Thank you to everyone who attended the 2023 MEDA Summer Conference on Leadership Development in economic development organizations (EDOs)! The conference brought together an exceptional lineup of experienced speakers who shared their expertise through dynamic and engaging TED Talk-style presentations, including presentations from:
Jessica Aiello, Founder and CEO of Yellow Group, presented “Inclusion Means All”
Shannon Bahrke Happe, CEO of Team Empower Hour, presented “Bringing the Olympic Athlete Mindset to Your EDO”
Caitlin Cain, Vice President of LISC and Director of Rural LISC presented “Best Practices for Leading a Rural EDO” (click here for presentation slides)
Trayce McDaniel, President of TIP Strategies, presented “Leading the Way: Becoming an Inclusionary Economic Development Leader” (click here for presentation slides)
Lyneir Richardson, CEO of Chicago TREND Corporation, presented “Leadership By Doing … Urban and Inclusive Economic Development” (click here for presentation slides)
Thank you to our decorated speakers for sharing their insights, skills, and tactics for successful leadership development within EDOs.
Richard Griffin, AICP, CEcD is the Director of Economic Development for the City of Frederick.
In that role oversees four City Departments including the Department of Economic
Development, Downtown Parking Department, Frederick Municipal Airport, and Weinberg
Center for the Arts. Griffin is accredited economic developer and urban planner with over 30
years of experience.
During his 23-year tenure in Frederick he has overseen major City Projects including the design
and development of award-winning Carroll Creek Park, airport expansion, and parking garage
development along with coordinating complex development projects delivering jobs and tax
base in downtown and commercial corridors. He has worked with many businesses in Frederick
including AstraZeneca, Fort Detrick, Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research, Stulz,
Wilcoxen, Precision For Medicine, and many small mom and pop shops, and minority and
women owned businesses.
Richard has experience working at the city, county, regional, and federal level in Maryland,
Virginia, North and South Carolina and Washington State. He served on the district staff of the
late US Representative James Clarke from the 11th District of NC. He is a US Army veteran
having served as a Cavalry border guard on the East German Border during the cold war and as
a commissioned Armor officer in the NC National Guard and Army Reserves.
Mr. Griffin holds degrees from Western Carolina University and Clemson University. He serves
on the Board of Directors for the Maryland Economic Development Association (MEDA), Fort
Detrick Alliance, the Frederick Innovative Technology Center, Inc, and others. He is Rotary Paul
Harris Fellow and volunteers as a scout leader and youth mountain bike race team coach. His
wife Lynne is a FCPS teacher and they live, work, and play in Downtown Frederick.
Ms. Robertson-Slagle was appointed Director of Economic Development for Charles County, Maryland in Nov 2021. In this role, Ms. Robertson-Slagle directs all services and activities of the 10 person department including attracting increased capital investments and expanding and diversifying employment opportunities, agricultural development and marketing.
Ms. Robertson-Slagle is a results-oriented and strategic leader with over 25 years of extensive experience in planning, organizing and implementing economic development functions from conception to completion, including working with new and expanding businesses and cultivating relationships between the local business community, counties, and economic development agencies at the state, regional and federal level.
Prior to joining Charles County Government, Ms. Robertson-Slagle served fifteen years with the Calvert County, Maryland Department of Economic Development holding positions in both business retention and business development as well as serving as the Director of Economic Development from July 2017 – Oct 2021. Her previous economic development experience also includes serving as director of the Maryland Small Business Development Center (SBDC) where she provided leadership in planning, coordinating and overseeing the development, delivery and reporting of all professional programs, activities and services for the Southern Maryland region and business development specialist with the Maryland Department of Commerce where she worked directly with local jurisdictions on business retention and expansion projects.
Ms. Robertson-Slagle currently serves on the Board and is the Co–Chair of the Maryland Economic Development Association (MEDA) Program Committee, is a founding board member of Southern Maryland Innovates initiative and is the current Chair of the Southern Maryland Regional Innovation Collaborative. She is Vice Chair of the Southern Maryland Economic Development Association (SMEDA) and is a board member of the Cedar Point Federal Credit Union Board of Directors and the University Systems of Maryland at Southern Maryland Board of Advisors.
