This month’s episode of Economic Development Secrets features Lucienne Pears, Director of Economic Development for Charlotte County, Florida. Lucienne grew up in Binghamton, a small blue collar town in upstate New York. After graduating from Seton Catholic High School, she quickly headed south for college, graduating from Salisbury University in Maryland with a Bachelor’s degree in Urban and Regional Planning.
Lucienne’s first few years of professional work were in environmental planning in the greater DC area. After visiting family in West Palm Beach in February 2000, when the DC metro area was snowed in, Lucienne was officially a Florida resident by the spring of that year embarking on a ten year career in land use and development.
Lucienne relocated her family to the Gulf Coast in 2002 working for civil engineering firms on land use entitlement and construction and development projects. With the Recession hitting the land development and construction industry hard, Lucienne shifted her career focus to Economic Development.
After a year in Marion County establishing the County’s first economic development department, Lucienne relocated back to the Gulf Coast in Charlotte County and has been with the Charlotte County Economic Development office since 2010. Lucienne was chosen as the new Director of Economic Development by the Board of County Commissioners in January of this year.
