Our staff members come from around the globe, bringing with them diverse backgrounds, and world-class skill sets.
Our vision & goals
Created in January 2000, the Center for Regional Economic Competitiveness (CREC) was organized to support the development of innovative approaches to job creation and regional economic growth. CREC has aimed to meet such goals by:
- Enhancing Understanding: CREC works with its clients to develop a data-driven appreciation of their region’s economy. We work with public and proprietary data sources, supplemented by "on-the-ground" surveys, focus groups, and interviews, to paint detailed and robust pictures of an area’s driving economic forces.
- Planning for the Future: Based on a well-informed foundation, CREC works with clients as they strive to articulate and address the economic forces impacting their regions to develop a regional vision for the next generation of citizens. Through scenario-driven and consensus-building activities, CREC assists policy-makers and researchers design a vision for the future and develop reasonable, measurable, and actionable steps to get them there.
- Setting a New Course: CREC prides itself on thinking differently. Every region faces its own unique challenges, and conversely, holds its own unique opportunities. Accordingly, we approach every project with an open mind, but an appreciation that it's not a blank canvas. Our past experiences often help inform our conversations, as do our clients. We work with our clients to develop strategies that reflect reality, but push the boundaries of what has been possible in the past.
- Empowering Leaders: All of our experiences - from data analysis, to stakeholder facilitation, to our knowledge and framework for economic development - we want to share. It is why we were started as a not-for-profit. CREC staff members regularly travel across the continent to teach policy-makers, economic development practitioners, and researchers how to better gather and analyze data; to help facilitate discussions between state and regional leaders to create plans and policies that work for everyone; and to show policy-makers how they can – by themselves – create effective workforce and economic development plans. We believe in building our client’s capacity.
CREC also manages three organizations whose own, individual missions support our overall, long-term goals: the Council for Community and Economic Research (C2ER), the Labor Market Information Training Institute (LMI), and the Association of Public Data Users (APDU). CREC provides these organizations with highly-specialized staff, institutional capacity and networks, and organizational infrastructure that allow them to pursue their core missions and build on our technical expertise.
Ultimately, the Center for Regional Economic Competitiveness and our dedicated staff strive to achieve one goal: to help regions compete. From a dense metropolis to a sprawling rural region, every place has its opportunities, and we are here to help our partners find them.
crec staff
- Kenneth E. Poole,
CEO/President - Sean McNamara,
COO/Executive Vice President - Erol Yildirim,
Senior Vice President, New Products - Mark White,
Vice President, Research - Dean Frutiger,
Project Manager, COLI - Wen Sun,
Research Manager - Ron Kelly,
Director, Workforce Research and Training - Lauren Gilchrist,
Research Analyst/Program Manager - William Cook,
Research Assistant/Web Administrator - Spencer Abrams,
Operations & Event Coordinator
Dr. Kenneth (Ken) Poole is the Chief Executive Officer of the Center for Regional Economic Competitiveness. He provides project oversight and support on nearly all CREC consulting engagements, and provides leadership to CREC's network of organizations.
Sean McNamara is the Chief Operating Officer for the Center for Regional Economic Competitiveness. He also provides organizational oversight and management to all organizations within CREC's network.
As Senior Vice President, Mr. Yildirim's primary responsibilities include: managing new product development, enhancing existing data products, managing client relations, staffing C2ER's Technical Advisory Board, and providing economic subject-matter expertise and support for several on-going projects. Mr. Yildirim also serves as CREC's Chief Economist, and oversees all CREC IT, website, and database infrastructure and activity.
Dr. White serves as Vice President for Research at CREC, overseeing and supporting all consulting, research, and technical assistance engagements. He is also a primary trainer for the C2ER and LMI Training Institute.
Dean Frutiger is the Project Manager for the ACCRA Cost of Living Index (COLI). Frutiger coordinates, verifies, and inputs pricing data provided by volunteers in nearly 400 communities nationwide, manages subscription services and media inquiries, and leads new COLI product development and quality improvement efforts.
Wen Sun regularly leads research and analysis for a variety of consulting projects across CREC's network of organizations.
Mr. Kelly develops, produces and implements training programs for CREC's network of organizations. He is also regularly involved in the preparation of client reports and in the presentation of research findings. He is serving as Assistant Project Manager for the Arizona Department of Administration's Office of Employment and Population Statistics.
Ms. Gilchrist provides technical assistance, advocacy, and research support for CREC and its managed organizations. She also plays a lead role in developing and managing CREC, C2ER, APDU, and the LMI Training Institute's communication and social media strategies.
Mr. Cook provides invaluable research and IT support for a number of ongoing projects across CREC, including the ACCRA Cost of Living Index (COLI). He also manages CREC's information technology, web presence, and data management systems.
Mr. Abrams provides operations support across CREC. His duties include financial management support, event coordination, communications management, and general administrative support. He is also responsible for the day-to-day coordination, design, and distribution of C2ER's weekly newsletter.
CREC research fellows
Dr. Edward Feser is a Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Regional Economic Competitiveness. He is also serving as the Eddie Davie Professor of Enterprise & Innovation at the University of Manchester, and as a Faculty Excellence Professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), where he currently is on leave.
Dr. Erik Pages is a Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Regional Economic Competitiveness. He is also the President of EntreWorks Consulting, an economic development consulting and policy development firm focused on helping communities and organizations achieve their entrepreneurial potential.
Dr. Ellen Harpel is a Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Regional Economic Competitiveness. She is also the Founder and President of Business Development Advisors LLC (BDA), an economic development and market intelligence consulting firm that practices across North America.
Ron is the Editor for the Journal of Applied Research in Economic Development and an adjunct Research Fellow for the Center of Regional Economic Competitiveness.
Ron possesses a Ph.D. from Miami University of Ohio in Political Science and Public Administration. He has taught as a full time instructor at Truman College and a tenured faculty at Canisius College where in both instances he was Program Chair for Urban Studies/Public Administration.