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An Inside Look: Feat. Brent Pollina of Pollina Corporate Real Estate

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Brent PollinaAs vice president of Pollina Corporate Real Estate, Brent Pollina works closely with corporations in order to ensure that they achieve and surpass all of their real estate goals. Brent actively represents corporations in all aspects of the company’s real estate transactions, including site and building evaluation, lease negotiations, purchase contracts and lease administration. As a consultant, Brent assists clients nationally with strategic planning and all other forms of real estate consulting.

As part of the Pollina Corporate negotiating team, Brent is active in analyzing and negotiating state and local incentives on behalf of corporate clients. In addition to working for many corporate clients, Brent has performed numerous economic development studies for various regional and local economic development groups, as well as Chambers of Commerce.

Brent has authored multiple articles on site selection and state and local incentives, as well as contributed to the publication of the Pollina Corporate Top 10 Pro-Business States. In addition, Brent is also a member of the International Tenant Representative Alliance, an association of tenant representative corporate real estate brokers with offices throughout the U.S., Europe, Latin America and Asia.

Brent received his Bachelor’s degree in psychology from Drake University, and then went on to earn his Juris Doctorate from Marquette University. Brent has been admitted to practice before the Illinois and Wisconsin Supreme Courts and is an active member of the American, Illinois and Wisconsin Bar Association.

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From The Ground Up: Feat. Jay Foran of Team Northeast Ohio

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Jay Foran 2Jay Foran is the senior vice president of Team Northeast Ohio (NEO). Jay helps businesses discover exciting growth opportunities in the Cleveland Plus region. He works with site selectors and corporate clients and helps them navigate through the regional economic development framework, partnering with local and state economic development groups.

Prior to joining Team NEO, Jay was vice president, Business Development for The Lake West Group LLC, a management consulting firm. Jay also served in a variety of key leadership positions with Procter & Gamble during a lengthy and distinguished career where he was responsible for a variety of business building initiatives that have been emulated throughout the consumer products industry.

Jay has an impressive record of leadership in enabling successful civic advocacy organizations, private and public campaigns, and assessments to support community sustainability. He currently sits on the Board of Trustees for Lakewood Hospital Foundation and is a Lakewood Alive Founder, Officer and Board Member.

Jay received his Bachelor of Science in marketing management from Miami University.

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An Inside Look: Feat. Alex Frei of Cushman & Wakefield

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Alex FreiAlex Frei is the Director of the Business Incentives Practice (BIP) within the Global Business Consulting (GBC) Group at Cushman & Wakefield.  BIP is a specialty practice within GBC focusing on cost mitigation strategies as part of location strategy in the form of state, local and other economic development and tax incentives. Alex has vast experience negotiating both statutory and discretionary incentive packages nationwide for a variety of industry sectors. Alex is widely recognized by the major economic development agencies as one of the top incentives negotiators in the United States.

Prior to Cushman & Wakefield, Alex was the Director of Corporate Services at Pollina Corporate Real Estate and also served as the Sales Manager and Engineering Manager at Eisenmann where his responsibilities included lead generation, sales presentations, proposal development, estimating, customer management, contract negotiations and change order management.

Alex has won the LEED Accredited Professional designation and is a licensed real estate broker in the state of Illinois. Alex has been a participant in the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School and is an active member of Access Living’s marathon fundraiser committee. Alex is also fluent in Spanish and German.

Alex received his Bachelors of Science in mechanical engineering from Bradley University and his Master of Business Administration from Northern Illinois University.

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From The Ground Up: Feat. Wendy Dant Chesser of One Southern Indiana

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Wendy Dant ChesserWendy Dant Chesser is president and chief executive officer of One Southern Indiana, the chamber of commerce and economic development agency for Clark and Floyd counties in Indiana.

Prior to joining One Southern Indiana, Wendy was president of Cornerstone Alliance, an economic development organization in Benton Harbor, Michigan.  At the time, the Cornerstone chamber had 700 members and Wendy oversaw a $3.3 million annual budget and led a staff of 15.

Wendy has also worked in various aspects of economic and rural development for more than seven years with the state of Indiana. Wendy spent the last year of her government career as deputy executive director for program operations of the Indiana Department of Commerce.

Wendy is a member of the Economic Development Leadership group and Engage Alumni Network. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in business management from Indiana University Southeast.

