2025 Economic Development Forum

Join the Wake Forest Business & Industry Partnership and the Wake Forest Area Chamber as we co-host the 2025 Economic Development Forum with keynote speaker Ted Abernathy. Ted will provide a close look at what the Triangle will be like in 20 years while also addressing how far we have come, the talent pipeline, business adaptation, and more. 

Breakfast and coffee will be provided as well as a time to network with area businesses, government officials, and community leaders. A Q&A session will follow the keynote presentation. 

Ted Abernathy is the managing partner of Economic Leadership LLC, a consultancy that is currently working in more than a dozen states to develop economic and workforce strategies. He has 35 years of experience in directing economic development and workforce development programs, and his current projects include developing economic and workforce strategies in more than a dozen states and regions across the country, designing an economic development and innovation ecosystem for a new science city in Kenya, evaluating cluster opportunities ranging from value added agriculture to advanced technologies, building dashboards using advanced data analytics, and producing the annual Home of Future Thinking conference.

Over the past five years Ted has worked on close to 100 projects. He has developed plans for the eight states that comprise the Mississippi Delta, coauthored Reimaging Workforce Development, conducted a southern citizen input process on economic vitality for the Kettering Foundation, developed best practices in manufacturing and innovation for the U.S. Economic Development Administration, helped the Organization for International Investment create an economic development coalition to better attract foreign investment and help launch a new company that assesses and improves Group Leadership.

Ted speaks to groups across the country and internationally on many topics including the economy, the future of work, trendspotting the future and organizational leadership. In the past year, he keynoted conferences for the International Economic Development Council, The Southern Economic Development Council, The Southern Regional Education Board, The National Association of Workforce Professionals, The International Eisenhower Fellowships, the Society of Industrial Realtors, The Seattle Eastside Futures Conference and dozens of private business retreats and gatherings.

Born in Dallas, NC, Ted received his bachelor’s degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; his Master’s from Johns Hopkins University, is a graduate of the Economic Development Institute and is an Eisenhower Fellow for global economics.