When I moved back to Ohio in 2004 my hometown, Hamilton, was nothing like the town I grew up in. A mill and foundry town built along the Great Miami River, every major employer of my childhood was gone. From a peak of 72,345 in 1960, the population had declined to 60,290 by 2000. But over the last two decades, slowly at first, Hamilton began to add jobs and population. Population, employment, and household income is rising. A city built for another era cannot change overnight, but Ohio’s diverse economic growth is touching each corner of the State. Hamilton’s progress is one boat rising among many across the State, and we have an obvious opportunity to accelerate that trend.

After college, I left Ohio and spent the next 20 years elsewhere. I spent time in California, South Korea, and the Washington, D.C. area. In that time I saw the beginnings of South Korea’s economic ascendency, driven by democratic and policy reforms, economic strategy, and focus. Returning to the US in 1989, I benefitted from the growth of the software industry and the early days of analytics and big data. In the D.C. area I saw the economy grow by leveraging regional strengths and macro changes – deregulation of telecom and credit, the rise of the Internet, and the growth of the national security economy. Since returning to Ohio I have watched the State’s diverse economic sectors and core strengths, matched with consistent growth-friendly policies, begin to transform the State’s economy. I have also developed some sense of the gaps and unrealized opportunities that require more attention and more capital.

The network is our strategy. Temasek is our inspiration. We are building a network of investors and partners who are also bullish on Ohio. Our stakeholders share our vision of transformed Ohio, a leading State for growth, income, employment, economic mobility, and quality of life. Ohio’s diverse economy, workforce, research base, higher education system, and stability intersect with global and technological trends that can unlock our shared potential. It is as important that we democratize that potential to places like my hometown, and other towns like it. I see no State that has a better combination of rich entrepreneurial history, innovation, economic diversity, ethos, workforce, and stability with key elements that match today’s global trends. Capital is our tool, but it is deployed with the collective knowledge of our network – helping us source, select, and scale a broad new wave of successful businesses.