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An Inside Look: Feat. Jubal Smith of Jones Lang LaSalle

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Jubal SmithJubal Smith is Executive Vice President in the Business and Economic Incentives (BEI) Practice of Jones Lang LaSalle.  Jubal has sixteen years of experience in state and local economic development, incentives negotiation, site selection and identification and securing of state and local tax credits.

Prior to joining Jones Lang LaSalle, Jubal was a Senior Manager with Ernst & Young LLP Business Credits, Incentives & Site Location Practice and a Director with PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP State and Local Tax Credits, Site Location, and Incentives Practice, both in Dallas, Texas.  Previous positions include: Director of Economic Development for the City of Austin, Texas and Project Manager for Entergy’s Office of Economic Development in Little Rock, AR.

Jubal is a Certified Economic Developer, a member of the International Economic Development Council and the Texas Economic Development Council.  Jubal is an instructor at the Mid-South Economic Development Course at The University of Arkansas at Little Rock with a focus on educating leaders in economic development. He is also a frequent speaker on topics related to economic development, credits and incentives at conferences, forums and various Governor planning and discussion panels.

Jubal graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Mississippi State University and a Master’s Degree in economic development from the University of Southern Mississippi.

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From The Ground Up: Feat. Michael Ogan of the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber

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Michael OganMichael Ogan is the director of business development for the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber. Mike’s responsibilities include managing the Chamber’s business recruitment program, staff and marketing of the Oklahoma City metropolitan area as a business location to local, national and international firms and consultants. Mike also works with the Chamber’s Business Retention and Expansion staff to support the growth of existing firms as well as assist Chamber leadership in providing policy analysis and recommendations on decisions or initiatives being considered by the City Council that impact the local economy or business climate. Mike is responsible for managing and coordinating the Chamber’s organizational and program support for the Greater Oklahoma City Partnership, a 10-county regional economic development partnership.

During his tenure in Oklahoma City, Mike has worked with more than 50 companies to help them locate or expand operations which directly added more than 17,000 new jobs and more than $1 billion dollars in capital investment to the Oklahoma City region’s economy. While in Portland, he assisted more than 80 firms that directly added more than 12,000 new jobs to the Portland region’s economy.

Prior to joining the Oklahoma City Chamber, Mike was the senior business development manager for the Portland Development Commission in Portland, OR. While there, Mike managed and participated in all phases of the business retention, expansion and recruitment processes. Mike was responsible for marketing and promoting the Portland metropolitan area as a business location. Mike also developed and negotiated services and incentives provided to firms, and managed the provision of organizational and program support to the Portland Regional Partners for Business, a 6-county regional economic development partnership.

Mike received his Bachelor of Science in urban and regional planning from California State Polytechnic University-Pomona and his Master of Science in urban and regional planning from Portland State University.

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An Inside Look: Feat. Dan Breen of Jones Lang LaSalle

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Dan BreenDan Breen is Executive Vice President in the Business and Economic Incentives (BEI) Practice of Jones Lang LaSalle. Dan has sixteen years of experience in the identification and implementation of state and local tax credits and the development of financial and tax analysis. Dan specializes in helping clients identify, negotiate and implement tax and financial credits and incentives.  Dan has successfully secured a variety of significant incentives for projects throughout the U.S. and Caribbean, including major manufacturing facilities, distribution, disaster recovery and call centers, and headquarters, administrative and retail locations.  Dan has served clients in multiple industry sectors, including manufacturing, distribution, financial services, information technology, health care and pharmaceutical businesses.

Prior to joining Jones Lang LaSalle, Dan served as director and Northeast C&I Practice Leader with Grant Thornton LLP; National Economic Development Services Leader for ADP; and New York Metro Practice Leader for the PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP State and Local Tax Credits, Site Location, and Incentives Practice, all in New York City or New Jersey.

Dan is a member of the State Bar of New Jersey and a Certified Public Accountant in New York and New Jersey.  Dan has presented at numerous conferences and symposiums on taxation and economic development and has authored multiple published articles on issues relating to credits and incentives. Dan is a member of the Hanover Township Economic Development Advisory Committee, Hanover Township Board of Adjustment and the Board of Directors of Hanover Hockey.

