Welcoming new lawmakers, strengthening professional development opportunities among priorities for newly elected VEDA President
Linda Green, Executive Director of Southern Virginia Regional Alliance and the newly elected President of Virginia Economic Developers Association (VEDA), looks forward to a new year when the nonprofit membership organization will focus on growing its professional development opportunities, forming successful business relationships with new lawmakers and continuing to champion the Commonwealth as a jewel for site development and expansion.
VEDA is the voice in Virginia for shaping economic development public policy and a primary source of strong and effective education and networking for economic development professionals.
Green will lead the membership in Exploring the Intersection of Community and Economic Development, its mantra for 2024.
“Economic development is constantly evolving, but not in a vacuum,” said Green, named the organization’s president at its 2023 Winter Membership Meeting in Richmond. “It depends on the strong coordination with the professionals around us. Those intersections — whether they be in workforce and education, transportation infrastructure, childcare, housing — impact how we move forward in economic development. This coming year they are critically important after coming out of COVID and seeing the workforce challenges businesses had. Working in collaboration with community development partners is critically important for all of us.”
Over recent years, VEDA launched Shared Interests Groups (SIGs), which formalize peer-to-peer networking around the following subject areas: Business Retention and Expansion, Diversity and Inclusion, Downtown Development, Rural and Workforce. Membership is robust in each of the SIGs.
Another priority for VEDA, Green said, will be forming professional connections with the new leadership in Virginia’s General Assembly, which saw unprecedented turnover in both chambers following the November election.
“We find ourselves with a lot of new legislators and we need to make sure we are resources to them as professionals in the economic development field. We must learn what their constituents and them foresee as needs for future economic development projects,” Green said. “That interface and advocacy for the importance of economic development to raising the gross domestic product in Virginia are an important mission for all of us.”
The Commonwealth remains a national leader in site development, boosted by an influx of $90 million in Virginia Business Ready Sites Program development grants to develop 21 sites across Virginia.
“All of our members will continue to be advocates for marketing the Commonwealth,” Green said. “Also, as new economic developers come on, we will continue to embrace them and make them part of our organization.”
Green has been Executive Director of Southern Virginia Regional Alliance since 2016, collaborating with her VEDA peers to recruit 28 new companies to Southern Virginia and assist the expansion of 31 existing companies. The Vice President of Economic Development at the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research, Green was honored earlier this summer as one of the winners of the Virginia Business Women in Leadership Awards. She holds a Master of Business Administration from Duke University and is a graduate of Averett University and Danville Community College.
Green previously served as VEDA’s Vice President and Secretary and chaired and co-chaired its Membership Committee.
VEDA is a member-based professional association committed to providing training and development; networking opportunities; and serving as the voice of the economic development community, creating economic opportunity and prosperity for the Commonwealth of Virginia. VEDA’s members is comprised of more than 575 economic development professionals and related industry professionals from across the Commonwealth of Virginia. For more information about VEDA visit the website at www.GoVEDA.org.
Article courtesy of the Virginia Economic Development Partnership
