Jim Poch and his hybrid S.C.'s Council on Competitiveness is working with partners to drive the movement towards a New Carolina- a South Carolina with a brighter future and a competitive, winning economy.

Three years ago, multiple business organizations and government entities, including the Department of Commerce, the Palmetto Business Forum, the Palmetto Institute, the South Carolina Chamber of Commerce, formed the S.C. Council on Competitiveness. Over 50 leaders from all over the state were asked to become the board of this new Council.

The South Carolina Council on Competitiveness or New Carolina held its winter board meeting on Wednesday, February 13, in the ETV Telecommunications Center. The meeting was prefaced with a tour of the ETV studios.

Following lunch, the meeting began at 1:00 pm. Bobbi Kennedy of ETV welcomed the board and asked David Crouch to report on the broadband study results.

Crouch's study concluded a consultant needed to be hired to create a non- profit to meet a service deadline of May 2011. But before any more could be accomplished, the General Assembly must approve the broadband study and its conclusions.

Developers John Lumpkin and Bob Hughes Next was J. T. McLawhorn's report on The State of Black

South Carolina, a book edited by Dr. Kenneth Campbell of USC's School of Journalism and Mass Communications and published by the Columbia Urban League. Ed Sellers, CEO of BlueCross BlueShield of S.C., helped McLawhorn with the report, as he also wrote the book's forward.

One of the book's main concerns was the dire need for equitable funding for South Carolina's rural schools. Another was the huge gap in healthcare between the haves and the have nots. A meeting already arranged with DHEC Chairman Bo Aughtry was announced.

The governor's chief of staff, Tom Davis, was introduced by Sellers. Davis brought the board up to date on the new port under way in Jasper County. The current boom in imports from Asia is calling for port expansion, to include a new port in joint venture with the State of Georgia in Jasper County. The ports on the West Coast cannot handle any more cargo, and once the expansion of the Panama Canal is complete in 2012, South Carolina and Georgia ports must be ready.

Dr. Harris Pastides, vice president of USC The Jasper County port site is closer to the mouth of the Savannah River than the Port of Savannah.

Davis worried over a lawsuit brought by environmental interests against the Port of Charleston and its expansion on the former Navy base site. If the environmental concerns can stop expansion at the Port of Charleston, there are real fears of environmental impedance in Jasper County.

George Fletcher, executive director of New Carolina, was pleased to report the progress of the previous day, Tuesday, February 12. New Carolina announced a new cooperation in the tourist industry, called the South Carolina Tourism Alliance. The new tourism effort will be run by Doug Wendel, the former CEO of Burroughs & Chapin.

The General Assembly has dedicated an additional $10 million in the current budget for advertising tourist attractions, and it put aside another $10 million for local communities' two- to- one matching funds. The immediate fear was the current economic slump, the pending recession, could give the state a summer slump in tourism.

Dr. David Shi, president of Furman Talking beyond tourism, Fletcher reminded the board South Carolina's textiles are still good for 35,000 jobs among 900 companies inside a $22 billion industry. Milliken, headquartered in Spartanburg, holds 2,200 patents, more than any other private company in the world.

Glass fibers and carbon fibers were cited as new technologies in textiles.

Remaining issues included the state's strategic plan for local development of the nuclear energy industry, agribusiness, wind turbines (25 percent of the world's turbines come from Greenville's GE plant), and distribution and logistics.

The board was invited to visit with Jim Poch and his hybrid automobile parked in the front lot, as it was being charged with an extension cord plugged into an ordinary outlet in the ETV lobby.

Ed Sellers, CEO of Bluecross Blueshield of S.C.