Telly Tucker joined the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research (IALR) as the organization’s first President in 2022. In this role, he provides high-level, strategic leadership as IALR continues its mission to catalyze regional economic transformation. Under Tucker’s stewardship, IALR continues to demonstrate success in economic development, workforce development, applied research, advanced learning and conferencing services. For the past three years, IALR has grown substantially to more than 150 employees and has developed a national reputation in delivering manufacturing training and technology development initiatives in partnership with the U.S. Navy and Department of Defense.
Previously Tucker served as Director of Arlington Economic Development, where he led a team that successfully landed companies like Boeing’s Global Headquarters and Microsoft while continuing to build on the momentum of Amazon HQ2. Prior to that role, Tucker served five years as the Director of Economic Development for the City of Danville, where he experienced much success helping to revive the Southern Virginia economy with major economic development announcements like AeroFarms, FasTech and Litehouse. Before holding other various state and local economic development and leadership roles, Tucker began his career as an educator for Lynchburg City Schools.
Tucker holds current board appointments for the IALR Foundation, Blue Ridge Innovation Corridor, Mid-Atlantic Broadband Communities Corporation, Southern Virginia Regional Alliance (Chair), Dan River Business Development Center, Future of the Piedmont Foundation, Danville Area Development Foundation, Danville Industrial Development and Goodwill Industries of the Valleys. He has served on various other boards in the past, including the Leadership Center for Excellence Board of Regents and George Mason University President’s Innovation Advisory Council. Tucker has received the prestigious Certified Economic Development (CEcD) designation granted by the International Economic Development Council (IEDC) in Washington, D.C., and for four consecutive years has been named to the Virginia 500 Power List of most powerful and influential leaders in business, government, politics and education. Tucker is an accomplished pianist, a Lynchburg native and obtained his Bachelor of Business Administration in international business and Spanish from James Madison University.
