Jeff is a Director in Evergreen Location Strategies' Practice. He has more than 30 years of experience in location analysis, site selection, and business incentive service. His experience includes large corporate headquarter relocations to small office needs across hundreds of markets throughout North America. Jeff is skilled at securing, negotiating, and implementing economic incentives such as cash grants, tax abatements, PILOT agreements, sales tax sharing agreements, employee training grants, payroll rebates, sales and use tax refunds, utility benefits, and other economic incentives for his clients.

Location Strategies

Before joining Evergreen, Jeff was the Executive Director for the Virginia's Growth Alliance (VGA), a regional economic development organization serving 11 counties and communities in southern Virginia. Although the primary focus of this endeavor was business recruitment, the organization also created strategies for entrepreneurship development, asset development, and leadership development.

Jeff's previous jobs include being project manager for the Industrial Development Authority of Halifax County, Virginia, where he successfully worked with a team that brought in over 450 new jobs and saved over 800 existing jobs in a 3-year period including ABB and Faneuil. Jeff worked for five years as the Project Manager/Interim Director/Assistant Director for the Danville Office of Economic Development in Virginia. While with Danville, he assisted with attracting more than 6,700 new jobs and over $700,000,000 in new investment, including Swedewood – IKEA's first US manufacturing facility -- EBI, Target, Home Depot, Harley Davidson and Yorktowne, among many other manufacturing, retail and commercial projects. Jeff also is the President of his own private consultant firm. His firm was a primary and driving force MountainMade.com, a national pilot project with the Robert C. Byrd National Technology Transfer Center that showcased the internet as a rural economic development tool.

Jeff is an active member of several professional organizations, including The Industrial Asset Management Council (IAMC), Southern Economic Development Council (SEDC), The American Planning Association (APA), The International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC), The International Economic Development Council (IEDC), and The Transatlantic Business and Investment Council. Additionally, he has served the local community as the past president of the Community Arts Foundation and is a current member of the board of the Touching Our World Foundation and the Southern Virginia Food Hub.

Education

Jeff holds a BA in Geography from Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia. He graduated in 1989 and spent several years developing his economic development skills in his beloved home state.

Speaking Engagements

An engaging speaker, Jeff speaks on topics such as corporate location strategy and site selection trends, workforce and talent issues, and successful economic development.

Interests

Jeff is an intrepid traveler and adventurer and lover of architecture. He has traveled to 49 states and over 40 countries on three continents. During his travels, Jeff enjoys exploring local cuisines and wines, seeking out and exploring historical sites and posting about his finds and adventures on social media. This thirst for learning and exploration educates Jeff’s professional endeavors and gives him a unique, worldly insight into how to achieve successful outcomes for his clients.

During his domestic travels, Jeff has visited over 30 National Parks with Yellowstone, Acadia and the Blue Ridge Parkway being particular favorites. Again, this love of nature and adventure informs Jeff’s professional inspirations and successes. He is a lover of college football and basketball, as well as a classic car enthusiast.