Session Speakers

Bruce D. Ackerman, CCE
President and CEO
Economic Alliance of the San Fernando Valley

Prior to taking over the leadership and management of the Economic Alliance of the San Fernando Valley, Bruce Ackerman was in charge of the San Gabriel Valley Economic Partnership. His career also includes over 20 years of service as the Chief Executive Officer for Chambers of Commerce in the communities of Brawley, San Fernando, Van Nuys and Pasadena. He has extensive experience and background in the community economic development field, specializing in the creation of “private-public partnerships” between local or regional government municipalities and privately sponsored business groups.

As the President and CEO for the Economic Alliance, he is in charge of one of the most effective regional economic development corporations in Southern California. He directs their efforts in the development and implementation of programs focused on regional marketing, business retention and recruitment, workforce development and education reform.

Bruce Ackerman currently serves as Chairman of the Board of the California Association for Local Economic Development (CALED), Vice Chairman of the Board of Commissioners for the Los Angeles City Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA), Vice Chairman of the Los Angeles City Workforce Investment Board (WIB), and immediate Past Chairman of the Board of Trustees of West Hills Hospital & Medical Center.

Scott D. Adams, CEcD
Director, Business Development
City of Las Vegas, Nevada

Scott Adams is the director of the Office of Business Development for the city of Las Vegas. He has held numerous positions in the field of urban economic development, including that of: Director of the Jefferson Parish Economic Development Commission in New Orleans, Louisiana; Director of Planning and Economic Development with the city of Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Executive Director of the New Orleans Regional Medical Center, Inc.; Executive Vice President of the Greater Norfolk (Va.) Corporation; Executive Director of the Jacksonville (Fla.) Downtown Development Authority; Assistant Executive Director of the Center City Commission in Memphis, Tennessee, and Planning and development positions in his hometown of Jackson, Michigan.

A 1977 Urban Planning Graduate of Michigan State University, he was given the American Institute of Planners Award as the top graduate. He has guest lectured at Florida State University, Memphis State University and Tulane University. He is a Certified Economic Developer with the International Economic Development Council and a past member of the American Institute of Certified Planners. He is a current member of the Urban Land Institute.

Robert M. Ady, HLM
President
Ady International Company

Robert M. Ady, former president of PHH Fantus Consulting, has identified optimal locations for more businesses in the United States than any other person. He helped to define the parameters of facility location into a professional field. The methodology and techniques that he introduced into the site selection process are standards by which companies throughout the world select new locations.

Mr. Ady also assists communities in their economic development efforts including: web site content and design, marketing to site selectors, site certification, board training, and competitive benchmarking. Bob has received the prestigious Edward DeLuca Award Lifetime Achievement Award which recognizes the individual who consistently has exemplified the highest standards of professional excellence throughout his or her career in the economic development field.

Mr. Ady is frequently quoted in the national media on such topics as global competition, business location trends, future work force availability, and incentive negotiations. Past coverage includes NBC Nightly News, The Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and Forbes magazine. He has lectured at special forums including the World Conference on Economic Development, World Utility Development Council, the National Association of State Development Agencies and the International Economic Development Council.

Angelos Angelou
Principal
AngelouEconomics

Angelos Angelou is the founder and CEO of AngelouEconomics, an Economic Development and Site Selection Consultancy based in Austin, Texas. In its 10-year history, AngelouEconomics has become one of the largest independent economic development consulting firms in the nation and is currently providing economic development and recruitment services worldwide. Clients include the states of Texas, New York, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, and Delaware; the cities of Orlando, Lincoln, Winston-Salem, Santa Fe, Cleveland, Tallahassee, Charleston, Norfolk, Charlotte, and Little Rock. Internationally, the firm has served as a technology advisor to the countries of Portugal, Austria, and the Czech Republic.

Prior to forming AngelouEconomics, Angelos was Vice President of Economic Development at the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce. During his 11-year career with the Chamber, he played a major role in bringing more than 400 corporations and 70,000 jobs to Austin. The recruitment team, under his direction, garnered an impressive string of successes, helping to draw major high tech projects such as SEMATECH, Applied Materials, Apple Computer, and Samsung to the area. A highly visible leader in the field of economic development across the U.S., Angelos is widely regarded as the chief architect in the establishment of Austin as another Silicon Valley.

Joey Asher
President
Speechworks

Joey Asher is a professional communication and selling skills coach who has worked with executives, managers, and salespeople at dozens of firms including The Home Depot, Georgia Pacific, Global Payments, The Weather Channel, UPS, Kimberly-Clark, Alston & Bird, PricewaterhouseCoopers, AMVESCAP, Verizon, Scientific-Atlanta and Kurt Salmon Associates.

Joey has written three books on presentation skills and selling. Joey’s latest book “How to Win a Pitch: The Five Fundamentals That Will Distinguish You from the Competition,” will be published this fall by Persuasive Speaker Press. His first book, “Even a Geek Can Speak: Low-Tech Presentation Skills For High-Tech People,” is in its second printing by Persuasive Speaker Press. His book “Selling and Communication Skills for Lawyers” was released in 2005 by American Lawyer Media.

Joey’s background is both as an attorney and as a newspaper reporter. He worked as an adjunct professor of law at Emory University School of law and was an attorney at Troutman Sanders L.L.P in Atlanta. Prior to law school, he worked as a newspaper reporter for the Gannett newspaper chain in Georgia and New York. Joey graduated from Cornell University and Emory University Law School.

Ivan Baker, CEcD
Director of Economic Development
Village of Tinley Park Economic Development

As Director of Economic Development for Tinley Park, Illinois since 2003, Ivan Baker coordinates all economic development efforts in the fast-growing suburban Chicago community of 60,000 people. During his tenure, Tinley Park has won the “National Excellence in Economic Development” award from the U.S. Department of Commerce, “Award for Municipal Excellence in Economic Development” from the National League of Cities, the “Best Economic Development Website” award from the International Economic Development Council, and “Top 12 Cities in Economic Development Leadership and Innovation” award from CoreNet Global. Mr. Baker has 28 years of experience in economic development, site selection consulting, and corporate real estate, coordinating over $2 Billion in commercial, industrial, and re-development investments in 9 states.

He is one of 25 Illinois Economic Developers certified by the International Economic Development Council, IEDC Board Member, and Education Committee Chair for the Illinois Development Council A native of Kansas, Baker holds a Bachelors of Arts in Communications and Economics from Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas, is a graduate of the University of Colorado Institute for Organization Management, and received advanced economic development training at the University of Oklahoma and Rochester Institute of Technology. He is married, has two children and 4 grand-children.

Dara Barwick
Director, Regional Small Business & Innovation
Georgia Department of Economic Development

Dara Barwick has worked for the Georgia Department of Economic Development (GDEcD) since 2001. Dara is currently the Director of the Regional Small Business & Innovation Program within the department’s Global Commerce Division. In this capacity she leads eleven Regional Project Managers as they assist Georgia’s small companies to expand, creating new jobs and investment. This team also facilitates the “Entrepreneur Friendly” initiative.

Prior to assuming her current position, Dara was the Regional Project Manager for southwest Georgia, assisting communities with business recruitment and existing industry expansions, community leadership development, marketing, and regional initiatives. The Regional Small Business & Innovation team seeks out growing companies with less than 20 employees, offering state and federal resources and connections aimed at creating new jobs and investment for Georgia. Since fiscal year 2006 this team has served over 2100 small companies that created over 800 jobs and $65 million investment. Additionally, the team coaches communities through the “Entrepreneur Friendly” initiative and has awarded 76 designations to date.

Dara is a graduate of Valdosta State University and the University of Oklahoma’s Economic Development Institute (EDI). She is a certified Coach, Facilitator, and has received certification as a DiSC Profile Trainer.

William E. Best, FM
Senior Vice President, Manager Community Development Banking
PNC Bank

William Best joined PNC Bank in September, 2003 as Senior Vice President, Northeast Territory Manager, Community Development Banking in its East Brunswick, N. J. office. In this role, he is responsible for the Bank’s commitment towards the growth and prosperity of the low-moderate income segments and its communities. He comes to PNC from his position of Executive Director of the New Jersey Redevelopment Authority. Under his leadership, the agency leveraged over $1.3 billion in economic development investments. His twenty plus years experience in banking and business were acquired through an executive banking career whereby he developed, managed, and supervised lending programs for the major financial services institutions.

Mr. Best has been recognized with several awards. A graduate of North Carolina Central University, he did graduate studies with Fairleigh Dickinson University’s Banking Program, and completed the Executive Program at Harvard University’s J. F. K. School of Government. He has been affiliated for many years with the New Jersey Urban Bankers Association. He presently serves on the New Jersey Regional Plan Association, the Newark Regional Business Partnership, and the IEDC.

Jay C. Biggins
Executive Managing Director
Biggins Lacy and Shapiro & Co.

Mr. Biggins is responsible for the firm's national account corporate relationships, including advising Clients on overall incentives and relocation strategies, managing major projects involving complex multi-jurisdictional competitive strategies (employing non-traditional incentives such as land assemblage and development approvals), and developing innovative new incentives structures to facilitate Client objectives. He also serves as an advisor to public sector economic development organizations on incentives strategies. His recent engagements include Bristol Myers Squibb, J.P. Morgan Chase, Mellon, Lehman Brothers, MetLife, Verizon, UBS, Diageo plc, Chubb and Bloomberg. He also manages the firm’s work in urban redevelopment and Brownfields projects, which currently entails multiple sites totaling 2,000 acres in New Jersey.

