Connie Ova 2014(CSi- JSDC)  The International Economic Development Council (IEDC) held its Annual Conference from Sept. 25-28, 2016 at the Huntington Convention Center in Cleveland, Ohio. This conference was the largest ever in IEDC history with over 1600 attendees. Those in attendance from North Dakota included members from the Economic Development Association of ND board of directors: Connie Ova, President (CEO for JSDC, Jamestown/Stutsman Development Corporation; Ellen Huber, Vice-President (Business Development Director City of Mandan) and Mark Vaux, member at large (Executive Vice-President Business Development, Greater Fargo-Moorhead EDC).
The program theme, “Economic Development through Technology, Innovation and Productivity”, highlighted the changes in the economic development industry, current rising trends and best practices. This year’s conference coincided with IEDC’s 90th anniversary, and included special events to celebrate the milestone.
Connie Ova said, “The conference featured a series of informational sessions on topics such as the sharing economy and international exchange; receptions for networking and celebrating the 90th anniversary; and workshops on topics such as ethics in the profession.
“This year’s program reflected the current priorities that every economic developer is facing, and program content will help us all build upon our individual strategic objectives, plus to tackle the unique issues of our communities,” said Ova. Ellen Huber facilitated a session for “Communities with Populations under 25,000”. This town hall meeting was for developers to drill down to those issues most impacting their jurisdictions.