President’s Message – May 15, 2022

Hi!

This was international economic development week, and so it is a fitting time to celebrate the work that economic developers in Newfoundland and Labrador are doing day in and day out to build a better future for our communities, sectors, and the province at large!

The actions that us economic developers take are typically behind the scenes, but our efforts in are key in laying the foundations for success. While the mantra for the profession is more often about ‘making headway versus headlines’, it is important to ensure that decision-makers understand the value of investing in economic development and the people that lead it. The introduction of EDANL’s Economic Development Awards of Excellence program is helping to shed more light on the work of economic developers in the province and build a history around some of our successes.

NL will need its economic developers to be in top form. In my day job, I am lucky enough to get a good sense of what’s on the horizon for industry in the province. To say that I am excited by what I see would be an understatement. From mining, to oil and gas, to tech, to renewable energy, to aquaculture… and the list goes on… our provincial economy is primed for growth. This in turn will help create more opportunities in our towns and cities and hopefully help us turn the corner on what has been a challenging number of years.

But if we are going to ‘seize the day!‘, NL’s economic developers have to be armed with the skills and resources that they need to succeed. We have been working hard over the past years to set the stage for the development of professional development and training resources specific to NL economic developers. We hope to have some things ready to go this Fall!

We are also trying to create more opportunities for economic developers in the province to learn from one another’s experiences and ideas. In late March we held our first Members Meet-Up, a presentation series that will give EDANL members the opportunity to learn from their peers. We are hosting our second meet-up on May 26th, and we hope that you will tune in!

In the meantime, many of you have expressed an interest in coming together again – in real life! Believe it or not, it’s been almost 3 years since we’ve been under the same roof. To break that streak, we’re organizing a summer social event for June 21. This one will be in St. John’s, but we’ll be eager to do events in other parts of the province in the months ahead as well.

As always, if you have any ideas on what your association can do for you and the profession – let us know! Your Board has been busy scheming and planning, and we’re looking forward to an active 2022.

// Kieran

President’s Message – May 15, 2022

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