Greater Seattle Partners (GSP) announced the promotion of Cynthia Carrillo into a key strategic role as chief economic development officer (CEDO). Since joining GSP a year ago and serving as vice president of economic development, she has been instrumental in designing strategies and processes for regional collaboration and achieving impactful results in new business attraction and job creation. As the CEDO, Carrillo will report to GSP’s president and CEO, Brian Surratt, and oversee the organization’s marketing, business attraction and research functions.
“Cynthia is a seasoned and dynamic economic development professional, and her experience strengthening communities across multiple markets and designing subregional industry cluster strategies has been very valuable to the organization,” said Surratt. “GSP has seen and recognized her growth as an effective and proven leader in our community, and we are confident that her skills and commitment to equity can help our organization ensure inclusive economic impact for regional prosperity.”
As CEDO, Carrillo will continue to lead domestic business attraction efforts, while directing the organization’s economic development strategy and programs to drive inclusive regional growth. One of these programs involves developing asset inventories and targeted marketing to increase new job creation in communities across Greater Seattle.
“I am honored to accept this role and thankful to Brian and our Board of Directors for the opportunity to now serve the organization and our region in a new capacity,” said Carrillo. “We are a world-class team of committed, talented economic developers, and with support from our regional partners, and our Board’s vision, we can make strides to increase prosperity across all the communities we serve. The Greater Seattle area is dynamic, talented, home to strong legacy industries, and highly collaborative. It’s a true privilege to directly contribute to sustainable and inclusive economic impact here.”
As GSP’s vice president of economic development, Carrillo has led recruitment efforts that resulted in four new business expansions into the region. These locations represent the potential to create more than 100 new jobs at different skill levels, and more than 75,000 Sq. Ft. of leased commercial and industrial real estate. She has also developed a professional development forum open to all economic developers across Greater Seattle, facilitating conversations between community partners and industry experts on topics relevant to the region’s inclusive economic development goals.
Carrillo has worked in regional economic development for more than 12 years across multiple markets internationally and in the United States including Mexico, Arizona, California and Washington State. Before joining GSP, she served as vice president of innovation at the Greater Sacramento Economic Council and was instrumental in developing a megaregional strategy to connect California’s capitol with markets in the San Francisco Bay Area. Carrillo has also led a major program to reduce carbon emissions funded by the California Energy Commission at a cleantech incubator in Silicon Valley. In the past five years, she has been able to assist more than 30 companies in establishing new locations across regions she represented.
Carrillo graduated from Tec de Monterrey (ITESM) in Monterrey, Mexico with a Bachelor’s degree in Communication Sciences and holds a Master’s in Business Administration from Hult International Business School. She serves as an Ambassador for the Americas Competitiveness Exchange (ACE) for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, a program led by the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Economic Development Administration and the Organization of American States that represents the premier network to foster economic development, innovation and entrepreneurship in the Americas and globally.
About Greater Seattle Partners
Greater Seattle Partners (GSP) is a public-private partnership that leads regional economic development through global business attraction, site selection and investment and trade opportunities in the Greater Seattle region. GSP collaborates with community and economic development partners to ensure that every person in the Puget Sound region has the opportunity to prosper. We strive to attract and retain quality family/living wage jobs across all communities of the region. Throughout the world we tell the story of our talent, pioneering spirit, unique communities, and quality of life. For more information visit Greater-Seattle.com.
