Asa Hutchinson: The Economic Development Governor

Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson was ready to get to work in the first few minutes of his new administration on January 13, 2015. One of his first acts, in fact, was to pick up the phone and call the CEOs of six prospective companies.

It didn’t take long for the first of those calls to lead to a significant new project in the state. As a result of the initial call and the work that followed, Sig Sauer announced a few months later that it would locate an ammunition manufacturing facility in Jacksonville, Arkansas. 

During his inaugural address, Gov. Hutchinson listed four goals for achieving economic stability in Arkansas, all of which point toward making business easier to conduct: lowering income tax rates for lower and middle class Arkansans so they can keep more of their hard-earned money; improving job skill training, making it easier for companies to find trained workers; offering computer science courses to prepare the next generation workforce; and removing burdensome regulations on business start-up and expansion. 

Since taking office, the governor and members of his economic development team have traveled more than 30,000 miles around the world searching for the best-paying jobs for Arkansans. Job recruitment visits have been made to France, Japan, Cuba, China, Germany, Israel, and the United Kingdom. Arkansas now has economic development offices in Germany, Japan and China to underscore the state’s commitment to global economic development.

There are many more miles to travel. In fact, Gov. Hutchinson and the Arkansas Economic Development Commission team will go wherever they must and whenever they must to improve Arkansas’ economy and, thus, improve the quality of life for its citizens.