Gulf Coast Venture Forum President to Speak at 2010 Florida Economic Development Conference

Naples, FL, May 07, 2010 --(PR.com)-- Tim Cartwright, Gulf Coast Venture Forum and Tamiami Angel Fund President, is honored to be a presenter at the 2010 Florida Economic Development Conference, a Florida Economic Development Council (FEDC) event that will be held in Tampa, Florida from May 16-18, 2010.

The annual conference is a part of the FEDC’s mission to provide quality education and keep attendees up to date on changes in state development programs and the latest trends of economic development professionals. Topics to be discussed at the 2010 event include the importance of collaborative partnerships, the shaping of the local workforce, and the legal challenges of growth management laws.

“This conference is an event that I am very excited and proud to be a part of,” said Cartwright. “Experts on economic development from across the state will all come together to learn, share, and debate about practices that will affect the working economy of Florida. We have good reason to be optimistic; our state is making vast strides in understanding the importance of our home grown talent represented by resident stage-two companies."

The Florida Economic Development Council has been promoting statewide economic development since 1964. Their mission is to provide leadership and vision to advance economic development in Florida and enhance the professionalism of its diverse membership. Cartwright, Vice President of the Economic Gardening for the Collier County EDC, will be speaking on the new economic gardening program and its many benefits and opportunities for area businesses.

Economic gardening is an innovative, entrepreneur-centered economic development strategy focusing on a long-term approach designed to generate new jobs from the community’s existing base of businesses of second-stage companies. According to the Edward Lowe Foundation, second-stage companies are those that have grown past the startup stage but have not grown to maturity. They have enough employees to exceed the comfortable control span of one owner/CEO and benefit from adding professional managers, but they do not yet have a full-scale professional management team.

Tim Cartwright is Managing Director of Compass Advisory Group, a merger and acquisition consultancy firm that he founded in 2003. He has also started other companies, including By-Products Interactive and Benchmark Solutions. He is actively involved in the regional economic landscape as Vice President of Economic Gardening for the Economic Development Council of Collier County and serves as President of both the Gulf Coast Venture Forum and the Tamiami Angel Fund. He is available for additional speaking opportunities. Most recently he was a featured speaker at a BioFlorida Southwest Chapter Event in April; he is available for additional speaking opportunities.

For more information about the Florida Economic Development Council, please visit www.fedc.net. For more information about the GCVF or Tim Cartwright, please visit www.gcvf.com or call 239-262-6300.

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