The Regional Competitiveness Plan 2025 Year in Review

​Commerce Lexington, alongside regional business and local government leaders, continues to advance the Regional Competitiveness Plan, a five-year strategy launched in 2022 to support job creation and workforce growth across the nine county region.  The plan focuses on seven mutually beneficial action items across economic development, workforce and policy.  Together, these efforts are designed to elevate awareness of the region as a leading place to live and work, increase job site inventory for business attraction, strengthen the business climate through targeted policy advocacy and leadership development, and position the region for long-term economic competitiveness.

A Strong Public-Private Partnership
The Regional Competitiveness Plan is funded through a robust public-private partnership, with business investment exceeding government investment by nearly a 2-to-1 ratio. Annually, the plan is supported by approximately $1 million in private-sector investment and more than $600,000 from local governments across the region. 
 
Commerce Lexington is proud to share a snapshot of key deliverables and wins from 2025.

Workforce

Talent Attraction Digital Marketing Campaign
In 2025, the region’s first-ever digital and social media talent attraction campaign completed its inaugural year. The campaign promotes Greater LEX as an exceptional place to live and work, targeting alumni of local colleges and universities, and recent visitors currently living outside of Kentucky. 

Since October 2024, the campaign has generated:

• 20 million impressions
• More than 82,000 unique visits to the new talent attraction website 

View the full analytics report here.

Talent Attraction Website 
The talent attraction website (lookatlex.com) serves as the region’s digital front door, featuring more than 30 pages of “live, work, play” content that highlights regional assets. Tools include a cost-of-living calculator, jobs board, and industry profiles.
 
New resources added in 2025 include:

• An interactive community quiz
• Detailed county pages for all nine counties
• An online Employer Resource Hub, offering practical tools and guides to support talent attraction, including how-to resources for platforms such as Handshake and Indeed

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Workforce Connections
Commerce Lexington hosted the first Synergy Series roundtable in August 2025, focused on advanced manufacturing. The event brought together business and higher education leaders to strengthen workforce alignment and foster meaningful collaboration.
 
Key takeaways included:

• Strong employer emphasis on soft skills
• The need to help students better articulate and “storytell” their skills to employers
• Recognition of leadership, working in teams and project management skills developed through activities such as sports, internships, and volunteer activities or part-time employment

​The next Synergy Series event, focused on Healthcare and Higher Education, is scheduled for March 2026.

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Economic Development

​New Digital Job Attraction Marketing Campaign
A new digital marketing campaign launched in 2025 to position the Bluegrass Region as a business hub for key industries including advanced manufacturing, biotech, and professional services. Targeted outreach to C-suite executives, site selectors, and entrepreneurs has increased regional visibility and business leads.
 
Since launching in March 2025, the campaign has generated:

• More than 30 million impressions
• More than 30,000 new users to the regional job attraction website

View the full analytics report here.

As part of this effort, the region’s modernized job attraction website (locateinlex.com), is an essential marketing asset. Commerce Lexington’s team continues to update important data, available sites and buildings, and other resources to better showcase development opportunities.
 
New Key Sector Marketing Videos
To further highlight regional strengths, Commerce Lexington launched a new video series titled “The Nine.” The series showcases competitive advantages, industry success stories, and compelling narratives about key sectors.
 
Two videos were produced in 2025, profiling:

• Advanced Manufacturing
• Biotechnology 

Direct Site Selector Engagement
Commerce Lexington also continued to engage directly with 125+ national site selectors this year and key industry leaders through strategic outreach and participation in more than 10 major industry conferences.  The outreach also included hosting an exclusive event in partnership with Visit Lex for 30 national site selectors and media outlets to increase visibility of the region. Commerce Lexington also sent quarterly Greater LEX email updates to more than 300 national site selectors profiling key sectors and available sites in the region.  ​

Policy & Advocacy

​In 2025, Commerce Lexington maintained an active presence in Frankfort and Washington, D.C., championing policies that support infrastructure investment, shovel-ready land, housing development, and workforce growth.  Numerous events were held this year to highlight key issues and provide regional leaders with access to policy decision-makers including:

• Greater Lex Luncheon at the Capitol
• Greater LEX Washington, D.C. Fly-In
• Public Policy Luncheons and policy briefings
• Legislative Appreciation Breakfast

​Recent advocacy wins include continued investment by the Kentucky General Assembly in the Kentucky Product Development Initiative, which has supported 18 projects across the region that increase the availability of job-ready sites and promote regional approaches to economic development.   ​

Housing remains a critical focus area. A 2024 report from the Kentucky Housing Corporation found that the nine-county region needs 37,000 additional housing units to meet current demand. Regional leaders continued to advocate for policy solutions to accelerate housing development such as new investment tools to support infrastructure for housing and regulatory reforms to speed up approval processes at the local and state level.
 
Commerce Lexington also continued to advocate for the Kentucky General Assembly to investment in a statewide talent attraction marketing strategy and a regional talent attraction marketing grant program. 

Leadership and Education Events
Commerce Lexington hosted education and leadership events for business, community, and local government leaders to strengthen regional collaboration. These include:

• Regional Plan updates for key stakeholders
• Economic development leadership workshops
• The annual Regional Summit, the State of the Region address

 
These events provide essential insights, tools, and resources to help leaders build high-performing economic development efforts across the region. This collaborative approach earned national recognition in 2025, when Commerce Lexington was named Economic Development Organization of the Year—a testament to the strength of the region’s partnerships.

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Accountability & Looking Ahead

​Commerce Lexington created a separate entity, Greater Lex Inc., to oversee and manage local government funding for the Regional Competitiveness Plan to provide clear separation from other chamber revenues and programming, while enhancing transparency, accountability, and reporting related specifically to the Regional Plan. Greater Lex Inc. is governed by a nine-member board of directors. Its primary responsibility is financial oversight and approval of the Greater Lex Inc. budget each year. 
 
Additional strategic guidance was provided through the Regional Leadership Council, which is composed of top investors and key stakeholders supporting the Regional Competitiveness Plan. This group includes local government leaders, economic development professionals, and representatives from business and education. The Council met throughout the year to review progress, receive updates on implementation, and offer guidance to ensure the Plan continues to deliver shared value across the region.
 
To support transparency and accountability, Commerce Lexington also provided quarterly email updates to key stakeholders and annual reports to each participating local government outlining progress, outcomes, and return on investment. In 2025, the team participated in more than 50 meetings and events and engaged with over 2,000 stakeholders across the region.
 
Commerce Lexington looks forward to continuing this momentum in 2026.  For questions about the Regional Competitiveness Plan, please contact Andi Johnson, Chief Policy Officer and Director of Regional Engagement.