November 26, 2023 • 25 mins
With more than a decade at the helm of the Ocala Metro CEP, Kevin Sheilley and his team have set the pace for job and wage growth in the Ocala Metro. Serving as the voice for the business community, the CEP has attracted new businesses and industries, helped existing employers expand, and launched innovative programs designed to help entrepreneurs thrive. Learn more about the chamber and economic partnership, what new programs are on the horizon, and how the CEP is moving our community forward.
Nonprofit Featured in this Episode: Project Hope
Kevin Sheilley, CCE, President & CEO
Ocala Metro Chamber & Economic Partnership
Kevin is the President/CEO of the Ocala Metro Chamber & Economic Partnership (CEP), the community's primary chamber and economic development organization. He also serves as Executive Director of the Foundation for Chamber Economic Partnership, Lake Economic Area Development, Inc. and the Ocala Downtown Market, Inc.
He is a career chamber/economic development professional and has spoken across the county on issues related to economic and community development. He is the recipient of numerous awards including the National Excellence in Economic Development Award from the US Department of Commerce and FACP's Executive of the Year in 2021. He also recently earned the distinction of Certified Chamber Executive (CCE) from the Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives.
The CEP was named the Florida Chamber of the Year in 2018 and ACCE's National Chamber of the Year in 2020 after being a finalist in three out of the last four years. In 2019 he marked his 25th year in the chamber/economic development field.
Prior to coming to Ocala, Kevin had worked in chamber/economic development in Kentucky and Tennessee. The CEP and LEAD represent the fourth and fifth times he has successfully assisted communities in merging/creating new chamber/economic development entities.
Kevin is originally from Louisville, Kentucky, and is a graduate of Union University in Jackson, Tennessee. He and his wife, Lisa, are the parents of three children.
The Catalyst is hosted by the Ocala Metro Chamber & Economic Partnership, sponsored by Douglas Law Firm and recorded live at Wiley Productions podcast studios, located in Ocala, Florida. New episodes, guests, and perspectives of leadership premiere twice a month. Follow us on Apple, Amazon, Spotify, or wherever you enjoy podcasts.
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Episode Transcript
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Natalie McComb (00:06):
The Catalyst, a CEP podcast on bold leadership
in the Ocala Metro, hosted bythe Ocala Metro Chamber and
economic partnership, sponsoredby Douglas law firm and recorded
live at Wiley Productionspodcast studios located in
Ocala, Florida. Welcome to thecatalyst. I'm your host Natalie
(00:31):
McComb, Vice President for theOcala Metro Chamber and Economic
Partnership Foundation. And I'mjoined today by Kevin Sheilley,
President and CEO of the OcalaMetro Chamber and Economic
Partnership, better known as theCEP. Great to have you on the
show, Kevin.
@Kevin Sheilley (00:45):
Great to be on.
Natalie McComb (00:46):
So you've been at the helm of the CP for more
than 10 years, hired as thefirst CEO of a newly combined
chamber and economic developmentorganization. What are the
benefits to a community whenthese two functions are managed
by the same organization?
@Kevin Sheilley (01:00):
I am a huge proponent, and have been
throughout my... I've now beendoing this for 29 years in the
industry... and I believe thatin almost every community when
these two functions happentogether the community wins. And
I think that for a couple ofreasons. One, there can often be
confusion when you have separateentities. Well, is that, does
(01:22):
that chamber do that? Is iteconomic development? Often
economic development, it'scalled something else. And you
never want to create confusionfor your customer. Right? You
want to be very clear. And Ithink that that helps in making
it very, very clear. I thinkmore importantly, though, it
ensures that these two keyfunctions are completely
(01:42):
aligned. So many times where I'masked in particular to go and
consult in a community, economicdevelopment has one vision
chamber has another and theyoften end up at odds with each
other. And they really need tobe hand in hand supporting what
each other does, because that'swhat they do. The Chambers make
sure that community's ready,addressing workforce issues,
(02:03):
infrastructure, advocacy issues.
While economic development isabout attracting new businesses,
growing existing businesses, andentrepreneurship. And so those
two things need to happen handin hand. And when they're
together, you're absolutelyassured that they're moving in
the same direction.
Natalie McComb (02:19):
Thankfully for us here in Ocala Metro, we've
had a good 10 years of thatcollaboration and being under
one entity. So the CEP has oftenbeen described as a voice for
the business community. Whatdoes this mean? And how does the
organization work alongsidegovernment and other partners?
@Kevin Sheilley (02:36):
I think you have to think about or know the
history of the CEP to understandwhy that's so important in what
it means. When the CEP wasformed in 2012, and the work on
it began actually in early 2011,the business community was just
not really engaged. But a groupof business leaders who really
believed that business can beand should be a voice for good,
(02:57):
and that business should be in aleadership role, that our
And, now the CEP is in year twoof its third multi-year
business leaders are our leadersand they need to be there. But
there was no vehicle for them totake that leadership except for
their own individual business.
The idea that that the chamber,in our case, specifically the
CEP, is that place because allthe businesses come together, in
our case more than 1200businesses, were able to really
(03:19):
be that voice for business. Whatis important to business, what
is business seeing, what arethey seeing from their forecast
or in their dealings that wouldbe important to the city or the
county or schools or othergovernmental partners to really
become an equal partner withthem. And I think what's really
key is that we're coming to thetable as a partner. And so what
(03:41):
that means is that we're reallyable to bring the expertise, the
knowledge, the experience, tothe business community, to help
our city to help our county tohelp our schools be the best
that they can be. Because webelieve that when businesses
succeed in a community, everyonecan succeed and in a community
those aren't mutually exclusive.
(04:03):
And so by creating thatenvironment, we're really
creating the environment foreveryone to be more successful.
And I think that's really whatwe've seen happen in the Ocala
Metro over the last decade.
strategic plan. And with eachrollout, you continue to set the
(04:25):
bar for this community. Whetherit's job and wage growth or
capital investment, the forwardmomentum strategic plan lays out
nine priorities, pretty loftypriorities over the next five
years. Any of those inparticular that that you want to
highlight today?
