Site Selectors Are People, Too

It’s Friday at 4:00 PM. Your weekend is perfectly planned. Then... ding. A 60-page Request for Information (RFI) hits your inbox, and it’s due on Tuesday. We've all been there, and we all know the "EDO guilt" that follows when you even consider passing on a massive project. In this episode of Site Selectors Are People Too, host Devin Hillsdon-Smith dives deep into the human impact of the RFI proce...

In the Season 3 finale of Site Selectors are People Too, host Devin Hillsdon-Smith sits down with a true titan of the economic development industry: Jim Plump. Having served as the Executive Director of the Jackson County Industrial Development Corporation since its inception in 1984, Jim brings 40 years of unparalleled wisdom to this special Stories from the Road installment. Tune in as Jim detai...

In Part 10, the grand finale of our special mini-series, The Architects of Prosperity, we pull the camera all the way back to look at the entire 300-year tapestry of global economic development. The genesis of modern economic growth is not a clean, straight line from the steam engine to the smartphone—it is a messy, violent, and deeply contingent evolution of statecraft, ideas, and institutions. T...

In Part 9 of our special mini-series, The Architects of Prosperity, we look at what happens when the unprecedented wealth of the Industrial Revolution collides with staggering, crushing poverty. By the late 1800s, the global capitalist machine was running at maximum capacity, but the internal contradictions of the 19th-century economic model were tearing society apart at the seams. This episode ex...

In Part 8 of our special mini-series, The Architects of Prosperity, we look at what happens when fully industrialized nations run out of room to grow at home. Once the factories are built, the railroads are laid, and the workforces are trained, the great industrial machines of the 19th century needed two things to survive: an endless supply of cheap raw materials, and massive new markets to buy th...

In Part 7 of our special mini-series, The Architects of Prosperity, we strip away the grand economic theories to look at the raw, physical reality of building a nation. You can pass all the protective tariffs you want and steal the best blueprints in the world, but if your raw materials can't reach the factory—and your workers can't read the operating manual—your economic revolution is dead on arr...

In Part 6 of our special mini-series, The Architects of Prosperity, we explore how the rest of the world looked at Britain’s gospel of free trade and called their bluff. While the British preached laissez-faire economics, developing nations viewed it as a rigged "winner's doctrine" designed to keep them in second place. This episode unpacks how three major challengers—the United States, Germany, a...

In Part 5 of our special mini-series, The Architects of Prosperity, we confront the great contradiction of the Industrial Revolution: the simultaneous worship of the free market and the reluctant birth of the modern regulatory state. While 19th-century British politicians preached the pristine gospel of laissez-faire economics from comfortable London clubs, the horrifying realities of the textile...

In Part 4 of our special mini-series, The Architects of Prosperity, we explore the intellectual revolution that killed the ultimate zero-sum game: mercantilism. For centuries, nations believed wealth was finite, fighting endless trade wars to hoard gold. This episode unpacks how a quiet Scottish philosopher and a ruthless London stockbroker completely rewired the global economy. Discover how the c...

In Part 3 of our special mini-series, The Architects of Prosperity, we explore the dangerous genesis of the narrative economy and the world's first great financial panics. Drowning in war debt, 18th-century France and Britain turned to professional gamblers to securitize their liabilities. This episode unpacks how desperate governments learned to manipulate market psychology—from the debunked myth...

In Part 2 of our 10-part series on the history of modern economic development, we leave the modern boardroom behind and travel back to 1660s France. Before RFPs and zoning laws, there was Jean-Baptiste Colbert—a cold, workaholic French bureaucrat known as the "Man of Marble." Serving under King Louis XIV, Colbert looked at a massive but economically floundering nation and effectively appointed him...

Episode Summary: In the debut of our special 10-part miniseries, "The Architects of Prosperity," Devin takes a step back from the spreadsheets to explore the theoretical and historical roots of the economic development profession. This episode, "Defining the Quest," serves as the foundation for the series, challenging the industry to look beyond simple metrics. Devin dives into the crucial distinc...