Prior to joining BLS, he served as Senior Vice President and CFO of the real estate subsidiary of the Dyson-Kissner-Moran Corp., a diversified developer concentrating on corporate build-to-suit projects and large-scale urban projects undertaken in public-private partnerships. Mr. Biggins also served as Executive Director of NYC's Office of Economic Development, and later was appointed Commissioner of Ports, International Trade & Commerce. In these capacities, he was responsible for incentivizing private investment in NYC, managing the financing of large-scale development projects (totaling more than $1 billion), and leading trade/investment missions targeting European and Asian markets.

Mr. Biggins has served on the editorial advisory boards of CoreNet’s Corporate Real Estate Leader magazine and of Site Selection magazine, and published articles on a wide range of incentive and site selection topics.

He is a graduate of Rutgers University and received a J.D. from Rutgers Law School, and is a member of the District of Columbia Bar.

Kerry Blind, FASLA
President
Ecos Environmental Design

Prior to founding Ecos Environmental Design, Inc. in 1994, Kerry Blind served as a principal with an Atlanta landscape architecture firm (1992-94) and as president of Kerry Blind Associates, Inc. (1981-1992), a firm first founded in Orlando, Florida in 1981. Before starting his own practice, he worked as a landscape architect and planner with Walt Disney Productions in Florida and Heery in Atlanta. Mr. Blind has gained considerable experience in large-scale environmental planning and design, urban design and streetscape projects, as well as hospital and healthcare projects throughout his 30 years of professional practice.

A graduate of Purdue University, Mr. Blind’s professional experience has consistently been geared toward environmentally sensitive and sustainable planning and design. He also specialized in damaged site refurbishment and correcting site drainage problems through innovative grading and vegetation schemes.

Tracey Hyatt Bosman, CEcD
Associate Director
Grubb & Ellis

Tracey Hyatt Bosman is an Associate Director, Strategic Consulting with Grubb & Ellis. Ms. Bosman specializes in Business Location Services, assisting companies in finding the optimal location for new or expanding operations through labor market research, business cost analysis, risk assessment, and incentives negotiations. She serves as Grubb & Ellis’ economic development liaison and has been a presenter for the Mid-America Economic Development Council and the Illinois Development Council.

Ms. Bosman is an experienced economic developer, having worked at both the county and state levels. Immediately prior to joining Grubb & Ellis, she was Vice President of Policy and Operations for Lake County Partners, an economic development organization in the Chicago area. Ms. Bosman’s state-level experience was earned at the South Carolina Department of Commerce, where she worked as Senior Manager of Prospect Activities and as Manager, International Trade Development for North and Latin American markets.

Robert V. Boylan
President
Ravenwood Consultant Group

Bo Boylan is President , Ravenwood Consulting Group, Inc., Charlotte, NC. Ravenwood Consulting Group is an international development and consulting firm. He also is co-founder of Innofen, LLC, a design and manufacturing firm providing products and services to the window and door industry where he serves as President and CEO.

Boylan‘s 20 years of experience also includes international markets. As Vice President of International Marketing for a publicly traded pharmaceutical company, he managed the firm’s entry into Central and South America, Southeast Asia, and Western Europe. Mr. Boylan serves on the faculty of The American Management Association (AMA) and coauthored Market Research: How to Get the Right Data to Make the Right Decisions, Win-Win Strategies for Effective Sales Compensation, and Pricing Strategies: Capturing and Sustaining a Competitive Advantage.

Bo is a member of the Board of Advisors to the Pamplin School of Business, Virginia Tech as well as an active volunteer in the public school system in Charlotte, NC where he serves the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce as Chair of Partners for School Reform and as a board member of Charlotte Advocates for Education.

Bo has a BS in Marketing Management, Virginia Tech and his MBA from Wake Forest University

Ian Bromley, FM, MA, MBA
Chief Executive
Creative Sheffield
Sheffield City Development

In September 2006, Ian Bromley was appointed as the first Chief Executive of Creative Sheffield, in Sheffield, England). Creative Sheffield is a City Development Company encompassing the activities of predecessors, Sheffield One (City Centre Regeneration Company) and Sheffield First for Investment (Inward Investment Agency) and building new capacities in marketing and branding, innovation and the knowledge economy, and regional economic development to create a comprehensive and effective company to transform Sheffield’s economy.

Mr. Bromley joined Creative Sheffield from Toronto, Canada where he held a number of progressively senior positions in Management Consulting (Boston Consulting Group), Economic Development, Communication, Marketing and Innovation development in the private and public sectors. Most recently, Mr Bromley served the Government of Ontario, Canada as Director of Urban Economic Development, Director of Economic Development Strategy and Director of Infrastructure and Innovation.

Mr. Bromley has also worked as a consultant, advisor and teacher in urban and economic development in Japan, China, New Zealand, Brazil, the United States and Canada.

Mr. Bromley currently serves as Vice Chair of the International Economic Development Council. He has been a long standing board member with the Greater Toronto Marketing Alliance, the Toronto Financial Services Alliance, the Ottawa Partnership, the Waterloo Accelerator Centre, the Economic Development Council of Ontario, and the Innovation Systems Research Network.

Paul C. Brophy
President
Brophy and Reilly

Paul C. Brophy is a principal with Brophy & Reilly LLC, a Maryland-based consulting firm specializing in economic development, community development, and the management of complex urban redevelopment projects. Mr. Brophy has been working with older industrial cities his entire career, with eighteen years spent in different public and private capacities in Pittsburgh, Pa. He is a practitioner, an author, and a professor. He currently is a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution, Lecturer at the School of City Planning at the University of Pennsylvania, where he earned a Masters in City Planning in 1969, and the director of a number of projects for the American Assembly.

Christopher Brown
President
Contour Entertainment, Inc.

Chris leads Contour’s team of themed industry professionals to create innovative projects while balancing the business, technical and creative priorities. He has extensive experience in the business structures for these types of projects and fluently translates the financial realities into the storytelling vernacular of Themed Entertainment.

Chris began his career with the Disney Company, starting in Disneyland Entertainment and Park Operations. In 1979 he transferred to Walt Disney Imagineering as a Ride Engineer on various projects, then Project Engineer for the Disney/MGM Studio Tour. Following this assignment, Chris was promoted to the position of Technical Director and Principal Concept Engineer for Walt Disney Imagineering where he was responsible for the Show/Ride aspects of new projects worldwide, including the Disney/MGM Studios Europe in France and Tokyo DisneySea in Japan.

Chris is a registered Professional Engineer and has been a magician for more than 40 years. Chris attended film school at UCLA and taught a course in Creativity at Cal Poly Pomona for 10 years. He was the inventor and holds a patent for a "Live Action Theater" that forms the basis for the plane crash of Universal Studios "Waterworld: A Sea War Spectacular".

Rebecca Brown-Hardin
Executive Vice President of Economic Development
Greater Columbus, Georgia Chamber of Commerce

Becca Hardin began her career in economic development eight years ago after joining the Greater Columbus, Georgia Chamber of Commerce as Vice President of Economic Development. In November of 2002, she was promoted to Executive Vice President in leading and implementing the business recruitment strategy for the six county – three city Valley Partnership region. (Phenix City, Alabama is the most recent member of the partnership.)

In 2005, the region experienced many successes with the announcements of new companies such as Road America and National Security Associates. The largest economic development project in the State of Georgia for 2005 was the announcement of 2,000 new jobs at AFLAC.

Prior to joining the Columbus Chamber of Commerce, Becca was the Human Resource manager for the Columbus operations of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Georgia and also directed activities for Corporate state-wide employee recruitment efforts.

Becca was named one of Georgia’s Top-100 most influential Georgians by Georgia Trend Magazine. In 2008, she received the “Women of Achievement” Award from the Concharty Council of Girl Scouts. Becca is actively involved in the Georgia Economic Development Association (GEDA), Rotary International and the Georgia Chamber of Commerce International committee.

James M. Bruce, Jr.
Bruce Family Planning Consultants, LLC

Jim Bruce has been a consultant in site selection and related management advisory areas for over 25 years. He has counseled projects such as Toyota's first US assembly plant, which located in Georgetown, Kentucky; the United Airlines maintenance base in Indianapolis; a major pharmaceutical plant in West Greenwich, Rhode Island; a new Navistar International truck plant in Escobedo, Nuevo Leon, Mexico; and over 300 others.

Jim completed his undergraduate work at Emory University and has a master's degree from Harvard in regional economics. He has taught on an adjunct basis at several academic institutions including Princeton, Carnegie-Mellon, Missouri Institute of Technology, Auburn, and the US Military Academy.

Ronnie L. Bryant, CEcD, FM, HLM
President and CEO
Charlotte Regional Partnership

As President and CEO of the Charlotte Regional Partnership, Ronnie Bryant leads the economic development organization that promotes the 16-county Charlotte region as a premier location for businesses considering expansion or relocation. Bryant is nationally known for his proven track record of establishing and implementing successful economic development programs, with a strong emphasis on existing industry expansion and retention, regionalism and marketing.

Prior to joining CRP, Bryant served as President and Chief Operating Officer of the Pittsburgh Regional, Senior Vice President of the Economic Development Division for the St. Louis Regional Chamber & Growth Association and led the development team at the Shreveport, LA., Chamber of Commerce.

Bryant is a graduate of Louisiana State University in Shreveport and the Economic Development Institute (EDI). He is a recipient of the American Economic Development Council’s (IEDC) Robert B. Cassell Leadership Award for excellence in leadership and scholarship. He is a Certified Economic Developer (CEcD) and currently serves as a member of EDI’s Board of Directors and is immediate past president of that organization. Bryant is actively involved with the International Economic Development Council (IEDC), where he has been designated as a Fellow Member (FM) and currently serves as Past Chairman of the Board.