You know, I think there'sprobably a couple and we're very
clear, you know, why do we do astrategic plan? People need to
(04:47):
understand this is what they'reinvesting in. Businesses are
investing in the CEP. This isthat mission. This is what we're
hoping to accomplish. We want togrow individual businesses, but
we also want to advance ourcommunity and that's what all of
these goals and objectiveswithin forward momentum are
focused on. How do we move ourcommunity forward? And, you
know, I think some of them areextremely lofty, you know, one I
(05:09):
get asked about the most oftenis our goal to have a commitment
for scheduled passenger airservice at Ocala International
by the end of this plan. That'sa big goal. There are a lot of
things that have to happen forus to reach that goal. But we're
a community of over 400,000 in aregion that easily surpasses a
(05:29):
million people, we need to haveair service here, so that's a
goal. That's important. If theCEP wasn't leading that who
would be working on that? Idon't know. It just doesn't fall
naturally to someone. So thatbecomes our role in partnership
in particular with the city. Youknow, I think our goals around
(05:49):
creating neighborhoodincubators. And one of the
things we believe passionatelyin, it's actually our mission at
the CEP, is to be a catalyst fora prosperous community. That's
not a prosperous businesscommunity, or a prosperous
equine community or a prosperoussoutheast community. It's
everyone. And we do that, one ofthe ways we focus on that, is
through our IMPACT Initiative,where we're bringing
entrepreneurship training anddevelopment to our three
(06:13):
majority-minority communities.
Because the data tells us, thoseare the communities that are the
furthest behind, we believe thisis a great way to boost them to
have an impact and move thatforward. And we're seeing that
already. But part of what weknow is as we help people create
businesses in those communities,it's hard for them to find a
physical location, there's not alot of commercial development
that's happened. And so we'recommitted through this planning
(06:35):
to opening an Empower incubator,entrepreneurship center, and
each of those, the first one inSilver Springs Shores. And then
we'll look at how we get WestOcala and Marion Oaks open as
well. But really to provide thatspace on site not only for those
businesses to grow to createwealth and opportunity directly
in their neighborhoods, but forus to have the space to provide
the training, one on one, andthe incubator space for those
(06:58):
businesses.
Natalie McComb (07:00):
And for those who may not be aware of what an
incubator is, I know thattraining happens in there. But
how does that provide a spacefor the entrepreneurs? Are they
actually renting space withinthe incubator?
@Kevin Sheilley (07:10):
Yeah, and so in this case, there are many types
Natalie McComb (07:11):
That's exciting.
And what a great resource forof incubators, we have our
powerplant incubator on ourdowntown campus, which is a
technology and communicationsincubator. So it tends to be
very office space driven. Thevision with these neighborhood
incubators is that you also havean opportunity for retail. And
so yes, they're able to rentspace, they're getting space
available. It is at market rate,that they're paying, but it does
(07:35):
include all their utilities andincludes access to high speed
internet and some of the thingsbut more importantly, it
includes training. We know thatwhen a business goes through a
programmatic incubator program,that their opportunities to
(07:56):
succeed, their chances thatthey're they're going to
succeed, increases 85% versussomeone who's just trying to
make it go on their own. That'sbecause we're able to bring
resources, connecting withpeople and individuals to help
them through. Often what we findthese entrepreneurs in these
communities to be able to, tois entrepreneurs have great
ideas. They are great at fixingsomething or making something or
(08:16):
some service, but perhaps arenot as good at understanding
what it means to run a business.
But those are skills that can belearned. And so we want to teach
those to understand howimportant cash flow is, to
actually get lending and getloans and kind of get their feet
understand the value of yourbooks, your financials and what
that means to understand how tobetter market all of those tools
(08:37):
and bring it together. The otherthing I would mention that I
think is probably one of themost valuable things that
happens in an incubator is thatyou get 6, 10, 12 businesses who
are all in the same space.
They're doing different things,but they're in the same
lifecycle of their business, andthey become their own support
network. And I see that time andtime again, really being the
magic that happeneds, which isreally different. And I know
(09:00):
when I talk about this, peoplewet within the industry. That's
wonderful.
get a little glazed over. Butour goal to create a community
development financial institute,or CDFI. And that is simply a
non-bank lender. It falls underthe US Treasury. They have to
prove it. They're regulated. Butit's an opportunity for us to
(09:21):
bring access to capital to, inparticular, those three targeted
communities. We know that's areal challenge. There is no CDFI
currently, specifically servingthe Marion County market. There
are some statewide ones butthey've done nothing here. We're
not on their radar and what weknow is at the end of the day,
@Kevin Sheilley (09:38):
And I would just add, one thing I think is
really cool is sometimes peoplethink, oh, that's competition
the people who can best addressthe needs and opportunities of
the Ocala Metro are the peoplewho live and work every day in
the Ocala Metro. So this is anopportunity. We were very
fortunate to get a grant thatruns through the CEP Foundation.
To allow us to go through theprocess. We've hired a
(09:58):
consultant to help us. And sothe greater Ocala Catalyst Fund
has been created. Hopefully,we'll be able to move on through
the process with the Treasuryand sometime late next year,
we'll have a CDFI that we canbegin becoming operational and
making a difference in ourcommunity.
(10:30):
for banks, the biggestsupporters of CDFIs are banks,
because what it means is forclients who they would love to
provide a loan to or to assist,they can't they don't meet their
very stringent regulations thatthey have from the FDIC, they
now have a way to refer them,Hey, I am not ready yet. But
let's get you to the CDFI. We'llget you a loan there. You take
(10:52):
care of that successfullythough, we're going to provide
that technical assistance nowyou'll be ready to come back and
we can get you in traditionalfinancing.
Natalie McComb (10:58):
And Ocala has really become a hub for a lot of
industries, but in particularlogistics. We've got the big
distribution centers likeAmazon, FedEx and Dollar Tree
coming in. And that gets a lotof attention. But what other
industries are growing in theOcala Metro that you see?
