Leadership

Erin Flynn
Economic Development Director
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Erin Flynn joined the Portland Development Commission in May of 2007. She will lead the agency’s economic development efforts including business recruitment and retention, business finance and target industry work. A key early focus will be the formulation of an updated economic development strategy to position Portland for job growth and guide city economic development efforts in coming years.

Ms. Flynn was recruited by PDC following a national search. Previously she had worked as a consultant on the Portland-Vancouver 2005 Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy and was a keynote speaker at Portland Regional Partners and Portland Business Alliance addressing public-private partnerships for regional growth and sustainable development.

Prior to joining PDC, Ms. Flynn was Vice President of FutureWorks, a Boston-based policy and strategy consulting firm. In this capacity, she built and led the firm’s consulting practice in regional economic development. Ms. Flynn led the creation of regional growth strategies in the Greater Wasatch Area (Salt Lake City), the Greater Boston Metropolitan Area and the Portland-Vancouver region. In addition, Ms. Flynn directed major national economic development initiatives at FutureWorks including MetroBusinessNet – a multi-year network of metropolitan business leadership groups working to develop “win-win” business practices and public policies that reduce social and economic disparity while improving the business operating environment. Network members included the Bay Area Council, Chicago Metropolis 2020, the St. Louis Regional Chamber, the Greater Washington Board of Trade and the Austin Area Research Organization.

Ms. Flynn received her Ph.D. in Political Economy from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2000. Her dissertation examined the decline of Massachusetts’ traditional manufacturing sector and strategies employed by small firms in response to globalization. She earned a BA in Politics from the University of California at Santa Cruz.

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