Federal treasury official meets with local leaders about foreign investment

Federal official Chris Pilkerton visited Nashville on Wednesday to meet with U.S. Sen. Bill Hagerty and business and academic leaders at Vanderbilt University for a discussion on foreign investment opportunities.

State economic leaders regularly tout foreign direct investments in Tennessee, including $50 billion in capital investment by foreign companies, more than 1000 foreign companies state-wide with a presence in 80 percent of counties, and more than 160,000 Tennesseans employed by foreign companies. That's according to the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development, which also cites strong export activity with 70 percent of the U.S. population reached within a one-day trucking drive and the busiest cargo airport in the Western Hemisphere.