One Southern Indiana: combining economic-development groups into a single organization to showcase Indiana's side of Louisville.

• Author: Mayer, Kathy
• Position: REGIONAL REPORT: SOUTH

ABOUT A DOZEN different government entities, two chambers of commerce and a local economic-development group all scrambling to put a combined 523 square miles of Indiana on a map where most people eyed only Louisville, Kentucky--it often left the Hoosier side of the region unseen and unheard.

That tendency to be overlooked was the motivation behind the July 2006 launch of One Southern Indiana, a nonprofit business and economic-development entity that touts "one vision, one voice for business."

A year into it, the new organization--officially representing Clark and Floyd counties in the state's boot heel and nearly 175,000 residents--is claiming preliminary success. That includes 15 new projects, 2,100 projected new jobs, $84 million in new capital investments, and recognition in the Louisville metropolitan area.

"Southern Indiana is part of a larger metropolitan area, but it doesn't show up statistically in the state of Indiana," says Kerry Stemler, chair of the organization's 50-member board of directors and owner of KM. Stemler Co. Inc., a general contractor and developer. "People think of us as a little community, but we're really not."

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Combining three organizations in one and gaining support of local governments, businesses and others had to be done, he says. "It took us two years to put all this together. We had to triumph over parochial thinking, break those boundaries down and bring people together."

The drive came from businesses, says Michael Dalby, who came on board as president and CEO at the launch, bringing similar experience in Texas, New Mexico and Utah to the Ohio River communities.

"Businesses who were providing the funding for three organizations said, 'We're in business. We understand efficiency and centralized control. We would like to see one focal point organization totally dedicated to growing the economy and strengthening the business environment,'" Dalby says.

To support the effort, businesses stepped up pre-launch with $3 million in capital pledges that will come in over the next five years.

Today, One Southern Indiana has a 13-member staff that includes three vice presidents: Tonya Fisher, chamber operations; Kyle Morey, chamber membership and strategic alliances; and Matt Hall, economic development.

"We spent a lot of time the first year refocusing our efforts," Dalby says. "We beefed up our development team, added more staff, and made a very concerted effort to not only attract new...