August 27, 2026 - Atlanta Wire

Cobb Chamber Economic Development Summit Puts International Business and Workforce Readiness in the Spotlight

Atlanta Wire Staff 2 on August 27, 2026

The Cobb Chamber of Commerce hosts its 2026 Economic Development Summit on August 26 at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre, convening more than 300 business leaders, educators, transportation officials, and economic development professionals for a program centered on Cobb County’s growing role in the global economy. The summit runs from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and features panels on international investment, workforce readiness, and regional transportation infrastructure.

Key Takeaways

The 2026 Economic Development Summit at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre focuses on international companies investing in Cobb County, onshoring operations, and workforce development initiatives tied to global business activity.
Panel topics include “Global Companies Made in Cobb” with executives from Arylessence and Genuine Parts Company, statewide business attraction strategies, workforce education, and regional transportation connectivity.
The event draws sponsorship from more than 30 organizations including Huntington National Bank, Comcast, Georgia Power, the Atlanta Braves, Kennesaw State University, Wellstar Health System, and the Metro Atlanta Chamber.
The summit coincides with Governor Brian Kemp’s international trade mission to Chile and Peru, reinforcing Georgia’s broader push to strengthen global business ties.
Cobb County continues to position itself as a destination for advanced industries, with the Chamber’s SelectCobb economic development arm leading recruitment and workforce pipeline efforts.

International Investment Takes Center Stage in the 2026 Program

The summit’s central theme this year is the power of international business in Cobb County. The program highlights companies that have chosen the county for investment, expansion, and onshoring operations, and examines the workforce development infrastructure that supports those decisions. The framing reflects a deliberate shift from previous summits toward positioning Cobb County not just as a suburban business hub within metro Atlanta, but as a node in a global supply chain network where international firms are actively locating operations.

The “Global Companies Made in Cobb” panel features Cynthia Reichard, executive vice president of Arylessence, and Bert Nappier, executive vice president and chief financial officer of Genuine Parts Company. Both companies maintain operations in Cobb County, and the panel is structured to examine what draws international and national firms to the region, how they integrate into the local business ecosystem, and what infrastructure investments matter to their long-term expansion plans. Genuine Parts Company, headquartered in Atlanta, operates in more than 17 countries and distributes automotive and industrial parts globally, making it a natural case study for a discussion about global-local business connectivity.

Additional program segments cover statewide strategies for attracting and retaining businesses, with speakers expected to address Georgia’s competitive positioning against other Southeastern states vying for corporate relocations and advanced manufacturing investment. The workforce education panel will examine how local institutions, including Kennesaw State University and Chattahoochee Technical College, both summit sponsors, are aligning curricula and training programs with the specific labor needs of internationally connected employers operating in the county.

Transportation Infrastructure as an Economic Growth Driver

A significant portion of the summit program addresses the role transportation and infrastructure investments play in supporting Cobb County’s economic competitiveness. The county’s geography places it at a crossroads of metro Atlanta’s logistics and commuter networks, with access to Interstate 75, Interstate 285, and proximity to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, which remains one of the busiest airports in the world by passenger volume.

The transportation panel is expected to explore how regional connectivity investments strengthen access to jobs, education, and international commerce. For a county that hosts both the Atlanta Braves’ Truist Park complex and the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre, transportation planning carries implications that extend beyond commuter efficiency into economic activation around entertainment, hospitality, and mixed-use development. The Cumberland Community Improvement District and the Town Center Community Improvement District, both summit sponsors, have been central to infrastructure planning in the county’s commercial corridors, funding streetscape improvements, transit connections, and road capacity projects designed to support the density of development around the county’s two primary commercial nodes.

The inclusion of HNTB, a national infrastructure firm, and Georgia Commute Options among the sponsor roster signals that the transportation conversation at the summit will extend beyond roads and highways into multimodal planning, congestion management, and employer-based commute programs designed to improve workforce access to job centers across the county.

A Sponsor Roster That Maps the County’s Economic Power Structure

The summit’s sponsorship tiers offer a layered view of the institutions that shape Cobb County’s business landscape. Huntington National Bank serves as the presenting sponsor, with Comcast underwriting the lunch program. The Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre hosts the event, and AAA Parking sponsors the parking operation.

The Visionary Sponsor tier includes a cross-section of the county’s institutional anchors: the Atlanta Braves, whose Truist Park complex reshaped the Cumberland corridor’s commercial identity; Georgia Power, the state’s dominant electric utility; Kennesaw State University, the third-largest university in the University System of Georgia by enrollment; Wellstar Health System, a major regional healthcare employer; and JE Dunn Construction, a national construction firm with an active presence in the county’s development pipeline. The Development Authority of Cobb County and the three Community Improvement Districts, Cumberland, Town Center, and Gateway Marietta, round out the Visionary tier, reflecting the public-private development partnerships that drive infrastructure investment in the county.

