Dan Foley — House Bill 188, House Development Committee (May 6, 2025)

Summary

Letter dated May 6, 2025, from Dan Foley, retired from 30-plus years of local government service, to Chairman James M. Hoops and members of the House Development Committee in support of House Bill 188 to create the Ohio Israel Trade and Innovation Partnership. The letter states that Montgomery County, the City of Dayton, and the Dayton Development Coalition formed the Dayton Region Israel Trade Alliance in 2008. It states that, according to a recent study, the Alliance has generated over $54 million in revenue for Dayton firms, with 93 full-time jobs created. It lists examples of Dayton region firm successes and states that state coordination could better foster two-way economic partnerships between both countries.

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Full text

Dan Foley
111 Copperfield Drive
Dayton, Ohio 45415

May 6, 2025

Chairman James M. Hoops, Vice-Chair Brian Lorenz, Ranking Member Munira Abdullahi, and
members of the House Development Committee
The Ohio Statehouse
1 Capitol Square
Columbus, Ohio 43215

Dear Chairman Hoops, et al:

My name is Dan Foley, I am retired from 30-plus years of local government service, including
eighteen years as an elected official in Montgomery County, having served as Montgomery
County Clerk of Courts and as a three-term Montgomery County Commissioner.

I am writing in support of House Bill 188 to create the Ohio Israel Trade and Innovation
Partnership.

My views here are my own, as I no longer serve in an elected capacity for Montgomery County,
Ohio.

Montgomery County, the City of Dayton, and the Dayton Development Coalition formed the
Dayton Region Israel Trade Alliance in 2008. At that time, our region was suffering from the
effects of the Great Recession, like many areas of the country. In 2007, for example, the NCR
Corporation, a Fortune 500 corporation, moved out of state, and in 2008 our largest automobile
manufacturing facility, General Motors Truck and Bus in Moraine, closed. At its peak, the GM
plant provided employment for approximately 5,000 people.

It was our belief then, and my belief now, that we are best served in the Dayton region, and
throughout Ohio, if we work to build as diverse an economy as possible. In other words, it’s in
our best interest to seek investment from multiple industry sectors to make sure that we’re not
too reliant on one sector, resulting in ample opportunities for meaningful employment.

Part of this economic diversity needs to involve seeking out international economic partnerships.
Because Dayton is home to Wright Patterson Air Force Base, a strong advanced manufacturing
base, and many top-notch colleges and universities, and a strong labor force, we’re well suited
to “tell our story,” to the rest of the world, as we seek relationships for mutual economic benefit.
This strategy, I believe, is working for the Dayton region. According to a Montgomery County
economic development study released in 2020, over 18,000 local jobs are supported by
internationally owned businesses in seventeen countries, with total exports (2017) hitting $4.7
billion. The top five exporting industries from that study from the Dayton area are aircraft
products and parts, industrial machinery, miscellaneous general purpose machinery, motor
vehicle parts, and chemicals.

Israel is an attractive economic partner for us because the country has a high number of startup
companies, in every field, including agriculture, IT, advanced manufacturing, water technologies,
and aerospace, to name a few. They have strong industry associations and education partners.
For us, like all of our economic strategies, the goal was, and I believe, still is, to help fuel job
growth and investment in our region.

The Dayton Region Israel Trade Alliance, according to a recent study, has generated over $54
million in revenue for Dayton firms, with 93 full-time jobs created. The effort has facilitated 100+
business missions between Dayton and Israel.

Several examples of successes from Dayton region firms:
• LION Group opened a chem-bio manufacturing line in Dayton, creating 40 jobs. LION also
was contracted to build a fire/rescue training and simulation center in Israel.
• Tool Tech won a $230,000 contract with an Israeli defense company.
• Vandalia-based Projects Unlimited secured partnerships with major Israeli aerospace and
defense companies.
• Sinclair College partnered with Israeli company SIMLAT to build out a UAS simulation and
training program as part of its National UAS Training and Simulation Center.
• Strix Drones is producing drone units in Washington on the campus of Dayton-based RAM
Precision.

House Bill 188 could help foster economic growth in our regions between Ohio and Israel for
many reasons, including:

 Local communities don’t always have the bandwidth, so to speak, to seek out international
economic opportunities. State coordination would improve coordination of industry sectors
in both countries in a much easier way than if local communities had to do this on their
own. Local communities would still have to do the work to find companies and partners
who are interested in the possibility of international trade, but state coordination, whether
it’s in Israel, or Ireland, with the recent formation of the Ohio Ireland Trade Commission, for
example, could better foster two-way economic partnerships between both countries.
 It takes time to build long term relationships. The Dayton region started this work in 2008.
And even then, this work is difficult because sometimes there’s inherent complexities that
exist when two parties are doing business when they’re thousands of miles apart. Not every
discussion will bear fruit, but some will. With state involvement, the ability to help regions
maneuver some of these complexities, will be helpful to local jurisdictions.

 By having JobsOhio and the Department of Development at the table with this structure,
more smaller and mid-size companies could better understand how they could start
conversations leading to new business with Israeli firms.

The formation of the Ohio Israel Trade and Innovation partnership could lead to new economic
investment and new jobs in our state. Ohio has done very well by attracting foreign companies
from all over the world and we should continue to seek out new investment in this manner. HB
188 could help continue this trend. I would ask for your support of this legislation.

Sincerely,

Dan Foley

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