Working Group on Economic Development
2024
Wednesday, November 20, 2024
From Boom to Slow Growth: Trends and Current Challenges 
in the Economic Growth of South Carolina, 1980-2020
Lacy K Ford, Scholar-in-Residence, Institute for Southern Studies, Professor Emeritus of History, University of South Carolina
Thursday, October 18, 2024
Critical Insights into the 2024 Elections
Mac McCorkle, Sanford School of Public Policy, Duke University
Peder Zane, RealClearPolitics and RealClearInvestigations
Wednesday, September 18, 2024
Powering North Carolina Communities
Andrew Tate, Managing Director of Economic Development in North Carolina, Duke Energy
Thursday, March 28, 2024
The New Global Village at Research Triangle Park
Mack Paul, J.D., Columbia Law School and Partner and founding member, Morningstar Law Group
Wednesday, February 28, 2024
Chatham Park: Intentionally Planned and Scaled Development based on Innovation, Connectivity, Quality Design, Healthy Balance and Stewardship
Chuck Smith, PLA, FASLA, Preston Development Co., VP of Planning
Thursday, January 25, 2024
COVID’s Unexpected Rural Dividend – Capitalizing on Remote Work as a Rural Economic Development Strategy
Jason Jolley, MPA Director & Professor of Rural Economic Development, Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Service, Ohio University
Brent Lane, Executive in Residence and Visiting Professor, Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Service, Ohio University
2023
Sanford and Lee County, NC – How a Community of Makers Continues to Capitalize on Its Manufacturing Heritage
Jimmy Randolph, CEO, Sanford Area Growth Alliance
Todd Tucker, Director of Economic Development, Sanford Area Growth Alliance
Biopharma manufacturing success in a small town: How did it happen?
Dan Barkin, Contributing writer at Business North Carolina magazine
Wednesday, September 27, 2023
Where are the Workers? A North Carolina Study by the ncIMPACT Initiative and NCGrowth
Anita Brown-Graham, Professor, School of Government, UNC and Director, ncIMPACT Initiative
Mark Little, NCGrowth Executive Director
Catalyzing Economic Development through Innovation Spaces
Sheryl Waddell, Director of Economic Development and Innovation Hubs for UNC under the Office of Innovate Carolina
The Belk Center for Community College Leadership and Research
Holley Nichols, Associate Director of Research & Evaluation, The Belk Center for Community College Leadership and Research
Brain Magnet: Research Triangle Park and the Idea of the Idea Economy
Alex Sayf Cummings, Professor of History, Georgia State University
Brent Lane, Fellow, Global Research Institute
Scott Levitan, CEO & President, RTP Foundation
Mac McCorkle, Professor of the Practice, Sanford School of Public Policy, Duke
2022
The Effects of High-skilled Firm Entry on Incumbent Residents
Franklin Qian, Assistant Professor of Finance, Kenan-Flagler Busines School, UNC
Thursday, October 27, 2022
Sharing the Prize?: Economic Development Outlook for Vance and Granville Counties
McKinley Perkinson, Economic Development Director for Vance County, NC
Jackie Sergent, Mayor of Oxford, NC
Biophilic Institutions: Building New Solidarities between the Economy and Nature
Nichola Lowe, Professor, City and Regional Planning, UNC Chapel Hill
Research to Renewal: Advancing University Tech Transfer
Maryann Feldman, Heninger Distinguished Professor of Public Policy; Adjunct Professor of Finance at Kenan-Flagler Business School; Research Director at UNC Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise
Current & Future NC Nursing Workforce Challenges: New Data from NC Nursecast and the NC Sentinel Network
Hilary A. Campbell, PharmD, JD, Director, Sheps Health Workforce NC & NC Health Professions Data System
Kids Voting Durham
Carolyn Kreuger, Program Coordinator, Kids Voting Durham
Shirley Garrett, Advisory Board Co-Chair and former KVD Youth Leader, Kids
Voting Durham
2021
We’re Not in Dreamland Anymore: How Regional Opioid Use Rates Affect Industrial Composition
Scott Langford, Doctoral Candidate, Public Policy – UNC Chapel Hill
Strategic Economic Development Plan for the State of North Carolina: Goals, Strategies, and Tactics for the New Economic Landscape
John Loyack, VP, Global Business Services, Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina
September 22, 2021
North Carolina’s Changing Landscape: Redistricting Impact
Dr Rebecca Tippett, Director, Carolina Demography, Carolina Population Center, UNC Chapel Hill
Seminars were paused during the pandemic
2020
ECU’s Rural Prosperity Initiative
Sharon Paynter, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Economic and Community Engagement, East Carolina University
