i want to introduce david parkhurst, the edc committee staff, director and legislative counsel, thank you for your work in guiding the economy, appreciate that. today's session is compliments -- really compliments this morning's session governor heinaman's initiative. as we learned this morning, the design of his initiative is to provide governors and state policy makers with policies and practical strategies. which i think is the key. this afternoon we'll explore how as governors we can lead efforts to create environmentses to help entrepreneurs this riv and achieve economic suck tess. our nation's success in the global economy starts in the states. states foster and encourage innovation, support industry sector clusters and champion linkages between private firms, academic institutions, research labs. governors can lead the way and often do in creating the entrepreneurial culture we need in america. my state, we're focused on this and what we can do to create a better business environment. we're focusing on key economic assets and clusters that we have, implementing policies to help

want to introduce david parkhurst, the committee staff director and legal and legislative counsel. thank you for your work in guiding the committee. appreciate that. today's session is compliments -- or complements this morning's session that on growing state economies initiative. as you learned this morning, the design of governor heineman's initiative is to guide governors with better policies to improve economic environment in their states and practical strategies, which i think is the key emphasis, designed to foster business growth and growing the economies. this afternoon we'll explore how as governors we can lead everies to create environments to help entrepreneurs thrive. one of our speakers will testify. achieve economic success. our nation's success and the global economy starts in the states. states foster and encourage innovation, support industry sector clusters and champion linkages between private firms, academic institutions, research labs, public sector. opportunities exist for dp governors to help attract our states and support our entrepreneur who is create innov