One of Richardson’s own was recognized with the International Economic Development Council’s (IEDC’s) Citizen Leader Award at the organization’s annual conference on Oct. 1. Business owner and former Richardson Chamber of Commerce Chairman of the Board Charlie Chen received this national recognition for his long-time dedication to and support of Richardson’s economic development.

An immigrant from Taiwan, Charlie opened his first company in the city in 1992 and has continuously promoted Richardson to international companies as the best place to do business in the Dallas area since then. He was instrumental in convincing Richardson’s mayor and city manager to establish the Mayor’s Office of International Business—the first program of its kind in the Dallas area—and followed that success by helping State Representative Angie Chen Button introduce a bill naming Richardson the International Business Capital of North Texas.

Charlie still owns multiple buildings in Richardson and, in his continual pursuit to recruit companies to the city, has even designated space in one of his buildings to house the Richardson Chamber’s Concierge Soft Landing program for incoming foreign companies. This unique program, which provides expert resources via chamber members to help foreign companies establish business operations in the city, contributed to Richardson’s recent recognition as “Best of the Best” for its soft-landing services by the London Financial Times’ fDi Magazine.