NC Department of Labor fails to hold violators accountable as workplace fatalities rise
Allan Freyer, Director, Workers’ Rights, NC Justice Center
2019
November 20, 2019
Aviation’s Current and Future Economic Impacts across North Carolina
Rick Reed, Senior Director of Aerospace Economic Development, The Piedmont Triad Region
Daniel Jonathan Findley Ph.D., P.E., Senior Research Associate, Institute for Transportation Research and Education, North Carolina State University
The Rise and Fall of the Branchhead Boys
Rob Christensen, author of The Rise and Fall of the Branchead Boys and political columnist for the News and Observer
Mac McCorkle, Professor of the Practice in the Sanford School of Public Policy and Director of the Center for Political Leadership, Innovation and Service, Duke University
Jesse White, Professor of the Practice in City and Regional Planning, UNC-CH
A Brief Look at the State of Downtown Chapel Hill
Matt Gladdek, Executive Director, Chapel Hill Downtown Partnership
The Roots of Southern Deindustrialization
Peter Coclanis, Director, Global Research Institute and Albert R. Newsome Distinguished Professor of History, UNC Chapel Hill
David Carlton, Professor of History Emeritus, Vanderbilt University
Conducting fast-turnaround local labor market surveys
Michael Hogan, Research Economist, Economic Development, RTI International
News Deserts and the Future of Our Communities and Our Democracy
Penelope Abernathy, Knight Chair in Journalism and Digital Media Economics, UNC School of Media and Journalism
2018
Reconsidering the Idea of the Urban-Rural Divide: The Countrypolitan Pattern of Development in North Carolina
Mac McCorkle, Professor of the Practice, Sanford School of Public Policy, Duke University
There and Back Again: The Southern Struggle to Escape Industrial Recruitment as Development Strategy
Will Goldsmith, PhD Candidate, History Department, Duke University
There and Back Again: The Southern Struggle to Escape Industrial Recruitment as Development Strategy
Ferrel Guillory, Professor of the Practice of Journalism and Director, Program on Public Life, UNC School of Media and Journalism
NC Growth Unveils “Homegrown Tools”
Carolyn Fryberger, Economic Development Manager, Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise, UNC-CH
“Bigger, Better and Bolder Than Before” Economic Development Through Innovation in Edgecombe County Public Schools
Valerie Bridges, Superintendent of Edgecombe County Public Schools
Lucy Steiner, Senior Vice President, Public Impact
Coming Back from Mill Closings: Kannapolis, on the Cusp of Transformation
Zac Gordon, Planning Director for the City of Kannapolis
Roger Walden, Senior Associate, Clarion Associates
2017
Examining Decline in North Carolina’s Municipalities
Jessica Stanford, Demographic Analyst, Carolina Demography, Carolina Population Center, UNC-Chapel Hill
Rebecca Tippett, Director, Carolina Demography, Carolina Population Center, UNC-Chapel Hill
Rural North Carolina: Connections and Threats
Jason Gray, Senior Fellow, Research & Policy, NC Rural Center
Peter Thornton, Assistant Director, International Marketing, North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Marketing Division
Failing to Excite: The Dixie Dynamo in the Global Economy
Peter Coclanis, Director, Global Research Institute and Albert R. Newsome Distinguished Professor of History, UNC-CH
Backpacks to Briefcases
Thomas J. White, Director, Economic Development Partnership, NC State University
Putting a Face on Poverty in North Carolina Communities
Gene R. Nichol, Boyd Tinsley Distinguished Professor of Law, UNC Chapel Hill
Developing A Talent Pipeline for North Carolina
Rebecca Tippett, Director of Carolina Demography, Carolina Population Center, UNC-Chapel Hill
2016
The 2016 Elections: Looking Back, Looking Forward
Ferrel Guillory, Professor of the Practice, School of Media and Journalism, UNC Chapel Hill
Mac McCorkle, Associate Professor of the Practice, Sanford School of Public Policy, Duke
Paul Shumaker, Political Consultant
Inequality Structured by Local Governments
Allan Parnell, Vice President, Cedar Grove Institute for Sustainable Communities; Senior Fellow, Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise, UNC-Chapel Hill
North Carolina in 2050: A Preview
Mike Walden, William Neal Reynolds Distinguished Professor, North Carolina State University
NC’s “Crowd Funded” Economic Past
Rebecca Tippett, Director of Carolina Demography at UNC-Chapel Hill’s Carolina Population Center
Brent Lane, Director of the UNC Center for Competitive Economies
Do Work Requirements in Public Housing Impact Tenant Employment and Evictions?
