The Suffolk State of the City was the last event in the Chamber’s State of the City Series.  The series was a tremendous success and provided attendees with highlights of key business development initiatives, municipal progress updates, and opportunities in the cities where they live and work.  The events, held in Chesapeake, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Suffolk, and Virginia Beach, were attended by a total of more than 3,225 business and community leaders. 

On April 27, more than 350 gathered at the Hilton Garden Inn & Conference Center for the Chamber’s Suffolk State of the City.  Attendees enjoyed lunch, watched a video highlighting the city’s accomplishments and heard from Mayor Linda T. Johnson.

Johnson said, “We’re fortunate in that our city has been more protected from the economic downturn compared to some of our neighbors, but we don’t live on an economic island and there is no true safe harbor from the ripple effect we all face.”

Capital investment in 2009 totaled $112 million and 510 jobs were created.  Johnson said, “Suffolk is definitely open for business, from the smallest ‘mom and pop’ operations, to the largest corporations.”  The mayor recognized the successes of companies in Suffolk, like Northrop Grumman, Cobham Composite Products, Pepsi Bottling Group and Unilever Lipton.  She also spoke about the expanding healthcare choices in the city from CHKD, Sentara Obici Hospital, Bon Secours Health Center, to Riverfront Family Medicine and Specialty Care and North Suffolk Family Medicine.  Johnson discussed the impact the modeling and simulation industry has had on the city’s growth thanks to the United States Joint Forces Command and VMASC.

Click here to read the Mayor’s entire speech.

Thank you to Series Sponsors: TowneBank (Presenting); Farm Fresh (Gold), Cox Communications (Media), Bon Secours Virginia Health System (Bronze), and Tivest Development and Construction, LLC (Partner).