Movers, Shakers & Award Winners

Economic development is a people business. Every week, Location Decision tracks who's moving, who's hiring and who's getting recognized for work worth noticing.

This week, we're adding Award Winners to the mix.

Indiana has a new economic development chief.

Gov. Mike Braun appointed Mitch Frazier president of the Indiana Economic Development Corporation, effective Oct. 5.

Frazier comes to IEDC from IBJ Media, where he has served as president since June 2025. Before that, he spent five years as president and CEO of AgriNovus Indiana. His résumé also includes leadership roles at Reynolds Farm Equipment and ExactTarget — plus an earlier stint at IEDC as director of media relations.

He succeeds Josh Richardson, who is leaving for the private sector.

Location Decision Takeaway: From economic development to ag, media — and now back to economic development.

The Rome Floyd Development Authority has selected Matthew Thomas as its new president and CEO.

Thomas comes from the Cartersville-Bartow County Department of Economic Development, where he has served as deputy director since 2023. He brings roughly 16 years of economic development experience in North Georgia.

Location Decision Takeaway: Northwest Georgia keeps its economic development talent close to home.

Boston is bringing an innovation executive into City Hall.

Emily Knight, president and CEO of Cambridge-based The Engine, has been appointed Boston's Economic Development Chief and is scheduled to begin Oct. 19.

Knight joined The Engine in 2017 and has worked at the intersection of startups, universities, technology and industry.

Location Decision Takeaway: Boston is betting on an innovation-economy operator.

Chris Girdler will join East Kentucky Power Cooperative as manager of economic development and public policy beginning Oct. 1.

Girdler is the founding president and CEO of the Somerset-Pulaski Economic Development Authority and previously served in the Kentucky Senate.

At EKPC, he'll focus on economic development across the territory served by the utility's 16 owner-member cooperatives.

Location Decision Takeaway: When power is a site-selection constraint, utility economic development matters even more.

Isabel Rogers has joined Georgia Power Economic Development as a GIS Analyst.

Rogers previously worked at engineering firm Dewberry and brings more than five years of GIS experience, including work in water resources, flood-risk mapping and mitigation.

She's also a Certified Floodplain Manager and a graduate of UC Santa Barbara's geography program.

Location Decision Takeaway: Good location decisions start with good location data.

The Rock Internship & Externship programs won the Wisconsin Economic Development Association's 2026 Community and Economic Development Award for Talent Attraction, Development and Retention.

The programs connect employers with both high school students and educators. Students receive six weeks of paid career experience, while teachers spend a week embedded with employers.

So far, 184 students and 84 instructors have participated.

The effort brings together the Rock County Economic Development Agency, Blackhawk Technical College, Southwest Wisconsin Workforce Development Board, Rock County 5.0, Rock County and participating employers.

Location Decision Takeaway: Don't just train students. Show their teachers where the jobs are going.

The Mid-America Economic Development Council handed out its 2026 Economic Development Awards across its 13-state region.

Location Decision Takeaway: The best awards double as an idea bank for other communities.

Meta is hiring two directors for its Data Center Development organization: Director of Regional Development and Director of Strategic Projects.

The Regional Development job owns data center strategy, site selection and ongoing development across a North American region — from finding opportunities through commercial structuring, capacity delivery and campus expansion.

The Strategic Projects director will lead Meta's developer partnership program, including opening new markets and building its capacity pipeline.

Both call for 15-plus years of experience in industrial real estate, infrastructure and development.

Location Decision Takeaway: These are site-selection jobs at hyperscaler scale.

The Virginia Economic Development Partnership's European operation is looking for a Managing Director, Europe, Foreign Direct Investment, based in Munich.

The opening follows Marie Gonzalez Gallegos' announcement that she is leaving VEDP after nearly five years.

It's a significant international business-development seat, putting the successful candidate in the middle of Virginia's effort to identify and cultivate European companies considering U.S. investment.

Location Decision Takeaway: One of the more interesting FDI seats on the board right now.

AWS has multiple openings touching economic development and the communities surrounding its infrastructure investments.

A Manager, External Engagement, AWS Economic Development role focuses on Ohio and community and stakeholder relationships.

AWS is also recruiting a Principal, AWS Workforce Development to build workforce partnerships with local stakeholders.

Location Decision Takeaway: Hyperscalers need more than land and power. They need community and workforce teams, too.

The North Carolina Global TransPark Economic Development Region is looking for an Economic Development Marketing & Project Coordinator in Kinston.

The position combines economic development, marketing and project work. It's in-person and lists a salary of $56,610.24.

Location Decision Takeaway: A good entry point into the economic development profession.

The Tulsa Regional Chamber is looking for an Events Coordinator.

It's not a traditional business recruitment or project-management role, but events and convenings are a big part of how regional organizations build business relationships and tell their market's story.

Location Decision Takeaway: Economic development isn't only about closing deals. It's about building networks.

This one caught our attention.

Recruiting firm FourFound is advertising a Vice President, Site Selection & Acquisition — Data Center position with compensation listed at $450,000 to $650,000, plus bonus, sign-on bonus and commission.

The position is remote, but the recruiter doesn't publicly identify the client in the listing we saw.

So we're not putting this one in the regular jobs pile quite yet.

But that compensation range tells you something about the value being placed on people who can find, acquire and deliver viable data center sites right now.

Location Decision Takeaway: Site-selection talent has become infrastructure.

We're watching new hires, promotions, retirements, economic development and site-selection openings — and awards that recognize work other communities can learn from.

Send yours to [email protected].

Movers, Shakers & Award Winners is a curated roundup. Inclusion is editorially selected and is not intended to be a comprehensive listing of industry personnel changes, awards or available positions.