Bill Rohe, Cary C. Boshamer Distinguished Professor of City and Regional Planning & Director of the Center for Urban and Regional Studies, UNC-CH
The Triangle Region’s Economic Development Trajectory: Suburban or Urban?
Emil Malizia, Director, Institute for Economic Development and Professor, Department of City and Regional Planning, UNC Chapel Hill
2015
What we write about when we write about economic incentives: a journalist’s perspective on development and scholarship
Peder Zane, writer and editor and Assistant Professor of Journalism and Mass Communications, St. Augustine’s University
Mac McCorkle, Associate Professor of the Practice, Sanford School of Public Policy and Director of Graduate Studies in the Master of Public Policy Program, Duke University
Why is North Carolina leaving $7 million a day in food purchase and delivery business opportunities on the table? The Hidden Food Sector
Maureen M. Berner, Professor, School of Government, UNC-Chapel Hill
A Comeback Short of the Mark: Income Trends in North Carolina in the Wake of the Great Recession
John Quinterno, Principal, South by North Strategies, Ltd.
I) The Carolina Startup Scene: An Overview of Business Startups Emerging from UNC-Chapel Hill
II) Small Business Technology Development Center@UNC: Who we are and what we do.
Don Hobart, Associate Vice Chancellor for Research, UNC-Chapel Hill
Harrison Gilbert, Research Associate, Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, UNC-Chapel Hill
Fred Barringer, Regional Director, Small Business & Technology Development Center (SBTDC), UNC-Chapel Hill
Institutional Determinants of Labor Market Outcomes for Community College Students in North Carolina
Arne Kalleberg, Kenan Distinguished Professor of Sociology, UNC-Chapel Hill
“Income/Outcomes”: North Carolina’s Income Challenge
Brent Lane, Director, UNC Center for Competitive Economies, Frank Hawkins Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise
2014
November 19, 2014
The 2014 Election Results: What They Mean for the State and the Region
Ferrel Guillory, Director, Program on Public Life and Professor of the Practice, UNC School of Journalism and Mass Communication
Mac McCorkle, Associate Professor of the Practice of Public Policy and Director of Graduate Studies, Master of Public Policy Program, Duke’s Sanford School of Public Policy
Gene Nichol, Boyd Tinsley Distinguished Professor of Law and Director of the Center on Poverty, Work & Opportunity, UNC School of Law
October 23, 2014
Tech tools to connect universities with economic development
Sharlini Sankaran, Ph.D., Executive Director, REACH NC
Dayne Batten, Research and Evaluation Specialist, North Carolina Department of Commerce, Labor and Economic Analysis Division
Research Highlights from the Minimum Wage Debates
William Lester, Assistant Professor, Dept. of City and Regional Planning, UNC-Chapel Hill
Can Progressive Policies and Affordable Communities Co-exist?
