A who's who of Charlotte-area business leaders talk with Gov.-elect Bev Perdue.

By Jefferson George

Wachovia's chief executive sat next to the Lowe's Motor Speedway president. The founder and chairman of Allen Tate Co. was elbow-to-elbow with the president and CEO of Parkdale Mills.

With the economy firmly in a funk as the holidays approach, more than 30 Charlotte-area business leaders gathered Tuesday at UNC Charlotte for an economic roundtable with Gov.-elect Bev Perdue.

The diverse roster included executives from Fortune 500 companies, privately owned enterprises and other key groups, such as the president and CEO of the Urban League of the Central Carolinas and the publisher and CEO of La Noticia, a Spanish-language newspaper.

Instead of concrete or creative ways to reverse the downturn, participants spent most of the session discussing key elements of the economy and reminding Perdue of Charlotte's big role in the state's overall economic health.

Always a hotly debated issue, the relationship between Charlotte and state government took on renewed focus during this year's campaign for governor. Perdue, a Democrat from Eastern North Carolina, battled claims by her Republican opponent – Pat McCrory, Charlotte's mayor – that the state's largest city hasn't gotten its fair share of resources.

Flanked by Charlotte Bobcats majority owner Bob Johnson and Duke Energy chairman and chief executive Jim Rogers, Perdue said Tuesday her goal was to listen after spending several months on the campaign trail.

“I've got the tools to make things happen,” she said. “I just need the advice from some of the best business leaders in America.”

Moderator Ferrel Guillory, director of Program on Public Life at UNC Chapel Hill, said Tuesday's conversation would be captured in a memo that will go to Perdue's office.

Participants heard an overview of national and regional economic conditions from two experts: Jeff Kane, senior vice president of the Charlotte branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, and Jeff Michael, director of the UNC Charlotte Urban Institute.

Declines in jobs, retail sales and home sales have rocked the economy, both said, and have even dampened the “tremendous and unprecedented growth” that Michael said is “the story of Charlotte.”

Charlotte makes its case

Michael said Charlotte accounted for 27 percent of the state's private industry employment in the first quarter of this year, and he shared a quote from UNCC economist John Connaughton that the region was responsible for one-third of N.C. gross domestic product.

Yet Charlotte hasn't had a comparable level of representation in previous governors' cabinets and on key state boards, said Mark Erwin, president of Erwin Capital, a Charlotte investment company. Erwin said it has been several years since a Charlotte-area resident served as secretary of a major state department, and that only 5 percent of board members for those departments are from Charlotte, which has 25 percent of the N.C. population.

“We have one member of the transportation board out of 19,” Erwin said. “Our transportation needs are desperate. … There are some really good folks who are willing and able to serve.”

Perdue said anyone will be able to apply for state jobs and board positions through a Web site, and that her team is “aggressively working the Charlotte metro area.”

Allen Tate Jr. – founder, chairman and chief executive of the real estate company that bears his name – also pleaded for more attention to Charlotte-area roads. “We need help, governor,” he said, adding that the transportation department “needs to be rebuilt from the ground up. … I'm overwhelmed at how difficult it is to get a project going.”

When it comes to creating jobs, the state needs to build on key industries such as banking and motorsports, while also pursuing growing industries, roundtable participants said.

Rogers said Charlotte can be a center for clean energy technology. Robert Stolz, CEO of the U.S. Wood division of the Wurth Group International, said Perdue's administration should target defense and aerospace – two areas in which she already has helped win jobs, he said.

North Carolina also could win more competitions for projects by being a leader in tax credits for new investment, said Marcus Smith, president and general manager of Lowe's Motor Speedway and president and chief operating officer of Speedway Motorsports.

While these possibilities have promise, more pain likely lies ahead in the next several months, said Nelson Schwab, managing partner of the Carousel Capital private investment firm. Until the housing picture improves and consumers regain confidence, he said, Perdue may have to say no to some important projects.

“We see that you have a very tough job,” Schwab told Perdue. “We want to be part of that solution.”