Inside Economic Development with Matt Gilroy

This week on Chamber Amplified from the Findlay-Hancock County Chamber of Commerce, Doug Jenkins sits down with Matt Gilroy, Director of Findlay-Hancock County Economic Development, to discuss the future of economic development in Findlay and Northwest Ohio.

Matt explains how communities like Findlay compete for business investment, workforce growth, and long-term economic opportunities.

The conversation covers:

•  What economic development organizations actually do 
•  Why Findlay continues to stand out nationally as a micropolitan community 
•  Opportunities in life sciences, biotech, defense technology, and logistics 
•  The importance of workforce, education, and infrastructure 
•  How Northwest Ohio benefits from its location between Detroit, Columbus, and Dayton 
•  Challenges facing economic growth in the coming years 

If you’ve ever wondered how communities attract new businesses, and what happens behind the scenes before major investments are announced, then this episode offers an inside look at the process.

Music and sound effects obtained from https://www.zapsplat.com

Transcript

Why Economic Development Matters

Doug Jenkins 0:05

Hi everyone, and welcome back to Chamber Amplified, brought to you by the Findlay Hancock County Chamber of Commerce. I'm your host, Doug Jenkins. Each week on the podcast, we're talking about things that matter the most to local businesses and organizations, from workforce and leadership development to marketing, IT issues, and just the everyday realities of running something that serves our community. Today we're talking about economic development. That's something that we hear about all the time, but I think a lot of times we don't really know what that means in the day-to-day sense or what economic development organizations actually do and don't do. So we're going to jump into that today. This week's episode giving a look at how communities like Finlay can compete for investments, jobs, and future growth. Matt Gilroy will be joining the podcast. He was actually in Washington, D.C. while attending Select USA when we recorded this. That's a major international investment conference hosted by the U.S. Department of Commerce. We'll hear more, a little bit about what that's about. Matt is relatively new in his role as the director of the Finley Hancock County Economic Development Office, so we'll talk to him about stepping into that role and what he's done before that as well. One thing that I thought was interesting about this discussion is really about economic development, not just about recruiting companies. I think a lot of times that we get that's what we get fixated on. We want to know who's coming, what's the next big thing, this, that, and the other thing. But really, a lot of it's about helping existing businesses solve their problems, do their own expansions, find the right workers that they need, and navigate their challenges. Something that we're very aligned with here at the chamber. We'll also talk about why Finlay continues to stand out nationally as a micropolitan community and why companies continually to look seriously in Northwest Ohio. There's really an interesting conversation going on right now, too, around life sciences, medical technology, logistics, defense technology, and how Finlay could fit into all of that growth in the future. I mean, if you've ever wondered why location still matters in business, or does it still matter that we're where we're located at, especially being positioned between Detroit, Columbus, and Dayton on I-75 and US-23, we dive into that as well. And we also talk about the ripple effects of economic development in terms of workforce, education, infrastructure, suppliers, logistics, quality of life, and tie that all together. That is a mouthful. That's why I stumbled over it a couple of times. If you enjoy the podcast, don't forget to leave us a rating and review and share with others. Of course, we're on YouTube now, so if you really want to share the message, that's an easy way to do it. Just grab the link on the YouTube video, throw it in your Facebook feed, and you're off and running. Now, let's get into it. So let's talk about a little bit about what you're doing in DC for uh economic development this week.

Matt Gilroy 2:42

Sure. So the U.S. Department of Commerce hosts an event called Select USA uh every year, uh, always in Washington, D.C. And uh there are companies from across the world that attend. Uh these companies have interest in locating or investing in the United States, and uh we're here to meet with those folks as well as uh site consultants and other folks that are here um from across the United States as well.

Doug Jenkins 3:13

And for a small micropolitan community, Finley has a lot to stand on when it comes to international business, given uh a lot of the businesses that are already here, especially out at Tall Timbers.

Findlay’s Micropolitan Advantage

Matt Gilroy 3:24

That's right. So, you know, we have nine Japanese companies in the area and uh uh several companies from Germany and other parts of Europe as well. So uh yeah, that helps us uh stand out amongst uh our peers uh when we're talking with companies that uh you know have an interest in making an investment here.