@Kevin Sheilley (11:16):
Yeah. So you know, there are five key
industry sectors we talk aboutthat drive our local economy.
One of those, obviously, islogistics. And it's been huge
the last few years. Another one,though, that people often don't
recognize us here because Ithink it's in large part pretty
quiet, is manufacturing. We area significant manufacturing
center in the state of Florida.
And we believe that when youmake things you make wealth, and
(11:38):
as you think about who some ofour largest manufacturers here,
whether that is Lockheed Martinwith nearly 2000 employees,
you're doing missile controlsystems, REV Fire and E-One with
1200 employees headquarteredhere, significant company making
fire engines, what can be moreexciting than that? And
Signature Brands and whatthey're doing in prepared foods.
(11:58):
You have Cardinal LG, which hastwo different plants and a
technical center here, PellaGlass. So you've got all this
manufacturing in a really widearray of areas growing medical
device, biopharma and that'sreally, really important. And we
continue to see that growth inmanufacturing. Obviously,
healthcare is huge. It's thelargest employer in our market,
(12:19):
it pays the highest averagewages, it continues to grow, we
often don't recognize we are aregional healthcare hub. And
what that brings to ourcommunity, people come here for
health care. And that's soimportant. The growth of our
office economy. We have a lot ofcompanies that have offices
here, headquartered here, farmore than people realize, and
how important again, it helpsdiversify that economy really
(12:42):
provides stability anddiversification. And the last
one I'd mentioned is to be thehorse capital of the world. We
know and it's getting old nowit's eight years old, but from
an economic impact analysis,that equine contributed $2.6
billion a year to our localeconomy. And that was before The
World Equestrian Center or thereinvention of HITS. So you
know, I'm sure that number hasgrown. We're going to redo that
(13:05):
study in another year or two.
But how important that industryis and what it leads to now with
tourism and the additionaldollars that come into the Ocala
Metro.
Natalie McComb (13:15):
Well, and big name projects often get the
biggest headlines, the CEP hasalso invested heavily in
entrepreneurs and smallbusinesses. So what can the
community look forward to in thenext few years as it relates to
this piece of the local economy?
@Kevin Sheilley (13:29):
You know, I think you know, we've talked a
lot already on this about whatwe're doing with their IMPACT
communities and CDFI, andincubators, but know that we're
gonna continue to offer to bethe lead entrepreneurship
organization for our community.
That anyone who wants to startor grow a small business, the
CEP is where they need to comeand we're going to offer those
services for free, and to beable to provide technical
(13:51):
assistance and trainings likeFastTrac, which is 10 week
program. I'm such a huge fan, weuse the Kauffman Foundation's 1
Million Cups, which happens
every Wednesday at 9 (14:02):
30 at the power plant business incubator.
That happens in over 130communities around our country
at the exact same time. Butinterestingly, Ocala has one of
the largest and most diversegroups who meet every week, we
have 60 or 70 people who come tosupport entrepreneurs. It's
really exciting and inspiring togo to one of those meetings. So
(14:23):
we're going to continue to seethose things. We're going to
look for ways to grow. Ourability to do pitch competitions
to help entrepreneurs be able togo especially on the technology
side to be able to go look forthat next level of funding and
financing. Encourage ourstudents with entrepreneurship,
supporting the EntrepreneurshipAcademy at Forest High School,
and our Youth Business Planningcompetition, just really
(14:44):
continually looking at ways wecan make sure that we're
covering all the bases. I don'tever want someone to leave our
community because they can'tfind the assistance they need
for their business. We want tomake sure that whatever it is,
they can find it here in theOcala Metro.
Natalie McComb (15:00):
Yeah, and you know, you mentioned youth,
Kevin, and we talk a lot aboutworkforce development and talent
development. But what does thatmean when when we talk about how
we engage with our youth, insupporting local industry and
business?
@Kevin Sheilley (15:13):
You know, the idea is that we want every
student, just as we want everybusiness to be successful, we
want every student to besuccessful, we believe they can
Natalie McComb (15:19):
We know that the CEP is all about partnerships.
find their future here. And forsome, that's going to mean going
on to university. And we want tomake sure that our schools are
And in 2022, the CEP joined in apublic-private partnership to
offering the programs and theacademics that they need to go
on to university. But for thevast majority, that's going to
mean something else. And webelieve it's key that that'd be
valued exactly the same.. With astudent who's going to
(15:40):
university, that's great. But wealso value the student who's
going to focus on careertechnical education. That
student who's going to go to MTCor to CF and get that two-year
degree or that certification,because those are viable paths
forward. Those are opportunitiesto earn not just a living wage,
but a really good wage, and tofulfill themselves as
individuals. And so making surethat we're providing those
(16:02):
career pathways within ourschools. And with our
post-secondary providers, Idon't want us to forget about
how important it is that wesupport our students who choose
to enlist and serve our country.
We talked about it with theschool systems about how do you
choose your E, is thatenrollment? Are you going to
university? Is an employment, oryou're pursuing a career
technical education? Employmentafter school. Or is it
(16:24):
enlistment? Or it'sentrepreneurship? And having
programs in all of our schoolsthat support those key areas.
address economic development inadjoining Lake County. So tell
us more about that decision andthe regional strategy behind it.
@Kevin Sheilley (16:46):
Yeah, you know, it's probably it's been
interesting to me if there's onething that we've done that
people have been confused ormisinformed about, it is our
partnership with Lake County.
But it is a fantasticpartnership, that 100% benefits
the residents of Marion Countywhile also benefiting completely
the people of Lake County.
(17:06):
Starting a few years ago, thebusiness community in Lake
County, much as had happenedhere in Marion County, really
began looking what was going on.
And they realized that whiletheir community was growing in
Lake County, which is roughlythe same size as Marion County,
just over 400,000 people. Itwasn't seeing the economic
growth, it wasn't seeing thebusiness and employment side.
