Northern Virginia Economic Development Alliance

We were honored to host a behind-the-scenes media tour in Northern Virginia highlighting the Commonwealth’s artificial intelligence ecosystem. Our partners provided journalists unprecedented access to spaces, programs, simulations, and key leaders. Thank you to Amazon, George Mason University, Dev Technology Group, Inc., Virginia Tech Innovation Campus, and MITRE for helping name Virginia a leader in innovation. We’ll be highlighting the various stops, so check back for more sneak peeks throughout the week! Northern Virginia Economic Development Alliance Alexandria Economic Development Partnership Arlington Economic Development Fairfax County Economic Development Authority

Five years ago this group of economic development officials identified themselves more as competitors than partners. As regional leaders, we have always worked to promote our individual organizations. However, in 2019 the economic development heads came together and established the Northern Virginia Economic Development Alliance and decided to start working together collectively to promote Northern Virginia as the best location to start, relocate, and grow a business in the United States. Since then, our new organization has realized significant wins, worked to brand NoVA as a national leader for technology and innovation, and lifted every single one of its member jurisdictions. Five years later, instead of seeing ourselves as competitors, we now see ourselves as colleagues and partners working to support Northern Virginia and to make sure the world knows that Innovation Lives Here. Fairfax City Economic Development Fairfax County Economic Development Authority Alexandria Economic Development Partnership Arlington Economic Development Manassas Economic Development City of Manassas Park Loudoun County Economic Development City of Falls Church, Virginia Prince William Economic Development and Tourism

In Virginia — an East Coast tech hub that houses the third largest tech industry workforce in the U.S. — the need for qualified data science professionals is considerable. Read how Virginia universities are preparing to meet tomorrow’s data science needs: https://hubs.ly/Q02RysLT0

Today is IT Professionals Day, and according to CGI President Tim Hurlebaus, “The great thing about Virginia is the prevalence of technical talent that we have here.” Virginia offers tech firms access to the highest concentration of tech talent and the third-largest tech industry workforce in the nation, with 330,000 people working in the tech sector and/or tech occupations. Discover America's East Coast tech hub: https://hubs.ly/Q02Q6xTx0

Optimum Technologies LLC, which provides space flight hardware design, manufacturing, integration and test, and other space mission systems services and program management, will invest $999,000 to expand its Loudoun County Satellite Manufacturing Facility. The expansion will create 40 new jobs. https://hubs.ly/Q02PYqv50

ICYMI: ATCC, a leading nonprofit global biological resource center and standards organization, will invest $54.7 million to expand its bioresource center in Prince William County. This expansion will create 75 new jobs, supported by the top-ranked Virginia Talent Accelerator Program. We look forward to ATCC's continued growth in Virginia and their contributions to the life sciences industry!

This week the Virginia Economic Development Partnership hosted the Virginia Women’s Leadership Forum in conjunction with the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA)'s Solheim Cup event in gorgeous Prince William County. It was a fun, refreshing, inspiring, and surreal few days. I’m exhausted and my stomach aches from laughing so hard! Thank you to our at partners?Prince William Economic Development and Tourism (especially Christina Winn for the vision you brought to this conference and Kevin Costello, TMP for making us feel like VIPs), Northern Virginia Economic Development Alliance, and the Virginia Chamber of Commerce for a wonderful 3 days of hosting consultants from all over the country in America’s Top State for Business (did anyone count how many times I said that?!) to share insights and best practices. Thank you for making time to join us: Lauren Berry Courtney Dunbar, CEcD, EDFP, AICP Amy Gerber Ann Harts Dianne Jones Natalie Lynch Brooklin Salemi Leah Scott One major highlight was a leadership panel on the green at Robert Trent Jones Golf Course between Laura Diaz, Penny Lee, and Juli Inkster (OMG!), moderated by Di Stewart. It's hard to put into words how impactful it was to hear this conversation. Another highlight was building stronger and deeper connections with my colleagues and partners across the Commonwealth. I’m especially proud of Jacquelyn Harris, CMP and Tess King Brod for being absolute rockstars at executing this important event, and I'm thrilled you two got to be a part of it. Sneha Atwal, PE, MBA, Meghan Welch, and Jo-Elsa Jordan - I am SO grateful to work with each of you. Secretary Caren Merrick, we really appreciate you making time to visit with our guests. Rita McClenny, you continue to amaze and inspire me with your leadership and charisma. The Virginia Women's Leadership Forum is a perfect example of seizing unique opportunities, which I have found to be a strength of the Commonwealth. Our friends at Area Development are consistently excellent partners in helping us to do so through special events. Matthew Shea, THANK YOU for everything this week! Now, I'm off to schedule my very first golf lesson! ???

FCED is hiring! ?? We are looking for two part-time employees to assist in programs and marketing, a tourism and placemaking specialist, two internship positions in programs and communications, and an MEC Fairfax fellow. Join our team and help showcase why Fairfax City is a great place to live, work, eat, and shop. Click the link to apply: https://bit.ly/3WmYPge

BIG NEWS: Virginia is America’s Top State for Business in CNBC’s rankings! ?? Major investments in education, site development, and infrastructure propelled Virginia to the top spot. Read about this epic achievement: https://hubs.ly/Q02G9FD80

BREAKING NEWS! With the nation’s best education system and policies that give companies room — both literally and figuratively — to grow,?Virginia?is CNBC's America’s Top State for Business in 2024. ??