Doug Jenkins 3:44

So you are uh obviously now in charge of economic development here locally, but you've got a long background. This is your first time on the podcast. I don't think we've introduced uh the the chamber amplified uh podcast audience to you yet, uh, but you have a background in this uh from even further in northwest Ohio. We like to think we're in northwest Ohio here in Finlay, but uh you from uh came from uh up in the far reaches of Northwest Ohio. Tell us just a little bit about uh your experience before coming here.

Matt Gilroy 4:11

Sure, yeah. So I've had uh about uh 17 years of experience in economic development uh in Defiance County, and then uh about 10 years of experience in in Fulton County. So, you know, in all 17 years, uh Fulton County is right next door to our our uh counterparts up north, uh right along the border. So uh I was there for about a decade uh doing economic development and uh you know, in between Defiance and Fulton County, I spent a little time in the nonprofit sector as well and healthcare and uh higher education.

Doug Jenkins 4:48

So when it comes to economic development uh in Finlay and in smaller communities like this or Defiance or in Fulton County, what have you, uh you know, a lot of times we're battling for to get a piece of the pie outside of Cincinnati, Columbus, uh, and Cleveland, as well as even Toledo and Dayton, Akron, Canton. I suppose I've hit all the uh the larger cities uh now. That's that's the furthest I'm gonna go with my geography quiz there. Uh what are the elements that we have that make us unique uh as you see it in Finlay when you're at a conference like this that you can talk about?

Life Sciences Ready Community Momentum

Matt Gilroy 5:20

Yeah, so you know, Finlay has been recognized as a top micropolitan uh community for uh well over a decade. And uh a lot of times, you know, when I'm talking to somebody from an international uh company, you know, they don't understand what micropolitan means. So it's a great offer uh conversation to talk about, you know, Finley is a larger city in a rural uh community and a rural county, and we have the best of both worlds. We have the ability to have a significant workforce to attract a new investment. Um and we also have you know, small town living, the ability to work directly with companies and developers to accomplish the things that we need to accomplish in a in a short order without getting bogged down in the bureaucrat uh bureaucracy of uh uh you know big city life.

Doug Jenkins 6:16

So a couple of weeks ago, uh had the annual investor forum for economic development. A lot of interesting topics covered, but the one that really piqued my interest was the future of medical technology uh and just medical industries in the state of Ohio and how Northwest Ohio can really play into that. What were some of your takeaways from that? Because I thought there were a lot of interesting points.

Matt Gilroy 6:39

Well, uh, so one of the speakers was the president of the Ohio Life Sciences Association. Uh that organization has about 6,000 members uh from across the globe and uh you know within Ohio as well, and their focus is on uh attracting membership and investment within the life sciences industry. So that includes agriculture, uh food and beverage production, uh pharmaceutical uh manufacturing, and a very variety of other uh types of industries. So the the topic at hand for them was talking about uh Finlay's designation as a ready community uh to their association membership. And uh that was through an application process that that we went through in late 2025. Uh Finlay is only the seventh community in the state of Ohio that has this designation. And it was a pretty rigorous process, but at the end of the day, what that means is in their association's eyes, Finlay has something special that they can offer to their membership and also to companies that maybe aren't members but are in that same space in life sciences. So we think there's opportunity to attract uh pharmaceuticals manufacturers, uh biotechnology, uh food production, those types of industries into Hancock County uh to grow and and thrive and invest.

Doug Jenkins 8:25

I feel like there's only a ripple effect if we get those types of companies coming here because not only do they provide jobs uh for the area, but you're gonna have to have a pretty good education to work at uh a lot of those, uh especially in some of the engineering parts and everything like that. That means that there's gonna be an investment in education locally to help make sure that we're have the workforce to supply to companies like that. Uh I think there's just a why that's just one element of what could happen with that.

