Two Tennessee Economic Developers Win Excellence in Economic Development Awards
CINCINNATI — The Site Selectors Guild (SSG), the association of the world’s leading corporate location advisors, honored two outstanding economic developers with the 2018 Excellence in Economic Development Awards at the Guild’s annual conference, March 20, 2018: Victoria Hirschberg with the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development and Dennis Tumlin with Rhea County Economic and Community Development.
The winners were nominated by SSG members and selected based on mastery of process, ingenuity and creativity, going above and beyond, political acumen, staying power, and personal, caring touch. The Excellence in Economic Development Awards are intended to promote positive interactions between site selection professionals and economic developers, to encourage innovation by highlighting best practices and to introduce and advance high standards for the site selection profession.
Victoria Hirschberg, Director of Business Development for the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development, was honored with a 2018 Excellence in Economic Development Award because of her critical involvement in the LG Electronics recent decision to locate in Clarksville, TN and for bringing creative solutions to the table.
“Without Victoria’s involvement, the project would not have ended up in Tennessee,” said Seth Martindale, the SSG member who nominated Victoria for this award. “Her effort was well above what is to be expected.”
Dennis Tumlin, Executive Director for Rhea County Economic and Community Development, was also honored with a 2018 Excellence in Economic Development Award 
for the Nokian Tyres project that also happened to locate in Tennessee. Dennis’ individual efforts to land this project, particularly in the face of adversity, proved fruitful for Tennessee.
“Dennis helped to create a united front with the county, region and state that simplified our process and made it easier to interface with dozens of people and organizations,” said Darin Buelow, the SSG member who nominated Dennis for the distinction. “Dennis didn’t just deliver a suitable site; he delivered an ecosystem of partners, from government to academia to private sector, all willing and able to support the prospective company for the next 50 years.”
About The Site Selectors Guild
The Site Selectors Guild (SSG) is a professional association comprised of the world’s leading corporate location advisory consultants to companies looking to build or expand. The mission of SSG is to advance the profession of corporate location strategy by raising awareness of the value professional location strategy and site selection services create for corporations. Professional site selectors often serve as a barometer for the overall economy – when companies are growing and expanding, they turn to site selectors for location advisory assistance. If projects slow down or stop coming in to site selectors, it is an early indicator that business may be headed for a downturn.
Guild members are also committed to sharing thought leadership and best practices, developing and nurturing relationships between SSG members, economic development organizations and corporate stakeholders, and contributing to policy discussions that affect location strategy and the future of the profession.
All members of SSG have been nominated and approved by their industry peers. As the first and only group of its kind, SSG brings together a dynamic network of site selectors from around the world, combining their talent and expertise to create an invaluable, top quality resource for both corporations seeking site selection assistance and economic development organizations.
For more information, visit https://www.siteselectorsguild.com or follow @siteselectguild on Twitter.