Edward Burghard
Harley Procter Marketer, Procter & Gamble
Executive Director, Ohio Business Development Coalition

Ed Burghard has 30+ years of Procter & Gamble brand building experience. He is one of 12 current Harley Procter Marketers at P&G, a global title of recognition as a brand building master. Ed is currently a P&G Executive on-loan to the Ohio Business Development Coalition to act as the Company’s Executive Director and to apply P&G branding expertise to build a globally competitive Ohio brand.

Ed has a Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics from the State University of New York at Potsdam and a Masters in Business Administration from Syracuse University. He and his wife Claudia have two sons and live in Loveland, Ohio.

A more complete biography, including Ed’s paper “12 Things I Believe In” can be found on the www.OhioMeansBusiness.com website. Ed has a personal passion for improving the quality of place brand building in economic development. He is happy to respond to any questions sent via email to eburghard@mac.com.

Scott Carlberg
President
Talking Points, LLC – Public Affairs Management

Scott Carlberg, President of Talking Points LLC – Public Affairs Management, positions management and boards to drive organizations’ external affairs activities closer to their revenue lines. Carlberg has counseled corporate executives, analyzed key stakeholders and produced targeted programming to hit institutional goals in public and industry forums. He is credentialed through Board Source for nonprofit board governance and leadership training.

Tedra Cheatham, CEcD
COO and Vice President of Economic Development
Greater North Fulton Chamber of Commerce

Tedra Cheatham was raised in Louisiana and earned her B.A. from LSU in Baton Rouge and her Master of Public Administration from the University of New Orleans. Tedra lobbied all three levels of government during her tenure in Government Relations with Al Copeland Enterprises. She then began her service in the public sector as an Analyst for the Louisiana State Senate.

In 1994, Tedra relocated to Texas. She served the City of Euless in the field of Economic Development and was instrumental in the opening of the acclaimed Texas Star Golf Facility and Conference Centre. She then served as Economic Development and Tourism Manager for the City of Bedford where she earned her CEcD designation.

Tedra serves in leadership positions on numerous civic boards including Congressional Advisory Council for Congressman Tom Price, Women’s Leadership Forum Advisory Board for the Robinson College of Business at Georgia State University, Past President of the EastHampton Women’s Club and founding member and President of The Drake House, a residential assessment center for homeless women and children.

Tedra is currently employed by the Greater North Fulton Chamber of Commerce as their Chief Operating Officer and Vice President of Economic Development.

Eddie Chen
Senior Advisor for China Affairs
Invest in Sweden Agency

Mr. Chen is the Chief Representative for China, with the Invest in Sweden Agency (Sweden) and a Senior Advisor for China Affairs for the International Economic Development Council

Mr. Chen is a recognized expert in the field of Chinese outward FDI. As the Chief China Representative of Invest in Sweden Agency – a Swedish government agency, he completed more than 110 Chinese investments to Sweden in five years and made China the largest foreign investor in Sweden in 2006. Mr. Chen is one of the pioneers in helping Chinese outward investments and creatively developed professional methodology for facilitating inexperienced Chinese companies investing in the overseas market. He built a wide network of Chinese industries and companies throughout the years.

Mr. Chen is senior advisor to the president of World Association of Investment Promotion Agencies; and senior advisor for China Affairs of IEDC. He has been frequently interviewed by media and speakers in numerous international FDI conferences and forums. His prior experiences include the senior position in the United Nations and other private enterprises. He earned B.S. degree in computer science from Eastern Michigan University and M.S. degree in management from Polytechnic University.

Raymond R. Christman
Peachtree Corridor Partnership

Raymond Christman retired from the Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta in early 2007, after serving eight years as President and CEO. Prior to assuming the position, Mr. Christman served as Chairman of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Pittsburgh from 1994 to 1999.

In addition to his career with the Federal Home Loan Bank system, Mr. Christman served as President and CEO of the Pittsburgh Technology Council, a leading regional business association and economic development organization, and also held the position of Secretary of Commerce for the state of Pennsylvania from 1987-1991, in the administration of Governor Robert P. Casey. Prior to that, he was Executive Director of the Urban Redevelopment Authority of Pittsburgh, and a senior executive with the Allegheny Conference on Community Development.

Mr. Christman currently works as a consultant and advisor to numerous public and private organizations involved with housing, financial services, economic development, and community issues. He serves as Chairman of the Peachtree Corridor Partnership, and is a Senior Advisor to the Urban Land Institute’s Terwilliger Work Force Housing Center in Atlanta. He is an organizer and director of the new, Perimeter First Bank, which is opening in Atlanta in the fall of 2008.

Jim Colson, CEcD
COO and President of Site Selection
AngelouEconomics

Jim Colson serves as the Chief Operating Officer and President of Site Selection at AngelouEconomics, one of the largest economic development and site selection firms in the nation. In his current roles within the organization, Jim utilizes his organizational development and project management experience and skills to enhance the offerings of AngelouEconomics and increase the effectiveness of the organization. His experience in site selection analysis is invaluable to the firm, as he directs its site selection team and grows this aspect of the business.

Prior to joining AE, Jim founded and served as the President of Growing Economies International, a site location and advisory firm with both national and international clients, and was the founding President and CEO of the New Mexico Partnership, the public/private economic development and business recruitment organization established by Governor Bill Richardson. Jim has also held senior economic development positions at the City of Glendale (AZ), the Greater Phoenix Economic Council, the Arizona Department of Commerce, and the University of Michigan's Industrial Development Division.

Hilary C. Coman, CEcD
President
The Coman Company

Coman Company Founder and President, Hilary Coman has broad experience in business and marketing, locally, nationally and internationally. Ms. Coman, a Charlotte, N.C., native, earned her undergraduate degree from Davidson College and holds graduate degrees in Latin American Studies from Georgetown University and Business Administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is also a graduate of the Economic Development Institute at the University of Oklahoma.

Through Coman Company, Ms. Coman helps clients to improve performance against their financial and social goals. Working with both business and governmental clients to identify opportunities, she assists them in market analysis, organizational assessment and strategic planning. Her expertise includes design and delivery of market research, using fact-based research to develop strategic plans, business performance improvement and development and implementation of growth strategies.

Ms. Coman is an alumna of the international consulting firm McKinsey and Company, and has considerable experience working overseas in foreign environments and cultures.

JoAnn Crary, CEcD
President
Saginaw Future Inc.

JoAnn Crary has been president of Saginaw Future, a non-profit, economic development organization for Saginaw County, since 1993. Prior to becoming president, she served as executive vice president for Saginaw Future, executive director of the Saginaw Area Growth Alliance and in various economic development positions in Saginaw County since the early 1980s.

In October 2005, Crary was awarded the inaugural Athena Award from the Saginaw County Chamber of Commerce. In August 2001, the Michigan Economic Developers Association named Crary as the MEDA Medalist Award winner. She received the State Director's Award from the Michigan Small Business Development Center in 1997 and was honored by Governor Engler in 1996 as an Economic Developer of the Year for outstanding contributions in economic development. She also has received the U.S. Small Business Administration's Women in Business Advocate Award for the State of Michigan and the President's Award from the Michigan Economic Developers Association.

Crary is a member of the MEDC Executive Committee, chairs the HR Committee and serves on its Finance Committee. She also is on the MEDC CEO Practitioners Council. In 2007, Crary was elected to serve on the International Economic Development Council board of directors, serves on the Planning & Business Development Committee and chairs the Sustainable Business Subcommittee.

Matthew E. Crow
Deputy Assistant Secretary for External Affairs & Communications
US Department of Commerce
Economic Development Administration

Matthew E. Crow is the Economic Development Administration’s (EDA) Deputy Assistant Secretary for External Affairs and Communications. At EDA, Crow oversees public affairs and congressional relations and is a senior advisor to Assistant Secretary Sandy K. Baruah. Crow also hosts EDA’s nationally televised program “Economic Development Today”. He serves as a member of the Secretary of Labor’s Advisory Committee on Apprenticeship that advises Secretary Chao on issues related to the National Apprenticeship Act.

Crow has worked in two previous Presidential administrations in public affairs and congressional relations capacities. In the Reagan White House, Crow served as a Lead Advanceman in the Office of Presidential Advance. In the George H. W. Bush Administration, Crow led the Health Care Financing Administration’s Office of Public Liaison. Additionally, he served Secretary Louis Sullivan as a legislative staff assistant in the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Legislative Affairs.

His private sector experience includes leading the government relations office for the world famous health care philanthropy Project HOPE and as a Senior Account Manager with the national public relations and promotional marketing firm of Quinn, Brein, Inc. Crow’s clients included Ryder Truck, The Disney Channel, Hasbro Toys and the Emilia Romagna Region of Italy.

J. Vann Cunningham
Assistant Vice President, Economic Development
Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway

Vann Cunningham is Assistant Vice President – Economic Development for BNSF Railway Co. He leads programs that encourage industries to locate or expand facilities on BNSF. He also has responsibility for development of various rail-served industrial, intermodal and transload facilities throughout BNSF’s franchise. BNSF, headquartered in Fort Worth, operates on 32,500 route miles of track covering 28 states and two Canadian provinces. In his role, he has written and spoken extensively on the impact of transportation, logistics and the evolving global supply chain on corporate site selection, economic development and real estate development.