Matt Gilroy 8:56

That's exactly right. So one of the things that we uh made sure to touch on is the fact that uh, you know, Ohio Northern University is very close, University of Finley has a pharmacy program. Um you know, they have two of the top pharmacy programs in the state of Ohio between those two uh uh colleges. So we wanted to try to make sure to promote all of the assets that we already have, and that includes workforce and education infrastructure as well as utilities and transportation infrastructure. So, you know, if if those types of businesses locate here, we need you know, the logistics companies and and other uh types of businesses that are ancillary to their business to continue to grow and invest and thrive here too.

Doug Jenkins 9:50

Well, speaking of an investing, uh we also heard from uh Ohio Means or not Ohio means jobs, but uh but well, regional growth partnership and then uh the Ohio Jobs Ohio. There we go, jobs Ohio. There we go. It's uh it's early on a Monday morning as we record this, and I only have one cup of coffee. So uh forgive me on that one. Uh investment in Ohio remains strong, uh remains on an uptick uh from when they first got started. Uh and in Northwest Ohio certainly seeing its share of it. What are the things that continue to draw eyes to Ohio from potential investors?

Canada Trade And The Gordie Howe Bridge

Matt Gilroy 10:24

Well, there's been a lot of investment in the defense space and technology space. So um companies like Andoril uh located uh recently in in the Columbus market, uh Joby, which is a drone company that located in and made uh actually a couple of investments now in Dayton. And uh what we wanted to showcase is Finley's unique position to uh attract suppliers to those types of businesses because of our proximity to Columbus and Dayton, as well as our proximity to Detroit. So kind of similar to what happened with uh uh the automotive companies that located here in the 80s and 90s, they they located here because they wanted to get in between uh Honda and and Detroit and the big three. Uh we think there's a very similar pathway uh for those new investments that are in drone technology and defense technology, uh, because communities around us are um experiencing significant significant investment in those types of fields.

Doug Jenkins 11:39

So that spot that we occupy on 75 and 23 still means a lot. Uh you mentioned even the connection to Detroit uh and and even beyond Canada, uh, which kind of reminds me, how much does the Gordy Howe Bridge play into this? Is that going to be an impact for Findlay in Northwest Ohio when that's all fully open? Or is it fully open? I just remember it was getting close.

Matt Gilroy 12:02

It's getting close. Uh and I think there could be some opportunities for us in that space as well. And not only uh Hancock County and the city of Finley, but also Northwest Ohio in general. Um, actually, regional growth partnership about a month or two ago hosted an event that they called uh O Canada, O Toledo. And uh it was an opportunity for uh Canadian trade officials and US trade officials to get in the same room in Toledo and talk about the potential of what the Gordy Howe Bridge investment could mean for both parties. And uh I I think those conversations are gonna continue. And certainly um, you know, those types of businesses that make investments uh and need transportation access between the two countries are are going to see an experience of opportunity.

Doug Jenkins 13:01

Well, certainly a lot to be excited about, but obviously everything faces headwinds, that's no different than any other time in history. Uh, but when you look into the next year or two, what are the biggest challenges that you see when it comes to business development locally?

Matt Gilroy 13:18

Well, the national economy is always uh a main factor in something like that. So uh we're paying attention to you know just what what the national economy is doing, um the impact of of uh Iran and uh the oil supply, that certainly is going to have an impact uh and and create some challenges. So we're paying attention to that on a local basis. Uh I I I think really what it comes down to is making sure that we have prepared sites and uh those sites are you know comp competitive with what other communities have available to them. And um, you know, there's several steps behind the scenes that we take to make sure we're providing the best, what I call um our product, the best sites, and also um making sure we're marketing them in the right spaces as well. Uh, you know, there's there's a lot of information out there available to developers and and companies, whether they're international or domestic. And we had have to make sure we're in the right spaces um behind the scenes to get the information to them about our product.

Doug Jenkins 14:40

Speaking of information and getting it out there, I think a lot of times there's confusion about what economic development is and isn't. Uh, you are not the purveyor of yes, this company comes and no, this company does not come. You don't have to sit up with a gavel. Not that I'm aware of our officer.