Dan received a Masters of Law (LL.M) in taxation from New York University School of Law, a Juris Doctor degree from Rutgers University School of Law and a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting from the University of Scranton.

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From The Ground Up: Feat. Larry Burkhardt of the Fox Cities Regional Partnership

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Larry BurkhardtAs the Executive Vice President for the Fox Cities Regional Partnership in Wisconsin, Larry Burkhart has more than twenty years of leadership, managerial and marketing experience in city, county, regional and national economic development corporations. Larry’s economic development priorities include strategic planning and promoting discussion of the hard questions that result in a realistic community vision and increased success. He is a problem solver with a track record of results, known for his fiscal restraint and encouragement of co-workers to develop self-directed initiatives and goals.

Larry’s entire career has been focused on community building: city elected office, many policy boards, workforce development, economic development and community collaboration. Prior to joining Fox Cities, Larry was the president of the Nevada County Economic Resource Council in California and a former Councilman and Mayor of Longmont, Colorado.

Larry loves food and wine, finger style and ragtime guitar playing, and has a travel goal of two new countries a year. Larry is also a member of the Fox Cities Morning Rotary, a past president of Greeley Redeye Rotary Club and a member of the International Economic Development Council.

Larry received his Bachelor of Arts in philosophy from Duns Scotus College, a Theology degree from St. Leonard College and an economic development degree from the University of Oklahoma Economic Development Institute.

 

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An Inside Look: Feat. Brian Corde of Atlas Insight

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Brian CordeBrian Corde is a co-founder and Managing Partner at Atlas Insight, an independent member of the BDO Seidman Alliance Firm Network. Atlas assists businesses from all sectors in helping them choose strategic locations for their operations, helping create competitive advantage and achieve overall corporate goals by using location and incentives as ways to reduce operating costs and produce optimum results.

Brian brings 18 years of economic development experience to the Atlas team. Prior to founding Atlas, Brian was a Regional Practice Leader within BDO Seidman’s Business Location Incentives and Site Selection (BLISS) group and was the point person on the firm’s US and European site selection clients. Prior to joining BDO, Brian was a Partner with Mintax, where he developed their site location and discretionary incentive practice.

Brian also held the position of Executive Director over the Location Advisory and Economic Development Incentive group at ADP. Throughout his career, Brian has assisted numerous Fortune 500® companies such as Wells Fargo, Allstate, HSBC, Kraft, Philip Morris, Pfizer, Computer Sciences Corporation and Yahoo with their site selection and incentive needs. Brian has also assisted various government agencies with their business attraction and retention policies, and has helped write incentive legislation to keep them competitive within the global marketplace.

Brian has authored numerous articles for various trade publications including Expansion Management, Site Selection Magazine and The Business Xpansion Journal, and has been the featured speaker at conferences such as Industrial Asset Management Council, CoreNet Global, Tax Executive Institute and The World Research Group. Brian currently sits on the editorial advisory board of Business Xpansion Journal, an industry trade publication and is the former Chair of the Associate Membership Committee for IAMC.

Brian is a graduate of Rutgers University with a degree in Economics with concentrations in Accounting and Finance.

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From The Ground Up: Feat. Jennifer Owens of Lakeshore Advantage

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Owens_Newphoto-298x195Jennifer Owens joined the Lakeshore Advantage team as president in May 2014. Jennifer brings outstanding experience in business retention, expansion and attraction to the organization. Jennifer’s insight and understanding of economic development make her ideal to support or develop initiatives that help businesses thrive in West Michigan’s Lakeshore community. In her capacity, Jennifer delivers direct business attraction, expansion and retention services, while providing overall leadership to the organization.

Prior to joining the Lakeshore Advantage team, Jennifer held the position of vice president at Southwest Michigan First where she led the firm’s new business attraction efforts, leading to investments from companies such as General Mills, Hark Orchids and Newell Rubbermaid. Her accomplishments also led her to be named one of the nation’s Top Economic Developers Under 40 in 2013. In addition, Jennifer held key positions at Ann Arbor SPARK and the Michigan Economic Development Corporation.

In Jennifer’s free time, she loves to run. Jennifer has run many road races and competed in several half and full marathons. Jennifer and her husband Mike have three sons who are always up for a race.

Jennifer received her Bachelor of Arts in journalism from Michigan State University and is pursuing an Executive Management degree from the University of Notre Dame.

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