OEDA Honors Excellence in Economic Development
The Ohio Economic Development Association (OEDA) presented its Annual Excellence Awards at its 2018 Annual Summit, held at the Columbus Renaissance Downtown.
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 finalists/winners. Videos to highlight the award winning entries were also produced. The full awards presentation, including videos, may be found here.
Best Project
The Best Project Award recognizes outstanding and innovative projects in economic and business development that retain or generate jobs and investment.
- Winner – Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority, The Cleveland Cliffs Project at Ironville Terminal
- Fat Head’s Brewery and Restaurant
- Wyandot County Office of Economic Development, Inc.
Excellence in Marketing & Communications – Small Community (under 50,000 pop.)
The Marketing & Communications Award recognizes successful economic development marketing projects or marketing campaigns.
- Winner – Meigs County Economic Development Website
Excellence in Marketing & Communications – Medium Community (50,000 – 150,000 pop.)
The Marketing & Communications Award recognizes successful economic development marketing projects or marketing campaigns.
- Winner – Ashland Area Economic Development
- Marion Can Do – Marion Made Campaign
- Zanesville-Muskingum County Port Authority Site Marketing Campaign
Excellence in Marketing & Communications – Large Community (150,000+ pop. or multi-jurisdictional campaign
The Marketing & Communications Award recognizes successful economic development marketing projects or marketing campaigns.
- Winner – Team NEO Digital Lead Generation Program
- REDI Cincinnati (redicincinnati.com) Website Redesign
Excellence in Innovation
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.
- Winner – The Port of Greater Cincinnati Development Authority
- NASA Glenn Research Center Regional Economic Development (RED) Initiative
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.
- Winner – Multi-County Advanced Manufacturing Corridor
- Crawford Partnership/Community Opportunity
- MCEDC Workforce Program
- The Employer Toolkit by the Women’s Fund of the Greater Cincinnati Foundation
Excellence in Volunteerism
This award recognizes exceptional volunteer individuals who have assisted in successful economic development efforts in Ohio.
- Winner – Mark D. Johns, Licking County, Ohio
Rookie of the Year
The Rookie of the Year award recognizes an individual who has been an Economic Development Professional within 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.
- Winner – Jillian Rine, GROW Licking County CIC
- Katy Huffman, City of Sharonville Department of Economic Development
- Lauren Johnson, Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber
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.