Cunningham has over 35 years' corporate site selection and economic development experience including major domestic and international projects in the public and private sectors. His Economic Development career began at the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), where he initially engaged in power plant siting and subsequently, served as Chief of Regional Planning, Manager of Economic and Community Development, and Senior Manager of Industrial Development

In 1996, Cunningham joined Lockwood Greene, a global engineering and consulting firm. He was responsible for directing the Economic Development and Corporate Site Selection Consulting practice. Clients included Fortune 1000 and major international firms.

Candace P. Damon
Vice Chairman
HR&A Advisors, Inc.

For over 15 years at HR&A, Candace Damon has been responsible for successful strategies for the redevelopment of urban downtowns and waterfronts in diverse locales such as New York City, Charlotte, Memphis, Philadelphia, Boulder, Tucson, and Toronto.

Ms. Damon has developed a specialty in public and not-for-profit capital-program management. She has advised a variety of transit agencies, the City of New York, the Museum for African Art, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and the City University of New York, helping them deliver on-time and cost-effective capital-program management. She designed and administered the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority’s major capital program that responds to the energy needs of New York State’s low- and moderate income multi-family housing stock. Under Candace’s direction, the program ramped up to serve a pipeline of over 90,000 units and closed deals with a total value of over $150 million.

On the civic front, Candace has served as the President of the Atlantic Avenue Local Development Corporation since 2000. As the volunteer President of the Board of this organization, Candace is concerned with issues including appropriate redevelopment to spur economic development, promotion of retail businesses, and preservation of the 10-block corridor’s Civil War-era architecture.

John Davies
President and CEO
Baton Rouge Area Foundation

John Davies has served as president and CEO of the Baton Rouge Area Foundation since June 1988. During his tenure, the Foundation has grown from $3 million to more than $500 million in assets. The Foundation provides two essential functions for the capital region. One, the Foundation connects philanthropists with capable nonprofits to make sure the needs of the communities are met. For example, donors support the Shaw Center for the Arts, buy eyeglasses for needy children, fund services to care for abused women and children, and underwrite the symphony and Manship Theatre.

Two, the Foundation invests in and manages pivotal projects that can change the community. Its Plan Baton Rouge initiative spearheaded the downtown revitalization plan and now is working to revive Old South Baton Rouge. Its real estate asset revived the abandoned Capitol House, and is set to work on other groundbreaking projects in Baton Rouge. The Center for Planning Excellence, an offshoot land planning division, is deeply involved in building a new future for South Louisiana. What's more, the Foundation is working with community partners from the Northshore to Lake Charles in creating an economic corridor.

Catherine Dawson
Managing Director
Red Hot Locations

For the past 15 years, Cathy has been a key player in the foreign direct investment world. She leads a very strong and competent Red Hot Locations team, who creates and produces forums, conferences, summits and seminars designed to increase foreign direct investment into world regions.

Operating globally, and headquartered in London, Red Hot Locations brings world cities and regions together with expanding companies moving into new markets and selecting new locations.

Red Hot Locations core philosophy is that making contacts is central to business development and growth, so put emphasis and their talent on getting people together to meet and to make business happen in memorable surroundings.

Cathy, who speaks Spanish fluently, has worked in every continent, spearheading FDI events and setting FDI trends. Her business contacts are second to none.

Thomas V. DiFiore
President
National Community Development Services, Inc.

NCDS is a community and economic development fundraising firm, based in Atlanta, GA. In business since 1977, the firm has conducted over 600 campaigns and raised over $1.6 billion – primarily for Chambers of Commerce and Economic Development Organizations. Tom joined NCDS in 1995 as an on-site project director and personally raised over $20 million for organizations as diverse as The Potomac Knowledge Way and the Richmond Ballet. As President, Tom monitors all of NCDS’ active projects, and directs resources such as the firm’s Economic Strategy Center to achieve campaign goals and timelines. He frequently combines his fundraising skills, his exposure to hundreds of economic development organizations and strategies, and his understanding of community dynamics to help develop new programs of work and create new alliances and partnerships. Tom is an active member of many state and national associations of community development professionals, and serves on the Board of The Giving Institute. He earned an undergraduate degree in Economics from The University of Virginia and an MBA from Georgia State University in Atlanta, where he lives with his wife and two children.

Kenneth E. Dobson
Director, Community & Economic Development
The University of Toledo
University College

Mr. Dobson has held joint appointment in economic development at The University of Toledo over the last 10 years. Mr. Dobson has also served The University of Toledo as a member of the Board of Advisors for the Wright Center for Photovoltaics Innovation and Commercialization (PVIC) Center, Board of Directors, Office of Global Initiatives (OGI) and the Board of Directors of the internationally-focused Strategic Education and Economic Development Corporation (SEED). He has also served as Chairman, Workforce Technology Preparedness Committee and a member of the University of Toledo Economic Development Council and the Research Technology Development Taskforce. Nationally, he serves on the University Economic Development Association (UEDA). Previously, he also served as Department Chairman and Assistant Professor at the Federal City College/University of the District of Columbia.

Mr. Dobson has been awarded the prestigious Richard Preston Award and Honorable Mention recognition for his innovations in the practice of sustainable and tech-driven community economic development by the 4,500 member International Economic Development Council (IEDC).

Additionally, Mr. Dobson has held several senior management positions in local economic development. He is on the leading edge in the application and integration of emerging technologies to conventional economic development practices in creative development financing; business attraction, creation, retention, expansion; real estate development associated with industrial, commercial, retail, entertainment, residential, and cultural institutional development processes and projects.

Mayor Christopher A. Doherty
City of Scranton

First elected mayor of Scranton, Pennsylvania in 2001, Christopher A. Doherty is presiding over the most dramatic transformation in the city’s history and the most amazing of any city in Pennsylvania. Over $300 million in new construction and the rehabilitation of historic structures is transforming the look of the central business district. Parks are being given new life, neighborhoods are being revitalized, and the first massive infrastructure improvements in the city’s modern history are being made. In total, almost $400 million dollars is being invested in Scranton and all of it began with Mayor Doherty’s election less than seven years ago.

In an article about the success of his first two years in office, the Northeast Pennsylvania Business Journal wrote, in its January 2004 edition, “Over the last four decades, being mayor of the City of Scranton was to preside over chaos…Enter, in 2002, soft-speaking Chris Doherty, 45…a model of ‘speak softly and proceed with determination.’” The Mayor’s accomplishments have been recognized by his peers with his election as President of the Pennsylvania League of Cities and Municipalities. He was also named one of “Pennsylvania’s Best Mayors” by PoliticsPA.com.

Brett Doney, CEcD
President and CEO
Great Falls Development Authority, Inc.

Brett Doney is the President and CEO of the Great Falls Development Authority serving central Montana. Doney has 24 years of experience in urban and rural community economic development. Prior positions include President and CEO of Enterprise Maine, a family of community economic development organizations in rural western Maine, Director of the Ft. Devens Reuse Center, a 9,600 acre army base redevelopment effort in Massachusetts, and President of Doney Associates, a Boston-based consulting firm focused on urban revitalization, industrial parks and public/private finance.

Mary Z. Douglass, CEcD
Senior Project Manager
Georgia Department of Economic Development

Mary Douglass CEcD has been with the Georgia Department of Economic Development since July 1998 working as a Senior Statewide Project Manager. Mary has lead efforts resulting in the location of over 300 companies in all sectors including Fortune 500 corporate HQ relocations, manufacturing, distribution and back office. Mary has also been instramental in the development of marketing materials, coordinating trade shows, fam tours and leadership roles in department activities. Prior to working for the state Mary worked for the Development Authority of Columbia County GA and the Metro Augusta GA Chamber of Commerce in their economic development department. Graduate of St. Olaf College in MN and a member of IEDC, IAMC, CoreNet, GEDA and other civic organizations. Mary is a co-chair of IEDC's 2008 Annual Conference Program Committee.

Joel R. “Rick” Duke, CEcD, EDFP
Principal Research Associate
Georgia Technology Center for Healthy Aging in the Built Environment

Rick Duke is a Principal Research Associate with the Georgia Institute of Technology. His career with Tech spans 23 years and has focused on community economic development. Prior to joining Tech, Rick was employed in the private sector in various positions in manufacturing.

Rick has served in several professional leadership roles including IEDC's Board of Directors and Executive Committee, Georgia Tech's Basic Economic Development Course Director, Session I Class Director with the Economic Development Institute at the University of Oklahoma, and as President of the Georgia Economic Developers Association.

Rick's research has focused on Healthcare and Eldercare and Retirement Community Development in particular. His recent work is acting as a catalyst for the recognition retiree attraction as a new community economic development strategy in many parts of Georgia.

John H. Eaves, Jr., PhD
Chairman
Fulton County Board of Commissioners
Development Authority of Fulton County

Since being elected in November 2006 as Chairman of the Fulton County Commission, John H. Eaves, Jr. has spent his first year on an ambitious agenda that has included transforming the leadership structure and seeking alternative funding sources to support Grady Memorial Hospital; encouraging the collaboration of law enforcement and the community to reduce the rate of juvenile crime throughout Fulton County; and utilizing existing funding to renovate facilities and improve resources within the Atlanta-Fulton County Library System.

Prior to becoming Chairman, Eaves served as Senior Program Officer of the Southern Education Foundation, and for seven years led the Atlanta Regional Office of the Peace Corps. As a Regional Manager, he developed and implemented a comprehensive recruitment plan that significantly increased the number of American volunteers from the Atlanta region serving in more than 80 countries around the world. Under his leadership, the Atlanta office ranked fourth – after ranking tenth for many years – in volunteer recruitment.

