Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, July 21, 1990                   TAG: 9007200300
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV4   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: New River Valley bureau
DATELINE: RADFORD                                LENGTH: Short

SKIP GRIGGS IS ALLIANCE'S NEW PRESIDENT

Griggs, already head of the group's $1 million fund-raising campaign, will serve until next June 30. He replaces Hiawatha Nicely, vice president of operations for Magnox Inc. of Pulaski, who stepped down after a year as chairman.

The alliance provides a unified marketing voice as the New River Valley attempts to lure economic development. On Thursday, the group's board of directors approved a $359,000 budget for the next year and endorsed a marketing plan.

That plan will take group members in the coming months to New York, for the Governor's Report to Top Management; Chicago, for a packaging exposition; and Canada, for a high-tech exposition.

On the New York visit in early November, Gov. Douglas Wilder will give the nation's leading executives a report on Virginia's business efforts, said Paul Mitchem, administrative assistant for the alliance.

Virginia economic development groups such as the alliance will accompany Wilder and make contacts with business leaders. Last year, Mitchem said, no one west of Roanoke was represented.

The fund-raising campaign has raised more than $600,000 in pledges, officials said.