Julie Coons
President and CEO, Northern Virginia Chamber of Commerce
Last week, Amazon announced that it will locate a portion of its second headquarters – “HQ2” – in Northern Virginia, bringing tens of thousands of additional jobs to the region over the next decade. 238 North American cities and regions responded to Amazon’s HQ2 RFP, and our region, along with New York, was selected. This is something we should be extremely proud of as a region.
In January 2018, Amazon selected twenty finalist regions, including Northern Virginia. Among its requirements, Amazon noted its desire to locate HQ2 in a major metropolitan area with access to a talented workforce, a robust transportation network with an international airport, and a stable, business-friendly environment.
HQ2 represents the culmination of Northern Virginia’s unprecedented transformation over the course of a generation. That Amazon selected Northern Virginia over many other strong options reemphasizes what makes our region a premier business destination – world-class, highly-educated, diverse talent, robust infrastructure, and a positive business climate at the local, state, and regional level. We are excited to welcome Amazon’s extraordinary investment of resources, innovation, and talent to our region – these contributions will certainly serve as the catalyst for Northern Virginia’s next great chapter.
As we welcome Amazon’s new investment in our community, we, the business community must continue to advocate to address our regional challenges and opportunities. The ability for our region to grow or attract the next Amazon is dependent on our continued ability to recruit and retain talent, move people efficiently, build our entrepreneurial ecosystem, and enhance our quality of life. With your support and leadership, your Chamber will continue to be the place where the business leadership of the region will convene, engage with one another, and build the platform that will support our region’s long term prosperity.
As we already know, Northern Virginia’s business community is second to none. The Northern Virginia Chamber is proud to represent and serve those businesses that contribute to our thriving region. I am excited for what’s to come for our business community and for Northern Virginia.
