Lakewood Resident, Christine Nelson, To Head JobsOhio Regional Office
CLEVELAND, Ohio, September 15, 2011 – Team Northeast Ohio (Team NEO) announced today the appointment of Christine Nelson as vice president, regional business development for the JobsOhio Regional Office in Northeast Ohio. As one of six JobsOhio Network Regional Partners across the state, Team NEO will oversee the new office, which is expected to be operational by October 1.
Nelson, an economic and community development professional with experience at the city, county and regional levels, will manage the office and direct a four-person staff that will assist companies and communities seeking support from JobsOhio for growth and job creation. She will report to Tom Waltermire, CEO of Team NEO.
“Christine’s diverse experience and strong relationships throughout our region make her ideally suited for her new responsibilities,” said Waltermire. “She has the expertise, energy and enthusiasm to drive success for the benefit of our region and the entire state.”
With the launch of the JobsOhio Regional Office, Team NEO will have two primary business lines reporting to Waltermire – business development, led by Nelson, and business attraction, led by Jay Foran. Foran, who is senior vice president, business attraction, will direct the organization’s business attraction team and lead Team NEO’s efforts to bring new businesses and jobs to Northeast Ohio.
“Jay has been the backbone of our business attraction efforts for several years,” said Waltermire. “His knowledge of the region’s assets, businesses and high-growth industry clusters are without equal. He has built a highly skilled team of business attraction professionals who excel at developing relationships and leads with site selectors and corporate clients.”
Nelson, who joined Team NEO in 2008, most recently served as vice president, business attraction. Previously, she was the Economic and Community Development Manager for Cuyahoga County, where she was directly responsible for creating two national award-winning economic development programs leveraging research, consensus building, funding and implementation. Earlier in her career, she held economic development roles with the City of Bedford and the City of Lakewood, where she designed, developed and implemented comprehensive economic development programs.
A graduate of Hiram College, Nelson also received a Master’s of Public Administration degree from Cleveland State University and is a Certified Economic Developer by The National Development Council. She is the President of the Board of Trustees for the Greater Cleveland Community Improvement Corporation, serves on the Steering Committee for The Community Partnership for Arts and Culture and is a National New Market Tax Credit Reader for the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
In addition to Team NEO’s existing role of marketing the region and attracting new businesses and its new role as JobsOhio Regional Partner, it also will facilitate the development of a regional economic strategy and increase collaboration among the region’s largest economic development groups.
The nine-member Ohio Third Frontier Commission recently awarded Team NEO a one-year, $4.1 million grant from the Ohio Third Frontier program to support its new responsibilities. The grant is part of $14.8 million awarded to the six regional partners to foster job creation and economic development.
Northeast Ohio is the largest of the six JobsOhio regions, with more than four million people. The region spans from Sandusky and Mansfield in the west to Youngstown, Ashtabula and East Liverpool in the east and from Cleveland to Dover and New Philadelphia, north to south. Team NEO meets monthly with economic development organizations from each of the 18 counties in the region to share best practices and discuss new initiatives.
About Team NEO
Team NEO advances Northeast Ohio’s economy by serving as the 18-county region’s private-sector economic development hub. It connects the region to the state’s JobsOhio program and attracts new businesses worldwide. Since 2007, the organization has attracted 47 new company operations, 3,800 new jobs and more than $151 million in annual payroll to Northeast Ohio, leading to a total annual regional payroll benefit of $257 million.