Williamson County Precinct 4 Commissioner Russ Boles and Williamson County Economic Development Partnership (WilCo EDP) Executive Director Dave Porter led a delegation of 16 representatives from six Williamson County cities to South Korea from September 10 to 16.
The primary purpose of the trip was a half-day seminar on Doing Business in Williamson County, Texas. The event was coordinated by the WilCo EDP Office in Seoul, South Korea. More than 100 companies attended the seminar. In addition, 32 individual meetings with prospective companies were conducted throughout the week.
“The amount of interest from Korean based companies looking at expanding to the Williamson County area is amazing,” said Commissioner Boles. “Not only is the interest from semiconductor suppliers for Samsung, but also the automotive and clean tech sectors,” Boles added.
Other highlights from the trip included a briefing from the U.S. Embassy in Seoul on the geopolitical issues facing the region and a visit to Pyeongtaek to see the massive Samsung semiconductor facilities.
“This first WilCo EDP international business development mission was very successful,” said Dave Porter. “It was very impressive to see so many WilCo cities be part of this effort to build relationships with Korean companies. I have no doubt this sort of effort will lead to even more interest from South Korea. I’d personally like to thank our partners at KOTRA, Global Business Partners and Samsung for helping make the trip a success.”
In addition to Commissioner Boles and Dave Porter, the other delegates from Willamson County were: Mayor Brandt Rydell, Taylor; Brian LaBorde, Taylor city manager; Regina Carlson, Taylor EDC business development specialist; Brenda Eivens, Cedar Park city manager; Ben White, Cedar Park director of economic development; Laurie Hadley, Round Rock city manager; Brooks Bennett, Round Rock assistant city manager; Jordan Robinson, Round Rock Chamber of Commerce president and CEO; David Morgan, Georgetown city manager; Cameron Goodman, Georgetown director of economic development; Traci Anderson, Jarrell director of economic development; Bob Farley, Hutto director of economic development; Jacob Walker, Taylor city engineer; and EC Chi, Williamson County Economic Development Partnership international director.
Founded in 2014, the WilCo EDP was created as a partnership between Williamson County and city economic development leaders to market and promote economic development in Williamson County. Its board of directors are made up of representatives from each of the contributing governmental entities including Williamson County, Cedar Park, Georgetown, Hutto, Jarrell, Leander, Liberty Hill, Round Rock and Taylor.
More information about the organization and its partners is available on the WilCo EDP website www.wilcoedp.com