And they start saying why isthat what's happening and in
(17:27):
what they found is that economicdevelopment was being led by the
county, and some great peoplethere. But they're also doing
economic development, andplanning, and codes, and this
and that, so that the actualwork of economic development is
less than 10% of their job. Andso this, Hey, we need to figure
out what are other communitiesdoing. And so they looked around
(17:48):
and we were one of the modelsthat they looked at. And they
came and met with me and theycame several times at different
groups to learn about how we doeconomic development here. They
had me come down and speak twiceto different groups. And after
the last time, they said, look,Kevin, this is the model we want
to follow. We think this makes alot of sense. Will you come down
(18:09):
here and help lead our economicdevelopment? Well, no. But let's
talk about how we can worktogether. And so what we came up
with was really, I think, aninnovative partnership. We
helped them create apublic-private partnership
called LEAD, Lake Economic AreaDevelopment. It has a board that
is 100% Lake County. It is 100%funded by Lake County
(18:31):
governments and Lake Countybusinesses focused on business
attraction, business retention,and business creation in Lake
County. But to really jumpstartthat effort, they contract with
the CEP to manage and lead thateffort. We can take advantage of
our back office with HR, withIT, with employee benefits. It's
(18:51):
so hard to attract reallytalented people if you're like
well, we're hoping we'll get aninsurance program, and we're
hoping to be able to offerretirement one day or you know,
come be part of our overallumbrella. We're able to bring
our expertise, our R&D, ourresearch to help and so these
three soon to be four employeeswho are there are CEP employees,
(19:13):
but they're 100% dedicated toLake County. LEAD pays us a
contract to cover those costs.
So there's there's no moneycoming out of Marion County
funding Lake County. And so itreally helps us to be more
productive and successful. Butmost importantly what we already
know is the companies that arelooking at and need to look at
(19:35):
Lake County are very differentthan the companies that are
looking in Marion County.
Natalie McComb (19:40):
How so?
@Kevin Sheilley (19:40):
So you know, if we think about in particular on
the industrial side, thebusinesses you've talked, our
logistics advantage, we'vetalked about manufacturing,
those are companies that areserving statewide, this is the
spot to be in if you're servingthe state. Even though Lake
County is just a little bitfurther south, the numbers
change dramatically. From alogistics standpoint, if you're
(20:01):
in Lake County on an industrialside, you're there because you
want to serve the Orlando Metro,you're really focused on that.
And we have some greatopportunities there. And so
they're very different targets.
They're very different sales andvalue propositions. But they
support one another. They'revery complementary. Tell you
through the first year, we'recoming at the end of our first
year with this partnership, Ithink we've had two RFPs out of
(20:23):
the dozens and dozens and dozenswe get every year that have
overlap.
Natalie McComb (20:29):
What is one nonprofit organization that
you'd like to highlight on theshow today?
@Kevin Sheilley (20:33):
You know, there's so many good ones in our
community, we are so blessed tohave so many fantastic
nonprofits meeting the needs, Ithink that's one of the things
this community does soexceptionally well. I reference
that earlier, hey, there's aneed, there's a challenge, we're
going to take care of ourselves,we're not going to wait for
someone else to come in and dothis. And there's so many but my
wife and I are such huge fans ofwhat goes on at Project HOPE.
(20:57):
She's been on the board therenow for a few years. But this is
a, they own an apartmentcomplex. And they're able to
bring in homeless moms and theirchildren. Take them through a
training program over two years.
They're able to house themimmediately into a two-bedroom
apartment, furnish that forthem. Take them through all
types of skills and training,everything from finance, to
(21:20):
parenting, to job development,so that at the end of this
two-year period, they're able tobe able to get a home on their
own. And whether that's anotherapartment or a duplex, or as
they've seen some happenactually be able to buy a house.
I mean, think about that, to beable to go from homeless to
being a homeowner in two years.
(21:41):
It has such an impact. We're bigfans of what they do and how
they do it.
Natalie McComb (21:46):
Yeah, that's great work, and we'll be sure to
include a link to Project HOPEon our episodes page. And now a
word from our sponsor.
@Sponsor (21:54):
Douglas Law Fi
Douglas law firm. We are a fullservice law firm with many
practice areas to serve yourparticular needs. We are located
in downtown Ocala 110 NorthMagnolia Avenue. Coming from a
seventh-generation family herein Ocala. I am honored for our
law firm to partner with the CEPto bring you these podcasts. We
hope you enjoy.
Natalie McComb (22:16):
So, now that's this is the fun part of program
our lightning round questions.
@Kevin Sheilley (22:20):
Ok, i'll get my hand ready. I'm ready.
Natalie McComb (22:23):
So Kevin, what trait do you value most from
members of your team?
@Kevin Sheilley (22:28):
You know, and I have a phenomenal team. You
included obviously, I thinkpeople who are doers. Not
talkers, but people who arewilling to take action and just
go make things happen.
Natalie McComb (22:43):
Biggest pet peeve?
So, a messagefor our listeners, Kevin sees
@Kevin Sheilley (22:44):
Oh, this this is easy for me. And it
absolutely has driven me nutsfor years. And that is people
who cannot be bothered to taketheir shopping cart or buggy as
we would say in Kentucky and putit in the buggy corral. If you
leave that in the parking lot. Iam generally a very nice person.
I overlook a lot of things. I amlikely to say something to you
(23:06):
if I see you leaving your cartin the parking lot.
you. When you leave that cart inthe island.
You're probablygoing to get a comment.
Natalie McComb (23:18):
Yes. I love that. Um, so what's a fun fact
that most people wouldn't knowabout you know?
Yes, yes. Takeit from someone who has been
@Kevin Sheilley (23:24):
I use this one a lot. But I still think it's
pretty interesting. If someonehasn't met me and they can't
very tall most of her life. Youdon't always like it at first.
tell this on the podcast. I'mtall. Sheilley's are tall. I am
6'6. I have a brother that 6'1,Excuse me, my brother's 6'3, a
sister that is 6'1. But I'm alsoa twin. And I have a twin sister
and she is 5'5. So there's 13inches difference between my
(23:48):
twin sister and I, which Ialways think is kind of
interesting. I'm glad it endedup that I'm the tall one and not
her.
