President’s Message – December 22, 2025

Hi all,

Before the year runs out, I thought it would be important to touch base on a number of things that have recently happened – or are soon going to happen!

Training and Professional Development

Earlier this month we presented our training courses: Economic and Community Development in Newfoundland and Labrador; and Capacity, Placemaking, and Opportunity Management. It was a big group this time with 18 practitioners from municipalities, community groups, regional entities, and more.

What a bunch!

We created these customized courses a few years ago – with an assist from GovNL and ACOA. Dr. Tom Cooper helped us to develop content that was meaningful to economic developers right here in Newfoundland and Labrador. In a few short years we have had over 50 individuals participate. This is a great success that we will be building on in the near future.

Strategic Plan

As you are well aware by now, we have been working on the development of a new strategic plan for the organization for much of 2025. Part of this exercise included some soul-searching and striving to better define who we are and who we want to be. In our last Board Meeting, I am proud to announce that EDANL has adopted a new mission, vision, and mandate to ensure we stay targeted and focused.

Our mandate is to: Provide training and professional development opportunities for those involved in economic development in Newfoundland and Labrador; Foster a community of practice for economic developers in Newfoundland and Labrador through the organization of events and the sharing of experience, insights, tools, and resources; and Share the stories and successes of practitioners to advocate for recognition of and investment into economic development in Newfoundland and Labrador.

As for the strategic plan itself? We will be presenting that early in the new year, but here are a couple of random snippets of what we have planned:

Recruit a staff person
Establish Regional Practitioner Networks (RPNs) in each of the regions of the province
Develop and deliver more training and professional development programming in collaboration with aligned partners
Establish standing committees on training, network building, communications and advocacy, and operations
Refresh the organization’s brand identity

Interested? Stay tuned for an announcement in early 2026!

Membership Renewals

Our network continues to grow. At the end of 2025 I am pleased to report that we now have 130 members across 45 communities in Newfoundland and Labrador. We can’t wait to build on this growth in the new year as we roll out our strategic plan. For our current members, note that renewals will take place on January 1.

Looking Forward

As the year comes to an end, I want to recognize the hard work and dedication of our Board of Directors: Jeremy Schwartz (Vice-President), Margo Soucy (Treasurer), Jennifer Crane, Régis Guyot, Lindsey Hynes, Cyndy Stead, and Mark Whiffen.

This enterprise is a volunteer gig, and a demanding one at that! It is our intent to get the organization ‘over the hump’ to rely less on the time and efforts of volunteers… so that it is resilient and long-lasting. But, as it turns out, getting to that point requires a lot of heavy lifting! In this adventure, I couldn’t ask for a more capable and dedicated bunch. To these individuals, on behalf of myself and the membership, please accept a heartfelt thank you!

What’s coming up in the new year? Well I’ll save most of that for the launch of our new strategic plan. But there’s a few things you can count on: an event in the late Winter to highlight our Economic Development Awards of Excellence winners (start thinking about who you will nominate!), an Annual General Meeting in the early Summer, and our Annual Conference in late September. We hope to have all the details on these events ironed out by mid January. Meanwhile, we have a couple of webinars cooking that we will host every other month.

I look forward to seeing many of you at these events in the new year! Have a great holiday season.

// Kieran Hanley
President

President’s Message – December 22, 2025

Training and Professional Development

Strategic Plan

Membership Renewals

Looking Forward

Stay Connected.

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