Bay County welcomes Oakland County Deputy County Executive Matthew Gibb as featured speaker at Bay Future's annual meeting

 

Bay Future, Inc. hosted Matthew Gibb, Deputy County Executive for Economic Development in Oakland County, as featured speaker at its Annual Meeting in April at the DoubleTree in downtown Bay City. 

Originally from Bay County, Mr. Gibb noted that Bay County has done great things and thanked County Executive Jim Barcia, who invited him to come to Bay City to speak to the group. Mr. Gibb recognized that Bay County has improved economically - particularly by pulling together good partnerships with critical sectors working together.

Mr. Gibb stated Oakland County has a population of 1.3 million people and has over one billion dollars of new investment each year. He stated that the new investment doesn’t come to an area because “they have a cute downtown” but instead investment comes because of what Oakland County can offer by being able to tell prospective investors how quickly the county can get their project permitted and the value of tax breaks or incentive offerings.

Mr. Gibb described the important of “telling your story – the Bay County story” and emphasized the importance of knowing what you have to offer.

Pictured is Bay County Commissioner Michael Duranczyk (left), Oakland County Deputy County Executive Matthew Gibb (middle) and Bay County Executive Jim Barcia (right) at Bay Future's annual meeting.