CREC staff
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Sean McNamara COO/Executive Vice President sam@crec.net 703-504-2862 |
Sean McNamara is currently serving as the Chief Operating Officer for the Center for Regional Economic Competitiveness (CREC), the Administrative Director for the Council for Community and Economic Research (C2ER, formerly ACCRA), the Chief Administrative Officer for the Labor Market Information (LMI) Training Institute, and the Administrator for the Association of Public Data Users (APDU). Prior to his current managerial capacity, Mr. McNamara’s career has focused on the evaluation of the management of state and local economic development, the design of local and federal economic development initiatives, including enterprise zones, and the impact of various community development initiatives.
At the present time, Mr. McNamara manages the business aspect of CREC, C2ER, the LMI Training Institute, and APDU, overseeing, among other duties the: production and maintenance of firm financials; organization marketing and communication strategy and execution; logistical coordination and operations; office and human resource management; Board of Director relations; and essential administrative tasks and troubleshooting. Additionally, Mr. McNamara supports organizational leadership in maintaining and building strategic relationships with clients and partner firms, and organizes the CREC Conference and LMI Forum, which annually host nearly 400 attendees in different cities across the country.
Before CREC and C2ER, Mr. McNamara served as the CEO of McNamara Associates, a management consulting organization where he provided research, facilitation, project coordination, and management assistance to several state and local economic development association clients. These clients included the American Association of Enterprise Zones (AAEZ), The National Association of State Development Agencies (NASDA), and the National Council of Urban Economic Development (CUED, now IEDC). As CEO, Mr. McNamara oversaw various research and data analysis initiatives, and the production of technical assistance reports and communication releases. He also was responsible for maintaining project schedules, organizing national conferences, and supporting client efforts in data collection and dissemination. During his tenure, McNamara Associates produced a national database of state economic development incentives, published case studies outlining the successful of state enterprise zones and federal empowerment zones, and organized the 1996 AAEZ Annual Conference with keynote speaker, then-Vice President, Al Gore.
Before transitioning into economic development, Mr. McNamara gained 15 years experience in residential and commercial design. He served as Senior Project Manager for Ryland Homes, a national home construction firm, managing their home accessories design stores, and held a number of positions with commercial/home design and home furnishings firms.
Mr. McNamara earned both a Master’s and a Bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts from the Rhode Island School of Design.