With more than 20 years of economic experience, Doug Henton, guest speaker of the recent BIZpower luncheon – held Sept. 10 at the Airport Marriott in Greensboro – owned the podium.

Henton, who is president and founder of California-based Collaborative Economics – and one of the country’s foremost thought leaders on economic development – delivered a powerful speech on the importance of regionalism and his approach as a business leader.

This Kentucky native received a bachelor’s degree in political science and economics from Yale University, and a master’s degree in public policy from the University of California at Berkeley.

Prior to founding Collaborative Economics, Henton worked for a decade as the assistant director for SRI International’s Center for Economic Competitiveness, where he directed international economical and regional projects.

Henton is a motivational speaker and author, as well as a former project manager of the Joint Venture Silicon Valley Network and senior adviser for Silicon Valley 2010. During his speech, he emphasized how the project of the Joint Venture Silicon Valley planned to solve issues involving regionalism. Its focus during the early 1990s was on how to be a region and be globally competitive while moving forward. Silicon Valley became the model for California because of its success. There currently are 21 regional initiatives under way based on his original concept. Henton also created Smart Valley to improve Internet technology and connect schools throughout the state.

His overall message, however, focused on two points: Why regionalism, and how to make it work.

“Regions must collaborate to compete globally,” he said, adding that people are what defines a region. He covered four basic lessons: How to identify common regional issues, which includes economics and quality of life; how to bring key stakeholders together to compete globally; how to promote collaboration and its challenges; and how to measure results. He frequently referred to the Silicon Valley project as a success story, and how it is a necessity to continue measuring progress and reporting it widely.

Henton accentuated that he was not talking about regional governments, but regional governance. He said there is a need for new regionalism, which involves the tasks of combining economics and governance.

“If you don’t cooperate today, your region will fall behind,” he said.