Additionally, Eaves has held posts in both academia and the private sector, including Assistant Professor of Educational Leadership at Kennesaw State University in Kennesaw, GA, National Director of the NCAA Volunteers for Youth Program, Adjunct Instructor at Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte, NC, and Assistant Dean of Students at Davidson College in Davidson, NC, and Clayton State University, located in Morrow, GA.

Tim J. Evans
Vice President
Economic Development
Greater Hall Chamber of Commerce

Tim Evans is the Vice President of Economic Development for the Greater Hall Chamber of Commerce and Executive Director of the Gainesville-Hall Economic Development Council. He also serves as the staff for the Gainesville & Hall County Development Authority. He is responsible for managing business recruitment, expansions and retention efforts by marketing and representing Gainesville-Hall County to key business decision makers in the United States and internationally. He is also implementing a new retail development initiative for Gainesville-Hall County, Georgia with the support of business leaders, real-estate professionals and elected officials.

Prior to his current position, Tim worked with the Georgia Department of Economic Development for 11 years, and was involved in site location, project management, marketing, export assistance and business development in domestic and international markets.

He has earned the designation of Certified Economic Developer from the International Economic Development Council. Tim is currently on the Board of Directors for the Georgia Economic Developers’ Association.

Jacques Evrard
General Manager
International Relations Department
The Brussels Enterprise Agency

Jacques Evrard - General Manager of the International Relations Department at the Brussels Enterprise Agency, he has been manager and co-ordinator of the Brussels Innovation Relay Centre project (Brussels IRC). Since 1995, he is also SME and Innovation expert with DG Research and DG enterprise and industry of the European Commission. Among his duties, he is responsible for the attraction of Foreign Direct Investments for the Brussels Capital Region.

Jacques Evrard is a member of the management committee of the Brussels Enterprise Agency. He graduated from the Solvay Business School of the ULB (Université Libre de Bruxelles) and has also 15 years of past experience in enterprise environment as SME general Manager and development manager for a large Belgian multinational. Accessorily he his teaching SME strategy at a Brussels based business school. Since the end of 2005, he has served as the President of EURADA. (European Association of regional development agencies).

Robert Fine
Director of Economic Development
Regional District of the Central Okanagan

Robert Fine was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. After completing a degree in Urban Economic Geography from the University of Toronto and Masters work at York University, Robert brought innovative programming to the Association of Municipalities of Ontario including GASAMO, a $35 million public gas-purchasing program under deregulation. He moved to British Columbia in 1989 where he worked for the Sea to Sky Economic Development Corporation until 1996. His many accomplishments included assisting in the development of Whistler, development of a booming film industry and the location and permitting co-ordination for the Eco-Challenge, with Survivor creator Mark Burnett, the worlds most demanding adventure race. In 1998, Mr. Fine was awarded “Economic Developer of the Year” by the Economic Development Association of British Columbia and the Bank of Montreal.

Mr. Fine is currently the Executive Director for the Economic Development Commission for the Central Okanagan Regional District located in Kelowna, British Columbia. He is Past President of the Economic Developers Association of Canada. Robert sits as a member of the Provincial Single Business License Initiative Advisory Group, is a member of the Provincial Small Business Roundtable and on the Board of Directors for the International Economic Development Council.

Dean Foote, CEcD
Senior Project Manger
Economic Development & Real Estate Services
Jacobs

Deane C. Foote, CEcD, is Senior Project Manager for Real Estate and Economic Development with Jacobs (formerly Carter & Burgess) in Phoenix. Mr. Foote has over 30 years of experience in the development field with particular expertise in the areas of corporate site selection and economic development. He has worked on dozens of projects over the years, but most recently corporate projects for Staples, Simplot, Wal-Mart and Coca-Cola and economic development projects for the State of Ohio; the USAF; the Greater Phoenix Economic Council; Great Falls, MT; Springfield, IL; and NW Pennsylvania.

Deane was formerly with Paragon Decision Resources, Inc., a full-service relocation company, where he was Vice President in charge of site selection and economic development. He was also formerly the President of the Greater Urbana-Champaign (IL) Economic Development Corporation.

Deane is a Certified Economic Developer (CEcD) and a graduate of the University of Oklahoma. He and his wife Jeanne reside in Glendale, Arizona.

Charlotte Franklin, CEcD
Deputy Coordinator, Business Preparedness and Public/Private Partnering
Arlington Office of Emergency Management

Charlotte Franklin, CEcD, is Deputy Coordinator of Arlington County’s Office of Emergency Management responsible for business preparedness and partnership programs: public/private resource partnerships and business resiliency and resumption after a disaster. Previously, she served as Director, Business Investment Group, Arlington Economic Development where her main accountability was creating and sustaining business activity and employment in Arlington; retention, expansion and attraction of business activity and contributing to improving the quality of life for Arlington’s businesses and workforce.

She spearheaded the design of the first workshops in the country after 9/11 on business recovery and building threat mitigation and assessment. She was the contributing customer designer of the first government instant alert system in the United States now used by most states and local governments to instantly alert residents and first responders of public safety concerns. She is a writer, speaker, and expert on business preparedness and the built environment as a level of homeland defense. Ms. Franklin served on the Board of the Association of Contingency Planners Mid-Atlantic Chapter (Program Director) and was its Most Valuable Member in 2005.

William A. Frederick
President and CEO
Wadley-Donovan Growthtech LLC

Mr. Fredrick is the president and CEO of Wadley-Donovan GrowthTech, LLC, and president of The Wadley-Donovan Group (WDG), a company offering diversified economic development services, including strategic planning, labor market-workforce assessments and remedial programs, target industry identification and targeting,and real estate site certification.

In 1992 Bill and other industry leaders formed WDG, an evolution of the James P. Wadley Company, established in 1975. In 2004, the company’s economic development division changed its name to Wadley-Donovan GrowthTech. The company serves as WDG’s economic and workforce development consulting unit.

Bill has a distinguished 30-year career in economic development and site selection consulting. Before becoming a founding partner of WDG in 1992, Bill held senior consulting positions at three international business mobility advisory firms: The Fantus Company, Moran, Stahl and Boyer, and Prudential Realty.

His corporate clients have spanned most industry sectors, including Alfa-Laval, Bloomberg, Chase, General Dynamics, Heinz, McKesson, Merck, NFIB, Northrop Grumman, Prudential, Public Service Electric & Gas, John Wiley, Johnson & Johnson, Time-Life Books, and Transamerica. His personal corporate projects range from Fortune 500 corporate headquarters, to a variety of manufacturing facilities, distribution centers, back offices operations, R&D and technical centers, and data centers.

Jack B. Freeman
Capital Access Specialist
Institute for Advanced Learning and Research

Mr. Freeman is currently with the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research in Danville, VA. He serves as Capital Access Specialist, and is involved in technology commercialization in Southside Virginia. Mr. Freeman assists with financing of new technology startups in the region, works closely with local economic development groups to bring the research and technology assets of IALR to bear in their recruitments, and provides business development support to companies and entrepreneurs desiring to locate in the area.

Prior to his engagement at IALR, Mr. Freeman held a number of executive Marketing and Business Development positions in the information technology industry. Mr. Freeman was a principal in FiberCom, Inc., which specialized in developing ruggedized, high performance fiber optic networking solutions for military and aerospace applications. Mr. Freeman was a co-founder and was with the company until its sale to Litton Systems. FiberCom was listed on the Inc 500 Fastest Growing Private Companies in America in 1984. Mr. Freeman held similar positions with Litton Systems, ITT and Harris Corporation.

Mr. Freeman earned his B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Purdue University and his M.S. in Systems Management from the Florida Institute of Technology.

Kathy Gannon
Commissioner, Super District 6
DeKalb County Board of Commissioners

Kathie Gannon has served on the DeKalb County Board of Commissioners since January, 2005 serving Super District 6, the western half of DeKalb County. It includes South, Central and North DeKalb with approximately 350,000 residents. She was elected Presiding Officer of the Board of Commissioners for 2008 after serving two terms as Deputy Presiding Officer. Commissioner Gannon serves as chair of the Board's Budget Review Committee and member of the Planning and Land Use Committee. She serves on the state Association of County Commissions of Georgia (ACCG) Environment and Training Committees and the National Association of Counties (NACo) Steering Committee for Environment, Energy and Land Use. Commissioner Gannon's main focus is on land use and planning, the environment and conservation, protection of established neighborhoods and issues that impact our youth and seniors.

Commissioner Gannon has been actively involved in DeKalb County issues since the 1980's serving on DeKalb County's Planning Commission, Community Council and providing leadership to her community's 3,000 household civic association.

Gannon was the founding Executive Director of Georgia CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates), a statewide non-profit that provides trained volunteers to advocate for abused and neglected children and she founded the statewide citizen-judicial foster care review program.

Peter H. Garra
Director – Real Estate
The Linde Group, Inc.

Peter H. Garra is Currently Director, Real Estate with The BOC Group, Inc. His Responsibilities include the management of The BOC Group's real estate portfolio throughout the US, Canada and South America; including all acquisition and disposition of owned and leased property.

With over 30 years of corporate real estate and management experience, Peter H. Garra’s other experience includes Vice President of Real Estate for Lehman Brothers and Manager of Real Estate for the Metropolital Life Insurance Company.

