In August 1999, Governor George H. Ryan signed into law the “State and Regional Development Strategy Act” (PA 91-476), re-instituting a multi-year strategic planning process for economic development in Illinois. Governor Ryan’s administration has placed an emphasis on strategic planning as a means of transforming Illinois government. “Simply defined, strategic planning is a disciplined effort to produce fundamental decisions and actions that shape and guide what an organization like state government is doing, why it is doing it and whether or not it could be doing it better.