MEDIA

HADCO President David Lieving Selected to Southern Economic Development Council Board of Directors

 

Southern Economic Development Council (SEDC), the oldest and largest regional economic development association in North America, announced last month, that David Lieving, president and CEO of the Huntington Area Development Council (HADCO), has been selected to be the state director for West Virginia on the SEDC Board of Directors.

The state director will serve a two-year term on the SEDC board. Lieving replaces Mark Whitley, the executive director of the Jackson and Roane County Economic Development Authority.

Lieving is an SEDC member and has served in leadership positions for the West Virginia Economic Development Council (WVEDC) along with many other Huntington organizations. He was chosen for the position by his peers in economic development within the state of West Virginia and the leadership of the SEDC.

SEDC plays a substantial role in HADCO’s marketing and outreach efforts.  The association hosts regular Meet the Consultants events where local economic development organizations can meet with and provide critical information about our community to professional site selectors who represent investing clients from around the U.S. and the globe.  The more information and more familiarity site selectors have with our community the more likely they will be to seek out our community in national site searches.  SEDC also attends major domestic and international trade shows which provides communities like ours the opportunity to meet with clients who are interested in investing in our region of the country.  SEDC helps to amplify our marketing message to a much larger audience and that is an invaluable tool in economic development. 

“I’m truly honored to have been selected by my peers for this position,” says Lieving.  “Economic development is facing challenging times worldwide with Covid-19.  I expect us to emerge from the pandemic with new opportunities.  I believe we will see a renewed interest in locating manufacturing, distribution, and warehousing, in more strategic locations in our market area.” 

Taking a more direct role in an organization like SEDC can only help to capture these new and emerging investment opportunities for our region. 

The Southern Economic Development Council is a 990-member nonprofit organization composed of a cross-section of industrial and economic developers from business and industry, utilities, transportation, financial and education institutions, chambers of commerce and local, regional and state development agencies. The SEDC region includes the following states: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland and the District of Columbia, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia.

For more information on SEDC please visit www.sedc.org.