Former chamber exec forms economic development firm

David Berzina is scared and excited at the same time.

The former executive vice president for economic development at the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce, who left there last month, is launching his own company, Insights EDC.

“We’ve been planning this for 18 months and it just became the right time to jump. I had a few clients and I’m at the age where if I didn’t do it now, I wouldn’t do it,” the 51-year-old Berzina said.

The company will build on his 27 years of experience in economic development in three states — Michigan, Louisiana and Texas — working on site selection consulting, incentives negotiations and strategic connections.

Besides traditional site selection and relocation projects, Berzina said his firm will go into the MWBE business, helping minority and women-owned business enterprises get established as well as help others get MWBE-certified.

Berzina won’t divulge who his clients are, but he clearly hopes to build on his successes at the chamber, which included projects like the $1.2 billion Facebook data center in far north Fort Worth and the General Electric locomotive manufacturing plant near the Texas Motor Speedway.

The company will have two to four employees but will also have some joint ventures, one of which will be announced by the end of the month, he said.

Berzina worked at the chamber for 12 years.

“The chamber is a terrific organization and it does a lot for this community. I was lucky to work for them,” he said.

This story was originally published September 2, 2016 at 1:28 PM with the headline "Former chamber exec forms economic development firm."