Ms. Robertson-Slagle earned her Associate of Science Degree in Business Administration and Management Development from the College of Southern Maryland and Bachelors of Science Degree in Marketing from the Robert H. School of Business, University of Maryland, College Park. She is a 2018 graduate of Leadership Maryland and a 2010 graduate of Leadership Southern Maryland and a 2021 graduate of the National Association of Counties (NACO) High Performance Leadership Academy.
Ms. Robertson-Slagle is a lifelong resident of Charles County and the proud mom of two children. She and her husband Jeff reside in La Plata, Maryland.
Ebony Stocks
Executive Vice President
Prince George’s County Economic Development Corporation
Biography
Ebony Stocks is the Executive Vice President with the Prince George’s County Economic Development Corporation, an organization that provides business services that help attract, retain, and expand businesses in the County. She previously administered the County’s premier $50 million economic development tool, the Economic Development Incentive Fund which leveraged over $1 billion in capital investment and created over 13,000 jobs. Ms. Stocks is a Certified Economic Development Finance professional who has managed several financing and incentive programs. Ms. Stocks has worked in commercial lending providing non-traditional financing to rapidly growing small businesses. Ms. Stocks has a Master’s degree in Real Estate Development and a Bachelor’s degree in Economics.
Ms. Beaver has served as the Carroll County Deputy Director of Economic Development since 2001. Prior to that Ms. Beaver held several Carroll County workforce development roles serving Carroll County businesses and citizens for a total of 27 years.
Selected as a Leadership Maryland Class of 2021 member and elected MEDA secretary in April 2021, Ms. Beaver also currently represents Carroll County at the Economic Alliance of Greater Baltimore Advisory Board, the Baltimore Gas & Electric Carroll County Advisory Council, the Carroll Transit Advisory Council, and the Mid-Maryland Workforce Development Board. Previously, Ms. Beaver was a founding member, board member, and Secretary of the Carroll Technology Council (now Carroll Technology & Innovation Council) for 16 years.
Ms. Beaver holds degrees from Kutztown University and Towson University and resides in Westminster.
Jessica Aiello is the Founder & CEO of iYellow Group, an organization committed to furthering equitable access so people with Disabilities can feel fully seen and heard. Jessica is a Child of Deaf Adults (CODA), speaker, author, entrepreneur, investor, and disability advocate. Fluent in English, American Sign Language (ASL) is Jessica’s first language and is the language she is most comfortable using! Jessica has been featured in Forbes, Success Magazine and Kiplinger’s Magazine. Jessica has received many recognized awards for her advocacy work and her commitment to equitable access. Jessica holds various Board positions; Entrepreneur’s Organization, Speech to Text Captioning Group, and Young Entrepreneur’s Council. Jessica also holds a National Interpreter Certification and a SHRM-CP Certification with a Diversity Specialty Credential.
Caitlin Cain is an urban planner and certified economic developer and serves as the Vice President of LISC and Director of Rural LISC. With over two decades of experience in government, non-profit, and public-private partnerships, Caitlin works to strengthen investment in rural communities, by providing knowledge and access to: capital, workforce development, broadband and digital inclusion initiatives, disaster, adaptation and resiliency, place making and capacity supports.
Caitlin recently served as a Fulbright specialist/scholar in Perth, AU providing subject matter expertise on the development and management of special economic zones. Prior to receiving her Fulbright, Caitlin served as the CEO of the World Trade Center of New Orleans, where she worked to champion economic development initiatives throughout the State of Louisiana. Nationally, Caitlin served a federally appointed term as the Regional Advocate for the U.S. Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy – amplifying the voice of small businesses and advocating for policy and regulatory change to federal agencies and the White House.
At the local level, Caitlin previously served as the Director of Economic Development for the New Orleans Regional Planning Commission (RPC), where she attracted millions of dollars of investment and coordinated complex projects ranging from infrastructure development to land use and economic revitalization plans. Her post-hurricane Katrina/disaster recovery efforts included retaining and developing the new VA Medical Center and the University Medical Center and spearheading the complex planning and development of the larger New Orleans Regional Biosciences District (now the Bio District).