In this installment of our "Stories from the Road" mini-series, Devin sits down with John Launius, Senior Vice President and Chief Economic Development Officer at One Southern Indiana, and the newly appointed Board Chair of the Indiana Economic Development Association (IEDA). In a wide-ranging conversation, John shares his unique journey from a small Missouri town of 800 people to leading major ec...

In this installment of our "Stories from the Road" mini-series, Devin packs up the mic and heads to Bloomington, Indiana, to sit down in person with Jeremy Sowders, Economic Development Leader at Hoosier Energy and recent Board Chair of the Indiana Economic Development Association (IEDA). In a candid, laugh-out-loud conversation, Devin and Jeremy cut through the corporate jargon to discuss what ne...

We've all been guilty of it—getting so deep into the weeds of economic development that we forget what our world looks like to an outsider. When was the last time you had to explain a PILOT, a TIF, or what a LEDO actually does to someone who wasn't already an industry veteran? In this episode of Site Selectors Are People Too, host Devin Hillsdon-Smith sits down with Tianya Pinkham, the newly minte...

In a somber departure from our usual programming, host Devin Hilston-Smith addresses the immediate and staggering business fallout from Operation Epic Fury. With global markets reeling from the strikes in Iran, the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, and the tragic loss of American lives, the landscape of global trade has fundamentally shifted overnight. Moving beyond geopolitical commentary, Devin b...

"I’m trying to come up with a legitimate connection to the podcast... but maybe I just want to talk about my stuff!" In this special technical breakdown, Devin peels back the curtain on the brand-new audio engine powering Season 3. After receiving feedback on previous audio quality, Devin invested in a professional-grade rig designed to strip away the "corporate distance" of tinny laptop mics and...

How many highly confidential, multi-million dollar project calls have been derailed by a dog barking at a delivery driver? In this episode of Site Selectors Are People, Too, we’re stepping away from the RFIs and real estate data to talk about the actual MVPs of our home offices: our pets. The economic development and site selection industry can be a grueling mix of isolated remote work and exhaust...

"I didn’t think this podcast was coming back—especially not like this." After a year of significant professional and personal shifts, Devin Hillsdon-Smith returns for Season 3 of Site Selectors Are People, Too. This isn't just an industry update; it’s a raw, unfiltered look at the human behind the professional. In this episode, Devin pulls back the curtain on a 2025 that was defined by "burnout, d...

In this episode, Devin talks through a topic he's passionate about - activating your real estate for economic development purposes. A community's land is one of its most precious assets, and if you don't take control of its future then someone sure as heck will. We explore how to break down the steps to real estate activation through a simple process and bring some order to the chaos. So let's rol...

Stories from the Road, a miniseries within the podcast, features the people behind the profession in the communities Devin visits and within his network of esteemed misfits. In this installment of the miniseries, Devin is joined by Keith Gillenwater, the president & CEO of The Enterprise Group of Jackson in Michigan. We discuss what it's like as an economic developer to land in a new community...

Stories from the Road, a miniseries within the podcast, features the people behind the profession in the communities Devin visits and within his network of esteemed misfits. In this installment of the miniseries, Devin is joined by Jonathan Sackett, head of marketing and communications at the Northeast Indiana Regional Partnership. How do economic development professionals market their communities...

In this episode of Site Selectors Are People, Too, Devin tackles work-life balance in a highly competitive environment. Let's take a look at some of the unique demands and challenges associated with each profession (site selection and economic development) and scratch the surface of some best practices and strategies for finding balance. Traveling too much? Expected to show up at too many communit...

Stories from the Road, a miniseries within the podcast, features the people behind the profession in the communities Devin visits and within his network of esteemed misfits.   In this second installment of the miniseries, Devin is joined by Matthew Marshall, manager of member services, rates & economic development for the Minnkota Power Cooperative in North Dakota and Minnesota.   Matthew can...

Stories from the Road, a miniseries within the podcast, features the people behind the profession in the communities Devin visits and within his network of esteemed misfits.   In this installment of the miniseries, Devin is joined by Keith Lambert, chief operating officer for the Lansing Economic Area Partnership in Michigan.   Keith can be reached at: keith@purelansing.com (517) 331-2990