World-Class Faculty Members Share Insights from their Experience

Lacy Beasley

President, Retail Strategies

Lacy Beasley currently serves as President and formerly as COO of Retail Strategies. She has been involved in retail real estate since 2005. Her experience with The Shopping Center Group and the Dickson County Chamber of Commerce prior to joining Retail Strategies provides her with the insight to understand the connections needed from the public and private side of the conversation.

A graduate of Lipscomb University, she earned a major in Marketing and Management. Beasley has served on committees with CCIM, EDAA, and multiple ICSC planning committees. In 2018 Lacy was named to the “Top 40 under 40” and “Top 40 Under 40 for the Decade” by the Birmingham Business Journal, included in the nationwide “Top 100 influencers in Commercial Real Estate,” and listed as one of Birmingham’s “Eight emerging Influencers.”

Dr. Adam Brooks

Assistant Director of Public Speaking, The University of Alabama

Woven into the advanced program is an interactive session on public speaking and communications. Adam leads the class with Dr. Alexa Chilcutt, through an effective communications session featuring individual class presentations and analyses. Public speaking and presentations are central to today’s successful professional. This half-day session focuses on delivery, mass communication, and rhetoric.

Dr. Shannon Campbell

Associate Vice President of Coastal Operations and Former Director Trent Lott National Center for Economic Development, University of Southern Mississippi

With local economic development private-sector and university broad-based experience, Shannon leads the “Strategic Planning: Lessons from Class Plans or the Good, the Bad and the Ugly” session.

As a dean, manufacturing expert and long-time entrepreneur, Shannon’s experience, coupled with class strategic plans, make for an unpredictable and informative session – utilizing actual class strategic plans as the learning platform.

Dr. Alexa Chilcutt

Director of Public Speaking, The University of Alabama

Woven into the advanced program is an interactive session on public speaking and communications. Alexa leads the class with Dr. Adam Brooks, through an effective communications session featuring individual class presentations and analyses. Public speaking and presentations are central to today’s successful professional. This half-day session focuses on delivery, mass communication, and rhetoric.

Kenny Coleman

Senior Vice President, Center Point Energy (TX)

Kenny Coleman brings more than a decade experience with The Southern Company, one of the nation’s largest electric utilities, to the AEDL class as he leads a session on effectively utilizing electric utilities in the job creation process.  Quite often, utilities have resources that can impact a community’s competitiveness, but managing those resources can be an evolving challenge.  A former professional baseball player, Kenny’s early team and competitiveness lessons are now ingrained in his approach to economic development.

Chad Driskell

Vice President for External Affairs, The University of Southern Mississippi

Chad Driskell currently oversees the government relations and external affairs portfolio at USM. With 20 years experience in governmental affairs and business, Chad has learned valuable funding and revenue enhancement strategies that are so important in these organizational budget challenged times. The lessons and best-practices can be applied to funding strategies for any size economic development organization.

Dr. Rita Kosnik

Professor, Management and Negotiations, Texas Christian University

With an extensive background in negotiation strategies, Rita leads the “Effective Negotiation Strategies” session. She has won several awards for excellence in executive teaching and is one of the most popular faculty for AEDL.

She is a trained mediator for the state of Texas and a corporate trainer in dispute resolution and negotiations.

Lisa Kuuttila

CEO & Chief Economic Development Officer, UNM Rainforest Innovations

Ms. Kuuttila joined UNM Rainforest Innovations, the University of New Mexico’s technology-transfer program, as President & CEO in 2003. She works with the UNM Rainforest Innovations’ Board of Directors in developing strategies for implementing UNM’s vision to play a vital role in New Mexico’s economic development and to be a leader in technology commercialization.

Ms. Kuuttila has more than 20 years of prior leadership experience in technology commercialization and licensing. Her prior experience also includes a consulting practice that provided strategic marketing and technology-transfer consulting services for a wide variety of well-known technology corporations, universities and foundations, including Stanford University.

Kate McEnroe

Veteran site consultant and education expert

Kate leads the “Talent Challenges and Opportunities” session, utilizing her vast experience working with communities on projects and workforce information.  In every survey, talent for a prospective company or an expanding business is at the top of the list of requirements.  Kate will examine what data/information decision-makers need to make the cut/final few and how communities can improve on both general talent information and RFP responses.

Alex Leath

Partner, Bradley Law Firm

One of the nation’s foremost experts on project financing and incentives, Alex’s session “Lessons from the Buffalo Hunt” focuses on successful and not-so-successful competition, lessons from a recent mega project, out of the box financing options and the incentives debate.

