Lucy Meade & Neil Kessler

Click on the cover for a PDF version of the 2005 Annual Report

With a theme of “Jobs, Investment, and Regional Cooperation,” the 2005 Annual meeting and the 11th anniversary celebration for the Greater Richmond Partnership, Inc. was held on October 3rd in the new Troutman Sanders Building of the Riverside on the James facility.

To illustrate the fruits of regional teamwork, the Partnership commissioned “Amazing Differences in Greater Richmond - 1995 to 2005,” an original watercolor painting by the Partnership's media graphics administrator Jay Adams.

Wingfield provides the annual report.

Marge Connelly, Greg Wingfield, Manoli Loupassi

Connelly presents Art Warren with a token of appreciation for his service to the Partnership.

The graphic features examples of Greater Richmond's historic buildings as well as landmark buildings reflecting the region's growth in recent years. The artwork is used as the Annual Report's cover (see inset above).

With her opening remarks, incoming chair Marge Connelly welcomed the Partnership's investors, board members and invited guests. She briefly highlighted the past ten years of economic expansion in the region before turning the program over to Partnership president Greg Wingfield.

In his report to investors, Wingfield explained, “Since 1994 approximately 99,300 new jobs have been created in the metro area, according to the Virginia Employment Commission. Capital investment by 316 new and expanding companies assisted by the Partnership has totaled more than $5.24 billion. On the basis of government and business funding for the Partnership, this is a return of about $176 for every $1 of the Partnership's budget.”

He also said, “[The data] does not take into account the ongoing benefits of an increased tax base, enhanced individual incomes and job opportunities, or new retail and commercial opportunities for the region's businesses.”