County Airport Authority. Following the retirement of Wayne County Executive Edward H. McNamara, the aerotropolis project became a key initiative of the administration of Wayne County Executive Robert A. Ficano. Realizing that a project of such scope required strong input from the local governments near the airports, Wayne County began to engage the seven municipal governments in close proximity to the airports including two in neighboring Washtenaw County. Ten government entities along with the Wayne County Airport Authority signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding to explore the aerotropolis concept in the middle of 2006. Ficano then recruited the support of the nonprofit group Detroit Renaissance whose board is composed of the Detroit region's leading private CEOs. In 2007, a 28-member public-private Aerotropolis Task Force was formed that included elected government officials, and private sector leaders. The Aerotropolis Task Force along with Detroit Renaissance and the Wayne County Airport Authority lead the aerotropolis initiative along with Washtenaw County, Wayne County, the cities of Romulus, Taylor, Ypsilanti, and Belleville, and the townships of Huron, Van Buren and Ypsilanti. In May 2009, the seven local governments and Washtenaw County signed an intergovernmental agreement to create a development corporation to advance the project on a regional level. VantagePort: Aerotropolis rebranded On July 18, 2013, Tim Keyes, former director of economic development for the city of Romulus, MI was announced as CEO by the Detroit Region Aerotropolis Development Corp. In addition, the ADC in working with a rebranding management firm has re-crafted the image and changed the nameplate of "Aerotropolis" to "VantagePort". In this role, Keyes helped drive the development of the area around and corridor between Detroit Metropolitan Airport and the Willow Run Airport into an advanced hub of logistics, transportation, business and manufacturing. The Detroit Aerotropolis was slow to gain traction over those years. Troubled by the economic crisis of 2008 and its carryover effects and clouded by the bankruptcy of the City of Detroit, the hiring of Keyes and the rollout of VantagePort was hoped to signify a renewed energy and commitment to this regional development project. Detroit Region Aerotropolis: VantagePort re-rebranded In 2016, the executive committee and corporate board decided that the name VantagePort did not truly represent the region, and to switch back to Detroit Region Aerotropolis. Developments On June 26, 2009, General Electric CEO Jeff Immelt announced plans for a new Advanced Manufacturing and Software Technology Center to be