January 17, 2025 — Pinckney Hall, Bluffton
CONVERGE 2025 Lowcountry Economic Development Summit
We’re excited to welcome Harry Lightsey, Secretary of Commerce at the South Carolina Department of Commerce, and Susie Shannon, President and CEO of the South Carolina Council on Competitiveness as the keynote speakers. They will share insights on state-level initiatives and discuss the pivotal role our region plays in aligning local economic efforts with the state’s targeted sectors. You’ll also hear from local government officials and regional partners.
Register now to join hundreds of local businesses, government leaders, and community members as we work together to make the Lowcountry the best place in the country to live and do business.
As always, the event is totally FREE to attend, but seating is limited, so don’t wait to register! Click the button below to get your tickets now:
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Converge 2025 Keynote Speakers
Harry Lightsey
Secretary of Commerce at the South Carolina Department of Commerce
Harry M. Lightsey III was appointed by Governor Henry McMaster to serve as Secretary of Commerce in June 2021. Since his confirmation, Lightsey has led the agency’s globally competitive recruitment strategy for South Carolina’s evolving target industries. Notably, through partnerships with state and allied economic development leaders, South Carolina achieved historic recruitment in 2022, announcing $10.27 billion in capital investment.
During Lightsey’s tenure to-date, Commerce has secured some of the largest, most pivotal economic development deals on record. Key announcements include emerging battery materials closed-loop supply chain developer Redwood Materials’ $3.5 billion investment in Berkeley County; Scout Motors’ $2 billion investment in Richland County, reviving a classic American automotive brand as an electric vehicle; Albemarle Corporation’s $1.3 billion investment to create a lithium hydroxide processing facility in Chester County; and BMW Manufacturing’s $1.7 billion investment, expanding Plant Spartanburg production capabilities to accommodate electric vehicle production.
Lightsey leads the agency with an open and collaborative approach, working alongside the state’s executive and legislative leaders to align South Carolina’s economy for sustained, long-term growth. As part of this approach, the agency offers a breadth of complimentary services to enable all South Carolina businesses to remain nimble, innovative and successful. The agency also retooled its site selection program, LocateSC, to ensure economic development stakeholders can easily navigate the state’s available inventory and demographic data.
A fixture in South Carolina’s business community for decades, Lightsey served in top executive leadership roles for major corporations in South Carolina and across the nation. Notably, he served as the president of BellSouth Telecommunications for South Carolina prior to the company’s merger with AT&T, afterward becoming president for AT&T’s Southeast region.
Following his 26 years in the telecommunications industry, Lightsey joined the General Motors Corporation where he directed the legacy automaker’s federal government affairs operation, as well as the emerging technologies, OnStar and infotainment divisions. He has also served as a member of the board of directors of the Federal Reserve Bank in Richmond, Virginia.
Lightsey is a 1978 graduate of Princeton University, and a 1981 graduate of the University of South Carolina School of Law.
Lightsey, a native of Columbia, S.C., is married with two adult children.
Susie Shannon
President and CEO of the South Carolina Council on Competitiveness
Sue-Ann (“Susie”) Gerald Shannon serves as the President & CEO of the South Carolina Council on Competitiveness (“SC Competes”), a business-led, nonprofit organization that drives South Carolina’s long-term economic growth through managing select industry clusters and providing the research, network, and resources that clusters require to thrive. Industry clusters are concentrations of interdependent firms related through their industrial activities and includes both competitors and collaborators. The resulting inter-cluster business environment fosters innovation. Innovation, in turn, spurs new business ventures.
Signature initiatives and industry clusters directly managed by SC Competes include SC Aerospace, SC Logistics, SC Tech and CyberSecureSC, Palmetto AI Corridor, TransformSC, and SC Fraunhofer USA Alliance. SC Competes also provides resources and support to other clusters and initiatives across the state, and its formation in 2004 marked the first time South Carolina’s business, government, and academic leadership came together to address long-term competitiveness factors.
Since taking on the role of President & CEO of SC Competes, Susie has been consecutively recognized as being one of Columbia Business Monthly’s 50 Most Influential People in Business and has been named to its Business Hall of Fame. She was also the subject of a feature CEO article in SC Manufacturing Journal.
Susie has an extensive history leading innovative, forward-looking organizations and initiatives throughout South Carolina. For 13 years, she served on a senior strategic team overseeing the work of a network of organizations seeking to transform local areas into economically-vibrant communities. She also worked as Director of Research for Palmetto Institute, an independent research foundation whose issues included Teach For America, The Benefit Bank® of South Carolina, tax reform, commercialization, agribusiness, entrepreneurship training, and workforce quality. Susie practiced for many years in the Columbia office of McNair Law Firm, P.A. (now Burr Forman), in its Admin.-Reg. section, where her practice areas included telecommunications and procurement. She also served in the US Army Reserves and is a Veteran of the Gulf War.
In 2015, she was appointed by then-Governor Haley to serve on the Board of Commissioners for the South Carolina State Housing Finance and Development Authority (Vice-Chair). Susie now serves on the SC Broadband Advisory Council, EPSCoR State Committee, SC Automotive Council, SC Research Authority Board of Trustees (Program Committee Chair), NIST/NICE Working Group (Cybersecurity), SC Bar’s Technology Committee (Chair) & Intellectual Property & Innovation Committee. She has also served on the SC Apprenticeship Taskforce and Workforce Innovation Network Team, a US Chamber of Commerce-led initiative of select states to foster cutting-edge workforce development. She currently chairs the SC Governor’s Cybersecurity Economic Growth working group, and was appointed as a Commissioner by SC Governor McMaster on the Education Commission of the States.
Susie’s community service activities have included TogetherSC (fka SCANPO), Jefferson Awards Fnd-Midlands (chair), SC Housing Trust Fund, United Way of Midlands’ Public Policy Cmtee and Young Leaders Soc’y, Prevent Child Abuse-SC, SC Thrive (Chair Emeritus), and Central Carolina Community Foundation.
Susie is a graduate of Riley Institute Diversity Leaders Initiative and the Nonprofit Leadership Institute of Francis Marion University and is a member of Liberty Fellowship (part of the Aspen Global Leadership Network).