Kenneth E. Poole has served as Chief Executive Officer since its founding in January 2000. He began the organization with a dream that a few key leaders could have an outsized impact on the economic development profession by building skills, providing advice, and offering services to intermediary organizations operating in the field. He began by focusing on the need to increase the use of data as an operating principle for economic development organizations. He quickly adapted to recognize the need for CREC to bring together workforce and economic development professionals to address quantifiably identifiable challenges. More recently, he has focused on the need to ensure that the solutions identified are applied in ways that give everyone the chance to compete in global markets. For 40 years, he has focused on helping policymakers use data to develop better opportunities for businesses and workers alike in a knowledge-driven economy. With the help of a tremendous team, he has been able to realize that vision through CREC’s work on more than 250 projects during the past two decades.
Sean McNamara (retired) serves as CREC’s emeritus Chief Operating Officer. Sean served as the driving force for CREC during its first 24 years as he helped incorporate and grow the organization, build a strong operating environment for an ever-expanding staff, and ensure that CREC remained true to its core mission, financially sound, and continuously customer oriented. For two decades, he served as the primary voice for CREC in working with its association members, most especially with the Council for Community and Economic Research, CREC’s original client. Prior to his work at CREC, Mr. McNamara’s served as the CEO of McNamara Associates, a management consulting organization that provided research, facilitation, project coordination, and management assistance to several state and local economic development association clients, including the American Association of Enterprise Zones, National Association of State Development Agencies, and the National Council of Urban Economic Development (CUED, now IEDC).