You kind of have to grow intoit.
Literally.
Natalie McComb (24:03):
Yes, yes, exactly. Well, thank you so
much, Kevin for being on TheCatalyst today. We really
appreciate your time. And thankyou again for sharing a little
bit about CEP
@Kevin Sheilley (24:12):
Natalie, thank you for having this vision and
for the incredible job you'redoing. I enjoy listening to each
of these and I hope thelisteners today have enjoyed our
conversation.
Natalie McComb (24:21):
Thank you.
Thank you for joining us foranother episode of the catalyst
hosted by the Ocala MetroChamber and economic partnership
sponsored by Douglas law firmand recorded live at Wiley
productions podcast studios. Newepisodes, guests and
perspectives on leadershippremiere twice a month. Follow
(24:44):
us on Apple, Amazon, Spotify orwherever you enjoy your
podcasts. Have a suggestion fora future guest email us at
thecatalyst@ocalacep.com
The Catalyst, a CEP podcast on bold leadership
in the Ocala Metro, hosted bythe Ocala Metro Chamber and
economic partnership, sponsoredby Douglas law firm and recorded
live at Wiley Productionspodcast studios located in
Ocala, Florida. Welcome to thecatalyst. I'm your host Natalie
(00:31):
McComb, Vice President for theOcala Metro Chamber and Economic
Partnership Foundation. And I'mjoined today by Kevin Sheilley,
President and CEO of the OcalaMetro Chamber and Economic
Partnership, better known as theCEP. Great to have you on the
show, Kevin.
@Kevin Sheilley (00:45):
Great to be on.
Natalie McComb (00:46):
So you've been at the helm of the CP for more
than 10 years, hired as thefirst CEO of a newly combined
chamber and economic developmentorganization. What are the
benefits to a community whenthese two functions are managed
by the same organization?
@Kevin Sheilley (01:00):
I am a huge proponent, and have been
throughout my... I've now beendoing this for 29 years in the
industry... and I believe thatin almost every community when
these two functions happentogether the community wins. And
I think that for a couple ofreasons. One, there can often be
confusion when you have separateentities. Well, is that, does
(01:22):
that chamber do that? Is iteconomic development? Often
economic development, it'scalled something else. And you
never want to create confusionfor your customer. Right? You
want to be very clear. And Ithink that that helps in making
it very, very clear. I thinkmore importantly, though, it
ensures that these two keyfunctions are completely
(01:42):
aligned. So many times where I'masked in particular to go and
consult in a community, economicdevelopment has one vision
chamber has another and theyoften end up at odds with each
other. And they really need tobe hand in hand supporting what
each other does, because that'swhat they do. The Chambers make
sure that community's ready,addressing workforce issues,
(02:03):
infrastructure, advocacy issues.
While economic development isabout attracting new businesses,
growing existing businesses, andentrepreneurship. And so those
two things need to happen handin hand. And when they're
together, you're absolutelyassured that they're moving in
the same direction.
Natalie McComb (02:19):
Thankfully for us here in Ocala Metro, we've
had a good 10 years of thatcollaboration and being under
one entity. So the CEP has oftenbeen described as a voice for
the business community. Whatdoes this mean? And how does the
organization work alongsidegovernment and other partners?
@Kevin Sheilley (02:36):
I think you have to think about or know the
history of the CEP to understandwhy that's so important in what
it means. When the CEP wasformed in 2012, and the work on
it began actually in early 2011,the business community was just
not really engaged. But a groupof business leaders who really
believed that business can beand should be a voice for good,
(02:57):
and that business should be in aleadership role, that our
And, now the CEP is in year twoof its third multi-year
business leaders are our leadersand they need to be there. But
there was no vehicle for them totake that leadership except for
their own individual business.
The idea that that the chamber,in our case, specifically the
CEP, is that place because allthe businesses come together, in
our case more than 1200businesses, were able to really
(03:19):
be that voice for business. Whatis important to business, what
is business seeing, what arethey seeing from their forecast
or in their dealings that wouldbe important to the city or the
county or schools or othergovernmental partners to really
become an equal partner withthem. And I think what's really
key is that we're coming to thetable as a partner. And so what
(03:41):
that means is that we're reallyable to bring the expertise, the
knowledge, the experience, tothe business community, to help
our city to help our county tohelp our schools be the best
that they can be. Because webelieve that when businesses
succeed in a community, everyonecan succeed and in a community
those aren't mutually exclusive.
(04:03):
And so by creating thatenvironment, we're really
creating the environment foreveryone to be more successful.
And I think that's really whatwe've seen happen in the Ocala
Metro over the last decade.
strategic plan. And with eachrollout, you continue to set the
(04:25):
bar for this community. Whetherit's job and wage growth or
capital investment, the forwardmomentum strategic plan lays out
nine priorities, pretty loftypriorities over the next five
years. Any of those inparticular that that you want to
highlight today?
You know, I think there'sprobably a couple and we're very
clear, you know, why do we do astrategic plan? People need to
(04:47):
understand this is what they'reinvesting in. Businesses are
investing in the CEP. This isthat mission. This is what we're
hoping to accomplish. We want togrow individual businesses, but
we also want to advance ourcommunity and that's what all of
these goals and objectiveswithin forward momentum are
focused on. How do we move ourcommunity forward? And, you
know, I think some of them areextremely lofty, you know, one I
(05:09):
get asked about the most oftenis our goal to have a commitment
for scheduled passenger airservice at Ocala International
by the end of this plan. That'sa big goal. There are a lot of
things that have to happen forus to reach that goal. But we're
a community of over 400,000 in aregion that easily surpasses a
(05:29):
million people, we need to haveair service here, so that's a
goal. That's important. If theCEP wasn't leading that who
would be working on that? Idon't know. It just doesn't fall
naturally to someone. So thatbecomes our role in partnership
in particular with the city. Youknow, I think our goals around
(05:49):
creating neighborhoodincubators. And one of the
things we believe passionatelyin, it's actually our mission at
the CEP, is to be a catalyst fora prosperous community. That's
not a prosperous businesscommunity, or a prosperous
equine community or a prosperoussoutheast community. It's
everyone. And we do that, one ofthe ways we focus on that, is
through our IMPACT Initiative,where we're bringing
entrepreneurship training anddevelopment to our three
(06:13):
majority-minority communities.