Caitlin is a two-time recipient of City Business Magazine’s “Women of the Year,” and has been honored as “New and Notable” by Biz New Orleans “Star of the Southwest” by the Economic Development Administration, and recognized by Gambit Magazine as one of the “40 Under 40” for 2014. Caitlin received a master of urban planning degree from the University of Michigan and her bachelor’s from the University of Toronto. She is a graduate of the New Orleans Leadership Institute, past President of the Women’s Professional Council and sits on numerous boards and advisory councils throughout the region.
Tracye is a recognized trailblazer in the economic development and travel marketing industry. She has been a trusted advisor to CEOs, nonprofits, public organizations, and private enterprises for more than three decades. As a widely recognized strategist with C-Suite level experience in all facets of the industry, Tracye has earned a reputation for creating mutually beneficial strategic partnerships across a broad spectrum of industries. Tracye serves as the past chair of the International Economic Development Council and board member of the Department of Energy Environmental Management Advisory Board. Prior to joining TIP, Tracye founded McDaniel Strategy Ecosystems and served as president and CEO for two separate state-level marketing and lead-generation organizations: first in New Jersey (where she was appointed by the newly elected New Jersey governor, Chris Christie, and business leaders to serve as the founding CEO of Choose New Jersey) and later in Texas (where she headed up the Texas Economic Development Corporation). Her expertise in international business development and marketing spans more than 50 countries. Tracye also served as executive vice president and COO of the Greater Houston Partnership where she teamed with business leaders to raise more than $32 million and to devise and execute Opportunity Houston, the organization’s successful economic development global marketing and lead generation initiative. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Communications from the University of Texas at Austin.
Lyneir is CEO of The Chicago TREND Corporation (TREND), a social enterprise funded by prestigious impact investors to catalyze urban retail and commercial corridor development. TREND has raised and deployed over $25M of capital, owns four shopping centers, and assisted numerous Black retail operators and community real estate developers in cities across the country.
Lyneir is also an Assistant Professor of Professional Practice in the Department of Management and Global Business at Rutgers Business School in Newark, NJ and serves as the Executive Director of the Center for Urban Entrepreneurship and Economic Development. He leads capacity-building programs that have assisted 800+ diverse entrepreneurs and launched the Black and Latino Angel Investment Fund of New Jersey.
Lyneir served as the CEO of the primary economic development corporation in Newark, NJ for Mayor Cory Booker and Mayor Ras Baraka. As Vice President of Urban Development at General Growth Properties, Inc., he led the national initiative to improve shopping centers in ethnic neighborhoods in U.S. cities. Early in his career, Lyneir was named a U.S. Small Business Administration “Young Entrepreneur of the Year”. Lyneir started his career as an attorney at the First National Bank of Chicago.
Lyneir graduated from Bradley University and the University of Chicago Law School. Lyneir was recently appointed as a Non-Resident Senior Fellow of the Brookings Institution.
Shannon Bahrke (pronounced Bar Key) was born and raised in Lake Tahoe, CA and moved to Salt Lake City, UT in 1998 to pursue her dreams of earning a spot on the U.S. Ski Team and ultimately competing for the USA at the Winter Olympic Games. She made the U.S. Ski Team that very same year and continued on the path of success for the next twelve years. She competed on 6 World Championship Teams, 3 Olympic Teams, brought home 2 Olympic Medals, 7 World Cup wins, 1 Overall World Cup Title, and 6 National Titles.
Since her retirement in 2010 she and her husband, Matt, opened and successfully sold their first company together, Silver Bean Coffee. She wrote a children’s book titled “Mommy, Why Is Your Hair Pink?,” founded and is the CEO of an international leadership development and team building company, Team Empower Hour. She also delivers inspirational keynote speeches around the globe, is a Ski Champion for Deer Valley Resort, and her favorite job of all – leading by example in raising her 9-year-old daughter Zoe and her 5-year-old son Tucker.
Additional Involvement:
Utah Sports Commission – Executive Advisory Committee member
Salt Lake City-Utah Committee for the Games – Board member
TAG Ranch – Board of Directors member
Youth Sports Alliance – Advisory Board member
Tedx Speaker, March 2021
Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Business Graduate
Youth Olympic Games, Innsbruck AUT- Ambassador
