Tuscaloosa Chamber Arrives in Knoxville for Annual Benchmarking Trip

A group of local leaders traveling with the Chamber of Commerce of West Alabama has arrived in Knoxville, Tennessee, where they will spend the next two days "stealing" ideas that could be well implemented back in the Tuscaloosa area.

Kyle South, the President and CEO at the Chamber, jokingly calls these annual "Benchmarking" trips the R&D process - where leaders "rip off and duplicate" concepts that could flourish in our area.

Here in Volunteer Country, the Chamber's leadership team believes there's plenty to learn and take back home.

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"All the real research and development they're doing here in combination with the Oakridge National Labs is something that we wanted to hear more about, and how the University of Tennessee plays a role in that down through their community college system and even K-12," South said. "Also, smart, great-looking commercial and industrial Riverfront development is something that we feel like we could take advantage of in Tuscaloosa. We all want to get into some additional public safety conversations, and lastly, public art is something that they have been very focused on in the downtown district here. Those are the four places we're hoping we can find good ideas we can rip off and duplicate."

The trip always draws a large contingent of West Alabama leaders from every sector, and this year is no exception. Elected officials, CEOs, nonprofit heads, educators, police officers, and more are setting aside the longstanding rivalry between the Crimson Tide and the Volunteers to learn as much as possible before returning Tuesday.

At a reception dinner on Sunday, the Benchmarking crew heard from Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs about their growth over the last decade. Jacobs may be better known to some as Kane, the WWE Superstar he played for decades before becoming a business owner and being elected Mayor in 2018.

"Even before the pandemic, there was a trend of folks moving from the big cities to mid-sized cities like ours and like yours, then COVID really exacerbated and accelerated that," Jacobs said.

The trick has been to create jobs for those people and continue to ensure Knoxville is an excellent place for them to live, and Mayor Jacobs said they have great resources to do just that.

"We have some natural advantages here in Knoxville that many places around the country don't have. Our geographic location is just unbelievable," he said. "60 percent of the nation's population lives within an 11-hour drive of our community. So you can imagine what that means as far as logistics and distribution. We also have the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, which gets about 13 million people a year, making it the most visited national park in the country."

"Of course we have the University of Tennessee and we also have the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and that's really important when we're looking at this nuclear renaissance that's happening around the world and especially here in America," he continued. "The University is building a pipeline of nuclear engineers and our community college teach the technicians other people who will support that renaissance."

All that means Jacobs sees Knoxville as positioned to compete against the Research Triangle cities in North Carolina to draw some of the brightest minds to live, work and solve problems.

"The reason they come to Knox County is that they just like it. The people are friendly, share their values, and I'm sure it's the same in Tuscaloosa and the surrounding areas," Jacobs said. "So, don't discount that. I always think if we can get people here, the place sells itself. It's just a matter of getting them here."

The Benchmarking Trip lasts until Tuesday, and the Thread is here with the Chamber to cover the lessons learned here in Knoxville. For more news from the trip and headlines back home, stay connected to the Tuscaloosa Thread.