Misti Martin currently serves as the president of the Cherokee Office of Economic Development in the Greater Atlanta Area. Misti is a native of Georgia and has been in the Chamber and Economic Development field since 1991. In 2004, Misti was named as the President of the Development Authority of Cherokee County, now known as the Cherokee Office of Economic Development.

Prior to assuming her current role, Misti served as President & CEO of the Newton County Chamber of Commerce in Covington, Georgia. She also worked for the Cherokee County Chamber of Commerce & Development Authority and the Carl Vinson Institute of Government at the University of Georgia.

Misti has held numerous positions on state boards for Chamber and Economic Development organizations and served as Chair of the Georgia Economic Developers Association in 2012. She became a Certified Economic Developer by the International Economic Development Council in 2000 and is a 2005 Graduate of Leadership Georgia.  Misti was featured as one of Georgia Trend Magazine’s “40 Under 40” in 2011 and as a “Notable Georgian” in 2012 and 2013.

Misti earned a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in management from the University of Georgia and a Master of Business Administration from Troy University. She is also a graduate of University of Oklahoma’s Economic Development Institute (EDI) as well as the Institute for Organization Management at the University of Georgia.

Broderick Green serves as the senior director of business development for JAXUSA Partnership. In this role, he focuses on the expansion and relocation of the Health and Life Sciences and IT industries in Northeast Florida.

Prior to assuming this role, Broderick was the Deputy Chief of Staff for council member Arnie Fielkow in the City of New Orleans. He has been named to the national “40 Under 40” Rising Stars in Economic Development list and the 40 Under 40 by Jacksonville Business Journal.

Broderick holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology from The University of New Orleans. As an avid sports and music fan and “foodie,” he enjoys reading and spending time with his wife and young son.

 

Adriana Cruz is the president of the Greater San Marcos Partnership, a regional economic development organization working on behalf of the city of San Marcos, Hays and Caldwell Counties, established to encourage economic growth in the heart of the Austin-San Antonio corridor.

With more than 20 years of leadership experience in economic development and marketing at the state and regional level, Adriana leads the organization’s efforts to diversify and strengthen the economy through high quality jobs and investment by implementing a comprehensive multi-year economic development strategic plan. As part of this strategy she promotes the region across the U.S. and abroad. Most recent accomplishments for GSMP are the announcement of more than 2,300 new jobs and over $225 million in investment including Amazon’s newest fulfillment center (1,000 jobs) and EPIC Piping, the world’s largest pipe fabrication facility under one roof (600 jobs).

Prior to assuming this role, Adriana was the vice president of global corporate recruitment for the Austin Chamber of Commerce, where she was project lead in high profile corporate relocations and expansions including Apple, Facebook, eBay, Hanger Orthopedic, Samsung and LegalZoom. Adriana served for four years leading the statewide effort to promote Texas as a location for jobs and investment in Governor Rick Perry’s Economic Development and Tourism Office.

In January 2016, she was appointed by Governor Abbott to the Texas Economic Incentives Oversight Board to review the efficiency of Texas’ incentive programs. Adriana also serves on numerous boards including the Foreign Trade Zone of Central Texas, University Federal Credit Union, United Way of Hays County and Texas State University’s STAR Park Commercialization Advisory Council. In 2014, Adriana was named a finalist in the Austin Business Journal’s Profiles in Power: Central Texas Women of Influence Award.

Adriana holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in Marketing from The University of Texas at Austin.

Alicia Hutchings has been with the Kansas Department of Commerce for over eight years and currently serves as the business recruitment project manager. In this role, Alicia manages site location and business recruitment projects for the state of Kansas.

During Alicia’s time with the Kansas Department of Commerce, she has worked with over 260 companies, creating more than 21,000 jobs in Kansas. Successful projects include Amazon.com; Meadowlark Dairy Nutrition, LLC; Kiewit Energy Group, Inc.; Epiq Systems, Inc.; Hoefer Wysocki Architects, LLC; Hostess Brands, LLC; The Coleman Company; and Excel Industries, Inc.  In Alicia’s time with the Kansas Department of Commerce, she has also successfully worked on the headquarter relocations of BATS Trading and WireCo World Group, Inc. among others.

For the past 16 years, Alicia has worked at the state and local level in both Texas and Kansas in various aspects of economic development. Her experience in economic development  includes marketing, research, business park management and business attraction and retention efforts.  While working in the private sector, Alicia was the co-creator and vice president of sales for the EcoDev Tracker.

Alicia holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Kansas, and is a graduate of Leadership Lawrence and the Economic Development Institute at the University of Oklahoma.

Lisa Rivera Skubal has been an economic development practitioner for over two decades. As the vice president of economic development for the Greater Cedar Valley Alliance & Chamber, Lisa is responsible for leading staff and programs dedicated to business recruitment and retention, talent recruitment and business and economic information delivery for the Cedar Valley of Iowa.

Prior to her current position, Lisa served as the Director of Marketing for the Greater Cedar Valley Alliance & Chamber and former Cedar Valley Economic Development Corporation. Before moving to the Cedar Valley, she was a project manager and marketing specialist with the former Quad City Development Group and Corridor of Opportunities Regional Group in Illinois.

Lisa is a certified economic developer and past recipient of the 20 Under 40 award from the Waterloo/Cedar Falls Courier. Lisa is past chair of the Cedar Valley Regional Marketing Partnership, past board member of the Cedar Falls Main Street Member and Illinois Quad Cities YWCA and past president of the Waterloo Jaycees. Lisa is a current member of the International Economic Development Council and Professional Developers of Iowa.

