Our Promising Founding Story

Committed to transforming the field of economic development

New Growth Innovation Network (NGIN) was founded in 2018 by a group of leading economic practitioners to be a learning, connecting, and innovating hub, transforming the field of economic development. Coming together from across the country, the founders were joined in frustration that the fields of economic development and equity often remained separate. They saw the need for innovation to assure that Black, Latino, Indigenous and low-income communities led and participated in the enormous wealth creation arising in the knowledge economy, rather than limiting equitable growth to an afterthought. There was excitement about the opportunity to build a new field of practice: inclusive growth.

Considering the strong evidence that regions with the least inequity have the strongest long- term economic growth, NGIN’s founders created the organization to develop new frameworks and practices which would help define and drive inclusive economic development. They recognized there was increasing national attention on the concept of inclusive economic growth, but that the language and jargon was running far ahead of the practice. Importantly, they believed that innovation was essential to advancing the field and that many solutions had yet to be invented!

The founders of NGIN, along with their titles and job responsibilities at the time of NGIN's founding

  • Cathy Belk, President, Jump Start Inc.

  • Betsy Biemann, CEO, Coastal Enterprises, Inc.

  • Xav Briggs, Vice President, Economic Opportunities + Assets, The Ford Foundation

  • Paul Brophy, Principal, Brophy & Reilly LLC – Co-Chair

  • Chris Camacho, President and CEO, Greater Phoenix Economic Council

  • Pete Carlson, President, Regional Growth Strategies

  • Derek Douglas, Vice President for Civic Engagement, University of Chicago

  • Tim Ferguson, Founder, Chairman, Next Street

  • Michael Huber, President and CEO, Indy Chamber

  • John Irons, Director, Inclusive Economies, Ford Foundation

  • Maurice Jones, President and CEO, LISC

  • Ray Leach, Chief Executive Officer, JumpStart Inc.

  • Kathleen Lee, Sr. Vice President, Greater Phoenix Economic Council

  • Teresa Lynch, Principal, Mass Economics

  • Rocky Marcoux, Commissioner

  • Liz Reynolds, Executive Director, MIT Industrial Performance Center

  • Lyneir Richardson, CEO, Chicago TREND

  • Karl Seidman, Senior Lecturer in Economic Development, MIT

  • Marlene Seltzer, President, Jobs for the Future

  • Rob Simpson, Centerstate Corporation for Economic Opportunity

  • David Warm, Executive Director, Mid-America Regional Council

  • Robert Weissbourd, President, RW Ventures, LLC

  • Brad Whitehead, President, Fund for Our Economic Future

  • Steve Wray, Vice President, Strategic Initiatives, Econsult Solutions

We strive to enhance regional prosperity by creating and implementing a vanguard economic development practice…[which] approaches growth and inclusion as two sides of the same coin – mutually dependent and reinforcing. Through developing a new field of inclusive growth practice, we intend to build greater, more sustained and more equally shared wealth across all of America’s communities and regions…Issues of economic inclusion are fundamentally and intrinsically connected to issues of racial justice.

— The Founder’s Manifesto, 2018