Spectrum - Volume 21 Issue 04 September 17, 1998 - VIED opens training program

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VIED opens training program

By Clara B. Cox

Spectrum Volume 21 Issue 04 - September 17, 1998

The Virginia Institute for Economic Development (VIED), a popular program co-sponsored by Virginia Tech's Public Service Programs, held the first session of its 1998 economic-development training last week at the Donaldson Brown Hotel and Conference Center.
Barry E. DuVal, Virginia's secretary of commerce and trade, gave the keynote address at the institute's kick-off dinner on September 8. DuVal said that he and Governor James Gilmore are working on strategies for developing the economy in Virginia. Those strategies, he said, will focus on drawing new businesses to Virginia and on supporting existing businesses.
Fifty-two participants from 19 city, town, and county governments and six private industries attended the first of two sessions. The second session will be held October 19-21, at the Hotel Roanoke and Conference Center. In addition to the two sessions, the program includes five weeks of home study.
Doug McAlister, director of Virginia Tech's Public Service Programs, said that VIED has drawn participants from every county and municipality in the state since the program began 16 years ago.
Public Service Programs, which sponsors the institute with the Virginia Department of Business Assistance and the Virginia Economic Development Partnership, is a unit of the university's Outreach Division.