Editor's note: Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corporation President & CEO Don Cunningham delivered these remarks at the announcement of Eli Lilly and Company's historic $3.5 billion investment in the Lehigh Valley, on Jan. 30 at Da Vinci Science Center in Allentown. 

Thank you, Mr. Ricks, I'm honored to welcome you and all the folks from Eli Lilly and Company to the Lehigh Valley. Please don't let the temperature outside misrepresent the warmth with which we welcome you here. Thank you for your investment, for your belief in Pennsylvania, and your commitment to our little corner of the Keystone State. The Lehigh Valley will not let you down. Today, at noon, we will officially welcome you with “Welcome to the Lehigh Valley” Eli Lilly billboards that will be up on Route 22, so when you ride back to the airport you’ll see your logo and your sign. 

Governor Shapiro, DCED Secretary Rick Siger, Ben Kirshner, and all your fabulous team members, thank you. Thank you for your leadership, for your understanding of what it takes to grow a state's economy, for the hard work, the smart investment and the attention to detail that it takes to compete and win high-value companies. The governor told me at his inauguration that he doesn't like to lose, that he's committed to getting stuff done. You meant it, my friend. Thank you very much.

Here in the Lehigh Valley, we were often a little bit on our own, a little engine that could working to rebuild our economy in the shadows of the great cities of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. But those days are over. And thank you, Governor. Thank your team for making it that way for all of us here. Today, Mr. Ricks announced the largest single investment in our Lehigh Valley history, $3.5 billion and 850 jobs. There's been nothing comparable since the days of Bethlehem Steel, which grew slowly over a century, when our workers produced the steel for America's skylines and bridges and the armaments to help win two world wars.

Today, Eli Lilly and Company write the first page of a new chapter, the era of life sciences in the Lehigh Valley's proud history of making things in America. I'm very fortunate to lead the Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corporation, a large coalition of private and public partners, large employers, manufacturers, educational institutions, regional organizations, Lehigh and Northampton counties, 62 municipalities, and the great cities of Allentown, Bethlehem, and Easton. Our organization was started 30 years ago during tough economic times by our private sector leaders to create a strategy and regional partnership for economic rebirth. Today, the Lehigh Valley's $56 billion economy is larger than that of three U.S. states. Our population growth, particularly of young people, is a leader in Pennsylvania and the Northeast. Manufacturing once again is the largest part of our economy, with 700 manufacturers pumping out $9 billion a year in GDP. Today, that punch gets much stronger. We add major pharmaceutical production to our growing life sciences sector in the region.

It took numerous key partners working behind the scenes, as the Governor said, in a multi-year process, with no assurance that we would win. Racking up thousands of collective staff hours of work were David Jaindl, who owns the land, and his great team of family members, engineers, lawyers, and staff; Upper Macungie Township, led by Manager Bob Ibach; Lehigh Carbon Community College, led by President Ann Bieber and her team; PPL Electric Utilities; UGI Gas; LCA Water and Sewer Authority; the Parkland School District;  Lehigh County, and a fabulous group, if I may say so, at LVEDC, led by Jarrett Witt, Karianne Gelinas, and Kristin Cahayla-Hoffman. I also want to thank Jay Biggins, from Biggins Lacy Shapiro, who helped Lilly find us and work through the process. And I want to recognize, the Governor pointed out, Revenue Secretary Pat Browne and his work. When Pat was a state senator, he was the one who got the new interchange off I-78 on the TIP plan, along with Matt Moyer. Thank you, Pat, that's an important piece of infrastructure without which we wouldn't have landed this project. So combined with the state, it was a dream team of people committed to making it happen. Victory truly had a lot of fathers and mothers.

So in the end, however, only the state can deliver, and Governor Josh Shapiro and his excellent team did just that. So let me conclude where I began. Thank you, Governor, for your leadership, your commitment and partnership, and thank you, Mr. Ricks and your entire team at Lilly, for your innovative company, your amazing pharmaceuticals, and your confidence and investment in the Lehigh Valley. We are honored to become a Lilly community and to help make great medicines for the entire world. So let this new chapter in our history begin. Thank you.

(Photo by Donna Fisher Photography)