Whittaker Report
Blog & Podcast
Staying in Your Lane?
This month I had the privilege to interview Jon Roberts, Strategic Manager of TIP Strategies Inc., for the Whittaker Report Podcast. Jon’s insightful comments reflected the overall Podcast theme of the future of economic development. More specifically, we talked about...
Recent Podcasts
The Whittaker Report Episode 31 An Interview with Vern Schultz
Dec 31, 2025 • 00:28:44
Vern Schultz, SIOR, has been active in Chicago-area commercial real estate for more than 35 years. He joined Colliers in 1977 and currently serves as an Executive Vice President in the Industrial Advisory Group, representing tenants and owners throughout the Chicago market. Since joining Colliers, Vern has completed more than…
The Whittaker Report Podcast Episode 30 - An Interview with Ashley & Eric Canada of Blane Canada AI
Sep 11, 2025 • 00:35:30
Eric has been a pioneer in applying technology to economic development for over 30 years, and together with Ashley—who brings deep expertise in sales and marketing—they’ve transformed Blane Canada into a leader in AI and automation for business development. We’re going to talk about where economic development is headed, how…
The Whittaker Report Podcast Episode 29 An Interview with Dennis Pruitt, Senior Vice President of Economic Development for the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce
Apr 29, 2025 • 00:33:16
Dennis Pruitt, SVP, is the Senior Vice President of Economic Development at the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber. He leads the Chamber’s business recruitment and expansion efforts, economic research, industry sector development, and destination retail initiatives. He also oversees the Greater Oklahoma City Partnership, a 10-county regional economic development alliance. With…
The Whittaker Report Podcast Episode 28 - An Interview with Jen Wakefield, APR, President and CEO at Greater Richmond Partnership
Mar 12, 2025 • 00:27:24
Jennifer Wakefield. Jen is the President and CEO of the Greater Richmond Partnership, where she’s been driving strategic growth and investment in the region since 2021. With over two decades of experience in economic development, marketing, and strategic planning, she’s led transformative projects in both Richmond and Orlando, boosting business…
The Whittaker Report Podcast Episode 27 - An Interview with Barry Matherly, CEcD
Jan 29, 2025 • 00:20:52
In this episode, we hear from Barry Matherly, CEcD, President and CEO of Hickey Global, a full service economic development consulting firm. With over 28 years in economic development, Barry has been helping communities to prosper by creating opportunities for new investment and job growth. As a certified economic development…
The Whittaker Report Podcast Episode 26 an Interview with Kate Engel, Executive Director of the Nebraska Innovation Campus
Apr 26, 2024 • 00:17:26
In this episode we hear from Kate Engel, Managing Director of the Nebraska Innovation Campus. Kate Engel. Kate is the interim executive director of the Nebraska Innovation Campus Development Corporation owned by the University of Nebraska Board of Regents. Kate’s primary responsibility is to supervise NICDC staff, direct business operations…
The Whittaker Report Podcast Episode 25 - An Interview with Dr. Donald T. Iannone.
Jan 14, 2024 • 00:35:49
In this episode we hear from Dr. Donald T. Iannone, a poet, author, philosopher, and professor of theology. Don shares with us his view of the future of Economic Development and trends impacting the profession. He discusses the longterm impace of COVID on our mind, body and spirit. Do has…
The Whittaker Report Podcast Episode 24 An Interview with Mark James, CEcD, Utility Practice Lead, Hickey Global
Dec 14, 2023 • 00:37:11
In this episode, Mark James discusses the electric utility industry role in site selection, current trends within the industry, electrical capacity, supply chain issues and the need to dramatically invest in the expansion of the grid. Mark also shares with us the future of economic development as seen from his…
The Whittaker Report Podcast Episode 23 - An Interview with Karl Dye, President/CEO of TRIDEC
Nov 24, 2023 • 00:28:59
In this episode, we have a conversation with Karl Dye, President/CEO of TRIDEC (Tri Cities Development Council) serving Benton and Franklin Counties in Washington State. Karl discusses the opportunities for economic development organizations in decarbonization, climate change, and the electric power shortage. He also describers where he sees the economic…
The Whittaker Report Podcast Episode 22 - An Interview with Lee Crume, President & CEO of BE NKY
Jul 20, 2023 • 00:19:11
Learn about BE NKY, a regional economic development organization and hear from Lee Crume, President & CEO of the organization as he describes the success they are having and his view of the changing nature of economic development.
Recent Posts
"You Are Where You Live"
By Jami Miedema Demographic information is helpful to find out population characteristics for economic and marketing research. But what if you want to look beyond the distribution of certain traits of a community and understand their culture? Would it be useful to...
Wireless Electricity: Have you heard of it?
By Vidhan Rana This technology is surely going to revolutionize the way we live, or at least take away the clutter of wires behind television sets and computers. Wireless electricity is a technology that transmits power from an electrical source to an electrical load...
Selecting a Cloud Computing Vendor
By Todd Smithee Cloud computing is one of today's hottest IT topics. The benefits of cloud computing are tremendous and include access to Fortune 500 technology regardless of your company's size; minimal IT infrastructure and personnel requirements; and the ability to...
Economic Development in a Different World
By Vidhan Rana On January 12th, a magnitude 7.0 earthquake rocked the tiny island nation of Haiti. American public and the news media finally stopped talking about our nation's dire economic situation, growing unemployment, and Obama's falling poll numbers to...
Whittaker SmartLeads Trends
By Leigh Howe Our main research focus at Whittaker Associates continues to be predicting which companies are likely to relocate or expand by asking the question what causes companies to relocate and expand? This helps our clients get the best bang for their marketing...
Census
By Jeff Vedders www.census.gov: Such a simple web site address for tons of information. Although this site has enough information for several newsletter columns, I’d like to share two areas of interest, the Census 2000 data and the Economic Census. Census 2000 The...
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Latest
Ever dreamt of flying to work?
By Rojan Sthapit Ever dreamt of having your own personal plane that you can take anywhere? Well there is a startup company that is working on just that. Kitty Hawk is a company supported by Google co-founder Larry Page. Kitty Hawk is currently working on their new...
Freelancing: The Future of the Workforce
By Ayush Dev Pant The Gig Economy is infiltrating the global market, and it has caused Human Resource Management to be the most trending topic in the current business scenario. Since the Industrial Revolution, business owners have had the power and authority to hire...
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