Editor’s note: The following individual(s) have been named to the Southern Economic Development Hall of Fame based on SB&D owner Michael C. Randle’s travels throughout the American South since the late 1980s to today. The Hall of Fame will now be updated each year on SouthernBusiness.com.
The sidebar stories of individuals who earned their way into the SEDHOF are written by Randle, the Hall of Famer’s current employer, or penned by the Hall of Famer. The humorous stories of Randle’s are true, but some could be embellished a bit.
Guerilla journalism at its finest
By Michael C. Randle
I loved the late Jim Fain (pictured above), a long-time banker who ran the North Carolina Department of Commerce at a critical time from 2001 to 2008. That means Jim was at the helm of N.C. Commerce at the end of one recession and the beginning of another.
As for Toyota’s Dennis Cuneo, he has been a friend for 30 or more years. We have spent a lot of time together and were speakers at events all over the South for decades. Cuneo was a member of the very first Southern Economic Development Roundtable at WaterColor in Santa Rosa Beach, Fla. in January of 2014.
Over 20 years ago, Toyota was searching for a site for its new pickup truck plant that eventually went to San Antonio. In the process, they looked at the megasite in Liberty, N.C. (Randolph County) where they are currently producing at their multi-billion-dollar EV battery plant. So, Toyota came back to that site and built its only U.S. battery plant there nearly 25-years later.
When I got word that Toyota was considering North Carolina for an assembly plant, I went to find and walk the Randolph County site in Liberty, N.C. by myself in 2002. I put my site boots on and walked the land starting with the first dirt road I came upon. There was no grading of the site back then; just woods and rolling hills.
It should be noted that I had lunch with Sec. Fain at the Carolina Country Club in Raleigh the previous month. During lunch, Jim was mum on any auto plant information that he might have given me.
By that time, I had already received the information I needed regarding the Liberty site. Our lunch was just to familiarize ourselves with each other as he had just started in his Commerce role after years with First Union and Wachovia.
True guerilla journalism
While discovering the Liberty site, I also found a house on a hill that overlooked the center of the land. I knocked on the door and a woman (who has never wanted to be named, but her name was/is Barbara) answered. I asked, “Have you seen anyone on the land your deck overlooks?” She said, “No.” So, I said, “You are about to!” She asked me, “Why?” I simply responded, “I cannot tell you that right now, but I will in time.”
Continuing the conversation, I told Barbara, “Here is a camera and large lens that I just bought for you at Best Buy. Keep them. They are yours as long as you take photos of everyone that you see walking down there in that field. If you see anyone, take multiple photographs and send them to me. I will publish them in my magazine and pay you $500 per photo published.”
And behold! Barbara sent me multiple photos of Toyota’s Dennis Cuneo and Commerce Secretary Jim Fain walking the property. I was so excited! It was serious guerrilla journalism that worked. So stoked!
I knew they would be walking the Liberty site along with other automaker representatives. There were also rumors around that time that Audi was looking at North Carolina and Hyundai we knew for a fact was.
In fact, I also received photos of the South Koreans walking that Liberty site three weeks later from “Barbara,” each one with a lung dart in their hands or mouths. To be honest, the Koreans smoke more than anyone I have ever seen. By then, Barbara was sending me videos and making a nice, tidy sum working part-time for me.
I emailed the photos I received from Barbara to Cuneo and Fain. Me: “Hey, Cuneo, Fain, is that you walking the Liberty, N.C., site?” Needless to say, they were baffled.
Fain said, “How did you find us? Why didn’t you tell us you were in town?” Thing is, I wasn’t. But Barbara was at home, taking photos for me.
Cuneo (good friend by then) said, “Mike!? Dammit!? The only place we were seen was this little BBQ joint and four people were in there plus Jim and I. There is only one person on Earth who would do this and that is you, Randle! Please don’t announce Toyota is coming to Randolph County.”
So, I didn’t. Cuneo’s admission forced by my guerilla journalism tactics were good enough for me to delete that site off the Toyota search list and correctly pick San Antonio for the pickup truck plant five months in advance.
While it is another story, Toyota’s Texas pick was the first in automotive history where the marketing department called the shot. After all, what is more Texas than pickup trucks? It should be noted that in the summer 2026 quarter, Toyota announced a $3 billion expansion of its San Antonio assembly plant, as the Southern Automotive Corridor is showing some life after a terrible 2025.
Since Cuneo himself admitted Toyota wasn’t going to North Carolina, the San Antonio prediction was an easy pick. That pick was not unlike Kia, six months before they announced in West Point, Ga. and seven other assembly plants I correctly predicted before and later.
Again, it should be noted, interestingly enough, that Toyota came back to the Liberty site more than 20 years later and built their battery plant there. It is operating now.
I picked Volkswagen to go to Huntsville in 2008. I was wrong after nine-straight correct predicted sites for auto plants in the Southern Auto Corridor going back to 1992 and BMW. So, once wrong, I quit the practice of guessing where auto plants, which we call the “Big Kahuna,” would locate.
Needless to say, though, I got Cuneo and Fain and good!