In addition to a successful economic development legal practice, Alex has been involved in some of the country’s major site location projects for organizations that include Volkswagen, Tesla and Amazon HQ2.

Dr. Ed Nichols

Certified Emergenetics Facilitator and former educator

Ed’s energetic and engaging opening session focuses on individual profiles of class members’ personality and professional traits and how to use those traits in economic development, communication, negotiation and everyday interaction.

Emergenetics is a leadership, planning and communication tool used in 22 countries and countless U.S. board rooms. Ed’s engaging approach encourages everyone in the class to explore his/her strengths and weaknesses in a fun, educational afternoon session.

Gregg Fraley

Consultant, Trainer, Facilitator, Author, Sought-after Speaker

Author of Jack’s Notebook, Gregg Fraley leads the class discussion on “Creativity, Innovation and Job Creation.” He is a much sought-after speaker having recently addressed the Site Selectors Guild.

Victor W. Hwang

Founder and CEO of Right to Start

Victor W. Hwang is founder and CEO of Right to Start, a new campaign fighting for everyone’s right to be an entrepreneur as a national policy priority. Previously, he was Vice President of Entrepreneurship at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, the world’s leading philanthropy supporting entrepreneurs, where he managed a budget of $40 million. At Kauffman, he led initiatives that impacted over 200,000 entrepreneurs in 200 cities, including efforts in catalyzing capital formation, transforming economic development practices, launching a national policy roadmap, and breaking barriers for underserved entrepreneurs. Hwang is a graduate of Harvard University and the University of Chicago Law School.

Ken Haseley

Senior Counselor, The Ammerman Experience

Media relations and effective communication with the media are essential in today’s economic development environment. With sunshine laws and media transparency, the professional must be able to communicate effectively and in an understandable format. Ken’s half-day, interactive media training session includes individual class interviews, video examples and lessons from his years of experience.

Karl Kelly

Director of Operations, Center for Human Genetics, Clemson University

As a successful entrepreneur, professor, consultant and innovation guru, Karl combines his 35 years of experience to teach a class book session that examines the impact advanced technology, innovation and artificial intelligence will have on future job creation strategies. If you’re not thinking and preparing 10 years ahead, you’re already behind.

Karl also teaches applications from Technology Villages, a concept inaugurated in rural South Carolina. Based on the adage that every community has entrepreneurs who can create new jobs through innovation, technology or the execution of a good business idea, these lessons focus on entrepreneur centers in rural America.

Jim Roach

Executive Director, TCU Neeley Executive Education

Jim Roach joined TCU Neeley Executive Education as executive director in 2014. In this role, he is responsible for overall strategic direction, in-person & virtual program design & delivery, business development, marketing, and building strategic partnerships with businesses and alumni.

He is the recipient of multiple teaching awards and has designed and delivered courses on a wide variety of subjects that include adaptive leadership, executive presence & communication, learning agility, creativity, motivating & engaging people, retaining top talent, and building and managing the employment relationship.

David Rumbarger

President/CEO, Community Development Foundation, Tupelo/Lee County, MS

With 17 years leading Tupelo (a somewhat rural Mississippi area) to exceptional growth, David has learned and applied unique lessons about leadership in a complex, regional environment. Employing professional and personal lessons, David teaches the AEDL session “Leadership in the New Age of Economic Development.”

He also serves as mentor-in-residence for those who want to explore leadership applications in their individual settings.

Dr. Abbie Shipp

Associate Professor of Management, Texas Christian University

Throughout the week, AEDL focuses on professional and personal leadership. Abbie’s workshop “Influencing Change for Economic Success” examines the importance of change and how professionals can be change agents in their communities. At TCU, Abbie teaches classes on employee management and leadership with special emphasis on critical thinking initiatives for faculty and students.

In addition to academia, she has practical business experience having worked at the Boeing Company and TV Guide prior to teaching stints at Texas A&M, the University of North Carolina and Oklahoma State University.
Her session was a highlight for AEDL’s inaugural class.

Mark Williams

President, Strategic Development Group
Past Chairman, Site Selectors Guild

As one of the nation’s premier site consultants, Mark joins the AEDL faculty to lead a session on site selection in the new normal. With thirty plus years in government economic development and consulting, Mark brings a unique perspective to the class and will be sharing ideas and principles from his new book Corporate Site Selection and Economic Development.

Don Erwin

Author, consultant, and former economic developer

Don Erwin’s experiences include being an economic development manager with Alabama Power Company, the VP of recruiting for the Economic Development Partnership of Alabama (EDPA), and VP and management board member at Barber Companies, a large commercial development company.