Because the data tells us, thoseare the communities that are the
furthest behind, we believe thisis a great way to boost them to
have an impact and move thatforward. And we're seeing that
already. But part of what weknow is as we help people create
businesses in those communities,it's hard for them to find a
physical location, there's not alot of commercial development
that's happened. And so we'recommitted through this planning
(06:35):
to opening an Empower incubator,entrepreneurship center, and
each of those, the first one inSilver Springs Shores. And then
we'll look at how we get WestOcala and Marion Oaks open as
well. But really to provide thatspace on site not only for those
businesses to grow to createwealth and opportunity directly
in their neighborhoods, but forus to have the space to provide
the training, one on one, andthe incubator space for those
(06:58):
businesses.
Natalie McComb (07:00):
And for those who may not be aware of what an
incubator is, I know thattraining happens in there. But
how does that provide a spacefor the entrepreneurs? Are they
actually renting space withinthe incubator?
@Kevin Sheilley (07:10):
Yeah, and so in this case, there are many types
Natalie McComb (07:11):
That's exciting.
And what a great resource forof incubators, we have our
powerplant incubator on ourdowntown campus, which is a
technology and communicationsincubator. So it tends to be
very office space driven. Thevision with these neighborhood
incubators is that you also havean opportunity for retail. And
so yes, they're able to rentspace, they're getting space
available. It is at market rate,that they're paying, but it does
(07:35):
include all their utilities andincludes access to high speed
internet and some of the thingsbut more importantly, it
includes training. We know thatwhen a business goes through a
programmatic incubator program,that their opportunities to
(07:56):
succeed, their chances thatthey're they're going to
succeed, increases 85% versussomeone who's just trying to
make it go on their own. That'sbecause we're able to bring
resources, connecting withpeople and individuals to help
them through. Often what we findthese entrepreneurs in these
communities to be able to, tois entrepreneurs have great
ideas. They are great at fixingsomething or making something or
(08:16):
some service, but perhaps arenot as good at understanding
what it means to run a business.
But those are skills that can belearned. And so we want to teach
those to understand howimportant cash flow is, to
actually get lending and getloans and kind of get their feet
understand the value of yourbooks, your financials and what
that means to understand how tobetter market all of those tools
(08:37):
and bring it together. The otherthing I would mention that I
think is probably one of themost valuable things that
happens in an incubator is thatyou get 6, 10, 12 businesses who
are all in the same space.
They're doing different things,but they're in the same
lifecycle of their business, andthey become their own support
network. And I see that time andtime again, really being the
magic that happeneds, which isreally different. And I know
(09:00):
when I talk about this, peoplewet within the industry. That's
wonderful.
get a little glazed over. Butour goal to create a community
development financial institute,or CDFI. And that is simply a
non-bank lender. It falls underthe US Treasury. They have to
prove it. They're regulated. Butit's an opportunity for us to
(09:21):
bring access to capital to, inparticular, those three targeted
communities. We know that's areal challenge. There is no CDFI
currently, specifically servingthe Marion County market. There
are some statewide ones butthey've done nothing here. We're
not on their radar and what weknow is at the end of the day,
@Kevin Sheilley (09:38):
And I would just add, one thing I think is
really cool is sometimes peoplethink, oh, that's competition
the people who can best addressthe needs and opportunities of
the Ocala Metro are the peoplewho live and work every day in
the Ocala Metro. So this is anopportunity. We were very
fortunate to get a grant thatruns through the CEP Foundation.
To allow us to go through theprocess. We've hired a
(09:58):
consultant to help us. And sothe greater Ocala Catalyst Fund
has been created. Hopefully,we'll be able to move on through
the process with the Treasuryand sometime late next year,
we'll have a CDFI that we canbegin becoming operational and
making a difference in ourcommunity.
(10:30):
for banks, the biggestsupporters of CDFIs are banks,
because what it means is forclients who they would love to
provide a loan to or to assist,they can't they don't meet their
very stringent regulations thatthey have from the FDIC, they
now have a way to refer them,Hey, I am not ready yet. But
let's get you to the CDFI. We'llget you a loan there. You take
(10:52):
care of that successfullythough, we're going to provide
that technical assistance nowyou'll be ready to come back and
we can get you in traditionalfinancing.
Natalie McComb (10:58):
And Ocala has really become a hub for a lot of
industries, but in particularlogistics. We've got the big
distribution centers likeAmazon, FedEx and Dollar Tree
coming in. And that gets a lotof attention. But what other
industries are growing in theOcala Metro that you see?
@Kevin Sheilley (11:16):
Yeah. So you know, there are five key
industry sectors we talk aboutthat drive our local economy.
One of those, obviously, islogistics. And it's been huge
the last few years. Another one,though, that people often don't
recognize us here because Ithink it's in large part pretty
quiet, is manufacturing. We area significant manufacturing
center in the state of Florida.
And we believe that when youmake things you make wealth, and
(11:38):
as you think about who some ofour largest manufacturers here,
whether that is Lockheed Martinwith nearly 2000 employees,
you're doing missile controlsystems, REV Fire and E-One with
1200 employees headquarteredhere, significant company making
fire engines, what can be moreexciting than that? And
Signature Brands and whatthey're doing in prepared foods.
