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The Florida Economic Development Council, host to the 2015 Florida Economic Development Conference presented by Florida Power & Light Company and being held this week at the Walt Disney World Swan hotel, has recognized the achievements of Florida’s best economic developers with two prestigious awards.

The Deal of the Year Award recognizes an outstanding achievement in the location or expansion of a business in the state of Florida. JAXUSA Partnership was honored with this prestigious award. 

The deal brings a GE Oil & Gas facility to Jacksonville, creating 500 manufacturing, administrative, engineering and other functional jobs in the STEM related fields. The capital investment in Duval County will be more than $50 million dollars. The state of Florida eliminated the sales tax on manufacturing equipment last year to help manufacturers, lie GE, lower cost and remain competitive in the global market. What Florida was able to do that no other state could do however, was bring various levels of government and private industry together in a single seamless package. 

The project involved the Governor, the Secretary of Commerce, Enterprise Florida project managers, regional economic development from JAXUSA, and the consolidated City of Jacksonville and Duval County Government. These entities also engaged with the Department of Economic Opportunity, CareerSource Florida, CareerSource Northeast Florida, Florida State College at Jacksonville, Hillwood Development Group, JEA and the Mayor’s office. 

“We are excited to be in Florida partnering with the community and the workforce to help us continue to remain competitive in the marketplace. The state of Florida was able to work collaboratively at all levels to help create an environment that fits the company’s needs, and delivered in a timely fashion,” said Julie DeWane, Vice President, Global Supply Chain Measurement & Control, GE Oil & Gas.