Ted Abernathy, Southern Growth Policies Board
Born in Dallas, NC, Ted received his bachelor’s degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and his master’s from Johns Hopkins University. He is a graduate of the Economic Development Institute and is an Eisenhower Fellow for global economics.
The focus of his 30-year economic development career has included work for cities, counties, regions and the private sector. Most recently he served as executive vice president and COO for the Research Triangle Regional Partnership. While there Ted developed and implemented national award winning strategic plans that focused on collaboration models and innovative cluster development.
Since 2008, Ted has been executive director of the Southern Growth Policies Board, a 40-year old public policy think tank that provides economic development research and policy advice for 13 Southern states. Southern Growth specializes in the areas of collaboration, innovation, globalization, civic engagement, the Green economy, and leadership. Current work includes state innovation best practices, local economic development planning, work for EDA on innovative regional clusters, and foundation work in cleantech, tax policy, and workforce-economic development alignment.
Shiny trinkets are shiny.
Cynthia Marshall, president of AT&T North Carolina, raised a couple of eyebrows recently when she said that “What we’re talking about in this world of education is Homeland Security.”
You almost never hear homeland security and education in the same sentence. It is unsettling because it does not fit our traditional ...