Tracy Dodson, the new chief operating officer and head of economic development for the Charlotte Regional Business Alliance, has hit the ground running in her first 40 days.
During a fireside chat Wednesday on regional economic development, Dodson described her leadership style, the trends she’s seeing, and what she envisions for the future of the region.
Dodson spoke about her deep ties to the region, a place where she has spent the past three decades. She studied architecture in college and her thesis was on the redevelopment of South End, a project in which she said she was discouraged from adding any building taller than six stories.
“Now look at South End,” she said.
‘What guides you?’
Andrea Smith, CLT Alliance interim president and CEO, led the conversation with Dodson. Smith asked Dodson to describe her leadership style to the room.
“What guides you?” Smith asked.
“I really live to elevate the team,” Dodson said, adding, “I want to make a difference in this community.”
She said she’s learned to be nimble as a leader through her experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. Knowing how to pivot was key to her and her team’s success.
‘We win when the region wins’
“In your first 40 days, you’ve been out a lot … Can you talk a little bit about the trends you’re seeing and the kinds of conversations you’re having?” Smith asked.
Dodson said one of her goals since joining the CLT Alliance has been to visit all the counties in the CLT Alliance’s footprint. Lead generation is important, but so is understanding the counties and their needs.
“I want to build different types of relationships,” she said.
Dodson shared inbound trends she’s seeing in the market. She said there are about 3,000 prospective office jobs and six potential manufacturing projects (five of which are foreign direct investments). She’s generally seeing positive upticks in recent months and years, but it’s also clear that companies are slower and there’s more uncertainty.
Dodson said the CLT Alliance will respond with stronger collaborative efforts.
“My vision is that we have better collaboration… on how we work on these projects and how we land them together,” Dodson said.
“We win when the region wins,” Smith said.
Dodson emphasized the role the CLT Alliance plays in making intentional, meaningful connections with its partners and with companies – connections that last beyond project announcements.
“Announcements are great, but the real work starts after the announcement,” she said.
A growing region
With 117 people moving to the Charlotte Region every day, and more than 4 million people projected to be here by 2050, it’s clear the region is rapidly expanding. Smith asked Dodson to describe the overlap between the region’s growth and what the CLT Alliance does.
“We need job growth,” Dodson said.
More people moving to the region means they’ll need jobs, and the number of jobs must keep up with the rate of growth.
Dodson also spoke about affordability.
“Charlotte simply isn’t as affordable as it was five to seven years ago,” she said.
Dodson said affordability touches on child care, housing prices, and even transportation. In comparison to its competitive markets, the Charlotte Region still maintains an advantage. But Dodson lauded the CLT Alliance Advocacy Team, saying their work on initiatives like the recently introduced bill for a one-cent sales tax helps the region remain affordable.
“The one-cent sales tax … is so critically important to staying ahead of that growth,” she said.
Life sciences
Dodson said focusing on where and how we want to grow will sustain the region’s momentum and put us in an ideal spot in five to 10 years. She said we must be strategic about targeted industries like the life sciences industry, which will be vital to the Charlotte Region’s success. But success won’t look the same for every county, she said.
“What life sciences mean to Iredell County, York County, or Charlotte are very different,” Dodson said.
She said as the CLT Alliance builds out its strategies, the organization is “bringing everyone along with us.” She said it’s still very early in the process of targeting life sciences, but she’s already pulling groups together. She wants a team to be in place before rolling out a strategy.
Dodson wants to learn from the Raleigh market, which has a strong life sciences industry, but said she wants the Charlotte Region to be something different. She mentioned the University of North Carolina at Charlotte’s newly minted R1 status and The Pearl – two local assets that are Charlotte-specific. Dodson said that’s the story she wants to tell.
Overall, how we look at our growth and how we want to manage it will be important, Dodson said, and leaders like those in the room Wednesday must be collaborative in those decisions. She touted public-private partnerships, saying they’re important and make the region stand out.
County collaboration
During the question-and-answer portion of the event, Dodson was asked how she plans to bridge the divide between the rural and urban parts of the region.
“We’re not all the same, so you don’t treat everyone the same,” Dodson said.
She said Charlotte isn’t the only locale in the region, and the region’s success isn’t solely dependent on Charlotte. Each county has different politics and different stressors, for example, and understanding that is what helps build relationships and learn from each other.
Working as a team has larger implications. Dodson said the counties and states all do things a little differently, so her goal is to develop unique relationships with the counties in how they work on incoming projects. She wants to understand the unique assets each has to offer and then communicate that to larger audiences, including those at the state level.
Dodson said though she may have been in Charlotte for 30 years, she has spent time in the entire region.
When asked about recruiting future companies, Dodson said the CLT Alliance is working with its partners to leverage their expertise. She wants to be proactive and get ahead of incoming projects, much of which happens through the people in the room with her.
‘Relationships matter’
Dodson said it’s important to be intentional about how the Charlotte Region is marketed.
Events like the upcoming PGA Championship, a result of collaborations between the Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority, the CLT Alliance, the City of Charlotte, and the State of North Carolina, are prime opportunities to pull people into Charlotte. It’s a great way to use something that’s happening here to market the region to site selectors and other prospective companies.
“People are important, relationships matter,” Smith said to the audience. “Hopefully, you can see that in everything we are doing.”
