Customer Highlight: Andy Wallace

Anderson County has a new economic developer in town, and he’s armed with ED tools and ready to take the county to new heights.

Andy Wallace, a Tennessee Certified Economic Developer (TCED), assumed the position of Executive Director/President of the Anderson County Economic Development Association in February of 2020. 

Priority number one for Andy is taking care of existing business in Anderson County.  As with his recent position as Deputy Mayor of Campbell County, Andy lives by the mantra “if you’re not paying attention to existing industry, someone else will.”

Andy has been an active part of the TCED program, graduating from the program in the Spring of 2018, becoming a mentor to other program participants in the required the capstone process, and currently serving as a member of the TCED Advisory Council.  He is widely known in the Economic Development Community for his “can do” attitude and ability to bring diverse groups of people together for the greater good of the community. 

Andy is pursuing his national certification through the International Economic Development Council (IEDC) and credits the TCED classes for helping him master the next level of course work.  He finds that “TCED instructors are on the level of the national program” and has a goal of finding funding for economic developers in smaller communities in Anderson County to pursue the Tennessee Basic Economic Development Course*.  He relies on his TCED network of economic development classmates for benchmarking, advice, peer support, and perhaps even a little commiseration.

Ginchi Gembatsu, a Japanese phrase that translates to “go and see for yourself” is Andy’s guiding work principle.  In every aspect of his career, he relies on the boots-on-the- ground approach to enhancing the well-being and quality of life in his community.

 

* TBEDC 2020 has been postponed due to COVID-19. Updated course date and information will be available on the course page as soon as it is confirmed by UT CIS.