About

Don A. Holbrook, CEcD is recognized nationally as a leading and influential economic development subject matter expert.

Recently Holbrook authored two economic development books to share his thought leadership based on his 16 years’ experience on over 100 projects representing over 1 billion dollars in public capital investment that generated more than 50,000 jobs.

In addition to his writing, public speaking, and numerous industry contributions, Holbrook is a private practitioner involved in the key elements of site selection for major private sector investment projects and economic development consulting. He specializes in creating customized incentive policies and inducements that reduce the overall cost of the project for clients. In fact, Holbrook was an early pioneer of site location and community-profiling technology based infrastructure and helped establish today’s industry standards through his role at the International Economic Development Council. He is the developer of the patent pending dynamic site location database model now currently licensed to the industry with the IEDC. Based on his site selection and business development expertise, President Bill Clinton asked Holbrook to deliver a special presentation to the President’s National Information Infrastructure Task Force on the development of innovative infrastructure to support the further development of e-commerce.

"These are challenging times, a fact that too many Americans and their leader's still fail to understand. Holbrook argues persuasively that our corporate and community leaders must work much harder to remain competitive in the 21st century."
- Richard Judy, Author of "Workforce 2020"

Holbrook has consulted with economic organizations worldwide and has over 15 years executive-level experience in economic development. He served as executive director of the following: Wayne County IN EDC; Red Wing Port Authority of Red Wing, MN; Crookston Economic Development Authority, Crookston, MN; and the Progress Plus Economic Development Corporation of South St. Paul – Invergrove Heights, MN. Holbrook was Senior Staff Consultant and National Subject Matter Expert, Community Economic Development for Verizon Communications of Tampa, FL, President and CEO of the Partnership of Economic Development Lake Havasu City, AZ. He was instrumental in the development of the Verizon Telecommunications merger team strategy of community-based catalyst investments that helped position to the approval by all 50 state’s public utility commissions of the largest telecommunications deal in U.S. History.

Holbrook’s industry sector experience includes his position as Vice President Business Development for SAS & Associates (Dayton, OH), and National Sales Manager/Strategic Accounts for Honeywell, Inc.

Don has been a pioneer in the development of new methodologies and the collaborative legislative economic development policies for growth of industries. He has developed, in conjunction with the International Economic Development Council, a national workforce development compendium of best practices, the encyclopedia of economic development terms and practices, and worked in the early stages of development of the national certification test. He was appointed by Governor Carlson in Minnesota to co-chair the first workforce development partnership pilot program.

In addition to his background in technology and best practice research, Don has been an instrumental subject matter expert on the development of funding concepts and organizational sustainable revenue models within his industry. He has extensive experience in community funding models, community venture capital, and federal and state collaborative funding arrangements. He has been a successful grant recipient over seven times from the state and federal government in the past ten years, raising millions in matched funds for community based organizations

Holbrook is a family man who also enjoys international travel, scuba diving and sports. He and his wife and children live in Arizona. His philanthropic activities have included literacy and the performing arts.

Key Appointments & Boards

• Current board member of the International Economic Development Council, IEDC in Washington, D.C. IEDC is the world’s leading and foremost economic development professional industry association.
• Current board member (loan review and approval committee) of the AZ Small Business Corporation, an SBA 504 Lending organization that is a division of the largest SBA lending organization in the United States.
• Past Chairman of the Mid-American Economic Development Council, MAEDC, (the formal industry association for the 10 mid-western states.)
• Past Board Member of the Tampa Bay Community Development Corporation (SBA backed non-profit lending body for Greater Tampa).
• Appointed by Governor Jeb Bush to the Florida High Speed Rail Consortium.

National Accreditation

• Certified Economic Development Professional, CEcD
• Certified Economic Development Finance Professional, CEDFP
• Certified Master Consultant, Business Expansion & Retention
• Certified Municipal Bond Finance

Education
Bachelor of Arts, Dual Major, Urban Economic Geography & Environmental Science Wright State University, Dayton- Ohio, United States

Master of Business Administration, Specialized in Technology Management, University of Phoenix, Phoenix, Arizona, United States