The Tallahassee Chamber of Commerce says it needs to play a bigger role in recruiting potential companies.
Aside from Amazon’s massive robotic fulfillment center, which opened in 2023, Tallahassee has failed to land any large scale corporate relocations or major job‑creating investments in recent years.
Officials often point to Danfoss Turbocor as a North Star, considering it relocated its manufacturing operations to Tallahassee in 2007 and expanded four times over. But no other company can claim the same success.
Chamber Board of Directors Chairman Eddie Gonzalez Loumiet said that needs to change. He said the private sector “needs a quarterback,” meaning a lead organization that’s helping to facilitate and navigate economic development.
The Chamber has 1,200 members, representing more than 60,000 local employees. Yet with job gains in the red and more than 10,000 open jobs, the Chamber has been working behind the scenes mapping out a game plan for better results.
Gonzalez Loumiet rattled off names of various organizations and operations that have a role to play — the Tallahassee-Leon County Office of Economic Vitality (OEV), Capital City Chamber of Commerce and the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) at Florida A&M University, to name a few.
“But, we feel there needs to be one main convener,” Gonzalez Loumiet said in an interview with the Tallahassee Democrat. “We have told elected officials, different organizations and others we’re going to be running point.”
When pressed on how that will look – especially when OEV is supposed to be the dedicated economic engine for the area – he said it’s an approach on multiple fronts that surrounds “understanding the problems, trying to find solutions” and working with other organizations to recruit companies to Tallahassee.
“OEV has a role to play in that as well, but we feel we can play a bigger role,” Gonzalez Loumiet said. “The top priority will be which is the next Danfoss that’s coming to our community.”
He went on to say the ultimate goal is to be more unified and effective in securing the big deal. The Chamber’s heightened stance, Gonzalez Loumiet said, is meant to be parallel as OEV attempts to recruit companies, adding the Chamber is just a “phone call away to help close that deal.”
While that’s always been the case, he said OEV doesn’t always utilize that option: “They need to do more of it. They don’t do it.”
OEV Director: ‘Economic development works best when the entire community is aligned’
Now comes the question on whether the Chamber’s newfound stance is a sign of its lack of confidence in OEV as the lead agency to head recruitment efforts.
OEV was first launched in February 2016 after the former Chamber-led Economic Development Council was dismantled to make room for a new approach.
“Some people are saying we were in favor of that split back then,” Gonzalez Loumiet said. “Some people, without naming names, are saying, ‘You know what, maybe we need to go back to another model.”
“Some of them are saying we gave it a run and it’s been 10 plus years and instead of being negative and pointing fingers, we feel the private sector has a responsibility to step up.”
OEV Director Keith Bowers said the organization now has eight active projects in the pipeline across various targeted industries. Such projects get a code name, much like Amazon began as Project Mango. But OEV’s track record in landing those projects has been lackluster.
Bowers said in a statement to the Democrat that business recruitment is highly competitive, often confidential, and typically unfolds over a multi-year timeline, so not every opportunity results in a public announcement.
“At the same time, we continue to support the expansion of existing businesses — an area that consistently delivers jobs and investment,” Bowers said.
“We welcome the Chamber stepping into a more active and visible role, because economic development is most effective when it’s coordinated and collaborative. Economic development works best when the entire community is aligned, and the Chamber is an important partner in helping elevate Tallahassee-Leon County’s value proposition.”
He went on to say OEV will continue working with its partners to build on momentum and compete for new opportunities.
“Since its inception, OEV has focused on delivering measurable results — supporting business expansions and strengthening Tallahassee-Leon County’s overall competitiveness,” Bowers said.
“That momentum is reflected in real outcomes. Incentivized projects have generated an estimated economic impact of more than 5,300 jobs, over $260 million in wages, and approximately $777 million in total economic output, with more than 2,500 permanent jobs and over $327 million in recurring annual economic activity.”
City, county officials say OEV best suited to take recruitment lead as Chamber prepares marketing push
Some local government and economic development officials say they see no reason why OEV should divert its efforts.
Leon County Administrator Vince Long said recruiting new and expanding employers in Leon County is central to OEV’s mission.
“That commitment has produced major wins, attracted significant private investment, and helped drive significant economic impact,” Long said in a text message to a Democrat reporter. “The Chamber bringing further focus to business recruitment is a welcome addition to a public-private partnership that has long set Leon County apart.”
Tallahassee City Manager Reese Goad said he sees the Chamber’s position as a positive, given the organization’s mission to grow business.
Goad, who recently announced his retirement, said he met with Chamber officials regarding the organization’s plans, adding he didn’t perceive what was shared as a move to upend the economic development structure. He said, by state law, every city designates an Economic Development Organization or EDO and “that’s OEV.”
“I told them, and they seemed to agree, that OEV was perfectly situated and sits between the two local governments in our community, having maximum access to resources to the extent of financial incentives or things related to the government,” Goad said.
Major recruitment also will require the Florida Department of Commerce, too, he said, adding it’s “difficult for Tallahassee to compete with other cities that may have the backing or support of the state of Florida and that becomes a very difficult thing.”
Any major recruitment, Goad said, would still require OEV taking the lead with an assist from the Department of Commerce “because of the way those recruitments are structured.”
“So the sentiment that the Chamber desires to take an even more active role, is welcomed. I think we should all welcome that because that signals a desire to grow the economy,” Goad said, adding Tallahassee’s economy has grown at a faster rate than the U.S. and Florida for the last three years.
Yet, NAI TALCOR, the largest commercial real estate firm in Tallahassee, hosted its annual CRE update in March, and one of the company owners said Tallahassee’s was in a “slow growth (to) no-growth environment.”
Principal Ed Murray said that outside of the public sector, private sector job creation would be in the red. But Murray also said without the $3.3 billion in public sector projects underway (or in the pipeline), job creation in Tallahassee would be in the red.
Leon County lost more than 620 jobs year-over-year, according to the latest economic scorecard published by the Florida Chamber Foundation, which produces an at-a-glance look at economic indicators.
The job-loss numbers is actually an improvement compared to when the Leon County’s scorecard showed a year-over-year loss of 4,168 jobs in January, along with a job-growth rate that decreased by 2.6%.
Gonzalez Loumiet said job creation remains one of the Chamber’s main goals and more collaborative efforts with partners like Choose Tallahassee and others are taking place to market and recruit the next big company to Tallahassee.
Part of that effort will be a new AI-based, concierge-style website that will help potential companies access information necessary for their needs.
That may include information and links for acquiring a business license in Florida and an intuitive guide for navigating more than 60 Tallahassee-based organizations that touch economic development.
The website will be revealed at the upcoming 2026 AI Innovations Summit: Strategy, Stewardship, and Scalable Innovation that’s scheduled for June 16 and June 17 at Tallahassee State College.
“Using this advanced technology and our experience in economic development and our experience in the private sector, we’re going to basically create a front door to the business community,” he said, adding the goal is to remove confusion for outsiders interested in Tallahassee.
“We’ve got a lot of resources. The second thing is helping people navigate those 60 organizations.”
Contact Economic Development Reporter TaMaryn Waters at tlwaters@tallahassee.com and follow @TaMarynWaters on X.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Tallahassee Chamber wants to ‘quarterback’ recruiting companies, landing jobs
Reporting by TaMaryn Waters, Tallahassee Democrat / Tallahassee Democrat
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