A pending merger of two Eastern North Carolina economic development alliances is scheduled to become effective Jan. 1 and move the combined headquarters to Greenville.
The merger of the NCEast Alliance, with offices in Kinston, and North Carolina’s Northeast Alliance, based in Williamston, was announced in a memorandum of understanding between the participating counties. It includes an agreement to allow free participation for 15 northeast counties for four-and-a-half years.
NCEast Alliance includes mostly counties that previously were members of now-dissolved NC East, less Craven, Pamlico, Lenoir and Duplin counties, which chose not to continue. It has added Beaufort County and the City of Greenville to membership in the newly formed economic development nonprofit corporation.
John Chaffee, NCEast Alliance president and CEO presently and in the merger plan, said the new NCEast Alliance region will include communities from Elizabeth City in the north to the Jacksonville and Morehead City/Beaufort corridor in the south and as far west as Rocky Mount, Wilson and Goldsboro.
New counties joining the NCEast Alliance include Bertie, Camden, Chowan, Currituck, Dare, Gates, Halifax, Hertford, Hyde, Martin, Northampton, Pasquotank, Perquimans, Tyrrell and Washington.
In addition to those mentioned, Chaffee said he assumes counties participating as paid members or affiliates include Jones, Onslow, Carteret, Pitt, Wilson, Edgecombe and Greene will continue to participate.
“Craven and Nash counties both notified us after July 1 of their intent to pull out so we consider them as members for the year and are still servicing them,” he said. “As it stands now, they will no longer be members next year. We paid them out.”
He said the two areas share a distinctive heritage with small cities and similar industry clusters. That synergy and common links to economic generators like defense and homeland security, aerospace, agriculture, automotive parts manufacturing and tourism will result in shared goals and a stronger combined organization.
Vann Rogerson, current president and CEO of N.C. Northeast Alliance (NCNA), who will become senior VP of the merged alliance, said in a release, “This merger will allow the Northeast counties to be a part of a sustained regional marketing effort with NCNE providing funding to cover participation on behalf of Northeast counties and without depending on state funding.
“I can now focus on recruiting companies to the area and eastern North Carolina will have an even larger rural voice on issues important to us all. Working together, we expect to generate better results for all.”
Chaffee said he and the NCEast Alliance staff are eager to begin working with Northeast counties in a new way and the combined staff is already drafting a new work plan and strategies.
He said the marketing plan will guide the alliance’s strategy for branding and business recruitment but plans to adapt and improve to meet the needs of new affiliates.
He said membership going forward past the initial buy-in by the Northeast Alliance requires annual dues of at least $25,000, based on 30 cents per capita. Smaller counties and cities may be Alliance affiliates for dues of 10 cents per capita.
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