Michael Jacobs, Professor of the Practice of Finance, Kenan-Flagler Business School, UNC-Chapel Hill
Workforce Policy Shift From Supply Side to Demand Side
Ted Abernathy, Economic Development Policy Advisor to the Southern Governors Association
High Growth Firms: A Case of Myths-taken Identity
Brent Lane, Director, Carolina Center for Competitive Economies, Frank Hawkins Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise, UNC Chapel Hill
North Carolina Employment, Poverty and Economic Development
Patrick Conway, Professor and Department Chair, Department of Economics, UNC-Chapel Hill
Alexandra Sirota, Director, NC Budget and Tax Center
2013
State of the Community Report
Aaron Nelson, President & CEO of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Chamber of Commerce
The Research Triangle Park: Re-develop, Re-connect, Re-imagine
Bob Geolas, President and CEO of the Research Triangle Foundation of North Carolina
“Still Fighting the War on Poverty”
Robert Korstad, Professor of Public Policy and History; Co-director, Program on History, Public Policy and Social Change; and Bass Fellow, Duke University
Charlotte Housing Authority’s Moving Forward Program
William Rohe, Cary C. Boshamer Distinguished Professor, Department of City and Regional Planning & Director of the Center for Urban and Regional Studies, UNC-Chapel Hill
Gwen Isley, Program Coordinator, Moving to Work, Charlotte Housing Authority
Solving the nation’s unemployment problem: a national jobs program that guarantees all citizens 18 and older a job with a minimum annual salary and benefits
William A. Darity, Arts and Sciences Professor of Public Policy, African and African American Studies, and Economics at Duke University
2012
Moving Beyond Plato Versus Plumbing: Individualized Education and Career Passways for all North Carolinians
Peter Coclanis, Director of the Global Research Institute and Albert R. Newsome Distinguished Professor of History, UNC-CH
Daniel Gitterman, Senior Research Fellow at the Global Research Institute and Associate Professor of Public Policy, UNC-CH
John Quinterno, Principal of South by North Strategies
September 26, 2012
A Convergence Center in RTP?
Randy Avent, Associate Vice Chancellor for Research Development, NCSU
Emil Malizia, Professor of City and Regional Planning; Director, Institute for Economic Development, UNC Chapel Hill
Tom White, Director, Economic Development Partnership, Office of Extension, Engagement, and Economic Development, NCSU
A workforce development project in partnership with Lenoir County Schools
Doug Lauen, Assistant Professor, Department of Public Policy
Recession and Recovery in NC from 2007-2012
Daniel P. Gitterman, Associate Professor in Public Policy and Senior Fellow at the Global Research Institute, UNC Chapel Hill
Don Hobart, Chief Advisor for Business and Economic Development, Office of the Governor
Mediating Incentive Use: A Time-series Analysis of Economic Development Deals in North Carolina
William Lester, Assistant Professor, City and Regional Planning, UNC Chapel Hill
Stephanie McGarrah, Assistant Secretary for Labor and Economic Analysis, North Carolina Department of Commerce
UNC Environmental Finance Center
Glenn Barnes, Senior Project Director, Environmental Finance Center at UNC-Chapel Hill
2011
How Orange County Plans to Promote Economic Development
Emil Malizia, City and Regional Planning, UNC-CH
Steve Brantley, Director, OCED, Hillsborough, NC
Kathryn James, Director of Entrepreneurship, Council for Entrepreneurial Development, Durham, NC
A Way Forward: Building a Globally Competitive South
Peter Coclanis, Director, Global Research Institute and Albert A. Newsome Professor of History
Daniel Gitterman, Senior Fellow, Global Research Institute and Associate Professor of Public Policy
Ferrel Guillory, Director, Program on Public Life and Professor of the Practice, School of Journalism and Mass Communication
Jesse White, Former Director, Office of Economic and Business Development and Adjunct Professor, School of Government
Enfield Economic Development Project
Jason Jolley, Senior Research Director, Carolina Center for Competitive Economies, Frank Hawkins Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise and Adjunct Assistant Professor, Kenan-Flagler Business School
Aaron Nousaine, recent graduate, Department of City and Regional Planning and Consultant, Center for Competitive Economies, Frank Hawkins Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise
.