If you ever get the chance to hear Ohio Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher speak, take advantage of it. I promise that you won't be disappointed.

Lee Fisher Source: http://governor.test.ohio.gov

On May 15, I had the opportunity to hear Fisher address the annual conference of the Mid-America Economic Development Council in Dublin, Ohio, just outside of Columbus.

A month later, his words still resonate. Seldom have I witnessed a presenter with his ability to communicate passion and purpose with such a commanding presence — and he did it without reading any notes.

Chances are that you've never met Fisher in person. If you've conducted a real estate transaction in Ohio anytime in the past 18 months, however, you have benefited from his leadership.

Readers of Site Selection magazine will know that Ohio is fresh off claiming its second consecutive Governor's Cup — the award given annually by IAMC's official publication to the state that lands the most new plants and expanded facilities in the previous calendar year.

What you may not know is that the Governor of Ohio, the highly capable Ted Strickland, trusts Fisher to be his right-hand man when it comes to running the day-to-day operation of economic development in the Buckeye State.

As lieutenant governor, Fisher serves as the director of the Ohio Department of Development. His job is to lead the state's efforts to retain, attract and create jobs and grow Ohio's economy.

Judging from Ohio's recent track record in this regard, no one in America performs that job any better.

Listening to Fisher address a gathering of economic development leaders from 10 Midwestern states, it's easy to see why. Fisher begins with the premise that states must first recognize, and then deliver, what companies seek most: an uncompromising work ethic brought to the table by a qualified labor force, as well as a comprehensive work-force development system.

"Work force is the game changer," Fisher told the audience. "We cannot be all things to all people, and so we must focus on what we do best."

In Ohio, that means training workers to fill the positions needed by rapidly growing advanced manufacturing companies, and doing it with a swiftness and flexibility that is often foreign to government bureaucracy.

"You have to compete at the speed of business, not the speed of government," says the Oberlin College graduate who also earned both a law degree and a master's degree in nonprofit organization from Case Western Reserve University.

When Ohio won a multi-state competition last year to land Amylin Pharmaceuticals' $400-million plant in West Chester, the competitive nature of Fisher and ODOD were on display.

"We successfully won that competition despite the fact that our financial incentive package probably was not the largest," Fisher said in the March 2008 cover story of Site Selection. "We won because of the cohesive public-private partnership that we created to demonstrate that we could meet Amylin's work-force and research and development needs by creating a partnership with adult career technical schools, community colleges and universities and our work-force development system."

Ohio's transformation from the Rust Belt to what Fisher calls "the Opportunity Belt" was hastened two years ago when the Buckeye State overhauled its business tax code to make the state much more favorable for manufacturers. As a result, many site consultants now say that Ohio offers one of the most competitive locations in the entire country for factories.

Guy York, director of State Strategic Tax Review for Deloitte Tax LLP, recently told Site Selection that when he is advising a manufacturing company on where to locate, "I always recommend that they take a look at Ohio." If the location makes good business sense, he said, "you are not going to find a better tax deal anywhere in the country."

Fisher said the bar has been raised for states in the Midwest. "Transportation access just gets you into the competition; it doesn't win you the competition," he noted. "We believe that attitude is the indispensable ingredient to economic development. You have to have an attitude that you will win the competition, period."

Ron Starner, executive director of IAMC

Along those lines, the lieutenant governor said, Ohio's work is far from finished. "We have made two promises to the people of our state. We will live within our means, and we will invest in our future into what matters," he said. "After cutting $733 million from our state budget this year, we put forth the boldest economic stimulus package of any state in the nation."

The $1.5-billion package is designed to spur R&D in high-growth industries and boost job creation throughout Ohio. The state is targeting biotech, aviation and aerospace, instrumentation and controls, alternative energy, and high-tech and advanced manufacturing.

"We are very proud of winning Site Selection's Governor's Cup award two years in a row, but we know that we can do even better," said Fisher. "We live in a time when we have infinite problems and scarce resources. But we believe that we are in the best position to meet these challenges head-on and solve them. We (the Midwest) can be known as the region of America that shocks and surprises everyone."

Judging from the early returns of Fisher's tenure in Ohio, I wouldn't bet against him.