As we look back on 2024, the Greenville Eastern North Carolina (ENC) Alliance celebrates a year of record-breaking success through new investment, job creation, partnership, and collaboration. Economic development efforts proved successful in announcing five project wins, bringing a $730 million in new capital investment and creating nearly 1,200 new jobs in Greenville-Pitt County. In addition, we wrapped up a five-year capital campaign, resulting in more than $4.6 million in private sector commitments to support our organization’s activities.
January 29: The Greenville ENC Alliance started the year off strong by growing its team, adding a marketing and investor relations coordinator. Julia Davis, a Pitt County native and ECU graduate, has a background in industry and nonprofit marketing. In her role at the Alliance, Julia is responsible for event planning, social media content, investor communication, and talent marketing.
“We’re excited and fortunate to have Julia on our team. She brings energy and enthusiasm to the work we’re doing, and she is clearly passionate about bringing attention to the quality of life, affordability, and livability of Greenville-Pitt County,” said Maria Satira, director of marketing and communications. “We look forward to working with Julia on talent attraction and retention marketing, especially since she can relate to this project personally as someone who grew up in the area, graduated from ECU, and chose to stay in Greenville to start and grow a career.”
February 15: A speculative industrial building in Indigreen Corporate Park will soon be in development through a partnership with the Greenville ENC Alliance, Marlboro Development Team (MDT), Greenville Utilities Commission (GUC), and City of Greenville. Located on a 17.3-acre parcel at 0 Sugg Parkway, the Class A building will be 100,440 square feet and expandable to 234,360 square feet. MDT acquired 17.3 acres of industrial property from the Greenville ENC Alliance to develop the new facility. Expected to be complete by the end of 2024, it is MDT’s first shell building in eastern North Carolina.
“Marlboro Development Team has been strategically focused on expanding our presence in North Carolina,” said William Fleming, President and CEO of Marlboro Development Team, Inc. “It has been a pleasure to collaborate with Greenville Eastern North Carolina Alliance, the City of Greenville and Greenville Utilities Commission to deploy our spec building program in a vibrant and thriving economic center. With our spec buildings tailored to advanced manufacturing, we foresee tremendous potential in this partnership, both presently and in the future.”
March 29: As a record number of Americans relocate, Greenville-Pitt County has the opportunity to attract more residents, visitors, and business opportunities than ever before. The Greenville ENC Alliance partnered with Livability Media to launch Livability Greenville-Pitt County, North Carolina. This new annual print magazine and digital content marketing program is dedicated to fostering talent recruitment and relocation to our region. Designed to captivate entrepreneurs, site selectors, executives, and other talented individuals and families, our initiative showcases the outstanding quality of life that our region has to offer.
April 19: A Pitt County ambulance and apparatus dealership and service provider announced an expansion creating 10 jobs with an average wage of $70,928 and investing $1,450,000 in the project. Atlantic Emergency Solutions, Inc. is a provider of metal fabrication, paint, graphics, maintenance and warranty work on fire trucks and other emergency vehicles. A $100,000 building reuse grant in the existing business building category from the North Carolina Rural Infrastructure Authority (RIA) will support the company’s expansion.
“Supporting and promoting the success of local industry is extremely important to our organization. We are proud that Atlantic Emergency Solutions is strengthening its presence in Falkland and bringing more high paying jobs to the community. These are the types of opportunities that help small towns grow and prosper,” said Josh Lewis, president and CEO of the Greenville ENC Alliance. “Congratulations to Atlantic Emergency Solutions and our partners in Falkland.”
April 26: Boviet Solar, a global renewable energy company, will create 908 new jobs in Pitt County. The company will invest more than $294 million to locate its first North American solar panel manufacturing facility in the City of Greenville. Founded in Vietnam, Boviet Solar is a Tier 1 solar technology manufacturer of high-quality solar panels and photovoltaic cells. The company is a leader in solar project development with commercial, industrial, and residential customers in the U.S. The new facility in Pitt County will increase the company’s global capacity to produce high-end solar panels and PV modules in a 1-million-square foot advanced manufacturing facility.
“Our dreams of producing our PV modules in the U.S. finally come to realization. We are proud of bringing our manufacturing excellence to our most important solar market, creating jobs, and making a positive impact on North Carolina’s economy. We are committed to expanding solar as a widely used renewable energy source in the U.S. and delivering locally made, top-performing PV modules to accelerate the advent of the global renewable revolution,” said Jimmy Xie, General Manager of Boviet Solar.
