Nathan Ohle: Those that are best at it are true facilitators. People that can facilitate conversations, engage people in a deep way and bring the community together around a rallying point. That is not an easy thing to do, it is not oftentimes recognized. It is a self-sacrificing and service-oriented role in a community, even if it’s not necessarily recognized as that.

Amanda Ellis: That’s the voice of Nathan Ohle, president and CEO of the International Economic Development Council. He joins us to talk about furthering our profession and some new ways you can get involved with IEDC. He’ll also share perspective on the unique challenges and opportunities of working in economic development, plus way more you won’t want to miss. I’m Amanda Ellis and you’re listening to Inside America’s Best Cities, a podcast for chamber, economic development and talent attraction professionals. To learn more about this podcast, visit livabilitymedia.com. And with that, let’s jump in. Nathan, thank you so much for joining us on Inside America’s Best Cities. We’re super excited to have you.

Nathan Ohle: Thank you for the opportunity. Excited for the conversation today.

Amanda Ellis: We also had Sheree Anne on recently from a ACCE, so maybe this means our podcast is making it now that you’re also here in the same season.

Nathan Ohle: Sheree Anne’s a fantastic partner of ours and a great friend of mine, so excited to hear that she was done recently, and obviously they’re doing some fantastic work.

Amanda Ellis: Oh yes. She had so many good things to say and I’m sure that you will too. So you have hit recently your one-year anniversary at IEDC.

Nathan Ohle: Yep.

Amanda Ellis: So that’s a big deal. They didn’t scare you away, you’re still here.

Nathan Ohle: And they’re allowing me to come back, so that’s always a good thing.

Amanda Ellis: Yeah, that’s always good. What has been a big high point of your first year there and then something that surprised you about it?

Nathan Ohle: So I’ll give you two high points. Number one, the first time I got a chance to be at our annual conference, which is our single largest event where we got more than 1,500 people from across the world typically joining us. It was just a great opportunity to not only see people and engage with people in a face-to-face fashion, but also to really see the collective energy that exists within the economic development field, and certainly within our membership and those that come to our conferences. People were not only excited to be there and in-person, but excited to learn, to learn from one another, to meet new people, and to find opportunities to engage and build partnerships. And that was just a tremendous experience. It was a long and exciting week, but it was really an opportunity for me to see firsthand just the impact that we have, and hear stories from people across the economic development spectrum to understand what kind of impact the organization has had on them and certainly the economic development field itself has had as individuals. The second one I would say is we were successful in building a brand new partnership last year called the Economic Recovery Corps. It is a partnership with six different partners, including the National Association of Counties, the National League of Cities, the National Association of Development Organizations, the International City and County Managers Association, the Regional Accelerator & Innovation Network, and the Center on Rural Innovation. And we brought those six partners together to create the Economic Recovery Corps with two main goals. One is to actually embed more than 65 fellows directly in distressed communities of all sizes, both urban, rural, suburban and tribal places throughout the United States, to help them build capacity on the economic development side. And number two, to start to build a pipeline of the next generation of leaders in economic development. So to provide not only an opportunity for those fellows to be embedded in communities, but also to do it as a cohort of folks, to learn from one another, to be able to be a part of a larger group of folks, really trying to push the edges of innovation in economic development and help truly build capacity in distressed communities. And the success of building that partnership, and then obviously getting the funding to actually start to execute on that program, was really just a moment that I won’t forget in the first year because it really talks to the spirit of partnership and collaboration, and the importance of that. And to be successful in getting the funding to actually start to launch the program and starting to see that collaboration bear fruit has been really a fun experience, for me and for the organization. The second part of your question was what surprised me, and I think before I came in, I’ve known the IEDC for more than a decade and I’ve known of its platform and the work that has happened over the course of decades to create the organization to where we are today. But until you really get in the seat, you don’t really fully understand the impact and the opportunity that exists to continue to build from that foundation that was built. It is a really unique organization. It has a great opportunity to continue to engage and build from what has happened in the past, but even more so, the excitement that exists around the organization and the opportunity to move the organization forward is something that I didn’t fully understand or expect until I got in the seat and really started to meet with people and understand where they feel the opportunities are and to start to see some of those things start to move, even in the first year.

Amanda Ellis: Yeah, that’s a good surprise. So that’s a good thing.

Nathan Ohle: Absolutely.

