ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT INNOVATION & LEADERSHIP AWARDS HONOR EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF GREATER FREMONT DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL

GFDC executive director, Cecilia Harry, was honored at a special awards ceremony at the annual conference of the International Economic Development Council (IEDC) in Fort Worth, Texas.

“This is an impressive honor and a strong statement of her capabilities.  She has quickly become a force to be reckoned with in the economic development community and we are fortunate to have her on our team.” David Mitchell, president of GFDC.

SAN FRANCISCO, Monday, October 20, 2014 – GIS Planning Inc. of San Francisco, in partnership with fDi Intelligence, a division of the Financial Times in London, recognized 20 professionals from a variety of public and private organizations with its Economic Development Leadership & Innovation Award.

The awards were handed out during a recognition ceremony on Sunday, October 19th, at the awards ceremony in Ft. Worth, Texas. A full list of recipients is listed below.

 “In the profession of economic development two key elements often define the success of communities and economic development professionals: leadership and innovation,” explains Anatalio Ubalde, CEO and co-founder of GIS Planning Inc. “These qualities move things forward and out of the inertia of tradition. They are central to the character of the economic development professionals that define, redefine, and elevate our society.”

“These recipients have the raised the bar for all economic development professionals. They challenge us to be more creative, more courageous and more broad-thinking in our approaches to investment attraction, job creation and business retention.”

The judges created a list of candidates based on changing the profession, demonstrating courage, overcoming incredible odds, organizing a successful initiative that was likely to fail and trying to create a trend to improve the profession.

The judging panel included:

• Anatalio Ubalde, GIS Planning, San Francisco
• Chris Knight, fdi Intelligence, a division of the Financial Times in London, UK
• John Sternlicht, King County, Washington
• Katie McConnell, Loudon County, Virginia
• Cathy Katona, Katona Associates, Chicago
• Joy Wilkins, University of Georgia  

"fDi Intelligence is very pleased to be part of the first Economic Development Leadership and Innovation Awards. It is a recognition of the winners' outstanding contribution to the field of economic development," noted Courtney Fingar, head of content, fDi Intelligence

Recipients of the Economic Development Leadership Award:
Maury Forman, Senior Manager for Rural Initiatives, Innovations and Entrepreneurship with the Washington State Department of Commerce
Greg LeRoy, Founder & Executive Director, Good Jobs First
Anne Roise, CEO, Roise & Associates
Rosie Rios, Treasurer of the United States, United States Department of the Treasury
Roy H. Williams, President & CEO, Greater Oklahoma City Chamber

Recipients of the Economic Development Innovation Award:
Ioanna T. Morfessis, Ph.D. president and chief strategist, IO.INC
Frank Altman, President & CEO, Community Reinvestment Fund, USA
Ted M. Levine, Founder & Chairman, Development Counsellors International (DCI)
Christian Gibbons, Founder, National Center for Economic Gardening

Recipients of the Economic Development Leadership Team Award:
Ed Nelson Director, USFC.EDI
Ronnie L. Bryant, President & CEO Charlotte Regional Partnership
William E. Best, Senior Vice President, PNC Bank
Kurt Chilcott, President & CEO, CDC Business Finance
David L. Spaur, Economic Development Director, County of Monterey

Economic Development Innovation Team Award

Tedra Cheatham Executive Director, The Clean Air Campaign
Danielle Casey  Director Economic Development, City of Scottsdale
Cecilia Harry Executive Director, Greater Fremont Development Council
William C. Sproull, FM President & CEO, Richardson Chamber of Commerce
Julie Curtin Executive Vice President & Partner, Development Counsellors International (DCI)
Andrew T. Levine President & Chief Creative Officer, Development Counsellors International (DCI)

About GIS Planning Inc.
GIS Planning is the world leader in online economic development solutions.  Over 13,000 U.S. cities in 42 states are served by GIS Planning’s Geographic Information System (GIS) Software, ZoomProspector Enterprise, which provides real estate, demographic and industry data to help site selection professionals.  In 2013, GIS Planning launches SizeUp Local Business Intelligence (LBI), an online software tool communities can offer on their websites to give local businesses the data they need to succeed. GIS Planning has been on the Inc. 5000 list for the past five years. Visit the GIS Planning website

About fDi Intelligence
fDi Intelligence is the largest FDI centre of excellence globally. Specialising in all areas relating to foreign direct investment and investment promotion, the full suite of services includes: location advertising to generate brand awareness; industry-leading intelligence tools to develop FDI strategies and identify potential investors; and tailored FDI events and investor roundtables to meet target companies and generate business leads.

Products within the portfolio include fDi Markets, a database tracking cross-border greenfield investment on a real-time basis; fDi Benchmark, a database which benchmarks global locations on their attractiveness to foreign investors; and fDi Magazine.

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