University of Dayton Features

The Wright Brothers may have gotten things started, but over the last century thousands of players have quietly built an aerospace and aviation economy that may surprise you in its reach.

The Dayton region is on a roll. Earlier this year, Site Selection Magazine chose it as the nation's top metropolitan area for economic development for populations 200,000 to 1 million -- the second year in a row for the award. Soon afterward, the magazine named the Dayton Development Coalition among the 10 best economic development associations in the nation. hiVelocity sat down with Jim Leftwich, the Coalition's president and CEO, to find out what's driving activity in west central Ohio.