May 6: The Greenville Eastern North Carolina (ENC) Alliance and Pitt County Economic Development teamed up to host Economic Development Week from Monday, May 6 to Friday, May 10, 2024. The week is an initiative of the International Economic Development Council (IEDC) to celebrate the economic development work done in communities around the world. The week-long programming series won an international award from IEDC for Innovation in Economic Development Week.
“Economic development in Greenville – Pitt County requires deliberate and sustaining effort by many partners to maximize community potential and success,” said Josh Lewis, president and CEO of the Greenville ENC Alliance. “We are excited to celebrate collaborative economic development and the impact it has in supporting our local economy, creating jobs and career opportunities, and improving quality of life for all citizens.”
June 6: New bike racks have been installed in downtown Greenville in an effort to provide more consistent, visible, and secure bike parking options while promoting active mobility. The 13 racks are located at six destinations between downtown and the Greenville Town Common. The project was primarily funded by the Greenville ENC Alliance, with additional support from the City of Greenville’s Recreation and Parks and Public Works Departments, the Downtown Greenville Partnership, and the city’s Multimodal Transportation Commission.
“We are excited to support projects that contribute to the transformation of our municipal downtown areas,” explained David Horn, director of strategic partnerships for the Greenville ENC Alliance. “As the Greenville ENC Alliance works to bring new capital investment and well-paying jobs to the area, the livability factors sought by diverse, growing families must be part of this equation to attract and keep a quality workforce. These bike racks go a long way toward enhancing the functionality, accessibility, and overall appeal of Downtown Greenville.”
June 30: The Greenville ENC Alliance begins the new 2024-2025 Fiscal Year with a strong, engaged board of directors and executive leadership. Drake Brinkley, a commercial real property attorney at Ward and Smith, P.A., will continue as chairman for a second term. He also previously served in secretary and vice chair roles. Other board officers re-elected to serve include Aaron Driver of IIC Carolinas as vice chair, Michael Gregory of Hyster-Yale Group as treasurer, and Thomas Taft, Jr. of Taft Family Ventures as secretary. The full list of the 2024-25 Greenville ENC Alliance Board of Directors is available by clicking here.
"As we embark on a new fiscal year, we celebrate the many accomplishments of the Greenville ENC Alliance over the past 12 months. This includes Pitt County’s largest ever jobs announcement to date with the Boviet Solar foreign direct investment project, as well as several local industry expansions bringing new jobs and new capital investment and the development of a speculative building in Indigreen Corporate Park," said Drake Brinkley, chairman of the Greenville ENC Alliance.
July 17: Nipro Medical Corporation, a leader in the global healthcare and medical device industry, has selected Pitt County for its first North American manufacturing center of excellence, creating 232 jobs. The company will invest more than $397.8 million to build a new manufacturing campus and U.S. headquarters in Greenville. Founded in Japan, Nipro stands as a Tier 1 manufacturer renowned for its high-quality medical devices and healthcare solutions. The new facility in Pitt County marks Nipro's first venture into producing advanced medical devices directly in the U.S. market and highlights the company’s commitment to innovation, growth, and environmental sustainability.
“We are thrilled to start manufacturing our cutting-edge medical devices in the U.S., which will support local healthcare professionals and patients with a stable supply chain and reduced transportation costs," said Tsuyoshi Yamazaki, Senior Managing Director of Global Business at Nipro. “Our close proximity to customers will allow us to better respond to their needs and provide them with timely and effective solutions. Our new facility in Greenville is a major milestone in our sustainability journey, reflecting our commitment to reducing our carbon footprint.”
July 30: UNX-Christeyns, a detergent and cleaning product manufacturer headquartered in Greenville, announces an expansion project bringing 21 new jobs with an average wage of $59,857 and $10,500,000 in new capital investment to Greenville-Pitt County. The company will relocate its existing facility to a property on Staton Road to allow for a consolidated home for all operations.
“For more than 65 years, UNX-Christeyns has been a proud member of the Greenville community,” said UNX-Christeyns CEO Josh Lilley. “This project allows for a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility which enables our organization to grow and thrive within the industries we serve. In addition to the manufacturing and operational efficiencies we will certainly realize, this project will also help facilitate a further-improved, unified culture as we bring all Greenville employees under one roof.”
August 1: Attindas Hygiene Partners, which designs and manufactures high-quality absorbent hygiene products from its manufacturing and distribution facility in Greenville, announces an expansion project bringing 25 new jobs with an average wage of $56,746 and $26,200,000 in new capital investment to Greenville-Pitt County over the next five years. Attindas sells bladder control pads (BCP), male guards, and training pants in the North American market; however, these products are sourced from the company’s European manufacturing facilities and third-party suppliers. As the need for these products grows in the United States, Attindas’ expansion plans will allow the company to add two more lines to support additional manufacturing. The additional capacity will enable continued market expansion in strategic retail, at home, and direct channels.
