BRYAN, Texas — Brazos Valley Economic Development Corporation held a luncheon Thursday with keynote speaker Dr. Ray Perryman, one of the world’s leading economists and he provided his analysis and projections for the region and beyond.
The BVEDC also presented Leadership Awards to Texas A&M University System Chancellor John Sharp, former Texas A&M University System Regent Phil Adams and former Brazos County District Court Judge Travis Bryan III for their extensive contributions to the community.
President and CEO of the BVEDC Matt Prochaska said he is excited to be honoring three amazing men for their contributions to our community, state, nation, and the whole world.
“To have an opportunity just to take a breath and just say thank you for those contributions [is amazing],” Prochaska said, “If we can go away today with just feeling that we've come together, we've learned a little bit, we've been able to say thank you, I think we'll all be happy.”
Prochaska said he was very happy to be at the luncheon.
“We’re here with about 300-400 of our dearest friends to hear from Dr. Ray Perriman,” Prochaska said, “Ray Perriman in many ways is our chief economist for the state of Texas, and he is going to give us really an update on what's happening with the pandemic, but also greater than that what's happening in general and some of the trends that we're seeing, especially to serve our business community here in the Brasses Valley today.”
Dr. Perryman said the Brazos Valley economy went down just a little further than the state, not as much as the country, primarily because of the shutdowns that had to take place at A&M, the associate retail restaurants and everything else the shutdown applied to.
“The comeback was a lot faster,” Dr. Perryman said, “You [the Brazos Valley] came back within four or five months to 85%, most places did not connect that quickly.”
Looking forward, Dr. Perryman said he thinks the growth prospects are excellent because a lot of investment companies are coming to town.
“Particularly, some that are dealing with health and bio-sciences,” Dr. Perryman said, “Serious growth industries for the future and industries that are very well supported by some of the programs today and I've had the privilege of working on five or six of the procurements started here to do that help with that.”