GROWTH BOOM SENDS ASHEVILLE SOARING.

• Position: BUNCOMBE COUNTY ROUND TABLE

From infrastructure and land development to tourism hot spots, Buncombe County is open and ready for business.

WHAT MAKES BUNCOMBE COUNTY ATTRACTIVE TO BUSINESSES?

[DORFMAN] I'm reminded of a conversation that I had on a visit to General Electric a couple years ago when we were talking with their HR manager. She was saying Asheville and Buncombe County are particularly unique because we're big enough to have businesses here of all sizes across different industries, and we're small enough for everyone to know each other. I think that is really unique.

And when you layer on our local culture that really is, in my experience in working with entrepreneurs, a pay-it-forward culture where if someone comes to this community and wants to get plugged in or tapped in, people are open to that and are welcoming of that. You have folks who are competitors but are also very willing to help each other. So, I think there's a uniqueness here and a culture that's also tied to our geography and the size of our population.

[SALIDO] I think we really punch above our weight when it comes to business resources and entrepreneurial resources. The Collider, being a climate science coworking space, is an incubator. But we have Hatch AVL Foundation, Venture Asheville, the small businesses centers and the Small Business and Technology Development Center. Every college is involved--like UNC Asheville and Western Carolina University--in incentivizing and helping students create businesses and start entrepreneurial activities while they're still students. I think that's very unique in a metro area of our size.

[MANHEIMER] We also try to create a welcoming environment. I hear from employers that the younger generations want to know that everyone is welcomed in the community, and that they're not going to see discrimination, whether it's gender identity or race or religion. That is actually a big concern of theirs--to make sure that their employees feel comfortable.

HOW DO WE CONTINUE TO LEVERAGE THOSE ATTRIBUTES?

[MANSKE] I think it's more that we continue to recognize the role that the economy plays in bringing really great employees from all over the world to Asheville. We're competing against everyone now for great employees and great talent, and people can work from most everywhere these days in a lot of different professions. It works well for different demographics, too. There are step-down baby boomers that are coming into our market and bringing skill sets and different service-based jobs to our economy that are uniquely different than past periods of history.

[CABLE] I think one way to sustain this is to continue to recognize that intellectual capital is welcome here and it's already existing here. So many talented individuals in any form of business, creative arts, the arts itself, governmental work and educational work are welcome here. We can find a real merging here of creativity and intellectual capital that provides tremendous vitality for the region and particularly for the city.

WHAT ISSUES DO YOU HEAR FROM INDIVIDUALS THAT NEED TO BE ADDRESSED?

[TEAGUE] During my time with the Economic Development Coalition and now at Biltmore Farms, we've continued to be mindful of creating a place where people can raise their kids and raise their families, be healthy, get a great education, and then either stay or return here and have the job which gives them the quality of life that they want. There's a career ladder there, and I credit the Chamber of Commerce with thinking about this as they think about their strategic plans for the future--having a place at the table for everybody. That's important from the lower-skilled opportunities all the way to the Ph.D. opportunities. And our economy needs to be robust enough to be able to have everybody there.

The other thing that I would...