An official with Brunswick Business and Industry Development was chosen to be featured in the N.C. Economic Development Association's most recent emerging executives profile.

Kevin Lackey, business development manager of Brunswick BID, was featured in the profile of the Spring 2018 newsletter titled “Developments,” which is the N.C. Economic Development Association's (NCEDA) quarterly report, according to Lawrence Bivins, managing director of Policy and Public Affairs for NCEDA.

Lackey is part of a network of 50 people involved in NCEDA's Emerging Executives program, Bivins said.

Lackey was chosen as the subject of the profile in the spring newsletter because "we see him as a rising star and he has a valuable perspective that other emerging executives can benefit from," Bivins said.

“He embodies the fact that economic developers come from a wide range of places … it’s a very diverse profession with lots of different points of view and so, we thought Kevin was a good way to celebrate that," Bivins added.

Lackey has been working with Brunswick BID since the beginnings of the economic development group.

According to the feature, he took interest in business early in life, yet his experience in international studies at the University of North Carolina Wilmington and a trip to Germany "captured his imagination," officials said in the profile. 

Lackey graduated from the UNCW's Cameron School of Business in 2005. Two years later, he took on a role with Interoll Group as a product engineer. “Interoll is a global company and it really opened my eyes to the world,” Lackey said in the feature. 

He later moved to Honolulu, where he worked as general manager at Intova, an international firm in underwater camera equipment that sources most of its products from China, according to the NCEDA.

Lackey eventually returned back to Wilmington in 2014 and sought a master's degree. He graduated from UNCW's Master of Public Administration program in 2017. 

Today, he works under Brunswick BID Executive Director Bill Early, a veteran economic developer with nearly 30 years of experience.

Lackey designed the organization’s new website and works with existing companies on permitting issues and expansion opportunities while responding to RFPs (requests for proposals) coming in from state and regional economic development groups.

Officials said that Lackey quickly joined NCEDA’s Emerging Executives program and signed on to the organization’s annual conference committee.

“Any new venture in life can be intimidating, especially in a fast-paced environment like economic development,” Lackey said in the feature. “But the profession has been truly welcoming.”