Danielle Scheiner Danielle Scheiner, deputy director, Greater Conroe Economic Development Council[/caption]

Three years after taking the post as deputy director for the Greater Conroe Economic Development Council, Danielle Scheiner continues to use her experience in strategic planning and tourism development to attract new businesses to Conroe.


Scheiner joined the GCEDC in 2013 and specializes in marketing the community to attract new businesses and employers.


Previously, Scheiner worked at Entergy Corporation from 2007-13 as a community development manager in the organization’s economic development department. In that role, Scheiner helped communities build economic development success.


Scheiner has also served as director of the Conroe Convention and Visitors Bureau, served as chairwoman for the Conroe/Lake Conroe Chamber of Commerce board of directors and as a chairwoman for the Montgomery County United Way board of directors.



What initiatives are the GCEDC undertaking?


We finished our strategic planning process last year. We are in the process of implementing that plan, and one of the key things we are working on is a workforce initiative. The chamber of commerce is a key partner in that, and we have Dr. Rebecca Riley from Lone Star College-Montgomery leading it. It is basically getting all of the community leaders who are involved in workforce readiness around the table and talking about what the needs are. We are looking at a lot of data sources to see where those employment gaps are and what types of programs we need to offer so we make sure that we have a stable workforce.



How has Conroe’s workforce evolved over the years?


If you go back historically in Conroe, the mainstays were primarily oil and lumber. I think manufacturing increased in the ’80s, and it has probably been the mainstay in a variety of areas, a lot of it energy-related but a lot of it outside of the energy sector. We have had Ball Corporation and Crown Beverage here for quite some time.


Conroe is predominantly a manufacturing-based economy, and I think we are continuing along that track, but I see professional technical services picking up. We have had a big increase in engineering firms in the last few years staking a spot in Conroe because of all of the development activity that is taking place.


Medical has become very big. A lot of it is centered in The Woodlands, but the Houston Methodist [The Woodlands] Hospital [is] in the city limits of Conroe, and we are seeing all of the major hospitals looking northward to establish primary care clinics and urgent care clinics. We are seeing Methodist, Conroe Regional and Memorial Hermann, Texas Children’s, St. Luke’s [Health] setting up satellite medical facilities up here. It is changing the dynamic of what the economy is based on to some degree.



What progress is being made at Deison Technology Park?


We have agreed to a letter of intent with Caldwell Companies to build a speculative office building in the technology park. They are building a three-story 75,000-square-foot Class A building. We have had a lot of projects that have been interested in the park, but without a building that they can move into, it is difficult. It takes a leap to be the first one in. A project like this will make it easier for people to take that leap, and that will then spur other activity in the park. The plan is for Caldwell to buy the land and construct the building, and the Conroe Industrial Development Corporation will commit to a seven-year guarantee lease to fill in space that is not leased.



Is the Conroe Park North industrial park growing?


The industrial park has been doing very well without a lot of assistance from us. We have received a land contract last week that has been fully executed now for a 36-acre distribution facility that will be under construction. That will be a very exciting project once it is done and we can announce who it is.


There is another project that we have a letter of intent for. That will ultimately be a phased project, so it will take some time. When all phases are complete, it will be about 54 acres in the park.


We have water, sewer and electricity in the park but there is a separate project that Entergy is working on. They are putting in a substation that will help serve that [54-acre] project once it comes online, but also to improve electrical reliability within the park.


With the industrial park, we are evaluating if we are able to purchase some additional land to continue to expand the park because with those two projects that I just mentioned—and one other that we are a finalist for—we won’t be sold out completely, but all of the large tracts will be gone.