Ohio Economic Development Association (OEDA) Presents 2022 Annual Excellence Awards

COLUMBUS, OH, OCTOBER 6, 2022:  The Ohio Economic Development Association (OEDA) presented its Annual Excellence Awards at its 2022 Annual Summit, held at The Exchange at Bridge Park October 4-6 in Dublin, Ohio.

The Ohio Economic Development Association’s Annual Excellence Awards program recognizes the achievements of individuals and organizations throughout Ohio in the areas of economic and workforce development.

“The Annual Excellence Awards showcase the best of the best in economic development and gives members of the profession the opportunity to come together and collectively celebrate the success of the economic development profession,” Jennifer Price, OEDA Executive Director, said.

Annual Excellence Award Recognition was presented to the following winners.  Videos to highlight the award winning project entries were also produced.  Click on the winning entry name in each category to view each video. 

Best Project
The Best Project Award recognizes outstanding and innovative projects (retention, attraction, redevelopment (brownfield or historic), greenfield infrastructure, Main Street) in economic and business development that retain or generate jobs and capital investment.  This can be anything from a retention project to new facility construction, redevelopment (brownfield or otherwise) or an historic project. 

• Winner:  JobsOhio: The Intel Project

Excellence in Marketing & Communications
This award recognizes successful economic development marketing projects or marketing campaigns.  Examples include target market studies, branding, websites, direct mail, consultant events, public relations campaigns, social media campaigns and advertising.

• Winner:  REDI Cincinnati Rebranding

Excellence in Workforce Development
This award recognizes unique approaches to any aspect of workforce development and recognizes a person or organization that has developed innovative practices and programs. The strategy(ies) should provide direction, guidance, and motivation to Ohio’s workforce and business community and demonstrate an impact in meeting the workforce needs or overcoming the challenges in a specific community/region, industry, population, or the state as a whole. 

• Winner:  Ohio To Work Mahoning Valley

Economic Development Professional of the Year
The Economic Development Professional of the Year award is to recognize an individual who has been an economic development professional in Ohio for at least the past year.  The purpose of the award is to identify someone who has assisted in making a significant impact in their organization and/or community through their efforts as an economic developer. The Economic Development Professional of the Year award encourages, recognizes, and celebrates one the individual who has met the challenges of providing economic development and, who demonstrates the ability and commitment to positively impact their community’s and/or the state’s economic growth, and contributed to the advancement of the economic development profession in Ohio.

• Winner:  Terrence (Terry) Slaybaugh, Vice President of Sites and Infrastructure with JobsOhio

Economic Development Rookie of the Year
This award recognizes an individual who has been an economic development professional in Ohio for less than two years.  The purpose of the award is to identify someone who has “hit the ground running” and made extraordinary contributions to local or state workforce and economic development in his/her career. The Rookie of the Year award encourages, recognizes, and celebrates one who has met the challenges of providing economic development early in their career and who demonstrates the ability and commitment to positively impact the state’s economic growth

• Winner:  Jessica Gribben, Economic Development Manager with the Richland Area Chamber & Economic Development

Excellence in Innovation
Economic development professionals are consistently called upon to find solutions, develop and implement strategies, and engage stakeholders to overcome challenges and barriers to creating economic opportunities for all Ohioans and all Ohio communities.  And, these are expected to produce measurable results and outcomes. This was especially true over the past few years when the pandemic created unprecedented challenges all across Ohio.  To meet these needs, economic developers must embrace and generate new ideas, partnerships, strategies, and tactics.  The Excellence in Innovation award recognizes unique approaches to any aspect of economic development and recognizes a person or organization that has developed innovative practices and programs.

• CARE Homes Initiative – The Port

The Ohio Economic Development Association is the professional association for economic developers.  The association’s mission is to increase economic prosperity in the State of Ohio by working together, on a non-partisan basis, with state, regional, and local development partners to advance Ohio’s economy through professional development, advocacy, and networking.  For more information about OEDA, please visit www.ohioeda.com.