Amanda Ellis: You talked a lot about the conference. I know we’re all really excited for Dallas this year. Can you talk a bit about some of IEDC’s efforts to recruit students, recruit the interest of early career folks and looking at how do we be more intentional as an industry about people really wanting to make economic development their career path, whereas so many of us know it’s running a joke, that so many people, it’s like, “Oh, I just fell into it. I didn’t even know what it was, and here I am.” So share about that.

Nathan Ohle: That is the first question I ask anybody in economic development is, “How did you get into this space?” Because you’re right, most of us, including me, fell into this or walked into it in a way that we didn’t expect. And that’s both a really unique and fun thing, but also could potentially be a big issue in the future of how do we actually create a pipeline of young people that are engaged, enthused about economic development and get into the industry from where they finish school or even in some cases before when they finish high school. So we’re doing a number of things to try and start to engage young people in a deeper way. We do have a young professionals committee that is a part of our board structure. And it’s an advisory committee of young professionals that’s grown every single year, and we engage them not just throughout the year, but also in very intentional ways of bringing them together, helping them collaborate, learn from one another, but also to help create some mentorship opportunities for young people with folks that maybe have some more experience in the industry. That mentorship is a really crucial. I know for me, my mentors have played a huge part in my own career pathway. And so we want to create more opportunities for those mentorship opportunities. We are also thinking about how do we engage with students, both at the university level but also even maybe before that, to start to think about how do we showcase what economic development is, why it’s important, and what types of roles can be played in economic development so the people have a better understanding of what economic development is and how they can play a role. Part of that is some messaging and storytelling, helping us to tell the story of economic developers and what they’ve done, what they’ve achieved, what it meant to their communities and to their regions. Part of it is also starting to identify some career pipelines, whether it’s through partnerships with the universities or otherwise, to make sure that we actually do have a true pathway that is easy for people to access, easy for people to understand, and also provides opportunities for us to really start to build that pipeline. The second piece that we’re doing is what I talked about a little bit earlier, and that’s the Economic Recovery Corps, where we’re actually taking early to mid-career folks and starting to build out that pipeline. And part of that is not just for them as individuals and as a group, but also thinking through the mentorship opportunities for the next generation of folks that come in so that we’re not thinking about, “Oh, we’ve got a huge component of the economic development field retiring over the next 10 years. What do we do now?” That we’re always thinking about this and starting to build those opportunities across generations.

Amanda Ellis: Yeah, I love all the work you’re doing in that space. We had DCI on recently and they talked about the fellowship program they’re working on with you all, which is really cool, and I love the heavier YP emphasis. I know you all did the YP panel at the last conference. That was probably one of my favorite things.

Nathan Ohle: It was one of mine too.

Amanda Ellis: Yeah, love that. And it’s just great to be able to connect with, I know so many people in this industry. In one community, there’s only so many people who are doing what you’re doing. So to be able to just facilitate those interpersonal relationships even outside of that.

Nathan Ohle: It can feel lonely, if you’re the only person in a community or even in a region that’s doing this work. And so understanding that there are other people not just here in the United States, but across the world doing this work, and that there’s opportunities to learn from them, to engage with them, and to really create a feeling of almost a family in the economic development field is really critical.

Amanda Ellis: Yeah, and being able to have folks to bounce your challenges off of that don’t live where you live.

Nathan Ohle: Absolutely.

Amanda Ellis: So they can truly bring outside perspective.

Nathan Ohle: Totally agree.

Amanda Ellis: Super valuable. So how did you, Nathan, get into the field? Were you in the “I just fell into it” camp or is there a story?

