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Home My WebLink About5.a. Presentation from Joel Akason E X E C U T I V E S U M M A R Y Port Authority Meeting Date: November 20, 2018 AGENDA ITEM: Presentation by Joel Akason, VP of Business Investment and Research, Greater MSP AGENDA SECTION: New Business PREPARED BY: Kim Lindquist, Deputy Director AGENDA NO. 5.a. ATTACHMENTS: None APPROVED BY: LJM RECOMMENDED ACTION: Information Item ISSUE Joel Akason will be in attendance Tuesday night to discuss the Greater MSP 2.0 revamp. At the annual meeting on Wednesday night there was discussion about Greater MSP 2.0 and the direction the organization will be taking in the future. Joel has also been a partner with the City in industrial business attraction activities at UMore and the Rosemount Business Park. He will provide some insight into what he is seeing in the industrial marketplace. Below is some background information on Joel’s experience taken from the Greater MSP website. https://www.greatermsp.org/ Joel started his career with Pella Corporation after graduating in 1998 from Winona State University with a BS in business. While working at Pella Corporation, he earned his MBA from Drake University. In 2002, Joel began his economic development career in his home town of Oskaloosa, IA as the chamber president. After 15 months, he moved to the Greater Des Moines Partnership, which is the regional economic development organization in central Iowa. After 2 years with the region, Joel went and ran the economic development efforts for Marshall County, IA, which is part of the Greater Des Moines Partnership region. Joel worked as the President for the Marshall Economic Development Impact Committee (MEDIC) for 5 years until joining Capital City Partnership in February of 2011. Joel received his Certification of Economic Development (CEcD) in 2008 from the International Economic Development Council (IEDC). In 2015, Joel was recognized as a winner in Development Counsellors International's (DCI) economic development profession’s 40 Under 40 awards, the only award of its kind recognizing young talent in the economic development profession. RECOMMENDATION Information item with opportunity for questions.