At the Innovator and Partner levels, the roster includes Brasfield and Gorrie, Deloitte, Delaware North, Delta Community Credit Union, Cobb EMC, the Council for Quality Growth, the Georgia Association of Manufacturers, Holder Construction, and the Metro Atlanta Chamber. The Metro Atlanta Chamber’s involvement underscores the regional scope of the discussion: while the summit is a Cobb Chamber event, the economic development narrative it advances is inseparable from metro Atlanta’s broader competitive positioning against peer Sun Belt metros like Dallas, Nashville, and Charlotte.

Timing Aligns With Georgia’s South America Trade Mission

The summit’s emphasis on international business connectivity arrives during the same week Governor Brian Kemp is leading an economic development mission to Chile and Peru. The governor’s trip, which launched August 24, focuses on strengthening supply chain partnerships in forestry and agriculture, with meetings scheduled with companies that have existing operations in Georgia. Georgia exported $761 million to Chile and $203 million to Peru in 2025, and companies moved nearly $1 billion in business through the state to both countries last year.

The parallel timing is coincidental in scheduling but thematically aligned. Both the summit and the trade mission reinforce a message Georgia’s business establishment has been building for several years: that the state’s economic future depends on deepening integration with international markets, and that counties like Cobb, which sit at the intersection of global logistics networks and a highly educated suburban workforce, are positioned to capture a disproportionate share of the resulting investment.

The Cobb Chamber’s SelectCobb economic development arm leads recruitment efforts for the county, marketing its workforce pipeline, infrastructure assets, and quality of life to domestic and international site selectors. The summit serves as the public-facing anchor of that effort, bringing the county’s business community, elected officials, and institutional partners into the same room to align on a shared narrative about where Cobb County fits in the global economy.

FAQs

When and where is the 2026 Economic Development Summit?

The summit takes place on Wednesday, August 26, 2026, from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre, located at 2800 Cobb Galleria Parkway in Atlanta.

What topics does the summit cover?

The program addresses international companies investing in Cobb County, onshoring trends, workforce development partnerships between employers and educational institutions, statewide business attraction strategies, and the role of transportation infrastructure in supporting economic growth.

Who are the featured speakers?

How much do tickets cost?

Tickets are priced at $80 for Cobb Chamber members and $110 for non-members. Registration is available through the Cobb Chamber website.

What is SelectCobb?

SelectCobb is the Cobb Chamber’s economic development arm, responsible for business recruitment, workforce pipeline development, and marketing Cobb County to domestic and international companies evaluating the region for investment or expansion.

Transferring Money for International Real Estate Transactions

Atlanta Wire Staff on August 27, 2026

By: Graham Hill

Global lifestyles and remote work are stimulating more international real estate transactions. Recent increases in foreigners renting and buying overseas real estate are being driven by at least three lifestyle trends. These include second-home and vacation-home purchases, remote workers on long stays in foreign countries, and more permanent expatriate relocations. Each of these lifestyles requires those individuals to switch from short-term, tourist-like behaviors to choices that fit longer-term relationships in the target countries.

Beyond housing costs, cross-border renters and buyers pay additional fees to bring money into the country that locals do not.

Establishing Housing in a Foreign Country

Housing costs represent the biggest expense for locals and non-natives alike. However, while locals pay in their own currency, foreign residents pay for housing with funds drawn from their home country. As payments are made in the new country, the funds are transferred via banks and currency services, and additional fees are added to the cost of housing.

For renters and buyers paying with funds from their home country, paying for a place to live creates attendant fees (again and again) as these housing costs are paid. While some kind of fee to enable the transfer and exchange of currency may be unavoidable, there is a marketplace for these transactions.

Americans paying international real estate costs can potentially save thousands of dollars by making smarter decisions about how they transfer their money.

Wire Transfer Fees Add 0.5% to 5% to Real Estate Expenses

The fee to move money across borders for real estate depends on the countries involved and the method used to transfer it. Money transfer and currency exchange fees may be a relatively small percentage of the transfer, but can become significant when payments are large or ongoing.

Fees for international money transfers vary widely; A rate of 0.5% is on the low end, 1% is better than most options, and fees as high as 5% (or more) are not uncommon.

For renters paying $1,000 USD for rent in the foreign country each month, wire transfer fees might add $10 to $50 per payment, or $120 to $600 per year. For foreigners who can own property in foreign markets, even a 1% fee adds up quickly. Transferring money to pay for a $100,000 condo in a foreign market might add $1,000 in wire transfer fees to the purchase. For more expensive properties, those fees scale with the purchase price. A $500,000 property could potentially include a $5,000 fee to whichever bank or service transfers and converts the currency.

Many expats find the fees financial institutions charge to convert funds to the local currency particularly painful.