Ernestine W. Garey
Managing Director, Housing Finance
Atlanta Development Authority

Ernestine Garey has served as Managing Director of Housing Finance with the Atlanta Development Authority for over ten years. In this capacity, she is responsible for crafting, implementing and executing the vision of the agency in the development and implementation of multifamily and single family bond initiatives. She has been instrumental in the issuance of over $900 million in housing revenue bonds since 1986, creating over 15,000 units of workforce housing in the City of Atlanta. Prior to assuming her position as Managing Director, she served as Compliance Administrator and Deputy Director of the Urban Residential Finance Authority for over 12 years before its consolidation with the Atlanta Development Authority.

Ms. Garey also oversees the implementation of the new $35 million Housing Opportunity Bond Program, incentivizing the creation of over 3,000 new affordable housing opportunities for Atlanta residents. Her efforts through this new addition to ADA’s housing toolkit support homeownership opportunities and preservation of the City’s existing housing stock, while also creating a revolving loan fund for long-term sustainability of the program. Ms. Garey has a Master’s Degree from Clark Atlanta University and is a board member of the National Association of Local Housing Finance Agencies.

Jay A. Garner, CEcD, CCE, FM, HLM
President
Competitive Strategies Group, LLC

Jay A. Garner, CEcD, CCE is the President and founder of the Competitive Strategies Group, LLC, an economic development consulting firm headquartered in Atlanta, GA. Jay is a leader and innovator in the economic development profession, having served for 28 years as both an award winning economic development and chamber practitioner, and as a consultant to the profession. His firm has assisted clients throughout the U.S., Asia and Europe on a wide variety of projects, offering innovative, yet real world solutions to achieve success. His firm is also a leader in providing assistance to corporate clients in their site selection process.

Jay has led over 25 trade and business development missions on four continents leading to the creation of thousands of jobs and several billion in capital investment. He is a Certified Economic Developer (CEcD), a Fellow Member and an Honorary Life Member, the three highest professional designations awarded to those in the economic development profession by the International Economic Development Council (IEDC). He is also a Certified Chamber Executive (CCE).

Jay is a past chairman for the IEDC, the largest economic development professional trade organization in the world. He is also a past chairman of the American Economic Development Council.

Tim E. Gause
Customer Relations Manager
Duke Energy

Tim Gause has had diverse leadership demands in 34 years in the electric utility industry. He has managed business and field operations in the Carolinas, experiencing the full cycle of energy development and changing customer expectations for energy delivery. Gause developed expertise in economic development, field operations, customer relations and corporate philanthropy. Gause is currently the company’s liaison to city and county government, elected officials and emergency managers in the Charlotte region.

Ed Gilliland, CEcD, AICP
Vice President, Senior Director, Advisory Services
International Economic Development Council

At IEDC, Ed Gilliland is Vice President, Sr. Director of Advisory Services. He has seventeen years of economic consulting experience with cities, counties, quasi-public agencies, and private clients. He specializes in strategic planning, organizational development, real estate and brownfields development, commercial revitalization, financial analysis, and program development. Mr. Gilliland directs IEDC’s work with the EPA on brownfields and smart growth, the DOC (EDA) on the information dissemination of best practices, and the DOJ on their Weed and Seed neighborhoods. He also directs work on numerous local assignments. His capabilities go beyond the consulting and project management roles. He has facilitated workshops, instructed in real estate, put together training courses, and managed periodicals. He coauthored IEDC’s books Targeted Area Redevelopment and Real Estate Redevelopment & Reuse: An Economic Development Practitioner’s Guide. Mr. Gilliland holds an M.B.A. from the University of Virginia Darden Graduate School of Business Administration.

Anika Goss-Foster
Vice President of Sustainable Communities
Local Initiatives Support Corp (LISC)

Anika Goss-Foster is a champion in the field of comprehensive community development. From the start of her career as an organizer and advocate for women and children survivors of domestic violence, to her role as newly named Vice President of Sustainable Communities for Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), Ms. Goss-Foster dedicates her talents energies to helping people and places prosper, and her work impacts communities and citizens all across the country.

From 2006 to early 2008 Ms. Goss-Foster served as the Director of Philanthropic Affairs for Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick at the City of Detroit and Executive Director of Next Detroit Neighborhood Initiative. Responsible for coordinating grants and philanthropic activity for the City of Detroit, Ms. Goss-Foster’s first responsibility was leading Mayor Kilpatrick’s Next Detroit Neighborhood Initiative (NDNI). The initiative launched in December 2006 in an effort to transform six neighborhoods throughout the city of Detroit by improving city services and incorporating redevelopment strategies utilizing public-private partnerships. Prior to moving her move the public sector, Ms. Goss-Foster served as the Senior Program Director for the Detroit office of Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC).

Todd Greene, CEcD
Assistant Vice President, Community and Economic Development
Research and Policy
Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta

Todd Greene is the Assistant Vice President for Community and Economic Development at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. In this role, Greene is responsible for leading a team devoted to identifying significant community and economic development issues and for planning a full-cycle approach to research projects with a focus on improving the policy-making environment. In addition to Georgia, Greene’s target markets represent the entire Federal Reserve Bank’s sixth district including Florida, Alabama and portions of Tennessee, Mississippi, and Louisiana.

Prior to joining the Federal Reserve Bank, Greene was the director of Community Policy and Research Services in the Georgia Tech Enterprise Innovation Institute (formerly Economic Development Institute) where he oversaw efforts in economic development planning, readiness and strategic assessments, fiscal and economic analysis, and professional development for economic developers (including Georgia Tech’s Basic Economic Development course). Greene also served as Executive Director of the Georgia Tech Program in Science, Technology, and Innovation Policy (a joint program with the School of Public Policy).

Before joining Georgia Tech, Greene was a private consultant addressing various governmental and information technology issues. He also served in various technology and research-related management roles at the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) and at SBC Corporation.

William Hearn
President
Site Dynamics

Will has provided facility location and economic development consulting services for over 18 years, with an emphasis on selecting sites for expansion and managing complex site selection programs for industry. Most recently, Mr. Hearn founded Site Dynamics, a firm focused on building an online marketplace for development agencies and expansion-ready companies (www.sidyn.com).

Site Dynamics offers SiteXcellerator™, a web-based application for economic development agencies to place their sites online within a data rich environment to support site selection. The application is the most advanced online application available to support prospects engaged in site selection with a full range of demographic, economic and corporate data available. A second product, LeadXcellerator™ allows clients to identify expansion-ready companies by evaluating a firm’s ability to raise capital and spend resources on growth.

Will has provided site selection, real estate and transition management consulting services to a diversity of clients. Prior to joining CH2M HILL Lockwood Greene, Mr. Hearn spent 10 years with a national site selection consulting firm and spent two years working for The University of Georgia, where he developed research park strategies and worked to support biotech economic development. Mr. Hearn spent several years working in Germany as an industrial specialist with IBM Corporation.

Thomas Henningson
Managing Director,
ALMI Businesspartner Orebro AB

Thomas Henningson is Managing Director at ALMI Business Partner Örebro Ltd. Thomas has held positions in Pulp Paper Industries, Swedish Telecom Adm. and Ministry of Industry, etc.

Doug Henton
President
Collaborative Economics

With over 30 years of experience, Doug Henton was project manager for the start-up of the Joint Venture: Silicon Valley Network, an innovative, results-oriented regional economic development alliance. Doug directed the strategic planning process involving more than 1,200 corporate, community, and public-sector leaders. He was a senior advisor for the Silicon Valley 2010: A Regional Framework for Growing Together. He continues to serve as Joint Venture’s economist, and is the architect of Joint Venture’s annual Index of Silicon Valley.

Doug is a consultant to the California Economic Strategy Panel, California’s first state economic strategy process linked to industry clusters and regions. He was a consultant to Next 10 for the development of the Green Innovation Index, Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, Chicago Metropolis 2020, the Potomac Conference and Arizona Partnership for a New Economy.

Doug founded Collaborative Economics in July 1993 after a decade as assistant director of SRI International’s Center for Economic Competitiveness. With colleagues Kim Walesh and John Melville, Doug has written a book, Grassroots Leaders for the New Economy: How Civic Entrepreneurs Are Building Prosperous Communities, published by Jossey-Bass in March 1997. Their second book Civic Revolutionaries: Igniting the Passion for Change in America’s Communities published by Jossey-Bass in October 2003.

Joan H. Herron
President
Herron Consulting LTD.

Joan Herron, President of Herron Consulting, has over 20 years of experience in Economic and Community Development; Site Selection; Redevelopment Planning; Real Estate; Economic/ Fiscal Impact; and Workshop Facilitation/ Training for domestic and foreign private, public and non-profit clients.

Joan has participated in workshops and panels and is a recognized speaker at conferences. She has published articles and spoken about shovel-ready sites, site selection, the aging workforce, economic/ community development, and retail redevelopment. She was an instructor at the International Economic Development Council’s Economic Development Marketing and Attraction seminar (Atlanta) in February

Benjamin H. Hill
ATDC – Georgia Tech Enterprise Innovation

Ben Hill is a member of the Georgia Tech VentureLab staff where his focus is creating successful renewable energy and clean technology ventures. Currently, he is working with early stage companies commercializing Georgia Tech research in cellulosic ethanol, silicon and organic photovoltaics, micro-fuel cells, weather forecasting, environmental sensing, and driver/vehicle informatics.

Ben has worked closely with the Georgia Research Alliance in developing and deploying the VentureLab’s technology commercialization model among the major research schools in Georgia. In addition, he has served as Associate Director of Georgia Tech’s successful incubator, the Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC).

Ben served as co-founder, Corporate Secretary and member of the Board of Directors of Cirronet Corporation, manufacturer of industrial and commercial wireless products based in Norcross ,GA. RF Monolithics (NASDAQ: RFMI) acquired Cirronet in September 2006.