(11:58):
You have Cardinal LG, which hastwo different plants and a
technical center here, PellaGlass. So you've got all this
manufacturing in a really widearray of areas growing medical
device, biopharma and that'sreally, really important. And we
continue to see that growth inmanufacturing. Obviously,
healthcare is huge. It's thelargest employer in our market,
(12:19):
it pays the highest averagewages, it continues to grow, we
often don't recognize we are aregional healthcare hub. And
what that brings to ourcommunity, people come here for
health care. And that's soimportant. The growth of our
office economy. We have a lot ofcompanies that have offices
here, headquartered here, farmore than people realize, and
how important again, it helpsdiversify that economy really
(12:42):
provides stability anddiversification. And the last
one I'd mentioned is to be thehorse capital of the world. We
know and it's getting old nowit's eight years old, but from
an economic impact analysis,that equine contributed $2.6
billion a year to our localeconomy. And that was before The
World Equestrian Center or thereinvention of HITS. So you
know, I'm sure that number hasgrown. We're going to redo that
(13:05):
study in another year or two.
But how important that industryis and what it leads to now with
tourism and the additionaldollars that come into the Ocala
Metro.
Natalie McComb (13:15):
Well, and big name projects often get the
biggest headlines, the CEP hasalso invested heavily in
entrepreneurs and smallbusinesses. So what can the
community look forward to in thenext few years as it relates to
this piece of the local economy?
@Kevin Sheilley (13:29):
You know, I think you know, we've talked a
lot already on this about whatwe're doing with their IMPACT
communities and CDFI, andincubators, but know that we're
gonna continue to offer to bethe lead entrepreneurship
organization for our community.
That anyone who wants to startor grow a small business, the
CEP is where they need to comeand we're going to offer those
services for free, and to beable to provide technical
(13:51):
assistance and trainings likeFastTrac, which is 10 week
program. I'm such a huge fan, weuse the Kauffman Foundation's 1
Million Cups, which happens
every Wednesday at 9 (14:02):
30 at the power plant business incubator.
That happens in over 130communities around our country
at the exact same time. Butinterestingly, Ocala has one of
the largest and most diversegroups who meet every week, we
have 60 or 70 people who come tosupport entrepreneurs. It's
really exciting and inspiring togo to one of those meetings. So
(14:23):
we're going to continue to seethose things. We're going to
look for ways to grow. Ourability to do pitch competitions
to help entrepreneurs be able togo especially on the technology
side to be able to go look forthat next level of funding and
financing. Encourage ourstudents with entrepreneurship,
supporting the EntrepreneurshipAcademy at Forest High School,
and our Youth Business Planningcompetition, just really
(14:44):
continually looking at ways wecan make sure that we're
covering all the bases. I don'tever want someone to leave our
community because they can'tfind the assistance they need
for their business. We want tomake sure that whatever it is,
they can find it here in theOcala Metro.
Natalie McComb (15:00):
Yeah, and you know, you mentioned youth,
Kevin, and we talk a lot aboutworkforce development and talent
development. But what does thatmean when when we talk about how
we engage with our youth, insupporting local industry and
business?
@Kevin Sheilley (15:13):
You know, the idea is that we want every
student, just as we want everybusiness to be successful, we
want every student to besuccessful, we believe they can
Natalie McComb (15:19):
We know that the CEP is all about partnerships.
find their future here. And forsome, that's going to mean going
on to university. And we want tomake sure that our schools are
And in 2022, the CEP joined in apublic-private partnership to
offering the programs and theacademics that they need to go
on to university. But for thevast majority, that's going to
mean something else. And webelieve it's key that that'd be
valued exactly the same.. With astudent who's going to
(15:40):
university, that's great. But wealso value the student who's
going to focus on careertechnical education. That
student who's going to go to MTCor to CF and get that two-year
degree or that certification,because those are viable paths
forward. Those are opportunitiesto earn not just a living wage,
but a really good wage, and tofulfill themselves as
individuals. And so making surethat we're providing those
(16:02):
career pathways within ourschools. And with our
post-secondary providers, Idon't want us to forget about
how important it is that wesupport our students who choose
to enlist and serve our country.
We talked about it with theschool systems about how do you
choose your E, is thatenrollment? Are you going to
university? Is an employment, oryou're pursuing a career
technical education? Employmentafter school. Or is it
(16:24):
enlistment? Or it'sentrepreneurship? And having
programs in all of our schoolsthat support those key areas.
address economic development inadjoining Lake County. So tell
us more about that decision andthe regional strategy behind it.
@Kevin Sheilley (16:46):
Yeah, you know, it's probably it's been
interesting to me if there's onething that we've done that
people have been confused ormisinformed about, it is our
partnership with Lake County.
But it is a fantasticpartnership, that 100% benefits
the residents of Marion Countywhile also benefiting completely
the people of Lake County.
(17:06):
Starting a few years ago, thebusiness community in Lake
County, much as had happenedhere in Marion County, really
began looking what was going on.
And they realized that whiletheir community was growing in
Lake County, which is roughlythe same size as Marion County,
just over 400,000 people. Itwasn't seeing the economic
growth, it wasn't seeing thebusiness and employment side.
And they start saying why isthat what's happening and in
(17:27):
what they found is that economicdevelopment was being led by the
county, and some great peoplethere. But they're also doing
economic development, andplanning, and codes, and this
and that, so that the actualwork of economic development is
less than 10% of their job. Andso this, Hey, we need to figure
out what are other communitiesdoing. And so they looked around
(17:48):
and we were one of the modelsthat they looked at. And they
came and met with me and theycame several times at different
groups to learn about how we doeconomic development here. They
had me come down and speak twiceto different groups. And after
the last time, they said, look,Kevin, this is the model we want
to follow. We think this makes alot of sense. Will you come down
(18:09):
here and help lead our economicdevelopment? Well, no. But let's
talk about how we can worktogether. And so what we came up
with was really, I think, aninnovative partnership. We
helped them create apublic-private partnership
called LEAD, Lake Economic AreaDevelopment. It has a board that
is 100% Lake County. It is 100%funded by Lake County
(18:31):
governments and Lake Countybusinesses focused on business
attraction, business retention,and business creation in Lake
County. But to really jumpstartthat effort, they contract with
the CEP to manage and lead thateffort. We can take advantage of
our back office with HR, withIT, with employee benefits. It's
(18:51):
so hard to attract reallytalented people if you're like
well, we're hoping we'll get aninsurance program, and we're
hoping to be able to offerretirement one day or you know,
come be part of our overallumbrella. We're able to bring
our expertise, our R&D, ourresearch to help and so these
three soon to be four employeeswho are there are CEP employees,
(19:13):
but they're 100% dedicated toLake County. LEAD pays us a
contract to cover those costs.
