Ports-to-Plains Selects New Chairman

AMARILLO, TX — The Ports-to-Plains Alliance Board of Directors elected John Osborne as its new chairman at their quarterly board meeting in Amarillo, Texas January 23. Osborne, President and CEO of the Lubbock Economic Development Alliance and Market Lubbock, replaces John Bertsch of Plainview, Texas who served as chairman since 2009.

John Bertsch was a chairman who facilitated great involvement from the Alliance’s board of directors to set its direction.

Under his leadership the regions has seen significant investments made throughout the corridor. Strong momentum was gained to extend Interstate 27 from Amarillo southward to San Angelo. Partnerships were strengthened throughout North America as evidenced by hosting two of the most attended annual Ports-to-Plains conferences in Medicine Hat, Alberta and Del Rio / Acuna, Coahuila, Mexico.

Incoming chairman John Osborne has a strong background in economic development and understands how important the development of the corridor is to the growth of this region.

His experience in managing nonprofit organizations and working for a volunteer board will provide unique insight into the day-to-day operations of the organization.

Osborne has held economic development positions in communities of various sizes in three states, including most recently San Antonio. Over the past ten years, John has worked with more than one hundred companies to add more than $986 million in capital improvements and create more than 15,400 new jobs. He currently serves on the Board of Directors and the Executive Committee of the Texas Economic Development Council, on the Board of Directors for the Texas Travel Industry Association, the High Ground of Texas, and Workforce Solutions South Plains, and on the Steering Committee of Imagine Lubbock Together, a community-wide strategic planning effort.

"I am very excited to begin my term as chairman of the Ports-to-Plains Alliance,” said Osborne. “It is an honor to follow a legacy of great chairmen and continue the work of those who have dedicated themselves to the vision of Ports-to-Plains over the last 20 years. This organization has seen tremendous success and it remains vital to the development of the corridor. I look forward to further growth and success over the next few years."

The Ports-to-Plains Alliance is an organization that advocates for transportation infrastructure projects that will enhance a trade corridor from Coahuila, Mexico, through Laredo, Del Rio, and Eagle Pass and north through San Angelo, Lubbock, Denver, to Canada. Its membership consists of businesses, chamber organizations, and local government bodies in communities along the route, of which the City of San Angelo is a member. The Alliance is a non-profit, bipartisan, advocacy group led by mayors, council persons and other local elected leaders, economic development officials, business and other opinion leaders from nine states in the U.S.