“With this expansion we are able to provide more opportunities to our current team members while expanding our overall headcount with new job offerings to the local community,” said Russ Bennett, plant manager for Attindas in Greenville.
September 16: The Greenville ENC Alliance received three 2024 Excellence in Economic Development Awards from the International Economic Development Council (IEDC) during the Annual Conference in Denver. The organization, representing the 25,000 - 200,000 population size category, received two Gold Awards and one Silver Award for its economic development marketing projects. The Alliance received a Gold Award for its work in the Innovation in Economic Development Week (EDW) category, a Gold Award for its role in planning and executing Better Skills, Better Jobs, and a Silver Award for its Salary Transparent Street viral social media partnership.
“We are appreciative that the IEDC has again recognized the outstanding work that Alliance staff and partners continue to produce on behalf of the community,” said Greenville ENC Alliance president and CEO Josh Lewis, CEcD. “In the spring of 2023, as one of our five primary goals, the Alliance committed to being an innovative economic development organization and a recognized industry leader. These awards are positive reinforcement that our efforts are making steady progress towards those aspirations.”
October 3: Better Skills, Better Jobs, the largest job fair of its kind in eastern North Carolina, returned for the fourth year to address workforce development needs in Pitt County and surrounding areas. Pitt Community College (PCC), John M. Belk Endowment, Greenville ENC Alliance, Pitt County Economic Development, Greenville-Pitt County Chamber of Commerce, and Inner Banks Media co-hosted the event at the Greenville Convention Center. There were 1,500 career seekers who passed through the career fair and had the opportunity to meet with more than 110 employers and education resource vendors. Several employers held on-site interviews with some attendees leaving with a job offer on the same day. Community partners include East Carolina University, Pitt County Schools, Greenville Utilities, Tradesformers, NCWorks, and ECU Health.
“One of the unique aspects of this particular career fair is the fact that, number one, we incorporate a special exclusive high school component and, number two, that we combine the top employers from the area with the education and workforce resources in one location, for one day,” said David Horn, director of strategic partnerships for the Greenville ENC Alliance. “And it’s a very powerful one-day event that we’ve found is very, very effective.”
October 14: In a study by USA Today Homefront, Greenville was ranked as the third best city to move to in North Carolina. The study looked at the southeast region which is noted as the fasted growing region in the south. Researchers ranked 209 cities in the southeast region and rated cities based on low crime rates, fair costs of living, resilience to severe weather and other key benefits for new residents.
November 18: In a recent report released by Site Selection Group, a full-service location advisory, economic incentives, and real estate services firm, North Carolina is ranked as the best state nationwide for manufacturing. This study examines the state’s competitiveness for corporate investment in the manufacturing sector. Over the past six months, Greenville-Pitt County has seen much success with project announcements bringing new capital investment and new jobs to the area. Notably, Boviet Solar and Nipro, both manufacturing-based industries, have chosen Pitt County for their first U.S. based manufacturing facilities after a nationwide search. The companies were impressed by the business climate at the local and state level.
December 16: The Greenville ENC Alliance celebrates a capital campaign milestone to close out 2024. The public-private partnership welcomes a record number of private sector investors that have pledged to support the organization’s FY 2024-2029 capital campaign. As of December 31, more than 110 private sector supporters have pledged more than $4,600,000 over a five-year period to enhance economic development activities in Greenville-Pitt County.
“As a true public-private partnership, the Alliance depends on the private sector to fuel its programs and initiatives on an annual basis,” explained Thomas Taft, Jr., Greenville ENC Alliance capital campaign co-chair and principal at Taft Family Ventures, a platinum level investor in the Alliance. “The private sector did not disappoint as we exceeded our goal for the campaign in a resounding affirmation of everything the team and our various partners have accomplished.”
“Since the organization’s inception, the Alliance has been extremely successful in marketing our community as a premier business destination and great place to work and live. In addition to attracting new companies and foreign investments, they have also supported nearly two dozen existing industries with expansion projects,” shared Lance Clark, capital campaign co-chair and owner and president at Bill Clark Homes, a platinum level investor in the Alliance. “Thank you to the private sector partners that have joined this effort to support our community’s continued growth and economic success.”
To view the Greenville ENC Alliance’s full list of private sector investors, click here.
The past 12 months were full of growth and economic prosperity for Greenville-Pitt County, and we look forward to what’s ahead in 2025!
To learn more about the Greenville ENC Alliance and our economic development efforts, please reach out to Maria Satira, director of marketing and communications: satira@encalliance.com, 252-414-2875