So there's there's no moneycoming out of Marion County
funding Lake County. And so itreally helps us to be more
productive and successful. Butmost importantly what we already
know is the companies that arelooking at and need to look at
(19:35):
Lake County are very differentthan the companies that are
looking in Marion County.
Natalie McComb (19:40):
How so?
@Kevin Sheilley (19:40):
So you know, if we think about in particular on
the industrial side, thebusinesses you've talked, our
logistics advantage, we'vetalked about manufacturing,
those are companies that areserving statewide, this is the
spot to be in if you're servingthe state. Even though Lake
County is just a little bitfurther south, the numbers
change dramatically. From alogistics standpoint, if you're
(20:01):
in Lake County on an industrialside, you're there because you
want to serve the Orlando Metro,you're really focused on that.
And we have some greatopportunities there. And so
they're very different targets.
They're very different sales andvalue propositions. But they
support one another. They'revery complementary. Tell you
through the first year, we'recoming at the end of our first
year with this partnership, Ithink we've had two RFPs out of
(20:23):
the dozens and dozens and dozenswe get every year that have
overlap.
Natalie McComb (20:29):
What is one nonprofit organization that
you'd like to highlight on theshow today?
@Kevin Sheilley (20:33):
You know, there's so many good ones in our
community, we are so blessed tohave so many fantastic
nonprofits meeting the needs, Ithink that's one of the things
this community does soexceptionally well. I reference
that earlier, hey, there's aneed, there's a challenge, we're
going to take care of ourselves,we're not going to wait for
someone else to come in and dothis. And there's so many but my
wife and I are such huge fans ofwhat goes on at Project HOPE.
(20:57):
She's been on the board therenow for a few years. But this is
a, they own an apartmentcomplex. And they're able to
bring in homeless moms and theirchildren. Take them through a
training program over two years.
They're able to house themimmediately into a two-bedroom
apartment, furnish that forthem. Take them through all
types of skills and training,everything from finance, to
(21:20):
parenting, to job development,so that at the end of this
two-year period, they're able tobe able to get a home on their
own. And whether that's anotherapartment or a duplex, or as
they've seen some happenactually be able to buy a house.
I mean, think about that, to beable to go from homeless to
being a homeowner in two years.
(21:41):
It has such an impact. We're bigfans of what they do and how
they do it.
Natalie McComb (21:46):
Yeah, that's great work, and we'll be sure to
include a link to Project HOPEon our episodes page. And now a
word from our sponsor.
@Sponsor (21:54):
Douglas Law Fi
Douglas law firm. We are a fullservice law firm with many
practice areas to serve yourparticular needs. We are located
in downtown Ocala 110 NorthMagnolia Avenue. Coming from a
seventh-generation family herein Ocala. I am honored for our
law firm to partner with the CEPto bring you these podcasts. We
hope you enjoy.
Natalie McComb (22:16):
So, now that's this is the fun part of program
our lightning round questions.
@Kevin Sheilley (22:20):
Ok, i'll get my hand ready. I'm ready.
Natalie McComb (22:23):
So Kevin, what trait do you value most from
members of your team?
@Kevin Sheilley (22:28):
You know, and I have a phenomenal team. You
included obviously, I thinkpeople who are doers. Not
talkers, but people who arewilling to take action and just
go make things happen.
Natalie McComb (22:43):
Biggest pet peeve?
So, a messagefor our listeners, Kevin sees
@Kevin Sheilley (22:44):
Oh, this this is easy for me. And it
absolutely has driven me nutsfor years. And that is people
who cannot be bothered to taketheir shopping cart or buggy as
we would say in Kentucky and putit in the buggy corral. If you
leave that in the parking lot. Iam generally a very nice person.
I overlook a lot of things. I amlikely to say something to you
(23:06):
if I see you leaving your cartin the parking lot.
you. When you leave that cart inthe island.
You're probablygoing to get a comment.
Natalie McComb (23:18):
Yes. I love that. Um, so what's a fun fact
that most people wouldn't knowabout you know?
Yes, yes. Takeit from someone who has been
@Kevin Sheilley (23:24):
I use this one a lot. But I still think it's
pretty interesting. If someonehasn't met me and they can't
very tall most of her life. Youdon't always like it at first.
tell this on the podcast. I'mtall. Sheilley's are tall. I am
6'6. I have a brother that 6'1,Excuse me, my brother's 6'3, a
sister that is 6'1. But I'm alsoa twin. And I have a twin sister
and she is 5'5. So there's 13inches difference between my
(23:48):
twin sister and I, which Ialways think is kind of
interesting. I'm glad it endedup that I'm the tall one and not
her.
You kind of have to grow intoit.
Literally.
Natalie McComb (24:03):
Yes, yes, exactly. Well, thank you so
much, Kevin for being on TheCatalyst today. We really
appreciate your time. And thankyou again for sharing a little
bit about CEP
@Kevin Sheilley (24:12):
Natalie, thank you for having this vision and
for the incredible job you'redoing. I enjoy listening to each
of these and I hope thelisteners today have enjoyed our
conversation.
Natalie McComb (24:21):
Thank you.
Thank you for joining us foranother episode of the catalyst
hosted by the Ocala MetroChamber and economic partnership
sponsored by Douglas law firmand recorded live at Wiley
productions podcast studios. Newepisodes, guests and
perspectives on leadershippremiere twice a month. Follow
(24:44):
us on Apple, Amazon, Spotify orwherever you enjoy your
podcasts. Have a suggestion fora future guest email us at
thecatalyst@ocalacep.com
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