My guest this week is Telly Tucker. Telly is the Director of Arlington Economic Development for Arlington County, Virginia.
As many of you in economic development may know, Amazon selected Arlington Virginia for one of its HQ2 locations in 2018. Amazon is moving forward with its hiring and investments in Arlington and Telly gives us an update on Amazon’s activities in the community and talks about the region’s tech talent that helped attract Amazon.
In this episode we also talk about how Telly joined Arlington in January 2020 and, like many other economic developers, pivoted the organizations’ role amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.
And be certain to listen at the end where we turn to one of the most fascinating topics in economic development the wider economy right now – remote work. Telly discusses the trends he sees in Arlington with the return to work and how business are rethinking their use of office space.
About Telly Tucker
Telly Tucker is the Director of Arlington Economic Development (AED) for Arlington County, Virginia, where he currently leads a strong economic development team with more than 50 employees. Tucker has approached economic development with an insightful and creative mindset throughout his career. This work continues in Arlington today as he leads the team that continues to build on the momentum of Amazon HQ2 to attract more businesses, grow existing business, support the tourism sector and the arts community.
Tucker currently holds Board Appointments with; Leadership Center for Excellence Board of Regents, George Mason University President’s Innovation Advisory Council, Northern Virginia Economic Development Alliance (Immediate Past Chair), Northern Virginia Chamber of Commerce, Path Forward Advisory Council, and an Honorary Board Member of the Northern Virginia Technology Council.
Mr. Tucker has received the prestigious Certified Economic Development (CEcD) designation granted by the International Economic Development Council (IEDC) in Washington, D.C. and serves on IEDC’s Racism and Economic Development Committee. He is a Lynchburg native and obtained his Bachelor of Business Administration in international business and Spanish from James Madison University.
