As we celebrate Labor Day this weekend, I want to take a moment and reflect on the life of Francis Perkins, our nation’s first woman in a Presidential Cabinet, serving as President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Labor Secretary.

Francis Perkins was a tireless advocate for our nation’s workers – advancing policies that still lift up our lives today such as the minimum wage, Social Security, and child labor laws. During World War II, Secretary Perkins led the effort for job training programs for women workers who filled in critical factory jobs to fuel America’s war effort.

There is no doubt that Francis Perkins was a trendsetting woman leader.

Her work and her passion have endured – improving the lives of every workers across our country.

For years, I have admired her passion and her tenacity.

As we look to help our workers in Morrisville, I am focused on building a strong Information Technology sector in our town. I have been proud to work on business recruitment helping bring Microsoft, Apple Syneos Health and Invitae to our community. Keep in mind that Morrisville is home to 10% of all Public Companies in North Carolina, including Lenovo, Cisco, IBM, Channel Advisor, and Syneos Health. I plan to double this number in the next four years!

Working in concert with Wake Community Technical College means we are offering high-tech job training programs that will train workers for today’s IT jobs and help Morrisville and Wake County compete in today’s competitive global market.

When I attended the opening of the Infosys innovation hub two years ago, I recall CEO, Salil Parekh, reminding all of us that Infosys is working with Wake Tech to train North Carolina Citizens for jobs that do not exist today! I am very proud of the training Wake Tech RTP is offering in the areas of AI, Machine Learning, Cybersecurity and their support of the Wake Works Program. I am working on also introducing Wake Tech RTP to investors and entrepreneurs, who may be interested in an AI Incubator, to source talent for AI Start Ups and to create new jobs!

Our town and our county have a great deal to offer business, commerce and industry. By working together we have shown we can accommodate economic development, job creation and smart growth that improves the quality of life for our citizens.

I am proud of how we are transforming Morrisville into a global hub for Technology and Pharma and Life Science Companies.

Here is a quick recap of our economic development successes:

Syneos Health – January 2016

Syneos Health (formerly INC Research), an internationally recognized contract research organization (CRO) that conducts Phase 1 through Phase IV clinical trials on drugs addressing a range of disorders for the biopharmaceutical and medical device industries, expanded in Morrisville in 2016. The Company, which operates in 40 countries around the globe, will add 550 new jobs at their Wake County headquarters over the next five years. I continue to work with the Syneos Team to grow more jobs and to drive more innovation in health care in the Town of Morrisville.

Microsoft – December 2019

Microsoft announcement of 500 jobs in Morrisville with an average wage of $125,000 was a game changer for us. That’s more than double the average Wake County wage. The tech giant reached an agreement with the state of North Carolina to create that many jobs by 2023 and will in return receive tax benefits of more than $12 million spread over 12 years if job targets are met. Microsoft plans to invest $47 million in the Morrisville Facility.

Invitae – April 2021

One of the greatest economic development projects I was involved with, was the recent purchase of the Outlet Mall, which for years had been considered a China Center by investors. During 2017 retreat in Kannapolis, our Council was convinced that our Town needed a catalyst, something that could lure more investment to the Town, like what the new Kannapolis Baseball was doing for their downtown revitalization.

When I returned from Kannapolis, it was brought to my attention that the Investors were selling the Mall. I started to reach out to prospective tenants, including investors interested in a Soccer Stadium, a potential site for IKEA, and also a Tennis Center. I even had the idea of having the Outlet Mall serve as Incubator for Start Ups, like the American Underground in Durham.

After a few months, I got a call from a Broker, who represented Equator Capital, a world class development company, headquartered in New York.

I was introduced to the CEO, Mehul Patel, who had ties to Morrisville. We had a number of meetings in Morrisville, and I took him to the site and maintained communication with him. Months later, it was announced, that his company would purchase the mall, and then we worked with the staff, to get the Mall to be developed into the Stitch, an innovative Office Park, which would house companies, but the vision changed to be focused exclusively on Biotechology and Pharmaceutical companies.

The rest is history.

In April 2021, Invitae Corporation (NYSE: NVTA), headquartered in San Francisco, announced a $114.6 million in a new facility in Morrisville at the Stitch that will allow the company to expand its ability to conduct genetic testing and provide genetic information to people and their healthcare providers, creating 374 jobs by the end of 2026 that will pay an average wage of more than $91,000.

We welcome Invitae as the first tenant for the Stitch, and as always,

My Motto is “Just Get It Done”!