goal is to return local economies to their 2007 status, before the recession struck.

Advance registration is $20.00 per person, payable by major credit card via the secure portal on the registration form. Payment at the door with cash, check or credit card is $25.00 per person. Reservations are required. Due to the holiday schedule, registration closes Wednesday, November 26, 2014.

The MVEDA Business in the Borderplex Forums are monthly events that provide public discourse of relevant economic development issues impacting Southern New Mexico.