Nathan Ohle: There’s definitely a story. And I’ll say this, there’s a story for everyone. And I think one of the things we don’t do well enough in the economic development field is tell our own stories and tell the stories of our communities. I did fall into economic development, so I’ll go back, way back. So in college, my junior year, I decided to take a second major on called Family Community Services, which is similar to social work. And as a part of that, you were required to get an internship. I had done family programming, I had done grant writing, I had done all that work trying to work with families and programs on the ground. And so I went to my advisor and I said, “I want to try something different, I want to learn how policy is made and then how that affects the programs on the ground.” And no one in my degree had ever done that, and my advisor had a little bit of faith in me and allowed me to go out and explore that. And I ended up with an internship and then-Governor Jennifer Granholm’s office in Michigan. I grew up in Michigan, I went to Michigan State for school. And I was set to graduate and move out to St. Louis and go work for the St. Louis Rams who are now the Los Angeles Rams. I had worked for the Pistons when I was in college and I was going to go work in the community relations department for the Rams. And with about a month, month and a half left, before I was supposed to graduate, a spot opened up in the governor’s office. And I had spent a few months there and really fell in love with her leadership style. So I wasn’t into politics. Other than voting, I hadn’t participated in politics in any way, shape or form, but I fell in love with the governor’s leadership style and her ability to motivate and inspire people. And I put my name in a hat and two weeks before I graduated, I got offered the job. And so I turned down the Rams and stayed in Lansing and ended up doing a whole host of things, but I finished up as her trip director, traveling every single day with her in the vehicle, in every meeting, coordinating with the back office, with the press, all those things. And my wife and I got pregnant with our first child, our daughter, and I went to the governor and said, “I want to continue to stay engaged, but I can’t do the 18-hour days with the schedule changing the night before. I want to be able to see and know my daughter.” And so I said, “I want to stay engaged, but I can’t do this. How can I help?” It was 2007, just as Michigan was starting to roll into the recession, and she said, “We need really good people in economic development.” And I said, “I don’t know what that is, but I’m happy to help.” And so I went over to the Michigan Economic Development Corporation. I ended up running three different state-level economic development boards. So anything from your typical and center programs and CDBG programs and industrial revenue bonds, all the way to new and innovative programs for the state, where we helped set up a new business plan competition, where we were funding seed and pre-seed companies, and we’re thinking about how to drive venture capital and other forms of capital into the state, and how do we balance the needs of Metro Detroit and Grand Rapid and some of the bigger cities with the really small towns in the Upper Peninsula? And so I spent five years, almost five full years there at the state level, working in economic development in the heart of the recession, which was both the worst and best time to be doing the work because the worst, obviously in Michigan, we get hit really hard by the recession and certainly the auto industry’s downturn, but it was also the best because you had to be innovative and think a little bit differently about how we drive opportunity. I spent five years at the state level, I then moved to DC and took a role with the US Economic Development Administration. So I served at the federal level before then coming into the nonprofit space. And before the IEDC, I ran an organization called the Rural Community Assistance Partnership, where we worked exclusively in rural and tribal communities around a host of issues, including economic development and entrepreneurship, but also things like infrastructure, like water and wastewater access, and broadband, and disaster recovery work. And so to me, I had this unique perspective of the state level, the federal level, and then working directly in communities around these issues.

Amanda Ellis: So from those experiences, as well as all of the different members and folks across the country, and world, I guess, too, that you get to engage with now in the field, what do you feel like are the common threads of the most challenging parts of doing what we do?

Nathan Ohle: So I think one of the most challenging parts is that economic development can touch so many different areas. It is not just your true economic development work, but it’s also integrated in with housing and with infrastructure and with childcare. There are all these other factors that play a role in how economic development rolls forward. And you are, in many cases, as an economic developer, the convener in the community or in the region. And so you’re bringing those forces together and those people together hopefully around a common goal. But obviously that’s not always the case. It can be really difficult at the local level to get people to buy into one approach. Everyone has their own opinions, their own thoughts, their own perspectives, what is important and what needs to come first versus second, versus fifth, sixth, seventh. And being that convener or can be a really difficult position to be in. And those that are best at it are true facilitators, people that can facilitate conversations, engage people in a deep way, and really help to bring the community together around a rallying point.

That is not an easy thing to do. It is not oftentimes recognized in communities, and so oftentimes you may feel either undervalued or overlooked in the role that you play. And so it is, in many ways, a self-sacrificing and service-oriented role in a community, even if it’s not necessarily recognized as that.

Amanda Ellis: Yeah. How does IEDC’s membership breakdown in terms of US people and people outside of the country?

Nathan Ohle: So we are mostly domestically focused from our membership. About 95% of our members are here in the US. We do represent about 25 countries through our membership, and we’re starting to see some growth in the international side. And certainly I would expect, over the coming years, that we’ll see much more of that.

Amanda Ellis: What are some of the differences in that work here in the US versus outside the country?

Nathan Ohle: The beauty in the curse of economic development is that there are some similarities, but there are also some very vast differences. So if you’re talking about economic development in Southeast Asia or Africa or Australia or South America or North America, all of those places have some similarities, but they also have some very vast differences. Part of it is around things like infrastructure and access to those things, and housing. Part of it is the nature of federal governments and what they’re funding or not funding. It is also the nature of how our local government’s set up in those areas and what function do they play and what function does economic development interplay across all of those pieces. I think for us, as we think about the international side of this work, it is about creating tools and resources that can be tailored to the needs of those regions. So there are going to certainly be tools and resources that can fit across any geography across the world, and there are some that are going to need some nuances created. And so how do we create resources that if you’re in Northern Africa, you can tailor those resources to your own community, your own region, and the differences in the way that economic development is driven, just like you could do the same in Southeast Asia or you could do in the EU, or you could do in Australia. It is about both building partnerships in those regions, understanding the work better, and understanding how the work happens in those areas, and also what tools and resources do they need and how can we create things that are as easy to use as possible.

