Malcolm Forbes built a publishing empire that included the magazine that bears his family's name. Since his death, son Steve continues in his wake. The magazine is a staple of astute corporate news, which makes the Forbes.com survey ranking Decatur #1 that much more credible and noteworthy.

The survey results are a two-part presentation published on the Internet at www.forbes.com. The article appears under Best Places. Decatur's #1 ranking appears in the Top 94 Smaller Metros with a total 1999 employment of 24,000 to 83,000. Authors Tim W. Ferguson and William Heuslein note that the survey, based on data complied by the Milken Institute, is weighted toward dynamism "-- that is, the degree of change rather than simply the base level of activity."
Rankings were based on scores in the following eight categories.

Sustained wage and salary growth
"over the most recent five-year period available." (1993-98)
"Most recent annual wage and salary growth." (1999)
Sustained job growth
"over the most recent five-year period." (1994-99)
"Most recent job growth." (1999)
"The degree to which a region's economic output is connected to high tech clusters, relative to the national average." (1999)
"Sustained growth of such clustering over five years." (1994-99)
"Latest annual clustering growth." (1998-99)
"Breadth of high-tech clusters in a region." (1999)

Decatur's best scores appeared in four of the categories; wage and salary growth in 1999, job growth in the five year period 1994-99, sustained growth of high tech clusters from 1994-99, and breadth of high-tech clusters in 1999. High-tech clustering applies to not only .com growth, but to advanced research and development in tech industries such as pharmaceuticals and agribusiness according to the Milken Institute research methodology.

We talked with three Decatur business professionals to learn their reaction to the Forbes ranking and to understand the factors that provided the foundation for the survey.

Taylor Pharmaceutical began in Decatur in 1948. Lou Fraser is vice president, quality assurance and quality control. Reflecting on the kinetic business climate, he described the expansion of their West Grand facility nearing completion. The $13 million, 10,000 square foot addition will increase the firm's capacity to freeze-dry products. "We will add probably 40 people to our current payroll of about 200," he said.

Bruce Nims, Chairman of Nims Associates Inc. came to Decatur to attend Millikin University, met his future wife and the rest is history. Bruce founded the computer programming and training services firm in 1978. Nims Associates has grown rapidly in the five years encompassed by the Forbes survey. "Our growth was steady but gradual for the first 10 to 15 years," Nims said. "Part of that was our design. Five to seven years ago, the market decided, and we decided, to crank the curve up. The need for the services we provide where we do business -- central Illinois, Indianapolis, Dallas, across the Midwest -- has increased dramatically." In that period Nims Associates has grown from 80 to 500 employees.

The catalyst to growth was primarily the Midwest economy. "We have enhanced our organization's impact on Decatur, too," Nims said. "We feel very good about the workforce," Nims said. "Our office staff and Decatur consultants understand our approach and buy into it. The people who work here are the key to what keeps us here.”

A.J. Krieger has been connected to City Hall since 1997 in one form of development or another. Today he is assistant city manager, urban and economic development. "It's kind of an irony about Decatur," he said. "We, as a community, have had to work so hard in our pursuit of development and job growth that we have gotten good at it. When you consider the Forbes criteria, it also probably says that in comparison with the other areas, we had the most ground to make up. In a word, Krieger credited "preparedness. We were prepared as a community to take advantage of the opportunities presented to us.”

Krieger said the Forbes ranking is not a statistical fluke. "In April, Industry Week Magazine ranked Decatur 39th in its list of 315 world class communities, based on a three-year study. It doesn't differentiate between large and small communities." Ranking lower than Decatur were Peoria, Seattle, Dayton and others. Decatur scored especially high in the category of the value of the gross metropolitan product per manufacturing employee. The survey can be found on the Internet at www.industryweek.com.

Krieger concludes, "It's great that the world is recognizing what we in Decatur have felt all along: Decatur offers an opportunity to operate efficiently and profitably."

This article originally appeared in the August/September 2000 issue of Decatur Magazine.
It may not be reproduced or redistributed in whole or in part without the publisher's consent.
© Copyright 2000 Decatur Magazine - First String Productions. All rights reserved.

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