An adjunct professor in the Georgia Tech College of Management, Ben teaches Business Sustainability Ethics and technology commercialization (TI:GER) to undergraduates and MBAs. Ben is a member of the American Council on Renewable Energy. He has participated in the formation of Atlanta Technology Angels, an angel investor group, the Southeastern Software Association, which is now part of the Technology Association of Georgia, and the Technology Executives Roundtable.

Robert M. Hitt, III
Department Manager, Public Affairs
BMW Manufacturing Co., LLC

Robert has been Department Manager, Public Affairs, BMW Manufacturing Co., LLC since 1993. He received BA in Journalism as well as an MBA from the University of South Carolina. He was also a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University.

Robert previously worked as Director, Planning and Development for Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough, as well as Managing Editor for The State and The Columbia Record. Mr. Hitt was an instructor at the University of South Carolina, College of Journalism from 1981-1992 and was City Editor for The Columbia Record. Current activities and honors include: S.C. Manufacturers’ Alliance, First Vice Chair, Board of Directors, National Association of Manufacturers, Public Affairs Steering Committee, Vice Chair, Southeast Region, S.C. Charities, Inc. (BMW Charity Pro-Am), President, Tournament Chairman Advance SC, Executive Committee (Immediate Past President), Upstate Alliance, Executive Committee, Secretary, Hollings Cancer Center Advisory Board, Medical University of SC, New Carolina, South Carolina’s Council on Competitiveness, Artisphere, Board of Directors, SC Governor’s School for Science and Mathematics Foundation, Board,Greater Greenville Forum, Spartanburg Economic Futures Group Board, University of South Carolina, College of Journalism, Partnership Board, Greenville County - South Carolina Ambassador for Economic Development, Distinguished Alumni of the Year, University of South Carolina, University of South Carolina, College of Journalism, Diamond Circle, as well as a member of the South Carolina Centers of Economic Excellence Review Board.

Don A. Holbrook, CEcD
President and CEO
The Verticas Group

Don Holbrook is a private practitioner involved in the major elements of site selection for major private sector investment projects and economic development consulting nationally. His site selection consultancy specializes in public backed inducements and incentives that reduce the risk of new business investment in key markets prior to final location decisions, through, the establishment of a public private partnership in such projects. Don has specialized in creating customized incentive policies that reduce the over-all cost of the project to the clients.

Holbrook is recognized as an early pioneer of site location and community profiling technology based infrastructure. He assisted in establishing the data standards utilized today as the industry standard through his role at the International Economic Development Council. He is regarded as one of the experts in the field on technology based site selection and creative financing for public investments in catalyst private sector projects. He is the developer of the patent pending dynamic site location database model now currently licensed to the industry with the IEDC.

He has authored a soon to be released book, “Who Moved My Smoke Stack,” and is one of the most highly published and quoted subject matter experts in the field today.

Amy Holloway
President and CEO
Avalanche Consulting

Amy Holloway is the President and CEO of Austin-based Avalanche Consulting. She founded Avalanche in 2005 to offer economic developers a new approach to marketing - one that is fresh thinking, highly creative, and implementation oriented. Avalanche provides marketing strategies, economic development plans, and marketing campaign management.

Holloway has 13 years of experience in economic development planning and marketing. During her consulting career, she has led focus groups and interviews with thousands of people. From 1996-2005, Holloway served as Senior Project Manager and then Vice President of Economic Development for AngelouEconomics. She oversaw the firm’s economic development planning department and led the firm’s own marketing campaign. While there, Holloway wrote dozens of economic development and marketing strategies, including plans for: Charleston; Santa Fe; Metro Orlando; Fort Bend County; Greater Binghamton; Northwest North Carolina; Cleveland; the State of Texas; and the Texas Workforce Commission. Between 2000 and 2002, she managed AngelouEconomics’ European office in Germany, where her clients included the promotion agencies of the Czech Republic, Portugal, and Carinthia, Austria.

Before joining AngelouEconomics, Holloway was an economic consultant for Nobel Prize nominated Dr. M. Ray Perryman at The Perryman Group. In 2005, she was a business development manager for industrial design-build firm Gray Construction.

Vicki Horton
Partner
SC&H Group

Vicki has been working with corporate clients for over 15 years conducting location and site selection projects. She has a Master of Public Administration Degree with a focus on Economic Development from Cleveland State University. She has worked for several real estate development firms as well as leading economic development and location firms including the economic development consulting group at Cleveland State University’s College of Urban Affairs, The Austin Company’s Facilities Location Group, Fantus Consulting and Deloitte & Touche. Vicki also spent several years of her career as Director of Network Strategy for a leading global consumer products company. She currently works for SC&H Group and leads the Firm’s Location, Credits and Incentives group.

Vicki has competed projects for hundreds of clients in diverse industries over her 15 plus years as a location consultant. She has worked with clients from the business and location strategy phase of projects though the start up of new facilities and every phase in between. She has done work for many large and midsize companies, recognizable clients include: Avery Denison, Hobart, Porsche, Springs Industries, ADP, Chicos, Simmons, Cox Enterprises, Fisher Scientific, Under Armour, Gaylord Entertainment, and T Rowe Price.

Joy Hymel
Strategic Partners Officer
Georgia Tech
Enterprise Innovation Institute

Joy Hymel works in the Strategic Partners Office of Georgia Tech, where she develops broad business relationships with leading companies deemed strategically important to Georgia Tech’s research and economic development mission. She also is responsible for marketing the services and programs of the Nanotechnology Research Center to businesses and academic institutions. In addition, she leverages the resources of Georgia Tech’s Distance Learning and Professional Education to meet the lifelong learning needs of businesses and government agencies.

In 2002, Joy Hymel joined the University System of Georgia to address key issues in workforce development and innovation. As Assistant Vice Chancellor of the Office of Economic Development, Hymel led the University System of Georgia’s efforts to support the growth of the state’s economy through the System’s signature economic development program, ICAPP. The Intellectual Capital Partnership Program provides college-educated talent that is in high demand and low supply to Georgia businesses.

Hymel has more than 20 years of business and economic development experience that includes work with the University System of Georgia, the Georgia Department of Economic Development, the Metro Atlanta and Greater Cincinnati chambers of commerce, Georgia Institute of Technology, and KPMG.

Larry L. Johnson
Commissioner
Dekalb County Board of Commissioners

Commissioner Larry Johnson was elected as the DeKalb 3rd District Commissioner in November 2002. With the overwhelming support of the community he won with 92 percent of the vote, making him one the youngest commissioners to ever be elected to serve on the Board of Commissioners. During his first year in office, he accomplished a number of things, including voting for 32 million dollars in infrastructure and highway improvements, such as sidewalks and improvements to relieve traffic congestion; the Millage Rate was decreased for homeowners; and the adoption of the Property Maintenance Ordinance. Commissioner Johnson has served as Chairman of the Economic Development/Planning Committee for the Board of Commissioners; is past the Chair of the Board of Education/Board of Commissioners Intergovernmental Committee; former chair of the Budget Review Committee; former chair of the Economic Development/Planning Committee; and currently serves as the Chair of the MARTA Partnership Committee and is also Chair of the Economic Development Committee.

Margaret “Peggy” Jolley, CEcD
Regional Manager Community and Economic Development
Georgia Power Company

As Georgia Power’s community and economic development manager in the Coastal Region, Ms. Jolley supports the local communities through leadership development, strategic planning, existing industry retention and expansions, and with new companies considering an expansion or relocation to the area.

Prior to joining the Georgia Power team in 2003, Peggy’s previous experience included serving as senior vice president of the Savannah Economic Development Authority, project manager for the Georgia Department of Economic Development, and executive director of the Moultrie-Colquitt County Chamber of Commerce.

She obtained her Certified Economic Developer designation in 1998, and is a graduate of the Institute for Organizational Management. Peggy is a past president of the Georgia Economic Developers Association, is a board member and chair of Scholarship Committee of Coastal Business Education & Technology Alliance and maintains membership in the International Economic Development Council, as well as various regional and local organizations.

Joan Jorgenson
President
Jorgenson Consulting

Joan has over 20 years of executive search experience within the economic development, chamber of commerce, government, and private sector organizations. Joan started Jorgenson Consulting nearly 15 years ago and has built the company into one of the top executive consulting firms in North America.

Joan is a past member of the International Economic Development Council and Southern Economic Development Council Board of Directors. Joan is a regular speaker at annual national and state economic development association meetings

Sven-Erik Kaiser
Policy Team Leader
US Environmental Protection Agency
Office of BLR

Sven-Erik Kaiser coordinates policy and strategic issues for the nationally recognized EPA Brownfields Program. He speaks widely on brownfields cleanup and reuse and has produced numerous reports and articles on brownfields revitalization.

Before joining the Brownfields Program, Mr. Kaiser worked in EPA offices including the Superfund Revitalization Office, the Superfund Enforcement Office, and the Federal Facilities Restoration and Reuse Office. He has also worked at the U.S. Department of Justice, in a Congressional office, and for the State of New York. Mr. Kaiser earned J.D. and B.A. degrees from Syracuse University and an M.P.A. from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs.

Alex King, MBE
Deputy Leader
Kent City Council

Alex King, MBE is Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Corporate Support and External Affairs, Kent County Council, UK. Situated strategically between London and the English Channel, Kent is regarded as the UK’s gateway to Europe.

