Company: Bavarian Ministry for Economic Affairs, Munich, Germany

Company Description: The U.S. representative office of Bavaria’s Ministry for Economic Affairs is based out of New York and strategically located to provide assistance to U.S. companies interested in exploring expansion or investment opportunities in Germany’s most southern State. Established by Ms Dagmar A. Cassan, the U.S. Office has successfully promoted Bavaria as a premiere business center for the last ten years.

Nomination Category: Company, Office & Product Awards Categories

Nomination Sub Category: Best Agency, Brokerage, or Satellite Office or Facility

Nomination Title: State of Bavaria - U.S. Office for Economic Development

   1. Tell the story about what this nominated office, plant or agency achieved in the past year (up to 500 words). Focus on specific accomplishments, and relate these accomplishments to past performance or industry norms. Be sure to mention obstacles overcome, innovations or discoveries made, and outcomes:

2005 was a challenging year for the German economy as a whole with

unemployment reaching a new record high, far reaching reforms of the social

system taking effect with Hartz IV and an investor confidence that only slowly

started to pick up. The State of Bavaria was not spared from some of these

developments but due to the state government’s pro-business environment

resulting in a more stable economy, the state was able to keep the negative

effects on the Bavarian economy below national average. The communication of

Bavaria’s strengths and strategic advantages over competing regions became an

even more important factor of our work as slow growth rates of the German

national economy presented one of the major challenges the U.S. Office for

Economic Development had to overcome in 2005.

Not only the U.S. Office had to face these economic challenges, but also the

other offices that represent the State of Bavaria’s Ministry of Economic

Affairs. The U.S. Office is competing with a total of 15 Bavarian offices

worldwide reaching from Bangalore to Tokyo, each of them working hard to

attract businesses of their respective country to locate to Bavaria. During

the annual meeting of representative offices in Munich earlier this year, Ms

Dagmar A. Cassan, Executive Managing Director of the U.S. Office, was able to

announce that 24 U.S. companies located to Bavaria during 2005 and another 5

U.S. companies were in their 2nd round expansion creating additional jobs

after their initial location. It was our pleasure to assist and come in

contact with these companies during their expansion process to Bavaria. The

2005 numbers resulted in the U.S. Office being the most successful

representative office of the year, thus for 9 out of the past 10 years most

foreign direct investment was attracted to Bavaria by Ms Cassan and her team.

One of the largest and most impressive projects of the State of Bavaria in

2005 was assisting GE Healthcare in their decision to add the new GE

Healthcare Commercial Center as an extension to their GE Global Research

Center in the north of Munich which in 2004 alone generated an investment of

$52 million. As of January 2006, there are approximately 700 U.S.-based

companies that located to Bavaria, of which over 540 are from the high-tech

industry.

We believe that the proactive approach, the direct contact with U.S.

executives and potential investors, extensive in-house research plus the

team’s professionalism plays a key role in the success of this office. The New

York office on average works on 60-70 ongoing location projects. Through a

tight collaboration with the headquarters in Munich, the U.S. Office is able

to provide extensive information regarding all relevant aspect from tax

incentives, labor cost to finding the ideal location. Once the companies have

located to Bavaria, the State of Bavaria’s aftercare services guarantee that

they know they have a partner at their side to assist them to thrive and grow

at their new location.

   2. List hyperlinks to any online news stories, press releases, or other documents that support the claims made in the section above. IMPORTANT: Begin each link with http://, and enclose each link in square brackets; for example, http://www.youraddress.com:

http://www.invest-in-bavaria.com/News/index.html?status=news&mode=detail&News_ID=1347&%5BSESSION5D&PHPSESSID=7a0e7fbbce2d810b39d9ba95fe4f3edc

http://www.stmwivt.bayern.de/presse/reden/2006/Rede_060131_Neujahrsempfang_deutsch.pdf

document in German; see page 3 of the actual speech

http://www.invest-in-bavaria.com/News/index.html?status=news&mode=detail&News_ID=1313&SESSION 

http://www.invest-in-bavaria.com/News/index.html?status=news&mode=detail&News_ID=1270&SESSION

http://www.invest-in-bavaria.com/News/index.html?status=news&mode=detail&News_ID=1225&SESSION 

http://www.invest-in-bavaria.com/News/index.html?status=news&mode=detail&News_ID=1142&archiv=2005

http://www.invest-in-bavaria.com/News/index.html?status=news&mode=detail&News_ID=1126&archiv=2005

http://www.invest-in-bavaria.com/News/index.html?status=news&mode=detail&News_ID=1093&archiv=2005

http://www.invest-in-bavaria.com/News/index.html?status=news&mode=detail&News_ID=1069&archiv=2005

http://www.bavaria.org

   3. Provide a brief (up to 100 words) biography about the leader of this nominated office, plant or agency:

Ms Dagmar A. Cassan, Executive Managing Director, established the office in

New York City in 1996. Before joining the State of Bavaria, she had a

successful 30 year career in corporate finance, M&A and business development

with Fortune 50 U.S. companies. Career highlights include various corporate

financial positions with General Foods Corporation and Area Finance Manager–

Asia Pacific for International Nabisco Brands. Ms Cassan has a BA (Economics –

Magna Cum Laude) from Fordham University and a MBA (Finance) from Stern School

of Business. She is on the board of directors and an active member of many