Triad's success based on teamwork.

• Position: Regional Focus

Whatever the sport, a team can be only as good as its members. And while it's business instead of sports, nowhere in North Carolina is this more true than in the Piedmont Triad Partnership.

Anchored by Greensboro, High Point and Winston-Salem, the 12-county Piedmont Triad region has shifted its focus from individual competition between its cities and counties (though a little is always healthy) to regional collaboration to establish the region as a major draw. With a population of more than 1 .5 million, Greensboro-Winston-Salem-High Point is the 36th-largest Metropolitan Statistical Area in the nation (Charlotte is 33rd; the Triangle, 40th.)

"Historically, the Triad, wrestling with competing areas and interests, has struggled to get development efforts on the same page," says Don Kirkman, president of the Piedmont Triad Partnership. "However, in recent years we've made the transition to collaboration and partnership, focusing on bringing the uniqueness of the Triad's various cities together."

"I view the Triad as three larger metropolitan areas surrounded by smaller communities," says Bill Dean, president of Idealliance, a nonprofit responsible for developing the Piedmont Triad Research Park in Winston-Salem. "If each works to improve their individual economy and position, then the whole Triad will be better for it."

There will more than enough credit to go around, he says. "If we're successful, the region can lay claim to it too. I've seen it in other places, and it does work. It does help regionalism."

Dean speaks from experience. Recruited from Cummings Research Park (the second largest in the country) in Huntsville, Ala., Dean has seen the ripple effects of success firsthand.

Kirkman believes that companies are looking for a region versus a single city. "This competition that has been an impediment in the past has turned into a tremendous strength. Our region will continue to be ahead of the curve to live and work. The fact that we don't have one single municipality will work to our advantage."

Notable coups for the Triad include the FedEx Mid-Atlantic Hub, which will be the fifth The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms has named the Yadkin Valley an American Viticultural Area. In addition to theaters and condominiums, Winston-Salem's Unity Place, shown in an artist's conception, will house Krispy Kreme Doughnuts' new headquarters.

FedEx hub and is expected to be operational by 2007. Capable of sorting 24,000 packages per hour, the hub will be served by 20 to 25 aircraft each weekday. A third runway will be constructed at Piedmont Triad International Airport to accommodate the hub. The Piedmont Triad Airport Authority and FedEx Express recently executed a lease for the hub, though some environmental issues still must be resolved.

Initially, the hub is expected to employ about 750, but that figure is likely to grow to 1,500 (500 full time and 1,000 part time). Of course, the economic impact transcends the center itself. Economic development officials say it ultimately will spur billions of dollars For the region from new jobs, tax revenue and construction -- at FedEx and at companies it helps lure. The total economic impact is estimated at more than $8 billion. And, according to community officials...