irst, a note of thanks to the IAMC Fall Professional Forum attendees in Omaha in mid-October who stopped me at functions to express their appreciation for the work we do at Site Selection. Some I knew. Others I didn’t until then. Regardless, their support and requests to keep producing the quality content that we do means a lot to my staff, and to me. You have my word that we will not compromise our high standards for economic or any other reasons.

Speaking of IAMC, let me add my congratulations to the leading association of corporate real estate executives, economic developers and service providers on their 10th anniversary. It seems like just yesterday Mac Conway launched his Big Idea with IAMC’s first Forum, in Savannah, Ga. Site Selection has served as IAMC’s official publication the entire time, and we value that affiliation enormously. I also congratulate my esteemed colleague and friend, Ron Starner, for a decade of outstanding leadership as IAMC’s Executive Director, and wish his successor, Aubrey Glazman, all the best as he builds on this decade of achievement.

I am pleased to announce here some new affiliations that I know will benefit everyone involved, including our readers, well into the future. You may have noticed the new reference on the cover to Red Hot Locations, a London-based organizer of seminars and conferences, including the World Forum for Foreign Direct Investment. Conway Data has finalized an acquisition of Red Hot Locations, bringing an exciting new events division to its growing list of service offerings. Site Selection and Red Hot Locations will organize events worldwide in the coming months that we hope will add a new dimension to your experience of location decision making. Areas that host events will benefit enormously from exposure that was beyond their reach previously, and site selectors and consultants will gain deeper insights into these locations and their value propositions.

Another new affiliation is our recent acquisition of The Pont Group. This New York-based consultancy provides investment promotion agencies and other clients a range of services, including public and media relations, marketing and communications, sector training, lead generation, trade missions and familiarization tours, and much more. These acquisitions broaden the scope of Site Selection’s services well beyond print and electronic publishing. I assure you these new service proprietors — Catherine Dawson at Red Hot Locations and Shirar O’Connor and her colleagues at The Pont Group — will bring to the marketplace the same professionalism and commitment to excellence you expect from the rest of the Site Selection team.

We have some other irons in the fire that I will share with you in the New Year. But suffice it to say you will find the Site Selection brand more ubiquitous in the course of your location discernment, whether that process brings you to Houston, Helsinki or Ho Chi Minh City. Our intention is to be the leading global provider of location and industrial intelligence to the buy side and the most connected, comprehensive provider of investment promotion solutions to the sell side. In either case, we’ve got you covered.

Thank you for your loyal readership in 2012.