Matt Gilroy 14:55

I wish that was the case.

Doug Jenkins 14:57

Make things a lot easier for you, I would imagine. Uh, what is the economic development role in when a company decides to come here or not? It doesn't always touch base with economic development first.

What Excites Matt And How To Follow

Matt Gilroy 15:08

Yeah, so um, you know, many times companies, especially if they're local, they may make investment without contacting economic development. And and we are very happy about that. Uh and and of course, anytime that there's an opportunity uh to support companies that are trying to make investment, or if uh they're they're trying to um hire additional people, uh, or if they have some challenges relating to you know an issue with the uh community regulation or a utility or something like that, certainly we want uh to be connected to those types of businesses to try to help them out and support their efforts to grow and invest. Uh and then also um you know, on the flip side of that, as we're trying to recruit new businesses into the area, um yes, sometimes they don't go through economic development and and especially in the retail market, they choose a site, choose a property, and move forward without going through our office. That happens um often. Uh however, what we try to do is uh get in front of as many um companies as possible, especially those in the industries that we're targeting, um, because we think it's the right fit for our community. And you know, our efforts are really honed in on trying to prioritize those types of businesses, uh, hence why I'm here and at Select USA this week.

Doug Jenkins 16:44

Always out recruiting. So I asked you about your concerns for the future, but when you look ahead to the next year or so, what excites you the most?

Matt Gilroy 16:52

I think there's a a lot of opportunity again, it comes down to our product, right? So um my wife and I moved here about a year ago from you know further up north, and uh one of the reasons that we chose to make the move was simply yeah, Finley and Hancock County have all of the different types of things that we need in economic development to um you know push forward and and grow and and and uh convince companies to make investments. And um you know it was a great opportunity for for myself in this new role, and then also a great opportunity for her and and her role as a financial advisor, too. The the marketplace here is significantly uh better than than where we lived before.

Doug Jenkins 17:43

Well, we're certainly happy to have you here. Uh, I'm happy that you've opted to follow the hairstyle code that we have here at the alliance uh as we keep that rolling forward. Uh and um, of course, if people want to learn more about uh what's going on with economic development, they can also subscribe to the newsletter too.

Matt Gilroy 18:01

Absolutely. Uh go to our website, uh findlayecondev.com and uh sign up for the newsletter.

Doug Jenkins 18:08

Very good. Matt, thanks for joining us from Washington, D.C. We'll see you when you get back into the office. Thank you, Doug. Appreciate it. A few things before we wrap up for this week. I think this episode really highlighted how much preparation goes into making a community competitive for future investment. Businesses don't just decide, hey, we're going to invest millions, if not billions, of dollars in an area without doing a lot of research first. Finley's strengths continue to be location, workforce, infrastructure, education partnerships, and quality of life. We have a lot going on in that area, and it's best to preserve those. It was interesting hearing about how industries like life sciences, biotech, and defense technology, also logistics, all could help shape the next chapter of growth in northwestern Ohio. One of the biggest takeaways is economic development, not just about attracting new companies. Like we said in the intro, that's the thing that gets the headlines, but really supporting the businesses that are already here is a big, big piece of the puzzle. I want to encourage you to subscribe to the Economic Development Newsletter to stay informed about some of the projects that they're working on. And of course, you can subscribe to our e-newsletter as well to stay up to date on what we're doing at the Findlay Hancock County Chamber of Commerce. Again, thanks for Matt for taking time to join us on the show while traveling to Washington, D.C. And that'll do it for another edition of Chamber Amplified. This is a free podcast available to the community, made possible by the investment of our members here at the Findlay Hancock County Chamber of Commerce. If you're looking at ways to get your business involved in the community, a lot of times the chamber is the best place to start. And if you'd like to learn more about that, just send me an email, D Jenkins at Finlay Hancock Chamber.com, and we'll talk about how an investment in the chamber not only helps your business, but the business community as a whole. Thanks again for listening, and we'll see you next time on Chamber Amplified from the Findlay Hancock County Chamber of Commerce.