He led the effort to start Alabama’s first International Baccalaureate School program, was part of the teams that brought Mercedes-Benz to Alabama and developed a 140,000 SF award-winning business incubator, and led the economic development effort which resulted in the world’s largest motorcycle museum and a 840-acre motorsports park whose two largest customers are Porsche and Mercedes, and which annually hosts an Indycar race.

Don’s journey as an author began with the question: Why are there no thriller novels about economic development? Answering that question led to Buffalo Hunting in Alabama, a novel published in 2020.

Don’s AEDL presentation, Moneyball Economic Development Thru a Novel Approach, discusses whether the economic development business will ever have its Moneyball moment.

Debra Lyons

Principal, Lyons Workforce; Principal Strategist, Garner Economics

With twenty-five years in workforce development, Debra is now the principal with Lyons Workforce LLC and principal workforce strategist with Garner Economics.  She led the workforce development office in Georgia and served as VP Community/Economic Development at ACT, Inc. and authored the company’s workforce development initiative.  Obviously, her session focuses on workforce, especially in these unsettled employment challenges and the very key role economic development professionals play in the solution process.

Matt Kisber

President & CEO, Silicon Ranch Corporation

A former Tennessee legislator and commissioner of the state’s economic development agency, Matt launched a new career following his government service.  He co-founded Silicon Ranch and his team has developed the company into a national solar energy giant, with projects across the U.S.  Matt’s session will focus on the world’s growing reliance on electric vehicles and the ancillary support and infrastructure projects that accompany a reliance on non-carbon-based vehicles.

Alex Holland

Chief Executive Officer, Atlas Community Studios

Alex is Co-founder and CEO of Atlas Community Studios – a firm specializing in strategic planning, economic development, community engagement, funding strategies and advocacy, guided by its mission to inspire action and advance and support the development of communities across the country. Additionally, Alex is Founder and Principal of The Holland Group, an organization that provides advisory services and government affairs solutions to various public and private organizations including federal agencies, nonprofit organizations, institutions of higher education, internet service providers, and more. Alex graduated from the University of Louisiana Monroe with degrees in Political Science (B.A.), Criminal Justice (B.A.), Master of Business Administration (MBA), and Master of Public Administration (MPA). Alex has participated in an executive education course on Authentic Leadership at the Harvard Kennedy School, and is currently studying to become a Certified Economic Developer (CEcD) through Oklahoma University’s Economic Development Institute. She currently resides in Washington, DC, but has lived in Northeast Louisiana and is originally from Las Vegas, Nevada.

Dr. Gary A. Wagner

Acadiana Business Economist/BORSF Eminent Scholar Endowed Chair, University of Louisiana at Lafayette

Dr. Gary A. Wagner currently holds the Acadiana Business Economist/BORSF Eminent Scholar Endowed Chair at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. In this role, he monitors the region’s economic environment, conducts research and analysis, and engages with external stakeholders on behalf of the Moody College of Business and University.

His research interests range from regional economics to state and local public finance issues, with a particular focus on tax structures and economic development. He has authored or coauthored more than 60 professional articles and reports and has delivered more than 400 presentations to public audiences on national and regional economic conditions. Dr. Wagner served on the Governor’s Council of Economic Advisors in Arkansas from 2008-2011, and he is a quarterly participant in the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia’s Survey of Professional Forecasters projecting national economic conditions.

Dr. Wagner holds a Ph.D. in Economics from West Virginia University. His professional research has appeared in many leading economics journals including the Journal of Urban Economics, Journal of Law and Economics, Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, National Tax Journal, Economics and Politics, and Regional Science and Urban Economics. Gary is also editor-in-chief at Public Finance Review and co-editor at Contemporary Economic Policy. Prior to joining the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, he was Vice-President & Senior Regional Officer for the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland.

Dr. Asim Ali

Executive Director of the Biggio Center, Auburn University

Asim Ali, Ph.D. is the Executive Director of the Biggio Center at Auburn University where he advances professional development programs and resources to enhance instructional innovation and support scholarly and creative activities. Prior to this role, he served as Founding Director of Auburn Online. Asim earned a bachelor’s in software engineering, a master’s in information systems management, and doctorate with research focused on self-directed and technology-enhanced learning, all from Auburn University. Asim co-leads work on artificial intelligence to build capacity for understanding and implementing AI, and he has modeled implementation of generative AI in the introduction to information systems management course he teaches for the Harbert College of Business. Asim also co-leads innovative initiatives for microcredentials, augmented and virtual reality, and skills articulation. He has been an invited keynote speaker and presenter nationally and internationally at conferences and universities.