Mr. John Smith

NAVIGATOR CONSULTING

Atlanta, Georgia

Experience, Commitment, Reliability

Mr. James Blair is the Founder and Managing Director of Navigator Consulting, a specializedconsulting firm providing site selection services to international companies looking to set up or expandmanufacturing operations in the United States. With particular experience working with European executives, Mr. Blair and NavCon have also worked with Chinese and Japanese companies as well. The ten projects located over the past two years announced 2,300 jobs and $1.2 billion in capital investment.

During his 25 years in site selection for the State of Georgia, Mr. Blair worked with over 175 companies whose U.S. subsidiaries currently employ more than 20,000 people. Client companies included global names like Porsche (Germany), UCB (Belgium), Randstad (Netherlands) and Saint Gobain (France), as well as mid-sized companies like ATEX (Italy), Balta (Belgium), Brugg (Switzerland), Glock (Austria), Hansgrohe (Germany), JCB (UK), Terma (Denmark) and WIKA (Germany).

Prior to founding Navigator Consulting, Mr. Blair was Managing Director of GACC South Services, the site selection services consulting division of the German American Chamber of Commerce (Atlanta). From 2012-2014 Mr. Blair and his team assisted eight German companies from various industry sectors in successfully locating manufacturing operations into the U.S. These eight companies announced total capital investment of over $100 million and more than 600 new jobs.

From 2010 through 2012, Mr. Blair was Director of Foreign Direct Investment for Georgia Economic Development. In that role, Mr. Blair coordinated the international business recruitment efforts for Georgia’s FDI offices in Europe, Japan, Korea and China, leading a specialized team of project managers who worked with international executives seeking to locate new business operations in the United States.

Mr. Blair began his career at Georgia Economic Development in 1987 as Executive Director of the state’s European Office in Brussels where he was the primary contact for European headquartered companies with existing U.S. business operations. He also served as Chairman of the Council of American States in Europe, the official organization representing the then 18 full-time FDIstate offices in Europe. Mr. Blair was a regular presenter atprestigiousU.S. investment conferences organized, for example, by “Capital” magazine (Germany), KBC Bank (Belgium), the German Chambers of Commerce (Germany), the Paris Chamber (France), the Department of Trade and Industry (United Kingdom) and Confindustia (Italy).

Before working with the State of Georgia, Mr. Blair was a Vice President atBank of Americain Atlanta from 1983-1987. He provided his international corporate client with a wide range of financial services, including account management, lending and cash management.

Mr. Blair was recognized in 2017 by Swiss Global Enterprise as a “site Selection Expert” for Swiss companies in the United States. He serves on the Board of the Belgian-American Chamber of the South (BACoS) and on the Board of the Berlin-based European American Investment Council (EAIC).

Mr. Blair has served on the Emory University Advisory Board for German Language Study since 2012, a volunteer role helping to promote the study of Germanthroughout the Southeastern USA. Mr. Blair wasalso awarded the prestigious “Officer of the National Order of Merit” medal by the French government in 2012 in recognition of his service in promoting French-American business and cultural relations.

Mr. Blair is a member of the Southern Economic Development Council (SEDC), the Georgia Economic Development Association (GEDA), the German American Chamber of Commerce (GACC) and the Japan America Society. He has spoken at several Economic Development conferences in his role as a site selection professional, including events organized by Consultant Connect, the Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives (ACCE), the GEDA, SiteLink, the Mississippi Economic Development Association, the Upstate Alliance, the Florida Rural Economic Development Association and the SEDC.

Mr. Blair received his international MBA degree in 1983 from the University of South Carolina with a specialization in Finance and Marketing.

He speaks fluent German and French, and is proficient in Dutch.

Competence in U.S. Site Selection ~ Kompetente Beratung zur Standortwahl in den USA