David Civittolo is the County Extension Director and the Community Development Extension Educator for Ohio State University in Medina County.  In this capacity, he is responsible for developing and implementing countywide Community Development programs that assist individuals and organizations to enhance the well being of the community.  One such program focuses on economic development tools available for local officials in Ohio. Civittolo has conducted business retention and expansion surveys in conjunction with local economic development offices and chambers of commerce in Medina County. Civittolo also created a workshop that assists newly elected officials with an understanding of their roles and responsibilities as an elected official. Prior to working for Ohio State University Extension, he has served as a Village Manager for a number of communities in Ohio.

Massimo Borrelli, Consultant, Oracle Corporation.

Will Andresen, AICP is an Associate Professor in the Department of Community Resource Development with the University of Wisconsin-Extension. His educational programming focuses on community economic development, community planning and leadership development. Mr. Andresen is co-leader of UW-Extension’s Community and Economic Development Preparedness Team and is an active member of the Downtown Vitality and Community Placemaking Team and the Tourism Research, Planning and Development Team. Prior to joining UW-Extension in 2002, Mr. Andresen served a variety of community development roles including director of community development, executive director of a chamber of commerce and a community planning consultant.

Gregory A. Davis is currently engaged in the local and regional application of community economics programs as a member of the Department of Agricultural, Environmental, and Development Economics at The Ohio State University. In this extension outreach role, he works with communities, residents, and OSU Extension field staff to develop and implement programs and tools that facilitate informed community economic development. Prior to this, he served as a county Extension agent in Crawford County, Ohio working with community volunteers, organizations and local governments to develop local capacity for community development.

Dr. Jerry Hembd is an Associate Professor in the Department of Business and Economics at the University of Wisconsin-Superior, a State Specialist in Community and Economic Development with the University of Wisconsin-Extension, and Director of the Northern Center for Community and Economic Development. Dr. Hembd assumed his position on July 1, 2004. This is a position he held earlier in his career, from 1984 to 1991. Although he has statewide responsibilities, he focuses much of his effort on projects in the northern part of the state. His current research and educational programming emphases are the measurement and implications of the creative economy, educating for sustainability in community development, eco-industrial development, and rural development. He has been working and teaching in the area of community development for over twenty years. He also has considerable international experience, including work in the Philippines, Vietnam, and India.

Dr. Scott Loveridge is Associate Chairperson, Director of Graduate Studies, and Professor, Department of Agricultural Economics at Michigan State University. He also serves as a State Leader, Community Development, Extension Service, Michigan State University.

He previously served as a member of the faculty at the University of Minnesota, and at West Virginia University (initially also Director of the Division of Community Economic Development, and later as Director of the Regional Research Institute). As State Leader, Community Development Programs for Michigan State University Extension, he mentors teams working on community development, economic development, land use, leadership development, state and local government, tourism development, and urban revitalization. He also coordinates community vitality research programs for the Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station. In addition to his classroom teaching experience, he has fifteen years' experience developing and delivering curricula for adult learners. With interests in reducing the costs of delivering training to geographically distributed individuals, he is a consistent early adopter of Internet technologies to deliver educational programs. He is founding editor of The Web Book of Regional Science (a site dedicated to analytical techniques and policies for regional development that garners over 2M hits annually), and taught West Virginia University Extension's first-ever completely asynchronous web-delivered curriculum.

Dr. Rhonda Phillips, AICP, CEcD, is a Professor and Director of School of Community Resources and Development, Arizona State University. Rhonda is a community and economic development specialist with over 20 years’ experience at the local and regional levels. She holds dual professional certifications, including as a certified economic developer with the International Economic Development Council. With both practice and academic experience, and currently serves as the elected Chair of the American Planning Association’s Economic Development Division as well as a Board Member of the Community Development Council, a national nonprofit training organization. As the 2006 Ulster Policy Fellow of the Fulbright Association, she worked with local and regional economic and community development organizations in Northern Ireland. She is author of five books, including Community Concept Marketing, focusing on creating innovative and unique communities (http://www.greenwood.com/catalog/C6798.aspx).

Dr. Raymond A. Rosenfeld is Professor of Political Science at Eastern Michigan University. His research has focused on economic and community development, educational technology, and federalism. He has published in major political science journals including American Review of Public Administration, State and Local Government Review, Urban Affairs Review, Economic Development Quarterly, the International Journal of Economic Development, Western Political Quarterly, Publius – the Journal of Federalism, Public Budgeting & Finance, and Public Administration Review. He is coauthor (with Laura A. Reese) of The Civic Culture of Local Economic Development (Sage Publications, 2001), and (with George Cox) State and Local Government: Public Life in America (Wadsworth Publishers, 2001) and author of Derzhavna Polityka ta Analiz Polityky (Public Policy and Policy Analysis) (Ukrainian Academy of Public Administration Press, 2001). Since 2000 Dr. Rosenfeld has been principal or co-principal investigator on four major evaluation projects totaling $700,000 dealing with technology integration in education and economic development funded by private foundations and the Departments of Education and Commerce. Rosenfeld was a Fulbright Scholar at the Ukrainian Academy of Public Administration in 1995-96, and at the University of Latvia’s EuroFaculty Program in 2004 and received Fulbright Senior Specialist awards for Ukraine in 2003, Latvia in 2005, and Norway in 2006.

Dr. Gary Sands, AICP is an Associate Professor of Urban Planning in the graduate program at Wayne State University. He has more than 40 years of experience in housing and local economic development issues. In addition to his teaching and research, he is a frequent advisor to government agencies, non-profit organizations and the development community. In addition to the United States, he has worked extensively in Canada and Mexico.