Staff report

SALISBURY — RowanWorks, the organization responsible for business expansion and recruitment in Rowan County, has changed its name to Rowan EDC.

According to CEO Rod Crider, the former name caused the organization to be often confused with workforce development or employment agencies.

“While workforce is certainly an area of interest for us, we didn’t feel the name fully captured the scope and breadth of our mission as an economic development organization,” Crider said.

“EDC” stands for economic development commission.

“We were looking for something that was simple but also spoke to who we are as an organization,” Crider said. “Most in the community already refer to us simply as the EDC, and a survey of site selection consultants revealed that nearly 70 percent felt that we needed to change our name. It clearly caused confusion in the marketplace and
was a hindrance to developing needed relationships and communicating our purpose, both locally and abroad.”

With the new name, the organization has adopted a new logo consistent with the Rowan County branding initiative adopted in 2016. The Rowan EDC logo includes a tagline describing the organization as a “Partnership for Economic Development.”

“We also felt that we needed to speak to where we are going as an organization,” Crider said. “We view ourselves as a collaborative organization that is leading the economic growth efforts for Rowan County in close cooperation with others who have an interest or role in economic development. This includes the business, education and governmental communities in particular, as well as other business development groups and social service agencies that are stakeholders in the effort to grow and diversify Rowan County’s economy.”

Rowan EDC expects its rebranding to yield results. Crider said there were times in the past when growing firms or consultants mistakenly assumed the organization’s focus was too narrow to be of assistance to them.

“We believe more clarity will help those persons identify us more easily and allow us to respond to their needs more quickly,” Crider said. “The name change and collaborative focus is one of many initiatives the board is putting in place to improve our efforts. I’m excited about the direction the organization is taking with these changes.”