The Officers of NCAEP are Judy Stevens, Chair; Jan Critz, Treasurer, and John Swope, Secretary.
Judy W. Stevens, Chairwoman of NCAEP
Judy Stevens is the Executive Director of North Carolina’s Montgomery Economic Development Corporation, and the Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce, a well-known non-profit organization. She has served as the Executive Director for the past 16 years.
Prior to this she worked in PR (McRae Industries) and was the Owner and Manager of a clothing store (Judy’s Ladies Apparel). She attended the Rural Economic Development Institute and later attended the Economic Development Institute in North Carolina and Oklahoma. She is currently the Director of the Leadership Montgomery Program, and is an alumnus of the Triad Leadership Network, of the Piedmont Triad Partnership.
She has held various Board seats and Offices throughout Montgomery County concerning education, health, children, and economic situations. She has received many awards such as the Outstanding Rural Leader Award from North Carolina’s Rural Center (REDO), and the Practitioner of the Year from North Carolina’s Economic Developers Association. She has recruited over $130 million dollars as well as 1,030 new jobs for Montgomery County. The Judy Stevens Endowment for Community and Economic Development was created in her honor in 2005.
Jan R. Critz, Treasurer of NCAEP
Jan Critz is an Economic Developer-Existing Industry Specialist for the NC Department of Commerce in the Piedmont Triad Region. She promotes North Carolina’s services and resources for Business and Industry Growth and Expansions.
She previously worked for the banking industry for eleven years, sales and marketing in the private sector for ten years, and the economic development field for a total of six years. She graduated Magna Cum Laude with her undergraduate degree in Business Administration and her Masters in Business Administration at Gardner Webb University.
She is very well-known and active in her community with involvement in many civic and church organizations. She has participated in Community Leadership initiatives as well as serving in several leadership roles for non-profit organizations over the years.
John D. Swope, Secretary of NCAEP
John Swope is the Executive Director of the Sampson County Economic Development Commission. He has served over twenty-one years in county economic development.
He has established several Economic Development Programs across North Carolina in Nash County, Cumberland County, and Sampson County as well as in South Carolina in Clarendon County and Florence County. He received his Bachelor of Science Degree from UNC Chapel Hill from the School of Business Administration. He attended the University of Delaware and the University of Notre Dame where he was involved the Institute for Organization Management of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
He has had three years experience with a private development firm. His development projects have included both industrial and non-industrial facility locations ranging in investments from $250,000 to $1 billion dollars, creating from 15 to 900 plus jobs.
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