Mayor Winnecke & Greg Wathen to Join Gov. Pence on Trade Mission to Japan

Evansville Mayor Lloyd Winnecke will join a delegation of business and elected officials headed by Indiana Gov. Mike Pence on an economic development mission to Japan. Mayor Winnecke will depart from Evansville Regional Airport Sept. 5 and return to the United States Sept. 14. The cost of his visit will not be funded through public dollars.

Representing Southwest Indiana along with Mayor Winnecke will be Southwest Indiana Economic Development Coalition President Greg Wathen, Old National Bank Vice President and Chief Legal Counsel Jeff Knight and Gibson County Economic Corp. President Todd Mosby. The trip will include meetings with Japanese business leaders and the Mayor of Evansville’s Sister City, Mayor Toshimi Suzuki from Tochigi City.

“Japanese companies have made significant investments throughout Southwest Indiana, in particular Toyota at its TMMI plant in Gibson County. That is why it is important for us to continue to build on those relationships,” Mayor Winnecke said. He described building relationships as “the core of how Japanese companies do business.”

Wathen said the mission trip is part of an ongoing dialogue. He said Japanese business leaders are looking at making investments around the globe and in particular North America, and the Japanese “like to do business with people they have developed relationships with over time.”

“Trade missions help us to more fully understand their challenges and how they see business outlook for different sectors. This helps us gauge what might happen in our region,” Wathen said.