"Gary M. Loftus" is the director of the Coastal Federal Center for Economic and Community Development. The Center is housed in Coastal Carolina University's E. Craig Wall Sr. College of Business Administration.

Loftus is a noted area civic and tourism industry leader. He is the Chairman of the Myrtle Beach Area Hospitality Association and Myrtle Beach Golf Holiday, and a Past Chairman of the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce. He has served on the Board of Directors of the South Carolina Hotel-Motel Association and the Hospitality Association of South Carolina. He is currently a member of the City of Myrtle Beach Tourism Committee.

Loftus has been very involved in the highway and transportation needs of both Horry County and the State of South Carolina. He has served as the First Congressional District Representative on the South Carolina Department of Transportation Commission. He is also a member of the Business Alliance of the South Carolina Transportation Policy Council. He was first chairman of the Horry County Road Improvement and Development Effort (R.I.D.E.) Committee formed by former Governor David Beasley.

Loftus was presented the South Carolina Order of the Palmetto in 1997, the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce?s Citizen of the Year Award in 1998, and the South Carolina Hotelier of the Year Award for 1995-1996.

More Gary Loftus on Wikipedia.

I think this is just as good as an independent study. They weren't hired by the university, they are paying the university.

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Not only does [the university] contribute to the knowledge base and the cultural base, we make significant impact on the economic base of the county.

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It is just part of the evolving market. We are just doing it a little less subtly than Disney does it, and it is happening all at once. It's just what happens. It's called evolution. Every 20 years or 30 years, it churns.

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