Lisa holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and a Master of Science degree in Community Development from Southern Illinois University in Carbondale. She also graduated from the University of Oklahoma Economic Development Institute in Norman, OK.

Grady Fitzpatrick joined Greater New Orleans, Inc. in 2011 as vice president of business development. In this role, Grady markets the 10-parish Southeastern region of Greater New Orleans working to attract new jobs and investment in areas such as corporate headquarters, software, digital media and advanced manufacturing.

Previously, Grady held the position of senior business development manager of economic development for the Metro Atlanta Chamber. Grady carried out all aspects of site selection for competitive domestic and international business recruitment projects. Grady successfully recruited over 15 domestic and international companies to Atlanta, representing over $300M in new capital investment and over 2,500 new jobs for Atlanta. Grady also worked at PricewaterhouseCoopers in sales and business development, XO Communications and Discovery Communications.

Grady is an active member of the Young Leadership Council of New Orleans and the Louisiana Industrial Development Executive Association.

Grady received his Bachelor of Science degree in Communications from Boston College and completed his Master of Business Administration with a concentration in real estate at Georgia State University.

Bill Adams has been with TVA (Tennessee Valley Authority) for over 12 years. He is a senior target market specialist for transportation-related manufacturing (OEMs), special projects and product development initiatives. Most notable has been the TVA Certified Megasites Program, which has contributed to the creation of approximately 6,000 direct jobs and $5.3 billion in capital investment. Bill is a team leader for TVA Economic Development’s Product Development Division, and serves as a primary target market specialist for large-scale projects, like OEM automotive assembly.

Before joining TVA Economic Development, Bill was employed with the Mississippi Development Authority from 1994 to 2003, serving as a recruitment specialist for the automotive industry.

Bill is a member of the International Economic Development Council and various state economic development councils and automotive manufacturer associations.

Bill is a graduate of Mississippi State University, where he earned a Bachelor’s degree in political science and holds a Master’s degree in public policy and administration. Bill is also a graduate of the University of Oklahoma’s Economic Development Institute and is a certified economic and community developer.

Beth Doughty has been the executive director for the Roanoke Regional Partnership for over eight years. She manages a $1.2 million economic development program for a seven-locality, urban-suburban-rural region. Beth oversees a program of work designed to attract people, jobs, money and ideas to the region. Beth’s responsibilities include marketing strategy, connecting business with resources for expansion and location, organizational management and fundraising.

Prior to joining the Roanoke Regional Partnership, Beth was the president of the Roanoke Regional Chamber of Commerce. Beth was responsible for the operations of the 1,400 member business organization with an annual budget of $1.1 million. Beth’s operating units included the small business development center, leadership development and governmental relations. Beth was also responsible for the management of $2 million in assets of nonprofit real estate development foundations. Beth managed the business political action committee and an organization of the region’s largest employers.

Beth has lectured on economic development at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, Virginia Tech, Roanoke College and was a visiting lecturer for the Mellon Foundation in the Czech Republic.

Beth is a graduate of the University of Virginia and a past president and a cardinal of the Virginia Economic Developers Association.

Greg HeadshotGreg Wathen serves as president and CEO of the Economic Development Coalition of Southwest Indiana. Since March of 2007, his leadership has helped garner over $2.8 billion in investment, over 3,500 jobs and $74 million in state and federal grants for the region. In 2015, Greg’s collaborative efforts saw Indiana’s Great Southwest named one of Indiana’s first Regional Cities and being awarded $42 million in state funding to help create projects to attract talent to the region.

Not only has Greg helped create Southwest Indiana into a national brand, he has helped steer projects such as worldwide appliance giant Haier America to place its first research and development tech center in Evansville.

Prior to his work at the Coalition, Greg worked as the executive director for the Perry County Development Corporation and was public affairs manager for the Greater Louisville Economic Development Partnership.  He also managed the Greater Louisville Media Information Center, an independent news service bureau which assisted international, national and regional media in dealing with stories about the Greater Louisville area.  In 1999 and 2001, he was part of a five-member U.S. team who taught the first tertiary and advanced economic development courses in New Zealand.

A graduate of Indiana State University, Greg is accredited in Public Relations by the Public Relations Society of America and held the position of president for the Bluegrass Chapter of the PRSA. He is a past president and served on the board of directors of the Indiana Economic Development Association, a statewide economic development organization with more than 400 members.

David RumbargerDavid Rumbarger has over 30 years of economic development/existing industry and Chamber of Commerce management. Since August 2000, David has served as president and CEO of the Community Development Foundation of Tupelo, Mississippi. Under his leadership, Tupelo/Lee County has experienced exceptional growth. David’s most recent recruit, Grammer Inc. USA, employs 650 individuals. In December 2008, David successfully led a team to retain the 1,200 jobs at Cooper Tire and Rubber Plant. David played a pivotal role in locating Toyota’s Corolla Plant in North Mississippi; that plant now employs 2,000 with over one billion dollars of capital investment.

Previously, David worked for The Alabama Department of Community and Economic Affairs, the largest economic development agency in the state; North Carolina Power & Light and Energen.

Tupelo/Lee County ranked #4 in the nation for projects in 2015. David’s leadership was recognized in 2008 for the SEDC Project of the Year. He has received the designations of Top Ten Developer by Triangle Business Journal in 1997, Top 40 under 40 by Mississippi Business Journal in 1995, Hattiesburg Sales and Marketing Executive of the Year in 1995, Top Young Developers by Expansion Management Magazine in 1995 and Top 20 Area Development Partnership by Site Selection Magazine in 1994.

David graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree from Auburn University, holds a Master of Science in Economic Development from the University of Southern Mississippi and a Management Certificate from Duke University.