REDI welcomes new CEO
It’s been a week since Teresa McKnight took over as the new CEO of Regional Economic Development for Eastern Idaho (REDI), replacing Dana Kirkham.
McKnight said that it was the efforts of Kirkham that got her interested in REDI.
“She’s done a fantastic job over the last year of bringing the program together,” she said.
McKnight has spent time at Utah State University, South Dakota State University and Montana State during her career and took part in a meet and greet at Idaho State Monday.
As the CEO of REDI, McKnight plans to work with all 14 counties of Southeastern Idaho to strengthen and diversify the local economy.
She says having opportunities like the meet and greet are “critical” to her efforts.
“It’s great when I can meet with a group,” she said. “The more people we can get in a room and really talk about what REDI is, what it provides, how it can assist people.”
When evaluating the potential for economic development, McKnight said having a university like Idaho State is vital.
“The research and the teaching that’s going on and the faculty members that are being recruited to the universities, those are big economic stimulators because we’re bringing people into the community that maybe would not have otherwise come,” she explained.
In addition to bringing people in, McKnight is focused on retaining those who are already here.
“You will have some that will choose to leave and spread their wings, but eventually they come back and we want to make sure we have those opportunities,” McKnight said.
Looking ahead, McKnight said she plans to spend a lot of time “connecting the dots.”
“If we’re going to promote a region, we need to know what are our strong assets? What are our assets that are medium, that are coming up through the ranks and what are those that are starting to bubble?”
By paying attention to those assets, McKnight believes she will have a better understanding of who she can recruit to the area.
“Sometimes, different states get in trouble because they over promise, and so we want to make sure that we’re telling our story, we’re telling the right story to the right people and that we can deliver on what we promise,” she said. “That is critical.”
From there, it’s a chain reaction.
“They then have their network, so they reach out to their colleagues and say ‘we just moved to eastern Idaho and let me tell you about the students, let me tell you about the companies we’ve been working with. This network is so strong, you need to consider eastern Idaho.’ So word of mouth is really critical when it comes to marketing and regional economic development.”
However, the biggest move is to get everyone working together on the common goal of development.
“That’s what makes regions successful,” McKnight said.