Amanda Ellis: Well, partnerships, of course, are always something we see being so key. At Livability our work is very US-focused, so that tends to be what I’m thinking about. So when something comes up about the international nature of this work, it’s interesting to think about how it’s different.

Nathan Ohle: Well, and there’s also sometimes a perception that you can’t learn from what others are doing. And there are many lessons that the United States can learn from other regions of the world and how they’re doing this work. And I’ll just give you an example. We think of the United States as the most prosperous nation in the world, and that everyone here in the United States has access to everything they need to, when in fact, one point of emphasis; there’s 1.8 million Americans who don’t have access to safe drinking water. I don’t think most people in the United States would think that is the case, but it is the case. And so in those really hard-to-reach areas or those areas where you’ve got really bad contamination issues, what have other countries done to actually accelerate opportunities for access to safe drinking water or other infrastructure? Broadband obviously has been a huge piece over the last few years with COVID. And so there are absolutely lessons we can learn because there are different parts. We all know we’re a melting pot here in the United States, but the southern border in Texas is different than what is happening in Maine, it’s different than what’s happening in Native Alaskan communities. And so we have to be willing and open to both provide the tools and resources and knowledge and expertise that we have, but also to learn from others as well.

Amanda Ellis: Yeah, we’ve been doing a lot more work and content around fiber lately and fiber availability, how that benefits communities, et cetera, et cetera. This isn’t something that is available in a lot of places yet, even though a lot of progress is happening.

Nathan Ohle: Absolutely. It is one of many issues that we’re confronting, not just here in the US, but all across the world to make sure that accessibility is there for everyone.

Amanda Ellis: Yeah, and that everyone’s able to benefit from those things. What are some of IEDC’s goals for this year or beyond this year? I think you all probably are always engaged in some form or another of strategic planning.

Nathan Ohle: We’re actually going through a brand new strategic planning process. So when I came on board, one of the first things that I talked to the board, and quite frankly, the search committee through the process was about what they did in strategic planning and what they want to try and accomplish through it. And so we are in the middle of a strategic planning process, a really deep level of engagement. We have engaged more than 1,000 people, through surveys, through focus groups, through one-on-one interviews, to try and understand not only what they hope to get out of IEDC and what the future of IEDC might be in their eyes, but also to make sure that that we’re not just reaching out to those folks that are always a part of what we’re doing, that we’re also reaching out to stakeholders and other folks that either maybe should be members in the future or could be members in the future, or have engaged with us in some way, shape or form, but maybe not as deeply as they could or as we could with them. And so that’s been a really instructive process. It’s going to give us a platform to really drive home some new strategic areas of focus, but it’s also going to help us reset and reframe where we want to go in the future, in a deeper, more collaborative and more partnership-focused way.

Amanda Ellis: What are some underrated or lesser known IEDC benefits or perks or ways to get involved that you would call out? I think we all know about the annual conference and some of those opportunities to do in-person professional development, but what are some off-the-beaten-path things you think would be helpful?

Nathan Ohle: Well, I think one of the things that are not as well known are the opportunities to actually go and visit other communities and help other communities. So we have technical assistance programs that we run all the time, where we have volunteers that will spend a couple of days or even a week in some cases in other communities, helping them to build out an economic development plan, or to think through disaster recovery efforts and what needs to go into that process. We have a ton of advisory committees, where people can actually have a voice in what the future of the organization is going to be in specific areas. So whether you’re talking about membership services or professional development opportunities, or whether you’re talking about the way we communicate and market the field, there are lots of opportunities for people to get engaged in those advisory committees, to have a voice in that, and also then to connect with people around those topics. So it’s not just us getting information from those folks. So there’s also those folks working with one another and collaborating with one another, learning from one another on an everyday basis. And so there’s opportunities to get out in the field to help, there’s opportunities to engage through advisory committees, and then there’s opportunities in ways to more deeply engage with us. And that it happens at conferences, it happens through webinars, it happens through a whole host of ways that we’re doing outreach, but we’re always looking for new ideas and new thoughts about what else we should be doing. And so there’s an open invitation for anyone listening to provide feedback to me, thoughts and ideas, but also across our team, because we know that what we’re doing today can’t be exactly the same tomorrow, and we need to make sure that we’ve got input from a broad selection of folks to make sure that we have the right input to put those programs and ideas forward.