Alex was elected as a member of the Council in 1989 and appointed as Deputy Leader in 2005. His responsibilities include Kent’s international relationships and the Council’s personnel, IT, communication and strategic development functions. Kent County Council is rated ‘excellent’ by the UK Audit Commission and is at the forefront of government at the local level.

Kent County Council has well established connections in Europe and the United States, particularly with the Commonwealth of Virginia. Kent’s international contacts are particularly related to trade and inward investment. Increasingly Kent is looking for best practice internationally to continue to improve the quality of services and achieve best value for money.

Alex has had a successful career in personnel and general management and continues to serve as director of his management consultancy, The King Partnership. He was appointed MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) in 2007 and is a member of the World Traders Livery Company and a Freeman of the City of London.

Steven L. Kinney, CEcD
President
EDCO – The Economic Development Corporation of Oxnard

Steven Kinney is the founding president of the Economic Development Corporation of Oxnard, a fourteen-year-old private non-profit organization devoted to elevating the prosperity of Oxnard-area residents and businesses. The company has focused on the successful rebuilding of the Oxnard manufacturing and commercial base over the last decade, in partnership with the City of Oxnard. Prior to starting EDCO, Steve worked for the City of Oxnard, as the director of its redevelopment agency, then as the director of economic development, a position which was ultimately abolished in favor of the new non-profit organization.

Steve has lived in the Oxnard area since 1987, the first eight years on his sailboat in Channel Islands Harbor. He came to California from Hampton, Virginia, where he was the City’s Planning Director. He managed the planning and development of a historic waterfront restoration project, and started and ran a non-profit downtown festival and events organization for the City.

Steve is a charter Board member of the UCSB Economic Forecast Project, serves as the Board Chairman of the Oxnard/Port Hueneme Boys & Girls Club, and is the Immediate Past Chairman of the St. Johns Regional Medical Center Board.

Mike Kirchhoff, CEcD
Vice President, Business Retention & Recruitment
EDC of Kansas City, Missouri

Mike Kirchhoff is the Vice President of Retention and Recruitment for the Economic Development Corporation of Kansas City, Missouri. During more than 18 years in economic development, he has served in downtown redevelopment, tourism, and industrial development roles at the state, regional, and local levels. In addition to his current role, Kirchhoff’s economic development background includes positions with Illinois state government, Illinois Power Company, The Indy Partnership, and local economic development programs in Jacksonville and Tuscola, Illinois. Kirchhoff is also the Principal of DPI Group, an economic development consulting firm. His specialties include program development, retention, structuring and funding local economic development programs, community coalition building, and web site development. Kirchhoff is a frequent public speaker on these topics and is also the author of a wide range of articles, handbooks and related economic development literature.

Ronald R. Kitchens
Chief Executive Officer
Southwest Michigan First

Ron Kitchens is the Chief Executive Officer of Southwest Michigan First as well as the Managing Partner of the Southwest Michigan First Life Science Venture Fund. Ron hosts a weekly television program, Business First, authors a bi-monthly business column and speaks to business and professional groups throughout the nation.

Throughout his nearly 25 year career in economic development in Michigan, Texas and Missouri, Ron has worked with more than two-hundred Fortune 500, international or regional corporations. Ron’s work has been cited in Fast Company, Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, CBS News and National Public Radio, along with dozens of other national and international media outlets. Ron’s work has been recognized with dozens of awards, including prestigious marketing and innovation awards from IEDC and CoreNet Global.

Jill Klinger
New Enterprise and Emerging Business Director
Greater Mankato Growth Inc.

In April 2006, Jill joined Greater Mankato Growth, Inc., the chamber of commerce and economic development organization for south central Minnesota (formerly Greater Mankato Economic Development Corporation). Over the past two years, she has focused on coordinating and developing the Business Accelerator program, the gateway to business development resources. Jill serves as a broker between entrepreneurs and those that offer business development assistance. An integral part of Jill’s role is to overcome and resolve barriers and deficiencies of services in the marketplace by developing partnerships and initiatives to satisfy the needs. She is also charged with the challenge of streamlining the business development process through the online referral and tracking tool.

Robin Roberts Krieger, FM
Executive Vice President, Economic Development
Greater Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce

Robin Roberts Krieger is Executive Vice President of Economic Development for the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber, and leads the 10-county region in international and domestic business recruitment, and Oklahoma City in expansion and retention, research and strategy development.

Prior to assuming the position in Oklahoma City, she served as a Regional Coordinator for the Oregon Governor’s Office, focusing on developing cooperation between local, community and state government on economic development projects.

Previously she served as Director of Economic Development for the Portland Development Commission, where she oversaw Economic Development activities as well as two urban renewal areas. Prior, she was Executive Director of Economic Development for Central Oregon, and International and Product Development Manager for the Oregon Tourism Commission, part of the Oregon Economic and Community Development Department.

The International Economic Development Council has chosen Roberts Krieger as the Chairman of the Board for 2008. She serves on the Governor’s Economic Development Team, as well as on the Oklahoma City University, Love’s Entrepreneurship Center Operating Committee. She was recently chosen to serve on the Board of Directors of the Industrial Asset Management Council.

Roberts Krieger is the co-author of “Community Wisdom”, a humorous look at economic and community development and a frequently requested speaker on economic development topics.

Paul Krutko
Chief Development Officer
City of San Jose, California

Since joining the City of San Jose in 2002, Paul Krutko has led the development and implementation of an Economic Development Strategy for the world’s leading center of technology and innovation. He also helped create and implement the City’s Green Vision that is creating economic growth through ten environmental sustainability goals.

Significant accomplishments include retention and expansion projects for headquarter facilities for eBay and Cisco Systems, the acquisition of 78 acres of a former FMC site for mixed use development which includes a major league soccer stadium.

Krutko has been instrumental in advocating and developing signature events, such as the biennial ZeroOne San Jose art and technology festival and the returning Amgen Tour of California. As chief development officer, Krutko leads the City of San Jose’s Community and Economic Development City Service Area coordinating a broad range of development service and facilitation activities on behalf of the City Manager.

Prior to coming to San Jose, he held various strategic economic development, downtown leadership and planning roles with the City of Jacksonville, Florida, Cleveland, Ohio and Cuyahoga County, Ohio. Krutko is a board member of the International Economic Development Council and the California Association for Local Economic Development.

James Ku
Manager
Tractus-Asia Ltd.

Mr. Ku joined Tractus Asia in 2006 and works out of the firm's Shanghai office. Here he is responsible for leading consulting engagements throughout Asia on behalf of multi-national clients.

Mr. Ku has worked on private sector projects including site selection, market entry strategy, corporate restructuring, and real estate transaction advisory; he has also led investment promotion efforts in the public sector. His primary areas of expertise include the manufacturing, real estate, and financial industries.

Prior to joining Tractus, Mr. Ku worked for Wells Fargo Bank's commercial real estate lending group where he underwrote construction and acquisition financing. He subsequently moved to Shanghai where his experience included working for a start-up media company and consulting on a real estate project. Mr. Ku received his Bachelor of Science degree in Economics with concentrations in Finance and Management from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. He also holds a Master in Public Policy from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. Born and raised in the United States, he is fluent in English and Mandarin.

Charles H. Kuck
Managing Partner
Kuck Casablanca & Odom, LLC

Mr. Kuck is managing shareholder of Kuck Casablanca LLC----The Immigration Law Firm, with offices in Atlanta, Georgia, Miami, Florida, and Charlotte, North Carolina. Mr. Kuck also maintains an active federal court practice focusing on immigration issues and also advises employers on compliance procedures in verifying the work eligibility of employees under the E-Verify and I-9 "employer sanctions" provisions of federal law. His major clients include technology firms, manufacturers, multinational corporations and individual investors and entrepreneurs as well as individual immigrants and asylum seekers. Mr. Kuck has testified before Congress on immigration matters and has spoken at various legal, industry, business and civic organizations on a broad range of immigration topics.

Mr. Kuck currently serves as the National President of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA). Mr. Kuck also is an Adjunct Professor of Law at the University Of Georgia School Of Law, where he teaches several immigration law related classes.

Mr. Kuck is listed in The Best Lawyers in America; International Who's Who of Immigration Lawyers; Chambers USA – America’s Leading Lawyers for Business; and in Chambers Global – The World’s Leading Lawyers for Business. He is a founding fellow of the Alliance of Business Immigration Lawyers (ABIL).

Michael C. LaFerle
Vice President of Real Estate
The Home Depot Inc.

Mike LaFerle is Vice President of Real Estate for Home Depot. As Vice President of Real Estate, Mike is responsible for the development of all traditional orange box and subsidiary retail facilities throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico and now China. The Real Estate Department also acquires and develops all office, warehouse and distribution facilities, which support the retail business. In addition to new store development, the Real Estate Department works closely with the Strategic Business Development team in the evaluation and integration of acquisition opportunities.

Mike joined The Home Depot in September 1997 as a Manager of Real Estate in the Midwest Division responsible for new store development in Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota. In 1999, he became the Director of Real Estate for the Midwest Division, responsible for new store development in 15 states. In 2002, Mike was promoted to Vice President of Real Estate.

Prior to joining The Home Depot, Mike was the Director of Real Estate Development for ALDI Inc. During his 10 years as Real Estate Director at ALDI, he was responsible for creating the initial deployment strategy in the United States, including new stores, regional offices and distribution centers.

Cindy Langston
Marketing Manager
El Dorado Promise & El Dorado Forward

Cindy Langston became Marketing Manager for the El Dorado Promise and El Dorado Forward in August 2007.

Ms. Langston brought a wealth of experience as a leader in Media Marketing and Public Relations. She started her ca