Martinsville and Henry County, Va., like most communities with a textile industry base, started seeing jobs decline more than 10 years ago. Since then, the region absorbed 23 plant closings and numerous downsizings, eliminating more than 10,000 jobs. With Tultex, VF Corp., Sara Lee, DuPont, and Pillowtex went the region’s identity as "Sweatshirt Capital of the World." Leaders knew it was time for change.

Just before the closings began -- in 1994 -- Martinsville hired Tom Harned as director of economic development. Tom had previously worked in manufacturing and development in the private sector, for DuPont and the Lester Group. When the town and county combined forces, he became vice president of Martinsville-Henry County Economic Development Corporation, a position from which he will retire in August.

With Harned’s help, the community began the shift toward a more diverse economy. By reaching out to companies that were growing in the new economy, the community has successfully enticed the distribution operations of Nautica and Sara Lee, food processing operations of Knauss Snack Foods, supplier assessment operations of Athena Innovative Solutions, and customer service operations of Civic Improvement, New Roads, and StarTek. Recently, Martinsville was selected as the site of the first private-sector child-support-enforcement customer service call center in Virginia, Tier Technologies, which will hire 77 employees.

"These jobs offer our citizens a transition from textile work to information technology and knowledge-based employment," Harned said.

More than 5,000 jobs have been created over the past seven years as a result of these efforts; however efforts are continuing. The region is studying the economic impact of the Martinsville Speedway. Already Martinsville is home to a company building race engines for Dodge, the NASCAR Craftsman Truck team, and the new Virginia Motorsports Technology Center, which houses Patrick Henry Community College’s advanced motorsports curriculum.

The county-city GIS website provides extensive information for site selection consultants and real estate professionals. A&A helped to design, set up, and continues to host the site available through www.webgis.net.

"The website’s GIS content and our broadband capacity put us ahead of the curve," Harned said. "They’re great recruitment tools."

Harned has worked on numerous area projects, including the Virginia Museum of Natural History, Clearview Business Park, Rives Road Industrial Park, Piedmont Arts expansion, the farmer’s market, and subdivision development. He serves on the boards of the Virginia Economic Developers Association and the International Economic Development Council.