Amanda Ellis: Those trips that you mentioned, could you give an example of something recently with that?

Nathan Ohle: Yeah, so actually we are in the southeast right now working with communities that have been impacted either by hurricanes or by floods. And so we have volunteers that are going out almost on a weekly basis to try and help them build out their recovery plans to ensure that they understand what are the pieces they have to put in place to actually accelerate change and opportunity out of those disasters. And also, to think about what are the long-term implications, how do you, as you’re building things back and putting new plans together, think about the impact that flooding or other storms might have in your community in the future, and what are the things you need to put in place to try and mitigate those issues.

Amanda Ellis: Anything else you’d like to share that we haven’t already touched on?

Nathan Ohle: Well, the other piece to engagement that I would highly encourage anyone who’s interested is that Economic Recovery Corps. So at the end of this year, probably right at the end of the summer, we’re going to be launching an application for anyone who’s interested in either hosting a fellow or actually serving as a fellow. It’s a two and a half year fellowship, so it’s a long-term fellowship meant really to build capacity in those communities. And it’s a great way to engage, it’s a great way to learn, and it’s also a great way to connect because we’re going to have cohorts of these fellows based on where they’re placed. Some will be placed in county government, some in EDOs, some in entrepreneur support organizations. So there’ll be small cohorts based on those organization types, and then the larger cohort of the 65 to 68 fellows that are placed directly in communities, and also obviously those host organizations will be a huge part of that. And so there’s opportunities to engage and really both accelerate opportunity in your region, but also to think about the future of your region and how people and how organizations play a larger role in driving those conversations.

Amanda Ellis: So as we head toward wrapping up here, I always like to end with a fun question. So I know you’re based in the DC area, whereabouts exactly?

Nathan Ohle: Northern Virginia, Falls Church.

Amanda Ellis: What is a bucket list, an off-the-beaten-path bucket list item that if someone were in your community or passing through, what should they make sure that they do?

Nathan Ohle: So for me, I’ll say for the DMV area, because this place is not directly in my city, but it is a place that I love to go. Most people, when they come to DC, think about the Smithsonians, think about the zoo, they think about the White House, the Capitol, all of those things.

Amanda Ellis: Yes, monuments, all the things.

Nathan Ohle: All of those things. And all of those things, totally, I mean, we’re literally in the middle of cherry blossom blooming right now. But the one place that is off the beaten path that most people don’t even know about is there’s actually a second Air and Space Museum that is out by Dulles Airport. It is based out of an old airplane hangar, and it has the old tower from Dulles. So you can actually go up in the tower and hear the calls that are coming in from Dulles to airplanes, and then you can go down in the hangar and you can see the space shuttle. You can see the Enola Gay, you can see the Concord, all in this space, and helicopters and planes all over the place. It is a really unique experience that you wouldn’t get anywhere else, quite frankly, in the United States. And it is not as well known as the Air and Space Museum in Downtown DC or the American History or Natural History Museums.

Amanda Ellis: No, that’s really cool. I definitely did not know that. So is that a Smithsonian or just its own thing?

Nathan Ohle: Yep, it’s a Smithsonian, so it’s free to the public like anyone else. But it’s out by Dulles Airport as opposed to in Downtown DC. Falls Church is a great downtown area. We always spend our weekends and whenever we can. So there’s lots to do and see around here, but there’s also nooks and crannies that you wouldn’t normally think about as a tourist.

Amanda Ellis: That is very cool. Well, thank you so much, Nathan, for taking a little time today to chat with us.

Nathan Ohle: Thank you for the opportunity, this was a great conversation.

Amanda Ellis: Thanks for listening to the Livability Podcast, where we take you Inside America’s Best Cities. At Livability, we highlight the unsung awesomeness of small and mid-sized cities across the country. We also partner with communities to reach their target companies and potential residents through digital content and print magazine programs. If you enjoyed this episode, please follow, rate and review this show wherever you listen to podcasts. You can learn more about us at livabilitymedia.com. Have an idea for an upcoming episode? Email me [email protected]. Until next time, from Livability, I’m Amanda Ellis, sharing the stories of America’s most promising places.