Welcome Aboard, Cynthia: We’re excited to welcome Cynthia Oliveros as the new Business Engagement Associate for Team GPEDC! A proud Peoria native with professional experience in Houston, Dallas, and NYC, Cynthia brings a powerful blend of strategic insight and community-centered passion. She’ll be supporting our Elevate GP program—helping businesses across the region grow, thrive, and connect with resources and opportunities.
Celebrating Japan and Illinois: Our partners at Intersect Illinois and the Illinois Manufacturers Association co-hosted a nice reception in Chicago on Monday to celebrate the economic and cultural ties between Illinois and Japan. Governor Pritzker and others discussed the 130 year history of the relationship and talked about future endeavors. The room was packed with business and government leaders, and gave me the opportunity to meet the acting Consul-General for Japan in Chicago, Naoya Kishi. I invited Mr. Kishi to visit Peoria later this year as we have our own great ties to Japan with great employers like Komatsu and PMP Fermentation (a division of Fuso Chemical). I certainly appreciated the invitation (generated from a connection I made on my recent trip to Mexico) and the opportunity to meet with both colleagues and new contacts.
German American Chamber of Commerce: I hate the idea of driving all the way to Chicago and back for just a two hour reception, but luckily there was plenty of business to do while in town. Among my meetings was a chance to reconnect with staff at the German American Chamber of Commerce Midwest (GACC-M), whose offices are headquartered in downtown Chicago. We’ve been members of the Chamber for years and really value the relationship we have built with the staff there. GACC-M brought a delegation of “smart city” startups to Peoria last year as part of an Illinois trade mission and continues to find ways of supporting our region. One service that GACC-M provides is site selection advice and research for German companies interested in a new or expanded US presence, so these relationships are important! We are currently working on a 2026 business delegation from the Emden region of Germany that will hopefully visit Peoria. Did you know that our own Emden in Logan County was founded by German immigrants from this same area? It truly is a small world.
Springfield Clinic: A big thank you to Springfield Clinic for joining the GPEDC family of investors at the Silver level. The clinicians and staff of Springfield Clinic have provided primary and specialty health care services since 1939 and have been expanding their presence in Greater Peoria over the past decade, now employing a few hundred individuals in our market. Health care is a dominant sector in our economy but also a big part of our great quality of life. My thanks to Jen Boyer and Mike Higgins for seeing the value in the work we do and supporting our mission to drive Greater Peoria’s economy forward.
Big Idea: The Turner School for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Bradley University put on an outstanding final round of the Big Idea pitch competition on Tuesday night. I was so impressed with all four of the finalists, and constantly amazed at the solid ideas that are presented. Congratulations to the team from Fantastic for taking home the grand prize.
SkillsUSA: If you are around the Peoria Civic Center on Friday or Saturday, you’ll notice thousands of young people. It isn’t a sports competition or a band showcase – it’s the state final for Illinois of SkillsUSA. The Illinois chapter is headquartered in Pekin and for the past few years they have held the finals here in the region, with students competing in over 100 career-related skills. You’ll see everything from hairdressing to diesel mechanics. The winners of this competition go on to compete for the national championship in Atlanta later this year. SkillsUSA Illinois Executive Director Eric Hill joined me on the Greg and Dan Show this week to talk about the importance of the event, including how much of a tourism boom it is (listen here). You can learn more about the competition here.
Have a great weekend.
Chris