Ohio’s rise shows that our playbook works

By Patrick Tiberi

Ohio's CEOs have known it for years: this state is a great place to invest, build, and grow. They've been bullish on Ohio's advantages long before the rest of the country caught on. 

Now, thanks to CNBC, the secret is out. Placing Ohio #1 on their America’s Top States for Business list confirmed what our state's business leaders have believed for a long time, and what our long-term strategy has been building toward. More than a ranking, it is confirmation that strategy is working. 

When Ohio ranked 34th in 2010, we made a choice to compete differently, and that choice has reshaped how our state approaches economic development, job creation, and long-term competitiveness.

State leaders created JobsOhio in 2011, and JobsOhio and its economic development partners have been key catalysts of this transformation ever since. Ohio has always had extraordinary assets, including a central location, world-class workers, leading universities, strong communities, and a manufacturing heritage that helped build America, but what changed was the urgency, coordination, and confidence to put those assets to work.

Lawmakers have also done their part by making Ohio more competitive from a tax perspective and streamlining burdensome regulations that too often stood in the way of investment and growth. Those policy choices matter because employers look for more than a good location when deciding where to expand. They look for speed, certainty, affordability, infrastructure, talent, energy, and a state government that understands the importance of competing for jobs and investment.

That is the playbook Ohio has built. JobsOhio has brought focus, professionalism, and private-sector discipline to the work of growing our economy, while partnerships among state leaders, local communities, utilities, universities, site developers, and employers have helped Ohio compete not only on incentives, but on the fundamentals that truly drive investment.

Fifteen years later, other states are studying our playbook because it works. At the Ohio Business Roundtable, our members have lived this evolution firsthand, and we are proud of the partnership between the private sector and state leadership that made it possible. Going from 34th to 1st does not happen by accident.

Today, companies looking to expand see what Ohio offers. We have unmatched access to markets, a competitive cost of doing business, communities where workers can afford to live and raise families, and a workforce that knows how to make, move, invent, and deliver. That is why advanced manufacturers, semiconductor suppliers, defense technology companies, life sciences firms, logistics leaders, and digital infrastructure companies are choosing Ohio.

This recognition should also put the debate over data centers in the right context. Ohioans are right to ask serious questions about energy, water, land use, local impact, and fairness for ratepayers, and major projects should be evaluated carefully so communities get honest answers. But skepticism cannot become retreat, because data centers are not just buildings filled with servers, but the backbone of the modern economy supporting artificial intelligence, cloud computing, advanced manufacturing, health care, banking, logistics, national security, and small business innovation.

The future tech economy our nation depends on requires computing power, reliable energy, prepared sites, skilled workers, and states willing to build. Ohio has an opportunity to lead that future if we continue to plan carefully, expand energy capacity, protect communities, and make sure Ohio captures the full economic benefit of these investments.

CNBC’s recognition is a milestone, not a finish line, and because other states will not stop competing, neither can we. If Ohio wants to remain #1, we need more investment, not less. We need more prepared sites, more energy capacity, more workforce training, more innovation, more housing and more confidence in our future.

Ohio chose to compete, our playbook works, and Ohio's CEOs knew it all along. Now that the secret is out, we can't afford to sit still. We must keep choosing growth. 

Patrick Tiberi is the President & CEO of Ohio Business Roundtable. Find out more at www.ohiobrt.com.