“Most of our traffic is US buyers looking at property outside the United States, so nearly every purchase that starts on our platform ends with money crossing a border. What surprises people is that the wire fee itself is rarely expensive; the exchange rate is the greater part of the expense.”

JanusHermes, global real estate platform

For long-term stays, these foreign residents encounter money transfer fees again and again as a part of the daily expenses in their new country.

International Wire Transfers and Currency Exchange Fees

Internet banking has, in some cases, made some money transfers faster and less expensive. In the US, domestic ACH transfers are often free, fast, and convenient. If you have to use a traditional wire transfer (within the US), some banks offer those transfers for free as well, or charge a small, flat fee.

In some ways, international wire transfers are similar. The originating bank in the US may indeed charge a relatively small international wire transfer fee (approximately $35) to initiate the transfer. The receiving bank, however, may also charge a fee for receiving the wired funds and then apply a second fee to convert those funds to the native currency.

Banks will declare the exchange rate they offer clients, but it is less clear whether the rate on display is below the market value of that currency. Banks get better rates for access to currency than they offer customers, and they keep the difference between their rate and the market rate.

The percentage of the currency the banks and financial services keep for themselves varies by service. Some services keep 3% to 5% (or more) of the money they transfer. While rates and fees depend on the currencies and countries involved, the transfer size, and the banking service making the transfer, customers who shop around can find relatively good rates for currency transfer and exchange.

The percentage charged to convert funds to the local currency can become a considerable expense for large purchases and real estate transactions.

Banks vs Forex Brokers vs Money Transfer Services

A bank-to-bank transfer is the most basic way to move money internationally, from a bank in the home country directly to a bank in the new country. Many local real estate agents in foreign countries will instruct clients to transfer money directly to a specified bank account. Sending money before you have residency often means paying directly to a property owner, a leasing office, or a local real estate escrow company. The local bank then converts the funds to the local denomination.

Foreign currency exchanges are intermediary services that can receive, transfer, and convert funds into the local currency for a fee. Examples include companies like XE.com and Currency Exchange International. The fees charged by these companies are often more than fees charged by local banks.

Alternative money transfer services are increasingly common. These companies sometimes charge higher rates than banks or currency exchanges, though pricing varies widely from one provider to the next.

Some of these companies offer discounted rates compared with other transfer methods. Companies such as Wise offer currency transfer and exchange services to and from most countries worldwide, often at competitive rates. Other companies like ARQ offer low, flat-fee transfers and are available in select markets (ARQ provides service in Mexico, Colombia, Brazil, and Argentina).

How Much Can You Save as You Move Money Internationally

As stated earlier in this article, 1% may be a relatively attractive benchmark for the cost to move money across borders. Some currency transfer services offer even lower rates for the large transfers required by foreign real estate transactions, potentially saving you thousands of dollars for an initial purchase, and on ongoing related expenses.

“In our market, international clients buying real estate often pay about 0.7% of the transaction for currency exchange. On an average condominium purchase in a big city, the local banks’ fees to receive the purchase funds add the equivalent of $4,000 to the all-in cost. Other services will charge below $2,000 for that same transaction.”

OsakaAgents.com, a Japanese real estate service for foreigners

Each year, international renters and buyers can save thousands of dollars by choosing among available services and contacting the service to negotiate a better rate.

To Save More, Contact the Service to Ask for a Better Rate

Many services offer lower fees for larger transfers, but you may have to contact the company and personally request a better rate.

For a service like XE.com, if the transfer is substantial, you can contact their team directly to ask for a better rate. For the kinds of large transfers required for real estate, some providers offer meaningful reductions on their standard transfer and exchange fees. Wise’s everyday exchange rate is often one of the more competitive options available, and they also offer further discounts for large money transfers when you contact them directly.

“We regularly work with people who want to safely move big money from one country to another so they can complete a property purchase.”

Wise.com

International renters and buyers can shop around for a better rate, get clarification on total fees (compared to the market rate for that currency exchange), and ask for more detail about the size of a transfer where an additional discount may be available.

Promotional and One-Time Rates for Currency Exchange

As you explore the rates offered by the various banks and wire transfer services, be cautious about introductory or promotional rates. Several of the companies marketing money transfer services offer potentially confusing or misleading “one-time only” rates. A company like Remitly may offer a “promo” rate for only part of the first transaction, charge higher rates for the remainder of the funds in that first transfer, and charge higher rates for any future transfers.

Be sure to clarify what rate will be offered when promotional rates expire and what fee structure will apply to ongoing payments.

Ongoing Housing Expenses for Expats and Foreign Home Owners

Identifying an efficient method for large international money transfers offers benefits long after the initial transaction.

For renters, that means lower fees when paying rent every month. For homeowners, finding a low-cost service to transfer money for real estate means you will save money on post-sale taxes, on annual property tax remittances, on home-improvement costs, and more.

As you establish a good relationship with a service that transfers and converts your currency at attractive rates, you save money again and again.