Mayor Greenberg announces launch of Louisville Economic Development Alliance to chart path for future growth
Mayor Craig Greenberg today joined Deputy Mayor Pat Mulloy to announce next steps toward the creation of the Louisville Economic Development Alliance (LEDA), a new public-private partnership that will lead economic development in Louisville.
Next week, articles of incorporation will be filed to create LEDA as a 501(c)(6) organization charged with leading business attraction and expansion efforts, creating a new citywide brand, and convening partners around talent development, small business and entrepreneur development, finance and bonding, and policy analysis, research, and advocacy.
“The creation of a public-private partnership like this is a national best practice that has worked successfully to boost economic growth in cities across the country, including Cincinnati, Columbus, and Philadelphia,” said Mayor Craig Greenberg. “Creating LEDA will allow Louisville to be nimbler in its business attraction and expansion work, to develop new funding tools for small businesses, to receive investment from public, private, philanthropic, and higher education for key strategies and initiatives, and to convene partner organizations more effectively around talent development and support for entrepreneurs.”
LEDA will be led by a more than 30-member board with representatives from private business, nonprofits, organized labor, higher education, and local government. Board membership is still being finalized, and it will include LEDA incorporators Jim Allen, vice chairman of Baird; Conrad Daniels, president of HJI Supply Chain Solutions; Kim Halbauer, regional president of Fifth Third Bank Kentucky; and Bill Moore, president of UPS Airlines.
The board will hold an initial meeting in July when it is expected to name an interim CEO and launch a national search for a permanent CEO who will lead the organization. A core team of the city’s economic development staff, including leadership, business attraction and expansion project managers, policy and research experts, and lending and small business personnel, will be contracted to work for LEDA.
“LEDA will be a more effective, customer-responsive organization with a long-term view of how to build our economy and our population. The LEDA board will be charged with helping implement the city’s new economic development plan and working with the CEO on long-term strategic planning,” said Deputy Mayor Pat Mulloy. “This organization will be additive and complementary to the work of our partners in Louisville and in the region, as it will take all of us pulling in the same direction for Louisville to meet its potential.”
The approved FY25 city budget includes $1.5 million in one-time funding from LMG to help LEDA set up operations. The private sector also has committed approximately $2 million for the new entity.
“I want to thank my colleagues on Metro Council for their support, particularly Council President Marcus Winkler and Councilman Jeff Hudson who participated in the economic development stakeholder meetings last year,” the mayor said. “I also want to thank our local business leaders for their commitment to move Louisville in a new direction.”
In August 2023, Mayor Greenberg launched a new strategic planning process for economic development in Louisville, the first time an effort like this has taken place in nearly a decade. Approximately 80 business, nonprofit, government, and education leaders joined consultants Ginovus and Thomas P. Miller and Associates (TPMA) to participate in a series of listening sessions around how the city can improve educational attainment, attract and retain talent, increase access to capital for businesses, and better support entrepreneurs.
The listening sessions and additional public feedback culminated in the development of Growing Louisville Together, a bold, results-oriented economic development plan based on the fundamental principle that for the city to prosper, people in every neighborhood must thrive economically.
Since releasing the plan in December, LMG have already begun implementing action items detailed in the plan, including:
- Introducing reforms to the Land Development Code to allow for middle housing on single family properties;
- Making new investments in our parks, community centers and libraries to ensure that people in neighborhoods across the city have access to community gathering spaces;
- Worked with the state to secure historic investments in several downtown projects, such as the Belvedere, Louisville Gardens, and the Community Care Campus.
- Investing in building up the LOUMED District to attract even more highly skilled healthcare professionals to our city; and
- Launching a new nonprofit, Thrive by 5 Louisville, as the first step to creating a path to free, universal pre-K for 3- and 4-year-olds across our city.
Read the final plan at: www.louisvilleky.gov/government/economic-development/economic-development-strategic-plan
Contacts:
Kevin Trager
502-751-0358
kevin.trager@louisvilleky.gov
Caitlin Bowling
502-216-1431
caitlin.bowling@louisvilleky.gov
