The Board of Directors of the International Economic Development Council has elected Jim Collard, Ph.D., to its board of directors.
“This is a great honor for me,” said Collard. “With my background in economic development and planning, I have been an advocate of the IEDC’s work for many years. To be appointed to the organization’s board is something that is equally humbling and exciting for me
, and I look forward to the next two years’ work with my fellow members.”
The IEDC is a non-profit organization with more than 4,600 members in the economic development sector. Its members seek to promote the economic well-being and quality of life by creating, retaining and expanding job opportunities that facilitate growth, enhance wealth and provide a stable tax base.
“As the world’s leading membership organization for professionals in the field of economic development, IEDC’s work has become vital to the global economy,” said IEDC Chairelect Barry Matherly, CEcD, FM, president and CEO of Greater Richmond Partnership, Inc. “It is an honor to serve on the Board and I look
forward to working with Jim Collard and the other members to provide leadership and service to IEDC. We will continue to move forward in fulfilling IEDC’s goal of delivering quality information, education and outstanding development opportunities to its members.”
Collard currently serves as director of Planning and Economic Development for the Citizen Potawatomi Nation and on the CPN Community Development Corporation’s Small Loan Review Committee. In this capacity, Collard has also played a leadingrole Collard in the development of Iron Horse Industrial Park. The rail anchored industrial park, nearing a second stage of development, is also a satellite site of Oklahoma City’s Foreign-Trade Zone 106 and will be a destination for foreign direct investment and an import-export center for American and international firms.
Collard is the immediate past chair of the Oklahoma Governor’s International Team and current chair of IEDC’s Public Policy Advisory Committee; he was recently appointed as a member of the Oklahoma District Export Council and is a past board member for the Oklahoma State Chamber of Commerce. Previously Collard chaired the Morgan County, Colorado Economic Development Corporation and served on the executive committee of the St. Charles County, Missouri Economic Development Corporation. He has more than 25 years of experience in advancing economic development projects, focusing on community-based Fiscal Impact Tools and a Computable General Equilibrium Model. Collard has traveled extensively internationally on business and as a participant on trade missions and diplomatic delegations. He served 17 years in city management and five years as an executive in the environmental services industry.
In addition to his economic development work, Collard is also an adjunct professor at the University of Oklahoma, teaching regional and urban planning. At Citizen Potawatomi Nation, he also serves as the chief of the Tribal Police Department, a force of 28 CLEET-certified officers with five additional emergency dispatchers.