Leaders from the University of Oklahoma and a New York-based marketing firm shared strategic discussions Tuesday at the Tulsa Regional Chamber’s joint Board of Directors and Board of Advisors meeting and leadership retreat at Southern Hills Country Club.

A record 200 Chamber members attended the event, which concluded with conversations on potential Chamber activities within its four strategic initiatives: government affairs, community development, economic development and regional tourism.

Joseph Harroz Jr., president of the University of Oklahoma, and Dariel Curren, executive vice president of Development Counsellors International, were guest speakers during the joint board meeting.

Harroz pointed out that exorbitant university costs across the country have led to Oklahoma’s having 65,000 fewer students enrolled in higher education than it did 10 years ago.

“That’s a problem,” he said.

Oklahoma is about 5.5 million short of the two- and four-year degreed graduates it will need by 2030, Harroz said. The percentage of people in the state who have those degrees is 26%, which is 8% lower than the average state’s, he said.

“Each one percent translates per person in the state to $1,400 a year in average income,” Harroz said. “The investment has to be there.”

“…This idea of what do (companies) want to bring their enterprises here. It’s that skilled workforce.”

Meeting those criteria will take the synergies of municipal, state and tribal governments, as well as community leaders in other areas, such as the Tulsa Regional Chamber, Harroz said.

“This is our time to make a difference, and the only way it’s going to happen is by doing it together,” the OU president said. “When I was asked to be a part of this, I was like I’ll jump at it because regional chambers are exactly the venues to plan out those things where all of us can say `Where are we really? Where are we going and how can we contribute to a much bigger plan?’”

The Chamber’s economic development team has worked with Development Counsellors International (DCI) for nearly two years. On Tuesday, Curren summarized DCI’s recently released Winning Strategies in Economic Development Marketing report.

Since 1996, DCI has surveyed the C-suite and site selectors across the United States to understand how corporate executives’ perceptions of place are influenced and which economic development organizations are leading the pack.

This year’s report received feedback from 306 respondents. Among the eight key findings were knowing the value of social media, targeting the right organizationand the importance of customizing digital content.

Regarding the location of companies, Curren said the top factor is “availability of skilled labor. It used to be location, location, location. It’s talent, talent, talent now.”

In July, DCI spearheaded the launch of a new website for Tulsa’s Future, the Chamber-led regional economic development partnership. At Tuesday’s meeting, Curren applauded Tulsa’s “tremendous growth” and “incredible investment” while acknowledging opportunity remains in marketing the city.

“You have a great story to tell,” she said. “You just need to be a little more proactive telling it.”