Professional Development Webinar: Real Numbers that Really Help

Dr. Alfie Meek is a nationally recognized economist and the Director of the Center for Economic Development Research at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Dr. Meek is also the President/CEO of the Economic Impact Group, LLC., a firm that specializes in economic and fiscal analysis supporting state and local economic development.  Dr. Meek has more than 25 years of experience in economic/fiscal impact analysis and research.

Over the years Dr. Meek has served the State of Georgia in various roles including the technical advisory committee for the Georgia Rural Development Council and the Rural Research Consortium. Currently, Dr. Meek is serving as a member of Georgia Governor Kemp’s Coronavirus Task Force Economic Impact Committee.

Dr. Meek served for many years as the Chief Economist and Director of Economic Analysis for Gwinnett County, Georgia where he oversaw the county’s economic development program as well as its forecasting and research efforts.  In that role, he was integral in the development and implementation of Partnership Gwinnett, a community-wide strategic plan that was named the best multi-year economic development program for large communities by the International Economic Development Council (IEDC) in 2010.  During his time at Gwinnett, he played a key role in the relocation of NCR’s world headquarters to Gwinnett, as well as the location of other major companies including HP, AMD, Suniva, a the AAA-affiliate of the Atlanta Braves.

Before his time in local government, he spent three years as the Director of Applied Research at The University of Georgia’s Business Outreach Services and Small Business Development Center.  Early in his career, Dr. Meek was the Research Economist for SunTrust Banks, Inc.

Current areas of special focus include economic/fiscal impact analysis, forecasting and modeling, workforce issues, tax policy analysis, and target industry analysis.  In recent years, Dr. Meek has focused on the fiscal impact of investment tax credits in states including Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Texas, Kansas, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Indiana, Rhode Island, and of course, Georgia.  He has testified before state legislatures in multiple states on the fiscal impact of tax credits and is considered a nationally recognized expert in the area of fiscal analysis.  He is also the owner of LOCI™, the nationally-recognized gold standard in fiscal impact analysis software. Licensed by dozens of communities across the country, LOCI™ helps communities understand the true cost to local governments of development and development incentives.

In addition to his research, Dr. Meek speaks widely on topics relating to economic impact and economic development.  He has also written for economic development-related publications, as well as other periodicals. His research on the size and economic impact of the sports industry in the United States was published in Sports Marketing Quarterly.  This research has been written about and cited in numerous publications – USA Today, Georgia Trend, Financial Times London, Fortune Magazine, and Investors Business Daily among others, and has been cited more than 200 times in academic work across the globe in academic journals and textbooks.

Dr. Meek holds a PhD. in Agricultural Economics from The University of Georgia; a Master of Science in Business Economics from Georgia State University; and a Bachelor of Science in Economics from the Georgia Institute of Technology. He has been a member of the American Economic Association, and is a current member of the Georgia Economic Developers Association, the National Association for Business Economics, and is a past president of the Atlanta Economics Club. Dr. Meek serves on the board of the Georgia Academy of Economic Development and is an honorary member of Omicron Delta Epsilon, the international honor society for economics.